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1,433,315 | Caribou are one of the most noticeable species at Wapusk National Park that have been steadily declining in population. This is proven from the data collected in 1994 that noted 500, 000 caribou compared to 2017 where only 288, 000 where reported. This data is based off the Qamanirjuaq herd which covers areas in Manitoba, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories. There are a number of active threats against the population of caribou, the first being climate change. The rising hot temperatures are only threatening the cooler environment that they are built to live in. The act of wildfires have also played a role in the caribou decline. Habitat loss has been an important contributor as the human activities of mining, logging, and oil development have impacted caribou habitats. As for conservation efforts, Wapusk National Park is a protected area with limited human disruptions. They take matters in migration routes, calving grounds, and the winter habitats. Parks Canada teamed up with several forestry companies in 2004 to better protect and recover caribou population as they were listed under Threatened Species by the Species at Risk Act (SARA). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2023242 | 1,432,511 |
1,023,589 | Justus Freiherr von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 20 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at the University of Giessen, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the greatest chemistry teachers of all time. He has been described as the "father of the fertilizer industry" for his emphasis on nitrogen and trace minerals as essential plant nutrients, and his formulation of the law of the minimum, which described how plant growth relied on the scarcest nutrient resource, rather than the total amount of resources available. He also developed a manufacturing process for beef extracts, and with his consent a company, called Liebig Extract of Meat Company, was founded to exploit the concept; it later introduced the Oxo brand beef bouillon cube. He popularized an earlier invention for condensing vapors, which came to be known as the Liebig condenser. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16024 | 1,023,056 |
1,631,790 | Continuous models are widely used to model diffuse reflection from particulate samples. They are embodied in various theories, including diffusion theory, the equation of radiation transfer, as well as Kubelka–Munk. In spite of its widespread use, there has long been an understanding that the Kubelka–Munk (K–M) theory has limitations. The term "failure of the Kubelka–Munk theory" has been applied because it does not "remain valid in strongly absorbing materials". There have been many attempts to explain the limitations and amend the K–M equation. In literature related to diffuse-reflection infrared Fourier-transform (DRIFT) spectra, "particularly specular reflection" is often identified as a culprit. In some corners, there is the working assumption that the problem is that the K–M theory is a two-flux theory, and that introducing additional directions will solve the problem. In particular, two continuous theories, "diffusion theory" and the "equation of radiation transfer" (ERT), have their advocates. Some of the advocates of the ERT have called to our attention the failure of the ERT to predict the desired linear absorption coefficient as particle size gets large, and blamed it on the hidden mass effect. In 2003, Donald and Kevin Dahm illustrated the degree to which the continuous theories all suffer from the fundamental limitation of trying to model a discontinuous sample as a continuum and suggested that as long as the effect of this limitation is unexplored, there is little reason to search for other reasons for "failure". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66854311 | 1,630,868 |
1,105,538 | The procedures of conferring of both "Kandidat" and "Doktor" academic degrees are more formal and different from conferring a Ph.D. degree in Western universities. In particular, for the "Doktor", the academic institution, where the scholar is affiliated as a doctoral candidate, must conduct a preliminary review of the research results and personal contribution made by the candidate and, depending on findings, elect whether to render formal support or not. By definition, this highly prestigious degree can be conferred only for a significant contribution to science and/or technology based on a public defense of a thesis, monograph, or (in rare cases) of a set of outstanding publications in peer-reviewed journals. The defense must be held at the session of a Specialized Dissertation Committee accredited by VAK. Prior to the defense, three referees holding Doctor of Sciences degrees themselves (the so-called "official opponents") must submit their written motivated assessments of the thesis. One more similar assessment is to be provided by some university or academic institution, working in the same field of science or technology, and in addition several other reviewers must mail their conclusions made based on a thesis summary (usually a 32-page brochure in natural sciences and 48 pages in social sciences). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13491973 | 1,104,975 |
610,421 | Labov's seminal work has been referenced and critically examined by a number of scholars, mainly for its structural rigidity. Kristin Langellier explains that "the purpose of Labovian analysis is to relate the formal properties of the narrative to their functions": clause-level analysis of how text affects transmission of message. This model has several flaws, which Langellier points out: it examines textual structure to the exclusion of context and audience, which often act to shape a text in real time; it's relevant to a specific demographic (may be difficult to extrapolate); and, by categorizing the text at a clausal level, it burdens analysis with theoretical distinctions that may not be illuminating in practice. Anna De Fina remarks that [within Labov's model] "the defining property of narrative is temporal sequence, since the order in which the events are presented in the narrative is expected to match the original events as they occurred", which differs from more contemporary notions of storytelling, in which a naturally time-conscious flow includes jumping forward and back in time as mandated by, for example, anxieties felt about futures and their interplay with subsequent decisions. De Fina and Langellier both note that, though wonderfully descriptive, Labov's model is nevertheless difficult to code, thus potentially limited in application/practice. De Fina also agrees with Langellier that Labov's model ignores the complex and often quite relevant subject of intertextuality in narrative. To an extent, Labov evinces awareness of these concerns, saying "it is clear that these conclusions are restricted to the speech communities that we have examined", and "the overall structure of the narratives we've examined is not uniform". In "Rethinking Ventriloquism," Diane Goldstein uses Labovian notions of tellability—internal coherence in narrative—to inform her concept of "untellability". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=319165 | 610,110 |
392,266 | In 1983, Mullis was working for Cetus Corporation as a chemist. Mullis recalled that, while driving in the vicinity of his country home in Mendocino County (with his girlfriend, who also was a chemist at Cetus), he had the idea to use a pair of primers to bracket the desired DNA sequence and to copy it using DNA polymerase; a technique that would allow rapid amplification of a small stretch of DNA and become a standard procedure in molecular biology laboratories. Longtime professional benefactor and supervisor Thomas White reassigned Mullis from his usual projects to concentrate on PCR full-time after the technique was met with skepticism by their colleagues. Mullis succeeded in demonstrating PCR on December 16, 1983, but the staff remained circumspect as he continued to produce ambiguous results amid alleged methodological problems, including a perceived lack of "appropriate controls and repetition." In his Nobel Prize lecture, he remarked that the December 16 breakthrough did not make up for his girlfriend breaking up with him: "I was sagging as I walked out to my little silver Honda Civic. Neither [assistant] Fred, empty Beck's bottles, nor the sweet smell of the dawn of the age of PCR could replace Jenny. I was lonesome." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17095 | 392,071 |
1,214,382 | As of 2020, the role of mitophagy in cancer is not fully understood. Some models of mitophagy, such as PINK1 or BNIP3-mediated mitophagy, have been associated with tumor suppression in humans and mice. Mitophagy associated with NIX, in contrast, is associated with tumor promotion. In 1920 Otto Warburg observed that certain cancerous tumors display a metabolic shift towards glycolysis. This is referred to as the "Warburg effect", in which cancer cells produce energy via the conversion of glucose into lactate, even in the presence of oxygen (aerobic glycolysis). Despite nearly a century since it was first described, a lot of questions remained unanswered regarding the Warburg effect. Initially, Warburg attributed this metabolic shift to mitochondrial dysfunction in cancer cells. Further studies in tumor biology have shown that the increased growth rate in cancer cells is due to an overdrive in glycolysis (glycolytic shift), which leads to a decrease in oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial density. As a consequence of the Warburg effect, cancer cells would produce large amounts of lactate. The excess lactate is then released to the extracellular environment which results in a decrease in extracellular pH. This micro-environment acidification can lead to cellular stress, which would lead to autophagy. Autophagy is activated in response to a range of stimuli, including nutrient depletion, hypoxia, and activated oncogenes. However, it appears that autophagy can help in cancer cell survival under conditions of metabolic stress and it may confer resistance to anti-cancer therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy. Additionally, in the microenvironment of cancer cells, there is an increase in hypoxia-inducible transcription factor 1-alpha (HIF1A), which promotes expression of BNIP3, an essential factor for mitophagy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21317821 | 1,213,730 |
1,662,118 | Since 1941, the MSI has trained over 1700 marine engineers and altogether, 55,000 industry ready workers. The NUS has 8 institutes, 3 faculties, a school at sea, a campus in Kherson and representation in three cities of Ukraine. It has links with its community and with industry. A student population of 12,000 read in twenty-six areas and in thirty specialties. The university offers bachelor, expert and master's degrees; a doctorate of science; and academic and teacher education. The university employs 68 doctorate staff and 256 scientists specialising in new ship design, safety at sea, unmanned underwater craft, structures and works (such as welding), marine metallurgy and marine power (such as low pollution alternative energy sources for the marine industry). The university also provides certification of polymetric systems for metrological maintenance of onboard and coastal complexes; improvements of marine electric equipment and automatic systems, and methods and means of increasing the efficiency of touch maintenance and information complexes of hierarchically organised control systems. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15050806 | 1,661,183 |
688,013 | For years, astronomers have ruled out red dwarfs as potential abodes for life, with masses ranging from roughly 0.08 to 0.60 solar masses (). The low masses of the stars cause the nuclear fusion reactions at their cores to proceed exceedingly slowly, giving them luminosities ranging from a maximum of roughly 10 percent that of the Sun to a minimum of just 0.0125 percent. Consequently, any planet orbiting a red dwarf would have to have a low semi-major axis in order to maintain Earth-like surface temperature, from 0.268 astronomical units (AU) for a relatively luminous red dwarf like Lacaille 8760 to 0.032 AU for a smaller star like Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Solar System. Such a world would have a year lasting just 3 to 150 days. Much of the low luminosity of a red dwarf falls in the infrared and red part of the electromagnetic spectrum, with lower energy than the yellow light in which the Sun peaks. As a result, photosynthesis on a red dwarf planet would require additional photons to achieve excitation potentials comparable to those needed in Earth photosynthesis for electron transfers, due to the lower average energy level of near-infrared photons compared to visible. Having to adapt to a far wider spectrum to gain the maximum amount of energy, foliage on a habitable red dwarf planet would probably appear black if viewed in visible light. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39863531 | 687,655 |
329,042 | Emergent gameplay was a goal of Arkane: while they had given the players abilities to take on "Prey" in a full action mode or full stealth mode, they wanted players to find a way to complete the game in their own manner. They recognized players may take one specific set of skills and weapons, and avoided including any enemies or obstacles that would be impossible to surpass because they did not specialize in the right skills, providing a means to bypass such areas. Arkane restricted how many horror elements they would include, since they could not predict where the player's attention would be throughout the game, providing another reason why they opted not to consider "Prey" a horror game. Some elements supporting emergent gameplay arose during testing of the game's various systems. One of the Typhon aliens, the Mimic, was inspired by the creature of the same name from "Dungeons & Dragons", and was programmed to take the form of any object smaller than itself in the room, avoiding the use of scripted events and allowing the alien's artificial intelligence in the game's software decide what to replicate. Separately, one of the tools developed by Arkane was the psychoscope, which allows players to scan an alien and learn and then use its powers; when the programmers learned of this, they quickly found that having players be able to copy the Mimic's power created a depth of new gameplay options, such as taking the form of a small object to sneak into small places, or taking the form of a non-flammable object to roll through fire-laden areas. Enabling emergent gameplay in "Prey" allowed for speedrunners to take advantage of the game's tools, particularly the Gloo Cannon that is able to create platforms on surfaces to access areas Arkane did not intend to be accessed without other tools. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11718979 | 328,867 |
236,886 | Alex can also transform parts of his body into a selection of martial implements acquired over the course of the game, either as purchased upgrades or being given them. Offensive powers include the large and powerful Blade arm, fast razor-sharp Claws (which can also erupt large spikes from the ground), the telescoping Whipfist, Musclemass that augments his strength, and the slow but powerful Hammerfists. Defensive options consist of a large shield on Alex's left arm for blocking ballistic attacks that needs to regenerate after excessive damage, and full body armor that exchanges agility and speed for toughness in hand-to-hand combat; both will allow Alex to plow through most obstacles when active. Vision modes include thermal vision, which allows Alex to see enemies through smoke and other obstacles at the expense of a decreased vision range, and Infected vision, which highlights those infected with the Blacklight virus as well as military units. Both vision modes muffle all of Alex's other senses, such as hearing, in order to concentrate on his sight. One defensive and offensive power may be active at a time, and using either will negate Alex's current disguise. In addition to his own abilities, Alex can take the weapons from defeated or absorbed enemies. These include automatic rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and missile launchers. He can also seize control of military vehicles, such as tanks and helicopters. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12374528 | 236,767 |
1,824,828 | There have been many studies on the purification and extraction of mercury from water sources and sometimes even the affected soils around the contaminated water sources. Some of these methods that are continuously being researched and sampled are the use of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) combined with inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Because the different forms of mercury have different forms of toxicity, this method allows for the removal of each form and a thorough study of the toxicity and potential harm of each separate form. This is because the typical concentration of methylmercury in water sources and Methylmercury is below detection rates, but it doesn't necessarily mean the continuous buildup in the consumers body's, or the environment will have any symptoms. The most common method of speciation for the removal, is gas chromatography or high-pressure liquid chromatography paired with fluorescence, natural elements, and photometry detectors. The downside of this form of detection is that it requires very large numbers of samples to test the concentration and toxicity levels. Other methods include the charging of ions to separate the toxic elements and toxins from the water for extraction. These methods are currently most common for use in China, for the removal of these toxic heavy metals for the use of drinking water. One theory that is being tested by the federal government to clean methylmercury out of waterways, is to find a bacterium that transforms methylmercury back into elemental mercury. With this process of transformation, the elemental mercury can vaporize and evaporate out of the waterways naturally. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49463141 | 1,823,790 |
170,640 | The book ends on a major event which is a sudden catastrophic rise in Earth's global sea levels not caused primarily by any greenhouse effect but by the eruption of a chain of volcanoes underneath the ice of West Antarctica, disintegrating the ice sheet and displacing the fragments into the ocean. The resultant flooding causes global chaos on Earth, creating the perfect moment for the Martian underground to seize control of Martian society from Earth. Following a series of largely bloodless coups, an extremist faction of Reds bombs a dam near Burroughs, the major city where the remaining United Nations forces have concentrated, in order to force the security forces to evacuate. The entire city is flooded and the population of the city has to walk a staggeringly long distance in the open Martian atmosphere (which just barely has the temperature, atmospheric pressure, and gas mixture to support human life) to Libya Station, in order to resettle in other locations. With this, control of Mars is finally wrested away from Earth with minimal loss of life, leaving the weary survivors hopeful about the prospects of their newfound political autonomy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=89970 | 170,550 |
681,386 | Scientific research on Attic vase painting owes a great deal to John D. Beazley. He began studying these vases in about 1910, making use of the method developed by the art historian Giovanni Morelli for studying paintings, which had been refined by Bernard Berenson. He assumed that each painter created original works which could always be unmistakably attributed. He made use of particular details such as faces, fingers, arms, legs, knees, and folds of clothing. Beazley studied 65,000 vases and fragments, of which 20,000 were black-figure. In the course of his studies, which lasted almost six decades, he could attribute 17,000 of them by name or by using a system of pragmatic names, and classified them into groups of painters or workshops, relationships and stylistic affinity. He identified over 1,500 potters and painters. No other archaeologist had such a decisive influence on the research of an archaeological field as did Beazley, whose analyses remain valid to a large extent up to the present time. After Beazley, scholars like John Boardman, Erika Simon and Dietrich von Bothmer investigated black-figure Attic vases. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1076046 | 681,030 |
786,858 | Further combat was seen during 2003 when US forces invaded Iraq and deposed the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, in an invasion that lasted just 43 days (20 March to 1 May). M1 tanks proved instrumental in leading rapid attacks against the Iraqi military, as exemplified by the so-called 'Thunder Runs.' Abandoned Abrams were purposely destroyed by friendly fire to prevent recovery of vehicle or technology. Damages by 25 mm AP-DU, anti-armor RPG fire, and 12.7 mm rounds was encountered. There were no confirmed instances of anti-tank guided weapons or anti-tank mines striking the US MBTs. However, there is some speculation that Kornet ATGMs were used during the Battle of Najaf to knock out two Abrams, but Russian officials denied selling the weapon to Iraq. What is known is that the two Abrams were struck by unknown weapons, and their ammunition stores ignited. Nevertheless, both crews escaped without serious injury. Some Abrams were disabled by Iraqi infantrymen in ambushes employing short-range antitank rockets, such as the RPG-7. Although the RPG-7 is unable to penetrate the front and sides, the rear and top are vulnerable to this weapon. Frequently the rockets were fired at the tank tracks. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25079265 | 786,435 |
1,725,084 | Since the past few years, researchers have indeed begun looking at non-model, "non-conventional" organisms using modern genetic tools. One example of this is the Floral Genome Project, which envisages to study the evolution of the current patterns in the genetic architecture of the flower through comparative genetic analyses, with a focus on EST sequences. Like the FGP, there are several such ongoing projects that aim to find out conserved and diverse patterns in evolution of the plant shape. Expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences of quite a few non-model plants like sugarcane, apple, barley, cycas, coffee, to name a few, are available freely online. The Cycad Genomics Project, for example, aims to understand the differences in structure and function of genes between gymnosperms and angiosperms through sampling in the order Cycadales. In the process, it intends to make available information for the study of evolution of seeds, cones and evolution of life cycle patterns. Presently the most important sequenced genomes from an evo-devo point of view include those of "A. thaliana" (a flowering plant), poplar (a woody plant), "Physcomitrella patens" (a bryophyte), Maize (extensive genetic information), and "Chlamydomonas reinhardtii" (a green alga). The impact of such a vast amount of information on understanding common underlying developmental mechanisms can easily be realised. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13571938 | 1,724,113 |
731,889 | In 2017, contrary to the inductive notion that emotion categories are biologically distinct, Barrett (2017) proposed the theory of constructed emotion, which is the account that a biological emotion category is constructed based on a conceptual category—the accumulation of instances sharing a goal. In a predictive coding model, Barrett hypothesizes that, in interoception, our brains regulate our bodies by activating "embodied simulations" (full-bodied representations of sensory experience) to anticipate what our brains predict that the external world will throw at us sensorially and how we will respond to it with action. These simulations are either preserved if, based on our brain's predictions, they prepare us well for what actually subsequently occurs in the external world, or they, and our predictions, are adjusted to compensate for their error in comparison to what actually occurs in the external world and how well-prepared we were for it. Then, in a trial-error-adjust process, our bodies find similarities in goals among certain successful anticipatory simulations and group them together under conceptual categories. Every time a new experience arises, our brains use this past trial-error-adjust history to match the new experience to one of the categories of accumulated corrected simulations that is shares the most similarity with. Then, they apply the corrected simulation of that category to the new experience in the hopes of preparing our bodies for the rest of the experience. If it does not, the prediction, the simulation, and perhaps the boundaries of the conceptual category are revised in the hopes of higher accuracy next time, and the process continues. Barrett hypothesizes that, when prediction error for a certain category of simulations for x-like experiences is minimized, what results is a correction-informed simulation that the body will reenact for every x-like experience, resulting in a correction-informed full-bodied representation of sensory experience—an emotion. In this sense, Barrett proposes that we construct our emotions because the conceptual category framework our brains use to compare new experiences, and to pick the appropriate predictive sensory simulation to activate, is built on the go. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=53953041 | 731,502 |
349,055 | ROM and successor technologies such as flash are prevalent in embedded systems. These are in everything from industrial robots to home appliances and consumer electronics (MP3 players, set-top boxes, etc.) all of which are designed for specific functions, but are based on general-purpose microprocessors. With software usually tightly coupled to hardware, program changes are rarely needed in such devices (which typically lack hard disks for reasons of cost, size, or power consumption). As of 2008, most products use Flash rather than mask ROM, and many provide some means for connecting to a PC for firmware updates; for example, a digital audio player might be updated to support a new file format. Some hobbyists have taken advantage of this flexibility to reprogram consumer products for new purposes; for example, the iPodLinux and OpenWrt projects have enabled users to run full-featured Linux distributions on their MP3 players and wireless routers, respectively. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18934934 | 348,873 |
1,262,375 | Hexafluorobenzene has been used as a reporter molecule to investigate tissue oxygenation in vivo. It is exceedingly hydrophobic, but exhibits high gas solubility with ideal liquid gas interactions. Since molecular oxygen is paramagnetic it causes F NMR spin lattice relaxation (R1): specifically a linear dependence R1= a + bpO has been reported. HFB essentially acts as molecular amplifier, since the solubility of oxygen is greater than in water, but thermodynamics require that the pO2 in the HFB rapidly equilibrates with the surrounding medium. HFB has a single narrow F NMR signal and the spin lattice relaxation rate is highly sensitive to changes in pO, yet minimally responsive to temperature. HFB is typically injected directly into a tissue and F NMR may be used to measure local oxygenation. It has been extensively applied to examine changes in tumor oxygenation in response to interventions such as breathing hyperoxic gases or as a consequence of vascular disruption. MRI measurements of HFB based on 19F relaxation have been shown to correlate with radiation response of tumors. HFB has been used as a gold standard for investigating other potential prognostic biomarkers of tumor oxygenation such as BOLD (Blood Oxygen Level Dependent), TOLD (Tissue Oxygen Level Dependent) and MOXI (MR oximetry) A 2013 review of applications has been published. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28825772 | 1,261,688 |
500,363 | When "Metamorphosis Alpha" was updated and expanded into "Gamma World", it seemed the right time for Gygax to reintroduce "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" to the public. Said Gygax, "What could be more logical than to make available a scenario which blends the two role playing approaches into a single form?" Gygax updated the scenario to "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" (AD&D) rules, hoping it could serve as a primer on how to integrate science into one's fantasy role playing game. In 1980, the updated version was published as "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks". At the time of "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks"'s release, each "Dungeons & Dragons" module was marked with an alphanumeric code indicating the series to which it belonged. The 32-page adventure bears the code "S3" ("S" for "special"). The module included a 36-page book and a 32-page book, with two outer folders; it was one of the first deluxe scenario modules, and included a book of illustrations intended to be shown to the players during the game, including four color paintings. This module was included as part of the "Realms of Horror" abridged compilation produced in 1987. Although an article on the Wizards.com web site did provide a conversion to "Future Tech", the adventure never received an official sequel and was not updated for the D&D version 3.5 rules (Wizards of the Coast periodically alters the rules of Dungeons & Dragons and releases a new version). The adventure has also been referenced in the Nodwick comic series. Unlike the other S series adventures, "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" was not included in the "Dungeon Survival Guide" by author Bill Slavicsek because to him it was a "wonderful adventure", but not "a D&D adventure. Once you add ray guns and power armor to the game, you have a fundamentally different experience." Other products that have introduced futuristic elements into D&D include the adventure "City of the Gods" (1987) and the novel "Tale of the Comet" (1997). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=520349 | 500,106 |
112,865 | A learning management system (LMS) is software used for delivering, tracking, and managing training and education. It tracks data about attendance, time on task, and student progress. Educators can post announcements, grade assignments, check on course activities, and participate in class discussions. Students can submit their work, read and respond to discussion questions, and take quizzes. An LMS may allow teachers, administrators, and students, and permitted additional parties (such as parents, if appropriate) to track various metrics. LMSs range from systems for managing training/educational records to software for distributing courses over the Internet and offering features for online collaboration. The creation and maintenance of comprehensive learning content require substantial initial and ongoing investments in human labor. Effective translation into other languages and cultural contexts requires even more investment by knowledgeable personnel. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1944675 | 112,820 |
719,331 | R and D Center involves in identifying new research areas, developing projects leading to publications in national/international journals and conferences. Established an RandD centre at the institution level to promote research and innovation among the faculty and students. The centre helps in developing co-operative and complimentary research among various Departments under BMSCE to explore advanced technologies. The centre acts as the liaison between the university (VTU and Mangalore University) and the research centres at BMSCE. The centre also guides and facilitates in writing of project proposals, and scientific papers leading to publication as well as in identifying the research outcomes of research for filing patents.Since academic autonomy, the institution has provided with an excellent opportunity to create, revise, redesign or introduce innovations in the curriculum. Threading this path, the Institution foregrounded the concept of research amongst the students from the first year of their program. The centralised labs and design centres titled propel labs were established for nurturing research from the first year of engineering. These labs are broad based and not confined to a single area/discipline. Student groups (multidisciplinary) work on various engineering projects in these labs - concept to designing the prototype. The Propel labs are open for students of all disciplines with no terms or conditions attached. Each Lab is headed by a faculty and supported by competent technical staffs who volunteer to act as mentors for the students and ensure that students conduct the research. Creative thinking skills of the students and mentoring by faculty guides result in the development creating systematic processes and products. These research labs help the students to build prototypes which enable them to participate in competitions both in India and abroad. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=768983 | 718,951 |
148,653 | Russell had a program with a movable dot before the end of January 1962, and an early operational game with rotatable spaceships by February. The two spaceships were designed to evoke the curvy spaceship from Buck Rogers stories and the PGM-11 Redstone rocket. That early version also contained a randomly generated background star field, initially added by Russell because a blank background made it difficult to tell the relative motion of the two spaceships at slow speeds. The programming community in the area, including the Hingham Institute and the TMRC, had developed what was later termed the "hacker ethic", whereby all programs were freely shared and modified by other programmers in a collaborative environment without concern for ownership or copyright, which led to a group effort to elaborate on Russell's initial "Spacewar!" game. Consequently, since the inaccuracy and lack of realism in the starfield annoyed TMRC member Peter Samson, he wrote a program based on real star charts that scrolled slowly through the night sky, including every star in a band between 22.5° N and 22.5° S down to the fifth magnitude, displayed at their relative brightness. The program was called "Expensive Planetarium"—referring to the high price of the PDP-1 computer compared to an analog planetarium, as part of the series of "expensive" programs like Piner's Expensive Typewriter—and was quickly incorporated into the game in March by Russell, who served as the collator of the primary version of the game. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5482854 | 148,592 |
2,156,425 | Immediate action was taken to implement proper containment measures when outbreak locations were identified. WHO also partnered with GOARN to dispatch teams of experts into areas heavily impacted by SARS such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Vietnam. These experts represented around 20 different organizations and 15 different nationalities and worked in several sectors to contain the virus. Epidemiologists of varied backgrounds also worked together to review the measures to control the spread of the virus as well as analyze the behavior of the virus in transmission. Such epidemiologists hailed from the Health Protection Agency (United Kingdom), the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (Japan), the Robert Koch-Institut (Germany) and more. Clinicians representing over 11 countries also played integral roles in measures to fight the virus by working together to create effective treatment plans and improve infection control procedures in hospitals worldwide. Some of them were from Hõpital Universitaire de Genéve (Geneva, Switzerland), National Institute of Health (Slovenia), and Adelaide Meath and National Children's Hospital (Dublin, Ireland). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63936969 | 2,155,194 |
956,036 | Initial auto production after World War II was slowed by the retooling process, shortages of materials, and labor unrest. However, the American auto industry reflected the post-war prosperity of the late-1940s and the 1950s. Cars grew in overall size, as well as engine size during the 1950s. The Overhead valve V-8 engine developed by GM in the late-1940s proved to be very successful and helped ignite the horsepower race, the second salvo of which was Chrysler's 1951 Hemi engine. Longer, lower, and wider tended to be the general trend. Exterior styling was influenced by jets and rockets as the space-age dawned. Rear fins were popular and continued to grow larger, and front bumpers and taillights were sometimes designed in the shape of rockets. Chrome plating was very popular, as was two-tone paint. The most extreme version of these styling trends were found in the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado and Chrysler Corporation's 1957 Imperial. The Chevrolet Corvette and the Ford Thunderbird, introduced in 1953 and 1955 respectively, were designed to capture the sports car market. However, the Thunderbird grew in size in 1958 and evolved into a personal luxury car. The 1950s were also noted for perhaps one of the biggest miscues in auto marketing with the Ford Edsel, which was the result of unpopular styling and being introduced during an economic recession. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23576520 | 955,531 |
1,228,489 | "Adasaurus" was first figured in 1977 by the Mongolian paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold on a pelvic comparison with other theropods, but it would remain as an informally named taxon until a proper description. In 1983, Barsbold published a large comparative revision of the known Mongolian theropod taxa at the time where he formally named "Adasaurus" and the type species "A. mongoliensis", which was based on two partial specimens. The generic name, "Adasaurus", is taken from the evil spirit Ada in the mythology of Mongolia, and the Greek word (, meaning lizard). The specific name for the single species, "mongoliensis", refers to the country of discovery Mongolia. Barsbold briefly described "Adasaurus" as a dromaeosaurid and noted that this new taxon possessed a notably reduced second pedal ungual. Given that this trait contrasted to the large, sharply-developed ungual of most members, Barsbold listed it as a unique character for "Adasaurus". However, the authenticity of this unusual reduction was disputed in 2010 by Phil Senter, who claimed that the supposed ungual did not pertain to the specimen. Nevertheless, in the revised diagnosis conducted by Turner and colleagues in 2012, this character is still considered as authentic, which has been widely followed by other authors. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2958157 | 1,227,827 |
1,882,225 | Katrin Amunts was born in Potsdam, East Germany in 1962. She studied medicine and biophysics at Pirogov Medical School in the Soviet Union. She earned a doctorate in neuroscience and anatomy at the Institute of Brain Research in Moscow in 1989. She later trained at a Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin and joined the C. & O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research at the University of Düsseldorf. She was a professor in Aachen University before rejoining the University of Düsseldorf in 2013. Amunts is amongst the most important researchers in neuroscience today. In the recently published list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2014, the science magazine entitled JARA-BRAIN named her as a key player. Amunts works alongside a team of accomplished scientists, including a colleague named Professor Karl Zilles. Long term, Amunts’ goal in working with the human brain is to create a three-dimensional atlas mapped to the structures in the brain so as to allow its complicated configuration and functions to be imaged and understood microscopically. This would allow us to improve our understanding of the human's control center and advance our abilities to combat diseases or disorders such as depression, addiction, dementia, and Parkinson's disease. This construction is being called the “Big Brain.” | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48590737 | 1,881,144 |
723,288 | Conversations with Wegener, the author of continental drift theory, got Milanković interested in the interior of the Earth and the movement of the poles, so he told his friend that he would investigate polar wandering. In November 1929, Milanković received an invitation from Professor Beno Gutenberg of Darmstadt to collaborate on a ten volume handbook on geophysics and to publish his views on the problem of the secular variations of the Earth's rotational poles. Wegener presented extensive empirical evidence in his scientific work on the 'great events' during the Earth's past. However, one of the main findings that especially preoccupied Wegener and then Milankovitch was the discovery of big coal reserves on the Svalbard Islands, in the Arctic Ocean, which could not form at the present latitude of these islands. In the meantime, Wegener died (from hypothermia or heart failure) in November 1930 during his fourth expedition to Greenland. Milanković became convinced that the continents 'float' on a somewhat fluid subsurface and that the positions of the continents with respect to the axis of rotation affect the centrifugal force of the rotation and can throw the axis off balance and force it to move. Wegener's tragedy additionally motivated Milankovich to persevere in solving the problem of polar wandering. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=150014 | 722,908 |
1,022,753 | There has been considerable discussion as to how seaweeds can be cultivated in the open ocean as a means to regenerate decimated fish populations and contribute to carbon sequestration. Notably, Tim Flannery has highlighted how growing seaweeds in the open ocean, facilitated by artificial upwelling and substrate, can enable carbon sequestration if seaweeds are sunk below a depth of one kilometer. Similarly, the NGO Climate Foundation and a number of permaculture experts have posited that the offshore mariculture of seaweed ecosystems can be conducted in ways that embody the core principles of permaculture, thereby constituting marine permaculture. The concept envisions using artificial upwelling and floating, submerged platforms as substrate to replicate natural seaweed ecosystems that provide habitat and the basis of a trophic pyramid for marine life. Following the principles of permaculture, seaweeds and fish can be sustainably harvested while sequestering atmospheric carbon. As of 2020, a number of successful trials have taken place in Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Tasmania. The idea has received substantial public attention, notably featuring as a key solution covered by Damon Gameau’s documentary 2040 and in the book Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming edited by Paul Hawken. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27135340 | 1,022,223 |
150,919 | Investing in research and development work to design a new SST can be considered as an effort to push the speed limit of air transport. Generally, other than an urge for new technological achievement, the major driving force for such an effort is competitive pressure from other modes of transport. Competition between different service providers within a mode of transport does not typically lead to such technological investments to increase the speed. Instead, the service providers prefer to compete in service quality and cost. An example of this phenomenon is high-speed rail. The speed limit of rail transport had been pushed so hard to enable it to effectively compete with road and air transport. But this achievement was not done for different rail operating companies to compete among themselves. This phenomenon also reduces the airline desirability of SSTs, because, for very long distance transportation (a couple of thousand kilometers), competition between different modes of transport is rather like a single-horse race: air transport does not have a significant competitor. The only competition is between the airline companies, and they would rather pay moderately to reduce cost and increase service quality than pay much more for a speed increase. Also, for-profit companies generally prefer low risk businesses plans with high probabilities of appreciable profit, but an expensive leading-edge technological research and development program is a high-risk enterprise, as it is possible that the program will fail for unforeseeable technical reasons or will meet cost overruns so great as to force the company, due to financial resource limits, to abandon the effort before it yields any marketable SST technology, causing potentially all investment to be lost. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=215930 | 150,851 |
1,412,111 | A modified version of the car dubbed the FW09B was introduced in Round 10 of the season at Brands Hatch for the 1984 British Grand Prix. The car featured 'coke bottle' type sidepods pioneered by McLaren. Unfortunately from that race until the end of the season both Rosberg and Laffite only recorded one finish each and neither was in the points. Rosberg was 8th at the Dutch Grand Prix while Laffite ended the season in Portugal with a disappointing 14th place, following which the FW09 was retired. One particular incident that was more or less a summation of Williams's season was at the Austrian Grand Prix at the Österreichring – which was at the time the fastest circuit used by Formula One with average lap speeds as high as 150+ mph – Rosberg drove into the pits from 9th place and informed technical director Patrick Head that he was retiring the car from the race because it was dangerously unstable at the Österreichring's very fast sweepers and he feared he might have a massive accident – all too commonplace at such a fast circuit. The Finnish driver, who had amazing reflexes and had a flat-out driving style was not one to just quit out of fear, and Head, a hard-nosed character with little patience for losing, accepted Rosberg's decision wholeheartedly. Williams, which along with Ferrari and Brabham were one of the few race winners in a season dominated by McLaren drivers Niki Lauda and Alain Prost, finished sixth in the constructors' championship in 1984 having scored 25.5 points. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19276625 | 1,411,316 |
98,436 | Decomposition, simplification, or slowing of multijoint movement may also be an effective strategy that therapists may use to improve function in patients with ataxia. Training likely needs to be intense and focused—as indicated by one study performed with stroke patients experiencing limb ataxia who underwent intensive upper limb retraining. Their therapy consisted of constraint-induced movement therapy which resulted in improvements of their arm function. Treatment should likely include strategies to manage difficulties with everyday activities such as walking. Gait aids (such as a cane or walker) can be provided to decrease the risk of falls associated with impairment of balance or poor coordination. Severe ataxia may eventually lead to the need for a wheelchair. To obtain better results, possible coexisting motor deficits need to be addressed in addition to those induced by ataxia. For example, muscle weakness and decreased endurance could lead to increasing fatigue and poorer movement patterns. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=969 | 98,394 |
417,368 | Fibrils are composed of linear biopolymers, and are characterized by rod-like structures with high length-to-diameter ratios. They often spontaneously arrange into helical structures. In biomechanics problems, fibrils can be characterized as classical beams with a roughly circular cross-sectional area on the nanometer scale. As such, simple beam bending equations can be applied to calculate flexural strength of fibrils under ultra-low loading conditions. Like most biopolymers, stress-strain relationships of fibrils tend to show a characteristic toe-heel region before a linear, elastic region. Unlike biopolymers, fibrils do not behave like homogeneous materials, as yield strength has been shown to vary with volume, indicating structural dependencies. Hydration has been shown to produce a noticeable effect in the mechanical properties of fibrillar materials. The presence of water has been shown to decrease the stiffness of collagen fibrils, as well as increase their rate of stress relaxation and strength. From a biological standpoint, water content acts as a toughening mechanism for fibril structures, allowing for higher energy absorption and greater straining capabilities. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2278611 | 417,165 |
1,211,754 | STS-54 "Endeavour", January 13–19, 1993. The primary objective of this mission was the deployment of a $200-million NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-F). A diffuse X-ray spectrometer (DXS) carried in the payload bay, collected over 80,000 seconds of quality X-ray data that will enable investigators to answer questions about the origin of the Milky Way galaxy. The crew demonstrated the physics principles of everyday toys to an interactive audience of elementary school students across the United States. A highly successful extra-vehicular activity (EVA) resulted in many lessons learned that will benefit International Space Station assembly. Mission duration was 5 days, 23 hours, 38 minutes, 17 seconds. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=604816 | 1,211,102 |
1,357,258 | In the late 1990s utility computing re-surfaced. InsynQ, Inc. launched [on-demand] applications and desktop hosting services in 1997 using HP equipment. In 1998, HP set up the Utility Computing Division in Mountain View, CA, assigning former Bell Labs computer scientists to begin work on a computing power plant, incorporating multiple utilities to form a software stack. Services such as "IP billing-on-tap" were marketed. HP introduced the Utility Data Center in 2001. Sun announced the Sun Cloud service to consumers in 2000. In December 2005, Alexa launched Alexa Web Search Platform, a Web search building tool for which the underlying power is utility computing. Alexa charges users for storage, utilization, etc. There is space in the market for specific industries and applications as well as other niche applications powered by utility computing. For example, PolyServe Inc. offers a clustered file system based on commodity server and storage hardware that creates highly available utility computing environments for mission-critical applications including Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server databases, as well as workload optimized solutions specifically tuned for bulk storage, high-performance computing, vertical industries such as financial services, seismic processing, and content serving. The Database Utility and File Serving Utility enable IT organizations to independently add servers or storage as needed, retask workloads to different hardware, and maintain the environment without disruption. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1985147 | 1,356,508 |
1,839,667 | The history of the instrument can be traced back to 2007, during the XII Latin American Regional IAU Meeting (LARIM) held in Isla de Margarita (Venezuela). Argentinian radio astronomers discussed the idea with colleagues from South America. The search for the best place for a submillimeter (wavelength less than 1 mm) telescope had started in Argentina in 2003, with a 210 GHz "tipper" which was installed in different places to investigate the atmospheric opacity. During the XXVII General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro, the project gained a name in a document authored by the leading scientists of the project. In the same document, scientists also proposed the initial science, budget, strategies for construction, site, and other matters. The formal presentation before the Argentinian Science Ministry (MinCyT) was in 2010, while a meeting held at the offices of FAPESP in August 2011 was the kickoff in Brazil. In 2011, MinCyT ranked LLAMA as its astronomical project and in 2012, FAPESP approved a €7 M grant. The final agreement, between MinCyT, FAPESP and Universidade de São Paulo (USP), was signed in June 2014, and on July 9, it was formally presented to the public. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43566075 | 1,838,615 |
124,263 | In the Mantoux test, a standard dose of 5 tuberculin units (TU - 0.1 ml), according to the CDC, or 2 TU of Statens Serum Institute (SSI) tuberculin RT23 in 0.1 ml solution, according to the National Health Service, is injected intradermally (between the layers of dermis) on the flexor surface of the left forearm, mid-way between elbow and wrist. The injection should be made with a tuberculin syringe, with the needle bevel facing upward. When placed correctly, injection should produce a pale wheal of the skin, 6 to 10 mm in diameter. The result of the test is read after 48–96 hours but 72 hours (3rd day) is the ideal. This intradermal injection is termed the Mantoux technique. A person who has been exposed to the bacteria is expected to mount an immune response in the skin containing the bacterial proteins. The response is a classical example of delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction (DTH), a type IV of hypersensitivities. T cells and myeloid cells are attracted to the site of reaction in 1–3 days and generate local inflammation. The reaction is read by measuring the diameter of induration (palpable raised, hardened area) across the forearm (perpendicular to the long axis) in millimeters. If there is no induration, the result should be recorded as "0 mm". Erythema (redness) should not be measured. In the Pirquet version of the test tuberculin is applied to the skin via scarification. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54995 | 124,212 |
1,616,800 | Ferrichrome is a siderophore, which are metal chelating agents that have a low molecular mass and are produced by microorganisms and plants growing under low iron conditions. The main function of siderophores is to chelate ferric iron (Fe) from insoluble minerals from the environment and make it available for microbial and plant cells. Iron is important in biological functions as it acts as a catalyst in enzymatic processes, as well as for electron transfer, DNA and RNA synthesis, and oxygen metabolism. Although iron is the fourth most abundant element in the earth’s crust, bioavailability of iron in aerobic environments is low due to formation of insoluble ferric hydroxides. Under iron limitation, bacteria scavenge for ferric iron (Fe) by up-regulating the secretion of siderophores in order to meet their nutritional requirements. Recent studies have shown that ferrichrome has been used as a tumor- suppressive molecule produced by L. casei. The study from the Department of Medicine and Asahikawa Medical University, suggests that ferrichrome has a greater tumor-suppressive effect than other drugs currently used to fight colon cancer, including cisplatin and 5-fluoro-uracil. Ferrichrome also had less of an effect on non-cancerous intestinal cells than the two previously mentioned cancer fighting drugs. It was determined that ferrichrome activated the C-Jun N-terminal kinases, which induced apoptosis. The induction of apoptosis by ferrichrome is reduced by the inhibition of the c-jun N-terminal kinase signaling pathway. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23484902 | 1,615,889 |
1,062,903 | Fundamental to space architecture is designing for physical and psychological wellness in space. What often is taken for granted on Earth – air, water, food, trash disposal – must be designed for in fastidious detail. Rigorous exercise regimens are required to alleviate muscular atrophy and other effects of space on the body. That space missions are (optimally) fixed in duration can lead to stress from isolation. This problem is not unlike that faced in remote research stations or military tours of duty, although non-standard gravity conditions can exacerbate feelings of unfamiliarity and homesickness. Furthermore, confinement in limited and unchanging physical spaces appears to magnify interpersonal tensions in small crews and contribute to other negative psychological effects. These stresses can be mitigated by establishing regular contact with family and friends on Earth, maintaining health, incorporating recreational activities, and bringing along familiar items such as photographs and green plants. The importance of these psychological measures can be appreciated in the 1968 Soviet 'DLB Lunar Base' design: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23516569 | 1,062,349 |
634,123 | The thin layer of slippery gravel of Sardegna meant a late road position would be helpful for a good result. Sordo and del Barrio made full use of this advantage to build a commanding lead of over thirty seconds going onto Sunday. The Spanish crew eventually won the rally for the second straight year although their i20's rear subframe was inspected and deemed to be underweight post-race. There was an epic battle for the runner-up spot between the crew of Neuville and Gilsoul and world champions Ogier and Ingrassia, with Neuville and Gilsoul ultimately coming out on top. The top three crews were separated by only 6.1 seconds, the smallest margin to cover the podium places in WRC history. With a 1-2 finish, Hyundai reclaimed the championship lead. Rovanperä and Halttunen had a weekend to forget. The Finnish crew first rolled their Yaris in the Shakedown on Thursday, and then retired from the rally on Saturday when they crashed out. Lappi and Ferm also retired from the event due to a terminal engine failure. A suspension issue saw reigning world champions Tänak and Järveoja only manage to complete the rally in sixth position, but they won the Power Stage to score five bonus points. Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais enjoyed a trouble-free weekend, scoring their first points in a World Rally Car by finishing seventh overall. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60663941 | 633,785 |
364,184 | Diatoms are ecologically successful, and occur in virtually every environment that contains water – not only oceans, seas, lakes, and streams, but also soil and wetlands. The use of silicon by diatoms is believed by many researchers to be the key to this ecological success. Raven (1983) noted that, relative to organic cell walls, silica frustules require less energy to synthesize (approximately 8% of a comparable organic wall), potentially a significant saving on the overall cell energy budget. In a now classic study, Egge and Aksnes (1992) found that diatom dominance of mesocosm communities was directly related to the availability of silicic acid – when concentrations were greater than 2 μmol m, they found that diatoms typically represented more than 70% of the phytoplankton community. Other researchers have suggested that the biogenic silica in diatom cell walls acts as an effective pH buffering agent, facilitating the conversion of bicarbonate to dissolved CO (which is more readily assimilated). More generally, notwithstanding these possible advantages conferred by their use of silicon, diatoms typically have higher growth rates than other algae of the same corresponding size. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=46374 | 363,994 |
341,199 | The earliest vacuum tubes strongly resembled incandescent light bulbs and were made by lamp manufacturers, who had the equipment needed to manufacture glass envelopes and the vacuum pumps required to evacuate the enclosures. de Forest used Heinrich Geissler's mercury displacement pump, which left behind a partial vacuum. The development of the diffusion pump in 1915 and improvement by Irving Langmuir led to the development of high-vacuum tubes. After World War I, specialized manufacturers using more economical construction methods were set up to fill the growing demand for broadcast receivers. Bare tungsten filaments operated at a temperature of around 2200 °C. The development of oxide-coated filaments in the mid-1920s reduced filament operating temperature to a dull red heat (around 700 °C), which in turn reduced thermal distortion of the tube structure and allowed closer spacing of tube elements. This in turn improved tube gain, since the gain of a triode is inversely proportional to the spacing between grid and cathode. Bare tungsten filaments remain in use in small transmitting tubes but are brittle and tend to fracture if handled roughly—e.g. in the postal services. These tubes are best suited to stationary equipment where impact and vibration is not present. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32496 | 341,018 |
117,146 | In the early 20th century, epidemics of polio began to hit the United States and other industrialized countries. As hospitals filled with patients in iron lungs, and tens of thousands were left disabled, the fear of polio grew, leading to the closing of many public facilities. Meanwhile, Dr. Jonas Salk had set up the University of Pittsburgh's Virus Research Lab in the basement of what is now Salk Hall. By 1951, Salk and his team had begun immunization experiments in monkeys using dead polio virus. Soon, however, Salk began to test inoculations in paralyzed polio patients and by 1953 human trials among the general population were initiated. By the spring of the following year, the largest controlled field trials in medical history were underway, and by 1955 the vaccine developed by Salk and his researchers was declared effective. By 1962, Salk's vaccine had reduced the incidence of polio in the United States by 95 percent. The breakthroughs in immunology and vaccine development at Pitt by Salk and his team are considered one of the most significant scientific and medical achievements in history. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=239870 | 117,101 |
646,843 | Laboratory quality control is designed to detect, reduce, and correct deficiencies in a laboratory's internal analytical process prior to the release of patient results, in order to improve the quality of the results reported by the laboratory. Quality control (QC) is a measure of precision, or how well the measurement system reproduces the same result over time and under varying operating conditions. Laboratory quality control material is usually run at the beginning of each shift, after an instrument is serviced, when reagent lots are changed, after equipment calibration, and whenever patient results seem inappropriate. Quality control material should approximate the same matrix as patient specimens, taking into account properties such as viscosity, turbidity, composition, and color. It should be simple to use, with minimal vial-to-vial variability, because variability could be misinterpreted as systematic error in the method or instrument. It should be stable for long periods of time, and available in large enough quantities for a single batch to last at least one year. Liquid controls are more convenient than lyophilized (freeze-dried) controls because they do not have to be reconstituted, minimizing pipetting error. Dried Tube Specimen (DTS) is slightly cumbersome as a QC material but it is very low-cost, stable over long periods and efficient, especially useful for resource-restricted settings in under-developed and developing countries. DTS can be manufactured in-house by a laboratory or Blood Bank for its use. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17272221 | 646,503 |
946,099 | When Abel entered the university in 1821, he was already the most knowledgeable mathematician in Norway. Holmboe had nothing more he could teach him and Abel had studied all the latest mathematical literature in the university library. During that time, Abel started working on the quintic equation in radicals. Mathematicians had been looking for a solution to this problem for over 250 years. In 1821, Abel thought he had found the solution. The two professors of mathematics in Christiania, Søren Rasmussen and Christopher Hansteen, found no errors in Abel's formulas, and sent the work on to the leading mathematician in the Nordic countries, Carl Ferdinand Degen in Copenhagen. He too found no faults but still doubted that the solution, which so many outstanding mathematicians had sought for so long, could really have been found by an unknown student in far-off Christiania. Degen noted, however, Abel's unusually sharp mind, and believed that such a talented young man should not waste his abilities on such a "sterile object" as the fifth degree equation, but rather on elliptic functions and transcendence; for then, wrote Degen, he would "discover Magellanian thoroughfares to large portions of a vast analytical ocean". Degen asked Abel to give a numerical example of his method. While trying to provide an example, Abel found a mistake in his paper. This led to a discovery in 1823 that a solution to a fifth- or higher-degree equation was impossible. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21573 | 945,596 |
523,788 | Conductive anodic filaments (CAFs) may grow within the boards along the fibers of the composite material. Metal is introduced to a vulnerable surface typically from plating the vias, then migrates in presence of ions, moisture, and electrical potential; drilling damage and poor glass-resin bonding promotes such failures. The formation of CAFs usually begins by poor glass-resin bonding; a layer of adsorbed moisture then provides a channel through which ions and corrosion products migrate. In presence of chloride ions, the precipitated material is atacamite; its semiconductive properties lead to increased current leakage, deteriorated dielectric strength, and short circuits between traces. Absorbed glycols from flux residues aggravate the problem. The difference in thermal expansion of the fibers and the matrix weakens the bond when the board is soldered; the lead-free solders which require higher soldering temperatures increase the occurrence of CAFs. Besides this, CAFs depend on absorbed humidity; below a certain threshold, they do not occur. Delamination may occur to separate the board layers, cracking the vias and conductors to introduce pathways for corrosive contaminants and migration of conductive species. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26626178 | 523,516 |
446,380 | In 2018 the MIT Energy Initiative study on the future of nuclear energy concluded that, together with the strong suggestion that government should financially support development and demonstration of new Generation IV nuclear technologies, for a worldwide renaissance to commence, a global standardization of regulations needs to take place, with a move towards serial manufacturing of standardized units akin to the other complex engineering field of aircraft and aviation. At present it is common for each country to demand bespoke changes to the design to satisfy varying national regulatory bodies, often to the benefit of domestic engineering supply firms. The report goes on to note that the most cost-effective projects have been built with multiple (up to six) reactors per site using a standardized design, with the same component suppliers and construction crews working on each unit, in a continuous work flow. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36030827 | 446,164 |
870,024 | In Enron's natural gas business, the accounting had been fairly straightforward: in each time period, the company listed actual costs of supplying the gas and actual revenues received from selling it. However, when Skilling joined the company, he demanded that the trading business adopt mark-to-market accounting, claiming that it would represent "true economic value". Enron became the first nonfinancial company to use the method to account for its complex long-term contracts. Mark-to-market accounting requires that once a long-term contract has been signed, income is estimated as the present value of net future cash flow. Often, the viability of these contracts and their related costs were difficult to estimate. Owing to the large discrepancies between reported profits and cash, investors were typically given false or misleading reports. Under this method, income from projects could be recorded, although the firm might never have received the money, with this income increasing financial earnings on the books. However, because in future years the profits could not be included, new and additional income had to be included from more projects to develop additional growth to appease investors. As one Enron competitor stated, "If you accelerate your income, then you have to keep doing more and more deals to show the same or rising income." Despite potential pitfalls, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the accounting method for Enron in its trading of natural gas futures contracts on January 30, 1992. However, Enron later expanded its use to other areas in the company to help it meet Wall Street projections. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=457618 | 869,564 |
626,869 | In another case study of a 50-year-old woman who had symptoms consistent with MCS, administration of zolpidem, a sedative hypnotic drug improved the patient's condition significantly. Without treatment, the patient showed signs of mutism, athetoid movements of the extremities, and complete dependence for all personal care. 45 minutes after 5 to 10 mg of zolpidem was administered, the patient ceased the athetoid movements, regained speaking ability, and was able to self-feed. The effect lasted 3–4 hours from which she returned to the former state. The effects were repeated on a daily basis. PET scans showed that after zolpidem was administered, there was a marked increase in blood flow to areas of the brain adjacent to or distant from damaged tissues. In this case, these areas were the ipsilateral cerebral hemispheres and the cerebellum. These areas are thought to have been inhibited by the site of injury through a GABA-mediated mechanism and the inhibition was modified by zolpidem which is a GABA agonist. The fact that zolpidem is a sedative drug that induces sleep in normal people but causes arousal in a MCS patient is paradoxical. The mechanisms to why this effect occurs is not entirely clear. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2213172 | 626,536 |
1,211,030 | After the Second World War, interest focused towards the fundaments of electrochemical reactions. Among other developments, the potentiostat (1937) enabled such studies. A critical advance was provided by the work of Carl Wagner and Veniamin Levich in 1962 who linked the hydrodynamics of a flowing electrolyte towards a rotating disc electrode with the mass transport control of the electrochemical reaction through a rigorous mathematical treatment. The same year, Wagner described for the first time "The Scope of Electrochemical Engineering" as a separated discipline from a physicochemical perspective. During 60s and 70s Charles W. Tobias, who is regarded as the "father of electrochemical engineering" by the Electrochemical Society, was concerned with ionic transport by diffusion, migration, and convection, exact solutions of potential and current distribution problems, conductance in heterogeneous media, quantitative description of processes in porous electrodes. Also in the 60s, John Newman pioneered the study of many of the physicochemical laws that govern electrochemical systems, demonstrating how complex electrochemical processes could be analysed mathematically to correctly formulate and solve problems associated with batteries, fuel cells, electrolyzers and related technologies. In Switzerland, Norbert Ibl contributed with experimental and theoretical studies of mass transfer and potential distribution in electrolyses, especially at porous electrodes. Fumio Hine carried out equivalent developments in Japan. Several individuals, including Kuhn, Kreysa, Rousar, Fleischmann, Alkire, Coeuret, Pletcher and Walsh established many other training centers and, with their colleagues, developed important experimental and theoretical methods of study. Currently, the main tasks of electrochemical engineering consist in the development of efficient, safe and sustainable technologies for the production of chemicals, metal recovery, remediation and decontamination technologies as well as the design of fuel cells, flow batteries and industrial electrochemical reactors. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30129507 | 1,210,382 |
1,723,954 | The central focus of the sub-field of Computational anatomy (CA) within medical imaging is mapping information across anatomical coordinate systems at the 1 millimeter morphome scale. In CA mapping of dense information measured within Magnetic resonance image (MRI) based coordinate systems such as in the brain has been solved via inexact matching of 3D MR images one onto the other. The earliest introduction of the use of diffeomorphic mapping via large deformation flows of diffeomorphisms for transformation of coordinate systems in image analysis and medical imaging was by Christensen, Rabbitt and Miller and Trouve. The introduction of flows, which are akin to the equations of motion used in fluid dynamics, exploit the notion that dense coordinates in image analysis follow the Lagrangian and Eulerian equations of motion. This model becomes more appropriate for cross-sectional studies in which brains and or hearts are not necessarily deformations of one to the other. Methods based on linear or non-linear elasticity energetics which grows with distance from the identity mapping of the template, is not appropriate for cross-sectional study. Rather, in models based on Lagrangian and Eulerian flows of diffeomorphisms, the constraint is associated to topological properties, such as open sets being preserved, coordinates not crossing implying uniqueness and existence of the inverse mapping, and connected sets remaining connected. The use of diffeomorphic methods grew quickly to dominate the field of mapping methods post Christensen's original paper, with fast and symmetric methods becoming available. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49418115 | 1,722,984 |
96,017 | "P. aeruginosa" is an opportunistic pathogen with the ability to coordinate gene expression in order to compete against other species for nutrients or colonization. Regulation of gene expression can occur through cell-cell communication or quorum sensing (QS) via the production of small molecules called autoinducers that are released into the external environment. These signals, when reaching specific concentrations correlated with specific population cell densities, activate their respective regulators thus altering gene expression and coordinating behavior. "P. aeruginosa" employs five interconnected QS systems – las, rhl, pqs, iqs, and pch – that each produce unique signaling molecules. The las and rhl systems are responsible for the activation of numerous QS-controlled genes, the pqs system is involved in quinolone signaling, and the iqs system plays an important role in intercellular communication. QS in "P. aeruginosa" is organized in a hierarchical manner. At the top of the signaling hierarchy is the las system, since the las regulator initiates the QS regulatory system by activating the transcription of a number of other regulators, such as rhl. So, the las system defines a hierarchical QS cascade from the las to the rhl regulons. Detection of these molecules indicates "P. aeruginosa" is growing as biofilm within the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. The impact of QS and especially las systems on the pathogenicity of "P. aeruginosa" is unclear, however. Studies have shown that lasR-deficient mutants are associated with more severe outcomes in cystic fibrosis patients and are found in up to 63% of chronically infected cystic fibrosis patients despite impaired QS activity. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2459654 | 95,976 |
276,537 | In Sweden, Meitner continued her research as best she could. She measured the neutron cross sections of thorium, lead and uranium using dysprosium as a neutron detector, an assay technique pioneered by George de Hevesy and Hilde Levi. She was able to arrange for Hedwig Kohn, who faced deportation to Poland, to come to Sweden, and eventually to emigrate to the United States, travelling via the Soviet Union. She was unsuccessful in bringing Stefen Meyer out, but he managed to survive the war. She declined an offer to join Frisch on the British mission to the Manhattan Project at the Los Alamos Laboratory, declaring "I will have nothing to do with a bomb!" She later said that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had come as a surprise to her, and that she was "sorry that the bomb had to be invented". After the war, Meitner acknowledged her own moral failing in staying in Germany from 1933 to 1938. She wrote: "It was not only stupid but very wrong that I did not leave at once." She not only regretted her inaction during this period, she was also bitterly critical of Hahn, Max von Laue, Werner Heisenberg, and other German scientists. In a June 1945 letter addressed to Hahn, but that he never received, she wrote: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18070 | 276,387 |
1,956,558 | Sharp's major papers included those on the Coleoptera of the Hawaiian Islands published by the Entomological Society of London in 1878, 1879 and 1880. These were followed in 1899 and 1908 by the "Fauna Hawaiiensis" brought out by the Royal Society. This was followed by his work on the "Beetles of Central America", prepared chiefly from material collected by Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin, and published in 1894 and later years in that monumental work known as the "Fauna Centrali-Americana". In 1895 appeared the first volume of the "Insecta" in the Cambridge Natural History, this being followed by the second volume in 1899. Of their influence on the advancement of entomology, and especially of our knowledge of insects as living things, too much cannot be said. The publication was so popular that it prevented him for producing a new edition incorporating improvements in the classification of the insects. He published on the topic in the "Entomologist". In 1910 the "Insecta" was translated into Russian by N. Y. Kuznetsov. In 1912 the Entomological Society of London, with the assistance of the Royal Society, brought out as Part III of the Transactions "The Comparative Anatomy of the Male Genital Tube in Coleoptera" by Sharp & Muir, an exhaustive treatise of 166 pages, and 37 plates. All the beetle families were examined, and the results of numerous dissections are included in this highly influential work on the beetle families. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5432229 | 1,955,434 |
2,036,864 | The Edison Tech Center reached over 2 million visitors online last year (2014) between its website and online video channels. The organization publishes new media and television programs on prominent engineers of the electrical age and various technologies. Since 2008 the center has expanded its online presence to include videos and more in-depth web pages. The website provides information on everything from the history of the transformer to locations showcasing the latest in engineering. Since the early years of the organization the focus shifted from only General Electric's history to pioneers of technology from all parts of the world. Engineers from government and private companies have contributed time and content to various projects including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Seagate Technology, University of California, Santa Barbara, IPU (Moscow), International Federation of Automatic Control, Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, Union College and of course General Electric. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32838426 | 2,035,689 |
1,249,162 | Several authors discussed the question of how the animal died and what circumstances led to its exceptionally good preservation. Charles H. Sternberg, in 1909, and Charles M. Sternberg, in 1970, assumed that the animal died in water. The gases accumulating in the abdomen after death would have floated the carcass, with the belly pointing upwards and the head moving into its final position under the shoulder. The carcass would then have sunk to the bottom to come to rest on its back, and become covered by sediments. The skin would have been drawn into the body cavity by the load of the sediments or due to the escape of the gases. Osborn suggested another scenario in 1911: the animal could have died a natural death, and the carcass would have been exposed to the sun for a longer time in a dry riverbed, unaffected by scavengers. Muscles and intestines would have completely dried out and thus shrunk, whereby the hard and leathery skin sank into the body cavity and finally adhered tightly to the bones, forming a natural mummy. At the end of the dry season, the mummy would have been hit by a sudden flood, transported a distance and quickly covered with sediments at the embedding site. The fine grain size of the sediment (fine river sand with sufficient clay content) would have led to the perfect impressions of the filigree skin structures before the hardened skin could soften. Today Osborn's hypothesis is considered the most probable. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9726532 | 1,248,486 |
112,811 | The recent article, "Shift happens: online education as a new paradigm in learning", Linda Harasim covers an overview of the history of online education as well as a framework for understanding the type of need it addresses, the concept of distance learning has already been invented for many centuries. The value of online education is not found in its ability to have established a method for distance learning, but rather in its power to make this type of learning process more efficient by providing a medium in which the instructor and their students can virtually interact with one another in real-time. The topic of online education started primarily in the late 1900s when institutions and businesses started to make products to assist students' learning. These groups desired a need to further develop educational services across the globe, primarily to developing countries. In 1960, the University of Illinois created a system of linked computer terminals, known as the Intranet, to give students access to recorded lectures and course materials that they could watch or use in their free time. This type of concept, called PLATO (programmed logic for automatic teaching operations), was rapidly introduced throughout the globe. Many institutions adopted this similar technique while the internet was in its developmental phase. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1944675 | 112,766 |
1,007,040 | The combination of magnetron, T-R switch, small antenna and high resolution allowed small, powerful radars to be installed in aircraft. Maritime patrol aircraft could detect objects as small as submarine periscopes, allowing aircraft to track and attack submerged submarines, where before only surfaced submarines could be detected. However, according to the latest reports on the history U.S. Navy periscope detection the first minimal possibilities for periscope detection appeared only during 50's and 60's and the problem was not completely solved even on the turn of the millennium. In addition, radar could detect the submarine at a much greater range than visual observation, not only in daylight but at night, when submarines had previously been able to surface and recharge their batteries safely. Centimetric contour mapping radars such as "H2S", and the even higher-frequency American-created H2X, allowed new tactics in the strategic bombing campaign. Centimetric gun-laying radars were much more accurate than older technology; radar improved Allied naval gunnery and, together with the proximity fuze, made anti-aircraft guns much more effective. The two new systems used by anti-aircraft batteries are credited with destroying many V-1 flying bombs in the late summer of 1944. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27693223 | 1,006,521 |
1,908,772 | David Evans' research focuses primarily on the evolution and paleobiology of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs, particularly in North American ecosystems. He has published extensively on various aspects of hadrosaurs, following his undergraduate and doctoral dissertations, including phylogenetics, development, biostratigraphy, pathology, and anatomy. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and has several publications in leading scientific journals, including Biological Reviews, Current Biology, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Nature Communications, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, and Science, and has contributed book chapters to several edited volumes. Evans' current research interests focus primarily on the vast majority of the well-known Late Cretaceous dinosaur clades found in western North America, and he maintains active fieldwork programs in Alberta and Montana. He has also conducted research on dinosaur material from Mongolia and tetrapod-bearing deposits in Sudan. Evans has also been involved with both fieldwork and research of the Early Jurassic sauropodomorph "Massospondylus" from South Africa and has conducted research on pelycosaurian-grade Permian synapsids, Permian temnospondyls, the iconic Pleistocene felid "Smilodon", and choristoderes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62883473 | 1,907,675 |
1,079,017 | As multibeam acoustic frequencies have increased and the cost of components has decreased, the worldwide number of multibeam swath systems in operation has increased significantly. The required physical size of an acoustic transducer used to develop multiple high-resolution beams, decreases as the multibeam acoustic frequency increases. Consequently, increases in the operating frequencies of multibeam sonars have resulted in significant decreases in their weight, size and volume characteristics. The older and larger, lower-frequency multibeam sonar systems, that required considerable time and effort mounting them onto a ship's hull, employed conventional tonpliz-type transducer elements, which provided a usable bandwidth of approximately 1/3 octave. The newer and smaller, higher-frequency multibeam sonar systems can easily be attached to a survey launch or to a tender vessel. Shallow water multibeam echosounders, like those from Teledyne Odom, R2Sonic and Norbit, which can incorporate sensors for measuring transducer motion and sound speed local to the transducer, are allowing many smaller hydrographic survey companies to move from traditional single beam echosounders to multibeam echosounders. Small low-power multibeam swath systems are also now suitable for mounting on an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and on an Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7125022 | 1,078,462 |
1,882,543 | Baxter's biggest clashes with academic staff were over governance issues. He had a preference for industry-style organisation, with clear lines of authority. In 1957, he created a committee of deans, chaired by himself, that met every Wednesday. This became the vice-chancellor's advisory committee in 1960. Through this he created an administrative mechanism which set the university free from the traditional constraints. He did away with the election of deans by the faculty, replacing it with one in which deans were appointed by the University Council on his recommendation. This provided for more efficient administration, but violated the academic tradition of a dean being "primus inter pares" among academic colleagues. This aroused the ire of academic staff, and in the end a compromise was reached whereby each faculty elected a chairman who was responsible for academic matters, while the council appointed a dean who was in charge of administrative matters. This proved to be quite successful, and was retained by Baxter's successors. Ronald Hartwell characterised Baxter's administration as "unusual, undemocratic and unacademic". His successor, Rupert Myers, declared that: "History will show Sir Philip Baxter to have been a great educational administrator who built a fine university and made many beneficial changes in the ways universities handled their business and interacted with governments and the community." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18243283 | 1,881,462 |
962,575 | On 30 September 1846, Morton administered diethyl ether to Eben Frost, a music teacher from Boston, for a dental extraction. Two weeks later, Morton became the first to publicly demonstrate the use of diethyl ether as a general anesthetic at Massachusetts General Hospital, in what is known today as the Ether Dome. On 16 October 1846, John Collins Warren removed a tumor from the neck of a local printer, Edward Gilbert Abbott. Upon completion of the procedure, Warren reportedly quipped, "Gentlemen, this is no humbug." News of this event rapidly traveled around the world. Robert Liston performed the first amputation in December of that year. Morton published his experience soon after. Harvard University professor Charles Thomas Jackson (1805–1880) later claimed that Morton stole his idea; Morton disagreed and a lifelong dispute began. For many years, Morton was credited as being the pioneer of general anesthesia in the Western hemisphere, despite the fact that his demonstration occurred four years after Long's initial experience. Long later petitioned William Crosby Dawson (1798–1856), a United States Senator from Georgia at that time, to support his claim on the floor of the United States Senate as the first to use ether anesthesia. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28755089 | 962,066 |
250,605 | The Wrights continued flying at Huffman Prairie near Dayton, Ohio in 1904–05. In May 1904 they introduced the Flyer II, a heavier and improved version of the original Flyer. On 23 June 1905, they first flew a third machine, the Flyer III. After a severe crash on 14 July 1905, they rebuilt the Flyer III and made important design changes. They almost doubled the size of the elevator and rudder and moved them about twice the distance from the wings. They added two fixed vertical vanes (called "blinkers") between the elevators and gave the wings a very slight dihedral. They disconnected the rudder from the wing-warping control, and as in all future aircraft, placed it on a separate control handle. When flights resumed the results were immediate. The serious pitch instability that hampered Flyers I and II was significantly reduced, so repeated minor crashes were eliminated. Flights with the redesigned Flyer III started lasting over 10 minutes, then 20, then 30. Flyer III became the first practical aircraft (though without wheels and needing a launching device), flying consistently under full control and bringing its pilot back to the starting point safely and landing without damage. On 5 October 1905, Wilbur flew in 39 minutes 23 seconds." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=177680 | 250,472 |
991,442 | In the early 18th century, George Hadley, an English lawyer and amateur meteorologist, was dissatisfied with the theory that the astronomer Edmond Halley had proposed for explaining the trade winds. What was no doubt correct in Halley's theory was that solar heating creates upward motion of equatorial air, and air mass from neighboring latitudes must flow in to replace the risen air mass. But for the westward component of the trade winds Halley had proposed that in moving across the sky the Sun heats the air mass differently over the course of the day. Hadley was not satisfied with that part of Halley's theory and rightly so. Hadley was the first to recognize that the earth's rotation plays a role in the direction taken by an air mass as it moves relative to the earth. Hadley's theory, published in 1735, remained unknown, but it was rediscovered independently several times. Among the re-discoverers was John Dalton, who later learned of Hadley's priority. Over time the mechanism proposed by Hadley became accepted, and over time his name was increasingly attached to it. By the end of the 19th century it was shown that Hadley's theory was deficient in several respects. One of the first who accounted for the dynamics correctly was William Ferrel. It took many decades for the correct theory to become accepted, and even today Hadley's theory can still be encountered occasionally, particularly in popular books and websites. Hadley's theory was the generally accepted theory long enough to make his name become universally attached to the circulation pattern in the tropical atmosphere. In 1980 Isaac Held and Arthur Hou developed the Held-Hou Model to describe the Hadley circulation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6953458 | 990,925 |
374,647 | In the 1930s, Salvador Mazza rekindled Chagas disease research, describing over a thousand cases in Argentina's Chaco Province. In Argentina, the disease is known as "mal de Chagas-Mazza" in his honor. Serological tests for Chagas disease were introduced in the 1940s, demonstrating that infection with was widespread across Latin America. This, combined with successes eliminating the malaria vector through insecticide use, spurred the creation of public health campaigns focused on treating houses with insecticides to eradicate triatomine bugs. The 1950s saw the discovery that treating blood with crystal violet could eradicate the parasite, leading to its widespread use in transfusion screening programs in Latin America. Large-scale control programs began to take form in the 1960s, first in São Paulo, then various locations in Argentina, then national-level programs across Latin America. These programs received a major boost in the 1980s with the introduction of pyrethroid insecticides, which did not leave stains or odors after application and were longer-lasting and more cost-effective. Regional bodies dedicated to controlling Chagas disease arose through support of the Pan American Health Organization, with the Initiative of the Southern Cone for the Elimination of Chagas Diseases launching in 1991, followed by the Initiative of the Andean countries (1997), Initiative of the Central American countries (1997), and the Initiative of the Amazon countries (2004). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7012 | 374,452 |
1,778,405 | Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization maps out single copy or repetitive DNA sequences through localization labeling of specific nucleic acids. The technique utilizes different DNA probes labeled with fluorescent tags that bind to one or more specific regions of the genome. It labels all individual chromosomes at every stage of cell division to display structural and numerical abnormalities that may arise throughout the cycle. This is done with a probe that can be locus specific, centromeric, telomeric, and whole-chromosomal. This technique is typically performed on interphase cells and paraffin block tissues. FISH maps out single copy or repetitive DNA sequences through localization labeling of specific nucleic acids. The technique utilizes different DNA probes labeled with fluorescent tags that bind to one or more specific regions of the genome. Signals from the fluorescent tags can be seen with microscopy, and mutations can be seen by comparing these signals to healthy cells. For this to work, DNA must be denatured using heat or chemicals to break the hydrogen bonds; this allows hybridization to occur once two samples are mixed. The fluorescent probes create new hydrogen bonds, thus repairing DNA with their complementary bases, which can be detected through microscopy. FISH allows one to visualize different parts of the chromosome at different stages of the cell cycle. FISH can either be performed as a direct approach to metaphase chromosomes or interphase nuclei. Alternatively, an indirect approach can be taken in which the entire genome can be assessed for copy number changes using virtual karyotyping. Virtual karyotypes are generated from microarrays made of thousands to millions of probes, and computational tools are used to recreate the genome "in silico". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8036853 | 1,777,403 |
778,827 | The dating and text of early manuscripts of the Qur'an have been used as evidence in support of the traditional Islamic views and by sceptics to cast doubt on it. The high number of manuscripts and fragments present from the first 100 years after the reported canonization have made the text one ripe for academic discussion. Founder of the revisionist Islamic studies movement in the mid 20th century, John Wansbrough, used the content in the Qur'an as a reference point for ascertaining that it was likely influenced by the Umayyad court, and believed its cannon to have likely happened around the same time as that of the Islamic Hadith movement. Although never the dominant academic view, with the advent of radiocarbon dating, the view is currently held only by a few scholars. The more recently uncovered Birmingham Quran manuscript holds significance amongst scholarship because of its early dating and potential overlap with the lifetime of Muhammad to 632 CE, (the proposed radiocarbon dating gives a 95.4% confidence that the animal whose skin made the manuscript parchment was killed sometime between calendar years 568–645 CE). The text's identitcal reflection of the contemporary standard text of the Quran has generally lent credence to early Muslim narratives and provided a retort for historic criticisms levied at the text. Emilio Platti, Professor Emeritus at the Catholic University of Leuven, for example holds that "scholars largely refuse today the late dating of the earliest copies of the Qurʾān proposed for example by John Wansbrough". David Thomas, professor of Christianity and Islam at the University of Birmingham, states that "the parts of the Qur’an that are written on this parchment can, with a degree of confidence, be dated to less than two decades after Muhammad’s death." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47323795 | 778,410 |
331,581 | "IGN" wrote a positive review, describing it as "an incredibly complex "World War II" simulation that will require potentially hundreds of hours to master, both in-game and poring over wiki articles that read like an economics textbook", but adding that "the payoff is brilliant for those willing to put in the time to learn". The review praised the layout, writing "thanks to an unusually striking look and clean, easily navigable interface, the biggest challenges "Hearts of Iron 4" presents us with are the good kind: strategic planning, division composition, and fine-tuning economic and political policies". "IGN" went on to conclude that "Hearts of Iron IV" "is a strong contender for the title of the ultimate armchair-general game. The biggest problems I can point to are almost all performance-related, putting a slow, frustrating finale on what is otherwise an ingeniously detailed strategic stimulation of just about every aspect of 20th-century global warfare". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41721218 | 331,404 |
979,118 | Consumption of energy resources, (e.g. turning on a light) requires resources and has an effect on the environment. Many electric power plants burn coal, oil or natural gas in order to generate electricity for energy needs. While burning these fossil fuels produces a readily available and instantaneous supply of electricity, it also generates air pollutants including carbon dioxide (CO), sulfur dioxide and trioxide (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas which is thought to be responsible for some fraction of the rapid increase in climate change seen especially in the temperature records in the 20th century, as compared with tens of thousands of years worth of temperature records which can be read from ice cores taken in Arctic regions. Burning fossil fuels for electricity generation also releases trace metals such as beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, manganese, mercury, nickel, and silver into the environment, which also act as pollutants. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2935251 | 978,607 |
1,185,079 | Production of the film started in summer 2018. On October 9, 2018, Boswell posted on his Twitter account an image of an early experiment of the film: a picture of an animated black hole. The screenshot differs from the final result absolutely: the extremely huge years numbers expressed with powers, no moving counter, and texts directly on the frame, instead of on the lower hard matte; There is not much statements about production of the film, other than that "Creating it required months of research into physical cosmology, where speculations about the ultimate fate of the universe are legion, and often contradictory." He stated that he was inspired, "years ago," by the idea of the Sun nearing its death in five billion years, asking: "What happens after that? What happens not in 5 billion years, but 5 trillion? The answers are out there, but they are piecemeal and not strung together in a compelling way. So I took the opportunity to create something unique that highlights our collective predictions about the future, both short-term and long-term." Writing the concept first involved research and then constructing the timeline which is "the scaffolding around which the visuals and music would be built." After writing, he then broke down the timeline to several, appropriate sequences. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64523088 | 1,184,451 |
1,003,826 | A patient's drug response can be predicted based on the status of biomarkers, or the severity and progression of the disease can be predicted based on the atypical presence of specific cells. Drop-qPCR is a droplet microfluidic technology in which droplets are transported in a reusable capillary and alternately flow through two areas maintained at different constant temperatures and fluorescence detection. It can be efficient with a low contamination risk to detect Her2. A digital droplet‐based PCR method can be used to detect the KRAS mutations with TaqMan probes, to enhance detection of the mutative gene ratio. In addition, accurate prediction of postoperative disease progression in breast or prostate cancer patients is essential for determining post-surgery treatment. A simple microfluidic chamber, coated with a carefully formulated extracellular matrix mixture. is used for cells obtained from tumor biopsy after 72 hours of growth and a thorough evaluation of cells by imaging. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18906 | 1,003,308 |
1,073,576 | Dynamic nanoindentation or continuous stiffness measurement (CSM, also offered commercially as CMX, dynamics...), introduced in 1989, is a significant improvement over the quasi-static mode described above. It consists into overlapping a very small, fast (> 40 Hz) oscillation onto the main loading signal and evaluate the magnitude of the resulting partial unloadings by a lock-in amplifier, so as to quasi-continuously determine the contact stiffness. This allows for the continuous evaluation of the hardness and Young's modulus of the material over the depth of the indentation, which is of great advantage with coatings and graded materials. The CSM method is also pivotal for the experimental determination of the local creep and strain-rate dependent mechanical properties of materials, as well as the local damping of visco-elastic materials. The harmonic amplitude of the oscillations is usually chosen around 2 nm (RMS), which is a trade-off value avoiding an underestimation of the stiffness due to the "dynamic unloading error" or the "plasticity error" during measurements on materials with unusually high elastic-to-plastic ratio (E/H > 150), such as soft metals. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4023692 | 1,073,022 |
383,057 | In 1908, two pathologists, Henri Alezais and Felix Peyron, introduced the scientific community to "paraganglioma" after they discovered extra-adrenal tissue that reacted to chromium salts, which mimicked the reaction of the adrenal medulla. Just four years later, German pathologist Ludwig Pick coined the term "pheochromocytoma" after he observed the consistent color change in tumors associated with the adrenal medulla. Many surgeons attempted to remove these tumors over the next decade, but their patients died intraoperatively from shock. In 1926, Charles Mayo (a founder of the Mayo Clinic) became the first physician to successfully excise a pheochromocytoma. However, Mayo was likely unaware of the diagnosis prior to the operation. Not until 1929 was a pheochromocytoma recognized preoperatively. Throughout the early 1900s, the operative mortality rate for a pheochromocytoma ranged from 30 to 45%. Retrospective series have postulated that these alarmingly high death rates were due to the lack of a pre-operative blockade with alpha and beta-adrenoceptor antagonist and the need for modern anesthesia practices. From this point forward, physician-scientists have been recognizing patterns in patients with pheochromocytoma and identifying genetic associations and various syndromes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=277088 | 382,862 |
1,013,999 | After Bataan and Corregidor, many who escaped the Japanese reorganized in the mountains as guerrillas still loyal to the U.S. Army Forces Far East (USAFFE). One example would be the unit of Ramon Magsaysay in Zambales, which first served as a supply and intelligence unit. After the surrender in May 1942, Magsaysay and his unit formed a guerrilla force which grew to a 10,000-man force by the end of the war. Another was the Hunters ROTC which operated in the Southern Luzon area, mainly near Manila. It was created upon dissolution of the Philippine Military Academy in the beginning days of the war. Cadet Terry Adivoso refused to simply go home as cadets were ordered to do, and began recruiting fighters willing to undertake guerrilla action against the Japanese. This force would later be instrumental, providing intelligence to the liberating forces led by General Douglas MacArthur, and took an active role in numerous battles, such as the Raid at Los Baños. When war broke out in the Philippines, some 300 Philippine Military Academy and ROTC cadets, unable to join the USAFFE units because of their youth, banded together in a common desire to contribute to the war effort throughout the Bataan campaign. The Hunters originally conducted operations with another guerrilla group known as the Marking Guerrillas, with whom they went about liquidating Japanese spies. Led by Miguel Ver, a PMA cadet, the Hunters raided the enemy-occupied Union College in Manila and seized 130 Enfield rifles. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36873070 | 1,013,478 |
929,837 | Whitworth's main point was to advocate decimalization in place of fractions based on successive halving; but in mentioning thousandths, he was also broaching the idea of a finer division than had been used previously. Until then, workers such as millwrights, boilermakers, and machinists in the Anglosphere measured only in traditional fractions of an inch, divided via successive halving, usually only as far as 64ths (1, , , , , , ). Each 64th is about 16 thou. Communication about sizes smaller than a 64th of an inch was subjective and hampered by a degree of ineffability—while phrases such as "scant 64th" or "heavy 64th" were used, they were imprecise. Dimensions and geometry "could" be controlled to high accuracy, but this was done by comparative methods: comparison against templates or other gauges, feeling the degree of drag of calipers, or simply repeatably cutting, relying on the positioning consistency of jigs, fixtures, and machine slides. Such work could only be done in craft fashion: on-site, by feel, rather than at a distance working from drawings and written notes. Although measurement was certainly a part of the daily routine, the highest-precision aspects of the work were achieved by feel or by gauge, not by measuring (as in determining counts of units). This in turn limited the kinds of process designs that could work, because they limited the degree of separation of concerns that could occur. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5978127 | 929,346 |
1,729,163 | In 2005, Bodmer was appointed to lead a £2.3 million project (roughly US$4.5 million) by the Wellcome Trust at the University of Oxford to examine the genetic makeup of the United Kingdom – the People of the British Isles project. He was joined by Oxford Professor Peter Donnelly (a population genetics and statistics expert) and the Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow Lon Cardon. Bodmer said, "Our aim is to characterise the genetic make-up of the British population and relate this to the historical and archaeological evidence." The researchers presented some of their findings to the public via the Channel 4 television series "Faces of Britain". On 14 April 2007, Channel 4 in Britain aired a program that highlighted the study's then-current findings. The project took DNA samples from hundreds of volunteers throughout Britain, seeking tell-tale fragments of DNA that would reveal the biological traces of successive waves of colonisers – Celts, Saxons, Vikings, etc. – in various parts of Britain. The findings showed that the Viking invasion of Britain was predominantly from Danish Vikings while the Orkney Islands were settled by Norwegian Vikings. This research was most recently presented at the Galton Institute's conference on 'New Light on Old Britons' in 2019. Bodmer had previously worked with the Galton Institute as its president from 2008 to 2014. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1431217 | 1,728,189 |
1,259,072 | During the Upper Jurassic, a rift was propagating from the spreading Central Atlantic along the continental margin of northwestern France towards Aquitaine. This happened probably as early as the Tithonian. As a consequence, the rift wedged Iberia southward and separated it from the Armorican Massif. In the wake, the continental crust was thinned and eventually oceanic crust was beginning to form in the Middle Aptian—the opening of the Bay of Biscay was under way. Final oceanisation of the Bay of Biscay was achieved by Santonian/Campanian times (about 84 million years ago as witnessed by the magnetic polarity chron C 34). Paleomagnetic studies additionally show an anticlockwise 35° rotation of Iberia. The drifting motion of Iberia had taken up the entire Lower Cretaceous. Due to the rotational motion, the northeastern edge of Iberia started to interfere with Aquitania, first creating transtensional pull-aparts along the North Pyrenean Zone in the Middle Albian. The crustal thinning associated with the transtensional rifting process led to HT/LP metamorphism in the North Pyrenean Zone, its onset being dated at about 108 million years ago. At the same time, the lherzolites were finally emplaced. The transcurrent motion along the North Pyrenean pull-apart zone was also accompanied by alkaline magmatism that lasted from the Middle Albian to the end of the Coniacian. The slow progression of the metamorphism into the west seems to imply a large sinistral shearing between Iberia and Aquitania, estimated as an offset of about 200 km (the metamorphism reached the Basque Country only about 80 million years ago in the Campanian). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26161133 | 1,258,385 |
1,674,705 | After completing his doctorate, Schmidt resided in the United States for two years on a Carnegie Fellowship. He returned briefly to the Netherlands, but ultimately emigrated to the US on a permanent basis in 1959 to work at the California Institute of Technology. In the beginning, he worked on theories about the mass distribution and dynamics of galaxies. Of particular note from this period was his formulation of what has become known as the Schmidt law, which relates the density of interstellar gas to the rate of star formation occurring in that gas. He later began a study of the light spectra of radio sources. In 1963, using the 200-inch reflector telescope at the Palomar Observatory, Schmidt identified the visible object corresponding to one of these radio sources, known as 3C 273 and also studied its spectrum. While its star-like appearance suggested it was relatively nearby, the spectrum of 3C 273 proved to have what was at the time a high redshift of 0.158, showing that it lay far beyond the Milky Way, and thus possessed an extraordinarily high luminosity. Schmidt termed 3C 273 a "quasi-stellar" object or quasar; thousands have since been identified. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=726619 | 1,673,763 |
1,436,188 | Multiple elements of a power system can be modelled. A power-flow study calculates the loading on transmission lines and the power necessary to be generated at generating stations, given the required loads to be served. A short circuit study or fault analysis calculates the short-circuit current that would flow at various points of interest in the system under study, for short-circuits between phases or from energized wires to ground. A coordination study allows selection and setting of protective relays and fuses to rapidly clear a short-circuit fault while minimizing effects on the rest of the power system. Transient or dynamic stability studies show the effect of events such as sudden load changes, short-circuits, or accidental disconnection of load on the synchronization of the generators in the system. Harmonic or power quality studies show the effect of non-linear loads such as lighting on the waveform of the power system, and allow recommendations to be made to mitigate severe distortion. An optimal power-flow study establishes the best combination of generating plant output to meet a given load requirement, so as to minimize production cost while maintaining desired stability and reliability; such models may be updated in near-real-time to allow guidance to system operators on the lowest-cost way to achieve economic dispatch. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12825821 | 1,435,380 |
1,684,369 | With Sir John Fowler, he designed and engineered the Forth Bridge after the Tay bridge collapse. It was a cantilever bridge and Baker gave numerous lectures on the principles which lay behind his design. Thomas Bouch had originally been awarded the contract but he lost it after the Tay Bridge Inquiry reported in June 1880. The bridge was built entirely in steel, much stronger than cast iron. He used hollow steel tubes to create the cantilever, and it was then the largest bridge of its kind in the world. The bridge is regarded as an engineering marvel. It is in length, and the double track is elevated above high tide. It consists of two main spans of , two side spans of , 15 approach spans of and five of ).[3] Each main span comprises two 680 ft (210 m) cantilever arms supporting a central 350 ft (110 m) span girder bridge. The three great four-tower cantilever structures are 340 ft (104 m) tall, each 70 ft (21 m) diameter foot resting on a separate foundation. The southern group of foundations had to be constructed as caissons under compressed air, to a depth of 90 ft (27 m). At its peak, approximately 4,600 workers were employed in its construction. Initially, it was recorded that 57 lives were lost however after extensive research by local historians, the figure has been revised upwards to 98. Eight men who fell from the bridge were saved by boats positioned in the river under work areas. More than 55,000 tons of steel were used, as well as 18,122 m³ of granite and over eight million rivets. The bridge was opened on 4 March 1890 by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, who drove home the last rivet, which was gold plated and suitably inscribed. A contemporary materials analysis of the bridge, c. 2002, found that the steel in the bridge is of good quality, with little variation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=143580 | 1,683,425 |
905,389 | Since the introduction of multidrug therapy (MDT) in the 1980s, the prevalence of leprosy cases has declined by 95%. This decline led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare leprosy eliminated as a public health problem, defined as a prevalence of less than one leprosy patient per 10,000 population. Aside from "Mycobacterium leprae" transmission from infected humans, environmental sources could also be an important reservoir. "Mycobacterium leprae" DNA was detected in soil from houses of leprosy patients in Bangladesh, armadillos’ holes in Suriname and habitats of lepromatous red squirrels in the British Isles. One study found numerous reports of leprosy cases with a history of contact with armadillos in the United States. A zoonotic transmission pathway from exposure to armadillos has been proposed, with human patients from a previous study in southeastern United States shown to be infected with the same armadillo-associated "Mycobacterium leprae" genotype. High rates of "Mycobacterium leprae" infection were observed in armadillos in the Brazilian state of Pará, and individuals who frequently consumed armadillo meat showed a significantly higher titres of the M. leprae-specific antigen, phenolic glycolipid I (PGL-I) compared with those who did not or ate them less frequently. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=453262 | 904,913 |
929,495 | The receiver was on an platform suspended above the dish by 18 main cables running from three reinforced concrete towers (six cables per tower), one high and the other two high, placing their tops at the same elevation. Each main cable was a bundle of 160 diameter wires, with the bundle painted over and dry air continuously blown through to prevent corrosion due to the humid tropic climate. The platform had a rotating, bow-shaped track long, called the azimuth arm, carrying the receiving antennas and secondary and tertiary reflectors. This allowed the telescope to observe any region of the sky in a forty-degree cone of visibility about the local zenith (between −1 and 38 degrees of declination). Puerto Rico's location near the Northern Tropic allowed the Arecibo telescope to view the planets in the Solar System over the northern half of their orbit. The round trip light time to objects beyond Saturn is longer than the 2.6-hour time that the telescope could track a celestial position, preventing radar observations of more distant objects. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9013135 | 929,004 |
1,832,231 | Anti-miRNA oligonucleotides (also known as AMOs) have many uses in cellular mechanics. These synthetically designed molecules are used to neutralize microRNA (miRNA) function in cells for desired responses. miRNA are complementary sequences (≈22 bp) to mRNA that are involved in the cleavage of RNA or the suppression of the translation. By controlling the miRNA that regulate mRNAs in cells, AMOs can be used as further regulation as well as for therapeutic treatment for certain cellular disorders. This regulation can occur through a steric blocking mechanism as well as hybridization to miRNA. These interactions, within the body between miRNA and AMOs, can be for therapeutics in disorders in which over/under expression occurs or aberrations in miRNA lead to coding issues. Some of the miRNA linked disorders that are encountered in the humans include cancers, muscular diseases, autoimmune disorders, and viruses. In order to determine the functionality of certain AMOs, the AMO/miRNA binding expression (transcript concentration) must be measured against the expressions of the isolated miRNA. The direct detection of differing levels of genetic expression allow the relationship between AMOs and miRNAs to be shown. This can be detected through luciferase activity (bioluminescence in response to targeted enzymatic activity). Understanding the miRNA sequences involved in these diseases can allow us to use anti miRNA Oligonucleotides to disrupt pathways that lead to the under/over expression of proteins of cells that can cause symptoms for these diseases. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41585434 | 1,831,184 |
1,130,599 | The estimated typical range of weights of hares hunted by golden eagles is , whereas rabbits hunted weigh a little under on average. Except for the occasional Arctic hare, white-tailed or antelope jackrabbit ("Lepus alleni"), most leporids hunted in North America weigh or less, including the smallest hare in the world, the snowshoe hare, and the smallest rabbit in the world, the pygmy rabbit ("Brachylagus idahoensis"). In Europe, where the large brown and mountain hares, both sometimes weighing over , are habitually hunted, the prey may be dismembered before being brought to the nest. Across the golden eagle's range, hares and rabbits are generally known to be hunted via either "high soar with glide attack" or "contour flight with short glide attack". Leporids are basically solitary animals but they can occur at high densities, such as when jackrabbits are at their peak numbers in brushy areas of Western North America or (historically at least) rabbits in similar brush habitats on the Iberian Peninsula. The goal of the golden eagle while hunting hares and rabbits is to catch the prey when it is foraging out in the open. If the leporid becomes aware of the eagle's descent upon them more than a few seconds before the strike, they invariably break into a fast, hopping run. Once contact is made, rabbits and hares will often kick or try to bite the eagle but escape is unlikely once they are pinned to the ground. In some case they are able to reach vegetative coverage and, if the said cover is sufficiently deep and dense, the eagle cannot pursue them any further. Although rare, golden eagles have been known to use the "walk and grab attack" to pull a leporid out of its cover. Many hunts in Scotland of mountain hare involve a somewhat lengthy tail chase. If the golden eagle is able to intercept a rabbit or hare far out in the open, a twisting and turning tail chase frequently occurs but the odds of survival for the prey are smaller the farther they are from coverage. On occasion, breeding pairs have been observed hunting jackrabbits together, where one will stoop on a gathering of them while the other waits out of sight and assaults one of the jackrabbits being made to run. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41302685 | 1,130,020 |
62,857 | The M60A4 was the proposed upgrade of the M60A3 TTS for the National Guard that emerged from the M60AX study conducted by the ARNG Tracked Vehicle Task Force with a projected cost of $750,000 per tank. The upgrade would have included improved protection, automotive performance and combat effectiveness, but retained the same M68E1 gun as the M60A3. Since the M60AX evaluation vehicle was not in the US Army Logistical system the requested components for the upgrade were inferred to by FSCM part numbers. After examining more than two dozen possible upgrade components for the M60A3 TTS, the task force decided on the 15 subsystem upgrades that made up the M60A4 overhaul. Survivability upgrades included both appliqué and wraparound armor, internal spall liners, laser protection, an automatic fire suppression system, an engine smoke generation kit and a new low-profile cupola. Mobility enhancements included a new 1050 horsepower engine, a new automatic transmission, improved final drives, an improved vehicle suspension and a modification to the air cleaner. The M60A4's key target acquisition and fighting improvements were an upgraded laser rangefinder, an enhancement of TTS optical performance, a modified fire control system and an improved turret drive and stabilization system. After reviewing the proposal it was declined by Chief of Staff of the United States Army General Carl E. Vuono in 1988. No prototype was ever constructed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=470028 | 62,832 |
498,420 | In 1980, he left Columbia to go to Princeton. He is credited with a key insight in 1982 that made adaptive optics possible: there is a layer of sodium in the mesosphere, at around 90 to 100 km of elevation, which could be lit by a laser beam to make an artificial guide star. His idea was tested successfully by DARPA but classified for possible military applications. The military-designed technology was partially unclassified in 1991, after the same idea was independently proposed by two French astronomers. In 1994, Happer and co-authors published a declassified version of the JASON reports on adaptive optics. Happer was chairman of the steering committee for JASON, from 1987 to 1990, and was the Class of 1909 Professor of Physics at Princeton University from 1988 to 1991. In 1991, he joined the United States Department of Energy as director of energy research. He served in that position until being dismissed in 1993 for his views on the ozone layer, after which he returned to his position at Princeton. He co-founded Magnetic Imaging Technologies Inc. in 1994. He held the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professorship of Physics from 2003 until his retirement in 2014. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23405347 | 498,163 |
993,202 | Considering cytokines, SASP molecules IL-6 and IL-8 are likely to cause senescence without affecting healthy neighbor cells. IL-1beta, unlike IL-6 or IL-8, is able to induce senescence in normal cells with paracrine signaling. IL-1beta is also dependent on cleavage of IL-1 by caspase-1, causing a pro-inflammatory response. Growth factors, GM-CSF and VEGF also serve as SASP molecules. From the cellular perspective, cooperation of transcriptional factors NF-κB and C/EBPβ increase the level of SASP expression. Regulation of the SASP is managed through a transcription level autocrine feedback loop, but most importantly by a continuous DDR. Proteins p53, p21, p16ink4a, and Bmi-1 have been termed as major senescence signalling factors, allowing them to serve as markers. Other markers register morphology changes, reorganization of chromatin, apoptosis resistance, altered metabolism, enlarged cytoplasm or abnormal shape of the nucleus. SASPs have distinct effects depending on the cellular context, including inflammatory or anti-inflammatory and tumor or anti-tumor effects. While considered a pro-tumorogenic effect, they likely support already tumor-primed cells instead of shifting healthy cells into transformation. Likewise, they operate as anti-tumor protectors by facilitating the elimination of damaged cells by phagocytes. The SASP is associated with many age-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis. This has motivated researchers to develop senolytic drugs to kill and eliminate senescent cells to improve health in the elderly. The nucleus of senescent cells is characterized by senescence-associated heterochromatin foci (SAHF) and DNA segments with chromatin alterations reinforcing senescence (DNA-SCARS). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15354795 | 992,685 |
1,998,260 | Edrich came on and bowled a bouncer, which Bradman tried to swing to the leg side, but instead the edge went in the air and landed behind point. On 13, Bradman played a Bedser ball from his legs, narrowly evading Hutton in the trap at short fine leg. After one hour he was on 14. Bradman and Morris settled down as Coxon and Doug Wright operated. The Australian captain drove the debutant Coxon through the covers for two fours, and Yardley made frequent rotations of his bowlers. At the lunch break, Australia were 1/82 with Morris on 45 and Bradman 35. Shortly afterwards, in the third over after the resumption of play, with the score at 87, Bradman was caught for 38 for the third consecutive time in Tests by Hutton off Bedser at short fine leg, just two days after falling the same way in the second innings against Yorkshire. According to O'Reilly, this was evidence that Bradman was no longer the player he was before World War II, as he had been unable to disperse the close-catching fielders by counter-attacking, before eventually being dismissed. O'Reilly said that this was the first time that Bradman had fallen to the same trap three times in succession. Australia reached 7/258 at the end of day one, before a lower order burst took them to 350 on the second morning. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21051201 | 1,997,117 |
1,561,422 | The staff of Samarkand State Medical University, which occupies a leading position among medical universities of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in the new academic year commissioned a modern information and resource center for students. The information and resource center is equipped with new machinery and modern equipment that meets international standards. There is also a modern information kiosk with a sensor. Thanks to this, students, undergraduates and research scientists can easily access the university's website, Telegram channel and other websites, receiving the necessary information. The information and resource center has created conditions for the provision of bibliographic information and information and resource services to users of the scientific, methodological and information department. There is a separate hall for book exhibitions. The training hall is designed for 80 seats. The center's fund is currently filled with more than 300,000 copies of literature. In particular, over the past three years, more than 17 thousand books have been received by the university library. Also in the library there are 9,000 copies of educational literature in the amount of 344 pieces, created by university teachers. The fund of the center also has rare scientific literature in the field of medicine, both domestic and imported from abroad. Every state, every nation in the world is powerful primarily for its intellectual potential and high spirituality. Such an indomitable source of power is first embodied in a book that is a great discovery of the human mind. The relocation of the modern information and resource center of Samarkand State University, which has a 90-year history, to a new building and filling it with new literature will undoubtedly serve to increase the spirituality and scientific potential of young personnel and future doctors. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66858162 | 1,560,536 |
1,860,445 | Medical training at ICBAS began in 1976, based on an innovative pedagogical and institutional project different from traditional medical training. This project has evolved in the face of new challenges and is now an Integrated Master in accordance with the new Basic Law of the Education System, intended to apply the principles set out in the “Bologna Process”. The new curriculum philosophy promotes early clinical contact for students, with an integrated approach to clinical problems from the early stages of the course. The new model promotes training in an even more articulated way, whether in the most basic sciences or in purely clinical sciences. The programmatic space for a truly vocational training was reinforced during the 6th and last year. The balance between exact, biological, social and medical sciences taught by multidisciplinary teams has been and continues to be one of the most innovative pedagogical goals of medicine at ICBAS. Moreover, in order to achieve the goal of training doctors with the most comprehensive preparation possible, ICBAS and the Porto Hospital Center (HGSA - which has been operating as the nuclear hospital since 1980) collaborate in the formation of medicine. In addition, ICBAS has established protocols with several health institutions in Greater Porto, such as the Joaquim Urbano Hospital, the Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto, the Magalhães Lemos Hospital and the Vila Nova de Gaia Hospital Center. several Health Centers that receive students under a cooperation protocol with ARS Norte. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2133926 | 1,859,377 |
701,505 | Oystercatcher mussel feeding provides an example of how the optimal diet model can be utilized. Oystercatchers forage on mussels and crack them open with their bills. The constraints on these birds are the characteristics of the different mussel sizes. While large mussels provide more energy than small mussels, large mussels are harder to crack open due to their thicker shells. This means that while large mussels have a higher energy content (E), they also have a longer handling time (h). The profitability of any mussel is calculated as E/h. The oystercatchers must decide which mussel size will provide enough nutrition to outweigh the cost and energy required to open it. In their study, Meire and Ervynck tried to model this decision by graphing the relative profitabilities of different sized mussels. They came up with a bell-shaped curve, indicating that moderately sized mussels were the most profitable. However, they observed that if an oystercatcher rejected too many small mussels, the time it took to search for the next suitable mussel greatly increased. This observation shifted their bell-curve to the right (Figure 4). However, while this model predicted that oystercatchers should prefer mussels of 50–55 mm, the observed data showed that oystercatchers actually prefer mussels of 30–45 mm. Meire and Ervynk then realized the preference of mussel size did not depend only on the profitability of the prey, but also on the prey density. After this was accounted for, they found a good agreement between the model's prediction and the observed data. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3237391 | 701,140 |
579,304 | To register as a patent agent or patent attorney, one must pass the USPTO registration examination. This exam, commonly referred to as the "patent bar", tests a candidate's knowledge of patent law and USPTO policies and procedures as set forth in the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP). The exam consists of 100 questions in multiple choice format, and is open-book with examinees permitted to use a PDF version of the MPEP. An unofficial score of 70% indicates a passing grade on the exam. Upon successful completion of the examination, one will be labeled as a "patent attorney" if he/she has already been admitted to a state or territorial bar. However, engineers, scientists and any other science-based majors, as well as law students and law graduates who are not admitted to a bar, will be labeled as "patent agents" since they cannot give legal advice nor represent clients in court. The latest exam result statistics are for the 2014 fiscal year, when 2,799 exams were administered with 42.8% resulting in passing scores. The pass rate has dropped noticeably since the provisions of the America Invents Act, implemented in March 2013, were first included in the exam. For example, from June 9, 2005 through October 17, 2006, 58.2% of the 4,165 candidates passed the exam, which was based upon MPEP, 8th Edition, Revision 2. The current exam is based mostly on MPEP, 9th Edition, Revision 08.2017, as of August 16, 2018. Applicants who are not United States citizens and do not reside in the U.S. are not eligible for registration except as permitted by 37 CFR § 11.6(c). None of the world's countries except Canada reciprocates, giving U.S. citizens the right that the U.S. grants to their citizens. However, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office does not grant U.S. patent agents or attorneys the same privileges the USPTO grants Canadian patent agents. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=743809 | 579,007 |
1,011,536 | The M67 was not completely withdrawn from infantry service. Instead, it was retained as a substitute standard antitank weapon for special tasks or battle environments. Since the batteries of the Dragon and the wires of the TOW could fail due to extremely low temperatures, the M67 was used for units deploying to arctic environments and remained in many infantry units in West Germany, such as the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division. Also, VII Corps Combat Engineer Battalions were using the M67 as their main anti-armor weapon during the mid-1980s. Heavy Physical Security Military Police Companies used the M67 on Special Weapons Sites in West Germany as an anti-vehicular weapon. These weapons were issued 6 per company, 2 per platoon for each combat engineer company. Until the 1990s, the 6th Light Infantry Division in Alaska was still using the M67 in its special weapons platoons. Two M67s were used by C Co 5/87th (Lt Infantry) 193rd Infantry Brigade during Operation Just Cause in the Republic of Panama in 1989, using the M590 Antipersonal ammunition. Similarly, the urban environment of West Berlin prompted the Army to keep the weapon with the 4th, 5th and 6th Battalions of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, Berlin Brigade, as late as winter 1991; the M47 Dragon replaced it in January 1992. The Army Rangers retained the M67 in their weapons platoons until the 1990s, when it was replaced by the 84 mm M3 Carl Gustav; Ranger M67s played a key role in knocking out two BTR-60 APCs of the People's Revolutionary Army in Grenada during Operation Urgent Fury in 1983. Lastly, Combat Engineer units used the M67 as a demolition gun to destroy bunkers and other hard point targets as part of their MTOE (Modified Table Of Organization & Equipment) at least as late as 1990. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1315744 | 1,011,015 |
789,556 | Besides being a scientist, John Tyndall was a science teacher and evangelist for the cause of science. He spent a significant amount of his time disseminating science to the general public. He gave hundreds of public lectures to non-specialist audiences at the Royal Institution in London. When he went on a public lecture tour in the US in 1872, large crowds of non-scientists paid fees to hear him lecture about the nature of light. A typical statement of Tyndall's reputation at the time is this from a London publication in 1878: "Following the precedent set by Faraday, Professor Tyndall has succeeded not only in original investigation and in teaching science soundly and accurately, but in making it attractive... When he lectures at the Royal Institution the theatre is crowded." Tyndall said of the occupation of teacher "I do not know a higher, nobler, and more blessed calling." His greatest audience was gained ultimately through his books, most of which were not written for experts or specialists. He published more than a dozen science books. From the mid-1860s on, he was one of the world's most famous living physicists, due firstly to his skill and industry as a tutorialist. Most of his books were translated into German and French with his main tutorials staying in print in those languages for decades. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=256310 | 789,131 |
1,231,931 | Much of the beliefs held by Han-era physicians are known to modern historians through such texts as the "Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon" ("Huangdi neijing") medical corpus, which was compiled from the 3rd to 2nd century BCE and was mentioned in the "Book of Later Han". It is clear from this text and others that their metaphysical beliefs in the five phases and yin and yang dictated their medical decisions and assumptions. The Han-era Chinese believed that each organ in the body was associated with one of the five phases (metal 金, wood 木, water 水, fire 火, earth 土) and had two circulatory qi channels (任督二脉). If these channels were disrupted, Han medical texts suggest that one should consume an edible material associated with one of these phases that would counteract the organ's prescribed phase and thus restore one's health. For example, the Chinese believed that when the heart—associated with the fire phase—caused one to become sluggish, then one should eat sour food because it was associated with the wood phase (which promoted fire). The Han Chinese also believed that by using pulse diagnosis, a physician could determine which organ of the body emitted "vital energy" ("qi") and what qualities the latter had, in order to figure out the exact disorder the patient was suffering. Despite the influence of metaphysical theory on medicine, Han texts also give practical advice, such as the proper way to perform clinical lancing to remove an abscess. The "Huangdi neijing" noted the symptoms and reactions of people with various diseases of the liver, heart, spleen, lung, or kidneys in a 24-hour period, which was a recognition of circadian rhythm, although explained in terms of the five phases. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21620577 | 1,231,269 |
747,766 | Every choropleth map has a strategy for mapping values to colors. A "classified" choropleth map separates the range of values into classes, with all of the districts in each class being assigned the same color. An "unclassed" map (sometimes called "n-class") directly assigns a color proportional to the value of each district. Starting with Dupin's 1826 map, classified choropleth maps have been far more common. It is likely that this was originally due to the greater simplicity of applying a limited set of tints; only in the age of computerized cartography have unclassed choropleth maps even been feasible, and until recently, they were still not easy to create in most mapping software. Waldo R. Tobler, in formally introducing the unclassed scheme in 1973, asserted that it was a more accurate depiction of the original data, and stated that the primary argument in favor of classification, that it is more readable, needed to be tested. The debate and experiments that followed came to the general conclusion that the primary advantage of unclassed choropleth maps, in addition to Tobler's assertion of raw accuracy, was that they allowed readers to see subtle variations in the variable, without leading them to believe that the districts the fell into the same class had identical values. Thus, they are able to better see the general patterns in the geographic phenomenon, but not the specific values. The primary argument in favor of classed choropleth maps is that it is easier for readers to process, due to the fewer number of distinct shades to recognize, which reduces cognitive load and allows them to precisely match the colors in the map to the values listed in the legend. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1506652 | 747,370 |
728,885 | Potentially the most powerful of all sleeve-valve engines (though it never reached production) was the Rolls-Royce Crecy V-12 (oddly, using a 90-degree V-angle), two-stroke, direct-injected, turbocharged (force-scavenged) aero-engine of 26.1 litres capacity. It achieved a very high specific output, and surprisingly good specific fuel consumption (SFC). In 1945 the single-cylinder test-engine (Ricardo E65) produced the equivalent of 5,000 HP (192 BHP/Litre) when water injected, although the full V12 would probably have been initially type rated at circa . Sir Harry Ricardo, who specified the layout and design goals, felt that a reliable 4,000 HP military rating would be possible. Ricardo was constantly frustrated during the war with Rolls-Royce's (RR) efforts. Hives & RR were very much focused on their Merlin, Griffon then Eagle and finally Whittle's jets, which all had a clearly defined production purpose. Ricardo and Tizard eventually realized that the Crecy would never get the development attention it deserved unless it was specified for installation in a particular aircraft but by 1945, their "Spitfire on steroids" concept of a rapidly climbing interceptor powered by the lightweight Crecy engine had become an aircraft without a purpose. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=147563 | 728,501 |
1,572,934 | From 1945–1946, Lehmer served on the Computations Committee at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, a group established as part of the Ballistics Research Laboratory to prepare the ENIAC for utilization following its completion at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering; the other Computations Committee members were Haskell Curry, Leland Cunningham, and Franz Alt. It was during this short tenure that the Lehmers ran some of the first test programs on the ENIAC—according to their academic interests, these tests involved number theory, especially sieve methods, but also pseudorandom number generation. When they could arrange child care, the Lehmers spent weekends staying up all night running such problems, the first over the Thanksgiving weekend of 1945. (Such tests were run without cost, since the ENIAC would have been left powered on anyway in the interest of minimizing vacuum tube failures.) The problem run during the 3-day Independence Day weekend of July 4, 1946, with John Mauchly serving as computer operator, ran around the clock without interruption or failure. The following Tuesday, July 9, 1946, Lehmer delivered the talk "Computing Machines for Pure Mathematics" as part of the Moore School Lectures, in which he introduced computing as an experimental science, and demonstrated the wit and humor typical of his teaching lectures. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=379706 | 1,572,046 |
167,984 | In a related but somewhat different sense, which evolved from the original definition of "infinitesimal" as an infinitely small quantity, the term has also been used to refer to a function tending to zero. More precisely, Loomis and Sternberg's "Advanced Calculus" defines the function class of infinitesimals, formula_9, as a subset of functions formula_10 between normed vector spaces by formula_11, as well as two related classes formula_12 (see Big-O notation) by formula_13, andformula_14.The set inclusions formula_15generally hold. That the inclusions are proper is demonstrated by the real-valued functions of a real variable formula_16, formula_17, and formula_18: formula_19 but formula_20 and formula_21.As an application of these definitions, a mapping formula_22 between normed vector spaces is defined to be differentiable at formula_23 if there is a formula_24 [i.e, a bounded linear map formula_25] such that formula_26in a neighborhood of formula_6. If such a map exists, it is unique; this map is called the "differential" and is denoted by formula_28, coinciding with the traditional notation for the classical (though logically flawed) notion of a differential as an infinitely small "piece" of "F". This definition represents a generalization of the usual definition of differentiability for vector-valued functions of (open subsets of) Euclidean spaces. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=160990 | 167,894 |
1,444,717 | Individuals diagnosed with PEL most commonly (>33% of all cases) present with advanced Stage III or IV disease. They are predominately males with a median age of 42 years if they are infected with HIV and 73 years if they are not so infected. Some one-third to one-half of these individuals have a history of Kaposi's sarcoma, less commonly of multicentric Castleman disease, and/or rarely of immune deficiency due to organ transplantation, hepatitis complicated by cirrhosis caused by hepatitis B or C viral infection, or of old age. PEL occurring in the elderly generally occurs in EBV-negative individuals residing in the Mediterranean region. Individuals with the cavitary form of PEL present with symptoms due to effusions in the pleural cavity (e.g. shortness of breath), pericardium (e.g. chest pain/discomfort, hypotension, shortness of breath), peritoneal cavity (e.g. abdominal swelling), or, much less often, joints (e.g. swelling), the epidural space (e.g. central nervous system symptoms), or breast implants (e.g. breast swelling/pain/malformation). While most cases of classical PEL involve one cavitary site, some individuals present with two or more sites of cavitary involvement. Individuals with extracavitary PEL present with lesions in the lung, central nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, and/or lymph nodes. Gastrointestinal track lesions often occur as multiple lymphoid polyps in the large intestine. At diagnosis, more than 50% of individuals afflicted with either cavitary or extracavitary PEL have or report a history of B symptoms (i.e. fever, weight loss, night sweat). Laboratory examination in all PEL cases often show anemia, low blood levels of platelets, high serum levels of IL6, and high levels of circulating KSHV/HHV8. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3628299 | 1,443,904 |
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