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918,005 | Agriculture, the cultivation of soil to grow crops and animals to provide food as well as products, was first developed about 12,000 years ago. This switch, also called the Neolithic Revolution, was the beginning of favoring permanent settlements and altering the land to grow crops and farm animals. This can be thought of as the start of the built environment, the first attempt to make permanent changes to the surrounding environment for human needs. The first appearance of cities was around 7500 BCE, dotted along where land was fertile and good for agricultural use. In these early communities, a priority was to ensure basic needs were being met. The built environment, while not as extensive as it is today, was beginning to be cultivated with the implementation of buildings, paths, farm land, domestication of animals and plants, etc. Over the next several thousand years, these smaller cities and villages grew into larger ones where trade, culture, education, and economics were driving factors. As cities began to grow, they needed to accommodate more people, as well as shifted from focusing on meeting survival needs to prioritizing comfort and desires – it is important to note that there are still many individuals today who do not have their basic needs met and this idea of a shift is within the framework of the evolution of society. This shift caused the built aspect of these cities to grow and expand to meet the growing population needs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=224985 | 917,522 |
1,403,181 | Currently, there is no scientific data obtained using modern detection methods that would identify SeV as an infectious - disease causing agent for humans or domestic animals. Modern methods for the identification of pathogenic microorganisms have never detected SeV in pigs or other domestic animals, despite the isolation of other paramyxoviruses. Consequently, it is recognized that Sendai virus disease causing infection is host restrictive for rodents and the virus does not cause disease in humans or domestic animals, which are natural hosts for their own parainfluenza viruses. After experimental SeV infection the virus can replicate and shed from the upper and lower respiratory tract of African green monkeys and chimpanzees, but it is not causing any disease. Sendai virus has been used and demonstrated high safety profile in clinical trials involving both adults and children to immunize against human parainfluenza virus type 1, since the two viruses share common antigenic determinants and trigger the generation of cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies. The study that was published in 2011 demonstrated that SeV neutralizing antibodies (which were formed due to human parainfluenza virus type 1 past infection) can be detected in 92.5% of human subjects worldwide with a median EC titer of 60.6 and values ranging from 5.9–11,324. Low anti-SeV antibodies background does not block the ability of SeV-base vaccine to promote antigen-specific T cell immunity. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6070061 | 1,402,393 |
937,858 | The squadron was transferred to the division with which it would spend the rest of the war; the 6th Airborne Division, raised in April 1943. The squadron continued to train as an air-portable unit and participated in a number of exercises intended to familiarize it with the duties it would perform, including reconnaissance of enemy positions and performing counter-attacks against enemy infantry and armor. In mid-July an American pilot was sent to Britain to illustrate that the tank could fit inside a Hamilcar and be landed, and then on October 25 the Light Tank Squadron received a shipment of seventeen Locusts. During November the new tanks were issued to the squadron, replacing a majority of the Tetrarchs; however a small number of Tetrarchs fitted with a 3 inch (76.2 mm) infantry support howitzer, which were designated as Tetrarch 1 CS (Close Support), were retained. Several of the Locusts also were fitted with Littlejohn adaptors to increase the range and penetration power of their main armament, although it is not clear how many were fitted or if they were fitted at manufacture or after they reached the squadron. The squadron was expanded into the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment in December 1943, and as late as March 1944, plans were made for the regiment to be equipped with seventeen Locusts and three Tetrarchs when it took part in Operation Tonga, the British airborne landings in Normandy. However, records indicate that by April the Hamilcar gliders of the regiment were being refitted to only carry Tetrarchs, and by late March the Locusts appear to have been completely replaced. This seems to have been due to mechanical and gunnery problems with the Locusts, as well as specific problems with the design of the Locust's gearbox. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=335693 | 937,358 |
1,941,563 | Levels of sociality across the class Insecta range from eusocial species (with cooperative brood care, overlapping generations within a colony of adults and a division of labour into reproductive and non-reproductive castes) to solitary living, with many intermediate systems in between which despite lacking full eusociality still may exhibit parental care or nest cohabitation. Different systems of social organization alter both the possibility and cost-benefit ratio of social immune mechanisms (e.g. guarding the entrance to the nest requires both division of labour, whilst allogrooming merely requires behavioural interactions), though the absence of many behaviours currently only recorded in eusocial taxa from non-eusocial taxa may simply be due to a lack of study of these group's social immune systems. For instance it seems plausible that insects living in common nest sites could evolve to remove conspecific corpses from the nest or to isolate an infected group member - and yet these behaviours (and many more) have only been recorded in eusocial species. Alternatively it may be the case that whilst the three conditions of eusociality themselves are not prerequisites for the emergence of these behaviours, secondary consequences of eusociality are. Perhaps the large number of individuals in eusocial colonies increases the efficiency of collective anti-parasite defences and thus their emergence begins to be selected for; or perhaps the preponderance of non-reproductive individuals is a necessary driver for the evolution of these behaviours, as when in a colony attacked by a parasite they can only increase their indirect fitness via social immunity directed at the queen's brood. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51046084 | 1,940,452 |
352,719 | Another factor was the changed political situation; the failure of the 1848 revolutions led both to some diminution of the Risorgimento ethos (at least initially) and a significant increase in theatre censorship. This is reflected both in Verdi's choices of plots dealing more with personal relationships than political conflict, and in a (partly consequent) dramatic reduction in the operas of this period in the number of choruses (of the type which had first made him famous)—not only are there on average 40% fewer choruses in the 'middle' period operas compared to the 'early' period', but whereas virtually all the 'early' operas commence with a chorus, only one ("Luisa Miller") of the 'middle' period operas begin this way. Instead, Verdi experiments with a variety of means, e.g. a stage band ("Rigoletto"), an aria for bass ("Stiffelio"), a party scene ("La traviata"). Chusid also notes Verdi's increasing tendency to replace full-scale overtures with shorter orchestral introductions. Parker comments that "La traviata", the last opera of the 'middle' period, is "again a new adventure. It gestures towards a level of 'realism'...the contemporary world of waltzes pervades the score, and the heroine's death from disease is graphically depicted in the music." Verdi's increasing command of musical highlighting of changing moods and relationships is exemplified in Act III of "Rigoletto", where Duke's flippant song "La donna è mobile" is followed immediately by the quartet "Bella figlia dell'amore", contrasting the rapacious Duke and his inamorata with the (concealed) indignant Rigoletto and his grieving daughter. Taruskin asserts this is "the most famous ensemble Verdi ever composed". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12958 | 352,536 |
1,770,017 | The team had many disagreements, and Spector's original staff setup crumbled. When two experienced designers vied for the lead designer position, Spector chose both and made two design teams: the "Looking Glass design team" or "immersive simulation group" led by Harvey Smith ("System Shock", "") and the ""Ultima" roleplaying team" or "traditional roleplaying group" led by Robert White ("Ultima Online", "" as "Bob White"). He initially thought their competition would be easily managed and fruitful, but neither team felt second to the other and Spector had to merge the teams and choose a single designer, Smith, to lead it. He felt that the matrix management structure under which the Dallas art team worked for the project but were not the project's staff hurt the game's progress. Some of the artists were not interested in "Deus Ex", and Spector wrote that "the art department drifted a bit". He said that the matrix management structure created tension and problems, and was generally against the idea due to how it worked at his previous studios Origin and Looking Glass. Though his stance won out and the project received dedicated artists, Spector lamented that the game could have been improved for not having matrix management in the first place. He wrote that he learned about the importance of team member personal investment in the game, the preemptive benefits of addressing personnel concerns as they arise, and the usefulness of a chain of command even when consensus works. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43210943 | 1,769,022 |
1,604,228 | The Grainger Engineering Library was dedicated on the 59th anniversary of the University of Illinois Foundation, October 14, 1994. The proceedings, entitled a "Gateway to a New Era", established the largest engineering library in the country, with over holding more than 300,000 volumes. In keeping with the building's cutting edge technical advancements, the ribbon cutting ceremony was a purely digital affair. President Stanley Ikenberry, Chancellor Michael Aiken, and David Grainger, representing his father, William Wallace Grainger, pressed assigned areas on a computer touch screen to change a computerized red ribbon into a visual explosion of fireworks. In 1995 Grainger library took home the prize of Project of the Year as awarded by the Illinois Engineering Council. It also received the decoration of "Excellence in Masonry Design, Honorable Mention Award" from the Illinois/Indiana Masonry Council in 1996. It is widely accepted as one of the most technologically advanced information management centers in the nation with as many as 1,000 available computer hookups, at nearly every table, carrel, and desk. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5773362 | 1,603,327 |
93,100 | The Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC) was built between July 1943 and Fall 1945. It was a Turing complete, general-purpose computer that used 17,468 vacuum tubes to create the circuits. At its core, it was a series of Pascalines wired together. Its 40 units weighed 30 tons, occupied , and consumed $650 per hour (in 1940s currency) in electricity when idle. It had 20 base-10 accumulators. Programming the ENIAC took up to two months. Three function tables were on wheels and needed to be rolled to fixed function panels. Function tables were connected to function panels by plugging heavy black cables into plugboards. Each function table had 728 rotating knobs. Programming the ENIAC also involved setting some of the 3,000 switches. Debugging a program took a week. It ran from 1947 until 1955 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, calculating hydrogen bomb parameters, predicting weather patterns, and producing firing tables to aim artillery guns. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5783 | 93,059 |
275,566 | In 1955, the NCI in the United States set up the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service Center (CCNSC) to act as a public screening center for anticancer activity in compounds submitted by external institutions and companies. Although the majority of compounds screened were of synthetic origin, one chemist, Jonathan Hartwell, who was employed there from 1958 onwards, had experience with natural product derived compounds, and began a plant screening operation. After some years of informal arrangements, in July 1960, the NCI commissioned the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) botanists to collect samples from about 1,000 plant species per year. On 21 August 1962, one of those botanists, Arthur S. Barclay, collected bark from a single Pacific yew tree in a forest north of the town of Packwood, Washington, as part of a four-month trip to collect material from over 200 different species. The material was then processed by a number of specialist CCNSC subcontractors, and one of the tree's samples was found to be cytotoxic in a cellular assay on 22 May 1964. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36796 | 275,416 |
299,040 | Some scholars see a gap between the existing mythical and the new rational way of thought which is the main characteristic of the archaic period (8th to 6th century BC) in the Greek city-states. This has given rise to the phrase "Greek miracle". But if we follow carefully the course of Anaximander's ideas, we will notice that there was not such an abrupt break as initially appears. The basic elements of nature (water, air, fire, earth) which the first Greek philosophers believed made up the universe in fact represent the primordial forces imagined in earlier ways of thinking. Their collision produced what the mythical tradition had called cosmic harmony. In the old cosmogonies – Hesiod (8th – 7th century BC) and Pherecydes (6th century BC) – Zeus establishes his order in the world by destroying the powers which were threatening this harmony (the Titans). Anaximander claimed that the cosmic order is not monarchic but geometric, and that this causes the equilibrium of the earth, which is lying in the centre of the universe. This is the projection on nature of a new political order and a new space organized around a centre which is the static point of the system in the society as in nature. In this space there is "isonomy" (equal rights) and all the forces are symmetrical and transferable. The decisions are now taken by the assembly of "demos" in the "agora" which is lying in the middle of the city. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1168 | 298,880 |
232,366 | The FDA drafted a guidance for low risk devices advises that personal health wearables are general wellness products if they only collect data on weight management, physical fitness, relaxation or stress management, mental acuity, self-esteem, sleep management, or sexual function. This was due to the privacy risks that were surrounding the devices. As more and more of the devices were being used as well as improved soon enough these devices would be able to tell if a person is showing certain health issues and give a course of action. With the rise of these devices being consumed so to the FDA drafted this guidance in order to decrease risk of a patient in case the app doesn't function properly. It is argued the ethics of it as well because although they help track health and promote independence there is still an invasion of privacy that ensues to gain information. This is due to the huge amounts of data that has to be transferred which could raise issues for both the user and the companies if a third partied gets access to this data. There was an issue with Google Glass that was used by surgeons in order to track vital signs of a patient where it had privacy issues relating to third party use of non-consented information. The issue is consent as well when it comes to wearable technology because it gives the ability to record and that is an issue when permission is not asked when a person is being recorded. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23770249 | 232,247 |
1,489,484 | One of the first large scale Google Earth Engine projects was a study of global forest change. Researcher Matthew Hansen had been mapping global land cover since the mid-1990s, first at South Dakota State University, then at the University of Maryland, but lacked sufficient high-resolution data. The data came in 2008, when the United States Geological Survey made 3.6 million satellite images at 30 meter resolution from the Landsat program freely available on the Internet. The computer power to fully analyze it was provided by Moore and Google Earth Engine. For the release of Google Earth Engine in 2010, Moore, Hansen, and CONAFOR the Mexican government agency, processed 53,000 images in 15,000 computer hours to create the highest resolution forest and water map of Mexico ever. Then, for a global survey of all forestation change from 2000 to 2012, cloud computers processed 700,000 images in 1 million hours spread among 10,000 CPUs. The work was made available online and the resulting joint paper was published in the November 2013 issue of "Science". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=50587818 | 1,488,645 |
1,117,126 | Lazarsfeld was noted for his ability to forge productive collaborations with a wide range of thinkers. One of his most celebrated collaborations was with Robert K. Merton. Both Merton and Lazarsfeld were new faculty members in Columbia University's Department of Sociology appointed in 1941. Merton was seen as a budding theorist, while Lazarsfield was considered a methodology specialist. Apparently the pair had little contact until Merton and his wife came to dinner at the Lazarsfeld's Manhattan apartment on Saturday evening, November 23, 1941. Upon arrival Lazarsfeld explained to Merton that he had been just asked by the US government's Office of New Facts and Figures to evaluate a radio program. Thus "Merton accompanied Lazarsfeld to the radio studio, leaving their wives in the Lazarsfeld apartment with the uneaten dinner." Lazarsfeld was using the famous StantonLazarsfeld ProgramAnalyzer, to record the responses of listeners, and in the ensuing interviews they conducted, Merton was instrumental in ensuring questions were properly answered. This was believed to be the start of the "focused group interview", or what we now known as the focus group. It was also the beginning of a rich and influential collaboration in the field of communication studies. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=427665 | 1,116,553 |
549,986 | Narrowband RF (radio frequency) channels with low power and long wavelengths (i.e., low frequency) are affected primarily by flat fading, and PPM is better suited than M-FSK to be used in these scenarios. One common application with these channel characteristics, first used in the early 1960s with top-end HF (as low as 27 MHz) frequencies into the low-end VHF band frequencies (30 MHz to 75 MHz for RC use depending on location), is the radio control of model aircraft, boats and cars, originally known as "digital proportional" radio control. PPM is employed in these systems, with the position of each pulse representing the angular position of an analogue control on the transmitter, or possible states of a binary switch. The number of pulses per frame gives the number of controllable channels available. The advantage of using PPM for this type of application is that the electronics required to decode the signal are extremely simple, which leads to small, light-weight receiver/decoder units (model aircraft require parts that are as lightweight as possible). Servos made for model radio control include some of the electronics required to convert the pulse to the motor position – the receiver is required to first extract the information from the received radio signal through its intermediate frequency section, then demultiplex the separate channels from the serial stream, and feed the control pulses to each servo. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=166439 | 549,698 |
1,414,396 | He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 11, 1923 and graduated from the Baltimore City College high school in 1939. He received his B.A. in 1943 and his Ph.D. in 1949, both in physics from Johns Hopkins University. From 1949 to 1956, he was a member of the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, where he first met David Halliday, with whom he wrote his most widely read textbook. He later became a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and was head of the interdisciplinary science curriculum for fifteen years. During his years at RPI, he authored or co-authored seven textbooks on relativity, quantum physics, and general physics, which have been translated into more than 47 languages. It is estimated that over 10 million students have studied from his books. In 1960, "Physics", the first-year textbook he wrote with Prof. Halliday, was published. The book has been used widely and is considered to have revolutionized physics education. Now in its tenth edition in a five-volume set revised by Jearl Walker, and under the title "Fundamentals of Physics", it is still highly regarded. It is noted for its clear standardized diagrams, very thorough but highly readable pedagogy, outlook into modern physics, and challenging, thought-provoking problems. In 2002 the American Physical Society named the work the most outstanding introductory physics text of the 20th century. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8190913 | 1,413,599 |
1,169,787 | Until the fifteenth century, those who wished to attend university had to travel to England or the continent, and just over a 1,000 have been identified as doing so between the twelfth century and 1410. Among these the most important intellectual figure was John Duns Scotus, who studied at Oxford, Cambridge and Paris and probably died at Cologne in 1308, becoming a major influence on late medieval religious thought. After the outbreak of the Wars of Independence, with occasional exceptions under safe conduct, English universities were closed to Scots and continental universities became more significant. Some Scottish scholars became teachers in continental universities. At Paris this included John De Rate and Walter Wardlaw in the 1340s and 1350s, William de Tredbrum in the 1380s and Laurence de Lindores in the early 1500s. This situation was transformed by the founding of the University of St Andrews in 1413, the University of Glasgow in 1451 and the University of Aberdeen in 1495. Initially these institutions were designed for the training of clerics, but they would increasingly be used by laymen who would begin to challenge the clerical monopoly of administrative posts in the government and law. Those wanting to study for second degrees still needed to go elsewhere and Scottish scholars continued to visit the continent and English universities, which reopened to Scots in the late fifteenth century. The continued movement to other universities produced a school of Scottish nominalists at Paris in the early sixteenth century, of which John Mair was probably the most important figure. He had probably studied at a Scottish grammar school, then Cambridge, before moving to Paris, where he matriculated in 1493. By 1497 the humanist and historian Hector Boece, born in Dundee and who had studied at Paris, returned to become the first principal at the new university of Aberdeen. These international contacts helped integrate Scotland into a wider European scholarly world and would be one of the most important ways in which the new ideas of humanism were brought into Scottish intellectual life. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18943753 | 1,169,168 |
700,885 | The "Gridley"-class destroyers were a class of four 1500-ton destroyers in the United States Navy. They were part of a series of USN destroyers limited to 1,500 tons standard displacement by the London Naval Treaty and built in the 1930s. The first two ships were laid down on 3 June 1935 and commissioned in 1937. The second two were laid down in March 1936 and commissioned in 1938. Based on the preceding "Mahan"-class destroyers with somewhat different machinery, they had the same hull but had only a single stack and mounted sixteen 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, an increase of four. To compensate for the increased torpedo armament weight, the gun armament was slightly reduced from five 5"/38 caliber guns (127 mm) to four. made the highest trial speed ever recorded for a United States Navy destroyer, 42.8 knots. All four ships served extensively in World War II, notably in the Solomon Islands and the Battle of the Philippine Sea, with "Maury" receiving a Presidential Unit Citation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2840535 | 700,520 |
633,472 | A model put forward by Lee Kump, Alexander Pavlov and Michael Arthur in 2005 suggests that oceanic anoxic events may have been characterized by upwelling of water rich in highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas, which was then released into the atmosphere. This phenomenon would probably have poisoned plants and animals and caused mass extinctions. Furthermore, it has been proposed that the hydrogen sulfide rose to the upper atmosphere and attacked the ozone layer, which normally blocks the deadly ultraviolet radiation of the Sun. The increased UV radiation caused by this ozone depletion would have amplified the destruction of plant and animal life. Fossil spores from strata recording the Permian-Triassic extinction event show deformities consistent with UV radiation. This evidence, combined with fossil biomarkers of green sulfur bacteria, indicates that this process could have played a role in that mass extinction event, and possibly other extinction events. The trigger for these mass extinctions appears to be a warming of the ocean caused by a rise of carbon dioxide levels to about 1000 parts per million. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1632974 | 633,134 |
817,381 | Early neurophysiologists suggest that retinal and inertial signals were selected for about 450 million years ago by primitive brainstem-cerebellar circuitry because of their relationship with the environment. Microscopically, it is evident that Purkinje cell precursors arose from granule cells, first forming in irregular patterns, then progressively becoming organized in a layered fashion. Evolutionarily, the Purkinje cells then developed extensive dendritic trees that increasingly became confined to a single plane, through which the axons of granule cells threaded, eventually forming a neuronal grid of right angles. The origin of the cerebellum is in close association with that of the nuclei of the vestibular cranial nerve and lateral line nerves, perhaps suggesting that this part of the cerebellum originated as a means of carrying out transformations of the coordinate system from input data of the vestibular organ and the lateral line organs. This suggests that the function of the cerebellum evolved as a mode of computing and representing an image relating to the position of the body in space. The cerebellar vermis evolved in conjunction with the hemispheres; this is seen in lampreys and higher vertebrates. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1562606 | 816,945 |
870,425 | Following on from the release of Arthur 1.2, Acorn itself offered a "basic word processor", ArcWriter, intended for "personal correspondence, notices and short articles" and to demonstrate the window, menu and pointer features of the system, employing built-in printer fonts for rapid printed output. The software was issued free of charge for registered users, although Acorn indicated that it would not produce a "definitive" word processor for the platform, in contrast to the BBC Micro where the View word processor had been central to Acorn's office software range. However, Acorn did also announce a port of the 1st Word package, First Word Plus, for the platform. ArcWriter was poorly received, with window repainting issues demonstrated as a particular problem, and with users complaining of "serious bugs". Although taking advantage of the Arthur desktop environment and using anti-aliased fonts, complaints were made about "blurred and smudged" characters and slow display updates when changing fonts or styles on low-memory machines like the A305. An early competitor, Graphic Writer, was received more favourably but provided its own full-screen user interface. Neither were regarded as competitive with established products on other platforms. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63145 | 869,965 |
1,967,036 | The complete party area of the Riem airport now moved to the "Kunstpark Ost", a former factory site of 90.000 m² close to the Ostbahnhof train station in Munich's Berg am Laim district. Ultraschall was re-opened there by and colleagues in the former potato drying facility of the Pfanni factory on 13 September 1996. The new premises were much larger than the first Ultraschall and allowed to establish two dance floors. The main floor was located in the factory's former swimming pool for washing potatoes and, as with the first Ultraschall club, was completely lined with white ceramic tiles and divided by columns. The floor tiles were later covered by a wooden floor. The space, characterized by simple geometric shapes, had the ambience of an industrial production site, but due to its strong angularity it did not have the atmosphere of a warehouse club. The main floor was known for the cold clanking sound, as well as for the wooden floor which was vibrating strongly due to the basses. Due to its decoration with green flokati, the second floor became known as the "Green Room". Since 1998 this room served as a home base for the popular "Flokati House Club", which was initiated by and in the 2000s moved on to the "Harry Klein Club" when Ultraschall closed. On Saturdays, the green room served as the chill out for the "Main Floor", which provided space for 1,500 people and where international acts such as Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, or Green Velvet played. Just as the Ultraschall I, its successor put a lot emphasis on decoration, light installations and video art by the "Highflyer" crew, and both incarnations of the club are considered as being some of the best decorated venues of all time. When the "Kunstpark Ost" party areal had to close on 31 January 2003, Ultraschall had to close as well. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59645545 | 1,965,906 |
1,926,388 | Hardy felt that the increase in class sizes and the "watered-down lessons" led to students being less interested in their studies. He criticized the system for being designed to make it easier to pass, as a result of parents not wanting to see their child fail when others succeeded. He was critical of group projects geared towards the lowest common denominator, students developing poor thinking and working habits, and teachers being overwhelmed by the number of students. He felt that learning how to get along with other people was best achieved interacting with peers on the playground rather than in the classroom. He stated that children needed to learn facts and history about the world, to be able to interpret those facts as they grow in mental capacity. He stressed that proper learning was hard work, and the need for memorization skills in children when the ability for memory power was greatest. He noted that the progressive system admitted to not providing for the child with intellectual giftedness, and was critical of the reduced requirements for entry into teacher's college in Alberta. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39683375 | 1,925,284 |
1,172,483 | A large variety of multicomponent fluoride glasses have been fabricated but few can be drawn into optical fiber. The fiber fabrication is similar to any glass-fiber drawing technology. All methods involve fabrication from the melt, which creates inherent problems such as the formation of bubbles, core-clad interface irregularities, and small preform sizes. The process occurs at 310 °C in a controlled atmosphere (to minimize contamination by moisture or oxygen impurities which significantly weaken the fiber) using a narrow heat zone compared to silica. Drawing is complicated by a small difference (only 124 °C) between the glass transition temperature and the crystallization temperature. As a result, ZBLAN fibers often contain undesired crystallites. The concentration of crystallites was shown in 1998 to be reduced by making ZBLAN in zero gravity (see figure).. One hypothesis is that microgravity suppresses convection in the atmosphere surrounding the fiber during the drawing process, leading to the formation of fewer crystallites. One recent experiment aims to examine whether electrostatically-levitated ZBLAN fibers can be made to exhibit properties similar to those obtained in microgravity. However, as of 2021, no quantitative models have been proposed to explain the experimental observations, and the precise causes of the differences between ZBLAN fibers drawn under different gravitational situations remain unknown. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2358446 | 1,171,864 |
1,275,409 | In 1911, he had accepted a commission as a First Lieutenant in the United States Army Medical reserve Corps. This eventually led to his taking a leave of absence from the university in February 1915 to serve at the American Ambulance Hospital outside Paris. Sutton and others from his days at Columbia and Roosevelt arrived at College of Juilly on February 23 where hospital facilities had been set up only 40 miles from the front lines of World War I. Within 2 months, he was surgeon-in-chief handling administrative duties in addition to his surgical responsibilities. His inventive aptitude was perhaps never more valued as he developed fluoroscopic techniques to identify and localize shrapnel within the soldier's bodies and then removed the foreign items with instruments of his own design. After his return, he documented these techniques in Binnie's Manual of Operative Surgery. Sutton's return sailing from France was on June 26, 1915, having stayed only four months, but have made a significant contribution to wartime medical treatment. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1250693 | 1,274,717 |
577,882 | STS-3 was planned as a 7-day flight. The landing was moved to Northrop Strip (later renamed White Sands Space Harbor) at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico since the planned landing site at Edwards Air Force Base had flooded. Lousma and Fullerton chose to land at White Sands instead of the new Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) because they had trained there. A large-scale equipment movement (reportedly "40 train carloads") from Edwards Air Force Basa to White Sands was undertaken before and during the mission, to ensure that a landing could be fully supported. Although time-sensitive equipment movements of this nature were originally to be handled by Air Force cargo planes, NASA altered those plans and moved the equipment in two dedicated trains over the - distance via the Santa Fe Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad. The choice to move the support equipment by rail saved NASA approximately US$2 million in transportation costs. High winds at White Sands reduced visibility and delayed the landing by a day. As all mission objectives had been accomplished, the crew enjoyed what Lousma described as "an extra day in our world's favorite vacation spot ... We finally had a chance to look out the window and enjoy being there". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=181031 | 577,586 |
949,284 | The crated prototype had been built on the second floor of a disused Pierce-Arrow factory, but its components were too big to fit through any elevator and required a hole to be broken in the brick outer wall to remove the first XP-59A. It was shipped to Muroc Army Air Field (today, Edwards Air Force Base) in California on 12 September 1942 by train for flight testing. The aircraft first became airborne during high-speed taxiing tests on 1 October with Bell test pilot Robert Stanley at the controls, although the first official flight was made by Colonel Laurence Craigie the next day. While being handled on the ground, the aircraft was fitted with a dummy propeller to disguise its true nature. When heavy rains flooded Rogers Dry Lake at Muroc in March 1943, the second prototype was towed to Hawes Field, an auxiliary airfield of Victorville Army Airfield, later George Air Force Base, over a public road. After one flight on 11 March, security concerns caused the jet to be transferred to nearby Harper Lake where it remained until 7 April. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=364859 | 948,780 |
1,211,393 | In the late nineteenth century, electric arc lighting was in wide use for public lighting. The tendency of electric arcs to flicker and hiss was a major problem. In 1895, Hertha Ayrton wrote a series of articles for "the Electrician", explaining that these phenomena were the result of oxygen coming into contact with the carbon rods used to create the arc. In 1899, she was the first woman ever to read her own paper before the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). Her paper was entitled "The Hissing of the Electric Arc". Shortly thereafter, Ayrton was elected the first female member of the IEE; the next woman to be admitted to the IEE was Dorothy Smith in 1958. She petitioned to present a paper before the Royal Society but was not allowed because of her sex and "The Mechanism of the Electric Arc" was read by John Perry in her stead in 1901. Ayrton was also the first woman to win a prize from the Society, the Hughes Medal, awarded to her in 1906 in honour of her research on the motion of ripples in sand and water and her work on the electric arc. By the late nineteenth century, Ayrton's work in the field of electrical engineering was recognised more widely, domestically and internationally. At the International Congress of Women held in London in 1899, she presided over the physical science section. Ayrton also spoke at the International Electrical Congress in Paris in 1900. Her success there led the British Association for the Advancement of Science to allow women to serve on general and sectional committees. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1805181 | 1,210,741 |
732,725 | The degree by which calcification can adapt to ocean acidification is presently unknown. Cell physiological examinations found the essential H+ efflux (stemming from the use of HCO− for intra-cellular calcification) to become more costly with ongoing ocean acidification as the electrochemical H+ inside-out gradient is reduced and passive proton outflow impeded. Adapted cells would have to activate proton channels more frequently, adjust their membrane potential, and/or lower their internal pH. Reduced intra-cellular pH would severely affect the entire cellular machinery and require other processes (e.g. photosynthesis) to co-adapt in order to keep H+ efflux alive. The obligatory H+ efflux associated with calcification may therefore pose a fundamental constraint on adaptation which may potentially explain why "calcification crisis" were possible during long-lasting (thousands of years) CO perturbation events even though evolutionary adaption to changing carbonate chemistry conditions is possible within one year. Unraveling these fundamental constraints and the limits of adaptation should be a focus in future coccolithophore studies because knowing them is the key information required to understand to what extent the calcification response to carbonate chemistry perturbations can be compensated by evolution. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47520 | 732,338 |
345,841 | The writers originally conceived several premature joke game endings if the player performed certain actions, but these required too much development effort for little payback and were scrapped. One of these joke endings was triggered by shooting a portal onto the moon's surface, after which the player's character would die from asphyxiation over a closing song, but the idea of creating a portal on the moon was incorporated into the game's final ending. The writers planned that Chell would say a single word during the ending, but this was not considered funny enough. In an early version of the script, Chell finds a lost "tribe" of turrets looking for their leader, a huge "Animal King" turret which can be seen in in-game videos of the retail product. As a reward, the Animal King would have married Chell to a turret, which would have followed Chell around the game without visible movement. The cooperative campaign was planned to feature a more detailed storyline, in which GLaDOS would send two robots to discover human artifacts, such as a comic based on a pastiche of "Garfield". The writers hoped to use this idea to make the robots human-like for testing purposes, but recognized that unlike the captive audience of the single-player campaign, the two players in cooperative mode may simply talk over the story, and thus the story was condensed into very basic elements. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15888290 | 345,660 |
350,324 | Oliver Wolf Sacks, (9 July 1933 – 30 August 2015) was a British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and writer. Born in Britain, Sacks received his medical degree in 1958 from The Queen's College, Oxford, before moving to the United States, where he spent most of his career. He interned at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco and completed his residency in neurology and neuropathology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). After a fellowship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, he served as neurologist at Beth Abraham Hospital's chronic-care facility in the Bronx, where he worked with a group of survivors of the 1920s sleeping sickness encephalitis lethargica, who had been unable to move on their own for decades. His treatment of those patients became the basis of his 1973 book "Awakenings", which was adapted into an Academy Award-nominated feature film in 1990, starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=169494 | 350,141 |
560,989 | According to Nicolescu, transdisciplinarity is nevertheless radically distinct from multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity because of its goal, the understanding of the present world, which cannot be accomplished in the framework of disciplinary research. The goal of multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity always remains within the framework of disciplinary research. If transdisciplinarity is often confused with interdisciplinarity or multidisciplinarity (and by the same token, we note that interdisciplinarity is often confused with multidisciplinarity) this is explained in large part by the fact that all three overflow disciplinary boundaries. Advocates maintain this confusion hides the huge potential of transdisciplinarity. One of the best known professionals of transdisciplinarity in Argentina is Pablo Tigani, and his concept about transdisciplinarity is:Currently, transdisciplinarity is a consolidated academic field that is giving rise to new applied researches, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. In this sense, the transdisciplinary and biomimetics research of Javier Collado on Big History represents an ecology of knowledge between scientific knowledge and the ancestral wisdom of native peoples, such as Indigenous peoples in Ecuador. According to Collado, the transdisciplinary methodology applied in the field of Big History seeks to understand the interconnections of the human race with the different levels of reality that co-exist in nature and in the cosmos, and this includes mystical and spiritual experiences, very present in the rituals of shamanism with ayahuasca and other sacred plants. In abstract, the teaching of Big History in universities of Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, and Argentina implies a transdisciplinary vision that integrates and unifies diverse epistemes that are in, between, and beyond the scientific disciplines, that is, including ancestral wisdom, spirituality, art, emotions, mystical experiences and other dimensions forgotten in the history of science, specially by the positivist approach. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2905982 | 560,700 |
2,083,554 | Cooper was born in September 1780. His father, who had made a fortune in the West Indies, died when his three sons were still young. The eldest, George, became a judge of the supreme court in Madras, and was knighted. The second, Samuel, was educated by Dr. Charles Burney at Greenwich, and in 1800 entered St. Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1803 he became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and settled in Golden Square. In 1806 he gained the Jacksonian prize at the College of Surgeons for the best essay on "Diseases of the Joints". He then began writing about surgery, for which he achieved a reputation, with his books going to several editions. His book (1840) "First Lines of Theory and Practice of Surgery" was the first formal acknowledgement of advanced melanoma as untreatable. He stated that the only chance for a cure depends upon the early removal of the disease (i.e., early excision of the malignant mole.) More than one and a half centuries later, this situation remains largely unchanged. (London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=35429683 | 2,082,354 |
340,146 | When experimental interventions are infeasible or illegal, the derivation of a cause-and-effect relationship from observational studies must rest on some qualitative theoretical assumptions, for example, that symptoms do not cause diseases, usually expressed in the form of missing arrows in causal graphs such as Bayesian networks or path diagrams. The theory underlying these derivations relies on the distinction between "conditional probabilities", as in formula_1, and "interventional probabilities", as in formula_2. The former reads: "the probability of finding cancer in a person known to smoke, having started, unforced by the experimenter, to do so at an unspecified time in the past", while the latter reads: "the probability of finding cancer in a person forced by the experimenter to smoke at a specified time in the past". The former is a statistical notion that can be estimated by observation with negligible intervention by the experimenter, while the latter is a causal notion which is estimated in an experiment with an important controlled randomized intervention. It is specifically characteristic of quantal phenomena that observations defined by incompatible variables always involve important intervention by the experimenter, as described quantitatively by the observer effect. In classical thermodynamics, processes are initiated by interventions called thermodynamic operations. In other branches of science, for example astronomy, the experimenter can often observe with negligible intervention. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37196 | 339,965 |
1,301,040 | There are a number of reasons why these high-risk elements of the procedure are necessary. CPB is needed to divert blood from the heart and lungs and supply the body with oxygen and blood while the pulmonary vasculature is operated on. Cardioplegia is initiated as the approach to the pulmonary arteries is performed through the pericardium, a fibrous sac surrounding the heart. Furthermore, movement from the heart makes delicate work on the closely attached pulmonary arteries complex. Hypothermia is necessary as the embolus is very delicate and the risk of disruption is high, in order to appropriately visualize the clot and remove it a bloodless field is required. Clot visualization is achieved through dissection of the pulmonary arteries which is technically challenging. If possible the clot is removed in a single piece to avoid the formation of mobile emboli. In order to achieve this CPB is periodically stopped, resulting in a complete cessation of blood circulation. This is only feasible if the patient is hypothermic (cooled to 18–20 °C) as metabolism is slowed and the body can better tolerate the resulting lack of blood supply. Circulatory arrest is limited to 20 minute intervals to protect brain function. Typically an experienced surgeon can perform an entire unilateral procedure in this time. After each interval of arrest circulation is continued for 10 minutes or until pulmonary venous oxygen saturation is at least 90%. Bypass time is typically 345 minutes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4231209 | 1,300,326 |
479,381 | Szostak grew up in Montreal and Ottawa. Although Szostak does not speak Polish, he stated in an interview with Wprost weekly that he remembers his Polish roots. He attended Riverdale High School (Quebec) and graduated at the age of 15 with the scholars prize. He graduated with a B.Sc in cell biology from McGill University at the age of 19. In 1970, as an undergraduate, he participated in The Jackson Laboratory's Summer Student Program under the mentorship of Dr. Chen K. Chai. He completed his PhD in biochemistry at Cornell University (advisor Prof. Ray Wu) before moving to Harvard Medical School to start his own lab at the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute. He credits Ruth Sager for giving him his job there when he had little yet to show. In 1984 Howard Goodman recruited him to Massachusetts General Hospital and the Department of Molecular Biology. He was granted tenure and a full professorship at Harvard Medical School in 1988. In 2022, he moved to the University of Chicago as a university professor in the Department of Chemistry and the College. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14031366 | 479,141 |
821,674 | On the recommendation of the Columbia team, the TMI Public Health Fund followed up its work with a longitudinal study. The 2000-3 University of Pittsburgh study compared post-TMI death rates in different parts of the local area, again using the wind direction on the morning of 28 March to assign fallout impact, In contrast to the Columbia study, which estimated exposure in 69 areas, the Pittsburgh study drew on the TMI Population Registry, compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. This was based on radiation exposure information on 93% of the population living within five miles of the nuclear plant - nearly 36,000 people, gathered in door-to-door surveys shortly after the accident. The study found slight increases in cancer and mortality rates but "no consistent evidence" of causation by TMI. Wing et al. criticized the Pittsburgh study for making the same assumption as Columbia: that the official statistics on low doses of radiation were correct - leading to a study "in which the null hypothesis cannot be rejected due to a priori assumptions." Hatch et al. noted that their assumption had been backed up by dosimeter data, though Wing et al. noted the incompleteness of this data, particularly for releases early on. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23167546 | 821,233 |
1,567,179 | On a high level representation, the neurons can be viewed as connected to other neurons to form a neural network in one of three ways. A specific network can be represented as a physiologically (or anatomically) connected network and modeled that way. There are several approaches to this (see Ascoli, G.A. (2002) Sporns, O. (2007), Connectionism, Rumelhart, J. L., McClelland, J. L., and PDP Research Group (1986), Arbib, M. A. (2007)). Or, it can form a functional network that serves a certain function and modeled accordingly (Honey, C. J., Kotter, R., Breakspear, R., & Sporns, O. (2007), Arbib, M. A. (2007)). A third way is to hypothesize a theory of the functioning of the biological components of the neural system by a mathematical model, in the form of a set of mathematical equations. The variables of the equation are some or all of the neurobiological properties of the entity being modeled, such as the dimensions of the dendrite or the stimulation rate of action potential along the axon in a neuron. The mathematical equations are solved using computational techniques and the results are validated with either simulation or experimental processes. This approach to modeling is called computational neuroscience. This methodology is used to model components from the ionic level to system level of the brain. This method is applicable for modeling integrated system of biological components that carry information signal from one neuron to another via intermediate active neurons that can pass the signal through or create new or additional signals. The computational neuroscience approach is extensively used and is based on two generic models, one of cell membrane potential Goldman (1943) and Hodgkin and Katz (1949), and the other based on Hodgkin-Huxley model of action potential (information signal). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33818014 | 1,566,292 |
38,336 | Dartmouth emerged onto the national academic stage at the turn of the 20th century. Prior to this period, the college had clung to traditional methods of instruction and was relatively poorly funded. Under President William Jewett Tucker (1893–1909), Dartmouth underwent a major revitalization of facilities, faculty, and the student body, following large endowments such as the $10,000 given by Dartmouth alumnus and law professor John Ordronaux. 20 new structures replaced antiquated buildings, while the student body and faculty both expanded threefold. Tucker is often credited for having "refounded Dartmouth" and bringing it into national prestige. Presidents Ernest Fox Nichols (1909–16) and Ernest Martin Hopkins (1916–45) continued Tucker's trend of modernization, further improving campus facilities and introducing selective admissions in the 1920s. In 1945, Hopkins was subject to no small amount of controversy, as he openly admitted to Dartmouth's practice of using racial quotas to deny Jews entry into the university. John Sloan Dickey, serving as president from 1945 until 1970, strongly emphasized the liberal arts, particularly public policy and international relations. During World War II, Dartmouth was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a navy commission. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8418 | 38,322 |
831,851 | The development of the single-chip microprocessor was an enormous catalyst to the popularization of cheap, easy to use, and truly personal computers. The Altair 8800, introduced in a "Popular Electronics" magazine article in the January 1975 issue, at the time set a new low price point for a computer, bringing computer ownership to an admittedly select market in the 1970s. This was followed by the IMSAI 8080 computer, with similar abilities and limitations. The Altair and IMSAI were essentially scaled-down minicomputers and were incomplete: to connect a keyboard or teleprinter to them required heavy, expensive "peripherals". These machines both featured a front panel with switches and lights, which communicated with the operator in binary. To program the machine after switching it on the bootstrap loader program had to be entered, without error, in binary, then a paper tape containing a BASIC interpreter loaded from a paper-tape reader. Keying the loader required setting a bank of eight switches up or down and pressing the "load" button, once for each byte of the program, which was typically hundreds of bytes long. The computer could run BASIC programs once the interpreter had been loaded. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=264051 | 831,402 |
310,478 | Devices have been used to aid computation for thousands of years, mostly using one-to-one correspondence with fingers. The earliest counting device was probably a form of tally stick. The Lebombo bone from the mountains between Eswatini and South Africa may be the oldest known mathematical artifact. It dates from 35,000 BCE and consists of 29 distinct notches that were deliberately cut into a baboon's fibula. Later record keeping aids throughout the Fertile Crescent included calculi (clay spheres, cones, etc.) which represented counts of items, probably livestock or grains, sealed in hollow unbaked clay containers. The use of counting rods is one example. The abacus was early used for arithmetic tasks. What we now call the Roman abacus was used in Babylonia as early as c. 2700–2300 BC. Since then, many other forms of reckoning boards or tables have been invented. In a medieval European counting house, a checkered cloth would be placed on a table, and markers moved around on it according to certain rules, as an aid to calculating sums of money. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13636 | 310,310 |
1,507,265 | The dextrorotatory stereoisomer of the compound is an active metabolite of dextromethorphan, dextrorphan, and 3-methoxymorphinan, and similarly to them has potent neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects on LTS- and MPTP-treated dopaminergic neurons of the nigrostriatal pathway, but notably without producing any neuropsychotoxic side effects (e.g., dissociation or hallucinations) or having any anticonvulsant actions. It does not seem to bind to the NMDA receptor, and instead, its neuroprotective properties appear result from inhibition of glutamate release via the suppression of presynaptic voltage-dependent Ca entry and protein kinase C activity. In any case, as such, the compound has been investigated as a potential management of Parkinson's disease medication (antiparkinsonian agent). A prodrug, GCC1290K, has been developed on account of 3-HM's poor bioavailability (18%), and a New Drug Application has been approved for it by the United States Food and Drug Administration. It is currently undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. It does not have a Controlled Substances Act 1970 schedule, ACSCN, or annual aggregate manufacturing quota and may not necessarily be controlled, whilst norlevorphanol is; none of the dextrorotary derivatives of the dromoran and norlevorphanol sub-families of morphinan derivatives are controlled as they do not have opioid activity but the other racemic compounds are. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33911157 | 1,506,419 |
100,233 | In contrast, Japanese manufacturers shared their information, quickly overcoming technical and manufacturing challenges and creating new markets. In Japan, a temperature stable crystal cut was developed by Issac Koga. Japanese efforts in materials research created piezoceramic materials competitive to the United States materials but free of expensive patent restrictions. Major Japanese piezoelectric developments included new designs of piezoceramic filters for radios and televisions, piezo buzzers and audio transducers that can connect directly to electronic circuits, and the piezoelectric igniter, which generates sparks for small engine ignition systems and gas-grill lighters, by compressing a ceramic disc. Ultrasonic transducers that transmit sound waves through air had existed for quite some time but first saw major commercial use in early television remote controls. These transducers now are mounted on several car models as an echolocation device, helping the driver determine the distance from the car to any objects that may be in its path. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24975 | 100,188 |
2,156,674 | Day's career encompassed positions in academia, with private corporations, and at government agencies. Her teaching work began in 1921, as an instructor at Hood College. She also taught and researched at the University of Wisconsin; Mills College; Smith College for twelve years, where she held the title of associate professor from 1937 to 1942; Cornell University; the University of Minnesota; MacMurray College, as associate professor from 1950 to 1952; Westminster College; and Brigham Young University as a visiting professor of botany in 1958 and 1960. During World War II, job opportunities for women expanded, and as a result, she took her first positions in private industry. She worked as a plant physiologist for the California Central Fibre Corporation (1943–1944); Alaska Research Laboratories as a microbiological consultant (1952–1954); and the Bio-Sci Information Exchange from 1954 to 1955. Day was a microbiologist with the Quartermaster Corps from 1946 to 1949, and a mycologist for the Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia in 1949. Her research interests included plant physiology, nutrition, and tissue culture. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=50825620 | 2,155,443 |
1,427,431 | Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is a term used by the European Union's Framework Programmes to describe scientific research and technological development processes that take into account effects and potential impacts on the environment and society. It gained visibility around the year 2010, arising from predecessors including "ELSA" (Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects) studies prompted by the Human Genome Project. Various slightly different definitions of RRI emerged, but all of them agree that societal challenges should be a primary focus of scientific research, and moreover they agree upon the methods by which that goal should be achieved. RRI involves holding research to high ethical standards, ensuring gender equality in the scientific community, investing policy-makers with the responsibility to avoid harmful effects of innovation, engaging the communities affected by innovation and ensuring that they have the knowledge necessary to understand the implications by furthering science education and Open Access. Organizations that adopted the RRI terminology include the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43007354 | 1,426,628 |
1,687,857 | On 3 February 1916, "83 F", "87 F" and "88 F" were involved in another shore bombardment operation against targets near San Vito Chietino and the railway line between Ortona and Tollo, this time led by the armoured cruiser accompanied by "Helgoland" and the . This bombardment was conducted as part of the transfer of these ships between Pola and the Bocche, and included an artillery duel between "Sankt Georg" and an Italian armed train equipped with 4.7 in guns manned by naval personnel. Three days later, "Wildfang" was south of the Bocche awaiting the return of seaplanes from a mission when the British light cruiser and the Italian appeared. "Wildfang" engaged in a short exchange of fire under the protection of coastal guns and withdrew. In response to the arrival of "Liverpool" and "Pilade Bronzetti", "Helgoland", "74 T", "78 T", "80 T", "83 F", "87 F" and "88 F" sailed, but they were met by another British light cruiser, , and the French destroyer , that had relieved "Liverpool" and "Pilade Bronzetti" in the intervening period. The Austro-Hungarian torpedo boats, split into two groups, launched torpedo attacks on the new Allied formation, but the only damage was caused by a collision between "74 T" and "83 F". The group led by "74 T" withdrew to Budua after the collision, but the other group attacked, scoring no hits. Finally, the Austro-Hungarian ships withdrew to the Bocche, having achieved little, and missed opportunities to attack enemy vessels operating further south. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=46387997 | 1,686,911 |
1,768,534 | The SUE process begins with a work plan that outlines the scope of work, project schedule, levels of service vs. risk allocation and desired delivery method. Non-destructive surface geophysical methods are then leveraged to determine the presence of subsurface utilities and to mark their horizontal position on the ground surface. Vacuum excavation techniques are employed to expose and record the precise horizontal and vertical position of the assets. This information is then typically presented in CAD format or a GIS-compatible map. A conflict matrix is also created to evaluate and compare collected utility information with project plans, identify conflicts and propose solutions. The concept of SUE is gaining popularity worldwide as a framework to mitigate costs associated with project redesign and construction delays and to avoid risk and liability that can result from damaged underground utilities. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41259155 | 1,767,540 |
2,246,604 | The club became inactive in the 1970s. Activity resumed a few years later when the club founder Robert Blake returned to the area as a temporary replacement for the Pensacola Junior College astronomy instructor. He got together such of the old membership as were still in the area in late 1977 and planned a reactivation of the club with the facilities of the community college—such as their Owens Planetarium. With this backing, the club became more and more active. When the astronomy instructor returned, he donated the first large portable telescope to the club—permitting public viewing. Since the 1980s the club hosted a summer viewing program for the National Park Service at the Fort Pickens campground—taken over from a Pensacola Junior College professor Dr. Frank Palma who had previously given the programs. When an annular eclipse took place nearby in May 1984, the club raised the money for safe Mylar solar filter material and then gave programs to schools on how to safely watch the event—with filters handed out at no cost to the students. In 1982, Merry Edenton-Wooten became club president, and her astronomy-related business Draco Productions became the club's sponsor in 1992. She obtained permission from Thomas Baader to purchase and use the new solar filter material, and sell it in a variety of sizes. Draco Productions began making affordable, safe, and superior quality solar filters (endorsed by NASA and the Astronomical League) for naked-eye viewing as well as scope or binocular use with the new Baader solar filter film from the Baader Planetarium in Germany in 1990. Edenton-Wooten has also given many filters to school teachers and students. She believes that making these fine filters, telescopes, and astronomy educational materials available to everyone is her most important contribution to astronomy. For the August 2017 eclipse, Draco and the EAAA provided more than 5000 free safe solar filters to students and the public. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7291031 | 2,245,332 |
395,987 | M16 type rifles are made by dozens of manufactures around the world, to the highest standards "the goal of which is to ensure that products designed for military use meet the necessary requirements with regard to quality, durability, ruggedness, commonality, interchangeability, total cost of ownership, logistics and other military and defense-related objectives." The M16's barrel life is approximately 15,000 rounds for standard issue M16A4s and M4s. Cold hammer forged steel barrels such as those used on the HK416 have service life of 20,000 to 50,000 rounds depending on the intensity of use. A badly worn M16 barrel will cause the bullets to tumble in flight. However, the M16's upper receiver/barrel may be swapped out in a matter of seconds, without the use of tools, simply by pushing out two pins. The M16 was designed to be a serviceable assault rifle, perfectly matching American military doctrine where units are resupplied on a continuous basis, and are expected to perform most of their own maintenance and repairs in the field. As such, American units are well supplied and are quickly provided with whatever spare-parts they need by their logistical support systems. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2471637 | 395,792 |
2,060,139 | The idea of a campus apiary was first conceived for the sole purpose of pollinating the campus orchard. However, by the time the facilities had been built, President Kenyon L. Butterfield and his administration had seen and realized a much greater purpose and potential in it than was previously considered. Around this time beekeeping was considered a new business venture which had otherwise been thought of as a hobby or side business of farmers for many decades prior. Just as much of the pioneer work in beekeeping originated in New England, Massachusetts was one of the first states to create a "State Inspector of Apiaries." The man who first led UMass's beekeeping program, a Dr. Burton N. Gates, was also the first to fill this position. As the apiary's first professor, he was originally hired part-time to give a series of lectures as a guest speaker during the spring semester of 1906. This would continue until 1910 when the administration hired him as a permanent faculty member, and concurrently built the new apicultural laboratory, equipped with all modern amenities of its time. They saw the opportunity they had, to further research on the diseases and ecology of the honey bee, something that up to that point had never been pursued so thoroughly by a public organization of higher education. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31274932 | 2,058,953 |
157,664 | Donald E. Ingber has developed a theory of tensegrity to describe numerous phenomena observed in molecular biology. For instance, the expressed shapes of cells, whether it be their reactions to applied pressure, interactions with substrates, etc., all can be mathematically modeled by representing the cell's cytoskeleton as a tensegrity. Furthermore, geometric patterns found throughout nature (the helix of DNA, the geodesic dome of a volvox, Buckminsterfullerene, and more) may also be understood based on applying the principles of tensegrity to the spontaneous self-assembly of compounds, proteins, and even organs. This view is supported by how the tension-compression interactions of tensegrity minimize material needed to maintain stability and achieve structural resiliency, although the comparison with inert materials within a biological framework has no widely accepted premise within physiological science. Therefore, natural selection pressures would likely favor biological systems organized in a tensegrity manner. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=92981 | 157,592 |
213,496 | A dedicated voltage comparator chip such as LM339 is designed to interface with a digital logic interface (to a TTL or a CMOS). The output is a binary state often used to interface real world signals to digital circuitry (see analog-to-digital converter). If there is a fixed voltage source from, for example, a DC adjustable device in the signal path, a comparator is just the equivalent of a cascade of amplifiers. When the voltages are nearly equal, the output voltage will not fall into one of the logic levels, thus analog signals will enter the digital domain with unpredictable results. To make this range as small as possible, the amplifier cascade is high gain. The circuit consists of mainly bipolar transistors. For very high frequencies, the input impedance of the stages is low. This reduces the saturation of the slow, large p–n junction bipolar transistors that would otherwise lead to long recovery times. Fast small Schottky diodes, like those found in binary logic designs, improve the performance significantly though the performance still lags that of circuits with amplifiers using analog signals. Slew rate has no meaning for these devices. For applications in flash ADCs the distributed signal across eight ports matches the voltage and current gain after each amplifier, and resistors then behave as level-shifters. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40929 | 213,388 |
2,057,327 | The Semmelweis Museum of Medical History played an important part in the career of József Antall, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary after the end of communism. As a historian he wrote biographies of 80 doctors for the Lexicon of Hungarian Biographies in 1963, and became interested in the history of medicine. He started working in the museum next year as a research fellow, and was promoted to deputy director in 1967. He was appointed acting director general in 1974, and remained in this position until May 1990 when he became prime minister after the first free elections. As a medical historian Antall was recognised internationally, and under his leadership the museum has built relationships with scientific institutions in Western Europe and the US. The methodology of medical history research was developed by Antall and his colleagues in these decades as it was still a relatively new field of study at the time in Hungary. Antall also supervised the establishment of museum pharmacies in other cities (Sopron, Győr, Pécs, Székesfehérvár, Kőszeg, Kecskemét, Eger), and the preservation of protected furnitures of some 60 pharmacies. He organized the International Medical Historical Congress in 1974 in Budapest and the International Pharmaceutical-Historical Congress in 1981. The museum was a place of refuge for Antall during the years of communist dictatorship after his participation in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and his subsequent banishment from teaching due to his anticommunist views. It was still his workplace during the last years of the Kádár regime when he became politically active again in the opposition movements, and during the transition period to democracy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=71667750 | 2,056,143 |
578,773 | In June 2011, "The New York Times" reported that "not everyone in the Energy Information Administration agrees" with the optimistic projections of reserves, and questioned the impartiality of some of the reports issued by the agency. Two of the primary contractors, Intek and Advanced Resources International, which provided information for the reports also have major clients in the oil and gas industry. "The president of Advanced Resources, Vello A. Kuuskraa, is also a stockholder and board member of Southwestern Energy, an energy company heavily involved in drilling for gas" in the Fayetteville Shale, according to the report in "The New York Times". The article was criticized by, among others, "The New York Times" own public editor for lack of balance, in omitting facts and viewpoints favorable to shale gas production and economics. Other critics of the article included bloggers at "Forbes" and the Council on Foreign Relations. Also in 2011, Diane Rehm had Ian Urbina; Seamus McGraw, writer and author of "The End of Country"; Tony Ingraffea, a professor of engineering at Cornell; and John Hanger, former secretary of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; on a radio call-in show about Urbino's articles and the broader subject. The associations representing the natural gas industry, such as America's Natural Gas Alliance, were invited to be on the program but declined. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24807719 | 578,476 |
1,062,540 | There are also several biological responses to implantation of a microelectrode array, particularly in regards to chronic implantation. Most notable among these effects are neuronal cell loss, glial scarring, and a drop in the number of functioning electrodes. The tissue response to implantation is dependent among many factors including size of the MEA shanks, distance between the shanks, MEA material composition, and time period of insertion. The tissue response is typically divided into short term and long term response. The short term response occurs within hours of implantation and begins with an increased population of astrocytes and glial cells surrounding the device. The recruited microglia then initiate inflammation and a process of phagocytosis of the foreign material begins. Over time, the astrocytes and microglia recruited to the device begin to accumulate, forming a sheath surrounding the array that extends tens of micrometres around the device. This not only increases the space between electrode probes, but also insulates the electrodes and increases impedance measurements. Problems with chronic implantation of arrays have been a driving force in the research of these devices. One novel study examined the neurodegenerative effects of inflammation caused by chronic implantation. Immunohistochemical markers showed a surprising presence of hyperphosphorylated tau, an indicator of Alzheimer's disease, near the electrode recording site. The phagocytosis of electrode material also brings into question the issue of a biocompatibility response, which research suggests has been minor and becomes almost nonexistent after 12 weeks "in vivo". Research into minimizing the negative effects of device insertion includes surface coating of the devices with proteins that encourage neuron attachment, such as laminin, or drug eluting substances. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20511935 | 1,061,986 |
2,027,422 | In 2014, it was claimed that the species had been discovered for the first time in Scotland in the grounds of Napier University's Craiglockhart Campus, which Napier acquired in 1986. During the First World War the property served as a military hospital and was used to treat shell-shocked officers. The poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon met when they were treated there in 1917. Ecologist Abbie Patterson made the discovery on a lawn at the campus and has come up with a "quirky theory" that soldiers' boots may have picked up spores in the mud of the Flanders Fields. As evidence, Patterson offers a photograph of soldiers and nurses lined up on the same spot that he made his discovery. (Patterson has discovered several other rare species in the grounds, an outcome he attributes to the absence of weedkillers.) However, the National Biodiversity Network's Gateway site indicates that the species has been recorded in Scotland on about twenty previous occasions though Patterson's find was the first to be verified. This verification was clarified by Professor Roy Watling MBE, PhD., DSc, FRSE, F.I.Biol., C.Biol., FLS (born 1938) is a Scottish mycologist who has made significant contributions to the study of fungi both in identification of new species and correct taxonomic placement, as well as in fungal ecology. The National Biodiversity Network is a crowd-sourced site and is not considered reliable evidence. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37403327 | 2,026,255 |
2,172,812 | Therefore, to combat that sort of brain surgery by transmission mechanics, I feel I should present my credentials. ... So, aside from having coined the term "Old Network Boy" — and being one — and indeed probably being the only person in the world who knew, worked with, and was even on friendly terms with Vint Cerf, Jon Postel, and Dave Clark before they got their respective doctorates, I was an active participant in the design of the ARPANET "Old" and "New" Telnet protocols, the File Transfer Protocol, and the first Graphics Protocol; I was the originator and a principal designer of "neted," a common editor command for the ARPANET; and I was the originator and a principal designer of the first Host-Front-End Protocol, not only for the ARPANET. I also implemented "Old" Telnet for Multics, did the integration and checkout of NCP and Telnet on 645 Multics — setting the one-month record for Development Machine Time in the process — and later served as the Multics Network Technical Liaison and Network and Graphics Group Leader, supervising the attachment of 6180 Multics to the ARPANET in the process. In recent years, I've tried to help the Government get some of its money's worth from contractors on any number of networks too depressing to mention both for the —————* [Name withheld to avoid the necessity of Corporate Review] Corporation, which now [Ed. 1983] employs me, and for the DoD's Protocol Standards Technical Panel. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33067032 | 2,171,570 |
1,020,502 | Biologists, alongside scholars of the history and philosophy of biology, have continued to debate the need for, and possible nature of, a replacement synthesis. For example, in 2017 Philippe Huneman and Denis M. Walsh stated in their book "Challenging the Modern Synthesis" that numerous theorists had pointed out that the disciplines of embryological developmental theory, morphology, and ecology had been omitted. They noted that all such arguments amounted to a continuing desire to replace the modern synthesis with one that united "all biological fields of research related to evolution, adaptation, and diversity in a single theoretical framework." They observed further that there are two groups of challenges to the way the modern synthesis viewed inheritance. The first is that other modes such as epigenetic inheritance, phenotypic plasticity, the Baldwin effect, and the maternal effect allow new characteristics to arise and be passed on and for the genes to catch up with the new adaptations later. The second is that all such mechanisms are part, not of an inheritance system, but a developmental system: the fundamental unit is not a discrete selfishly competing gene, but a collaborating system that works at all levels from genes and cells to organisms and cultures to guide evolution. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=97536 | 1,019,975 |
167,766 | In 1913 the Seguin brothers introduced the new Monosoupape ("single valve") series, which replaced inlet valves in the pistons by using a single valve in each cylinder head, which doubled as inlet and exhaust valve. The engine speed was controlled by varying the opening time and extent of the exhaust valves using levers acting on the valve tappet rollers, a system later abandoned due to valves burning. The weight of the Monosoupape was slightly less than the earlier two-valve engines, and it used less lubricating oil. The 100 hp Monosoupape was built with 9 cylinders, and developed its rated power at 1,200 rpm. The later 160 hp nine-cylinder Gnome 9N rotary engine used the Monosoupape valve design while adding the safety factor of a dual ignition system, and was the last known rotary engine design to use such a cylinder head valving format. The 9N also featured an unusual ignition setup that allowed output values of one-half, one-quarter and one-eighth power levels to be achieved through use of the coupe-switch and a special five-position rotary switch that selected which of the trio of alternate power levels would be selected when the coupe-switch was depressed, allowing it to cut out all spark voltage to all nine cylinders, at evenly spaced intervals to achieve the multiple levels of power reduction. The airworthy reproduction Fokker D.VIII parasol monoplane fighter at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, uniquely powered with a Gnome 9N, often demonstrates the use of its Gnome 9N's four-level output capability in both ground runs and in flight. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26103 | 167,676 |
664,559 | Initially conceptualized with the intention of being a horror game, "Mega Man Battle Network" was developed by Capcom Production Studio 2 amidst the success of Nintendo's portable RPG franchise "Pokémon". Rather than extend upon the traditional action-platform formula for the "Mega Man" series as they had done with the 3D "Mega Man Legends", Capcom followed Nintendo's example on the latter's then-newest handheld console, the GBA. While creating "Battle Network", director Masahiro Yasuma found difficulty in blending action attributes with "the kind of fun you get from a "Pokémon" game" in order to make it enjoyable, new, and fresh. Yasuma recalled that production was further challenged because no effective precursor of its type had been made before. Producer Keiji Inafune stated that the development team wanted to add a "real world" feel to the "Mega Man" series by placing the protagonist of "Battle Network" in a location where the internet is prevalent. With the release of the portable GBA, the team felt that they should target modern gamers, specifically children, as an audience for the new series. The developers thought such a theme would be both successful and relevant because these younger gamers grew up with and utilized such technology on a daily basis. To ensure the game's popularity, Capcom marketed "Battle Network" alongside an afternoon anime adaptation, emphasized head-to-head matches between players, and provided fans with exclusive content via special events. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2175391 | 664,212 |
1,495,931 | During the 1920s NYU decided to grow by offering admission to almost all applicants. By 1929 it became the largest urban university in the United States with more than 40,000 students. Due in part to the G.I. Bill, enrollment after World War II was greater than 70,000. Most students failed to graduate, however, as they were unable to meet the university's academic standards. The university began a large construction campaign that continued until the early 1970s. In 1962 new president James McNaughton Hester decided to improve NYU's reputation by raising admissions standards, widening student recruiting, and hiring new faculty. The size of the freshman class declined by about one third, but average grades and test scores rose. Most of the new spending occurred on the Washington Square campus, however, causing tensions between it and University Heights. The smaller student body also caused the new buildings to be underused, and forced the university to directly spend donated money on operating costs. Enrollment declined to under 40,000 in 1972 compared to 45,000 a few years earlier. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11141122 | 1,495,089 |
653,655 | In addition to the quantum optical applications, luminescence from the NV centers can be applied for imaging biological processes, such as fluid flow in living cells. This application relies on good compatibility of diamond nano-particles with the living cells and on favorable properties of photoluminescence from the NV centers (strong intensity, easy excitation and detection, temporal stability, etc.). Compared with large single-crystal diamonds, nanodiamonds are cheap (about 1 USD per gram) and available from various suppliers. NV centers are produced in diamond powders with sub-micrometre particle size using the standard process of irradiation and annealing described above. Due to the relatively small size of nanodiamond, NV centers can be produced by irradiating nanodiamond of 100 nm or less with medium energy H+ beam. This method reduces the required ion dose and reaction, making it possible to mass produce fluorescent nanodiamonds in ordinary laboratory. Fluorescent nanodiamond produced with such method is bright and photostable, making it excellent for long-term, three dimensional tracking of single particle in living cell. Those nanodiamonds are introduced in a cell, and their luminescence is monitored using a standard fluorescence microscope. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14461309 | 653,311 |
1,436,313 | PTT utilizes photothermal transduction agents (PTAs) which can transform light energy to heat through photothermal effect to raise the temperature of tumor area and thus cause the ablation of tumor cells. Specifically, ideal PTAs should have high photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE), excellent optical stability and biocompatibility, and strong light adsorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region (650-1350 nm) due to the deep-tissue penetration and minimal absorption of NIR light in the biological tissues. PTAs mainly include inorganic materials and organic materials. Inorganic PTAs, such as noble metal materials, carbon-based nanomaterials, and other 2D materials, have high PCE and excellent photostability, but they are not biodegradable and thus have potential long-term toxicity in vivo. Organic PTAs including small molecule dyes and conjugated polymers (CPs) have good biocompatibility and biodegradability, but poor photostability. Among them, small molecule dyes, such as cyanine, porphyrin, phthalocyanine, are limited in the field of cancer treatment because of their susceptibility to photobleaching and poor tumor enrichment ability. Conjugated polymers with large π−π conjugated skeleton and a high electron delocalization structure show potential for PTT due to their strong NIR absorption, excellent photostability, low cytotoxicity, outstanding PCE, good dispersibility in aqueous medium, increased accumulation at tumor site, and long blood circulation time. Moreover, conjugated polymers can be easily combined with other imaging agents and drugs to construct multifunctional nanomaterials for selective and synergistic cancer therapy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11693664 | 1,435,505 |
1,977,179 | Sadik studies surface chemistry, with particular emphasis on the development of biosensors for use in environmental chemistry. She has found that conducting polymers are especially promising for use in sensing applications. She has developed microelectrode biosensors sensitive to trace amounts of organic materials, technology which can be used for drug and bomb detection. She is also studying detoxification mechanisms of wastes such as organochlorine compounds in the environment, with the purpose of developing technologies for recycling metal ions from industrial and environmental waste. In one project, microbial enzymes increased the conversion of highly toxic chromium (VI) to non-toxic chromium (III) from 40% to 98%. Sadik is credited with more than 135 peer-reviewed research papers and patent applications. She holds U.S. patents on particular types of bichair oors. In 2011, she was the chairperson of the inaugural Gordon Conference on Environmental Nanotechnology. In 2012, Sadik and Barbara Karn co-founded the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization, a non-profit, international professional society for the responsible use of nanotechnology worldwide. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48543805 | 1,976,041 |
483,424 | Another source of error present in most interferograms is caused by the propagation of the waves through the atmosphere. If the wave travelled through a vacuum it should theoretically be possible (subject to sufficient accuracy of timing) to use the two-way travel-time of the wave in combination with the phase to calculate the exact distance to the ground. However, the velocity of the wave through the atmosphere is lower than the speed of light in a vacuum, and depends on air temperature, pressure and the partial pressure of water vapour. It is this unknown phase delay that prevents the integer number of wavelengths being calculated. If the atmosphere was horizontally homogeneous over the length scale of an interferogram and vertically over that of the topography then the effect would simply be a constant phase difference between the two images which, since phase difference is measured relative to other points in the interferogram, would not contribute to the signal. However, the atmosphere is laterally heterogeneous on length scales both larger and smaller than typical deformation signals. This spurious signal can appear completely unrelated to the surface features of the image, however, in other cases the atmospheric phase delay is caused by vertical inhomogeneity at low altitudes and this may result in fringes appearing to correspond with the topography. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7321060 | 483,177 |
2,206,807 | He was U.S. Navy officer, 2nd Deck Division on the USS Storm King, AP 171. He was a professor and department head of foundry engineering at Tennessee State University from 1950 to 1952. He held research positions with Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute from 1952 to 1966. He worked for Lockheed Missiles and Space Company from 1966 to 1986, where he studied titanium metallurgy, in the research laboratory. He was manager of the department producibility and standards, manager of the department of missile body mechanical engineering, and a consultant engineer in the missile systems division. He worked at Aerojet from 1986 – 1991 as director of research propulsion materials, research director of materials applications, and technical principal. He authored more than 60 papers and received seven patents. After retiring in 1991 he continued sharing his expertise in math and science by giving presentations on his career and tutoring young students. His legacy continued after his death in 2018 with a diversity award focused on overcoming adversity in his name given by the Minerals, Metals, & Materials Society (TMS). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69613500 | 2,205,549 |
79,648 | Nobel Prize winning Austrian economist and social theorist F. A. Hayek said that, originally, "the term 'natural' was used to describe an orderliness or regularity that was not the product of deliberate human will. Together with 'organism' it was one of the two terms generally understood to refer to the spontaneously grown in contrast to the invented or designed. Its use in this sense had been inherited from the stoic philosophy, had been revived in the twelfth century, and it was finally under its flag that the late Spanish Schoolmen developed the foundations of the genesis and functioning of spontaneously formed social institutions." The idea that 'natural' was "the product of designing reason" is a product of a seventeenth century rationalist reinterpretation of the law of nature. Luis Molina, for example, when referred to the 'natural' price, explained that it is "so called because 'it results from the thing itself without regard to laws and decrees, but is dependent on many circumstances which alter it, such as the sentiments of men, their estimation of different uses, often even in consequence of whims and pleasures." And even John Locke, when talking about the foundations of natural law and explaining what he thought when citing "reason," said: "By reason, however, I do not think is meant here that faculty of the understanding which forms traint of thought and deduces proofs, but certain definite principles of action from which spring all virtues and whatever is necessary for the proper moulding of morals." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=22063 | 79,615 |
162,063 | While the other major powers were primarily motivated toward territorial gains, and protection of their dynasties (such as the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties, and Prussia's House of Hohenzollern), Britain had a different set of primary interests. Its main diplomatic goal (besides protecting the homeland from invasion) was building a worldwide trading network for its merchants, manufacturers, shippers and financiers. This required a hegemonic Royal Navy so powerful that no rival could sweep its ships from the world's trading routes, or invade the British Isles. The London government enhanced the private sector by incorporating numerous privately financed London-based companies for establishing trading posts and opening import-export businesses across the world. Each was given a monopoly of trade to the specified geographical region. The first enterprise was the Muscovy Company set up in 1555 to trade with Russia. Other prominent enterprises included the East India Company, and the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada. The Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa had been set up in 1662 to trade in gold, ivory and slaves in Africa; it was reestablished as the Royal African Company in 1672 and focused on the Atlantic slave trade. British involvement in the each of the four major wars, 1740 to 1783, paid off handsomely in terms of trade. Even the loss of the Thirteen Colonies was made up by a very favourable trading relationship with the new United States of America. British gained dominance in the trade with India, and largely dominated the highly lucrative slave, sugar, and commercial trades originating in West Africa and the West Indies. Exports soared from £6.5 million in 1700, to £14.7 million in 1760 and £43.2 million in 1800. Other powers set up similar monopolies on a much smaller scale; only the Netherlands emphasised trade as much as England. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33643110 | 161,978 |
979,958 | Pyrethroids were introduced by a team of Rothamsted Research scientists in the 1960s and 1970s following the elucidation of the structures of pyrethrin I and II by Hermann Staudinger and Leopold Ružička in the 1920s. The pyrethroids represented a major advancement in the chemistry that would synthesize the analog of the natural version found in pyrethrum. Its insecticidal activity has relatively low mammalian toxicity and an unusually fast biodegradation. Their development coincided with the identification of problems with DDT use. Their work consisted firstly of identifying the most active components of pyrethrum, extracted from East African chrysanthemum flowers and long known to have insecticidal properties. Pyrethrum rapidly knocks down flying insects but has negligible persistence — which is good for the environment but gives poor efficacy when applied in the field. Pyrethroids are essentially chemically stabilized forms of natural pyrethrum and belong to IRAC MoA group 3 (they interfere with sodium transport in insect nerve cells). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=627468 | 979,446 |
417,005 | Roman was very involved with the early planning and specifically, the setting up of the program structure. According to Robert Zimmerman, "Roman had been the driving force for an LST from its earliest days" and that she, along with astronomer Charles Robert O'Dell, hired in 1972 to be the Project Scientist under Roman as the Program Scientist, “were the primary advocates and overseers of the LST within NASA, and their efforts working with the astronomical community produced a detailed paradigm for NASA operation of a large scientific project that now serves as a standard for large astronomical facilities.” This included creating and devolving responsibility for mission science operations to the Space Telescope Science Institute. With both the astronomical community and the NASA hierarchy convinced of the feasibility and value of the LST, Roman then spoke to politically connected men in a series of dinners hosted by NASA Administrator James Webb in order to build support for the LST project, and then wrote testimony for Congress throughout the 1970s to continue to justify the telescope. She also invested in detector technology, resulting in the Hubble being the first major observatory to use Charge-Coupled Device detectors (although these had been flown in space in 1976 in the KH-11 Kennen reconnaissance satellites). Roman's final role in the development of Hubble was to serve on the selection board for its science operations. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4370870 | 416,802 |
1,223,387 | From early youth, Hale had been internationally oriented, travelling widely throughout Europe in his younger years. Having long realized the value of an international organization to coordinate scientific research, he pursued, as chairman of a committee of the National Academy of Sciences of the US, the formation of an international organization for solar research. The society's inaugural meeting was held at the St. Louis Exposition of 1904 and included representatives from 16 national scientific societies, but notably not from the Prussian Academy of Sciences, which had declined the invitation. (Instead, German delegates from the German Physical Society were present.) The delegates proceeded to appoint a committee that was to create the International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research as a permanent international scientific organization; the new union had its first constituted meeting at Oxford in England a year later. Further meetings were held in Paris in 1907 and at Mount Wilson in 1910, where the purview of the Union was enlarged to include stellar research, in keeping with Hale's emphasis on the Sun as just one among the many other stars. Shortly after the last meeting in Bonn in 1913, World War I broke out, which effectively put an end to the Union's activities, which would later find continuation after the 1919 founding of the International Astronomical Union. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=623538 | 1,222,727 |
574,027 | Placed at the focus of a parabolic mirror, a Stirling engine can convert solar energy to electricity with an efficiency better than non-concentrated photovoltaic cells, and comparable to concentrated photovoltaics. On August 11, 2005, Southern California Edison announced an agreement with Stirling Energy Systems (SES) to purchase electricity created using over 30,000 Solar Powered Stirling Engines over a twenty-year period sufficient to generate 850 MW of electricity. These systems, on an 8,000 acre (19 km) solar farm will use mirrors to direct and concentrate sunlight onto the engines which will in turn drive generators. "In January, 2010, four months after breaking ground, Stirling Energy partner company Tessara Solar completed the 1.5 MW Maricopa Solar power plant in Peoria, Arizona, just outside Phoenix. The power plant is composed of 60 SES SunCatchers." The SunCatcher is described as "a large, tracking, concentrating solar power (CSP) dish collector that generates 25 kilowatts (kW) of electricity in full sun. Each of the 38-foot-diameter collectors contains over 300 curved mirrors (heliostats) that focus sunlight onto a power conversion unit, which contains the Stirling engine. The dish uses dual-axis tracking to follow the sun precisely as it moves across the sky." There have been disputes over the project due to concerns of environmental impact on animals living on the site. The Maricopa Solar Plant has been closed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31224455 | 573,733 |
611,795 | The STS-134 crew installed the AMS-2 on flight day 4. AMS-2 was lifted out of "Endeavour"s payload bay using the Canadarm, operated by Drew Feustel and Roberto Vittori. It was handed off to Canadarm2, which was operated by Greg Chamitoff and Greg Johnson, and was installed in its final location on the S3 truss segment at 09:46 UTC. Immediately after the installation, crews on the ground began activating the experiment. The installation of the AMS-2 marked the completion of the US Orbital Segment of the International Space Station. Later in the day, Greg Chamitoff, Drew Feustel and Mike Fincke prepared the Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMU) that Chamitoff and Feustel would wear during their spacewalk on flight day 5. The trio was also assisted by commander Mark Kelly in preparing the tools required for the Extravehicular Activity (EVA). While this was going on, Expedition 27 crew members Paolo Nespoli, Cady Coleman and Ron Garan assisted the rest of the STS-134 crew in completing transfers to and from "Endeavour". Late in the crew day, the two crews performed an EVA procedures review. After the review, Chamitoff and Feustel camped out in the "Quest" Airlock overnight, in preparation for the mission's first spacewalk. The campout was done with the airlock's air pressure reduced, so as to purge nitrogen bubbles from the astronauts' blood and thus prevent decompression sickness. Members of both crews also conducted two in-flight interviews with media on the ground, including PBS NewsHour, National Public Radio, Associated Press, Reuters and Fox News. The crew also answered questions that were relayed up to them by Miles O'Brien for Google. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18089765 | 611,484 |
2,026,119 | In 1992, Soriano and Paruelo proposed the concept of Biozones to identify vegetation units that share ecosystem functional characteristics using time-series of satellite images of spectral vegetation indices. Biozones were later renamed to EFTs by Paruelo et al. (2001), using an equivalent definition and methodology. was one of the first authors that used the term EFT as "aggregated components of ecosystems whose interactions with one another and with the environment produce differences in patterns of ecosystem structure and dynamics". Walker (1997) proposed the use of a similar term, vegetation functional types, for groups of PFTs in sets that constitute the different states of vegetation succession in non-equilibrium ecosystems. The same term was applied by Scholes et al. in a wider sense for those areas having similar ecological attributes, such as PFTs composition, structure, phenology, biomass or productivity. Several studies have applied hierarchy and patch dynamic theories for the definition of ecosystem and landscape functional types at different spatial scales, by scaling-up emergent structural and functional properties from patches to regions. Valentini et al. defined land functional units by focusing on patches of the land surface that are able to exchange mass and energy with the atmosphere and show a coordinated and specific response to environmental factors. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47057320 | 2,024,953 |
117,286 | In a 2013 book-length evaluation of the Gaia hypothesis considering modern evidence from across the various relevant disciplines, Toby Tyrrell concluded that: "I believe Gaia is a dead end. Its study has, however, generated many new and thought provoking questions. While rejecting Gaia, we can at the same time appreciate Lovelock's originality and breadth of vision, and recognize that his audacious concept has helped to stimulate many new ideas about the Earth, and to champion a holistic approach to studying it". Elsewhere he presents his conclusion "The Gaia hypothesis is not an accurate picture of how our world works". This statement needs to be understood as referring to the "strong" and "moderate" forms of Gaia—that the biota obeys a principle that works to make Earth optimal (strength 5) or favourable for life (strength 4) or that it works as a homeostatic mechanism (strength 3). The latter is the "weakest" form of Gaia that Lovelock has advocated. Tyrrell rejects it. However, he finds that the two weaker forms of Gaia—Coeveolutionary Gaia and Influential Gaia, which assert that there are close links between the evolution of life and the environment and that biology affects the physical and chemical environment—are both credible, but that it is not useful to use the term "Gaia" in this sense and that those two forms were already accepted and explained by the processes of natural selection and adaptation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=248189 | 117,241 |
1,187,043 | Besides the quick and significant loss of symbiotic host species, since sudden oak death is classified as a stem-girdling disease, which is proven to cause a massive reduction in mycorrhizae soil biomass, the amount of phosphorus and micronutrients that mycorrhizae are able to absorb is greatly reduced in soils occupied by trees with SOD. Another significant environmental impact of "P. ramorum". is its tendency to result in large deposits of dry, woody debris in areas prone to forest fires, making them even more difficult to contain. Indeed, hotspots of SOD are "unmanageable" for fire crews, and there is increasing evidence to suggest that SOD plays a large role in a forest's susceptibility to fire. On the other side of the spectrum are the significant economic impacts of "P. ramorum", which are difficult to assess, but the most obvious of which is the reduction to property values of real estate containing oak trees, as oaks in particular tend to raise the property value of the plots they inhabit. Additionally, several U.S industries have suffered due to the spread of SOD, including the ornamental plant, spice, and composting industries, especially in the state of California. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=589513 | 1,186,412 |
1,742,176 | The use of lasers in treating periodontal disease has been seen by some dental professionals as controversial. The American Academy of Periodontology stated in 1999 that it was "not aware of any randomized blinded controlled longitudinal clinical trials, cohort or longitudinal studies, or case-controlled studies indicating that 'laser excisional new attachment procedure (or Laser ENAP)' or 'laser curettage' offers any advantageous clinical result not achieved by traditional periodontal therapy. Moreover, published studies suggest that use of lasers for ENAP procedures and/or gingival curettage could render root surfaces and adjacent alveolar bone incompatible with normal cell attachment and healing." A 2015 systematic review from the AAP regeneration workshop acknowledged more recent peer-reviewed studies showing periodontal regeneration, and further suggested that the LANAP protocol's minimally invasive nature may offer advantages in the regeneration of defects where minimal soft tissue change is required. The current AAP website indicates that lasers can be used to treat periodontal disease, and current controlled studies have shown that similar results have been found with the laser compared to specific other treatment options, including scaling and root planing alone. The website also states patients should be aware that different laser wavelengths have different applications in periodontal treatment. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15276386 | 1,741,192 |
367,094 | In August 2003, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, ordered the DOE to organize a second review of the field. This was thanks to an April 2003 letter sent by MIT's Peter L. Hagelstein, and the publication of many new papers, including the Italian ENEA and other researchers in the 2003 International Cold Fusion Conference, and a two-volume book by U.S. SPAWAR in 2002. Cold fusion researchers were asked to present a review document of all the evidence since the 1989 review. The report was released in 2004. The reviewers were "split approximately evenly" on whether the experiments had produced energy in the form of heat, but "most reviewers, even those who accepted the evidence for excess power production, 'stated that the effects are not repeatable, the magnitude of the effect has not increased in over a decade of work, and that many of the reported experiments were not well documented.'" In summary, reviewers found that cold fusion evidence was still not convincing 15 years later, and they didn't recommend a federal research program. They only recommended that agencies consider funding individual well-thought studies in specific areas where research "could be helpful in resolving some of the controversies in the field". They summarized its conclusions thus: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7463 | 366,902 |
490,565 | One of the oldest records of technological studies in Spain is the Royal Academy of Mathematics in Madrid, leaving aside the Quatrivium of arithmetics, geometry, astronomy and music, the four liberal arts, that form the base of the technical disciplines, which were studied in the monastic and cathedral schools and later in the medieval and renaissance universities. The Royal Academy of Mathematics was created after the idea and personal initiative of King Philip II after his return from a visit to Portugal in 1582, where he realised that the Portuguese cartographers were more advanced than those in Spain. The Academy did not award qualifications that entitled to exercise a profession. Its prestige was based on the lecturers and subjects taught. Cartographers, pilots, architects and engineers were trained in a way that the latter two started to gain a certain degree of recognition. In 1643 the Academy was closed down. The second relevant record of technological studies was the Corps of Army, Cities, Ports and Frontiers Engineers founded by King Philip V in 1711. This date marked the foundation of the Spanish engineers as an organised profession. In 1716, for their training, the Royal Military School of Mathematics in Barcelona was created, even if it was not opened until 1720 and besides was limited to a strictly military context. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1933854 | 490,311 |
850,217 | Issues of enemy technical capability and military philosophy will also affect any model used. Whilst a modeller with sufficiently high security clearance and access to the relevant data can expect to create a reasonably accurate picture of his own nation's military capacity, creating a similarly detailed picture for a potential adversary may be extremely difficult. Military information, from technical specifications of weapons systems to tactical doctrine, is high on the list of any nation's most closely guarded secrets. However, the difficulty of discovering the "unknown", when it is at least known that it exists, seems trivial compared to discovering the "unguessed". As Len Deighton famously pointed out in "Spy Story", if the enemy has an unanticipated capability (and he almost always does), it may render tactical and strategic assumptions so much nonsense. By its very nature, it is not possible to predict the direction every new advance in technology will take, and previously undreamt-of weapons systems can come as a nasty shock to the unprepared: the British introduction of the tank during World War I caused panic amongst German soldiers at Cambrai and elsewhere, and the advent of Hitler's vengeance weapons, such as the V-1 "flying bomb", caused deep concern amongst Allied high command. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10280894 | 849,765 |
1,435,183 | For more than four decades, cultures of gram negative microbes revealed the presence of nanoscale membrane vesicles. A role for membrane vesicles in pathogenic processes has been suspected since the 1970s, when they were observed in gingival plaque by electron microscopy. These vesicles were suspected to promote bacterial adhesion to the host epithelial cell surface. Their role in invasion of animal host cells "in vivo" was then demonstrated. In inter-bacterial interactions, OMVs released by "Pseudomonas aeruginosa" microbes were shown to fuse with outer membrane of other gram negative microbes causing their bacteriolysis; these OMVs could lyse gram-positive microbes as well. Role of OMVs in "Helicobacter pylori" infection of "human" primary antral epithelial cells, as model that closely resembles human stomach, has also been confirmed VacA-containing OMVs could also be detected in human gastric mucosa, infected with "H. pylori.". "Salmonella" OMVs were also shown to have direct role in invasion of chicken ileal epithelial cells "in vivo" in the year, 1993 (ref 4) and later, in hijacking of defense macrophages into sub-service for pathogen replication and consequent apoptosis of infected macrophages in typhoid-like animal infection. These studies brought the focus on OMVs into "membrane vesicle trafficking" and showed this phenomenon as involved in multifarious processes like genetic transformation, quorum sensing, competition arsenal among microbes, etc., and invasion, infection, immuno-modulation, etc., of animal hosts. A mechanism has already been proposed for generation of OMVs by gram negative microbes involving, expansion of pockets of periplasm (named, "periplasmic organelles") due to accumulation of bacterial cell secretions and their pinching off as outer membrane bounded vesicles (OMVs) on the lines of a 'soap bubble' formation with a bubble tube, and further fusion or uptake of diffusing OMVs by host/target cells (Fig. 2). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42396644 | 1,434,377 |
1,989,753 | Calder also co-ordinated various collaborative research studies aimed at assessing risks and dispelling myths surrounding COVID-19 transmission in sports and the culture sectors. A joint study between Imperial College London and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine using live COVID-19 virus demonstrated that the risk of its transmission from shared use of sports equipment was very unlikely. This enabled recreational sports clubs to allow people to share tennis balls, footballs, crash mats and for golf clubs to allow green pins and bunker rakes to be used which was previously banned. Following the award of a UKRI research grant, Calder co-ordinated aerobiology experiments which were performed in the ultra clean-air of orthopaedic operating theatres. The researchers from Imperial College London and Bristol University investigated the potential for aerosol transmission of COVID-19 in professional and amateur singers, woodwind and brass instrument musicians and the effect of exercise on aerosol generation in elite and amateur athletes. The results have helped shape guidelines for several areas of the performing arts as well as gyms. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51786667 | 1,988,611 |
819,818 | In 2007, the Israeli military deployed the Sentry Tech system, dubbed as the Roeh-Yoreh (Sees-Fires) by the IDF along the Gaza border fence with pillboxes placed at intervals of some hundreds of meters. The 4-million USD (3.35 million Euro) system was completed in late spring of 2008. The weapon system mounts a .50BMG automated M2 Browning machine gun and a SPIKE guided missile in each pillbox covered by an opaque protective shield. The weapon is operated by one soldier and fed information from cameras, long range electro-optical sensors, ground sensors, crewed aircraft, and overhead drones, as well as radar. Connected via fiber optics to a remote operator station and a command-and-control center, each machine gun-mounted station serves as a type of robotic sniper, capable of enforcing a nearly 1,500-meter-deep area of denial. The gun is based on the Samson Remote Controlled Weapon Station. The weapon is capable of acquiring targets and maintaining a firing solution independently, but still requires human input to fire or release ordnance. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3352539 | 819,377 |
75,003 | The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, provided the resolution needed to perform more refined observations of galactic nuclei. In 1994 the Faint Object Spectrograph on the Hubble was used to observe Messier 87, finding that ionized gas was orbiting the central part of the nucleus at a velocity of ±500 km/s. The data indicated a concentrated mass of lay within a span, providing strong evidence of a supermassive black hole. Using the Very Long Baseline Array to observe Messier 106, Miyoshi et al. (1995) were able to demonstrate that the emission from an HO maser in this galaxy came from a gaseous disk in the nucleus that orbited a concentrated mass of , which was constrained to a radius of 0.13 parsecs. Their ground-breaking research noted that a swarm of solar mass black holes within a radius this small would not survive for long without undergoing collisions, making a supermassive black hole the sole viable candidate. Accompanying this observation which provided the first confirmation of supermassive black holes was the discovery of the highly broadened, ionised iron | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=215706 | 74,976 |
1,562,285 | The spin polarized scanning tunneling microscope is a versatile instrument which has gained tremendous attention due to its enhanced surface sensitivity and lateral resolution up to atomic scale, and can be used as an important tool to study ferromagnetic materials, such as dysprosium (Dy), quasi-2D thin films, nano islands and quasi-1D nanowire that have high magnetic anisotropy, etc. In a study carried out by L. Berbil-Bautista et al., the magnetic domain wall or Néel wall of the width 2-5 nm present in these materials is observed by bringing the chromium (Cr)-coated tungsten tip close to the Dy layer. This causes the transfer of Dy particles from magnetic material on to the apex of the tip. The width of the domain wall is calculated asformula_31 where formula_32 is exchange stiffness. The magnetic contrast is enhanced due to the presence of electronic states that are not occupied in the cluster of Dy atoms present on the apex of the tip. The formation of 360° domain walls in ferromagnetic films plays an important role in making magnetic random access memory devices. These domain walls are formed when an external magnetic field is applied along the easy direction of magnetic material. This forces the two 180° walls, which also have identical sense of rotation to come closer. In a study carried out by A. Kubetzka et al., the SP-STM was used to measure the evolution of 360° domain wall profiles of two atomic layer iron nanowires by varying the external magnetic field between 550-800 mT. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8434642 | 1,561,398 |
1,018,789 | The facility was originally Set up in 1944 by Lt. Colonel Darshan Singh Vohra to provide artificial limb, appliances and deliver rehabilitative care to the gallant soldiers of the Indian Army, who lost their limbs in combat. Post independence the AFMC was expanded further in 1948 in the immediate post-world war period. On the recommendations of the BC Roy Committee, remnants of the Indian Army Medical Corps units were amalgamated into one unit to create the Armed Forces Medical College. Over the past 50 years, it has grown in its functions. The "Graduate Wing" of AFMC was established on 4 August 1962. The aim of starting this wing was to increase the intake of medical graduates into the Armed Forces. The graduate wing was affiliated to the University of Pune until 1999 but presently affiliated to the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences. The college is recognised by the Medical Council of India for conducting a five-year and six-month teaching programme leading to MBBS degree. The first batch passed out in Oct 1966. It also conducts post graduate courses in many disciplines. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=186156 | 1,018,262 |
773,693 | "Castanea sativa" is considered as having very interesting nutritional characteristics. The fruit contains significant amounts of a wide range of valuable nutrients. In the past, its characteristic and nutritional components gave sweet chestnut an important role in human nutrition due to its beneficial health effects. Sweet chestnut is also appreciated in a gluten-free diet. Furthermore, this characteristic is valuable in cases of celiac diseases as well as reducing coronary heart diseases and cancer rates. Various composition and health studies have shown its big potential as a food ingredient and functional food. The fat content is very low and is dominated for the most part by unsaturated fatty acids. Sweet chestnut is a good source for starch; chestnuts of all varieties generally contain about the same amount of starch. The energy value per 100 g (3.5 oz) of "C. sativa" amounts to 891 kJ (213 kcal). "C. sativa" is characterized by high moisture content which ranges from 41% to 59% and a considerable level of starch (≈40 g 100 g dry matter). Regarding mineral content, the chestnut provides a good source for copper, iron, magnesium, manganese and potassium. Its sugar content ranges from 14% to 20% dry weight depending on the cultivar; which is very important, since the sensory appeal of sweet chestnut is correlated with its sugar content. However, high sugar amounts seem to have a negative impact on the fiber content. Generally, glucose content in European chestnuts is very low and ranges from zero to traces. Instead, fructose is mostly responsible for the sweet taste. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=437956 | 773,277 |
2,198,934 | The medical community follows an increasing trend of translating traditional medicine into personalized medicine, and long-held regulatory policies are obstacles to be resolved for its public usage. The United States took action via the enactment of the 21st Century Cures Act in 2016. This enforcement provided financial aid to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), allowing to accelerate the emergence of newly personalized products such as cell therapy and medical devices into the marketplace. Also, National Institutes of Health (NIH) benefited from the resource allocation. Many countries have introduced legislation for the improvement of personalized medicine. In Singapore, AI Singapore, a national AI initiative supported by National Research Foundation, was able to enhance national AI capabilities in drug development and patient-centered care. In addition, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) was established between the European Union and pharmaceutical companies with the purpose of developing medical devices, drugs, and vaccines to tackle major challenges that will imperil the EU. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=70423831 | 2,197,682 |
1,497,418 | In terms of financial technology research, ASTRI launched the Cybersecurity Fortification Initiative with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in 2016, which led to the establishment of a cyber resilience framework and cyber intelligence sharing platform. In 2017, it launched the HSBC-ASTRI Research and Development Innovation Laboratory with HSBC, an initiative that has conducted research on block-chain based property valuation, trade finance, Chinese handwriting optical character recognition and digital-ID prototype. Similarly, it has developed a property purchasing platform using blockchain technology by collaborating with New World Development Company Limited, with Bank of China Hong Kong being the first corporate participant. Moreover, it has developed a smart investment platform with t.Axiom which provides investors with analyzed empirical market data based on users’ behavioral attributes. On its own, it has designed a credit-scoring framework for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Hong Kong to access funds by providing banks with their business information and documentation. ASTRI aims at collaborating with its counterparts in the GBA as well to further its research efforts in financial technology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24207795 | 1,496,575 |
405,720 | Meningococcus can cause meningitis and other forms of meningococcal disease. It initially produces general symptoms like fatigue, fever, and headache and can rapidly progress to neck stiffness, coma and death in 10% of cases. Petechiae occur in about 50% of cases. Chance of survival is highly correlated with blood cortisol levels, with lower levels prior to steroid administration corresponding with increased patient mortality. Symptoms of meningococcal meningitis are easily confused with those caused by other bacteria, such as "Haemophilus influenzae" and "Streptococcus pneumoniae". Suspicion of meningitis is a medical emergency and immediate medical assessment is recommended. Current guidance in the United Kingdom is that if a case of meningococcal meningitis or septicaemia (infection of the blood) is suspected, intravenous antibiotics should be given and the ill person admitted to the hospital. This means that laboratory tests may be less likely to confirm the presence of "Neisseria meningitidis" as the antibiotics will dramatically lower the number of bacteria in the body. The UK guidance is based on the idea that the reduced ability to identify the bacteria is outweighed by reduced chance of death. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1966840 | 405,520 |
33,886 | On September 30, 2010, Léo Apotheker was named HP's new CEO and president. His appointment sparked a strong reaction from Ellison, who complained that Apotheker had been in charge of SAP when one of its subsidiaries was systematically stealing software from Oracle. SAP accepted that its subsidiary, which has now closed, illegally accessed Oracle intellectual property. Following Hurd's departure, HP was seen to be problematic by the market, with margins falling and having failed to redirect and establish itself in major new markets such as cloud and mobile services. Apotheker's strategy was to broadly aim at disposing hardware and moving into the more profitable software services sector. On August 18, 2011, HP announced that it would strategically exit the smartphone and tablet computer business, and focus on higher-margin "strategic priorities of Cloud, solutions and software with an emphasis on enterprise, commercial and government markets". It also contemplated selling off its personal computer division or spinning it off into a separate company, and quitting PC development while continuing to sell servers and other equipment to business customers, which was a strategy undertaken by IBM in 2005. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21347024 | 33,874 |
2,087,672 | ICES'14 witnessed countless creative and state-of-the-art ideas. In order to take these ideas on another level, ASCE-VIT planned to conduct conference in ICES 15. The goal of this conference was to bring together innovative academics and industrial experts in the field of civil engineering to a common forum, promote research and developmental activities. Thus ASCE-VIT in collaboration with School Of Mechanical And Building Sciences-VIT, has conducted a conference, which covered fields like: water treatment, hydrological processes in natural and urban environment, soil and ground water remediation, water reuse, contemporary water quality issues, hydrology in the field Of water resources. Environmental engineering forms an important field in civil, thus themes like alternative energy and their environmental impacts, environmental biotechnology, Biotransformation and fate of environmental contaminants, Air quality: air pollution, Energy and environmental impacts Of infrastructure systems, Sustainable transportation planning, Sustainable environment, Reliability and risk analysis, pollutant transport and contaminant Transport Modeling were included. An interesting and relatively new field, information technology in construction has also been included, thus encouraging progressive Civil stream positions itself on central subjects like structural, earthquake, and geotechnical and transport engineering, and hence included in the conference. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49531115 | 2,086,470 |
1,279,829 | The archaeological site was defined by 4 distinct mounds and excavated by researchers from Deccan College. Mounds I, II, and III were partially excavated in 1957-1958. Mound IV was completely excavated over two seasons between 1957 and 1959. Numerous rectangular and circular structures were uncovered; These contained most of the artifacts that were found. The houses mostly consisted of a single room and were made of wattle and daub. Lime was used on the floors and walls in an effort to prevent insects from entering the living space. The wattle of the houses were made of either acacia or conifer and were interwoven with bamboo. Most houses had a fireplace and a stone slab that was used for grinding and mashing grain. Pottery of varying styles including Malwa, Jorwe, Black and Red Ware, Cream-Slipped Ware, and Grey-Ware were also commonly found within the houses . Similarities between Navdatoli pottery and certain Iranian ceramics have led some to believe the area was colonized by immigrants from the Northwest. Given the size and number of residences found, along with the length of time the area was occupied, it is estimated that on average roughly 150 individuals lived in the village in its earliest stage. Evidence of domestic animals including Indian cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs were also found. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56785258 | 1,279,134 |
1,096,370 | The Imaging Compton Telescope (COMPTEL) by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, the University of New Hampshire, Netherlands Institute for Space Research, and ESA's Astrophysics Division was tuned to the 0.75-30 MeV energy range and determined the angle of arrival of photons to within a degree and the energy to within five percent at higher energies. The instrument had a field of view of one steradian. For cosmic gamma-ray events, the experiment required two nearly simultaneous interactions, in a set of front and rear scintillators. Gamma rays would Compton scatter in a forward detector module, where the interaction energy "E", given to the recoil electron was measured, while the Compton scattered photon would then be caught in one of the second layers of scintillators to the rear, where its total energy, "E", would be measured. From these two energies, "E" and "E", the Compton scattering angle, angle θ, can be determined, along with the total energy, "E + E", of the incident photon. The positions of the interactions, in both the front and rear scintillators, was also measured. The vector, V, connecting the two interaction points determined a direction to the sky, and the angle θ about this direction, defined a cone about V on which the source of the photon must lie, and a corresponding "event circle" on the sky. Because of the requirement for a near coincidence between the two interactions, with the correct delay of a few nanoseconds, most modes of background production were strongly suppressed. From the collection of many event energies and event circles, a map of the positions of sources, along with their photon fluxes and spectra, could be determined. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=543428 | 1,095,810 |
383,056 | In 1800, an Irish physician (Charles Sugrue) penned a case report to the London Medical and Physical Journal describing the peculiar case of an 8-year-old male patient who had had seemingly random fits of pain concentrated in the abdomen accompanied by "a hectic flush distinctly marked on each cheek" with a "constant profuse and universal perspiration." Following his death, a group of physicians performed an autopsy to determine cause of death and discovered a six-inch oblong tumor composed of an unknown "yellow-ish coloured substance" coming from the capsula renalis (what is now known as the adrenal gland). This would become the first known clinical description of a pheochromocytoma, but as no features of the tumor itself were described, complete credit is given to the German Felix Fraenkel, who provided a clinical and morphologic picture of this tumor. While various physicians were recognizing symptoms and treating patients, Czech biologist Alfred Kohn reported his discovery of the paraganglia system, which would later become crucial to the diagnosis of these tumors. Furthermore, he also introduced the term "chromaffin," allowing pathologists to recognize tumors that arose from the adrenal gland. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=277088 | 382,861 |
46,893 | RA reduces lifespan on average from three to twelve years. Young age at onset, long disease duration, the presence of other health problems, and characteristics of severe RAsuch as poor functional ability or overall health status, a lot of joint damage on x-rays, the need for hospitalisation or involvement of organs other than the jointshave been shown to associate with higher mortality. Positive responses to treatment may indicate a better prognosis. A 2005 study by the Mayo Clinic noted that individuals with RA have a doubled risk of heart disease, independent of other risk factors such as diabetes, excessive alcohol use, and elevated cholesterol, blood pressure and body mass index. The mechanism by which RA causes this increased risk remains unknown; the presence of chronic inflammation has been proposed as a contributing factor. It is possible that the use of new biologic drug therapies extend the lifespan of people with RA and reduce the risk and progression of atherosclerosis. This is based on cohort and registry studies, and still remains hypothetical. It is still uncertain whether biologics improve vascular function in RA or not. There was an increase in total cholesterol and HDLc levels and no improvement of the atherogenic index.<ref name="biologics cv effects/ cancer"></ref> | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25875 | 46,875 |
358,768 | At 3:20 p.m., the screwdriver slipped and the upper beryllium hemisphere fell, causing a "prompt critical" reaction and a burst of hard radiation. At the time, the scientists in the room observed the blue glow of air ionization and felt a heat wave. Slotin experienced a sour taste in his mouth and an intense burning sensation in his left hand. He jerked his left hand upward, lifting the upper beryllium hemisphere, and dropped it to the floor, ending the reaction. He had already been exposed to a lethal dose of neutron radiation. At the time of the accident, dosimetry badges were in a locked box about from where the reaction occurred. Realizing that no one in the room had their film badges on, "immediately after the accident Dr. Slotin asked Dr. Raemer E. Schreiber to have the badges taken from the lead box and placed on the critical assembly". This peculiar response was of no value for determining the actual doses received by the men in the room and put Schreiber at "great personal risk" of additional exposure. A report later concluded that a heavy dose of radiation may produce vertigo and can leave a person "in no condition for rational behavior." As soon as Slotin left the building he vomited, a common reaction from exposure to extremely intense ionizing radiation. Slotin's colleagues rushed him to the hospital, but the radiation damage was irreversible. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=507859 | 358,582 |
566,929 | "The Last of Us Part II" was originally planned as an open world game with hub worlds in Jackson and Seattle—the player would initially complete missions in the former as Abby before she revealed her true intentions, and later in the former as Ellie while she tracks down Abby—but the game transferred to a more linear style as it better served the narrative. Ellie's agility prompted the addition of new gameplay features, including puzzle and traversal sections, and more advanced dodging and stealth mechanics. Margenau wanted the new gameplay features to immerse the player in the world without feeling "gamey". The introduction of some gameplay elements, such as the tracking dogs and named enemies, was intended to create an emotional response. The team also emphasized the importance of Ellie's weapons to form a realistic attachment from the player, though Druckmann noted that the narrative tension was more important than the gameplay realism in some instances, such as the amount of enemies that Ellie kills. The glass-breaking mechanic was seen as a "big win" for development due to its technical difficulty and versatility for level design. Early prototypes included a companion dog for Ellie, who could fit under fences and fetch items. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64504979 | 566,639 |
630,134 | As early as 1936, it was realized that the "Luftwaffe" would turn to night bombing if the day campaign did not go well. Watson-Watt had put another of the staff from the Radio Research Station, Edward Bowen, in charge of developing a radar that could be carried by a fighter. Night-time visual detection of a bomber was good to about 300 m and the existing Chain Home systems simply did not have the accuracy needed to get the fighters that close. Bowen decided that an airborne radar should not exceed 90 kg (200 lb) in weight or 8 ft³ (230 L) in volume, and should require no more than 500 watts of power. To reduce the drag of the antennae, the operating wavelength could not be much greater than one metre, difficult for the day's electronics. However, Airborne Interception (AI), was perfected by 1940 and was instrumental in eventually ending The Blitz of 1941. Watson-Watt justified his choice of a non-optimal frequency for his radar, with his oft-quoted "cult of the imperfect", which he stated as "Give them the third-best to go on with; the second-best comes too late, [and] the best never comes". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37206 | 629,796 |
479,996 | In 1960, Taiwan was a recipient of foreign aid and had a GDP per capita and human development index comparable among the least developed countries such as Zaire and Congo in the world at that time. Taiwan's rapid prewar development of agriculture and industry induced its rapid postwar economic takeoff. U.S. influence on Kuomintang's economic policies through U.S. Aid Program nurtured Taiwan's small-and-medium-sized businesses through a strong emphasis on free market capitalism and free trade. Japan's post-war economic miracle ironically stimulated the Taiwanese economy leading to postwar technological innovations of product life-cycle commodities that promoted Taiwanese enterprises. Rapid industrialization and growth during the latter half of the 20th century known as the "Taiwan miracle" transformed Taiwan from an underdeveloped island into one of East Asia's Tiger economies. Taiwan began its industrialization after Hong Kong and before South Korea as a result of rising wage rates in Japan, and subsequently Hong Kong, and quota restrictions imposed by the U.S. and subsequently Europe on textile exports. In parallel with this economic evolution, Taiwan has also laid down a political transformation that has led the country to more than 30 years of democracy. Taiwan's economic success - by investing in a highly educated workforce, a strong emphasis on scientific and technological advancement, championing private enterprise and honing flexibility of entrepreneurship through private family businesses catapulted the resource poor island to a dynamic and modern high technology powerhouse by the 1980s through the making of many of the world's laptops and everyday consumer electronics. As of 2015, Taiwan has a human development index score that is comparable to France and GDP per capita levels similar to Germany with GDP growth rates averaging 4.5 percent annually. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16234875 | 479,753 |
279,259 | Shortly after the first geomagnetic polarity time scales were produced, scientists began exploring the possibility that reversals could be linked to extinctions. Most such proposals rest on the assumption that the Earth's magnetic field would be much weaker during reversals. Possibly the first such hypothesis was that high-energy particles trapped in the Van Allen radiation belt could be liberated and bombard the Earth. Detailed calculations confirm that if the Earth's dipole field disappeared entirely (leaving the quadrupole and higher components), most of the atmosphere would become accessible to high-energy particles, but would act as a barrier to them, and cosmic ray collisions would produce secondary radiation of beryllium-10 or chlorine-36. A 2012 German study of Greenland ice cores showed a peak of beryllium-10 during a brief complete reversal 41,000 years ago, which led to the magnetic field strength dropping to an estimated 5% of normal during the reversal. There is evidence that this occurs both during secular variation and during reversals. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2203131 | 279,109 |
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