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Biological constraints However, without any clear idea of any of these mechanisms, deducing them from mere patterns of stasis as deduced from phylogenetic patterns or the fossil record remains problematic. In addition, the terminology used to describe constraints has led to confusion. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6920635 |
Noyes Laboratory of Chemistry The William Albert Noyes Laboratory of Chemistry, located at 505 S. Mathews Avenue in Urbana, Illinois on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was built in 1902 as the "New Chemical Laboratory", and was designed by Nelson Strong Spencer in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The Chemistry Department had been founded in 1867, and in 1878 moved into a building of its own, the first department of the university to do so. When the department outgrew that building, department head Arthur W. Palmer convinced the state legislature to build a new lab, with 77,884 square feet of usable space, at the cost of under $100,000. Ten years later more space was needed, and the east wing, with 86,396 square feet of additional space, was built in 1915–16 at the cost of $250,000. The building then housed the largest chemistry department in the United States at the time. At various times, the buildings also housed the departments of Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering and Bacteriology, as well as the Illinois Water Survey. In 1939 the building was dedicated in honor of the influential UI chemist William A. Noyes. It was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society in 2002, in recognition of the many contributions to the chemical sciences that have been made there over the last 100 years. In 1930, James McLaren White's Chemistry Annex Building was completed, and connected to the Noyes Lab Building underground | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6921014 |
Noyes Laboratory of Chemistry It added 39,000 square feet at the cost of $335,000, and in 1951 the East Chemistry Annex was added to the complex, at the cost of $5.9 million. Notes | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6921014 |
Antonei Csoka Antonei Benjamin Csoka, Ph.D. is a biogerontologist at Howard University who works on the molecular biology of aging, regenerative medicine and epigenetics. Dr. Csoka earned a bachelor's degrees at Newcastle University in Genetics. He has a master's in Molecular Pathology from University of Leicester and a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from University of Debrecen. He was a member of the consortium that identified the Lamin A gene as the cause of the accelerated aging disease Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome and participated in the first National Institutes of Health - Progeria Research Foundation workshop. He also showed that Progeria is a true representation of aging with respect to cellular signaling pathways, and truly recapitulates the normal aging process at the cellular level. He currently researches the molecular etiology of aging at the level of signaling pathways. Csoka has authored and co-authored over 40 scientific papers. Dr. Csoka is a prominent proponent of life extension, cryonics and transhumanism, identified as one of the top twenty-three socially connected professors on Twitter. He is a scientific advisor to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, the UK Cryonics and Cryopreservation Research Network, and the Lifeboat Foundation, a fellow of the Global Healthspan Policy Institute, and was featured in the first Immortality Institute film, Exploring Life Extension (2005) produced by Bruce Klein. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6922993 |
Ebullioscopic constant In thermodynamics, the ebullioscopic constant relates molality to boiling point elevation. It is the ratio of the latter to the former: A formula to compute the ebullioscopic constant is: Through the procedure called ebullioscopy, a known constant can be used to calculate an unknown molar mass. The term "ebullioscopy" comes from the Latin language and means "boiling measurement". This is related to cryoscopy, which determines the same value from the cryoscopic constant (of freezing point depression). This property of elevation of boiling point is a colligative property. It means that the property, in this case , depends on the number of particles dissolved into the solvent and not the nature of those particles. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6924337 |
Atmospheric Research is a scientific journal dealing with the part of the atmosphere where meteorological events occur; intended for atmospheric scientists (such as meteorologists and climatologists), aerosol scientists, and hydrologists. It is a highly international journal with attention given to all processes extending from the earth surface to the tropopause, but special emphasis continues to be devoted to the physics of clouds and precipitation, i.e. atmospheric aerosols; microphysical processes; cloud dynamics and thermodynamics; numerical simulation of cloud processes; clouds and radiation; meso- and macrostructure of clouds and cloud systems, and weather modification. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6936195 |
Band emission Band emission, is the fraction of the total emission from a blackbody that is in a certain wavelength interval or band. For a prescribed temperature, T and the spectral interval from 0 to λ, is the ratio of the total emissive power of a black body from 0 to λ to the total emissive power over the entire spectrum. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6937695 |
Joseph Forshaw Joseph Michael Forshaw is an Australian ornithologist, and expert on parrots. He was the former head of wildlife conservation for the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6948556 |
Muscle arms are body wall muscle (BWM) membrane extensions that connect the BWMs to the motor axons of the dorsal and ventral nerve cords in the nematode worm "C. elegans". were first described in other nematode species by Anton Schneider (1831 – 1890) in his "Monographie der Nematoden", published in 1866. Subsequent work showed that muscle arms are found in C. elegans and that these structures are abnormal in unc-104, unc-5 and other mutants. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6949113 |
Clem Coetzee Clem Coetsee (c. 1939 – 7 September 2006) was a Zimbabwean conservationist. He developed new methods of big game conservation. Coetsee was at the forefront of the campaign to de-horn rhinos under sedation, to make them safe from poachers who kill for the horn. He also pioneered the practice of managing elephant populations by sedating and moving entire family groups, from bulls and cows down to calves, in contrast to the practice of slaughtering the mature animals and relocating only youngsters. Moving family groups was seen as more successful in relocating the animals without ill effects, and has been repeated in several countries. In 1992 he had tracking microchips implanted under the skin of more than 40 elephants, which were being relocated from Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou National Park to South Africa because of drought. This was the first time an elephant relocation had used this technology for follow-up. He died of a heart attack on 7 September 2006. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6951827 |
Grotrian diagram A Grotrian diagram, or term diagram, shows the allowed electronic transitions between the energy levels of atoms. They can be used for one-electron and multi-electron atoms. They take into account the specific selection rules related to changes in angular momentum of the electron. The diagrams are named after Walter Grotrian, who introduced them in his 1928 book "Graphische Darstellung der Spektren von Atomen und Ionen mit ein, zwei und drei Valenzelektronen" ("Graphical representation of the spectra of atoms and ions with one, two and three valence electrons"). "Atomic energy-level and Grotrian diagrams" by Stanley Bashkin and John O. Stoner, Jr. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6962132 |
Gauss-Matuyama reversal The Gauss-Matuyama Reversal was a geologic event approximately 2.58 million years ago when the Earth's magnetic field underwent reversal. This event, which separates the Piacenzian from the Gelasian and marks the start of the Quaternary, is useful in dating sediments. The event is marked by the extinction of calcareous nannofossils "Discoaster pentaradiatus" and "D. surculus", among others. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6982510 |
Kun Yang (), born 1967, is a Chinese physicist. In 1994 he got his Ph.D. in the condensed matter theory from the Indiana University. Three years later he worked as a postdoc at Princeton University and two years later became Sherman Fairchild's senior research fellow at California Institute of Technology. He joined the faculty of Florida State University in 1999 and since then dedicated his life to study unconventional superconductors and quantum magnetism. Currently he is a professor at the Florida State University and is an author of over 80 peer-reviewed articles. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6983898 |
Discrete optimized protein energy DOPE, or Discrete Optimized Protein Energy, is a statistical potential used to assess homology models in protein structure prediction. DOPE is based on an improved reference state that corresponds to noninteracting atoms in a homogeneous sphere with the radius dependent on a sample native structure; it thus accounts for the finite and spherical shape of the native structures. It is implemented in the popular homology modeling program MODELLER and used to assess the energy of the protein model generated through many iterations by MODELLER, which produces homology models by the satisfaction of spatial restraints. The models returning the minimum molpdfs can be chosen as best probable structures and can be further used for evaluating with the DOPE score. Like the current version of the MODELLER software, DOPE is implemented in Python and is run within the MODELLER environment. The DOPE method is generally used to assess the quality of a structure model as a whole. Alternatively, DOPE can also generate a residue-by-residue energy profile for the input model, making it possible for the user to spot the problematic region in the structure model. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6987160 |
Business Roundtable The (BRT) is a non-profit association based in Washington, D.C. whose members are chief executive officers of major U.S. companies. Unlike the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose members are entire businesses, BRT members are exclusively CEOs. BRT promotes public policy favorable to business interests such as NAFTA, while also promoting broader public policy initiatives such as No Child Left Behind and opposing others such as the Trump administration's family separation policy. In 2019, BRT redefined its definition of the purpose of a corporation, putting the interests of employees, customers, suppliers and communities on par with shareholders. BRT members include Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, and Mary Barra of General Motors. In 1972, the March Group, co-founded by Alcoa chairman John D. Harper (April 6, 1910 - 26 July, 1985) The March Group consisted of chief executive officers who met informally to consider public policy issues; the Construction Users Anti-Inflation Roundtable was devoted to containing construction costs; and the Labor Law Study Committee was largely made up of labor relations executives of major companies. Harper was the newly founded group's first president, followed by Thomas Murphy of General Motors, Irving Shapiro of DuPont, then Clifford Garvin of Exxon. In 2010, the "Washington Post" characterized the group as President Obama's "closest ally in the business community | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7005392 |
Business Roundtable " On August 19, 2019, the group updated its decades-old definition of the purpose of a corporation, doing away with its bedrock principle that shareholder interests must be placed above all else. The statement, signed by nearly 200 chief executive officers from major U.S. corporations, makes a "fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders," including customers, employees, suppliers and local communities. The played a key role in defeating an anti-trust bill in 1975 and a Ralph Nader plan for a consumer protection agency in 1977. It also helped dilute the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act. But the Roundtable's most significant victory was in blocking labor law reform that sought to strengthen labor law to make it more difficult for companies to intimidate workers who wanted to form unions. The AFL-CIO produced a bill in 1977 that passed the House. But the Roundtable voted to oppose the bill, and through its aggressive lobbying, it prevented the bill's Senate supporters from rounding up the 60 votes in the Senate necessary to withstand a filibuster. In fiscal policy, the Roundtable was responsible for broadening the 1985 tax cuts signed into law by Ronald Reagan, lobbying successfully for sharp reductions in corporate taxes. In trade policy, it argued for opening foreign markets to American trade and investment. The Omnibus Trade Act of 1988 reflected the thinking of the Business Roundtable. In 1990, the Roundtable urged George Bush to initiate a free trade agreement with Mexico | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7005392 |
Business Roundtable In 1993, the Roundtable lobbied for NAFTA and against any strong side agreements on labor and the environment. It provided the money and leadership for the main pro-NAFTA lobby. The Roundtable also successfully opposed changes in corporate governance that would have made boards of directors and CEOs more accountable to stockholders. In 1986, the Roundtable convinced the Securities and Exchange Commission to forgo new rules on merger and acquisitions, and in 1993 convinced President Clinton to water down his plan to impose penalties on excessive executive salaries. Citicorp CEO, John Reed, chairperson of the Roundtables Accounting Task Force, argued that Clinton's plan would have had negative effects on U.S. competitiveness. The Roundtable's Health, Welfare, and Retirement Income Task Force, chaired by Prudential Insurance CEO Robert C. Winters, cheered President Bush's plan, which consisted mainly of subsidies to the health care industry. The nation's health care system works well for the majority of Americans, the Roundtable announced in a June 1991 statement. "We believe the solutions lie not in tearing down the present system, but in building upon it." It has issued press releases, submitted editorials, given congressional testimony, and distributed position advertisements | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7005392 |
Business Roundtable After the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was signed into law in January 2002, the Roundtable issued a press release stating that it had "strongly supported passage of the legislation" and was "actively working with states on implementation." The also acts as a major lobby that aims to extend or maintain administrators' rights/power in large companies. For example, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted the so-called "shareholders’ access to proxy" rule, which aimed to empower shareholders in the proposition and nomination of administrators of big corporations. The was strongly against that rule, as its president John Castellani reported to the "Washington Post" about removing this rule: "this is our highest priority [...] Literally all of our members have called about this". And they got the upper hand: the SEC rule was finally dropped after intense lobbying and lawsuits. In June 2018, issued a statement urging the White House “Administration to end immediately the policy of separating accompanied minors from their parents,” and condemned the practice as “cruel and contrary to American values.” Authored by the organization's Immigration Committee chairman, Chuck Robbins, the statement also commended bipartisan lawmakers for working together to reform immigration policies, and was widely supported by the chair and membership. The wrote a letter to members of the House strongly endorsing the Customer Protection and End User Relief Act (H.R. 4413; 113th Congress) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7005392 |
Business Roundtable According to the letter, a survey of chief financial officers and corporate treasurers "underscores the urgent need for the end-user provisions" in this bill because "eighty-six percent of respondents indicated the fully collateralizing over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives would adversely impact business investment, acquisitions, research and development, and job creation." The letter concluded that the "supports efforts to increase transparency in the derivatives markets and enhance financial stability for the U.S. economy through thoughtful new regulation while avoiding needless costs." On August 19, 2019, the released a new "Statement on the purpose of a Corporation." Signed by nearly 200 chief executive officers including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Apple's Tim Cook, General Motors' Mary Barra and Oracle's Safra Catz, the group seeks to "move away from shareholder primacy," a concept that had existed in the group's principles since 1997, and move to "include commitment to all stakeholders." It notes that "business play a vital role in the economy" because of jobs, fostering innovation and providing essential services. But it places shareholder interests on the same level as those of customers, employees, suppliers and communities. "Each of our stakeholders is essential," the statement says. "We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities and our country | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7005392 |
Business Roundtable " Former US secretary of labor and professor of public policy at Berkeley University, Robert Reich, accused both Corporate social responsibility, and the Business Roundtable's commitment to it, of being a "con". Citing Jeff Bezos, Mary Barra and Dennis Muilenburg (former Boeing CEO), all Business Roundtable's members, Reich criticized their respective companies' recent decisions: Whole Foods, an Amazon subsidiary, announced the intention to cut medical benefits for its entire part-time workforce; Mary Barra, despite GM's hefty profits and large tax breaks, rejected worker's demands that GM raise their wages and stop outsourcing their jobs; Muilenburg could walk away from Boeing with $60m of severance pay, the 737 Max scandal notwithstanding. Members of the board of directors include Jamie Dimon, Mary Barra, Michael S. Burke (AECOM), Safra Catz, Mark Costa (Eastman Chemical Company), Lynn Good, Alex Gorsky, Greg Hayes, Marillyn Hewson, Tom Linebarger, Kevin Lobo (Stryker Corporation), Doug McMillon, Larry Merlo, Dennis Muilenburg, Douglas L. Peterson, Chuck Robbins, Ginni Rometty, Arne Sorenson, Randall L. Stephenson, Mark Sutton (International Paper), and Mark Weinberger. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7005392 |
Alexander Nikolayevich Lebedev (1869–1937) was a Russian biochemist. He is known for his early experiments on the biochemical basis of behavior. Lebedev apprenticed as a student with physiologist and psychologist Ivan Pavlov, becoming familiar with various techniques involved used in behavioral psychology. Lebedev developed a theory that behavior in general, and specifically conditioned behavior, had a biochemical rather than psychological basis. He began his studies in biochemistry in Moscow State University, obtaining a doctorate in 1898. He then proceeded to publish widely on the topic of "biochemistry of the mind" and is considered by some to have pioneered the field of neuropharmacology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7005552 |
Biotechnology in pharmaceutical manufacturing Modern pharmaceutical manufacturing techniques frequently rely upon biotechnology. Amongst the earliest uses of biotechnology in pharmaceutical manufacturing is the use of recombinant DNA technology to modify "Escherichia coli" bacteria to produce human insulin, which was performed at Genentech in 1978. Prior to the development of this technique, insulin was extracted from the pancreas glands of cattle, pigs, and other farm animals. While generally efficacious in the treatment of diabetes, animal-derived insulin is not indistinguishable from human insulin, and may therefore produce allergic reactions. Genentech researchers produced artificial genes for each of the two protein chains that comprise the insulin molecule. The artificial genes were "then inserted... into plasmids... among a group of genes that" are activated by lactose. Thus, the insulin-producing genes were also activated by lactose. The recombinant plasmids were inserted into "Escherichia coli" bacteria, which were "induced to produce 100,000 molecules of either chain A or chain B human insulin." The two protein chains were then combined to produce insulin molecules. Prior to the use of recombinant DNA technology to modify bacteria to produce human growth hormone, the hormone was manufactured by extraction from the pituitary glands of cadavers, as animal growth hormones have no therapeutic value in humans | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7011824 |
Biotechnology in pharmaceutical manufacturing Production of a single year's supply of human growth hormone required up to fifty pituitary glands, creating significant shortages of the hormone. In 1979, scientists at Genentech produced human growth hormone by inserting DNA coding for human growth hormone into a plasmid that was implanted in Escherichia coli bacteria. The gene that was inserted into the plasmid was created by reverse transcription of the mRNA found in pituitary glands to complementary DNA. HaeIII, a type of restriction enzyme which acts at restriction sites "in the 3' noncoding region" and at the 23rd codon in complementary DNA for human growth hormone, was used to produce "a DNA fragment of 551 base pairs which includes coding sequences for amino acids 24–191 of HGH." Then "a chemically synthesized DNA 'adaptor' fragment containing an ATG initiation codon..." was produced with the codons for the first through 23rd amino acids in human growth hormone. The "two DNA fragments... [were] combined to form a synthetic-natural 'hybrid' gene." The use of entirely synthetic methods of DNA production to produce a gene that would be translated to human growth hormone in escherichia coli would have been exceedingly laborious due to the significant length of the amino acid sequence in human growth hormone | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7011824 |
Biotechnology in pharmaceutical manufacturing However, if the cDNA reverse transcribed from the mRNA for human growth hormone were inserted directly into the plasmid inserted into the escherichia coli, the bacteria would translate regions of the gene that are not translated in humans, thereby producing a "pre-hormone containing an extra 26 amino acids" which might be difficult to remove. Prior to the development and FDA approval of a means to produce human blood clotting factors using recombinant DNA technologies, human blood clotting factors were produced from donated blood that was inadequately screened for HIV. Thus, HIV infection posed a significant danger to patients with hemophilia who received human blood clotting factors: Most reports indicate that 60 to 80 percent of patients with hemophilia who were exposed to factor VIII concentrates between 1979 and 1984 are seropositive for HIV by [the] Western blot assay. As of May 1988, more than 659 patients with hemophilia had AIDS... The first human blood clotting factor to be produced in significant quantities using recombinant DNA technology was Factor IX, which was produced using transgenic Chinese hamster ovary cells in 1986. Lacking a map of the human genome, researchers obtained a known sequence of the RNA for Factor IX by examining the amino acids in Factor IX:Microsequencing of highly purified... [Factor IX] yielded sufficient amino acid sequence to construct oligonucleotide probes | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7011824 |
Biotechnology in pharmaceutical manufacturing The known sequence of Factor IX RNA was then used to search for the gene coding for Factor IX in a library of the DNA found in the human liver, since it was known that blood clotting factors are produced by the human liver:A unique oligonucleotide... homologous to Factor IX mRNA... was synthesized and labeled... The resultant probe was used to screen a human liver double-stranded cDNA library... Complete two-stranded DNA sequences of the... [relevant] cDNA... contained all of the coding sequence COOH-terminal of the eleventh codon (11) and the entire 3'-untranslated sequence. This sequence of cDNA was used to find the remaining DNA sequences comprising the Factor IX gene by searching the DNA in the X chromosome:A genomic library from a human XXXX chromosome was prepared... and screen[ed] with a Factor IX cDNA probe. Hybridizing recombinant phage were isolated, plaque-purified, and the DNA isolated. Restriction mapping, Southern analysis, and DNA sequencing permitted identification of five recombinant phage-containing inserts which, when overlapped at common sequences, coded the entire 35kb Factor IX gene. Plasmids containing the Factor IX gene, along with plasmids with a gene that codes for resistance to methotrexate, were inserted into Chinese hamster ovary cells via transfection. Transfection involves the insertion of DNA into a eukaryotic cell | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7011824 |
Biotechnology in pharmaceutical manufacturing Unlike the analogous process of transformation in bacteria, transfected DNA is not ordinarily integrated into the cell's genome, and is therefore not usually passed on to subsequent generations via cell division. Thus, in order to obtain a "stable" transfection, a gene which confers a significant survival advantage must also be transfected, causing the few cells that did integrate the transfected DNA into their genomes to increase their population as cells that did not integrate the DNA are eliminated. In the case of this study, "grow[th] in increasing concentrations of methotrexate" promoted the survival of stably transfected cells, and diminished the survival of other cells. The Chinese hamster ovary cells that were stably transfected produced significant quantities of Factor IX, which was shown to have substantial coagulant properties, though of a lesser degree than Factor IX produced from human blood:The specific activity of the recombinant Factor IX was measured on the basis of direct measurement of the coagulant activity... The specific activity of recombinant Factor IX was 75 units/mg... compared to 150 units/mg measured for plasma-derived Factor IX... In 1992, the FDA approved Factor VIII produced using transgenic Chinese hamster ovary cells, the first such blood clotting factor produced using recombinant DNA technology to be approved. Recombinant DNA techniques have also been employed to create transgenic farm animals that can produce pharmaceutical products for use in humans | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7011824 |
Biotechnology in pharmaceutical manufacturing For instance, pigs that produce human hemoglobin have been created. While blood from such pigs could not be employed directly for transfusion to humans, the hemoglobin could be refined and employed to manufacture a blood substitute. Bristol-Myers Squibb manufactures paclitaxel using "Penicillium raistrickii" and plant cell fermentation (PCF). Transgenic yeast are used to produce artemisinin, as well as a number of insulin analogs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7011824 |
Swan band Swan bands are a characteristic of the spectra of carbon stars, comets and of burning hydrocarbon fuels. They are named for the Scottish physicist William Swan, who first studied the spectral analysis of radical diatomic carbon (C) in 1856. Swan bands consist of several sequences of vibrational bands scattered throughout the visible spectrum. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7021041 |
National Botanical Research Institute The (NBRI) is a research institute of CSIR in Lucknow. It is engaged in the field of taxonomy and modern biology. Originally conceptualised and set up as the National Botanic Gardens (NBG) by Professor Kailas Nath Kaul on behalf of the State Government of Uttar Pradesh, it was taken over by the CSIR in 1953. Dr Triloki Nath Khoshoo joined in 1964 as the Assistant Director, shortly afterwards becoming the Director. Initially engaged in research work in the classical botanical disciplines, the NBG went on laying an increasing emphasis in keeping with the national needs and priorities in the field of plant sciences, on its applied and developmental research activities. Due to the untiring efforts of Dr Khoshoo, the institute rose to the stature of being the in 1978, reflecting the correct nature and extent of its aims and objectives, functions and R & D activities. Sikandar Bagh is a famous and historic pleasure garden, located in the grounds of the Institute. (NBRI) is also the state botanical research institute of South Africa. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7029928 |
Endmember An endmember (also end-member or end member) in mineralogy is a mineral that is at the extreme end of a mineral series in terms of purity. Minerals often can be described as solid solutions with varying compositions of some chemical elements, rather than as substances with an exact chemical formula. There may be two or more endmembers in a group or series of minerals. For example, the tectosilicate feldspar can be described as a solid solution of the endmembers K-feldspar [KAlSiO], albite [NaAlSiO] and anorthite [CaAlSiO]. A specific feldspar can have varying quantities of potassium (K), sodium (Na) and calcium (Ca). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7043822 |
Ideally hard superconductor An ideally hard superconductor is a type II superconductor material with an infinite pinning force. In the external magnetic field it behaves like an ideal diamagnet if the field is switched on when the material is in the superconducting state, so-called "zero field cooled" (ZFC) regime. In the field cooled (FC) regime, the ideally hard superconductor screens perfectly the change of the magnetic field rather than the magnetic field itself. Its magnetization behavior can be described by Bean's critical state model. The ideally hard superconductor is a good approximation for the melt-textured high temperature superconductors (HTSC) used in large scale HTSC applications such as flywheels, HTSC bearings, HTSC motors, etc. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7043844 |
Kari Enqvist Kari-Pekka Enqvist (born February 16, 1954 in Lahti, Finland) is a professor of cosmology in the Department of Physical Sciences at the University of Helsinki. Enqvist was awarded his PhD in theoretical physics in 1983. Enqvist is the chairman of the scientific advisory board of Skepsis ry (a Finnish sceptics' society) and has written many books that popularize physics. In 1997 Enqvist was granted the Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation Physics Award for his efforts in particle physics and cosmology. In 1999, he was awarded the Tieto-Finlandia award, Finland's most significant award for non-fiction, for his book "Olemisen porteilla ("At the gates of being")". Enqvist retired from the University of Helsinki in 2019. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7044567 |
Geocorona The geocorona is the luminous part of the outermost region of the Earth's atmosphere, the exosphere. It is seen primarily via far-ultraviolet light (Lyman-alpha) from the Sun that is scattered from neutral hydrogen. It extends to at least 15.5 Earth radii and probably up to about 100 Earth radii. The geocorona has been studied from outer space by the Astrid satellites and the Galileo spacecraft (among others), using its ultraviolet spectrometer (UVS) during an Earth flyby. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7053593 |
Eva Nogales (born in Madrid, Spain) is a biophysicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She is head of the Division of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology of the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Nogales is a pioneer in using electron microscopy for the structural and functional characterization of macromolecular complexes. She used electron crystallography to obtain the first structure of tubulin and identify the binding site of the important anti-cancer drug taxol. She is a leader in combining cryo-EM, computational image analysis and biochemical assays to gain insights into function and regulation of biological complexes and molecular machines. Her work has uncovered aspects of cellular function that are relevant to the treatment of cancer and other diseases. obtained her B.S. degree in physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid in 1988. She later earned her Ph.D. from the University of Keele in 1992 while working at the Synchrotron Radiation Source under the supervision of Joan Bordas. During her post-doctoral work in the laboratory of Ken Downing at Keele University, was the first to determine the atomic structure of tubulin and the location of the taxol-binding site by electron crystallography | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7057536 |
Eva Nogales She joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a staff scientist in 1995 and became an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley in 1998. In 2000 she became an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. As cryo-EM techniques became more powerful, she became a leader in applying cryo-EM to the study of microtubule structure and function and other large macromolecular assemblies such as eukaryotic transcription and translation initiation complexes and telomerase. Nogales is married to Howard Padmore and they have two children. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7057536 |
Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association The (or "GRAAA") is an astronomy group located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was formed in 1955 by an enthusiastic group of individuals led by businessman James C. Veen, with a love of astronomy and science. Veen initially provided a meeting place in his office, but died in an automobile accident in 1958. The Association participates in public education activities at various metropolitan venues, comet watches, meteor observing, as well as opening their Observatory to the public two nights per month, excluding winter. Besides the public education programs, members involve themselves in many other pursuits from observing programs to astrophotography and CCD imaging. The Association owns/ operates the Veen Observatory, located S.W. of Lowell, Michigan, situated on private land per a ninety-nine year lease granted by James M. and H. Evelyn Marron. Construction was started in 1965 and the Observatory was dedicated in 1970, originally with a 12-inch Newtonian reflector constructed by the members. The Chaffee Planetarium made considerable contribution to the building, as well as Kent County businesses and a foundation. It is the largest amateur facility in the state of Michigan, with a 16-inch (Borr), 14-inch (Marron), and 17-inch (Hawkins) telescopes, as well as smaller portable instruments including a hydrogen-alpha solar telescope. The GRAAA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational and scientific organization dedicated to advancing the study of astronomy and promoting astronomy and science education | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7060139 |
Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association Meetings are held monthly, in the warmer months at the Veen Observatory, and currently (2013) at Schuler Books and Music in the city during the rest of the season. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7060139 |
Petroleum geologist A petroleum geologist is an earth scientist who works in the field of petroleum geology, which involves all aspects of oil discovery and production. Petroleum geologists are usually linked to the actual discovery of oil and the identification of possible oil deposits or leads. It can be a very labor-intensive task involving several different fields of science and elaborate equipment. Petroleum geologists look at the structural and sedimentary aspects of the stratum/strata to identify possible oil traps. Petroleum geologists make the decision of where to drill for petroleum. This is done by locating prospects within a sedimentary basin. Petroleum geologists determine a prospect's viability looking at seven main aspects: These seven key aspects require the petroleum geologist to obtain a 4-dimensional idea of the subsurface (the three spatial dimensions, plus time). Data may be obtained via Geophysical methods. Geophysical surveys show the seismology data of elastic waves, mainly seismic reflection. This provides a 3-dimensional look of the trap, and source rock. More data may be obtained from the mudlogger, who analyzes the drill cuttings and the rock formation thicknesses. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7070643 |
NGC 5474 is a peculiar dwarf galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. It is one of several companion galaxies of the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), a grand-design spiral galaxy. Among the Pinwheel Galaxy's companions, this galaxy is the closest to the Pinwheel Galaxy itself. The gravitational interaction between and the Pinwheel Galaxy has strongly distorted the former. As a result, the disk is offset relative to the nucleus. The star formation in this galaxy (as traced by hydrogen spectral line emission) is also offset from the nucleus. shows some signs of a spiral structure. As a result, this galaxy is often classified as a dwarf spiral galaxy, a relatively rare group of dwarf galaxies. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7078422 |
Agroinfiltration is a method used in plant biology and especially lately in plant biotechnology to induce transient expression of genes in a plant, or isolated leaves from a plant, or even in cultures of plant cells, in order to produce a desired protein. In the method a suspension of "Agrobacterium tumefaciens" is introduced into a plant leaf by direct injection or by vacuum infiltration, or brought into association with plant cells immobilised on a porous support (plant cell packs), whereafter the bacteria transfer the desired gene into the plant cells via transfer of T-DNA. The main benefit of agroinfiltration when compared to the more traditional plant transformation is speed and convenience, although yields of the recombinant protein are generally also higher and more consistent. The first step is to introduce a gene of interest to a strain of "Agrobacterium tumefaciens". Subsequently, the strain is grown in a liquid culture and the resulting bacteria are washed and suspended into a suitable buffer solution. For injection, this solution is then placed in a syringe (without a needle). The tip of the syringe is pressed against the underside of a leaf while simultaneously applying gentle counterpressure to the other side of the leaf. The "Agrobacterium" suspension is then injected into the airspaces inside the leaf through stomata, or sometimes through a tiny incision made to the underside of the leaf. Vacuum infiltration is another way to introduce "Agrobacterium" deep into plant tissue | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7090906 |
Agroinfiltration In this procedure, leaf disks, leaves, or whole plants are submerged in a beaker containing the solution, and the beaker is placed in a vacuum chamber. The vacuum is then applied, forcing air out of the intercellular spaces within the leaves via the stomata. When the vacuum is released, the pressure difference forces the "Agrobacterium" suspension into the leaves through the stomata into the mesophyll tissue. This can result in nearly all of the cells in any given leaf being in contact with the bacteria. Once inside the leaf the "Agrobacterium" remains in the intercellular space and transfers the gene of interest as part of the Ti plasmid-derived T-DNA in high copy numbers into the plant cells. The gene transfer occurs when the plant signals are induced and physical contact is made between the plant cells and bacterium. The bacteria creates a mechanism that burrows a hole and transfers the new T-DNA strand into the plant cell. The T-DNA moves into the nucleus of the plant and begins to integrate into the plants’ chromosome. The gene is then transiently expressed through RNA synthesis from appropriate promoter sequences in all transfected cells (no selection for stable integration is performed). The plant can be monitored for a possible effect in the phenotype, subjected to experimental conditions or harvested and used for purification of the protein of interest. Many plant species can be processed using this method, but the most common ones are "Nicotiana benthamiana" and less often, "Nicotiana tabacum" | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7090906 |
Agroinfiltration Transient expression in cultured plant cell packs is a new procedure, recently patented by the Fraunhofer Institute IVV, Germany. For this technique, suspension cultured cells of tobacco (e.g.: NT1 or BY2 cell lines of "Nicotiana tabacum") are immobilised by filtration onto a porous support to form a well-aerated cell pack, then incubated with recombinant "Agrobacterium" for a time to allow T-DNA transfer, before refiltration to remove excess bacteria and liquid. Incubation of the cell pack in a humid environment for time periods up to several days allows transient expression of protein. Secreted proteins can be washed out of the cell pack by application of buffer and further filtration. It’s quite common to coinfiltrate the "Agrobacterium" carrying the construct of interest together with another "Agrobacterium" carrying a silencing suppressor protein gene such as the one encoding the p19 protein from the plant pathogenic Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV), or the NSs protein from Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV). TBSV was first discovered in 1935 in tomatoes and results in plants with stunted growth and deformed fruits. TSWV was discovered in tomatoes in Australia in 1915, and for many years was the only member of what is now known as genus "Tospovirus", family "Bunyaviridae" | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7090906 |
Agroinfiltration In order to defend itself against viruses and other pathogens that introduce foreign nucleic acids into their cells, plants have developed a system of post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) where small interfering RNAs are produced from double-stranded RNA in order to create a sequence specific degradation pathway that efficiently silence non-native genes. Many plant viruses have developed mechanisms that counter the plants PTGS-systems by evolving proteins, such as p19 and NSs, that interfere with the PTGS-pathway at different levels. Although it is not clear exactly how p19 works to suppress RNA silencing, studies have shown that transiently expressed proteins in "Nicotiana benthamiana" leaves have an up to 50-fold higher yield when coinfiltrated with TBSV p19. TSWV and other tospovirus NSs proteins have been shown to be effective as suppressors of both local and systemic silencing, and may be a useful alternative to p19 where the latter has been shown not to be effective. In other studies, p19 from Artichoke mottled crinkle virus has been shown to have a similar, although weaker, effect to TBSV p19. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7090906 |
Uranium tailings are a waste byproduct (tailings) of uranium mining. In mining, raw uranium ore is brought to the surface and crushed into a fine sand. The valuable uranium-bearing minerals are then removed via heap leaching with the use of acids or bases, and the remaining radioactive sludge, called "uranium tailings", is stored in huge impoundments. A short ton (907 kg) of ore yield one to five pounds (0.45 to 2.3 kg) of uranium depending on the uranium content of the mineral. can retain up to 85% of the ore's original radioactivity. If uranium tailings are stored aboveground and allowed to dry out, the radioactive sand can be carried great distances by the wind, entering the food chain and bodies of water. The danger posed by such sand dispersal is uncertain at best given the dilution effect of dispersal. The majority of tailing mass will be inert rock, just as it was in the raw ore before the extraction of the uranium, but physically altered, ground up, mixed with large amounts of water and exposed to atmospheric oxygen, which can substantially alter chemical behaviour. contain over a dozen radioactive nuclides, which are the primary hazard posed by the tailings. The most important of these are thorium-230, radium-226, radon-222 (radon gas) and the daughter isotopes of radon decay, including polonium-210. An EPA estimate of risk based on uranium tailings deposits existing in the United States in 1983 gave the figure of 500 lung cancer deaths per century if no countermeasures are taken. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7095521 |
Gas thermometer A gas thermometer is a thermometer that measures temperature by the variation in volume or pressure of a gas. This thermometer functions by Charles's Law. Charles's Law states that when the temperature of a gas increases, so does the volume. Using Charles's Law, the temperature can be measured by knowing the volume of gas at a certain temperature by using the formula, written below. Translating it to the correct levels of the device that is holding the gas. This works on the same principle as mercury thermometers. or T is the temperature. V is the volume. k is the constant for the system. k is not a fixed constant across all systems and therefore needs to be found experimentally for a given system through testing with known temperature values. The constant volume gas thermometer plays a crucial role in understanding how absolute zero could be discovered long before the advent of cryogenics. Consider a graph of pressure versus temperature made not far from standard conditions (well above absolute zero) for three different samples of any ideal gas "(a, b, c)". To the extent that the gas is ideal, the pressure depends linearly on temperature, and the extrapolation to zero pressure occurs at absolute zero. Note that data could have been collected with three different amounts of the same gas, which would have rendered this experiment easy to do in the eighteenth century. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7096097 |
Photocyte A photocyte is a cell that specializes in catalyzing enzymes to produce light (bioluminescence). Photocytes typically occur in select layers of epithelial tissue, functioning singly or in a group, or as part of a larger apparatus (a photophore). They contain special structures termed as photocyte granules. These specialized cells are found in a range of multicellular animals including ctenophora, coelenterates (cnidaria), annelids, arthropoda (including insects) and fishes. Although some fungi are bioluminescent, they do not have such specialized cells. Light production may first be triggered by nerve impulses which stimulate the photocyte to release the enzyme luciferase into a "reaction chamber" of luciferin substrate. In some species the release occurs continually without the precursor impulse via osmotic diffusion. Molecular oxygen is then actively gated through surrounding tracheal cells which otherwise limit the natural diffusion of oxygen from blood vessels; the resulting reaction with the luciferase and luciferin produces light energy and a by-product (usually carbon dioxide). Researchers once postulated that ATP was the source of reaction energy for photocytes, but since ATP only produces a fraction the energy of the luciferase reaction, any resulting light wave-energy would be too small for detection by a human eye. The wavelengths produced by most photocytes fall close to 490 nm; although light as energetic as 250 nm is reportedly possible | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7097494 |
Photocyte The variations of color seen in different photocytes are usually the result of color filters that alter the wavelength of the light prior to exiting the endoderm, thanks to the other parts of the photophore. The range of colors vary between bioluminescent species. The exact combinations of luciferase and luciferin types found among photocytes are specific to the species to which they belong. This would seem to be the result of consistent evolutionary divergence. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7097494 |
Moving-cluster method In astrometry, the moving-cluster method and the closely related convergent point method are means, primarily of historical interest, for determining the distance to star clusters. They were used on several nearby clusters in the first half of the 1900s to determine distance. The moving-cluster method is now largely superseded by other, usually more accurate distance measures. The moving-cluster method relies on observing the proper motions and Doppler shift of each member of a group of stars known to form a cluster. The idea is that since all the stars share a common space velocity, they will appear to move towards a point of common convergence ("vanishing point") on the sky. This is essentially a perspective effect. Using the moving-cluster method, the distance to a given star cluster (in parsecs) can be determined using the following equation: where "θ" is the angle between the star and the cluster's apparent convergence point, "μ" is the proper motion of the cluster (in arcsec/year), and "v" is the star's radial velocity (in AU/year). The method has only ever been used for a small number of clusters. This is because for the method to work, the cluster must be quite close to Earth (within a few hundred parsecs), and also be fairly tightly bound so it can be made out on the sky. Also, the method is quite difficult to work with compared with more straightforward methods like trigonometric parallax | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7102909 |
Moving-cluster method Finally, the uncertainty in the final distance values are in general fairly large compared those obtained with precision measurements like those from Hipparcos. Of the clusters it has been used with, certainly the most famous are the Hyades and the Pleiades. The moving-cluster method was in fact the only way astronomers had to measure the distance to these clusters with any precision for some time in the early 20th century. Because of the problems outlined above, this method has not been used practically for stars for several decades in astronomical research. However, recently it has been used to estimate the distance between the brown dwarf 2M1207 and its observed exoplanet 2M1207b. In December 2005, American astronomer Eric Mamajek reported a distance (53 ± 6 parsecs) to 2M1207b using the moving-cluster method. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7102909 |
Camill Heller (26 September 1823 – 25 February 1917) was a zoologist and anatomist. Heller was born in Sobochleben (Soběchleby) near Teplitz in Bohemia (now Teplice, part of the Czech Republic). He received a doctorate in medical studies in Vienna in 1849. Heller was the 'Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy' at the University of Krakow in Poland from 1858 to 1863 and from 1863 until his retirement in 1894 he taught at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. Heller primarily specialised in crustaceans but also worked on bryozoans, echinoderms, pycnogonids, and tunicates. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7132760 |
Carpathite (also "pendletonite" and "karpatite") is a very rare hydrocarbon mineral. It is the mineral form of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon coronene with formula: CH. It was first described in 1955 for an occurrence in Transcarpathian Oblast, Ukraine. It was named for the Carpathian Mountains. It has also been reported from the Presov Region of the Slovak Republic, the Kamchatka Oblast in Russia and from San Benito County, California. It occurs at the contact zone of a diorite intrusive into argillite within cavities in the Ukraine. In the California occurrence it appears as a low temperature hydrothermal phase. It is associated with idrialite, amorphous organic material, calcite, barite, quartz, cinnabar, and metacinnabar. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7135901 |
Warren Upham (8 March 1850 – 29 January 1934) was a geologist, archaeologist, and librarian who is best known for his studies of glacial Lake Agassiz. Upham worked as a geologist in New Hampshire before moving in 1879 to Minnesota to study the resources and glacial geology of that state. Upham's first major report on Lake Agassiz was published in 1890 by the Geological Survey of Canada, but the main product of his many years of study ("The Glacial Lake Agassiz") was published in 1895 as "Monograph 25" of the U.S. Geological Survey's monograph series. Upham graduated from Dartmouth College in 1871 and worked under Minnesota state geologist Newton H. Winchell. The Minnesota Historical Society published his landmark 735-page volume on place name origins, "Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance" in 1920. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7139178 |
Isocaudomer Isocaudomers are pairs of restriction enzymes that have slightly different recognition sequences, but upon cleavage of DNA, generate identical overhanging termini sequences. These sequences can be ligated to one another, but then form an asymmetrical sequence that cannot be cleaved by a restriction enzyme. For example the enzymes Mbo I and BamH I are isocaudomers: N represents any of the four nucleotides. Independently of which nucleotide is present when cleaving with MboI, after cleavage with either enzyme, all termini have the central tetranucleotide - GATC. This allows fragments generated with one enzyme to anneal with fragments generated with the other enzyme. This can be used for elimination of restriction sites from the resulting DNA fragment. For example: In the above example, both enzymes produce tetranucleotides CCGG which can anneal to one another. However, resulting DNA sequence will be: where the nucleotides shown in italic originate from NotI-cut site, and those in bold from Bsp120I-cut one. Note that the resulting sequence is not recognised by either of the two enzymes. Other examples of isocaudomers include: BamHI/BclI/BglII/BstYI/DpnII<br> NcoI/BspHI/FatI/PciI<br> NdeI/AseI/BfaI/Csp6I/MseI<br> XbaI/AvrII/NheI/SpeI/StyI<br> XhoI/PspXI/SalI | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7172777 |
Topological censorship The topological censorship theorem states that general relativity does not allow an observer to probe the topology of spacetime: any topological structure collapses too quickly to allow light to traverse it. More precisely, in a globally hyperbolic, asymptotically flat spacetime satisfying the null energy condition, every causal curve from past null infinity to future null infinity is fixed-endpoint homotopic to a curve in a topologically trivial neighbourhood of infinity. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7172991 |
Ronaldo Rogério de Freitas Mourão (25 May 1935 – 25 July 2014) was a Brazilian astronomer and the founder of the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences (Museu de Astronomia e Ciências Afins) (MAST), as well as a researcher and titular partner at the Brazilian History and Geography Institute (Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro) (IGHB). He was born and died in Rio de Janeiro. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7173741 |
Contact number In chemistry, a contact number (CN) is a simple solvent exposure measure that measures residue burial in proteins. The definition of CN varies between authors, but is generally defined as the number of either Cformula_1 or Cformula_2 atoms within a sphere around the Cformula_1 or Cformula_2 atom of the residue. The radius of the sphere is typically chosen to be between 8 and 14Å. 09368397588 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7174287 |
Side population A side population (SP) in flow cytometry is a sub-population of cells that is distinct from the main population on the basis of the markers employed. By definition, cells in a side population have distinguishing biological characteristics (for example, they may exhibit stem cell-like characteristics), but the exact nature of this distinction depends on the markers used in identifying the side population. Side populations were first identified in hematopoietic stem cells by Dr. Margaret Goodell. SPs have been identified in hepatocellular carcinomas and may be the cells that efflux chemotherapy drugs, accounting for the resistance of cancer to chemotherapy. Recent studies on testicular stem cells indicate that more than 40% of the SP (defined in this case as cells that show higher efflux of DNA-binding dye Hoechst 33342) was undifferentiated spermatogonia, while other differentiated fractions were represented by only 0.2%. SP cells can rapidly efflux lipophilic fluorescent dyes to produce a characteristic profile based on fluorescence-activated flow cytometric analysis. Previous studies have demonstrated SP cells in bone marrow obtained from patients with acute myeloid leukemia, suggesting that these cells might be candidate leukemic stem cells, and recent studies have found a SP of tumor progenitor cells in human solid tumors | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7178651 |
Side population These new data indicate that the ability of malignant SP cells to expel anticancer drugs may directly improve their survival and sustain their clonogenicity during exposure to cytostatic drugs, allowing disease recurrence when therapy is withdrawn. Identification of a tumor progenitor population with intrinsic mechanisms for cytostatic drug resistance might also provide clues for improved therapeutic intervention. The molecules involved in effluxing Hoechst 33342 are members of the ATP-binding cassette family, such as MDR1 (P-glycoprotein) and ABCG2. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7178651 |
Alaska Volcano Observatory The (AVO) is a joint program of the United States Geological Survey, the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS). AVO was formed in 1988, and uses federal, state, and university resources to monitor and study Alaska's volcanology, hazardous volcanoes, to predict and record eruptive activity, and to mitigate volcanic hazards to life and property. The Observatory website allows users to monitor active volcanoes, with seismographs and webcameras that update regularly. AVO now monitors more than 20 volcanoes in Cook Inlet, which is close to Alaskan population centers, and the Aleutian Arc due to the hazard that plumes of ash pose to aviation. AVO is located in Anchorage on the campus of Alaska Pacific University. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7183730 |
Hypothetical astronomical object A hypothetical astronomical object is an astronomical object (such as a star, planet or moon) that is believed or speculated to exist or to have existed but whose existence has not been scientifically proven. Such objects have been hypothesized throughout recorded history. For example, in the 5th century BCE, the philosopher Philolaus defined a hypothetical astronomical object which he called the "Central Fire", around which he proposed other celestial bodies (including the Sun) moved. Hypothetical astronomical objects have been speculated to exist both inside and outside of the Solar System, and speculation has included different kinds of stars, planets, and other astronomical objects. Hypothetical types of extrasolar planet include: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7186519 |
Stretch receptor Stretch receptors are mechanoreceptors responsive to distention of various organs and muscles, and are neurologically linked to the medulla in the brain stem via afferent nerve fibers. Examples include stretch receptors in the arm and leg muscles and tendons, in the heart, in the colon wall, and in the lungs. Stretch receptors are also found around the carotid artery, where they monitor blood pressure and stimulate the release of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) from the posterior pituitary gland. Types include: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7188290 |
Arp 240 is a pair of interacting spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. The two galaxies are listed together as in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. The galaxy on the right is known as NGC 5257, while the galaxy on the left is known as NGC 5258. Both galaxies are distorted by the gravitational interaction, and both are connected by a tidal bridge, as can be seen in images of these galaxies. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7189698 |
Ovitrap An ovitrap is a device which consists of a dark container containing water and a substrate where mosquitoes can lay their eggs. The eggs then fall through the mesh into the water, where the larvae hatch and develop into pupas. When the adult mosquitoes emerge, they are trapped beneath the mesh and are unable to escape from the ovitrap. Ovitraps mimic the preferred breeding site for container breeding mosquitoes, including "Aedes albopictus" and "Aedes aegypti". The ovitrap was first described in 1966 and was initially designed for monitoring "Aedes" populations. Researchers found that if they provided artificial breeding sites, they could easily collect and study the eggs found in the container. Since the original ovitrap was invented, lethal ovitraps have been developed, which kill the larvae and/or the adult mosquitoes that enter. Ovitraps used for monitoring can detect "Aedes" mosquito populations, thus acting as an early warning signal to preempt disease outbreaks. Analysis can be done on the ovitrap breeding data collected weekly to identify mosquito breeding hotspots and risk areas when there is a danger of high "Aedes" infestation. This analysis is used to plan vector surveillance and control operations. The extensive use of the ovitrap in a community can be used in "Aedes" population control and effectively reduce the "Aedes" population in that area. It has been used in countries like Singapore, the United States, and Hong Kong since the 1970s. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7190097 |
D'Alembert's equation In mathematics, d'Alembert's equation is a first order nonlinear ordinary differential equation, named after the French mathematician Jean le Rond d'Alembert. The equation reads as where formula_2. After differentiating once, and rearranging we have The above equation is linear. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7203729 |
Bruneau jasper is a variety of the mineral jasper. It is a "picture jasper" – a jasper that exhibits particular patterns and colors – and is used as an opaque gemstone. The stone exhibits layered patterns of brown, reddish brown and cream color, or sometimes of red and green color. It was discovered in the Bruneau River canyon in Idaho, near the bottom of the canyon walls, where the rhyolite in which the jasper occurs is exposed for a length of . As of 2009 was no longer in production, and was difficult to locate. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7208706 |
Alpha Regio is a region of the planet Venus extending for about 1500 kilometers centered at 22°S, 5°E. It was discovered and named by Richard Goldstein in 1964. The name was approved by the International Astronomical Union's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (IAU/WGPSN) between 1976 and 1979. Maxwell Montes, Alpha Regio, and Beta Regio are the three exceptions to the rule that the surface features of Venus are to be named for females: women or goddesses. The surface of the region is what is known as "Tessera", meaning a terrain that has been highly deformed and where the deformation strikes in multiple directions and is closely spaced. The term comes from the Greek word for “tiled” (Russian investigators analyzing Venera 15 and Venera 16 imagery thought this terrain looked like a parquet floor). Like all "tessera" regions, it sits above the surrounding terrain at an elevation of 1 to 2 kilometers, and is heavily deformed by what appears to be contractional folding. Like most "tessera" units, the surrounding volcanic plains appear to have flowed around Alpha's margins and thus are younger than Alpha. An infrared map prepared by the "Venus Express" orbiter shows that the rocks on the plateau are lighter in colour and look old compared to the majority of the planet. On Earth, such light-coloured rocks are usually granite and form continents. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7213847 |
Beta Regio is a region of the planet Venus known as a "volcanic rise". Measuring about in extent, it constitutes a prominent upland region of Venus centered at . The first features that showed up in early radar surveys of the planet were given the names of letters of the Greek alphabet. was one of those features. It was discovered and named by Dick Goldstein in 1964. The name was approved by the International Astronomical Union's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (IAU/WGPSN) between 1976 and 1979. Maxwell Montes, Alpha Regio, and are the three exceptions to the rule that the surface features of Venus are to be named for women or goddesses. Volcanic rises are broad, sloping highlands over across. They are cut by deep troughs across. These troughs are an example of continental rifting, and are evidence of surface tectonism. is cut by a radar-bright north-south trough called Devana Chasma. The northern end has a volcano called Rhea Mons, and the southern end is dominated by a volcano titled Theia Mons. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7213888 |
William Lundbeck (16 October 1863 in Aalborg – 18 May 1941 in Kongens Lyngby) was a Danish entomologist mainly interested in Diptera. He was a Professor in the University Museum in Copenhagen. Lundbeck's most important work was "Diptera Danica. Genera and species of flies Hitherto found in Denmark". Copenhagen & London, 1902-1927. 7 vols. The Parts of this work are Before turning to insects, however, he participated on the Ingolf expedition to the North Atlantic in 1895-1896 and produced three significant reports on the deep sea porifera collected by the expedition. Lundbeck's insect collection is in The Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen (Zoologisk Museum, Københavns Universitet). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7252604 |
Ekman water bottle The is a sea water temperature sample device. The cylinder is dropped at the desired depth, the trap door below is opened to let the water enter and then closed tightly. This can be repeated at different depths as each sample goes to a different chamber of the insulated bottle. It was used for greater depths during the research cruises of 1903 and 1904. The first instruments made, however, were too delicate; after being used for some time, the brass rods which press the lids towards both ends of the cylinder and close the water-bottle, became bent and therefore did not work sufficiently well. For this reason the instruments had to be frequently tested and repaired. As they are now made, they work very well and are very easily handled. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7259047 |
César-Mansuète Despretz (4 May 1791, Lessines – 15 March 1863, Paris) was a chemist and physicist. He became a French citizen in 1838. A street is named after him in Lessines (rue César Despretz). In 1818, Despretz started working as répétiteur in chemistry at Polytechnique, in Paris, under Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) who mentored his early research. In 1824, he was appointed to teach at the prestigious Lycée Henri-IV, first as adjunct professor, then as holder of the chair of physics. In 1831, César Despretz was briefly appointed to the chair of physics at Polytechnique to replace Claude Pouillet (1791-1868) who had resigned for health reasons after only a few months in office. Despretz was succeeded by Gabriel Lamé (1795-1870) who would hold the position from 1832 to 1844. In 1837, he was appointed adjunct professor of physics at the Faculté des sciences de Paris. In 1841, Despretz succeeded Félix Savart (1791-1841) in the physics section of the French Academy of Sciences. He would serve as president in 1858. In 1847, he became full professor of physics at the Faculté des sciences de Paris. César Despretz became a foreign member of the Royal Society in 1862, a few months before his death at the age of 71. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7260243 |
Bedford Level experiment The is a series of observations carried out along a length of the Old Bedford River on the Bedford Level of the Cambridgeshire Fens in the United Kingdom, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, to measure the curvature of the Earth. Samuel Birley Rowbotham, who conducted the first observations starting in 1838, claimed he had proven the Earth to be flat. However, in 1870, after adjusting Rowbotham's method to avoid the effects of atmospheric refraction, Alfred Russel Wallace found a curvature consistent with a spherical Earth. At the point chosen for all the experiments, the river is a slow-flowing drainage canal running in an uninterrupted straight line for a stretch to the north-east of the village of Welney. This makes it an ideal location to directly measure the curvature of the Earth, as Rowbotham wrote in "Zetetic Astronomy:" The first experiment at this site was conducted by Rowbotham in the summer of 1838. He waded into the river and used a telescope held above the water to watch a boat, with a flag on its mast above the water, row slowly away from him. He reported that the vessel remained constantly in his view for the full to Welney bridge, whereas, had the water surface been curved with the accepted circumference of a spherical earth, the top of the mast should have been some below his line of sight. He published this observation using the pseudonym "Parallax" in 1849 and subsequently expanded it into a book, "Earth Not a Globe", published in 1865 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7266679 |
Bedford Level experiment Rowbotham repeated his experiments several times over the years but his claims received little attention until, in 1870, a supporter by the name of John Hampden offered a wager that he could show, by repeating Rowbotham's experiment, that the earth was flat. The noted naturalist and qualified surveyor Alfred Russel Wallace accepted the wager. Wallace, by virtue of his surveyor's training and knowledge of physics, avoided the errors of the preceding experiments and won the bet. The crucial steps were to Despite Hampden initially refusing to accept the demonstration, Wallace was awarded the bet by the referee, editor of "The Field" sports magazine. Hampden subsequently published a pamphlet alleging that Wallace had cheated and sued for his money. Several protracted court cases ensued, with the result that Hampden was imprisoned for threatening to kill Wallace and for libel. The same court ruled that the wager had been invalid because Hampden retracted the bet and required that Wallace return the money to Hampden. Wallace, who had been unaware of Rowbotham's earlier experiments, was criticized by his peers for "his 'injudicious' involvement in a bet to 'decide' the most fundamental and established of scientific facts". In 1901, Henry Yule Oldham, a reader in geography at King's College, Cambridge, reproduced Wallace's results using three poles fixed at equal height above water level. When viewed through a theodolite, the middle pole was found to be almost higher than the poles at each end | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7266679 |
Bedford Level experiment This version of the experiment was taught in schools until photographs of the Earth from space became available. Advocates of a flat Earth, however, were not deterred: on 11 May 1904 Lady Elizabeth Anne Blount, who would go on to be influential in the formation of the Flat Earth Society, hired a commercial photographer to use a telephoto lens camera to take a picture from Welney of a large white sheet she had placed, the bottom edge near the surface of the river, at Rowbotham's original position away. The photographer, Edgar Clifton from Dallmeyer's studio, mounted his camera two feet above the water at Welney and was surprised to be able to obtain a picture of the target, which he believed should have been invisible to him given the low mounting point of the camera. Lady Blount published the pictures far and wide. These controversies became a regular feature in the "English Mechanic" magazine in 1904–05, which published Blount's photo and reported two experiments in 1905 that showed the opposite results. One of these, by Clement Stratton on the Ashby Canal, showed a dip on a sight-line only above the surface. Atmospheric refraction can produce the results noted by Rowbotham and Blount. Because the density of air in the Earth's atmosphere decreases with height above the Earth's surface, all light rays travelling nearly horizontally bend downward, so that the line of sight is a curve. This phenomenon is routinely accounted for in levelling and celestial navigation | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7266679 |
Bedford Level experiment If the measurement is close enough to the surface, this downward curve may match the mean curvature of the Earth's surface. In this case, the two effects of assumed curvature and refraction could cancel each other out and the Earth will then appear flat in optical experiments. This would have been aided, on each occasion, by a temperature inversion in the atmosphere with temperature increasing with altitude above the canal, similar to the phenomenon of the superior image mirage. Temperature inversions like this are common. An increase in air temperature or lapse rate of 0.11 degrees Celsius per metre of altitude would create an illusion of a flat canal, and all optical measurements made near ground level would be consistent with a completely flat surface. If the lapse rate were higher than this (temperature increasing with height at a greater rate), all optical observations would be consistent with a concave surface, a "bowl-shaped earth". Under average conditions, optical measurements are consistent with a spherical Earth approximately 15% less curved than its true diameter. Repetition of the atmospheric conditions required for each of the many observations is not unlikely, and warm days over still water can produce favourable conditions. On 25 July 1896, Ulysses Grant Morrow, a newspaper editor, conducted a similar experiment on the Old Illinois Drainage Canal, Summit, Illinois | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7266679 |
Bedford Level experiment Unlike Rowbotham, he was seeking to demonstrate that the surface of the earth was curved: when he too found that his target marker, above water level and distant, was clearly visible he concluded that the Earth's surface was "concavely" curved, in line with the expectations of his sponsors, the Koreshan Unity society. The findings were dismissed by critics as the result of atmospheric refraction. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7266679 |
Cape Verde (Mars) Cape Verde is a large promontory and extremity on the rim of Victoria Crater in Meridiani Planum, an extraterrestrial plain within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region of the planet Mars. The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity perched atop this feature in 2006 to take a true-color mosaic of the crater below. Sols 958 to 991 were spent on this cape, including the period of solar conjunction which spanned from sol 970 to sol 984. Cape Verde and neighboring Cabo Frio are named after Cape Verde and Cabo Frio, places visited on Ferdinand Magellan's voyage around the world by the ship "Victoria". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7270402 |
Kohn effect The is a dispersion of phonons from the Fermi surface, named for Walter Kohn. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7270813 |
Debye–Falkenhagen effect The increase in the conductivity of an electrolyte solution when the applied voltage has a very high frequency is known as Debye–Falkenhagen effect. Impedance measurements on water-p-dioxane and the methanol-toluene systems have confirmed Falkenhagen's predictions made in 1929. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7274018 |
Józef Grzybowski (March 17, 1869 – February 17, 1922), was a Polish geologist, paleontologist and foraminiferologist. Grzybowski was born in Kraków. He was educated at Jagiellonian University where he became the director of the Paleontological Laboratory. Grzybowski was a Professor of Palaeontology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, a pioneer in the use of microfossils for stratigraphical applications. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7276807 |
Center for Meteorite Studies The was founded in 1960, on the Tempe Campus of Arizona State University, and houses the world's largest university-based meteorite collection. The collection contains specimens from over 1,600 separate meteorite falls and finds, and is actively used internationally for planetary, geological and space science research. The Center also operates a meteorite museum which is open to the public. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7279337 |
Beta-M The is a radioisotope thermoelectric generator that was used in Soviet-era lighthouses and beacons. The contains a core made up of strontium-90, which has a half-life of 28.79 years. In its initial state after manufacture, the generator is capable of generating 10 watts of electricity, almost enough to power a compact fluorescent light bulb with light output equivalent to a 60-watt bulb. The generator contains the strontium-90 radioisotope, with a heating power of 250W and 1,480 TBq of radioactivity. Some generators have been subject to incidents of vandalism when scavengers disassembled the units while searching for non-ferrous metals. In December 2001 a radiological accident occurred when three residents of Lia, Georgia found parts of an abandoned in the forest while collecting firewood. The three suffered burns and symptoms of acute radiation syndrome as a result of their exposure to the strontium-90 contained in the Beta-M. The disposal team that removed the radiation sources consisted of 25 men who were restricted to 40 seconds' worth of exposure each while transferring the canisters to lead-lined drums. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7280692 |
Lesotho Promise The Lesotho Promise, a 603 carat (121 g) diamond stone of exceptional colour was unearthed on 22 August 2006 at the Letseng diamond mine in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Announced on 4 October 2006, it was the largest reported find this century and the 15th largest diamond ever found. The stone is rated 'D', the top colour band for diamonds. The diamond was sold at an auction on 9 October 2006 in Antwerp, Belgium, for US$12.4 million. The buyer, The South African Diamond Corporation (SAFDICO), expected to sell the diamond for more than US $20 million after cutting. In July 2007 the finished stones were unveiled. The largest gem cut from the crystal is a pear-shaped diamond, and the smallest is a round brilliant. In all, twenty-six stones were fashioned from the rough gem, figuring as seven pear shapes, four emerald cuts, thirteen round brilliants and one heart shape. The finished gems total . The Lesotho Brown (usually simply called the Lesotho) at 601 carats (120 g) was the largest diamond previously found at the mine. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7288146 |
Tyrrhena Terra is a large area on Mars, centered south of the Martian equator and immediately northeast of the Hellas basin. Its coordinates are , and it covers 2300 km at its broadest extent. It was named for a classic albedo feature of the planet and is in the Mare Tyrrhenum quadrangle of Mars. is typical of the southern Martian terrae, with heavily cratered highlands and other rugged terrain. It contains the large volcano Tyrrhena Patera, one of the oldest volcanoes on Mars. Its largest crater is Herschel. Licus Vallis and the Ausonia Montes are other major features in the region. Some channels and dunes are visible in Tyrrhena Terra, as shown in the images below. When there are perfect conditions for producing sand dunes, steady wind in one direction and just enough sand, a barchan sand dune forms. Barchans have a gentle slope on the wind side and a much steeper slope on the lee side where horns or a notch often forms. Some of the dunes in the pictures above are barchans. Barchan is a Russian term because this type of dune was first seen in the desert regions of Turkistan. Lava flows sometimes cool to form large groups of more-or-less equally sized columns. These joints have been seen on Mars. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7299909 |
Xanthe Terra is a large area on Mars, centered just north of the Martian equator. Its coordinates are and its diameter is 1867.65 km. Its name means "golden-yellow land." It is in the Lunae Palus quadrangle, the Coprates quadrangle, the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle, and the Oxia Palus quadrangle. Ravi Vallis, Aromatum Chaos, Ophir, Ganges Chasma, Nanedi Valles, Shalbatana Vallis, Orson Welles Crater, Mutch Crater, and Da Vinci Crater are some major features in Xanthe Terra. Images from Mars Express, Mars Global Surveyor, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed ancient river valleys and deltas. The deltas show many thin layers just as deltas on Earth. Scientists speculate that features in show evidence of precipitation on early Mars. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7300044 |
Bounce Rock is a football-sized primarily pyroxene rock found within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region of the planet Mars. It was discovered and observed by the Mars Exploration Rover "Opportunity" in April 2004. The rock was named for the fact that it was struck by "Opportunity" as the craft bounced to a stop during its landing stage. bears a striking resemblance to a class of meteorites found on Earth known as shergottites, that are believed to have originated from Mars. Bopolu (crater) was identified as a possible source of Bounce rock. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7304477 |
Hisashi Abe Hisashi Abe | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7317138 |
Von Zeipel theorem In astrophysics, the von Zeipel theorem states that the radiative flux formula_1 in a uniformly rotating star is proportional to the local effective gravity formula_2. Specifically, where the luminosity formula_4 and mass formula_5 are evaluated on a surface of constant pressure formula_6. The effective temperature formula_7 can then be found at a given colatitude formula_8 from the local effective gravity: The theorem is named after Swedish astronomer Edvard Hugo von Zeipel. According to the theory of rotating stars, if the rotational velocity of a star depends only on the radius, it cannot simultaneously be in thermal and hydrostatic equilibrium. This is called the von Zeipel paradox. The paradox is resolved, however, if the rotational velocity also depends on height, or there is a meridional circulation. A similar situation may arise in accretion disks. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7318436 |
Barnacle Bill (Martian rock) Barnacle Bill is a rock on Mars in Ares Vallis. It was the first rock on Mars analyzed by the "Sojourner" rover using its "Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer". The encounter occurred during Sol 3 of the Mars Pathfinder mission on the surface of Mars and took ten hours to complete. Early analysis of data sent from "Sojourner" led scientists to speculate that the rock was andesite. The name was inspired in mission scientists by barnacle-like structures on the rock that appeared in transmitted photos. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7320477 |
Jeffrey H. Goodman is a neuroscientist at Helen Hayes Hospital in West Haverstraw, New York. His work studying treatments for Epilepsy has been published in many journals (H-index 30) and presented at conferences all over the world. One of his recent publications involves a procedure for delivering a low frequency sine wave stimulation as a possible treatment . This abstract, co-authored by Jane Schon, Sudarshan Phani, and Jared Zucker, was published in the 2006 Abstract publication of Epilepsia (published by the American Epilepsy Society). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7322901 |
Pot of Gold (Mars) Pot of Gold is the nickname for a knobby, softball-sized rock in Gusev Crater on Mars. During an examination by the Mars Exploration Rover "Spirit" on June 25, 2004, Hematite was first detected by "Spirit", suggesting a watery past on Mars. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7325991 |
Lake Komi was a prehistoric periglacial lake formed in the region of the present-day Russian Komi Republic when the Barents Sea outlet of the Pechora River was blocked by ice during the Weichselian Glaciation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7330911 |
West Siberian Glacial Lake The West Siberian Glacial Lake, also known as West Siberian Lake or Mansiyskoe Lake (), was a periglacial lake formed when the Arctic Ocean outlets for each of the Ob and Yenisei rivers were blocked by the Barents-Kara Ice Sheet during the Weichselian Glaciation, approximately 80,000 years ago. It was situated on the West Siberian Plain, and at its maximum extent the lake's surface area was more than 750,000 km which is more than twice that of the present-day Caspian Sea. It is theorized that although drainage to the Arctic Ocean basin (e.g. by the Ob and Yenisei Rivers) was prevented, the lake would eventually overflow to the Mediterranean Sea through a circuitous route that would include the Aral Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the Black Sea. This would have resulted in water from the Selenga River and Lake Baikal draining over a course of some , considerably longer than any river's course today. See Mangerud et al. (2004) for diagrams and descriptions of the lake as well as postulated drainage patterns. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7331281 |
Polyimide foam is a foam originally designed for NASA by Inspec Foams Inc. under the brand name Solimide. Its primary purposes are as an insulator (such as for rocket fuels) and acoustic damper. NASA engineered the product to have relatively low outgassing (a problem in vacuum and aboard spacecraft), desirable thermal and acoustic performance, as well as uniformity during distribution and application. Typical uses of the foam include ducting, duct/piping insulation, structural components, and strengthening of hollow components while remaining lightweight. In addition to thermal and acoustic properties, polyimide foam is fire resistant, lightweight and non-toxic. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7346797 |
Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes (1983) is Stephen Jay Gould's third volume of collected essays reprinted from his monthly columns for "Natural History" magazine titled "This view of life". Three essays appeared elsewhere. "Evolution as Fact and Theory" first appeared in "Discover" magazine in May 1981; "Phyletic size decrease in Hershey bars" appeared in C. J. Rubins's "Junk Food", 1980; and his "Reply to critics", was written specifically for this volume as a commentary upon criticism of essay 16, "The Piltdown Conspiracy". The book was awarded the 1983 Phi Beta Kappa Award for Science from the Phi Beta Kappa Society. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7362118 |
Anthroposphere The anthroposphere (sometimes also referred as technosphere) is that part of the environment that is made or modified by humans for use in human activities and s. It is one of the Earth's spheres. The term was first used by nineteenth-century Austrian geologist Eduard Suess. The contemporary concept of the technosphere was first proposed as a concept by American geologist and engineer Peter Haff, of Duke University. It has been estimated that as of 2016 the total weight of the anthroposphere - that is, human generated structures and systems - was 30 trillion tons. The anthroposphere can be viewed as a human-generated equivalent to the biosphere. While the biosphere is the total biomass of the Earth and its interaction with its systems, the anthroposphere is the total mass of human-generated systems and materials, including the human population, and its interaction with the Earth's systems. However, while the biosphere is able to efficiently produce and recycle materials through processes like photosynthesis and decomposition, the anthroposphere is highly inefficient at sustaining itself. As human technology becomes more evolved, such as the greater ability to launch objects into orbit or to cause deforestation, the impact of human activities on the environment potentially increases. The anthroposphere is the youngest of all the Earth's spheres, yet has made an enormous impact on the Earth and its systems in a very short time | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7371134 |
Anthroposphere Aspects of the anthroposphere include: mines from which minerals are obtained; automated agriculture which produces the food consumed by 7+ billion Sapiens; oil and gas fields; computer-based systems including the Internet; educational systems; landfills; factories; atmospheric pollution; artificial satellites in space, both active satellites and space junk; forestry and deforestation; urban development; transportation systems including roads, highways, and subways; nuclear installations; warfare. Technofossils are another interesting aspect of the anthroposphere. These can include objects like mobile phones that contain a diverse range of metals and man-made materials, raw materials like aluminum that do not exist in nature, and agglomerations of plastics created in areas like the Pacific Garbage Patch and on the beaches of the Pacific Islands. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7371134 |
Oospore An oospore is a thick-walled sexual spore that develops from a fertilized oosphere in some algae, fungi, and Oomycetes. They are believed to have evolved either through the fusion of two species or the chemically-induced stimulation of mycelia, leading to oospore formation. In Oomycetes, oospores can also result from asexual reproduction, by apomixis. These are found in Fungi as the sexual spores; these help in the sexual reproduction of Fungi. These are non motile spore these are also haploid spores these are site of meiosis and karyogamy in oomycetes | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7383487 |
K-line (x-ray) The K-line is a spectral peak in astronomical spectrometry used, along with the L-line, to observe and describe the light spectrum of stars. The K-line is associated with iron (Fe) and is described as being from emissions at ~6.4keV (thousands of electron volts). On 5 October 2006 NASA announced the results of research using the Japanese JAXA Suzaku satellite, after earlier work with the XMM-Newton satellite. "The observations include clocking the speed of a black hole's spin rate and measuring the angle at which matter pours into the void, as well as evidence for a wall of X-ray light pulled back and flattened by gravity." The study teams observed X ray emissions from the "broad iron K line" near the event horizon of several super-massive black holes of galaxies called MCG-6-30-15 and MCG-5-23-16. The normally narrow K-line is broadened by the doppler shift (red shift or blue shift) of the X ray light emitted by matter being affected by the gravity of the black hole. The results coincide with predictions Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. The teams were led by Andrew Fabian of Cambridge University, England, and James Reeves of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7388204 |
Maksim Ponomaryov Maksim Vladimirovich Ponomaryov (), born on February 20, 1980, captain of Russian Air Force, and was a Russian cosmonaut, selected in 2006, who retired in 2012 after no missions to space. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7399614 |
The Making of the Atomic Bomb is a contemporary history book written by the American journalist and historian Richard Rhodes, first published by Simon & Schuster in 1987. It won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and a National Book Critics Circle Award. The narrative covers people and events from early 20th century discoveries leading to the science of nuclear fission, through the Manhattan Project and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Praised both by historians and former Los Alamos weapon scientists, the book is considered a general authority on early nuclear weapons history, as well as the development of modern physics in general, during the first half of the 20th century. Nobel Laureate I. I. Rabi, one of the prime participants in the dawn of the atomic age, called it "an epic worthy of Milton. No where else have I seen the whole story put down with such elegance and gusto and in such revealing detail and simple language which carries the reader through wonderful and profound scientific discoveries and their application." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7403861 |
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