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The Naturalist on the River Amazons The reviewer notes that most of the people Bates meets "had a tinge of colour" but made the "lonely Englishman" comfortable with their "winning cordiality", and is amused that in a feast in Ega an Indian dressed up as an entomologist, complete with insect-net, hunting-bag, pincushion, and an old pair of spectacles. As for nature, the reviewer considers that "in Brazil man is oppressed, crushed, by the immensity of nature". Bates's occasional hints at Darwinian evolution are unwelcome or misunderstood by the reviewer, as when Bates writes that if a kind of seed is found in two places, we have to "come to the strange conclusion" it has been created twice unless we can show it can be carried that far; but the reviewer finds Bates in "too great a hurry "to come to conclusions"" (sic). The reviewer, too, objects to Bates's illustration of "transition forms between "Heliconius Melpomene" and "H. Thelxiope", which he thinks are no more different than "a couple of Dorking hens". Bates's assumption that all forest animals are adapted to forest life is rejected by the reviewer, who sees the same features as signs of a beneficent Creator; while his mention of "slow adaptation of the fauna of a forest-clad country throughout an immense lapse of geological time" is criticised for being "haunted" by this "spectre of time"
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The Naturalist on the River Amazons However the reviewer is fascinated by the variety of life described in the book, and by Bates's "rapturous manner" of speaking about how delicious monkey flesh is, which "almost puts a premium on cannibalism". The review concludes "not without regret" (at such an enjoyable book), and assures readers "that they will not find him heavy reading"; supposes that 11 years was "perhaps a little too much" of tropical life; and recommends intending museum curators to try it for "a year or two". An unabridged edition was reviewed by botanist and geologist Joseph F. James (1857-1897) in "Science" in 1893. James was reviewing a book which was at that time already a 30-year-old classic that had been reprinted at least four times. He compared it to Gilbert White's 1789 "The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne", Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle", and Alfred Russel Wallace's "The Malay Archipelago", writing that James notes that "on the appearance of the book in 1868 it met with cordial praise from all quarters". Despite his professed liking for Bates's "direct and concise" style, he quotes at length Bates' description of the tropics, with the James spends much space in his review quoting Bates's account of the strangling fig, called the "Murderer Liana or Sipo", which he uses to emphasize the "struggle for existence" between plants, as much as for animals
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The Naturalist on the River Amazons Bates explains how the fig grows rings around the "victim" tree, which eventually dies, leaving the "selfish parasite clasping in its arms the lifeless and decaying body of its victim", so that the fig itself must quickly flower, fruit and die when its support fails. James observes that "It is as much in the reflections that the varied phenomena under observation give rise to as in the descriptive portions that the value and charm of the book lie." Unable to resist a final quotation, even after admitting he has "overstepped our space", he cites Bates's description of his last night in the "country of perpetual summer", regretting he will have to live again in England with its "gloomy winters" and "factory chimneys"; but after Bates has returned, he rediscovers "how incomparably superior is civilized life" which can nourish "feelings, tastes and intellect". In 1988, Alex Shoumatoff, writing in "The New Yorker", makes Bates's "Naturalist" his choice if he were allowed only one book for a tropical journey. In his view, it is "the basic text" and a monument of scientific travel writing
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The Naturalist on the River Amazons Shoumatoff had in fact spent eight months in Bates's "glorious forest" (he quotes) with a copy in his backpack; he thus admires Bates's acceptance of the inevitable discomfort and homesickness from personal knowledge, noting that Bates only complained when all the following had occurred together: he had been robbed, he had gone barefoot having worn out his shoes, he had received no parcels from England, and worst of all he had nothing left to read. But otherwise Bates was "lost in wonder" at the astonishing diversity of the natural history of the Amazons. He was, writes Shoumatoff, one of the four largely self-educated geniuses who pioneered tropical biology, and who all knew each other: Darwin, Wallace, Bates, and the botanist Richard Spruce. Shoumatoff observes that "Reading Bates is an emotional experience for someone who has travelled in Amazonia, because much of what he describes so poignantly is no longer there"; that the "charm and the genius" of the book is that Bates covers both natural history and everything else that is going on — as the subtitle so accurately says, "A Record of Adventures, Habits of Animals, Sketches of Brazilian and Indian Life, and Aspects of Nature Under the Equator, During Eleven Years of Travel." He feels a dreamy quality in the best of Bates's writing, as when he meets a boa constrictor: "On seeing me the reptile suddenly turned, and glided at an accelerated rate down the path. ..
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The Naturalist on the River Amazons The rapidly moving and shining body looked like a stream of brown liquid flowing over the thick bed of fallen leaves." However he is less impressed with Bates's remarks about the "intellectual inferiority" of the natives, and observes that Bates was wrong about the fertility of tropical soils, which are often poor: the luxuriant growth results from rapid recycling of nutrients. He celebrates the "famous closing passage" of the book, where Bates expresses his "deep misgivings" about returning to England, and writes that recent "progress" in the Amazon is just as shocking. In 2011 John G.T. Anderson chose to "recommend the reader's attention" to Bates' "Naturalist" in the "Journal of Natural History Education and Experience", writing that Anderson writes that Bates threw himself eagerly into the local culture, writing warmly about the people as well as delighting in everything from the odd to the mundane "in a modest yet engaging style that leaves this reader itching to go and see for himself." Noting that Bates collected over 8,000 species on the trip, the book shows, writes Anderson, how this was achieved: The Zoological Society of London writes that "This fascinating, lucidly written book is widely regarded as one of the greatest reports of natural history travels
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The Naturalist on the River Amazons " It describes the book as "an eloquently written compendium of curious natural facts and observations on Amazon life before the rubber boom, revealing the amazing zoological and botanical richness of the region" and calls his specimens "a hugely significant contribution to zoological discovery." Bates's book is cited in papers for its accurate early observations, such as of the urticating hairs of tarantulas, the puddle drinking habits of butterflies, or of the rich insect fauna in the tropics. The book and Bates' Amazon trip are covered in lecture courses on evolution. The warm reception of Bates's "Naturalist" was not confined to scientists. The novelists D.H. Lawrence and George Orwell both wrote admiringly of the book. Lawrence wrote to his friend S. S. Koteliansky "I should like, from the Everyman Library Bates' – "Naturalist on the Amazon"... because I intend some day to go to South America – to Peru or Ecuador, not the Amazon. But I know Bates is good."
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Localization of organelle proteins by isotope method tagging (or LOPIT) is a method for determining the subcellular localization of membrane proteins. see Dunkley et al. (2006) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci 103 (17) p 6518
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One-pot synthesis In chemistry a one-pot synthesis is a strategy to improve the efficiency of a chemical reaction whereby a reactant is subjected to successive chemical reactions in just one reactor. This is much desired by chemists because avoiding a lengthy separation process and purification of the intermediate chemical compounds can save time and resources while increasing chemical yield. An example of a one-pot synthesis is the total synthesis of tropinone or the Gassman indole synthesis. Sequential one-pot syntheses can be used to generate even complex targets with multiple stereocentres, such as oseltamivir, which may significantly shorten the number of steps required overall and have important commercial implications. A sequential one-pot synthesis with reagents added to a reactor one at a time and without work-up is also called a telescoping synthesis. In one such procedure the reaction of 3-N-tosylaminophenol I with acrolein II affords a hydroxyl substituted quinoline III through 4 sequential steps without workup of the intermediate products:
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Ti plasmid A tumour inducing (Ti) plasmid is a plasmid found in pathogenic species of "Agrobacterium", including "A. tumefaciens, "A. rhizogenes", "A. rubi" and "A. vitis". Evolutionarily, the is part of a family of plasmids carried by many species of Alphaproteobacteria. Members of this plasmid family are defined by the presence of a conserved DNA region known as the "repABC" gene cassette, which mediates the replication of the plasmid, the partitioning of the plasmid into daughter cells during cell division as well as the maintenance of the plasmid at low copy numbers in a cell. The Ti plasmids themselves are sorted into different categories based on the type of molecule, or opine, they allow the bacteria to break down as an energy source. The presence of this is essential for the bacteria to cause crown gall disease in plants. This is facilitated via certain crucial regions in the Ti plasmid, including the "vir" region, which encodes for virulence genes, and the transfer DNA (T-DNA) region, which is a section of the that is transferred via conjugation into host plant cells after an injury site is sensed by the bacteria. These regions have features that allow the delivery of T-DNA into host plant cells, and can modify the host plant cell to cause the synthesis of molecules like plant hormones (e.g. auxins, cytokinins) and opines and the formation of crown gall tumours
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Ti plasmid Because the T-DNA region of the can be transferred from bacteria to plant cells, it represented an exciting avenue for the transfer of DNA between kingdoms and spurred large amounts of research on the and its possible uses in bioengineering. The is a member of a plasmid family found in Alphaproteobacteria. These plasmids are often relatively large in size, ranging from 100kbp to 2Mbp. They are also often termed replicons, as their replication begins at a single site. Members of this family have a characteristic "repABC" gene cassette. Another notable member of this family is the root inducing (Ri) plasmid carried by "A. rhizogenes", which causes another plant disease known as hairy root disease. A key feature of Ti plasmids is their ability to drive the production of opines, which are derivatives of various amino acids or sugar phosphates, in host plant cells. These opines can then be used as a nutrient for the infecting bacteria, which catabolizes the respective opines using genes encoded in the Ti plasmid. Accordingly, Ti plasmids have been classified based on the type of opine they catabolize, namely: nopaline-, octopine- or mannityl-types, which are amino acid derivatives, or agrocinopine-type, which are sugar phosphate derivatives. The identification of "A. tumefaciens" as the cause of gall tumours in plants paved the way for insights into the molecular basis of crown gall disease
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Ti plasmid The first indication of a genetic effect on host plant cells came in 1942-1943, where plant cells of secondary tumours were found to lack any bacterial cells within. However, these tumour cells did possess the ability to produce opines metabolized by the infecting bacterial strain. Crucially, the production of the respective opines occurred regardless of the plant species and occasionally only within crown gall tissues, indicating that the bacteria had transferred some genetic material to the host plant cells in order to allow opine synthesis. However, how and to what extend did DNA transfer occur remained an open question. Adding "A. tumefaciens" DNA alone did not cause tumors in plants, while very little "A. tumefaciens" DNA was found to be integrated into the host plant cell genome. The addition of deoxyribonucleases (DNases) to degrade DNA also failed to prevent the formation and growth of the plant tumors. These suggested that little, if any, of the "A. tumefaciens" DNA is transferred to the host plant cell to cause disease and, if DNA is indeed transferred from the bacteria to the plant, it must occur in a protected manner. Subsequently, oncogenic bacterial strains were found to be able to convert non-pathogenic bacteria into pathogens via the process of conjugation, where the genes responsible for virulence were transferred to the non-pathogenic cells
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Ti plasmid The role of a plasmid in this pathogenic ability was further supported when large plasmids were found only in pathogenic bacteria but not avirulent bacteria. Eventually, the detection of parts of bacterial plasmids in host plant cells was established, confirming that this was the genetic material responsible for the genetic effect of infection. With the identification of the Ti plasmid, many studies were carried out to determine the characteristics of the and how the genetic material is transferred from the "Agrobacterium" to the plant host. Some notable early milestones in the studies of Ti plasmids include the mapping of a in 1978 and the studying of sequence similarity between different Ti plasmids in 1981. Between 1980–2000, the characterization of the T-DNA region and the 'vir' region was also pursued. Studies into the T-DNA region determined their process of transfer and identified genes allowing the synthesis of plant hormones and opines . Separately, early work aimed to determine the functions of the genes encoded in the 'vir' region - these were broadly categorized into those that allowed bacterial-host interactions and those that enabled T-DNA delivery. The replication, partitioning and maintenance of the depends on the "repABC" gene cassette, which is mainly made up of three genes: "repA", "repB" and "repC". "repA" and "repB" each encode for proteins involved in plasmid partitioning, while "repC" encodes a replication initiator
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Ti plasmid These genes are expressed from 4 different promoters located upstream of "repA". "repE" encodes for a small antisense RNA and is located between "repB" and "repC". Additionally, there is a partitioning site ("parS") and an origin of replication ("oriV") present within the "repABC" cassette. The replication of the is driven by the RepC initiator protein, which possesses two protein domains: an N-terminal domain (NTD) that binds to DNA and a C-terminal domain (CTD). Mutational analyses have shown that without a functional RepC protein, the is unable to replicate. Meanwhile, the "oriV" sequence is around 150 nucleotides in length and is found within the "repC" gene. Laboratory experiments have shown that the RepC protein binds to this region, suggesting its role as the origin of replication. Therefore, while the complete process behind the replication of the has not been fully described, the initial step of replication would likely depend on the expression of RepC and its binding to "oriV". Of note, the RepC protein only acts in "cis", where it only drives the replication of the plasmid it is encoded in and not any other plasmid also present in the bacterial cell. The partitioning system of the is similar to the ParA/ParB system used in other plasmids and bacterial chromosomes and is thought to act in the same way. Mutations in either of the proteins RepA or RepB have resulted in a decrease in plasmid stability, indicating their role and importance in plasmid partitioning
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Ti plasmid The ability of RepA to form filaments allows it to create a physical bridge along which DNA can be pulled to opposite poles of a dividing cell. Meanwhile, the RepB protein can bind specifically to the "parS" sequence, forming a complex with DNA that can be recognized by RepA. This system is particularly important for the proper partitioning of the Ti plasmid, as the plasmid is only present in few copy numbers in the bacterial cell. The is maintained at low copy numbers within a bacterial cell. This is partly achieved by influencing the expression of the replication initiator RepC. When bound to ADP, RepA is activated to work with RepB, acting as a negative regulator of the "repABC" cassette. The levels of RepC is therefore kept low within a cell, preventing too many rounds of replication from occurring during each cell division cycle. Furthermore, there is a small RNA known as RepE encoded between "repB" and "repC" that lowers the expression of "repC". RepE is complementary to RepC and will bind with the "repC" mRNA to form a double-stranded molecule. This can then block the translational production of the RepC protein. Separately, the expression of the "repABC" cassette and hence the copy number of the is also influenced via a quorum sensing system in "Agrobacterium"
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Ti plasmid Quorum sensing systems respond to bacterial population densities by sensing a molecule, known as an autoinducer, that is produced by the bacterial cells at low levels and would build up to a threshold level when there is a high density of bacteria present. In this case, the autoinducer is the N-3-oxooctanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (3-O-C-AHL) molecule, which is sensed by a regulator known as TraR. When activated, TraR will bind to regions known as "tra" boxes in the "repABC" gene cassette's promoter regions to drive expression. Therefore, a high level of population density increases the number of plasmids present within each bacterial cell, likely to support pathogenesis in the plant host. The expression of the "vir" region is usually repressed under normal conditions, and only becomes activated when the bacteria senses plant-derived signals from wound sites. This activation is necessary for the production of Vir proteins and the transfer of DNA and proteins into host plant cells. VirA and VirG form a two-component regulatory system within "Agrobacterium". This is a type of sensing and signalling system found commonly in bacteria; in this case, they act to sense plant-derived signals to drive the expression of the "vir" region. During the sensing, VirA, a histidine sensor kinase, will become phosphorylated before passing on this phosphate group to the response regulator VirG
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Ti plasmid The activated response regulator VirG can then bind to a region of DNA known as the "vir" box, located upstream of each "vir" promoter, to activate the expression of the "vir" region. One possible downstream functions of the sensing mediated by VirA and VirG is the directional movement, or chemotaxis, of the bacteria towards plant-derived signals; this allows the "Agrobacterium" to move towards the wound site in plants. Furthermore, with the induction of the "vir" region, the transfer of T-DNA can be mediated by the Vir proteins. The "virB" operon is the largest operon in the "vir" region, encoding for 11 VirB proteins involved in the transfer process of T-DNA and bacterial proteins into host plant cells (see transfer apparatus below). The "virC" operon encodes for two proteins: VirC1 and VirC2. These proteins influence the pathogenesis of the "Agrobacterium" towards different plant hosts, and mutations can reduce but not remove the virulence of the bacteria. Both the "virC" and "virD" operons can be repressed by a chromosomally encoded protein known as Ros. Ros binds to a region of DNA that overlaps with the binding site of the VirG regulator, and therefore competes with VirG to control their expression levels. Functionally, VirC1 and VirC2 promote the assembly of a relaxosome complex during the conjugative transfer of T-DNA from the bacteria to the host plant cell. This is an energy-dependent process mediated via their NTPase activity, and occurs as they bind to a region of DNA known as "overdrive"
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Ti plasmid As a result, they act to increase the amount of T-DNA strands produced. Following the production of the DNA strand to be transferred (transfer strand, T-strand), the VirC proteins can also help to direct the transfer strand to the transfer apparatus. The "virD" operon encodes for 4 proteins: VirD1-D4. VirD1 and VirD2 are involved in the processing of T-DNA during conjugation to produce the T-strand; this is the single-stranded DNA molecule that is transported to the host plant cell (see transfer apparatus below). During the processing, VirD1 will act as a topoisomerase to unwind the DNA strands. VirD2, a relaxase, will then nick one of the DNA strands and remain bound to the DNA as it is transferred to the recipient cell. Within the recipient cell, VirD2 will also work together with VirE2 to direct the transferred DNA to the recipient cell's nucleus. There are suggestions that VirD2 may be phosphorylated and dephosphorylated by different proteins, affecting its ability to deliver DNA. Conversely, little is known about VirD3, and mutational analyses have not provided any support for its role in the virulence of "Agrobacterium". Finally, VirD4 is a crucial part of the conjugation process, serving as a coupling factor that recognizes and transfers the T-strand to the transport channel. The "virE" operon encodes for 2 proteins: VirE1 and VirE2. VirE2 is an effector protein translocated together with the T-strand into host plant cells
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Ti plasmid There, it binds to the T-strand to direct its delivery to the nucleus of the host plant cell. Part of this activity involves the presence of nuclear localization sequences within the protein, which marks the protein and the associated DNA for entry into the nucleus. It also protects the T-strand from nuclease attack. There is some speculation regarding the role of VirE2 as a protein channel, allowing DNA to move through the plant cytoplasmic membrane. On the other hand, VirE1 may be involved in promoting the transfer of the VirE2 protein into the host plant cell. It binds to the ssDNA-binding domain of VirE2, therefore preventing the VirE2 protein from prematurely binding to the T-strand within the bacterial cell. "virF" is a host specificity factor found in some but not all types of Ti plasmids; for example, octopine-type Ti plasmids possess "virF" but nopaline-types do not. The ability of "A. tumefaciens" to induce crown gall tumours in certain plant species but not others has been attributed to the presence or absence of this "virF" gene. The "virH" operon encodes for 2 proteins: VirH1 and VirH2. A bioinformatics study of the amino acid sequences of the VirH protein showed similarities between them and a superfamily of proteins known as cytochrome P450 enzymes. VirH2 was then discovered to metabolize certain phenolic compounds detected by VirA
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Ti plasmid The T-DNA of "Agrobacterium" is approximately 15-20 kbp in length and will become integrated into the host plant genome upon its transfer via a process known as recombination. This process utilizes preexisting gaps in the host plant cell's genome to allow the T-DNA to pair with short sequences in the genome, priming the process of DNA ligation, where the T-DNA is permanently joint to the plant genome. The T-DNA region is flanked at both ends by 24bp sequences. Within the host plant cell's genome, the T-DNA of "Agrobacterium" is expressed to produced two main groups of proteins. One group is responsible for the production of plant growth hormones. As these hormones are produced, there will be an increase in the rate of cell division and therefore the formation of crown gall tumors. The second group of proteins are responsible for driving the synthesis of opines in the host plant cells. The specific opines produced depends on the type of the but not on the plant host. These opines cannot be utilized by the plant host, and will instead be exported out of the plant cell where it can be taken up by the "Agrobacterium" cells. The bacteria possess genes in other regions of the that allows the catabolism of opines. Transfer apparatuses encoded within the have to achieve two objectives: allow the conjugative transfer of the between bacteria and allow the delivery of the T-DNA and certain effector proteins into host plant cells
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Ti plasmid These are achieved by the Tra/Trb system and the VirB/VirD4 system respectively, which are members of the type IV secretion system (T4SS). For the and T-DNA to be transferred via conjugation, they must first be processed by different proteins, such as the relaxase enzyme (TraA/VirD2) and the DNA transfer and replication (Dtr) proteins. Together, these proteins will recognize and bind to a region known as the origin of transfer ("oriT") in the to form the relaxosome complex. For the T-DNA, a nick will be created at the T-DNA's border sequence, and the nicked T-strand will be transported to the cell membrane, where the rest of the transfer machinery is present. Within the VirB/VirD4 system, the VirD2 relaxase is aided by the accessory factors VirD1, VirC1 and VirC2 while it processes the DNA substrate. Furthermore, the VirD2 relaxase and the VirC proteins will contribute to the delivery of the DNA strand to the VirD4 receptor at the cell membrane. This receptor is an essential component of T4SSs, and is thought to energize and mediate the transfer of the DNA into the translocation channel between two cells. The table below summarizes the proteins encoded in the "virB" operon that makes up the translocation channel of the VirB/VirD4 system. The ability of "Agrobacterium" to deliver DNA into plant cells opened new doors for plant genome engineering, allowing the production of genetically modified plants (transgenic plants)
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Ti plasmid Proteins involved in mediating the transfer of T-DNA will first recognize the border sequences of the T-DNA region. Therefore, it is possible for scientists to use T-DNA border sequences to flank any desired sequence of interest - such a product can then be inserted into a plasmid and introduced into "Agrobacterium" cells. There, the border sequences will be recognized by the transfer apparatus of "A. tumefaciens" and delivered in a standard manner into the target plant cell. Moreover, by leaving behind only the border sequences of the T-DNA, the resulting product will edit the plant genome without causing any tumours in plants. This method has been used to modify several crop plants, including rice, barley and wheat. Further work have since extended the targets of "A. tumefaciens" to include fungi and human cell lines.
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Denaturation (fissile materials) Denaturation of fissile materials suitable for nuclear weapons is the process of transforming them into a form that is not suitable for weapons use and can not easily be reversely transformed. For Uranium 235 this is straightforward, by mixing it with Uranium 238, but for plutonium it is more difficult and/or less effective, because other plutonium isotopes are either also suitable for weapons or not available and not practical to produce, while mixing with another element allows chemical separation. The situation with Uranium-233 is more drastic. Decay of the attached Uranium-232 produces Thorium-228 with a radioactive half-life of 1.9 years and several short-lived daughter nuclides; these daughters include some very hard gamma-ray emitters like Thallium-208 and Lead-212. After approximately one single year the alpha activity of these decay products is several hundred curies per kilogram of U-233, and the gamma penetration radiation is a thousand times larger to some than from the plutonium. Aged U-233 is self-protected radiologically from diversion.
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Sergei Navashin Sergei Gavrilovich Navashin (); (14 December 1857 – 10 December 1930) was a Russian biologist. He discovered double fertilization in plants in 1898. 1874 — enters the Medical Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg, works on chemistry in the laboratory of A. Borodin 1878 — moves to the Moscow University, obtains Candidate degree in 1881 in Biology. Under the influence of K. Timiryazev and V. Zinger starts to study Botany. Receives a position of a laboratory assistant at the chair of Plant Physiology and later (1885) in the Petrovskaya Agricultural Academy. 1894 — is invited to work at the chair of Systematics and Morphology of the Kiev University. During 1894-1914 works as a director of the Botanical Garden of Kiev University 1896 — defends his doctoral thesis in the University of Odessa 1918-1923—professor of Tbilisi University (Georgia) 1923—founds the Timiryazev Biological Institute in Moscow. Heads it till 1929.
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Non-perturbative In mathematics and physics, a non-perturbative function or process is one that cannot be described by perturbation theory. An example is the function which does not have a Taylor series at "x" = 0. Every coefficient of the Taylor expansion around "x" = 0 is exactly zero, but the function is non-zero if "x" ≠ 0. In physics, such functions arise for phenomena which are impossible to understand by perturbation theory, at any finite order. In quantum field theory, 't Hooft–Polyakov monopoles, domain walls, flux tubes, and instantons are examples. A concrete, physical example is given by the Schwinger effect, whereby a strong electric field may spontaneously decay into electron-positron pairs. For not too strong fields, the rate per unit volume of this process is given by, which cannot be expanded in a Taylor series in the electric charge formula_3, or the electric field strength formula_4. Here formula_5 is the mass of an electron and we have used units where formula_6. In theoretical physics, a non-perturbative solution is one that cannot be described in terms of perturbations about some simple background, such as empty space. For this reason, non-perturbative solutions and theories yield insights into areas and subjects that perturbative methods cannot reveal.
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Killing horizon A is a null hypersurface defined by the vanishing of the norm of a Killing vector field (both are named after Wilhelm Killing). In Minkowski space-time, in pseudo-Cartesian coordinates formula_1 with signature formula_2 an example of is provided by the Lorentz boost (a Killing vector of the space-time) The square of the norm of formula_4 is Therefore, formula_4 is null only on the hyperplanes of equations that, taken together, are the Killing horizons generated by formula_4. Associated to a is a geometrical quantity known as surface gravity, formula_9. If the surface gravity vanishes, then the is said to be degenerate. Exact black hole metrics such as the Kerr–Newman metric contain Killing horizons which coincide with their ergospheres. For this spacetime, the is located at In the usual coordinates, outside the Killing horizon, the Killing vector field formula_11 is timelike, whilst inside it is spacelike. The temperature of Hawking radiation is related to the surface gravity formula_12 by formula_13 with formula_14 the Boltzmann constant. De Sitter space has a at formula_15 which emits thermal radiation at temperature formula_16.
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Transformation theory (quantum mechanics) The term transformation theory refers to a procedure and a "picture" used by P. A. M. Dirac in his early formulation of quantum theory, from around 1927. This "transformation" idea refers to the changes a quantum state undergoes in the course of time, whereby its vector "moves" between "positions" or "orientations" in its Hilbert space. Time evolution, quantum transitions, and symmetry transformations in Quantum mechanics may thus be viewed as the systematic theory of abstract, generalized rotations in this space of quantum state vectors. Remaining in full use today, it would be regarded as a topic in the mathematics of Hilbert space, although, technically speaking, it is somewhat more general in scope. While the terminology is reminiscent of rotations of vectors in ordinary space, the Hilbert space of a quantum object is more general, and holds its entire quantum state.
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Pollen count A pollen count is the measurement of the number of grains of pollen in a cubic meter of air. High pollen counts can sometimes lead to increased rates of an allergic reaction for those with allergic disorders. Usually, the counts are announced for specific plants such as grass, ash, or olive. These are tailored to common plants in the measured areas. Mild winters with warmer days lead to an increase in pollen counts while colder winters lead to delayed pollen release. In the UK, the public announcement of the pollen count was popularised by Dr. William Frankland, an immunologist. According to a study by Leonard Bielory, M.D. that was presented to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, climate changes are expected to cause pollen counts to more than double by 2040. One method of taking the sample uses a silicone grease-covered rod, rotated in the air to collect the pollen. The rod is rotated periodically during the collection period to gather samples through an entire 24-hour day. The rod is then removed and taken to a lab where the collected material is analyzed for the type of pollen and its concentration. Another method for measuring the pollen count is by using a Burkard Trap, also known as the seven-day volumetric spore trap. This device works by facing towards the wind and drawing in air by using a pump. The pollen particles drawn in by the pump are then trapped by a sticky wax film that is attached to a rotating drum
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Pollen count The drum slowly rotates one turn over the course of seven days while collecting particles. The tape is removed after one week and cut into day-length sections.
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Photomagneton The photomagneton is a theoretical treatment of the unitary group in quantum field theory and quantum chemistry that effectively describes the experimentally observed inverse Faraday effect. When circularly polarized light travels through a plasma, the angular momentum associated to the circular motion of the photons induces an angular momentum in the electrons of the plasma. This angular momentum induces an associated magnetic field. Exactly how this happens remains a subject of debate. For instance, if the so-called ghost field does not contribute to the free electromagnetic energy density in the plasma, then the electron must couple to something like a complex electric field. However, if the field induces a finite magnetic field in the absence of matter, then the implication may be a finite photon rest mass. A. Hasanein and M. Evans, "The and Quantum Field Theory: Vol. 1 of Quantum Chemistry," World Scientific, 1994
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Effective half-life In pharmacokinetics, the effective half-life is the rate of accumulation or elimination of a biochemical or pharmacological substance in an organism; it is the analogue of biological half-life when the kinetics are governed by multiple independent mechanisms. This is seen when there are multiple mechanisms of elimination, or when a drug occupies multiple pharmacological compartments. It reflects the cumulative effect of the individual half-lives, as observed by the changes in the actual serum concentration of a drug under a given dosing regimen. The complexity of biological systems means that most pharmacological substances do not have a single mechanism of elimination, and hence the observed or effective half-life does not reflect that of a single process, but rather the summation of multiple independent processes. When radionuclides are used pharmacologically, for example in radiation therapy, they are eliminated through a combination of radioactive decay and biological excretion. An effective half-life of the drug will involve a decay constant that represents the sum of the biological and physical decay constants, as in the formula: With the decay constant it is possible to calculate the effective half-life using the formula: The biological decay constant is often approximated as it is more difficult to accurately determine than the physical decay constant. Alternatively, since the radioactive decay contributes to the ""physical" (i.e
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Effective half-life "radioactive")" half-life, while the metabolic elimination processes determines the ""biological"" half-life of the radionuclide, the two act as parallel paths for elimination of the radioactivity, the effective half-life could also be represented by the formula:
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Serac A serac (originally from Swiss French "sérac") is a block or column of glacial ice, often formed by intersecting crevasses on a glacier. Commonly house-sized or larger, they are dangerous to mountaineers, since they may topple with little warning. Even when stabilized by persistent cold weather, they can be an impediment to glacier travel. Seracs are found within an icefall, often in large numbers, or on ice faces on the lower edge of a hanging glacier. Notable examples of the overhanging glacier edge type are well-known obstacles on some of the world's highest mountains, including K2 at "The Bottleneck" and Kanchenjunga on the border of India and Nepal. Significant seracs in the Alps are found on the northeast face of Piz Roseg, the north face of the Dent d'Hérens, and the north face of Lyskamm.
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Larry's Lookout is located on Husband Hill, Gusev Crater, Mars. It is named after geologist Larry Crumpler. In 2005 "Spirit", a Mars Exploration Rover, spent 70 sols ascending and then four sols taking panoramic photographs of the Tennessee Valley below.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1733575
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Moussaieff Red Diamond The (formerly known as the Red Shield Diamond) is a diamond measuring 5.11 carats (1.022 g) with a triangular brilliant cut (sometimes called a trillion or a trilliant cut), rated in color as Fancy Red by the Gemological Institute of America. It is the world's largest known red diamond, the rarest of them all. The Moussaieff Red was discovered in the 1990s by a Brazilian farmer in the Abaetezinho river in 1990, in a region known as Alto Paranaiba. The rough stone weighed 13.9 carats (2.78 g). The diamond was purchased and cut by the William Goldberg Diamond Corp., where it went by its original name, the Red Shield. It was purchased in 2001 or 2002 by Shlomo Moussaieff, an Israeli-born jewelry dealer in London, and is currently owned by Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd. The Moussaieff Red was displayed in 2003 as part of the Smithsonian Institution's "The Splendor of Diamonds" exhibit, alongside The De Beers Millennium Star and The Heart of Eternity.
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Erkki Pulliainen Erkki Ossi Olavi Pulliainen (born June 23, 1938) is a Finnish biologist and politician and former member of Finnish Parliament, representing the Green League. He was first elected to the parliament in 1987 and was continuously a member until the election in spring 2011. From 1985 to 1999 he was also a member of the city council of Oulu. Pulliainen has held positions of trust in numerous scientific and political organisations. Pulliainen was born in Varkaus, Finland. He has a Ph.D. in zoology and a master's degree in agriculture and forestry. During his career he has been the professor of zoology at the University of Oulu and the dean of the faculty of science until his retirement. He was also a reader at the University of Helsinki where he performed extensive research on large carnivores in the Nordic fauna. Pulliainen has published more than 500 scientific articles and more than 30 books. An expert on wolves and dogs, he is popularly known as "Susi" ("Wolf") Pulliainen. Pulliainen is married to Riitta Haaranen and they have three children, Annariina (b. 1978), Annamiina (b. 1981), and Rauli (b. 1983). He also has two children, Harri (b. 1962), Virpi (b. 1963), from a previous marriage. In his free time Pulliainen enjoys fishing, hunting, philately, and classical music.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1738386
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Grigore Antipa (; 27 November 1866 in Botoșani – 9 March 1949 in Bucharest) was a Romanian Darwinist biologist who studied the fauna of the Danube Delta and the Black Sea. Between 1892 and 1944 he was the director of the Bucharest Natural History Museum, which now bears his name. He is also considered to be the first person to modernize the diorama by emphasizing the three-dimensional aspect and first to use dioramas in a museum setting. Additionally, Antipa was a specialist in zoology, ichthyology, ecology and oceanography, and was a university professor. He was elected as member of the Romanian Academy in 1910 and was also a member of several foreign academies. He founded a school of hydrobiology and ichthyology in Romania.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1739273
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Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī Ibrahim al-Fazari (died 777 CE) was an 8th-century Muslim mathematician and astronomer at the Abbasid court of the Caliph Al-Mansur (r. 754–775). He should not to be confused with his son Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī, also an astronomer. He composed various astronomical writings ("on the astrolabe", "on the armillary spheres", "on the calendar"). The Caliph ordered him and his son to translate the Indian astronomical text, The "Sindhind" along with Yaʿqūb ibn Ṭāriq, which was completed in Baghdad about 750 CE, and entitled "Az-Zīj ‛alā Sinī al-‛Arab". This translation was possibly the vehicle by means of which the Hindu numeral system (i.e. modern number notation) was transmitted from India to Iran. At the end of the eighth century, while at the court of the Abbasid Caliphate, this Muslim geographer mentioned Ghana, "the land of gold."
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Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Habib ibn Samra ibn Jundab al-Fazari (died 796 or 806) was a Muslim philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. He is not to be confused with his father Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī, also an astronomer and mathematician. Some sources refer to him as an Arab, other sources state that he was a Persian. Al-Fazārī translated many scientific books into Arabic and Persian. He is credited to have built the first astrolabe in the Islamic world. Along with Yaʿqūb ibn Ṭāriq and his father he helped translate the Indian astronomical text by Brahmagupta (fl. 7th century), the "Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta", into Arabic as "Az-Zīj ‛alā Sinī al-‛Arab"., or the "Sindhind". This translation was possibly the vehicle by means of which the Hindu numerals were transmitted from India to Islam.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1741105
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Transmission line measurement or Transfer Length Measurement is a technique used in semiconductor physics and engineering to determine the contact resistance between a metal and a semiconductor. The technique involves making a series of metal-semiconductor contacts separated by various distances. Probes are applied to pairs of contacts, and the resistance between them is measured by applying a voltage across the contacts and measuring the resulting current. The current flows from the first probe, into the metal contact, across the metal-semiconductor junction, through the sheet of semiconductor, across the metal-semiconductor junction again (except this time in the other direction), into the second contact, and from there into the second probe and into the external circuit to be measured by an ammeter. The resistance measured is a linear combination (sum) of the contact resistance of the first contact, the contact resistance of the second contact, and the sheet resistance of the semiconductor in-between the contacts. When several such measurements are made between pairs of contacts that are separated by different distances, a plot of resistance versus contact separation can be obtained. The contact separation can then be expressed in terms of the ratio L/W - where L and W are the length and width of the area between the contacts - such a plot should be linear, with the slope of the line being the sheet resistance. The intercept of the line with the y-axis, is two times the contact resistance
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Transmission line measurement Thus the sheet resistance as well as the contact resistance can be determined from this technique.
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Pharming (genetics) Pharming, a portmanteau of "farming" and "pharmaceutical", refers to the use of genetic engineering to insert genes that code for useful pharmaceuticals into host animals or plants that would otherwise not express those genes, thus creating a genetically modified organism (GMO). Pharming is also known as molecular farming, molecular pharming or biopharming. The products of pharming are recombinant proteins or their metabolic products. Recombinant proteins are most commonly produced using bacteria or yeast in a bioreactor, but pharming offers the advantage to the producer that it does not require expensive infrastructure, and production capacity can be quickly scaled to meet demand, at greatly reduced cost. The first recombinant plant-derived protein (PDP) was human serum albumin, initially produced in 1990 in transgenic tobacco and potato plants. Open field growing trials of these crops began in the United States in 1992 and have taken place every year since. While the United States Department of Agriculture has approved planting of pharma crops in every state, most testing has taken place in Hawaii, Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin. In the early 2000s, the pharming industry was robust. Proof of concept has been established for the production of many therapeutic proteins, including antibodies, blood products, cytokines, growth factors, hormones, recombinant enzymes and human and veterinary vaccines
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Pharming (genetics) By 2003 several PDP products for the treatment of human diseases were under development by nearly 200 biotech companies, including recombinant gastric lipase for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, and antibodies for the prevention of dental caries and the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. However, in late 2002, just as ProdiGene was ramping up production of trypsin for commercial launch it was discovered that volunteer plants (left over from the prior harvest) of one of their GM corn products were harvested with the conventional soybean crop later planted in that field. ProdiGene was fined $250,000 and ordered by the USDA to pay over $3 million in cleanup costs. This raised a furor and set the pharming field back, dramatically. Many companies went bankrupt as companies faced difficulties getting permits for field trials and investors fled. In reaction, APHIS introduced more strict regulations for pharming field trials in the US in 2003. In 2005, Anheuser-Busch threatened to boycott rice grown in Missouri because of plans by Ventria Bioscience to grow pharm rice in the state. A compromise was reached, but Ventria withdrew its permit to plant in Missouri due to unrelated circumstances. The industry has slowly recovered, by focusing on pharming in simple plants grown in bioreactors and on growing GM crops in greenhouses. Some companies and academic groups have continued with open-field trials of GM crops that produce drugs
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Pharming (genetics) In 2006 Dow AgroSciences received USDA approval to market a vaccine for poultry against Newcastle disease, produced in plant cell culture – the first plant-produced vaccine approved in the U.S. Milk is presently the most mature system to produce recombinant proteins from transgenic organisms. Blood, egg white, seminal plasma, and urine are other theoretically possible systems, but all have drawbacks. Blood, for instance, as of 2012 cannot store high levels of stable recombinant proteins, and biologically active proteins in blood may alter the health of the animals. Expression in the milk of a mammal, such as a cow, sheep, or goat, is a common application, as milk production is plentiful and purification from milk is relatively easy. Hamsters and rabbits have also been used in preliminary studies because of their faster breeding. One approach to this technology is the creation of a transgenic mammal that can produce the biopharmaceutical in its milk (or blood or urine). Once an animal is produced, typically using the pronuclear microinjection method, it becomes efficacious to use cloning technology to create additional offspring that carry the favorable modified genome. In February 2009 the US FDA granted marketing approval for the first drug to be produced in genetically modified livestock. The drug is called ATryn, which is antithrombin protein purified from the milk of genetically modified goats. Marketing permission was granted by the European Medicines Agency in August 2006
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Pharming (genetics) As indicated above, some mammals typically used for food production (such as goats, sheep, pigs, and cows) have been modified to produce non-food products, a practice sometimes called pharming. Use of genetically modified goats has been approved by the FDA and EMA to produce ATryn, i.e. recombinant antithrombin, an anticoagulant protein drug. These products "produced by turning animals into drug-manufacturing 'machines' by genetically modifying them" are sometimes termed biopharmaceuticals. The patentability of such biopharmaceuticals and their process of manufacture is uncertain. Probably, the biopharmaceuticals themselves so made are unpatentable, assuming that they are chemically identical to the preexisting drugs that they imitate. Several 19th century United States Supreme Court decisions hold that a previously known natural product manufactured by artificial means cannot be patented. An argument can be made for the patentability of the process for manufacturing a biopharmaceutical, however, because genetically modifying animals so that they will produce the drug is dissimilar to previous methods of manufacture; moreover, one Supreme Court decision seems to hold open that possibility. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the recent Supreme Court decision in "Mayo v
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Pharming (genetics) Prometheus" may create a problem in that, in accordance with the ruling in that case, "it may be said that such and such genes manufacture this protein in the same way they always did in a mammal, they produce the same product, and the genetic modification technology used is conventional, so that the steps of the process 'add nothing to the laws of nature that is not already present. If the argument prevailed in court, the process would also be ineligible for patent protection. This issue has not yet been decided in the courts. Plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMPs), also referred to as pharming, is a sub-sector of the biotechnology industry that involves the process of genetically engineering plants so that they can produce certain types of therapeutically important proteins and associated molecules such as peptides and secondary metabolites. The proteins and molecules can then be harvested and used to produce pharmaceuticals. Arabidopsis is often used as a model organism to study gene expression in plants, while actual production may be carried out in maize, rice, potatoes, tobacco, flax or safflower . Tobacco has been a highly popular choice of organism for the expression of transgenes, as it is easily transformed, produces abundant tissues, and survives well "in vitro" and in greenhouses. The advantage of rice and flax is that they are self-pollinating, and thus gene flow issues (see below) are avoided. However, human error could still result in pharm crops entering the food supply
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Pharming (genetics) Using a minor crop such as safflower or tobacco, avoids the greater political pressures and risk to the food supply involved with using staple crops such as beans or rice. Expression of proteins in plant cell or hairy root cultures also minimizes risk of gene transfer, but at a higher cost of production. Sterile hybrids may also be used for the bioconfinement of transgenic plants, although stable lines can't be established. Grain crops are sometimes chosen for pharming because protein products targeted to the endosperm of cereals have been shown to have high heat stability. This characteristic makes them an appealing target for the production of edible vaccines, as viral coat proteins stored in grains do not require cold storage the way many vaccines currently do. Maintaining a temperature controlled supply chain of vaccines is often difficult when delivering vaccines to developing countries. Most commonly, plant transformation is carried out using "Agrobacterium tumefaciens". The protein of interest is often expressed under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter (CaMV35S), a powerful constitutive promoter for driving expression in plants. Localization signals may be attached to the protein of interest to cause accumulation to occur in a specific sub-cellular location, such as chloroplasts or vacuoles. This is done in order to improve yields, simplify purification, or so that the protein folds properly
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Pharming (genetics) Recently, the inclusion of antisense genes in expression cassettes has been shown to have potential for improving the plant pharming process. Researchers in Japan transformed rice with an antisense SPK gene, which disrupts starch accumulation in rice seeds, so that products would accumulate in a watery sap that is easier to purify. Recently, several non-crop plants such as the duckweed "Lemna minor" or the moss "Physcomitrella patens" have shown to be useful for the production of biopharmaceuticals. These frugal organisms can be cultivated in bioreactors (as opposed to being grown in fields), secrete the transformed proteins into the growth medium and, thus, substantially reduce the burden of protein purification in preparing recombinant proteins for medical use. In addition, both species can be engineered to cause secretion of proteins with human patterns of glycosylation, an improvement over conventional plant gene-expression systems. Biolex Therapeutics developed a duckweed-based expression platform; it sold that business to Synthon and declared bankruptcy in 2012. Additionally, an Israeli company, Protalix, has developed a method to produce therapeutics in cultured transgenic carrot or tobacco cells. Protalix and its partner, Pfizer, received FDA approval to market its drug, taliglucerase alfa (Elelyso), treatment for Gaucher's disease, in 2012
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Pharming (genetics) The regulation of genetic engineering concerns the approaches taken by governments to assess and manage the risks associated with the development and release of genetically modified crops. There are differences in the regulation of GM crops – including those used for pharming – between countries, with some of the most marked differences occurring between the USA and Europe. Regulation varies in a given country depending on the intended use of the products of the genetic engineering. For example, a crop not intended for food use is generally not reviewed by authorities responsible for food safety. There are controversies around GMOs generally on several levels, including whether making them is ethical, issues concerning intellectual property and market dynamics; environmental effects of GM crops; and GM crops' role in industrial agricultural more generally. There are also specific controversies around pharming. Plants do not carry pathogens that might be dangerous to human health. Additionally, on the level of pharmacologically active proteins, there are no proteins in plants that are similar to human proteins. On the other hand, plants are still sufficiently closely related to animals and humans that they are able to correctly process and configure both animal and human proteins. Their seeds and fruits also provide sterile packaging containers for the valuable therapeutics and guarantee a certain storage life. Global demand for pharmaceuticals is at unprecedented levels
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Pharming (genetics) Expanding the existing microbial systems, although feasible for some therapeutic products, is not a satisfactory option on several grounds. Many proteins of interest are too complex to be made by microbial systems or by protein synthesis. These proteins are currently being produced in animal cell cultures, but the resulting product is often prohibitively expensive for many patients. For these reasons, science has been exploring other options for producing proteins of therapeutic value. These pharmaceutical crops could become extremely beneficial in developing countries. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 3 million people die each year from vaccine preventable disease, mostly in Africa. Diseases such as measles and hepatitis lead to deaths in countries where the people cannot afford the high costs of vaccines, but pharm crops could help solve this problem. While molecular farming is one application of genetic engineering, there are concerns that are unique to it. In the case of genetically modified (GM) foods, concerns focus on the safety of the food for human consumption. In response, it has been argued that the genes that enhance a crop in some way, such as drought resistance or pesticide resistance, are not believed to affect the food itself. Other GM foods in development, such as fruits designed to ripen faster or grow larger, are believed not to affect humans any differently from non-GM varieties. In contrast, molecular farming is not intended for crops destined for the food chain
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Pharming (genetics) It produces plants that contain physiologically active compounds that accumulate in the plant’s tissues. Considerable attention is focused, therefore, on the restraint and caution necessary to protect both consumer health and environmental biodiversity. The fact that the plants are used to produce drugs alarms activists. They worry that once production begins, the altered plants might find their way into the food supply or cross-pollinate with conventional, non-GM crops. These concerns have historical validation from the ProdiGene incident, and from the StarLink incident, in which GMO corn accidentally ended up in commercial food products. Activists also are concerned about the power of business. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in a recent report, says that U.S. demand alone for biotech pharmaceuticals is expanding at 13 percent annually and to reach a market value of $28.6 billion in 2004. Pharming is expected to be worth $100 billion globally by 2020. "Please note that this list is by no means exhaustive." Projects known to be abandoned
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Geological survey A geological survey is the systematic investigation of the geology beneath a given piece of ground for the purpose of creating a geological map or model. Geological surveying employs techniques from the traditional walk-over survey, studying outcrops and landforms, to intrusive methods, such as hand augering and machine-driven boreholes, to the use of geophysical techniques and remote sensing methods, such as aerial photography and satellite imagery. Such surveys may be undertaken by state, province, or national geological survey organizations to maintain the geological inventory and advance the knowledge of geosciences for the benefit of the nation. A geological survey map typically superimposes the surveyed extent and boundaries of geological units on a topographic map, together with information at points (such as measurements of orientation of bedding planes) and lines (such as the intersection of faults with the land surface). The maps and reports created by geological survey organisations generally aim for geographic continuity and completeness in establishing the spatial patterns of near-surface rock units. The map may include cross sections to illustrate the three-dimensional interpretation. Subsurface geological and geophysical maps, providing limited coverage of deeper geology (known, for example, from drilling for oil or gas), are maintained internally by major oil companies and regulators
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Geological survey Some geological survey organisations have collaborated with them to include subsurface geology in their systematic surveys, for example, the Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Subsurface maps typically depict the three-dimensional form of geological surfaces by means of contours and cross sections. Computer-based models are increasingly used to provide more comprehensive information storage and greater flexibility of presentation. In the United States, the 50 state surveys are coordinated by the Association of American State Geologists. Some examples of national geological surveys are listed here: Individual states or provinces may also have a geological survey. Examples include:
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Four-frequency The four-frequency of a massless particle, such as a photon, is a four-vector defined by where formula_2 is the photon's frequency and formula_3 is a unit vector in the direction of the photon's motion. The four-frequency of a photon is always a future-pointing and null vector. An observer moving with four-velocity formula_4 will observe a frequency Where formula_6 is the Minkowski inner-product (+---) Closely related to the four-frequency is the four-wavevector defined by where formula_8, formula_9 is the speed of light and formula_10 and formula_11 is the wavelength of the photon. The four-wavevector is more often used in practice than the four-frequency, but the two vectors are related (using formula_12) by
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Double terminated crystal A double terminated crystal is a crystal with two naturally faceted ends. Technically, they have a termination on both ends. It is a rarer form of crystal as it forms free-floating in pockets of clay, rather than on one side of a stone. They are sought after by collectors and are often made into pendants. According to "Gems & Gemology", "the topmost grade of amethyst consists of double-terminated single crystals."
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Laporte rule The is a spectroscopic selection rule that only applies to centrosymmetric molecules (those with an inversion centre) and atoms. It states that electronic transitions that conserve parity, either symmetry or antisymmetry with respect to an inversion centre — i.e., "g" (gerade = even (German)) → "g", or "u" (ungerade = odd) → "u" respectively—are forbidden. Allowed transitions in such molecules must involve a change in parity, either "g" → "u" or "u" → "g". As a consequence, if a molecule is centrosymmetric, transitions within a given set of "p" or "d" orbitals (i.e., those that only involve a redistribution of electrons within a given subshell) are forbidden. A designation of "g" for an orbital means there is symmetry with respect to an inversion center. That is, if all the atoms are inverted across the inversion center, the resulting orbital would look exactly the way it did before having inversion applied to it. (This includes same orientation in space). A designation of "u" means the orbital is antisymmetric with respect to the inversion center, and changes sign everywhere upon inversion. The rule originates from a quantum mechanical selection rule that, during an electron transition, parity should be inverted. However, forbidden transitions are allowed if the centre of symmetry is disrupted, and indeed, such apparently forbidden transitions are then observed in experiments. Disruption of the centre of symmetry occurs for various reasons, such as the Jahn-Teller effect and asymmetric vibrations
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Laporte rule Complexes are not perfectly symmetric all the time. Transitions that occur as a result of an asymmetrical vibration of a molecule are called vibronic transitions, such as those caused by vibronic coupling. Through such asymmetric vibrations, transitions that would theoretically be forbidden, such as a d → d transition, are weakly allowed. The rule is named after Otto Laporte. It is relevant, in particular, to the electronic spectroscopy of transition metals. Octahedral complexes have a center of symmetry (exact or approximate) so that d → d transitions are forbidden by the and are observed to be quite weak. However tetrahedral complexes have no center of symmetry so that the does not apply, and have more intense spectra.
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Inundative application of a biological control or natural enemy of a pest refers to the release of overwhelming numbers of a mass-produced biological control agent in the expectation of either achieving a rapid reduction of a pest population, or to improve the long term survival of the biocontrol agent.
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Thermal loop A thermal loop is a movement of air driven by warm air rising at one end of the loop, and cool air descending at the other end, creating a constantly moving loop of air. Thermal loops also occur in liquids. Thermal loops are size-independent; that is to say, they may occur in a space as small as a room or as large as a global hemisphere. The Hadley cell is an example of a global-scale thermal loop.
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Biostimulation involves the modification of the environment to stimulate existing bacteria capable of bioremediation. This can be done by addition of various forms of rate limiting nutrients and electron acceptors, such as phosphorus, nitrogen, oxygen, or carbon (e.g. in the form of molasses). Alternatively, remediation of halogenated contaminants in anaerobic environments may be stimulated by adding electron donors (organic substrates), thus allowing indigenous microorganisms to use the halogenated contaminants as electron acceptors.EPA Anaerobic Bioremediation Technologies Additives are usually added to the subsurface through injection wells, although injection well technology for biostimulation purposes is still emerging. Removal of the contaminated material is also an option, albeit an expensive one. can be enhanced by bioaugmentation. This process, overall, is referred to as bioremediation and is an EPA-approved method for reversing the presence of oil or gas spills. While biostimulation is usually associated with remediation of hydrocarbon or high production volume chemical spills, it is also potentially useful for treatment of less frequently encountered contaminant spills, such as pesticides, particularly herbicides. The primary advantage of biostimulation is that bioremediation will be undertaken by already present native microorganisms that are well-suited to the subsurface environment, and are well distributed spatially within the subsurface
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Biostimulation The primary disadvantage is that the delivery of additives in a manner that allows the additives to be readily available to subsurface microorganisms is based on the local geology of the subsurface. Tight, impermeable subsurface lithology (tight clays or other fine-grained material) make it difficult to spread additives throughout the affected area. Fractures in the subsurface create preferential pathways in the subsurface which additives preferentially follow, preventing even distribution of additives. Recently a number of products have been introduced which allow popular use of bioremediation using biostimulative methods. They may harness local bacteria using biostimulation by creating a hospitable environment for hydrocarbon-devouring microorganisms, or they may introduce foreign bacteria into the environment as a direct application to the hydrocarbon. While the jury is out as to whether either is particularly more effective than the other, "prima facie" consideration suggests the introduction of foreign bacteria to any environment stands a chance of mutating organisms already present and affecting the biome. Investigations to determine subsurface characteristics (such as natural groundwater velocity during ambient conditions, hydraulic conductivity of the subsurface, and lithology of the subsurface) are important in developing a successful biostimulation system. In addition, a pilot-scale study of the potential biostimulation system should be undertaken prior to full-scale design and implementation
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Biostimulation However, some biostimulative agents may be used in chaotic surfaces such as open water and sand so long as they are [oleophilic], meaning that they bond exclusively to hydrocarbons, and basically sink in the water column, bonding to oil, where they then float to the water's surface, exposing the hydrocarbon to more abundant sunlight and oxygen where greater micro-organic aerobic activity can be encouraged. Some consumer-targeted biostimulants bond possess this quality, others do not.
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Abolfadl Harawi () was a 10th-century astronomer from Rey, Persia who, along with al-Khujandi, studied under the patronage of the Buyid dynasty.
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Al-Saghani Abu Hamid Ahmed ibn Mohammed al-Saghani al-Asturlabi (meaning the astrolabe maker of Saghan, near Merv) was a Persian astronomer and historian of science. He flourished in Baghdad, where he died in 379-380 A.H/ 990 A.D. Al-Asturlabi wrote some of the earliest comments on the history of science. These included the following comparison between the "ancients" (including the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and Indians) and the "modern scholars" (the Muslim scientists of his time):
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Remote Automated Weather Station The Remote Automatic Weather Stations (RAWS) system is a network of automated weather stations run by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and monitored by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), mainly to observe potential wildfire conditions. Unlike the automated airport weather stations which are located at significant airports, RAWS stations are often located in remote areas, particularly in national forests. Because of this, they usually are not connected to the electrical grid, but rather have their own solar panels, and a battery to store power for overnight reporting. Some instead run on a generator. In both cases, data important to operating the station itself, such as battery voltage or fuel level, is often included in the hourly reports. Also because of the remote locations, most communicate with a modem via telephone, or via a VSAT connection to a GOES satellite. In this regard, they are similar to mesonets and may be mesonets if the distance between stations (spatial resolution) is sufficiently dense. They often lack the consistently high-quality data needed for use in numerical weather prediction and climatology, however. Road Weather Information System (RWIS) may likewise be self-powered and located in remote areas. There are times when a portable weather station is required, such as planned ignitions, wildfires, and other projects where there is a need to collect and share weather information
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Remote Automated Weather Station Portable stations may also be referred to as "quick deploy" or QD, and this should be indicated within the name of the station to allow proper interpretation of the collected data.
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Greenland ice core project The Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) was a multinational European research project, organized through the European Science Foundation. Funding came from 8 nations (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Switzerland, and United Kingdom), and from the European Union. The project ran from 1989 to 1995, with drilling seasons from 1990 to 1992. GRIP successfully drilled a 3029-metre ice core to the bed of the Greenland ice sheet at Summit, Central Greenland from 1989 to 1992 at . Studies of isotopes and various atmospheric constituents in the core have revealed a detailed record of climate variability reaching more than 100,000 years back in time. The results indicate that Holocene climate has been remarkably stable and have confirmed the occurrence of rapid climatic variation during the last ice age (the Wisconsin). Delta-O-18 variations observed in the core part believed to date from the Eemian Stage have not been confirmed by other records including the NGRIP core and are now believed not to represent climate events: the interglacial climate of Eemian Stage appears to have been as stable as the Holocene. The GRIP logistics were managed by what is now called Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. This research centre maintains a web page about ice core research: Other links:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1770354
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Pteropsida is a subdivision of vascular plants that is no longer in use. It includes all flowering plants and ferns and is divided into "Filicinae", "Gymnospermae", and "Angiospermae".
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1772523
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National Microbiology Laboratory The (NML) is part of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Branch of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for public health, health emergency preparedness and response, and infectious and chronic disease control and prevention. NML is located in several sites across the country including the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health (CSCHAH) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. NML has a second site in Winnipeg, the Wilt Infectious Disease Research Centre on Logan Avenue which serves as a hub for HIV research and diagnostics in Canada. The three other primary sites include locations in Guelph, St. Hyacinthe and Lethbridge. The CSCHAH is a modern state-of-the-art infectious disease laboratory facility, and houses the only Containment Level 4 (also known as Biosafety Level 4) operational laboratories in Canada. With maximum containment, scientists are able to work with pathogens ranging from the most common to the most serious including Ebola, Marburg and Lassa fever. The NML's CSCHAH is also home to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, and thus the scientists at the NML share their premises in a synergistic fashion with animal virologists. The was preceded by the Bureau of Microbiology which was originally part of the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control of Health Canada in Ottawa
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National Microbiology Laboratory In the 1980s, Health Canada identified both the need to replace existing laboratory space that was reaching the end of its lifespan and the need for Containment Level 4 space in the country. Around the same time, Agriculture Canada (prior to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency being formed) also identified the need for new laboratory space including high-containment. Numerous benefits were identified for housing both laboratories in one building and Winnipeg was chosen as the site; an announcement to that effect was made in October 1987. After some debate, the spot chosen for the site was a city works yard near to the Health Sciences Centre (a major teaching hospital), the University of Manitoba's medical school, and other life science organizations. Construction of the facility that came to be named the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health (often referred to locally as "the Virology Lab") began with an official ground-breaking in December 1992. The joint venture design team of Toronto-based Dunlop Architects and Winnipeg-based Smith Carter Architects and Engineers visited 30 laboratories to seek best practices in containment and design. Construction was largely complete by the end of 1997 with the first programs beginning in the spring of 1998 and all laboratories coming on line after that. The official opening took place in June 1999
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National Microbiology Laboratory Following the SARS outbreak in 2003, the Public Health Agency of Canada was formed in 2004 to provide a stronger focus on public health and emergency preparedness in the country. It is a member of the federal Health Portfolio (along with Health Canada, the Canadian Institute of Health Research, and other organizations). Human pathogens are classified into risk groups. The criteria to determine the group includes the level of risk to the health of a person or to public health, as well as the likelihood that the human pathogen will actually cause disease in a human, and whether treatment and preventative measures are available. It can depend on the type of work being done as to which level of containment is needed for pathogens from specific risk groups; as an example, culturing (or growing) a virus or bacterium requires higher containment than some diagnostic tests. NML operates Containment Level 2, 3 and 4 laboratories. In human health infectious disease laboratories, the design and construction of the facility, the engineering controls, and the training and techniques of staff are all focused on protecting lab workers, containing the pathogens, and preventing contamination of materials to ensure accurate diagnosis and research. All of these factors vary depending on the level of containment. The vast majority (87.7%) of NML's lab space is Containment Level 2 (CL2). This is the same type of laboratory found in doctors' offices, hospitals and universities
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National Microbiology Laboratory In a Level 2 lab, work with infectious materials is done inside a biosafety cabinet (BSC) and appropriate personal protective gear is worn relative to activities (gloves, eye protection, lab coats, gowns, etc.). Risk Group 2 pathogens worked with in Level 2 can cause disease but are not a serious hazard and they are often circulating in the community. Environmental contamination must be minimized by the use of hand washing sinks and decontamination facilities such as autoclaves. Examples include E-coli; whooping cough; and seasonal influenza. NML also has Containment Level 3 (CL3) laboratories (8.6% of lab space). Risk Group 3 pathogens may be transmitted by the airborne route, often need only a low infectious dose to produce effects, and can cause serious or life-threatening disease. CL3 emphasizes additional primary and secondary barriers to minimize the release of infectious organisms into the immediate laboratory and the environment. Additional features to prevent transmission of CL3 organisms are appropriate respiratory protection, HEPA filtration of exhausted laboratory air, and strictly controlled laboratory access. Examples include tuberculosis; West Nile virus; and pandemic H1N1 influenza. A small percentage of laboratory space (3.6%) is devoted to Containment Level 4 (CL4) at NML. These agents have the potential for aerosol transmission, often have a low infectious dose and produce very serious and often fatal disease; there is no licensed treatment or vaccine available
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National Microbiology Laboratory This level of containment represents an isolated unit independent of other areas. CL4 emphasizes maximum containment of the infectious agent by completely sealing the facility perimeter with confirmation by negative pressure testing, isolation of the researcher from the pathogen by an enclosed positive pressure suit, and decontamination of air and all other materials. Examples include Ebola, Nipah, Marburg, and 1918 pandemic influenza. NML programs are housed in several facilities across the country. Two of these facilities are in proximity to each other in Winnipeg: The Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health on Arlington Street and the J.C. Wilt Infectious Diseases Research Centre on Logan Avenue. The other facilities are located in Guelph, ON; St. Hyacinthe, QC and Lethbridge, AB. NML is divided into five main laboratory divisions which are supported by scientific and administrative services. The primary NML divisions are: Bacterial Pathogens - focussing on bacterial diseases such as tuberculosis and antibiotic resistant organisms. Enteric Diseases - focussing on food and water-borne pathogens including E.coli and Salmonella. Viral Diseases - addressing a range of viral diseases, including hepatitis and other blood-borne pathogens, respiratory viruses and viral exanthemata, such as measles
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National Microbiology Laboratory Zoonotic Diseases and Special Pathogens - dealing with viral, bacterial and rickettsial zoonoses (diseases transmitted to humans from other species), such as West Nile Virus and Lyme disease, along with risk group 4 agents such as Ebola, Marburg and Lassa fever viruses. HIV and Retrovirology - providing laboratory services and scientific expertise relating to HIV and emerging retroviruses. The Science Technology Core and Services Division works with these divisions to provide technological approaches, including genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics. There is also the Public Health Risk Sciences Division, which is a specialized resource that provides scientific knowledge and solutions to better assess public health risks and enable decisions, with specific attention to infectious disease threats transmitted from food, the animals, or the physical environment. These science-based divisions are complemented and supported by numerous other units that ensure their ongoing operations such as the Office of Science Planning, Program Support and Services, Scientific Informatic Services, Science Support and Client Services, Surveillance and References Services, the Facility and Property Management Division, and the Biorisk and Occupational Safety Services Division. NML also funds the National Reference Centre for Parasitology in Montreal and has a Laboratory Liaison Technical Officer in most provincial labs
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National Microbiology Laboratory NML employs scientists (MD, PhD, and DVM), biologists, and laboratory technicians, but it also includes informatics specialists, biosafety experts, specialized operations and maintenance staff, and administrative staff, among others. In total, there are approximately 600 staff members as of 2016. NML is renowned Some recent examples of the work done by NML include their involvement in the response to the West African Ebola outbreak. For a period of about 18 months, teams from NML travelled to West Africa to aid in the diagnostics during the outbreak. They worked closely with the World Health Organization and Médecins sans frontières to ensure people were properly diagnosed so that they could be properly cared for and isolated from others to stop the spread. Also during this outbreak, a promising vaccine and treatment for Ebola that were developed at NML, in conjunction with collaborators, were fast tracked into clinical trials so that they could get to the people that needed it as soon as possible. Another accomplishment was the response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. In April 2009, the Mexican national lab approached NML for assistance with identifying a respiratory virus that was causing outbreaks in Mexico. NML was able to quickly identify the new virus and recognize that it matched the virus that was beginning to circulate in the U.S. As the lead laboratory in Canada, NML rapidly developed diagnostic tests and equipped provincial labs to be able to test for the new virus
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National Microbiology Laboratory NML also assisted Mexico by providing additional testing and sent staff to their national laboratory to enable to help them set up their own testing protocols. In the international laboratory sector, NML has developed different types of mobile labs: a lab-truck, a lab-trailer, and a "lab in a suitcase". The lab-truck is generally used for in-country deployments at high-profile events such as the 2010 Olympics, the lab-trailer is used for international large-scale events where there may be a threat of bio-terrorism or other deliberate acts involving infectious agents, and the lab in a suitcase is frequently used in remote areas of the world with little available infrastructure. An example would be the multiple deployments over the years to combat outbreaks of Ebola in Africa. This model was adopted by many other countries during the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. NML houses the secretariats for both the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network (CPHLN) and the Global Health Security Action Group – Laboratory Network (GHSAG-LN). The role of CPHLN is to provide a forum for public health laboratory leaders to share knowledge. The GHSAG-LN network's goals are to coordinate the diagnostic capabilities of all participants and contribute to disease surveillance around the world. The Canadian Network for Public Health Intelligence (CNPHI) is an innovation developed by NML staff. It is a secure web-based system that compiles information from various surveillance systems and issues alerts to users
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National Microbiology Laboratory More than 4,000 public health officials across Canada now subscribe to it. CNPHI tools assist in determining the existence or extent of an outbreak through the recognition of related cases across jurisdictions. From 2000 to 2014, Dr. Frank Plummer was the Scientific Director General of the National Microbiology Laboratory. Under Dr. Plummer's guidance, the NML developed into one of the world's premier institutions in the research, detection, and response to global infectious disease and bio-security threats. Dr. Plummer received his medical degree from the University of Manitoba in 1976. Between 1984 and 2001, Dr. Plummer lived in Nairobi, Kenya where he spearheaded the development of the world renowned "Kenya AIDS Control Program," established by the Universities of Manitoba and Nairobi. This HIV epidemiological work was central to global understanding of the risk factors for HIV transmission and how to prevent its spread. Dr. Plummer was the first to reveal that heterosexual women could also be infected with HIV/AIDS and that a cohort of Nairobi sex workers had a natural immunity to HIV/AIDS. This latter discovery suggested the possibility that a vaccine could eventually be developed. Dr. Plummer stepped down as the NML's Scientific Director General to take the position as senior adviser to the Agency's Chief Public Health Officer in 2014. He continues to be a distinguished professor at the University of Manitoba and a Canada Research Chair. In 2015, Dr
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National Microbiology Laboratory Matthew Gilmour became the Scientific Director General of the and the Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses. Dr. Gilmour spearheaded the partnership that brought these two laboratories together under the umbrella. He was previously the Chief, Enteric Diseases and subsequently the Program Director, Bacteriology and Enteric Diseases at the NML. Dr. Gilmour has won a number of scientific awards including Canadian Society of Microbiologists' Canadian Graduate Student Microbiologist of the Year Award; the Public Health Agency of Canada's Most Promising Researcher Merit Award and Dr. Andrés Petrasovits Public Health Merit Award; and Health Canada's Excellence Award in Collaborative Leadership and Award for Excellence in Science. Dr. Gilmour continues to be an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba's Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases as well as the Secretary Treasurer of the Canadian Association for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (CACMID).
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New chemical entity A new chemical entity (NCE) is, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a drug that contains no active moiety that has been approved by the FDA in any other application submitted under section 505(b) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. A new molecular entity (NME) is a drug that contains an active moiety that has never been approved by the FDA or marketed in the US. An active moiety is a molecule or ion, excluding those appended portions of the molecule that cause the drug to be an ester, salt (including a salt with hydrogen or coordination bonds), or other noncovalent derivative (such as a complex, chelate, or clathrate) of the molecule, responsible for the physiological or pharmacological action of the drug substance. An NCE is a molecule developed by the innovator company in the early drug discovery stage, which after undergoing clinical trials could translate into a drug that could be a treatment for some disease. Synthesis of an NCE is the first step in the process of drug development. Once the synthesis of the NCE has been completed, companies have two options before them. They can either go for clinical trials on their own or license the NCE to another company. In the latter option, companies can avoid the expensive and lengthy process of clinical trials, as the licensee company would be conducting further clinical trials and subsequently launching the drug
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New chemical entity Companies adopting this model of business would be able to generate high margins as they get a huge one-time payment for the NCE as well as entering into a revenue sharing agreement with the licensee company. Under the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007, all new chemical entities must first be reviewed by an advisory committee before the FDA can approve these products. __notoc__
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Naubakht Nobakht Ahvazi (), also spelled Ahvaz and Naubakht, along with his sons were astrologers from Ahvaz (in the present-day Khuzestan Province, Iran) who lived in the 8th and 9th centuries AD. Nobakht was particularly famous for having led a group of astrologers who picked an auspicious electional chart for the founding of Baghdad. His family also helped design the city. Originally Zoroastrians, Nobakht and his sons converted to Islam and were employed as Pahlavi translators of the Abbasid court.
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Ahmad Nahavandi Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Nahawandi () was a Persian astronomer of the 8th and 9th centuries. His name indicates that he was from Nahavand, a city in Iran. He lived and worked at the Academy of Gundishapur, in Khuzestan, Iran, at the time of Yahya ibn Khalid ibn Barmak, who died in 803 AD, where he is reported to have been making astronomical observations around the year 800AD. He and Mashallah ibn Athari were among the earliest Islamic era astronomers who flourished during the reign of al-Mansur, the second Abbasid Caliph. He also compiled tables called the comprehensive (Mushtamil).
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Geologic province A geologic or geomorphic province is a spatial entity with common geologic or geomorphic attributes. A province may include a single dominant structural element such as a basin or a fold belt, or a number of contiguous related elements. Adjoining provinces may be similar in structure but be considered separate due to differing histories. Some studies classify provinces based upon mineral resources, such as mineral deposits. There are a particularly large number of provinces identified worldwide for petroleum and other mineral fuels, such as the Niger Delta petroleum province.
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Abu Said Gorgani Abu Sa'id al-Dharir al-Jurjani (), also Gurgani, was a 9th-century Persian mathematician and astronomer from Gurgan (Jurjan), Iran. He wrote a treatise on geometrical problems and another on the drawing of the meridian. George Sarton considers him a pupil of Ibn al-A'rabi, but Carl Brockelmann rejects this opinion. Two of his works are extant:
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Characteristic time The characteristic time is an estimate of the order of magnitude of the reaction time scale of a system. It can loosely be defined as the inverse of the reaction rate. In chemistry, the characteristic time is used to determine whether the problem needs to be solved as an equilibrium problem or a kinetic problem.
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National Museum (Malaysia) The National Museum () is a museum located on Jalan Damansara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The museum is situated in close proximity to the Perdana Lake Gardens and it provides an overview of Malaysian history and culture. Its facade comprises elements of traditional Malay and modern features. It was opened on 31 August 1963, and it serves as a repository of Malaysia's rich cultural and historical heritage. The National Museum is a three-storey structure long and wide, which is high at the central point. The museum houses four main galleries allotted to ethnology and natural history. The displays range from free-standing tableaux showing cultural events like weddings, festivals and costumes; to traditional weapons, musical instruments, arts and crafts, ceramics, and flora and fauna. The National Museum was established on the site of the former "Selangor Museum". It was built by the British and Selangor governments in 1898 following the formation of the Federated Malay States in 1896. On 10 March 1945, during the end of World War II, the right wing of the museum was bombed and destroyed by the US B-29 bomber, from the Allied Forces. The museum's collection was then moved to the Perak Museum in Taiping. After World War II, the left wing of Selangor Museum was still in use as a historical site. On the brink of the independence of the Federation of Malaya, Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman conceived the idea to build a museum to house national historical and cultural treasures as well as specimens of flora and fauna
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National Museum (Malaysia) The old museum structure was completely demolished to make way for a new museum. Construction began in 1959 and was complete in 1963. The National Museum was officially opened on 31 August 1963 by Tuanku Syed Putra Ibni al-Marhum Syed Hassan Jamalullal, the 3rd Yang di-Pertuan Agong. On 4 April 1996 the building was gazetted under the Antiquities Act 169/1976 as an ancient monument and historical site. The museum's design by architect Ho Kok Hoe was inspired by the architecture of the Malay royal palaces and vernacular Malay architecture. The design incorporated the need for exhibition and activity spaces. The large mosaic murals spanning the entrance depict the history and culture of the country. The floor of the central section of the main building is decorated with special tiles which were gifts from the government of Pakistan. In addition, UNESCO facilitated consultancies by museum experts from other museums around the world. Displays and exhibits in the museum focus on local history, culture and traditions, arts and crafts, economic activities, local flora and fauna, weapons and currency. The museum houses various galleries, each with its own theme. The ground floor showcases the geographic and natural history of the Malay peninsula starting with the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms to Muslim sultanate of Malacca. The ancient Malay Hindu–Buddhist states of Gangga Negara, Srivijaya and Majapahit are referenced
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National Museum (Malaysia) Among the collections are the stone makara statue, the bronze Avalokiteshvara of Bidor, the model of Bujang Valley temple in Kedah, and also displaying region's ancient legacy such as Javan Borobudur and Majapahit vessel. The exhibit continues to the later Muslim Sultanate of Malacca and the various states of Malaysia. The display demonstrate the importance of Malaccan sultanate for Malaysian national identity. The second floor is dedicated to the colonial history leading all the way to Independence. There are copies of the royal headgear of Malay rulers. Adorning the floor of the Central Hall are blue geometric-design mosaic tiles from Pakistan, with intricate carved panels on the ceiling of the hall. The Central Hall houses temporary exhibitions. Thematic and special exhibitions are held at this hall at intervals to promote an awareness of the country's diverse culture and heritage. Foreign exhibitions are held occasionally. Some of the exhibitions that were held in this hall at some point of time included 'The Islamic Civilization', 'Our King', 'The World of Flowers', 'Durian King of Fruits', 'Masks from Sarawak', 'World Currency', 'Islamic Frontiers of China', 'American Frontiers', and 'Religious Architecture from the Netherlands'. The museum places strong emphasis on the Malay World, and a considerable section is devoted to the founding of the United Malay National Organisation, one of the parties of the National Front (Barisan Nasional)
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National Museum (Malaysia) Few if at all were any mentions made of the involvement of the Malayan Chinese Association and the Malayan Indian Congress, which three parties worked together to achieve Independence of Malaya on 31 August 1957. Other galleries include the National Sports Gallery and the Natural History Gallery. In the vicinity of the museum building, there are a number of outdoor displays of transportation in Malaysia, past and present. An interesting exhibit is the Melaka Bullock Cart which closely resembles the early American horse-drawn wagon. Of unparalleled interest are the Steam Locomotive made by Kitson & Co, England, which was put into service in 1921 until it ceased operation in 1969. It covered 1.5 million rail miles; a Tin Dredge which resembles a floating factory, on a natural or artificial lake. Also on display are motorised vehicles, including antiqued civic vehicles and private vehicles, including an early 1.3 litre Proton Saga, the first national car launched on July 9th 1985. National Museum also holds regular thematic exhibitions featuring specific aspects of life and world culture. Another attraction of the museum is an original-size old Terengganu timber palace known as Istana Satu. It was erected by Sultan Zainal Abidin III, Sultan of Terengganu in 1884 in the compound of Kota Istana Maziah, Kuala Terengganu. This building is of Terengganu Malay traditional architecture, in the form called "Rumah Tiang Dua Belas". The wood used is cengal
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National Museum (Malaysia) Istana Satu was erected in the National Museum compound in April 1974. Rich Malay craftsmanship is evident throughout the palace, from the intricate wood carvings that adorn doors and windows. The restored palace is a charming wooden house designed for the tropics. Standing on stilts that allow air to circulate freely under the building, the palace's steep thatch roof contributes further to keeping the interior of the house nice and cool. Standing majestically next to the Istana Satu are two keliriengs or burial poles. A kelirieng is made of a huge hardwood tree trunk, carved from the top to bottom. Niched up to its sides is a space for the bodies of slaves and followers and hollowed at the top to place the jar containing the chief's bones. Visitors who want to learn about the original inhabitants of Malaysia should visit the Orang Asli Craft Museum. The museum showcases the arts and handicrafts of the Orang Asli people, the aboriginal communities who dwell mostly in rural areas across the Malaysian Peninsula. The museum explains how there are 18 different tribes of Orang Asli divided into 3 main groups, the Negrito, the Senai and the Proto Malay. The Orang Asli are famed for their handicrafts, particularly the wood carving skills by the Mah Meri and Jah Hut tribes who like to carve masks and figures and these are highly valued by collectors
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National Museum (Malaysia) In 2007 cultural and history enthusiasts residing in the greater Kuala Lumpur area formed, with the support of the Department of National Museums, a group of volunteer museum tour guides to accommodate the growing number of international tourists to the museum. At any time, somewhere between 20 and 100 volunteers of many nationalities provide tours in English, Korean, Japanese, and French. A related group was established for Malaysian visitors, operating primarily on weekends. Apart from tour-guide activities, MVM is active in promoting Malaysian cultural and historical heritage in schools and organising tours for members to places around Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia, such as a visit to Kuala Kangsar and Georgetown, Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary, Royal Selangor in Setapak and celebrating the Hari Moyang in the Hma' Meri Orang Asli village in Pulau Carey. The group also organised talks and classes for the members and the public to safe-guard as well as introducing the rich cultural and historical heritage of the country. In 2009, MVM organised the "Jom Main" Exhibition with the collaboration of National Museum, which revisits traditional games that children in Malaysia used to play. Muzium Negara is situated just behind, and lends its name to, the underground Muzium Negara MRT station. The station is connected to KL Sentral, located across Jalan Damansara, via a long underground walkway.
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Ice IX is a form of solid water stable at temperatures below 140 K and pressures between 200 and 400 MPa. It has a tetragonal crystal lattice and a density of 1.16 g/cm³, 26% higher than ordinary ice. It is formed by cooling ice III from 208 K to 165 K (rapidly—to avoid forming ice II). Its structure is identical to ice III other than being hydrogen-ordered. Ordinary water ice is known as ice I in the Bridgman nomenclature. Different types of ice, from ice II to ice XVIII, have been created in the laboratory at different temperatures and pressures.
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Global Standard Stratigraphic Age In the stratigraphy sub-discipline of geology, a Global Standard Stratigraphic Age, abbreviated GSSA, is a chronological reference point and criterion in the geologic record used to define the boundaries (an internationally sanctioned benchmark point) between different geological periods, epochs or ages on the overall geologic time scale in a chronostratigraphically useful rock layer. A worldwide multidisciplinary effort has been ongoing since 1974 to define such important metrics. The points and strata need be widespread and contain an identifiable sequence of layers or other unambiguous marker (identifiable or quantifiable) attributes. GSSAs, and the generally more recent and preferred benchmark GSSPs are defined by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) under the auspices of their parent organization, the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), and are used primarily for time dating of rock layers older than 630 million years ago, lacking a good fossil record. The ICS first attempts to meet the standards of the GSSPs (see below) and if those fail, usually have enough information to make a preliminary selection of several competing GSSA prospects or proposals. The geologic record becomes spotty prior to about 542 million years ago. This is because the Earth's crust in geological time scales is constantly being recycled by tectonic and weathering forces, and older rocks and especially readily accessible exposed strata that can act as a time calibration are rare
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Global Standard Stratigraphic Age For more recent periods, a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), largely based on paleontology and improved methods of fossil dating, is used to define such boundaries. In contrast to GSSAs, GSSPs are based on important events and transitions within a particular stratigraphic section. In older sections, there is insufficient fossil record or well preserved sections to identify the key events necessary for a GSSP, so GSSAs are defined based on fixed dates and selected criteria.
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Landau–Hopf theory of turbulence In physics, the Landau–Hopf theory of turbulence, named for Lev Landau and Eberhard Hopf, was until the mid-1970s, the accepted theory of how a fluid flow becomes turbulent. It states that as a fluid flows faster, it develops more Fourier modes. At first, a few modes dominate, but under stronger conditions, it forces the modes to become power-law distributed as explained in Kolmogorov's theory of turbulence.
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Paul Niggli Niggli was born in Zofingen and studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and the University of Zurich, where he obtained a doctorate. His 1919 book, "Geometrische Kristallographie des Diskontinuums", played a seminal role in the refinement of space group theory. In this book, Niggli demonstrated that although X-ray reflection conditions do not always uniquely determine the space group to which a crystal belongs, they do reveal a small number of possible space groups to which it could belong. Niggli used morphological methods to account for internal structure and, in his 1928 "Kristallographische und Strukturtheoretische Grundbegriffe," he took up what is essentially the reverse process, the task of establishing the connection between space lattices and external crystal morphology. The great aim of his life was to integrate the whole field of Earth sciences. In 1920, Niggli became the lead scientist at the ETH's "Institut für Mineralogie und Petrographie", where he brought his systematic approach to the study of crystal morphologies using X-ray diffraction. In 1935, Niggli and his doctoral student Werner Nowacki (1909–1988) determined the 73 three-dimensional arithmetic crystal classes (symmorphic space groups). Niggli retired from the Institute in 1949. He was also professor of mineralogy at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule and at the University of Zurich. Niggli succeeded Paul Heinrich von Groth (1843–1927) as editor of "Zeitschrift für Kristallographie"
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Paul Niggli In 1948, Niggli was awarded the Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America. Since 1988 the Foundation awards medals to outstanding Swiss mineral scientists below the age of 35 with a strong perspective for an academic career. Dorsum Niggli on the Moon was named after him.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1793234
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Phreatic is a term used in hydrology to refer to aquifers, in speleology to refer to cave passages, and in volcanology to refer to eruption type. The term phreatic is used in hydrology and the earth sciences to refer to matters relating to ground water (an aquifer) below the water table (the word originates from the Greek "phrear", "phreat-" meaning "well" or "spring"). The term 'phreatic surface' indicates the location where the pore water pressure is under atmospheric conditions (i.e. the pressure head is zero). This surface normally coincides with the water table. The slope of the phreatic surface is assumed to indicate the direction of ground water movement in an unconfined aquifer. The phreatic zone, below the phreatic surface where rock and soil is saturated with water, is the counterpart of the vadose zone, or unsaturated zone, above. Unconfined aquifers are also referred to as phreatic aquifers because their upper boundary is provided by the phreatic surface. In speleogenesis, a division of speleology, 'phreatic action' forms cave passages by dissolving the limestone in all directions, as opposed to 'vadose action', whereby a stream running in a cave passage erodes a trench in the floor. It occurs when the passage is full of water, and therefore normally only when it is below the water table, and only if the water is not saturated with calcium carbonate or calcium magnesium carbonate
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1796977
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Phreatic A cave passage formed in this way is characteristically circular or oval in cross-section as limestone is dissolved on all surfaces. Many cave passages are formed by a combination of phreatic followed by vadose action. Such passages form a keyhole cross section: a round-shaped section at the top and a rectangular trench at the bottom. A phreatic eruption or steam-blast eruption occurs when magma heats ground or surface water.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1796977
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Chalaza The chalaza (; from Greek "hailstone"; plural "chalazas" or "chalazae", ) is a structure inside bird and reptile eggs and plant ovules. It attaches or suspends the yolk or nucellus within the larger structure. In the eggs of most birds (not of the reptiles), the chalazae are two spiral bands of tissue that suspend the yolk in the center of the white (the albumen). The function of the chalazae is to hold the yolk in place. In baking, the chalazae are sometimes removed in order to ensure a uniform texture. In plant ovules, the chalaza is located opposite the micropyle opening of the integuments. It is the tissue where the integuments and nucellus are joined. Nutrients from the plant travel through vascular tissue in the funiculus and outer integument through the chalaza into the nucellus. During the development of the embryo sac inside a flowering plant ovule, the three cells at the chalazal end become the antipodal cells. In most flowering plants, the pollen tube enters the ovule through the micropyle opening in the integuments for fertilization (porogamy). In chalazogamous fertilization, the pollen tubes penetrate the ovule through the chalaza rather than the micropyle opening. Chalazogamy was first discovered in monoecious plant species of the family Casuarinaceae by Melchior Treub, but has since then also been observed in others, for example in pistachio and walnut.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1801518
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Kilocalorie per mole The kilocalorie per mole is a unit to measure an amount of energy per number of molecules, atoms, or other similar particles. It is defined as one kilocalorie of energy (1000 thermochemical gram calories) per one mole of substance, that is, per Avogadro’s number of particles. It is abbreviated "kcal/mol" or "kcal mol". As typically measured, one kcal/mol represents a temperature increase of one degree Celsius in one liter of water (with a mass of 1kg) resulting from the reaction of one mole of reagents. In SI units, one kilocalorie per mole is equal to 4.184 kilojoules per mole, or joules per molecule, or 0.043 eV per molecule. At room temperature (25 °C, 77 °F, or 298.15 K) it is equal to 1.688 units in the "kT" term of Boltzmann's equation. Even though it is not an SI unit, the kilocalorie per mole is still widely used in chemistry for thermodynamical quantities such as thermodynamic free energy, heat of vaporization, heat of fusion and ionization energy, due to the ease with which it can be calculated based on the units of measure typically employed in quantifying a chemical reaction, especially in aqueous solution. Typically but not exclusively, kcal/mol are used in the United States, whereas kJ/mol are preferred elsewhere.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1805832
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