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Optik (journal) Optik: International Journal for Light and Electron Optics, or simply Optik (German for Optics) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the optics of light and electrons. According to the "Journal Citation Reports", the journal has a 2018 impact factor of 1.914. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11708651 | 263,613 |
Non-bank financial institution Through the process of unbundling, targeting, and specializing, NBFIs enhances competition within the financial services industry. Non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) offer most sorts of banking services, such as loans and credit facilities, private education funding, retirement planning, trading in money markets, underwriting stocks and shares, TFCs(Term Finance Certificate) and other obligations. These institutions also provide wealth management such as managing portfolios of stocks and shares, discounting services e.g. discounting of instruments and advice on merger and acquisition activities. The number of non-banking financial companies has expanded greatly in the last several years as venture capital companies, retail and industrial companies have entered the lending business. Non-bank institutions also frequently support investments in property and prepare feasibility, market or industry studies for companies. However they are typically not allowed to take deposits from the general public and have to find other means of funding their operations such as issuing debt instruments. NBFCs are not providing the cheque book nor saving account and current account. It only takes fixed deposit or time deposits. Some research suggests a high correlation between a financial development and economic growth. Generally, a market-based financial system has better-developed NBFIs than a bank-based system, which is conducive for economic growth.linkages between bankers and brokers | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17067293 | 497,871 |
Worst-case distance Note: This interpretation is valid for normal (Gaussian) distributed variables and performances, luckily the "specification-margin" of a design is almost intuitively related to the yield, e.g. if we have a larger "safety margin" in our design to the limit(s) we are more on the safe side and the production will contain less fail samples. Actually, the advantage of WCD is that it offers an elegant method to treat also non-normal and multi-variate distributions while still offering a picturial, intuitive understanding. In the most simple non-trivial case there is only one normally distributed performance parameter with mean formula_4 and standard deviation formula_5 and one single upper limit for the performance specification formula_3. The WCD then calculates to: In this example it is assumed that only statistical variances contribute to the observed performance variations, and that the performance parameter does not depend operating conditions. Once we found the WCD, we can (approximately) calculate from it the yield by using the error function (which is related to the cumulative distribution function of the normal Gaussian distribution) or by using look-up tables (e.g. WCD=3 is equivalent to Y=99.87%). For the discussion of any case, more complex than the above-mentioned example, see Antreich et al., 1993. In design environments the WCD calculation is not done analytically but in a numerical way | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44990183 | 414,973 |
Microsoft Lumia Although sales of the Lumia line had exceeded those of BlackBerry in the same period, Nokia still made an operating loss of €115m, with revenues falling 24% to €5.7bn following the second quarter of 2013. Over the past nine quarters, Nokia sustained €4.1 billion worth of operating losses. In Q3 2013, Lumia sales hit 8.8 million worldwide; over three times higher than the same period the year before; and double the figure in North America compared to the previous quarter. At the same time, overall Windows Phone market share hit double figures in several countries in Europe and other regions. On 3 September 2013, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Nokia's mobile phone business (including rights to the Lumia and low-end Asha brands) in an overall deal of over US$7bn. Stephen Elop stepped down as Nokia's CEO and returned to Microsoft as its head of devices as part of the deal, which closed in early 2014. While Microsoft will license the Nokia name under a 10-year agreement, the company will only be able to use it on feature phones: those running the Series 30, Series 30+ and the Series 40 mobile operating systems based on Java ME and MediaTek technology, respectively. These changes resulted in future Lumia models being first-party hardware produced by Microsoft. Codenames for Lumia phones developed from late 2013 were based on James Bond movies, including "Moneypenny" (which became Nokia Lumia 630) and "Goldfinger" (which would be the cancelled Lumia "McLaren") | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=35358055 | 230,546 |
Dynamic nuclear polarization In the most simple case the MAS-DNP mechanism can be explained by the combination of a single quantum transition followed by the Cross-Effect degeneracy condition, or by the electron-dipolar anti-crossing followed by the Cross-Effect degeneracy condition. This in turn change dramatically the CE dependence over the static magnetic field which doesn't scale like B and makes it much more efficient than the solid effect. Thermal mixing is an energy exchange phenomenon between the electron spin ensemble and the nuclear spin, which can be thought of as using multiple electron spins to provide hyper-nuclear polarization. Note that the electron spin ensemble acts as a whole because of stronger inter-electron interactions. The strong interactions lead to a homogeneously broadened EPR lineshape of the involved paramagnetic species. The linewidth is optimized for polarization transfer from electrons to nuclei, when it is close to the nuclear Larmor frequency. The optimization is related to an embedded three-spin (electron-electron-nucleus) process that mutually flips the coupled three spins under the energy conservation (mainly) of the Zeeman interactions. Due to the inhomogeneous component of the associated EPR lineshape, the DNP enhancement by this mechanism also scales as B. Many types of solid materials can exhibit more than one mechanism for DNP | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1119342 | 50,339 |
Cycling probe technology CPT requires specialized chimeric probes, making CPT assays more expensive than PCR. Because CPT probes are so specific, a new probe must be designed for each unique assay, further increasing cost. Clinical implementation is hampered financially, but it is also limited by the possibility of samples containing nonspecific RNases other than RNase H. CPT can be used to detect specific DNA sequences and by extension specific genotypes. For example CPT can be used to distinguish GMO produce from non-GMO produce. Clinically, CPT can be used as an alternative to cell culturing in order to detect antibacterial resistance of a pathogen. CPT, at its core, detects whether a specific sequence is present in a sample. But because cleaved probes accumulate following linear rate kinetics, the amount of target DNA can be quantified. Consequently, CPT has been used to quantify the number of non-coding repeats in organisms. CPT can be used in conjunction with other technologies, like molecular beacons and qPCR. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1686285 | 149,986 |
A-frame An is a basic structure designed to bear a load in a lightweight economical manner. The simplest form of an is two similarly sized beams, arranged in an angle of 45 degrees or less, attached at the top. These materials are often wooden or steel beams attached at the top by rope, welding, gluing, or riveting. A-frames can be used as-is, as part of shears, or set up in a row along a longitudinal beam for added stability, as in a saw horse. More complex structures will often have crossmembers connecting the A-frames at different angles, forming a truss. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1722943 | 250,244 |
Health and safety hazards of nanomaterials It is inefficient and costly as compared to local exhaust ventilation, and is not suitable by itself for controlling exposure, although it can provide negative room pressure to prevent contaminants from exiting the room. Local exhaust ventilation operates at or near the source of contamination, often in conjunction with an enclosure. Examples of local exhaust systems include fume hoods, gloveboxes, biosafety cabinets, and vented balance enclosures. Exhaust hoods lacking an enclosure are less preferable, and laminar flow hoods are not recommended because they direct air outwards towards the worker. Several control verification techniques can be used with ventilation systems, including pitot tubes, hot-wire anemometers, smoke generators, tracer-gas leak testing, and standardized testing and certification procedures. Examples of non-ventilation engineering controls include placing equipment that may release nanomaterials in a separate room, and placing walk-off sticky mats at room exits. Antistatic devices can be used when handling nanomaterials to reduce their electrostatic charge, making them less likely to disperse or adhere to clothing. Standard dust control methods such as enclosures for conveyor systems, using a sealed system for bag filling, and water spray application are effective at reducing respirable dust concentrations. Administrative controls are changes to workers' behavior to mitigate a hazard | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=53376859 | 45,064 |
Overlap–add method In signal processing, the is an efficient way to evaluate the discrete convolution of a very long signal formula_1 with a finite impulse response (FIR) filter formula_2: where for "m" outside the region . The concept is to divide the problem into multiple convolutions of "h"["n"] with short segments of formula_1: where "L" is an arbitrary segment length. Then: and "y"["n"] can be written as a sum of short convolutions: where the linear convolution formula_7 is zero outside the region . And for any parameter formula_8 it is equivalent to the "N"-point circular convolution of formula_9 with formula_10 in the . The advantage is that the circular convolution can be computed more efficiently than linear convolution, according to the circular convolution theorem: where: The following is a pseudocode of the algorithm: When the DFT and IDFT are implemented by the FFT algorithm, the pseudocode above requires about complex multiplications for the FFT, product of arrays, and IFFT. Each iteration produces output samples, so the number of complex multiplications per output sample is about: For example, when M=201 and N=1024, equals 13.67, whereas direct evaluation of would require up to 201 complex multiplications per output sample, the worst case being when both x and h are complex-valued. Also note that for any given M, has a minimum with respect to N. Figure 2 is a graph of the values of N that minimize for a range of filter lengths (M) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11685115 | 373,269 |
Hick's law Hick performed a second experiment using the same task, while keeping the number of alternatives at 10. The participant performed the task the first two times with the instruction to perform the task as accurately as possible. For the last task, the participant was asked to perform the task as quickly as possible. While Hick was stating that the relationship between reaction time and the number of choices was logarithmic, Hyman wanted to better understand the relationship between the reaction time and the mean number of choices. In Hyman’s experiment, he had eight different lights arranged in a 6x6 matrix. Each of these different lights was given a name, so the participant was timed in the time it took to say the name of the light after it was lit. Further experiments changed the number of each different type of light. Hyman was responsible for determining a linear relation between reaction time and the information transmitted. Given "n" equally probable choices, the average reaction time "T" required to choose among the choices is approximately: where "b" is a constant that can be determined empirically by fitting a line to measured data. The logarithm expresses depth of "choice tree" hierarchy – log indicates binary search was performed. Addition of 1 to "n" takes into account the "uncertainty about whether to respond or not, as well as about which response to make | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=752040 | 126,790 |
Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst Typical features include the play with basic geometric shapes, such as the round window above the former main entrance. In 1988, the building was fundamentally rebuilt and restored according to the designs of Aachen architect Fritz Eller. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15651120 | 314,242 |
Dynamic programming is both a mathematical optimization method and a computer programming method. The method was developed by Richard Bellman in the 1950s and has found applications in numerous fields, from aerospace engineering to economics. In both contexts it refers to simplifying a complicated problem by breaking it down into simpler sub-problems in a recursive manner. While some decision problems cannot be taken apart this way, decisions that span several points in time do often break apart recursively. Likewise, in computer science, if a problem can be solved optimally by breaking it into sub-problems and then recursively finding the optimal solutions to the sub-problems, then it is said to have optimal substructure. If sub-problems can be nested recursively inside larger problems, so that dynamic programming methods are applicable, then there is a relation between the value of the larger problem and the values of the sub-problems. In the optimization literature this relationship is called the Bellman equation. In terms of mathematical optimization, dynamic programming usually refers to simplifying a decision by breaking it down into a sequence of decision steps over time. This is done by defining a sequence of value functions "V", "V", ..., "V" taking "y" as an argument representing the state of the system at times "i" from 1 to "n". The definition of "V"("y") is the value obtained in state "y" at the last time "n". The values "V" at earlier times "i" = "n" −1, "n" − 2, .. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=125297 | 137,356 |
Tunnel finisher A tunnel finisher is a machine that removes wrinkles from garments and is often used in the textile industry. As with other industrial pressing equipment, this machine is employed to improve the quality and look of a textile product. It has a chamber called a "tunnel" and includes a conveyor fed unit through which the garments are steamed and dried. The machine also features hook systems; air curtain entrance to eliminate moisture or condensation; cotton care and roller units; exhaust steam, and a preconditioning module. Most garments are shipped by sea freight from the country of production. They get very wrinkled because of the box packing being used. In the receiving country, they are unpacked and put on a clothes hanger. Those hangers are sent via automated transport through the tunnel with a speed up to 3,000 garments per hour. These garments are then sent to a room to be steamed and dried. The machine processes each garment through several stages. First, the garment passes through a steam chamber to make the fabric moldable. Then wrinkles are removed by a strong hot air flow alongside the garments. Finally, the garment is dried by cooler air before it leaves the tunnel finisher. In the case of garments, smaller areas such as collars require further pressing using other equipment such as steam iron for a better finish. The tunnel finisher is also used in laundries and dry cleaners to remove wrinkles from garments after washing or dry cleaning | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13577532 | 441,443 |
Cape Cod (house) To fight the chill, they built massive central chimneys and low ceilinged rooms to conserve heat. The steep roof characteristic of New England homes minimized snow load. Finally, colonists installed shutters on the windows to hold back heavy winds. The Reverend Timothy Dwight IV (1752–1817), president of Yale University from 1795–1817, coined the term "Cape Cod House" after a visit to the Cape in 1800. His observations were published posthumously in "Travels in New England and New York" (1821–22). The style was popularized more broadly in a slightly more elaborate Colonial Revival variant popularized in the 1930s–50s, though traditional unornamented capes remain common in New England. Colonial-era Capes were most prevalent in the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada. They were made of wood, and covered in wide clapboard or shingles, often unpainted, which weathered grey over time. Most houses were small, usually 1,000–2,000 square feet in size. Often windows of different sizes were worked into the gable ends, with those of nine and six panes the most common. The style has a symmetrical appearance with front door in the center of the house, and a large central chimney that could often accommodate back-to-back fireplaces. The main bedroom was on the first floor, with an often unfinished loft on the second. A typical early house had no dormers and little or no exterior ornamentation. The overwhelming majority of early capes were timber framed, with three bays formed by four bents | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2038055 | 202,988 |
Thermal engineering may be practiced by mechanical engineers and chemical engineers. One or more of the following disciplines may be involved in solving a particular thermal engineering problem: Thermodynamics, Fluid mechanics, Heat transfer, or Mass transfer. One branch of knowledge used frequently in thermal engineering is that of thermofluids. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19582317 | 63,587 |
Hologenome theory of evolution Since its first introduction, the theory has been promoted as a fusion of Lamarckism and Darwinism and expanded to all of evolution, not just that of corals. The history of the development of the hologenome theory and the logic undergirding its development was the focus of a cover article by Carrie Arnold in New Scientist in January, 2013. A comprehensive treatment of the theory, including updates by the Rosenbergs on neutrality, pathogenesis and multi-level selection, can be found in their 2013 book. In 2013, Robert Brucker and Seth Bordenstein re-invigorated the hologenome concept by showing that the gut microbiomes of closely related "Nasonia" wasp species are distinguishable, and contribute to hybrid death. This set interactions between hosts and microbes in a conceptual continuum with interactions between genes in the same genome. In 2015, Bordenstein and Kevin R. Theis outlined a conceptual framework that aligns with pre-existing theories in biology. Multicellular life is made possible by the coordination of physically and temporally distinct processes, most prominently through hormones. Hormones mediate critical activities in vertebrates, including ontogeny, somatic and reproductive physiology, sexual development, performance and behaviour. Many of these hormones – including most steroids and thyroxines – are secreted in inactive form through the endocrine and apocrine systems into epithelial corridors in which microbiota are widespread and diverse, including gut, urinary tract, lung and skin | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34920670 | 179,564 |
McGehee transformation The was introduced by Richard McGehee to study the triple collision singularity in the n-body problem. The transformation blows up the single point in phase space where the collision occurs into a collision manifold, the phase space point is cut out and in its place a smooth manifold is pasted. This allows the phase space singularity to be studied in detail. What McGehee found was a distorted sphere with four horns pulled out to infinity and the points at their tips deleted. McGehee then went on to study the flow on the collision manifold. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20962049 | 429,489 |
Cobalt The tobacco plant readily absorbs and accumulates heavy metals like cobalt from the surrounding soil in its leaves. These are subsequently inhaled during tobacco smoking. The main ores of cobalt are cobaltite, erythrite, glaucodot and skutterudite (see above), but most cobalt is obtained by reducing the cobalt by-products of nickel and copper mining and smelting. Since cobalt is generally produced as a by-product, the supply of cobalt depends to a great extent on the economic feasibility of copper and nickel mining in a given market. Demand for cobalt was projected to grow 6% in 2017. Several methods exist to separate cobalt from copper and nickel, depending on the concentration of cobalt and the exact composition of the used ore. One method is froth flotation, in which surfactants bind to ore components, leading to an enrichment of cobalt ores. Subsequent roasting converts the ores to cobalt sulfate, and the copper and the iron are oxidized to the oxide. Leaching with water extracts the sulfate together with the arsenates. The residues are further leached with sulfuric acid, yielding a solution of copper sulfate. can also be leached from the slag of copper smelting. The products of the above-mentioned processes are transformed into the cobalt oxide (CoO). This oxide is reduced to metal by the aluminothermic reaction or reduction with carbon in a blast furnace. The United States Geological Survey estimates world reserves of cobalt at 7,100,000 metric tons | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24580536 | 458,239 |
Appendix H is the name of an infamous appendix in Pentium Processor Family Developer's Manual, Volume 3. This appendix contained reference to documentation only available under a legally binding NDA. This NDAed documentation described various new features introduced in the Pentium processor, notably Virtual Mode Extensions (VME) and 4 MB paging (VME should not be confused with the later Intel VT virtualization technology). VME added an additional feature to the existing virtual 8086 mode that was introduced with the 80386 processor, and included optimized handling and delivery of interrupts to and from virtual machines. The appendix was referenced by the official chapters in the documentation, provoking irritation among the public who was not allowed to access the detailed descriptions. This started a movement with observers trying to reverse-engineer the information in various ways. Notably, Robert Collins (writing in "Dr. Dobb's Journal") and Christian Ludloff (owner of the sandpile.org website) played a major role in this. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44843283 | 99,776 |
Gromatici (from Latin "groma" or "gruma", a surveyor's pole) or agrimensores was the name for land surveyors amongst the ancient Romans. The "gromatic writers" were technical writers who codified their techniques of surveying. At the foundation of a colony and the assignation of lands the auspices were taken, for which purpose the presence of the augur was necessary. But the business of the augur did not extend beyond the religious part of the ceremony: the division and measurement of the land were made by professional measurers. These were the "finitores" mentioned by the early writers, who in the later periods were called "mensores" and "agrimensores". The business of a "finitor" could only be done by a free man, and the honourable nature of his office is indicated by the rule that there was no bargain for his services, but he received his pay in the form of a gift. These "finitores" appear also to have acted as judices, under the name of "arbitri" (single "arbiter"), in those disputes about boundaries which were purely of a technical, not a legal, character. The first professional surveyor mentioned is Lucius Decidius Saxa, who was employed by Mark Antony in the measurement of camps. Under the empire the observance of the auspices in the fixing of camps and the establishment of military colonies was less regarded, and the practice of the "agrimensores" was greatly increased | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1626485 | 319,120 |
Zero-point energy In quantum perturbation theory, it is sometimes said that the contribution of one-loop and multi-loop Feynman diagrams to elementary particle propagators are the contribution of vacuum fluctuations, or the zero-point energy to the particle masses. The oldest and best known quantized force field is the electromagnetic field. Maxwell's equations have been superseded by quantum electrodynamics (QED). By considering the zero-point energy that arises from QED it is possible to gain a characteristic understanding of zero-point energy that arises not just through electromagnetic interactions but in all quantum field theories. In the quantum theory of the electromagnetic field, classical wave amplitudes and are replaced by operators and that satisfy: The classical quantity appearing in the classical expression for the energy of a field mode is replaced in quantum theory by the photon number operator . The fact that: implies that quantum theory does not allow states of the radiation field for which the photon number and a field amplitude can be precisely defined, i.e., we cannot have simultaneous eigenstates for and . The reconciliation of wave and particle attributes of the field is accomplished via the association of a probability amplitude with a classical mode pattern. The calculation of field modes is entirely classical problem, while the quantum properties of the field are carried by the mode "amplitudes" and associated with these classical modes | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=84400 | 70,347 |
Metro station At street level the logo of the metro company marks the entrances/exits of the station. Usually, signage shows the name of the station and describes the facilities of the station and the system it serves. Often there are several entrances for one station, saving pedestrians from needing to cross a street and reducing crowding. A metro station typically provides ticket vending and ticket validating systems. The station is divided into an unpaid zone connected to the street, and a paid zone connected to the train platforms. The ticket barrier allows passengers with valid tickets to pass between these zones. The barrier may operated by staff or more typically with automated turnstiles or gates that open when a transit pass is scanned or detected. Some small metro systems dispense with paid zones and validate tickets with staff in the train carriages. Access from the street to ticketing and the train platform is provided by stairs, concourses, escalators, elevators and tunnels. The station will be designed to minimise overcrowding and improve flow, sometimes by designating tunnels as one way. Permanent or temporary barriers may be used to manage crowds. Some metro stations have direct connections to important nearby buildings (see underground city). Most jurisdictions mandate that people with disabilities must have unassisted use of the station. This is resolved with elevators, taking a number of people from street level to the unpaid ticketing area, and then from the paid area to the platform | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=274273 | 356,208 |
Welding of advanced thermoplastic composites Other thermal welding techniques are not commonly used due their high heat input, which can damage the composite. Laser welding of advanced thermoplastic composites is a process by which the LASER (Light Amplification of Simulated Emission of electromagnetic Radiation), a highly focused coherent beam of light melts the composite tin various ways. Taking advantage of joint design and material properties, lasers can be applied either directly or indirectly to create the welded joint. There are processing methods that take advantage of material structure/properties to create the weld joint. Welding variables affect weld quality in both positive and negative ways depending on how they are manipulated. When a laser beam impinges on a material, it excites electrons in the outer most shell of the atom. The return of those electrons to the relaxed state induces thermal heating through conversion to vibrational states which propagate to the surrounding material. This method involves using infrared radiation to heat the surfaces the composites to be welded and then clamping until and holding the parts together. This method involves laser melting a polymer post and pressing a die into the molten post to create a rivet-like button to joint materials like metals. This process can be used to join metallic joints to composite structures. This method utilizes one laser transparent (LT) and one laser absorbing (LA) material | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=57216564 | 350,195 |
Vortex One end of the vortex line is attached to the engine, while the other end usually stretches out and bends until it reaches the ground. When vortices are made visible by smoke or ink trails, they may seem to have spiral pathlines or streamlines. However, this appearance is often an illusion and the fluid particles are moving in closed paths. The spiral streaks that are taken to be streamlines are in fact clouds of the marker fluid that originally spanned several vortex tubes and were stretched into spiral shapes by the non-uniform flow velocity distribution. The fluid motion in a vortex creates a dynamic pressure (in addition to any hydrostatic pressure) that is lowest in the core region, closest to the axis, and increases as one moves away from it, in accordance with Bernoulli's principle. One can say that it is the gradient of this pressure that forces the fluid to follow a curved path around the axis. In a rigid-body vortex flow of a fluid with constant density, the dynamic pressure is proportional to the square of the distance from the axis. In a constant gravity field, the free surface of the liquid, if present, is a concave paraboloid. In an irrotational vortex flow with constant fluid density and cylindrical symmetry, the dynamic pressure varies as , where is the limiting pressure infinitely far from the axis. This formula provides another constraint for the extent of the core, since the pressure cannot be negative | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=154665 | 365,754 |
Mobile banking But most of the users are interested in performing basic transactions such as querying for account balance and making bill. Key challenges in developing a sophisticated mobile banking application are : There are a large number of different mobile phone devices and it is a big challenge for banks to offer a mobile banking solution on any type of device. Some of these devices support Java ME and others support SIM Application Toolkit, a WAP browser, or only SMS. Initial interoperability issues however have been localized, with countries like India using portals like "R-World" to enable the limitations of low end java based phones, while focus on areas such as South Africa have defaulted to the USSD as a basis of communication achievable with any phone. The desire for interoperability is largely dependent on the banks themselves, where installed applications(Java based or native) provide better security, are easier to use and allow development of more complex capabilities similar to those of internet banking while SMS can provide the basics but becomes difficult to operate with more complex transactions. There is a myth that there is a challenge of interoperability between mobile banking applications due to perceived lack of common technology standards for mobile banking. In practice it is too early in the service lifecycle for interoperability to be addressed within an individual country, as very few countries have more than one mobile banking service provider | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4354196 | 282,197 |
Building information modeling BIM can bridge the information loss associated with handling a project from design team, to construction team and to building owner/operator, by allowing each group to add to and reference back to all information they acquire during their period of contribution to the BIM model. This can yield benefits to the facility owner or operator. For example, a building owner may find evidence of a leak in his building. Rather than exploring the physical building, he may turn to the model and see that a water valve is located in the suspect location. He could also have in the model the specific valve size, manufacturer, part number, and any other information ever researched in the past, pending adequate computing power. Such problems were initially addressed by Leite and Akinci when developing a vulnerability representation of facility contents and threats for supporting the identification of vulnerabilities in building emergencies. Dynamic information about the building, such as sensor measurements and control signals from the building systems, can also be incorporated within BIM software to support analysis of building operation and maintenance. There have been attempts at creating information models for older, pre-existing facilities. Approaches include referencing key metrics such as the Facility Condition Index (FCI), or using 3D laser-scanning surveys and photogrammetry techniques (both separately or in combination) to capture accurate measurements of the asset that can be used as the basis for a model | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3978080 | 202,059 |
AgentCubes is an educational programming language for kids to create 3D and 2D online games and simulations. The main application of is as computational thinking tool teaching kids computational thinking through game and simulation design based on the Scalable Game Design curriculum. Similar to a spreadsheet, an agentcube is a grid-based organization. An agentcube is a four dimensional organization consisting of rows, columns, layers cubes containing stacks of programmable agents. This grid-based organization is useful to create a wide array of applications ranging from 1980-style arcade games such as Pac-Man, over 3D games to simple agent-based model. Agents can be given user created 3D shapes, they can compute formulae, move in the grid, change appearance, play sounds, animate themselves, and send messages to each other. was developed with support by the National Science Foundation. Research explored if K-12 students could pick up computation thinking patterns designing games and, if later, these students could leverage these computational thinking patterns to transfer skills to make STEM simulations. is inspired by AgentSheets which introduced modern drag and drop blocks programming in 1995. Most notably, transitioned from 2D to 3D design including highly accessible 3D modelling technology called Inflatable Icons. Historically, both AgentSheets and are rooted in an early prototype of parallel programming for kids running on a Connection Machine 2, a massively parallel supercomputer | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56882690 | 129,819 |
Turbopump A turbopump is a propellant pump with two main components: a rotodynamic pump and a driving gas turbine, usually both mounted on the same shaft, or sometimes geared together. The purpose of a turbopump is to produce a high-pressure fluid for feeding a combustion chamber or other use. There are two types of turbopumps: a centrifugal pump, where the pumping is done by throwing fluid outward at high speed, or an axial-flow pump, where alternating rotating and static blades progressively raise the pressure of a fluid. Axial-flow pumps have small diameters but give relatively modest pressure increases. Although multiple compression stages are needed, axial flow pumps work well with low-density fluids. Centrifugal pumps are far more powerful for high-density fluids but require large diameters for low-density fluids. Turbopumps operate in much the same way as turbocharger units for vehicles: higher fuel pressures allow fuel to be supplied to higher-pressure combustion chambers for higher-performance engines. High-pressure pumps for larger missiles had been discussed by rocket pioneers such as Hermann Oberth. In mid-1935 Wernher von Braun initiated a fuel pump project at the southwest German firm "Klein, Schanzlin & Becker" that was experienced in building large fire-fighting pumps | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31440 | 435,076 |
Third-party standing Second, the defendant did not show that the claims it was accused of infringing were licensed to and used by the purchasers of patented equipment. The patent claims in that case had been drafted so that one set of claims covered sending Internet stories to smartphones and a different set covered receiving stories. The defendant was accused of infringing the first set, but the smartphone purchasers and the licensed smartphone manufacturers who sold to them used the second set. The court said that the defendant had not shown that the licensed claims embodied substantially the same invention as the patent claims under which the defendant was sued, so that the exhaustion doctrine did not apply. This is a ruling that the exhaustion doctrine does not apply in these circumstances rather than a ruling on standing. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2104622 | 482,213 |
SolveIT Software Pty Ltd is a provider of advanced planning and scheduling enterprise software for supply and demand optimisation and predictive modelling. Based in Adelaide, South Australia, 70% of its turnover is generated from software deployed in the mining and bulk material handling sectors. The company was set up in 2005 by four academics who were also experienced business people, all recent immigrants to Australia. The team was headed by ex-Ernst and Young consultant Matthew Michalewicz, who had moved to Adelaide in 2004 after selling his last company, NuTech. The other three partners were Zbigniew Michalewicz Ph.D, Martin Schmidt and Constantin Chiriac, all four of which were co-authors of the book "Adaptive Business Intelligence®". The company first developed an optimization and predictive modeling platform based on Artificial Intelligence, and then built its supply chain applications for planning, scheduling, and demand forecasting on this platform. Early customers included Orlando Wines, ABB Grain, the Fosters wine brands and later Pernod Ricard that were also located in the Barossa Valley region. In 2008, Rio Tinto Iron Ore asked the company to improve its mining planning and scheduling operations based at Pilbara. SolveIT succeeded in applying its advanced planning and scheduling product, based on non-linear optimization, to the Rio Tinto mine scheduling problem, after many other vendors had failed over a period of ten years | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36089423 | 476,156 |
Contamination control is the generic term for all activities aiming to control the existence, growth and proliferation of contamination in certain areas. may refer to the atmosphere as well as to surfaces, to particulate matter as well as to microbes and to contamination prevention as well as to decontamination. The aim of all contamination control activities is to permanently ensure a sufficient level of cleanliness in controlled environments. This is accomplished by maintaining, reducing, or eradicating viable and non-viable contamination for either sanitary purposes or in order to maintain an efficient rate of production. One of the most common environments that incorporates contamination control into its standards protocol is the cleanroom. There are many preventive procedures in place within a cleanroom environment. They include subjecting cleanroom staff to strict clothing regulations, and there is often a gowning room where the staff can change clothes under sterile conditions so as to prevent any particulates from entering from the outside environment. Certain areas in the cleanroom have more stringent measures than others: packaging areas, corridors, gowning rooms and transfer hatches incorporate strict contamination control measures in order to maintain cleanroom standards. is also an important asset for industrial laboratories in the pharmaceutical and life science sectors | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15515870 | 47,197 |
Transfer function matrix In electrical systems it is often the case that the distinction between input and output variables is ambiguous. They can be either, depending on circumstance and point of view. In such cases the concept of port (a place where energy is transferred from one system to another) can be more useful than input and output. It is customary to define two variables for each port (): the voltage across it () and the current entering it (). For instance, the transfer matrix of a two-port network can be defined as follows, where the are called the impedance parameters, or "z"-parameters. They are so called because they are in units of impedance and relate port currents to a port voltage. The z-parameters are not the only way that transfer matrices are defined for two-port networks. There are six basic matrices that relate voltages and currents each with advantages for particular system network topologies. However, only two of these can be extended beyond two ports to an arbitrary number of ports. These two are the "z"-parameters and their inverse, the admittance parameters or "y"-parameters. To understand the relationship between port voltages and currents and inputs and outputs, consider the simple voltage divider circuit. If we only wish to consider the output voltage () resulting from applying the input voltage () then the transfer function can be expressed as, which can be considered the trivial case of a 1×1 transfer matrix | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48259106 | 218,870 |
Power Wheels The first recall in 1991 involved the 18 Volt Porsche 911, in which the contacts in the foot pedal switch could weld together in use. If this were to happen, the motor would remain running and the vehicle would continue moving forward, unable to stop. A new accelerator pedal was fitted that eliminated the possibility of welded contacts. In 1998, Fisher-Price undertook a monumental recall of up to 10 million 12 volt and Super 6 volt vehicles manufactured since 1986. The recall and repair program was conducted to replace battery fuses and strengthen battery connectors in order to prevent the units from overheating. The main difference of a post recall Power Wheel is that the original "H" (or on very early Power Wheels, "S") connectors are removed and replaced with the larger, black "A" connectors. If a ride-on was built in or before 1998 and has the Black "A" connectors, then the recall work has probably been performed. The third recall in 2000 involved the Harley-Davidson motor cycle ride-ons, In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Fisher-Price is recalling about 218,000 battery-powered Harley-Davidson motorcycle ride-ons for repair. The foot pedals, which activate the ride-ons, can stick in the "on" position. Children can be injured when the motorcycle ride-ons fail to stop and strike other objects. The recalled Harley-Davidson motorcycle ride-ons have model numbers 74290, 74293 (with a red body) and 74298 (with a black body) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2508448 | 373,733 |
Economic freedom In his view, voluntary character of all transactions in a free market economy and wide diversity that it permits are fundamental threats to repressive political leaders and greatly diminish power to coerce. Through elimination of centralized control of economic activities, economic power is separated from political power, and the one can serve as counterbalance to the other. Friedman feels that competitive capitalism is especially important to minority groups, since impersonal market forces protect people from discrimination in their economic activities for reasons unrelated to their productivity. Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises argued that economic and political freedom were mutually dependent: "The idea that political freedom can be preserved in the absence of economic freedom, and vice versa, is an illusion. Political freedom is the corollary of economic freedom. It is no accident that the age of capitalism became also the age of government by the people." In "The Road to Serfdom", Hayek argued that "Economic control is not merely control of a sector of human life which can be separated from the rest; it is the control of the means for all our ends." Hayek criticized socialist policies as the slippery slope that can lead to totalitarianism. Gordon Tullock has argued that "the Hayek-Friedman argument" predicted totalitarian governments in much of Western Europe in the late 20th century – which did not occur | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=345419 | 508,525 |
Flensing is the removing of the blubber or outer integument of whales, separating it from the animal's meat. Processing the blubber (the subcutaneous fat) into whale oil was the key step that transformed a whale carcass into a stable, transportable commodity. It was an important part of the history of whaling. The whaling that still continues in the 21st century is both industrial and aboriginal. In aboriginal the blubber is rarely rendered into oil, although it may be eaten as "muktuk". English whalemen called it "flenching", while American whalemen called it "cutting-in". In Spitsbergen, in the first half of the 17th Century, the processing of whales was primarily done ashore. Where the whale was flensed differed between the English and Dutch. The English brought the whale to the stern of the ship, where men in a boat cut strips of blubber from the whale's back. These were tied together and rowed ashore, where they were cut into smaller pieces to be boiled into oil in large copper kettles (trypots). The Dutch eschewed this system, bringing the whales into the shallows at high-tide and flensing them at low-tide. This latter method proved much less time-consuming and more effective. Both parties only cut off the blubber and the head, leaving the rest of the carcass to polar bears and sea birds. In Japan the whole carcass was utilized. During the open-boat whaling era in Japan (1570s-1900s), whales were winched ashore by large capstans | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4370864 | 456,591 |
Sun-Earth Day is a joint educational program established in 2000 by NASA and ESA. The goal of the program is to popularize the knowledge about the Sun, and the way it influences life on Earth, among students and the public. The day itself is mainly celebrated in the United States near the time of the spring equinox. However, the event actually runs throughout the year, with a different theme being chosen each year. The selection of each year's theme often corresponds to events for that year. Every theme is supported by free educational plans for both informal and formal educators. Here is a list of themes by year: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16379875 | 15,301 |
VSEPR theory In 1957, Ronald Gillespie and Ronald Sydney Nyholm of University College London refined this concept into a more detailed theory, capable of choosing between various alternative geometries. In recent years, has been criticized as an outdated model from the standpoint of both scientific accuracy and pedagogical value. In particular, the equivalent lone pairs of water and carbonyl compounds in neglect fundamental differences in the symmetries (σ vs. π) of molecular orbitals and natural bond orbitals that correspond to them, a difference that is sometimes chemically significant. Furthermore, there is little evidence, computational or experimental, proposing that lone pairs are "bigger" than bonding pairs. It has been suggested that Bent's rule is capable of replacing VSEPR as a simple model for explaining molecular structure. Nevertheless, captures many of the essential features of the structure and electron distribution of simple molecules, and most undergraduate general chemistry courses continue to teach it. is used to predict the arrangement of electron pairs around non-hydrogen atoms in molecules, especially simple and symmetric molecules, where these key, central atoms participate in bonding to two or more other atoms; the geometry of these key atoms and their non-bonding electron pairs in turn determine the geometry of the larger whole | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1117979 | 50,288 |
Canton Viaduct The overall length is with a one degree horizontal curve that creates two concentric arcs. This makes the west wall slightly shorter than the east wall producing a slight keystone shape in the cavities. Originally unnamed, it was referred to as "the stone bridge" and "the viaduct at Canton" before it was eventually named after the town. In 1840 the road under the viaduct was known as "the street leading from Neponset Bank by Elisha White's to near Joseph Downes." Sometime after, it was known as "Rail Road St.", and in 1881, it was finally named "Neponset St." after the river. It serves as a major artery in Canton connecting its main street (Washington St.) to Interstate 95. The stone cutters and masons who worked on the viaduct were Scottish Freemasons from local area lodges. In addition to the workmen, the majority of the B&P's Board of Directors were Freemasons, including Thomas B. Wales and Joseph W. Revere. The foundation stone was laid on Sunday, April 20, 1834 with a Masonic Builders' rites ceremony. Following to Masonic tradition, the foundation stone was located in the northeast corner of the structure. The cost $93,000 to build ($ today). Construction took 15 months, 8 days from laying of the foundation stone on April 20, 1834, to completion on July 28, 1835. The first and last transverse walls (next to the wing wall abutments) are only 3 feet wide, all the other transverse walls are 5 feet, 6 inches wide | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5806772 | 332,430 |
Internalnet An internalnet is a computer network composed of devices inside and on the human body. Such a system could be used to link nanochondria, bionic implants, wearable computers, and other devices. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12681282 | 137,444 |
3D printing Off the shelf machines were increasingly capable of producing practical household applications, for example, ornamental objects. Some practical examples include a working clock and gears printed for home woodworking machines among other purposes. Web sites associated with home tended to include backscratchers, coat hooks, door knobs, etc. 3D printing, and open source 3D printers in particular, are the latest technology making inroads into the classroom. Some authors have claimed that 3D printers offer an unprecedented "revolution" in STEM education. The evidence for such claims comes from both the low-cost ability for rapid prototyping in the classroom by students, but also the fabrication of low-cost high-quality scientific equipment from open hardware designs forming open-source labs. Future applications for might include creating open-source scientific equipment. In the last several years has been intensively used by in the cultural heritage field for preservation, restoration and dissemination purposes. Many Europeans and North American Museums have purchased 3D printers and actively recreate missing pieces of their relics. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum have started using their 3D printers to create museum souvenirs that are available in the museum shops | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1305947 | 249,292 |
Allais paradox Hence, Allais argues that it is not possible to evaluate portions of gambles or choices independently of the other choices presented, as the independence axiom requires, and thus is a poor judge of our rational action (1B cannot be valued independently of 1A as the independence or sure thing principle requires of us). We don't act irrationally when choosing 1A and 2B; rather expected utility theory is not robust enough to capture such "bounded rationality" choices that in this case arise because of complementarities. Using the values above and a utility function "U"("W"), where "W" is wealth, we can demonstrate exactly how the paradox manifests. Because the typical individual prefers 1A to 1B and 2B to 2A, we can conclude that the expected utilities of the preferred is greater than the expected utilities of the second choices, or, We can rewrite the latter equation (Experiment 2) as which contradicts the first bet (Experiment 1), which shows the player prefers the sure thing over the gamble. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3223960 | 514,047 |
Fissure In anatomy, a fissure (Latin "fissura", plural "fissurae") is a groove, natural division, deep furrow, elongated cleft, or tear in various parts of the body also generally called a sulcus, or in the brain a sulcus. can also refer to an unnatural tract or ulcer, most commonly found in the anus and called an anal fissure. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=372131 | 174,173 |
Surveying Cadastral surveyors often have to work around changes to the earth that obliterate or damage boundary monuments. When this happens, they must consider evidence that is not recorded on the title deed. This is known as extrinsic evidence. Three of the four U.S. Presidents on Mount Rushmore were land surveyors. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln surveyed colonial or frontier territories prior to serving office. David T. Abercrombie practiced land surveying before starting an outfitter store of excursion goods. The business would later turn into Abercrombie & Fitch lifestyle clothing store. Percy Harrison Fawcett is a British surveyor that explored the jungles of South America attempting to find the Lost City of Z. His biography and expeditions were recounted in the book "The Lost City of Z" and were later adapted on film screen. Inō Tadataka produced the first map of Japan using modern surveying techniques starting in 1800, at the age of 55. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60891 | 207,965 |
Leakage (electronics) This is called subthreshold conduction. The primary source of leakage occurs inside transistors, but electrons can also leak between interconnects. Leakage increases power consumption and if sufficiently large can cause complete circuit failure. Leakage is currently one of the main factors limiting increased computer processor performance. Efforts to minimize leakage include the use of strained silicon, high-k dielectrics, and/or stronger dopant levels in the semiconductor. Leakage reduction to continue Moore's law will not only require new material solutions but also proper system design. Certain types of semiconductor manufacturing defects exhibit themselves as increased leakage. Thus measuring leakage, or Iddq testing, is a quick, inexpensive method for finding defective chips. Increased leakage is a common failure mode resulting from non-catastrophic overstress of a semiconductor device, when the junction or the gate oxide suffers permanent damage not sufficient to cause a catastrophic failure. Overstressing the gate oxide can lead to stress-induced leakage current. In bipolar junction transistors, the emitter current is the sum of the collector and base currents. I = I + I. The collector current has two components: minority carriers and majority carriers. The minority current is called the leakage current. Leakage current is generally measured in microamperes. For a reverse-biased diode it is temperature sensitive | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24280173 | 393,487 |
Serial time-encoded amplified microscopy Detection sensitivity is challenged by the low number of photons collected during the ultra-short shutter time (optical pulse width) and the drop in the peak optical power resulting from the time stretch. These issues are solved in time stretch imaging by implementing a low noise-figure Raman amplifier within the dispersive device that performs time stretching. Moreover, warped stretch transform can be used in time stretch imaging to achieve optical image compression and nonuniform spatial resolution over the field-of-view. In the coherent version of the time-stretch camera, the imaging is combined with spectral interferometry to measure quantitative phase and intensity images in real-time and at high throughput. Integrated with a microfluidic channel, coherent time stretch imaging system measures both quantitative optical phase shift and loss of individual cells as a high-speed imaging flow cytometer, capturing millions of line-images per second in flow rates as high as a few meters per second, reaching up to hundred-thousand cells per second throughput. The time stretch quantitative phase imaging can be combined with machine learning to achieve very accurate label-free classification of the cells. This method is useful for a broad range of scientific, industrial, and biomedical applications that require high shutter speeds and frame rates | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31761639 | 32,013 |
Einstein's thought experiments The best-known factoids about Einstein's relationship with quantum mechanics are his statement, "God does not play dice with the universe" and the indisputable fact that he just did not like the theory in its final form. This has led to the general impression that, despite his initial contributions, Einstein was out of touch with quantum research and played at best a secondary role in its development. Concerning Einstein's estrangement from the general direction of physics research after 1925, his well-known scientific biographer, Abraham Pais, wrote: In hindsight, we know that Pais was incorrect in his assessment. Einstein was arguably the greatest single contributor to the "old" quantum theory. Therefore, Einstein before 1925 originated most of the key concepts of quantum theory: light quanta, wave-particle duality, the fundamental randomness of physical processes, the concept of indistinguishability, and the probability density interpretation of the wave equation. In addition, Einstein can arguably be considered the father of solid state physics and condensed matter physics. He provided a correct derivation of the blackbody radiation law and sparked the notion of the laser. What of "after" 1925? In 1935, working with two younger colleagues, Einstein issued a final challenge to quantum mechanics, attempting to show that it could not represent a final solution. Despite the questions raised by this paper, it made little or no difference to how physicists employed quantum mechanics in their work | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=57264039 | 450,773 |
Power purchase agreement The PPA will also describe how invoices are prepared and the time period of response to those invoices. This also includes how to handle late payments and how to deal with invoices that became final after periods of inactivity regarding challenging the invoice. The buyer also has the authority to audit those records produced by the supplier in any circumstance. There is a defined timeline when PPA Provider has to send an invoice to the Generator or vice versa and if that timeline is not met then it has its own consequences, which varies from one PPA Provider to another. The buyer will typically require the seller to guarantee that the project will meet certain performance standards. Performance guarantees let the buyer plan accordingly when developing new facilities or when trying to meet demand schedules, which also encourages the seller to maintain adequate records. In circumstances where the output from the supplier fails to meet the contractual energy demand by the buyer, the seller is responsible for retributing such costs. Other guarantees may be contractually agreed upon, including availability guarantees and power-curve guarantees. These two types of guarantees are more applicable in regions where the energy harnessed by the renewable technology is more volatile. A basic sample PPA between the Bonneville Power Administration and a wind power generating entity was developed as a reference for future PPAs | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14639583 | 371,981 |
Equatorial Vortex Experiment The (EVEX) is a NASA-funded sounding rocket mission to better understand and predict the electrical storms in Earth's upper atmosphere. As part of this experiment, two rockets were launched for a twelve-minute journey through the equatorial ionosphere above the South Pacific. These rockets were launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands during a period of April 27 to May 10, 2013. The principal investigator for this mission is Erhan Kudeki of the University of Illinois. The purpose of this experiment is to study what disrupts Radio waves. A NASA Terrier Oriole sounding rocket was launched at 3:39 a.m. EDT on 7 May 2013 from Roi Namur, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Ninety seconds later a Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket was also launched successfully. This experiment will help scientists better understand and predict the electrical storms in Earth's upper atmosphere. The electrical storms can interfere with satellite communication and global positioning signals. Payload for each rocket included two canisters of samarium and a dual frequency RF Beacon (NRL CERTO). These two rockets released vapor clouds of lithium (trimethyl aluminum),and were observed from various locations in the area. All scientific instruments on the rockets worked as planned. These two rockets were the second and third rockets of four planned for launch during 2013's campaign in the Marshall Islands | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39297814 | 849 |
Red Barn Observatory The was established in 2006 and is dedicated to follow-up observations and detections of asteroids, comets, and Near-Earth objects. Plans for the observatory began in 2002 and construction was completed in 2005. During the month of August 2006, the observatory code H68 was assigned by the Minor Planet Center. Currently, the observatory is of the "roll-off" roof type, but plans are in the works to install an 8-foot dome in the summer of 2007. The observatory is located in Ty Ty, Georgia, USA – well away from any city light pollution and is in an excellent location to perform the follow-up observations of Near-Earth objects and Potentially Hazardous Asteroids that are near the vicinity of Earth on a regular basis. Also performed in the observatory is an early evening sky survey (such as Palomar sky survey or NEAT – Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking) to search for new comets and/or other unknown objects low on the horizon that can be easily overlooked due to the position of the object. Most amateur discovered comets are found in this location. Future plans for the observatory include an amateur based asteroid study program that will allow the "amateur astrometrist" on-line access to observatory images and there they will be able to perform astrometry on all detected asteroids or comets. Established in July 2007, the Georgia Fireball Network began monitoring the skies for bright meteors and fireballs. Currently, there are two stations in the Georgia Fireball Network | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9252913 | 367,942 |
Audit committee Audit committees discuss litigation or regulatory compliance risks with management, generally via briefings or reports of the General Counsel, the top lawyer in the organisation. Larger corporations may also have a Chief Compliance Officer or Ethics Officer that report incidents or risks related to the entity's code of conduct. Internal control includes the policies and practices used to control the operations, accounting, and regulatory compliance of the entity. Management and both the internal auditing function and external auditors provide reporting to the audit committee regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of internal control. Organizations have a variety of functions that perform activities to understand and address risks that threaten the achievement of the organization's objectives. The policies and practices used by the entity to identify, prioritize, and respond to the risks (or opportunities) are typically discussed with the audit committee. Having such a discussion is required for listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Many organizations are developing their practices towards a goal of a risk-based management approach called Enterprise risk management. involvement in non-financial risk topics varies significantly by entity. Dr. Ram Charan has argued for risk management early warning systems at the corporate board level. The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 increased audit committees’ responsibilities and authority | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1180879 | 462,037 |
Solar humidification The solar humidification–dehumidification method (HDH) is a thermal water desalination method. It is based on evaporation of sea water or brackish water and subsequent condensation of the generated humid air, mostly at ambient pressure. This process mimics the natural water cycle, but over a much shorter time frame. The simplest configuration is implemented in the solar still, evaporating the sea water inside a glass covered box and condensing the water vapor on the lower side of the glass cover. More sophisticated designs separate the solar heat gain section from the evaporation-condensation chamber. An optimized design comprises separated evaporation and condensation sections. A significant part of the heat consumed for evaporation can be regained during condensation. An example for such an optimized thermal desalination cycle is the multiple-effect humidification (MEH) method of desalination. takes place in every greenhouse. Water evaporates from the surfaces of soil, water and plants because of thermal input. In this way the humidification process is naturally integrated within the architecture of the greenhouse. Several companies like Seawater greenhouse utilize this inherent feature of a greenhouse in order to conduct desalination inside the atmosphere of the facility. There are successful small-scale agricultural experimentation done in arid regions such as Israel, West Africa, and Peru. The major difficulty lies in effectively concentrating the energy of sun on a small area to speed up evaporation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4980632 | 321,767 |
Contact mechanics Applications of contact mechanics further extend into the micro- and nanotechnological realm. The original work in contact mechanics dates back to 1882 with the publication of the paper "On the contact of elastic solids" ("Ueber die Berührung fester elastischer Körper") by Heinrich Hertz. Hertz was attempting to understand how the optical properties of multiple, stacked lenses might change with the force holding them together. Hertzian contact stress refers to the localized stresses that develop as two curved surfaces come in contact and deform slightly under the imposed loads. This amount of deformation is dependent on the modulus of elasticity of the material in contact. It gives the contact stress as a function of the normal contact force, the radii of curvature of both bodies and the modulus of elasticity of both bodies. Hertzian contact stress forms the foundation for the equations for load bearing capabilities and fatigue life in bearings, gears, and any other bodies where two surfaces are in contact. Classical contact mechanics is most notably associated with Heinrich Hertz. In 1882, Hertz solved the contact problem of two elastic bodies with curved surfaces. This still-relevant classical solution provides a foundation for modern problems in contact mechanics. For example, in mechanical engineering and tribology, "Hertzian contact stress" is a description of the stress within mating parts | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9697733 | 438,664 |
Degassing For example, especially in the field of electrochemistry, ammonium sulfite is frequently used as a reductant because it reacts with oxygen to form sulfate ions. Although this method can be applied only to oxygen and involves the risk of reduction of the solute, the dissolved oxygen is almost totally eliminated. The ketyl radical from sodium and benzophenone can also be used for removing both oxygen and water from inert solvents such as hydrocarbons and ethers; the degassed solvent can be separated by distillation. The latter method is particularly useful because a high concentration of ketyl radical generates a deep blue colour, indicating the solvent is fully degassed. In this laboratory-scale technique, the fluid to be degassed is placed in a Schlenk flask and flash-frozen, usually with liquid nitrogen. Next a vacuum is applied, and the flask is sealed. A warm water bath is used to thaw the fluid, and upon thawing, bubbles of gas form and escape. The process is typically repeated three times. While this is a viable method for degassing a wide variety of organic solvents, some solvents are prone to significant expansion upon flash freezing. This expansion can cause practical problems by breaking the container. Some solvents known for such behavior are water and methanol. Yeast uses sugar to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. In winemaking, carbon dioxide is an undesired by-product for most wines. If the wine is bottled quickly after fermentation, it is important to degas the wine before bottling | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1942410 | 70,754 |
Levantine pottery For a time, I used a lot of shards of pottery as a theme in my clay work. You find shards of pottery everywhere because Palestine has had so many thousand of years of history that you walk on a hill and you just find these little pieces of pottery that are evidence of life that was there — pieces of jars, of plates, of bowls." Dina Ghazal from Nablus use another approach, believing that abstraction will best express the essence of her ideas. The qualities of the material she works with are very important for Ghazal, she explains that her work is an attempt to show the versatility of the medium and she hopes to challenge traditional perceptions of the use of the clay. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12233812 | 257,906 |
Economizer Economizers (US and Oxford spelling), or economisers (UK), are mechanical devices intended to reduce energy consumption, or to perform useful function such as preheating a fluid. The term economizer is used for other purposes as well. Boiler, power plant, heating, refrigeration, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) uses are discussed in this article. In simple terms, an economizer is a heat exchanger. Robert Stirling's innovative contribution to the design of hot air engines of 1816 was what he called the 'Economiser'. Now known as the regenerator, it stored heat from the hot portion of the engine as the air passed to the cold side, and released heat to the cooled air as it returned to the hot side. This innovation improved the efficiency of Stirling engine enough to make it commercially successful in particular applications, and has since been a component of every air engine that is called a Stirling engine. In boilers, economizers are heat exchange devices that heat fluids, usually water, up to but not normally beyond the boiling point of that fluid. Economizers are so named because they can make use of the enthalpy in fluid streams that are hot, but not hot enough to be used in a boiler, thereby recovering more useful enthalpy and improving the boiler's efficiency. They are a device fitted to a boiler which saves energy by using the exhaust gases from the boiler to preheat the cold water used to fill it (the "feed water") | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4655742 | 387,335 |
Comparison of the AK-47 and M16 Additional firepower Neither the AK-47 nor the M16 were designed to mount accessories, except of course for their respective bayonets and a simple clamp type bipod for the M16. However, with the advent of the Picatinny rail and by sheer happenstance, the M16 has proven itself to be a remarkably adaptable weapon system, capable of mounting a wide range of accessories, including grenade launchers, fore-grips, removable carry handle/rear sight assemblies, bipods, laser systems, electronic sights, night vision, tactical lights, etc. The AK-47 can also use Picatinny rail mounted accessories, although its design and smaller fore-stock make it less adaptable. In addition, the M16 is "the Swiss Army knife of rifles" a modular weapon system whose components can be arranged in a variety of different configuration. For example, an M16A2 with its standard iron sights and a standard fore-stock can be easily converted, in a matter of seconds and without the use of tools to an M16A4 with Picatinny rails, optical sights and a variety of accessories. This is accomplished by simply pushing in two pins, removing the A2 upper receiver/barrel and replacing it with an A4 upper receiver/barrel. Or, an M16A4 Rifle can be converted to an M4 Carbine in a few minutes by replacing the upper receiver/barrel and using simple hand-tools to replace the fixed buttstock with a telescoping buttstock. As such, the M16 can be easily converted into different calibers and different types of weapons. The AK-47 has no such capability | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2471637 | 280,499 |
Platelet The blood clot is only a temporary solution to stop bleeding; tissue repair is needed. Small interruptions in the endothelium are handled by physiological mechanisms; large interruptions by the trauma surgeon. Platelets have central role in innate immunity, initiating and participating in multiple inflammatory processes, directly binding pathogens and even destroying them. This support clinical data which show that many with serious bacterial or viral infections have thrombocytopenia, thus reducing their contribution to inflammation. Also platelet-leukocyte aggregates (PLAs) found in circulation are typical in sepsis or inflammatory bowel disease, showing the connection between thrombocytes and immune cells "sensu stricto". As hemostasis is a basic function of thrombocytes in mammals, it also has its uses in possible infection confinement. In case of injury, platelets, together with the coagulation cascade, form the first line of defense by forming a blood clot. Thus, hemostasis and host defense were intertwined in evolution. For example, in the Atlantic horseshoe crab (living fossil estimated to be over 400 million years old), the only blood cell type, the amebocyte, facilitates both the hemostatic function and the encapsulation and phagocytosis of pathogens by means of exocytosis of intracellular granules containing bactericidal defense molecules. Blood clotting supports the immune function by trapping the pathogenic bacteria within | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=196121 | 151,655 |
Uninsured motorist clause Some states, such as Virginia, require that the victim actually obtain a judgment against the uninsured motorist (while serving the uninsured motorist carrier in the lawsuit so that the carrier can defend the suit) and then demand payment from the uninsured motorist carrier prior to suing the carrier for any breach of an uninsured motorist provision. Normally there is no need to sue the carrier in such states as Virginia unless there is a dispute as to coverage. Liability is rarely an issue in cases against John Doe defendants and in any regard, must be litigated in the first suit against the John Doe, if at all. The insurance company will ordinarily pay the judgment, up to the policy limits, once a court determines that an uninsured motorist was at fault. Some states' laws also allow additional insurance coverage to the insured policyholder through policy stacking provisions, whereby a claim may be made against multiple uninsured motorist policies. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5184317 | 454,517 |
Hospital de los Venerables The (officially the Hospital de Venerables Sacerdotes, Hospital of Venerable Priests, popularly known as the Hospital of the Venerable) of Seville, Spain, is a baroque 17th-century building which served as a residence for priests. It currently houses the Velázquez Center, dedicated to the famous painter Diego Velázquez. It is located in the Plaza de los Venerables, in the center of the Barrio de Santa Cruz and close to the , the Seville Cathedral and Alcázar. In 1627, the Brotherhood of Silence (Sevilla) decided to provide for elderly, poor and disabled priests. They rented a house where the priests were given shelter and assistance. In 1673, the brotherhood decided to build a new shelter for the same purpose; this was the Hospital de los Venerables. The hospital was founded by Canon in 1675, to be the residence of the venerable priests. Construction began that year, under the direction of the architect Juan Domínguez. In 1687, the project was taken over by the architect Leonardo de Figueroa who completed the building in 1697. The church was built in 1689, and is dedicated to San Fernando. The hospital was funded by the brotherhood, charity and the monarchy until 1805 when it could no longer be adequately supported. In 1840, the hospital became a textile factory, and the former residents were moved to the Charity Hospital. Complaints from the brotherhood led to a Royal Order in 1848, which returned their property and allowed the priests to return to their old home | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47053278 | 354,280 |
IDL specification language IDL ("Interface Description Language") is a software interface description language (also referred to as Interface Descriptor Language) created by William Wulf and John Nestor of Carnegie Mellon University and David Lamb of Queen's University, Canada. Like other interface description languages, IDL defined interfaces in a language- and machine- independent way, allowing the specification of interfaces between components written in different languages, and possibly executing on different machines using remote procedure calls. The Karlsruhe Ada compilation system used IDL resp. DIANA and its predecessor AIDA, and for marshalling the vanilla "IDL External Representation". BiiN's DBMS used IDL as well, and for marshalling a more compact binary "IDL External Representation". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=956653 | 127,648 |
Refuse-derived fuel Since each method suffered from limitations in properly characterizing the biomass fraction, an alternative method was developed using the principles of radiocarbon dating. A technical review (CEN/TR 15591:2007) outlining the carbon-14 method was published in 2007, and a technical standard of the carbon dating method (CEN/TS 15747:2008) was published in 2008. In the United States, there is already an equivalent carbon-14 method under the standard method ASTM D6866. Although carbon-14 dating can determine the biomass fraction of RDF/SRF, it cannot determine directly the biomass calorific value. Determining the calorific value is important for green certificate programs such as the Renewable Obligation Certificate program. These programs award certificates based on the energy produced from biomass. Several research papers, including the one commissioned by the Renewable Energy Association in the UK, have been published that demonstrate how the carbon-14 result can be used to calculate the biomass calorific value. In 2009, in response to the Naples waste management issue in Campania, Italy, the Acerra incineration facility was completed at a cost of over €350 million. The incinerator burns 600,000 tons of waste per year. The energy produced from the facility is enough to power 200,000 households per year. The first full-scale waste-to-energy facility in the US was the Arnold O. Chantland Resource Recovery Plant, built in 1975 located in Ames, Iowa | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4121300 | 366,236 |
Allen Kerr AO, FRS, FAA (born 1926) was a Scottish-born Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Adelaide. His most significant work was his study of crown gall - a plant cancer induced by Agrobacterium tumerfaciens. He was born on 21 May 1926 in Edinburgh and gained a BSc degree at the University of Edinburgh. From 1947-1951 he was Assistant Mycologist at the North of Scotland College of Agriculture.<br> From 1951-1980 he was Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer, then Reader in Plant Pathology at the University of Adelaide.<br> From 1978-1983 he was Vice-President of the International Society for Plant Pathology.<br> From 1980-1983 he was President of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society. In 1978 he was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.<br> In 1986 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society.<br> In 1990 he received the inaugural Australia Prize for his work with plant genetics and biology. In 1990 he became Head of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Adelaide, and in 1991 he became Head of the Department of Crop Protection at the University of Adelaide. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11371107 | 193,636 |
Skywave The cable companies began to lose large sums of money in 1927, and a serious financial crisis threatened the viability of cable companies that were vital to strategic British interests. The British government convened the Imperial Wireless and Cable Conference in 1928 "to examine the situation that had arisen as a result of the competition of Beam Wireless with the Cable Services". It recommended and received Government approval for all overseas cable and wireless resources of the Empire to be merged into one system controlled by a newly formed company in 1929, Imperial and International Communications Ltd. The name of the company was changed to Cable and Wireless Ltd. in 1934. The signal that earned Guglielmo Marconi his place in history was not a long one: just the Morse code dots of the letter "S". But those three short radio pips represented a giant leap for mankind. The signal, which had travelled some 2,000 miles over open water from a transmitter in Poldhu, Cornwall, to a shack on a windy Newfoundland hill, was proof that radio waves could "bend" around the curvature of the Earth and effectively jump the 100-mile-high wall of water that blocks the view of America from Britain | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=276281 | 227,405 |
Pharmacokinetics In the real world each tissue will have its own distribution characteristics and none of them will be strictly linear. If we label the drug's volume of distribution within the organism Vd and its volume of distribution in a tissue Vd the former will be described by an equation that takes into account all the tissues that act in different ways, that is: This represents the "multi-compartment model" with a number of curves that express complicated equations in order to obtain an overall curve. A number of computer programs have been developed to plot these equations. However complicated and precise this model may be, it still does not truly represent reality despite the effort involved in obtaining various distribution values for a drug. This is because the concept of distribution volume is a relative concept that is not a true reflection of reality. The choice of model therefore comes down to deciding which one offers the lowest margin of error for the drug involved. Noncompartmental PK analysis is highly dependent on estimation of total drug exposure. Total drug exposure is most often estimated by area under the curve (AUC) methods, with the trapezoidal rule (numerical integration) the most common method. Due to the dependence on the length of "x" in the trapezoidal rule, the area estimation is highly dependent on the blood/plasma sampling schedule. That is, the closer time points are, the closer the trapezoids reflect the actual shape of the concentration-time curve | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9674107 | 471,524 |
Director telephone system For example, in London callers to South Mimms were told to dial SM6 followed by the four-digit South Mimms number; callers to Uxbridge numbers were told to dial UX followed by the five-digit Uxbridge number. In this latter case the first digit of the Uxbridge number rotated the BC switch of the director and was absorbed in specifying the translation; the last digit of the translation then regenerated the first digit of the Uxbridge number. The director system was introduced in London (1927), and then in Manchester (1930), Birmingham (1931), Glasgow (1937), Liverpool (1941), and Edinburgh (1950). While London initially included all exchanges within miles of Oxford Circus, other cities initially included all exchanges within 7 miles radius from the city centre, and was then extended to include larger exchanges within miles radius from the centre. Generally it was policy to install director equipment where the total number of subscribers was expected to be greater than 60,000 lines within 30 years. In cities outside London, it was possible to avoid the installation of Coded-Call Indicator (CCI) equipment at manual exchanges by converting to automatic in stages with the issue of a new directory, e.g. converting groups of (say) six exchanges at 12-month intervals; this was done in Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 1950 Glasgow had 35 exchanges within 7 miles of the centre of the city, several of two units, and 11 of them were within 2 miles of the centre | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=652431 | 278,847 |
Plan Planning can refer to the planned use of any and all resources, as in the succession of Five-Year Plans through which the government of the Soviet Union sought to develop the country. However, the term is most frequently used in relation to planning for the use of land and related resources, for example in urban planning, transportation planning, etc. In a governmental context, "planning" without any qualification is most likely to mean the regulation of land use. See also zoning. Planners are the professionals that have the requisite training to take or make decisions that will help or balance the society in order to have a functional, aesthetic, and convenient environment. Concepts such as top-down planning (as opposed to bottom-up planning) reveal similarities with the systems thinking behind the top-down model. The subject touches such broad fields as psychology, game theory, communications and information theory, which inform the planning methods that people seek to use and refine; as well as logic and science (i.e. methodological naturalism) which serve as a means of testing different parts of a plan for reliability or consistency. The specific methods used to create and refine plans depend on who is to make it, who is to put it to use, and what resources are available for the task | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=179824 | 492,992 |
Safety lamp Early Geordie lamps had a simple pierced copper cap over the chimney to further restrict the flow and to ensure that the vital spent gas did not escape too quickly. Later designs used gauze for the same purpose and also as a barrier in itself. The inlet is through a number of fine tubes (early) or through a gallery (later). In the case of the gallery system air passes through a number of small holes into the gallery and through gauze to the lamp. The tubes both restrict the flow and ensure that any back flow is cooled. The flame front travels more slowly in narrow tubes (a key Stephenson observation) and allows the tubes to effectively stop such a flow. In the Davy system a gauze surrounds the flame and extends for a distance above forming a cage. All except the very earliest Davy lamps have a double layer at the top of the cage. Rising hot gases are cooled by the gauze, the metal conducting the heat away and being itself cooled by the incoming air. There is no restriction on the air entering the lamp and so if firedamp is entrained it will burn within the lamp itself. Indeed, the lamp burns brighter in dangerous atmospheres thus acting as a warning to miners of rising firedamp levels. The Clanny configuration uses a short glass section around the flame with a gauze cylinder above it. Air is drawn in and descends just inside the glass, passing up through the flame in the centre of the lamp. The outer casings of lamps have been made of brass or tinned steel | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2383902 | 199,138 |
Airline , the largest airline by passengers carried and fleet size was the American Airlines Group, while Delta Air Lines was the largest by revenue. Lufthansa Group was the largest by number of employees, FedEx Express by freight tonne-kilometres, Turkish Airlines by number of countries served and UPS Airlines by number of destinations served (though United Airlines was the largest passenger airline by number of destinations served). DELAG, "Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft I" was the world's first airline. It was founded on November 16, 1909, with government assistance, and operated airships manufactured by The Zeppelin Corporation. Its headquarters were in Frankfurt. The first fixed-wing scheduled airline was started on January 1, 1914, from St. Petersburg, Florida, to Tampa, Florida, operated by the St. Petersburg and Tampa Airboat Line. The four oldest non-dirigible airlines that still exist are the Netherlands' KLM (1919), Colombia's Avianca (1919), Australia's Qantas (1921), and the Czech Republic's Czech Airlines (1923). The earliest fixed wing airline in Europe was Aircraft Transport and Travel, formed by George Holt Thomas in 1916; via a series of takeovers and mergers, this company is an ancestor of modern-day British Airways. Using a fleet of former military Airco DH.4A biplanes that had been modified to carry two passengers in the fuselage, it operated relief flights between Folkestone and Ghent | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1942 | 493,747 |
Water purification Even natural spring water – considered safe for all practical purposes in the 19th century – must now be tested before determining what kind of treatment, if any, is needed. Chemical and microbiological analysis, while expensive, are the only way to obtain the information necessary for deciding on the appropriate method of purification. According to a 2007 World Health Organization (WHO) report, 1.1 billion people lack access to an improved drinking water supply; 88% of the 4 billion annual cases of diarrheal disease are attributed to unsafe water and inadequate sanitation and hygiene, while 1.8 million people die from diarrheal disease each year. The WHO estimates that 94% of these diarrheal disease cases are preventable through modifications to the environment, including access to safe water. Simple techniques for treating water at home, such as chlorination, filters, and solar disinfection, and for storing it in safe containers could save a huge number of lives each year. Reducing deaths from waterborne diseases is a major public health goal in developing countries. The goals of the treatment are to remove unwanted constituents in the water and to make it safe to drink or fit for a specific purpose in industry or medical applications. Widely varied techniques are available to remove contaminants like fine solids, micro-organisms and some dissolved inorganic and organic materials, or environmental persistent pharmaceutical pollutants | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=214701 | 235,544 |
Joe 90 The series had several UK re-runs during the 1970s but was not shown on Yorkshire Television until 1981. Some broadcasters used an alternative version of the title sequence beginning with a zoom-in shot of Joe's special glasses accompanied by a voice-over from Tim Turner stating: "These are Joe 90's special glasses. Without them, he's a boy. Wearing them, he's an expert." These words, intended to warn young viewers not to endanger themselves by copying Joe's exploits, have sometimes been wrongly attributed to Keith Alexander. In 1994, "Joe 90" was shown on BBC1. Rights holder PolyGram cleared the series for broadcast on the condition that the title sequence's "zooming" "Joe 90" logo be replaced with a static version to distinguish it from the logo for G.I. Joe toys. The video tapes used for broadcast were 16 mm transfers of the original 35 mm film and were edited for timing reasons: cold opens were moved so that all episodes began with the title sequence, while the end titles were shrunk to allow a CBBC presenter to read out viewer birthday cards. A simultaneous run on Nickelodeon presented the episodes in their original forms. In 2009, the series aired on the UK Sci Fi Channel alongside "Thunderbirds" and "Captain Scarlet". Author John Peel questions Mac's ethics in "experimenting on" Joe to further the development of the BIG RAT | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=426992 | 277,898 |
Influence line When adding the influence lines together, it is necessary to include the appropriate offsets due to the spacing of loads across the structure. For example, a truck load is applied to the structure. Rear axle, B, is three feet behind front axle, A, then the effect of A at "x" feet along the structure must be added to the effect of B at ("x" – 3) feet along the structure—not the effect of B at "x" feet along the structure. Many loads are distributed rather than concentrated. Influence lines can be used with either concentrated or distributed loadings. For a concentrated (or point) load, a unit point load is moved along the structure. For a distributed load of a given width, a unit-distributed load of the same width is moved along the structure, noting that as the load nears the ends and moves off the structure only part of the total load is carried by the structure. The effect of the distributed unit load can also be obtained by integrating the point load’s influence line over the corresponding length of the structures. The Influence lines of determinate structures becomes a mechanism whereas the Influence lines of indeterminate structures become just determinate. Influence lines are based on Betti's theorem. From there, consider two external force systems, formula_1 and formula_2, each one associated with a displacement field whose displacements measured in the force's point of application are represented by formula_3 and formula_4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14459043 | 441,688 |
History of botany The grand taxonomic synthesis "An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants" (1981) of American Arthur Cronquist (1919–1992) was superseded when, in 1998, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group published a phylogeny of flowering plants based on the analysis of DNA sequences using the techniques of the new molecular systematics which was resolving questions concerning the earliest evolutionary branches of the angiosperms (flowering plants). The exact relationship of fungi to plants had for some time been uncertain. Several lines of evidence pointed to fungi being different from plants, animals and bacteria – indeed, more closely related to animals than plants. In the 1980s-90s molecular analysis revealed an evolutionary divergence of fungi from other organisms about 1 billion years ago – sufficient reason to erect a unique kingdom separate from plants. The publication of Alfred Wegener's (1880–1930) theory of continental drift 1912 gave additional impetus to comparative physiology and the study of biogeography while ecology in the 1930s contributed the important ideas of plant community, succession, community change, and energy flows. From 1940 to 1950 ecology matured to become an independent discipline as Eugene Odum (1913–2002) formulated many of the concepts of ecosystem ecology, emphasising relationships between groups of organisms (especially material and energy relationships) as key factors in the field | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25007304 | 177,039 |
Non-bank financial institution Although insurance companies do not have banking licenses, in most countries insurance has a separate form of regulation specific to the insurance business and may well be covered by the same financial regulator that also covers banks. There have also been a number of instances where insurance companies and banks have merged thus creating insurance companies that do have banking licenses. Contractual savings institutions (also called institutional investors) give individuals the opportunity to invest in collective investment vehicles (CIV) as a fiduciary rather than a principal role. Collective investment vehicles pool resources from individuals and firms into various financial instruments including equity, debt, and derivatives. Note that the individual holds equity in the CIV itself rather what the CIV invests in specifically. The two most popular examples of contractual savings institutions are pension funds and mutual funds. The two main types of mutual funds are open-end and closed-end funds. Open-end funds generate new investments by allowing the public to purchase new shares at any time, and shareholders can liquidate their holding by selling the shares back to the open-end fund at the net asset value. Closed-end funds issue a fixed number of shares in an IPO. In this case, the shareholders capitalize on the value of their assets by selling their shares in a stock exchange. Mutual funds are usually distinguished by the nature of their investments | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17067293 | 497,874 |
Niels Bohr He was cremated, and his ashes were buried in the family plot in the Assistens Cemetery in the Nørrebro section of Copenhagen, along with those of his parents, his brother Harald, and his son Christian. Years later, his wife's ashes were also interred there. On 7 October 1965, on what would have been his 80th birthday, the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen was officially renamed to what it had been called unofficially for many years: the Institute. Bohr received numerous honours and accolades. In addition to the Nobel Prize, he received the Hughes Medal in 1921, the Matteucci Medal in 1923, the Franklin Medal in 1926, the Copley Medal in 1938, the Order of the Elephant in 1947, the Atoms for Peace Award in 1957 and the Sonning Prize in 1961. He became foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1923, and of the Royal Society in 1926. The Bohr model's semicentennial was commemorated in Denmark on 21 November 1963 with a postage stamp depicting Bohr, the hydrogen atom and the formula for the difference of any two hydrogen energy levels: formula_3. Several other countries have also issued postage stamps depicting Bohr. In 1997, the Danish National Bank began circulating the 500-krone banknote with the portrait of Bohr smoking a pipe. An asteroid, 3948 Bohr, was named after him, as was the Bohr lunar crater and bohrium, the chemical element with atomic number 107. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21210 | 251,321 |
Fusion power In general terms, fusion reactors would create far less radioactive material than a fission reactor, the material it would create is less damaging biologically, and the radioactivity "burns off" within a time period that is well within existing engineering capabilities for safe long-term waste storage. Although fusion power uses nuclear technology, the overlap with nuclear weapons would be limited. A huge amount of tritium could be produced by a fusion power station; tritium is used in the trigger of hydrogen bombs and in a modern boosted fission weapon, but it can also be produced by nuclear fission. The energetic neutrons from a fusion reactor could be used to breed weapons-grade plutonium or uranium for an atomic bomb (for example by transmutation of U to Pu, or Th to U). A study conducted 2011 assessed the risk of three scenarios: Another study concludes that "[..]large fusion reactors – even if not designed for fissile material breeding – could easily produce several hundred kg Pu per year with high weapon quality and very low source material requirements." It was emphasized that the implementation of features for intrinsic proliferation resistance might only be possible at this phase of research and development. The theoretical and computational tools needed for hydrogen bomb design are closely related to those needed for inertial confinement fusion, but have very little in common with the more scientifically developed magnetic confinement fusion. Large-scale reactors using neutronic fuels (e.g | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55017 | 248,296 |
Robert Stephenson After marriage George and Fanny lived in an upper room of a cottage; George worked as a brakesman on the stationary winding engine on the Quay, and in his spare time cleaned and mended clocks and repaired shoes. Fanny was suffering from tuberculosis (known at the time as consumption), so George would take care of his son in the evening. Robert later recalled how he would sit on his father's left knee with his right arm wrapped around him while he watched him work or read books; his biographer Jeaffreson explained this is why Robert's left arm was the stronger. In autumn 1804 George became a brakesman at the West Moor Pit and the family moved to two rooms in a cottage at Killingworth. On 13 July 1805 Fanny gave birth to a daughter who lived for only three weeks, Fanny's health deteriorated and she died on 14 May 1806. George employed a housekeeper to look after his son and went away for three months to look after a Watt engine in Montrose, Scotland. He returned to find his housekeeper had married his brother Robert. He moved back into the cottage with his son and briefly employed another housekeeper before his sister Eleanor moved in. Known to Robert as Aunt Nelly, Eleanor had been engaged to be married before travelling to London to work in domestic service. However, returning to get married Eleanor's ship was delayed by poor winds and she arrived to find her fiancé had already married | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=252957 | 355,951 |
Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the voltage across the two points. Introducing the constant of proportionality, the resistance, one arrives at the usual mathematical equation that describes this relationship: where is the current through the conductor in units of amperes, "V" is the voltage measured "across" the conductor in units of volts, and "R" is the resistance of the conductor in units of ohms. More specifically, states that the "R" in this relation is constant, independent of the current. is an empirical relation which accurately describes the conductivity of the vast majority of electrically conductive materials over many orders of magnitude of current. However some materials do not obey Ohm's law, these are called non-ohmic. The law was named after the German physicist Georg Ohm, who, in a treatise published in 1827, described measurements of applied voltage and current through simple electrical circuits containing various lengths of wire. Ohm explained his experimental results by a slightly more complex equation than the modern form above (see "" below). In physics, the term "Ohm's law" is also used to refer to various generalizations of the law; for example the vector form of the law used in electromagnetics and material science: where J is the current density at a given location in a resistive material, E is the electric field at that location, and "σ" (sigma) is a material-dependent parameter called the conductivity | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49090 | 380,293 |
Delhi Metro The Nobel Memorial Wall at Rajiv Chowk has portraits of the seven Nobel Laureates from India: Rabindranath Tagore, CV Raman, Hargobind Khorana, Mother Teresa, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Amartya Sen and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and provide details about their contribution to society and a panel each on Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prizes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30874055 | 206,215 |
Ecological extinction They found that there have been an average phenological shift of 5.1 days earlier in the spring for a broad range of over a thousand compiled studies. This shift was also, as predicted, more pronounced in the upper latitudes that have concurrently had the largest shift in local average temperatures. While the loss of habitat, loss of pollinator mutualisms, and the effect of introduced species all have distinct pressures on native populations, these effects must be looked underneath a synergistic and not an independent framework. Climate change has the potential to exacerbate all of these processes. Nehring (1999) found a total of 16 non-indigenous thermophilic phytoplankton established in habitats northwards of their normal range in the North Sea. He likened these changes in range of more southerly phytoplankton to climatic shifts in ocean temperature. All of these effects have additive effects to the stress on populations within an environment, and with the additionally fragile and more complete definition of ecological extinction must be taken into account into preventative conservation measures. Conservation policy has historically lagged behind current science all over the world, but at this critical juncture politicians must make the effort to catch up before massive extinctions occur on our planet | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11409359 | 193,700 |
Signal analyzer The sampling rate of the digitizing process may be varied in relation to the frequency span under consideration or (more typically) the signal may be digitally resampled. Signal analyzers can perform the operations of both spectrum analyzers and vector signal analyzers. A signal analyzer can be viewed as a measurement platform, with operations such as spectrum analysis (including phase noise, power, and distortion) and vector signal analysis (including demodulation or modulation quality analysis) performed as measurement applications. These measurement applications can be built into the analyzer platform as measurement firmware or installed as changeable application software. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33376157 | 123,644 |
Usability Along with user and task analysis, a third analysis is often used: understanding users' environments (physical, social, cultural, and technological environments). A focus group is a focused discussion where a moderator leads a group of participants through a set of questions on a particular topic. Although typically used as a marketing tool, Focus Groups are sometimes used to evaluate usability. Used in the product definition stage, a group of 6 to 10 users are gathered to discuss what they desire in a product. An experienced focus group facilitator is hired to guide the discussion to areas of interest for the developers. Focus groups are typically videotaped to help get verbatim quotes, and clips are often used to summarize opinions. The data gathered is not usually quantitative, but can help get an idea of a target group's opinion. Surveys have the advantages of being inexpensive, require no testing equipment, and results reflect the users' opinions. When written carefully and given to actual users who have experience with the product and knowledge of design, surveys provide useful feedback on the strong and weak areas of the usability of a design. This is a very common method and often does not appear to be a survey, but just a warranty card. It is often very difficult for designers to conduct usability tests with the exact system being designed. Cost constraints, size, and design constraints usually lead the designer to creating a prototype of the system | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=288276 | 245,411 |
Android (robot) Female androids, or "gynoids", are often seen in science fiction, and can be viewed as a continuation of the long tradition of men attempting to create the stereotypical "perfect woman". Examples include the Greek myth of "Pygmalion" and the female robot Maria in Fritz Lang's "Metropolis". Some gynoids, like Pris in "Blade Runner", are designed as sex-objects, with the intent of "pleasing men's violent sexual desires", or as submissive, servile companions, such as in "The Stepford Wives". Fiction about gynoids has therefore been described as reinforcing "essentialist ideas of femininity", although others have suggested that the treatment of androids is a way of exploring racism and misogyny in society. The 2015 Japanese film "Sayonara", starring Geminoid F, was promoted as "the first movie to feature an android performing opposite a human actor". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=713 | 134,361 |
Religion and video games In the action role-playing game "" (2011) a civil war is about to erupt between the Empire and the Stormcloaks. The Stormcloaks wish to worship Talos, a human ascended to godhood. The Empire suffered a defeat against the powerful Aldmeri Dominion, an alliance of Elves who have made the worship of Talos illegal. It is up to the player to help in the conflict. The stories of action-adventure and role-playing games often involve world-saving quests. The player, as the protagonist, takes on the role of the hero. The player character is often destined to save the world, which in itself is a prophecy. "The Legend of Zelda" uses religious elements and motifs like the Triforce. Players and developers use games to express their existential and spiritual feelings. Video games as cultural objects can also provide religious and spiritual experiences, like "Journey" (2012). Developer Jenova Chen said that "I feel that "Journey" is a very spiritual game. People from around the world ask me if the game has a religious connection. Many religions share an affinity with "Journey"—this is because many religions partly share a common structure". Chen said "Journey" is based upon Joseph Campbell's book on comparative mythology "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" and the "Hero's Journey" narrative structure. After the death of Leonard Nimoy, "Star Trek Online" added two statues in his honor, and "World of Warcraft" added a non-player character (NPC) based upon Robin Williams after his death | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49050369 | 298,683 |
Friction When an object is pushed along a surface along a path C, the energy converted to heat is given by a line integral, in accordance with the definition of work where Energy lost to a system as a result of friction is a classic example of thermodynamic irreversibility. In the reference frame of the interface between two surfaces, static friction does "no" work, because there is never displacement between the surfaces. In the same reference frame, kinetic friction is always in the direction opposite the motion, and does "negative" work. However, friction can do "positive" work in certain frames of reference. One can see this by placing a heavy box on a rug, then pulling on the rug quickly. In this case, the box slides backwards relative to the rug, but moves forward relative to the frame of reference in which the floor is stationary. Thus, the kinetic friction between the box and rug accelerates the box in the same direction that the box moves, doing "positive" work. The work done by friction can translate into deformation, wear, and heat that can affect the contact surface properties (even the coefficient of friction between the surfaces). This can be beneficial as in polishing. The work of friction is used to mix and join materials such as in the process of friction welding. Excessive erosion or wear of mating sliding surfaces occurs when work due to frictional forces rise to unacceptable levels | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11062 | 40,499 |
Minigene A minigene is a minimal gene fragment that includes an exon and the control regions necessary for the gene to express itself in the same way as a wild type gene fragment. This is a minigene in its most basic sense. More complex minigenes can be constructed containing multiple exons and intron(s). Minigenes provide a valuable tool for researchers evaluating splicing patterns both "in vivo" and "in vitro" biochemically assessed experiments. Specifically, minigenes are used as splice reporter vectors (also called exon-trapping vectors) and act as a probe to determine which factors are important in splicing outcomes. They can be constructed to test the way both cis-regulatory elements (RNA effects) and trans-regulatory elements (associated proteins/splicing factors) affect gene expression. Minigenes were first described as the somatic assembly of DNA segments and consisted of DNA regions known to encode the protein and the flanking regions required to express the protein. The term was first used in a paper in 1977 to describe the cloning of two minigenes that were designed to express a peptide. RNA splicing was discovered in the late 1970s through the study of adenoviruses that invade mammals and replicate inside them. Researchers identified RNA molecules that contained sequences from noncontiguous parts of the virus’s genome. This discovery led to the conclusion that regulatory mechanisms existed which affected mature RNA and the genes it expresses | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42318629 | 283,612 |
Ian Duncan (businessman) Duncan was a Member of the SYNROC Steering Committee (whose work was based on research and development undertaken by ANSTO and the ANU). In 2002, after his retirement, Duncan completed a doctorate at Oxford University considering the "interface between society and the disposal of radioactive waste". His publication was entitled ""Radioactive Waste: Risk, Reward, Space and Time Dynamics"" and he followed it with opinion pieces and media commentary on the subject during the early 2000s. In 2003 he anticipated that "by far the biggest advancement will come from a better understanding of the public psyche by industry and not by a better understanding of the industry by the public." In 2003, he made the claim that "the Premier that supports the siting of a national repository will probably be remembered as the statesman who cleaned up Australia!" In the mid-2000s Duncan was actively consulting in the area, and was consulted during the Uranium Mining, Processing and Nuclear Energy Review (UMPNER) in 2006. In 2006, Duncan maintained the view that Australia had an obligation to appropriately manage its own, domestically produced nuclear waste. In an article published in "Focus", the magazine of ATSE, he wrote:"There is no justification for the importation of other countries’ radioactive waste, nor for participation in any so called ‘international attempts’ at nuclear waste disposal. Our moral obligation is to properly dispose of our own waste and that is achievable | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55645318 | 468,751 |
Connectome (book) To what extent are the first three years of development a crucial window after which brain traits cannot be reversed? And to what extent do brains remain plastic throughout life? Seung discusses evidence on both sides to show that the truth is a little bit of both. Seung discusses how advances in technologies to see the brain have driven neuroscience progress—in the long run arguably more than the immediate neuroscientific advances that these technologies enabled. Seung reviews the history of mapping the "Caenorhabditis elegans" connectome by Sydney Brenner and colleagues, published in 1986. The process required immense manual labor, but connectome mapping is speeding up due to automation with artificial intelligence and intelligence amplification. Seung discusses ways of dividing up the brain into regions. Korbinian Brodmann based his Brodmann areas on uniformity of cortical layers within each area. Santiago Ramón y Cajal tried to identify types of neurons based on their shapes. Seung himself proposes to divide brain regions based on what other regions they generally connect to. He says this might often coincide with Brodmann's or Cajal's divisions, but if we ultimately care about connectivity, Seung's classification would be most directly relevant. Seung discusses decoding memories from neural connections. As an example potentially feasible in the near/medium term, he suggests the HVC region in birds, which may store their songs in a roughly analogous way as a compact disc stores Beethoven music | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43270576 | 243,136 |
Oxygen diffusion-enhancing compound Oxygen diffusion-enhancing compounds are thought to act by exerting hydrophobic forces that interact with water molecules. These interactions result in greater hydrogen bonding among water molecules, which constitute the majority of the blood plasma medium. As hydrogen bonding increases, the overall molecular structure of water in the plasma becomes more lattice-like, a phenomenon known as structure building. Structure building reduces resistance to the movement of oxygen through plasma via diffusion. Since blood plasma offers the major barrier for oxygen to move from the red blood cells and into the tissues, the more structured character of water imparted by the oxygen diffusion-enhancing compound will enhance movement into tissues. Computer simulations have shown that TSC specifically can increase the transport of oxygen through water by as much as 30 percent. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37431028 | 188,896 |
Barclay Hall, Forest Gate Barclay Hall, E7 8JQ, is a 1900 building located in London's Green Street, Forest Gate area of Startford. Barclay Hall was founded by the Bedford Institute Association, a Quaker philanthropic organisation, in 1900, when an iron building was erected in memory of Joseph and Jane Barclay, of Knotts Green, Leyton, one of several eminent Quaker families in the area. Within a year over 800 people were already connected with various religious, social, and educational activities at the centre, and another building had been added. In 1902 Barclay Hall became a full mission church, in 1904 the Sunday meeting was recognised under the Radcliff and Barking monthly meeting and in 1906 a permanent brick building was opened. The hall was bought by the borough council in 1948, and in 1949 was reopened as an adult education and social centre. In its lifetime it has also been the location of Newham’s Chamber of Commerce, as well as being a campus for Newham College of Further Education before finally becoming London Churchill College’s second campus. The building would have originally had a curved gable, but this has since been replaced with a straight one. The main entrance is under a stone arch, which was glazed when renovated by Newham Council in 1996. The smaller entrance on the side of the building still has its original door in the rustic style of Quaker tradition. Plain walls to the west and north of the campus suggest further extensions were intended but never happened. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47022399 | 354,265 |
Space Race By 1943, Germany began mass-producing the A-4 as the Vergeltungswaffe 2 ("Vengeance Weapon" 2, or more commonly, V2), a ballistic missile with a range carrying a warhead at . Its supersonic speed meant there was no defense against it, and radar detection provided little warning. Germany used the weapon to bombard southern England and parts of Allied-liberated western Europe from 1944 until 1945. After the war, the V-2 became the basis of early American and Soviet rocket designs. At war's end, American, British, and Soviet scientific intelligence teams competed to capture Germany's rocket engineers along with the German rockets themselves and the designs on which they were based. Each of the Allies captured a share of the available members of the German rocket team, but the United States benefited the most with Operation Paperclip, recruiting von Braun and most of his engineering team, who later helped develop the American missile and space exploration programs. The United States also acquired a large number of complete V2 rockets. The German rocket center in Peenemünde was located in the eastern part of Germany, which became the Soviet zone of occupation. On Stalin's orders, the Soviet Union sent its best rocket engineers to this region to see what they could salvage for future weapons systems. The Soviet rocket engineers were led by Sergei Korolev | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=84237 | 268,804 |
Common name Folk taxonomy, which is a classification of objects using common names, has no formal rules and need not be consistent or logical in its assignment of names, so that say, not all flies are called flies (for example Braulidae, the so-called "bee lice") and not every animal called a fly is indeed a fly (such as dragonflies and mayflies). In contrast, scientific or biological nomenclature is a global system that attempts to denote particular organisms or taxa uniquely and , on the assumption that such organisms or taxa are well-defined and generally also have well-defined interrelationships; accordingly the ICZN has formal rules for biological nomenclature and convenes periodic international meetings to further that purpose. The form of scientific names for organisms that are called binomial nomenclature is superficially similar to the noun-adjective form of vernacular names or common names which were used by prehistoric cultures. A collective name such as "owl" was made more precise by the addition of an adjective such as "screech". Linnaeus himself published a Flora of his homeland Sweden, Flora Svecica (1745), and in this, he recorded the Swedish common names, region by region, as well as the scientific names. The Swedish common names were all binomials (e.g. plant no. 84 Råg-losta and plant no. 85 Ren-losta); the vernacular binomial system thus preceded his scientific binomial system. Linnaean authority William T | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=331921 | 168,293 |
Wentworth Memorial Church The church is approached by a broad track that sweeps up from Fitzwilliam Road around the base of the massive sandstone boulders upon which the church sits. The design of the church accommodated the retention of the outcrop and associated Port Jackson Figs. The path narrows near the top forming deep brick edged concrete steps and then finally brick steps up to a modern interpretation of a roofed lych gateway to the white walled forecourt of the church. Jennifer Tayler equates the journey to the church as one of "revelation" with the turning path providing "various viewpoints of the building", however most of these views have been reduced to mere glimpses due to encroaching vegetation. Taylor describes the church as combining in "a quite magical manner" the "clear forms and high natural lighting" characteristic of the Sydney School with "a Greek sense of the three dimensional form and sequential progression." The church is characterised by brick walls in a stretcher bond which are rendered externally (white) and painted internally (white). The roof has an unconventional shape, sloping steeply from a clerestory above the alter towards the rear of the church where the entrance is located. Externally the roof is formed of copper sheeting and internally of timber panelling. The entrance verandah is both physically and visually an extension of the main roof form, the lowest point of which comes to rest on a white angled column | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=58211348 | 305,577 |
DNA barcoding in diet assessment is the use of DNA barcoding to analyse the diet of organisms. and further detect and describe their trophic interactions. This approach is based on the identification of consumed species by characterization of DNA present in dietary samples, e.g. individual food remains, regurgitates, gut and fecal samples, homogenized body of the host organism, target of the diet study (for example with whole body of insects). The DNA sequencing approach to be adopted depends on the diet breadth of the target consumer. For organisms feeding on one or only few species, traditional Sanger sequencing techniques can be used. For polyphagous species with diet items more difficult to identify, it is conceivable to determine all consumed species using NGS methodology. The barcode markers utilized for amplification will differ depending on the diet of the target organism. For herbivore diets, the standard DNA barcode loci will differ significantly depending on the plant taxonomic level. Therefore, for identifying plant tissue at the taxonomic family or genus level, the markers rbcL and trn-L-intron are used, which differ from the loci ITS2, matK, trnH-psbA (noncoding intergenic spacer) used to identify diet items to genus and species level. For animal prey, the most broadly used DNA barcode markers to identify diets are the mitochondrial Cytocrome C oxydase (COI) and Cytochrome b (cytb). When the diet is broad and diverse, DNA metabarcoding is used to identify most of the consumed items | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60579575 | 158,613 |
Przemyśl Castle Eventually in 1865, the castle was handed over the city where from 1884 the dramatic society "Fredreum" has been based. During World War I, the Austrians held two thousand Russian prisoners in the castle. More restoration of the castle was carried out in 1920, and in 1980 two corner towers and curtain wall between them were rebuilt. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=35670211 | 325,976 |
Keynes–Ramsey rule In macroeconomics, the is an optimality condition for the rate of change of consumption. Usually it is a differential equation relating consumption with interest rates, time preference, and (intertemporal) elasticity of substitution. The is named after Frank P. Ramsey, who derived it in 1928, and his mentor John Maynard Keynes, who provided an economic interpretation. Mathematically, the is a necessary condition for an optimal control problem, also known as an Euler–Lagrange equation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55050738 | 505,190 |
Ganying Needham 1956: 89) Not only was the notion of "ganying" resonance situated in the cultural domains of Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, but also in Chinese folk religion, with a meaning of "divine retribution; moral retribution". The related term "baoying" 报應 "moral retribution" originated from Buddhist doctrines of karma and reincarnation, and became a fundamental principle of Chinese popular religious belief and practice. "Ganying" "moral retribution" was central to the genre of popular religious texts known as "shànshū" 善書 (lit. "good book") "moral-instruction book; moral tract". It specifically referred to the principle of "tit-for-tat moral retribution", based upon the belief that one's good and evil deeds will result in corresponding rewards and punishments, typically manifest as the lengthening or shortening of one's life (Sharf 2002: 93-94). The (c. 12th century) anonymous Song dynasty compilation "Taishang ganying pian" 太上感應篇 "Folios of the Most High on Retribution" was the classic in the "shanshu" genre, and one of the most widely circulated Daoist works in late imperial China (Sharf 2002: 95). "Cloud Capped Mountain" story exemplifies "Taishang ganying pian" content. Beginning with the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), the Chinese language borrowed many scientific terms as loanwords from Western languages. Examples of "gǎnyìng" scientifically meaning "cause-effect; stimulus-response" include. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47405570 | 432,274 |
Trencher (machine) These machines are lightweight (around 200 pounds) and are easily maneuverable compared to other types of trenchers. The cutting implement may be a chain or a blade similar to a rotary lawn mower blade oriented so that it rotates in a vertical plane. A tractor-mount trencher is a trenching device which needs a creeping gear tractor to operate. This type of trenchers is another type of chain trencher. The tractor should be able to go as slowly as the trencher's trenching speed. A trencher may be combined with a drainage pipe or geotextile feeder unit and backfiller, so drain or textile may be placed and the trench filled in one pass. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5747663 | 213,850 |
Union Mills Canal Outlet Locks No. 1 and No. 2 The are a pair of locks along the route of a canal system that improved navigation on the Rivanna River in Fluvanna County, Virginia. Located near Crofton, these are two large locks fashioned out of dressed granite blocks. They were built between 1850 and 1854. Until the 1850s, canal and river transportation primarily employed batteaux, but mid-century saw the construction of towpaths to enable mules to pull boats. It was for this purpose that the Union Mills Canal and its outlet locks were constructed. The canal is approximately long, with a lock and dam complex at the upper end; it runs on the right bank of the river. The outlet locks, situated at the lower end of the canal, are located just above the mouth of a small stream, Boston Creek, which nearby is dammed to form Lake Monticello. The lake is a resort community; although a footpath was built to the locks in 1984, it remains private property with limited access. One of the locks is in substantially better condition than the other: one is nearly invisible, thanks to silt buildup, while the other is well maintained and remains easily visible to the visitor who obtains permission to enter the property. The locks were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42192215 | 354,832 |
History of children in the military Between 1983 and 2009 Sri Lanka's government fought a civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers). For its entire duration the Tamil Tigers and other armed groups made routine use of child recruits, typically aged 14–17 and sometimes under 10. Some children enlisted to escape deprivation or racism, or during compulsory military training at their school when they were exposed to recruitment propaganda. Others were recruited by force when walking home from school or after the Tigers pressurised families to surrender one child, as per its policy. In 2001, international sources estimated that 40 percent of Tamil Tiger personnel were children, contrary to official statements insisting that the organisation did not use them. Sri Lankan soldiers nicknamed one unit the "Baby Battalion", due to the number of children in it. Although state armed forces recruited only adults over the age of 18, they supported the Karuna group, a Tamil splinter organisation opposed to the Tamil Tigers, to recruit children by force. The government also used detained Tamil Tiger children for propaganda by exposing them to the media. The first international initiative to demobilise and reintegrate children into their communities began in 2003, but was halted in 2004 because the Tigers failed to keep their commitment to release children from their ranks. The organisation began to release children in 2004, but continued to enlist several thousand, albeit in progressively smaller numbers, until at least 2007 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56921904 | 469,183 |
Molecular demon The particle jumps between steps due to random thermal motions. Since the downward jumps following the gradient are more frequent than the upward ones, the particle falls down the stairs, on average. But when an upward jump is observed, a block is placed behind the particle to prevent it from falling, just like in a ratchet. This way it should climb the stairs. Information is gained by measuring the particle's location, which is equivalent to a gain in energy, i.e. a decrease in entropy. They used a generalized equation for the second law that contains a variable for information: "⟨ΔF− W⟩≤ kTI" "ΔF" is the free energy between states", W" is the work done on the system", k" is the Boltzmann constant", T" is temperature, and "I" is the mutual information content obtained by measurements. The brackets indicate that the energy is an average. They could convert the equivalent of one bit information to 0.28 "kT"ln2 of energy or, in other words, they could exploit more than a quarter of the information’s energy content. In his book "Chance and Necessity," Jacques Monod described the functions of proteins and other molecules capable of recognizing with 'elective discrimination' a substrate or ligand or other molecule. In describing these molecules he introduced the term 'cognitive' functions, the same cognitive functions that Maxwell attributed to his demon. Werner Loewenstein goes further and names these molecules 'molecular demon' or 'demon' in short | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59814243 | 451,065 |
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