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Mooney–Rivlin solid In continuum mechanics, a is a hyperelastic material model where the strain energy density function formula_1 is a linear combination of two invariants of the left Cauchy–Green deformation tensor formula_2. The model was proposed by Melvin Mooney in 1940 and expressed in terms of invariants by Ronald Rivlin in 1948. The strain energy density function for an incompressible Mooney–Rivlin material is where formula_4 and formula_5 are empirically determined material constants, and formula_6 and formula_7 are the first and the second invariant of formula_8 (the unimodular component of formula_9): where formula_11 is the deformation gradient and formula_12. For an incompressible material, formula_13. The Mooney–Rivlin model is a special case of the generalized Rivlin model (also called polynomial hyperelastic model) which has the form with formula_15 where formula_16 are material constants related to the distortional response and formula_17 are material constants related to the volumetric response. For a compressible Mooney–Rivlin material formula_18 and we have If formula_20 we obtain a neo-Hookean solid, a special case of a Mooney–Rivlin solid. For consistency with linear elasticity in the limit of small strains, it is necessary that where formula_22 is the bulk modulus and formula_23 is the shear modulus | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2389236 | 345,571 |
Brett J. Gladman Brett James Gladman (born 1966) is a Canadian astronomer and a full professor at the University of British Columbia's Department of Physics and Astronomy in Vancouver, British Columbia. He holds the Canada Research Chair in planetary astronomy. He does both theoretical work (large-scale numerical simulations of planetary dynamics) and observational optical astronomy (being a discoverer of many planetary moons and minor planets). Gladman is best known for his work in dynamical astronomy in the Solar System. He has studied the transport of meteorites between planets, the delivery of meteoroids from the main asteroid belt, and the possibility of the transport of life via this mechanism, known as panspermia. He also studies planet formation, especially the puzzle of how the giant planets came to be. He is discoverer or co-discoverer of many astronomical bodies in the Solar System, asteroids, Kuiper Belt comets, and many moons of the giant planets: Gladman is a member of the Canada–France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS), and the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) which has detected and tracked the world's largest sample of well-understood Kuiper belt comets, including unusual objects like ("Buffy") and ("Drac"), the first trans-Neptunian object on a retrograde orbit around the Sun. Gladman was awarded the H. C. Urey Prize by the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in 2002. The main-belt asteroid 7638 Gladman is named in his honor | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=206687 | 13,732 |
Corporate social responsibility For instance, incidents like the 2013 Savar building collapse, which killed over 1000 people, pushed companies to consider the impacts of their operations on society and environment. On the other side, the horse meat scandal of 2013 in the United Kingdom affected many food retailers, including Tesco, the largest retailer in the United Kingdom, leading to the dismissal of the supplier. Corporate social irresponsibility from both the suppliers and the retailers has greatly affected the stakeholders who lost trust for the affected business entities, and despite the fact that sometimes it is not directly undertaken by the companies, they become accountable to the stakeholders. These surrounding issues have prompted supply chain management to consider the corporate social responsibility context. Wieland and Handfield (2013) suggested that companies need to include social responsibility in their reviews of component quality. They highlighted the use of technology in improving visibility across the supply chain. includes six types of corporate social initiatives: All six of the corporate initiatives are forms of corporate citizenship. However, only some of these CSR activities rise to the level of cause marketing, defined as "a type of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in which a company's promotional campaign has the dual purpose of increasing profitability while bettering society." Companies generally do not have a profit motive when participating in corporate philanthropy and community volunteering | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=398356 | 477,205 |
Levee breach This restores the natural environment in the area. This happened in the Glory River in Iraq. The words "levee" and "levee breach" were brought heavily into the public consciousness after the levee failures in metro New Orleans on August 29, 2005 when Hurricane Katrina passed east of the city. Levees breached in over 50 different places submerging 80 percent of the city. Most levees failed due to water overtopping them but some failed when water passed underneath the levee foundations causing the levee wall to shift and resulting in catastrophic sudden breaching. The sudden breaching released water at a high velocity that moved houses off their foundations and tossed cars into trees. This happened in the Lower Ninth Ward when the Industrial Canal breached and also in the Lakeview neighborhood when the 17th Street Canal breached. At least 1,464 people perished. In New Orleans, the United States Army Corps of Engineers is the Federal agency responsible for levee design and construction as defined in the Flood Control Act of 1965 and subject to local participation requirements, some of which were later waived. Fault has been aimed at the Corps of Engineers, their local contractors, and local levee boards. The St. Elizabeth's flood of 1421 was caused by a surge of seawater being forced upriver during a storm, overflowing the river dikes and submerging approximately of land in the Netherlands. Estimates of people having died range from 2,000 to 10,000 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2597726 | 316,980 |
East Warrah Woolshed is a heritage-listed shearing shed at Merriwa-Murrurundi Road, Warrah Creek, Liverpool Plains Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Samuel Craik and built from 1863 to 1864. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 10 August 2018. The land on which the huge former Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) pastoral station, Warrah Station was established was part of the traditional lands of the Kamilaroi people who cared for the land and sustained themselves hunting the birds, insects and animals of the plains and gathering and processing vegetables. There were strong trade and ceremonial ties with the Wonnarua Aboriginal people whose main country lay in the inland regions of the Hunter and Upper Hunter Valley. The Kamilaroi were a large nation of Aboriginal people extending from the Upper Hunter through to the Warrumbungle Mountains in the west and to the lower reaches of south west Queensland. This nation was made up of many smaller family groups who shared the gamilaraay language. The Kamilaroi had a reputation as fierce warriors who defended their familial hunting grounds from other intruding bands and who also actively resisted European settlement for many years. One source noted that more than 500 Aboriginal and 15 Europeans were killed between 1832 and 1838 as European fortune hunters flooded into the Upper Hunter and Liverpool Plains area to settle | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63335938 | 341,900 |
Metamaterial antenna The flexibility gained through the use of either discrete or printed elements enables planar metamaterials to be scalable from the megahertz to the tens of gigahertz range. In addition, replacing capacitors with varactors allowed the material properties to be dynamically tuned. The proposed media are planar and inherently support two-dimensional (2-D) wave propagation, making them well-suited for RF/microwave device and circuit applications. The periodic 2-D LC loaded transmission-line ("TL") was shown to exhibit NRI properties over a broad frequency range. This network will be referred to as a dual TL structure since it is of a high-pass configuration, as opposed to the low-pass representation of a conventional TL structure. Dual TL structures have been used to experimentally demonstrate backward-wave radiation and focusing at microwave frequencies. As a negative refractive index medium, a dual TL structure is not simply a phase compensator. It can enhance the amplitude of evanescent waves, as well as correct the phase of propagating waves. Evanescent waves actually grow within the dual TL structure. Grbic "et al." used one-dimensional LC loaded transmission line network, which supports fast backward-wave propagation to demonstrate characteristics analogous to "reversed Cherenkov radiation". Their proposed backward-wave radiating structure was inspired by negative refractive index LC materials | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24454437 | 31,083 |
Mendelevium However, later experiments found no evidence for mendelevium(I) and found that mendelevium behaved like divalent elements when reduced, not like the monovalent alkali metals. Nevertheless, the Russian team conducted further studies on the thermodynamics of cocrystallizing mendelevium with alkali metal chlorides, and concluded that mendelevium(I) had formed and could form mixed crystals with divalent elements, thus cocrystallizing with them. The status of the +1 oxidation state is still tentative. Although "E"°(Md→Md) was predicted in 1975 to be +5.4 V, suggesting that mendelevium(III) could be oxidized to mendelevium(IV), 1967 experiments with the strong oxidizing agent sodium bismuthate were unable to oxidize mendelevium(III) to mendelevium(IV). A mendelevium atom has 101 electrons, of which at least three (and perhaps four) can act as valence electrons. They are expected to be arranged in the configuration [Rn]5f7s (ground state term symbol F), although experimental verification of this electron configuration had not yet been made as of 2006. In forming compounds, three valence electrons may be lost, leaving behind a [Rn]5f core: this conforms to the trend set by the other actinides with their [Rn] 5f electron configurations in the tripositive state. The first ionization potential of mendelevium was measured to be at most (6.58 ± 0 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18899 | 48,642 |
Superlens However, in addition to image transfer other useful operations were discussed; translation, rotation, mirroring and inversion as well as the superlens effect. Furthermore, elements that perform magnification are described, which are free from geometric aberrations, on both the input and output sides while utilizing free space sourcing (rather than waveguide). These magnifying elements also operate in the near and far field, transferring the image from near field to far field. The cylindrical magnifying superlens was experimentally demonstrated in 2007 by two groups, Liu et al. and Smolyaninov et al. Work in 2007 demonstrated that a quasi-periodic array of nanoholes, in a metal screen, were able to focus the optical energy of a plane wave to form subwavelength spots (hot spots). The distances for the spots was a few tens of wavelengths on the other side of the array, or, in other words, opposite the side of the incident plane wave. The quasi-periodic array of nanoholes functioned as a light concentrator. In June 2008, this was followed by the demonstrated capability of an array of quasi-crystal nanoholes in a metal screen. More than concentrating hot spots, an image of the point source is displayed a few tens of wavelengths from the array, on the other side of the array (the image plane). Also this type of array exhibited a 1 to 1 linear displacement, – from the location of the point source to its respective, parallel, location on the image plane. In other words, from x to x + δx | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3088223 | 66,640 |
HP OpenCall The HPE Open IP Signaling Transfer Gateway that allows the convergence and delivery of advanced services for fixed, mobile and broadband networks. The HPE OpenCall SIP Network Server is an “all-in-a-box” Session Initiation Protocol network element for next generation and IMS networks, facilitating the deployment and growth of advanced telecommunication services. The Universal Signaling Platform (USP) connects SS7 and IP SIGTRAN networks and provides a development environments for deploying, 2G, 2.5G and 3G services. HPE Communications & Media Solutions markets three subscriber mobility products. The HPE Home Location Register and Home Subscriber Server (HLR/HSS) are used for subscriber management and new service deployment via a centralized system. The Position Determination Entity is a location information platform that is used by emergency and commercial services to pinpoint a mobile terminal's position. The HPE OpenCall XML Document Management Server is used for deploying instant messaging and group communication services while shielding information privacy. There are two subscriber policy offerings. The HPE OpenCall Home Subscriber Server is used to store and manage subscriber data when moving to next-generation networks. The HPE OpenCall Profile Manager connects user profile and service data for Web 2.0 services. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11485434 | 373,160 |
Transmission tower For crossing broad valleys, a large distance between the conductors must be maintained to avoid short-circuits caused by conductor cables colliding during storms. To achieve this, sometimes a separate mast or tower is used for each conductor. For crossing wide rivers and straits with flat coastlines, very tall towers must be built due to the necessity of a large height clearance for navigation. Such towers and the conductors they carry must be equipped with flight safety lamps and reflectors. Two well-known wide river crossings are the Elbe Crossing 1 and Elbe Crossing 2. The latter has the tallest overhead line masts in Europe, at tall. In Spain, the overhead line crossing pylons in the Spanish bay of Cádiz have a particularly interesting construction. The main crossing towers are tall with one crossarm atop a frustum framework construction. The longest overhead line spans are the crossing of the Norwegian Sognefjord ( between two masts) and the Ameralik Span in Greenland (). In Germany, the overhead line of the EnBW AG crossing of the Eyachtal has the longest span in the country at . In order to drop overhead lines into steep, deep valleys, inclined towers are occasionally used. These are utilized at the Hoover Dam, located in the United States, to descend the cliff walls of the Black Canyon of the Colorado. In Switzerland, a pylon inclined around 20 degrees to the vertical is located near Sargans, St. Gallens | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=827692 | 389,098 |
Reverse engineering Therefore the stitched versions won't overlap in the correct fashion as on the real circuit. Usually three corresponding points are selected and a transformation applied on the basis of this. To extract the circuit structure, the aligned, stitched images need to be segmented. Segmentation highlights the important circuitry and separates it from the uninteresting background and insulating materials. Now, the wires can be traced from one layer to the next and the netlist of the circuit can be reconstructed which contains all information of the circuit. is often used by people in order to copy other nations' technologies, devices, or information that have been obtained by regular troops in the fields or by intelligence operations. It was often used during the Second World War and the Cold War. Well-known examples from WWII and later include: applies primarily to gaining understanding of a process or artifact, where the manner of its construction, use, or internal processes is not made clear by its creator. Patented items do not of themselves have to be reverse-engineered to be studied, since the essence of a patent is that the inventor provides detailed public disclosure themselves, and in return receives legal protection of the invention involved. However, an item produced under one or more patents could also include other technology that is not patented and not disclosed | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18935488 | 118,386 |
History of optical storage media Although research into optical data storage has been ongoing for many decades, the first popular system was the Compact Disc, introduced in 1982, adapted from audio (CD-DA) to data storage (the CD-ROM format) with the 1985 "Yellow Book", and re-adapted as the first mass market optical storage medium with CD-R and CD-RW in 1988. Compact Disc is still the "de facto" standard for audio recordings, although its place for other multimedia recordings and optical data storage has largely been superseded by DVD. DVD (initially an initialism abbreviation of "Digital Video Disc," then modified to "Digital Versatile Disc," then officially just "DVD") was the mass-market successor to CD. DVD was rolled out in 1996, again initially for video and audio. DVD recordable formats developed some time later: DVD-R in late 1997 and DVD+R in 2002. Although DVD was initially intended to prevent a format war in fact one did arise between these two formats. It was resolved with both surviving however: DVD-R predominating for stand-alone DVD recorders and players, and (for computers) most DVD devices being engineered as dual format, to be compatible with both. With the development of high-definition television, and the popularization of broadband and digital storage of movies, a further format development took place, again giving rise to two camps: HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, based upon a switch from red to blue-violet laser and tighter engineering tolerances | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11505812 | 101,937 |
History of lysergic acid diethylamide These free-form parties introduced many people on the West Coast to LSD for the first time, as documented in Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" and Phil Lesh's "Searching for the Sound". Acid historian Jesse Jarnow describes how Grateful Dead concerts served as the United States' primary distribution network for LSD in the second half of the twentieth century. In 1992, Mike Dirnt of Green Day wrote the famous "Longview" bass line while under the influence of LSD. In an interview, Green Day lead singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong recalled that he arrived at their house and saw Mike sitting on the floor with highly dilated pupils, holding his bass guitar. Mike looked up at Billie and exclaimed, "Listen to this!" LSD was evidently in limited recreational use in Australia in the early 1960s, but is believed to have been initially restricted to those with connections to the scientific and the medical communities. LSD overdose was suggested as a possible cause of the January 2, 1962 deaths of CSIRO scientists Dr. Gilbert Bogle and his lover Dr. Margaret Chandler, but is very unlikely as there are no known cases of a LSD fatal overdose and other more likely causes of death have been suggested. Large quantities of LSD began to appear in Australia around 1968, and soon permeated the music scene and youth culture in general, especially in the capital cities | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1119225 | 50,328 |
Augmented cognition is an interdisciplinary area of psychology and engineering, attracting researchers from the more traditional fields of human-computer interaction, psychology, ergonomics and neuroscience. research generally focuses on tasks and environments where human-computer interaction and interfaces already exist. Developers, leveraging the tools and findings of neuroscience, aim to develop applications which capture the human user's cognitive state in order to drive real-time computer systems. In doing so, these systems are able to provide operational data specifically targeted for the user in a given context. Three major areas of research in the field are: Cognitive State Assessment (CSA), Mitigation Strategies (MS), and Robust Controllers (RC). A subfield of the science, Augmented Social Cognition, endeavours to enhance the "ability of a group of people to remember, think, and reason." In 1962 Douglas C. Engelbart released the report "Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework" which introduced, and laid the groundwork for, augmented cognition. In this paper, Engelbart defines "augmenting human intellect" as "increasing the capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation, to gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems." Modern augmented cognition began to emerge in the early 2000s | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7113944 | 107,111 |
Quebec Bridge After the bridge's completion in 1917, special passes were required for those wanting to cross the structure. Armed soldiers, and later Dominion Police, guarded the structure and checked passes until the end of the War. Construction was ultimately completed in August 1919, at a total cost of $23 million and 88 bridgeworkers' lives. On December 3, 1919, the opened for rail traffic, after almost two decades of construction. Its centre span of 549 metres (1800 ft) remains the longest cantilevered bridge span in the world and is considered a major engineering feat. The bridge was built and designed primarily as a railway bridge, but the streetcar lines (used by Quebec Railway, Light & Power Company) and one of the two railway tracks were converted into automobile and pedestrian/cycling lanes in subsequent years. In 1970 the Pierre Laporte Suspension Bridge opened just upstream to accommodate freeway traffic on Autoroute 73. The was declared a historic monument in 1987 by the Canadian and American Society of Civil Engineers, and on January 24, 1996, the bridge was declared a National Historic Site. The bridge has been featured on two commemorative postage stamps, one issued by the Post Office Department in 1929, and another by Canada Post in 1995. The bridge was built as part of the National Transcontinental Railway, which was merged into the Canadian Government Railways and later became part of the Canadian National Railway (CN) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=514037 | 195,240 |
Football Live was the name given to the project and computer system created and utilised by PA Sport to collect Real Time Statistics from major English & Scottish Football Matches and distribute to most leading media organisations. At the time of its operation, more than 99% of all football statistics displayed across Print, Internet, Radio & TV Media outlets would have been collected via Football Live. Prior to implementation of Football Live, the collection process consisted of a news reporter or press officer at each club telephoning the Press Association, relaying information on Teams, Goals and Half-Time & Full Time. The basis for was to have a representative of the Press Association (FBA - Football Analyst) at every ground. Throughout the whole match they would stay on an open line on a mobile phone to a Sports Information Processor (SIP), constantly relaying in real time statistical information for every : This information would be entered in real time and passed to our media customers. The project was in use from Season 2001/02 until the service was taken over by Opta in 2013/14 The most famous use for the data was for the Vidiprinter services on BBC & Sky Sports, allowing goals to be viewed on TV screens within 20 seconds of the event happening | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54633736 | 262,417 |
Simon Stevin These improved the efficiency of the windmills used in pumping water out of the polders by three times. He received a patent on his innovation in 1586. Stevin's aim was to bring about a second age of wisdom, in which mankind would have recovered all of its earlier knowledge. He deduced that the language spoken in this age would have had to be Dutch, because, as he showed empirically, in that language, more concepts could be indicated with monosyllabic words than in any of the (European) languages he had compared it with. This was one of the reasons why he wrote all of his works in Dutch and left the translation of them for others to do. The other reason was that he wanted his works to be practically useful to people who had not mastered the common scientific language of the time, Latin. Thanks to the Dutch language got its proper scientific vocabulary such as "" (""kunst van het gewisse of zekere"" the art of what is known or what is certain) for mathematics, "" (the "art of nature") for physics, "" (the "art of separation") for chemistry, "" (the "art of stars") for astronomy, "" (the "art of measuring") for geometry, "" ("love of wisdom") for philosophy. Stevin was the first to show how to model regular and semiregular polyhedra by delineating their frames in a plane. He also distinguished stable from unstable equilibria. Stevin contributed to trigonometry with his book, "De Driehouckhandel" | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=72586 | 330,032 |
History of technology In Europe the fiber to make pulp for making paper was obtained from linen and cotton rags. Lynn Townsend White Jr. credited the spinning wheel with increasing the supply of rags, which led to cheap paper, which was a factor in the development of printing. Before the development of modern engineering, mathematics was used by artisans and craftsmen, such as millwrights, clock makers, instrument makers and surveyors. Aside from these professions, universities were not believed to have had much practical significance to technology. A standard reference for the state of mechanical arts during the Renaissance is given in the mining engineering treatise "De re metallica" (1556), which also contains sections on geology, mining and chemistry. "De re metallica" was the standard chemistry reference for the next 180 years. Among the water powered mechanical devices in use were ore stamping mills, forge hammers, blast bellows, and suction pumps. Due to the casting of cannon, the blast furnace came into widespread use in France in the mid 15th century. The blast furnace had been used in China since the 4th century BC. The invention of the movable cast metal type printing press, whose pressing mechanism was adapted from an olive screw press, (c. 1441) lead to a tremendous increase in the number of books and the number of titles published. Movable ceramic type had been used in China for a few centuries and woodblock printing dated back even further | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=803661 | 216,741 |
Climber Motor Car Factory, Unit A Unit A of the Climber Motor Car Factory is a historic industrial building at 1823 East 17th Street in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is a large wood frame structure, topped by a gabled monitor roof. Its walls are concrete block for the bottom , and wood frame between concrete pillars above. The building was constructed in 1919 for the Climber Motor Company, the only automobile manufacturer founded in the state, and was the only part actually built of a planned multi-building complex. The company manufactured automobiles here until 1924, after which it was used by Command-Aire to build light aircraft, and by the Great Northern Paper Company to manufacture toilet paper. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48489824 | 328,486 |
Peter Flach Pieter Adriaan Flach (born 8 April 1961, Sneek) is a Dutch computer scientist and a Professor of Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bristol. Flach received an MSc Electrical Engineering from Universiteit Twente in 1987 and a PhD in Computer Science from Tilburg University in 1995. Flach's research interests are in data mining and machine learning. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10371071 | 110,680 |
Thermal conductivity In alloys the change in electrical conductivity is usually smaller and thus thermal conductivity increases with temperature, often proportionally to temperature. Many pure metals have a peak thermal conductivity between 2 K and 10 K. On the other hand, heat conductivity in nonmetals is mainly due to lattice vibrations (phonons). Except for high-quality crystals at low temperatures, the phonon mean free path is not reduced significantly at higher temperatures. Thus, the thermal conductivity of nonmetals is approximately constant at high temperatures. At low temperatures well below the Debye temperature, thermal conductivity decreases, as does the heat capacity, due to carrier scattering from defects at very low temperatures. When a material undergoes a phase change (e.g. from solid to liquid), the thermal conductivity may change abruptly. For instance, when ice melts to form liquid water at 0 °C, the thermal conductivity changes from 2.18 W/(m⋅K) to 0.56 W/(m⋅K). Even more dramatically, the thermal conductivity of a fluid diverges in the vicinity of the vapor-liquid critical point. Some substances, such as non-cubic crystals, can exhibit different thermal conductivities along different crystal axes, due to differences in phonon coupling along a given crystal axis. Sapphire is a notable example of variable thermal conductivity based on orientation and temperature, with 35 W/(m⋅K) along the c axis and 32 W/(m⋅K) along the a axis. Wood generally conducts better along the grain than across it | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59438 | 69,057 |
Colloidal probe technique The "frictional force method" relies on measurement of the approach and retract curves of the cantilever through a viscous fluid. Since the hydrodynamic drag of a sphere close to a planar substrate is known theoretically, the spring constant of the cantilever can be deduced. The "geometrical method" exploits relations between the geometry of the cantilever and its elastic properties. The separation is normally measured from the onset of the constant compliance region. While the relative surface separation can be determined with a resolution of 0.1 nm or better, the absolute surface separation is obtained from the onset of the constant compliance region. While this onset can be determined for solid samples with a precision between 0.5–2 nm, the location of this onset can be problematic for soft repulsive interactions and for deformable surfaces. For this reason, techniques have been developed to measure the surface separation independently (e.g., total internal reflection microscopy, reflection interference contrast microscopy). By scanning the sample with the colloidal probe laterally permits to exploit friction forces between the probe and the substrate. Since this technique exploits the torsion of the cantilever, to obtain quantitative data the torsional spring constant of the cantilever must be determined. A related technique involving similar type of force measurements with the AFM is the single molecular force spectroscopy | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37605500 | 334,329 |
Rashtriya e Market Service Rashtriya e-Market Services (ReMS) is established as a joint venture of Government of Karnataka (India) and NCDEX spot exchange limited with equal shareholding. It was conceived to blend public interest with the initiative of a private enterprise for establishing, operating, managing a specialized electronic trading platform called Unified Market Platform (UMP) for auctioning of farmer's produce. Department of Agricultural Marketing, ReMS and the Markets, work in close coordination to implement the reforms agenda of the State. ReMS has been striving to put in to place the best practices in the agricultural markets like Establishing Assaying facilities, cleaning and grading machinery in markets, capacity building for stakeholders etc. Primary agricultural markets in India are characterized by low efficiency due to fragmented markets, opaque bidding process, information asymmetry, indifference to quality, low transparency in market operations, lack of use of information technology, poor dissemination of market price information and limited competition. Compulsion to sell only in regulated market yards having limited infrastructure, a market loaded against the farmer, monopoly practices, restricted competition among buyers, high transaction cost, considerable post-harvest losses and a host of other unhealthy practices prevail. All these weigh against the farmers, leading to poor price realization | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59918995 | 489,619 |
Low-code development platform Some IT professionals question whether low-code development platforms are suitable for large-scale and mission-critical enterprise applications. Others have questioned whether these platforms actually make development cheaper or easier. Additionally, some CIOs have expressed concern that adopting low-code development platforms internally could lead to an increase in unsupported applications built by shadow IT. No-code development platforms are similar to low-code development platforms but require no coding at all. The line between the two is not sharp. However, there are a number of key differences: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=52977719 | 122,204 |
Sidoarjo mud flow Additionally there was no other mud volcano reported on Java after the earthquake and the main drilling site is away from the earthquake's epicenter. The intensity of the earthquake at the drilling site was estimated to have been only magnitude 2 on Richter scale, the same effect as a heavy truck passing over the area. In June 2008, a report released by British, American, Indonesian, and Australian scientists, concluded that the volcano was not a natural disaster, but the result of oil and gas drilling. On June 5, 2006, MedcoEnergi (one partner company in the Brantas PSC area) sent a letter to PT Lapindo Brantas accusing them of breaching safety procedures during the drilling process. The letter further attributes "gross negligence" to the operator company for not equipping the well bore with steel safety encasing. Soon afterwards then-vice president Jusuf Kalla announced that PT Lapindo Brantas and the owner, the Bakrie Group, would have to compensate thousands of victims affected by the mud flows. Criminal investigations were then initiated against several senior executives of the company because the drilling operation had put the lives of local people at risk. Aburizal Bakrie frequently said that he is not involved in the company's operation and further distanced himself from the incident. Even in his capacity as Minister of Welfare, Aburizal Bakrie was reluctant to visit the disaster site | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7515603 | 299,997 |
Polarization (waves) Note that the linear polarization at 45° can also be viewed as the addition of a horizontally linearly polarized wave (as in the leftmost figure) and a vertically polarized wave of the same amplitude "in the same phase". Now if one were to introduce a phase shift in between those horizontal and vertical polarization components, one would generally obtain elliptical polarization as is shown in the third figure. When the phase shift is exactly ±90°, then "circular polarization" is produced (fourth and fifth figures). Thus is circular polarization created in practice, starting with linearly polarized light and employing a quarter-wave plate to introduce such a phase shift. The result of two such phase-shifted components in causing a rotating electric field vector is depicted in the animation on the right. Note that circular or elliptical polarization can involve either a clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of the field. These correspond to distinct polarization states, such as the two circular polarizations shown above. Of course the orientation of the "x" and "y" axes used in this description is arbitrary. The choice of such a coordinate system and viewing the polarization ellipse in terms of the "x" and "y" polarization components, corresponds to the definition of the Jones vector (below) in terms of those basis polarizations. One would typically choose axes to suit a particular problem such as "x" being in the plane of incidence | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41564 | 379,622 |
Gene therapy In 1994, gene therapy was a plot element in "The Erlenmeyer Flask", the first-season finale of "The X-Files"; it is also used in "Stargate" as a means of allowing humans to use Ancient technology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12891 | 223,892 |
Alley (company) Saltzman announced that the location would serve as Alley's flagship location. The newest space, located in Chelsea, was the first to be professionally designed by an architectural firm, Echo Design + Architecture. Alley announced an agreement with Verizon to develop a number of coworking spaces under the name "Alley powered by Verizon". In June 2017, the company opened two new locations under the Verizon-powered brand. One was located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while the second was set in Washington, D.C. on L Street NW. Through the same agreement, Alley also operates a coworking space in Alley's Chelsea flagship location specifically catering to companies researching the intersection between 5G wireless communication and virtual reality technology. The Chelsea facility was split into a portion exclusively operated by Alley and another operating as "powered by Verizon". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=57161796 | 469,257 |
Audio system measurements are made for several purposes. Designers take measurements so that they can specify the performance of a piece of equipment. Maintenance engineers make them to ensure equipment is still working to specification, or to ensure that the cumulative defects of an audio path are within limits considered acceptable. Some aspects of measurement and specification relate only to intended usage. often accommodate psychoacoustic principles to measure the system in a way that relates to human hearing. Subjectively valid methods came to prominence in consumer audio in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, when the introduction of compact cassette tape, dbx and Dolby noise reduction techniques revealed the unsatisfactory nature of many basic engineering measurements. The specification of weighted CCIR-468 quasi-peak noise, and weighted quasi-peak wow and flutter became particularly widely used and attempts were made to find more valid methods for distortion measurement. Measurements based on psychoacoustics, such as the measurement of noise, often use a weighting filter. It is well established that human hearing is more sensitive to some frequencies than others, as demonstrated by equal-loudness contours, but it is not well appreciated that these contours vary depending on the type of sound. The measured curves for pure tones, for instance, are different from those for random noise | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=302052 | 219,320 |
The Center for Palladian Studies in America, Inc. (CPSA) engages in research and other activities relating to the work of architect Andrea Palladio. CPSA was founded as a national non-profit membership corporation in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1979. Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) is often referred to as the most influential architect in history. He designed country villas, urban palaces, churches and bridges in the Veneto region of Italy in the late Renaissance period. Palladio's greatest impact arose from publication (Venice, 1570) of his treatise entitled "I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura" [The Four Books on Architecture]. "Palladiana: Journal of the Center for Palladian Studies in America, Inc.", is published semi-annually. The Center's books include the 3-volume "Building by the Book" series edited by Mario di Valmarana and "Palladio and America: Selected Papers Presented to the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura" (1997), edited by Christopher Weeks. Grants have supported publication of Douglas Lewis’ "The Drawings of Andrea Palladio" (2nd ed., 2000) and Bryan Clark Green’s "In Jefferson’s Shadow: The Architecture of Thomas R. Blackburn" (2006). Other grants supported creation of the Mario di Valmarana Professorship in the University of Virginia School of Architecture and a National Register Report on Battersea, the important 1768 Palladian-style house in Petersburg, Virginia. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23363089 | 273,698 |
Monochloramine While chloramination produces fewer regulated total halogenated disinfection by-products, it can produce greater concentrations of unregulated iodinated disinfection byproducts and "N"-nitrosodimethylamine. Both iodinated disinfection by-products and "N"-nitrosodimethylamine have been shown to be genotoxic, causing damage to the genetic information within a cell resulting in mutations which may lead to cancer. Chloramine is a highly unstable compound in concentrated form. Pure chloramine decomposes violently above . Gaseous chloramine at low pressures and low concentrations of chloramine in aqueous solution are thermally slightly more stable. Chloramine is readily soluble in water and ether, but less soluble in chloroform and carbon tetrachloride. In dilute aqueous solution, chloramine is prepared by the reaction of ammonia with sodium hypochlorite: This reaction is also the first step of the Olin Raschig process for hydrazine synthesis. The reaction has to be carried out in a slightly alkaline medium (pH 8.5–11). The acting chlorinating agent in this reaction is hypochlorous acid (HOCl), which has to be generated by protonation of hypochlorite, and then reacts in a nucleophilic substitution of the hydroxyl against the amino group. The reaction occurs quickest at around pH 8. At higher pH values the concentration of hypochlorous acid is lower, at lower pH values ammonia is protonated to form ammonium ions (), which do not react further | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4282921 | 366,547 |
Pressurized wall Pressurized walls are temporary walls built with reams of " (6 mm) to " (16 mm) sheet rock (plasterboard), metal 2 × 3s (approx. 5 × 7 cm) or 2 × 4s, or taped, plastered and compounded. Most installation companies utilize lattice strips of wood to cover the joints of the above drywall. After the frame-out process, 1" (32 mm) sheet rock screws are used to attach the drywall to the pressurized 2×4s that contact the floor, the ceiling and the sides of the property's walls. In order to prevent structural or architectural damage, only T-nuts and leveling screw pads are used on those studs. No additional fasteners or adhesives are used to add stability to the frame work. Generally, hollow core doors or French style doors are recommended to prevent weight overload and/or shifting of a pressurized wall. Completed walls are often painted the same color as existing walls. With the development of technologies, pressurized walls and temporary walls in general are getting more and more stable and reliable. Many landlords used to allow tenants to construct pressurized walls as long as they remove the walls before vacating the apartment. As a result, pressurized walls became especially popular in New York City, where the high cost of real estate leads many tenants to use such walls to create extra bedrooms, home offices or walk-in closets. In mid-2010, New York City authorities started demanding that such walls be removed because they contravene building codes and can pose safety hazards | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5795808 | 332,421 |
Allstate (In 1952 and 1953, Sears also sold an automobile called Allstate.) In 1967, the company's home office was moved from Skokie to Northbrook, Illinois. continued to sell additional types of insurance to customers throughout the decade, including worker's compensation insurance in 1964, surety bonds in 1966, inland-marine coverage in 1967 and a business package policy in 1969. The brand itself expanded in the 1950s and 1960s and could be found on a variety of products like fire extinguishers and motor scooters. In 1952, an car was produced, but it was a flop; it was pulled from stores by 1953. The brand was eventually limited to insurance, tires, and car batteries by the late 1960s before becoming insurance-only in the mid-1970s. In 1991, the company went public before becoming completely independent in 1995. In 1984, Neighborhood Office Agent program was introduced to make agents more accessible to customers. In 1985, began to move agents out of Sears stores and locate agents in neighborhood offices. In June 1993, 19.8% of became public through a stock offering. became completely independent in June 1995, when Sears spun off the remaining 80% stake in the company, distributing 350.5 million shares of stock to its stockholders. In 1993, went public when Sears sold 19.8% of the company. At the time, it was the largest IPO to date. In 1996, their website www.allstate.com was launched. In 1999, unveiled a new business model that created a single contract for exclusive, independent agents selling insurance | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=797063 | 476,892 |
Recording at the edge If, however, you use recording at the edge, and use pre-alarm recording configured to 5 seconds pre- and 10 seconds post-alarm, then assuming 20 alarms per day you will transmit a much lower total of around 40 Megabytes of video. The same 11 GB will still be recorded locally but only 40 MB, or 0.4% of it, will touch the network. In those instances where the pre-alarm video is not long enough, it is comforting to know that the original complete video is always available, recorded at the edge. In situations where the network bandwidth is severely limited, recording at the edge is a savior for high quality recorded video but it does not solve the challenge of needing to view live video over a restricted network. Some encoders support dual streaming. This is a concept that enables the encoder to deliver two totally independent streams of video, separately configured for different frame rates and video resolutions. Typically for limited bandwidth networks one high quality stream is used for local recording, and a lower quality, which translates to a lower bit rate, is used for viewing live. Conversely for high bandwidth networks, the same stream will be used to record locally and centrally, and Automatic Network Replenishment is used to fill any gaps in the centralized recording dues to network interruptions. A major justification for centralized storage is that we can use enormous RAID disk arrays, reducing the cost per terabyte. These cost savings must be balanced against the advantages above | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13912249 | 404,607 |
Boiling water reactor safety systems HPCI is powered by steam from the reactor, and takes approximately 10 seconds to spin up from an initiating signal, and can deliver approximately 19,000 L/min (5,000 US gal/min) to the core at any core pressure above 6.8 atm (690 kPa, 100 psi). This is usually enough to keep water levels sufficient to avoid automatic depressurization except in a major contingency, such as a large break in the makeup water line. HPCI is also able to be run in "pressure control mode", where the HPCI turbine is run without pumping water to the reactor vessel. This allows HPCI to remove steam from the reactor and slowly depressurize it without the need for operating the safety or relief valves. This minimizes the number of times the relief valves need to operate, and reduces the potential for one sticking open and causing a small LOCA. Versioning note: Some BWR/5s and the BWR/6 replace the steam-turbine driven HPCI pump with the AC-powered high-pressure core spray (HPCS); ABWR replaces HPCI with high-pressure core flooder (HPCF), a mode of the RCIC system, as described below. (E)SBWR does not have an equivalent system as it primarily uses passive safety cooling systems, though ESBWR does offer an alternative active high-pressure injection method using an operating mode of the Control Rod Drive System (CRDS) to supplement the passive system. Some reactors, including some BWR/2 and BWR/3 plants, and the (E)SBWR series of reactors, have a passive system called the Isolation Condenser | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31039221 | 382,340 |
Dana 44 The Dana/Spicer Model 44 is an automotive axle manufactured by Dana Holding Corporation and is used extensively among automobile manufacturers and in the automotive aftermarket area as well. The was first manufactured in the 1940s and is still being manufactured today, both front and rear axle variants. The has been manufactured as a beam axle and independent suspension for both front and rear axle setups. There are also different variations of the Dana 44. Over a dozen automobile manufacturers have made vehicles that have axles, including Jeep which currently manufactures four-wheel drive vehicles that have both front and rear axles. On some differentials only the high speed 2.72–3.73 carrier is used for all gear sets up to 5.89 (JK, Nissan or when thick gears are used) The Front axle first saw use in the 1950s and still in use today. Front axles were known for utilizing locking hubs or a center axle disconnect system. However, a permanently locked-in is not uncommon. The has seen use in 1/4-, 1/2-, 3/4-, and 1-ton rated trucks. The was manufactured in kingpin and ball joint variations, as well as closed and open knuckle variations. In the 1960s, Jeep used a unique IFS setup, that was short lived. In the 1980s and 1990s, Ford used a form of IFS known as "Twin Traction Beam" (TTB). This had no axle tubes but attached to the driver side traction beam, which also acted as a cover plate, and had "open air" axles which traveled through the beams to the spindles | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23585809 | 210,494 |
Lightspeed (company) Known for hosting numerous retail innovation seminars, these events were organized to encourage business owners to meet and exchange ideas, insights and best practices with the goal of improving the in-store shopping experiences they offered. In July 2013, the company launched Lightspeed Retail, an HTML5 web-based product that can be used from any computer. The product was created by MerchantOS, a Lightspeed acquired point-of-sale software developer. Lightspeed's customers processed $7.5 billion in 2013. On June 18, 2014, Lightspeed announced the addition of Advanced Analytics to Lightspeed Retail’s feature roster. Generating over 40 reports that provide real-time sales, employee, payment, vendor, inventory and customer data; the insights retailers could gain would help them easily spot trends and make better business decisions. The type of data analysis the feature yields is comparable to that of wide-scale ERP or business intelligence solutions, but is far more affordable and easier to understand. In September 2014, Lightspeed closed a $35 million investment round led by iNovia Capital That month, Lightspeed partnered with Vantiv, a payment processing and technology solutions provider, to develop a payment platform that lets users make transactions within Lightspeed's software. The following month, Lightspeed acquired POSIOS, a Belgium-based mobile hospitality point-of-sale company, to expand into the restaurant industry. By October 2014, Lightspeed served 21,000 businesses and processed $8 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44627885 | 475,252 |
RapidIO Flow Control packets can also be used as a generic mechanism for managing system resources. The Globally Shared Memory specification defines packet formats and protocols for operating a cache coherent shared memory system over a network. The Data Streaming specification supports messaging with different packet formats and semantics than the Messaging specification. Data Streaming packet formats support the transfer of up to 64K of data, segmented over multiple packets. Each transfer is associated with a Class of Service and Stream Identifier, enabling thousands of unique flows between endpoints. The Data Streaming specification also defines Extended Header flow control packet formats and semantics to manage performance within a client-server system. Each client uses extended header flow control packets to inform the server of the amount of work that could be sent to the server. The server responds with extended header flow control packets that use XON/XOFF, rate, or credit based protocols to control how quickly and how much work the client sends to the server. Systems with a known topology can be initialized in a system specific manner without affecting interoperability. The system initialization specification supports system initialization when system topology is unknown or dynamic. System initialization algorithms support the presence of redundant hosts, so system initialization need not have a single point of failure | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1452173 | 261,150 |
Write combining (WC) is a computer bus technique for allowing data to be combined and temporarily stored in a buffer the write combine buffer (WCB) to be released together later in burst mode instead of writing (immediately) as single bits or small chunks. cannot be used for general memory access (data or code regions) due to the weak ordering. Write-combining does not guarantee that the combination of writes and reads is done in the expected order. For example, a Write/Read/Write combination to a specific address would lead to the write combining order of Read/Write/Write which can lead to obtaining wrong values with the first read (which potentially relies on the write before). In order to avoid the problem of read/write order described above, the write buffer can be treated as a fully associative cache and added into the memory hierarchy of the device in which it is implemented. Adding complexity slows down the memory hierarchy so this technique is often only used for memory which does not need strong ordering (always correct) like the frame buffers of video cards. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7076238 | 107,074 |
Flight dynamics (fixed-wing aircraft) C is known as the induced drag coefficient and it is produced by the body lift. A good attempt for the induced drag coefficient is to assume a parabolic dependency of the lift Aerodynamic efficiency is now calculated as: If the configuration of the plane is symmetrical respect to the XY plane, minimum drag coefficient equals to the parasitic drag of the plane. In case the configuration is asymmetrical respect to the XY plane, however, minimum flag differs from the parasitic drag. On these cases, a new approximate parabolic drag equation can be traced leaving the minimum drag value at zero lift value. The Coefficient of pressure varies with Mach number by the relation given below: where This relation is reasonably accurate for 0.3 < M < 0.7 and when "M = 1" it becomes ∞ which is impossible physical situation and is called Prandtl–Glauert singularity. see Aerodynamic force see Longitudinal static stability Directional or weathercock stability is concerned with the static stability of the airplane about the z axis. Just as in the case of longitudinal stability it is desirable that the aircraft should tend to return to an equilibrium condition when subjected to some form of yawing disturbance. For this the slope of the yawing moment curve must be positive. An airplane possessing this mode of stability will always point towards the relative wind, hence the name weathercock stability | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=221400 | 222,866 |
Photographic studio However, not everyone could afford it as they were quite expensive and dangerous. These flashes were also known as 'hot lights' and could have exploded. By 1860s they were in common use in professional studios. 'Tungsten Lights' or 'Hot Lights' were still in use. In around 70s even smaller studios got access to flash lights or strobes. People tried many things from time to time when setting up studios to cope up with different hurdles in photography. However lighting was a big hurdle. Flash powder was the first means of artificial lighting that allowed to produce sufficient brightness to capture the action of the film . However this industry developed at a faster rate. With advancement in camera lenses, lighting and other techniques and equipment, studio photography gained hold and it became quite easier to produce images within a studio. The first commercial use of photography was in the production of portraits. Photography replaced painting completely by 40s. with fully equipped studios in existence. The photography process was much shorter and simple as compared to painting, in which the subject and even the painter used to suffer. 'Calotypes' was introduced in 1840s. With the introduction of calotypes the production of negative enabled the photographers to print as many copies as customer required, hence strengthening the very base for the studios. In 1850s small portraits called 'Ambrotypes' were being produced | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2916361 | 478,526 |
Authoritarian socialism Praised as a political intellect, theorist, military strategist, poet and visionary, Mao has been variously described as a "great historical criminal", "both monster and a genius", who was also "a great force for good", a "great leader in history" and a "great criminal" as well as "one of the great tyrants of the twentieth century", comparable to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, with a death toll surpassing both. However, others reject those comparisons, arguing that whereas the deaths caused by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were largely systematic and deliberate, the overwhelming majority of the deaths under Mao were unintended consequences of famine, noting that the landlord class was not exterminated as a people due to his belief in redemption through thought reform. Mao has been compared to 19th-century Chinese reformers who challenged China's traditional beliefs in the era of China's clashes with Western colonial powers as well as to United States President Andrew Jackson | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33526804 | 505,369 |
Ventilation (architecture) Ventilation should be considered for its relationship to "venting" for appliances and combustion equipment such as water heaters, furnaces, boilers, and wood stoves. Most importantly, the design of building ventilation must be careful to avoid the backdraft of combustion products from "naturally vented" appliances into the occupied space. This issue is of greater importance for buildings with more air tight envelopes. To avoid the hazard, many modern combustion appliances utilize "direct venting" which draws combustion air directly from outdoors, instead of from the indoor environment. The ventilation rate, for CII buildings, is normally expressed by the volumetric flowrate of outdoor air, introduced to the building. The typical units used are cubic feet per minute (CFM) or liters per second (L/s). The ventilation rate can also be expressed on a per person or per unit floor area basis, such as CFM/p or CFM/ft², or as "air changes per hour" (ACH). For residential buildings, which mostly rely on infiltration for meeting their ventilation needs, a common ventilation rate measure is the air change rate (or air changes per hour): the hourly ventilation rate divided by the volume of the space ("I" or "ACH"; units of 1/h). During the winter, ACH may range from 0.50 to 0.41 in a tightly air-sealed house to 1.11 to 1.47 in a loosely air-sealed house. ASHRAE now recommends ventilation rates dependent upon floor area, as a revision to the 62-2001 standard, in which the minimum ACH was 0 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=529891 | 430,381 |
Evolution In general, macroevolution is regarded as the outcome of long periods of microevolution. Thus, the distinction between micro- and macroevolution is not a fundamental one—the difference is simply the time involved. However, in macroevolution, the traits of the entire species may be important. For instance, a large amount of variation among individuals allows a species to rapidly adapt to new habitats, lessening the chance of it going extinct, while a wide geographic range increases the chance of speciation, by making it more likely that part of the population will become isolated. In this sense, microevolution and macroevolution might involve selection at different levels—with microevolution acting on genes and organisms, versus macroevolutionary processes such as species selection acting on entire species and affecting their rates of speciation and extinction. A common misconception is that evolution has goals, long-term plans, or an innate tendency for "progress", as expressed in beliefs such as orthogenesis and evolutionism; realistically however, evolution has no long-term goal and does not necessarily produce greater complexity. Although complex species have evolved, they occur as a side effect of the overall number of organisms increasing and simple forms of life still remain more common in the biosphere. For example, the overwhelming majority of species are microscopic prokaryotes, which form about half the world's biomass despite their small size, and constitute the vast majority of Earth's biodiversity | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9236 | 189,777 |
Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council The (PPARC) was one of a number of research councils in the United Kingdom. It directed, coordinated and funded research in particle physics and astronomy for the people of the UK. Its head office was at Polaris House in Swindon, Wiltshire, but it also operated three scientific sites: the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) in Edinburgh, the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) in La Palma and the Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC) in Hawaii. It published the "Frontiers" magazine three times a year, containing news and highlights of the research and outreach programmes it supports. The PPARC was formed in April 1994 when the Science and Engineering Research Council was split into several organizations; other products of the split included the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). In April 2007, it merged with the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) and the nuclear physics portion of the EPSRC to form the new Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). PPARC previously published a magazine called "Frontiers", . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=475425 | 5,330 |
Like button The votes contribute to posters' and commenters' "karma" (Reddit's name for a user's overall rating). Alongside "retweets", Twitter users could "favorite" posts made on the service, indicated by a gold star symbol (). In November 2015, to alleviate user confusion and put the function more in line with other social networks, the "favorite" function was renamed "like", and its button was changed from a star symbol to a heart (). VK like buttons for posts, comments, media and external sites operate in a different way from Facebook. Liked content doesn't get automatically pushed to the user's wall, but is saved in the (private) Favorites section instead. Instagram like button is indicated by a heart symbol, users can use the like button by double tapping on a post they like and there is no limit to number of posts they want to double tap. In July 2019, Instagram conducted a test of hiding a number of likes on users posts from followers, meaning that users can see the count of likes but not their followers. The TikTok like button is indicated by a heart symbol, and users can use the like button by double tapping on a post they like, similar to Instagram. Liked content can be accessed via the "Liked" tab on a user's profile. In 2017, a man was fined 4,000 Swiss francs by a Swiss regional court for liking defamatory messages on Facebook written by other people which criticized an activist. According to the court, the defendant "clearly endorsed the unseemly content and made it his own". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32953720 | 128,385 |
Stefan Tyszkiewicz Stefan Eugeniusz Tyszkiewicz, in Polish, Stefan Eugeniusz Maria Tyszkiewicz-Łohojski z Landwarowa, Leliwa coat of arms, (born 24 November 1894 in Warsaw, died 6 February 1976 in London) was a member of the Polish nobility, landowner, engineer, inventor and an early pioneer of the Polish automotive industry. He was a decorated veteran of both World Wars and the Polish-Bolshevik War and social activist. After 1945, he became an exile, turned to publishing and politics as a member of the Polish National Council in London. He was an internationally feted inventor to the end of his life. Stefan was the first born son, and second child of four, of Count Władysław Tyszkiewicz and his wife, Princess Krystyna Maria Lubomirska. The family were not merely members of the nobility, but had been magnates, and Stefan was to be the final heir to the estate of Landwarow in what is present day Lithuania. His older sister, Zofia Róża, was famed as a great beauty and married Count Klemens Potocki. Already in childhood, Stefan showed a remarkable aptitude for technology. At the age of 14 years, he managed to gain a professional driving permit in Milan. In 1911, at only 17, he took out patents for two heating systems, one for cars, the other for flying machines. In 1913 he began undergraduate studies in engineering at Oxford University. He was in Poland, during his first summer vacation from Oxford, when WW I was declared | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49575742 | 444,176 |
Man After Man The genetically engineered humans of the future, in total numbering about 40 species through the book, occur in several different and diverse forms, with genetically engineered forms first being slave races created to survive underwater and in space without the need of protective gear and suits, described as the "ultimate triumphs of the genetic engineer". Eventually, modern humanity dies out and technology disappears. With subsequent human species having been engineered to be unintelligent and animal-like in order to repopulate the Earth's ecosystems, concepts like culture and civilization disappear and the lives of most human descendants revolve around gathering food and surviving the harsh conditions of nature. Dixon's previous speculative evolution book projects, "After Man" (1981) and "The New Dinosaurs" (1988), used fictional examples to exemplify real-life factual natural processes. "After Man" focuses on the processes within evolution and projects them into a hypothetical future scenario set 50 million years after the extinction of mankind, where various hypothetical future animal species are used to explain the concepts within evolution. "The New Dinosaurs", meanwhile, focuses on the science of zoogeography, using fictional species in a world where the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event never happened to explain the process. Initially, "Man After Man" was intended to be a project where fictional examples would be used to explain factual processes, like the previous books | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3202072 | 148,297 |
Forensic electrical engineering Some electrical means of ignition, when discovered, are fairly obvious to an origin and cause investigator and most likely do not require consulting with a forensic electrical engineer. (Note that "arson" refers specifically to a criminal act, subject to criminal prosecution; a more general term is a "set fire". A homeowner setting a fire deliberately in order to defraud an insurance company might be prosecuted for arson by a government body; however, the insurance company would concern itself only with denying the insurance claim, possibly leading to a civil lawsuit.) Patent disputes may also require the expert opinion of an electrical engineer to advise a court. Issues in conflict may include the precise meaning of technical terms, especially in the patent claims, the prior art in a particular product field and the obviousness of various patents. Most states have a statute of ultimate repose (similar to, but not to be confused with, a statute of limitations) that limits the length of time after which a party can legally be held liable for their negligent act or defective product. Many states have a "useful life" statute of ultimate repose. Therefore, a determination of the length of time the product would normally be expected to be used before wearing out needs to be made. For example, a refrigerator might have a longer "useful life" than an electric fan; an airplane might have a longer useful life than a car. Some states pick an arbitrary number of years for the statute of ultimate repose | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4995149 | 271,380 |
Hypervalent molecule A hypervalent molecule (the phenomenon is sometimes colloquially known as expanded octet) is a molecule that contains one or more main group elements apparently bearing more than eight electrons in their valence shells. Phosphorus pentachloride (PCl), sulfur hexafluoride (SF), chlorine trifluoride (ClF), the chlorite (ClO) ion, and the triiodide (I) ion are examples of hypervalent molecules. Hypervalent molecules were first formally defined by Jeremy I. Musher in 1969 as molecules having central atoms of group 15–18 in any valence other than the lowest (i.e. 3, 2, 1, 0 for Groups 15, 16, 17, 18 respectively, based on the octet rule). Several specific classes of hypervalent molecules exist: N-X-L nomenclature, introduced collaboratively by the research groups of Martin, Arduengo, and Kochi in 1980, is often used to classify hypervalent compounds of main group elements, where: Examples of N-X-L nomenclature include: The debate over the nature and classification of hypervalent molecules goes back to Gilbert N. Lewis and Irving Langmuir and the debate over the nature of the chemical bond in the 1920s. Lewis maintained the importance of the two-center two-electron (2c-2e) bond in describing hypervalence, thus using expanded octets to account for such molecules. Using the language of orbital hybridization, the bonds of molecules like PF and SF were said to be constructed from spd orbitals on the central atom | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1085606 | 38,898 |
Domestic roof construction The United States still uses imperial units of measurement and framing members are typically spaced sixteen or twenty-four inches apart. The roof framing may be interrupted for openings such as a chimney or skylight. Chimneys are typically built with a water diverter known as a "cricket" or "saddle" above the chimney. Flashing is used to seal the gap between the chimney and roofing material. A simple rafter roof consists of rafters that the "rafter foot" rest on horizontal wall plates on top of each wall. The top ends of the rafters often meet at a "ridge beam", but may butt directly to another rafter to form a pair of rafters called a "couple". Depending on the roof covering material, either horizontal laths, battens, or purlins are fixed to the rafters; or boards, plywood, or oriented strand board form the "roof deck" (also called the sheeting or sheathing) to support the roof covering. Heavier "under purlins" or "purlin plates" are used to support longer rafter spans. Tie beams, which may also serve as ceiling joists, are typically connected between the lower ends of opposite rafters to prevent them from spreading and forcing the walls apart. Collar beams or collar ties may be fixed higher up between opposite rafters for extra strength. The rafters, tie beams and plates serve to transmit the weight of the roof to the walls of the building Pre-manufactured roof trusses come in a wide variety of styles. They are designed by the manufacturer for each specific building | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4635477 | 357,600 |
Peptide YY (PYY) also known as peptide tyrosine tyrosine is a peptide that in humans is encoded by the PYY gene. is a short (36-amino acid) peptide released from cells in the ileum and colon in response to feeding. In the blood, gut, and other elements of periphery, PYY acts to reduce appetite; similarly, when injected directly into the central nervous system, PYY is also anorexigenic, i.e., it reduces appetite. Dietary fibers from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, consumed, increase the speed of transit of intestinal chyme into the ileum, to raise PYY, and induce satiety. can be produced as the result of enzymatic breakdown of crude fish proteins and ingested as a food product. is related to the pancreatic peptide family by having 18 of its 36 amino acids located in the same positions as pancreatic peptide. The two major forms of peptide YY are PYY and PYY, which have PP fold structural motifs. However, the most common form of circulating PYY immunoreactivity is PYY, which binds to the Y receptor (Y2R) of the Y family of receptors. (PYY) is a linear polypeptide consisting of 34 amino acids with structural homology to NPY and pancreatic polypeptide. PYY is found in L cells in the mucosa of gastrointestinal tract, especially in ileum and colon. Also, a small amount of PYY, about 1-10%, is found in the esophagus, stomach, duodenum and jejunum. PYY concentration in the circulation increases postprandially (after food ingestion) and decreases by fasting | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5708805 | 183,239 |
Closed-circuit television With the addition of fixed cameras for the active traffic management system, the number of cameras on the Highways Agency's CCTV network is likely to increase significantly over the next few years. The London congestion charge is enforced by cameras positioned at the boundaries of and inside the congestion charge zone, which automatically read the licence plates of cars. If the driver does not pay the charge then a fine will be imposed. Similar systems are being developed as a means of locating cars reported stolen. Other surveillance cameras serve as traffic enforcement cameras. In Mecca, CCTV camera's are used for monitoring (and thus managing) the flow of crowds. In the Philippines, barangay San Antonio used CCTV cameras and artificial intelligence software to detect the formation of crowds during an outbreak of a disease. Security personnel was send out whenever a crowd was formed at a particular location in the city. A CCTV system may be installed where any example, on a driver-only operated train CCTV cameras may allow the driver to confirm that people are clear of doors before closing them and starting the train. A trial by RET in 2011 with facial recognition cameras mounted on trams made sure that people that were banned from the city trams did not sneak on anyway. Many sporting events in the United States use CCTV inside the venue for fans to see the action while they are away from their seats | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=87179 | 408,480 |
Elicitus software is a desktop authoring tool. An authoring tool is used by trainers, educators and subject matter experts for creating elearning courses. has been designed and developed by Harbinger Knowledge Products and was first launched in 2005. is a SCORM/AICC and Section 508 guidelines compliant tool. It contains about 200 standard layout templates which can be customized by the user. allows videos (AVI, MPG, SWF) to be added to the courses. For assessment, the trainers can create and administer quizzes using multiple types of questions like multiple choice, True/False, match the pairs etc. Trainers can also import their Powerpoint presentations into and convert the slides into a course. Besides English, is available in Arabic and Chinese versions. has won the Best Authoring Tool award at LearnX Australia, in 2008 & 2009. Sale of Elictus has been terminated by the end of 2017 according to elictus.com. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37523451 | 98,810 |
Shift work sleep disorder In the transportation industry, safety is a major concern, and mandated hours of service rules attempt to enforce rest times. The light-dark cycle is the most important environmental time cue for entraining circadian rhythms of most species, including humans, and bright artificial light exposure has been developed as a method to improve circadian adaptation in night workers. The timing of bright light exposure is critical for its phase shifting effects. To maximize a delay of the body clock, bright light exposure should occur in the evening or first part of the night, and bright light should be avoided in the morning. Wearing dark goggles (avoiding bright light) or blue-blocking goggles during the morning commute home from work can improve circadian adaptation. For workers who want to use bright light therapy, appropriate fixtures of the type used to treat winter depression are readily available but patients need to be educated regarding their appropriate use, especially the issue of timing. Bright light treatment is not recommended for patients with light sensitivity or ocular disease. Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland in darkness, normally at night. Its production is suppressed by light exposure, principally blue light around 460 to 480 nm. Light restriction, or dark therapy, in the hours before bedtime allows its production. Dark therapy does not require total darkness. Amber or orange colored goggles eliminate blue light to the eyes while allowing vision | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5632946 | 454,985 |
Carbon nanofoam Synthesis clusters can be synthesized through high-repetition-rate laser ablation in an inert gas such as argon. Short (fs), low-energy (µJ) pulses delivered at rates of high repetition (10 kHz – 100 MHz) generate carbon vapors for deposition. Ambient gas is heated from room temperature with the atomized carbon which leads to an increase in the partial density of the carbon in the chamber. In optimal conditions, the inert gas does not cool down but maintains its high temperature between cycles of formation. Subsequent cycles in the chamber are carried out at temperatures above the formation threshold temperature initiating sp bonding. The increase in density and temperature promotes favorable conditions for the formation of carbonaceous clusters. The rate of consumption exceeds the rate of evaporation by laser ablation and thus the formation is in a non-equilibrium state. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=739628 | 24,850 |
Instrumentation amplifier Obtaining very closely matched resistors is a significant difficulty in fabricating these circuits, as is optimizing the common mode performance. An instrumentation amp can also be built with two op-amps to save on cost, but the gain must be higher than two (+6 dB). Instrumentation amplifiers can be built with individual op-amps and precision resistors, but are also available in integrated circuit form from several manufacturers (including Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, Linear Technology and Maxim Integrated Products). An IC instrumentation amplifier typically contains closely matched laser-trimmed resistors, and therefore offers excellent common-mode rejection. Examples include INA128, AD8221, LT1167 and MAX4194. Instrumentation Amplifiers can also be designed using "Indirect Current-feedback Architecture", which extend the operating range of these amplifiers to the negative power supply rail, and in some cases the positive power supply rail. This can be particularly useful in single-supply systems, where the negative power rail is simply the circuit ground (GND). Examples of parts utilizing this architecture are MAX4208/MAX4209 and AD8129/AD8130. Feedback-free instrumentation amplifier is the high input impedance differential amplifier designed without the external feedback network. This allows reduction in the number of amplifiers (one instead of three), reduced noise (no thermal noise is brought on by the feedback resistors) and increased bandwidth (no frequency compensation is needed) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=320233 | 420,389 |
Reality The concept was first introduced by Paul Milgram. The area between the two extremes, where both the real and the virtual are mixed, is the so-called Mixed reality. This in turn is said to consist of both Augmented Reality, where the virtual augments the real, and Augmented virtuality, where the real augments the virtual. Cyberspace, the world's computer systems considered as an interconnected whole, can be thought of as a virtual reality; for instance, it is portrayed as such in the cyberpunk fiction of William Gibson and others. Second life and MMORPGs such as "World of Warcraft" are examples of artificial environments or virtual worlds (falling some way short of full virtual reality) in cyberspace. On the Internet, "real life" refers to life in the real world. It generally references life or consensus reality, in contrast to an environment seen as fiction or fantasy, such as virtual reality, lifelike experience, dreams, novels, or movies. Online, the acronym "IRL" stands for "in real life", with the meaning "not on the Internet". Sociologists engaged in the study of the Internet have determined that someday, a distinction between online and real-life worlds may seem "quaint", noting that certain types of online activity, such as sexual intrigues, have already made a full transition to complete legitimacy and "reality". The abbreviation "RL" stands for "real life". For example, one can speak of "meeting in RL" someone whom one has met in a chat or on an Internet forum | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43854 | 304,227 |
River linking River Linking is a project of linking two or more rivers by creating a network of manually created reservoirs and canals, and providing land areas that otherwise does not have river water access and reducing the flow of water to sea using this means. It is based on the assumptions that surplus water in some rivers can be diverted to deficit rivers by creating a network of canals to interconnect the rivers. For an instance, in India the rainfall over the country is primarily orographic, associated with tropical depressions originating in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The summer monsoon accounts for more than 85 per cent of the precipitation. The uncertainty of occurrence of rainfall marked by prolonged dry spells and fluctuations in seasonal and annual rainfall is a serious problem for the country. Large parts of Haryana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are not only in deficit in rainfall but also subject to large variations, resulting in frequent droughts and causing immense hardship to the population and enormous loss to the nation. The water availability even for drinking purposes becomes critical, particularly in the summer months as the rivers dry up and the ground water recedes. Regional variations in the rainfall lead to situations when some parts of the country do not have enough water even for raising a single crop. On the other hand, excess rainfall occurring in some parts of the country creates havoc due to floods | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24900031 | 211,062 |
Molar concentration (also called molarity, amount concentration or substance concentration) is a measure of the concentration of a chemical species, in particular of a solute in a solution, in terms of amount of substance per unit volume of solution. In chemistry, the most commonly used unit for molarity is the number of moles per litre, having the unit symbol mol/L or mol⋅dm in SI unit. A solution with a concentration of 1 mol/L is said to be 1-molar, commonly designated as 1 M. To avoid confusion with SI prefix mega, which has the same abbreviation, small caps ᴍ or italicized "M" are also used in journals and textbooks. or molarity is most commonly expressed in units of moles of solute per litre of solution. For use in broader applications, it is defined as amount of substance of solute per unit volume of solution, or per unit volume available to the species, represented by lowercase "c": Here, "n" is the amount of the solute in moles, "N" is the number of constituent particles present in volume "V" (in litres) of the solution, and "N" is the Avogadro constant, since 20 May 2019, by definition, exactly 6.022 140 76 mol. The ratio "N/V" is the number concentration "C". In thermodynamics the use of molar concentration is often not convenient because the volume of most solutions slightly depends on temperature due to thermal expansion. This problem is usually resolved by introducing temperature correction factors, or by using a temperature-independent measure of concentration such as molality | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=276106 | 35,794 |
Pollination network Similar to the relationship between network complexity and network nestedness, the amount of asymmetry in specialization increases as the number of interactions increases. Another feature that is common in pollination networks is modularity. Modularity occurs when certain groups of species within a network are much more highly connected to each other than they are with the rest of the network, with weak interactions connecting different modules. Within modules it has been shown that individual species play certain roles. Highly specialized species often only interact with individuals within their own module and are known as ‘peripheral species’; more generalized species can be thought of as ‘hubs’ within their own module, with interactions between many different species; there are also species which are very generalized which can act as ‘connectors’ between their own module and other modules. A study of three separate networks, all of which showed modularity, revealed that hub species were always plants and not the insect pollinators. Previous work has found that networks will become nested at a smaller size (number of species) than that where networks frequently become modular. There is substantial interest into the robustness of pollination networks to species loss and collapse, especially due to anthropogenic factors such as habitat destruction. The structure of a network is thought to affect how long it is able to persist after species decline begins | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44403744 | 159,555 |
Stargate Atlantis It was ideal for an expansion, and this was what the developers intended for this facet of the "Stargate" franchise at that stage. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=418894 | 277,711 |
Space-based solar power In 2008, Japan passed its Basic Space Law which established Space Solar Power as a national goal and JAXA has a roadmap to commercial SBSP. In 2015, the China Academy for Space Technology (CAST) showcased their roadmap at the International Space Development Conference. In 1941, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov published the science fiction short story "Reason", in which a space station transmits energy collected from the Sun to various planets using microwave beams. The SBSP concept, originally known as satellite solar-power system (SSPS), was first described in November 1968. In 1973 Peter Glaser was granted U.S. patent number 3,781,647 for his method of transmitting power over long distances (e.g. from an SPS to Earth's surface) using microwaves from a very large antenna (up to one square kilometer) on the satellite to a much larger one, now known as a rectenna, on the ground. Glaser then was a vice president at Arthur D. Little, Inc. NASA signed a contract with ADL to lead four other companies in a broader study in 1974. They found that, while the concept had several major problems – chiefly the expense of putting the required materials in orbit and the lack of experience on projects of this scale in space – it showed enough promise to merit further investigation and research. Between 1978 and 1986, the Congress authorized the Department of Energy (DoE) and NASA to jointly investigate the concept. They organized the Satellite Power System Concept Development and Evaluation Program | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6757017 | 386,575 |
Depleted uranium In 1999, an assessment of the first 1,000 veterans involved in the Ministry of Defence's Gulf War medical assessment programme found "no evidence" of a single illness, physical or mental, that would explain the pattern of symptoms observed in the group. Nevertheless, in 1999, MEDACT petitioned for the WHO to conduct an investigation into illnesses in veterans and Iraqi civilians. A major 2006 review of peer-reviewed literature by a US Institute of Medicine committee concluded that, "[b]ecause the symptoms vary greatly among individuals", they do not point to a syndrome unique to Gulf War veterans, though their report conceded that the lack of objective pre-deployment health data meant definitive conclusions were effectively impossible. Simon Wessely praised the IOM's review, and noted that, despite its central conclusion that no novel syndrome existed, its other findings made it "equally clear that service in the Gulf war did aversely affect health in some personnel". Aside from the lack of baseline data to guide analysis of the veterans' postwar health, because no detailed health screening was carried out when the veterans entered service, another major stumbling block with some studies, like the thousand-veteran one, is that the subjects are self-selected, rather than a random sample, making general conclusions impossible | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37514 | 38,082 |
Hemodynamics Resistance is also related to vessel radius, vessel length, and blood viscosity. In a first approach based on fluids, as indicated by the Hagen–Poiseuille equation. The equation is as follows: In a second approach, more realistic of the vascular resistance and coming from experimental observations on blood flows, according to Thurston, there is a plasma release-cell layering at the walls surrounding a plugged flow. It is a fluid layer in which at a distance δ, viscosity η is a function of δ written as η(δ), and these surrounding layers do not meet at the vessel centre in real blood flow. Instead, there is the plugged flow which is hyperviscous because holding high concentration of RBCs. Thurston assembled this layer to the flow resistance to describe blood flow by means of a viscosity η(δ) and thickness δ from the wall layer. The blood resistance law appears as R adapted to blood flow profile : where Blood resistance varies depending on blood viscosity and its plugged flow (or sheath flow since they are complementary across the vessel section) size as well, and on the size of the vessels. Assuming steady, laminar flow in the vessel, the blood vessels behavior is similar to that of a pipe | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=275216 | 356,227 |
Distributed firewall A firewall is a system or group of systems (router, proxy, or gateway) that implements a set of security rules to enforce access control between two networks to protect the "inside" network from the "outside" network. It may be a hardware device or a software program running on a secure host computer. In either case, it must have at least two network interfaces, one for the network it is intended to protect, and one for the network it is exposed to. A firewall sits at the junction point or gateway between the two networks, usually a private network and a public network such as the Internet. Conventional firewalls rely on the notions of restricted topology and control entry points to function. More precisely, they rely on the assumption that everyone on one side of the entry point—the firewall—is to be trusted, and that anyone on the other side is, at least potentially, an enemy. Distributed firewalls are host-resident security software applications that protect the enterprise network's servers and end-user machines against unwanted intrusion. They offer the advantage of filtering traffic from both the Internet and the internal network. This enables them to prevent hacking attacks that originate from both the Internet and the internal network. This is important because the most costly and destructive attacks still originate from within the organization. They are like personal firewalls except they offer several important advantages like central management, logging, and in some cases, access-control granularity | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23870546 | 131,751 |
E1cB-elimination reaction The best way to identify the E1cB mechanism involves the use of rate laws and the kinetic isotope effect. These techniques can also help further differentiate between E1cB, E1, and E2-elimination reactions. When trying to experimentally determine whether or not a reaction follows the E1cB mechanism, chemical kinetics are essential. The best ways to identify the E1cB mechanism involves the use of rate laws and the kinetic isotope effect. The rate law that governs E1cB mechanisms is relatively simple to determine. Consider the following reaction scheme. Assuming that there is a steady-state carbanion concentration in the mechanism, the rate law for an E1cB mechanism. From this equation, it is clear the second order kinetics will be exhibited. E1cB mechanisms kinetics can vary slightly based on the rate of each step. As a result, the E1cB mechanism can be broken down into three categories: Deuterium exchange and a deuterium kinetic isotope effect can help distinguish among E1cB, E1cB, and E1cB. If the solvent is protic and contains deuterium in place of hydrogen (e.g., CHOD), then the exchange of protons into the starting material can be monitored. If the recovered starting material contains deuterium, then the reaction is most likely undergoing an E1cB type mechanism. Recall, in this mechanism protonation of the carbanion (either by the conjugate acid or by solvent) is faster than loss of the leaving group | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3049420 | 66,479 |
Plating Sapphires, plastics, and carbon fiber are some other materials that are able to be plated using advance plating techniques. The substrates that can be used are almost limitless. Silver plating has been used since the 18th century to provide cheaper versions of household items that would otherwise be made of solid silver, including cutlery, vessels of various kinds, and candlesticks. In the UK the assay offices, and silver dealers and collectors, use the term "silver plate" for items made from solid silver, derived long before silver plating was invented from the Spanish word for silver "plata", seizures of silver from Spanish ships carrying silver from America being a large source of silver at the time. This can cause confusion when talking about silver items; plate or plated. In the UK it is illegal to describe silver-plated items as "silver". It is not illegal to describe silver-plated items as "silver plate", although this is grammatically incorrect, and should also be avoided to prevent confusion. The earliest form of silver plating was Sheffield Plate, where thin sheets of silver are fused to a layer or core of base metal, but in the 19th century new methods of production (including electroplating) were introduced. Britannia metal is an alloy of tin, antimony and copper developed as a base metal for plating with silver | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1208416 | 462,134 |
Lighting control system Space occupancy is primarily determined with occupancy sensors. Electric lighting energy use can be adjusted by automatically dimming and/or switching electric lights in response to the level of available daylight. Reducing the amount of electric lighting used when daylight is available is known as daylight harvesting. Alarm conditions typically include inputs from other building systems such as the fire alarm or HVAC system, which may trigger an emergency 'all lights on' or ' all lights flashing' command for example. Program logic can tie all of the above elements together using constructs such as if-then-else statements and logical operators. IEC 62386-104 In the 1980s there was a strong requirement to make commercial lighting more controllable so that it could become more energy efficient. Initially this was done with analog control, allowing fluorescent ballasts and dimmers to be controlled from a central source. This was a step in the right direction, but cabling was complicated and therefore not cost effective. Tridonic was an early company to go digital with their broadcast protocols, DSI, in 1991. DSI was a basic protocol as it transmitted one control value to change the brightness of all the fixtures attached to the line. What made this protocol more attractive, and able to compete with the established analog option, was the simple wiring | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3391379 | 320,434 |
Lead frame Lead frames are the metal structures inside a chip package that carry signals from the die to the outside. The die inside the package is typically glued to the lead frame, and then bond wires attach the die pads to the leads. In the last stage of the manufacturing process, the lead frame is moulded in a plastic case, and outside of the lead frame is cut-off, separating all leads. Lead frames are manufactured by removing material from a flat plate of copper or copper-alloy. Two processes used for this are etching (suitable for high density of leads), or stamping (suitable for low density of leads). Amongst others, leadframes are used to manufacture a quad flat no-leads package (QFN), a quad flat package (QFP), or a dual in-line package (DIP). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42443688 | 283,694 |
Atomic force microscopy In fact, the adhesion force measured between tip and sample in ambient air of finite humidity is usually dominated by capillary forces. As a consequence, it is difficult to pull the tip away from the surface. For soft samples including many polymers and in particular biological materials, the strong adhesive capillary force gives rise to sample degradation and destruction upon imaging in contact mode. Historically, these problems were an important motivation for the development of dynamic imaging in air (e.g. 'tapping mode'). During tapping mode imaging in air, capillary bridges still form. Yet, for suitable imaging conditions, the capillary bridges are formed and broken in every oscillation cycle of the cantilever normal to the surface, as can be inferred from an analysis of cantilever amplitude and phase vs. distance curves. As a consequence, destructive shear forces are largely reduced and soft samples can be investigated. In order to quantify the equilibrium capillary force, it is necessary to start from the Laplace equation for pressure: formula_1 where γ is the surface energy and r and r are defined in the figure. The pressure is applied on an area of formula_2 where d, θ , and h are defined in the figure. The force which pulles together the two surfaces is formula_3 The same formula could also be calculated as a function of relative humidity. Gao calculated formulas for different tip geometries. As an example, the forse decreases by 20% for a conical tip with respect to a spherical tip | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=227982 | 25,098 |
Diethyl phthalate (DEP) is a phthalate ester, namely the diethyl ester of phthalic acid. It is a clear substance that is liquid at room temperature and is only slightly denser than liquid water. When burned, DEP produces toxic gases. Since the compound is a suitable solvent for many organic molecules, it is often used to bind cosmetics and fragrances. Other industrial uses include plasticizers, detergent bases and aerosol sprays. Because of the frequent dermal exposure of humans to the chemical, the question of toxicity is crucial. Several studies suggest that DEP can cause damage to the nervous system as well as to the reproductive organs in males and females. Due to their use as plasticizers, diethyl phthalates are ubiquitous in the environment, especially near places of production and use. Biodegradation through microbially-mediated processes can result in products that can potentially harm microorganisms. There is also general evidence of widespread human exposure. Non-occupational exposure results from the diet, for example phthalate-coated medicines and nutritional supplements, and through consumer products. High occupational exposure was observed in workers directly manufacturing plasticizers. Studies suggest a high correlation between air and urine sample concentrations of short side-chain phthalates such as DEP, making inhalation an important route of exposure | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21799023 | 33,751 |
Mindomo is a versatile freemium collaborative mind mapping, concept mapping and outlining tool developed by Expert Software Applications. offers a complete platform to develop ideas and brainstorming interactively with features including sharing, collaboration, task management, presentation and interactive web publication. offers minimalist user interface with fresh look and powerful functions that help users in organizing information visually, which foster critical thinking through connecting ideas in a visual manner. is available as web app accessible through any browser, also there is offline desktop version for Windows, Linux and Mac. In addition to dedicated apps for both Android and iOS. Mindomo's registered users can create and collaborate real-time on mind maps, while unregistered users can view the maps shared with them. Additionally, the software provides its users with ways to create presentations and mind map assignments. core features include highly customizable nodes with ability to insert videos, audio, images, notes, emoji, hyperlinks and attachments to any node. users can collaborate in real time and can choose to publish their work to the Internet for others to see. has a very intuitive presentation mode allowing you to travel through your mind map with smooth zooms and pans. In addition. You can publish your mindmap not as a static image but as an interactive mind map. can be used from any standard web browser, or by installing the desktop, iPad and Android applications | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21029840 | 451,384 |
George Washington Masonic National Memorial In late 1907 or early 1908, Alexandria Commissioner of Revenue Charles H. Callahan (the deputy master of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22) proposed to his fellow Masons that, at last, a memorial to George Washington should be built. Callahan proposed the construction of a $10,000 memorial temple. In early 1908, the Alexandria-Washington Lodge formed a "local memorial temple committee" to research the costs and obstacles involved in building a memorial temple. The committee passed a resolution asking Joseph Eggleston, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, to approve the creation of a memorial temple and to assist in creating a national memorial association in which all Masons and Masonic organizations could participate. On May 7, 1909, the Grand Lodge of Virginia called upon all grand lodges in the United States to meet in Alexandria on February 22, 1910, to discuss plans for organizing a Association whose purpose would be to construct a memorial temple. President Taft, Representative Champ Clark, Secretary of War Jacob M. Dickinson, and Virginia Governor William Hodges Mann all spoke at the February 22 meeting. The Association (GWMNMA) was formed at this meeting, and plans were adopted to raise $500,000 to go toward the cost of construction and another $500,000 for an endowment and maintenance fund. Thomas J. Shryock, Grand Master of Maryland (and a former Treasurer of Maryland and Brigadier General in the Maryland National Guard), was elected president of the GWMNMA | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1963448 | 340,575 |
Industrial Revolution The rapid population growth in the 19th century included the new industrial and manufacturing cities, as well as service centers such as Edinburgh and London. The critical factor was financing, which was handled by building societies that dealt directly with large contracting firms. Private renting from housing landlords was the dominant tenure. P. Kemp says this was usually of advantage to tenants. People moved in so rapidly there was not enough capital to build adequate housing for everyone, so low-income newcomers squeezed into increasingly overcrowded slums. Clean water, sanitation, and public health facilities were inadequate; the death rate was high, especially infant mortality, and tuberculosis among young adults. Cholera from polluted water and typhoid were endemic. Unlike rural areas, there were no famines such as the one that devastated Ireland in the 1840s. A large exposé literature grew up condemning the unhealthy conditions. By far the most famous publication was by one of the founders of the Socialist movement, "The Condition of the Working Class in England" in 1844 Friedrich Engels described backstreet sections of Manchester and other mill towns, where people lived in crude shanties and shacks, some not completely enclosed, some with dirt floors. These shanty towns had narrow walkways between irregularly shaped lots and dwellings. There were no sanitary facilities. Population density was extremely high. However, not everyone lived in such poor conditions | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14914 | 250,531 |
Antimony(III) acetate is the compound of antimony with the chemical formula of Sb(CHCO). It is a white powder, is moderately water-soluble, and is used as a catalyst in the production of polyesters. It can be prepared by the reaction of antimony(III) oxide with acetic acid: The crystal structure of antimony(III) acetate has been determined by X-ray crystallography. It consists of discrete Sb(OAc) monomers with monodentate acetate ligands. The monomers are linked together into chains by weaker C=O···Sb intermolecular interactions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11787239 | 82,110 |
Evolutionary history of life Many echinoderms have hard calcite "shells," which are fairly common from the Early Cambrian small shelly fauna onwards. Other deuterostome groups are soft-bodied, and most of the significant Cambrian deuterostome fossils come from the Chengjiang fauna, a lagerstätte in China. The chordates are another major deuterostome group: animals with a distinct dorsal nerve cord. Chordates include soft-bodied invertebrates such as tunicates as well as vertebrates—animals with a backbone. While tunicate fossils predate the Cambrian explosion, the Chengjiang fossils "Haikouichthys" and "Myllokunmingia" appear to be true vertebrates, and "Haikouichthys" had distinct vertebrae, which may have been slightly mineralized. Vertebrates with jaws, such as the acanthodians, first appeared in the Late Ordovician. Adaptation to life on land is a major challenge: all land organisms need to avoid drying-out and all those above microscopic size must create special structures to withstand gravity; respiration and gas exchange systems have to change; reproductive systems cannot depend on water to carry eggs and sperm towards each other. Although the earliest good evidence of land plants and animals dates back to the Ordovician period (), and a number of microorganism lineages made it onto land much earlier, modern land ecosystems only appeared in the Late Devonian, about . In May 2017, evidence of the earliest known life on land may have been found in 3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12305127 | 184,122 |
Risk assessment Schools, corporate entities seeking team-building experiences, parents/guardians, and others considering outdoor experiences expect or require organizations to assess the hazards and risks of different outdoor activities—such as sailing, target shooting, hunting, mountaineering, or camping—and select activities with acceptable risk profiles. Outdoor education, wilderness adventure, and other outdoor-related organizations should, and are in some jurisdictions required, to conduct risk assessments prior to offering programs for commercial purposes. Such organizations are given guidance on how to provide their risk assessments and external consultancy services provide these assessments as well. Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) aims to assess the effects of stressors, usually chemicals, on the local environment. A risk is an integrated assessment of likelihood and severity of an undesired event. In ERA, the undesired event often depends on the chemical of interest and on the risk assessment scenario. This undesired event is usually a detrimental effect on organisms, populations or ecosystems. Current ERAs usually compare an exposure to a no-effect level, such as the Predicted Environmental Concentration/Predicted No-Effect Concentration (PEC/PNEC) ratio in Europe. Although this type of ratio is useful and often used in regulation purposes, it is only an indication of an exceeded apparent threshold | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=219072 | 222,857 |
Mesohabitat simulation model It also allows managers to recreate reference conditions and evaluate possible instream and watershed restoration measures or alterations (such as dam removals or changes in water withdrawals). From the perspective of resource managers, it not only allows for quantitative measures of ecological integrity, but also creates a basis for making decisions where trade-offs between resource use and river restoration need to be considered. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20154847 | 343,515 |
Reflow oven Thermal profiling is the act of measuring several points on a circuit board to determine the thermal excursion it takes through the soldering process. In the electronics manufacturing industry, SPC (statistical process control) helps determine if the process is in control, measured against the reflow parameters defined by the soldering technologies and component requirements. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=871165 | 417,227 |
Irreversible electroporation There was one report of obstruction of the upper ureter after IRE, in addition to one report of the unintentional electroporation of an adrenal gland, resulting in a transient, severe hypertension. Two patients developed temporary neurapraxia secondary to arm extension during treatment, The authors further noted that complete target tumor ablation verified by CT was achieved in 46 of the 69 tumors treated with IRE (66%), while most treatment failures occurred in renal and lung tumors. The authors concluded that IRE appears safe for clinical use if ECG-synchronized delivery is utilized to prevent arrhythmias. While nephron-sparing surgery is the gold standard treatment for small, malignant renal masses, ablative therapies are considered a viable option in patients who are poor surgical candidates. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and cryoablation have been used since the 1990s; however, in lesions larger than 3 cm, their efficacy is limited. The newer ablation modalities, such as IRE, microwave ablation (MWA), and high-intensity focused ultrasound, may help overcome the challenges in tumor size. The first human studies have proven the safety of IRE for the ablation of renal masses; however, the effectiveness of IRE through histopathological examination of an ablated renal tumor in humans is yet to be known. Wagstaff et al. have set out to investigate the safety and effectiveness of IRE ablation of renal masses and to evaluate the efficacy of ablation using MIR and contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40142982 | 156,408 |
Process flowsheeting is the use of computer aids to perform steady-state heat and mass balancing, sizing and costing calculations for a chemical process. It is an essential and core component of process design. The process design effort may be split into three basic steps Synthesis is the step where the structure of the flowsheet is chosen. It is also in this step that one initializes values for variables which one is free to set. Analysis is usually made up of three steps Optimization involves both structural optimization of the flow sheet itself as well as optimization of parameters in a given flowsheet. In the former one may alter the equipment used and/or its connections with other equipment. In the later one can change the values of parameters such as temperature and pressure. Parameter Optimization is a more advanced stage of theory than process flowsheet optimization. The first step in the sequence leading to the construction of a process plant and its use in the manufacture of a product is the conception of a process. The concept is embodied in the form of a "flow sheet". Process design then proceeds on the basis of the flow sheet chosen. Physical property data are the other component needed for process design apart from a flow sheet. The result of process design is a process flow diagram, PFD. Detailed engineering for the project and vessel specifications then begin. ends at the point of generation of a suitable PFD. General purpose flowsheeting programs became usable and reliable around 1965-1970. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20163518 | 481,774 |
Cognitive tutor In model tracing, the cognitive tutor uses the cognitive model in complex problems to follow the student's individual path and provide prompt accuracy feedback and context-specific advice. In knowledge tracing, the cognitive tutor uses a simple Bayesian method of evaluating the student's knowledge and uses this student model to select appropriate problems for individual student. Cognitive tutors use a cognitive architecture which specifies the underlying framework for an intelligent system. ACT-R, a member of ACT family, is the most recent cognitive architecture, devoted primarily to modelling human behavior. ACT-R includes a declarative memory of factual knowledge and a procedural memory of production rules. The architecture functions by matching productions on perceptions and facts, mediated by the real-valued activation levels of objects, and executing them to affect the environment or alter declarative memory. ACT-R has been used to model psychological aspects such as memory, attention, reasoning, problem solving, and language processing. In 1984, a group of high school students used the geometry tutor and a mini course was talk in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University using the LISP tutor. This was the first iteration of the cognitive tutor. Since then, cognitive tutors have been used in a variety of scenarios, with a few organizations developing their own cognitive tutor programs | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=821197 | 126,974 |
History of the electric vehicle , one week after the event, Tesla Motors reported over 325,000 reservations, more than triple the 107,000 Model S cars Tesla had sold by the end of 2015. These reservations represent potential sales of over . , Tesla Motors has sold almost 125,000 electric cars worldwide since delivery of its first Tesla Roadster in 2008. Tesla reported the number of net reservations totaled about 373,000 , after about 8,000 customer cancellations and about 4,200 reservations canceled by the automaker because these appeared to be duplicates from speculators. The Hyundai Ioniq Electric was released in South Korea in July 2016, and sold over 1,000 units during its first two months in the market. The Renault-Nissan Alliance achieved the milestone of 350,000 electric vehicles sold globally in August 2016, and also set an industry record of 100,000 electric vehicle sold in a single year. Nissan global electric vehicle sales passed the 250,000 unit milestone also in August 2016. Renault global electric vehicle sales passed the 100,000 unit milestone in early September 2016. Global sales of the Tesla Model X passed the 10,000 unit mark in August 2016, with most cars delivered in the United States. Cumulative global sales of pure electric passenger cars and utility vans passed the 1 million unit milestone in September 2016 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=951197 | 389,677 |
History of biotechnology In 1998, about 30% of the US cotton and corn crops were also expected to be products of genetic engineering. Genetic engineering in biotechnology stimulated hopes for both therapeutic proteins, drugs and biological organisms themselves, such as seeds, pesticides, engineered yeasts, and modified human cells for treating genetic diseases. From the perspective of its commercial promoters, scientific breakthroughs, industrial commitment, and official support were finally coming together, and biotechnology became a normal part of business. No longer were the proponents for the economic and technological significance of biotechnology the iconoclasts. Their message had finally become accepted and incorporated into the policies of governments and industry. According to Burrill and Company, an industry investment bank, over $350 billion has been invested in biotech since the emergence of the industry, and global revenues rose from $23 billion in 2000 to more than $50 billion in 2005. The greatest growth has been in Latin America but all regions of the world have shown strong growth trends. By 2007 and into 2008, though, a downturn in the fortunes of biotech emerged, at least in the United Kingdom, as the result of declining investment in the face of failure of biotech pipelines to deliver and a consequent downturn in return on investment. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6012335 | 499,375 |
Linear encoder A linear encoder is a sensor, transducer or readhead paired with a scale that encodes position. The sensor reads the scale in order to convert the encoded position into an analog or digital signal, which can then be decoded into position by a digital readout (DRO) or motion controller. The encoder can be either "incremental" or "absolute". Motion can be determined by change in position over time. technologies include optical, magnetic, inductive, capacitive and eddy current. Optical technologies include shadow, self imaging and interferometric. Linear encoders are used in metrology instruments, motion systems, inkjet printers and high precision machining tools ranging from digital calipers and coordinate measuring machines to stages, CNC Mills, manufacturing gantry tables and semiconductor steppers. Linear encoders are transducers that exploit many different physical properties in order to encode position: Optical linear encoders dominate the high resolution market and may employ shuttering/Moiré, diffraction or holographic principles. Optical encoders are the most accurate of the standard styles of encoders, and the most commonly used in industrial automation applications. When specifying an optical encoder, it's important that the encoder have extra protection built in to prevent contamination from dust, vibration and other conditions common to industrial environments. Typical incremental scale periods vary from hundreds of micrometers down to sub-micrometer | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3062626 | 370,678 |
Educational equity The educational system and its response to racial concerns in education vary from country to country. Below are some examples of countries that have to deal with racial discrimination in education. The struggle for equality of access to formal education and equality of excellent educational outcomes is part of the history of education in this country and is tied up with the economic, political, social history of the peoples who are part of it. From the beginning of this nation, there were many barriers to the schooling and education of girls and racial, national origin, and language groups not from the dominant culture. Approaches and resources for achieving equality and equity in the public schooling of girls and ethnic, racial, and language minority groups are still evolving. Students wanting to be more involved in the community. Not feeling left out, which I think is a good feeling being that race was a big problem. They gave them transportation to get to the meetings and back to where they were going after. Higher education plays a vital role in preparing students for the employment market and active citizenship both nationally and internationally. By embedding race equality in teaching and learning, institutions can ensure that they acknowledge the experiences and values of all students, including minority ethnic and international students | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30631120 | 479,734 |
Revolver Colt has discontinued its production twice, but brought it back due to popular demand and continues to make it to this day. In the U.S. the traditional single-action revolver still reigned supreme until the late 19th century. In Europe, however, arms makers were quick to adopt the double-action trigger. While the US was producing weapons like the Model 1873, the Europeans were building double-action models like the French MAS Modèle 1873 and the somewhat later British Enfield Mk I and II revolvers (Britain relied on cartridge conversions of the earlier Beaumont–Adams double-action prior to this). Colt's first attempt at a double action revolver to compete with the European manufacturers was the Colt Model 1877, which earned lasting notoriety for its overly complex, expensive and fragile trigger mechanism, which in addition to failing frequently, also had a terrible trigger pull unless given the attentions of a competent gunsmith. In 1889, Colt introduced the Model 1889, the first truly modern double action revolver, which differed from earlier double action revolvers by having a "swing-out" cylinder, as opposed to a "top-break" or "side-loading" cylinder. Swing out cylinders quickly caught on, because they combined the best features of earlier designs. Top-break actions gave the ability to eject all empty shells simultaneously, and exposed all chambers for easy reloading, but having the frame hinged into two halves weakened the gun and negatively affected accuracy, due to lack of rigidity | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25794 | 434,696 |
Diversified financial Diversified financials is a specific category of the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) that is used by the financial community. It includes a range of consumer and commercially oriented companies offering a wide variety of financial products and services, including various lending products (such as home equity loans and credit cards), insurance, and securities and investment products. Many of these firms in this category are non-banking financial companies, specialist organisations like stock exchanges or financial holding companies that were created through consolidation of banks, insurance companies and brokerage firms to become universal banks. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1914859 | 517,771 |
Error concealment Although this idea is simple, because of the extra time required to send multiple signals, this technique is incapable of supporting real-time applications. Packet repetition, also called forward error correction (FEC), adds redundant data, which the receiver can use to recover lost packets. This minimizes loss, but increases the size of the packet. Interleaving involves scrambling the data before transmission. When a packet is lost, rather than losing an entire set of data, small portions of several sets will be gone. At the receiving end, the message is then deinterleaved to reveal the original message with minimal loss. Transmission without interleaving: The term "AnExample" ends up mostly unintelligible and difficult to correct. With interleaving: No word is completely lost and the missing letters can be recovered with minimal guesswork. Depending on the method of transmission (analog or digital), there are a variety of ways for errors to propagate in the message. Since its invention in the 1950s, the magnetic coating used in analog video tape has experienced radio frequency (RF) signal drop-outs. Some of the techniques that were used for resolving these issues are analogous to those used for concealing errors in modern compressed video signals. The process of click removal in audio restoration is another example of error concealment. A closely analogous example in the domain of image processing is the use of digital dust and scratch removal processing in film restoration | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38878679 | 271,829 |
Off-price In Marshalls – there are over 1 000 stores. Both networks are managed by Marmaxx co., which is the biggest fashion operator in the U.S.A according to volume of sales. TJ Maxx and Marshalls (as well as other networks included in TJX Companies) offer discounts of 20-60% compared to regular retailers. Their suppliers are more than 20 000 companies from 100 countries worldwide. These networks have similar product assortments mainly based around clothing, footwear, accessories, similar stores in their area size and design, but in TJ Maxx one might find trademarks belonging to a higher pricing segment and a wider lineup of jewelry and accessories. In Marshalls a greater range of footwear is available along with clothes for men and young men. TJ Maxx launched a web store launched in 2009. Initially it only sold baggages, but it gradually widened its assortment to include clothing, footwear, jewelry, accessories and household appliances. Cumulative turnover of both networks according to 2017 statistics was more than 22 bln dollars. One more related network in the U.S.A. is HomeGoods, which has existed since 1992 and specialises in selling products for the household: furniture, lighting, kitchen utilities, carpets and mats, textiles and deco products. As of 2018, there are more than 700 stores in different towns of the U.S.A. One more subdivision of TJX Companies that works in the off-price segment in the US, is Sierra Trading Post | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44143769 | 475,081 |
IBM CPC The IBM Card-Programmed Electronic Calculator or CPC was announced by IBM in May 1949. Later that year an improved machine, the CPC-II was also announced. The original CPC Calculator had the following units interconnected by cables: The CPC-II Calculator had the following units interconnected by cables: From the IBM Archives : The IBM Card-Programmed Electronic Calculator was announced in May 1949 as a versatile general purpose computer designed to perform any predetermined sequence of arithmetical operations coded on standard 80-column punched cards. It was also capable of selecting and following one of several sequences of instructions as a result of operations already performed, and it could store instructions for self-programmed operation. The Calculator consisted of a Type 605 Electronic Calculating Punch and a Type 412 or 418 Accounting Machine. A Type 941 Auxiliary Storage Unit was available as an optional feature. All units composing the Calculator were interconnected by flexible cables. If desired, the Type 412 or 418, with or without the Type 941, could be operated independently of the other machines. The Type 605 could be used as a Calculating Punch and the punch unit (Type 527) could be operated as an independent gang punch. Customer deliveries of the CPC began in late 1949, at which time more than 20 had been ordered by government agencies and laboratories and aircraft manufacturers. Nearly 700 CPC systems were delivered during the first-half of the 1950s. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=742723 | 126,778 |
Computational theory of mind In philosophy of mind, the computational theory of mind (CTM) refers to a family of views that hold that the human mind is an information processing system and that cognition and consciousness together are a form of computation. Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts (1943) were the first to suggest that neural activity is computational. They argued that neural computations explain cognition. The theory was proposed in its modern form by Hilary Putnam in 1967, and developed by his PhD student, philosopher and cognitive scientist Jerry Fodor in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Despite being vigorously disputed in analytic philosophy in the 1990s due to work by Putnam himself, John Searle, and others, the view is common in modern cognitive psychology and is presumed by many theorists of evolutionary psychology. In the 2000s and 2010s the view has resurfaced in analytic philosophy (Scheutz 2003, Edelman 2008). The computational theory of mind holds that the mind is a computational system that is realized (i.e. physically implemented) by neural activity in the brain. The theory can be elaborated in many ways and varies largely based on how the term computation is understood. Computation is commonly understood in terms of Turing machines which manipulate symbols according to a rule, in combination with the internal state of the machine. The critical aspect of such a computational model is that we can abstract away from particular physical details of the machine that is implementing the computation | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3951220 | 121,145 |
Commissioner v. Soliman Commissioner v. Soliman, 506 U.S. 168 (1993), was a case heard before the United States Supreme Court in which the court decided whether a portion of a dwelling unit exclusively used as a principal place of business for any trade or business of a taxpayer would allow a deduction to the taxpayer's income taxes under Internal Revenue Code Section 280A(c)(1)(A). Soliman was an anesthesiologist who spent thirty to thirty-five hours per week with patients at three different hospitals but none of the hospitals provided him with an office. He used a spare bedroom in his house for contacting patients and surgeons, maintaining billing records, preparing for treatments, and reading medical journals. The Supreme Court denied Soliman's home office deduction setting forth a two consideration test for whether the home was the taxpayer's principal place of business: (1) the relative importance of the activities performed, and (2) time spent at each place. Congress's reaction to this decision was to amend Section 280A(c) in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 so that a home office could meet the "principal place of business" test if it is the only fixed location where administrative or management activities are performed. This effectively nullified the Supreme Court's decision ruling in the Soliman case. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14103515 | 511,886 |
Secondary flow In fluid dynamics, a secondary flow is a relatively minor flow superimposed on the primary flow, where the primary flow usually matches very closely the flow pattern predicted using simple analytical techniques that assume the fluid is inviscid. (An inviscid fluid is a theoretical fluid having zero viscosity.) The primary flow of a fluid, particularly in the majority of the flow field remote from solid surfaces immersed in the fluid, is usually very similar to what would be predicted using the basic principles of physics, and assuming the fluid is inviscid. However, in real flow situations, there are regions in the flow field where the flow is significantly different in both speed and direction to what is predicted for an inviscid fluid using simple analytical techniques. The flow in these regions is the secondary flow. These regions are usually in the vicinity of the boundary of the fluid adjacent to solid surfaces where viscous forces are at work, such as in the boundary layer. In engineering secondary flow also identifies an additional flow path. The basic principles of physics and the Coriolis effect satisfactorily explain that the direction of the wind in the atmosphere is parallel to the isobars. Measurements of wind speed and direction at heights well above ground level confirm that the speed of the wind matches that predicted by considerations of gradient flow, and the direction of the wind is indeed parallel to the isobars in the region | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14983028 | 307,586 |
Dolphin WaterCare It has also enabled customers of the product to secure Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) points with more than 350 projects achieving LEED certification. solution was also a 2011 recipient of an Artemis Project Award, given to Clearwater Systems Corporation, in recognition of its impact on the field of water resource efficiency. The technology has also helped corporations such as Verizon win awards for having eco friendly processes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39007265 | 33,078 |
De la pirotechnia De la Pirotechnia is considered to be the first printed book on metallurgy to have been published in Europe. It was written in Italian and first published in Venice in 1540. The author was Vannoccio Biringuccio, a citizen of Siena, Italy, who died before it was published. Further editions were published in 1550, 1558, 1559, and 1678, with a (sloppy) French translation by Jacques Vincent being published in 1556, 1572, and 1627. Parts were translated into Latin (by Georgius Agricola), English (Richard Eden; Peter Whitehorn) and Spanish (Bernardo Perez de Vargas) at various times in the 1550s and 1560s, generally without acknowledgement. The second book on metallurgy, "De re metallica", was written in Latin by Georgius Agricola, and published in 1556. Both "De la pirotechnia" and "De re metallica" were translated into English in the 20th century. The translation of "Pirotechnia" was by Cyril Stanley Smith, a senior chemist on the Manhattan Project, and Martha Teach Gnudi. Both books were illustrated with extensive, beautiful woodcuts. The majority of the work is devoted to the more technical aspects of metalworking (such as the mining, assaying and smelting of ores), but Biringuccio also provides insights into the humanistic philosophy of the Italian Renaissance. Alchemy is also discussed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30874214 | 285,808 |
Chlorofluorocarbon DuPont representatives appeared before the Montreal Protocol urging that CFCs be banned worldwide and stated that their new HCFCs would meet the worldwide demand for refrigerants. Use of certain chloroalkanes as solvents for large scale application, such as dry cleaning, have been phased out, for example, by the IPPC directive on greenhouse gases in 1994 and by the volatile organic compounds (VOC) directive of the EU in 1997. Permitted chlorofluoroalkane uses are medicinal only. Bromofluoroalkanes have been largely phased out and the possession of equipment for their use is prohibited in some countries like the Netherlands and Belgium, from 1 January 2004, based on the Montreal Protocol and guidelines of the European Union. Production of new stocks ceased in most (probably all) countries in 1994. However many countries still require aircraft to be fitted with halon fire suppression systems because no safe and completely satisfactory alternative has been discovered for this application. There are also a few other, highly specialized uses. These programs recycle halon through "halon banks" coordinated by the Halon Recycling Corporation to ensure that discharge to the atmosphere occurs only in a genuine emergency and to conserve remaining stocks. The interim replacements for CFCs are hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which deplete stratospheric ozone, but to a much lesser extent than CFCs. Ultimately, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) will replace HCFCs | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54910 | 324,231 |
Overburden pressure Overburden pressure, also called lithostatic pressure, confining pressure or vertical stress, is the pressure or stress imposed on a layer of soil or rock by the weight of overlying material. The Oxford Dictionary of Earth Sciences describes 'confining pressure' as "the combined hydrostatic stress and lithostatic stress; i.e. the total weight of the interstitial pore water and rock above a specified depth." Confining pressure might influence ductile behavior of rocks as well. Ductile behavior is enhanced where high confining pressures are combined with high temperatures and low rates of strain, conditions characteristic of deeper crustal levels. The overburden pressure at a depth z is given by where ρ(z) is the density of the overlying rock at depth z and g is the acceleration due to gravity. p is the datum pressure, the pressure at the surface. In deriving the above equation it is assumed that gravitational acceleration "g" is a constant over "z", since it is placed outside the integral. In reality, "g" is a (non-constant) function of "z" and should appear inside the integral. But since "g" varies little over depths which are a very small fraction of the Earth's radius, it is placed outside the integral in practice for most near-surface applications which require an assessment of lithostatic pressure. In deep-earth geophysics/geodynamics, gravitational acceleration varies significantly over depth and "g" may not be assumed to be constant | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=146153 | 433,954 |
Expectations hypothesis The expectation hypothesis states that the current price of an asset is equal to the sum of expected discounted future dividends conditional on the information known now. Mathematically if there are discrete dividend payments formula_2 at times formula_3 and with risk-free rate formula_4 then the price at time formula_5 is given by where formula_7 is a filtration which defines the market at time formula_5. In particular, the price of a coupon bond, with coupons given by formula_9 at time formula_5, is given by where formula_12 is the short-term interest rate from time formula_5 to time formula_14 and formula_15 is the value of a zero-coupon bond at time formula_5 and maturity formula_14 with payout of 1 at maturity. Explicitly, the price of a zero-coupon bond is given by The expectation hypothesis neglects the risks inherent in investing in bonds (because forward rates are not perfect predictors of future rates). In particular this can be broken down into two categories: It has been found that the expectation hypothesis has been tested and rejected using a wide variety of interest rates, over a variety of time periods and monetary policy regimes. This analysis is supported in a study conducted by Sarno, where it is concluded that while conventional bivariate procedure provides mixed results, the more powerful testing procedures, for example expanded vector autoregression test, suggest rejection of the expectation hypothesis throughout the maturity spectrum examined | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31444267 | 502,837 |
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