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OpenTherm Due to the limited possibilities OT/- is rarely used . On June 16, 2008 specification 3.0 was approved by the association. This version introduces Smart Power. The master can request the slave to change the available power to low, medium or high power. With this master manufacturers can add more functionality to their products (backlight or extra sensors). Manufacturers are allowed to market products when they comply with some rules of the association. Most importantly the manufacturer has to be an member, and the product must be tested by an independent testing body. By handing over the test report and a Declaration of Conformity to the association, the manufacturer is allowed to use the logo. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21562812 | 398,572 |
Demand-based switching (DBS) is a computer technology term which refers to the process of using software to optimize the use of hardware resources. Intel uses demand-based switching power management technology to control power voltage consumption at different states of a computer's operations. DBS routines select a minimum clock speed of the microprocessor appropriate to the workload which specific tasks being performed by the computer place on the processor. This results in less electricity being consumed, both by the processor and by fans counteracting excess heat output. Intel's processor technology takes advantage of DBS techniques. AMD processors uses a similar process, which the company calls "Power Now". is also sometimes used in route-caching routines in local area networks to ensure efficient packet switching and traffic flow. Software DBS algorithms are frequently used in Linux servers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=46405497 | 415,078 |
Gene The genetic code is read three nucleotides at a time, in units called codons, via interactions with specialized RNA molecules called transfer RNA (tRNA). Each tRNA has three unpaired bases known as the anticodon that are complementary to the codon it reads on the mRNA. The tRNA is also covalently attached to the amino acid specified by the complementary codon. When the tRNA binds to its complementary codon in an mRNA strand, the ribosome attaches its amino acid cargo to the new polypeptide chain, which is synthesized from amino terminus to carboxyl terminus. During and after synthesis, most new proteins must fold to their active three-dimensional structure before they can carry out their cellular functions. Genes are regulated so that they are expressed only when the product is needed, since expression draws on limited resources. A cell regulates its gene expression depending on its external environment (e.g. available nutrients, temperature and other stresses), its internal environment (e.g. cell division cycle, metabolism, infection status), and its specific role if in a multicellular organism. expression can be regulated at any step: from transcriptional initiation, to RNA processing, to post-translational modification of the protein. The regulation of lactose metabolism genes in "E. coli" ("lac" operon) was the first such mechanism to be described in 1961. A typical protein-coding gene is first copied into RNA as an intermediate in the manufacture of the final protein product | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4250553 | 57,085 |
The Outer Limits (1995 TV series) In 2014, it was reported that a feature film directed by Scott Derrickson based on the series was to be underway. However, no additional information has been released and as of April 2019, A revival is in the works at a premium cable network. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23569174 | 131,546 |
Royal Berkshire Regiment War Memorial The Royal Berkshire Regiment quickly decided that it wanted a copy of Whitehall's cenotaph for its own war memorial and duly commissioned Lutyens, who appears to have been happy to design reduced-scale version of the cenotaph to accommodate for smaller budgets, unlike the Stone of Remembrance, which he insisted must never be reduced in size. The Royal West Kent memorial was built to two-thirds scale, while the Royal Berkshire's version is half size. The memorial was built by GE Wallis and Sons Ltd of Maidstone, who also built the Royal West Kent Regiment's memorial, at a cost of £3,000 (1921). Major General Edward Thompson Dickson, the colonel of the Royal Berkshire Regiment, unveiled the cenotaph on 13 September 1921. The regiment's roll of honour was placed inside the cenotaph during the unveiling ceremony. Customary for a Lutyens memorial, the cenotaph stands on a base of three steps and is in Portland stone; it is situated on a lawned area within Brock Barracks, formerly the headquarters of the Royal Berkshire Regiment. At the very top of the structure is an urn—a feature Lutyens originally proposed or the cenotaph on Whitehall and which features on the Arch of Remembrance in Leicester. The urn sits on top of a chest tomb, and a three-staged base connects it to the main shaft, which is set back slightly towards the top; the shaft itself is moulded onto a base of two rectangular blocks. Although richer than other memorials, the cenotaph is still sparsely decorated | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51260467 | 326,588 |
Landship may refer to: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5386106 | 213,521 |
And-inverter graph The interest in AIGs started with Alan Turing's seminal 1948 paper on neural networks, in which he described a randomized trainable network of NAND gates. Interest continued through the late 1950s and continued in the 1970s when various local transformations have been developed. These transformations were implemented in several logic synthesis and verification systems, such as Darringer et al. and Smith et al., which reduce circuits to improve area and delay during synthesis, or to speed up formal equivalence checking. Several important techniques were discovered early at IBM, such as combining and reusing multi-input logic expressions and subexpressions, now known as structural hashing. Recently there has been a renewed interest in AIGs as a functional representation for a variety of tasks in synthesis and verification. That is because representations popular in the 1990s (such as BDDs) have reached their limits of scalability in many of their applications. Another important development was the recent emergence of much more efficient boolean satisfiability (SAT) solvers. When coupled with "AIGs" as the circuit representation, they lead to remarkable speedups in solving a wide variety of boolean problems. AIGs found successful use in diverse EDA applications. A well-tuned combination of "AIGs" and boolean satisfiability made an impact on formal verification, including both model checking and equivalence checking | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4689919 | 387,400 |
Envelope detector Such a device is often used to demodulate AM radio signals because the envelope of the modulated signal is equivalent to the baseband signal. An envelope detector is sometimes referred to as an envelope follower in musical environments. It is still used to detect the amplitude variations of an incoming signal to produce a control signal that resembles those variations. However, in this case the input signal is made up of audible frequencies. Envelope detectors are often a component of other circuits, such as a compressor or an auto-wah or envelope-followed filter. In these circuits, the envelope follower is part of what is known as the "side chain", a circuit which describes some characteristic of the input, in this case its volume. Both expanders and compressors use the envelope's output voltage to control the gain of an amplifier. Auto-wah uses the voltage to control the cutoff frequency of a filter. The voltage-controlled filter of an analog synthesizer is a similar circuit. Modern envelope followers can be implemented: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=345675 | 219,720 |
Transposable element Certain mutated plants have been found to have defects in methylation-related enzymes (methyl transferase) which cause the transcription of TEs, thus affecting the phenotype. One hypothesis suggests that only approximately 100 LINE1 related sequences are active, despite their sequences making up 17% of the human genome. In human cells, silencing of LINE1 sequences is triggered by an RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism. Surprisingly, the RNAi sequences are derived from the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of the LINE1, a long terminal which repeats itself. Supposedly, the 5' LINE1 UTR that codes for the sense promoter for LINE1 transcription also encodes the antisense promoter for the miRNA that becomes the substrate for siRNA production. Inhibition of the RNAi silencing mechanism in this region showed an increase in LINE1 transcription. TEs are found in almost all life forms, and the scientific community is still exploring their evolution and their effect on genome evolution. It is unclear whether TEs originated in the last universal common ancestor, arose independently multiple times, or arose once and then spread to other kingdoms by horizontal gene transfer. While some TEs confer benefits on their hosts, most are regarded as selfish DNA parasites. In this way, they are similar to viruses. Various viruses and TEs also share features in their genome structures and biochemical abilities, leading to speculation that they share a common ancestor | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30651 | 155,171 |
Policies promoting wireless broadband in the United States The newest generation of speed at "4G" is being deployed at rapid speeds throughout the United States by the leading carriers, and promises to be greatly beneficial to the economy and society. Next-generation technology is ten times faster than current speeds and is capable of benefiting all Americans, helping public safety increase, and further progressing the innovation for wireless applications, equipment and services. The advancement of technology is intended to move us forward and catch up with other nations that have already implemented these technologies. The technological advances in wireless broadband, like mobile broadband, provide a solid foundation for improved delivery of services. A supported infrastructure is important for any network, whether technologically based or socially based. The national wireless network is no different. Under Section 105 Interoperability of the bill S.28, the Commission must establish the technical and operational rules to ensure the national wireless networks are interoperable. It has so far yet to be established as to who will actually support the network, being the government or a private Internet service provider. Rules are to be established to permit a public safety licensee to authorize a service provider to construct and operate the wireless network. It is also in the plan to have the service provider use their licensee spectrum if the authorization would expedite broadband communications | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31586643 | 127,809 |
Mold health issues are potentially harmful effects of molds (US usage; British English "moulds"). Molds are ubiquitous in the biosphere, and mold spores are a common component of household and workplace dust. The vast majority of molds are not hazardous to humans, and reaction to molds can vary between individuals, with relatively minor allergic reactions being the most common. Nonetheless, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in its June 2006 report, 'Mold Prevention Strategies and Possible Health Effects in the Aftermath of Hurricanes and Major Floods,' that "excessive exposure to mold-contaminated materials can cause adverse health effects in susceptible persons regardless of the type of mold or the extent of contamination." When mold spores are present in abnormally high quantities, they can present especially hazardous health risks to humans after prolonged exposure, including allergic reactions or poisoning by mycotoxins, or causing fungal infection (mycosis). Studies have shown that people who are atopic (sensitive), already suffer from allergies, asthma, or compromised immune systems and occupy damp or moldy buildings are at an increased risk of health problems such as inflammatory and toxic responses to mold spores, metabolites and other components. The most common health problem is an allergic reaction | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42676 | 465,778 |
Copper(II) oxide or cupric oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula CuO. A black solid, it is one of the two stable oxides of copper, the other being CuO or cuprous oxide. As a mineral, it is known as tenorite. It is a product of copper mining and the precursor to many other copper-containing products and chemical compounds. It is produced on a large scale by pyrometallurgy, as one stage in extracting copper from its ores. The ores are treated with an aqueous mixture of ammonium carbonate, ammonia, and oxygen to give copper(I) and copper(II) ammine complexes, which are extracted from the solids. These complexes are decomposed with steam to give CuO. It can be formed by heating copper in air at around 300–800°C: For laboratory uses, pure copper(II) oxide is better prepared by heating copper(II) nitrate, copper(II) hydroxide, or basic copper(II) carbonate: dissolves in mineral acids such as hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid or nitric acid to give the corresponding copper(II) salts: It reacts with concentrated alkali to form the corresponding cuprate salts: It can also be reduced to copper metal using hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or carbon: When cupric oxide is substituted for iron oxide in thermite the resulting mixture is a low explosive, not an incendiary. belongs to the monoclinic crystal system. The copper atom is coordinated by 4 oxygen atoms in an approximately square planar configuration. The work function of bulk CuO is 5 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1177019 | 407,200 |
Action potential It tends then to stay inactivated for some time, but, if the membrane potential becomes low again, the channel will eventually transition back to the "deactivated" state. During an action potential, most channels of this type go through a cycle "deactivated"→"activated"→"inactivated"→"deactivated". This is only the population average behavior, however – an individual channel can in principle make any transition at any time. However, the likelihood of a channel's transitioning from the "inactivated" state directly to the "activated" state is very low: A channel in the "inactivated" state is refractory until it has transitioned back to the "deactivated" state. The outcome of all this is that the kinetics of the "Na" channels are governed by a transition matrix whose rates are voltage-dependent in a complicated way. Since these channels themselves play a major role in determining the voltage, the global dynamics of the system can be quite difficult to work out. Hodgkin and Huxley approached the problem by developing a set of differential equations for the parameters that govern the ion channel states, known as the Hodgkin-Huxley equations. These equations have been extensively modified by later research, but form the starting point for most theoretical studies of action potential biophysics. As the membrane potential is increased, sodium ion channels open, allowing the entry of sodium ions into the cell. This is followed by the opening of potassium ion channels that permit the exit of potassium ions from the cell | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=156998 | 397,625 |
Positive neuroscience Broadly defined, positive neuroscience is the study of what the brain does well. Instead of studying mental illness, positive neuroscientists focus on valued cognitive qualities that serve to enrich personal life and/or society. Topics in positive neuroscience overlap heavily with those of positive psychology, but use neuroimaging techniques to extend beyond the behavioral level and explain the neurobiology which underpins "positive" cognitive phenomena such as intelligence, creativity, optimism, and healthy aging. Though positive neuroscience is only beginning to be recognized as an emerging field, empirical research of optimal or exceptional brain functioning has been conducted at least as far back as the 1970s. Early work was confined to the use of lesion studies, and thus was only very case-specific. Human electroencephalography, first practiced in 1920, was applied to the study of creativity in the early 1970s. As "in vivo" brain imaging has become more sophisticated, investigations of positive neuroscience phenomena have incorporated multiple functional neuroimaging techniques (functional magnetic resonance imaging and Positron Emission Tomography) and structural imaging (Diffusion MRI, voxel-based morphometry, in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy). Examples of research centers currently active in the field of positive neuroscience include Martin Seligman's lab at the University of Pennsylvania and Rex Jung's lab at the University of New Mexico, supported by The Mind Research Network | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24518815 | 176,768 |
Xenon does not react with oxygen directly; the trioxide is formed by the hydrolysis of : Barium perxenate, when treated with concentrated sulfuric acid, yields gaseous xenon tetroxide: To prevent decomposition, the xenon tetroxide thus formed is quickly cooled into a pale-yellow solid. It explodes above −35.9 °C into xenon and oxygen gas, but is otherwise stable. A number of xenon oxyfluorides are known, including , , , and . is formed by reacting with xenon gas at low temperatures. It may also be obtained by partial hydrolysis of . It disproportionates at −20 °C into and . is formed by the partial hydrolysis of , or the reaction of with sodium perxenate, . The latter reaction also produces a small amount of . reacts with CsF to form the anion, while XeOF reacts with the alkali metal fluorides KF, RbF and CsF to form the anion. can be directly bonded to a less electronegative element than fluorine or oxygen, particularly carbon. Electron-withdrawing groups, such as groups with fluorine substitution, are necessary to stabilize these compounds. Numerous such compounds have been characterized, including: Other compounds containing xenon bonded to a less electronegative element include and . The latter is synthesized from dioxygenyl tetrafluoroborate, , at −100 °C. An unusual ion containing xenon is the tetraxenonogold(II) cation, , which contains Xe–Au bonds | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34139 | 37,692 |
Apex Digital In 2019, entered a partnership with Bluestar Alliance, a private equity firm, to purchase Brookstone's online and wholesale businesses. Brookstone is a retail chain that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018. A programming loophole in Apex’s first DVD player model meant that users could circumvent regional lockout and Macrovision’s copyright protection, meaning they could play DVDs from any region globally and record them onto videocassettes. Apex quickly discontinued the model and this problem was resolved in subsequent manufacturing. Apex agreed to pay Philips, Sony and Pioneer a $7 patent royalty fee for every DVD player it produced, following a copyright infringement suit in 2002. From 2002 Apex developed its range of televisions in partnership with Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. Ltd, China’s largest manufacturer of colour televisions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1552861 | 260,212 |
Audio power amplifier Since the 1970s, most modern audio amplifiers are based on solid-state transistors, especially the bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). Transistor-based amplifiers are lighter in weight, more reliable and require less maintenance than tube amplifiers. The MOSFET, invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959, was adapted into a power MOSFET for audio by Jun-ichi Nishizawa at Tohoku University in 1974. Power MOSFETs were soon manufactured by Yamaha for their hi-fi audio amplifiers. JVC, Pioneer Corporation, Sony and Toshiba also began manufacturing amplifiers with power MOSFETs in 1974. In 1977, Hitachi introduced the LDMOS (lateral diffused MOS), a type of power MOSFET. Hitachi was the only LDMOS manufacturer between 1977 and 1983, during which time LDMOS was used in audio power amplifiers from manufacturers such as HH Electronics (V-series) and Ashly Audio, and were used for music and public address systems. Class-D amplifiers became successful in the mid-1980s when low-cost, fast-switching MOSFETs were made available. Many transistor amps use MOSFET devices in their power sections, because their distortion curve is more tube-like | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=92791 | 381,270 |
Transcription factor II F Transcription factor IIF (TFF) is one of several general transcription factors that make up the RNA polymerase II preinitiation complex. Transcription factor IIF is encoded by the , , and genes. TFIIF binds to RNA Polymerase II when the enzyme is already unbound to any other transcription factor, thus preventing it from contacting DNA outside the promoter. Furthermore, TFIIF stabilizes the RNA polymerase II while it's contacting TBP and TFIIB. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12589679 | 184,270 |
Remineralisation In biogeochemistry, remineralization (US; UK Spelling: remineralisation) refers to the breakdown or transformation of organic matter (those molecules derived from a biological source) into its simplest inorganic forms. These transformations form a crucial link within ecosystems as they are responsible for liberating the energy stored in organic molecules and recycling matter within the system to be reused as nutrients by other organisms. Remineralization is normally viewed as it relates to the cycling of the major biologically-important elements such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. While crucial to all ecosystems, the process receives special consideration in aquatic settings, where it forms a significant link in the biogeochemical dynamics and cycling of aquatic ecosystems. The term "remineralization" is used in several contexts across different disciplines. The term is most commonly used in the medicinal and physiological fields, where it describes the development or redevelopment of mineralized structures in organisms such as teeth or bone. In the field of biogeochemistry, however, remineralization is used to describe a link in the chain of elemental cycling within a specific ecosystem. In particular, remineralization represents the point where organic material constructed by living organisms is broken down into basal inorganic components that are not obviously identifiable as having come from an organic source | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3919387 | 41,574 |
Pacific–North American teleconnection pattern The associated precipitation anomalies include above-average totals in the Gulf of Alaska extending into the Pacific Northwestern United States, and below-average totals over the upper Midwestern United States. The negative PNA phase is associated with the opposite. Although the PNA pattern is a natural internal mode of climate variability, it is also strongly influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. The positive phase of the PNA pattern tends to be associated with Pacific warm episodes (El Niño), and the negative phase tends to be associated with Pacific cold episodes (La Niña). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13656257 | 12,247 |
Bishop's Palace, Wells Jude storm. Bibliography | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14181080 | 344,572 |
Stefan Tyszkiewicz He designed an industrial stapler that was noted in Brussels in 1965 and in Geneva in 1972. His improvements to fuel efficiency in combustion engines, the 'Stetair', was rewarded at the Geneva Motor Show in 1974. Tyszkiewicz had a long-standing interest in aeronautics and collaborated with the former European Launcher Development Organisation, on load-bearing rockets, and was later connected to the European Space Research Organisation and European Space Agency projects. He belonged to the Polish National Council. which advised the Polish Government in exile. He was a Knight of Malta and was elected on three occasions to its Grand Council. died in London in 1976 and was buried in the family plot at London's Brompton Cemetery. http://www.tygodnik.lt/200951/bliska5.htm Narkowicz Liliana 'Uchodźca i bezpaństwowiec', access 2012-04-14, review: "Tygodnik Wileńszczyzny" vol. 51 (483) December, 2009 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49575742 | 444,182 |
Test design technique On the other hand, for boundary value analysis, the test selection criterion is involved in the technique. The most adopted test techniques are: use case testing, boundary value analysis, equivalence partitioning, decision tables, state transition testing, pairwise testing and classification trees, all being specification-based | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62400075 | 200,116 |
Chasing Kangaroos Chasing Kangaroos: A Continent, a Scientist, and a Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Creature, is a 2007 book () by Professor Tim Flannery. The book draws on three decades of travel, research, and field work to explore Australia's kangaroo. Seventy species make up the kangaroo family, which includes wallabies and rat kangaroos. Professor Tim Flannery is also author of "The Weather Makers", which received much critical acclaim. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20497431 | 15,997 |
Historical Metallurgy Society The is a British learned society providing an international forum for exchange of information and research in historical metallurgy. It was founded as the Historical metallurgy Group in 1963. All aspects of the history of metals and associated materials are covered from prehistory to the present, from processes and production through technology and economics to archaeology and conservation. The origins were partly a response to the damage and destruction of many historically important metallurgical sites. Conservation, research and protection remain important parts of the Society’s role. Each year the Society holds a two-day conference (usually in the United Kingdom) with a program of papers covering a particular area of metallurgical interest. In addition to this it also runs other day meetings. The publishes "Historical Metallurgy" an internationally recognised peer review journal, published annually in two parts. The Society also issues a Newsletter "The Crucible" three times a year, and has published edited collections based on the papers given at several of its conferences in an "Occasional Papers" series. The is a Company Limited by guarantee (no. 1442508) and a registered charity (no. 279314). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37160678 | 228,108 |
Domestic robot It covers about per charge. Robotic toys, such as the well known Furby, have been popular since 1998. There are also small humanoid remote-controlled robots as well as electronic pets, such as robotic dogs. They have also have been used by many universities in competitions such as the RoboCup. Social robots take on the function of social communication. Domestic humanoid robots are used by elderly and immobilized residents to keep them company. Home-telepresence robots can move around in a remote location and let one communicate with people there via its camera, speaker, and microphone. Network robots link ubiquitous networks with robots, contributing to the creation of new lifestyles and solutions to address a variety of social problems including the aging of population and nursing care. Robots built for therapy have been in production for quite some time now. Some of these uses can be for autism or physical therapy. Lt. Comm. Data is a Starfleet officer in . The episode that best explains who Data is was , Data, an android on the U.S.S. Enterprise is on trial to determine whether or not he is truly human. He likes to be seen as a human, not a robot. In the Star Wars film series, robots of all shapes and sizes can be found assisting the humans with several tasks. C-3PO is a robot designed to assist humans in translation, and etiquette. Many cartoons feature robot maids, notably Rosie the Robot from "The Jetsons" | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30873381 | 285,787 |
Extreme response spectrum The Extreme Response Spectrum (ERS) (or Maximum Response Spectrum (MRS)) is defined as a curve giving the value of the highest peak of the response of a linear Single Degree of Freedom System (SDOF system) to vibration, according to its natural frequency, for a given damping ratio. The response is described here by the relative movement of the mass of this system in relation to its support. The x-axis refers to the natural frequency and the y-axis to the highest peak multiplied by the square of the quantity (2 π x natural frequency), by analogy with the relative displacement shock response spectrum. The severity of a vibration can be evaluated by calculating the stresses on a mathematical or finite element model of the structure and, for example, comparison with the ultimate stress of the material. This is the method used to dimension the structure. Generally, however, the problem is instead to evaluate the relative severity of several vibrations (vibrations measured in the real environment, measured vibrations with respect to standards, establishment of a specification etc.). This comparison would be difficult to carry out if one used a fine model of the structure and besides, this is not always available, in particular at the stage of the development of the specification of dimensioning | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24973931 | 423,442 |
Image An image (from ) is an artifact that depicts visual perception, such as a photograph or other two-dimensional picture, that resembles a subject—usually a physical object—and thus provides a depiction of it. In the context of signal processing, an image is a distributed amplitude of color(s). Images may be two-dimensional, such as a photograph or screen display, or three-dimensional, such as a statue or hologram. They may be captured by optical devices – such as cameras, mirrors, lenses, telescopes, microscopes, etc. and natural objects and phenomena, such as the human eye or water. The word 'image' is also used in the broader sense of any two-dimensional figure such as a map, a graph, a pie chart, a painting or a banner. In this wider sense, images can also be "rendered" manually, such as by drawing, the art of painting, , rendered automatically by printing or computer graphics technology, or developed by a combination of methods, especially in a pseudo-photograph. A volatile image is one that exists only for a short period of time. This may be a reflection of an object by a mirror, a projection of a camera obscura, or a scene displayed on a cathode ray tube. A fixed image, also called a hard copy, is one that has been recorded on a material object, such as paper or textile by photography or any other digital process. A mental image exists in an individual's mind, as something one remembers or imagines | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=71925 | 136,845 |
Alternative fuel vehicle The first commercial vehicle that used ethanol as a fuel was the Ford Model T, produced from 1908 through 1927. It was fitted with a carburetor with adjustable jetting, allowing use of gasoline or ethanol, or a combination of both. Other car manufactures also provided engines for ethanol fuel use. In the United States, alcohol fuel was produced in corn-alcohol stills until Prohibition criminalized the production of alcohol in 1919. The use of alcohol as a fuel for internal combustion engines, either alone or in combination with other fuels, lapsed until the oil price shocks of the 1970s. Furthermore, additional attention was gained because of its possible environmental and long-term economical advantages over fossil fuel. Both ethanol and methanol have been used as an automotive fuel. While both can be obtained from petroleum or natural gas, ethanol has attracted more attention because it is considered a renewable resource, easily obtained from sugar or starch in crops and other agricultural produce such as grain, sugarcane, sugar beets or even lactose. Since ethanol occurs in nature whenever yeast happens to find a sugar solution such as overripe fruit, most organisms have evolved some tolerance to ethanol, whereas methanol is toxic. Other experiments involve butanol, which can also be produced by fermentation of plants | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8340209 | 356,955 |
Credit Derivatives Product Company A Credit Derivatives Product Company, or CDPC, is a business focused on trading in credit default swaps contracts. CDPC typically sells insurance against someone failing to pay back a loan ('defaulting'). A CDPC is usually highly leveraged, meaning that if even a portion of its held credit default portfolio were to be 'triggered' at once, the CDPC would not have the capital to fully pay out the resulting insurance claims. The CDPC business model is dependent on a triple-A rating from a credit rating agency and must trade within closely defined limitations to be allowed to maintain their credit rating. The first CDPC was Primus Financial Products, launched in 2002. In October 2008 Fitch Ratings withdrew its ratings on all five CDPCs that it had previously rated, citing in part "the uncertain business prospects for CDPCs". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27215366 | 480,608 |
Ultrafast molecular process An ultrafast molecular process is any technology that relies on properties of molecules that are only extant for a very short period of time (less than 1e-9 seconds). Such processes are very important in areas such as combustion chemistry and in the study of proteins. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4876423 | 4,774 |
Real-time path planning The work space is an environment that contains the robot and various obstacles. This environment can be either 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional. The configuration of a robot is determined by its current position and pose. The configuration space is the set of all configurations of the robot. By containing all the possible configurations of the robot, it also represents all transformations that can be applied to the robot. Within the configuration sets there are additional sets of configurations that are classified by the various algorithms. The free space is the set of all configurations within the configuration space that does not collide with obstacles. The target space is the configuration that we want the robot to accomplish. The obstacle space is the set of configurations within the configuration space where the robot is unable to move to. The danger space is the set of configurations where the robot can move through but does not want to. Oftentimes robots will try to avoid these configurations unless they have no other valid path or are under a time restraint. For example a robot would not want to move through a fire unless there were no other valid paths to the target space. Global path planning refers to methods that require prior knowledge of the robot's environment. Using this knowledge it creates a simulated environment where the methods can plan a path. The rapidly exploring random tree method works by running through all possible translations from a specific configuration | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51775967 | 397,303 |
Medivir is a Swedish biotech company. focuses its research focus on oncology and particularly on innovative pharmaceuticals that meet substantial unmet medical needs. The pharmaceutical development work is conducted both in-house and through partnerships, usually with global pharmaceutical companies. has a leading expertise in the design of protease inhibitors and in the science of nucleotides and nucleosides. is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap List. In February 2020, announced that the company has signed a licensing agreement for Xerclear with Chinese company Shijiazhuang Yuanmai Biotechnology Co Ltd (SYB). The agreement gives SYB the right to register, manufacture and market the product in China. In 2016 announced that it would focus its research on cancers of high unmet medical need, where existing therapies are not very successful and there is a great opportunity to provide real benefit to patients who have few treatment options. Some cancer types of particular interest to include hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and pancreatic cancer, which are all highly aggressive diseases with poor treatment options and very low overall survival rates on the best current treatments today. HCC is a liver cancer derived from hepatocyte cells. HCC is one of the most common cancers worldwide and late stage HCC has a mean overall survival of only 9–11 months on the best available treatment today | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=52440500 | 8,347 |
Crowdfunding In Europe the requirements towards investors are not as high as in the United States, lowering the entry barrier into the real estate investments in general. Real estate crowdfunding can include various project types from commercial to residential developments, planning gain opportunities, build to hold (such as social housing) and many more. The report from Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance addresses both real estate crowdfunding and "peer 2 peer" lending (property) in the UK. Largest real estate crowdfunding platforms in continental Europe are Housers and EstateGuru. Baltic States could be classified as one of the most active property crowdfunding markets and Estonia provides one of the highest returns to investors in Europe. Another Estonian platform EVOEstate provides highest diversification opportunities and records up to 18% annual returns to its investors. One of the challenges of posting new ideas on crowdfunding sites is there may be little or no intellectual property (IP) protection provided by the sites themselves. Once an idea is posted, it can be copied. As Slava Rubin, founder of IndieGoGo, said: "We get asked that all the time, 'How do you protect me from someone stealing my idea?' We're not liable for any of that stuff | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48505834 | 232,448 |
Productivity It is the measure of labour productivity (and all that this measure takes into account) which helps explain the principal economic foundations that are necessary for both economic growth and social development. In general labour productivity is equal to the ratio between a measure of output volume (gross domestic product or gross value added) and a measure of input use (the total number of hours worked or total employment). The output measure is typically net output, more specifically the value added by the process under consideration, i.e. the value of outputs minus the value of intermediate inputs. This is done in order to avoid double-counting when an output of one firm is used as an input by another in the same measurement. In macroeconomics the most well-known and used measure of value-added is the Gross Domestic Product or GDP. Increases in it are widely used as a measure of the economic growth of nations and industries. GDP is the income available for paying capital costs, labor compensation, taxes and profits.(OECD 2008,11) Some economists instead use gross value added (GVA); there is normally a strong correlation between GDP and GVA. (Freeman 2008,5) The measure of input use reflects the time, effort and skills of the workforce. Denominator of the ratio of labour productivity, the input measure is the most important factor that influences the measure of labour productivity. Labour input is measured either by the total number of hours worked of all persons employed or total employment (head count) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=424899 | 477,444 |
Light-cone coordinates In special relativity, light-cone coordinates is a special coordinate system where two of the coordinates, x and x are null coordinates and all the other coordinates are spatial. Call them formula_1. Assume we are working with a (d,1) Lorentzian signature. Instead of the standard coordinate system (using Einstein notation) with formula_3 we have with formula_5, formula_6 and formula_7. Both x and x can act as "time" coordinates. One nice thing about light cone coordinates is that the causal structure is partially included into the coordinate system itself. A boost in the tx plane shows up as formula_8, formula_9, formula_10. A rotation in the ij-plane only affects formula_1. The parabolic transformations show up as formula_12, formula_13, formula_14. Another set of parabolic transformations show up as formula_15, formula_16 and formula_17. Light cone coordinates can also be generalized to curved spacetime in general relativity. Sometimes calculations simplify using light cone coordinates. See Newman–Penrose formalism. Light cone coordinates are sometimes used to describe relativistic collisions, especially if the relative velocity is very close to the speed of light. They are also used in the light cone gauge of string theory. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17785091 | 15,537 |
EKWB Due to the tight spaces involved in RAM DIMM layouts on modern PCs, the water blocks do not sit directly on the RAM modules, but rather connect to special heat spreaders attached to the DIMM's, they then screw into the RAM block which sits on top and is thermally connected via TIM. They sell these blocks in two and four DIMM versions. They are available as both bare copper and nickel plated copper, as well as in acetal and plexi versions. The heat spreaders are offered in aluminium with black or nickel finishes. Copper versions are also available for the extreme cooling version. have their own range of fans especially designed for use with PC water cooling radiators. These fans are marketed as being high static pressure and low noise, both factors to be considered for airflow through a radiator. These fans are available in a number of colour combinations, rotational speed and in sizes of 120mm and 140mm, the two main PC cooling standards for enthusiasts. offer radiators in a number of sizes and thicknesses, marketed as CoolStream. They offer their 120mm radiator options as single (120mmx120mm), dual (240mmx120mm), triple (360mmx120mm) and quad (480mmx120mm) fan places in thicknesses of 28mm (SE line) 38mm (PE line) and 60mm (XE line). They offer 140mm radiator options as single (140mmx140mm), dual (280mmx140mm), triple (420mmx140mm) and quad (560mmx140mm) fan places in thicknesses of 28mm (SE Line) and 45mm (CE line) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=52190884 | 121,991 |
Engineering optimization is the subject which uses optimization techniques to achieve design goals in engineering. It is sometimes referred to as design optimization. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27955117 | 230,982 |
Mobile phone The cells are therefore sized depending on the expected usage density, and may be much smaller in cities. In that case much lower transmitter powers are used to avoid broadcasting beyond the cell. In order to handle the high traffic, multiple towers can be setup in the same area(using different frequencies). This can be done permanently or temporarily such as at special events like at the Super Bowl, Taste of Chicago, State Fair, NYC New Year's Eve, hurricane hit cities, etc. where cell phone companies will bring a truck with equipment to host the abnormally high traffic with a portable cell. Cellular can greatly increase the capacity of simultaneous wireless phone calls. While a phone company for example, has a license to 1000 frequencies, each cell must use unique frequencies with each call using one of them when communicating. Because cells only slightly overlap, the same frequency can be reused. Example cell 1 uses frequency 1–500, next door cell uses frequency 501–1000, next door can reuse frequency 1–500. Cells 1 and 3 are not "touching" and do not overlap/communicate so each can reuse the same frequencies. This is even more greatly increased when phone companies implemented digital networks. With digital, one frequency can host multiple simultaneous calls increasing capacity even more. As a phone moves around, a phone will "hand off" - automatically disconnect and reconnect to the tower of another cell that gives the best reception | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19644137 | 117,098 |
Industrial Revolution A small amount of bar iron was converted into steel. Cast iron was used for pots, stoves and other items where its brittleness was tolerable. Most cast iron was refined and converted to bar iron, with substantial losses. Bar iron was also made by the bloomery process, which was the predominant iron smelting process until the late 18th century. In the UK in 1720 there were 20,500 tons of cast iron produced with charcoal and 400 tons with coke. In 1750 charcoal iron production was 24,500 and coke iron was 2,500 tons. In 1788 the production of charcoal cast iron was 14,000 tons while coke iron production was 54,000 tons. In 1806 charcoal cast iron production was 7,800 tons and coke cast iron was 250,000 tons. In 1750 the UK imported 31,200 tons of bar iron and either refined from cast iron or directly produced 18,800 tons of bar iron using charcoal and 100 tons using coke. In 1796 the UK was making 125,000 tons of bar iron with coke and 6,400 tons with charcoal; imports were 38,000 tons and exports were 24,600 tons. In 1806 the UK did not import bar iron but exported 31,500 tons. A major change in the iron industries during the era of the was the replacement of wood and other bio-fuels with coal. For a given amount of heat, coal required much less labour to mine than cutting wood and converting it to charcoal, and coal was much more abundant than wood, supplies of which were becoming scarce before the enormous increase in iron production that took place in the late 18th century | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14914 | 250,503 |
Ising model In the generic case, choosing the scaling law for "H" is easy, since the only term that contributes is the first one, This term is the most significant, but it gives trivial behavior. This form of the free energy is ultralocal, meaning that it is a sum of an independent contribution from each point. This is like the spin-flips in the one-dimensional Ising model. Every value of "H" at any point fluctuates completely independently of the value at any other point. The scale of the field can be redefined to absorb the coefficient "A", and then it is clear that "A" only determines the overall scale of fluctuations. The ultralocal model describes the long wavelength high temperature behavior of the Ising model, since in this limit the fluctuation averages are independent from point to point. To find the critical point, lower the temperature. As the temperature goes down, the fluctuations in "H" go up because the fluctuations are more correlated. This means that the average of a large number of spins does not become small as quickly as if they were uncorrelated, because they tend to be the same. This corresponds to decreasing "A" in the system of units where "H" does not absorb "A". The phase transition can only happen when the subleading terms in "F" can contribute, but since the first term dominates at long distances, the coefficient "A" must be tuned to zero. This is the location of the critical point: where "t" is a parameter which goes through zero at the transition | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=292744 | 446,561 |
Blue Sulphur Springs Pavilion " The Pavilion was constructed in 1834, the year the Blue Sulphur Springs Resort opened. George Washington Buster constructed the resort; it was named Blue Sulphur Springs for the iridescent color of the springs. The original resort included, along with the Pavilion, a three-story hotel with 200 rooms and a bathhouse. The resort was visited by several noteworthy guests in the 1840s, including Robert E. Lee, Henry Clay, and Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. The resort was a prime spot for the promotion of relaxation and health, as the sulphur spring at the resort was considered to be a remedy for numerous diseases. Blue Sulphur Springs Resort began to decline in the 1850s due to competition from other resorts such as The Greenbrier and an economic downturn. The resort closed in 1859 and became Allegheny College, a school for Baptist ministers; the college closed in 1861. The resort buildings were used by both sides in the Civil War as a camp and hospital. In 1864, the Union Army burned the resort to prevent the Confederate Army from utilizing them; only the Pavilion survived the fire. The is located in a valley at the junction of the Kitchen Creek and Sawmill Hollow valleys. It is located in the region of thermal mineral springs in the Appalachian Mountains, and is one of several mineral springs in the area. The Pavilion is located in a rural landscape, and offers views of the surrounding valley | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30299976 | 352,221 |
Spreadmart A spreadmart (spreadsheet data mart) is a business data analysis system running on spreadsheets or other desktop databases that is created and maintained by individuals or groups to perform tasks that can be done in a more structured way by a data mart or data warehouse. Typically a spreadmart is created by individuals at different times using different data sources and rules for defining metrics in an organization, creating a decentralized, fractured view of the enterprise. The concept was coined in 2002 by Wayne Eckerson at TDWI in his article "Taming Spreadsheet Jockeys", and intended pejoratively, as an undesirable system, which should be replaced by a data mart. However, critics such as Stephen Samild argue that spreadmarts have advantages over data marts and can be a desirable system. Usually, spreadmarts grow where standard Business Intelligence (BI) reporting is too inflexible and too slow. A Business analyst uses the "export to Microsoft Excel" button in his BI software and creates his own report with the exported data table. By this, the number of independently generated spreadsheets dealing with a particular group of analyses grows inside the company, and the data inside each spreadsheet is uncoupled from its source. When this happens, the data reflected in the spreadsheets is no longer verifiable and is not automatically kept up to date. Usually these spreadsheet files are distributed via email to colleagues resulting in even more copies of the data roaming through the enterprise | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17929247 | 498,351 |
Ectomycorrhiza The family Pinaceae often invade habitats along with specific EcM fungi from the genera "Suillus" and "Rhizopogon". There are also ectomycorrhiza-forming fungi with cosmopolitan distributions which can allow non-native plant species to spread in the absence of their specific EcM fungi from the native ecosystem. Plants can compete through attacking each others' fungal networks. Dominant native plants can inhibit EcM fungi on the roots of neighboring plants, and some invasive plants can inhibit the growth of native ectomycorrhizal fungi, especially if they become established and dominant. Invasive garlic mustard, "Alliaria petiolata", and its allelochemical benzyl isothiocyanate were shown to inhibit the growth of three species of EcM fungi grown on white pine seedlings. Changes in EcM communities can have drastic effects on nutrient uptake and community composition of native trees, with far-reaching ecological ramifications. Competition among EcM fungi is a well-documented case of soil microbial interactions. In some experiments, the timing of colonization by competing EcM fungi determined which species was dominant. Many biotic and abiotic factors can mediate competition among EcM fungi, such as temperature, soil pH, soil moisture, host specificity, and competitor number, and these factors interact with each other in a complex way. There is also some evidence for competition between EcM fungi and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. This is mostly noted in species that can host both EcM and AM fungi on their roots | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39480963 | 165,929 |
Integrating ADC Depending on the implementation, a switch may also be present in parallel with the integrator capacitor to allow the integrator to be reset . Inputs to the controller include a clock (used to measure time) and the output of a comparator used to detect when the integrator's output reaches zero. The conversion takes place in two phases: the run-up phase, where the input to the integrator is the voltage to be measured, and the run-down phase, where the input to the integrator is a known reference voltage. During the run-up phase, the switch selects the measured voltage as the input to the integrator. The integrator is allowed to ramp for a fixed period of time to allow a charge to build on the integrator capacitor. During the run-down phase, the switch selects the reference voltage as the input to the integrator. The time that it takes for the integrator's output to return to zero is measured during this phase. In order for the reference voltage to ramp the integrator voltage down, the reference voltage needs to have a polarity opposite to that of the input voltage. In most cases, for positive input voltages, this means that the reference voltage will be negative. To handle both positive and negative input voltages, a positive and negative reference voltage is required. The selection of which reference to use during the run-down phase would be based on the polarity of the integrator output at the end of the run-up phase | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=22269055 | 266,538 |
Customer satisfaction The ACSI measures customer satisfaction annually for more than 200 companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors. In addition to quarterly reports, the ACSI methodology can be applied to private sector companies and government agencies in order to improve loyalty and purchase intent. The Kano model is a theory of product development and customer satisfaction developed in the 1980s by Professor Noriaki Kano that classifies customer preferences into five categories: Attractive, One-Dimensional, Must-Be, Indifferent, Reverse. The Kano model offers some insight into the product attributes which are perceived to be important to customers. SERVQUAL or RATER is a service-quality framework that has been incorporated into customer-satisfaction surveys (e.g., the revised Norwegian Customer Satisfaction Barometer) to indicate the gap between customer expectations and experience. J.D. Power and Associates provides another measure of customer satisfaction, known for its top-box approach and automotive industry rankings. J.D. Power and Associates' marketing research consists primarily of consumer surveys and is publicly known for the value of its product awards. Other research and consulting firms have customer satisfaction solutions as well. These include A.T. Kearney's Customer Satisfaction Audit process, which incorporates the Stages of Excellence framework and which helps define a company’s status against eight critically identified dimensions | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3730788 | 459,599 |
ALL-IN-1 0 introduced shared file cabinets and the File Cabinet Server (FCS) to lay the foundation for an eventual integration with TeamLinks, Digital's PC office client. Previous integrations with PCs included PC ALL-IN-1, a DOS-based product introduced in 1989 that never proved popular with customers. Bob Wyman was the first product manager. He oversaw the growth of the product culminating in over $2 billion per year in leveraged revenue and market leadership in the proprietary office automation sector. Other consultants from Digital Equipment Corporation involved include Frank Nicodem, Donald Vickers and Tony Redmond. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25791203 | 452,469 |
Street date In business, a street date is the date a particular product is to be released for sale to the general public. Typically, retailers receive shipments of stock prior to its street date release, so that the product can be placed on display shelves for store opening that day. Shipments come marked very clearly with a "do not sell before release date" label designating a street date mandated by the distributor. Shipments may sometimes arrive up to three weeks in advance. Retail outlets can be severely punished by manufacturers for releasing a product even a day before the street date, a process known as "breaking street." If a retailer breaches the contract establishing a street date, the manufacturer may impose fines, may withdraw privileges to distribute future products from that manufacturer, and may file a lawsuit to enforce the contract. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3072151 | 482,939 |
Carbon steel Alloy steels have a better hardenability, so they can be through-hardened and do not require case hardening. This property of carbon steel can be beneficial, because it gives the surface good wear characteristics but leaves the core tough. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=633593 | 37,425 |
History of early and simple domes Cultures from pre-history to modern times constructed domed dwellings using local materials. Although it is not known when or where the first dome was created, sporadic examples of early domed structures have been discovered. Brick domes from the ancient Near East and corbelled stone domes have been found from the Middle East to Western Europe. These may indicate a common source or multiple independent traditions. A variety of materials have been used, including wood, mudbrick, or fabric. Indigenous peoples around the world produce similar structures today. The earliest domes were likely domed huts made from saplings, reeds, or timbers and covered with thatch, turf, or skins. Materials may have transitioned to rammed earth, mud-brick, or more durable stone as a result of local conditions. The earliest discovered remains of domed constructions may be four small dwellings made of Mammoth tusks and bones. The first was found by a farmer in Mezhirich, Ukraine, in 1965 while he was digging in his cellar and archaeologists unearthed three more. They date from 19,280–11,700 BC. More recently, semi-subterranean dwellings of the Thule people, ancestors of the Inuit who were established in the Canadian Arctic by 1300 AD, were made of whalebone frames lashed together with hide straps in a parabolic dome shape covered with hides and blocks of sod and snow. The igloo, a shelter built from blocks of ice in a spiral, was used by the Inuit people. The wigwam was made by Native Americans and covered with hides or bark | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=45632027 | 361,605 |
Chemotherapy Some types of chemotherapy are gonadotoxic and may cause infertility. Chemotherapies with high risk include procarbazine and other alkylating drugs such as cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, busulfan, melphalan, chlorambucil, and chlormethine. Drugs with medium risk include doxorubicin and platinum analogs such as cisplatin and carboplatin. On the other hand, therapies with low risk of gonadotoxicity include plant derivatives such as vincristine and vinblastine, antibiotics such as bleomycin and dactinomycin, and antimetabolites such as methotrexate, mercaptopurine, and 5-fluorouracil. Female infertility by chemotherapy appears to be secondary to premature ovarian failure by loss of primordial follicles. This loss is not necessarily a direct effect of the chemotherapeutic agents, but could be due to an increased rate of growth initiation to replace damaged developing follicles. People may choose between several methods of fertility preservation prior to chemotherapy, including cryopreservation of semen, ovarian tissue, oocytes, or embryos. As more than half of cancer patients are elderly, this adverse effect is only relevant for a minority of patients. A study in France between 1999 and 2011 came to the result that embryo freezing before administration of gonadotoxic agents to females caused a delay of treatment in 34% of cases, and a live birth in 27% of surviving cases who wanted to become pregnant, with the follow-up time varying between 1 and 13 years | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7172 | 494,253 |
Martin Kamen Kamen came under long-term suspicion of espionage activity beginning in 1944. He described his experiences during this era in his autobiography, "Radiant Science, Dark Politics". He first aroused suspicion while working at Oak Ridge. A cyclotron operator prepared radioactive sodium for an experiment, and Kamen was surprised that the resulting sodium had a purple glow, indicating it was much more intensely radioactive than could be produced in a cyclotron. Kamen recognized immediately that the sodium must have been irradiated in a nuclear reactor elsewhere in the facility. Because of wartime secrecy, he had not been aware of the reactor's existence. He excitedly told his colleagues about his discovery. Shortly thereafter, an investigation was launched to find out who had leaked the information to Kamen. After returning to Berkeley, Kamen met two Russian officials at a party given by his friend, the violinist Isaac Stern, whom he sometimes accompanied as a viola player in social evenings of chamber music. The Russians were Grigory Kheifets and Grigory Kasparov, posted as undercover KGB officers in the Soviet Union's San Francisco consulate. One of them asked Kamen for assistance in getting experimental radiation treatment for a colleague with leukemia. Kamen made inquiries, and in appreciation the official invited him for dinner at a local restaurant | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=146252 | 279,473 |
Evaporative cooler It is mainly explained by the combination of a higher air speed on one hand and elevated indoor humidity when the region permits the direct evaporative cooling strategy on the other hand. Evaporative cooling strategies that involve the humidification of the air should be implemented in dry condition where the increase in moisture content stays below recommendations for occupant's comfort and indoor air quality. Passive cooling towers lack the control that traditional HVAC systems offer to occupants. However, the additional air movement provided into the space can improve occupant comfort. Evaporative cooling is most effective when the relative humidity is on the low side, limiting its popularity to dry climates. Evaporative cooling raises the internal humidity level significantly, which desert inhabitants may appreciate as the moist air re-hydrates dry skin and sinuses. Therefore, assessing typical climate data is an essential procedure to determine the potential of evaporative cooling strategies for a building. The three most important climate considerations are dry-bulb temperature, wet-bulb temperature, and wet-bulb depression during the summer design day. It is important to determine if the wet-bulb depression can provide sufficient cooling during the summer design day. By subtracting the wet-bulb depression from the outside dry-bulb temperature, one can estimate the approximate air temperature leaving the evaporative cooler | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=651372 | 278,804 |
SECS/GEM The is the semiconductor's equipment interface protocol for equipment-to-host data communications. In an automated fab, the interface can start and stop equipment processing, collect measurement data, change variables and select recipes for products. The SECS (SEMI Equipment Communications Standard)/GEM (Generic Equipment Model) standards do all this in a defined way. Developed by the SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International) organization, the standards define a common set of equipment behaviour and communications capabilities. The Generic Model for Communications and Control Of Manufacturing Equipment (GEM) standard is maintained and published by the non-profit organization Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI). Generally speaking, the standard defines messages, state machines and scenarios to enable factory software to control and monitor manufacturing equipment. The GEM standard is formally designated and referred to as SEMI standard E30, but frequently simply referred to as the GEM or standard. GEM intends "to produce economic benefits for both device manufacturers and equipment suppliers..." by defining "... a common set of equipment behavior and communications capabilities that provide the functionality and flexibility to support the manufacturing automation programs of semiconductor device manufacturers" [SEMI E30, 1.3]. GEM is a standard implementation of the SECS-II standard, SEMI standard E5 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=22508443 | 405,553 |
Multitaper In signal processing, the multitaper method is a technique developed by David J. Thomson to estimate the power spectrum "S" of a stationary ergodic finite-variance random process "X", given a finite contiguous realization of "X" as data. It is one of a number of approaches to spectral density estimation. The multitaper method overcomes some of the limitations of conventional Fourier analysis. When applying the Fourier transform to extract spectral information from a signal, we assume that each Fourier coefficient is a reliable representation of the amplitude and relative phase of the corresponding component frequency. This assumption, however, is not always valid. For instance, a single trial represents only one noisy realization of the underlying process of interest. A comparable situation arises in statistics when estimating measures of central tendency i.e., it is bad practice to estimate qualities of a population using individuals or very small samples. Likewise, a single sample of a process does not necessarily provide a reliable estimate of its spectral properties. Moreover, the naive power spectral density obtained from the signal's Fourier transform is a biased estimate of the true spectral content. These problems are often overcome by averaging over many realizations of the same event. However, this method is unreliable with small data sets and undesirable when one does not wish to attenuate signal components that vary across trials | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9166436 | 104,117 |
Riverside Plaza (Chicago) The Riverside Plaza is an art deco skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The building was designed by Holabird & Roche/Holabird & Root and completed in 1929. The 26-story building is 302 feet (120.7 m) tall. It was known as the Chicago Daily News Building until the newspaper of the same name ceased publication in 1978. Typically, the buildings along the Chicago River were industrial in nature and butted up against the riverside, which was polluted and not considered a positive asset. This building was the first to develop the Chicago riverfront aesthetically as well as commercially. It was the first American skyscraper with an open-air plaza as part of its design. It was also one of the first buildings in Chicago constructed largely over a railroad right-of-way. A ramped concourse through the south side of this building serves as the main entryway to the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Citigroup Center. This concourse was originally the main lobby, with an even floor in place of the ramp up to the bridge at Canal Street. An art deco mural by John W. Norton, formerly housed on the ceiling of the building's old lobby, was commissioned by the Chicago Daily News. It was dominated by diagonal lines, and divided into three sections: Gathering the News, Printing the News, & Transporting the News. In the fall of 1993, it was removed and put into storage, where it has remained. The plaza faces the Civic Opera Building directly across the Chicago River to the east | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34939920 | 325,697 |
North Arm Powder Magazine The near Port Adelaide, South Australia was from 1858 to 1906 a secure storage facility for dynamite and gelignite to be used in the construction, mining and quarrying industries. It was in Gillman near Port Adelaide at the North Arm of the Port River only 9 m away from the North Arm Bridge and North Arm Road. The explosives were stored in the wooden and slated magazine building and in two dynamite hulks moored in Magazine Creek. One of them was a retired iron dredger, built around 1852, and the other was a former lighter. They were seen as a risk, if they should ever explode, because they were close to the new bridge and coastal settlements and inland towns. The was built in 1858 by the government. The magazine was built as a lightweight structure on wooden poles due to its location at the tidal creek. Only later this became best practice to mitigate the secondary damage from an explosion by descending débris. As it was close to urbanisation, it was suggested to abandon the site already a decade after it had been commissioned. It was taken out of service only in 1906, after its contents had been moved to the new Dry Creek explosives depot. The building was demolished in 1916 and no visible evidence remains. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=46257702 | 239,706 |
Course of dealing The term course of dealing is defined in the Uniform Commercial Code as follows: A "course of dealing" is a sequence of conduct concerning previous transactions between the parties to a particular transaction that is fairly to be regarded as establishing a common basis of understanding for interpreting their expressions and other conduct. UCC § 1-303(b). "Course of dealing," as defined in subsection (b), is restricted, literally, to a sequence of conduct between the parties previous to the agreement. A sequence of conduct after or under the agreement, however, is a "course of performance." Even though, according to the parol evidence rule, words and terms in a writing intended to be the final expression of the agreement of the parties may not be contradicted by extrinsic evidence of a prior or contemporaneous agreement, extrinsic evidence in the form of course of dealing nonetheless may be used to explain or supplement the writing. An integration clause in a contract, stating that the parties intend the writing to be a complete and exclusive statement of the terms of the agreement does not suffice to negate the importance of course of dealing, "because these are such an integral part of the contract that they are not normally disclaimed by general language in the merger clause." Under the common law, extrinsic evidence such as course of dealing could be considered only the written contract was ambiguous | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49548848 | 473,812 |
Cloud Gate These effects increase the viewer's fascination with it and makes them wonder what it is and where it came from. His attempts to hide his works' seams as an artist stand in contrast to Frank Gehry's architectural designs in the park, Jay Pritzker Pavilion and BP Pedestrian Bridge, which display their seams prominently. "Cloud Gate" is described as a transformative, iconic work. It is similar to many of Kapoor's previous works in the themes and issues it addresses. While the sculpture's mirror effects are reminiscent of fun-house fairground mirrors, they also have a more serious intent; they help dematerialize this very large object, making it seem light and almost weightless. "Cloud Gate" is considered Kapoor's most ambitious use of complex mirrored form dynamics. Kapoor challenges his viewers to internalize his work through intellectual and theoretical exercise. By reflecting the sky, visiting and non-visiting pedestrians and surrounding architecture, "Cloud Gate" limits its viewers to partial comprehension at any time. The interaction with the viewer who moves to create his own vision gives it a spiritual dimension. The sculpture is described as a disembodied, luminous form, which is also how his earlier "1000 Names" (1979–80) was described when it addressed the metaphysical and mystical. The viewer physically enters the art when he walks underneath it into its "navel". The omphalos is a "warped dimension of fluid space" | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3775304 | 310,852 |
Isidis Planitia is a plain located inside a giant impact basin on Mars, centered at ; is partly in the Syrtis Major quadrangle and partly in the Amenthes quadrangle. It is the third biggest obvious impact structure on the planet after the Hellas and Argyre basins – it is about in diameter. Isidis was likely the last major basin to be formed on Mars, having formed approximately 3.9 billion years ago during the Noachian Period. Due to dust coverage, it typically appears bright in telescopic views, and was mapped as a classical albedo feature, Isidis Regio, visible by telescope in the pre-spacecraft era. A study reported in "Icarus" described the complex geologic history of parts of Isidis, especially areas near the Deuteronilus contact. This contact is the supposed edge of a vast Martian ocean. The researchers found evidence of a Late Hesperian/Early Amazonian Sea in the area. The sea would have quickly frozen over. Eskers formed under the ice. Just to the west of Isidis is Syrtis Major Planum, a low-relief shield volcano that is a prominent dark albedo feature of Mars, which formed after the basin. The westernmost extent s bounded by a subregion, Northeast Syrtis with diverse geology. Around the Isidis basin magnesium carbonate was found by MRO. This mineral indicates that water was present and that it was not acidic, pH conditions more favorable for the evolution of life. The name "Isidis Planitia" follows the earlier name Isidis Regio ("Isis' Region"). Isis is the Egyptian goddess of heaven and fertility | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7670555 | 14,367 |
Attachment theory Indeed, the D classification puts together infants who use a somewhat disrupted secure (B) strategy with those who seem hopeless and show little attachment behaviour; it also puts together infants who run to hide when they see their caregiver in the same classification as those who show an avoidant (A) strategy on the first reunion and then an ambivalent-resistant (C) strategy on the second reunion. Perhaps responding to such concerns, George and Solomon have divided among indices of disorganized/disoriented attachment (D) in the Strange Situation, treating some of the behaviours as a 'strategy of desperation' and others as evidence that the attachment system has been flooded (e.g. by fear, or anger). Crittenden also argues that some behaviour classified as Disorganized/disoriented can be regarded as more 'emergency' versions of the avoidant and/or ambivalent/resistant strategies, and function to maintain the protective availability of the caregiver to some degree. Sroufe et al. have agreed that "even disorganized attachment behaviour (simultaneous approach-avoidance; freezing, etc.) enables a degree of proximity in the face of a frightening or unfathomable parent". However, "the presumption that many indices of 'disorganization' are aspects of organized patterns does not preclude acceptance of the notion of disorganization, especially in cases where the complexity and dangerousness of the threat are beyond children's capacity for response | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=884589 | 150,703 |
Defense Information System Network 02C,"(DISN) Policy and Responsibilities," 9 July 2008, end-to-end is defined as the fusion of requisite components to deliver a defined capability. For the GIG, this implies components from the user access and display devices and sensors to the various levels of networking and processing, associated applications, and related transport and management services. For DISN services, end-to-end encompasses service user to service user (e.g., PC-to-PC, phone-to-phone). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2466896 | 373,699 |
BlackBerry As of 2019, BB Merah Putih's website has been repurposed, with Limited stating that only technical support will be offered for the Indonesian devices built by the company. Research in Motion (RIM), founded in Waterloo, Ontario, first developed the Inter@ctive Pager 900, announced on September 18, 1996. The Inter@ctive Pager 900 was a clamshell-type device that allowed two-way paging. After the success of the 900, the Inter@ctive Pager 800 was created for IBM, which bought US$10 million worth of them on February 4, 1998. The next device to be released was the Inter@ctive Pager 950, on August 26, 1998. The very first device to carry the name was the 850, an email pager, released January 19, 1999. Although identical in appearance to the 950, the 850 was the first device to integrate email and the name Inter@ctive Pager was no longer used to brand the device. The first device, the 850, was introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager in Munich, Germany. The name was coined by the marketing company Lexicon Branding. The name was chosen due to the resemblance of the keyboard's buttons to that of the drupelets that compose the blackberry fruit. The original devices, the RIM 850 and 857, used the DataTAC network. In 2002, the more commonly known convergent smartphone was released, which supports push email, mobile telephone, text messaging, Internet faxing, Web browsing and other wireless information services. gained market share in the mobile industry by concentrating on email | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=71996 | 136,849 |
Natural computing Natural computing, also called natural computation, is a terminology introduced to encompass three classes of methods: 1) those that take inspiration from nature for the development of novel problem-solving techniques; 2) those that are based on the use of computers to synthesize natural phenomena; and 3) those that employ natural materials (e.g., molecules) to compute. The main fields of research that compose these three branches are artificial neural networks, evolutionary algorithms, swarm intelligence, artificial immune systems, fractal geometry, artificial life, DNA computing, and quantum computing, among others. Computational paradigms studied by natural computing are abstracted from natural phenomena as diverse as self-replication, the functioning of the brain, Darwinian evolution, group behavior, the immune system, the defining properties of life forms, cell membranes, and morphogenesis. Besides traditional electronic hardware, these computational paradigms can be implemented on alternative physical media such as biomolecules (DNA, RNA), or trapped-ion quantum computing devices. Dually, one can view processes occurring in nature as information processing. Such processes include self-assembly, developmental processes, gene regulation networks, protein–protein interaction networks, biological transport (active transport, passive transport) networks, and gene assembly in unicellular organisms | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27075922 | 132,927 |
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus", despite featuring the same Godzilla suit that was used in its immediate predecessor, "Godzilla 2000", the film ignores the events of the previous installment, as well as every other entry in the franchise aside from the original 1954 film "Godzilla". "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus" premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival on November 3, 2000, and was released theatrically in Japan on December 16, 2000. The prologue of the film acknowledges the events of the first "Godzilla" film (using the 1954 Godzilla monster rather than a successor Godzilla), while inventing its own timeline, explaining that the Oxygen Destroyer was never used here and that the capital of Japan was moved from Tokyo to Osaka. In 1966, Godzilla attacks the first Japanese nuclear plant in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture. After this, the G-Graspers, a section of Japan Self-Defense Forces, is dedicated to combat Godzilla. In 1996, clean plasma energy replaces nuclear energy, but this does not deter Godzilla from attacking the original plasma energy reactor. As a result, plasma energy is banned in the country. In 2001, an experimental satellite-based weapon that fires miniature black holes, called the Dimension Tide, opens a wormhole through which a prehistoric dragonfly enters the present and deposits a single egg before exiting through the wormhole. A boy named Jun Hayasaka finds the egg and takes it with him when he moves to Tokyo. The egg starts oozing a strange liquid, so Jun throws the egg in the sewer | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1646358 | 249,896 |
Human cloning In bioethics, the ethics of cloning refers to a variety of ethical positions regarding the practice and possibilities of cloning, especially human cloning. While many of these views are religious in origin, the questions raised by cloning are faced by secular perspectives as well. Human therapeutic and reproductive cloning are not commercially used; animals are currently cloned in laboratories and in livestock production. Advocates support development of therapeutic cloning in order to generate tissues and whole organs to treat patients who otherwise cannot obtain transplants, to avoid the need for immunosuppressive drugs, and to stave off the effects of aging. Advocates for reproductive cloning believe that parents who cannot otherwise procreate should have access to the technology. Opposition to therapeutic cloning mainly centers around the status of embryonic stem cells, which has connections with the abortion debate. Some opponents of reproductive cloning have concerns that technology is not yet developed enough to be safe – for example, the position of the American Association for the Advancement of Science , while others emphasize that reproductive cloning could be prone to abuse (leading to the generation of humans whose organs and tissues would be harvested), and have concerns about how cloned individuals could integrate with families and with society at large. Some opponents will raise questions on whether clones have rights | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14094 | 259,798 |
Transrating is the process by which video files and audio files are converted to a reduced bit rate while still maintaining the original media format. This enables users to fit particular media into a much smaller storage space or to deliver the media files more efficiently using reduced bandwidth. This process can include conversion of the sample rate, but may also use the original sampling rate combined with more compression. The increased popularity of mobile video viewing, on sites such as YouTube, has led to an increased demand for transrating. Using this video optimization technology is important for being able to deliver high resolution content quickly and smoothly. The widespread availability of high definition screens on smartphones like iPhone and Android devices, combined with high-speed 4G networks have brought high-resolution mobile video into the mainstream, leading to an explosion of video traffic. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=46337472 | 239,725 |
Ionosilica Ionosilicas are defined as organosilicas containing chemically bound ionic groups. They represent a class of mesoporous organosilicas. Mesoporous materials have been defined as porous materials with pore size ranging from 2 nm – 50 nm. Ionosilicas belong to the mesoporous organosilicas materials, but are more specifically constituted by ionic substructures. Ionosilicas are synthesized by hydrolysis-polycondensation reactions or post synthesis grafting procedures involving ionic precursors. Due to their mixed mineral-ionic nature, ionosilicas are situated at the interface of silica hybrid materials and ionic liquids. Similarly to conventional functional silica based materials, two classes of ionosilicas can be distinguished, depending of the way the ionic group is anchored to the silica support and where it is located. Surface functionalized ionosilicas contain ionic groups located on the materials’ surface and can be obtained either via ‘one-pot’ co-condensation reactions or post grafting procedures. On the other side, periodic mesoporous ionosilicas, belonging to the PMO family, are produced starting from oligosilylated ionic precursors. Ionosilicas are synthesized via hydrolysis-polycondensation reactions involving ionic precursors. The ionic nature of these compounds has deep influence on the mechanism of the formation of the solid. Ionosilicas with regular architectures are often formed in the presence of anionic surfactants | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48533636 | 46,325 |
Black hole This would make it conceivable for micro black holes to be created in the high-energy collisions that occur when cosmic rays hit the Earth's atmosphere, or possibly in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. These theories are very speculative, and the creation of black holes in these processes is deemed unlikely by many specialists. Even if micro black holes could be formed, it is expected that they would evaporate in about 10 seconds, posing no threat to the Earth. Once a black hole has formed, it can continue to grow by absorbing additional matter. Any black hole will continually absorb gas and interstellar dust from its surroundings. This is the primary process through which supermassive black holes seem to have grown. A similar process has been suggested for the formation of intermediate-mass black holes found in globular clusters. Black holes can also merge with other objects such as stars or even other black holes. This is thought to have been important, especially in the early growth of supermassive black holes, which could have formed from the aggregation of many smaller objects. The process has also been proposed as the origin of some intermediate-mass black holes. In 1974, Hawking predicted that black holes are not entirely black but emit small amounts of thermal radiation at a temperature ℏ "c"/(8 π "G" "M" "k"); this effect has become known as Hawking radiation | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4650 | 446,808 |
Criticism of Apple Inc. Sewell further claimed that the company "did not alter our behavior or our rules" when introducing its own Apple Music streaming service, and that there was "nothing in Apple’s conduct" to support anti-competitive claims. Zach Epstein of "BGR" opined that Spotify was angry because "it’s not a non-profit" that did not have free rein over its app built on another company's service, and concluded with the remark that "Apparently, Apple shouldn’t be compensated for giving Spotify access to tens of millions of potential subscribers". In August 2016, Spotify began "punishing" artists who offered Apple Music exclusives by featuring their content less prominently on its service and offering fewer promotional opportunities. In May 2017, "Financial Times" reported that Spotify, as well as several other companies, had filed a letter with the European Union, alleging that "some" operating systems, app stores and search engines had abused their "privileged position" to go from being "gateways" to "gatekeepers". A few days later, "Reuters" reported that the European Union was preparing new laws and legislation intended to handle conflicts between large corporations and smaller businesses, specifically in regards to "unfair trading practices". Another letter was sent in December 2017, once again accusing Apple of "regularly abusing" its position, and asking for regulators to step in and "ensure ‘a level playing field'". In November 2015, f | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23818735 | 131,691 |
Invention of radio Bose demonstrated the ability of the signal to travel from the lecture room, and through an intervening room and passage, to a third room distant from the radiator, thus passing through three solid walls on the way, as well as the body of the chairman (who happened to be the Lieutenant-Governor). The receiver at this distance still had energy enough to make a contact which set a bell ringing, discharged a pistol, and exploded a miniature mine. To get this result from his small radiator, Bose set up an apparatus which curiously anticipated the lofty 'antennae' of modern wireless telegraphy—a circular metal plate at the top of a pole, high, being put in connection with the radiator and a similar one with the receiving apparatus. The form of 'Coherer' devised by Professor Bose, and described by him at the end of his paper '' allowed for the sensibility and range to appear to leave little to be desired at the time. In 1896, the British, Daily Chronicle reported on his UHF experiments: ""The inventor (J. C. Bose) has transmitted signals to a distance of nearly a mile and herein lies the first and obvious and exceedingly valuable application of this new theoretical marvel."" After Bose's Friday Evening Discourses at the Royal Institution, The Electric Engineer expressed 'surprise that no secret was at any time made as to its construction, so that it has been open to all the world to adopt it for practical and possibly money-making purposes | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3800477 | 198,024 |
ONETEP (Order-N Electronic Total Energy Package) is a linear-scaling density functional theory software package able to run on parallel computers. It uses a basis of non-orthogonal generalized Wannier functions (NGWFs) expressed in terms of periodic cardinal sine (psinc) functions, which are in turn equivalent to a basis of plane-waves. therefore combines the advantages of the plane-wave approach (controllable accuracy and variational convergence of the total energy with respect to the size of the basis) with computational effort that scales linearly with the size of the system. The approach involves simultaneous optimization of the density kernel (a generalization of occupation numbers to non-orthogonal basis, which represents the density matrix in the basis of NGWFs) and the NGWFs themselves. The optimized NGWFs then provide a minimal localized basis set, which can be considerably smaller in size, but of equal or higher accuracy, than the unoptimized basis sets used in most linear-scaling approaches. has been developed by a UK-centric group of academics based at the universities of Cambridge, Southampton, Warwick, Imperial College London and Gdańsk University of Technology. It is available to academics at a reduced rate, and licenses can be obtained for non-academic usage from the developers or through Accelrys' Materials Studio package. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8512525 | 53,468 |
Metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy In a bubbler a carrier gas (usually hydrogen in arsenide & phosphide growth or nitrogen for nitride growth) is bubbled through the metalorganic liquid, which picks up some metalorganic vapour and transports it to the reactor. The amount of metalorganic vapour transported depends on the rate of carrier gas flow and the bubbler temperature, and is usually controlled automatically and most accurately by using an ultrasonic concentration measuring feedback gas control system. Allowance must be made for saturated vapors. Gas exhaust and cleaning system. Toxic waste products must be converted to liquid or solid wastes for recycling (preferably) or disposal. Ideally processes will be designed to minimize the production of waste products. As MOCVD has become well-established production technology, there are equally growing concerns associated with its bearing on personnel and community safety, environmental impact and maximum quantities of hazardous materials (such as gases and metalorganics) permissible in the device fabrication operations. The safety as well as responsible environmental care have become major factors of paramount importance in the MOCVD-based crystal growth of compound semiconductors. As the application of this technique in industry has grown, a number of companies have also grown and evolved over the years to provide the ancillary equipment required to reduce risk | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2925575 | 65,994 |
White spaces (radio) The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Engineering and Technology released a report dated July 31, 2007 with results from its investigation of two preliminary devices submitted. The report concluded that the devices did not reliably sense the presence of television transmissions or other incumbent users, hence are not acceptable for use in their current state and no further testing was deemed necessary. However, on August 13, 2007, Microsoft filed a document with the FCC in which it described a meeting that its engineers had with FCC engineers from the Office of Engineering and Technology on August 9 and 10. At this meeting the Microsoft engineers showed results from their testing done with identical prototype devices and using identical testing methods that "detected DTV signals at a threshold of -114 dBm in laboratory bench testing with 100 percent accuracy, performing exactly as expected." In the presence of FCC engineers, the Microsoft engineers took apart the device that the FCC had tested to find the cause of the poor performance. They found that "the scanner in the device had been damaged and operated at a severely degraded level" which explained the FCC unit's inability to detect when channels were occupied. It was also pointed out that the FCC was in possession of an identical backup prototype that was in perfect operating condition that they had not tested | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12352275 | 257,990 |
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin He would remain there for about twenty years, with many voyages throughout the world. He settled until 1932 in Tientsin with Emile Licent, then in Beijing. Teilhard made five geological research expeditions in China between 1926 and 1935. They enabled him to establish a general geological map of China. That same year, Teilhard's superiors in the Jesuit Order forbade him to teach any longer. In 1926–27, after a missed campaign in Gansu, Teilhard traveled in the Sang-Kan-Ho valley near Kalgan (Zhangjiakou) and made a tour in Eastern Mongolia. He wrote "Le Milieu Divin" ("The Divine Milieu"). Teilhard prepared the first pages of his main work "Le Phénomène Humain" ("The Phenomenon of Man"). The Holy See refused the Imprimatur for "Le Milieu Divin" in 1927. He joined the ongoing excavations of the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian as an advisor in 1926 and continued in the role for the Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the Geological Survey of China following its founding in 1928. Teilhard resided in Manchuria with Emile Licent, staying in Western Shansi (Shanxi) and northern Shensi (Shaanxi) with the Chinese paleontologist C. C. Young and with Davidson Black, Chairman of the Geological Survey of China. After a tour in Manchuria in the area of Great Khingan with Chinese geologists, Teilhard joined the team of American Expedition Center-Asia in the Gobi Desert, organized in June and July by the American Museum of Natural History with Roy Chapman Andrews | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23660 | 251,702 |
Bradfield Scheme The Bradfield Scheme, a proposed Australian water diversion scheme, is an inland irrigation project that was designed to irrigate and drought-proof much of the western Queensland interior, as well as large areas of South Australia. It was devised by Dr John Bradfield (1867–1943), a Queensland born civil engineer, who also designed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Brisbane's Story Bridge. The scheme that Bradfield proposed in 1938 required large pipes, tunnels, pumps and dams. It involved diverting water from the upper reaches of the Tully, Herbert and Burdekin rivers. These Queensland rivers are fed by the monsoon, and flow east to the Coral Sea. It was proposed that the water would enter the Thomson River on the western side of the Great Dividing Range and eventually flow south west to Lake Eyre. An alternative plan was to divert water into the Flinders River. G. W. Leeper of the school of agricultural science at the University of Melbourne considered the plan to be lacking in scientific justification. The water was expected to provide irrigation for more than of agricultural land in Queensland. The scheme would reduce the massive natural erosion problems in areas of Central Queensland. The scheme had the ability to generate of power and the potential to double that amount. It is claimed that extra water and vegetation in the interior may then produce changes to the climate of Australia, however various studies have concluded that this is unlikely | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1093094 | 217,744 |
Streaming media Natarajan and K. R. Rao at the University of Texas in 1973. The DCT algorithm formed the basis for the first practical video coding format, H.261, in 1988. It was initially used for online video conferencing. It was followed by more popular DCT-based video coding standards, most notably MPEG video formats from 1991 onwards. The DCT algorithm was adapted into the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) by J. P. Princen, A. W. Johnson and A. B. Bradley at the University of Surrey in 1987. The MDCT algorithm is fundamental to the MP3 audio format introduced in 1994, and especially the more widely used Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format introduced in 1999. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, users had increased access to computer networks, especially the Internet. During the early 2000s, users had access to increased network bandwidth, especially in the "last mile". These technological improvements facilitated the streaming of audio and video content to computer users in their homes and workplaces. There was also an increasing use of standard protocols and formats, such as TCP/IP, HTTP, HTML as the Internet became increasingly commercialized, which led to an infusion of investment into the sector. The band Severe Tire Damage was the first group to perform live on the Internet. On June 24, 1993, the band was playing a gig at Xerox PARC while elsewhere in the building, scientists were discussing new technology (the Mbone) for broadcasting on the Internet using multicasting | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28682 | 113,685 |
List of Grey Cup broadcasters The following is a list of the television and radio networks and announcers that have broadcast the Grey Cup in English. The Grey Cup game was first broadcast on radio in 1928. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) carried radio coverage of the game for 51 years until 1986, when a network of private broadcasters took over. The 1978 and 1979 Grey Cups were broadcast to the United States by Moon Radio Network, Inc., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For both broadcasts, Harold Johnson of Charlotte, North Carolina, was the play-by-play announcer, and Russell Moon of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was the analyst. The 1978 halftime guest was future Hall of Famer Terry Evanshen, then of the Toronto Argonauts. The 1978 broadcast had 9 affiliates, and the 1979 broadcast had 27 affiliates. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17628022 | 402,088 |
Biotinylation In biochemistry, biotinylation is the process of covalently attaching biotin to a protein, nucleic acid or other molecule. is rapid, specific and is unlikely to disturb the natural function of the molecule due to the small size of biotin (MW = 244.31 g/mol). Biotin binds to streptavidin and avidin with an extremely high affinity, fast on-rate, and high specificity, and these interactions are exploited in many areas of biotechnology to isolate biotinylated molecules of interest. Biotin-binding to streptavidin and avidin is resistant to extremes of heat, pH and proteolysis, making capture of biotinylated molecules possible in a wide variety of environments. Also, multiple biotin molecules can be conjugated to a protein of interest, which allows binding of multiple streptavidin, avidin or neutravidin protein molecules and increases the sensitivity of detection of the protein of interest. There is a large number of biotinylation reagents available that exploit the wide range of possible labelling methods. Due to the strong affinity between biotin and streptavidin, the purification of biotinylated proteins has been a widely used approach to identify protein-protein interactions and post-translational events such as ubiquitylation in molecular biology. Proteins can be biotinylated chemically or enzymatically. Chemical biotinylation utilises various conjugation chemistries to yield nonspecific biotinylation of amines, carboxylates, sulfhydryls and carbohydrates (e.g | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=909363 | 145,351 |
Ecotivity is an abbreviation, or blend, of the term, ecological activity. An ecotivity is any activity that promotes the conservation or sustainability of ecosystems and bio-diversity. In more general terms, an ecotivity can be thought of as any ecologically friendly activity. Ecotivities therefore make a positive contribution to averting the environmental crisis of the planet or means of effecting positive change. Ecotivities include all associated values, actions, and choices either as a green consumer, or as an individual living a sustainable lifestyle, for example, by recycling or energy efficiency. can also be of political, direct action, hand-on environmental conservation, and creative confrontational acts, that are a means to protect the environment. Original | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4636641 | 143,481 |
Export Yellow Pages companies and foreign buyers in navigating international trade opportunities and processes. This website and searches on it may not reliably work anymore. The mission of the USDOC is to "promote job creation and improved living standards for all Americans by creating an infrastructure that promotes economic growth, technological competitiveness, and sustainable development." Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for business and government decision-making, issuing patents and trademarks, and helping to set industrial standards. The International Trade Administration is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that promotes United States exports of nonagricultural U.S. services and goods. The Foreign Agricultural Service has primary responsibility for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) overseas programs—market development, international trade agreements and negotiations, and the collection of statistics and market information. The FAS assists U.S. exporters of agricultural products. It also administers USDA's export credit guarantee and food aid programs and helps increase income and food availability in developing nations by mobilizing expertise for agriculturally led economic growth. Ex-Im Bank is the official export credit agency of the United States federal government | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11703688 | 464,954 |
Charles Darwin The most famous confrontation was at the public 1860 Oxford evolution debate during a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, where the Bishop of Oxford Samuel Wilberforce, though not opposed to transmutation of species, argued against Darwin's explanation and human descent from apes. Joseph Hooker argued strongly for Darwin, and Thomas Huxley's legendary retort, that he would rather be descended from an ape than a man who misused his gifts, came to symbolise a triumph of science over religion. Even Darwin's close friends Gray, Hooker, Huxley and Lyell still expressed various reservations but gave strong support, as did many others, particularly younger naturalists. Gray and Lyell sought reconciliation with faith, while Huxley portrayed a polarisation between religion and science. He campaigned pugnaciously against the authority of the clergy in education, aiming to overturn the dominance of clergymen and aristocratic amateurs under Owen in favour of a new generation of professional scientists. Owen's claim that brain anatomy proved humans to be a separate biological order from apes was shown to be false by Huxley in a long running dispute parodied by Kingsley as the "Great Hippocampus Question", and discredited Owen. Darwinism became a movement covering a wide range of evolutionary ideas. In 1863 Lyell's "Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man" popularised prehistory, though his caution on evolution disappointed Darwin | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8145410 | 162,640 |
TecTile Using a Samsung NFC tag requires a device with the MIFARE Classic chipset. This chipset is based on NXP's NFC controller, which is outside the NFC Forum's standard. Using a thus requires the NXP chipset. The NXP chipset is found in many Android phones. Recently Android phone manufacturers have chosen to drop support; notably in Samsung's latest flagship phone the Galaxy S4 and Google's Nexus 4. TecTiles also do "not" work with BlackBerry and Windows NFC phones. The new version of TecTile, called 2, have improved compatibility, but currently the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the only device that comes with native support for 2. NFC Tags that "do" comply with NFC Forum Type 1 or Type 2 compatibility protocols The need for the installed app is one of the drawbacks to and to NFC Tags in general. The basic NFC Tag standards support Tags carrying URLs, where the scheme or protocol (e.g. the codice_1 prefix) may be either codice_2 (for web addresses), codice_3 for telephony, or an anonymous codice_4 scheme. Although support for the codice_2 and codice_3 schemes may be assumed in a basic handset, support for the others will not be available unless an App has been installed and registered to handle them. In general, NFC Tags (in the non-sense) are only useful for web addresses and telephony. To provide features beyond this, Samsung offers the App. This "could" have used any scheme on a tag, or even invented a whole new scheme. When installed, such an App would register itself to handle these new schemes | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39108743 | 271,915 |
Protein function prediction To deal with the situation that many protein sequences have no solved structures, some function prediction servers such as RaptorX are also developed that can first predict the 3D model of a sequence and then use structure-based method to predict functions based upon the predicted 3D model. In many cases instead of the whole protein structure, the 3D structure of a particular motif representing an active site or binding site can be targeted. The Structurally Aligned Local Sites of Activity (SALSA) method, developed by Mary Jo Ondrechen and students, utilizes computed chemical properties of the individual amino acids to identify local biochemically active sites. Databases such as Catalytic Site Atlas have been developed that can be searched using novel protein sequences to predict specific functional sites. Many of the newer methods for protein function prediction are not based on comparison of sequence or structure as above, but on some type of correlation between novel genes/proteins and those that already have annotations. Also known as phylogenomic profiling, these genomic context based methods are based on the observation that two or more proteins with the same pattern of presence or absence in many different genomes most likely have a functional link. Whereas homology-based methods can often be used to identify molecular functions of a protein, context-based approaches can be used to predict cellular function, or the biological process in which a protein acts | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29467449 | 155,532 |
Stem-cell therapy Spinal injuries occur in two ways after the trauma: the primary mechanical damage, and in secondary processes, like inflammation and scar formation, in the days following the trauma. These cells involved in the secondary damage response secrete factors that promote scar formation and inhibit cellular regeneration. Mesenchymal stem cells that are induced to a neural cell fate are loaded onto a porous scaffold and are then implanted at the site of injury. The cells and scaffold secrete factors that counteract those secreted by scar forming cells and promote neural regeneration. Eight weeks later, dogs treated with stem cells showed immense improvement over those treated with conventional therapies. Dogs treated with stem cells were able to occasionally support their own weight, which has not been seen in dogs undergoing conventional therapies. In a study to evaluate the treatment of experimentally induced MS in dogs using laser activated non-expanded adipose derived stem cells. The results showed amelioration of the clinical signs over time confirmed by the resolution of the previous lesions on MRI. Positive migration of the injected cells to the site of lesion, increased remyelination detected by Myelin Basic Proteins, positive differentiation into Olig2 positive oligodendrocytes, prevented the glial scar formation and restored axonal architecture. Treatments are also in clinical trials to repair and regenerate peripheral nerves | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3853380 | 150,853 |
Employment discrimination [1992] believe it was due to the need for two separate wage and benefits packages for men and women. Women had child care responsibilities such as day care arrangements and maternity leave. Before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the U.S., employment discrimination was legal and widely practiced. The newspaper ads for various jobs indicated racial and gender discrimination explicitly and implicitly. These behaviors were all built on the assumption that women and blacks were inferior. At the turn of the 21st century, discrimination is still practiced but to a lesser degree and less overtly. The progress on the evident discrimination problem is visible. However, the effect of past is persistent on the economic outcomes, such as historical wage settings that influence current wages. Women are not only under-represented in the high-rank and high-paid jobs, but they are also over-represented in the secondary and lower-paid jobs. The interviews, personal law, wage data and confidential employment records with salaries along with other evidence show gender segregation and its effects on the labor market. Although there is some inevitable occupational segregation based people's preferences, discrimination does exist. Moreover, persistence of discrimination remains even after government intervention | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2811532 | 478,295 |
Buchberger's algorithm In computational algebraic geometry and computational commutative algebra, is a method of transforming a given set of generators for a polynomial ideal into a Gröbner basis with respect to some monomial order. It was invented by Austrian mathematician Bruno Buchberger. One can view it as a generalization of the Euclidean algorithm for univariate GCD computation and of Gaussian elimination for linear systems. A crude version of this algorithm to find a basis for an ideal "I" of a polynomial ring "R" proceeds as follows: The polynomial "S" is commonly referred to as the "S"-polynomial, where "S" refers to "subtraction" (Buchberger) or "Syzygy" (others). The pair of polynomials with which it is associated is commonly referred to as critical pair. There are numerous ways to improve this algorithm beyond what has been stated above. For example, one could reduce all the new elements of "F" relative to each other before adding them. If the leading terms of "f" and "f" share no variables in common, then "S" will "always" reduce to 0 (if we use only f and f for reduction), so we needn't calculate it at all. The algorithm terminates because it is consistently increasing the size of the monomial ideal generated by the leading terms of our set "F", and Dickson's lemma (or the Hilbert basis theorem) guarantees that any such ascending chain must eventually become constant. The computational complexity of is very difficult to estimate, because of the number of choices that may dramatically change the computation time | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=696317 | 126,635 |
Lydia Makhubu Lydia Phindile Makhubu (born 1 July 1937) is a retired Swazi chemist and former professor of chemistry, dean and vice-chancellor of the University of Swaziland (today the "University of Eswatini"). She was born at the Usuthu Mission in Swaziland. Her parents were teachers, but her father also worked as an orderly in health clinics. Her early exposure to medicine had a great influence on her choice of career; she initially wanted to become a doctor, but then switched to chemistry. Makhubu graduated from Pius XII College (now the National University of Lesotho) in Lesotho with a B.Sc. in 1963. With a Canadian Commonwealth scholarship, she obtained an M.Sc. in organic chemistry from the University of Alberta in 1967, followed by a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry from the University of Toronto in 1973, becoming the first Swazi woman to earn a doctorate. She returned to her homeland and joined the faculty of the University of Swaziland, becoming a lecturer in the chemistry department in 1973, the dean of science from 1976 to 1980, a senior lecturer in 1979, a full professor the following year, and vice-chancellor from 1988 to 2003. Her research focused on the medical effects of plants used by traditional Swazi healers. From its inception in 1993 until 2005, Makhubu was the President of the Third World Organization for Women in Science, which provides fellowships for postgraduate study. She was the first woman chairperson of the executive committee of the Association of Commonwealth Universities | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4476945 | 57,561 |
Beryllium Heating the fluoride to with magnesium forms finely divided beryllium, and additional heating to creates the compact metal. Heating beryllium hydroxide forms the oxide, which becomes beryllium chloride when combined with carbon and chlorine. Electrolysis of molten beryllium chloride is then used to obtain the metal. A beryllium atom has the electronic configuration [He] 2s. The predominant oxidation state of beryllium is +2; the beryllium atom has lost both of its valence electrons. Lower oxidation states have been found in, for example, bis(carbene) compounds. Beryllium's chemical behavior is largely a result of its small atomic and ionic radii. It thus has very high ionization potentials and strong polarization while bonded to other atoms, which is why all of its compounds are covalent. Its chemistry has similarities with the chemistry of aluminium, an example of a diagonal relationship. An oxide layer forms on the surface of beryllium metal that prevents further reactions with air unless heated above 1000 °C. Once ignited, beryllium burns brilliantly forming a mixture of beryllium oxide and beryllium nitride. dissolves readily in non-oxidizing acids, such as HCl and diluted HSO, but not in nitric acid or water as this forms the oxide. This behavior is similar to that of aluminium metal. also dissolves in alkali solutions. Binary compounds of beryllium(II) are polymeric in the solid state. BeF has a silica-like structure with corner-shared BeF tetrahedra | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3378 | 493,805 |
Rust was an important factor in the Silver Bridge disaster of 1967 in West Virginia, when a steel suspension bridge collapsed in less than a minute, killing 46 drivers and passengers on the bridge at the time. The Kinzua Bridge in Pennsylvania was blown down by a tornado in 2003, largely because the central base bolts holding the structure to the ground had rusted away, leaving the bridge anchored by gravity alone. Reinforced concrete is also vulnerable to rust damage. Internal pressure caused by expanding corrosion of concrete-covered steel and iron can cause the concrete to spall, creating severe structural problems. It is one of the most common failure modes of reinforced concrete bridges and buildings. is a commonly used metaphor for slow decay due to neglect, since it gradually converts robust iron and steel metal into a soft crumbling powder. A wide section of the industrialized American Midwest and American Northeast, once dominated by steel foundries, the automotive industry, and other manufacturers, has experienced harsh economic cutbacks that have caused the region to be dubbed the "Belt". In music, literature, and art, rust is associated with images of faded glory, neglect, decay, and ruin. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26477 | 97,123 |
Prescriptive analytics Further, prescriptive analytics suggests decision options on how to take advantage of a future opportunity or mitigate a future risk and shows the implication of each decision option. can continually take in new data to re-predict and re-prescribe, thus automatically improving prediction accuracy and prescribing better decision options. ingests hybrid data, a combination of structured (numbers, categories) and unstructured data (videos, images, sounds, texts), and business rules to predict what lies ahead and to prescribe how to take advantage of this predicted future without compromising other priorities. All three phases of analytics can be performed through professional services or technology or a combination. In order to scale, prescriptive analytics technologies need to be adaptive to take into account the growing volume, velocity, and variety of data that most mission critical processes and their environments may produce. One criticism of prescriptive analytics is that its distinction from predictive analytics is ill-defined and therefore ill-conceived. incorporates both structured and unstructured data, and uses a combination of advanced analytic techniques and disciplines to predict, prescribe, and adapt. While the term prescriptive analytics was first coined by IBM and later trademarked by Ayata, the underlying concepts have been around for hundreds of years | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=35757264 | 475,962 |
Structural insulated panel Although a number of variations exist, in general, the foam core is first covered with an adhesive and the skin is set in place. The three pieces are set into a large clamping device and pressure and heat are applied. The three pieces must stay in the clamping device until the glue has cured. When manufacturing a panel with a polyurethane core pressure and heat are both generated from the expansion of the foam during the foaming process. The skins are set in a large clamping device which functions as a mold. The skins must be held apart from each other to allow the liquid polyurethane materials to flow into the device. Once in the device, the foam begins to rise. The mold/press is generally configured to withstand the heat and the pressures generated from the chemical foaming. The SIP Panel is left in the mold/press to cure slightly and when removed will continue to cure for several days. Until recently, both of these processes required a factory setting. However, recent advancements have presented an alternative with SIP Panel processing equipment that allows SIP Panels to be manufactured on the job-site. This is welcome news for builders in developing countries where the technology may be best suited to reduce greenhouse emissions and improve sustainability in housing but are unavailable. The use of SIPs brings many benefits and some drawbacks compared to a conventional framed building | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=699437 | 212,335 |
Automotive Safety Integrity Level That is, each hazard is assessed in terms of severity of possible injuries within the context how much of the time a vehicle is exposed to the possibility of the hazard happening as well as the relative likelihood that a typical driver can act to prevent the injury. In short, ASIL refers both to risk and to risk-dependent requirements (standard minimal risk treatment for a given risk). Whereas risk may be generally expressed as or ASIL may be similarly expressed as illustrating the role of Exposure and Controllability in establishing relative probability, which is combined with Severity to form an expression of risk. The ASIL range from ASIL D, representing the highest degree of automotive hazard and highest degree of rigor applied in the assurance the resultant safety requirements, to QM, representing application with no automotive hazards and, therefore, no safety requirements to manage under the ISO 26262 safety processes. The intervening levels are simply a range of intermediate degrees of hazard and degrees of assurance required. "ASIL D", an abbreviation of "D", refers to the highest classification of initial hazard (injury risk) defined within ISO 26262 and to that standard’s most stringent level of safety measures to apply for avoiding an unreasonable residual risk. In particular, ASIL D represents likely potential for severely life-threatening or fatal injury in the event of a malfunction and requires the highest level of assurance that the dependent safety goals are sufficient and have been achieved | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41401565 | 435,915 |
Audio feedback On the other hand, since the 1960s, electric guitar players in rock music bands using loud guitar amplifiers, speaker cabinets and distortion effects have intentionally created guitar feedback to create different sounds including long sustained tones that cannot be produced using standard playing techniques. The sound of guitar feedback is considered to be a desirable musical effect in heavy metal music, hardcore punk and grunge. Jimi Hendrix was an innovator in the intentional use of guitar feedback, alongside effects units such as the Univibe and wah-wah pedal in his guitar solos to create unique sound effects and musical sounds. The conditions for feedback follow the Barkhausen stability criterion, namely that, with sufficiently high gain, a stable oscillation can (and usually will) occur in a feedback loop whose frequency is such that the phase delay is an integer multiple of 360 degrees and the gain at that frequency is equal to 1. If the small signal gain is greater than 1 for some frequency then the system will start to oscillate at that frequency because noise at that frequency will be amplified. Sound will be produced without anyone actually playing. The sound level will increase until the output starts clipping, reducing the loop gain to exactly unity. This is the principle upon which electronic oscillators are based; although in that case the feedback loop is purely electronic, the principle is the same | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=176695 | 394,334 |
Aggregate project plan R&D projects are high-risk endeavors with the possibility of high returns. Research & development is important since it will always occur before product and process development. R&D projects also use the same resources as commercial development and will always compete for them. Every organization has different expectations for R&D projects due to its high possibility of failure. These projects can fall under any of the other four categories. However, these projects can often be overlooked while mapping the aggregate project plan. These plans are important and their resource usage should be included in planning. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=22610170 | 458,527 |
Chemical weapons and the United Kingdom The Chiefs of Staff also warned that the Nazis would have no particular "difficulty in holding down the cowed German population, if they were subjected to gas attack," whereas the British population "are in no such inarticulate condition." Also that the German might also use Allied prisoners as workers in contaminated areas causing "great public concern". Churchill responded to this advice by saying: At the same time, the JPS examined the case of using anthrax bioweapons against six large German cities but only ruled this out on the grounds that the anthrax bombs were not yet available. A large batch of aerial bombs were ordered, but by the time the US factory was ready to produce them, they were deemed unnecessary since the war in Europe was almost over. Novelist Robert Harris and broadcaster Jeremy Paxman argue that as soon as another weapon of mass destruction – the atomic bomb – became available, and offered a chance to shorten the war, the Americans used it. "Why, from an ethical or political point of view, should germ warfare have been regarded any differently? [by British]." As the end of the war was sufficiently in sight, British poison gas production was terminated following a request from the Chiefs of Staff in February 1945. From 1939 to 1989 experiments on chemical weapons including nerve agents and countermeasures were carried out at the Porton Down research establishment | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31819273 | 32,047 |
Numerical response The numerical response in ecology is the change in predator density as a function of change in prey density. The term numerical response was coined by M. E. Solomon in 1949. It is associated with the functional response, which is the change in predator's rate of prey consumption with change in prey density. As Holling notes, total predation can be expressed as a combination of functional and numerical response. The numerical response has two mechanisms: the demographic response and the aggregational response. The numerical response is not necessarily proportional to the change in prey density, usually resulting in a time lag between prey and predator populations. For example, there is often a scarcity of predators when the prey population is increasing. The demographic response consists of changes in the rates of predator reproduction or survival due to a changes in prey density. The increase in prey availability translates into higher energy intake and reduced energy output. This is different from an increase in energy intake due to increased foraging efficiency, which is considered a functional response. This concept can be articulated in the Lotka-Volterra Predator-Prey Model. formula_1 a = conversion efficiency: the fraction of prey energy assimilated by the predator and turned into new predators P = predator density V = prey density m = predator mortality Demographic response consists of a change in dP/dt due to a change in V and/or m | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27164953 | 177,464 |
Historical nuclear weapons stockpiles and nuclear tests by country Pakistan's nuclear stockpile has increased rapidly, and it is speculated that Pakistan might have more nuclear weapons than the United Kingdom within a decade. South Africa successfully built six nuclear weapons in the 1980s, but dismantled all of them in the early 1990s, shortly before the fall of the apartheid system. So far it is the only nuclear-capable country to give up nuclear weapons, although several members of the Soviet Union did so during the collapse of the Soviet regime. North Korea joined the nuclear club in 2006 or before. A United States Defense Intelligence Agency report from 1999 projected that both Iran and Iraq would join the nuclear club and have 10-20 nuclear weapons in 2020. However, it is worth pointing out that this report was written before the overthrow of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and before information was released indicating that Iraq had already given up its nuclear weapons program. Even before the U.S. started the nuclear club in 1945, some states (most notably Germany) unsuccessfully attempted to build nuclear weapons. From the first nuclear test in 1945, worldwide nuclear testing increased rapidly until the 1970s, when it peaked. However, there was still a large amount of worldwide nuclear testing until the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. Afterwards, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was signed and ratified by the major nuclear weapons powers, and the number of worldwide nuclear tests decreased rapidly | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38404161 | 286,770 |
Charge-coupled device These three elements are mounted one close behind the other in the mentioned sequence. The photons which are coming from the light source fall onto the photocathode, thereby generating photoelectrons. The photoelectrons are accelerated towards the MCP by an electrical control voltage, applied between photocathode and MCP. The electrons are multiplied inside of the MCP and thereafter accelerated towards the phosphor screen. The phosphor screen finally converts the multiplied electrons back to photons which are guided to the CCD by a fiber optic or a lens. An image intensifier inherently includes a shutter functionality: If the control voltage between the photocathode and the MCP is reversed, the emitted photoelectrons are not accelerated towards the MCP but return to the photocathode. Thus, no electrons are multiplied and emitted by the MCP, no electrons are going to the phosphor screen and no light is emitted from the image intensifier. In this case no light falls onto the CCD, which means that the shutter is closed. The process of reversing the control voltage at the photocathode is called "gating" and therefore ICCDs are also called gateable CCD cameras. Besides the extremely high sensitivity of ICCD cameras, which enable single photon detection, the gateability is one of the major advantages of the ICCD over the EMCCD cameras. The highest performing ICCD cameras enable shutter times as short as 200 picoseconds | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6804 | 418,710 |
Toilet paper In 589 AD the scholar-official Yan Zhitui (531–591) wrote about the use of toilet paper: During the later Tang dynasty (618–907 AD), an Arab traveller to China in the year 851 AD remarked: During the early 14th century, it was recorded that in what is now Zhejiang alone, ten million packages of 1,000 to 10,000 sheets of toilet paper were manufactured annually. During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 AD), it was recorded in 1393 that an annual supply of 720,000 sheets of toilet paper (approximately ) were produced for the general use of the imperial court at the capital of Nanjing. From the records of the Imperial Bureau of Supplies of that same year, it was also recorded that for the Hongwu Emperor's imperial family alone, there were 15,000 sheets of special soft-fabric toilet paper made, and each sheet of toilet paper was perfumed. Elsewhere, wealthy people wiped themselves with wool, lace or hemp, while less wealthy people used their hand when defecating into rivers, or cleaned themselves with various materials such as rags, wood shavings, leaves, grass, hay, stones, sand, moss, water, snow, ferns, plant husks, fruit skins, seashells, or corncobs, depending upon the country and weather conditions or social customs. In Ancient Rome, a sponge on a stick was commonly used, and, after use, placed back in a pail of vinegar | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37993 | 295,310 |
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