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49,037,199 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDCS%20J1426.5%2B3508 | IDCS J1426.5+3508 (IDCS 1426 for short) is an extremely massive young galaxy cluster. It is the most massive galaxy cluster detected at such an early age.
This rare galaxy cluster, which is located 10 billion light travel distance years from Earth, has a mass of almost 500 trillion Suns. This object has important implications for understanding how these mega-structures formed and evolved early in the Universe. Astronomers have observed IDCS 1426 when the universe was less than a third of its current age.
First discovered by the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2012, IDCS 1426 was then observed using the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory to determine its distance. About 90% of the mass of the cluster is in the form of dark matter, the substance that has been detected only through its gravitational pull on normal matter composed of atoms.
There is a region of bright X-ray emission near the middle of the cluster, but not exactly at the center. The location of this “core” of gas suggests that the cluster had a collision or interaction with another massive system of galaxies, perhaps within about the last 500 million years. This would cause the core to become offset. IDCS 1426 is being observed from when the Universe was only 3.8 billion years old. For an enormous structure to form rapidly, mergers with smaller clusters would likely play a role in a large cluster’s growth.
This core, while still extremely hot, contains cooler gas than its surroundings. This is the most distant galaxy cluster where such a “cool core” of gas has been observed. These cool cores are important in understanding how quickly hot gas cools off in clusters, influencing the rate of stars at which stars are born. This cooling rate can be slowed by outbursts from a supermassive black hole in the center of the cluster. Apart from the cool core, the hot gas in the cluster is remarkably symmetrical and smooth. This is another piece of evidence that IDCS 1426 formed very rapidly and quickly in the early Universe. Despite the high mass and rapid evolution of this cluster, its existence does not pose a threat to the standard model of cosmology.
References
IDCS 1426
Boötes | IDCS J1426.5+3508 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 448 | [
"Galaxy clusters",
"Boötes",
"Astronomical objects",
"Constellations"
] |
49,038,116 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%20908 | NGC 908 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus. It was discovered on 20 September 1786 by William Herschel. This galaxy is 56 million light years away from Earth. It is the main galaxy in the NGC 908 group, which also includes NGC 899, NGC 907, and IC 223.
NGC 908 has vigorous star formation and is a starburst galaxy. The galaxy has a three-arm spiral pattern; two of its arms have peculiar morphology. The galaxy has a bright central bulge. Clusters of young stars and star-forming knots can be seen in the arms. Starburst activity and the peculiar morphology of the galaxy indicate it had a close encounter with another galaxy, although none are visible now.
Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 908:
SN1994ai (type Ic, mag. 17) was discovered by Robert McNaught on 20 December 1994.
SN2006ce (type Ia, mag. 12.4) was discovered by Libert "Berto" Monard on 10 May 2006.
Also, one luminous blue variable has been observed in this galaxy: AT 2021ablz (type LBV, mag. 20.6) was discovered by Pan-STARRS on 14 October 2021.
See also
List of NGC objects (1–1000)
References
External links
Cetus
Unbarred spiral galaxies
Starburst galaxies
0908
09057
00027
-04-06-035
Astronomical objects discovered in 1786
Discoveries by William Herschel | NGC 908 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 311 | [
"Cetus",
"Constellations"
] |
49,039,963 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagestone | Anagestone (), also known as 3-deketo-6α-methyl-17α-hydroxyprogesterone or as 6α-methyl-17α-hydroxypregn-4-en-20-one, is a progestin which was never marketed.
An acylated derivative, anagestone acetate, was formerly used clinically as a pharmaceutical drug.
While anagestone is sometimes used as a synonym for anagestone acetate, it usually refers to anagestone acetate, not anagestone.
References
Abandoned drugs
Ketones
Pregnanes
Progestogens | Anagestone | [
"Chemistry"
] | 130 | [
"Ketones",
"Functional groups",
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
49,039,968 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagestone%20acetate | Anagestone acetate, sold under the brand names Anatropin and Neo-Novum, is a progestin medication which was withdrawn from medical use due to carcinogenicity observed in animal studies.
Medical uses
Anagestone acetate was used in combination with the estrogen mestranol as a combined birth control pill.
Pharmacology
Based on its chemical structure, namely the lack of a C3 ketone, it is probable that anagestone acetate is a prodrug of medroxyprogesterone acetate (the 3-keto analogue).
Chemistry
Anagestone acetate, also known as 3-deketo-6α-methyl-17α-acetoxyprogesterone or as 6α-methyl-17α-acetoxypregn-4-en-20-one, is a synthetic pregnane steroid and a derivative of progesterone and 17α-hydroxyprogesterone. It is the C17α acetate ester of anagestone, which, in contrast to anagestone acetate, was never marketed. Anagestone acetate is closely related structurally to medroxyprogesterone acetate (6α-methyl-17α-acetoxyprogesterone).
History
Anagestone acetate was introduced in combination with mestranol as a birth control pill in 1968 by Ortho Pharmaceutical. It was withdrawn in 1969.
In 1969, along with a variety of other progestogens including progesterone, chlormadinone acetate, megestrol acetate, medroxyprogesterone acetate, ethynerone, and chloroethynyl norgestrel, anagestone acetate was found to induce the development of mammary gland tumors in Beagle dogs after extensive treatment (2–7 years) with very high doses (10–25 times the recommended human dose), though notably not with 1–2 times the human dosage. In contrast, the non-halogenated 19-nortestosterone derivatives norgestrel, norethisterone, noretynodrel, and etynodiol diacetate were not found to produce such nodules. Because of these findings, anagestone acetate was voluntarily withdrawn from the market by the manufacturer in 1969. The findings also led to the virtual disappearance of most 17α-hydroxyprogesterone derivatives as hormonal contraceptives from the market (though medroxyprogesterone acetate, cyproterone acetate, and chlormadinone acetate have continued to be used). According to Hughes et al., "It is still doubtful how much relevance these findings have for humans as the dog mammary gland seems to be the only one which can be directly maintained by progestogens." Subsequent research revealed species differences between dogs and humans and established that there is no similar risk in humans.
Society and culture
Generic names
Anagestone acetate is the generic name of the drug and its . It is also known by its developmental code name ORF-1658.
Brand names
Anagestone acetate was marketed under the brand names Anatropin and Neo-Novum, the latter in combination with the estrogen mestranol.
Availability
Anagestone acetate was withdrawn from the market and is no longer available.
See also
Acetomepregenol
References
Acetate esters
Ketones
Pregnanes
Prodrugs
Progestogen esters
Progestogens
Withdrawn drugs | Anagestone acetate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 745 | [
"Ketones",
"Functional groups",
"Drug safety",
"Prodrugs",
"Chemicals in medicine",
"Withdrawn drugs"
] |
49,040,272 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular%20Biology%20Reports | Molecular Biology Reports is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research on normal and pathological molecular processes.
Abstracting and indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in:
According to the Journal Citation Reports. The journal has a 2020 impact factor of 2.316.
References
External links
English-language journals
Molecular and cellular biology journals
Springer Science+Business Media academic journals
Monthly journals
Academic journals established in 1974 | Molecular Biology Reports | [
"Chemistry"
] | 82 | [
"Molecular and cellular biology journals",
"Molecular biology"
] |
49,040,767 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacer%20patterning | Spacer patterning is a technique employed for patterning features with linewidths smaller than can be achieved by conventional lithography. In the most general sense, the spacer is a layer that is deposited over a pre-patterned feature, often called the mandrel. The spacer is subsequently etched back so that the spacer portion covering the mandrel is etched away while the spacer portion on the sidewall remains. The mandrel may then be removed, leaving two spacers (one for each edge) for each mandrel. The spacers may be further trimmed to narrower widths, especially to act as mandrels for a subsequent 2nd spacer formation. Hence this is a readily practiced form of multiple patterning. Alternatively, one of the two spacers may be removed and the remaining one trimmed to a much smaller final linewidth. Whereas immersion lithography has a resolution of ~40 nm lines and spaces, spacer patterning may be applied to attain 20 nm. This resolution improvement technique is also known as Self-Aligned Double Patterning (SADP). SADP may be re-applied for even higher resolution, and has already been demonstrated for 15 nm NAND flash memory. Spacer patterning has also been adopted for sub-20 nm logic nodes, e.g., 14 nm and 10 nm. At advanced nodes, spacer-based patterning can reduce the number of masks used for some cases by a factor of two.
Spacer Patterning Without Mandrel Removal
The mandrel is not removed after the spacer is etched to leave only the sidewall portion, in the case where the mandrel is the MOSFET gate stack. The silicon nitride sidewall spacer is retained to protect the gate stack and underlying gate oxide during subsequent processing.
Self-Aligned Anti-Spacer Double Patterning
An approach related derived from self-aligned spacer double patterning is so-called "anti-spacer" double patterning. In this approach a first layer coating the mandrel is eventually removed, while a second coated layer over the first layer is planarized and retained. A purely spin-on and wet-processed approached has been demonstrated.
Spacer-Is-Dielectric (SID)
Spacers which define conducting features need to be cut to avoid forming loops. In the alternative spacer-is-dielectric (SID) approach, the spacers define dielectric spaces between conducting features, and so no longer need cuts. The mandrel definition becomes more strategic in the layout, and there is no longer a preference for 1D line-like features. The SID approach has gained popularity due to its flexibility with minimal additional mask exposures. The anti-spacer double patterning approach described above naturally fits the SID approach since an additional layer is deposited after the spacer before its removal.
References
Lithography (microfabrication) | Spacer patterning | [
"Materials_science"
] | 603 | [
"Nanotechnology",
"Microtechnology",
"Lithography (microfabrication)"
] |
49,041,019 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%20D.%20Austin | Robert D. Austin (born 1962) is an innovation and technology management researcher and professor at Ivey Business School. He is best known for pedagogical innovations in the teaching of technology management, for his "artful making" research, which examines business innovation through the lens of art practice, and for his research documenting the neurodiversity employment movement.
Biography
Austin received bachelor's degrees in English Literature and Engineering from Swarthmore College in 1984, a master’s in Industrial Engineering and Management Science from Northwestern University in 1986, and a Ph.D. in Management and Decision Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 1995. His doctoral thesis was the recipient of the Herbert A. Simon Doctoral Dissertation Award for Behavioral Research in the Administrative Sciences.
From 1997 to 2009, Austin was a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, working primarily in the area of Technology and Operations Management. He joined the Copenhagen Business School (CBS) faculty in 2007. He has also spent time as a manager at the Ford Motor Company (1986-1995), a member of the executive team of a startup subsidiary of Novell (1999-2000), the CEO of an executive education foundation (2010-2011), and dean of the faculty of business administration at the University of New Brunswick at Fredericton (2011-2013). He moved to Ivey in 2016.
He is the (co)author of more than 100 published articles, cases, and notes, and ten books.
Selected publications
Austin, Robert D. Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations, New York: Dorset House, 1996.
Austin, Robert D. and Lee Devin. Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About How Artists Work, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2003.
Austin, Robert D., Nolan, Richard L. and Shannon O'Donnell, Adventures of an IT Leader, Harvard Business Review Press, 2009.
Austin, Robert D., Devin, Lee, and Erin E. Sullivan, "Accidental Innovation: Supporting Valuable Unpredictability in Creative Process,” Organization Science, September/October 2012 vol. 23 no. 5, 1505-1522.
Austin, Robert D. and Thorkil Sonne, "The Dandelion Principle: Redesigning Work for the Innovation Economy," MIT Sloan Management Review, Summer 2014.
Austin, Robert D. and Gary Pisano, "Neurodiversity as a Competitive Advantage," Harvard Business Review, May-June 2017.
References
Danish academics
1962 births
Living people
Information systems researchers
Swarthmore College alumni
Carnegie Mellon University faculty
Harvard Business School faculty
Academic staff of the University of Western Ontario | Robert D. Austin | [
"Technology"
] | 540 | [
"Information systems",
"Information systems researchers"
] |
49,041,186 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R7%20%28drug%29 | R7 is a small-molecule flavonoid and orally active, potent, and selective agonist of the tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) – the main signaling receptor for the neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) – which is under development for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. It is a structural modification and prodrug of tropoflavin (7,8-DHF) with improved potency and pharmacokinetics, namely oral bioavailability and duration.
Discovery
R7 was synthesized by the same researchers who were involved in the discovery of tropoflavin. A patent was filed for R7 in 2013 and was published in 2015. In 2016, it was reported to be in the preclinical stage of development. R7 was superseded by R13 because while R7 had a good drug profile in animals, it showed almost no conversion into tropoflavin in human liver microsomes.
Tropoflavin, a naturally occurring flavonoid, was found to act as an agonist of the TrkB with nanomolar affinity (Kd ≈ 320 nM).
Due to the presence of a vulnerable catechol group on its 2-phenyl-4H-chromene ring, tropoflavin is extensively conjugated via glucuronidation, sulfation, and methylation during first-pass metabolism in the liver and has a poor oral bioavailability of only 5% in mice upon oral administration. As such, tropoflavin itself is a poor candidate for clinical development as an oral medication. R7 is a derivative of tropoflavin with carbamate moieties on its hydroxyl groups, thereby protecting it from metabolism.
Pharmacokinetics
As R7 is a slightly larger molecule than tropoflavin, 72.5 mg R7 is molecularly equivalent to 50 mg tropoflavin. Relative to a roughly molecularly equivalent dose of tropoflavin, the area-under-curve levels of R7 were found to be 7.2-fold higher upon oral administration to mice, and R7 hence has a greatly improved oral bioavailability in mice of approximately 35%. Moreover, whereas tropoflavin itself is mostly metabolized in mice within 30 minutes, tropoflavin as a metabolite was still detectable in plasma at 8 hours after administration with R7, indicating that R7 sustainably releases tropoflavin into circulation. In accordance, the terminal half-life of R7 is about 195 minutes (3.25 hours) in mice. The Tmax of R7 is about 60 minutes in mice, and its Cmax for a 78 mg/kg dose was 262 ng/mL, whereas that for a 50 mg/kg dose of tropoflavin was 70 ng/mL.
Animal studies
Like tropoflavin, administration of R7 has been found to activate the TrkB in vivo in the mouse brain. Moreover, R7 was found to potently activate the TrkB and the downstream Akt signaling pathway upon oral administration, an action that was tightly correlated with plasma concentrations of tropoflavin. As such, R7 has shown in vivo efficacy as an agonist of the TrkB, including central activity, similarly to tropoflavin.
See also
List of investigational antidepressants
Tropomyosin receptor kinase B § Agonists
References
External links
7,8-Dihydoxyflavone and 7,8-substituted flavone derivatives, compositions, and methods related thereto (US 20150274692 A1)
Antidementia agents
Carbamates
Esters
Experimental drugs
Flavones
Neuroprotective agents
Nootropics
Prodrugs
TrkB agonists | R7 (drug) | [
"Chemistry"
] | 822 | [
"Esters",
"Functional groups",
"Prodrugs",
"Organic compounds",
"Chemicals in medicine"
] |
49,041,372 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9sar%20Hidalgo | César A. Hidalgo (born December 22, 1979) is a Chilean born, Chilean-Spanish-American physicist, author, and entrepreneur. He is a tenured professor of social and behavioral sciences at the Toulouse School of Economics and director of the Center for Collective Learning a multidisciplinary research laboratory with offices in Toulouse, France and at Corvinus University of Budapest. He is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Manchester's Alliance Manchester Business School. Hidalgo is known for his work on economic complexity, relatedness, data visualization, applied artificial intelligence, and digital democracy. Before moving to France, Hidalgo was a professor at MIT where he directed the Collective Learning group. He is also a founder and partner at Datawheel, a data visualization and distribution company.
Hidalgo works broadly in the field of collective intelligence. His contributions to the field includes the introduction of methods to measure economic complexity and relatedness, the study of people's perception of A.I., the study of collective memory, and the development of multiple data visualization platforms, including The Observatory of Economic Complexity, DataUSA, DataViva, DataMexico, DataAfrica, and Pantheon, among others. He is the author of dozens of academic papers in complex systems, networks, and economic development, and has created applications of data science and artificial intelligence to understand urban perception and to explore the idea of augmented democracy.
Hidalgo has authored or co-authored three books The Atlas of Economic Complexity, Why Information Grows, and How Humans Judge Machines.
His work was honored in 2018 with the Lagrange Prize, in 2019 with the Centennial Medal from the University of Concepcion, and in 2011 with the Bicentennial Medial from the Chilean Congress. Awards for his data visualization and distribution platforms include three Webbys, one Information is Beautiful award, and one Indigo Design Award.
Early life and education
Hidalgo was born in Santiago de Chile in 1979 to Cesar E. Hidalgo and Nuria Ramaciotti. His father was a publicist and journalist and his mother a K-12 school administrator. He has two siblings Caterina and Nuria.
Hidalgo attended The Grange School until the age of fourteen. He completed his high school education at The British High School. From 1998 to 2003 he studied physics at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. From 2004 to 2008 he obtained a PhD in physics from The University of Notre Dame with Albert-László Barabási as his PhD advisor. From 2008 to 2010 he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University.
Economic complexity
During his PhD Hidalgo began using networks to study economic development. Two key contributions here include The Product Space, a network that can be used to explain and predict the activities an economy is more likely to enter an exit, and the economic complexity index, a dimensionality reduction based formula that can be used to explain differences in economic growth, inequality, and emissions. The economic complexity index is a highly reproducible predictor of future economic growth and also is a strong explanatory factor of cross-national differences in income inequality and emission intensities. Hidalgo's work in Economic Complexity has been covered by important media outlets like The New York Times, The Economist, and The Financial Times.
Why Information Grows
In Why Information Grows Hidalgo explains economic growth as a consequence of the growth of information and computation in the universe. The book starts by explaining the physical mechanisms that allow information to grow, and then unpacks these mechanisms in the context of social and economic systems. The main argument of the book is that the need for computation to be embodied, in cells, humans, or teams of humans, is what makes the growth of information in the economy both possible and difficult.
Soon after its release the book was highly praised by economists including Paul Romer, who a couple of years later won the Nobel prize for endogenous growth theory, Eric Beinhoecker, the director of Oxford's Institute for New Economic Thinking, and Tim Harford, a popular economics author and regular columnist for The Financial Times. Why Information Grows was also featured in The Economists books and arts section of the July 25, 2015 print edition, in Nature's May 28, 2015 print edition, and Kirkus Reviews, among others.
Data visualization and distribution platforms
Hidalgo has co-authored a number of popular data visualization and distribution platforms. These are tools that make available vast volumes of data through visualizations. These platforms include:
The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC)
The OEC is a tool that makes available international trade data through more than 20 million visualizations. The Observatory of Economic Complexity focuses on the mix of products that countries export because this product mix is predictive of a country's future patterns of diversification, G.D.P. growth, and income inequality. The OEC was co-authored with Alex Simões, who developed this platform as his master thesis in the Macro Connections group at the MIT Media Lab.
DataViva
DataViva is a visualization engine that makes available regional development data for all of Brazil through more than 1 billion visualizations. These visualizations include trade data, employment data and education data, for each of Brazil's more than 5000 municipalities and its hundreds of products, industries and occupations. DataViva was developed in a collaboration between Hidalgo, Alex Simões and Dave Landry, and the government of Minas Gerais in Brazil, including Minas's government department of strategic priorities and FAPEMIG, Minas Science funding agency.
Pantheon
Pantheon is a data visualization engine focused on historical cultural production and impact. Pantheon helps users explore metadata on globally famous biographies as a mean to understand the process of collective memory and of the role of languages and communication technologies in the production and diffusion of cultural information. Amy Yu, Kevin Hu, and Cesar Hidalgo developed pantheon at the Macro Connections group at MIT.
Immersion
Immersion is a data visualization engine for email metadata. Immersion helps uncover the networks people form while interacting through email. Immersion was co-authored by Hidalgo together with Daniel Smilkov and Deepak Jagsdish, while both Smilkov and Jagdish were working as students in Hidalgo's Macro Connection's group. Immersion was released in 2013, and quickly became popular as a way to demonstrate what people can learn by looking only at email metadata.
DataUSA
DataUSA is an effort to visualize and distribute public data for the United States. It was launched on April 4, 2016 and acclaimed by The New York Times, The Atlantic's City Lab, and Fast Company. DataUSA received the Information is Beautiful Award in 2016 and a Webby Award in 2017 for best Civil and Government Innovation. DataUSA was built by Datawheel in collaboration with Deloitte.
DataAfrica
DataAfrica makes available data on the health, poverty, agriculture, and climate, of thirteen African countries at the subnational level. DataAfrica won a 2018 webby award for best civil and government innovation.
DataChile
DataChile integrates and distributes data from more than a dozen Chilean government departments. It won a 2018 Indigo Design Award.
DataMexico
DataMexico is a systematized information platform with more than 13,000 profiles about regional economy, infrastructure, exterior commerce, employment, education, gender equity, inequality, health, and public security in Mexico. Includes a section about Economic Complexity to visualize development opportunities through dynamics between industries and products.
Urban Perception
Place Pulse, Streetscore, and Streetchange
Place Pulse, Streetscore, and Streetchange are tools created to map people's perceptions of urban environments. Place Pulse has been featured in The Guardian and Fast Company. Streetscore has been featured in The Economist and New Scientist, among others.
Augmented Democracy
In 2018, Hidalgo presented at TED's main event the idea of Augmented Democracy': a democracy in which people are represented directly by personalized digital twins powered by artificial intelligence. He has since engaged in the creation of civic participation platforms, such as MonProgramme2022 and Brazucracia, designed to collect people's preference over dozens of policy issues.
Bibliography
A full list of books and publications can be found in Cesar Hidalgo's professional page
Books
’’How Humans Judge Machines’’ MIT Press (2021),
‘’Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order from Atoms to Economies’’ Basic Books, New York (2015)
’’The Atlas of Economic Complexity’’ MIT Press (2014),
Selected articles
"Links that speak: The Global Language Network and its Association with Global Fame" Shahar Ronen, Bruno Goncalves, Kevin Hu, Alessandro Vespignani, Steven Pinker and César A. Hidalgo. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 10.1073/pnas.1410931111 (2014)
"The Collaborative Image of the City: Mapping the Inequality of Urban Perception" Philip Salesses, Katja Schechtner, and César A. Hidalgo. PLoS ONE 8(7): e68400. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068400
"The Network Structure of Economic Output" R Hausmann, CA Hidalgo. Journal of Economic Growth (2011) 16:309–342 DOI 10.1007/s10997-011-9071-4
"The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity" CA Hidalgo, R Hausmann. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (2009) 106(26):10570-10575
"Understanding Individual Human Mobility Patterns" MC Gonzalez, CA Hidalgo, A-L Barabási. Nature (2008) 453: 779–782
"The Product Space Conditions the Development of Nations" CA Hidalgo, B Klinger, A-L Barabási, R Hausmann. Science (2007) 317: 482–487
References
Living people
Chilean scholars and academics
1979 births
People from Santiago, Chile
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni
University of Notre Dame alumni
MIT Media Lab people
Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty
Network scientists
Government by algorithm | César Hidalgo | [
"Engineering"
] | 2,045 | [
"Government by algorithm",
"Automation"
] |
49,042,024 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee%20on%20the%20Biological%20Effects%20of%20Ionizing%20Radiation | The Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) is a committee of the American National Research Council. It publishes reports on the effects of ionizing radiation.
Reports
BEIR I 1972: “The Effects on Populations of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation”
BEIR II 1977: “Considerations of Health Benefit-Cost Analysis for Activities Involving Ionizing Radiation Exposure and Alternatives”
BEIR III 1980: “The Effects on Populations of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation”
BEIR IV 1988: “Health Effects of Radon and Other Internally Deposited Alpha-Emitters”
BEIR V 1990: “Health Effects of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation”
BEIR VI 1999: “The Health Effects of Exposure to Indoor Radon”
BEIR VII, Phase 1 1998: “Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation, Phase 1”
BEIR VII, Phase 2 2006: “Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation, Phase 2”
References
Medical imaging organizations
Nuclear medicine organizations | Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation | [
"Engineering"
] | 210 | [
"Nuclear medicine organizations",
"Nuclear organizations"
] |
49,042,529 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard%20Lagaly | Gerhard Lagaly (born 14 October 1938, in Ludwigshafen am Rhein) is a German chemist and retired university professor.
Life and work
In 1957, Lagaly started his chemistry studies (as well as Physics, Mineralogy and Botany) at the Heidelberg University, receiving his degree as "Diplom-Chemiker" in 1962. He conducted his doctorate studies at the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry at the same institution under Armin Weiss, and was awarded his Doctor degree in 1967 with the work "Untersuchung von Quellungsvorgängen in n-Alkylammonium-Schichtsilicaten". From 1965 he worked as an Assistant at the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry of the Munich University where he concluded his Habilitation in 1971 and then was employed as lecturer ("Akademischer Rat/Oberrat"). In 1974 he was employed as Professor for Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Kiel, retiring in 2004.
His research lines concentrated on Clay chemistry, Colloid chemistry and Interface chemistry as well as chemistry from porous compounds, layered materials and intercalation chemistry.
Among his many contributions to the fields of clay and colloid chemistry, one of his most recognized developments was the Alkylammonium Method for the determination of layer charge in layered aluminosilicates.
He acted as treasurer of the German Colloid Society from 1979 to 2003. In 2004 the same institution awarded him with the Wolfgang Ostwald Prize. Lagaly was President of the German Clay Group (DTTG) from 1987 to 1992 and of the European Clay Groups Association (ECGA) from 1999 to 2003.
In addition, Lagaly acted for many years (1987-2004) as editor-in-chief for "Colloid and Polymer Science" and "Progress Colloid and Polymer Science" as well as editor for "Clay Minerals" (1982-1996) and "Applied Clay Science" (1985-1996).
Awards and distinctions
1969 - Richard-Zsigmondy-Stipendium, awarded by the Kolloid-Gesellschaft (Germany)
1995 - George W. Brindley Lecture Award, The Clay Minerals Society (USA)
1996 - Doctor honoris causa, University of Szeged (Hungary)
1999 - Wolfgang-Ostwald-Kolloquium of the Kolloid-Gesellschaft (Germany) dedicated to the 60th birthday of G. Lagaly
2001 - AIPEA Medal in recognition of innovative and dynamic scientific contribution to the field of Clay Sciences
2002 - Marilyn & Sturges W. Bailey Distinguished Member Award, Clay Minerals Society (USA)
2002 - Socio de Honor de la Sociedad Española de Arcillas (Spain)
2004 - Wolfgang-Ostwald-Prize, awarded by the Kolloid-Gesellschaft (Germany)
2005 - Membre d'Honneur du Groupe Français des Argiles (France)
2006 - Ehrenmitglied der DTTG (Germany-Austria-Switzerland)
The Gerhard Lagaly Award
The German Clay Group (DTTG) awards the Gerhard Lagaly Award, to "internationally excellent scientists with outstanding original research in the field of clay mineralogy."
The award is designated after the internationally highly recognized clay scientist and the distinguished member of the DTTG, Professor Dr. Dr. Gerhard Lagaly.
The prize was first awarded in 2014 to Prof. Dr. Juraj Bujdák (Comenius University Bratislava). In 2016, the prize went to Dr. habil. Sabine Petit (Université de Poitiers). The recipient of the 2018 prize was Dr. Stephan Kaufhold (BGR Hannover).
Lagalyite
In March 2017 an hydrated calcium phyllomanganate with formula Ca2xMn1−xO2•1.5-2H2O (x = 0.05–0.08) was accepted as new mineral by the International Mineralogical Association. This new species was discovered and described by Dr. Thomas Witzke and colleagues. It was named Lagalyite, in honor of Gerhad Lagaly and his contributions to the fields of clay chemistry and mineralogy.
Selected works
Karl Jasmund, Gerhard Lagaly (editors): Tonminerale und Tone. Struktur, Eigenschaften, Anwendungen und Einsatz in Industrie und Umwelt. Steinkopf Verlag, Darmstadt, 1993.
Gerhard Lagaly, Oliver Schulz, Ralf Zimehl: Dispersionen und Emulsionen: eine Einführung in die Kolloidik feinverteilter Stoffe einschließlich der Tonminerale, Steinkopf Verlag, Darmstadt, 1997.
Faiza Bergaya, Gergard Lagaly (editors): Handbook of Clay Science. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2013 (2nd Ed.).
See also
Interface and colloid science
References
External links
Homepage at the University of Kiel
1938 births
Living people
21st-century German chemists
Inorganic chemists
Colloid chemists
Academic staff of the University of Kiel
Heidelberg University alumni
20th-century German chemists
People from Ludwigshafen | Gerhard Lagaly | [
"Chemistry"
] | 1,066 | [
"Inorganic chemists"
] |
49,042,690 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycena%20crocea | Mycena crocea, commonly known as the walnut mycena, is a species of mushroom in the family Mycenaceae. The small mushroom has a bright yellow, conical to broadly convex cap up to in diameter. The stem is tough and thin, up to tall, bright yellow at the top becoming progressively orange towards the base. The gills are adnate, subdistant, and yellowish, becoming lighter in age; and the spore print is white. This mushroom is saprobic and found exclusively on hickory nuts and walnuts in eastern North America. The specific epithet crocea refers to the orange color. The mushroom is commonly known as the "walnut mycena" and was previously and commonly misidentified as Mycena luteopallens.
Description
The cap is vivid yellow, conical to broadly convex cap and up to in diameter. When young the cap tends to be conical or bell-shaped becoming plane or flat at maturity. The margin is striated. The surface is moist, glabrous, and somewhat hygrophanous. The flesh is thin, pallid, and yellowish. Odor and taste are not distinctive. The gills have an adnate attachment and are a pale yellowish color. They are subdistantly spaced. The sturdy stem is long by thick. The stipe is central, equal (i.e., roughly equal in thickness at the top and bottom), and dark orange to yellowish.
The species is regarded as nonpoisonous, but is not necessarily edible.
Microscopic characteristics
The spores are 7–9 x 4–5 μm, smooth, and elliptical, and weakly amyloid to inamyloid. Pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia are present
Similar species
Mycena strobilinoides is similar to M. crocea, but is found in needle beds under conifers. Atheniella adonis has a fragile stem and a more reddish-pink coloration.
Habitat and distribution
Mycena crocea are found exclusively on hickory nuts and walnuts in eastern North America. It was first described as Marasmius nucicola in 1925 but that name could not be used in Mycena.
References
crocea
Fungi described in 1991
Fungi of North America
Taxa named by Rudolf Arnold Maas Geesteranus
Fungus species | Mycena crocea | [
"Biology"
] | 479 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
49,043,127 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profit%20at%20risk | Profit-at-Risk (PaR) is a risk management quantity most often used for electricity portfolios that contain some mixture of generation assets, trading contracts and end-user consumption. It is used to provide a measure of the downside risk to profitability of a portfolio of physical and financial assets, analysed by time periods in which the energy is delivered. For example, the expected profitability and associated downside risk (PaR) might be calculated and monitored for each of the forward looking 24 months. The measure considers both price risk and volume risk (e.g. due to uncertainty in electricity generation volumes or consumer demand). Mathematically, the PaR is the quantile of the profit distribution of a portfolio.
Example
If the confidence interval for evaluating the PaR is 95%, there is a 5% probability that due to changing commodity volumes and prices, the
profit outcome for a specific period (e.g. December next year) will fall short of the expected profit result by more than the PaR value.
Note that the concept of a set 'holding period' does not apply since the period is always up until the realisation of the profit outcome through the delivery of energy. That is the holding period is different for each of the specific delivery time periods being analysed e.g. it might be six months for December and therefore seven months for January.
History
The PaR measure was originally pioneered at Norsk Hydro in Norway as part of an initiative to prepare for deregulation of the electricity market. Petter Longva and Greg Keers co-authored a paper "Risk Management in the Electricity Industry" (IAEE 17th Annual International Conference, 1994) which introduced the PaR method. This led to it being adopted as the basis for electricity market risk management at Norsk Hydro and later by most of the other electricity generating utilities in the Nordic region. The approach was based on monte-carlo simulations of paired reservoir inflow and spot price outcomes to produce a distribution of expected profit in future reporting periods. This tied directly with the focus of management reporting on profitability of operations, unlike the Value-at-Risk approach that had been pioneered by JP Morgan for banks focused on their balance sheet risks.
Critics
As is the case with Value at Risk, for risk measures like the PaR, Earnings-at-Risk (EaR), the Liquidity-at-Risk (LaR) or the Margin-at-Risk (MaR), the exact risk measures implementation rule vary from firm to firm.
See also
Value at risk
Margin at risk
Liquidity at risk
References
Mathematical finance
Financial risk management
Monte Carlo methods in finance | Profit at risk | [
"Mathematics"
] | 528 | [
"Applied mathematics",
"Mathematical finance"
] |
52,899,315 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-carbon%20molecule | Four-carbon molecules are based on a skeleton made from four carbon atoms. They may be in a chain, branched chains, cycles or even bicyclic compounds
Hydrocarbons that include four atoms are:
butane C4H10
isobutane C4H10
but-1-ene C4H8
but-2-ene C4H8
but-1-yne C4H6
but-2-yne C4H6
isobutylene C4H8
butadiene C4H6
1,2-butadiene C4H6
vinylacetylene C4H4
diacetylene C4H2
butatriene C4H4
cyclobutane C4H8
cyclobutene C4H6
cyclobutyne C4H4
cyclobutadiene C4H4
methylenecyclopropene C4H4
bicyclobutane C4H6
1-bicyclobutene C4H4
Δ1,3-bicyclobutene C4H4
propalene C4H2
methylcyclopropane C4H8
1-methylcyclopropene C4H6
3-methylcyclopropene C4H6
methylenecyclopropane C4H6
3-methylcyclopropyne C4H4
methylenecyclopropyne C4H2
tetrahedrane C4H4
See also
List of compounds with carbon number 4
Hydrocarbons | Four-carbon molecule | [
"Chemistry"
] | 328 | [
"Organic compounds",
"Hydrocarbons"
] |
52,899,784 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrofurfuryl%20acetate | Tetrahydrofurfuryl acetate is an organic chemical compound used for food flavouring and cosmetics. It has a fruity ethereal flavour, also described as honey, maple, or bread-like.
It is generally accepted as safe in the USA. Typical levels of use are 2 ppm in drinks, 8 ppm in ice cream, and 20 ppm in baked products and confectionery.
Classified as a heterocyclic ester, it is made by reacting tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol with acetic anhydride.
Related flavouring compounds are tetrahydrofurfuryl butyrate, tetrahydrofurfuryl cinnamate, tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol, and tetrahydrofurfuryl propionate.
References
Food additives
Flavors
Tetrahydrofurans
Acetate esters | Tetrahydrofurfuryl acetate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 181 | [] |
52,900,012 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluroketone | A telluroketone is an analog of a ketone in which the oxygen atom has been replaced by a tellurium atom. This change makes the functional group less stable, requiring greater steric and electronic stabilization.
See also
Thioketone
Selone
References
Organotellurium compounds
Functional groups
Tellurium(II) compounds | Telluroketone | [
"Chemistry"
] | 70 | [
"Functional groups",
"Organic chemistry stubs"
] |
52,900,176 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International%20Nuclear%20Societies%20Council | The International Nuclear Society Council (INSC), founded on 11 November 1990 by the INSG (International group of Nuclear Societies), is a non-governmental organisation made up of Nuclear Societies from all over the world that "acts as a global forum for nuclear societies to discuss and establish common aims and goals".
Member societies
American Nuclear Society (ANS)
Asociacion Argentina de Tecnologia Nuclear (AATN)
Associação Brasileira de Energia Nuclear (ABEN)
Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ)
Australian Nuclear Association (ANA)
Canadian Nuclear Society (CNS)
Egyptian Society of Nuclear Science and Applications (ESNSA)
European Nuclear Society (ENS)
Austrian Nuclear Society
Belgian Nuclear Society
Bulgarian Nuclear Society
Croatian Nuclear Society
Czech Nuclear Society
Finnish Nuclear Society
French Nuclear Energy Society
German Nuclear Society
Hungarian Nuclear Society
Israel Nuclear Society
Italian Nuclear Association
Lithuanian Nuclear Energy Association
Netherlands Nuclear Society
The Nuclear Institute
Nuclear Society of Russia
Nuclear Society of Serbia
Nuclear Society of Slovenia
Polish Nuclear Society
Romanian Nuclear Energy Association
Slovak Nuclear Society
Spanish Nuclear Society
Swedish Nuclear Society
Swiss Nuclear Society
Indian Nuclear Society (InNS)
Israel Nuclear Society (IsNS)
Korean Nuclear Society (KNS)
Latin American Section (LAS)
Nuclear Energy Society Taipei (NEST)
Pakistan Nuclear Society (PNS)
Sociedad Nuclear Mexicana (SNM)
Nuclear Society of Thailand (NST)
References
External links
http://insc.ans.org/ Homepage
INSC at the UIA
Nuclear organizations
Organizations established in 1990 | International Nuclear Societies Council | [
"Engineering"
] | 312 | [
"Nuclear organizations",
"Energy organizations"
] |
52,901,847 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teg49%20small%20RNA | Teg49 is a non-coding RNA present in the extended promoter region of the staphylococcal accessory regulator sarA. It was identified by RNA-seq and confirmed by Northern blot. It is modulated by sigB (sarA regulator) and cshA (an ATP-dependant DEAD box RNA helicase) and it most likely contributes to virulence of S. aureus by modulating SarA expression.
References
Non-coding RNA | Teg49 small RNA | [
"Chemistry"
] | 96 | [
"Biochemistry stubs",
"Molecular and cellular biology stubs"
] |
52,903,626 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet%20fishing | Magnet fishing, also called magnetic fishing, is searching in outdoor waters for ferromagnetic objects available to pull with a strong neodymium magnet.
Practitioners
In English, people who practice magnet fishing may be called magnetfishers or magneteers.
It is thought magnet fishing was initially started by boaters using magnets to recover fallen keys from the water. Magnet fishing as a hobby began to take off in the early 2000's starting in Europe.
Objects recovered
Magnet fishing can recover metal debris such as discarded bicycles, guns, safes, bombs, grenades, coins and car tire rims from bodies of water, but many who engage in the hobby are hoping to find rare and valuable items as well.
Tools
Magnet fishing is typically done with gloves, a strong neodymium magnet secured to a durable rope between , and sometimes a grappling hook as a supplement to the magnet. For safety it is recommended to also use a pair of gloves to protect your hands from any sharp objects you may pull up with your magnet.
Potential harms
Some magnet fishers have retrieved dangerous objects, including loaded guns, unexploded ordnance, and sharp pieces of metal.
Neodymium magnets are powerful and can interfere with pacemakers, posing a health risk; they can also damage other electronic devices. Fingers can get crushed between the magnet and a piece of metal, potentially causing serious bodily harm. Tetanus can also be a risk for those without an up-to-date tetanus vaccine.
In general, police urge those who find weapons or similar items to contact them.
Magnet fishing and the law
Depending on the jurisdiction, anything of value may belong to the local government, not the finder.
Belgium
Amateur magnet-fishers in Belgium helped the police by recovering new evidence, specifically firearms and ammunition, related to the crimes of the Brabant killers.
France
The rules of magnet fishing are the same as those governing the detection of buried objects:
“No one may use equipment capable of detecting metallic objects for the purpose of searching for monuments and objects likely to be of interest to prehistory, history, art or archaeology without first obtaining an administrative authorisation issued in accordance with the applicant’s qualifications and the nature and manner of the search”.
Germany
In Hamburg, magnet fishing without a permit is punishable by fine. In Berlin, magnet fishing is governed under the same rules as metal detecting, which requires a permit. Permits are not granted to hobbyists, as the context of any find is lost when untrained personnel disturb a site. Like all major cities in Germany that experienced fighting and strategic bombing during World War II, unexploded ordnance poses a serious risk.
England and Wales
Magnet fishing is subject to local regulations concerning outdoor waters. The Canal & River Trust, which owns most of the canals in England and Wales, has bylaws prohibiting people from removing material from the canal and rivers it owns, so fishers may be subject to a £25 fine for magnet-fishing or removing any material from canal or inland navigation under the control of the Canal & River Trust in England or Wales, other than the Lee and Stort Navigation, Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, and River Severn Navigation. The Trust "expressly prohibit[s]" the practice, although it refrains from legal action against first-time offenders. In 2018, a child magnet-fished a sawn-off shotgun out of the Titford Canal in Oldbury, West Midlands.
Poland
According to Polish penal code, magnet fishing without a valid government permit is a crime punishable by up to two years imprisonment.
Scotland
Magnet fishing is allowed in Scotland. If planning to magnet fish in a scheduled area (including the Canal Network), then the fisher must first obtain a Scheduled Monument Consent from Historic Environment Scotland, and permission from Scottish Canals. An official group exists which gives its members permission to magnet fish in a stretch of the Union Canal in Edinburgh, with more locations planned in the future. Archaeological or historical finds must be reported to Treasure Trove Scotland.
United States
In the US, there are no federal laws restricting metal fishing. Magnet fishing in state waters without a license is prohibited in South Carolina under the Underwater Antiquities Act. In Indiana, magnet fishing is allowed on public waters on Department of Natural Resources properties by permit. The magnet must be able to be carried and retrieved by hand. Certain states have their own regulations pertaining to magnet fishing.
Popularity
The hobby has been adopted by celebrities such as English rugby player James Haskell.
See also
References
External links
Magnetism
Hobbies
Water pollution
Public archaeology
Treasure hunting
Metal detecting
Litter
Waste collection | Magnet fishing | [
"Chemistry",
"Technology",
"Engineering",
"Environmental_science"
] | 931 | [
"Metal detecting",
"Measuring instruments",
"Water pollution"
] |
52,904,244 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinal%20data | Ordinal data is a categorical, statistical data type where the variables have natural, ordered categories and the distances between the categories are not known. These data exist on an ordinal scale, one of four levels of measurement described by S. S. Stevens in 1946. The ordinal scale is distinguished from the nominal scale by having a ranking. It also differs from the interval scale and ratio scale by not having category widths that represent equal increments of the underlying attribute.
Examples of ordinal data
A well-known example of ordinal data is the Likert scale. An example of a Likert scale is:
Examples of ordinal data are often found in questionnaires: for example, the survey question "Is your general health poor, reasonable, good, or excellent?" may have those answers coded respectively as 1, 2, 3, and 4. Sometimes data on an interval scale or ratio scale are grouped onto an ordinal scale: for example, individuals whose income is known might be grouped into the income categories $0–$19,999, $20,000–$39,999, $40,000–$59,999, ..., which then might be coded as 1, 2, 3, 4, .... Other examples of ordinal data include socioeconomic status, military ranks, and letter grades for coursework.
Ways to analyse ordinal data
Ordinal data analysis requires a different set of analyses than other qualitative variables. These methods incorporate the natural ordering of the variables in order to avoid loss of power. Computing the mean of a sample of ordinal data is discouraged; other measures of central tendency, including the median or mode, are generally more appropriate.
General
Stevens (1946) argued that, because the assumption of equal distance between categories does not hold for ordinal data, the use of means and standard deviations for description of ordinal distributions and of inferential statistics based on means and standard deviations was not appropriate. Instead, positional measures like the median and percentiles, in addition to descriptive statistics appropriate for nominal data (number of cases, mode, contingency correlation), should be used. Nonparametric methods have been proposed as the most appropriate procedures for inferential statistics involving ordinal data (e.g, Kendall's W, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, etc.), especially those developed for the analysis of ranked measurements. However, the use of parametric statistics for ordinal data may be permissible with certain caveats to take advantage of the greater range of available statistical procedures.
Univariate statistics
In place of means and standard deviations, univariate statistics appropriate for ordinal data include the median, other percentiles (such as quartiles and deciles), and the quartile deviation. One-sample tests for ordinal data include the Kolmogorov-Smirnov one-sample test, the one-sample runs test, and the change-point test.
Bivariate statistics
In lieu of testing differences in means with t-tests, differences in distributions of ordinal data from two independent samples can be tested with Mann-Whitney, runs, Smirnov, and signed-ranks tests. Test for two related or matched samples include the sign test and the Wilcoxon signed ranks test. Analysis of variance with ranks and the Jonckheere test for ordered alternatives can be conducted with ordinal data in place of independent samples ANOVA. Tests for more than two related samples includes the Friedman two-way analysis of variance by ranks and the Page test for ordered alternatives. Correlation measures appropriate for two ordinal-scaled variables include Kendall's tau, gamma, rs, and dyx/dxy.
Regression applications
Ordinal data can be considered as a quantitative variable. In logistic regression, the equation
is the model and c takes on the assigned levels of the categorical scale. In regression analysis, outcomes (dependent variables) that are ordinal variables can be predicted using a variant of ordinal regression, such as ordered logit or ordered probit.
In multiple regression/correlation analysis, ordinal data can be accommodated using power polynomials and through normalization of scores and ranks.
Linear trends
Linear trends are also used to find associations between ordinal data and other categorical variables, normally in a contingency tables. A correlation r is found between the variables where r lies between -1 and 1. To test the trend, a test statistic:
is used where n is the sample size.
R can be found by letting be the row scores and be the column scores. Let be the mean of the row scores while . Then is the marginal row probability and is the marginal column probability. R is calculated by:
Classification methods
Classification methods have also been developed for ordinal data. The data are divided into different categories such that each observation is similar to others. Dispersion is measured and minimized in each group to maximize classification results. The dispersion function is used in information theory.
Statistical models for ordinal data
There are several different models that can be used to describe the structure of ordinal data. Four major classes of model are described below, each defined for a random variable , with levels indexed by .
Note that in the model definitions below, the values of and will not be the same for all the models for the same set of data, but the notation is used to compare the structure of the different models.
Proportional odds model
The most commonly-used model for ordinal data is the proportional odds model, defined by
where the parameters describe the base distribution of the ordinal data, are the covariates and are the coefficients describing the effects of the covariates.
This model can be generalized by defining the model using instead of , and this would make the model suitable for nominal data (in which the categories have no natural ordering) as well as ordinal data. However, this generalization can make it much more difficult to fit the model to the data.
Baseline category logit model
The baseline category model is defined by
This model does not impose an ordering on the categories and so can be applied to nominal data as well as ordinal data.
Ordered stereotype model
The ordered stereotype model is defined by
where the score parameters are constrained such that .
This is a more parsimonious, and more specialised, model than the baseline category logit model: can be thought of as similar to .
The non-ordered stereotype model has the same form as the ordered stereotype model, but without the ordering imposed on . This model can be applied to nominal data.
Note that the fitted scores, , indicate how easy it is to distinguish between the different levels of . If then that indicates that the current set of data for the covariates do not provide much information to distinguish between levels and , but that does not necessarily imply that the actual values and are far apart. And if the values of the covariates change, then for that new data the fitted scores and might then be far apart.
Adjacent categories logit model
The adjacent categories model is defined by
although the most common form, referred to in Agresti (2010) as the "proportional odds form" is defined by
This model can only be applied to ordinal data, since modelling the probabilities of shifts from one category to the next category implies that an ordering of those categories exists.
The adjacent categories logit model can be thought of as a special case of the baseline category logit model, where . The adjacent categories logit model can also be thought of as a special case of the ordered stereotype model, where , i.e. the distances between the are defined in advance, rather than being estimated based on the data.
Comparisons between the models
The proportional odds model has a very different structure to the other three models, and also a different underlying meaning. Note that the size of the reference category in the proportional odds model varies with , since is compared to , whereas in the other models the size of the reference category remains fixed, as is compared to or .
Different link functions
There are variants of all the models that use different link functions, such as the probit link or the complementary log-log link.
Statistical tests
Differences in ordinal data can be tested using rank tests.
Visualization and display
Ordinal data can be visualized in several different ways. Common visualizations are the bar chart or a pie chart. Tables can also be useful for displaying ordinal data and frequencies. Mosaic plots can be used to show the relationship between an ordinal variable and a nominal or ordinal variable. A bump chart—a line chart that shows the relative ranking of items from one time point to the next—is also appropriate for ordinal data.
Color or grayscale gradation can be used to represent the ordered nature of the data. A single-direction scale, such as income ranges, can be represented with a bar chart where increasing (or decreasing) saturation or lightness of a single color indicates higher (or lower) income. The ordinal distribution of a variable measured on a dual-direction scale, such as a Likert scale, could also be illustrated with color in a stacked bar chart. A neutral color (white or gray) might be used for the middle (zero or neutral) point, with contrasting colors used in the opposing directions from the midpoint, where increasing saturation or darkness of the colors could indicate categories at increasing distance from the midpoint. Choropleth maps also use color or grayscale shading to display ordinal data.
Applications
The use of ordinal data can be found in most areas of research where categorical data are generated. Settings where ordinal data are often collected include the social and behavioral sciences and governmental and business settings where measurements are collected from persons by observation, testing, or questionnaires. Some common contexts for the collection of ordinal data include survey research; and intelligence, aptitude, personality testing and decision-making.
Calculation of 'Effect Size' (Cliff's Delta d) using ordinal data has been recommended as a measure of statistical dominance.
See also
List of analyses of categorical data
Ordinal Priority Approach
Ordinal number
Ordinal space
References
Further reading
Statistical data types
Comparison (mathematical) | Ordinal data | [
"Mathematics"
] | 2,140 | [
"Arithmetic",
"Comparison (mathematical)"
] |
52,905,034 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social%20Support%20Questionnaire | The Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ) is a quantitative, psychometrically sound survey questionnaire intended to measure social support and satisfaction with said social support from the perspective of the interviewee. Degree of social support has been shown to influence the onset and course of certain psychiatric disorders such as clinical depression or schizophrenia. The SSQ was approved for public release in 1981 by Irwin Sarason, Henry Levine, Robert Basham and Barbara Sarason under the University of Washington Department of Psychology and consists of 27 questions. Overall, the SSQ has good test-retest reliability and convergent internal construct validity.
Overview
The questionnaire is designed so that each question has a two-part answer. The first part asks the interviewee to list up to nine people available to provide support that meet the criteria stated in the question. These support individuals are specified using their initials in addition to the relationship to the interviewee. Example questions from the first part includes questions such as "Whom could you count on to help if you had just been fired from your job or expelled from school?" and "Whom do you feel would help if a family member very close to you died?".
The second part asks the interviewee to specify how satisfied they are with each of the people stated in the first part. The SSQ respondents use a 6 -point Likert scale to indicate their degree of satisfaction with the support from the above people ranging from "1 - very dissatisfied" to "6 - very satisfied".
The Social Support Questionnaire has multiple short forms such as the SSQ3 and the SSQ6.
History
The SSQ is based on 4 original studies. The first study set out to determine whether the SSQ had the desired psychometric properties. The second study tried to relate SSQ and a diversity of personality measures such as anxiety, depression and hostility in connection with the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist. The third study considered the relationship between social support, the prior year's negative and positive life events, internal-external locus of control and self- esteem in conjunction with the Life Experiences Survey. The fourth study tested the idea that social support could serve as a buffer when faced with difficult life situations via trying to solve a maze and subsequently completing the Cognitive Interference Questionnaire.
Scoring
The overall support score (SSQN) is calculated by taking an average of the individual scores across the 27 items. A high score on the SSQ indicates more optimism about life than a low score. Respondents with low SSQ scores have a higher prevalence of negative life events and illness. Scoring is as follows:
1. Add the total number of people for all 27 items (questions). (Max. is 243). Divide by 27 for average item score. This gives you SSQ Number Score, or SSQN.
2. Add the total satisfaction scores for all 27 items (questions). (Max is 162). Divide by 27 for average item score. This gives you SSQ Satisfaction score or SSQS.
3. Finally, you can average the above for the total number of people that are family members - this results in the SSQ family score.
Reliability
According to Sarason, the SSQ takes between fifteen and eighteen minutes to properly administer and has "good" test-retest reliability.
Validity
The SSQ was compared with the depression scale and validity tests show significant negative correlation ranging from -0.22 to -0.43. The SSQ and the optimism scale have a correlation of 0.57. The SSQ and the satisfaction score have a correlation of 0.34. The SSQ has high internal consistency among items.
Linkages
The SSQ has been used to show that higher levels of social support correlated with less suicide ideation in Military Medical University Soldiers in Iran in 2015. A low level of social support is an important risk factor in women for dysmenorrhea or menstrual cramps. Low Social Support is the strongest predictor of dysmenorrhea when compared to affect, personality and alexithymia.
Related surveys
SSQ3
The SSQ3 is a short form of the SSQ and has only three questions. The SSQ3 has acceptable test-test reliability and correlation with personality variables as compared to the long form of the Social Support Questionnaire. The internal reliability was borderline but this low level of internal reliability is as expected since there are only three questions.
SSQ6
The SSQ6 is a short form of the SSQ. The SSQ6 has been shown to have high correlation with: the SSQ, SSQ personality variables and internal reliability. In the development of the SSQ6, the research suggests that professed social support in adults may be a connected to "early attachment experience." The SSQ6 consists of the below 6 questions:
1. Whom can you really count on to be dependable when you need help?
2. Whom can you really count on to help you feel more relaxed when you are under pressure or tense?
3. Who accepts you totally, including both your worst and your best points?
4. Whom can you really count on to care about you, regardless of what is happening to you?
5. Whom can you really count on to help you feel better when you are feeling generally down-in-the-dumps?
6. Whom can you count on to console you when you are very upset?
Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL)
The Interpersonal Support Evaluation List includes 40 items (questions) with four sub-scales in the areas of Tangible Support, Belonging Support, Self-Esteem Support and Appraisal Support. The interviewee rates each item based on how true or false they feel the item is for themselves. The four total response options are "Definitely True", "Probably True", "Probably False", and "Definitely False".
See also
Social support
Peer support
Psychological stress
Occupational stress
Perceived organizational support
References
Clinical psychology
Social networks
Communication theory
Economic sociology
Mental health | Social Support Questionnaire | [
"Biology"
] | 1,212 | [
"Behavioural sciences",
"Behavior",
"Clinical psychology"
] |
52,906,311 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven%20Bachrach | Steven M. Bachrach is an organic chemist who took up the position of Dean of Science at Monmouth University in 2016. Bachrach had previously been the Dr D. R. Semmes Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Bachrach is the author of the textbook Computational Organic Chemistry.
Education
Bachrach earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.
Career
Bachrach is an organic chemist specializing in computational organic chemistry and began his career at Northern Illinois University, where he earned a Professorship. He spent 17 years at Trinity University, holding positions including the Dr. D. R. Semmes Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Chair of the Department of Chemistry, and Assistant Vice-President for Special Projects. He then took up the position of Dean of Science in 2016 at Monmouth University. Bachrach departed from Monmouth University in 2022 and currently holds the position of Dean, Artis College of Science and Technology at Radford University.
Computational organic chemistry
Bachrach has written a textbook about computational organic chemistry, the second edition of which was published by John Wiley and Sons in 2014. Bachrach maintains a blog to provide supplementary materials for the textbook. For example, following the publication of the structure of the dication of hexamethylbenzene, , in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Bachrach discussed its pyramidal geometry and six-coordinate carbon moiety in a blog post, demonstrating it is not hypervalent and explaining its three-dimensional aromaticity.
See also
Roman M. Balabin
References
Living people
Monmouth University faculty
Northern Illinois University faculty
Organic chemists
Trinity University (Texas) faculty
UC Berkeley College of Chemistry alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni | Steven Bachrach | [
"Chemistry"
] | 376 | [
"Organic chemists"
] |
52,907,358 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New%20York%20Harbor%20Storm-Surge%20Barrier | The New York Harbor Storm-Surge Barrier is a proposed flood barrier system to protect the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary from storm surges. The proposed system would consist of one barrier located across the mouth of Lower New York Bay, possibly between Sandy Hook (N.J.) and Rockaway (N.Y.), and a second on the upper East River to provide a ring of protection to most of the bi-state region. Through extensive use of floodgates, both barriers would have largely open cross-sections during normal conditions to minimize environmental impacts on the estuary and port operations.
Alternatively the southern barrier could be located between Coney Island and Staten Island. A storm surge barrier at this location would be half as long, but it would require supplemental barriers across the entrances to Jamaica Bay and the Arthur Kill.
To address the problem of sea level rise, smaller-scale projects to increase seawall heights or otherwise raise vulnerable coastlines would be necessary. Thus a storm-surge barrier system combined with coastline adjustments would form a two-tiered strategy to protect the region. The barrier system could also be extended eastward, filling in the gaps between barrier islands, to protect the various communities lining the south shore of Long Island.
The proposal was developed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy by the Metropolitan NY-NJ-LI Storm Surge Working Group (SSWG), composed of prominent civic leaders, social scientists, oceanographers, engineers, and architects. The group is chaired by Malcolm Bowman, a professor of physical oceanography at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Within the proposed barrier system lies crucial infrastructure such as the seaports and maritime facilities; ground-level and underground transportation terminals; three major international airports; subway and roadway tunnels; hospitals; communication centers; the industrial complex of northern New Jersey; as well as the millions of residents at risk in New York City and coastal New Jersey north of Sandy Hook.
Need
The New York-New Jersey Harbor is vulnerable to storm surges that threaten to inundate the region, put in danger large numbers of the metropolitan area's residents, devastate much critical infrastructure and damage some of its most important economic assets. At particular risk are the most vulnerable, low-income communities located in many public housing projects located on low-lying land near to the coast.
The source of energy for all hurricanes is the elevated temperatures of the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the associated warm surface temperatures of the Gulf Stream flowing northwards along the eastern seaboard. Accordingly, hurricanes are most dangerous when their track lies slightly offshore.
Hurricane Sandy's power came from unusually warm water lying off the mid-Atlantic Coast and the merging of two major storm systems. Technically, Sandy was downgraded from a category one hurricane to an extra-tropical storm just before it made landfall in New Jersey on October 29, 2012. Nevertheless, as the largest storm in extent ever recorded by the National Weather Service (at 1100 miles in diameter), Sandy had severe storm-surge impacts on New York and New Jersey.
Because of global warming, oceanographic and meteorological experts currently predict that increasingly warmer future ocean surface temperature is the "new normal", implying that extreme weather events like Hurricanes Sandy and Maria could become more intense and possibly more frequent during future hurricane seasons. As the world's oceans steadily become warmer, storms are becoming stronger and larger. These storms will cause more damage if they follow past storm tracks. For example, research suggests that hurricanes that have hit the New York City area since 1970 are more intense or have larger wind fields, producing higher storm surge and flood risk. When added to rising sea level, what was a 500-year flood event before the anthropogenic era (i.e. pre-1800) is now a 24-year flood event and in 30 years will be a 5-year flood event.
The risks to the New York Metropolitan Region also include wind and flooding damage from winter nor’easter storms which can be as serious, or even more dangerous, than rarer hurricanes. While hurricanes are short and violent, nor’easters tend to persist longer — for several days — also producing large storm surges that ride atop successive high tides that occur twice daily.
Adding to storm surge risks, sea levels are also rising. Over the last 160 years the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Battery Park tide gauge has measured the rate of sea-level rise as one foot per century. But sea level rise has begun to accelerate, potentially adding an additional 3–6 feet to current sea level by the end of this century, or possibly more if the melting of the Greenland ice sheet continues at ever increasing rates and huge chunks of ice around Antarctica continue to break off.
Precedents
Similar, albeit more modestly-sized, but still highly effective storm-surge barriers have been in operation for nearly half a century in three New England communities — the Stamford Hurricane Protection Barrier in Stamford, Conn.; the Fox Point Hurricane Barrier in Providence, R.I.; and the New Bedford Harbor Hurricane Barrier in New Bedford, Mass. Hours before Hurricane Sandy struck Stamford, the city's 17-foot-high movable barrier was closed to withstand an over-11-foot storm tide which struck western Long Island Sound (at some locations on the sound, the storm tide was even higher than the 11.5-foot storm tide measured at The Battery in New York City), devastating every waterfront community on the northwestern coast of the sound — except Stamford.
Larger barrier systems protect more than a dozen major cities, including the Delta Works protecting the south of the Netherlands and the MOSE Project protecting Venice. New storm-surge barriers on Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchartrain are part of the protection for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
The famous Thames Barrier is typically deployed an average of about twice per year, protecting the heart of London from excessive tidal flooding. The Greater London Authority is currently studying proposals to strengthen its defenses.
The new Saint Petersburg Dam was built to stop the frequent floods in the city, which had often devastated the city. It was first used on November 28, 2011, just months after it was completed, and limited storm water rise to below flood level. It prevented the 309th flood in the history of the city.
Background
During the same period when the New England storm surge barriers were built, the Army Corps of Engineers warned of possible catastrophic storm surge flooding in New York City and discussed a possible storm surge barrier system for New York Harbor. However there was little local interest in such a project.
With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, convened the New York City Panel on Climate Change in August 2008 to investigate the city's vulnerability to a variety of climate-induced risks including the risk of a major storm-surge event. At about the same time, the American Society of Civil Engineers organized a three-day conference and subsequently published a report entitled "Storm-Surge Barriers to Protect New York City Against the Deluge."
After Hurricane Sandy devastated the New York - New Jersey metropolitan area in 2012, governments struggled both to recover and to plan better protection for the future, including regional storm-surge barriers. In his January 2013, State of the State address, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed to "work with other government partners to timely complete a comprehensive engineering evaluation of these potential barrier systems."
The City of New York, under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, organized a "Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency" (SIRR), which developed a blueprint for reconstruction that was released in June 2013, only eight months after the storm. That over-400-page document describes the demographics and morphology of the region, the storm and its impacts; provides background on extreme weather events including non-storm events such as heat and intense rainfall; describes various resiliency measures and strategies; and describes specific initiatives, studies and projects to be undertaken. Some of these projects are underway, using a combination of federal and local funds.
City and regional response
Despite Governor Cuomo's announced interest in storm surge barriers, Mayor Bloomberg was reluctant to proceed. But the City asked Dr. Jeroen Aerts, a professor of water and climate risk with the VU University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and an expert on water risk management, to compare the costs and benefits of a regional barrier system with those of smaller-scale changes like building levees around sewage treatment plants, raising subway stations entrances, constructing local storm-surge barriers, and flood-proofing or raising buildings according to the FEMA-run National Flood Insurance Program standards. At the same time FEMA intends to redraw flood maps for New York City, placing a much larger area in the flood zone.
Dr. Aerts' report indicated that, assuming a middle scenario for climate change, which includes the combined effect of sea-level rise and increased storm activity, the benefit/cost ratio of investment in a regional barrier would be similar to the ratio for investment in smaller-scale changes. Despite that result, the city's SIRR report dismissed the regional barrier idea without any further study. The report listed seven reasons for doubt about the feasibility:
Such a system of barriers would be extraordinarily expensive — perhaps costing $20–25 billion to build.
Harbor-wide barriers would require a design, approval and construction process that could take two to three decades to complete.
The possible hydrodynamic and environmental impacts on fish migration, siltation, river flow, and water quality are likely to be substantial and are not yet known.
To make the project work, massive levees along adjacent coastal areas, including on the Rockaway Peninsula and possibly Coney Island and Staten Island would have dramatic impacts on the character of the beaches and adjacent neighborhoods that may prove to be highly disruptive.
Any barriers would create an “insiders/outsiders” dynamic, with only those behind the barriers receiving maximum protection, leaving densely developed communities along the South and North Shores of Long Island and the Jersey Shore outside the protected zone.
A harborwide barrier project may also cause additional flooding in areas outside the barriers, making those communities more vulnerable than they would be without such barriers.
Finally, since the barriers would be open most of the time (to allow navigation), it would represent a major public investment that would end up doing nothing to address the growing problem of rising sea level.
Instead of a barrier system, the SIRR report identified a plethora of local measures that could be taken by the city. The goal of these measures is to protect vulnerable areas of the city with projects that would be relatively inexpensive, effective and quickly designed and constructed. They include local walls or barriers against storm surge on some sections of the coast.
For example, a barrier has been funded as part of an inner defensive ring for Lower Manhattan, to be integrated into the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway.
At the same time that the city was implementing its own local flood mitigation strategy, the MTA, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and many major institutions and private companies adopted their own localized plans for their facilities. Hoboken and other cities in the region have initiated their own local measures, with support from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Rebuild by Design competition. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has conducted coastal storm risk reduction studies and beach restoration and resiliency projects.
Because of the variety of governmental entities involved, as well as differing community reaction, there is a lack of coordination on goals and standards of storm protection among the various projects. As a result, these scattered efforts have proved to be more difficult to execute, as well as more expensive than expected, and raise doubt about how much of the shoreline will be protected in the end.
Counterarguments
Lost in all this activity is the conclusion of Dr. Aerts' study — that because of the expectation of rising sea level and increased global warming, by 2040 the benefit/cost ratio of a regional barrier system will far exceed the ratio for the measures the city is now taking, that a regional barrier may be needed soon, and that planning for it should begin now. "As a Dutchman," Dr. Aerts said, "you are quite surprised íto see a large city like New York — so many people exposed and no levees, no protection at all. [That] was astonishing to me. . . . Don't rule out yet the barriers because the sea level is going to rise very quickly, and then you need a barrier."
The Storm Surge Working Group has provided answers to all the objections raised by the city.
A barrier system would be expensive, but the city's plan, covering many miles of vulnerable coastline, would be even more expensive. And some of the cost to shore up areas on the sides of the barriers are scheduled to be spent anyway, for example in dune-building projects on the Rockaway peninsula and on Staten Island.
If a barrier takes a long time to implement, so do local projects. More than ten years since Sandy struck, local projects have yet to be completed and have experienced the same problems (costs, public resistance, etc.) that were attributed to the regional storm surge barrier approach.
With regard to environmental impacts, the barriers' floodgates would be closed only for a few hours before, during and immediately after a major storm surge. Over 99% of the time, floodgates would remain open so as to minimally hinder tides, harbor flushing, river discharge, fish migration and healthy marine ecosystem functioning. An environmental impact study would evaluate whether any hindrance posed by the structure is outweighed by its benefit. Preliminary studies sponsored by the Hudson River Foundation indicate that an outer harbor barrier would minimally decrease tidal flow as long as floodgates allow at least 60% of the barrier cross section to be normally-open. Even that small decrease merely offsets the equally small increase in tidal flow that resulted from digging shipping channels into the harbor over the past 150 years.
Reinforced dunes (not levees) will indeed have to be built in the Rockaways and Sandy Hook, and along Coney Island and Staten Island if the alternative barrier location is chosen. In fact in the wake of Hurricane Sandy reinforced dunes are already under construction on the Rockaway Peninsula and Staten Island.
Because of the immense lengths of the New York Bight and Atlantic shorelines (Montauk Point, N.Y. to Cape May, N.J.), research has shown that ocean water displaced by the barrier system would only increase coastal surges adjacent to the barrier by a few inches on the ocean and western Long Island Sound sides.
While ocean shore communities outside the region would not be protected by two or three barriers around New York Harbor, it may be possible to extend the area to be protected by constructing barriers in gaps between barrier islands along the south shore of Long Island, and south along the Jersey shore, or with barriers oriented perpendicular to the barrier islands, depending on the dominant direction of hurricane winds.
With normally-open storm-surge gates, barriers alone will not address sea level rise, but neither will local shoreline storm-surge projects planned by New York City, which will also have gates. The SIRR report, itself, found that by the 2050s 43 miles, or about 8%, of the city's coastline could be at risk of flooding during non-storm conditions. These coastal areas will need to be raised or otherwise protected regardless of additional protections against storm surge.
The two-tiered approach of protecting local coastal areas against slowly changing sea level rise, together with 25-foot offshore barriers to hold back surges of future storms, will give future civic leaders 100 to 150 years to protect, and if necessary migrate, our urban metropolitan civilization to higher ground, and to adopt even more sweeping measures to protect the region from both sea level rise and storm surges.
Another objection to barriers is that restored natural systems, such as created wetlands and oyster beds could provide the same protection. While these proposed solutions should be included in local responses because they can reduce wave action slightly, reinforce presently fragile wetlands and in some cases improve water quality, the reality is that they would be simply overwhelmed by storm surges of the magnitude experienced during Sandy. One naturalistic feature can resist storm-surge—levees or dunes. In fact most of the coastline of the Netherlands is protected in this way. A regional storm surge barrier would depend on dunes along the coast of the Rockaway Peninsula and Sandy Hook, or, for the alternative location, along the coast of Staten Island.
Army Corps of Engineers study
In the Fall of 2017, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) initiated a Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study to evaluate various proposals to address storm surge in the New York and New Jersey harbor area. The New York Harbor Storm-Surge Barrier, modified to increase permeability, is represented by two of five alternatives being considered.
In December, 2020, Congress instructed the USACE to expedite the study, after the Corps had "indefinitely postponed" the project the previous February. The Biden Administration subsequently restarted by the study. A draft Feasibility Report and tier 1 environmental impact study is posted on the USACE website, along with appendices.
To solicit comments on the choice of Alternative 3B as the Tentatively Selected Plan (TSP), the Corps has released a GIS-based summary, a slide presentation, and meeting posters. In response, the Storm Surge Working Group has published a comprehensive layered flood defense strategy, including a critique of the Corps' TSP.
The TSP is essentially a subset of the SIRR's shoreline barrier proposals for New York City with the addition of a floodwall around the Jersey City waterfront district and storm surge barriers at the entrances to Arthur Kill and Kill Van Kill to protect much of northern New Jersey.
The schedule for the study is as follows:
See also
1893 New York hurricane
1938 New England hurricane
Coastal flood
Effects of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey
Effects of Hurricane Sandy in New York
Geography of New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary
List of New York hurricanes
Marine life of New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary
New York Bight
Sea Bright–Monmouth Beach Seawall
East Shore Seawall
Vision 2020: New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan
Ike Dike proposal for Galveston/Houston
References
External links
Slide presentations, videos, and conference summary from the May 18, 2017 conference convened by the Storm-Surge Working Group and the National Institute for Coastal and Harbor Infrastructure.
US Army Corps of Engineers' New York/New Jersey Harbor & Tributaries Focus Area Feasibility Study.
HUD's Rebuild by Design Program
NOAA's Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast website and YouTube channel.
"Room for Debate: Should New York Build Sea Gates?," New York Times, November 1, 2012.
Tracy Metz talk, "Sweet and Salt: Water and the Dutch," October 3, 2012.
Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency
Storm-Surge Working Group
National Geographic channel on North Sea Barrier
Regional Plan Association, "Under Water: How Sea Level Rise Threatens the Tri-State Region," December 2016.
Aaron Naparstek, "Storm Tracker: A history of hurricanes in New York — including the day in 1893 that Hog Island disappeared for good," New York Magazine, January 29, 2008; "The Big One: What Happens to New York When a Monster Hurricane Hits?", New York Press, 2005.
Richard Schiffman, Is This the Last Generation to Live on New York City’s Wild Fringes? New York Times, April 1, 2022, updated June 22, 2023.
Environmental mitigation
Port of New York and New Jersey
Proposed buildings and structures in New York (state)
Proposed infrastructure in the United States
Proposed buildings and structures in New Jersey
Proposed buildings and structures in New York City
Climate change adaptation
Climate change policy in the United States | New York Harbor Storm-Surge Barrier | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering"
] | 4,030 | [
"Environmental mitigation",
"Environmental engineering"
] |
52,907,991 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front%20%28physics%29 | In physics, a front can be understood as an interface between two different possible states (either stable or unstable) in a physical system. For example, a weather front is the interface between two different density masses of air, in combustion where the flame is the interface between burned and unburned material or in population dynamics where the front is the interface between populated and unpopulated places. Fronts can be static or mobile depending on the conditions of the system, and the causes of the motion can be the variation of a free energy, where the most energetically favorable state invades the less favorable one, according to Pomeau or shape induced motion due to non-variation dynamics in the system, according to Alvarez-Socorro, Clerc, González-Cortés and Wilson.
From a mathematical point of view, fronts are solutions of spatially extended systems connecting two steady states, and from dynamical systems point of view, a front corresponds to a heteroclinic orbit of the system in the co-mobile frame (or proper frame).
Fronts connecting stable - unstable homogeneous states
The most simple example of front solution connecting a homogeneous stable state with a homogeneous unstable state can be shown in the one-dimensional Fisher–Kolmogorov equation:
that describes a simple model for the density of population. This equation has two steady states, , and . This solution corresponds to extinction and saturation of population. Observe that this model is spatially-extended, because it includes a diffusion term given by the second derivative. The state is stable as a simple linear analysis can show and the state is unstable. There exist a family of front solutions connecting with , and such solution are propagative. Particularly, there exist one solution of the form , with is a velocity that only depends on and
References
Concepts in physics | Front (physics) | [
"Physics"
] | 365 | [
"nan"
] |
52,909,236 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biryukov%20equation | In the study of dynamical systems, the Biryukov equation (or Biryukov oscillator), named after Vadim Biryukov (1946), is a non-linear second-order differential equation used to model damped oscillators.
The equation is given by
where is a piecewise constant function which is positive, except for small as
Eq. (1) is a special case of the Lienard equation; it describes the auto-oscillations.
Solution (1) at a separate time intervals when f(y) is constant is given by
where denotes the exponential function. Here
Expression (2) can be used for real and complex values of .
The first half-period’s solution at is
The second half-period’s solution is
The solution contains four constants of integration , the period and the boundary between and needs to be found. A boundary condition is derived from continuity of and .
Solution of (1) in the stationary mode thus is obtained by solving a system of algebraic equations as
The integration constants are obtained by the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm.
With , Eq. (1) named Van der Pol oscillator. Its solution cannot be expressed by elementary functions in closed form.
References
Differential equations
Analog circuits | Biryukov equation | [
"Mathematics",
"Engineering"
] | 267 | [
"Analog circuits",
"Mathematical objects",
"Differential equations",
"Equations",
"Electronic engineering"
] |
52,909,430 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest%20reproductive%20material | Forest reproductive material is a part of a tree that can be used for reproduction such as seed, cutting or seedling. Artificial regeneration, carried out through seeding or planting, typically involves transferring forest reproductive material to a particular site from other locations while natural regeneration relies on genetic material that is already available on the site.
Technical opportunities and challenges to ensure quality and quantity of forest reproductive material can be found in the activities of identification, selection, procurement, propagation, conservation, improvement and sustained production of reproductive material. The use of low quality or poorly adapted forest reproductive material can have very negative impact on the vitality and resilience of a forest.
In Europe, much of the material used for artificial regeneration is produced and transferred within a single country. However, forest reproductive material, usually in the form of seeds or cuttings, is increasingly traded across national borders, especially within the European Union.
Forest reproductive material and climate changes
As a result of climate changes, leading to increasing temperatures, some parts of the current distribution ranges of forest trees are expected to become unsuitable while new areas may become suitable for many species in higher latitudes or altitudes. This will most likely increase the future demand for imported forest reproductive material as forest managers and owners try to identify tree species and provenances that will be able to grow in their land under new climatic conditions. Especially, forest reproductive material with high plasticity will be increasingly useful for this purpose.
References
External links
Use of forest reproductive material. European Forest Genetic Resources Programme
OECD Scheme for the Certification of Forest Reproductive Material. OECD
NordGen. The Nordic Genetic Resource Center
Guide to forest reproductive material. Food and Agriculture Organization
Forests
Plant reproduction | Forest reproductive material | [
"Biology"
] | 336 | [
"Behavior",
"Plant reproduction",
"Plants",
"Reproduction",
"Forests",
"Ecosystems"
] |
52,912,473 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse%20%28set%20theory%29 | In mathematical set theory, the multiverse view is that there are many models of set theory, but no "absolute", "canonical" or "true" model. The various models are all equally valid or true, though some may be more useful or attractive than others. The opposite view is the "universe" view of set theory in which all sets are contained in some single ultimate model.
The collection of countable transitive models of ZFC (in some universe) is called the hyperverse and is very similar to the "multiverse".
A typical difference between the universe and multiverse views is the attitude to the continuum hypothesis. In the universe view the continuum hypothesis is a meaningful question that is either true or false though we have not yet been able to decide which. In the multiverse view it is meaningless to ask whether the continuum hypothesis is true or false before selecting a model of set theory. Another difference is that the statement "For every transitive model of ZFC there is a larger model of ZFC in which it is countable" is true in some versions of the multiverse view of mathematics but is false in the universe view.
References
Set theory
Philosophy of mathematics
Foundations of mathematics | Multiverse (set theory) | [
"Mathematics"
] | 244 | [
"Set theory",
"Foundations of mathematics",
"Mathematical logic",
"nan",
"Mathematical logic stubs"
] |
52,912,545 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NrsZ%20small%20RNA | NrsZ (nitrogen regulated small RNA) is a bacterial small RNA found in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. Its transcription is induced during nitrogen limitation by the NtrB/C two-component system (an important regulator of nitrogen assimilation and swarming motility) together with the alternative sigma factor RpoN ( a global regulator involved in nitrogen metabolism). NrsZ by activating rhlA (a gene essential for rhamnolipids synthesis) positively regulates the production of rhamnolipid surfactants needed for swarming motility.
See also
Pseudomonas sRNA
SrbA sRNA
AsponA antisense RNA
References
Non-coding RNA | NrsZ small RNA | [
"Chemistry"
] | 145 | [
"Biochemistry stubs",
"Molecular and cellular biology stubs"
] |
52,913,121 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldreich-Kylafis%20effect | The Goldreich-Kylafis (GK) effect is a quantum mechanical effect with applications in Astrophysics. The theoretical background of the work was published by Peter Goldreich and his at the time postdoc Nick Kylafis in a series of two papers in The Astrophysical Journal.
The GK effect predicts that, under special conditions, the spectral lines emitted by interstellar molecules should be linearly polarized and the linear polarization vector should reveal the magnetic field direction in the molecular cloud. Even a μG magnetic field is enough for this effect. The lines arise from rotational transitions of molecules, say J=1 to J=0, where J is the rotational quantum number. If the magnetic sublevels of the J=1 level are equally populated, as it is usually the case, then the line is unpolarized. However, if the magnetic sublevels are unequally populated, then the line is polarized. Goldreich & Kylafis (1981) showed that, if the radiation field (their own plus external) in which the molecules are embedded is anisotropic, then the magnetic sublevels are unequally populated. Since isotropic radiation fields are practically non existent in Nature (e.g. only at the center of an isolated perfectly spherical molecular cloud), the effect should be easily detectable. This is however not the case as some specific conditions are required for detection. These are that the line optical depth of the molecular cloud should be of order unity and that the radiative rates should be comparable to or larger than the collisional rates.
Since the observed lines from molecular clouds are broad, due to velocity gradients in the cloud, the GK effect has the potential to reveal the magnetic field direction along the line of sight. It has been reported in star forming regions, in thermal-pulsating (TP-) AGB stars and recently in the disk around the T Tauri star TW Hya.
References
Polarization (waves)
Magnetism in astronomy
Quantum mechanics | Goldreich-Kylafis effect | [
"Physics",
"Astronomy"
] | 424 | [
"Theoretical physics",
"Quantum mechanics",
"Astrophysics",
"Magnetism in astronomy",
"Polarization (waves)"
] |
60,623,745 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot%20potassium%20carbonate | Hot potassium carbonate, HPC, is a method used to remove carbon dioxide from gas mixtures, in some contexts referred to as carbon scrubbing. The inorganic, basic compound potassium carbonate is mixed with a gas mixture and the liquid absorbs carbon dioxide through chemical processes. The technology is a form of chemical absorption, and was developed for natural gas sweetening (i.e., removal of acidic from raw natural gas). Currently it is also considered, among others, as a post-combustion capture process, in the contexts of carbon capture and storage and carbon capture and utilization. As a post-combustion CO2 capture process, the technology is planned to be used on full scale on a heat plant in Stockholm from 2025.
References
Carbon capture and storage
Climate engineering
Scrubbers
Gas technologies | Hot potassium carbonate | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering"
] | 160 | [
"Planetary engineering",
"Inorganic compounds",
"Chemical equipment",
"Geoengineering",
"Inorganic compound stubs",
"Scrubbers",
"Carbon capture and storage"
] |
60,626,013 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstar | Solstar Space Co., also known as Solstar, is an American company that provides commercial wireless internet services to space travelers and Internet of Things in space. It also provides a two-way internet link connecting people on earth to things in space. Based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico, the company was founded in March 2017.
History
Solstar was founded by M. Brian Barnett in March 2017, with Michael Potter and Mark Matossian as co-founders. Prior to this, Barnett had developed an initial design of a communication system which was used to successfully transmit the first-ever commercial text message from earth to space in November 2013, with students from Albuquerque sending 16 messages to a device aboard a UP Aerospace rocket launched from Spaceport America.
In 2017, Solstar received a Phase I small business contract with NASA to develop a preliminary design for a commercial router on the International Space Station, under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The device is intended for low Earth orbit service and was named the Slayton Space Communicator (SC-Slayton) after one of Mercury astronauts Deke Slayton who was NASA's first Chief of the Astronaut Office. The company also signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to test WiFi technologies in space.
In April 2018, Solstar tested the Schmitt Space Communicator SC-1x, a three-pound device, in a Blue Origin capsule on a New Shepard rocket which was launched from the Blue Origin's launch facility near Van Horn, Texas, and reached a height of 66 miles. The test was successful, with the founder Barnett using the on-flight internet connection to send out a tweet. The project's 2 million cost was partly funded by NASA as part of its Flight Opportunities program. The device is named after Harrison Schmitt, one of the last men to walk on the Moon and Solstar's adviser. It conducted a second successful test in July 2018, with the flight reaching a peak height of 73.8 miles above sea level. The device was accepted to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's collection.
The April 2018 test footage was featured in a short documentary, The Digital Nomad and the Scientist, detailing the first commercial WiFi service in space. The film was directed by Maclovia Martel and Kristina Korsholm with Michael Potter as the executive producer. The documentary was selected for the Independent Filmmakers Showcase (May 2019) in Los Angeles and got shortlisted to the Ekko Shortlist (Denmark, 2020).
Funding
In June 2018, Solstar sought Securities and Exchange Commission's approval to raise investment capital through the crowdfunding platform Wefunder. The astronaut Charles D. Walker, who flew on three Space Shuttle flights, joined Solstar as an adviser. By November that year, the company had raised over 200,000 through Wefunder and 300,000 from other investors. The Wefunder round closed in January 2019 with 331,460 raised from a total of 519 investors.
References
Companies based in Santa Fe, New Mexico
American companies established in 2017
2017 establishments in New Mexico
Internet service providers of the United States
Satellite Internet access
Communications satellite operators
Wireless networking
Telecommunications companies of the United States
Technology companies of the United States
Space technology | Solstar | [
"Astronomy",
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 664 | [
"Space technology",
"Wireless networking",
"Computer networks engineering",
"Outer space"
] |
60,626,823 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic%20Center%20GeV%20excess | The Galactic Center GeV Excess (GCE) is an unexpected surplus of gamma-ray radiation in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. This spherical source of radiation was first detected in 2009 by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and is unexplained by direct observation. Two percent of the gamma ray radiation in a 30° radius circle around the Galactic Center is attributed to the GCE. , this excessive (and diffused) gamma-ray radiation is not well understood by astronomers.
Some astronomers argue that self-annihilating dark matter (which is not otherwise known to radiate) may be the cause of the GCE, while others prefer a population of pulsars (which have not been observed) as the source.
Astronomers have suggested that self-annihilating dark matter may be a dominant contributor to the GCE, based on analysis using non-Poissonian template fitting statistical methods, wavelet methods, and studies by other astronomers may support this idea. More recently, in August 2020, other astronomers have reported that self-annihilating dark matter may not be the explanation for the GCE after all. Other hypotheses include ties to a yet unseen population of millisecond pulsars or young pulsars, burst events, the stellar population of the galactic bulge, or the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole.
See also
References
Further reading
Gamma-ray astronomy
Galactic Center
Observational astronomy
Unsolved problems in astronomy | Galactic Center GeV excess | [
"Physics",
"Astronomy"
] | 307 | [
"Gamma-ray astronomy",
"Unsolved problems in astronomy",
"Concepts in astronomy",
"Observational astronomy",
"Astronomical controversies",
"Astronomical sub-disciplines"
] |
60,627,624 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex%20lasso%20proteins | Complex lasso proteins (also called pierced lasso bundles or tadpoles) are proteins in which a covalent loop (portion of the backbone closed with a covalent bridge) is pierced by another piece of the backbone. Subclass of complex lasso proteins are Lasso peptides in which the loop is formed by post-translational amide bridge.
Classification of complex lassos
Complex lassos can be divided according to the number of piercings through the minimal surface spanned on the covalent loop. In particular, four classes of complex lasso proteins exist:
the Ln class (simple lasso), where one tail pierces the surface n times;
the LSn class (the supercoiling lasso), where one tail pierces the surface n times, winding around the loop;
the LLi,j class (double lasso), where both tails pierce the surface i and j times respectively;
the LSLi,j class, where one tail pierces the surface i times in the supercoiling manner, and the second pierces the surface in the simple manner.
Another classification may be given according to the nature of the bridge closing the covalent loop. Most of the complex lasso proteins have a disulfide-based loop, however, the amide-based (lasso peptides) and ester-based complex lasso proteins are known.
Popularity of complex lasso in proteins
Around 18% of proteins with disulfide bridges have complex lasso, however, much more complex lasso would be predicted when analyzing the non-interacting polymeric models. Apart from structures with only one pierced loop, there may be also chains with several complex lasso structures. In particular, the loops may pierce each other, forming a protein Hopf link. There are much less complex lassos in proteins than it is expected from simple polymer models. However, there are groups of proteins which have higher complex lasso probability than we could expect from such models.
Biological role
It is not known if the complex lasso motif is functional in general. However, in some cases the importance of the motif for the protein function was reported. In particular, in case of lasso peptides, the motif allows to act like a plug for specific NTP-uptake channels. The motif has also shown significant inhibitory activities against cancer cell invasion and migration. This migration inhibition is found in cyclized isomers of the peptide regardless of whether the tail is threaded or not, suggesting the function arises from the cyclization of the peptide and not the lasso motif. On the other hand, the motif was shown to be functional in case of leptin - the obesity-related protein. The analysis of the shape of complex lasso proteins compared to the polymeric models with similar size shows, that some classes of complex lasso proteins may also be functional. This concerns toxic, antimicrobial, defensin-like or immune system related with L1 motif
Computer tools to analyze the complex lasso topology
The current list of complex lasso proteins may be found in the LassoProt database, which allows also uploading and analyzing own data. The manual inspection of the data is also possible with the PyLasso - the PyMol plugin.
See also
Knotted proteins
References
Peptides
Biosynthesis | Complex lasso proteins | [
"Chemistry"
] | 675 | [
"Biomolecules by chemical classification",
"Biosynthesis",
"Metabolism",
"Chemical synthesis",
"Peptides",
"Molecular biology"
] |
60,627,903 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacological%20dissection | Pharmacological dissection discriminates among varieties of superficially similar disorders or syndromes by their differential response to a drug.
The term was introduced in 1957, and popularized in psychopharmacology by Donald Klein.
Notes
Psychopharmacology | Pharmacological dissection | [
"Chemistry"
] | 53 | [
"Psychopharmacology",
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs"
] |
60,628,995 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflectin | A deflectin is one of a family of antibiotic chemicals produced by Aspergillus deflectus which contain a 6H-furo[2,3-h]-2-benzopyran-6,8(6aH)-dione core.
Deflectins are yellow coloured crystalline substances when pure. They react with ammonia, by replacing an oxygen atom in the six-membered ring with an NH group. They are weak acids. On adding a strong base to an alcoholic solution of deflectin, it show a red colour for a short time.
Deflectin 1a contains a 1-oxooctyl side chain. It has a melting point of 161 °C. Deflectin 1b contains a ten carbon side chain and melts at 152 °C. Deflectin 1c has a 12-atom side chain and melts at 141 °C.
Deflectin 2a melts at 122 °C. It has a 10 carbon atom side chain with a 2-methyl branch. Deflectin 2b is similar but the side chain is 2 atoms longer. It melts at 111 °C.
Chemical structures
References
Antibiotics
Benzopyrans | Deflectin | [
"Biology"
] | 245 | [
"Antibiotics",
"Biocides",
"Biotechnology products"
] |
60,629,260 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPI-CDG | MPI-CDG is an autosomal recessive congenital disorder of glycosylation caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in MPI. The clinical symptoms in MPI-CDG are caused by deficient activity of the enzyme mannose phosphate isomerase. Clinically, the most common symptoms of MPI-CDG are chronic diarrhea, failure to thrive, protein-losing enteropathy, and coagulopathy. MPI-CDG differs from most other described glycosylation disorders due to its lack of central nervous system involvement, and because it has treatment options besides supportive care. Treatment with oral mannose has been shown to improve most symptoms of the disease. If left untreated, MPI-CDG can be fatal. MPI-CDG was previously known as CDG-IB. The disorder was first described clinically in 1986, and the underlying genetic defect was identified in 1998.
References
Autosomal recessive disorders
Congenital disorders of glycosylation | MPI-CDG | [
"Chemistry"
] | 211 | [
"Congenital disorders of glycosylation",
"Carbohydrate chemistry"
] |
60,629,414 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeswax%20wrap | Beeswax wrap is a food wrap material consisting of a coated fabric, most commonly cotton. It is made by infusing cotton with food-grade beeswax, rosin, coconut oil, and jojoba oil. The wrap is mouldable, grippable, and tacky. It can be shaped around containers or food products. Beeswax wrap is a reusable and sustainable alternative to plastic wrap and single-use plastic. It has the ability to counteract environmental issues such as plastic pollution and food waste.
Beeswax wrap's main use is food preservation. It is breathable and allows food to stay fresh for longer, reducing food wastage. After each use, beeswax wrap can be washed and air-dried. Beeswax wrap usually loses its grip after one year. When the wrap loses its grip it can be composted. Beeswax wrap is criticized for its high price when sold commercially and the high level of maintenance it requires, especially when compared to its single-use plastic alternatives.
Uses
Beeswax wrap is used by moulding it around food products, containers or bowls. This is done by heating the beeswax wrap with one's hands and then shaping it around the item. The warmth of one's hands melts the beeswax, softening the wrap enough to create a seal around containers and food products. Beeswax wraps are not ideal for wrapping all types of food. For example, raw meat, raw fish or other wet food items such as rock melon. These wet foods can be placed in a bowl or container which can then be covered with the beeswax wrap. More alternative uses of beeswax wrap include as a flower vase or as a water cup.
Maintenance
The usable life of beeswax wrap depends on how often it is used, washed and maintained. Often beeswax wrap can be rinsed and air-dried after single uses. If the wrap requires more thorough cleaning, it can be sponged with soapy, cold water, rinsed and hung to air dry. Cracks in beeswax wraps can be fixed by either laying it on a baking tray in the sun or an oven and by warming it using a hairdryer. This process is referred to as 'warming' and allows the wax to melt and mould back together. This seals the cracks that have begun to form.
Disposal
When beeswax wrap has lost its grip and is no longer useful, it can be composted to biodegrade. It can also be put to a second purpose and used to make an effective fire starter.
Production
Beeswax wrap is made by infusing cotton with resin, food-grade beeswax and an oil, commonly coconut or jojoba. The wax coating allows the cloth to be breathable and waterproof. Beeswax is harvested when honey is extracted from beehives. The wax caps are sliced off the hive when honey is harvested. These wax caps become beeswax after they have been drained of the honey, washed in a double boiler, strained through layers of cheesecloth to remove debris and poured into a block mold for later use. For every 100 pounds of honey, approximately 1 or 2 pounds of beeswax are harvested.
Non-commercial production
Beeswax wrap can be made non-commercially with sheets of cotton and a mixture of beeswax, resin and oil. The cotton is cut into the makers desired shapes and the edges of the fabric are trimmed. A mixture of beeswax, pine resin, coconut and jojoba oil is melted. Then both sides of the cotton are coated with a thin layer of the melted mixture, ensuring that the wax is spread evenly and to the edges of the cotton. The coated cotton is then covered with wax paper and ironed; alternatively the fabric is placed on a baking tray and placed in an oven. The wrap is heated at approximately 200˚F or 93˚C. Once it is clear the wax has melted into the cotton, the fabric is left to air dry.
Commercial production
The mass production of beeswax wrap in commercial factories is yet to evolve due to the sustainability-centered visions of many beeswax wrap companies. Some companies have begun to use machinery that automatically waxes rolls of the fabric to upscale their production.
In 2018 UK innovation and technology-based consulting firm Cambridge Consultants partnered with UK based start-up BeeBee Wraps by Kamalakannan. They have designed a manufacturing process that enables production to increase by a factor of 30, while maintaining the sustainable values that guide the business.
Environmental impact
Plastic pollution
Plastic pollution is the intrusion or invasion by plastic materials, either through direct introduction or degradation processes, of environments. As with other single-use non-recyclables, plastic food wrap ends up in landfill, as litter on land, or in the world's oceans. Plastic wrap takes years to decompose and leaches the chemicals it contains into the atmosphere and oceans. This poses a risk to wildlife as they may get caught up in it or eat it.
Beeswax wraps are a sustainable and reusable alternative to single-use plastics such as zip-lock bags and plastic food wrap. They have the potential to reduce the environmental impact of this plastic pollution problem.
Global production and consumption of single-use plastic has continued to rise for the past 50 years. According to the Ellen McArthur Foundation, 78 million tonnes of plastic were produced in 2013, a 4% increase from 2012, and with 40% of this ending up in landfill. More than 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the world's oceans each year. Sunlight and the sea's motions can cause plastic to be broken down into microplastics. The presence of these plastics in oceans has detrimental effects on both marine life and human life.
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the trend towards sustainability has led to an increased awareness of the damage single-use plastic and other unsustainable practices may have on the environment. Companies have become more aware of their environmental impact and have allocated more resources to sustainability. Other companies have emerged that focus on providing sustainable alternatives for plastic.
Food wastage
Between 33-50% of all food produced globally is not eaten. This wastage has an economic value of over US$1 trillion. As food production is resource-intensive, food losses are accompanied by other environmental impacts, such as deforestation, water and air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Along the food production-consumption chain, households represent the largest food-waste faction. In the western world, over 50% of food waste occurs within the home. In 2018, Schanes, Dobernig and Gözet conducted a systematic review of household food waste practices and concluded that households face conflicts between good intentions to prevent food waste and preferences regarding taste, freshness, cleanliness and food safety.
Beeswax wrap's main use is food preservation within the home. Approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food per year are wasted, creating both financial losses and causing significant harm to the environment and its natural resources. Beeswax wrap can reduce food waste as it is made from breathable materials that enable food to remain fresher for longer. Beeswax wrap has the potential to reduce food waste due to its anti-microbial properties that may prevent the spoilage of food products.
The anti-microbial effects of beeswax wrap
The spoilage of food products caused by microbes is a concern for many sub-sectors of the food industry. An estimated 25% of the world's food is lost due to microorganism activity. Such food spoilage results in food wastage as products become unsuitable for consumption, causing large financial losses. Recent technological progression has led to the development of techniques targeted to prevent the activity and growth of food contaminating microbes.
The anti-microbial properties of food wrap containing beeswax are attributed to propolis. Propolis is a resin-like material made by bees from tree buds.
A 2017 study conducted by Pinto, Pankowski and Nano for the Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology and Food Sciences discovered that beeswax wrap is capable of preventing the activity of microbes that contaminate food by inhibiting the viable cell count of bacteria. This implies that beeswax wrap can constrain the spread of food-borne bacterial pathogens and contribute to the prevention of food spoilage. Pinto, Pankowski and Nano investigated beeswax wrap's anti-microbial activity against bacteria, fungi and viruses. Food borne pathogens are found among each of these groups.
To detect the anti-bacterial activity of beeswax wrap they incubated the wrap with bacterial cells in a liquid phase. They used Salmonella enteritidis, a gram-negative bacterium, and Staphylococcus aureus, a gram-positive bacterium and common cause of stomach infections. Both bacteria were exposed to beeswax wrap. It was found that incubation with the beeswax wrap led to a decline in the number of both cells and a decline in bacterial activity.
To detect the anti-yeast activity of beeswax wraps two strains of Saccharomyces cerevsiae were incubated in a liquid phase with the beeswax wrap. A small decrease in cell count was noted. This decrease was not large enough to conclude that beeswax wrap reduces yeast-activity.
To determine the anti-viral capacity of beeswax wrap bacteriophages M13 and P1 were incubated in a liquid phase with the beeswax wrap. Results showed a decrease in the number of active phage particles. This decrease was not large enough to conclude that beeswax wrap has the ability to inactivate viral particles.
Pinto, Pankowski and Nano concluded that beeswax wrap has anti-bacterial properties, however they were unable to conclude that it had anti-fungal or anti-viral properties.
Criticisms of beeswax wrap
Beeswax wrap has been criticized for its contributions to consumerist environmentalism. This solution to the plastic problem relies on individual responsibility. Measuring individuals in terms of responsibility ignores who and what has caused the most environmental damage and who is most vulnerable to future environmental hazards. Beeswax wraps are criticized for their high prices, when sold commercially, especially when compared to single-use plastics such as cling wrap. When compared to single-use plastics, beeswax wrap requires more maintenance to ensure it remains clean and safe to use and lasts over a longer period of time. Beeswax wrap is not pliable enough to get a complete seal which, when it comes to keeping food fresh, is an important factor.
References
Bee products
Biodegradable materials
Packaging materials
Food storage | Beeswax wrap | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 2,195 | [
"Biodegradation",
"Biodegradable materials",
"Materials",
"Matter"
] |
60,629,442 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloshing%20bucket%20model%20of%20evolution | The sloshing bucket model of evolution is a theory in evolutionary biology that describes how environmental disturbances varying in magnitude will affect the species present. The theory emphasizes the causal relationship between environmental factors that impinge and affect genealogical systems, providing an overarching view that determines the relationship between the variety of biological systems.
This theory was developed by Niles Eldredge, a U.S. biologist and paleontologist, and published in the journal 'Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Interplay of Selection, Accident, Neutrality and Function ' where Eldredge introduces his sloshing bucket model in the article titled: 'The Sloshing Bucket: How the Physical Realm Controls Evolution'.
Summary
The sloshing bucket model uses the imagery of water representing species sloshing back and forth in the environment, represented by the bucket. Disturbances in the environment are represented by the movement of the bucket, creating the sloshes. Starting off, small sloshes/disturbances do not spill any water; stasis of the current species are dominant. However, as physical disturbances grow in magnitude and size, the sloshes will result in large amounts of water spilling out, representing the extinction and speciation of the organisms present.
An example Eldredge uses is the dinosaurs, which were the prevalent life form on earth for 150 million years, surviving smaller sloshes in the bucket without much evolutionary change. It was not until the Mesozoic asteroid impact that extinction occurred to the dinosaurs and after a lag of five to seven million year, did mammals begin to speciate and diversify.
The three patterns in life
Stasis
Built directly off his previous paper titled 'Punctuated equilibria', the stasis pattern of life represents periods of 'dynamic, non-regular oscillation' of intra-population variation. Stasis does not mean a species collective genome is stable, but instead still are in constant flux and variation, just in non-specific directions. This results similar phenotypes between organisms.
Fossil records further supports this idea, as with negligible or little disruptions, no evolution or adaptive change in detectable in the fossil records. It is not until larger scale and larger magnitude ecological disruptions does the fossil record drastically change.
Causes of this stasis comes from the fact that to cause genetic shifts in an entire species require a selection force that spans all members of a species. Environmental factors though wide-spread, are out-paced by the movement of species, who find recognisable habitats to resettle and remain unchanged. Called habitat tracking, this idea states that species are able to track habitats better than natural selection can follow the changing environment.
Even in exceptional circumstances such as drastic climate change, variation in many factors such as initial genomes, mutational history and selection pressures across the species means a whole species is unlikely to be headed down a specific evolutionary direction.
Overall, the stasis pattern of life is the dominant pattern in life and results generally in no net evolutionary changes.
Speciation and adaptive change
While stasis was the dominant pattern in life, adaptive change and the resultant creation of new species arises in short burst, 'punctuating' the equilibrium set by stasis. The discontinuity of species arises not purely from accumulating genetic changes, but in conjunction with reproductive isolation.
This form of allopatric speciation has many plausible models, for which Eldredge describes one. Optimal habitat location generally are the center of a species range, with outer limits of the location being marginally useful. Sections of the species at these peripheral zones may adapt to the differing ecosystem, thus changing the fringe habitat area into the now optimal area for the newly isolated population.
Synchronous speciation and extinction
Amalgamation of the pattern 1 (stasis) and pattern 2 (adaptive change) creates the final pattern signaled by large scale change in species caused by significant enough changes in the environment on a global scale. When the increasing environmental stress reaches a certain threshold, it causes widespread extinction and speciation, alongside migration. This pattern includes whole regions, encompassing all species-level taxa, affecting them all equally. However, each species responds differently. Some species survive unchanged while others become extinct or speciate.
There are multiple documented phenomena that collaborate with this pattern very well. Carlton E.E Brett showed a 'coordinated stasis' through fossil patterns, demonstrating both a period of stasis where 70%-85% of species remain throughout a period, and after a large scale regional event, only around 20% make it through to the next period of stasis.
This pattern has also been labelled by the term 'turnover pulse' by Elisabeth Vrba. She documented gradual drop in temperature in now South Africa during the Pliocene epoch which initially had little effect. Then suddenly after half a million years, it caused an abrupt environmental change: from damp woodlands to savannahs. The same pattern of stasis punctuated by speciation and change occurred here.
Eldredge suggests that these mass extinction events 'rather than driving speciation, simply increases the probability of survival of fledgling species'.
Genealogical and ecological dual hierarchy
The double-hierarchy of genealogy and ecology is needed due to the dual nature of organisms. All organisms do two main things; they exist by interacting with environment to gain energy, and they reproduce. These two distinct actions then each exist within their own hierarchy, but are tied together at the organism level through natural selection and variation.
Genealogical hierarchy
The genealogical hierarchy exist as a consequence of the spatial distribution of reproduction in species. The levels within the hierarchy ascend with increasing size and geographic range, and are each subjected to corresponding factors in the ecological hierarchy.
The lowest level in the genealogical hierarchy is the organism, specially in its reproductive sense. These organism participate the reproduction of the overall species. The next level up in the hierarchy are 'deme' who are the interbreeding local population of a species. These can be thought of as specific regional variations of the species that interbreed. The next and second highest level in the hierarchy are species. The final and highest level in the genealogical hierarchy are monophyletic taxa, who all share and come from a common ancestor.
Ecological hierarchy
The ecological hierarchy similarly starts at the lowest level in organism, though in this case, focusing on their economic pursuit of survival. These organisms either compete, cooperate or are neutral towards each other in their survival. The next level are the 'avatars' which differ from demes. Avatars are local interacting conspecifics focused on survival, rather than reproduction. The combination and interactions between avatars then make up the next level: the local ecosystem. The topmost and final layer in the hierarchy involves the region ecosystems, which are collections of local ecosystems.
The sloshing bucket
By integrating the above dual hierarchy system along with the established three patterns of evolutionary life, the sloshing bucket model of evolution can be fully realised. The spatio-temporal scale of environmental or physical disturbances can be looked at through certain levels within the hierarchy, depending on their magnitude and effect.
First Level: Short term effects within the deme or avatar level. There is no net evolutionary change, resulting in stasis.
Second Level: Mid term effects, localised in specific regions. Stabilising selection occurs as adjacent demes or species fill in lost components, re-establishing the same previous hierarchy.
Third Level: Large scale environmental changes. Lasting from ten's of years to thousand or more years, these changes are slow enough to allow species to migrate to more optimal environments. Consequently due to habitat tracking, there are some changes in lower levels of hierarchy, but overall, species prevails and stasis is upheld.
Fourth Level: Regional disturbances. Where changes are too rapid for habitat tracking, the third pattern of life occurs. At this threshold, extinction and speciation is triggered on a large scale across unrelated species.
Fifth Level: Global disturbances. Essentially mass extinction events which completely overhaul the existing species. Extinction and speciation is common and widespread throughout the world. Examples include the End-Permian extinction event.
Reception and criticism
The sloshing bucket model of evolution has been well received by some evolutionary biologists. Fellow philosopher and biologist Telmo Pievani states that, 'hierarchy theory is able to cover all the levels that make the evolutionary game so complex, from genes to organisms to species and the largest ecological scenarios'. Palaeontologists Bruce Lieberman and Elisabeth Vrba have stated that the sloshing bucket model contained in hierarchy theory 'play(s) a prominent role in shaping the major features of diversity and biological organization'.
There have also been some criticisms of the model. One of the larger issues with the sloshing bucket model of evolution is the missing mechanism of ecological inheritance. As this form of inheritance does not implicate reproduction or economic survival, it does not fit neatly into either of the two hierarchies, leaving a conceptual rift in the theory. Similarly, different methods of inheritance such as epigenetic and symbolic that are present in other evolutionary biology theories disrupt the hierarchical structure of the sloshing bucket model. Additionally, the more externalist viewpoint adopted by the sloshing bucket model, though distinct from adaptationism, presents another difficult concept for some biologists to agree with.
Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould further criticises the arbitrary and exclusively selective definition of an individual and the subsequent groups that then follow from these individuals. Biologist David Morrison also points out the confounding nature of network interactions upon strict hierarchies. Both ecological and genealogical systems are not strictly hierarchical, and questions 'to what extent the hierarchies dominate the network connections.'
Applications of the model
The sloshing bucket model of evolution has been applied by Daniel Brooks in explaining the evolutionary biology of emerging infectious diseases (EID). Published in 2007, it uses the sloshing bucket model to explain the driving causes of these EID, stating that there are 'evolutionary accidents waiting to happen, requiring only the catalyst of climate change. . .' As regional ecological disturbances grow in frequency, episodic bursts of newly mutated and potentially more infectious and deadly diseases will also become more frequent.
Furthermore, specifically the genealogical hierarchical has been observed to be a foundation for the field of evolutionary psychology. This is reasoned as social systems are a product of biology, which result within the genealogical hierarchy.
References
Evolutionary biology | Sloshing bucket model of evolution | [
"Biology"
] | 2,123 | [
"Evolutionary biology"
] |
60,630,098 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergence%20culture | Convergence culture is a theory which recognizes changing relationships and experiences with new media. Henry Jenkins is accepted by media academics to be the father of the term with his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. It explores the flow of content distributed across various intersections of media, industries and audiences, presenting a back and forth power struggle over the distribution and control of content.
Convergence culture is grouped under the larger term of media convergence, however, it is not mutually exclusive to the other types of convergence such as technological or regulatory aspects. The cultural shift within convergence discourse focuses on how media production and consumption has changed with the relevance of participatory culture, collective intelligence and a converging technological environment. Users can now experience an extended, interactive and even shared engagement with not just entertainment media, but also informational media.
A converging technological environment involves the changes in technology that cause different technological systems to develop and perform similar tasks. Older media such as television and radio provided the single task of broadcasting while new media can perform multiple tasks. Smartphones are an example of new media and a convergent device that can be used for not only making phone calls and sending text messages but also used for surfing the internet, watching videos, paying bills, accessing social media, and so on. Social media platforms are forms of new media that create new models of social convergence. Platforms like Google have managed to expand their services to allow a single sign-on that connects a user's workplace to their entertainment system to create a converging technological environment.
However, as the notion became popular in various media discourses, some scholars see an over-use of the idea of convergence culture, reassessing its broad nature or lack of specificity.
History
Even though convergence culture is grouped under the wider term of "media convergence," this idea emerged within the "convergence" discourse roughly around the 2000s. Some scholars view the progression of media convergence as a four-part historical and narratological model as a way to organize the wide and various uses of "convergence".
From the 1980s, media convergence focused on technological aspects or a rise in the digitization of the media, where communication, information and electronic technology began to intersect. Media becoming a mediator of visuals, audio and text, all into one.
From here to the early 1990s, theories of economic and market convergence became prominent, which highlighted a phase of merging of businesses and integration of industries.
Subsequently, political and regulatory ways of thinking concerning the convergence of media arose during the 1990, as media online became a new subject of political and regulatory control.
In the 2000s, a focus on "culture", increased the popularity around convergence. This included consumer preferences and participation of active audiences with the media. During this time, some scholars argue that this notion became over-used and taken for granted in its application to media and cultural studies.
Aspects of convergence culture
Collective intelligence
This term "collective intelligence", introduced by Pierre Levy, refers to the ability of virtual communities to collaborate bits of their knowledge or expertise to make it a whole, essentially working together towards a shared goal.Collective intelligence is also distinguished from simply "shared knowledge" across a community, since not one single mind or group can possibly know everything, instead it becomes a sum of many minds half full. In a converged culture, according to Jenkins, "media consumption has become a collective process" where meaning-making is collaborated.
Survivor fans
In his book Convergence Culture, Jenkins uses the example of the Survivor fan culture to reveal this phenomenon at play. Here, fans on Reddit, described as a "knowledge community", work like a hive mind and come together online to put multiple pieces of relatively small bits of information together, thus being able to puzzle together spoilers. If someone was faced with a roadblock, or complication in their investigations, other users part of the Reddit thread would contribute with their own specific expertise by adding more of their findings, or even correcting previous information.These spoilers revealed secrets such as the next season's location, the finalists, eventual winner, and other exciting moments of the seasons.
For example, in the second season The Australian Outback, fans were able to figure out that a contestant was eliminated due to a medical evacuation, as well as who that person was. By finding a contestant's corporate website, they were able to view pictures of the contestant (Mike Skupin) post-season with a business associate and wearing an arm cast, which showed evidence of an arm injury. This prediction was confirmed when after episode 6 aired and Mike Skupin fell into the camp fire.
Other fans in their travels would be able to find where the next season's location is, before it is even revealed (the show would withhold the next season's location until it began its promos). By building on what others have contributed, a couple goes through a detailed process of satellite images, building a network of travel agencies and tourism directors, studying ecology and culture and asking locals for information.
This collective intelligence behind the reality TV show became so ingrained into the show's culture whereby the executive producer Mark Burnett would "play" with his audience, misdirecting their predictions, and switch up his editing style to throw them off from their assumptions. According to Jenkins, this spoiler culture behind Survivor revealed a new power-relationship between production and consumption with more interactive online behaviors because of the show's open recognition of the so-called "collective intelligence" . Watching the show became a shared experience of collaboration which extended their engagement with the media hence, some argue that not taking this into account can be a flaw in the producers, not fully accepting a new commodity.
Transmedia storytelling
This aspect of convergence culture refers more to the production of media, encompassing a change where industries and mediums of media have expanded and overlapped. Rather than simply sending out their media through one medium, whether it be a film or comic, it can extend to different cultural commodities, that individually present a self-sustaining addition to the story and therefore add depth to a consumer's experience.Jenkins describes transmedia storytelling to require consumers of media to actively participate, both being encouraged and encouraging media creators to create fiction that is no longer consumed in one manner, but through multiple mediums and platforms.
In the words of Jenkins, "Transmedia storytelling is the art of world making." A single story can now stretch across TV, film, video games and even social media. However what separates this from a franchise is that each medium ideally makes its own unique contribution to the progression of the story, it should be more than just a reiteration onto a new medium.
Matrix
A film such as the Matrix, is an example of a franchised cinema project, where auxiliary information extended outwards, outside of the film industry and into other means of cultural production. In the case of Matrix, its audience was expected to go out of their way into different media channels, such as online fan-community forums, to fully understand the mythology of the film and continue on the storytelling journey throughout the sequel franchise Matrix: Reloaded and Revolutions. Taking one of its multiple video games, such as Enter the Matrix, exemplifies these extensions as not just adaptations, but instead add to the story by almost "upstaging" a main character in the films (Morpheus) with a minor character who you play as in the game (Niobe) thus creating a new narrative perspective for fans who participated within the "world" more.
Participatory culture
Terms such as produsage and prosumption that describe the audience of participatory culture, refer to a shift from passive consumers to a more active audience within a new media environment. These terms recognize the ability of users on web 2.0 to generate their own amateur content which can span from personal social media content to fan fiction and to even forming a new genre of citizen journalism. Barriers to production are low, as technologies facilitate the ability to easily produce, share and consume content. For example, missing out on the current week's episode of one's favorite TV show would be a common problem, but internet technologies have enabled the practice of downloading and streaming an episode on demand. Also, creating fan videos are a more accessible type of fan engagement with the download of scenes, and using free pre-installed video editing software. Jenkins integrates this active audience participation as a notable element of convergence culture, whereby fans as consumers can directly interact with content and appropriate or remix it into their own consumption process.
Because of the more emerging participatory content, it represents the media industries to not simply be a top-down corporate driven process, but just as much a bottom-up, consumer driven process too. While companies are looking to extend their content across platforms and enter new realms, consumers in this converged ecology have also gained control in aspects of the process such as where, how and when they want to consume. For example, the creation of fan fiction, while it can sometimes be managed and facilitated by the corporate leaders, fans can take worlds and remix and collaborate it into something new and their own. It has reached a point where consumption now can entail some fragment of collaboration, creation etc.
An example of this flattened hierarchical structure between the production and consumption of content or media is Counter-Strike the computer game. This game originated as an extension of Half Life,a modification ("mod") and therefore not its own game. Creators Minh Lee and Jeff Cliff, developed and released this "mod" for free but the game required a Half-Life copy to work. Using the Software Developer's Kit of Half Life to access the game's -building tools, the creators coded and modeled the game, but its maps and character options, which would traditionally be assigned a team of developers by the company, were essentially decided by its gamers, through prepublications and discussions on its websites. In this way, converged culture reveals a challenge of who is in charge, collaborating with outside developers, fans and producers to develop the game.
The challenge of convergence culture
As the idea of convergence culture became more apparent in media and cultural studies, other scholars such as Nick Couldry and James Hay, saw the notion to be over-used catch all term. They began to question convergence culture as a buzzword that has yet to be fully mapped, and demands specificity. Scholars Anders Fagerjord and Tanja Storsul believe that while it may be an appropriate term to describe the changing technologies, convergence should not be applied as a "catch-all term." Instead, they propose the use of adjectives when using the term in order to highlight the type of convergence, whether it be media, regulatory, network and so on. This is because convergence has come to mean many things in different contexts and if not specified, can result in unwanted complexity and meaninglessness. Critics like Ginette Verstraete, have also mentioned a need to acknowledge and discuss the converged culture discourse within the context of other social spaces such as politics and economics. Jenkins in response also agreed to this need for further discussion, proposing to explore it in a more nuanced framework.
Other challenges that may concern a converged culture, are the political aspect of politics involved, regarding issues of media concentration and regulation of social networking sites and the use of "free labour". As various media and technological industries begin to merge, traditional media policies regarding each platform are beginning to overlap and become irrelevant. Furthermore, there is the additional challenge of user-generated content that goes under the radar, not having "gatekeepers" manage everything. Therefore, it has become a global challenge to embrace this change and implement policies and control accordingly.
Another challenge faced by the media industry is how to deal with digital communication and information technologies. With the rapid development of convergence culture, media professionals, like reporters, are frightened or confused whether their current skills are needed in the future. It’s common for them to have fear and resistance to change. Meanwhile, in this converged environment, the competition between different media becomes fiercer. The news media has adopted a 24-hour news cycle over time to provide a constant flood of information. Reporters are expected to process more stories and add more work to keep up with the industry demand, which are overloaded without appropriate financial compensation.
References
New media | Convergence culture | [
"Technology"
] | 2,515 | [
"Multimedia",
"New media"
] |
60,630,610 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD%20J1953%E2%88%921019 | WD J1953−1019 is a hierarchical triple system of white dwarfs located at about 130 parsecs (about 420 light years) from the Earth. This is the first triple system of white dwarfs to be resolved. The three white dwarfs have an atmosphere of pure hydrogen and a mass of about 0.6 times that of the Sun.
The system consists of a central pair, WD J1953−1019 BC, and a distant companion, WD J1953−1019 A. WD J1953−1019 B and C correspond to the sources Gaia DR2 4190499986125543168 and 4190499986125543296 respectively. The white dwarfs of the central pair, WD J1953−1019 B and C, are separated from each other while the distant companion, WD J1953−1019 A, orbits the barycenter, or center of mass, of the central binary at a distance of .
The cooling age found by M. Perpinyà-Vallès and collaborators for the three white dwarfs is consistent, with an estimated value between 40 and 290 million years. The three stars would each come from a star that had a mass between 1.6 and 2.6 times that of the Sun. A collision of the central pair due to Lidov-Kozai oscillations is unlikely as the system is dynamically stable. However, if this collision occurred, it could produce a type Ia supernova below the Chandrasekhar mass.
See also
SDSS J0106−1000 – a short-period binary white dwarf system, in the constellation Cetus
WD J0651+2844 – another short-period binary white dwarf system, in the constellation Gemini
Notes
References
Triple star systems
White dwarfs
Aquila (constellation) | WD J1953−1019 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 382 | [
"Aquila (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
60,630,955 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie%20Birch%20House | The Annie Birch House, near Hoytsville, Utah, was built in 1875. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
It is located at approximately 900 S. West Hoytsville Rd., off I-80.
It is a vernacular Pair House.
References
Pair-houses
National Register of Historic Places in Summit County, Utah
Houses completed in 1875 | Annie Birch House | [
"Engineering"
] | 77 | [
"Pair-houses",
"Architecture"
] |
60,631,574 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild%20ancestor | Wild ancestors are the original species from which domesticated plants and animals are derived. Examples include dogs which are derived from wolves and flax which is derived from Linum bienne. In most cases the wild ancestor species still exists, but some domesticated species, such as camels, have no surviving wild relatives. In many cases there is considerable debate in the scientific community about the identity of the wild ancestor or ancestors, as the process of domestication involves natural selection, artificial selection, and hybridization.
Wild ancestors have gone through genetic changes to achieve biological mutualism with humans. This is due to humans selectively breeding those species.
Theory
All living creatures are derived from a common wild ancestor. With time and the help of humans or nature, living beings adapt to their surroundings by gradual changes whether visible or not. According to Darwin, there are two different categories that may cause wild ancestors to change to their modern or domesticated counterparts: natural selection and artificial selection. Natural selection, as the name suggests, is environmentally driven; this occurs when more advantageous traits are passed down ensuring survival of the fittest, whereas artificial selection occurs through humans intentionally breeding creatures to attain desirable traits. Both of these allow the wild ancestors to evolve.
Ancestors of two different species may overlap. A term for this is concestor—coined by Nicky Warren—from the book The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins.
Generally, wild ancestors have a similar genetic code to their descendants, although different or additional gene mutations are found in their modern counterparts.
Wild ancestors in animals
Most animals are tuned to modern life by artificial selection. This is either due to the pressure of early hunter-gatherers' attempts to stabilise the food supply, which resulted in the existence of domesticated farm animals, or domestication of pets which are useful to humans. Different animal species undergo different pathways of domestication although they almost always result in one common trait, which is tolerance of proximity to humans or lack of fear of humans and increased reproductivity.
An example of the wild ancestor of an animal bred as a food source is in chickens. The ancestor of the domesticated chicken, the red junglefowl, is believed to have an origin in parts of South and Southeast Asia. Around 8,000 years ago humans started to breed this species for food. A study has shown that the act of domestication for the chickens caused the gene mutation involving a gene known as TSHR, which was found only in domestic populations. This implied that this gene in particular may have some involvement in the domestication of bird species.
The domestication of the wolf is a different process altogether as it is the result of two interwoven processes which happened during the nomadic period of hunter-gatherers in humans. The process started by less fearful wolves scavenging in human settlements and the humans utilising their presence as an alarm, which may warn humans of invaders whether it be humans or predatory animals approaching at night (Lindsay, 2000). Afterwards, the process of self-domestication of the wolves began. Wolves with friendly traits have a higher chance of survival as conflicts with humans are lessened. As friendlier wolves bred together for generations, they gradually evolved into the modern domestic dog. In this case of domestication, the phases of natural and artificial selection were blended together.
In other cases, animals adapt to their ecology, and since the environment continuously differs, they continually adapt and change as well. They may also migrate and branch off and evolve into a new species.
Wild ancestors in plants
Thousands of years ago, humans started to settle and grow crops. This change in human behaviour from nomadic to sedentary marked the start of the domestication process of plants. Many wild ancestors of plants still coexist with the modern domesticated crops; these are called crop wild relatives. A lot of crop plants were also moved into human-managed conditions which caused the selection pressures to differ from the plants in their normal environment creating a significant difference in traits, life cycle and appearance compared to the original predecessor.
Many significant changes can be seen in modern cultivated watermelons (Citrullus lanatus), which are believed to have derived from Citrullus colocynthis after being domesticated as a water and food source in northeastern Africa over 4000 years ago. Citrullus colocynthis, which now still exists as a crop wild relative known as the desert gourd or thorny apple, were small, bitter in taste and yellow or green inside, while modern watermelons are mainly large, red or yellow in color and sweet tasting. The same goes for other common crops cultivated nowadays; most of them have evolved to be suited to the human palate.
Wild ancestors and their domesticated counterparts
Differences
Compared to their wild ancestors, the domesticated counterparts of living creatures underwent several changes depending on various factors and pathways of evolution.
Physical appearance
Domestic animals show differences in physical appearance in comparison to their wild ancestors as they underwent some changes such as having floppier ears, bigger skulls, curlier tail and changes in coat colour or pattern, as noted in domestications of dogs and the experimental domesticated red fox in Russia by Dmitry Belyayev. Changes in physical appearance which are caused by selective breeding can be seen in pets such as koi fish and betta fish which are bred for aesthetic purposes or dogs bred for extreme physical appearances (e.g. extremely short snouts in pugs or bulldogs, short limbs on dachshunds, extremely small sizes in "teacup dogs"). Extreme physical appearances in selectively bred animals may cause health problems, which may cause wild ancestors to have longer natural lifespans.
Behavior
Behavioral differences in wild ancestors were caused by differences in brain structures compared to their domesticated counterparts. An example of this can be seen when comparing wild and domestic rabbits. Wild rabbits have a larger ratio of brain-to-body size, while domestic rabbits have a smaller amygdala and larger medial prefrontal cortex and also reduced white matter. This causes domestic rabbits to have a decreased fight-or-flight response and thus domesticated rabbits show less indication of fear towards humans. Subsequently, a decrease in awareness of their surroundings may be observed in domesticated animals because of the reduced need to sense natural predators.
Generally a change in mating systems may be observed in its domesticated counterparts. Seasonal mating systems tend to only exist in wild ancestors; however, most domesticated animals have a tendency to breed all year long. The deterioration of monogamous systems may also be seen along with wider mating preferences. These traits may be more commonly seen in domesticated farm animals or pets as they are beneficial to humans.
Intelligence
As living creatures adapt and evolve, the level of intelligence changes to suit their way of living. The level of intelligence of modern humans is considerably higher compared to the hominid ancestors from millions of years ago, among which during this time the volume of the hominid brain began to gradually increase starting from about 600 cm3 in Homo habilis up to 1500 cm3 in Homo neanderthalensis. Although the evolution of humans increases the level of intelligence, the same may not be observed in other animals, especially animals which have great dependence to humans – for example, dogs. While different breeds of modern dogs possess different brain capacity and intelligence, in general, compared to the wolf, the dog's problem-solving capabilities have declined. In a problem-solving experiment, the average success rate for dogs was 5% while the wolves obtained an 80% success rate. On the other hand, in a test on guinea pigs, it was shown that the spatial ability of domestic guinea pigs is higher compared to their ancestor. The level of intelligence in wild ancestors compared to the predecessor differs from species to species as brain volume and behaviour changes.
Genetics
The presence of genetic mutations increases genetic variance across species group. Mutations which are found to be beneficial for the longevity of the species as a whole are likely to be inherited in the next generation; due to this process, genetic difference has become the driving factor of most, if not all of the changes in wild ancestors compared to their predecessors. As wild ancestor species evolve, there are certain genes which would indicate their evolutionary paths. Creatures which would undergo domestication have changes in genes which alter their endocrine systems and hormonal production which can be seen in animals such as domesticated birds, canids, cattle and house pets. This can be seen in the mutation of the thyroid stimulating hormone receptor gene (TSHR) in the domesticated chicken, which affects the reproductive system. In the domestic fox experiment, the gene SorCS1 was found in tame foxes but not in aggressive foxes; this gene is thought to be responsible for the tameness trait in domestic foxes.
Differences in plants
Plants that are bred for crops or food production are selectively bred for increased efficiency, and relatively better taste. Hence, the differences in wild ancestors and cultivated modern crops will reflect that, for example, an increased size of the edible parts of certain fruits.
Domestication syndrome in plants causes differences such as larger sizes, changes in colour and differences in sugar content. The adaptability of modern plants may also be increased compared to their wild ancestors.
Cultivated plants show differences in chemical content compared to their wild counterparts. For example, research has shown that cultivated plants generally produce litter which decomposes faster and is easier to be recycled compared to wild plants. Wild plants which had to generally thrive in nutrient-poor soils promote a higher content of recalcitrant molecules, such as lignin. This stimulates an increase in plant litter toughness, causing it to decompose longer.
Other differences may include:
loss of seed dormancy
new adaptations to ecological factors such as nutrient composition of the soil, temperature, acidity, light levels, humidity, etc.
difference in the method of reproduction (e.g. lack of pollinating organs, depending on human intervention) or even sterility in modern plants.
differences in chemical composition (e.g. increase in vitamins, sugar content, etc.)
loss of seed dispersal methods
a decrease in defensive mechanisms. Since traits such as thorns, spines, protective coverings and poison are less desirable to humans, they are lost to artificial selection. This renders modern plants more susceptible to pests.
difference in disease susceptibility
Uses
There are uses of coexisting wild ancestors and their domestic counterparts. The existence of a wild ancestor may be used to increase biodiversity of the variety of species. It mainly helps with conservation but may also be used for genetic improvements, though this practice is mainly done on plants, more specifically food-producing crops. Since wild crops generally have a higher pest resistance, breeding plant hybrids would significantly improve the quality of the cultivated crops. The same technique may be applied to increase bacterial resistance, plant yield, and resistance to biotic stress.
List of wild ancestors and their domesticated counterparts
Animals
Plants
References
Domestication | Wild ancestor | [
"Biology"
] | 2,222 | [
"Humans and other species",
"Domestication"
] |
60,631,750 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evasin | Evasins are a family of salivary proteins produced in parasitic ticks which are capable of shutting off the first steps of an immune response brought about by chemokines. These proteins are injected into a tick's host to prevent a painful inflammation that might otherwise alert the host to the tick's presence. As chemokines have been implicated in a number of inflammatory diseases including atherosclerosis, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer, chemokine-binding proteins such as evasins are being researched to assess their therapeutic potential as chemokine-targeting antagonists.
The same term is also used to refer to other proteins.
Tick evasins
The brown dog tick evasin-4 binds to CCL5 and CCL11, but appears to neutralize even more chemokines. It has an Ig-fold domain. Other evasins in this organism include Evasin-1 () and Evasin-3 ().
Other evasins
Evasin is also used to refer to any viral proteins used for the evasion of the immune responses. This usage is rare.
The term is also used to refer to "Endogenous VASopeptidase INhibitors" (), a kind of endogenous brain protein found in snakes.
References
Proteins | Evasin | [
"Chemistry"
] | 272 | [
"Biomolecules by chemical classification",
"Proteins",
"Molecular biology"
] |
60,632,849 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter%20J.%20H.%20Scott | Peter J. H. Scott FRSC CChem (born July 27, 1979) is a British and American chemist and radiochemist who is a professor of radiology, professor of pharmacology and professor of medicinal chemistry, as well as a core member of the Rogel Cancer Center at the University of Michigan in the United States. He is Chief of Nuclear Medicine and director of the University of Michigan Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Center, and runs a research group developing new radiochemistry methodology and novel PET radiotracers.
Life
Peter Scott was born and grew up in North East England and attended Whitley Bay High School. He received his undergraduate degree with first class honors in medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry from Loughborough University in 2001, after conducting research with Raymond Jones. He subsequently obtained his PhD in organic chemistry from Durham University in 2005, where he was a member of Ustinov College, under the mentorship of Patrick G. Steel. Scott then moved to the United States to undertake postdoctoral research in organometallic chemistry at SUNY Buffalo under Huw Davies, and PET radiochemistry at the University of Michigan with Michael Kilbourn.
Research
Scott runs a research group developing new metal-catalyzed methods for incorporating fluorine-18 and carbon-11 into bioactive molecules as well as novel PET radiotracers for imaging neurodegenerative disorders. His methodology work aims to improve the synthesis of PET radiotracers and he has an active collaboration with Prof. Melanie Sanford's group that is funded by NIBIB. Together they have developed methods for the Cu-mediated radiofluorination and radiocyanation of (mesityl)(aryl)iodonium salts, boronic acids and stannanes, as well as new methods for radiofluorination of C-H bonds and aryl halides. Scott has also introduced methods for green radiochemistry, for which he received the Michigan Green Chemistry Governor's Award in 2014. In 2019, Prof. Scott was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), and received a Distinguished Investigator Award from the Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research. In 2021, he was honored as a Fellow of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, and was also recognized by SNMMI in 2023 with the Sam Gambhir Trailblazer Award, created to honor the legacy and memory of the late Sanjiv Sam Gambhir.
Bibliography
1. Linker Strategies in Solid-phase Organic Synthesis (Editor, 2009)2. Solid-Phase Organic Syntheses, Volume 2: Solid-Phase Palladium Chemistry (Wiley Series on Solid-Phase Organic Syntheses) (Editor, 2012)3. Radiochemical Syntheses: Radiopharmaceuticals for Positron Emission Tomography, Volume 1 (Editor, 2012)4. Radiochemical Syntheses: Further Radiopharmaceuticals for Positron Emission Tomography and New Strategies for Their Production, Volume 2 (Editor, 2015)5. Handbook of Radiopharmaceuticals (2nd Edition): Methodology and Applications (Editor, 2021)6. Production and Quality Control of Fluorine-18 Labelled Radiopharmaceuticals (co-authored with International Atomic Energy Agency, 2021)
References
1979 births
Living people
21st-century British chemists
British expatriate academics in the United States
Alumni of Loughborough University
University of Michigan faculty
Radiochemistry
Alumni of Ustinov College, Durham | Peter J. H. Scott | [
"Chemistry"
] | 725 | [
"Radiochemistry",
"Radioactivity"
] |
60,634,470 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resonance%20escape%20probability | In nuclear physics, resonance escape probability is the probability that a neutron will slow down from fission energy to thermal energies without being captured by a nuclear resonance. A resonance absorption of a neutron in a nucleus does not produce nuclear fission. The probability of resonance absorption is called the resonance factor , and the sum of the two factors is .
Generally, the higher the neutron energy, the lower the probability of absorption, but for some energies, called resonance energies, the resonance factor is very high. These energies depend on the properties of heavy nuclei. Resonance escape probability is highly determined by the heterogeneous geometry of a reactor, because fast neutrons resulting from fission can leave the fuel and slow to thermal energies in a moderator, skipping over resonance energies before reentering the fuel.
Resonance escape probability appears in the four factor formula and the six factor formula. To compute it, neutron transport theory is used.
Resonant neutron absorption
The nucleus can capture a neutron only if the kinetic energy of the neutron is close to the energy of one of the energy levels of the new nucleus formed as a result of capture. The capture cross section of such a neutron by the nucleus increases sharply. The energy at which the neutron-nucleus interaction cross section reaches a maximum is called the resonance energy. The resonance energy range is divided into two parts, the region of resolved and unresolved resonances. The first region occupies the energy interval from 1 eV to Egr. In this region, the energy resolution of the instruments is sufficient to distinguish any resonance peak. Starting from the energy Egr, the distance between resonance peaks becomes smaller than the energy resolution. Subsequently, the resonance peaks are not separated. For heavy elements, the boundary energy Egr≈1 keV.
In thermal neutron reactors, the main resonant neutron absorber is Uranium-238. In the table for 238U, several resonance neutron energies Er, the maximum absorption cross sections σa, r in the peak, and the width G of these resonances are given.
Effective resonance integral
Let us assume that the resonant neutrons move in an infinite system consisting of a moderator and 238U. When colliding with the moderator nuclei, the neutrons are scattered, and with the 238U nuclei, they are absorbed. The former collisions favor the retention and removal of resonant neutrons from the danger zone, while the latter lead to their loss.
The probability of avoiding resonance capture (coefficient φ) is related to the density of nuclei NS and the moderating power of the medium ξΣS by the relationship below,
The JeFF value is called the effective resonance integral. It characterizes the absorption of neutrons by a single nucleus in the resonance region and is measured in barnes. The use of the effective resonance integral simplifies quantitative calculations of resonance absorption without detailed consideration of neutron interaction at deceleration. The effective resonance integral is usually determined experimentally. It depends on the concentration of 238U and the mutual arrangement of uranium and the moderator.
Homogeneous mixtures
In a homogeneous mixture of moderator and 238U, the effective resonance integral is found with a good accuracy by the empirical formula below,
where N3/N8 is the ratio of moderator and 238U nuclei in the homogeneous mixture, σ3S is the microscopic scattering cross section of the moderator. As can be seen from the formula, the effective resonance integral decreases with increasing 238U concentration. The more 238U nuclei in the mixture, the less likely absorption by a single nucleus of the moderating neutrons will take place. The effect of absorption in some 238U nuclei on absorption in others is called resonance level shielding. It increases with increasing concentration of resonance absorbers.
As an example, we can calculate the effective resonance integral in a homogeneous natural uranium-graphite mixture with the ratio N3/N8=215. The scattering cross section of graphite σCS=4.7 barns;
барн.
Heterogeneous mixtures
In a homogeneous environment, all 238U nuclei are in the same conditions with respect to the resonant neutron flux. In a heterogeneous environment uranium is separated from the moderator, which significantly affects the resonant neutron absorption. Firstly, some of the resonant neutrons become thermal neutrons in the moderator without colliding with uranium nuclei; secondly, resonant neutrons hitting the surface of the fuel elements are almost all absorbed by the thin surface layer. The inner 238U nuclei are shielded by the surface nuclei and participate less in the resonant neutron absorption, and the shielding increases with the increase of the fuel element diameter d. Therefore, the effective 238U resonance integral in a heterogeneous reactor depends on the fuel element diameter d:
The constant a characterizes the absorption of resonance neutrons by surface and the constant b - by inner 238U nuclei. For each type of nuclear fuel (natural uranium, uranium dioxide, etc.) the constants a and b are measured experimentally. For natural uranium rods a=4.15, b=12.35.
U for a rod from natural uranium with diameter d=3 cm:
barns.
Comparison of the last two examples shows that the separation of
uranium and moderator noticeably decreases neutron absorption in the
resonance region.
Moderator influence
Coefficient φ is dependent on the following;
Which reflects the competition of two processes in the resonance region: absorption of neutrons and their deceleration. The cross section Σ, by definition, is analogous to the macroscopic absorption cross section with replacement of the microscopic cross section by the effective resonance integral JeFF. It also characterizes the loss of slowing neutrons in the resonance region. As the 238U concentration increases, the absorption of resonant neutrons increases and hence fewer neutrons are slowed down to thermal energies. The resonance absorption is influenced by the slowing down of neutrons. Collisions with the moderator nuclei take neutrons out of the resonance region and are more intense the greater the moderating power . So, for the same concentration of 238U, the probability of avoiding resonance capture in the uranium-water medium is greater than in the uranium-carbon medium.
Let us calculate the probability of avoiding resonance capture in homogeneous and heterogeneous environments natural uranium-graphite. In both media the ratio of carbon and 238U nuclei NC/NS=215. The diameter of the uranium rod is d=3 cm. Taking into account that ξC=0.159, σCa=4.7 barn, we calculate the following probability;
barn−1.
Calculating the coefficients φ in homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures, we get;
φhom = e−0,00625·68 = e−0,425 ≈ 0,65,
φhet = e−0,00625·11,3 = e−0,0705 ≈ 0,93.
The transition from homogeneous to heterogeneous medium slightly reduces the thermal neutron absorption in uranium. However, this loss is considerably overlapped by the decrease of the resonance neutron absorption, and the propagation properties of the medium improve.
References
Literature
Nuclear technology
Radioactivity | Resonance escape probability | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 1,435 | [
"Nuclear technology",
"Nuclear chemistry stubs",
"Nuclear and atomic physics stubs",
"Nuclear physics",
"Radioactivity"
] |
60,635,218 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamtimes%20and%20Lifetimes | Beamtimes and Lifetimes: The World of High Energy Physicists is a book by Sharon Traweek on cultural anthropology and the sociology of science among people in the field of particle physics. It is an ethnography of high energy physicists that chronicles the laboratories, career paths, and values of a community of scientists based on her observations at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California, US, and KEK High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Japan.
Various reviewers profiled the book.
Ethnography and sociology of science
Beamtimes and Lifetimes represents a turn of sociologists and anthropologists to use the tools of their discipline toward the powerful within modern culture rather than colonized cultures. It aims to broaden the understanding provided by philosophy and intellectual history which traditionally focused on the rational components of knowledge making. Anthropologists aim to enrich an understanding of science by presenting science as an activity embedded in culture, a domain rich in human practice and expression. In contrast to a view of science as a wholly rational pursuit, laboratory studies like Traweek's detail a process of constructing knowledge by situating it as products of local practices and cultural contingencies.
By illustrating strategies of individuals, groups, and institutions pursuing science goals, Traweek enriches an understanding of how science is practiced, extending beyond the laws of nature. Beamtimes and Lifetimes describes ways physicists create networks, the interpersonal connections through which preprints and informal communication are diffused, graduate students exchanged, and discussions about findings and goals are channeled. Creating these contacts and networks, that can then be tapped for opportunities, information, and support for ideas, is conceptualized by sociologists as a process of developing and leveraging social capital.
In Beamtimes and Lifetimes, Traweek aims to shed light on how high energy physicists create agreement and common understanding. She brings modes of knowledge-making sociologists call tacit knowledge, ideas and skills that are not explicitly articulated. Tacit knowledge, distinct from formal or codified knowledge such as that found in journals or textbooks, is gained primarily in collaboration with others and shared experience.
Traweek describes stories that American physicists tell with rhetorical flair about their own prowess in contrast to others. Humor is viewed by anthropologists as emblematic of cultural expression, because it captures play and otherwise unspoken attitudes, concepts, and values. Physicists engaged with Sharon's work about linguistic play between major labs or between experimentalists and theorists. An example she provided of a provocative suggestion that no one at Fermilab could "experimentally tie their shoes" and boast that at another lab they check the "tension in their shoelaces by hand every half hour" was responded to with banter from another physicist, in the form of a call for a workshop at Fermilab where there were "so many experts on topology, string tension, and all that".
Values of high energy physicists
Traweek's description illustrates values held by high energy physicists, such as disregard for neatness as an indication of focusing on intellectual pursuits, or distaste for secret work as less prestigious by being more applied than basic research.
Physicists’ concept of their work is saturated with the value they place on objectivity. Traweek concludes that particle physics is "an extreme culture of objectivity: a culture of no culture, which longs passionately for a world without loose ends, without temperament, gender, nationalism."
Traweek illustrates cultural performance of competition within various groups of physicists. Describing the transition of a student into a full-fledged member of the community, she points to a double-bind of unspoken expectations faced by a person holding a postdoc, a short-term research position after receiving a Ph.D. in the U.S. The "official description of group work as cooperative" is at odds with the status achieved amongst peers and group leaders trying to make a name for themselves selling ideas, illustrating the "disguised message that only competition and transgression will prevail." Since the majority of postdocs in high energy physics do not gain employment in the field, for individuals this is a high stakes process where they aren't told the keys to success. In the stories Traweek shares, senior physicists rationalize this competitive individualism as both just and effective in producing fine physics. American physicists "emphasize that science is not democratic: decisions about scientific purposes should not be made by majority rule within the community, nor should there be equal access to a lab's resources. On both these issues, most Japanese physicists assume the opposite."
Traweek's book enables a view into a culture with an ideology of meritocracy, a culture featuring values and norms characteristically white and masculine. Scholars have built on her work by researching ways to increase the retention of women and people of color in science. Cultural analysis of science includes considering the politics of the aesthetics held by physicists regarding their own knowledge and making practices. The perception of the beauty of a truth or the role of certain forms of humor expresses the particular and situated cultural activity of its community. When that community can make such claims as if they are universal, it illustrates the power of that community of knowers.
High energy physics in Japan and US
Traweek's comparison of how high energy physics is conducted in KEK in Japan and SLAC in the US makes visible alternative values and social norms that might otherwise be taken for granted by studying one country. Comparing the physical environments and relations with surrounding communities, she notes that whereas the fence constructed around SLAC represents contention between the lab and the community fears about radiation safety, no fence was built around KEK. The researchers and employees of KEK reside in a social engineered science city in rural Japan, whereas SLAC is located near the existing hub of scientific and technological communities.
Because of the koza system of academic chairs, Japanese researchers function within lifelong work relationships in a vertical and non-competitive group structure having clear advancement trajectory, yet with little mobility from institution to institution as is practiced in the US. The stories about a life in physics told by Americans pivot on traits traditionally associated with men, such as independence in defining goals and fierce competition in a race for discoveries. Traweek contrasts that with an image in Japan of women as "not sufficiently schooled in the masculine virtues of interdependence, dependence, in the effective organization of teamwork and camaraderie, commitment to working in one team in order to complete a complex task successfully and consulting with group members in decision making, and the capacity to nurture the newer group members in developing these skills." Traweek notes that although the traits associated with leadership are contrasting, in both cultural instances, virtues leading to success are ascribed to men.
Technoscience
Traweek describes ways that technology such as particle detectors, not as neutral objects, but as artifacts embedded within and reflective of the values and social systems of their creators. Donna Haraway points to Beamtimes and Lifetimes as a reconceptualization and reading of machine and organism as coded texts in such a way that it opens up technological determinism. Detectors and laboratory environment are key characters in the matrix of ideas, experiences, organizational structures, and histories providing a context in which scientists ask questions.
Traweek describes the detector of one research group as enabling a particular form of research because experimentalists could regularly tinker with it to rule out alternative explanations. This contrasts with a detector built at KEK, which was optimized for stability, due to expectations within funding frameworks that the detector be active for a long time and because relationships with the industrial companies providing components hamper ad hoc adjustments.
Drawing on Traweeks empirical work observing physicists, Karin Knorr Cetina suggests that laboratories are environments that illustrate "levels of sociality that are object-centered" and an embedding environment for a modern self "uprooted and disembedded" from the human bonds and traditions in previous contexts of belonging. Objects such as laboratories and detectors play significant roles in providing a context for a sense of self.
References
Sociology of scientific knowledge
Science and technology studies works
Anthropology books
Harvard University Press books
1992 non-fiction books | Beamtimes and Lifetimes | [
"Technology"
] | 1,698 | [
"Science and technology studies works",
"Science and technology studies"
] |
55,801,087 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime%20harm%20index | A crime harm index is a measurement of crime rates in which crimes are weighted based on how much "harm" they cause.
The most simple and most common method of measuring an area's crime rate is to count the number of crimes. In this case, one minor crime (e.g. a shoplifting incident) counts for the same as a single very serious crime (e.g. murder). Leading criminologists have argued in favour of creating a weighted measurement. Lawrence W. Sherman and two other researchers wrote in 2016 that "All crimes are not created equal. Counting them as if they are fosters distortion of risk assessments, resource allocation, and accountability."
Most crime harm indices use prison sentencing policies to decide what the "harm score" of an offence should be. The harm score of an offence is the default length of the prison sentence that an offender would receive, if the crime was committed by a single offender.
Cambridge Crime Harm Index
The Cambridge Crime Harm Index was unveiled in 2016. It was developed by Lawrence W. Sherman, Peter Neyroud and Eleanor Neyroud. It uses sentencing guidelines of England and Wales to calculate the harm score of each crime. The system has already been adopted by several UK police forces. According to the CCHI, the harm score for a crime is the default prison sentence that an offender would receive for committing it, if the crime was committed by a single offender with no prior convictions. For minor crimes that would instead result in a fine, the harm score is the number of days it would take someone with a minimum wage job to earn the money to pay the fine.
The Cambridge Crime Harm Index has inspired other crime harm indices for New Zealand, Denmark and Western Australia. It has also been evaluated for use in Scotland, though officers of Police Scotland have noted that it does not reflect Scottish sentencing guidelines.
References
Harm reduction
Crime statistics
Index numbers | Crime harm index | [
"Mathematics"
] | 384 | [
"Index numbers",
"Mathematical objects",
"Numbers"
] |
55,801,113 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical%20oncology | Physical oncology (PO) is defined as the study of the role of mechanical signals in a cancerous tumor. The mechanical signals can be forces, pressures ("pull", "push" and "shear" designating the forces / pressures that push, pull or are tangential). If we generalize we will speak of "stress field" and "stress tensor".
A cancerous tumor (or "solid tumor" in the jargon of oncologists to differentiate them from hematological malignancies) is an organ consisting of two tissues: in the center the cancerous tumor proper and around the ExtraCellular Matrix (ECM), sometimes called stroma, chorion or connective tissue. The concept of connective tissue is interesting because it defines a tissue that travels the entire organism (except the brain) and is a preferred transmitter of mechanical signals. But for the cancer organ - isolated from this connective system - we prefer the term ECM.
The cancerous tissue is derived from a normal tissue of the body: breast cancer arises from a cancerous transformation of the normal mammary glandular tissue. It looks more or less like the original tissue: it is said that it is more or less differentiated; poorly differentiated it has a microscopic appearance that is far from normal tissue and is then "poorly prognostic", will make more metastases and will be more difficult to treat.
We are only considering cancers derived from "epithelia", that is to say the tissue that covers the organs in their interfaces with air, liquids ... or the outside world. Epithelial cells are contiguous and polarized. More than 90% of cancers (breast, prostate, colon / rectum, bronchi, pancreas, etc.) arise from these epithelia after a long process of cancerization.
Both tissues of the cancer organ
The ECM
ECM is a mixture of cells (immune, fibroblasts, etc.) dispersed in proteins, most of them collagen. It surrounds the tumor.
It is analogous to connective tissue and basal membrane, which is a local condensation, located below normal epithelia. This connective tissue allows oxygen and nutrients to diffuse to the epithelia, which are not vascularized.
In the tumor ECM, rapidly, beyond one mm3 of tumor is formed a network of blood vessels, the "neovascularization" (induced by "neoangiogenesis") around the tumor and which will allow the diffusion of oxygen and nutrients in the cancer tissue itself, which is not vascularized.
The cancerous tissue
The cancerous tissue itself, derived from the cancerous transformation of an epithelium.
Cancerization
It's a multi-year process. The appearance of cancer is signified by the crossing of the basement membrane to the underlying connective tissue by one or more cancer cells.
The rediscovery of the importance of mechanical signals in biology of living organisms
Several teams, in the USA in particular, had maintained an expertise in the study of non-biological signals in oncology (Donald Ingber, Mina Bissell then Valerie Weaver, Rakesh J Jain among others).
But the absolute dominance of genetics and molecular biology since the middle of the 20th century had marginalized this approach until its revival at the beginning of the 21st century. This renewal takes into account the immense gains of genetics and molecular biology in the mechanobiological approach. On the other hand, the PO validates results thanks to these achievements but does not use the concepts.
To properly locate the PO and the mechanical signals
Biology / Mechanics comparison
Some differences between biological and physical signals
The use of mechanical signals is therefore also the support of mechanobiology whose objective is very different from the PO. Indeed, as shown in the table above, the study of mechanotransduction, which is the support of mechanobiology, uses a mechanical "input" (signal input) but the signal collected at the output (the "output") is biological. As a result, many of the articles published in mechanobiology end with the phrase "we have defined a target to find a therapeutic molecule", which precludes any therapeutic approach by the mechanical signals themselves.
But this shift from the physical sciences to the biological sciences is problematic, in the absence of any bridge between these two sciences, one quantitative, physics based on mathematical language and the other qualitative, based on the laws of genetics and molecular biology.
OP aims to study the effect of a mechanical input on a mechanical output. We will see that this output can be synthesized in tissue architecture.
Definition of the tissue phenotype
The diagnosis of cancer is made by looking under the microscope a fragment of the tumor (biopsy). The tissue phenotype - here cancerous tissue - is the sum of the cellular and tissue phenotype. The phenotype of the cell is supposed to be the translation of the genotype (and of the environment: epigenetics) expressed in a given cell: thus, a liver cell does not look like a pancreas cell at all because it does not express the same genes (yet all present in the genome of all cells).
These characteristics are summarized by: differentiation, cell division (mitosis), apoptosis (or "cell suicide") and cell death. The doctor in charge of the diagnosis under the microscope (the pathologist) will describe the biopsy based on these criteria. The tissue phenotype is centered on architecture: the normal tissue is Euclidean (hexagons, trapezes, circles ...) familiar to our brains; the cancerous is fractal, less familiar. It can be summed up in a coefficient of fractality very strongly correlated with the prognosis and the components of the cellular phenotype. Thus, a high coefficient of fractality is correlated with a poorly differentiated tumor, with many mitoses, little apoptosis and a poor prognosis.
And here we have to mention Mina Bissell: "in oncology the tissue phenotype is dominant over the cellular genotype".
The quiet revolution: three-dimensional models (3D) and other models (spheroids, animal xenograft ...)
OP was made possible by apparently minor technical changes that allowed in vitro and then in vivo models to be closer to the reality of the cancerous tumor in the patient.
For a very long time, two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures have been used in glass and then plastic boxes. The cultured cells thus adhered to the bottom, in very rigid material, rigidity measured by the Young's modulus, very high for these supports.
Young's module
The Young modulus or modulus of elasticity is the constant that relates the tensile / compressive stress and the beginning of the deformation of an isotropic elastic material.
It is expressed in Pascal (Pa), unit of pressure.
Then appeared the three-dimensional (3D) cultures with cells which constituted multicellular spheres by dividing and were surrounded by a gel-like culture medium at the Young's modulus close to those of the living and variable tissues, for example depending on the amount of collagen surrounding these cultures in 3D. Organoids, spheroids are variants of this type of culture.
At the same time the animal models evolved there also towards more similarity with the clinical reality. The human tumor xenograft is today the standard and the orthotopic transplant - for example human cancer of the pancreas in the mouse pancreas - is one of the best experimental models.
The link between the clinic and the experiment becomes more realistic since these 3D cultures make it possible to use the culture medium surrounding the growing tumor tissue as a "virtual ECM", which can be varied, for example, to increase the pressure around the tumor grown.
Similarly, xenograft can constitute a cancer organ with both tissues even if the ECM is of animal origin.
What is hard in cancer
It's the ECM. So, when a doctor or a patient feels "a hard lump in the breast" and it is a cancer, what is hard is the ECM while the tumor itself is softer than the normal breast tissue. This has been demonstrated in vitro and more recently ex vivo and will soon be in vivo.
In vitro
The role of stress on the growth of a spheroid in vitro had already been shown (G Helminger already cited), but the experiment of Matthew Paszek (last signatory of the article: Valerie Weaver) in 2005 will give a new dimension to this use of mechanical signals in vitro by showing the passage from a normal architecture of a breast acinus - the elementary unit of the mammary gland - to a cancerous architecture under the influence of a single variable, mechanical, here the surface tension caused by an increasing concentration of collagen in the culture medium surrounding the tumor.
We clearly see the transition from one architecture to another, progressive and reversible if the constraint is relaxed. Changes in the concentration of biological markers of cancerization (catenins, integrins, etc.), with the disappearance of the central cavity, highlight the shift in tissue phenotype.
In addition, this experiment opens the way to the reversibility of cancer, the royal way of treatment, which is intended to replace conventional destructive approaches.
Another experiment is equally spectacular:
According to Gautham Venugopalan ASCB 2012
Malignant breast cells cultured in vitro in 3D form a "disorganized" mass (translate fractal) on the left in the photo.
But after a few minutes of compression, they form an acinus, Euclidean, on the right.
Other authors have extended this work on different models with different mechanical signals. F Montel et al., in particular, has demonstrated on spheroids of human cancer origin the very significant increase in apoptosis in the response to stress.
These 3D cultures have also shown the organization of collagen fibers within the ECM and beyond, allowing remote transmission of mechanical signals and a 'tensor dialogue' between the tumor, ECM and normal environment.
But these experiments have in common to apply physical variables (surface tension, osmotic pressure ...) that cannot be used in vivo.
Ex vivo
M Plodinec et al. extended this work using breast cancer biopsies kept alive ex vivo and then passed to an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) to measure the Young's moduli of the different tissue components of these normal breast biopsies, tumors benign and malignant.
This team finds the results already widely explored on isolated cells and 2D cultures: the cancerous tissues have a Young's modulus around 0.8 kPa, normal tissues have a modulus around 1.1 kPa. The ECM has a module greater than 2 kPa.
This difference - the cancerous tissue is softer than its normal counterpart - crosses all oncology, all cancers combined and from the dysplastic cell to the tumor and metastatic cells.
All measurements, cell and tissue, converge towards the same conclusion: the modulus of the cancerous tissue is inversely correlated with the 'dangerousness' of the cancer: the softer the tumor, the more it is undifferentiated, the more it will give metastases, the less it will respond to current treatments...
In vivo
In OP for therapeutic purposes, we find only the article by R Brossel et al. (2016) which shows the possibility of acting on a tumor grafted subcutaneously in the rodent by applying a constraint.
It is validated in this Proof of Concept. There is a significant difference between the treated group and the control groups. This difference concerns the volume of the tumor measured in vivo which is very significantly decreased (p = 0.015) in the treated group compared to the 3 control groups (with particles and without gradient, with gradient and without particles, without gradient or particles). There is also a significant difference in favor of the treated group when measuring the surface of the living tumor, ex vivo, on digitized histological sections (p = 0.001).
Results
* Three groups of mice: with particles only; with gradient alone; without particles or gradient
This field imposed on the ECM is superimposed on that already present in the tumor tissue. Note the difference with in vitro: there is no confinement by the ECM in vitro or anchoring by the integrins which ensure the physical continuity between the ECM and the tumor tissue and thus allow the propagation to distance of mechanical signals.
In this perspective the "field of stress" becomes the therapeutic agent.
This stress is exerted via ferric nanoparticles, therefore magnetizable, located around the tumor (and not in the tumor) and subjected from outside the animal to a magnetic field gradient generated by fixed magnets. The nanoparticles then act as '‘BioActuators’ transforming part of the magnetic energy into mechanical energy.
To this work we can link the European project "Imaging Force of Cancer" which as its name indicates aims to measure, voxel by voxel, the constraints involved within the tumoral tissue. This program focuses on the breast, the primitive liver and the brain.
This project is based on MRI elastography, which is the reference method for in vivo, in situ and non-perturbative measurement of the strain, that is to say the very small elastic strain caused in the tissue will give access to the measure of "stress" that is to say of the constraint. It should therefore make it possible to construct the stress tensor of the tumor tissue in vivo, in situ, without significant disturbance intra-tumoral, obligatory starting base to hope to modify it.
There is also an in vivo experiment which demonstrates the increase of the signals coming from the integrins, induced by the increase of the rigidity of the matrix
The isolated cell
Micropatterning
The cellular patterning allowed to show the dependence of the cellular architecture on the tensions generated by the support, variable according to the rigidity of these supports. This made it possible to hypothesize about the transmission of mechanical signals between the "outside", here the support (glass then plastic then gel), and the CytoSKeleton (CSK) and the nucleus.
The equilibrium, in the CSK of each cell, is between contractile microfilaments and microtubules resistant to compression; it is also done in the membership of the ECM by a game of pressure and tension that cancel out in a situation of equilibrium. Energy is given by actin.
Micropatterning has clearly shown these phenomena on the scale of a cell fixed on a support.
Increased stiffness of the ECM: the spreading of the cell - on the support, representation of the ECM - is necessary for the cell division (thus the growth).
Decrease of the rigidity of the ECM: when the ECM is deformed, the cell traction causes the stop of the growth and a differentiation of the cell or an apoptosis.
The soft material that transmits the mechanical signals is therefore pre-stressed and this allows the transmission of forces in the body with a quantitative distribution according to the scale: the skeleton, a macroscopic structure, will transmit much greater forces than an isolated organ.
On the scale of a tissue of an organ, the entire mechanical signal transmission network, including integrins, cadherins, focal adhesions (all intercellular junctions and ETM / cells), membrane, CSK, etc. also support the production of energy. Indeed, mitochondria are an integral part of this network and semi-solid (non-liquid) phase biochemistry is an important part of tissue metabolism.
Here we find a principle of treatment by the mechanical signals.
The circulating cell
Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are isolable and their rigidity can be measured quite easily. Numerous articles have been able to verify what was already known for cells in 2D culture: the Young's modulus of CTC is very strongly correlated with the severity of cancer in all its parameters: differentiation, metastatic potential, prognostic and predictive correlation...
And these correlations are valid for metaplastic, dysplastic, in situ and cancerous cells.
The journey of the metastatic cell
These CTCs must first cross the ECM, enter the bloodstream or lymphatic vessels, and then leave the circulation to attach to a tissue for metastasis. Many articles have recently commented on this "journey" and the many physical elements that punctuate it.
The different components of the constraint
The tumor accumulates mechanical energy during its growth. In an article by Stylianopoulos, the author uses a simple technique to highlight tumor constraints: an ex vivo tumor laser cutting frees the accumulated constraints. They are expressed as bulges that can be measured and related to the underlying stress. In the center of the tumor the radial and circumferential stresses are compressive; in the periphery of the tumor the radial stress is compressive, and the circumferential stress is a linear traction along the outer limit of the tumor.
Tumor growth causes stress on the healthy tissues around it.
The ExtraCellular Matrix (ECM) and the cells in contact with the ECM exert mutual tensions.
The cells of the tumor tissue exert tensions between themselves.
This results in a change in fluid flow in the tumor with an increase in intratumoral interstitial pressure.
The internal tension present in the excised tumor can be called "residual stress": when we cut it we clearly see an expansion of the volume which shows this residual tension.
Another track was opened by J Fredberg, in two dimensions:
As the intercellular adhesion stress increases, there is a histological architecture change and a solid to liquid phase transition.
The mechanical energy, cellular cohesion of the tumor tissue, is attributable, in large part, intercellular junctions and can be expressed in linear traction that has two components:
Contraction energy in red, positive, which comes from the CSK and which minimizes the intercellular surface (Euclidean, pseudo solid when it dominates);
Energy of adhesion, in white, negative and which maximizes the surface (fractal, pseudo liquid when it dominates).
Soft matter
Popularized by Pierre Gilles de Gennes the term soft matter refers to the study of materials between solid and liquid; at ambient temperature, that of biology, thermal energy (kT) is of the same order of magnitude as the interaction energies between the various components. Due to this entropy / enthalpy balance these biological systems can be organized in a radically different way under the influence of small variations of the outside.
The physics of PO is a soft matter physics.
The stress tensor
This is the generalization of the concept of constraint field. It summarizes in a mathematical expression all the pressures involved in a volume. Here, it is the volume of the tumor with a solid sphere, the tumor tissue, predominantly viscoelastic and a hollow sphere, the ECM, predominantly elastic. The solid sphere is embedded in the hollow sphere.
Organization of CSK and continuity of structures transmitting mechanical signals
The mechanical signals travel through the organs, without any break in continuity. At the tissue level, it is the connective tissue or the ECM that ensures this continuity. At the cellular level, it is the continuity between the connective tissue, the cell membrane, the CSK and the nucleus that ensures this transmission.
At what scale? The laws of biology / physics
A hitherto dominant approach is the "bottom up": the understanding of the biological mechanisms (mechanoreceptors, actin and other components of CSK, intracellular signaling, gene effectors, etc.) must lead to an understanding of the phenomena at scale, above be here mesoscopic, tissue.
There are success stories of this approach when one can identify a faulty gene with a mutation and it is possible to act by a drug on the outcome of the mutation: a receptor or an enzyme.
This "one-to-one and first-degree equation" allowed Chronic Myeloid Leukemia to be controlled by imatinib. The defective BCR-ABL gene makes it possible to manufacture an abnormal version of an enzyme of the Tyrosine Kinase type present in leukemic cells. Imatinib inhibits this enzyme and the manufacture of these cells.
These few exceptions have led one to believe that this reasoning could be applied to cancers as a whole.
But the "equation" of cancer is much more complex. And the massive failure of "targeted therapies" to cure cancer is the illustration. These targeted therapies have cured only 50% of HER2 positive breast cancers treated with adjuvant therapy after local cancer treatment. That is 3% of breast cancers. That's all. Moreover, their participation in the "chronicization" of the breast and prostate - even some colon or rectum - is very minor compared to chemo / hormonotherapy, much better used today.
The other approach, "top down", takes into account the emergence of unpredictable phenomena through the reductionist approach. Thus, the experimental evidence showing that carcinogenesis is a process bound to emerge a break geometry of the tissue architecture requires abandoning the genetic level or above genetics to get into systems biology and put the matter to cell/tissue level.
In fact, cell phenotypes are emergent phenomena that result from intercellular nonlinear interactions and interaction with the environment that is to say the ECM. This is usually described in a phase space where attractors dot the landscape and are points of stability or instability.
Fractality
The cancer is fractal and this in all its components and at different scales micro/meso and macroscopic.
This geometry is recent and still little integrated in our mental representations.
The first observation was the fractal nature of microcalcifications linked to breast cancer on a mammogram.
Then the fractality of the cancer has been demonstrated on different structures of the organ cancer - neoangiogenesis, tumor growth zone, tumor tissue ... - and at the microscopic scale: cell nucleus, cell surface.
Synergy
A synergy between immunotherapy and the use of mechanical signals is highly likely as shown by two recent papers that describe the control of PDL-1 expression and immunocompetent cells by extracellular matrix stiffness.
Thermodynamics
Fractality is a means that evolution has found to minimize the energy used to distribute resources. Remember that cancer uses a source of energy different from other tissues, less efficient in yield.
The death of the patient
What is a cancer patient dying of?
There are several possibilities: the infectious complications related to the immunodepression due to the disease and the treatments, the attack of a vital organ like the lungs invaded by so many metastases that the breathing becomes impossible, the thrombotic complications like a pulmonary embolism, an end of life precipitated by analgesic treatments whose doses are increased. But behind all these causes is the diversion of energy by cancer that behaves like a parasite that kills its host. In some particularly local cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, this is particularly noticeable: the patient dies of cachexia, that is to say of great malnutrition.
The big ancestors and the dust under the carpet
The brilliant intuitions of D'Arcy Thompson are now accepted by all: the shape that organs (including cancer) and organisms take depends on the variations in time and space of the mechanical properties of the tissues. But he describes, without making any assumptions about why and how.
J Wolff described the histological variations of the bone according to the load which weighs on him.
This is well known to thoracic surgeons: a vein removed to bypass a coronary artery and grafted into the artery position changes histology and becomes an artery due to this new pressure regime.
The same conclusion can be drawn from studies on the transformation of bone and cartilage tissue under different pressure regimes.
Since the 1950s, the genetic paradigm has emerged. Cancers arise from one (or some) mutated cell(s) and progression results from the sequential accumulation of tumor-free random mutations of all homeostatic controls.
The discovery of oncogenes, suppressor genes, stability genes (caretaker) is a coherent and reliable set to track the birth and progression of cancer.
But the contradictory experimental facts are not lacking: the carcinogens are not all mutagens (hormones...); the target of carcinogens may be the ECM and not the cell; an ECM exposed to a carcinogen brought into contact with a non-cancerous tissue will cause cancer of this tissue, but not vice versa; a cancerous tissue in close contact with a normal ECM may become normal tissue again.
Other authors have shown that it is possible to return to a normal architecture a cancerous tissue when it was taken in charge by an embryonic environment then by somatic tissue.
These last examples plead for the reality of the possible reversion of the cancerous to the non-cancerous.
Finally, more cancers are due to infectious "causes" than to genetic "causes".
These last examples plead for the reality of the possible reversion of the cancerous to the non-cancerous.
Towards a global approach to cancer
Any theory of carcinogenesis must explain cancerization since its onset, dysplasia, in situ, then crossing of the basement membrane, the growth of the primary tumor and the appearance of metastases.
Let us quote DW Smithers (1962): "cancer is no more a disease of the cells than a traffic jam is a disease of cars".
We therefore see a global approach taking into account both the mechanical and biological signals in this long process that goes from dysplasia to metastases.
This new branch of biology has consequences beyond oncology, in embryology, tissue engineering, etc.
It is only time for Physical Oncology to become visible. Visible because now integrable into an imagery that can measure mechanical signals, and visible in the scientific field as a full component of carcinogenesis.
References
Annexes
Related articles
Méchanobiology
External links
United States : National Cancer Institute (NCI) [archive]
Singapore : Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) [archive] – National University of Singapore
Europe : [archive], H2020
Journal : Convergent Science Physical Oncology [archive]
Oncology
Biophysics | Physical oncology | [
"Physics",
"Biology"
] | 5,498 | [
"Applied and interdisciplinary physics",
"Biophysics"
] |
55,801,521 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural%20vulnerability%20%28computing%29 | In computing, a structural vulnerability is an IT system weakness that consists of several so-called component vulnerabilities. This type of weakness generally emerges due to several system architecture flaws.
An example of a structural vulnerability is a person working in a critical part of the system with no security training, who doesn’t follow the software patch cycles and who is likely to disclose critical information in a phishing attack.
References
Vulnerability
Computer security exploits
Hacking (computer security) | Structural vulnerability (computing) | [
"Technology"
] | 94 | [
"Computer security exploits"
] |
55,802,486 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%204515 | NGC 4515 is a lenticular galaxy located about 57 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. NGC 4515 was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on March 21, 1784. The galaxy is a member of the Virgo Cluster.
See also
List of NGC objects (4001–5000)
NGC 4503
References
External links
Coma Berenices
Lenticular galaxies
4515
41652
7701
Astronomical objects discovered in 1784
Virgo Cluster
Discoveries by William Herschel | NGC 4515 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 98 | [
"Coma Berenices",
"Constellations"
] |
55,802,978 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet%20complex | Velvet complex is a group of proteins found in fungi and especially molds that are important in reproduction and production of secondary metabolites including penicillin. The core members of the complex include VeA, LaeA (loss of aflR-expression A), and VelB. Other proteins including VelC and VosA sometimes function in the complex. The proteins were first characterized in Aspergillus nidulans.
Some proteins in the complex are light-sensitive, including the founding member, VeA (Velvet A), which was first described in 1965.
Four of these proteins, VeA, VelB, VelC, and VosA, have an approximately 200 amino acid domain called the velvet domain.
Some fungal infections that are present in humans and sometimes plants have been traced down to certain velvet complex elements.
The Velvet complex seems to affect a number of functions that are of pathogenic nature. This process is facilitated, managed and administered by the proteins of velvet complex.
Velvet complex proteins have also been encountered in the genome sequence of fungal organisms in the form of transcription factors.
References
Fungal proteins | Velvet complex | [
"Chemistry"
] | 224 | [
"Biochemistry stubs",
"Protein stubs"
] |
55,803,461 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrocybe%20sororia | Agrocybe sororia is a species of Basidiomycota mushroom in the genus Agrocybe.
The cap is convex to plane, tawny fading to pale yellow-buff; and is sometimes cracked, or wrinkled. It is 5-10 cm in diameter and non-hygrophanous.
The gills have an adnate attachment to the stipe. They are 2-5 mm thick and white when young, turning yellowish brown to dull brown with age. The spores are cinnamon-brown and subovoid to ellipsoid, with 1 μm truncated germ pores. The basidia have 2-4 sterigmata and inconspicuous hilar appendages .
The stipe is cylindrical, concolor with the cap and lacks a ring or partial veil. The base of the stipe is club-shaped, fibrillose and 3.4-5(1.2) x 0.4-0.9 cm, in size. It has white mycelium and rhizomorphs.
The odour and taste is mealy (not bitter). Agrocybe sororia is distributed in eastern North America. It is found in wood mulch, composts and grassy areas and is saprotrophic.
Similar species
A. firma is similar but it has dark-brown pileus and lacks of mealy odour.
A. putaminum has a mealy odour, bitter taste and pileocystidia.
References
Strophariaceae
Fungus species | Agrocybe sororia | [
"Biology"
] | 324 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
55,804,131 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross%20128%20b | Ross 128 b is a confirmed Earth-sized exoplanet, likely rocky, that is orbiting near the inner edge of the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Ross 128, at a distance of from Earth in the constellation of Virgo. The exoplanet was found using a decade's worth of radial velocity data using the European Southern Observatory's HARPS spectrograph (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. Ross 128 b is the nearest exoplanet around a quiet red dwarf, and is considered one of the best candidates for habitability. The planet is only 35% more massive than Earth, receives only 38% more starlight, and is expected to be a temperature suitable for liquid water to exist on the surface, if it has an atmosphere.
The planet does not transit its host star, which makes atmospheric characterization very difficult, but this may be possible with the advent of larger telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope.
Physical characteristics
Mass, radius, and temperature
Due to it being discovered by the radial velocity method, the only known physical parameter for Ross 128 b is its minimum possible mass. The planet is at least , or 1.35 times the mass of Earth (about kg). This is slightly more massive than the similar and nearby Proxima Centauri b, with a minimum mass of . The low mass of Ross 128 b implies that it is most likely a rocky Earth-sized planet with a solid surface. However, its radius, and therefore its density, is not known as no transits of this planet have been observed. Ross 128 b would be (Earth radii) for a pure-iron composition and 3.0 for a pure hydrogen-helium composition, both implausible extremes. For a more plausible Earth-like composition, the planet would need to be about - i.e., 1.1 times the radius of Earth (approximately ). With that radius, Ross 128 b would be slightly denser than Earth, due to how a rocky planet would become more compact as it increases in size. It would give the planet a gravitational pull around , or about 1.12 times that of Earth.
A 2019 study predicts a true mass about 1.8 times that of Earth and a radius about 1.6 times that of Earth, with large margins of error.
Ross 128 b is calculated to have a temperature similar to that of Earth and potentially conducive to the development of life. The discovery team modelled the planet's potential equilibrium temperature using albedos of 0.100, 0.367, and 0.750. Albedo is the portion of the light that is reflected instead of absorbed by a celestial object. With these three albedo parameters, Ross 128 b would have a Teq of either , , or . For an Earth-like albedo of 0.3, the planet would have an equilibrium temperature of , about 8 Kelvins lower than Earth's average temperature. The actual temperature of Ross 128 b depends on yet-unknown atmospheric parameters, if it has an atmosphere.
Host star
Ross 128 b orbits the small red dwarf star known as Ross 128. The star is 17% the mass and 20% the radius of that of the Sun. It has a temperature of , a luminosity of , and an age of . For comparison, the Sun has a temperature of and age of , making Ross 128 half the temperature and over twice the age. The star is only 11.03 light-years away, making it one of the 20 closest stars known.
In 2018, astronomers, based on near-infrared, high-resolution spectra (APOGEE Spectra), determined the chemical abundances of several elements (C, O, Mg, Al, K, Ca, Ti, and Fe) present in Ross 128, finding that the star has near solar metallicity.
Orbit
Ross 128 b is a closely orbiting planet, with a year (orbital period) lasting about 9.9 days. Its semi-major axis is . According to some models of the planet's orbit, its orbit is quite circular, with an eccentricity of around 0.03, but also with a large error range as well. However, if all the orbital models are brought together then the eccentricity is higher at about 0.116, and again this is subject to a large error range. Compared to the Earth's average distance from the Sun of 149 million km, Ross 128 b orbits 20 times closer. At that close distance from its host star, the planet is most likely tidally locked, meaning that one side of the planet would have eternal daylight and the other would be in darkness.
A 2024 study of the radial velocity data found an eccentricity of about 0.21 for Ross 128 b, higher than previous estimates and similar to that of Mercury. Given the planet's orbit near the inner edge of the habitable zone, such a high eccentricity would significantly decrease its potential for habitability.
Habitability
Stellar flux properties
Ross 128 b is not confirmed to be orbiting exactly within the habitable zone. It appears to reside within the inner edge, as it receives approximately 38% more sunlight than Earth. The habitable zone is defined as the region around a star where temperatures are just right for a planet with a thick enough atmosphere to support liquid water, a key ingredient in the development of life as we know it. With its moderately high stellar flux, Ross 128 b is likely more prone to water loss, mainly on the side directly facing the star. However, an Earth-like atmosphere, assuming one exists, would be able to distribute the energy received from the star around the planet and allow more areas to potentially hold liquid water. In addition, study author Xavier Bonfils noted the possibility of significant cloud cover on the star-facing side, which would block out much incoming stellar energy and help keep the planet cool.
Solar flare potential
The planet is considered one of the most Earth-like worlds ever found in relation to its temperature, size and rather quiet host star. Ross 128 b is very close in mass to Earth, only about 35% more massive, and is likely around 10% larger in radius. Gravity on the planet would be only slightly higher. Also, its host star Ross 128 is an evolved star with a stable stellar activity. Many red dwarfs like Proxima Centauri and TRAPPIST-1 are prone to releasing potentially deadly flares caused by powerful magnetic fields. Billions of years of exposure to these flares can potentially strip a planet of its atmosphere and render it sterile with possibly dangerous amounts of radiation. While Ross 128 is known to produce such flares, they are currently much less common and less powerful than those of the previously mentioned stars.
Atmospheric potential
As of 2017, it is not yet possible to determine if Ross 128 b has an atmosphere because it does not transit the star. However, the James Webb Space Telescope and upcoming massive ground-based telescopes, like the Thirty Meter Telescope and the European Extremely Large Telescope, could analyze the atmosphere of Ross 128 b if it has an atmosphere without the need of transit. This would enable scientists to find biosignatures in the planet's atmosphere, which are chemicals like oxygen, ozone, and methane that are created by known biological processes.
See also
Kepler-438b, Earth-sized habitable zone planet with a very active host star.
LHS 1140 b, a huge rocky habitable zone planet around another quiet M-dwarf.
List of potentially habitable exoplanets
Luyten b, a potentially habitable planet orbiting Luyten's Star.
Proxima Centauri b, a similarly sized potentially habitable exoplanet found by the same team in August 2016.
TRAPPIST-1, has 7 confirmed planets, 4 that are potentially habitable.
TRAPPIST-1d
TRAPPIST-1e
TRAPPIST-1f
TRAPPIST-1g
References
External links
Ross 128 b at NASA
Exoplanets discovered in 2017
Exoplanets detected by radial velocity
Near-Earth-sized exoplanets
Near-Earth-sized exoplanets in the habitable zone
Virgo (constellation) | Ross 128 b | [
"Astronomy"
] | 1,674 | [
"Virgo (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
55,804,901 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State%20microbe | A state microbe is a microorganism used as an official state symbol. Several U.S. states have honored microorganisms by nominating them to become official state symbols. The first state to declare an Official State Microbe is Oregon which chose Saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer's or baker's yeast) as the Official Microbe of the State of Oregon in 2013 for its significance to the craft beer industry in Oregon. One of the first proponents of State Microbes was microbiologist Moselio Schaechter, who, in 2010, commented on Official Microbes for the American Society for Microbiology's blog "Small Things Considered" as well as on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered".
Wisconsin 2009: Lactococcus lactis, proposed, not passed
In November 2009, Assembly Bill 556 that proposed designating Lactococcus lactis as Wisconsin state microbe was introduced by Representatives Hebl, Vruwink, Williams, Pasch, Danou, and Fields; it was cosponsored by Senator Taylor. Although the bill passed the Assembly 56 to 41, It was not acted on by the Senate. The proposed AB 556 simply stated that Lactococcus lactis is the State Microbe and should be included in the Wisconsin Blue Book, an almanac containing information on the state of Wisconsin, published by Wisconsin's Legislative Reference Bureau.Lactococcus lactis was proposed as the State Microbe because of its crucial contribution to the cheese industry in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is the largest cheese producer in the United States, producing 3.1 billion pounds of cheese, 26% of all cheese in the US, in more than 600 varieties (2017 data).
Lactococcus lactis is vital for manufacturing cheeses such as Cheddar, Colby, cottage cheese, cream cheese, Camembert, Roquefort, and Brie, as well as other dairy products like cultured butter, buttermilk, sour cream, and kefir. It may also be used for vegetable fermentations such as cucumber pickles and sauerkraut.
Hawaii 2013–14: Flavobacterium akiainvivens and/or Aliivibrio fischeri
In January 2013, House Bill 293 was introduced by State Representative James Tokioka; the proposed bill designates Flavobacterium akiainvivens as the State Microbe of Hawaii. The bacterium was discovered on a decaying ākia shrub by Iris Kuo, a high school student working with Stuart Donachie at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The Hawaiian context is strong here because the ākia shrub (Wikstroemia oahuensis) is native to Hawaii, and the microbe (Flavobacterium akiainvivens) was first found in Hawaii. The shrub was used by ancient Hawaiians for medicine, textiles and for catching fish, while the microbe may have antibiotic properties.
Although it was favored by the House, the Flavobacterium akiainvivens bill failed to get a hearing in the Senate Technology and Arts Committee (TEC) and could not move forward for a Senate vote.
In February 2014, Senate Bill 3124 was introduced by Senator Glenn Wakai; the bill designates Aliivibrio fischeri as the State Microbe of Hawaii. Senator Wakai was Chairman of the Senate Technology and Arts Committee that squashed the Flavobacterium legislation. Aliivibrio fischeri was selected because it lives in a symbiotic relationship with the native Hawaiian bobtail squid, in which it confers bioluminescence on the squid, enabling it to hunt at night. Although this is an awesome example of symbiosis, political and scientific controversy erupted because even though the bobtail squid is only found in Hawaii, Aliivibrio fischeri can be found elsewhere.
The combined Hawaiian Legislature could not agree on which microbe better suited Hawaii, and the proposed legislation was dropped.
Legislation proposing Flavobacterium akiainvivens as the state microbe was re-introduced in 2017 .
Oregon 2013: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, passed
Oregon was the first state to declare an Official State Microbe.
In February 2013, House Concurrent Resolution 12 (HCR-12) was introduced into the Oregon legislative system by Representative Mark Johnson; the bill designates Saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer's yeast or bakers yeast) as the Official Microbe of the State of Oregon. The bill was passed by unanimous vote in the House on April 11; it passed in the Senate by a vote of 28 to 2 on May 23. Cosponsors of the measure were: Representatives Dembrow, McLane, Vega Pederson, Whisnant, Williamson, and Senators Hansell, Prozanski, and Thomsen.
HCR-12 recognizes the history of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in baking and brewing, thanks to its ability to convert fermentable sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide. Most important for Oregon is that the microbe is essential to the production of alcoholic beverages such as mead, wine, beer, and distilled spirits. Moreover, Saccharomyces cerevisiae inspired the thriving brew culture in Oregon, making Oregon an internationally recognized hub of craft brewing. The craft brewing business brings Oregon $2.4 billion annually, thanks to brewers yeast and talented brewers.
New Jersey 2017–2019: Streptomyces griseus, signed into law May 10, 2019
Introduction
Streptomyces griseus was chosen for the honor of becoming the New Jersey State Microbe because the organism is a New Jersey native that made unique contributions to healthcare and scientific research worldwide. A strain of S. griseus that produced the antibiotic streptomycin was discovered in New Jersey in “heavily manured field soil” from the New Jersey Agricultural Experimental Station by Albert Schatz in 1943. Streptomycin is noteworthy because it is: the first significant antibiotic discovered after penicillin; the first systemic antibiotic discovered in America; the first antibiotic active against tuberculosis; first-line treatment for plague. Moreover, New Jersey was the home of Selman Waksman, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his systematic studies of antibiotic production by S. griseus and other soil microbes.
Legislative Activity
On May 15, 2017, Senate Bill 3190 (S3190) was introduced by Senator Samuel D. Thompson (R-12); the bill designates Streptomyces griseus as the New Jersey State Microbe, to be added to the state's other state symbols. On June 1, 2017 Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-20) introduced Assembly Bill 4900 (A4900); the bill also designates S. griseus as the New Jersey State Microbe, and is the Assembly counterpart of S3190.
On December 11, 2017 (the birthday of Dr Robert Koch) S3190 was unanimously approved by the NJ Senate State Government. Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee. Speaking on behalf of the State Microbe were Drs John Warhol, Douglas Eveleigh, and Max Haggblom. On January 8, 2018, the full New Jersey Senate unanimously approved (38 to 0) S3190. The Assembly did not act on its version of the State Microbe legislation.
State Microbe legislation was reintroduced in the New Jersey Senate on February 5, 2018, by Senator Samuel Thompson (R-12); the bill number is S1729. Similar legislation was reintroduced in the New Jersey Assembly on March 12, 2018; the bill number is A3650. The legislation is sponsored by Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-20), ASW Patricia Jones (D-5), Assemblyman Arthur Barclay (D-5), ASM Eric Houghtaling (D-11), and ASW Joann Downey (D-11).
On June 14, 2018, Senate Bill S1729 was unanimously approved by the NJ Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee. On July 27, 2018, Senate Bill S1729 was unanimously approved (33 to 0) by the full New Jersey Senate. From the well of the Senate, Senator Thompson kindly acknowledged the efforts of State Microbe advocates John Warhol, Douglas Eveleigh, Jeff Boyd, and Jessica Lisa.
On September 17, 2018, Assembly Bill A3650 was unanimously approved by the Assembly Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee. Testifying on behalf of the State Microbe were Drs John Warhol, Douglas Eveleigh, and Jeff Boyd. On February 25, 2018, The New Jersey Assembly unanimously approved S1729/A3650 by a vote of 76 to 0.
The final vote in the Senate was March 14, 2019. The Bill passed by a vote of 34 to 0.
On May 10, 2019, Governor Murphy signed S1729/A3650 into effect. This made New Jersey the second state to have an Official Microbe, and the first to have an Official Bacterium.
Education Activity
The Rutgers University School of Environmental and Biological Science (SEBS) Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology hosted a poll for New Jersey State Microbe. The candidates have been Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans (discovered in NJ, 1922), Azotobacter vinelandii (discovered in Vineland, 1903), and Streptomyces griseus (New Brunswick is home of the streptomycin-producing strain). S. griseus has been the winning microbe by a 3 to 1 margin. In 2018, they received hundreds of signatures on a petition urging legislators to recognize S. griseus as the State Microbe.
The New Jersey State Microbe was the subject of a presentation by John Warhol at the 2018 Rutgers University Microbiology Symposium. Dr Warhol also spoke about the New Jersey State Microbe at the Theobald Smith Society (NJ Chapter of the American Society for Microbiology) Meeting in Miniature at Seton Hall University in April 2018.
A scientific paper on the political and social process of designating an official state microbe was presented at Microbe 2018, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. Titled "How to Get Your Own Official State Microbe" the presentation stressed the importance of clear communication and legislator contact by academic, industrial, and student supporters. The authors were Max Haggblom, Douglas Eveleigh, and John Warhol.
In November 2018, the New Jersey Historical Commission Forum on New Jersey History at Monmouth University was the venue for two presentations on the State Microbe. The first was titled "An Official New Jersey State Microbe! Streptomyces griseus" and the second was "The 75th Anniversary of the Discovery of Streptomycin – 2019". Authors of the presentations were Douglas Eveleigh, Jeff Boyd, Max Haggblom, Jessica Lisa, and John Warhol.
In early November 2018, Rutgers University launched a web page recognizing the Selman Waksman Museum at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The museum is housed in Dr Waksman's former laboratory space in Martin Hall.
The Eagleton Institute of Politics hosted a Science and Policy Workshop titled "Scientists in Politics" in late November 2018. Douglas Eveleigh and John Warhol participated, and informed the attendees about the history of microbiology in New Jersey and the importance of the State Microbe as a scientific and cultural symbol for New Jersey.
The Liberty Science Center (LSC) opened a new exhibit on December 13 named "Microbes Rule!" The installation features interactive learning stations in which museum-goers can discover the many ways that microbes shape life on Earth. The New Jersey State Microbe has a prominent place in the exhibit; Liberty Science Center sponsored a petition for the NJ legislature to vote Yes on behalf of the State Microbe. Speaking at the opening ceremony for the exhibit were LSC Chief Executive Officer Paul Hoffman, NJ Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, Rutgers University Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology Chairman Max Haggblom, Merck Executive Director for Infectious Diseases Todd Black, American Society for Microbiology Outreach Manager Dr Katherine Lontok, and science author Dr John Warhol of The Warhol Institute.
Press and Media Coverage
Following the Senate vote, The New Jersey State Microbe was the subject of local, national, and international media attention. Streaming audio and video interviews were broadcast or posted with Drs Eveleigh, Boyd, Warhol, and Haggblom on CBS News, News 12 New Jersey, NPR, This Week In Microbiology, and KYWNews Radio. Electronic and print media coverage included the Asbury Park Press, NorthJersey.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, NJ.com, NJ 101.5 dot com, NJ Spotlight, WPG Talk Radio, Rutgers Today, Politico, WSUS, Sky News, and Isle of Wight Radio.
On November 30, 2018, Jeff Boyd was featured on the cover of the Daily Targum in an article titled "Rutgers Professors Nominate Tuberculosis-Curing Bacteria for Official State Microbe". The story summarized the reasons for the State Microbe (saves lives, creates jobs) and the work that scientists have done to get the microbe recognized by the state legislature. Dr Boyd pointed out that “Microbes shape every aspect of our lives, our environment and the earth” and certainly deserve more recognition. Dr Eveleigh was also interviewed for the article and said "I’d like the governor to sign the legislation in the room of the lab in which streptomycin was discovered.”
On December 13, 2018, the State Microbe was highlighted in press and broadcast coverage by NJTV News of the opening of Microbes Rule! at the Liberty Science Center.
On Feb 21, Dr Jeffrey Boyd spoke with NJ Monthly for an article titled "Not Your Average Germ: New Jersey Considers a State Microbe".
On February 26, 2018, after the Assembly vote, Dr John Warhol was interviewed by Rebeca Ibarra of National Public Radio/WNYC for comments about the new State Microbe.
After Governor Murphy signed the State Microbe bill into law on May 10, 2019, additional press coverage developed in a variety of outlets.
The New Jersey State Microbe was featured in two televised interviews in July 2019. The first was on CUNY TV's Simply Science hosted by Barry Mitchell "Meet the New Jersey Microbe" featured an inspired Garden State Microbe song rendition on the steps of Dr Waksman's original laboratory. Drs Boyd and Haggblom recounted the story of The New Jersey State Microbe and the importance of microbes in everyday life on Earth. Dr Warhol appeared on Jersey Matters hosted by Larry Mendtke. In the segment titled "Jersey Matters-State Microbe", they discussed the importance of the New Jersey State Microbe and the growing need for improved microbe education and awareness.
Hawaii 2017: Flavobacterium akiainvivens, pending
In 2017, legislation similar to the original 2013 bill to make Flavobacterium akiainvivens the state microbe was submitted in the Hawaii House of Representatives by Isaac Choy and in the Hawaii Senate by Brian Taniguchi. In January 2017, Representative Choy submitted HB 1217 in the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives and Senator Taniguchi submitted the mirror bill SB1212 in the Hawaiʻi Senate. This continues the effort started by James Tokioka in 2013, and later contested in 2014 by Senator Glenn Wakai's SB3124 bill proposing Aliivibrio fischeri instead. , Hawaiʻi has no official state microbe.
Illinois 2019: Penicillium rubens NRRL 1951, passed May 31, 2021, signed into Law August 17, 2021
Introduction
The world's first antibiotic, penicillin, is produced by a strain of the mold Penicillium rubens (formerly Penicillium chrysogenum). Though the history of penicillin is centuries long, Scottish physician Alexander Fleming is usually credited with initiating the modern era of penicillin discovery, research, and development when he found the mold (Penicillium notatum, now also P. rubens) growing on a culture plate in his laboratory in 1928. Penicillin is effective on gram-positive bacteria. The antibiotic-producing strains of Penicillium in the early years produced relatively low yields of unstable penicillin. The yields were so low that urine from treated patients was collected and the penicillin remaining extracted and reused. At Oxford University in England a team including Dr. Howard Florey, Dr. Ernst Chain and Norman Heatley took up the goal of finding solutions to penicillin recovery issues. After a referral on who best to contact about increasing production, Florey and Heatley secretly came to Peoria Illinois on July 14, 1941, with their penicillin producing mold. WW2 necessitated moving of the work on penicillin to the United States where industrial supplies were not as constrained for the war effort. They met with personnel at the USDA (then Northern Regional Research Laboratory, NRRL, now National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, NCAUR). There at the "Ag Lab" corn steep liquor, a byproduct of alcohol production, had been used for growing mold cultures in the past. It was found out later that phenylacetic acid, a side chain precursor of penicillin was present in quantity in the liquor and had increased yields. Other additions to the growth media such as lactose(milk sugar) were restricted during the war for penicillin production. Major breakthroughs at the Ag Lab came in the years between 1941 and 1943, when higher yielding strains were isolated. After the isolation trials selected the most promising mold strains, methods for the industrialized production of penicillin were developed there in Peoria, Illinois. The strain having the highest production was found on a moldy cantaloupe in Peoria, IL. This strain was improved upon by research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (formerly the Carnegie Institution of Washington) and the University of Wisconsin. Strains were given out to other researchers and interested industrial firms. The mass production techniques developed at the Ag Lab enabled the United States and its allies to have penicillin available for the D-Day invasion in 1944. After an initial few, eventually about twenty industrial partners helped increase the yields of penicillin. On March 15, 1945, penicillin was made available to the public after being available some months before to hospitals and doctors.
Origin of the idea of an Illinois State Microbe
On August 7, 2018, while driving home and listening to National Public Radio's broadcast of "All Things Considered," Gary Kuzniar heard an interesting story about State Microbe designations. The story said that Oregon had already passed legislation (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and other states had started working to declare theirs. The next month Dr. Neil Price was walking in the hallway with two petri dish plasticized mold props and Gary asked him what they were. Neil said that they were penicillin props for a display in "The Ten Most Important Medical Inventions of the World" down at the local museum(Peoria Riverfront Museum). Gary mentioned that he had heard a radio program on state microbes and that the penicillin he had in his hands would be a good candidate for Illinois. It was agreed between them to form the Illinois State Microbe Designation Project to approach the whole logistical thing of doing it.
Legislative activity
On February 15, 2019, Senator Dave Koehler introduced SB 1857, legislation that designates Penicillium chrysogenum NRRL 1951 as the Official State Microbe of Illinois. The bill passed the Senate on April 4 and gained Senator Mattie Hunter as a cosponsor. That same day, the bill was introduced into the Illinois House of Representatives with Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth as the primary sponsor. The bill was then referred to the State Rules Committee on 4 April 2019 and later to the State Government Administration Committee on 24 April. During the Spring 2019 Illinois Legislative session, it was learned that current DNA analysis on the famous Penicillium chrysogenum strain from the 1940s resulted in a name change to P. rubens. The original nomenclature was based on physical structure and current science relies on the more precise DNA analysis. The senate bill appeared on the 2019 Fall Veto Session docket but it didn't make it to the floor. SB 1857 was considered again in the 2020 Illinois State Spring Pandemic Session but COVID-19 made the session short. The bill was emptied of its contents, other considerations inserted and the bill passed quickly. There was no Fall 2020 Illinois State House Veto Session due to the continuing COVID-19 restrictions. At the start of the 2021 Illinois General Assembly Spring Session parallel bills were started, SB 2004 in the Senate and HB 1879 in the House for an Illinois State Microbe. Again there was a delay in the bill moving and the House bill survived to go forward. The Friday before the end of the session saw this bill amended just three days before the end of the Spring Session. On the last day of the official 2021 Illinois General Assembly Spring Session, about 8:10 pm on the evening of May 31, 2021 the bill HB 1879 designating Penicillium rubens as Illinois' State Microbe was brought up by Representative Ryan Spain and was passed. It then was forwarded to the desk of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker on June 29, 2021, to be signed. After about a month and a half the bill was then signed in a public ceremony at the University of Illinois Springfield Campus on August 17, 2021, with the . In the Spring 2021 Session, new bills were introduced in both the IL Senate and House to denote an Illinois State Microbe (SB 2004 and HB1879). The IL House bill survived and was concurred with the IL Senate proceedings. It passed both State Houses on May 31, 2021
Press and media coverage
Press coverage for the Illinois State Microbe has been enthusiastic. Journalist Phil Luciano of the Journal Star interviewed Neil Price of the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research. As a representative of the Illinois State Microbe Designation Project he contactied Senator David Koehler and relayed information about the crucial role that Illinois had in the production of penicillin and its effect on world health. He then gave a witness testimony to the Illinois Senate on March 20, 2019. Additional television coverage was featured on WQAD-TV.
Promotion, Contact of and Support Letters and Legislation
Gary took this aspect of the project and contacted two people that were currently working for New Jersey's State Microbe (Streptomyces griseous), Dr. Max Haggblom and Dr. John Warhol. Letters of support were requested and put in a folder to be given to the original introducer of an Illinois State Microbe bill (Senator Koehler), each local district legislator and professional organizations throughout the state. Some of the letters were received from Western Illinois University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Bradley University in Peoria Illinois and the William Dunn School of Pathology at the University of Oxford where the original work by Alexander Fleming was noticed and continued by scientists Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, Norman Heatley and others. Small Penicillium plushes from Giant Microbes were attached to folders containing the letters of support and then given to local legislators and others along with a cantaloupe. A T-shirt has been made that includes an illustration from the Manual of Penicillia by Dr. Kenneth B. Raper and Charles Thom. One of the illustrations done by Dorothy I. Fennell was selected. She worked under Dr. Raper. Permission for this was granted by the book publisher. During the legislation, a painting of an iconic character and one of its commissioner were obtained from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with permission of the Bacteriology Department. "Moldy Mary" is a painting of a young woman at a 1940s downtown Peoria Illinois produce market with a moldy cantaloupe in her hand. The second painting is of the paintings' commissioner himself, Dr. Ken Raper. He is standing in a lab also with a cantaloupe in his hand. Both were available for viewing at the "Ten Most Important Medical Inventions of the World" exhibit at the Peoria Riverfront Museum earlier 2019.
See also
Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus the National Microbe for India
References
Culture of the United States
Microbe
Legal history of the United States
Microbiology | State microbe | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 5,126 | [
"Microbiology",
"Microscopy"
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55,805,261 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita%20prairiicola | Amanita prairiicola is an American fungus. Its cap is white, across, and usually flat to convex. The gills are a cream to gold hue, free, crowded, and broad. The stalk is , and is also cream colored.
The species is native to western North America from Oregon to Arizona and eastward to Kansas. One specimen has been described in Argentina, though it may have been imported with soil. Unlike most Amanita species, it does not appear to need a mycorrhizal host and has been found in areas with no potential for a host, such as open cultivated fields and deserts.
References
prairiicola
Fungi of North America
Fungus species | Amanita prairiicola | [
"Biology"
] | 139 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
55,805,793 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boletus%20recapitulatus | Boletus recapitulatus is a species of bolete fungus found in Sikkim in northeastern India.
References
recapitulatus
Fungi described in 2015
Fungi of India
Fungus species | Boletus recapitulatus | [
"Biology"
] | 41 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
55,805,806 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%20496 | NGC 496, also occasionally referred to as PGC 5037, UGC 927 or GC 288, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces. It is located approximately 250 million light-years from the Solar System and was discovered on 12 September, 1784 by astronomer William Herschel.
Observation history
The object was discovered by Herschel along with NGC 495 and NGC 499. He initially described the discovery as "Three [NGC 496 along with NGC 495 and 499], eS and F, forming a triangle.". As he observed the trio again the next night, he was able to make out more detail: "Three, forming a [right triangle]; the [right angle] to the south NGC 499, the short leg preceding [NGC 496], the long towards the north [NGC 495]. Those in the legs [NGC 496 and 495] the faintest imaginable; that at the rectangle [NGC 499] a deal larger and brighter, but still very faint."
NGC 496 was later also observed by Bindon Blood Stoney. This position is also noted in the New General Catalogue.
See also
Spiral Galaxy
List of NGC objects (1–1000)
Pisces (constellation)
References
External links
SEDS
Spiral galaxies
Pisces (constellation)
0496
005061
Astronomical objects discovered in 1784
Discoveries by William Herschel
927 | NGC 496 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 289 | [
"Pisces (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
55,806,018 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled%20Access%20Protection%20Profile | The Controlled Access Protection Profile, also known as CAPP, is a Common Criteria security profile that specifies a set of functional and assurance requirements for information technology products. Software and systems that conform to CAPP standards provide access controls that are capable of enforcing access limitations on individual users and data objects. CAPP-conformant products also provide an audit capability which records the security-relevant events which occur within the system.
CAPP is intended for the protection of software and systems where users are assumed to be non-hostile and well-managed, requiring protection primarily against threats of inadvertent or casual attempts to breach the security protections. It is not intended to be applicable to circumstances in which protection is required against determined attempts by hostile and well-funded attackers. It does not fully address the threats posed by malicious system development or administrative personnel, who generally have a higher level of access. The CAPP was derived from the requirements of the C2 class of the U.S. Department of Defense Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria and the material upon which those requirements are based.
Computer security models | Controlled Access Protection Profile | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 217 | [
"Computer security stubs",
"Computing stubs",
"Computer security models",
"Cybersecurity engineering"
] |
55,806,119 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitmain | Bitmain Technologies Ltd., is a privately owned company headquartered in Beijing, China, that designs application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips for bitcoin mining.
History
It was founded by Micree Zhan and Jihan Wu in 2013. Prior to founding Bitmain, Zhan was running DivaIP, a startup that allowed users to stream television to a computer screen via a set-top box, and Wu was a financial analyst and private equity fund manager.
By 2018 it had become the world's largest designer of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips for bitcoin mining. The company also operates BTC.com and Antpool, historically two of the largest mining pools for bitcoin. In an effort to boost Bitcoin Cash (BCH) prices, Antpool "burned" 12% of the BCH they mined by sending them to irrecoverable addresses. Bitmain was reportedly profitable in early 2018, with a net profit of $742.7 million in the first half of 2018, and negative operating cash flow. TechCrunch reported that unsold inventory ballooned to one billion dollars in the second quarter of 2018. Bitmain's first product was the Antminer S1 which is an ASIC bitcoin miner making 180 gigahashes per second (GH/s) while using 80200 watts of power. Bitmain as of 2018 had 11 mining farms operating in China. Bitmain was involved in the 2018 Bitcoin Cash split, siding with Bitcoin Cash ABC alongside Roger Ver. In December 2018 the company laid off about half of its 3000 staff. The company has since closed its offices in Israel and the Netherlands, while significantly downsizing its Texas mining operation. In February 2019, Bitmain had lost "about $500 million" in the third quarter of 2018. Bitmain issued a statement saying "the rumors are not true and we will make announcements in due course."
In June 2021, suspended spot delivery of sales of machines globally aiming to support local prices following Beijing's crackdown.
Bitmain's attempts at initial public offering
In June 2018, Wu told Bloomberg that Bitmain was considering an IPO, to give early investors a chance to cash out. The company completed its $1 billion pre-IPO registration with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in August, and filed for IPO in September.
Bitmain Technologies filed for IPO on 26 September 2018 with the Hong Kong regulatory agency and released their first public financial statement at a time where bitcoin prices had dropped 65% from December 2017. The price drop had hurt mining hardware sales that accounted for 96% of the company's revenue. Bitmain will use a dual class share structure. In Bitmain's case, this means the share held by company's founders would count as 10 votes.
On 26 March 2019, Bitmain's application for a Hong Kong initial public offering lapsed, six months after it was filed, as investors were reportedly concerned about the fall in bitcoin's value. The company issued a statement saying it would "restart the listing application work at an appropriate time in the future." Bitmain also announced that Haichao Wang would serve as its new CEO, while co-founders Micree Zhan and Jihan Wu will continue as directors.
According to a Tencent News Report, after Bitmain's failed IPO attempt in Hong Kong, Bitmain filed an application in the United States seeking to go public again.
Controversies
In 2015, Bitmain was involved in Hong Kong's first cryptocurrency-related litigation in the High Court (High Court Action No. HCA 1980 of 2015) when Bitmain sued one of the world's leading bitcoin trading platforms at the time. Bitmain accused the trading platform of "negligence and/or security issues". At the commencement of proceedings, Bitmain's claim amount was around RMB 700,000. Bitmain's claim was later contested after it was revealed during the course of the litigation that serious issues of cyber-security neglect may have occurred on Bitmain's side when the transaction had been undertaken by Bitmain's staff (e.g. leaving on the auto-fill function while inputting wallet addresses, use of unsecured private networks, use of PRC banned software while conducting the transaction in PRC). The mining giant's claim ultimately failed and was discontinued after Bitmain suffered a series of interlocutory defeats (where its earlier default judgment was overturned and was even ordered to pay security for costs). As part of the terms of discontinuance, Bitmain was ordered to pay the trading platform's legal fees. The total legal fees that Bitmain had to pay the trading platform totaled over HK$1.3 Million, nearly double that of the initial claim amount.
In 2017, Bitmain sued Zuoxing Yang, a former Bitmain chip design director who left Bitmain to launch Bitewei over patent rights infringements. In 2018, Yang's legal team successfully appealed to a court in China to have the patent revoked, after which Bitmain's case was dismissed.
In 2018, a class action lawsuit of US$5 million was commenced by Los Angeles County resident Gor Gevorkyan against Bitmain where it was alleged that Bitmain mined cryptocurrency for its own benefit on its customers’ devices. It was alleged by the Plaintiffs in this case that Bitmain is benefiting—without authorization—from the lengthy "initialization" period that its ASIC [Application-Specific Integrated Circuit] devices need for set up: "Until the complicated and time-consuming initialization procedures are completed, Bitmain's ASIC [Application-Specific Integrated Circuit] devices are preconfigured to use its customers’ electricity to generate cryptocurrency for the benefit of Bitmain rather than its customers."
In 2018, Bitmain was involved in another legal dispute against a Labrador mining farm. Bitmain Technologies sued Great North Data alleging problems from the start of the agreement between the two companies. Bitmain develops and produces miners where it operates some of its hardware out of third-party "mining farms". Great North Data provides space to companies like Bitmain to install and run their bitcoin mining equipment.
In or about November 2019, the ousted co-founder of Bitmain, Micree Zhan, filed multiple lawsuits in the Cayman Islands and China against various entities of Bitmain in a bid to regain control of Bitmain. The lawsuit in China was accompanied by an asset-protection petition during which the PRC Court sided with Zhan to freeze 36 percent of Fujian Zhanhua's 10 million yuan incorporated shares owned by Bitmain, worth 3.6 million yuan, or $500,000. This case highlighted what appears to be an ongoing power struggle between the two founders for control of Bitmain.
U.S. sanctions
In January 2025, the United States Department of Commerce placed a Bitmain subsidiary, Sophgo, on its Entity List following reports that a TSMC-made chip was illegally incorporated into a Huawei artificial intelligence processor.
References
Bitcoin companies
Companies based in Beijing
Chinese companies established in 2013
Application-specific integrated circuits
Hardware acceleration
Privately held companies of China | Bitmain | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 1,494 | [
"Application-specific integrated circuits",
"Hardware acceleration",
"Computer engineering",
"Computer systems"
] |
55,807,342 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza%20helper%20bacteria | Mycorrhiza helper bacteria (MHB) are a group of organisms that form symbiotic associations with both ectomycorrhiza and arbuscular mycorrhiza. MHBs are diverse and belong to a wide variety of bacterial phyla including both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Some of the most common MHBs observed in studies belong to the genera Pseudomonas and Streptomyces. MHBs have been seen to have extremely specific interactions with their fungal hosts at times, but this specificity is lost with plants. MHBs enhance mycorrhizal function, growth, nutrient uptake to the fungus and plant, improve soil conductance, aid against certain pathogens, and help promote defense mechanisms. These bacteria are naturally present in the soil, and form these complex interactions with fungi as plant root development starts to take shape. The mechanisms through which these interactions take shape are not well-understood and needs further study.
Taxonomy
MHBs consist of a diverse group of bacteria, often gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Most of the bacteria are associated with both ectomycorrhiza and arbuscular mycorrhiza, but some show specificity to a particular type of fungus. The common phyla that MHB belong to will be addressed in the following sections, as well as common genera.
Pseudomonadota
The Pseudomonadota (formerly Proteobacteria) are a large and diverse group of gram-negative bacteria containing five classes. Pseudomonas is in the gammaproteobacteria class. Specific bacteria within this genus are strongly associated as being MHBs in the rhizosphere of both ectomycorrhiza and arbuscular mycorrhiza. Pseudomonas fluorescens has been examined in several studies to understand how they work in benefiting the mycorrhiza and plant. In one study, they found that the bacteria helped ectomycorrhizal fungi promote a symbiotic relationship with the plant by examining an increase in formation of mycorrhiza when Pseudomonas fluorescens was applied to the soil. Some bacteria improve root colonization and plant growth when associated with arbuscular mycorrhiza. It has been hypothesized that MHBs aid the plant in pathogenic defense by improving the nutrient uptake from the soil, allowing plants to allocate more resources to broad defense mechanisms. However, the mechanism these species use to help both fungi is still unknown and needs to be further investigated.
Actinomycetota
Actinomycetota are gram-positive bacteria and are naturally found in the soil. In this phylum, Streptomyces is the largest genus of bacteria, and are often associated with MHBs. Streptomyces have been a model organism of study in biological research on MHBs. In one study, it has been reported that Streptomyces are responsible for increasing root colonization, plant biomass growth, mycorrhizal colonization, and fungal growth. However, there is not just a single mechanism that the MHBs participate in. It has also been found that Streptomyces interact with ectomycorrhiza and arbuscular mycorrhiza. While these interactions need further understanding, they seem to be extremely common in natural soil.
Bacillota
Bacillota are gram-positive bacteria, many of which have a low GC content in their DNA. There are a few genera that act as MHBs, but one of the most common is Bacillius. Bacillius belong to the class Bacilli, and are rod-shaped organisms that can be free-living or pathogenic. However, in the presence of mycorrhiza some species can be beneficial and are considered to be MHBs. Since they are common, they can form a relationship with ectomycorrhiza and arbuscular mycorrhiza, similar to the previous genera. Bacillius aids in the establishment and growth of mycorrhiza, and helps with the fixation of nitrogen in the rhizosphere.
Impact
MHBs are known to have several functions when interacting with the roots of plants and growth of fungi. In several studies it has been reported that MHBs can help fungi by increasing mycelial growth and aid in nutrient intake. The mycelial increase allows for fungi to absorb more nutrients, increasing its surface area.
Growth promoted by nutrients
Some MHBs are known to help break down molecules to a more usable form. MHBs can obtain both inorganic and organic nutrients in the soil through a direct process known as mineral-weathering which aids in the recycling of nutrients throughout the environment. The process of mineral-weathering releases protons and iron into the soil. This results in a lowering of the pH. A diverse group of bacteria can participate in the mineral- weathering process, such as Pseudomonas, Burkholderia, and Collimonas. The acidification of the soil by MHBs is hypothesized to be linked to their glucose metabolism.
MHBs also help gather unavailable phosphorus from the surrounding soil. Phosphate solubilizing rhizobacteria are the most common MHB that aids in phosphorus uptake. The bacteria are involved in this process by releasing phosphate-degrading compounds in the soil to break down organic and inorganic phosphate. As a result, the MHB create a pool of phosphate that the mycorrhiza then use. The bacteria work in phosphorus-limited conditions to help the mycorrhiza establish and grow. Streptomyces can assist arbuscular mycorrhiza in phosphorus-limited conditions through a similar process.
MHBs in the rhizosphere often have the capability to acquire nitrogen that the plant can use. The MHBs are able to fix nitrogen in the soil, and create pools of available nitrogen. However, MHBs do not cause plant modifications as legumes do, to help with nitrogen-fixation. Nitrogen-fixation is done only in the surrounding soil in relation to the mycorrhiza. In one study, researchers reported that a Bacillius MHB contributed to the nitrogen-fixation, and among other factors helped the plant grow when inoculated with a fungus.
Plant growth hormones
It has been proposed (Kaska et al., 1994) that MHBs induce growth hormones in a plant, which helps the mycorrhiza interact with the lateral roots in soil. An increase of root formation was also observed when Pseudomonas putida produced growth hormones, and was inoculated with the arbuscular mycorrhiza Gigaspora rosea on a cucumber plant. The inoculation of both the MHB and the fungus allowed for an increase in root elongation and growth in the soil, similar to the previous study. In another study, it was found that MHB can release gaseous compounds to attract and aid in the growth of fungi. The introduction of growth hormones and gaseous compounds produced by MHBs was only discovered recently, and requires further study on how MHBs influence the mycorrhiza symbiotic relationship and root growth.
Alteration of fungal genes aiding in growth
Researchers have reported that fungal genes can be altered in the presence of an MHB. In one study, it was hypothesized that in the presence of a fungus, an MHB will promote an increase in the expression of a gene that helps to promote growth in the fungus. The fungus changes its genes expression after the MHB has promoted growth of the fungus, thus the alteration of the gene is an indirect effect. This is likely the cause of certain compounds or signals released by the MHBs, and further analysis is needed to better understand this communication.
Interactions with specific fungi
Only certain bacteria are specific to mycorrhizal fungi groups. Results have shown that the indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi of the clover plant could only grow in the presence Pseudomonas putida, but in fact, the plant could grow with the presence of multiple bacteria. It has been hypothesized that rhizosphere helper bacteria, in the soil, have developed traits to aid them in competition for inoculating fungi in their environment. Thus, it is plausible that MHBs select for certain fungi and developed some specificity towards a fungus that favors the bacteria.
Detoxifying soil
MHBs help mycorrhiza establish symbiotic associations in stressful environments such as those high in toxic metals. In harsh environments, the bacteria assist in acquiring more nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. MHBs help to prevent the uptake of toxic metals including lead, zinc, and cadmium. The bacteria decrease the amount of metals taken up by the plant through blockade mechanisms. The blockade of the toxic metals by the bacteria allows the fungus to form a stronger symbiotic association with the plant, and promotes the growth of both. Another proposed mechanism of MHBs in toxic environments is that the bacteria aid the mycorrhiza by compensating for the negative effects the toxic metal imposed. The MHBs help by increasing the plant nutrition uptake, and creating a balance between the macronutrients and micronutrients. Thus, MHBs have mechanisms to help the plant tolerate harsh and otherwise unsuitable environments. This relationship makes them great candidates for bioremediation.
With pathogenic fungi
In the presence of a pathogenic fungus, most studies show that MHBs aid in fighting off pathogens. However, there have been a few cases where MHBs help to promote pathogenic effects of a fungus.
Assisting pathogenic fungi
There have been a few studies that have found that MHBs aid pathogenic fungi. One study showed that MHBs aided in colonization of a type of fungal pathogen because the surrounding environment was unsuitable for the symbiotic mycorrhiza. Thus the MHB became more harmful under certain conditions to increase their own fitness. Researchers have also found that MHBs help the pathogenic fungus to colonize on the surface of the plant. This has a negative effect on the plant, by increasing the deleterious effects of the fungus. Another proposed mechanism is that MHBs alter the defense mechanism of the plant, by shutting off degrading peroxidase enzymes, and allowing the pathogenic fungus to inoculate the plant.
Defending against pathogenic fungi
In several studies, researchers have proposed numerous ways MHBs defend against pathogens. In one experiment researchers observed that MHBs produced acid in the surrounding environment, which helped to fight off various pathogens. It has also been hypothesized that the defense mechanism against pathogens is from a combination of both fungi and plant. Another study found that MHBs release antifungal metabolites into the soil. The anti-fungal metabolites produce antagonistic effects towards the pathogenic fungi. However, MHBs can help defend a pathogen depending on the nutrient availability and space in the rhizosphere. Further research is still necessary to understand the mechanism of how MHBs aid mycorrhiza in order to defeat pathogens, and if this role is symbiotic or more mutualistic in nature.
References
Bacteria
Mutualism (biology) | Mycorrhiza helper bacteria | [
"Biology"
] | 2,363 | [
"Behavior",
"Symbiosis",
"Biological interactions",
"Prokaryotes",
"Bacteria",
"Mutualism (biology)",
"Microorganisms"
] |
55,807,360 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutorius%20magnificus | Sutorius magnificus, known until 2014 as Boletus magnificus, is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae native to Yunnan province in China. It was transferred to the new genus Neoboletus in 2014, and then Sutorius in 2016.
References
External links
Fungi described in 1948
Fungi of China
Fungus species
Boletaceae | Sutorius magnificus | [
"Biology"
] | 79 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
55,807,435 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiplasinin | Tiplasinin (, ) or tiplaxtinin (PAI-039) is a drug which acts as an inhibitor of the serpin protein plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), thereby increasing activity of the enzymes tissue plasminogen activator and urokinase, which are involved in the blood clotting cascade. Inhibition of PAI-1 can help to prevent damage to blood vessel walls that occurs as a consequence of chronic high blood pressure, as well as preventing the formation of blood clots that can lead to stroke and heart attack, and potentially also providing a novel treatment mechanism to slow the development of diabetes and obesity. Tiplasinin was unsuccessful in human clinical trials due to an unfavourable risk to benefit ratio and the need for tight dose control to avoid provoking bleeding disorders, however it is still widely used in scientific research and newer drugs sharing the same mechanism of action are likely to be developed for medical use in future.
References
Abandoned drugs
Acetic acids
Indoles
Trifluoromethyl ethers | Tiplasinin | [
"Chemistry"
] | 225 | [
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
55,807,611 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political%20Economy%20of%20Research%20and%20Innovation | The Political Economy of Research and Innovation (PERI) (or sometimes political economy of technoscience) is an emerging academic field at the interface of science and technology studies and political economy. It focuses on the production, distribution, and consumption of knowledge, and how these shape and are shaped by different political economies. Most scholars in this field have so-far focused on the two-way relationship between science, technology, and innovation and political economic processes, practices, and logics.
It has its origins in the critique of neoclassical or orthodox economics of science by scholars like Philip Mirowski, the 'economic turn' in science and technology studies (see social studies of finance and valuation studies), and innovation studies or science policy.
Examples of the field include:
An annual Changing Political Economy of Research and Innovation (CPERI) workshop which has been held in Lancaster (UK 2012), Toronto (Canada 2013), San Diego (USA 2015), Liege (Belgium 2016), Boston (USA 2017), and Lancaster (UK 2018).
Programmatic handbooks like The Routledge Handbook of the Political Economy of Science (2017, edited by David Tyfield, Rebecca Lave, Samuel Randalls, and Charles Thorpe) and Critical Studies of Innovation (2017, edited by Benoît Godin and Dominique Vinck) published by Edward Elgar.
Special issues of academic journals.
Graduate courses in science and technology studies programs.[1]
References
Science and technology studies
Political economy | Political Economy of Research and Innovation | [
"Technology"
] | 295 | [
"Science and technology studies"
] |
55,807,655 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrivo | Arrivo Corporation was a startup company in Los Angeles, California, that developed maglev rail. Arrivo initially attempted to commercialize a hyperloop, but abandoned the effort in November 2017 in favor of established transit technologies.
In November 2017, Arrivo proposed a plan for a 200 mph (322 km/h) maglev system in Colorado that would transport automobiles to and from Denver International Airport.
On December 14, 2018, Arrivo reportedly shut down due to being unable to secure Series A funding.
History
Arrivo was founded in 2016, after an acrimonious departure of most of Arrivo's management team from Hyperloop One. A resulting lawsuit was settled. The company's trademark application described its mission as: "Financial advisory and consultancy services namely, provide expert project analysis in the field of transportation."
In a June 2017 interview, founder BamBrogan reported the company had twenty employees. Three months before it ended hyperloop development, USA Today reported Arrivo as one of three top contenders in the hyperloop field.
Colorado maglev project
Arrivo agreed to lease offices in an unused toll plaza on E-470 in Commerce City, Colorado, intending to employ forty engineers. The second phase would have been the erection of a half-mile maglev test track, but not the evacuated tube that was a big part of Elon Musk's original hyperloop proposal. The state has offered $760,000 in tax incentives to lure Arrivo. At a press conference, Brogan BamBrogan described a system that would move automobiles from downtown Denver to the airport at the same price as the tolls on Pena Boulevard, the airport highway. It would, he said, have a payback period of ten years. The company planned to break ground on the first commercial leg, from Aurora to the airport, in 2019, with an opening in 2021.
Technology
The company has described a sled for automobiles; other elements of the technology with the exception of the tube and vacuum are likely to be similar to maglev.
In March 2017 the company claimed it could have an operational hyperloop within three years.
In November 2017, the company announced that it was no longer developing vacuum tubes and was focused on maglev rail technology.
Funding
In 2017, Arrivo said it had "'initial funding in place,' but did not reveal how much capital it had secured or the source of financial support." BamBrogan expected revenue-generating projects within three years, with a "classic infrastructure model". In July 2018, it announced that it had received $1 billion credit from Genertec America.
Management
The lead founder of Arrivo is Brogan BamBrogan, formerly founder and chief engineer at Hyperloop One and SpaceX.
References
Hyperloop
Technology companies based in Greater Los Angeles
Transportation in Aurora, Colorado
Transportation companies based in California
Transportation companies of the United States
2016 establishments in California
2018 disestablishments in California
American companies established in 2016
American companies disestablished in 2018 | Arrivo | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 624 | [
"Vacuum systems",
"Hyperloop",
"Transport systems"
] |
55,808,180 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoxyl%20sulfate | Indoxyl sulfate, also known as 3-indoxylsulfate and 3-indoxylsulfuric acid, is a metabolite of dietary that acts as a cardiotoxin and uremic toxin. High concentrations of indoxyl sulfate in blood plasma are known to be associated with the development and progression of chronic kidney disease and vascular disease in humans. As a uremic toxin, it stimulates glomerular sclerosis and renal interstitial fibrosis.
Biosynthesis
Indoxyl sulfate is a metabolite of dietary that is synthesized through the following metabolic pathway:
→ indole → indoxyl → indoxyl sulfate
Indole is produced from in the human intestine via tryptophanase-expressing gastrointestinal bacteria. Indoxyl is produced from indole via enzyme-mediated hydroxylation in the liver; in vitro experiments with rat and human liver microsomes suggest that the CYP450 enzyme CYP2E1 hydroxylates indole into indoxyl. Subsequently, indoxyl is converted into indoxyl sulfate by sulfotransferase enzymes in the liver; based upon in vitro experiments with recombinant human sulfotransferases, SULT1A1 appears to be the primary sulfotransferase enzyme involved in the conversion of indoxyl into indoxyl sulfate.
Clinical significance
Occasionally in urinary tract infections, bacteria produce indoxyl phosphatase which splits indoxyl sulfate forming indigo and indirubin creating dramatic purple urine. Indoxyl sulfate is also a product of indole metabolism, which is produced from tryptophan by intestinal flora, such as Escherichia coli.
References
Amino acid derivatives
Indoles
Sulfate esters
Toxins | Indoxyl sulfate | [
"Environmental_science"
] | 373 | [
"Toxins",
"Toxicology"
] |
55,808,892 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%20Adolescents%20Science%20%26%20Technology%20Innovation%20Contest | China Adolescents Science & Technology Innovation Contest (CASTIC; ) is one of the biggest national science competitions in China held by organizations including China Association for Science and Technology and Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. Every year, more than 10 million students from all parts of China submit their projects in local-level competitions and up to 500 projects are eventually selected for the CASTIC. A few top projects are further selected to participate in competitions including Broadcom Masters International, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, or European Union Contest for Young Scientists.
Location
Before 2002
China Adolescents Innovation Contest and Science Seminar
1st (1982): Shanghai
2nd (1984): Kunming, Yunnan
3rd (1986): Lanzhou, Gansu
4th (1988): Beijing
5th (1990): Chengdu, Sichuan
6th (1992): Shenyang, Liaoning
7th (1994): Nanning, Guangxi
8th (1996): Tianjin
9th (1998): Hong Kong
10th (2000): Hefei, Anhui
China Adolescents Biology and Environmental Science Practice Project
1st (1991): Beijing
2nd (1993): Shanghai
3rd (1995): Changsha, Hunan
4th (1997): Xining, Qinghai
5th (1999): Hohhot, Inner Mongolia
6th (2001): Fuzhou, Fujian
After 2002
In 2002, the biennial China Adolescents Innovation Contest and Science Seminar () and the biennial China Adolescents Biology and Environmental Science Practice Project () were combined into CASTIC.
17th (2002): Zhengzhou, Henan
18th (2003): Lanzhou, Gansu
19th (2004): Chengdu, Sichuan
20th (2005): Beijing
21st (2006): Macau
22nd (2007): Kunming, Yunnan
23rd (2008): Ürümqi, Xinjiang
24th (2009): Jinan, Shandong
25th (2010): Guangzhou, Guangdong
26th (2011): Hohhot, Inner Mongolia
27th (2012): Yinchuan, Ningxia
28th (2013): Nanjing, Jiangsu
29th (2014): Beijing
30th (2015): Hong Kong
31st (2016): Shanghai
32nd (2017): Hangzhou, Zhejiang
33rd (2018): Chongqing
34th (2019): Macau
References
External links
Annual fairs
Science competitions
Youth science
Fairs in China
Science events in China | China Adolescents Science & Technology Innovation Contest | [
"Technology"
] | 466 | [
"Science and technology awards",
"Science competitions"
] |
55,809,456 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikimi%20wasabi | Hikimi Wasabi () is a variety of wasabi cultivated in Hikimi Town (now part of Masuda City), Shimane Prefecture, Japan.
Wasabi cultivation in Hikimi began in 1818 and by the early Shōwa era (1926–1989) reached an annual production of 300 metric tons (330.7 US tons). Of the wasabi from Shimane, 90% came from the town of Hikimi
At the time, Shimane Prefecture was one of the top producers of wasabi in Japan. The two top areas of wasabi production were Shizuoka Prefecture in the East and Shimane Prefecture in the West. Hikimi's wasabi production declined due to numerous factors, including two large floods since the 1970s, recent generations of farming families choosing different careers, and global warming. In recent years, new residents of Hikimi have been attempting to revive the production of Hikimi wasabi. In 2013, Shimane Prefecture produced 74.5 metric tons of wasabi (70.2 metric tons were soil-grown wasabi, 4.3 metric tons were water-grown wasabi). That is fifth most in Japan, but far behind the top three prefectures: Shizuoka (867.6 metric tons), Nagano (604.7 metric tons), and Iwate (432.7 metric tons). Shimane Prefecture is known for its Hikimi wasabi. Due to this small amount, Hikimi wasabi is now considered to be fairly rare.
Climate
Japan, except for the Hokkaido region, is in the subtropical high-pressure belt, a unique area in the world rich in water despite being located at a latitude which often is desert. When winter comes, rainfall often turns into snowfall, and the Japan Sea side of the main island Honshū has one of the highest amounts of snow at that latitude or lower in the world. Hikimi is located in the southwestern tip of this heavy snow fall area in Japan. Snow acts as insulation to help protect wasabi from frost during the winter. Snow also functions as a natural dam, keeping water plentiful, which is good for growing wasabi. Hikimi is also humid and, being in the mountains, has fewer daylight hours throughout the year. A species native to Japan, wasabi was originally distributed mainly around the Japan Sea side of Honshū. It grows much better in areas with high humidity and short daylight hours than in areas with strong sunlight and high temperatures. With all these favorable factors existing in Hikimi, wasabi grows naturally and has been used by the local people since before it was farmed In terms of climate, Hikimi is the best place for wasabi cultivation, but there are concerns about the future of wasabi production in Hikimi. It is said that the average global rise in temperature is 0.68 °C per 100 years (1.22 °F), but the temperature of Hikimi rose 1.1 °C (1.98 °F) in the past 100 years. This means that ideal conditions for wasabi cultivation rose 200 meters in that time, since temperatures decrease at a rate of 0.55 °C per 100 meters. In the past, top-quality wasabi could be harvested even in the lower areas. However, the water temperature gradually has been rising since World War II, and the warmer temperatures have resulted in more damage to the crops from insects. Some farmers are trying to avoid disease and pests by farming fields at higher elevations, but soon they will run out of land to move up to. Moreover, on the Japan Sea side, in recent years there have been torrential rainstorms at a scale never seen before. These large storms wash away wasabi plants and sometimes devastate entire farms.
Cultivation
Water-grown cultivation
In Hikimi, water-grown wasabi is commonly grown on farms in the Keiryū style (, , "mountain–stream style"). The water comes from the Takatsu River system, which is one of the cleanest rivers in Japan. The Tatami-ishi style ( , "paving-stone style") is the main style used in Shizuoka, and the Heichi style ( , "flatland style") in Nagano. These use spring water as a source and are usually constructed on a large scale using heavy machinery in easily accessible locations. On the other hand, Keiryū-style fields use water mainly from mountain streams. The fields are built on a small-scale by hand along mountain streams, making full use of the natural features of the landscape. To access the Keiryu Style fields, people need to be excellent mountain hikers, because the fields are located in difficult to access places
Water-grown wasabi traits
Slow growth
Slow growth owes to Keiryū-style cultivation being exceedingly connected to the natural environment. The temperature of spring water (ground water) has little variation year-round. On the other hand, mountain stream water is always exposed to the elements, so the temperature is easily affected by the outside temperature. For that reason, the water temperature in Keiryū-style farming changes significantly according to the season. The water temperature range to grow wasabi is as narrow as 8 to 18.6 °C (the ideal temperature is 12 to 13 °C), and growth stops if it is higher or lower than that. Therefore, water-grown wasabi in Keiryū-style fields goes through periods of growth and rest similar to annual growth rings on trees.
Flavor and appearance
The flavor and appearance of Hikimi wasabi are described as:
Mild sweetness spreading after a sharp pungent flavor
Rich in aroma and with a viscous texture
Grated color is light green. (Native species are mostly yellow or white.)
Regarding this sweetness, Hoshi Norimitsu, a former executive chef of the Hotel Okura, stated: "Hikimi Wasabi is not only posses a strong pungency, but also contains sweetness in the sharpness. I think it is because Hikimi wasabi spends time in snow. Well ... people have said for years that Japanese radish (daikon) which is preserved in the snow is sweeter. Wasabi is the same."
The viscosity of wasabi is believed to help retain pungency and flavor compounds after being grated, and keeps its quality longer. At the same time, wasabi goes well as a sushi topping or in a sushi rice ball. For example, watery sushi toppings such as herring roe or abalone easily slide from a sushi rice ball, but wasabi makes sushi toppings hard to slide down. Viscous Hikimi wasabi works especially well.
Regarding the color of grated wasabi, residents of Tokyo prefer the deep green wasabi produced in Shizuoka Prefecture, whereas residents of the Keihanshin region (the Kyoto–Osaka–Kobe area) prefer the light green wasabi produced in Shimane Prefecture. The largest company of processed wasabi manufactures and sells two different colors of powdered wasabi for business use. One is the western Japan style, and the other is eastern Japan style. The western Japan style of wasabi is lighter colored than wasabi from eastern Japan.
Farm-grown cultivation
Farm-grown wasabi is mainly grown on the slopes of forests where broad-leaved trees grow. The broad-leaf trees naturally adjust the sunlight suitable for growth of wasabi by blocking strong sunlight in the summer, and allowing weak sunlight through after the leaves fall in the winter. The fields are made at various altitudes from 250 meters to 1100 meters above sea level. By farming at different altitudes at the same time, farmers can harvest over a wider period of time.
Revival efforts
To revive wasabi cultivation in Hikimi, the following institutions and measures are being conducted.
Wasabi Bio-center
This institution produces seedlings of elite breeds. It is located at the former site of the branch in Hikimi. This institution is equipped with an air-controlled laboratory, a breeder room with various equipment, and equipment to keep bacteria out.
Wasabi College Hikimi
This approach is planned and sponsored by the local administration with the aim of getting people interested in agriculture and rural life, finding new farmers, and promoting settlement. Some participants of the college moved to Hikimi to farm.
Gallery
Breed varieties
Shimane is one of the main breed varieties and is cultivated in both water fields and soil fields. Shimane was developed by Dr. Yokogi Kuniomi of Shimane Prefecture's Agricultural Experiment Station with the cooperation of Kenjirō Tanaka, a farmer in Nichihara Town (now part of Tsuwano Town) in 1942. It is the only superior variety found to be resistant to the putrefaction disease which destroys wasabi cultivation, and it saved the wasabi industry in Shimane Prefecture.
For water-grown wasabi only, in addition to local species native to Hikimi, there is Daijin, which is bred from native varieties from elsewhere in Japan.
Misawa, which was developed in 2002, is used for soil-grown wasabi only.
Processed products
Processed products of water-grown wasabi include additive‐free wasabi paste, Japanese yam paste mixed with wasabi, sausages containing wasabi, and other things. Soil-grown wasabi is used mainly to make wasabi paste. Soil-grown wasabi's leaves, stems, and flower parts are also used as ingredients of pickled products such as shōyu-zuke (soy sauce pickles), sakekasu-zuke (pickles in sake lees), miso-zuke (miso pickles), and sweets such as ice cream and pudding. Wasabi shoots (known locally as ganime) with good texture are used especially for shōyu-zuke.
Culture
Yamaoi-Tengu-Sha shrine
Yamaaoi-Tengu-Sha shrine is the only shrine dedicated to wasabi in which wasabi farmers pray for a good harvest in Japan. The shrine is located halfway up Mount Daijingataki, 1170 meters (3838 feet) above sea level, in the town of Hikimi, Mikazura District. This town is regarded as the birthplace of Hikimi Wasabi. The shrine's goshintai (object of worship) is a carved tengu with a round fan dedicated to the shrine.
Wasabi Kagura
Iwami Kagura is a traditional performance art of western Shimane Prefecture. In modern times, a Kagura play has been created by locals to pray for a good wasabi harvest. Nishida Tamotsu created the wooden masks. Watanabe Tomochiyo, who is a researcher of Iwami Kagura and ethnology, created the words, and the Mikazura Kagura Preservation Society, all members of which are wasabi farmers, created the choreography. The title "Yamaaoi Tengu" was named after the official name of the Wasabi Shrine. The performance was first performed at the Shrine on June 5, 1983. The Wasabi Kagura has continued to be performed since then. The story goes that a tengu, an object of worship of the shrine, slays disease and insects (in anthropomorphized forms) to save suffering wasabi farmers.
The story is performed by members of the Mikazura Kagura Preservation Society. The group has been designated as a Shimane prefectural intangible folk cultural property. The story is performed at a unique Rokuchōshi tempo.
Uzume-meshi
Cuisine using wasabi has existed in the town of Hikimi since the Middle Ages. Most notably, uzume-meshi was selected as one of the "Five Great Japanese Rice Meals" in a nationwide survey of local cuisine, conducted by the Imperial Household Agency. Uzume-meshi looks like a simple bowl of rice, but when the rice is removed with chopsticks, chicken, taro, burdock, carrots, nameko mushrooms, and other ingredients appear in a broth under the rice. Uzume means "to fill up", and meshi means "rice". It is said that uzume-meshi was named after how the dish is arranged. In Hikimi, it is said that Uzume-meshi was eaten as part of a feast when guests visited a house for ceremonial occasions, such as visits from bureaucrats, festivals, or the New Year's holiday. Its origins are unknown, but there are three origin stories:
Wasabi long ago was so expensive that if farmers sold some, they could earn enough money to live for a month. Therefore, wasabi was hidden under the rice to prevent their guests from feeling apprehensive by seeing they were being served such expensive food.
Hosts were embarrassed by putting such cheap vegetables on rice, so they hid the ingredients under the rice.
In ancient times, copper pheasant was a source of protein for the local people. In the Edo period, an edict forbidding the harming of living things came into effect, so people began to hide the ingredients under the rice so as not to get in trouble.
The ingredients vary in homes and restaurants, but the common elements are shirukakegohan (rice mixed with broth) and wasabi. Uzume-meshi is served at local restaurants, and is also provided at the rest stop of a local bicycle race, Masuda I・NA・KA Ride. Riders can ride through the 100 kilometer course, starting from the Iwami Airport runway and passing through various local roads without traffic lights. Uzume-meshi appeared in the Japanese comic series Oishinbo.
Mascot
In 2011, the mascot Wasamaru, inspired by the shape of wasabi, was designed as a promotional tool for settlement in Masuda city.
Notes
References
Plant breeding
Japanese cuisine terms
Eutrema
Japanese condiments | Hikimi wasabi | [
"Chemistry"
] | 2,889 | [
"Plant breeding",
"Molecular biology"
] |
55,809,797 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online%20youth%20radicalization | Online youth radicalization is the action in which a young individual or a group of people come to adopt increasingly extreme political, social, or religious ideals and aspirations that reject, or undermine the status quo or undermine contemporary ideas and expressions of a state, which they may or may not reside in. Online youth radicalization can be both violent or non-violent.
The phenomenon, often referred to as "incitement to radicalization towards violent extremism" (or "violent radicalization") has grown in recent years, due to the Internet and social media in particular. In response to the increased attention on online "incitement to extremism and violence", attempts to prevent this phenomenon have created challenges for freedom of expression. These range from indiscriminate blocking, censorship over-reach (affecting both journalists and bloggers), and privacy intrusions—right through to the suppression or instrumentalization of media at the expense of independent credibility.
After terrorist attacks, political pressure is often put on social media companies to do more to prevent online radicalization of young people leading to violent extremism. UNESCO calls for "a policy that is constructed on the basis of facts and evidence, and not founded on hunches—or driven by panic and fearmongering."
Cyberspace is used to denote the Internet, as a network of networks, and social media as a social network that may combine various Internet platforms and applications to exchange and publish online: the online production of radical (political, social, religious) resources or content, the presence of terrorist or radicalized groups within the social networks, and the participation of young people in radical conversations.
Definitions and approaches
While there is no consensus definition, broadly speaking "radicalization" refers to a process in which individuals are moved towards beliefs deemed "extreme" by the status quo. Not all processes of radicalization, however, have acts of violence as either their goal or their outcome. Concern is with radicalization processes which intentionally result in violence, and particularly when that violence is terroristic in targeting civilians. Communications—online and offline—play a part in radicalization processes, along with events and how individuals interpret their life experiences.
Yet distinctions need to be made between communications that may be perceived as "extreme", but which do not rise to the level of constituting criminal incitement or recruitment, and those which advocate for violent acts to be committed. Although scholars emphasize different aspects, there are three main recurring characteristics in the way that they conceptualize specifically violent radicalization.
In this sense, the concept of violent radicalization (or radicalization leading to violent acts) covers an observable process involving the individual person's search for fundamental meaning, origin and return to a root ideology, the polarization of the social space and the collective construction of a threatened ideal "us" against "them", where others are dehumanized by a process of scapegoating, a group's adoption of violence as a legitimate means for the expansion of root ideologies and related oppositional objectives.
Two major schools of theory can be discerned in the reception of the Internet and social media. These schools largely originate in pre-digital media, but are still being applied (usually implicitly) to the Internet era. The effects-based school perceives the Internet and social media as highly powerful means of communication and propaganda that over-determine other communication tools and processes. Social media are seen as highly effective drivers of propaganda, conspiracy theories and the rise of extremism through de-sensitization which leads to individuals accepting the use of violence. The uses-based school sheds doubts on the structuring effects of social media by empirically identifying only indirect and limited effects. In this paradigm, "the role of social media in violent radicalization and extremism constitutes a reflection of real offline social ruptures".
Algorithmic radicalization
Youth and violent extremism
Specificities of social media
The Internet has remained a medium for the spread of narratives. It has often been mistaken as a driver of violent extremism rather than the medium that it is. Unfortunately, social media has not only been used to bring people closer, to share thoughts and opinions, but also to spread false information. Additionally, the application of privacy rules has made it easier for closing the niche and advancing the targeting of vulnerable individuals. These privacy rules though welcomed, have made the process of analysis for prevention; challenging.
Chatrooms
Chatrooms can be embedded within most Internet-based media. Reports that have looked into the use of chatrooms by violent extremist groups describe these as the space where at-risk youth without previous exposure would be likely to come across radicalizing religious narratives. This falls in line with Sageman's emphasis on the role of chatrooms and forums, based on his distinction between websites as passive sources of news and chat rooms as active sources of interaction. According to Sageman, "networking is facilitated by discussion forums because they develop communication among followers of the same ideas (experiences, ideas, values), reinforce interpersonal relationships and provide information about actions (tactics, objectives, tutorials)". Chatrooms can also include spaces where extremist people share information such as photos, videos, guides, and manuals. Discussion forums such as Reddit, 4chan, and 8chan have become focal points on internet meme-based and other forms of radicalization.
Facebook
Many extremist groups are ideologically and strategically anti-Facebook, but a strong presence still exists on this platform either directly or through supporters. Facebook does not seem to be used for direct recruitment or planning, possibly because it has mechanisms of tracking and can link users with real places and specific times. Facebook appears to have been more often used by extremists as a decentralized center for the distribution of information and videos or a way to find like-minded supporters and show support rather than direct recruitment. This may be on the possibility that young sympathizers can share information and images and create Facebook groups in a decentralized way.
The terrorist perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque shootings live-streamed, on Facebook, a video of the attacks which resulted in the deaths of 51 people; this was then extensively shared on social media. In the wake of this tragedy, Facebook and Twitter became more active in banning extremists from their platforms. Facebook pages associated with Future Now Australia have been removed from the platform, including their main page, "Stop the Mosques and Save Australia." On March 28, Facebook announced that they have banned white nationalist and white separatist content along with white supremacy.
Twitter
Micro-blogging sites like Twitter present more advantages for extremist groups because traceability of the identity and the source of the tweets are harder to achieve, thus increasing the communication potential for recruiters. Analyses of Twitter feeds generated by Islamist violent extremist groups show that they are mostly used for engaging with the opposition and the authorities, in what appear to be tweetclashes that mobilize the two sides, and also used for provocation. Through Twitter, extremists can easily comment publicly on international events or personalities in several languages, enabling the activists to be vocal and timely when mounting campaigns.
YouTube and other video platforms
YouTube has the advantage of being difficult to trace the identity of people posting content, while offering the possibility for users to generate comments and share contents. Several researchers have conducted content analyses of YouTube and Facebook extremist discourses and video contents to identify the production features most used, including their modus operandi and intended effects. Studies that have focused on the rhetorical strategy of extremist groups show the multifaceted use of online resources by extremist that is, they produce "hypermedia seduction" via the use of visual motifs that are familiar to young people online, and they provide content in several languages, mostly Arabic, English and French using subtitles or audio dubbing, to increase the recruitment capacity of youth across nations. These videos provide rich media messaging that combines nonverbal cues and vivid images of events that can evoke psychological and emotional responses as well as violent reactions. Terrorists capture their attacks on video and disseminate them though the Internet, communicating an image of effectiveness and success. Such videos in turn are used to mobilize and recruit members and sympathizers. Videos also serve as authentication and archive, as they preserve live footage of actual damage and they validate terrorist performance acts. In 2018, researchers from the Data & Society thinktank identified the YouTube recommendation system as promoting a range of political positions from mainstream libertarianism and conservatism to overt white nationalism.
Other areas of the social media scape: video games
Video games can be placed in a similar category as social media because they increasingly have their own forums, chatrooms and microblogging tools. Video games, widely used by young people, are under-researched in relation to extremism and violent radicalization. There is mostly anecdotal evidence that ISIS supporters have proposed the modification of some games to spread propaganda (e.g. Grand Theft Auto V), mods that allow players to act as terrorists attacking Westerners (Arma 3), and provide for hijacking of images and titles to allude to a notion of jihad (e.g. Call of Duty).
Selepack used qualitative textual analysis of hate-based video games found on right-wing religious supremacist groups’ websites to explore the extent to which they advocate violence. The results show that most hate groups were portrayed positively, and that video games promoted extreme violence towards people represented as Black or Jewish people. The games were often modified versions of classic video games in which the original enemies were replaced with religious, racial and/or ethnic minorities. Their main purpose is to indoctrinate players with white supremacist ideology and allow those who already hold racist ideologies to practice aggressive scripts toward minorities online, which may later be acted upon offline. Some experimental social psychologists show that cumulative violent video games can increase hostile expectations and aggressive behavior.
Uses of Internet and social media by extremist groups
The Internet and social media have numerous advantages for extremist groups using religion as part of a radicalization strategy. The advantages stem from the very nature of Internet and social media channels and the way they are used by extremist groups. These include communication channels that are not bound to national jurisdictions and are informal, large, cheap, decentralized, and anonymous. This allows terrorists to network across borders and to bypass time and space. Specifically, these channels provide networks of recruiters, working horizontally in all the countries they target due to the transborder nature of the Internet.
Weinmann describes extremist groups’ use of Internet and social media in eight process strategies: "psychological warfare, publicity and propaganda, data mining, fundraising, recruitment and mobilization, networking, information sharing and planning and coordination". Conway identifies five-core terrorist uses of the Internet and social media: "information provision, financing, networking, recruitment and information gathering". The ones most relevant to social media and radicalization of young people are information provision, such as profiles of leaders, manifestos, publicity and propaganda, and recruitment. Some studies show that social media enables people to isolate themselves in an ideological niche by seeking and consuming only information consistent with their views (confirmation bias), as well as simultaneously self-identifying with geographically distant international groups, which creates a sense of community that transcends geographic borders. This ability to communicate can promote membership and identity quests faster and in more efficient ways than in the "real" social world.
While recruitment is not an instantaneous process, it is seen in the literature as a phase of radicalization, taking the process to a new level of identification and possible action. Indoctrination is easier post-recruitment and often occurs in specific virtual spaces where the extremist rhetoric is characterized by a clear distinction between "them" (described negatively) and "us" (described positively), and where violent actions are legitimized according to the principle of "no other option available". These advantages of the Internet and social media open up prospects for extremist groups, by facilitating what used to be referred previously as block recruitment and by substituting group decision to individual decision-making.
Political radicalization
Reception and influence on youth
Bouzar, Caupenne and Sulayman (2014) present the results of interviews with 160 French families with radicalized (though not violent) children aged mainly between 15 and 21. The vast majority of the youth interviewed claimed to have been radicalized through the Internet. This held true regardless of their family characteristics and dynamics. The vast majority of the families (80%) did not follow any specific religious beliefs or practices and only 16% belonged to the working class.
Wojcieszak analysed cross-sectional and textual data obtained from respondents in neo-Nazi online discussion forums. The author found that "extremism increases with increased online participation, probably as a result of the informational and normative influences within the online groups". In addition, exposure to different parties/views offline that are dissimilar to the extremist group's values has in some instances reinforced radical beliefs online.
Many authors hypothesize potential causation by associating online radicalization with external factors such as: search for identity and meaning, the growing inequalities in European and other societies, unemployment and fewer opportunities for development especially for minority youth, exclusion, discrimination and inequality that are massively used in extremist discourses.
Social media and violent radicalization
In the Arab World
The analysis of the profiles of researchers and publications on violent radicalization from the Arab world reveals the prominence of specialists on Islamist movements. They are, most often, humanities and social science researchers and some are specialists in media and public opinion, international relations, or even security. Another specificity of research on violent radicalization in the Arabic-speaking region is the involvement of religious researchers in this field. The main objective of this contribution is part of a state strategy to counter faith advocated by violent radical groups. In this logic, radicalization or jihadism are replaced by the term terrorist in referral to these groups. In other regions, experts use terms such as jihadist Salafism or jihadism or violent radicalization. There is a clear tendency among most Arabic-speaking researchers to avoid the use of the word Islam and its semantic field to denote violent radical groups. This is also why researchers from the region prefer to use the Arabic acronym Daesh or the State Organization instead of the ‘Islamic State.’ Most research published from the Arab world does not focus on the relation between violent radicalization and Internet or social media, nor does it evaluate the effect of prevention or intervention cyberinitiatives.
Arab youth are major consumers of social media networks and especially Facebook, which is one of the top ten most used sites by Arab Internet users, a tendency that quickly found its translation into the Arab political realm. According to a study by Mohamed Ibn Rachid Faculty for governance in the United Arab Emirates, the number of Facebook users in 22 Arab countries increased from 54.5 million in 2013 to 81.3 million in 2014 with a majority being young people. The study of literature in the region reveals the role played by social networks, especially Facebook and Twitter, as platforms for collective expression for Arab youth on current issues, conflicts and wars (e.g., Gaza situation in particular). In Iraq, for example, young Internet users and bloggers launched several campaigns on Facebook and Twitter at the beginning of military operations to free the major cities occupied by ISIS (Fallujah and Mosul). In Morocco, other initiatives with the same objective were launched such as the one by Hamzah al-Zabadi on Facebook ( مغاربة_ضد_داعش#; Moroccans against Daesh), which consisted of sharing all kinds of content (images, texts, etc.) to contradict and challenge ISIS's narratives. The involvement of civil society actors on the web in the fight against terrorism and violent radicalization in the Arab region remains modest for many reasons including the lack of media policies dedicated to this struggle.
In Asia
Researchers in Asia have developed a complex understanding of radicalization as being deeply connected to psychosocial and economic grievances such as poverty and unemployment, marginalization through illiteracy and lack of education, admiration for charismatic leaders, pursuit of social acceptability, and psychological trauma. These factors are considered by authors to facilitate online radicalization-oriented recruitment, especially among young people, who are more vulnerable and spend more time online.
A 2016 report by "We Are Social" revealed that East Asia, Southeast Asia, and North America were the first, second, and third largest social media markets worldwide respectively. According to the same report, Facebook and Facebook Messenger are the predominant social and communications tools, followed by Twitter, Line and Skype. China is the notable exception as Facebook Messenger is outpaced by far by Chinese social media tools. China presents a very different profile from most countries in its mainstream social media and networks. American platforms such as Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have very little market penetration due to state restrictions and the strong monopoly of homegrown search engines and Internet platforms in Chinese language.
There is rising interest among Chinese researchers in examining the relationship between social media and violent radicalization. Research into violent radicalization and terrorism in China is mainly focused on radicalization in Xinjiang. This could be linked to the fact that most of the recent terrorist attacks in China were not perpetrated by local residents, but by outsider violent extremist organizations that seek to separate the Xinjiang area from China. Terrorist organizations spread their messages via TV, radio and the Internet. Though there is no empirical evidence linking youth radicalization to online social media, the anonymity and transborder capacity of such media is seen as a "support for organized terrorist propaganda". The Chinese government has been responding to terrorist attacks by taking down sites, blocking and filtering content. In return, Chinese government also uses the social media for messaging against terrorism.
Indonesia has an estimated 76 million Indonesians who connect regularly on Facebook, establishing the nation as the fourth largest user of the world, after India, the United States and Brazil. Indonesia is also the fifth largest user of Twitter, after the United States, Brazil, Japan and the United Kingdom. The Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) examines how Indonesian extremists use Facebook, Twitter and various mobile phone applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram. Social media use by extremists in Indonesia is increasing. They use social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to communicate with young people, to train and to fundraise online. Recruitment is done through online games, propaganda videos on YouTube and calls to purchase weapons. The proliferation of ISIS propaganda via individual Twitter accounts has raised concerns about the possibility of "lone actor" attacks. That being said, the report points out that such attacks are extremely rare in Indonesia.
In Africa
There is little contemporary research on online radicalization in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, at its heart, Africa carries a powerful extremist group: "Boko Haram", whose real name is Jama’atu Ahlu-Sunna wal Jihad Adda’wa Li («Group of the People of Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad») since 2002 and has pledged allegiance to the Daesh. The network is less resourceful and financed compared to Daesh, but it seems to have entered in a new era of communication by the use of social media networks, more so since its allegiance to Daesh. To spread their principles this terrorist group uses the Internet and adapts Daesh communication strategies to the sub-Saharan African context to spread its propaganda (also in French and English) with more sophisticated videos. By its presence on the most used digital networks (Twitter, Instagram), Boko Haram breaks with traditional forms of communication in the region such as propaganda videos sent to agencies on flash drives or CD-ROM. Video content analyses has also shown a major shift from long monologues from the leader Abubakar Shekau, that had poor editing and translation, to messages and videos that have increased its attractiveness among sub-Saharan youth. Today, Boko-Haram owns a real communications agency called «al-Urwa Wuqta» (literally «the most trustworthy», «the most reliable way»). Moreover, the group multiplies its activities on Twitter especially via their smartphones, as well as through YouTube news channels. Most tweets and comments of the group's supporters denounce the Nigerian government and call for support for Boko Haram movement. The tweets are written in Arabic at first and then translated and passed on into English and French, which reflect the group's desire to place itself in the context of what it sees as global jihad. In a recent study conducted in 2015, researchers have shown how Boko Haram-related tweets include rejection of the movement by non-members of the organisation.
In Kenya, and by extension the Horn of Africa, online radicalization and recruitment processes are dependent on narrative formations and dissemination. However, other than one documented case of purely online radicalization and recruitment, evidence shows that the process is cyclic involving both an online-offline-online, process that advances depending on the level of socialization and resonance factors shared with the vulnerable populations. A recent study from Scofield Associates shows that narrative formation depends on three major attributes; having a believable story, actionable plans for those who encounter it, and the need for a religious cover. The third characteristic provides support to the persuasion process and adds to the global whole. The persuasion process plays out very well with an Online platform or audience.
Online prevention initiatives
Alternative narratives
Van Eerten, Doosje, Konijn, De Graaf, and De Goede suggest that counter or alternative narratives could be a promising prevention strategy. Some researchers argue that a strong alternative narrative to violent jihadist groups is to convey the message that they mostly harm Muslims. During the last decade, the United States government has set up two online programs against radicalization designed to counter anti-American propaganda and misinformation from al-Qaeda or the Islamic state. These programs seek to win the "war of ideas" by countering self-styled jihadist rhetoric.
Private sector counter-initiatives involve the YouTube Creators for Change with young "ambassadors" mandated to "drive greater awareness and foster productive dialogue around social issues through content creation and speaking engagements"; the "redirectmethod.org" pilot initiative to use search queries in order to direct vulnerable young people to online videos of citizen testimonies, on-the-ground reports, and religious debates that debunk narratives used for violent recruitment. The initiative avoids "government-produced content and newly or custom created material, using only existing and compelling YouTube content".
Several governments are opting to invest in primary prevention through education of the public at large, and of young public in particular, via various "inoculatory" tactics that can be grouped under the broad label of Media and Information Literacy (MIL). Based on knowledge about the use of MIL in other domains, this initiative can be seen, interalia, as a long term comprehensive preventive strategy for reducing the appeal of violent radicalization.
Media and information literacy
MIL has a long tradition of dealing with harmful content and violent representations, including propaganda. In its early history, MIL was mostly put in place to fight misinformation (particularly in advertising) by developing critical skills about the media. By the 1980s, MIL also introduced cultural and creative skills to use the media in an empowering way, with active pedagogies. Since the year 2000, MIL has enlarged the media definition to incorporate the Internet and social media, adding issues related to ethical uses of online media to the traditional debates over harmful content and harmful behavior and aligning them more with the perspectives that consider issues of gratifications of media users.
International human rights standards
References
Sources
Information and communications technology
Social media
Youth
Radicalization | Online youth radicalization | [
"Technology"
] | 4,967 | [
"Information and communications technology",
"Computing and society",
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55,809,839 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GW170608 | GW170608 was a gravitational wave event that was recorded on 8 June 2017 at 02:01:16.49 UTC by Advanced LIGO. It originated from the merger of two black holes with masses of and . The resulting black hole had a mass around 18 solar masses. About one solar mass was converted to energy in the form of gravitational waves.
Event detection
The signal was not detected by automated analyses, as the Hanford instrument was undergoing tests at specific frequencies and data from the instrument was not being analyzed. The signal was initially identified by visual inspection of triggers from the Livingston detector. Manual follow-up with the Hanford data revealed a coincident signal. Subsequent investigations determined that the ongoing tests of the Hanford instrument did not affect the recovery of the signal from the Hanford data.
Announcement
This was the first gravitational wave detection where the scientific article announcing the discovery was posted on the electronic preprint arXiv server before the paper was accepted for publication by the journal.
References
Gravitational waves
June 2017
2017 in science
2017 in outer space
Stellar black holes | GW170608 | [
"Physics"
] | 216 | [
"Black holes",
"Physical phenomena",
"Stellar black holes",
"Unsolved problems in physics",
"Waves",
"Gravitational waves"
] |
55,810,523 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorella%20vulgaris | Chlorella vulgaris is a species of green microalga in the division Chlorophyta. This unicellular alga was discovered in 1890 by Martinus Willem Beijerinck as the first microalga with a well-defined nucleus. It is the type species of the genus Chlorella. It is found in freshwater and terrestrial habitats, and has a cosmopolitan distribution.
Chlorella vulgaris has a number of potential applications in science, such as biofuel, livestock feed, and wastewater treatment. Beginning in the 1990s, German scientists noticed the high protein content of C. vulgaris and began to consider it as a new food source. Japan is currently the largest consumer of Chlorella, both for nutritional and therapeutic purposes. and it is used as a dietary supplement or protein-rich food additive in several countries worldwide.
Description
C. vulgaris is a green eukaryotic microalga. The cells are 4–10 μm in diameter, and are spherical. The chloroplast (chromatophore) is pea-green in color and cup-shaped, with a single pyrenoid.
Symbiosis
Chlorella vulgaris occurs as a symbiont in tissues of the freshwater flatworms Dalyellia viridis and Typhloplana viridata.
Production
The world annual production of the various species of Chlorella was 2000 tonnes (dry weight) in 2009, with the main producers being Germany, Japan and Taiwan. C. vulgaris is a candidate for commercial production due to its high resistance against adverse conditions and invading organisms. In addition, the production of the various organic macromolecules of interest (proteins, lipids, starch) differ depending on the technique used to create biomass and can be therefore targeted. Under more hostile conditions, the biomass decreases, but lipids and starch contents increase. Under nutrient and light-replete conditions, protein content increases along with the biomass. Different growth techniques have been developed. Different modes of growth (autotrophic, heterotrophic, and mixotrophic) has been investigated for Chlorella vulgaris; autotrophic growth is favoured as it does not require provision of costly organic carbon and relies on inorganic carbon sources (, carbonates) and light for photosynthesis.
Chlorella sp. cultivated in digested and membrane-pretreated swine manure is capable of improving the growth medium performance of microalgae cultivations in terms of final biomass productivity, showing that algal growth depends on the turbidity of liquid digestate streams rather than on their nutrient availability.
Uses
Bioremediation
Chlorella vulgaris has been the microalgae of choice for several bioremediation processes. Owing to its ability to remove a variety of pollutants such as inorganic nutrients (nitrate, nitrite, phosphate and ammonium), fertilizers, detergents, heavy metals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and other emerging pollutants from wastewater and effluents, carbon dioxide and other gaseous pollutants from flue gases, besides having high growth rates and simple cultivation requirements, Chlorella vulgaris has emerged as a potential microorganism in bioremediation studies for mitigation of environmental pollution.
Bioenergy
C. vulgaris is seen as a promising source of bioenergy. It may be a good alternative to biofuel crops, like soybean, corn or rapeseed, as it is more productive and does not compete with food production. It can produce large amount of lipids, up to 20 times more than crops that have a suitable profile for biodiesel production. This microalgae also contains high amounts of starch, good for the production of bioethanol. However, microalgal biofuels are far from competitive with fossil fuels, given their high production costs and controversial sustainability.
Food ingredient and dietary supplement
The protein content of C. vulgaris varies from 42 to 58% of its biomass dry weight. These proteins are considered as having a good nutritional quality compared to the standard profile for human nutrition of the World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization, as the algae synthesizes amino acids. The algae also contains lipids (5–40% of the dry mass), carbohydrates (12–55% dry weight), and pigments including chlorophyll, reaching 1–2 % of the dry weight.
Containing dietary minerals and vitamins, C. vulgaris is marketed as a dietary supplement, food additive, or food colorant. Extracted proteins have been investigated for manufacturing of emulsion and foams. It is not widely incorporated in food products due to its dark green color and smell similar to that of fish. As a dietary supplement, it may be sold as capsules, extracts, tablets or powder. Vitamin B12, specifically in the form of methylcobalamin, has been identified in Chlorella vulgaris.
References
Edible algae
vulgaris
Dietary supplements
Algaculture
Alternative cancer treatments | Chlorella vulgaris | [
"Biology"
] | 1,044 | [
"Edible algae",
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"Algae"
] |
55,810,614 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data%20preservation | Data preservation is the act of conserving and maintaining both the safety and integrity of data. Preservation is done through formal activities that are governed by policies, regulations and strategies directed towards protecting and prolonging the existence and authenticity of data and its metadata. Data can be described as the elements or units in which knowledge and information is created,
and metadata are the summarizing subsets of the elements of data; or the data about the data. The main goal of data preservation is to protect data from being lost or destroyed and to contribute to the reuse and progression of the data.
History
Most historical data collected over time has been lost or destroyed. War and natural disasters combined with the lack of materials and necessary practices to preserve and protect data has caused this. Usually, only the most important data sets were saved, such as government records and statistics, legal contracts and economic transactions. Scientific research and doctoral theses data have mostly been destroyed from improper storage and lack of data preservation awareness and execution. Over time, data preservation has evolved and has generated importance and awareness. We now have many different ways to preserve data and many different important organizations involved in doing so.
The first digital data preservation storage solutions appeared in the 1950s, which were usually flat or hierarchically structured. While there were still issues with these solutions, it made storing data much cheaper, and more easily accessible. In the 1970s relational databases as well as spreadsheets appeared. Relational data bases structure data into tables using structured query languages which made them more efficient than the preceding storage solutions, and spreadsheets hold high volumes of numeric data which can be applied to these relational databases to produce derivative data. More recently, non-relational (non-structured query language) databases have appeared as complements to relational databases which hold high volumes of unstructured or semi-structured data.
Importance
The scope of data preservation is vast. Everything from governmental to business records to art essentially can be represented as data, and is amenable to be lost. This then leads to loss of human history, for perpetuity.
Data can be lost on a small or independent scale whether it's personal data loss, or data loss within businesses and organizations, as well as on a larger or national or global scale which can negatively and potentially permanently affect things such as environmental protection, medical research, homeland security, public health and safety, economic development and culture. The mechanisms of data loss are also as many as they are varied, spanning from disaster, wars, data breaches, negligence, all the way through simple forgetting to natural decay.
Ways in which data collections can be used when preserved and stored properly can be seen through the U.S. Geological Survey, which stores data collections on natural hazards, natural resources, and landscapes. The data collected by the Survey is used by federal and state land management agencies towards land use planning and management, and continually needs access to historical reference data.
Related Concepts
In contrast, data holdings are collections of gathered data that are informally kept, and not necessarily prepared for long-term preservation. For example, a collection or back-up of personal files. Data holdings are generally the storage methods used in the past when data has been lost due to environmental and other historical disasters.
Furthermore, data retention differs from data preservation in the sense that by definition, to retain an object (data) is to hold or keep possession or use of the object. To preserve an object is to protect, maintain and keep up for future use. Retention policies often circle around when data should be deleted on purpose as well, and held from public access, while preservation prioritizes permanence and more widely-shared access.
Thus, data preservation exceeds the concept of having or possessing data or back up copies of data. Data preservation ensures reliable access to data by including back-up and recovery mechanisms that precede the event of a disaster or technological change.
Methods
Digital
Digital preservation, is similar to data preservation, but is mainly concerned with technological threats, and solely digital data. Essentially digital data is a set of formal activities to enable ongoing or persistent use and access of digital data exceeding the occurrence of technological malfunction or change. Digital preservation is aware of the inevitable change in technology and protocols, and prepares for data that will need to be accessible across new types of technologies and platforms while the integrity of the data and metadata are being conserved.
Technology, while providing great process in conserving data that may not have been possible in the past, is also changing at such a quick rate that digital data may not be accessible anymore due to the format being incompatible with new software. Without the use of data preservation much of our existing digital data is at risk.
The majority of methods used towards data preservation today are digital methods, which are so far the most effective methods that exist.
Archives
Archives are a collection of historical documents and records. Archives contribute and work towards the preservation of data by collecting data that is well organized, while providing the appropriate metadata to confirm it.
An example of an important data archive is The LONI Image Data Archive, which is an archive that collects data regarding clinical trials and clinical research studies.
Catalogues, directories and portals
Catalogues, directories and portals are consolidated resources which are kept by individual institutions, and are associated with data archives and holdings. In other words, the data is not presented on the site, but instead might act as metadata and aggregators, and may administer thorough inventories.
Repositories
Repositories are places where data archives and holdings can be accessed and stored. The goal of repositories is to make sure that all requirements and protocols of archives and holdings are being met, and data is being certified to ensure data integrity and user trust.
Single-site Repositories
A repository that holds all data sets on a single site.
An example of a major single-site repository the Data Archiving and Networking Services which is a repository which provides ongoing access to digital research resources for the Netherlands.
Multi-Site Repositories
A repository that hosts data set on multiple institutional sites.
An example of a well known multi-site repository is OpenAIRE which is a repository that hosts research data and publications collaborating all of the EU countries and more. OpenAIRE promotes open scholarship and seeks to improves discover-ability and re-usability of data.
Trusted Digital Repository
A repository that seeks to provide reliable, trusted access over a long period of time. The repository can be single or multi-sited but must cooperate with the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System, as well as adhere to a set of rules or attributes that contribute to its trust such as having persistent financial responsibility, organizational buoyancy, administrative responsibility security and safety.
An example of a trusted digital repository is The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) which is a multi-site repository that hosts Ireland's humanity and social science data sets.
Cyber Infrastructures
Cyber infrastructures which consists of archive collections which are made available through the system of hardware, technologies, software, policies, services and tools. Cyber infrastructures are geared towards the sharing of data supporting peer-to-peer collaborations and a cultural community.
An example of a major cyber-infrastructure is The Canadian Geo-spatial Data Infrastructure which provides access to spatial data in Canada.
See also
Data curation
Data recovery
Data refuge
Data retention
Arctic World Archive
References
preservation
Data recovery
Data management
Backup
Transaction processing
Digital preservation | Data preservation | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 1,496 | [
"Reliability engineering",
"Computer data",
"Backup",
"Data management",
"Data"
] |
55,811,992 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frannie%20L%C3%A9autier | Frannie Léautier is a Tanzanian civil engineer, academic, and international finance and development consultant. She leads and helps organizations in the private, public, and not-for-profit spheres thrive in advanced and emerging economies.
Early life
Léautier was born in the northern Tanzanian town of Moshi, in the Kilimanjaro Region. She has three sisters and three brothers. At age three, her family relocated to Lushoto, a town in the Usambara Mountains. Growing up there, she was influenced by her grandfather, who inspired her to study physics and engineering.
Léautier was admitted to the University of Dar es Salaam, graduating in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Civil Engineering. She continued her studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she earned a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Transportation, graduating in 1986. She followed that up with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Civil Engineering, from 1987 to graduation in 1990.
Career
Léautier engaged with the World Bank in 1992 on the strategy for infrastructure in the 1990s. She joined the organization full-time in 1994, working in Washington, DC, for the next 15 years. She worked in various roles, including as Director of Infrastructure for a year in 2000. For the next 12 months, in 2001, she served as the Chief of Staff to the President of the World Bank Group, at that time James Wolfensohn. For the last six years of her tenure at the World Bank from 2001 to 2007, she was in charge of the World Bank Institute.
After she left the World Bank, Léautier co-founded the Fezembat Group, a consultancy partnership based in Castelnau de Montmiral, France, where she worked as the Managing Partner from 2007 until 2009.
From July 2009 until November 2013, Léautier relocated to Harare, Zimbabwe, and worked as the Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation, a non-profit organization. She concurrently served as a Distinguished Professor at Sciences Po, Paris, from 2007 until December 2013.
In December 2013, Léautier returned to Tanzania and served as the co-founder, partner, and chair of Mkoba Private Equity Fund, which invested in emerging opportunities in the African continent, working there for two-and-a-half years until June 2016.
In 2017, Léautier was one of the candidates to succeed Mark Dybul as executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM); the position eventually went to Peter Sands.
Léautier left Mkoba to rejoin the Fezembat Group, where she continued as a strategic advisor. She served as vice-chair of the Board, the first independent board director and special advisor to the President.
Léautier took a stint at the African Development Bank (AfDB), serving as its Senior Vice President. She joined the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) in Nairobi as its Chief Operating Officer in July 2018. In 2019, she became Executive Director for the Asset Management side of the Bank's business.
In May 2020, The SouthBridge Group announced the appointment of Léautier as a senior partner. Prior to the announcement, she had successfully served as a non-executive Board member and Chairperson of the Group’s Board Risk & Audit Committee. As a senior partner, Léautier is responsible for new business development and will pursue the Group’s ambitious strategy of growth in markets with demand for advisory services as well as taking on responsibility for investment activities.
Other activities
Léautier served/serves as a board member on several regional and international organizations, including:
United Nations Foundation, Member of the Board (since 2019)
World Future Council, Member (since 2019)
African Risk Capacity (ARC), Chair of the Risk and Audit Committee (since 2018)
African Culture Fund (ACF), Member of the Board of Directors
Institute for Security Studies, Member of the Advisory Board
Orca Exploration Group Inc., Member of the Board
Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT), Member of the International Advisory Council
World Economic Forum (WEF), Member of the Regional Advisory Group for Africa
Commissioner on the Economy and Climate - New Climate Economy
Uongozi Institute (Leadership Institute), founding Member of the Board
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Treasurer, Director at Large
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation, Visiting Committee Member
Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology, Founding Member
Journal of Infrastructure Systems, Founding Member
King Baudouin Foundation USA, former Member of the Board of Trustees
Women's World Banking, former Member of the Board of Trustees
Honors and awards
In 2019, Léautier received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, in acknowledgement of her work globally in infrastructure. In recognition for her contributions to Africa, she holds an Honorary Degree in Humane Letters from North Central College in Illinois, US.
In addition to winning various awards, including "Best Manager" and awards for excellence at the World Bank Group, she was repeatedly featured in the New African Magazine list of 100 most influential people in Africa. She earned the title of ‘Nkosuohemaa’, meaning ‘queen of development’ in the Ahanta language, which was given to her by the Agona people for her work in Ghana. She was recently recognized in the first volume of a book on African Women of Worth.
Publications and academia
Léautier is a well-recognized author and academic, having published books, articles, and papers in international development, leadership, regional issues like integration and trade, and the role of Africa in the world. She taught Masters-level courses and advised thesis students, and gave keynote lectures at Sciences Po, MIT, the Kennedy School at Harvard University, the New England Complex Systems Institute, Duke University and the University of Tokyo, among other institutions.
Selected publications
Leadership in a Globalized World: Complexity, Dynamics and Risks
Cities and Spaces of Leadership: A Geographical Perspective Book
Development Drivers in Africa: Role of Innovation
Personal
Léautier is fluent in Kiswahili, French and English, with competency in Spanish and some knowledge of Arabic.
See also
References
External links
Plaatjes, Elton (1 September 2013). "Meet Dr Frannie Léautier – Africa's Queen of Development". Lagos: Ventures Africa Magazine. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Tanzanian women engineers
21st-century women engineers
Civil engineers
University of Dar es Salaam alumni
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
People from Kilimanjaro Region
21st-century Tanzanian women
21st-century Tanzanian people
21st-century engineers
Tanzanian engineers | Frannie Léautier | [
"Engineering"
] | 1,372 | [
"Civil engineering",
"Civil engineers"
] |
55,811,999 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luyten%20b | Luyten b (more commonly known as Gliese 273b) is a confirmed exoplanet, likely rocky, orbiting within the habitable zone of the nearby red dwarf Luyten's Star. It is the fourth-closest potentially habitable exoplanet known, at a distance of 12 light-years. Only Proxima Centauri b, Ross 128 b, and GJ 1061 d are closer. Discovered alongside Gliese 273c in June 2017, Luyten b is a super-Earth of around 2.89 times the mass of Earth and receives only 6% more starlight than Earth, making it one of the best candidates for habitability.
Characteristics
Mass, radius, and temperature
Mass and size
Luyten b is a super-Earth, meaning that it has a mass and/or radius greater than that of Earth, but less than that of Uranus or Neptune. Radial velocity measurements shows that the planet has a minimum mass of 2.89 , placing it at the lower end of the super-Earth range. The planet has not been found to transit its star, and as a result its true mass and radius are not known. Due to its low mass, the planet is likely terrestrial, with a predicted radius of 1.51 .
Up to four candidate planets have been proposed around Luyten's Star. A 2020 study showed that if all four planets are present, their true masses must be close to their minimum masses for the system to be stable, with an upper limit of for Luyten b.
Temperature
The planet receives an incident flux only 6% greater than that of Earth. With an estimated albedo, or proportion of light reflected by the planet, of 0.30, Luyten b has an equilibrium temperature of 259 K. For comparison, Earth has an equilibrium temperature of 255 K. With an Earth-like atmosphere — if it has one — Luyten b would have an average surface temperature of about , very similar to that of Earth.
Orbit and rotation
Luyten b orbits quite close to its host star. One full revolution around Luyten's Star takes about 18.6 days at an average distance of 0.091 AU, much closer in than Mercury, which has a year of 88 days and an orbital radius of 0.387 AU. However, because the host star is so dim, Luyten b falls right within the system's habitable zone and only receives 6% more starlight than Earth. Luyten b has a moderate orbital eccentricity of .
Host star
Luyten's Star is a medium-sized red dwarf star on the main sequence. It has 29.3% the radius, 29% the mass, 0.88% the luminosity of the Sun, and has an effective temperature of 3,382 K. Unlike many nearby red dwarfs, like Proxima Centauri, Luyten's Star is very inactive with a long rotation period of over 118 days.
Active SETI
In October 2017 and 2018, the nonprofit organization METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) sent a message, "Sónar Calling GJ273b", containing dozens of short musical compositions and a scientific "tutorial" towards the planet in hopes of contacting any potential extraterrestrial civilizations.
See also
LHS 1140 b, a massive habitable zone Super-Earth around another quiet star
List of potentially habitable exoplanets
Proxima Centauri b, the closest potentially habitable exoplanet to Earth
Ross 128 b, the second-closest habitable zone planet and very similar to Proxima b
References
Exoplanets discovered in 2017
Super-Earths in the habitable zone
Canis Minor | Luyten b | [
"Astronomy"
] | 770 | [
"Canis Minor",
"Constellations"
] |
55,813,510 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial%20audio%20effects%20controller | An inertial audio effects controller is an electronic device that senses changes in acceleration, angular velocity and/or a magnetic field, and relays those changes to an effects controller. Transmitting the sensed data can be done via wired or wireless methods. To be of use the effects controller must be connected to an effect unit so that an effect can be modulated, or connected to a MIDI controller or musical keyboard. The Wah-Wah effect is a classic example of effect modulation.
An inertial audio effects controller can be compared with a traditional expression pedal to explain its function. An inertial effects controller uses an inertial sensor to detect user directed changes, whereas a traditional expression pedal uses an electrically resistive element to detect changes. There are some advantages and disadvantages between the two. The main advantages of inertial control versus a traditional foot pedal, are an increased range of dynamic motion, remote control, finer modulation precision and software enabled features such as motion triggered ADSR envelopes and bi-directional motion control. The main disadvantages are the requirement for a power source and a more complicated setup.
Due to their functional similarity with traditional expression pedals, they have been given the informal name, 'Expression box'.
Availability
Conceivably any or all of the inertial sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer), could be used for effect modulation. However, currently the only commercially available products use acceleration sensing only or acceleration combined with angular velocity, as sensed by a gyroscope.
Future
Inertial control of an audio device, whether wired or wireless, is a relatively recent and growing trend. Technology advances have reduced pricing and size, as well as improved usability and performance of the core components. Specifically the core components are an inertial device called a Mirco- Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMs), a microcontroller, and for wireless systems, a radio frequency transmitter/receiver.
References
Audio engineering
Effects units | Inertial audio effects controller | [
"Engineering"
] | 405 | [
"Electrical engineering",
"Audio engineering"
] |
54,233,101 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry%20Feichtner-Kozlov | Dmitry Feichtner-Kozlov (born 16 December 1972, in Tomsk, Russia) is a Russian-German mathematician.
He works in the field of Applied and Combinatorial Topology, where he publishes under the name Dmitry N. Kozlov.
Biography
Feichtner-Kozlov obtained his Ph.D. from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm in 1996, with thesis Extremal Combinatorics, Weighting Algorithms, and Topology of Subspaces Arrangements written under the direction of Anders Björner. In 2004, after longer stays at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, the University of Washington in Seattle, the University of Bern, and the Royal Institute of Technology, he assumed the position of assistant professor at ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Since 2007, he works at the University of Bremen, Germany, where he holds the Chair of Algebra and Geometry, and is the director of the Institute for Algebra, Geometry, Topology and their applications.
Feichtner-Kozlov has done research on various topics, such as: topological methods in combinatorics, including applications to graph colorings;
combinatorially defined polyhedral and cell complexes; combinatorial structures in geometry and topology, such as stratifications and compactifications of spaces; combinatorial aspects of chain complexes, such as coboundary expansion. He has also done interdisciplinary work, e.g., developing rigorous mathematical methods in theoretical distributed computing.
Feichtner-Kozlov is the recipient of the following prizes: Wallenberg prize 2003, Goran Gustafsson prize 2004, European Prize in Combinatorics 2005. The book "Distributed Computing through Combinatorial Topology",
which he wrote together with computer scientists Maurice Herlihy and Sergio Rajsbaum has been selected as a Notable Book on the Best of Computing 2013 list by the Association for Computing Machinery.
He is a managing editor of the Journal of Applied and Computational Topology, published by Springer-Verlag.
Personal life
Feichtner-Kozlov is married to Eva-Maria Feichtner, with whom he frequently collaborates mathematically.
Selected publications
See also
Discrete Morse theory
Topological combinatorics
References
External links
1972 births
Living people
People from Tomsk
KTH Royal Institute of Technology alumni
Russian emigrants to Germany
21st-century German mathematicians
Academic staff of ETH Zurich
Academic staff of the University of Bremen
Combinatorialists
Topologists | Dmitry Feichtner-Kozlov | [
"Mathematics"
] | 507 | [
"Topologists",
"Topology",
"Combinatorialists",
"Combinatorics"
] |
54,233,386 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise%20Vermilya | Louise Vermilya (née Woolf; July 1868 – December 1913) was an American "black widow" whose activities spanned the turn of the 20th century. Light was shed on her murders only after she resorted to murdering outside of her immediate family, beginning with the death of policeman Arthur Bissonette. Authorities were alerted and suspicion arose over the peculiar and similar fates experienced by her two husbands, several immediate family members and two associates known to her.
Early life
Louise Vermilya was born Louesa Woolf in Cook County, Illinois, to parents Wilhemina (née Munaroe) and John Woolf, Prussian immigrants. She was the oldest daughter of five girls and third oldest child out of 11 siblings. She married 24-year-old Fred Brinkamp on April 2, 1885, at the age of 16 and moved to the village of Barrington within the Cuba township of Lake County in northern Illinois.
Early murders
The string of homicides began in 1893, when Vermilya claimed the life of her first husband, Fred Brinkamp, while living on their farm near Barrington, Illinois. The coroner ruled Brinkamp's death to be attributed to a heart attack. Following his death, she inherited $5,000 from a life insurance policy Brinkamp had which named her as the beneficiary. Due to Brinkamp's age at death, no suspicions arose as it was thought to be due to natural causes.
Brinkamp left behind six children, two of whom met similar fates to their father shortly after his death. Cora Brinkamp was the first to die at age eight, with her sister Florence following at four and a half years old.
Undertaker E.N. Blocks, who owned a mortuary in Barrington, recalled that Louise enjoyed working around bodies. Despite not being a salaried employee, Vermilya seemed too eager to work in the mortuary with Blocks "while I never employed her for a couple of years I couldn't keep her out of the office". Blocks also stated that "at every death she would seem to hear of it just as soon as I and she would reach the house only a little behind me."
Subsequent murders
Vermilya moved to Chicago in 1906 with her minor charges in tow. It was while living in Chicago that Vermilya claimed the life of her stepdaughter, 26-year-old Lillian Brinkamp. The coroner, however, ruled her cause of death as "acute nephritis". Due to the unusually high number of deaths within the Brinkamp family, they were thought to be cursed.
Around this time, Vermilya remarried to a man named Charles Vermilya, aged 59. Three years later, he died, apparently victim to sudden illness. He left his widow with $1,000 in cash and a home in Crystal Lake, Illinois, forty-five miles northwest of Chicago. Her stepson, Harry Vermilya, followed his father in death shortly after quarreling with Louise over the sale of the Crystal Lake estate. No suspicions arose after the deaths, and coincidence was blamed.
The following year, in 1910, Vermilya inherited $1,200 after the death of her 23-year-old son from her first marriage, Frank Brinkamp. Frank had been married to a widow and divorced her, receiving $1,200 from the divorce proceedings. On his death bed, he voiced suspicion involving his stepmother to his fiancée, Elizabeth Nolan, stating he was "going the way his father did."
Uncharacteristically, Vermilya began poisoning acquaintances. Jason Rupert, a railroad fireman, fell ill after dining with Vermilya on January 15, 1910. He died two days later, but was only the first in a series of deaths of boarders in Vermilya's home. In February 1910, Vermilya married Richard Smith, a train conductor and boarder at her home. On March 11, 1910, two days after eating a meal prepared by Vermilya, he met a similar fate to Vermilya's prior boarder. His death was determined to be caused by gastritis.
Smith was still married at the time of his supposed nuptials to Vermilya. His estranged wife believed that the circumstances surrounding her husband's death were suspicious. She believed that Smith was murdered for one of three reasons, "either Mrs. Vermilya loved Smith and was afraid that he would desert her, or he was murdered for his money, or C. C. Boysen, the undertaker, thought to be in love with Mrs. Vermilya, was jealous". While her motive in the earlier deaths of her family members was pursuit of financial gain, they became unclear after the deaths of her boarders, for whom she gained no monetary rewards.
Undoing
It wasn't until Arthur Bissonette came to dine with Vermilya did she experience her undoing. While dining with his father at the Vermilya home in October 1911, both of the Bissonettes started experiencing abdominal pain. Homicide detectives became suspicious after questioning Bissonette's father who states he saw Vermilya sprinkling "white pepper" over their meals prior to serving them. This led the Chicago Police Department to do an autopsy on Bissonette's body revealing arsenic poisoning. Vermilya was taken into custody soon after its discovery.
There is some speculation as to whether Bissonette's death was precipitated by financial motives. With Vermilya's assistance, Bissonette was accepted into the Home Guard, a militia-like entity for those men who were unable to qualify for the military. In return, Bissonette was to make a will naming Vermilya as the sole beneficiary of the insurance policy he would carry as a result of this employment. Vermilya was to name him as her beneficiary for the life insurance that she carried after their nuptials.
Bissonette authored a will shortly before his death, but named his fiancé who lived in nearby Kankakee, Lydia Rivard, as the beneficiary of his estate. Though Vermilya was listed as the witness, she claimed to have no knowledge of ever signing the document.
Suicide attempts and trial
On November 4, Vermilya was rushed to the hospital after playing victim to her own modus operandi. Authorities reported Vermilya had been ingesting the "white pepper" since her house arrest on October 28. By November 9, she was reported as being near her death with comorbidities such as valvular heart problems adding to her demise. Vermilya was discharged from the county hospital on November 24, 1911. By December 9, she was stricken with paralysis, which physicians stated was a permanent condition.
Nevertheless, Vermilya was required to attend all her court proceedings, and usually did so in a wheelchair. Vermilya was arraigned before Municipal Judge Walker on 6 November 1911 for the death of Arthur Bissonette. On 7 March 1912, nolle prosequi was filed after it had been found that Bissonette had been taking medication containing arsenic. In an effort to expedite court proceedings, a conference was held between the presiding judge, Judge Kersten, attorney Joseph R. Barres, and the prosecutor on the case.
The prosecutor was reticent as to the strongest points and the motive in Smith's death stating "There are several cases as to which Mrs. Vermilya may be tried and I don't want to try her more than once...For that reason, I want to pick out the strongest one and I have concluded the Smith one is the strongest one." Vermilya was rearrested and charged for the murder of Richard Smith.
Evidence of arsenic poisoning was found in Smith's liver via autopsy conducted by Prof. Walter S. Haines, the Rush Medical College expert chemist. His findings showed "arsenic in sufficient quantities in the viscera of the two men to cause death." Vermilya was taken into custody and detained in the county jail where she attempted suicide again. The trial began on 21 March 1912 and lasted 16 days. The case was resubmitted for trial ten days later, ending in another hung jury as evidence against her was deemed circumstantial.
There were subsequent difficulties that further complicated the progression of the trial. Juror selection had become an arduous process as men were unsure of if they could inflict the death penalty on a woman as freely as they would on a man. Nearly every man called forward had established a bias based on current newspaper accounts of the crime. A good percentage of these were sure that because of the impression made by the newspaper stories, they could not give a fair verdict.
About 50% of those who passed this barrier had a prejudice against circumstantial evidence which necessitated their being excused. Up to this point, the jury had been composed of an all-male panel, who were unable to not only impose a death sentence on a woman, but whose attitudes toward female defendants in murder cases also came into question. By 12 October 1912, Vermilya was still in custody awaiting trial along with fellow murderer Louisa Lindloff. On 28 June 1913, Vermilya was released on $5,000 bail due to concerns for her continued failing health and exposure to the summer heat in a non-airconditioned jail, pending her trial for the poisoning of Richard Smith.
Dismissal of charges
On 18 April 1915, a conference was held between the Assistant State's Attorney, Michael Sullivan, and the State Attorney Hoyne regarding continuation of the trial. It was decided that it would be impossible to obtain a conviction on the Smith indictment, with Sullivan remarking "We could only see that another trial would entail a heavy cost without any assurance of being able to show any strong evidence." Per the request of Vermilya's attorney, all charges were dropped. Vermilya led a quiet life following the dismissal of her charges as no further documentation exists of her in local papers past this point.
It is estimated that Vermilya amassed a total of $15,000 from the nine deaths.
See also
List of serial killers in the United States
References
1868 births
1893 murders in the United States
1906 murders in the United States
1913 deaths
1913 suicides
1890s murders in the United States
1900s murders in the United States
19th-century American women
20th-century American people
20th-century American women
American female serial killers
Arsenic poisoning incidents
Date of birth uncertain
Filicides in the United States
Mariticides
People from Cook County, Illinois
People from Illinois
Poisoners
Serial killers from Illinois
Suicides by poison
Suicides in Illinois | Louise Vermilya | [
"Chemistry",
"Environmental_science"
] | 2,219 | [
"Biology and pharmacology of chemical elements",
"Toxicology",
"Arsenic poisoning incidents"
] |
54,233,618 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KELT-9b | KELT-9b is an exoplanet and ultra-hot Jupiter that orbits the late B-type/early A-type star KELT-9, located about 670 light-years from Earth. Detected using the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope, the discovery of KELT-9b was announced in 2016. As of June 2017, it is the hottest known exoplanet.
Host star
The host star, KELT-9, is 2 to 3 times larger and 2 to 3 times more massive than the sun. The surface temperature is , unusually hot for a star with a transiting planet. Prior to the discovery of KELT-9b, only six A-type stars were known to have planets, of which the warmest, WASP-33, is significantly cooler at ; no B-type stars were previously known to host planets. KELT-9, classified as B9.5-A0 could be the first B-type star known to have a planet. KELT-9b occupies a circular but strongly inclined orbit a mere 0.03462 AU from KELT-9 with an orbital period of less than 1.5 days.
Physical properties
KELT-9b is a relatively large giant planet at about 2.8 times the mass of Jupiter; however given that its radius is nearly twice that of Jupiter, its density is less than half that of it. Like many hot Jupiters, KELT-9b is tidally locked with its host star.
The outer boundary of its atmosphere nearly reaches its Roche lobe, implying that the planet is experiencing rapid atmospheric escape driven by the extreme amount of radiation it receives from its host star. In 2020, atmospheric loss rate was measured to be equal to 18 - 68 Earth masses per billion years.
The planet's elemental abundances remain largely unknown as of 2022, but a low carbon-to-oxygen ratio is strongly suspected.
, KELT-9b is the hottest known exoplanet, with dayside temperatures approaching — warmer than some K-type stars. Molecules on the day side are broken into their component atoms, so that normally sequestered refractory elements can exist as atomic species, including neutral oxygen, neutral and singly ionized atomic iron (Fe and Fe+) and singly ionized titanium (Ti+), only to temporarily reform once they reach the cooler night side, which is indirectly confirmed by measured enhanced heat transfer efficiency of 0.3 between dayside and nightside, likely diven by the latent heat of dissociation and recombination of the molecular hydrogen. Surprisingly, spectra taken in 2021 have unambiguously indicated a presence of metal oxides and hydrides in the planetary atmosphere, although higher resolution spectra taken in 2021 have not found any molecular emissions from the planetary dayside.
The thermosphere layer of KELT-9b is expected to heat up to , driven by ionization of heavy metals atoms like iron.
See also
51 Pegasi b, the first-discovered Hot Jupiter
List of hottest exoplanets
References
External links
SIMBAD entry for HD 195689
Cygnus (constellation)
Transiting exoplanets
Exoplanets discovered in 2016
Exoplanets discovered by KELT
Hot Jupiters | KELT-9b | [
"Astronomy"
] | 671 | [
"Cygnus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
54,235,922 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical%20disruptions%20caused%20by%20squirrels | Electrical disruptions caused by squirrels are common and widespread, and can involve the disruption of power grids. It has been hypothesized that the threat to the internet, infrastructure and services posed by squirrels may exceed that posed by cyber-attacks. Although many commentators have highlighted humorous aspects of the concern, squirrels have proven consistently able to cripple power grids in many countries, and the danger posed to the electrical grid from squirrels is ongoing and significant. This has led to tabulations and maps compiled of the relevant data.
Scope
Electrical disruptions caused by squirrels are common and widespread. Between Memorial Day (May 27, 2013) and August 31, 2013, at least 50 power outages caused by squirrels (POCBS) were recorded in 24 U.S. states. Cities affected by POCBS included Mason City, Iowa and Portland, Oregon. Most media coverage of such events has compared the number of electrical grid shutdowns due to squirrels and those due to terrorists. Commentators often embellish and parody descriptions of the squirrels responsible for interrupting electrical service with allusions to military action or concerns, for example: "Squirrels mobilize, plot acts of cyber terrorism against humankind—And they're not acting alone." or "Squirrelus interruptus: 5 things shut down by squirrels—How can a squirrel bring a nuclear weapons site to its knees?" Electrical grids are not the only types of infrastructure at risk from squirrels, but nuclear weapons sites have also been described as targets of squirrel attention. Ground squirrels have interfered with underground nuclear missile sites at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. The squirrels are able to tunnel under fences, bypassing motion detectors. Like their arboreal relatives, they can damage electrical cables by biting them. In addition, those that do take above-ground routes onto the base trigger thousands of false alarms each year.
Prevention
Squirrels damage electrical distribution facilities by tunneling, by chewing through electrical insulation, or by simultaneously coming into contact with two conductors at different electrical potentials. Typically the animal is killed by the passage of current through its body. Prevention is complicated by the ability of squirrels to bypass plastic animal guards, gnaw through insulation and squeeze through small openings into substations.
Metrics
Squirrel-caused grid disruption in the U.S. is monitored by the American Public Power Association (APPA). The APPA has developed a data tracker called "The Squirrel Index" (TSqI) to analyze the pattern and timing of "squirrel attacks" on electrical power systems. The TSqI is a metric that quantifies the rate per 1,000 customers over a period of time, and indicates two peak periods of highest "squirrel activity" or "squirrel peaking months" (SqPMS) in the year, in May–June and October–November, when disruption is greatest.
Analytics
Intentional damage by human terrorists is often the first concern in assessing threats to the U.S. power supply; some cybersecurity experts believe a country's infrastructure, such as its power grid, is a likely terrorist target. But according to the security researcher Cris Thomas, also known by the pseudonym Space Rogue, "We've had power outages caused by squirrels in all 50 states ... [including] Hawaii, where they don't even have squirrels, but they do have chickens."
Specific cases
In 1987 a 90-minute loss of power to Nasdaq's automated trading computer, caused by a squirrel, affected twenty million trades. Nasdaq was shut down for about 30 minutes again in 2014 by a squirrel-induced power outage. Other commentators have noted that actual cyber attacks by human terrorists are much rarer than disruption caused by squirrels.
John C. Inglis, the former deputy director of the U.S. National Security Agency, said in 2015 that he judged the electrical grid was as likely to be paralyzed by a natural disaster as by a cyberattack and added: "[F]rankly, the No. 1 threat experienced to date by the U.S. electrical grid is squirrels."
Similar concerns exist in Germany, where in 2005, a "cyber squirrel" crippled the entire electrical grid south of the River Elster for an hour. This squirrel was described as "a furry suicide bomber" ("pelzige[r] Selbstmordattentäter").
Squirrels have been the cause of many power outages in Pennsylvania. Cris Thomas has said that in the United States there have been six deaths associated with squirrel interference with infrastructure, such as downed power lines (and two with other animals).
One commentator criticized the UK press for what he saw as an emphasis on "the ethnic struggle between Britain's populations of red and grey squirrels, and the latter's demonization (as immigrants and terrorists) and threatened eradication". In at least one circumstance, a physical attack by a squirrel has been characterized as a "terrorist squirrel."
See also
Animal attack
Notes
References
External links
APPA squirrel index (American Public Power Association)
35 Years of Cyberwar: The Squirrels are Winning at National Science Foundation (webcast with speaker Cris Thomas)
Electric power distribution
Electric power transmission systems
Electrical grid
Squirrels in human culture
Electrical breakdown | Electrical disruptions caused by squirrels | [
"Physics"
] | 1,066 | [
"Physical phenomena",
"Electrical phenomena",
"Electrical breakdown"
] |
54,236,356 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular%20phenotyping | Molecular phenotyping describes the technique of quantifying pathway reporter genes, i.e. pre-selected genes that are modulated specifically by metabolic and signaling pathways, in order to infer activity of these pathways.
In most cases, molecular phenotyping quantifies changes of pathway reporter gene expression to characterize modulation of pathway activities induced by perturbations such as therapeutic agents or stress in a cellular system in vitro. In such contexts, measurements at early time points are often more informative than later observations because they capture the primary response to the perturbation by the cellular system. Integrated with quantified changes of phenotype induced by the perturbation, molecular phenotyping can identify pathways that contribute to the phenotypic changes.
Currently molecular phenotyping uses RNA sequencing and mRNA expression to infer pathway activities. Other technologies and readouts such as mass spectrometry and protein abundance or phosphorylation levels can be potentially used as well.
Application in early drug discovery
Current data suggest that by quantifying pathway reporter gene expression, molecular phenotyping is able to cluster compounds based on pathway profiles and dissect associations between pathway activities and disease phenotypes simultaneously. Furthermore, molecular phenotyping can be applicable to compounds with a range of binding specificities and is able to triage false positives derived from high-content screening assays. Furthermore, molecular phenotyping allows integration of data derived from in vitro and in vivo models as well as patient data into the drug discovery process.
References
Molecular biology
RNA
Gene expression
Drug discovery
Pharmaceutical industry | Molecular phenotyping | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 330 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Life sciences industry",
"Drug discovery",
"Pharmaceutical industry",
"Gene expression",
"Molecular genetics",
"Cellular processes",
"Medicinal chemistry",
"Molecular biology",
"Biochemistry"
] |
54,236,455 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifluoroacetone | Trifluoroacetone (1,1,1-trifluoroacetone) is an organofluorine compound with the chemical formula CF3C(O)CH3. The compound is a colorless liquid with chloroform-like odour.
Preparation, reactions, uses
Trifluoroacetone is produced from trifluoroacetoacetic acid, which is synthesized by condensation of ethyl trifluoroacetate and ethyl acetate:
Hydrolysis of the keto-ester, followed by decarboxylation affords trifluoroacetone:
Alternatively, addition of methylmagnesium iodide to trifluoroacetic acid gives the ketone according to this idealized equation:
Reactions
Many studies report on the reactions of trifluoroacetone. It is less prone to hydrate than hexafluoroacetone and more electrophilic than acetone itself. Unlike both of those ketones, trifluoroacetone is prochiral.
Hydrogenation of trifluoroacetone over platinum catalyst gives trifluoroisopropanol. The reduction can also be achieved asymmetrically. Similarly, alkylation with Grignard reagents provides a route to tertiary alcohols. Alkylation and arylation can be achieved using malonate anions and arenes/, respectively.
Trifluoroacetone has been converted to the dioxirane using oxone.
It serves as an oxidizing agent in Oppenauer oxidation.
Trifluoracetone is also used in a synthesis of 2-trifluoromethyl-7-azaindoles starting with 2,6-dihalopyridines. The derived chiral imine is used to prepare enantiopure α-trifluoromethyl alanines and diamines by a Strecker reaction followed by either nitrile hydrolysis or reduction.
See also
Hexafluoroacetone
Trifluoroacetic acid – also abbreviated TFA
References
External links
Safety sheet
Trifluoromethyl compounds
Ketones
Trifluoromethyl ketones | Trifluoroacetone | [
"Chemistry"
] | 460 | [
"Ketones",
"Functional groups"
] |
54,236,842 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott%20Gaudi | Bernard Scott Gaudi (born 1974) is an American astronomer. He is the Thomas Jefferson Professor for Discovery and Space Exploration, a professor of astronomy, and chair of undergraduate studies at Ohio State University's department of astronomy. He was chair of the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (2012–2014) and the NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee (2012–2014). In 2018, Gaudi was co-chair of the National Academy of Sciences Exoplanet Science Strategy study.
Background
Gaudi grew up in a small rural town in Illinois. He completed high school at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, his undergraduate education at the Michigan State University, and his doctorate at Ohio State University.
Gaudi has been a faculty member of the Ohio State University Department of Astronomy since 2006. He previously was a Menzel Fellow at Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Hubble Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ.
Gaudi is a gay man. He shared that he hopes to bring representation to astronomy, and he has focused on engaging LGBTQ and HIV-impacted youth with astronomy.
Academic research
Gaudi is a leader in the discovery and statistical characterization of extrasolar planets using a variety of methods, including transits and gravitational microlensing. In 2008, he and his collaborators announced the discovery of the first Jupiter/Saturn analog using microlensing. In 2017, he co-led the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope survey collaboration and announced the discovery of KELT-9b, which is the hottest transiting gas giant ever discovered.
Gaudi's first major media appearance was in Discover, when the magazine named him one of "20 Young Scientists to Watch in the Next 20 Years." Gaudi has helped discover over fifty planets with several techniques, with his work earning him coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post, New Scientist, Sky & Telescope, Astronomy and Wired, among others.
References
Ohio State University faculty
Living people
People from Staunton, Illinois
Michigan State University alumni
Ohio State University Graduate School alumni
21st-century American astronomers
1974 births
Harvard College Observatory people
LGBTQ people from Illinois
American LGBTQ scientists
Gay academics
Gay scientists
LGBTQ astronomers
Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers | Scott Gaudi | [
"Astronomy"
] | 456 | [
"Astronomers",
"LGBTQ astronomers"
] |
54,237,207 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phasmaviridae | Phasmaviridae is a family of viruses with negative stranded RNA genomes associated with insect hosts. They are a member of the order Bunyavirales. Phasmaviruses were first discovered in phantom midges of the genus Chaoborus in 2014.
Taxonomy
The family contains the following six genera:
Feravirus
Hymovirus
Jonvirus
Orthophasmavirus
Sawastrivirus
Wuhivirus
Ferak feravirus
Ferak feravirus, a member of the genus Feravirus, has been isolated in cell culture. The virion is enveloped and spherical with a diameter of 80–120 nanometers. The genome has three segments L (6.8 kilobases), M (4.2 kilobases) and S (1.5 kilobases). It encodes five proteins—the polymerase on the L segment, the p12G and the Gc-Gn protein on the M segment and the N and p12 proteins in the S segment.
A Gn–Gc glycoprotein dimer binds to the cell receptor. The virus is endocytosed and escapes into the cytoplasm where it replicates. It is released from the cell by budding.
References
External links
Viral zone
Virus Pathogen Database and Analysis Resource (ViPR): Bunyavirales
Bunyavirales
Virus families | Phasmaviridae | [
"Biology"
] | 287 | [
"Virus stubs",
"Viruses"
] |
54,237,348 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifluoromethanol | Trifluoromethanol is a synthetic organic compound with the formula . It is also referred to as perfluoromethanol or trifluoromethyl alcohol. The compound is the simplest perfluoroalcohol. The substance is a colorless gas, which is unstable at room temperature.
Synthesis
Like all primary and secondary perfluoroalcohols, trifluoromethanol eliminates hydrogen fluoride in an endothermic reaction and forms carbonyl fluoride.
⇌ + (I)
At temperatures in the range of -120 °C, trifluoromethanol can be prepared from trifluoromethyl hypochlorite and hydrogen chloride:
+ → + (II)
In this reaction, the recombination of a partially positively charged chlorine atom (in trifluoromethyl hypochlorite) with a partially negatively charged chlorine atom (in hydrogen chloride) is used as elemental chlorine. The undesired products, by-products chlorine, hydrogen chloride, and chlorotrifluoromethane, can be removed by evaporation at -110 °C. Trifluoromethanol has a melting point of -82 °C and a calculated boiling point of about -20 °C. The boiling point is thus about 85 K lower than that of methanol. This fact can be explained by the absence of intramolecular H—F bonds, which are also not visible in the infrared gas phase spectrum.
A simpler synthesis uses the reaction (I); an equilibrium can be shifted to the thermodynamically preferred trifluoromethanol at lower temperatures. If the synthesized trifluoromethanol is protonated by superacids, for example (fluoroantimonic acid), the equilibrium can be further shifted to the left towards the desired product.
Similar to reaction (I), trifluoromethoxides () can be prepared from saline-type fluorides (e.g., ) and carbonyl fluoride. However, if the ion is, for example, in an aqueous solution displaced by an acid, trifluoromethanol decomposes at the room temperature.
Occurrence in upper layers of atmosphere
While trifluoromethanol is unstable under normal conditions, it is generated in the stratosphere from and radicals by reaction with and radicals. In this case, decomposition of trifluoromethanol is negligible under the conditions prevailing in the atmosphere due to the high activation energy of the reaction. The expected lifetime of trifluoromethanol is several million years at altitudes below 40 km.
See also
Trifluoroethanol
References
Trifluoromethyl compounds
Primary alcohols
Trifluoromethoxy compounds
Organic compounds with 1 carbon atom
Substances discovered in the 1970s | Trifluoromethanol | [
"Chemistry"
] | 608 | [
"Organic compounds",
"Organic compounds with 1 carbon atom"
] |
54,237,359 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badouel%20intersection%20algorithm | The Badouel ray-triangle intersection algorithm, named after its inventor Didier Badouel, is a fast method for calculating the intersection of a ray and a triangle in three dimensions without needing precomputation of the plane equation of the plane containing the triangle.
External links
Ray-Polygon Intersection An Efficient Ray-Polygon Intersection by Didier Badouel from Graphics Gems I
Computational geometry | Badouel intersection algorithm | [
"Mathematics"
] | 82 | [
"Computational geometry",
"Computational mathematics"
] |
54,237,654 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian%20Journal%20of%20Combinatorics | The Australasian Journal of Combinatorics is a triannual peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal covering combinatorics. It was established in 1990 and is published by the Centre for Discrete Mathematics and Computing (University of Queensland) on behalf of the Combinatorial Mathematics Society of Australasia. Originally published biannually, it has been published three times per year since 2005. The editors-in-chief are Michael H. Albert (University of Otago) and Elizabeth J. Billington (University of Queensland). Since 2014, the journal has been diamond open access, charging fees neither to readers nor to authors. It is a member of the Free Journal Network.
Abstracting and indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in Mathematical Reviews, the Emerging Sources Citation Index, Scopus, the Directory of Open Access Journals and Zentralblatt MATH.
References
External links
Combinatorics journals
Academic journals established in 1990
Open access journals
English-language journals
Triannual journals | Australasian Journal of Combinatorics | [
"Mathematics"
] | 200 | [
"Combinatorics journals",
"Combinatorics"
] |
54,237,945 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippulin | Hippulin, also known as Δ8-14-isoestrone, as well as 14-isoestra-1,3,5(10),8-tetraen-3-ol-17-one, is a naturally occurring estrogen found in horses and an isomer of equilin. The compound, likely in sodium sulfate form, is a component of conjugated estrogens (Premarin), a pharmaceutical extract of the urine of pregnant mares, though it is present only in small amounts in pregnant mare urine. It has been reported by possess either equivalent estrogenic activity to that of equilin or only slight estrogenic activity. The compound was first described in 1932.
See also
List of estrogens § Equine estrogens
References
Hydroxyarenes
Estranes
Estrogens
Ketones | Hippulin | [
"Chemistry"
] | 177 | [
"Ketones",
"Functional groups"
] |
54,238,399 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon%20Center%20for%20Medical%20Imaging | The Gordon Center for Medical Imaging is an American multidisciplinary research center at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School that develops biomedical imaging technologies.
The center's central activities include: research, training and education in medical imaging, and translation of basic research into clinical applications.
The MGH Gordon Center also operates the PET Core, an MGH research service facility that synthesizes radiotracers and provides positron emission tomography (PET) imaging services for investigators.
Created in 2015 with an endowment from the Bernard and Sophia Gordon Foundation, the Gordon Center is a direct continuation of MGH's Division of Radiological Sciences where the first positron-imaging device was invented.
Dr. Georges El Fakhri is the founding director of the Gordon Center. The center is located in two campuses in Boston and Charlestown Navy Yard, Massachusetts.
See also
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
Massachusetts General Hospital
Nuclear medicine
PET
References
Laboratories in the United States
Medical research institutes in Massachusetts
Radiology organizations
Medical imaging
Nuclear medicine organizations
Massachusetts General Hospital | Gordon Center for Medical Imaging | [
"Engineering"
] | 221 | [
"Nuclear medicine organizations",
"Nuclear organizations"
] |
54,239,874 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United%20Nations%20Ocean%20Conference | The 2017 United Nations Ocean Conference was a United Nations conference that took place on 5-9 June 2017 which sought to mobilize action for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources.
The Earth's waters are said to be "under threat as never before", with pollution, overfishing, and the effects of climate change severely damaging the health of our oceans. For instance as oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, biodiversity is becoming reduced and changing currents will cause more frequent storms and droughts. Every year around 8 million metric tons of plastic waste leak into the ocean and make it into the circular ocean currents. This causes contamination of sediments at the sea-bottom and causes plastic waste to be embedded in the aquatic food chain. It could lead to oceans containing more plastics than fish by 2050 if nothing is done. Key habitats such as coral reefs are at risk and noise pollution are a threat to whales, dolphins, and other species. Furthermore almost 90 percent of fish stocks are overfished or fully exploited which cost more than $80 billion a year in lost revenues.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that decisive, coordinated global action can solve the problems created by humanity. Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly, highlighted the conference's significance, saying "if we want a secure future for our species on this planet, we have to act now on the health of the ocean and on climate change".
The conference sought to find ways and urge for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14. Its theme is "Our oceans, our future: partnering for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14". It also asked governments, UN bodies, and civil society groups to make voluntary commitments for action to improve the health of the oceans with over 1,000 commitments − such as on managing protected areas − being made.
Since 2014, the UN Ocean Conference and Our Ocean Conference have gathered over 2,160 financial and other quantifiable pledges, mobilising more than $130 billion.
Participation
Participants include heads of State and Government, civil society representatives, business people, actors, academics and scientists and ocean and marine life advocates from around 200 countries. Around 6,000 leaders gathered for the conference over the course of the week.
The Governments of Fiji and Sweden had the co-hosting responsibilities of the Conference.
7 partnership dialogues with a rich state-developed state theme were co-chaired by Australia-Kenya, Iceland-Peru, Canada-Senegal, Estonia-Grenada, Italy-Palau, Monaco-Mozambique and Norway-Indonesia.
Ministers from small island states such as Palau, Fiji and Tuvalu pleaded for help as for them the issue is existential not just on the long-term.
Outcomes
Over 1,300 voluntary commitments have been made which UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo called "truly impressive" and stated that they now comprise "an ocean solution registry" via the public online platform. 44 percent of the commitments came from governments, 19 percent from NGOs, 9 percent from UN entities and 6 percent from the private sector.
Delegates from China, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines pledged to work to keep plastics out of the seas. The Maldives announced a phase out of its non-biodegradable plastic and Austria pledged to reduce the number of plastic bags used per person to 25 a year by 2019.
Several nations announced plans for new marine protected areas. China plans to establish 10 to 20 "demonstration zones" by 2020 and introduced a regulation which requires that 35 percent of the country's shoreline should be natural by 2020. Gabon announced that it will create one of Africa's largest marine protected areas with around 53,000 square kilometres of ocean when combined with its existing zones. New Zealand affirmed the government's commitment to establishing the Kermadec/Rangitahua Ocean Sanctuary, which − with 620,000 square kilometres − would be one of the world's largest fully protected areas. Pakistan also announced its first marine protected area.
The US-based international wildlife organisation Wildlife Conservation Society created the MPA Fund in 2016 as well as the blue moon fund for a combined $15 million commitment which aims to create 3.7 million square kilometers of new marine protected areas with The Tiffany & Co. Foundation adding a $1 million grant toward this fund in the week of the conference. Germany's Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Barbara Hendricks also pledged to allocate €670 million for marine conservation projects and made 11 voluntary commitments.
Deputy Director-General of the State Oceanic Administrations Lin Shanqing of China − the world's main fish producer and exporter − stated that the country would be "willing, based on its own development experience, to work actively for the establishment in the area of the ocean of an open, inclusive, concrete, pragmatic, mutually beneficial and win-win blue partnership with other countries and international organizations".
The conference ended with the adoption by consensus of a 14-point Call for Action by the 193 UN member states in which they affirmed their "strong commitment to conserve and sustainably use our oceans, seas and marine resources tor sustainable development". With this call, the Ocean Conference also sought to raise global awareness of ocean problems.
Private sector
On 9 June an official side event of the United Nations Ocean Conference for addressing ways by which the private sector provides practical solutions to address the problems such as by improving energy efficiency, waste management and introducing market-based tools to shift investment, subsidy and production.
Nine of the world's biggest fishing companies from Asia, Europe and the US have signed up for The Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative, supported by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, aiming to end unsustainable practices.
Research and technology projects
At the conference Indonesia published its vessel monitoring system (VMS) publicly revealing the location and activity of its commercial fishing boats on the Global Fishing Watch public mapping platform. Brian Sullivan states that the platform is can easily incorporate additional data sources which may allow "mov[ing] from raw data to quickly producing dynamic visualizations and reporting that promote scientific discovery and support policies for better fishery management".
Irina Bokova of UNESCO notes that "we cannot manage what we cannot measure, and no single country is able to measure the myriad changes taking place in the ocean", and asks for more maritime research and the sharing of knowledge to craft common science-based policies.
Peru co-chaired the "Partnership Dialogue 6 – Increasing scientific knowledge, and developing research capacity and transfer of marine technology" with Iceland.
On 7 June researchers at the Dutch The Ocean Cleanup foundation published a study according to which rivers − such as the Yangtze − carry an around 1.15–2.41 million tonnes of plastic into the sea every year.
Obstacles to implementation
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that unless nations overcome short-term territorial and resource interests the state of the oceans will continue to deteriorate. He also names "the artificial dichotomy" between jobs and healthy oceans as one of the main challenges and asks for strong political leadership, new partnerships and concrete steps.
Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina J Mohammed warns about the harm of overlooking the climate concerns in turn for perceived "national gain", claiming that "a moral obligation to the world which [one] live[s] on" exists.
India, attended indirectly via two non-governmental organisations until 9 June when Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar told the conference that the negative impact of overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change are becoming increasingly clear and that the time for action would be "already long overdue".
Bolivia's President Evo Morales told the conference that, one of the world's main polluters, the United States denied science, turned its backs on multilateralism, and attempted to deny a future to upcoming generations by its national government deciding to leave the Paris agreement, making "it the main threat to Mother Earth and life itself". Albert II, Prince of Monaco called Trump's withdrawal "catastrophic" and the reaction from US mayors, governors and many in the corporate world as "wonderful". On 30 May Sweden's deputy prime minister Isabella Lövin stated that the United States is resisting plans to highlight how climate change is disrupting life in the oceans at the conference, that the US has negatively affected preparations and that "the decline of the oceans is really a threat to the entire planet" with a "need to start working together". Lövin also makes note of difficulties to engage with Washington in the conference, partly because key posts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration remain unfilled since the end of the Obama administration.
UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi states that subsidies from wealthy governments encourage overfishing, overcapacity and may contribute to illegal and unregulated fishing, creating food insecurity, unemployment and poverty for people relying mainly on fish as their primary source of nourishment or livelihood.
Impact and progress
Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson notes that the UN's work alone is not nearly enough and that for a solution to this existential crisis of the health of our global environment, strong and inspired leadership at all levels – from mayors, to governors, CEOs, scientists, artists and presidents is needed.
In 2010 the international community agreed to protect 10% of the ocean by 2020 in the Convention on Biological Diversity's Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and Sustainable Development Goal 14. However as of June 2017 less than 3% of the ocean are under some form of protection. Pledges made during the conference would add around an additional 4.4 percent of protected marine areas, increasing the protected total to around 7.4% of the ocean. A later study (in 2018), reveals that 3,6% was protected.
Peter Thomson called the conference was a success, stating that he was "satisfied with [its] results", that the conference "held at a very critical time" has "turned the tide on marine pollution". He says that "we are now working around the world to restore a relationship of balance and respect towards the ocean".
Elizabeth Wilson, director of international conservation at Pew Charitable Trusts thinks that this meeting "will be followed by a whole series of other meetings that we hope will be impacted in a positive way".
The next conference was scheduled for 2020, but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Portugal's Minister for the Seas, Ana Paula Vitorino stated that Lisbon would like to host the next event in 2020. Kenya's Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed also offered for Kenya to host the next event.
Culture and society
The event coincided with the World Oceans Day on 8 June and started with the World Environment Day on 5 June.
On 4 June the World Ocean Festival took place at New York City's Governors Island. The festival was hosted by the City of New York, organized by the Global Brain Foundation and was free and open to the public.
China announced a new international sailing competition and Noahs Sailing Club press officer Rebecca Wang stated that "sailing allows for a better appreciation of the ocean and the natural environment. Many wealthy Chinese think of luxury yachts when they think of maritime sports, and we're trying to foster a maritime culture that's more attuned to the environment".
Users of social media worldwide use the hashtag #SaveOurOcean for discussion, information and media related to the conference and its goals. The #CleanSeas cyber campaign calls on governments, industry and citizens to end excessive, wasteful usage of single-use plastic and eliminate microplastics in cosmetics with its petition getting signed by more than 1 million people.
See also
References
External links
#OceanConference on Twitter
United Nations – LIVE – UN Ocean Conference, recording of the livestreamed conference on YouTube
2017 conferences
2017 in international relations
2017 in New York City
2010s in Manhattan
2017 in the environment
Diplomatic conferences in the United States
Environmental conferences
June 2017 events in the United States
Marine conservation
Ocean pollution
United Nations conferences
Events in New York City | United Nations Ocean Conference | [
"Chemistry",
"Environmental_science"
] | 2,466 | [
"Ocean pollution",
"Water pollution"
] |
54,240,905 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow%20cathode%20effect | The hollow cathode effect allows electrical conduction at a lower voltage or with more current in a cold-cathode gas-discharge lamp when the cathode is a conductive tube open at one end than a similar lamp with a flat cathode. The hollow cathode effect was recognized by Friedrich Paschen in 1916.
In a hollow cathode, the electron emitting surface is in the inside of the tube. Several processes contribute to enhanced performance of a hollow cathode:
The pendulum effect, where an electron oscillates back and forth in the tube, creating secondary electrons along the way
The photoionization effect, where photons emitted in the tube cause further ionization
Stepwise ionization
Sputtering
The hollow cathode effect is utilized in the electrodes for neon signs, in hollow-cathode lamps, and more.
References
Atomic physics
Electrodes
Gas discharge lamps | Hollow cathode effect | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 187 | [
" and optical physics stubs",
"Electrodes",
"Quantum mechanics",
"Electrochemistry",
" molecular",
"Atomic physics",
"Electrochemistry stubs",
"Atomic",
"Physical chemistry stubs",
" and optical physics"
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54,241,127 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexafluorothioacetone | Hexafluorothioacetone is an organic perfluoro thione compound with formula CF3CSCF3. At standard conditions it is a blue gas.
Production
Hexafluorothioacetone was first produced by Middleton in 1961 by boiling bis-(perfluoroisopropyl)mercury with sulfur.
Properties
Hexafluorothioacetone boils at 8 °C. Below this it is a blue liquid.
Colour
The blue colour is due to absorption in the visible light range with bands at 800–675 nm and 725–400 nm. These bands are due to T1–S0 and S1–S0 transitions. There is also a strong absorption in ultraviolet around 230-190 nm.
Reactions
Hexafluorothioacetone acts more like a true thiocarbonyl (C=S) than many other thiocarbonyl compounds, because it is not able to form thioenol compounds (=C-S-H), and the sulfur is not in a negative ionized state (C-S−).
Hexafluorothioacetone is not attacked by water or oxygen at standard conditions as are many other thiocarbonyls.
Bases trigger the formation of a dimer 2,2,4,4-tetrakis-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3-dithietane. Bases includes amines.
The dimer can be heated to regenerate the hexafluorothioacetone monomer.
The dimer is also produced in a reaction with hexafluoropropene and sulfur with some potassium fluoride.
Hexafluorothioacetone reacts with bisulfite to form a Bunte salt CH(CF3)2SSO2−.
Thiols reacting with hexafluorothioacetone yield disulfides or a dithiohemiketal:
R-SH + C(CF3)2S → R-S-S-CH(CF3)2.
R-SH + C(CF3)2S → RSC(CF3)2SH (for example in methanethiol or ethanethiol).
With mercaptoacetic acid, instead of a thiohemiketal, water elimination yields a ring shaped molecule called a dithiolanone -CH2C(O)SC(CF3)2S- (2,2-di(trifluoromethyl)-1,3-dithiolan-4-one).
Aqueous hydrogen chloride results in the formation of a dimeric disulfide CH(CF3)2SSC(CF3)2Cl. Hydrogen bromide with water yields the similar CH(CF3)2SSC(CF3)2Br. Dry hydrogen iodide does something different and reduces the sulfur making CH(CF3)2SH. Wet hydrogen iodide only reduces to a disulfide CH(CF3)2SSC(CF3)2H. Strong organic acids add water to yield a disulfide compound CH(CF3)2SSC(CF3)2OH.
Chlorine and bromine add to hexafluorothioacetone to make CCl(CF3)2SCl and CBr(CF3)2SBr.
With diazomethane hexafluorothioacetone produces 2,2,5,5-tetrakis(trifluoromethyl)-l,3-dithiolane, another substituted dithiolane. Diphenyldiazoniethane reacts to form a three membered ring called a thiirane (di-2,2-trifluoromethyl-di-3,3-phenyl-thiirane)
Trialkylphosphites (P(OR)3) react to make a trialkoxybis(trifluoromethyl)methylenephosphorane (RO)3P=C(CF3)2 and a thiophosphate (RO)3PS.
Hexafluorothioacetone can act as a ligand on nickel.
Hexafluorothioacetone is highly reactive to alkenes and dienes combining via addition reactions. With butadiene it reacts even as low as -78 °C to yield 2,2-bis-(trifluoromethyl)-3,6-dihydro-2H-l-thiapyran.
See also
Hexafluoroacetone
References
External links
Thioketones
Perfluorinated compounds
Trifluoromethyl compounds
Gases with color | Hexafluorothioacetone | [
"Chemistry"
] | 992 | [
"Functional groups",
"Thioketones"
] |
54,241,461 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog%20Aging%20Project | The Dog Aging Project is a long-term biological study of aging in dogs, centered at the University of Washington. Professors Daniel Promislow and Matt Kaeberlein are the co-directors of the project. Together with Chief Veterinarian, Dr. Kate Creevy, the project primarily focuses on research to understand dog aging through the collection and analysis of big data through citizen science.
Additionally, there is a small component of the project that explores the use of pharmaceuticals to potentially increase life span of dogs. The project has implications for improving the life spans of humans and is an example of geroscience.
The project engages the general public to register their dogs in the studies, and therefore the project is an example of citizen science. nearly 40,000 dogs have been registered with the project. The majority of the dogs will participate in a longitudinal study of 10,000 dogs over a 10-year period conducted across the United States. Individual dogs are followed for the duration of their lives to understand the biological and environmental factors that influence dog longevity. A small subset of those dogs (approximately 500) will be enrolled in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the pharmaceutical rapamycin, which has shown signs of extending longevity in species such as mice.
The Dog Aging Project is an open science initiative. The investigators have committed to releasing all anonymized research data to the public domain. The longitudinal study portion of the Dog Aging Project bears some similarity to the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study of the Morris Animal Foundation although with much larger phenotypic diversity. The entire project also shares operational similarities to Darwin's Ark, a citizen science initiative of companion animals with more specific focus on genetics. The initiatives are each managed to ensure the data can be integrated into a powerful master data set.
A premise of the project is that dogs may be a sentinel species for humans since they live in the same environment as humans. The project may thereby help identify risk factors that influence human life span. Since dogs age significantly more rapidly than humans, data on aging can be generated much more rapidly using a dog model than in human studies. A further premise is that the longitudinal portion of the project seeks to understand the underlying biology of aging, as opposed to understanding individual age-related diseases. In this respect, if the aging process itself is addressed, then several age-related diseases could be delayed or avoided simultaneously. This is important because elderly individuals often have multiple chronic disease conditions.
The Dog Aging Project was founded in 2014 and received a US $200,000 seed grant from the University of Washington. It has also received funding from small private donors, an example of crowdfunding. In 2017 the project reported the results of a 10 week trial showing that a small number of dogs that received rapamycin had better heart function than a control group.
As of 2018, the National Institute on Aging awarded the Dog Aging Project a five year grant to support further studies. Researchers from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences are also investigators in the study.
External links
Dog Aging Project website
The Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute of the University of Washington
Golden Retriever Lifetime Study
References
Epidemiological study projects
Ageing processes
Senescence in non-human organisms
Dogs
Longevity
Crowdfunding | Dog Aging Project | [
"Biology"
] | 659 | [
"Senescence",
"Senescence in non-human organisms",
"Ageing processes"
] |
54,241,771 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical%20mile | Biblical mile () is a unit of distance on land, or linear measure, principally used by Jews during the Herodian dynasty to ascertain distances between cities and to mark the Sabbath limit, equivalent to about ⅔ of an English statute mile, or what was about four furlongs (four stadia). The basic Jewish traditional unit of distance was the cubit (), each cubit being roughly between The standard measurement of the biblical mile, or what is sometimes called tǝḥūm šabbat (Sabbath limit; Sabbath boundary), was 2,000 cubits.
Etymology
The word mīl, as used in Hebrew texts between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE, is a Roman loanword, believed to be a shortened adaptation of the Latin mīliarium, literally meaning, "milestone," and which word signifies "a thousand" [passuum <paces> of two steps each]; hence: Roman mile. The word appears in the Mishnah, a compendium of Jewish oral law compiled by Rabbi Judah the Prince in 189 CE, and is used to this very day by religious Jews in the application of certain halachic laws.
Halachic applications
On Shabbat, one is not allowed to travel further than 1 biblical mile outside one's city; this law is known as techum shabbat. A procedure known as eruv techumin allows one to travel up to one more biblical mile.
The rabbinic ordinance of washing hands prior to eating bread requires of people travelling the roads to go as far as 4 biblical miles if there is a known water source that can be used for washing. This applies only to when the water source lies in one's general direction of travel. However, had he already passed the water source, he is not obligated to backtrack unless the distance is within 1 biblical mile.
Sliced pieces of meat that are to be cooked in a pot require salting before they are cooked. The first process is rinsing in water followed by salting with any coarse salt, while laid over a grating or colander to allow for drainage. The salt is allowed to remain on the meat for the time that it takes to walk one biblical mile (appx.18–24minutes). Afterwards, the residue of salt is rinsed away with water, and the meat cooked. Salting in this way helps to draw out the blood.
Divergent methods
Nearly two thousand years of Jewish exile from the Land of Israel have given rise to disputes over the precise length of the biblical mile observed by the ancients. Some hold the biblical mile to be 1,152 m, while others hold it to be 960 m, depending on the length they prescribe to each cubit. Originally, the 2,000 cubit Sabbath limit was measured with a standard 50-cubit rope.
Another dispute is the actual time it takes for an average man to walk a biblical mile. Most authorities hold that a biblical mile can be traversed in 18 minutes; four biblical miles in 72 minutes. Elsewhere, however, Maimonides held the view that an average man walks a biblical mile in about 20 to 24 minutes.
Distances between cities
Hamath to Tiberias = 1 mil (before the two cities converged as one)
Beit Maon to Tiberias = 1 mil (before the two cities converged as one)
Migdal Nunia ('the Fish Tower') to Tiberias = 1 mil
Migdal to Hamath = 1 mil
Sepphoris to Tiberias = 18 mil
Lod (Lydda) to Ono = 3 mil
Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim = 12 mil
Zoar to Sodom = 5 mil.
Modiin (Modiith) to Jerusalem = 15 mil.
See also
Eruv techumin
Techum shabbat
Day's journey
References
Units of length
Obsolete units of measurement
Length
Length, distance, or range measuring devices
Jewish law
Jewish law and rituals
Laws of Shabbat
Shabbat
Sabbath
Shabbat innovations
Human-based units of measurement
Land of Israel laws in Judaism | Biblical mile | [
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54,242,472 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webedia | Webedia is a company specializing in online media, a subsidiary of the Fimalac group based in Levallois-Perret, France.
Webedia is active in more than twenty countries including France (AlloCiné, Jeuxvideo.com, MGG, Puremédias, Purepeople, Pureshopping, Purebreak, Terrafemina, 750g, easyVoyage), Brazil (Adorocinema, Tudo Gostoso, Minhavida), Germany (Filmstarts, Moviepilot, GameStar), Spain and Latin America (Xataka, SensaCine, Raiser Games), and Poland (Gry-Online and GetHero).
History
Webedia was created in France in 2007, following the successive launches of the websites Purepeople, Puretrend and Purefans. Webedia bought the comparison shopping website Shopoon in 2008 and renamed it Pureshopping, and the website Ozap (media news) from M6 group in 2011 and renamed it Puremédias. Webedia was acquired by Fimalac in May 2013 and became its Internet media subsidiary.
In 2013, Fimalac acquired AlloCiné, the websites Newsring and Youmag, the cooking website 750g and the cultural platform Exponaute. In 2014, Webedia acquired OverBlog, Jeuxvideo.com (through L'Odyssée Interactive and moved to Paris in 2015), Moviepilot (Germany), and Gameo Consulting (owner of Millenium, electronic sports), In December 2014, Webedia announced a license agreement with Ziff Davis to launch sites under the IGN franchise in Brazil and France at the beginning of 2015. The French version of IGN was launched on 2, it targets the general public and casual gamers. In 2015, Webedia acquired Côté Ciné Group (technological solutions for movie theaters and specialized press magazines: BoxOffice Pro in the United States and Côté Ciné in France), 57% of Easyvoyage group (online travel comparators Easyvol and Alibabuy, Mixicom (website JeuxActu and multi-channel network), 50% of the Brazilian network Paramaker, and West World Media (digital marketing company for the film industry). In 2016, Webedia bought Scimob (mobile video game studio), Surprizemi (home-delivered surprise boxes), Eklablog (blogging platform) Oxent (eSports World Convention), and Bang Bang Management (sports PR agency). In addition, an agreement is made with Paris Saint-Germain for Webedia to recruit and manage e-sports players on behalf of Paris Saint-Germain eSports.
On November 15, 2016, the LFP announced that it had reached an agreement with beIN Sports and Webedia for the broadcasting of the first edition of the e-League 1. The competition is renewed for two additional seasons on July 26, 2017, the broadcasting agreements are renewed. On December 8, 2016, Webedia joined forces with Chronopost to launch Pourdebon, a home delivery service that connects Internet users and labeled producers (AOC, organic AB, etc.). Webedia has a slight majority (53%) in this new platform.
On January 19, 2017, Webedia announced the acquisition of the English company Peach Digital, specializing in web development and digital marketing for movie theaters. In February 2017, Le Figaro announced that Webedia had invested 10 million euros in Illico Fresco, a home delivery service for baskets of recipes. The same month, FDJ and Webedia announced a partnership for the creation of eSports competitions: a professional one (FDJ Masters League) and another one for amateur gamers (FDJ Open Series) starting in March 2017. They are broadcast on Webedia's Web TV. At the end of February 2017, the media group finalized the acquisition of MyPoseo, a SaaS publisher specialized on SEO analytics. On March 8, 2017, Webedia launched LeStream, a Twitch Web TV dedicated to video games, the result of two years of development, in the company of several YouTubers including Cyprien and Squeezie,.
On March 29, 2017, Webedia bought the Brazilian web publisher Minha Vida, a website devoted to health, nutrition, beauty and fitness, which attracts 14.3 million unique monthly visitors. Webedia reaches 44 million unique visitors in Brazil, and thus becomes the leading publisher on entertainment themes.
In June 2017, the company made its largest international acquisition, with the American agency 3BlackDot, specializing in talent management for video games. The agency, based in Los Angeles, manages 36 YouTubers followed by millions of subscribers on their channels which total 700 million videos viewed per month. In July 2017, Webedia bought IDZ, an audiovisual production company, and thus strengthened its production activities and its leadership on the YouTube channel networks in France.
That year, Webedia was the first French media group to use the measurement of their global audiences by Comscore. It represents deduplicated coverage on desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets, and includes audiences for websites, mobile applications and videos. This new measure allows Webedia to establish a deduplicated global audience of 177 million unique visitors in April 2017.
In October 2017, Webedia announced its intention to launch a TV channel dedicated to electronic sports, called ES1. The channel was officially launched on January 10, 2018, on Orange TV and on February 6, 2018, on Free and Bouygues Telecom.
In November 2017, Webedia, with the support of CDC International Capital, entered into exclusive negotiations with the Saudi company Uturn Entertainment, specializing in online entertainment, particularly on YouTube, and the production of digital content for the region's youth, with a view to merging it with Diwanee, a Webedia subsidiary in the Middle East, for an amount close to $100 million.
In December 2017, Webedia acquired a majority stake in the United Statesbased company called Creators Media, which brings together social and video production platforms specializing in popular culture and entertainment. That same month, Webedia joined forces with Elephant, Emmanuel Chain's audiovisual production company, to create a new content production label aimed at Millennials.
In January 2018, Webedia launched a sports marketing agency: Only Sports & Passions. That same month, Illico Fresco, specialist in the delivery of kit meals belonging to Webedia, joined forces with Weight Watchers, the world leader in slimming products.
In April 2018, Webedia published new audience figures in partnership with Comscore, 188 million unique monthly visitors in December 2017, an increase of 6.2% compared to the previous measure dating from April 2017.
The same month, Webedia unveils its ambitions concerning content production, as a partnership with the video game studio Focus Home Interactive is signed with a title "Fear the Wolves" already planned for 2018, co-production projects of films, cartoons or series are announced.
In July 2018, Webedia bought the American authors company Full Fathom Five, a company that helps authors produce books, TV series, films and video games.
In October 2018, Webedia announced that it was focusing on both esports clubs PSG Esports and LeStream Esport. The first one being geared towards international competitions and the second devoted mainly to the French esports scene. The "Millenium" brand is thus refocusing around its media activities and esports merchandising products, and the "Millenium esport club" being gradually closed. The same month, the company announced the acquisition of Weblogs, a Spanish-speaking website publisher, thereby strengthening its activity in Spain and Latin America.
On October 22, 2018, Webedia announced the merger of BoxOffice magazine with Film Journal International.
On November 13, 2018, Groupe SEB announced the acquisition from Webedia of 750g International, the international branch of the French recipe site 750g (the original French website 750g.com being retained by Webedia). The group is thus separating from Gourmandize (United States and United Kingdom), HeimGourmet (Germany), Rebañando (Spain), Receitas Sem Fronteiras (Brazil / Portugal) and Tribù Golosa (Italy).
The same month, Webedia joined forces with Riot Games to launch the French League of League of Legends (LFL), the first French professional league on the League of Legends game, which will bring together the 8 best teams on the French scene.
In March 2019, Webedia bought 51% of the audiovisual production company Elephant. The desire of the two groups is to create content series, documentaries, magazines for paid streaming platforms, television and social networks. Despite this takeover, Elephant's editorial independence is guaranteed. The new set will weigh 500 million euros, a quarter of which will be made outside France.
The same month, Webedia takes a majority stake in the company Partoo, which publishes a SaaS platform specializing in local marketing for brands and merchants (referencing of points of sale, their opening hours and pictures on all social networks, management of customers ratings and comments...).
On March 14, 2019, a new measurement of the international audience of Webedia sites was produced by Comscore, posting 250 million unique visitors in December 2018, up 9.2% compared to December 2017.
In June 2019, the group joined forces with Michel Cymes, a famous doctor and French TV host by taking a majority stake in his company Club Santé Débat, in order to develop a health platform around the Dr. Good! Brand.
In September 2019, Webedia regrouped its cinematographic activities (AlloCiné, Côté Ciné Group, WestWorldMedia, Peach Digital) under the brand The Boxoffice Company for marketing, database and business intelligence services for film professionals.
In November 2019, the French YouTuber Michou joined the network of talents and influencers managed by Webedia.
On November 14, 2019, the movie Queen and Slim starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith, co-produced by Webedia through its subsidiary 3BlackDot and distributed by Universal Pictures, was released in the United States. It grossed a total $47 million revenue worldwide.
In December 2019, Webedia announced the distribution of its ES1 channel dedicated to esport in Quebec in partnership with Thema (Canal+ group), then in January 2020 the distribution in France of the ES1 channel within the Canal+ offers.
On April 20, 2020, Webedia published a new measurement of the international audiences of its sites with Comscore, with 276 million unique monthly visitors measured in December 2019, an increase of 10.4% over one year.
In July 2020, Webedia announced that its ES1 TV channel brought together more than 1.3 million viewers in France. On July 28, 2020, the French League of League of Legends (LFL) produced by Webedia resumes service in a format adapted to the health crisis, with a final happening in Monaco on October 26, 2020.
In September 2020, the international tennis player Gael Monfils and Paralympic swimmer Théo Curin join the portfolio of esports and sports talents managed by Webedia for their digital communication.
In October 2020, the 750g and Millenium sites announced an overhaul of their positioning and graphic identities. Millenium becomes MGG and develops in 5 international versions.
On October 4, 2020, Webedia and Banijay Iberia launched "Top Gamers Academy" in Spain, the first TV reality show in the world of video games. This program, which brings together the greatest Spanish YouTubers (El Rubius, The Grefg ...) is broadcast on the Spanish channel Neox and on social and video networks, in particular on Twitch and YouTube.
On November 16, 2020, Webedia joined forces with Jamy Gourmaud to create a new editorial brand around knowledge, called Epicurieux. The brand is available on social and video networks (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat) and contributes to a television program broadcast on France 5, produced by Elephant (Webedia group) and presented by Jamy Gourmaud, "C Jamy".
In December 2020, ES1 announces its arrival in France on Amazon's Prime Video service.
On January 19, 2021, the French League of League of Legends (LFL) produced by Webedia resumed for a third season.
In March 2021, Webedia brought together all of its new talent management labels under the Webedia Creators umbrella, and announcedthe arrival of the Tiktokers group "La French House" among its creators, as well as the company Smile Conseil (notably representing the influencer Just Riadh).
In May 2021, Webedia reinvested 15 million euros in its subsidiary Partoo, of which the group is the majority shareholder, in order to enable it to achieve a new stage in its international development.
Activities
Webedia is present in around twenty countries: France, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, United States, United Kingdom, Poland, Turkey, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Singapore. Brazil is the group's leading country in terms of audience, with 60 million unique monthly visitors in December 2018, followed by France (48 million) and Spain (24 million).
Since 2020, Webedia has organized its activities around a "media-talents-production" triptych.
France
Webedia's activities in France, which reach a total of 48 million unique monthly visitors, include:
AlloCiné, a digital platform dedicated to cinema and series with more than 13 million unique monthly visitors
FilmsActu, a YouTube channel dedicated to movie and series trailers with more than 4 million subscribers
The Boxoffice Company, a subsidiary offering services, technologies and magazines for cinema professionals
Boxoffice France and Le Plus, publications intended for distribution and cinematographic exhibition
JV (ex-jeuxvideo.com), a video game news website with 6.7 million unique monthly visitors
MGG, a website specializing in esports with 2 million unique monthly visitors
ES1, the first French-speaking television channel 100% dedicated to esports
JeuxActu, a website site dedicated to pop gaming culture, with 762,000 unique monthly visitors
LeStream, a Web TV broadcast on Twitch with nearly 1 million subscribers
ESWC, organizer of esports competitions
750g, a website offering cooking recipes with 10.3 million unique monthly visitors
L'Académie du Goût, a culinary website offering tips from top chefs with 1.2 million unique monthly visitors
Alain Ducasse Edition, a publishing collection of Webedia Books specializing in the culinary field
Purepeople, a website about celebrity news with 8 million unique monthly visitors
Purebreak, a news platform for Millennials with 3.5 million unique monthly visitors
Puremédias, a media news website with 2.2 million unique monthly visitors
Purecharts, a music news website with 1.3 million unique monthly visitors
Terrafemina, a feminist and committed news website, with 1.6 million unique monthly visitors
Puretrend, a fashion news website with 170,000 unique monthly visitors
Pureshopping, a fashion and decoration buying web guide
easyVoyage, a travel comparison portal (also present in Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Germany)
L'officiel des vacances, a travel bargains website
Blog creation platforms: OverBlog, CanalBlog and Eklablog
94%, a mobile game with more than thirty million downloads
Talent Web, label to which the videographers Cyprien, Norman, Michou, Inoxtag, Bilal Hassani, Guillaume Pley, Mamytwink Aziatomik, Sora, Dooms are affiliated
Bang Bang Management, a label bringing together personalities from the world of sport and competitive video games such as Domingo, Gaël Monfils, or Théo Curin
Smile Conseil, label representing in particular the personalities Just Riadh and Fatou Guinea
Talent Web Academy, the label for micro-influencers
Sampleo, the nano-influence activity
Elephant, which produces the programs Sept à Huit (TF1), Invitation au voyage (Arte), C Jamy (France 5), or the series Weekend Family (Disney +), Le Tueur du Lac (TF1), La Stagiaire (France 3), Fais pas ci, Fais pas ça (France 2), WorkinGirls (Canal+)
Nolita, who joined Elephant in 2021, and who produces feature films (Les Souvenirs, Il a déjà tes yeux, Brillantissime ...), fictions (Balle perdue on Netflix) and documentaries (Orelsan, never show this to anyone on Prime Video)
Kiosco, which produces the shows Spectaculaire (France 2), Le Grand Oral (France 2)
IDZ, studio specializing in the creation of fictions, clips, advertising and promotional films. He notably ensures the executive production of the French series True Story (Prime Video).
Germany
Webedia's activities in Germany (10 million unique monthly visitors) include:
Filmstarts, German version of Allociné
Moviepilot, news platform on cinema and series
GameStar, the leading video game news site in Germany (from the magazine of the same name)
GamePro
Mein MMO
Allyance Network, a talent label specializing in video games and pop culture, which notably represents the PietSmiet collective
Flow: fwd, a talent label representing influencers in the themes of video games, lifestyle, humor, fitness
Flimmer, an event production agency specializing in the movie and entertainment industries
Brazil
Webedia's activities in Brazil reach 60 million unique monthly visitors on the following activities:
AdoroCinema (Brazilian version of Allociné), with 12 million unique monthly visitors
IGN Brasil, with 3.4 million unique monthly users
MGG Brasil, site specializing in esports with 1 million unique monthly visitors
TudoGostoso, with 15 unique monthly visitors
Purepeople, with 4 million unique monthly visitors
Purebreak, with 1.8 million unique monthly visitors
Hypeness, site dedicated to innovation and creativity
Parafernalha, a humorous channel with 12.5 million subscribers on YouTube and 5.5 million on Facebook
Minhavida, the largest Brazilian health and wellness portal with 19 million unique monthly visitors
Spain
Webedia España has different assets that collect 24 million unique monthly visitors:
SensaCine (Spanish version of Allociné)
Espinof
3DJuegos, a video game news website
IGN Spain
MGG Spain
Director al paladar
Poprosa
Vitonica
Trendencias
Decoesfera
Compradiccion
Motorpasion
Xataka, the leading high-tech news website in Spain
Applesfera
Genbeta
Magnet
Vizz, a talent agency which notably represents El Rubius, Willyrex, and Vegetta777.
Raiser Games, a video game studio which notably publishes YouTubers Life.
Mexico and Latin America
Webedia gathers 40 million unique monthly visitors in Mexico and Latin America, on the following activities:
SensaCine Mexico (Mexican version of Allociné) with 10 million unique monthly visitors in the area
3DJuegos Mexico, the Mexican version of the Spanish video game news website, with 6 million unique monthly visitors in the area
Director al paladar Mexico, with 3 million unique monthly visitors in the area
Motorpasion Mexico, with more than 3 million unique monthly visitors in the area
Xataka Mexico, the leading Spanish-speaking high-tech news site with more than 20 million unique monthly visitors in the area
Vizz Latam, a talent agency which notably represents Anna Sarelly, Azttek Wolf and Isa Salas.
United States
Webedia is present in the United States through the following activities:
The Boxoffice Company, a subsidiary offering services, technologies and magazines for film professionals, resulting from the acquisitions of Côté Ciné Group, West World Media, Peach Digital and Film Journal International. It publishes in particular:
BoxOffice Pro, professional film magazine created in 1920
3BlackDot, a talent agency and influencers on YouTube and Twitch, notably representing VanossGaming
3BlackDot, with the production of the movie Queen and Slim, and the game Dead Realm.
Turkey
Webedia is present in Turkey around a single activity:
Beyazperde (Turkish version of Allociné)
Middle-East
Webedia co-owns with Five Capital (CDC International Capital) the subsidiary Webedia Arabia, a merger of its previous subsidiary Diwanee and the company Uturn Entertainment, with establishments in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Gamer
MGG MENA
Atyabtabkha
Yasmina
3a2ilati
Uturn Entertainment
Full Stop Creatives
Made in Saudi Films
Organization
Cédric Siré is CEO of Webedia and Véronique Morali President of the Board.
On September 17, 2015, the group inaugurated its new headquarters in Levallois-Perret in presence of Axelle Lemaire, Véronique Morali, the president of the group's management board, Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, founder and CEO of Fimalac (parent company of Webedia) and Cédric Siré, CEO of Webedia, and its new flagship YouTubers and creators.
References
External links
Mass media companies established in 2007
French companies established in 2007
Mass media companies of France
Companies based in Paris
Digital media | Webedia | [
"Technology"
] | 4,517 | [
"Multimedia",
"Digital media"
] |
54,244,607 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open%20Rack | Open Rack is an Open Compute Project standard for a new rack and power delivery architecture and an efficient, scalable alternative to the EIA-310 19-inch rack. It differs from the traditional EIA-310 rack in that it was designed specifically for large-scale cloud deployments. There are four key features that make this rack design more efficient to deploy, support, and operate. The power to all of the compute, storage, or network devices is supplied by a pair of bus bars located in the rear of the rack. The bus bars are supplied with 48 V DC by a shelf of power supplies which provides efficient conversion from the local (usually three-phase) AC mains supply. The IT equipment that fits into Open Rack is wide. This is a 15% increase in frontal area that provides more airflow to the IT devices, enabling the data center to reduce cooling costs. The vertical spacing is also taller to accommodate better airflow and structurally better enclosures that do not sag and interfere with adjacent equipment. All of the cables and interconnects are made from the front of the rack and the IT equipment is hot-pluggable and serviceable from the front of the rack. Service personnel no longer access the rear of the rack or need to work in the hot aisle.
Specification
OpenU
Open Rack rack units are called OpenU or just OU. An Open Rack consists of three modular zones: power, equipment, and cable.
Physically, OU cabinets maintain the same external width as conventional server cabinets to maintain compatibility with existing server infrastructure. However, an OpenU is slightly taller, to improve airflow and cable management.
Power Zones
Equipment Bay
An Equipment Bay is wide. An equipment bay rests on support shelves and blind-mates with the power supply through bus bars.
External links
Reference specifications and designs.
Rack & Power section of Open Compute Project website.
References
Computer enclosure
Server hardware
Mechanical standards | Open Rack | [
"Engineering"
] | 387 | [
"Mechanical standards",
"Mechanical engineering"
] |
54,246,232 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanfranco%20Mignoti | Lanfranco Mignoti (Piode, 16th century – 17th century) was an Italian mathematician.
Born in Piode in Valsesia, he gave a relevant contribution to hydraulic engineering.
Works
References
17th-century deaths
16th-century births
Hydraulic engineering
16th-century Italian mathematicians
17th-century Italian mathematicians | Lanfranco Mignoti | [
"Physics",
"Engineering",
"Environmental_science"
] | 63 | [
"Hydrology",
"Physical systems",
"Hydraulics",
"Civil engineering",
"Hydraulic engineering"
] |
54,246,353 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethylindium | Triethylindium is an
organometallic compound. Its chemical formula is .
Synthesis
This compound can be obtained by reacting indium(III) bromide with a diethyl ether solution of Ethylmagnesium bromide:
+ 3 → In(C2H5)3 + 3
Other routes are also known.
Properties
Indium triethyl is a colorless, toxic, oxidation and hydrolysis-sensitive liquid. It is a monomer in the gaseous and dissolved state. The compound reacts with halomethanes to form diethyl indium halides.
Triethylindium is highly reactive with water:
In(C2H5)3 + → In(C2H5)2OH + ↑
Applications
Indium triethyl is used to prepare indium phosphide layers for microelectronics.
See also
Trimethylindium
References
Indium compounds
Organometallic compounds | Triethylindium | [
"Chemistry"
] | 190 | [
"Organic compounds",
"Organometallic compounds",
"Organometallic chemistry",
"Inorganic compounds"
] |
54,246,592 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osilodrostat | Osilodrostat, sold under the brand name Isturisa, is a medication for the treatment of adults with Cushing's disease who either cannot undergo pituitary gland surgery or have undergone the surgery but still have the disease. Osilodrostat is an orally active (taken by mouth), nonsteroidal corticosteroid biosynthesis inhibitor which was developed by Novartis for the treatment of Cushing's syndrome and pituitary hypersecretion (a specific subtype of Cushing's syndrome). It specifically acts as a potent and selective inhibitor of aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) and at higher dosages of 11β-hydroxylase (CYP11B1).
The most common side effects are adrenal insufficiency, headache, vomiting, nausea, fatigue, and edema (swelling caused by fluid retention).
Hypocortisolism (low cortisol levels), QTc prolongation (a heart rhythm condition) and elevations in adrenal hormone precursors (inactive substance converted into a hormone) and androgens (hormone that regulates male characteristics) may also occur in people taking osilodrostat.
Osilodrostat was approved for medical use in the European Union in January 2020, and for medical use in the United States in March 2020. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers it to be a first-in-class medication.
History
In October 2014, an orphan designation was granted by the European Commission for osilodrostat for the treatment of Cushing's syndrome.
Osilodrostat was approved for medical use in the European Union in January 2020, and for medical use in the United States in March 2020.
Osilodrostat's safety and effectiveness for treating Cushing's disease among adults was evaluated in a study of 137 adult subjects (about three-quarters women) with a mean age of 41 years. The majority of subjects either had undergone pituitary surgery that did not cure Cushing's disease or were not surgical candidates. In the 24-week, single-arm, open-label period, all subjects received a starting dose of 2 milligrams (mg) of osilodrostat twice a day that could be increased every two weeks up to 30 mg twice a day. At the end of this 24-week period, about half of subjects had cortisol levels within normal limits. After this point, 71 subjects who did not need further dose increases and tolerated the drug for the last 12 weeks entered an eight-week, double-blind, randomized withdrawal study where they either received osilodrostat or a placebo (inactive treatment). At the end of this withdrawal period, 86% of subjects receiving osilodrostat maintained cortisol levels within normal limits compared to 30% of subjects taking the placebo.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved osilodrostat based on the evidence from one clinical trial (NCT02180217) of 137 subjects with Cushing's disease. The trial was conducted at 66 sites across 19 countries (United States, Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Columbia, Germany, Spain, France, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Russia, Thailand, and Turkey).
There was one trial of 48 weeks duration that assessed the benefits and side effects of osilodrostat. The trial enrolled subjects with Cushing's disease for whom pituitary gland surgery was not an option or did not work. The trial was divided in four periods. Subjects received osilodrostat two times a day in all four periods. After the first two periods (24 weeks), the benefit of osilodrostat was assessed by the percentage of subjects who had 24-hour urinary free cortisol levels within normal limits.
In the third period (which lasted eight weeks), half of the subjects who had normal urinary free cortisol levels after 24 weeks of treatment continued taking osilodrostat and the other half was switched to placebo. Neither the subjects nor the healthcare providers know which treatment was given during this period. The benefit of osilodrostat was assessed on the percentage of subjects who had normal cortisol levels at the end of this period versus the subjects who received placebo.
The FDA granted osilodrostat an orphan drug designation and granted the approval of Isturisa to Novartis.
Society and culture
Economics
At the recommended starting dose of 2 mg, a year's supply would cost at 2021 prices in the United States.
Research
A systematic review and meta-analysis of osilodrostat, published in 2024, found it to have efficacy and safety in normalizing serum cortisol levels in people with Cushing's Syndrome.
References
Further reading
External links
11β-Hydroxylase inhibitors
Aldosterone synthase inhibitors
Antiglucocorticoids
Fluoroarenes
Imidazoles
Nitriles
Drugs developed by Novartis
Orphan drugs
Pyrroles | Osilodrostat | [
"Chemistry"
] | 1,063 | [
"Nitriles",
"Functional groups"
] |
62,756,915 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal%20Scientific%20Adviser%20to%20the%20Government%20of%20India | The Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) is the chief advisor to the Government of India on matters related to scientific policy. It is currently a Cabinet Secretary level position created in 1999 by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. The first appointed Principal Scientific Adviser was A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. This was followed by Rajagopala Chidambaram who held the rank of a Minister of State and was the PSA for 16 years. The current PSA is Ajay Kumar Sood.
The 'Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser', through the Prime Minister's Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) helps scientific cross-sectoral synergy across ministries, institutions, and the industry.
Appointees
There have been a total of four PSAs so far:
Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser
The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India advises the government in science and technology policies and interventions that are of strategic socio-economic importance to the country. This is done in collaboration with various ministries, institutions, academia, and industry. The PM-STIAC is one of the catalysts for such tasks and also oversees the implementation of the tasks.
Nine National Missions
On 6 March 2019, the PSA announced nine new science and technology missions with a focus on 'Science for People and People for Science':
Natural Language Translation
Quantum Frontier
Artificial Intelligence
National Biodiversity Mission
Electric Vehicles
Bio-science for Human Health
Waste to Wealth
Deep Ocean Exploration
Accelerating Growth of New India's Innovations (AGNIi)
Other major projects include Research Clusters, Earth Museum, Brahmaputra River System, I-STEM Facilities Map, and Energy Security.
Prime Minister's Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC)
The Council allows the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to ascertain the status, challenges and interventions needed in the science and technology domain so as to advise the PM is as best a manner as possible. The PM's STIAC increases the collaboration and focus needed to answer complex problems in appropriate time periods. One of the ways this is done is through various missions.
Members
Members include:
V. K. Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog & former Chairman, DRDO
A. S. Kiran Kumar, former Chairman, ISRO
Ajay Kumar Sood, Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
Lieutenant General Madhuri Kanitkar, Dean, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune
Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, Director, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
Manjul Bhargava, Professor, Princeton University, USA
Subhash Kak, Professor, Oklahoma State University, USA
Baba Kalyani, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Forge, Pune
See also
List of office-holders in India
Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India
References
Indian government officials
Science and technology in India
Chief scientific advisers by country | Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India | [
"Technology"
] | 592 | [
"Scientists in technology assessment and policy",
"Chief scientific advisers by country"
] |
62,760,283 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel%20seat%20%28monument%29 | Cartel seats as monuments were the headquarters or other premises of historical, no longer existing cartels in the sense of a group of cooperating, but potentially also rival enterprises. Often, these associations had been syndicate cartels, being an advanced form of entrepreneurial combination because of their tight organization with a common sales agency. The cartel buildings had been used for secretariats, meeting rooms, sales offices, advertising agencies, research departments and further more. Many such historical buildings can still be found in Europe and the United States.
Cartel buildings as architectural remains
In the decades between 1870 and 1945, cartels had been widespread as organizational forms of the economy. While loose price cartels and other more or less informal gentlemen's agreements" did not impose any requirements relating to fixed permanent premises, this was particularly the case with “syndicate cartels" being entrepreneurial combinations with centralized sales offices. Hundreds of administrative employees could work in such cartel establishments. The respective buildings were regularly stately, often representative and richly decorated with façade ornaments. In Europe, despite substantial war losses and demolitions, many of these cartel buildings are still preserved. Mostly, however, they have become simpler in their appearance, because later owners did not restore the original ornaments (easily recognizable at the headquarters of the Potash Syndicate (Stassfurt and Berlin, Germany) and of the Comptoir de Longwy, France).
To the monument category of large cartel seats, one could add the buildings also of historic economic planning associations, which are considered to be similar to a cartel. They existed mainly before and during the Second World War.
Recognition as cultural monuments
From their heritage value, historic cartel buildings could be equated with historic headquarters of large companies or corporate groups. However, this has not been put into practice: A number of buildings around the world have been designated and protected as historical corporate headquarters, but not a single former cartel seat has been signposted as such. If historic cartel buildings are actually under heritage protection, they are listed for other reasons of remembrance. Conversely, stately buildings have been demolished in the past, without any regard to their historical importance as cartel seats.
The cartel specialist Holm Arno Leonhardt pointed out in 2013 how important certain cartels had been for economic development in the 19th century, such as the sales organizations for coal and steel in the Rhine-Ruhr-area of Germany: The Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate and the German Stahlwerksverband. For this reason he pleaded for the distinct „regionalwirtschaftliche Organisationskunst" (= expertise for regional economic development) of the syndicate cartels to be an intangible cultural heritage and put under UNESCO world cultural heritage protection before being forgotten. Suitable places of remembrance in Germany were Düsseldorf (steel sales) and Essen (coal sales). Significant memorial plaques were to be set up at both locations.
The reasons for the conspicuous reluctance of the historic preservation authorities and the established historians in relation to historical cartel buildings can be found in the taboo, which after the Second World War was installed by the general cartel ban. Cartels have been criminalized and positive statements about them belong to the 'inspeakable'. The initiative to consider cartel buildings as historically worth remembering came only from critical scientific positions or from civil society, for example from the association "Rhein-Neckar-Industriekultur eV", Mannheim, which dedicated an illustrated presentation to the local branch of the former Rhenish lignite syndicate.
Examples of historical cartel buildings
Austria (Vienna)
The Austrian cartel system was definitely dominated by the city of Vienna as the political and administrative center of Austria-Hungary or of the republican Austria. The historical Viennese cartel landscape was characterized by a graduated geographical scope of the recognizable cartels. The responsibility of these associations ranged from the wider town area (in most cases craft cartels) via Lower Austria, crownland/republic Austria, the Austrian part of the Habsburg monarchy, the whole Austria-Hungary up to an international or global reach. In terms of architecture, the Viennese cartel residences don't stand out: They feature the same pomp style as the neighboring buildings and are not marked with specific trade symbols. Removals of cartel seats, mainly of smaller administrations, which fitted into large apartments, can be ascertained.
International
International Ferrosilicon Company in Vienna, Universitätsstr. 11 (up to 1930) and (since 1931) in Hegelgasse 13 (both Inner City), obviously only in rented flats.
Imperial Austrian-Hungarian
Central Warehouse of Austrian & Hungarian String Factories, registered cooperative, Maximilianplatz 2, Vienna (later: Freiheitsplatz or Rooseveltplatz 2).
Procurement Cooperative of Austrian-Hungarian Power Plants, Mariannengasse 4 (at that time located in the administration building of the Vienna Public Utility and Power Plant, Mariannengasse 4–6)
Procurement, Sales- & Credit Cooperative of Austrian & Hungarian Shoe Factories, Mariahilferstr. 17 (large building consisting of several business premises; shops in the basement, offices upstairs)
Central-Sales Bureau of the United Austrian-Hungarian Knitting Yarn Spinning Mills, Lindengasse 41, Vienna
Cisleithanian
Cooperative of the Austrian Sugar Refineries (original name stated in German, Czech and Polish), established in 1896, Elisabethstr. 18. Building erected in 1862 as Palais Mayr.
Austrian (crownland or republic)
Main Sales Point of the Austrian Cement-Factories: Ditscheinergasse 2 (Landstraße district)
Cement Sales Agency Ostmark, Seilerstätte 13, Vienna (Inner City)
Procurement Cooperative of the Austrian Power Plant Association, Schleifmühlengasse 4
Procurement Cooperative of the Association of Austrian Local Trains, Schleifmühlengasse 4
Sales Office of the Austrian Gypsum Works, Rudolf von Alt-Platz 7, Vienna (East Vienna)
Lower Austrian
Sales Cooperative of the Lower Austrian Lime Works, Plankengasse 6, Vienna (Vienna-Inner City)
Sales Bureau of Lower Austrian Forrest Owners, Schauflergasse 6, Vienna (Vienna-Inner City)
Urban Viennese
Procurement, Sales- & Credit Cooperative of the United Sole and Strap Leather Factories in Vienna, Weihburggasse 9 (corner house together with Liliengasse 3, with separate entrances from each street).
Central Business Cooperative of the Master Shoemakers in Vienna. Kirchengasse 32 (crossroad to Mariahilferstr.).
Central Procurement Cooperative of the Austrian Hairdressers and Hairdresser Cooperatives in Vienna, Mollardgasse 1. The building belongs since 1910 to the Viennese Hairdresser guilt.
Belgium
Brussels: the building of the International Wire Export Company (IWECO) from 1932 to 1939, 54 rue de Namur. In this world cartel for wire exports, Belgium, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland were regular members. The United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy were affiliated to the cartel through individual agreements.
Brussels: the building of the Convention internationale des glaceries, an association of European plate glass producers between 1904 and 1914/15.
Czechia
Also in Czechoslovakia, the capital (Prague) was the most favored location for cartel headquarters. Nevertheless, other places can be found (e.g. Brno), but were comparably rare.
Brno, Jesuitengasse 6 (now: Jezuitská 4): the building of the „Čechoslovak Cloth Association" from October 4, 1921. The underlying agreement intended the unification of the payment and delivery conditions. Almost all important firms of the Czechoslovak cloth industry were affiliated. Besides the cloth industry in the narrow sense, there were plush, felt and other specialities. The control of the conditions was to the duty of the participating six subgroups of the cartel. The conditions of sale were fixed by each group autonomously.
Prague, Na Poříčí 26: the building of the Czechoslovak "Spiritusverwertungsgesellschaft G.m.b.H.". In this sales organization, the Czechoslovak or respectively the Bohemian-Moravian spirit distillers had been united since 1923 and up to the mid-1940s years.
Prague, Opletalova 55, formerly: Lüzowova 55: the building of the Czechoslovak Steel Syndicate, 192? -1939. In that organization the Czechoslovak iron and steel producers were united. The syndicate was an associate member of the International Steel Cartel between 1927 and 1931 and its reestablishment from 1933 to 1939.
France
Longwy/Lothringen: the building of the Comptoir métallurgique de Longwy, 1876–1914, Member firms: pig iron smelters of French Lorraine. Significance: in the 19th century (until the First World War) most famous and by turnover strongest sales cartel in France. Building: reused, without monument protection.
Paris, rue du Faubourg 164: the first building of the Comptoir Siderurgique de France, moved in by 1919. This association was the French national steel cartel. The Comptoir was privileged founding member of the International steel cartel between 1926 and 1931.
Paris, rue Paul-Cézanne 1: the second building of the Comptoir Siderurgique de France, documented for 1938. The Comptoir was privileged founding member of the International steel cartel between 1933 and 1939.
Paris, Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin: the building, wherein the „Aluminium Association" (AA) resided between 1912 and 1914. The AA was a European quota and price cartel, which did not sell directly, but registered the aluminium sales of the national groups.
Paris, 23 rue Balzac, the former building of the Pechiney corporation which housed the national French aluminium cartel during the inter-war period. The premised were replaced by a new building in the 1980s.
Germany
the Ruhr cartel cluster in Northwest Germany: Since the end of the 19th century, the extended Ruhr region (including the northern Rhineland and neighboring low mountain ranges) was the area with the world's most intense cartelization. Cartels in coal mining, in iron smelting and steel refining, and further processing industries were typical of the region. In addition, there were cooperative producer associations in numerous other branches of industry such as glassmaking, pulp production, etc. Alone in the iron and steel industry at the beginning of the 20th century there were 13 cartels or cartel establishments in Düsseldorf; in Hagen there were even more: 15, in Cologne 8, in Essen, Siegen, Solingen and Velbert 2 each. Proof of the diverse cooperation structures in and between cartels could provide a more accurate topography of the earlier cartel economy on the Rhine and Ruhr.
the Berlin cartel cluster: As early as the beginning of the 20th century, Berlin was a sought-after location for cartel headquarters or selling agencies. In the iron and steel industry alone, 9 cartels were established in Berlin at the beginning of the 20th century. – and this, although Berlin was not a location of coal and steel production. Since the First World War, more and more cartel functions were exercised throughout the German empire. In Berlin during the inter-war period and the Second World War, there was a veritable agglomeration of cartel seats, later of economic control agencies ("Reichsstellen"). These centers were networked into the rest of the Reich territory and increasingly also with government and politics. Due to its convenient situation, the surroundings of the Anhalter Bahnhof (a railway station) were particularly popular for nationwide organized sales cartels. Already before the First World War, they started to take residence there. For example, the Anhalter Bahnhof was within walking distance of a number of important headquarters (such as of the salt industries). Other cartel districts existed near the political offices Wilhelmstraße (Berlin-Mitte) and Friedrichstrasse. Later settlements of the economic control agencies ("Reichsstellen") from the 1930s to the early 1940s favored the bourgeois districts in West Berlin, e.g. Berlin-Charlottenburg and Berlin-Wilmersdorf.
the buildings of the Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate and its successor organizations, Essen. Importance: the essential fuel supplier for Germany until the 1960s, the strategic supplier in Western Europe for coke needed for steel processing, the main fuel supplier for the Central and Axis powers in the world wars. There were two buildings: the original Syndicate building (1894–1943) and the “Ruhrkohlehaus” (Ruhr coal house) from 1952 onwards. The first one was bombed in 1943 (except for one wing), the latter demolished in 1997. In the street scene of Essen nothing reminds (no plaque) of the former „the model German cartel“ or „ideal cartel of the world", thus an organizational celebrity.
the “Stahlhof”, Düsseldorf, since 1908 the headquarters of the Stahlwerksverband, the German steel cartel. Members: Steel works of the Ruhr, since 1909 steel works nationwide. The building is listed only because of its architecture and as the "cradle of democracy in North Rhine-Westphalia" (seat of the British military government). No commemorative plaque because of its origin as the largest steel cartel worldwide.
the "Walzstahlhaus" (Rolled Steel House), Düsseldorf, the sales office of the Association of German rolled steel entrepreneurs since 1940. The prestigious new building, planned years earlier, was apparently intended to yield appropriate premises also for the three Düsseldorf divisions of the International Steel Cartel (1933–1939). By this association, the rolled steel grades heavy plate, medium plate and universal iron were allotted to the German syndicate group, that is, the worldwide export of these product types was controlled from Düsseldorf. The building is listed because of its architecture only.
the buildings of the German Potash Syndicate (Kalisyndikat), Staßfurt, since 1910 Berlin. Significance: conduct of a world export monopoly for potash until the First World War, then cartel leadership (along with France) for the world exportation of potash until the Second World War. In Staßfurt, the potash syndicate resided in Bodestraße. In Berlin, the syndicate complex Dessauer Str. 28–31 extended over four house numbers, which included three buildings. The photos on the bottom right show only half of the occupied building volume (No. 28/29).
the building of five salt-industrial syndicates, Berlin: Since 1930, the sales organizations for table salt, epsom salt, chloromagnesium salt, bromine salt and bromine have been located at Schöneberger Str. The building no longer exists (since about 1990) and has been replaced by a narrow remainder house and a further road break. The size of the vacant lot (about 40m frontage) reveals the scope of the previous premises and the glimpse of its extensive administrative functions.
the building of the cloth syndicate, Berlin, Anhalter Str. 5. Significance: Management of the cloth distribution in the planned economy of the Third Reich.
the building of the rayon sales organization, Neue Kantstr. 32. Significance: Management of rayon distribution (for the production of high quality textiles) in the planned economy of the Third Reich.
the building of the Imperial Iron Agency ("Reichsvereinigung Eisen"), Badensche Str. 24, Berlin-Wilmersdorf: destroyed or/and demolished, new building as a commercial building.
Great Britain
London (Westminster): the Steelhouse, Tothill Street. This was the seat of the British Iron & Steel Federation, the British Iron and Steel Corporation Limited and also the British Steelwork Association. While the "Association" and the "Federation" were political organs, the "Corporation" did the practical sales and clearing work.
London, SW 1: the building of the International Black Sheets Sales Agency of 1936, 14 Waterloo Place. Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy Poland were regular members of this export cartel. The United States was affiliated to the cartel through individual agreements.
London: the building 11 Ironmonger Lane, where the International Rail Makers Association (IRMA) was based, was a subtenant of the Chartered Accountants Plight, Warwick, Mitchell & Co. The previously existing cartel was re-established in 1926. Its members were Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Great Britain, the United States and two independent business groups.
London, in the same building 11 Ironmonger Lane was the seat of the International Tin Plate Association. This association was founded in 1934. Members were France, Germany, Great Britain, the United States, Belgium and Norway. Italy was connected by a special contract.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg City, the building of COLUMETA SA (Comptoir luxembourgeois de métallurgie), 1920–1976. Members: two steel companies ARBED, Terres Rouges. Joint building of both companies and COLUMETA since 1922. Significance: joint Luxembourg sales office since the secession from the customs union with Germany causing the end of the syndication with German steel companies. The building has been listed since 2013 as a historical headquarters of ARBED.
Netherlands
The Hague: the building of the Nederlandsch Cement-Syndicaat (circa 1900–1970), Bezuidenhoutseweg 1. The association was originally established in Rotterdam but later relocated its sales office to Den Hague.
Poland
Katowice: the building of the "Syndicate of Polish Ironworks" (Syndykat Polskich Hut Żelaznych) in Katowice , Lompy 14. The association had commissioned the building in 1926 and moved to it after completion in 1932. In this trade association, the iron and steel producers of Poland were united. Housed under the same address was the sub-organization Export Union of the Polish Ironworks (Zwiazelc Eksportowy Polskich Hut Zelaznych). This national export cartel was an associated member of International Steel Cartel between 1927 and 1931 as well as after its reestablishment from 1933 to 1939. After the nationalization of the Polish steel industry 1945/47, the building fell under the responsibility of the Ministry of Metallurgy in Warsaw. In 1947, the Socialist "Iron and Steel Metallurgy Association" settled in the building. After the political turnaround in 1989, the premises kept being used for industrial purposes. Since 1991, the newly founded, capitalist-oriented "Association of the Polish Steel Industry" (Hutnicza Izba Przemysłowo Handlowa) has been based there.
Opole, formerly "Oppeln": the building of the "Central sales office of the Silesian Portland cement factories" or respectively the "Association of Silesian Portland Cement Factories" (until 1929), later the "Norddeutsche Cement-Verband GmbH., Verk.-St. Opole, Hippelstr. 10 "(today: Opole, Damrota 10).
Spain
Madrid, Calle José Abascal, 53: the building of OFICEMEN (Grupo Nacional Autónomo de Fabricantes de Cementos Artificiales), the Spanish Cement Manufacturers’ Group. This was a cartel between 1931 and 1980 and successor of a loose first association of cement factories that was formed in 1906. OFICEMEN was supported by the Ministry of Industry in Madrid, which for the entire cement sector set the prices and production quotas according to proposal from their six largest industry companies. Since 1980, OFICEMEN is only a normal trade association without pricing functions.
Madrid, Calle Ruiz de Alarcón, 5: the building of the headquarters of the former Sociedad General Azucarera, Spanish Association of Sugar Manufacturers. This was a cartel, which was founded in 1903 and existed since at least to 1936. Also here, the government had regulatory influence on prices, tariffs and other parameter.
Sweden
Malmö: the building of INTERCEMENT/Cembureau, 1937-1960s. Members: European cement manufacturers.
Switzerland
Switzerland was a location for domestic as well as international cartels.
Bern: the building of the Swiss Cheese Union, 1914–1999. Members: Swiss cheese traders and makers under control of the Swiss government.
Geneva: the building of the Phoebus S.A., Compagnie Industrielle pour le développement de l’Eclairage, 1925–1963, rue de la Rôtisserie 2 et 4, residence of a cartel until 1942. Members: the – almost 10 – greatest incandescent light bulb producers around the world.
Zürich: the building of the Swiss "Aluminium Industrie Aktiengesellschaft" (AIAG), in which from 1901 to 1909 the International aluminium cartel named "Aluminium Association (AA)" was hosted. The AA was the joint sales syndicate for the European Aluminium producers.
Slovakia
‘‘Bratislava‘‘, Palisády 42: the building of the Slovak Cement Syndicate, 1939–1944, called "Evidence Office of the Slovak Cement Factories Pressburg". Members of the cartel were the Slovak cement works. The Slovak Cement Syndicate was from the end of 1940 to the beginning of 1945, the Slovak cement syndicate was a direct member of the German Cement Federation, i.e., on par with the five German cement syndicates. Until 1939, the Slovak cement plants had been organized in the Czechoslovakian cement cartel based in Prague.
United States
New York City (Lower Manhattan), 75 West Street, the building in which the Steel Export Association of America was established in 1926. This association was an export cartel, which was exempted from the cartel ban by the renewed antitrust legislation according to the Webb-Pomerene Act of 1918. The Steel Export Association became a participating member of the International Steel Cartel in 1938, which run defunct already in 1939 because of the Second World War. The moved-into building is known as Old New York Evening Post Building. It was erected in 1906–07 for the newspaper of the same name and is decorated in a magnificent Art Nouveau style. In 1926, the Evening Post moved into a larger new building.
References
External links
Rheinisches Braunkohlensyndikat, Zweigniederlassung Mannheim (Website des Vereins Rhein-Neckar-Industriekultur e.V.)
Literature
Compass Čechoslovakei. Finanzielles Jahrbuch (1937/38). Compass-Verlag, Wien.
Compass [Austria]. Finanzielles Jahrbuch (1938 [1937]). Compass-Verlag, Wien.
Compass [Austria-Hungary]. Finanzielles Jahrbuch (1913). Compass-Verlag, Wien.
Adolph Lehmann: Lehmanns Wohnungsanzeiger [of Vienna]. Wiener Adressbuch. Wien (1914–1942).
Présidence du conseil (France): Les cartels internationaux. Vol. 2. Paris 1956.
Holm Arno Leonhardt: Kartelltheorie und Internationale Beziehungen. Theoriegeschichtliche Studien, Hildesheim 2013.
Holm Arno Leonhardt: Regionalwirtschaftliche Organisationskunst. Vorschlag zur Ergänzung des NRW-Antrags zum UNESCO-Welterbe, in: Forum Geschichtskultur Ruhr 2013, p. 41–42.
Cartels
Types of monuments and memorials
Buildings and structures | Cartel seat (monument) | [
"Engineering"
] | 4,833 | [
"Buildings and structures",
"Architecture"
] |
62,762,635 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium-based%20nanogalvanic%20alloys | Aluminium-based nanogalvanic alloys refer to a class of nanostructured metal powders that spontaneously and rapidly produce hydrogen gas upon contact with water or any liquid containing water as a result of their galvanic metal microstructure. It serves as a method of hydrogen production that can take place at a rapid pace at room temperature without the assistance of chemicals, catalysts, or externally supplied power.
Properties
Aluminium-based nanogalvanic alloys are characterized by their galvanic microstructure, which comprises an anodic matrix consisting of aluminum, an aluminum alloy, and a cathodic dispersed phase of another metal composition. These other metals may be tin, magnesium, silicon, bismuth, lead, gallium, indium, zinc, carbon, or a mixture of these metals. These alloys produce hydrogen gas when the cathodic disperse phase forms galvanic couples with the anodic matrix and the resulting galvanic metal microstructure comes in contact with water or any liquid containing water. The nanostructured galvanic couple, with aluminium as the anode and the other metal element as the cathode, rapidly disturbs the formation of the native oxide layer and continually exposes fresh aluminium surfaces to hydrolysis.
The size of the particles that make up the cathodic disperse phase can range from less than 50 nanometers in length to less than 1000 nanometers in length. No additional health hazards have been observed with the handling of the nanogalvanic powders. The by-products of the powder reaction with water was also found to be non-toxic. In terms of performance, the aluminium-based nanogalvanic alloys were demonstrated to produce 1000 ml. of hydrogen gas per gram of aluminium in less than 1 minute and 1340 ml—100% of the theoretical yield at 295 K and 1 atm.—in 3 minutes without the need for hazardous or costly materials, or additional processes. Aluminium-based nanogalvanic alloys can be manufactured by means of low energy ball milling at room temperature or at lower temperatures and remain stable at standard temperature, pressure, and humidity levels.
In 2017, ARL researchers discovered that the hydrogen generation rate increases by almost two-fold when the aluminium-based nanogalvanic alloy powder comes in contact with urine, when compared with pure water.
History
Aluminium-based nanogalvanic alloys were discovered by researchers of the Metals Branch of ARL's Weapons and Materials Research Directorate (WMRD) of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in the early 2010s during testing of a new nanostructured aluminium alloy intended for structural materials applications. During metallographic polishing for microhardness experiments, they noticed that the aluminium was disappearing upon contact with water and soon realized that it was creating hydrogen gas in the process. The alloy powder was later repurposed for energy applications. A patent was filed for the invention in June 2018 in order to license the aluminium powder to industry. In 2019, the hydrogen fuel company H2 Power, LLC was the first to receive an exclusive license to use the aluminium-based nanogalvanic alloys to investigate automotive and transportation power generation applications for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other vehicles. As of 2019, ARL researchers are looking for ways to improve the production and manufacturing process of the aluminium-based nanogalvanic alloys.
Overview
When aluminum makes contact with water, hydrogen gas is produced as a result of hydrolysis. However, at the same time, water oxidizes the aluminum and causes a thin protective layer of aluminum oxide to rapidly form on the surface of the metal, preventing further hydrolysis. In order for the aluminum to continuously produce hydrogen gas, scientists had to forcefully remove or at least fracture the aluminum oxide layer, typically dissolving it in water with the help of hazardous compounds such as hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, or expensive elements such as gallium/indium. Other methods apply external energy in the form of an electric current or superheated steam to slowly force the reaction at elevated temperatures. The aluminum based nanogalvanic alloy, a particulate material invented by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), is able to generate hydrogen by hydrolysis at room temperature with any liquid that contains water (e.g. naturally scavenged water, coffee, energy drinks, urine, etc.) without relying on any other chemicals, catalysts, or externally supplied power. The nanostructured galvanic couple, with aluminum as the anode and another element (e.g. tin, bismuth, etc.) as the cathode, rapidly disturbs the formation of the native oxide layer and thus continually exposes fresh aluminum surfaces to hydrolysis.
Development
Aluminum based nanogalvanic alloys were initially discovered by researchers of the Metals Branch of ARL's Weapons and Materials Research Directorate (WMRD) while they were testing a new nanostructured aluminum alloy intended for structural materials applications. During metallographic polishing for microhardness experiments, they noticed that the aluminum was disappearing upon contact with water and soon realized that it was creating hydrogen gas in the process. The research team then decided to repurpose the alloy powder for energy applications. A patent was filed for the invention in June 2018 in order to license the aluminum powder to industry. In 2019, the hydrogen fuel company H2 Power, LLC was the first to receive an exclusive license to use the aluminum based nanogalvanic alloys to investigate automotive and transportation power generation applications for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other vehicles. As of 2019, ARL researchers are looking for ways to improve the production and manufacturing process of the aluminum based nanogalvanic alloys.
Properties
Aluminum based nanogalvanic alloys are characterized by the size of their galvanic microstructure and consist of particles with a mesh size of -325, which is equivalent to a diameter of around 50 microns. Since the grain size of the powders is in the nanometer scale and the particle size is tens of microns similar to conventional powders, no additional health hazards are associated with the handling of the nanogalvanic powders. The by-products of the powder reaction with water is non-toxic and occurs naturally. The aluminum based nanogalvanic alloys were also demonstrated to produce 1000 ml. of hydrogen gas per gram of aluminum in less than 1 minute and 1340 ml—100% of the theoretical yield at 295 K and 1 atm.—in 3 minutes without the need for hazardous or costly materials, or additional processes. These nanogalvanic structured powders can be manufactured by means of high energy ball milling at room temperature or at lower temperatures. The powders may be compacted in the form of tablets for ease of transportation, which would reduce reliance on high-pressure or liquid hydrogen cylinders traditionally used for shipment. Additionally, they are stable in the atmosphere at standard temperature, pressure, and humidity levels, allowing for convenient storage.
Applications
One of the major potential applications of aluminum-based nanogalvanic alloys is hydrogen production for fuel cells. Due to their high energy efficiency, non-toxic nature, and transportation ease, the alloy powders have also been considered as an alternative energy source for batteries (when coupled with fuel cells) during reconnaissance for soldiers on the battlefield. Additionally, the alloy powder may also be 3D-printed into self-cannibalizing drone components that could recharge the drone's hydrogen supply by making contact with water whenever it runs low on power. ARL researchers also discovered that the hydrogen generation rate increases by almost two-fold when the aluminum based nanogalvanic alloy powder comes in contact with urine, when compared with pure water. Because of this unique property, scientists have considered applying the aluminum powder in austere environments where power and water are scarce, such as deserts or space, where urine could be repurposed as a fuel source.
References
Hydrogen production
Environmental chemistry
Fuels | Aluminium-based nanogalvanic alloys | [
"Chemistry",
"Environmental_science"
] | 1,628 | [
"nan",
"Environmental chemistry",
"Fuels",
"Chemical energy sources"
] |
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