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70,278,391 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohdana%20Durda | Bohdana Yosypivna Durda (; born May 24, 1940) is a Ukrainian artist, writer, poet, and songwriter, as well as a former design engineer. Her artwork includes portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. She has illustrated children's books, and has written lyrics for more than 100 songs.
Biography
Bohdana Yosypivna Durda was born in Buchach, Chortkiv Raion of Ternopil Oblast in Western Ukraine, May 24, 1940.
In 1965, she graduated from Lviv Polytechnic, and in 1991, from the Moscow Correspondence University of Arts.
From 1965 till 1996, Durda worked as a design engineer at the Ternopil Combine Plant, a chemical plant in Donetsk. Since 2003, she has been teaching at Ternopil Secondary School No. 24 and the Malvy Cultural and Art Center.
Durda has focused on her creative work since 1996, including portraits, landscapes, and still lifes, but has participated in art exhibitions since 1979. She has had solo exhibitions in Ternopil in 1997, 2003, and 2007), and in Buchach (2006).
She created illustrations for Marta Chopik's children's book, А що бачать очка (And What the Glasses See), as well as for her own books: На грані: Вірші, пісні (On the Verge: Poems, Songs) (2001), іка життя: Поеми, поезії (River of Life: Poems, Poetry) (2003), and Лабіринти долі (Labyrinths of Fate) (2006; all — Тернопіль).
Durda was a participant in the All-Ukrainian festival of author's songs "Oberig-93" in Lutsk. She has written lyrics for more than 100 songs.
Selected works
Works of art
Квіти (Flowers) (1991)
Старий парк (Old Park) (1994)
Польові квіти (Wildflowers) (1995)
К. Білокур (K. Bilokur) (1996)
Над греблею (Over the Dam) (1998)
Після концерту (С. Крушельницька) (After the Concert (S. Krushelnytska)) (2000)
М. Башкирцева (M. Bashkirtseva) (2002)
Осінь (Autumn) (2003)
Literature
Гриб А. Барвисті джерела. Т., 1998
Na hrani, 2001
Rika z︠h︡ytt︠i︡a: poemy, poeziï, 2003
References
Sources
Demyanova I., Shcherbak L. Durda Bohdana Yosypivna // Ternopil encyclopedic dictionary: in 4 volumes / editor: G. Yavorsky and others. - Ternopil: Publishing and Printing Plant "Zbruch", 2010. - Vol. 4: A - I (additional). - P. 219. - ISBN 978-966-528-318-8. (in Ukrainian)
1940 births
Living people
People from Buchach
Lviv Polytechnic alumni
20th-century Ukrainian engineers
20th-century Ukrainian women artists
21st-century Ukrainian women artists
20th-century Ukrainian poets
21st-century Ukrainian poets
20th-century Ukrainian women writers
21st-century Ukrainian women writers
Ukrainian songwriters
Ukrainian women poets
Design engineering | Bohdana Durda | [
"Engineering"
] | 794 | [
"Design engineering",
"Design"
] |
70,282,543 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-sex%20relationships%20involving%20LGBTQ%20people | While LGBT people are often defined by society for their lack of heterosexual relationships, heterosexual relationships among them are fairly common (e.g., an estimated 80% of bisexuals are in opposite-sex relationships).
Transgender people can be any sexual orientation, including heterosexual. This makes a large portion of LGBT people who are in heterosexual relationships.
Statistics
A 2013 survey of LGBT Americans by the Pew Research Center found that 40% of all LGB Americans in committed relationships are in a heterosexual relationship. This includes 84% of bisexuals, 2% of gay men, and 1% of lesbians.
Differences with non-LGBT heterosexual relationships
LGBT people in heterosexual relationships will often take customs from gay or lesbian relationships they have been in the past. For example, LGBTQ people in opposite-sex relationships may continue to use terms like top and bottom. Heterosexual relationships should not to be confused with queer heterosexuality; an identity heterosexual people sometimes claim that may reflect cultural appropriation of queer in-group language.
Types
The following elements are included in such relationships
Beards and mixed-orientation marriages
Lavender marriages
Male-female bisexual couples
Cis-trans heterosexual couples
Trans "chasers" often identify as heterosexual and may therefore represent queer heterosexuality 51% of men attracted to trans women identify as heterosexual. Cis women who pursue specifically FTMs can also be called trans-chasers. Female trans-chasers are thought to be less common than male trans-chasers because of women face a different degree of homophobia; such relationships may face less social scrutiny and stigma.
A trans man and trans woman together.
Queer-identifying individuals in heterosexual relationships
Asexual people who feel non-sexual romantic love for individuals of the opposite sex.
See also
Mixed-orientation marriage
Bisexuality
Transgender sexuality
Footnotes
References
Queer theory
Interpersonal relationships | Cross-sex relationships involving LGBTQ people | [
"Biology"
] | 362 | [
"Behavior",
"Interpersonal relationships",
"Human behavior"
] |
70,282,593 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathyembryx | Bathyembryx istiophasma, the pallid sailfin, is a hypothetical species of fish observed by William Beebe on 11 August 1934. He described seeing the species twice during the same dive at depths of and near the coast of Bermuda.
Background
The "bathysphere," as termed by Beebe, was a new yet primitive invention. It was a rounded steel enclosure with space adequate for two people, its external layer being . On the side, there was a single window made of fused quartz, across and thick. It was fitted with a heavy steel door that had to be bolted on. With no manoeuvrability, the navigation of this steel submersible was solely dependent on the ship it had been attached to. Beebe had no camera brought with him to these great depth, and instead described the species in detail to Else Bostelmann, an artist who proceeded to illustrate his findings. From 1930 to 1934, this submersible was used by Beebe in his deep-sea expedition.
The encounter
Beebe had begun to fathom what he had seen. Within moments, he had prepared a description for the new creature. He had stated it was large for a deep-sea fish, reaching a length of "two feet" at the very least. The fish was completely non-luminous and had a small eye as well as a decently-sized mouth. The pectoral fins were long and wide but filamentous.
Two features on the sailfin stood out, according to Beebe. He described the colour as sickly, pale, and olive-coloured. In his own words, "the hue of water-soaked flesh". The caudal fin was reduced, much like a "button". The "vertical" fins, which are assumed to be the anal and dorsal fins, extended greatly beyond its body. He admitted that he did not see the pelvic fins, and thus the illustration subsequently produced lacked them.
Beebe called the fish Pallid Sailfin and assigned the scientific name Bathyembryx istiophasma, whose etymology he explained as "a Grecian way of saying it comes from the deep abyss and swims with ghostly sails." He placed it in the family Cetomimidae.
Status of existence
Of the five new fish described by Beebe during the Bathysphere dives, none of them were confirmed to exist. The existence of all fishes were supported by his colleague Otis Barton, who descended with him in the submersible.
See also
Abyssal rainbow gar
Bathyceratias
Bathysidus
Bathysphaera
References
Aquatic cryptids
Controversial fish taxa
Fish described in 1934 | Bathyembryx | [
"Biology"
] | 550 | [
"Biological hypotheses",
"Controversial fish taxa",
"Controversial taxa"
] |
70,283,231 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese%20H-alpha%20Solar%20Explorer | Chinese H-alpha Solar Explorer (CHASE), also named Xihe () after the solar deity, is China's first solar observatory. It was launched aboard a Long March 2D rocket on 14 October 2021. CHASE is a satellite operating at a 517-kilometer-altitude Sun-synchronous orbit, with an orbital period of around 94 minutes.
See also
Xuntian
Notes
Chinese telescopes
Satellites of China
Spacecraft launched in 2021
Space telescopes | Chinese H-alpha Solar Explorer | [
"Astronomy"
] | 92 | [
"Space telescopes"
] |
70,283,332 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuTracker.org | RuTracker.org (also stylized as rutracker★org; known as torrents.ru until 2010) is the biggest Russian BitTorrent tracker. As of December 2024, it has 14.9 million registered active users, 2.484 million torrents (2.479 million of them being active), and the total volume of all torrents is 5.8 petabytes.
History
September 18, 2004 – torrent tracker was created
July 5, 2008 – all pornographic materials were moved to a separate torrent tracker called
February 18, 2010 – domain name was changed from torrents.ru to rutracker.org
November 9, 2015 – tracker was banned by the Moscow City Court
January 25, 2016 – Russian Internet providers banned the website as was requested in Court
References
BitTorrent websites
File sharing communities | RuTracker.org | [
"Technology"
] | 171 | [
"File sharing communities",
"Computing websites"
] |
70,285,102 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative%20wind%20stress | Relative wind stress is a shear stress that is produced by wind blowing over the surface of the ocean, or another large body of water. Relative wind stress is related to wind stress but takes the difference between the surface ocean current velocity and wind velocity into account. The units are Newton per meter squared or Pascal . Wind stress over the ocean is important as it is a major source of kinetic energy input to the ocean which in turn drives large scale ocean circulation. The use of relative wind stress instead of wind stress, where the ocean current is assumed to be stationary, reduces the stress felt over the ocean in models. This leads to a decrease in the calculation of power input into the ocean of 20–35% and thus, results in a different simulation of the large scale ocean circulation.
Mathematical formulation
The wind stress acting on the ocean surface is usually parameterized using the turbulent drag formula
.
where is the turbulent drag coefficient (usually determined empirically), is the air density, and is the wind velocity vector, usually taken at 10m above sea level. This parameterization is commonly referred to as resting ocean approximation. From now on we will refer to wind stress in resting ocean approximation as simply resting ocean wind stress.
On the other hand, relative wind stress makes use of the velocity of the surface wind relative to the velocity at the ocean surface , as follows,
.
where is the surface ocean velocity and thus, the terms with represent the wind velocity relative to the surface ocean velocity. Therefore, the difference between wind stress and relative wind stress is that relative wind stress takes into account the relative motion of the wind with respect to the surface ocean current.
Work done by the wind on the ocean
The work wind does on the ocean can be computed by
where is the chosen parameterization for the wind stress.
Thus, in resting ocean approximation, the work done on the ocean by the wind is
.
Furthermore, if the relative wind stress parameterization is used, the work done on the ocean is given by
Then, assuming is the same in both situations, the difference between work done by resting ocean wind stress and relative wind stress is given by
.
Analysing this expression, we first see that the term is always positive (since and all the other terms are positive). Next, for the term , we have:
if then and so the overall sign is positive.
if then and again, the overall sign is positive.
Therefore, it is always the case that , meaning the calculation of the work done is always larger when using the resting ocean wind stress. This overestimate is referred to in the literature as a "positive bias". Note that this may not be the case if the used in the calculation of is different from the used in the calculations of (See section: Ocean currents as output of ocean models).
Wind mechanical damping effect
The mathematical explanation for the positive bias in the calculation of work using the resting ocean wind stress can also be interpreted physically through the mechanical damping effect. As seen in Figure 2, when the wind velocity and ocean current velocity are in the same direction, the relative wind stress is smaller than the resting ocean wind stress. In other words, less positive work is using relative wind stress. When the wind and the ocean velocities are in opposite directions, then the relative wind stress does more negative work than the resting ocean wind stress. Consequently, in both scenarios less work is being done on the ocean when the relative wind stress is used for the calculation.
This physical interpretation can also be adapted to a scenario where there is an ocean eddy. As illustrated on the top part of Figure 3, in the eddy situation, the relative wind stress is smaller when the wind and ocean velocities are aligned, a similar situation to the top part of Figure 2. At the bottom part of Figure 3 we have a situation analogous to the bottom part of Figure 2, where more negative work is being performed on the system than in the resting ocean case. Therefore, at the top of the eddy less energy is being put in and at the bottom more energy is being taken out, which means the eddy is being dampened more in the relative wind case.
The two situations depicted in Figures 2 and 3 are the physical reason why there is a positive bias when estimating the power (work per unit time) input to the ocean when using the resting ocean stress rather than the relative wind stress.
Impact on models for large-scale ocean circulation
For the computation of surface currents, a general circulation model is forced with surface winds. A study by Pacanowski (1987) shows that including ocean current velocity through relative wind stress in an Atlantic circulation model reduces the surface currents by 30%. This decrease in surface current can impact sea surface temperature and upwelling along the equator. However, the greatest impact of including ocean currents in the air-sea stress is in the calculation of Power input to the general circulation, with the mechanism as described above. An additional effect of the computation with relative wind stress instead of resting ocean wind stress leads to a lower Residual Meridional Overturning Circulation in models.
Power Input
Figure 4 shows the difference between relative wind stress and resting ocean wind stress. Data for relative wind stress is obtained from scatterometers. These accurately represent the relative wind stress as they measure backscatter from small-scale structures on the ocean surface, which respond to the sea surface-air interface and not to wind speed.
Overestimations of power input into the ocean in models have been identified when using wind stress calculated from zonal mean wind instead of relative wind stress, ranging between 20-35%. In regions where wind speeds are relatively low and current speeds relatively high this effect is the greatest. An example is the tropical Pacific Ocean where trade winds blow with 5–9 m/s and the ocean current velocities can exceed 1 m/s. In this region, depending on if it is an El Niño or La Niña state, the wind stress difference (resting ocean wind stress minus relative wind stress) can vary between negative and positive, respectively.
Residual Meridional Overturning Circulation
In the Southern Ocean, the use of relative wind stress is important because eddies are crucial in the Antarctic Circumpolar Circulation, and the damping of these eddies with relative wind stress will affect the overturning circulation. The Residual Meridional Overturning Circulation (RMOC), is a streamfunction that quantifies the transport of tracers across isopycnals. Wind stress is taken into account through the formulation of the RMOC, which is the sum of the Eulerian mean MOC and eddy-induced bolus overturning . The Eulerian mean MOC is dependent on the meridional winds that drive Ekman transport in zonal direction. The eddy-induced bolus overturning acts to restore sloping isopycnals to the horizontal, which are induced by eddies. The formulation of the RMOC is given by:
with being the zonal mean wind stress, the reference density, the Coriolis parameter (negative in Southern Hemisphere), the quasi-Stokes eddy diffusivity field, equal to being the length and the velocity of the eddy, respectively, and the slope of the isopycnals.
Inserting a lower wind stress, by using relative wind stress instead of resting ocean wind stress, directly leads to lower residual overturning, by reducing the Eulerian mean MOC (). Furthermore, it affects the eddy-induced bolus overturning () by damping eddies which results in reduced length and velocity scale ( & ) of eddies. The sum of this thus leads to a lower .
Ocean currents as output of ocean models
As briefly mentioned in Section: Impact on Models for large-scale Ocean Circulation, the surface currents can be calculated by forcing surface winds into a general circulation model. The case of a model which is also forced by relative wind stress can be visualized in Figure 5. Firstly, the satellite data is used to input the 10m wind velocity into the calculation of the relative wind stress. However, if the parameterization for relative wind stress is used, this will result in a coupled problem. The ocean model requires the relative wind stress to output the ocean current velocity, which in turn the calculation of relies on. This coupled system needs to be formulated as an inverse problem.
Another consequence is that, depending on the parameterization used for the wind stress, a different vector field will be inputted into the ocean model and, consequently, a different value of will be outputted by the ocean model. Therefore, if a different wind field is used for the calculations of and then it could be that . In other words, there may be a negative bias when calculating the work done on the ocean using the resting ocean approximation. On the global scale, however, the literature has found an over rather than underestimation, as previously mentioned.
References
Fluid dynamics
Physical oceanography | Relative wind stress | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry",
"Engineering"
] | 1,818 | [
"Applied and interdisciplinary physics",
"Chemical engineering",
"Physical oceanography",
"Piping",
"Fluid dynamics"
] |
70,288,222 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorophyte | In botany, phorophytes are plants on which epiphytes grow. The term is composed of phoro, meaning bearer or carrier and phyte, meaning plant.
Commensalistic interactions
The epiphytes benefit from the habitats provided, but the phorophyte is unaffected. In other words, the obligate epiphytes utilize phorophytes as habitats, without parasitizing them.
Phorophyte specificity
Different phorophytes provide different conditions to the plants, which grown on their surface. The bark pH, degree of bark shedding, the presence of milk sap and the density and size of bark lenticels influence the occurrence of epiphytes. Bark ornamentations affect the establishment of seeds and the chemical composition of the bark may be inhibiting germination. Some epiphytic orchids tend to grow on phorophytes with rough bark. Conservation efforts of orchids need to account for the conservation of phorophytes as well.
References
Botany
Plant ecology | Phorophyte | [
"Biology"
] | 214 | [
"Plant ecology",
"Plants",
"Botany"
] |
57,834,314 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion%20robot | A companion robot is a robot created to create real or apparent companionship for human beings. Target markets for companion robots include the elderly and single children. Companions robots are expected to communicate with non-experts in a natural and intuitive way. They offer a variety of functions, such as monitoring the home remotely, communicating with people, or waking people up in the morning. Their aim is to perform a wide array of tasks including educational functions, home security, diary duties, entertainment and message delivery services, etc.
The idea of companionship with robots has already existed on science fictions of 1970s, like R2-D2. Starting from the late 20th century, companion robots started to came out on reality, mostly as robotic pets. Besides entertainment purposes, interactive robots were also introduced as a personal service robot for elderly care around 2000.
Empowered with AI, allows these robots to understand and respond to human emotions. Through machine learning, they can analyze speech, tone, and facial expressions to detect whether you're happy, stressed, or feeling a bit down.
Characteristics
The companion robots try to interact with users. They gathers information of users based on their interactions, and make the feedbacks. This procedure slightly varies based on their specific roles. For example, social companion robots make some simple conversations, while pet companion robots mimics as they are real pets.
Types
Companion robots can perform a variety of tasks and they are produced in a specialized manner according to their purpose or target audience in order to increase convenience and end user satisfaction.
Social companion robots
Social companion robots are designed to provide companionship and be a solution for unwanted solitude. They often mimic adult human, child or pet behaviours appealing to the user base. Robots which are specifically devised for simple conversations, conveying emotions and respond to user feelings fall under this category.
Assistive companion robots
Assistive companion robots are aimed at people who require constant care because of age, disability or rehabilitation purposes. Such robots can help disadvantaged users with their daily tasks, act as reminders (e.g., for regular medication) and facilitate mobility in everyday actions. Assistive companion robots reduce the intensity of labour that should be performed by caretakers, nurses and legal guardians.
Educational companion robots
Educational companion robots perform tutorship for students, regardless of their ages, and can teach desired subjects with activities tailored for the user such as interactive assignments and games. Rather than replacing teachers and instructors, educational companion robots are aides to them.
Therapeutic companion robots
Designed for individuals coping with stress (PTSD in severe cases), anxiety and loneliness; therapeutic companion robots support users' emotional and mental wellbeing. Such robots can be utilized in hospitals and care facilities as well as dwellings where the distressed user may need the most help. Therapeutic companion robots bear a vast resemblance to assistive companion robots to the extent of being a branch of them; the nuance between these two types of companion robots is that the former is for long-term/lifetime usage while the latter is mostly for the duration of the therapy received by the user.
Pet companion robots
Pet companion robots are for individuals who seek an alternative to live pets as live animals demand a considerable amount of care and may not be eligible for people with allergies. These robots aim to be perfect imitations of a pet while diminishing the chore aspect of having one.
Entertainment companion robots
Entertainment companion robots are designed solely for entertainment and can provide numerous ways of entertainment, ranging from dancing to playing games with the user. People who would appreciate an individual to have fun with are the main audience of such products.
Personal assistant robots
Personal assistant robots help people with daily tasks, management, scheduling, reminding etc. Their area of activity can be offices as well as homes and public spaces.
Examples
There are several companion robot prototypes, and these include Paro, CompanionAble, and EmotiRob, among others.
Paro
Paro is a pet-type robot system developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). The robot, which looked like a small harp seal, was designed as a therapeutic tool for use in hospitals and nursing homes. The robot is programmed to cry for attention and respond to its name. Experiments showed that Paro facilitated elderly residents to communicate with each other, which led to psychological improvements.
CompanionAble
This robot is classified as an FP 7 EU project. It is built to "cooperate with Ambient Assistive Living environment". The autonomous device, which is also built to support the elderly, helps its owner interact with smart home environment as well as caregivers. The robot functions as a mobile friend, by which natural interaction is possible via speech and the touchscreen to detect and track people at home.
EmotiRob
EmotiRob is developed in a robotics project which is the continuity of the MAPH (Active Media For the Handicap) project in emotion synthesis. The aim of the project was to maintain emotional interaction with children. EmotiRob designed in a way that a child can hold it in a his/her arms and with which he/she could interact by talking to it, and then the robot would express itself through body postures or facial expressions. It has cognitive capabilities, which are further extended so that the robot can have a natural linguistic interaction with its owner through the DRAGON speech-recognition software developed by a company called NUANCE. Such interaction is expected to facilitate a child's cognitive development and develop new learning patterns.
LOVOT
Lovot is a Japanese company robot whose only purpose is "to make you happy". It features over 50 sensors that mimic the behavior of a human baby or small pet, a 360° camera with a microphone, the ability to distinguish humans from objects, neoteny eyes, and an internal warmth of 30° celsius. An interactive Lovot Café was opened in Japan October 3, 2020.
NICOBO
Nicobo was developed by Panasonic and was influenced by the loneliness of lockdowns created as a measure of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was designed to appear vulnerable, which creates empathy in its owners. Nicobo's name derives from the Japanese word for "smile". It wags its tail, engages in baby talk, and stays as a housemate.
Hyodol
Hyodol is an advanced care robot designed to support the elderly by reminding them to take their medications and monitoring their movements to keep their guardians informed. Additionally, this innovative robot can detect and respond to the emotional states of its elderly users, adding a layer of personalized care. Hyodol is designed with the appearance and speech style of a 7-year-old Korean grandchild, featuring a soft fabric exterior and user interaction methods such as striking the head or patting the back. It is equipped with various sensors and wireless communication technologies to collect and process data, supporting mobile apps and PC web monitoring systems for remote monitoring from anywhere.
In South Korea, approximately 10,000 Hyodol robots are deployed to the homes of elderly individuals living alone, providing essential support and companionship. Local governments, including provincial and county offices, have embraced Hyodol as a solution to address social challenges stemming from the country's rapidly aging society.Furthermore, the robot is widely utilized in the treatment of dementia patients at a university hospital in Gangwon province.
Hyodol was honored with the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO) in the "Best Mobile Innovation for Connected Health and Wellbeing" category on February 29th, 2024.
Criticisms and concerns
The advent of companion robots has faced public criticism and concern, particularly regarding the ethical dilemmas of dependency on these devices. There are fears that such dependency could threaten the crucial child-caregiver bond. Concerns also extend to the potential impact of robot-assisted childcare on child development, with specific worries about the adverse effects on emotional and social skills due to reduced human interaction.
Privacy and security issues have gained prominence as well, with companion robots like iPal capable of collecting and transmitting data, thus raising the risks of surveillance and data misuse. This situation underscores the need for robust cybersecurity measures to prevent hacking and unauthorized data access.
Besides concerns in child care, the integration of companion robots into the lives of the elderly and other vulnerable groups also raises concerns, specifically a problem of hallucinatory relationships. Individuals may begin to perceive these robots as sentient beings, leading to emotional attachments that blur the line between simulation and reality and dependency on robots. This could in turn worsen feelings of loneliness and detachment from humans. This highlights the necessity of implementing ethical guidelines and psychological support systems to navigate the complexities introduced by this technology, ensuring they serve as enhancements rather than replacements for human relationships.
See also
Virtual pet
List of robotic dogs
Furby
Socially assistive robot
References
Robotics
Interpersonal relationships | Companion robot | [
"Engineering",
"Biology"
] | 1,796 | [
"Behavior",
"Automation",
"Robotics",
"Interpersonal relationships",
"Human behavior"
] |
57,834,785 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HATS-36b | HATS-36b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits an F-type star. Its mass is 3.216 Jupiters, it takes 4.2 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.05425 AU from it. It was discovered on June 12, 2017 and was announced in 2018. Its discoverers were 23, namely Daniel Bayliss, Joel Hartman, George Zhou, Gaspar Á. Bakos, Andrew Vanderburg, J. Bento, L. Mancini, S. Ciceri, Rafael Brahm, Andres Jordán, N. Espinoza, M. Rabus, T. G. Tan, K. Penev, W. Bhatti, M. de Val-Borro, V. Suc, Z. Csubry, Th. Henning, P. Sarkis, J. Lázár, I. Papp, P. Sári.
Host star
The exoplanet HATS-36 b which orbits the star HATS-36 is located about away from Solar System. It is situated in the constellation of Sagittarius. The host star HATS-36 has apparent magnitude of 14.4, with absolute magnitude of 4.4. The surface temperature is 5970 K with its spectral types of G0V class. In this planetary system, the extra-solar planet orbits around the star HATS-36 every 4.17524 days with its orbital distance of .
Discovery
After the discovery of HATS-36b, it became one of the 25 HATSouth candidates on Campaign 7 of the K2 mission. It detects that the exoplanet, a hot Jupiter-like planet with a mass of 2.790.40 MJ and a radius of 1.2630.045 RJ, transits a solar-type G0V star (V = 14.386) in a 4.17524-day period. The planetary system of HATS-36 is classified as an eclipsing binary system based on a combination of the HATSouth data, the K2 data, and follow-up ground-based photometry and spectroscopy.
Discussion
HATS-36b has a typical orbital period of 4.1752379 ± 0.0000021 days and has a density of 2.12 ± 0.20 g/cm3. Its star is active, which can be seen and manifested in both the variability in the LC and the high jitters in the radial velocity measurements. Due to its high mass compared with the known population of hot Jupiters, HATS-36b lies in a relatively sparsely populated region of the mass-density relationship for gas giant exoplanets. However, its bulk density fits well on the mass-density sequence of the related exoplanets.
See also
List of potentially habitable exoplanets
List of exoplanet firsts
List of multiplanetary systems
List of exoplanets discovered using the Kepler space telescope
List of exoplanets observed during Kepler's K2 mission
List of nearest terrestrial exoplanet candidates
References
Transiting exoplanets
Exoplanets discovered in 2017
Sagittarius (constellation)
Giant planets
Exoplanets discovered by HATNet | HATS-36b | [
"Astronomy"
] | 663 | [
"Sagittarius (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
57,836,368 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid%20Access%20Networks | Hybrid Access Networks refer to a special architecture for broadband access networks where two different network technologies are combined to improve bandwidth. A frequent motivation for such Hybrid Access Networks to combine one xDSL network with a wireless network such as LTE. The technology is generic and can be applied to combine different types of access networks such as DOCSIS, WiMAX, 5G or satellite networks. The Broadband Forum has specified an architecture as a framework for the deployment of such converged networks.
Use cases
One of the main motivations for such Hybrid Access Networks is to provide faster Internet services in rural areas where it is not always cost-effective to deploy faster xDSL technologies such as G.Fast or VDSL2 that cannot cover long distances between the street cabinet and the home. Several governments, notably in Europe, required network operators to provide fast Internet services to all inhabitants with a minimum of 30 Mbps by 2020.
A second use case is to improve the reliability of the access link given that it is unlikely that both the xDSL network and the wireless network will fail at the same time.
A third motivation is the fast service turnup. The customer can immediately install the hybrid network access and use the wireless leg while the network operator is installing the wired part.
Technology
Several techniques are defined by the Broadband Forum to create Hybrid Access Networks. To illustrate them, we assume that the end user has an hybrid CPE (Customer-premises_equipment) router that is attached to both a wired access network such as xDSL and a wireless one such as LTE. Other deployments are possible, e.g., the end user might have two different access routers that are linked together by a cable instead of a single hybrid CPE router.
The first deployment scenario is where the network operator provides a hybrid CPE router to each subscriber but no specialised equipment in the operator's network. There are two possible configurations for IP addresses. A first deployment scenario is to allocate different IP addresses to the wired and wireless interfaces. In this case, the hybrid CPE router needs to load-balance intelligently the packets over the two networks. In particular, it must ensure that all packets belonging to a given TCP connection are sent over the same interface. A second deployment scenario is to allocate the same IP address to both the wired and the wireless networks and configure the routing in these networks to ensure that packets are correctly routed.
The second deployment scenario is where the network operator provides a hybrid CPE router to each subscriber and installs a Hybrid Aggregation Gateway (HAG) inside its access networks. The Hybrid Aggregation Gateway plays an important role in balancing the packets sent by and destined to the hybrid CPE router over the two access networks. Two technologies have been defined and deployed to enable hybrid CPE routers to interact with Hybrid Aggregation Gateways. The main objective of these technologies is to efficiently use the two access links even if they have different delay and bandwidth. One technical difficulty that occurs when distributing packets over such heterogeneous links is to accurately detect congestion, notably on the wireless network whose bandwidth can vary quickly, and cope with the reordering which is caused by the delay difference. One approach uses GRE tunnels to hide the two links to the upper layer protocol. Both the hybrid CPE and the HAG need to reorder the received packets to ensure that TCP receives in-sequence packets. The second approach uses Multipath TCP, a recent TCP extension that has been designed to enable the transmission of the packets that belong to a single session across different links. This approach leverages the ability of MPTCP to efficiently handle congestion and cope with reordering on the heterogeneous access links. MPTCP needs support in both the host and the server. Two approaches have been defined for the interactions between the hybrid CPE router and the Hybrid Aggregation Gateway. The transparent mode is used when the Hybrid Aggregation Gateway is placed on the path of all packets sent by the hybrid CPE router. Otherwise, the Hybrid Aggregation Gateway includes a TCP converter as defined in. Additional details on Hybrid Access Networks and their deployment are described in
Deployments
The first commercial deployments started in 2015.
Several deployments of Hybrid Access Networks have already been documented.
Deutsche Telekom has deployed Hybrid Access Networks by using GRE Tunnels
Proximus has deployed Hybrid Access Networks by using Multipath TCP
KPN has deployed hybrid Access Networks by using Multipath TCP. The solution is available to 440,000 addresses
Telia has also deployed Hybrid Access Networks in Lithuania and Finland
Free (ISP) has also deployed Hybrid Access Networks in France
Go Malta has deployed a Hybrid Access Network in Malta
BT has deployed Hybrid 4G Speed Boost for SMEs in UK
References
Digital subscriber line
Broadband
Internet access
Transmission Control Protocol | Hybrid Access Networks | [
"Technology"
] | 992 | [
"Internet access",
"IT infrastructure"
] |
57,837,828 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-divisor%20graph | In mathematics, and more specifically in combinatorial commutative algebra, a zero-divisor graph is an undirected graph representing the zero divisors of a commutative ring. It has elements of the ring as its vertices, and pairs of elements whose product is zero as its edges.
Definition
There are two variations of the zero-divisor graph commonly used.
In the original definition of , the vertices represent all elements of the ring. In a later variant studied by , the vertices represent only the zero divisors of the given ring.
Examples
If is a semiprime number (the product of two prime numbers)
then the zero-divisor graph of the ring of integers modulo (with only the zero divisors as its vertices) is either a complete graph or a complete bipartite graph.
It is a complete graph in the case that for some prime number . In this case the vertices are all the nonzero multiples of , and the product of any two of these numbers is zero modulo .
It is a complete bipartite graph in the case that for two distinct prime numbers and . The two sides of the bipartition are the nonzero multiples of and the nonzero multiples of , respectively. Two numbers (that are not themselves zero modulo ) multiply to zero modulo if and only if one is a multiple of and the other is a multiple of , so this graph has an edge between each pair of vertices on opposite sides of the bipartition, and no other edges. More generally, the zero-divisor graph is a complete bipartite graph for any ring that is a product of two integral domains.
The only cycle graphs that can be realized as zero-product graphs (with zero divisors as vertices) are the cycles of length 3 or 4.
The only trees that may be realized as zero-divisor graphs are the stars (complete bipartite graphs that are trees) and the five-vertex tree formed as the zero-divisor graph of .
Properties
In the version of the graph that includes all elements, 0 is a universal vertex, and the zero divisors can be identified as the vertices that have a neighbor other than 0.
Because it has a universal vertex, the graph of all ring elements is always connected and has diameter at most two. The graph of all zero divisors is non-empty for every ring that is not an integral domain. It remains connected, has diameter at most three, and (if it contains a cycle) has girth at most four.
The zero-divisor graph of a ring that is not an integral domain is finite if and only if the ring is finite. More concretely, if the graph has maximum degree , the ring has at most elements.
If the ring and the graph are infinite, every edge has an endpoint with infinitely many neighbors.
conjectured that (like the perfect graphs) zero-divisor graphs always have equal clique number and chromatic number. However, this is not true; a counterexample was discovered by .
References
Commutative algebra
Application-specific graphs | Zero-divisor graph | [
"Mathematics"
] | 651 | [
"Fields of abstract algebra",
"Commutative algebra"
] |
57,838,100 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganoderma%20colossus | Ganoderma colossus is a Basidiomycete bracket-fungus species in the family Ganodermataceae, previously placed in the genus Tomophagus. Records are from central and southern America and equatorial Africa (see GBIF); no subspecies are listed in the Catalogue of Life.
References
External links
colossus
Fungi described in 1851
Fungus species | Ganoderma colossus | [
"Biology"
] | 75 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
57,839,450 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian%20spy%20poisoning | Russian spy poisoning may refer to:
Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko
Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
Poisoning of Alexei Navalny
Poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes
Espionage in Russia | Russian spy poisoning | [
"Environmental_science"
] | 40 | [
"Toxicology",
"Poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes"
] |
57,840,089 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedometer | An albedometer is an instrument used to measure the albedo (reflecting radiation) of a surface. An albedometer is mostly used to measure the reflectance of earths surface. It is also useful to evaluate thermal effects in buildings and generation capacity with bifacial solar photovoltaic panels. Often it consists of two pyranometers: one facing up towards the sky and one facing down towards the surface. From the ratio of incoming and reflecting radiation the albedo can be calculated.
Measurement principle
The measurement of surface albedo of earths surface happens by using two pyranometers. The upfacing pyranometer measures the incoming global solar radiation. The downward facing pyranometer measures the reflected global solar radiation. The ratio of the reflected to the global radiation is the solar albedo and depends on the properties of the surface and the directional distribution of the incoming solar radiation. Typical values range from 4% for asphalt to 90% for fresh snow. Designs for a low-cost albedometer have been released with an open source hardware license which measures the reflection in 8 spectral bands in the visible light spectrum, additionally the system is equipped with a global navigation satellite system receiver, to georeference its position and an Inertial Measurement Unit to know its absolute orientation, make corrections in real time or detect errors.
Standards
ISO 9060
WMO No.8
ISO 9847
ASTM G207-11.
References
Meteorological instrumentation and equipment
Measuring instruments | Albedometer | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 302 | [
"Meteorological instrumentation and equipment",
"Measuring instruments"
] |
57,840,163 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational%20thermodynamics | Rational thermodynamics is a school of thought in statistical thermodynamics developed in the 1960s.
Its introduction is attributed to Clifford Truesdell, and Walter Noll.
The aim was to develop a mathematical model of thermodynamics that would go beyond the traditional "thermodynamics of irreversible processes" or TIP developed in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
Truesdell's "flamboyant style" and "satirical verve" caused controversy between "rational thermodynamics" and proponents of traditional thermodynamics.
References
Clifford A. Truesdell, Rational Thermodynamics: A Course of Lectures on Selected Topics, Springer, (1969, 2nd ed. 1984).
Ingo Müller, Tommaso Ruggeri, Extended Rational Thermodynamics, Springer (1998), doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-2210-1.
See also
Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis
Thermodynamics | Rational thermodynamics | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry",
"Mathematics"
] | 213 | [
"Thermodynamics",
"Dynamical systems"
] |
57,841,195 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British%20Toxicology%20Society | The British Toxicology Society has over 900 members (as of January 2020) who are based in over 40 countries. It is the National British professional association for toxicologists. The remit of the Society is to promote the advancement of the science of toxicology, for public benefit.
Members of the Society work in academic, governmental and industrial organisations, to understand scientific mechanisms responsible for adverse effects (toxicity) and to protect the public and the environment from exposure to potentially hazardous substances, including chemicals and medicines.
History
It was formed in 1979 from the predecessor organisation The Toxicology Club of the UK.
Structure
The British Toxicology Society, is a learned scientific society with registered charitable status (not for profit), which is led by an Executive Committee (Trustees) who are elected from its members.
Distinguished members of the Society are elected as Fellows (FBTS) or Honorary Fellows.
The administrative office of the Society is based in Staffordshire.
Function
The British Toxicology exists to advance the scientific and professional activities of toxicology for public benefit. The annual scientific meeting of the British Toxicology Society (Congress) is usually held at a Conference centre of a UK city, in April of each year. The Official Journal of the BTS is Toxicology Research, which published by Oxford University Press from 2020, and was formerly published by the RSC's ChemSpider chemical structure database.
The BTS sponsored the formation of the UK Register of Toxicologists in 1993, which is now a special interest group of the Royal Society of Biology. Individuals who are members of the UK Register of Toxicologists are recognised by the European Register of Toxicologists of EUROTOX (European Society of Toxicology) an entitled to use the postnominal ERT.
References
External links
BTS
Toxicology Research
1979 establishments in the United Kingdom
British biology societies
Learned societies of the United Kingdom
Organisations based in Staffordshire
Scientific organizations established in 1979
Toxicology in the United Kingdom
Toxicology organizations | British Toxicology Society | [
"Environmental_science"
] | 392 | [
"Toxicology organizations",
"Toxicology in the United Kingdom",
"Toxicology"
] |
57,842,448 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent%20Calvez | Vincent Calvez (born 24 August 1981) is a French mathematician. He is currently a directeur de recherche (senior researcher) at the Institute Camille Jordan at the Claude Bernard University Lyon 1. He is known for his work in mathematical modeling in biology, especially in the movement of bacteria.
Biography
Born in Saint-Malo, he attended lycee in Brest, he eventually gained admission to and attended École normale supérieure (Paris).
He obtained his agrégation in 2005 and did his thesis in mathematics under Bernoit Perthame at the University of Paris 6, finishing in 2007. In 2008, he took a position as a chargé de recherche at the École normale supérieure de Lyon in the Unité de mathématiques pures et appliquées (UMPA) in 2008. He defended his habilitation in 2015 and obtained the position of Directeur de Recherche at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 in 2016.
Since 2014, he has been an associate editor of the Journal of Mathematical Biology, and, since 2018, he has been an associate editor of the SIAM Journal of Mathematical Analysis.
Aside from research, Calvez is also involved in the popularization of mathematics by coordinating the travelling exhibition “Mathàlyon,” intended for junior high and high school students.
Research
Calvez's early research involved the development of models for the collective movements of bacteria via chemotaxis using kinetic models. This model describes both the individual movements of bacteria and the transport of colonies as a whole, and satisfactorily explains the specific characters of this movement. Later, he worked in collaboration with biophysicists to find a new explanation for cell polarization and in collaboration with ecologists on models for invasion fronts.
Bibliography
Calvez, V.; Lenuzza, N.; Oelz, D.; Deslys, J.-P.; Laurent, P.; Mouthon, F.; Perthame, B. "Size distribution dependence of prion aggregates infectivity". Math. Biosci. 217 (2009), no. 1, 88–99.
Calvez, V.; Corrias, L. "The parabolic-parabolic Keller-Segel model in $\mathbb{R}^2$". Commun. Math. Sci. 6 (2008), no. 2, 417–447.
Blanchet, A.; Calvez, V.; Carrillo, J.A.. "Convergence of the mass-transport steepest descent scheme for the subcritical Patlak–Keller–Segel model." SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 46 (2008), no. 2, 691–721.
Calvez, V.; Carrillo, J.A. "Volume effects in the Keller–Segel model: energy estimates preventing blow-up." J. Math. Pures Appl. (9) 86 (2006), no. 2, 155–175.
References
External links
Calvez's resume: http://perso.ens-lyon.fr/vincent.calvez/CV/CV-CALVEZ-2016.pdf
People from Saint-Malo
1981 births
21st-century French mathematicians
Mathematical and theoretical biology
Pierre and Marie Curie University alumni
Living people | Vincent Calvez | [
"Mathematics"
] | 688 | [
"Applied mathematics",
"Mathematical and theoretical biology"
] |
57,842,565 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DU-41164 | DU-41164, also known as 1,2β-methylene-6-fluoro-17α-acetoxy-δ6-retroprogesterone, is a progestin which was developed by Philips-Duphar in the 1970s and was never marketed. It is a combined derivative of 17α-hydroxyprogesterone and retroprogesterone. The drug shows extremely high potency as a progestogen in animals; it was reported to possess 500 times the affinity of progesterone for the progesterone receptor expressed in rabbit uterus (Ki = 0.87 pM and 0.41 nM, respectively), and showed 600 times the progestogenic potency of subcutaneous progesterone when given orally in animals. The affinity of DU-41164 for the progesterone receptor was described in 1974 as "probably the highest reported for any steroid-receptor interaction". The drug showed no androgenic, anabolic, antiandrogenic, estrogenic, or corticosteroid activity in animals. Although highly potent in animals, DU-41164 produced little or no progestogenic effect at dosages of 50 and 200 μg/day in women, suggesting major species differences. A closely related compound, DU-41165, has been developed as a photoaffinity label for the progesterone receptor.
References
Abandoned drugs
Acetate esters
Diketones
Organofluorides
Pregnanes
Progestogens
Enones
Conjugated dienes | DU-41164 | [
"Chemistry"
] | 325 | [
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
57,842,567 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonnette | A colonnette is a small slender column, usually decorative, which supports a beam or lintel. Colonnettes have also been used to refer to a feature of furnishings such as a dressing table and case clock, and even studied by archeologists in Roman ceramics. Architectural colonnettes are typically found in "a group in a parapet, balustrade, or cluster pier". The term columnette has also been used to refer to thin columns. In Khmer art, the colonnette designates in particular the columns which frame the doors of the sanctuaries and which are one of the dating elements of their style. Summits of complexity were attained in the development of the Khmer colonnette, according to Philippe Stern:
Etymology
The -ette suffix, from French language, is a diminutive, which can also have a condescending connotation: in our case, it shifts the meaning from column to small column or fake columns. In the field of Angkorian archeology, Edme Casimir de Croizier was the first to use the name of colonnette in his study of Khmer art in 1875. In Khmer language, however, the term used "សសរពេជ្រ" (Soso petr), literally translates as "diamond columns", showing the importance attributed to these artifacts.
Topography
Greco-Roman civilization: funerary colonnettes
The Greeks used funerary colonnettes to support epitaphs. In the Demetrian necropolis, a colonnette marked the tomb a person whose epitaph was inscribed at the top under a garland carved with ivy leaves.
In the Roman Empire, colonnettes were used on funerary altars, as in the Lyon.
Christian civilization: from the cloister to the triforium
As the Roman Empire shifted toward Christianity, the use of colonettes in funerary art was conserved as well: thus, sarcophagi, such as those kept in the paleo-Christian churches of Arles, which mostly belong to the 4th or 5th century, are often decorated with arcades carried on colonnettes whose shafts have been reduced. Colonnettes with capitals were later used to decorate the cloisters of Romanesque abbeys such as those of the Romanesque portal and the cloister of Saint-Trophime d'Arles, or those of Moissac, Cluny, or even the crypts of the abbey of Jouarre. Colonnettes were also used for holy water fonts.
In Gothic architecture, the use of the colonnettes became particularly popular for the decoration of the triforium, as in the emblematic case of the Cathedral of Bourges proving the success of “discontinuous support”.Chartres Cathedral has a pilier cantonné with four colonettes attached to a large central core that support the arcade, aisle vaults and nave-vaulting responds.
Maya civilization
Groups of inset colonnettes are an essential decorative feature of the classic Puuc colonnette style but are also found in numerous Chenes and Rio Bec buildings. Colonnettes in the Puuc style of Yucatán resemble the balusters found in Cambodia.
India
Colonnettes are widely present in classic Indian architecture, and it is used by both Muslims and Christians in India as well for the decoration of places of worship.
Vittala Temple in Hampi is famous for its "musical pillars" carved to create a single central member with four surrounding colonnettes, each with its own base, shaft and capital, unified at the top by a single capital. The colonnettes are supposed to produce different musical notes.
Laos
In Laos, the tradition of wooden temple architecture survived until recent times and wooden colonnettes of the same shape as those of the classic Khmer monuments can still be seen.
The Khmer colonette: diamond of Cambodia
A framing of Indian origin
The Khmer colonnettes framing the doors borrow from Indian ones, also framing doors or drawing a niche around a character. These borrowings concern the shape of the barrel which is of circular section, partly the composition of the capital (bulb in both cases) and the decoration of the column: garlands underlining the capital, bands with diamond and rounded themes. However, the Khmer column has a more elaborate base and a much richer decoration where moldings and rings are of great importance.
A Khmer appropriation through centuries of evolution
The Khmer colonnettes have from their earliest appearance in the sixth century in the Phnom Da style: a section with garlands and pendants, a round section, and a widened upper section. These divisions become more complex in the seventh century, with the loops between the garlands being filled with pendants, thin leaves, or undulating small tongues. The garlands disappear altogether in the eight century from the style of Prei Kmeng to that of Kompong Preah. By the end of the Kompong Preah style around 800, the colonnettes will change from round to octagonal.
According to Philip Stern, from the ninth century onwards, the rings and groups of mouldings of the colonnettes are more numerous, increasing thus the number of the divisions of the shaft. The number of the most important elements of these groups goes on increasing from 3 all the way to 9. Up the eleventh century, the rings generally increase in size and relief. On the other hand, the blanks that separate the groups of rings and mouldings diminish in height as also the size of the leaves that decorate these blanks become smaller. Consequently, the number of leaves increases, changing from one large leaf on the side to a series of leaves and tiny dog-tooth pendeloques.
The 17 pairs of small columns discovered on Mount Kulen present a remarkable unity. Five main characteristics of the Kulen style are easily recognizable:
the octagonal or square shape of the small columns, the posterior columns being essentially round;
the decoration of the shaft of the columns with separate leaves, one per side, which fits well with the octagonal shape;
the shaft of the column flares out in an elegant curve with two extremities, accompanied by a fillet with finials, a simple small molding decorated with a motif of five-pointed fleurons;
the shapes and decorations of the rings which have more relief than the older columns;
the crowning of the small columns similar to its base;
With the Bakheng style at the beginning of the tenth century, more and more bulbs superposed which gradually flattened as a "pile of dishes" as in the Angkor Wat style of the twelfth century.
The decadence of the colonnette corresponds to the swan song of khmer art and the wonderful style of the Bayon from 1181 to 1219 approximately. The superbandance and the huge dimensions of the edifices lead to an economy of labour and to a loss of interest in decors. The overdecoration continues but the gradation disappears. All that remains is the rings with some standard, identical combinations, each of them followed by a reduced blank.
Technique
Colonnettes, like decorative lintels, were usually fixed in place before being carved. However, the side of the colonnette which, once in place, were so close to the wall or the pilaster that one could not handle hammer and chisel to sculpt, were decorated on the ground.
The capital of the colonnette was plain at the beginning: a bulb, a fillet, the widening shape and the square abacus are superposed. This schema became more and more intricate over centuries. The capitals are now more visible than the bases of the colonnettes which were so often destroyed.
The colonnette has a subcategory known as the baluster: a short colonnette, requiring a support. It is also used to designate the small columns that bar a window.
Influence
Khmer archeology: a process of datation
The colonnettes are key to Khmer archeology as they provide indications about the datation of Angkorian temples not only by certain of the decorative details which it bears, but also by the set and the very connection of its elements.
This method of datation through identification of styles alone has been criticized and is insufficient if not corroborated by other elements. According to Philip Stern, what matters is not the number of parts examined, but the number of convergent details observed.
Khmer heritage
Colonettes and pilasters found in Buddhist stupas still echo the religious architecture of north-west India as one of the rare elements of classical Khmer architecture that have survived in contemporary Khmer architecture found also in Thailand especially in the period of Ayutthaya. In 2016, there was still concerned that colonnettes remaining on site in Cambodia, after having been pillaged massively in the 1980s, where still being threatened as they remain on the red-list of Cambodian antiquities at risk set up by the International Council of Museums. Khmer colonnettes have become a marker of Khmer identity, and are now used by revivalists for the decoration of secular buildings, such as government headquarters like the Ministry for Land Management inaugurated in 2021.
Computer modelization
The complex geometric structure of the decorative colonnettes of the Khmer temples with their highly detailed carvings, mainly depicting motifs of lotus flowers, are a huge challenge for computer reconstruction. Eleven different geometric forms have been developed and parameterized as construction modules by Khmer archeologist Pheakdey Nguonphan at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
See also
Balluster
Pilaster
References
Bibliography
Architectural elements
Columns and entablature
Structural system
Khmer folklore | Colonnette | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 1,966 | [
"Structural engineering",
"Building engineering",
"Structural system",
"Architectural elements",
"Columns and entablature",
"Components",
"Architecture"
] |
57,842,733 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DU-41165 | DU-41165, also known as 6-fluoro-16-methylene-17α-acetoxy-δ6-retroprogesterone, is a progestin which was developed by Philips-Duphar in the 1970s and was never marketed. It is a combined derivative of 17α-hydroxyprogesterone and retroprogesterone. The drug shows extremely high potency as a progestogen in animals. It has been found to possess 158% of the relative binding affinity of promegestone for the progesterone receptor expressed in rat uterus (relative to 74% for the closely related progestin DU-41164). DU-41165 also showed 28% of the affinity of RU-28362 for the glucocorticoid receptor expressed in rat liver, but no affinity for the mineralocorticoid receptor expressed in rat kidney (<0.003% of that of RU-26752). The drug showed no androgenic, anabolic, or estrogenic activity in animals, but did show some antiandrogenic and glucocorticoid activity at high doses. Although highly potent in animals, DU-41165 produced little or no progestogenic effect at dosages of 50 and 200 μg/day in women, suggesting major species differences. DU-41165 has been studied as a potential photoaffinity label for the progesterone receptor.
References
Abandoned drugs
Acetate esters
Diketones
Organofluorides
Glucocorticoids
Pregnanes
Progestogens
Steroidal antiandrogens
Enones
Conjugated dienes
Vinylidene compounds | DU-41165 | [
"Chemistry"
] | 351 | [
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
57,843,198 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle%20pass | In the video game industry, a battle pass or rewards track is a type of monetization approach that provides additional content for a game usually through a tiered system, rewarding the player with in-game items for playing the game and completing specific challenges. Inspired by the season pass ticketing system and originating with Dota 2 in 2013, the battle pass model gained more use as an alternative to subscription fees and loot boxes beginning in the late 2010s. Battle passes tend to offer free passes, which are available to all users, and premium passes that require annual or seasonal charges in exchange for enhanced items and cosmetics.
Battle passes may be given different terms depending on the game. For example, Rocket League and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds offer a "Rocket Pass" and "Survivor Pass" respectively.
Concept
A battle pass may be offered free to a player, or may require the player to purchase it through microtransactions. Once obtained, the battle pass presents the player with a number of reward tiers; by earning enough experience to complete the tier, the player gains the rewards offered at that tier. These rewards are typically cosmetic in nature, such as character and weapon customization options (also known as "skins"), emotes, and other non-gameplay affecting elements. More desirable rewards are provided at higher levels, which offer a way for players to show off these unique customization options to other players as a status symbol. Experience is gained through normal gameplay, and often through in-game challenges, while some games offer a way to accelerate progression through a battle pass by using microtransactions. In games that offer both free and paid-for battle passes, the free pass may have a very limited number of tiers or offer fewer or less-desirable rewards, but will track player's progression through the paid-for battle pass, allowing them to buy that battle pass at any time to collect the rewards.
Battle passes and the rewards contained are only available for a limited time, most commonly a few months, after which a new season battle pass, with a new set of rewards, is available to be acquired. This approach follows the model of season passes used in other business areas. Most battle pass items are unobtainable after the season ends. This limited availability feeds into the psychological phenomenon of fear of missing out (FOMO), that a player, knowing certain rewards will only be available for a limited time, will be driven to buy and complete the battle pass to assure they have obtained the limited rewards in time, bringing more revenue to the game. To this end, a battle pass's progression towards rewards has to be balanced against expected gameplay time and what gameplay elements contribute towards this to avoid making the progression feel like grinding. For example, Halo Infinite multiplayer debuted with a battle pass that was criticized for being too slow in progression, which developer 343 Industries stated they would observe and balance in the future. In contrast, Helldivers 2, Halo Infinite and Marvel Rivals allow players to continue to work towards rewards on battle passes they have purchased, even beyond the bounds if the season that the pass was offered for.
History
One of the first known examples of a battle pass concept was seen in Valve's Dota 2 during an event that surrounded The International 2013, the annual e-sports tournament for the game. Called the "Compendium", it provided unique in-game content and other features for those players that purchased it, with 25% of all revenue made from it going towards the prize pool for the event. In 2016, Valve included the Compendium into the larger International Battle Pass, and later introduced a monthly form of one with their Dota Plus subscription feature in 2018. Valve also added "campaign passes" to Team Fortress 2 with special events in 2015. The campaign pass gave the player that purchased it a number of goals to complete during the event to receive unique customization options.
The popularity of these passes grew significantly in 2018 with the use in Epic Games' Fortnite Battle Royale. Its runaway success on a scale rarely seen before drew great interest towards its monetization methods. The free-to-play game adopted a "season"-driven release schedule, each season lasting about 10-20 weeks, during which a new set of cosmetic items and emotes were offered, with those from the previous pass becoming permanently unobtainable. The newly coined "Battle Pass" was added starting in its second season, during a time when the game was seeing a large growth in its player base and has been used by the game since. Battle passes are purchased through an in-game currency called V-Bucks, which either must be purchased with real-world funds via microtransactions, or earned via Fortnite: Save the World, as well as through the battle pass itself. Analyst Michael Pachter estimated that on the first day of the third season, in February 2018, Epic sold more than five million battle passes, generating over in revenue in a single day. With expansion of Fortnite to mobile devices in March 2018, revenue estimates from the game were in the hundreds of millions of dollars per month in the following months, primarily from battle pass sales.
At the same time as Fortnite was becoming a success, the video game industry had been dealing with the issue of loot boxes, another monetization scheme where players spend funds to open boxes containing a random assortment of in-game items. In the late 2010s, loot boxes faced scrutiny from several government-related groups, believing they encouraged gambling, particularly for young players. Battle passes were then seen as a preferable option to loot boxes, as players would be able to see all the rewards they could earn, even if they needed to spend a great deal of time completing all the tiers, assuring players continued to play the game. Further, by offering the means for players to buy into completing tiers, publishers could also see additional revenue.
Coupled with the success of Fortnite battle pass approach and exhaustion over loot box controversies, other publishers started to evaluate battle pass use, with gaming journalists theorizing that games which formerly relied on loot boxes or worked as a service could begin to offer battle passes as a replacement. An increasing number of mobile games including but not limited to Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, Clash Royale, Clash of Clans, and Brawl Stars have started using the battle pass system in their games. Some games, such as Super Animal Royale and Halo Infinite, use non-expiring battle passes, where old battle passes remain purchasable and usable even after their respective season ends, but only one pass may be enabled at a time. Deep Rock Galactic distributes items from seasonal passes into other cosmetic pools when the season concludes so that players are able to access cosmetics even after it has ended.
The debut of Overwatch 2 battle pass system, replacing the previous loot box system, was criticized by players as Blizzard Entertainment stated that new playable heroes would be available through the free tiers of the battle pass, though could be obtained earlier by paying for the premium battle pass. Blizzard also confirmed that players who miss the free hero during one season would be able to obtain the hero by a free route in future seasons. This was in contrast to Overwatch where all players had access to new heroes for free once they were released. Players considered this change a pay to win approach by Blizzard as well as forcing players to grind to get access to new heroes.
References
Business models
Video game terminology
Video game distribution
2010s neologisms | Battle pass | [
"Technology"
] | 1,540 | [
"Computing terminology",
"Video game terminology"
] |
57,843,630 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alloy%20broadening | Alloy broadening is a mechanism by which the spectral lines of an alloy are broadened by the random distribution of atoms within the alloy. It is one of a number of spectral line broadening mechanisms.
Alloy broadening occurs because the random distribution of atoms in an alloy causes a different material composition at different positions. In semiconductors and insulators the different material composition leads to different band gap energies. This gives different exciton recombination energies. Therefore, depending on the position where an exciton recombines the emitted light has a different energy. The alloy broadening is an inhomogeneous line broadening, meaning that its shape is Gaussian.
Binary alloy
In the mathematical description it is assumed that no clustering occurs within the alloy. Then, for a binary alloy of the form A_{1-x}B_{x}, e.g. Si_{1-x}Ge_{x}, the standard deviation of the composition is given by:
,
where is the number of atoms within the excitons' volume, i.e. with being the atoms per volume.
In general, the band gap energy of a semiconducting alloy depends on the composition, i.e. . The band gap energy can be considered to be the fluorescence energy. Therefore, the standard deviation in fluorescence is:
As the alloy broadening belongs to the group of inhomogeneous broadenings the line shape of the fluorescence intensity is Gaussian:
References
Physical chemistry | Alloy broadening | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 314 | [
"Physical chemistry",
"Applied and interdisciplinary physics",
"Physical chemistry stubs",
"nan"
] |
57,844,497 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%201281 | NGC 1281 is a compact elliptical galaxy located about 200 million light-years away in the constellation Perseus. NGC 1281 was discovered by astronomer John Dreyer on December 12, 1876. It is a member of the Perseus Cluster.
Like NGC 1277 and NGC 1271, NGC 1281 is a candidate "relic galaxy".
Supermassive black hole
The supermassive black hole in NGC 1281 has an estimated mass of about 10 billion solar masses ( M☉). However, Anna Ferré-Mateu et al. estimated the black hole has a mass of no more than 5 billion solar masses.
See also
List of NGC objects (1001–2000)
NGC 1271
NGC 1277
Notes
1.This value was determined by using the given half-light radius.
References
External links
Perseus Cluster
Perseus (constellation)
Elliptical galaxies
1281
12458
Astronomical objects discovered in 1876 | NGC 1281 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 187 | [
"Perseus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
57,845,230 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profidia | Profidia is an extinct genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. It contains only one species, Profidia nitida. It is known from Oligo-Miocene amber found near Simojovel in Chiapas, Mexico.
The species was described by American entomologist Judson Linsley Gressitt in 1963, using a single specimen (UCMP 12630) from the collections of the University of California Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley, California.
References
External links
University of California Museum of Paleontology Specimen 12630
†
†
Fossil beetle genera
Mexican amber
Oligocene insects of North America
Miocene insects of North America
Monotypic prehistoric insect genera
Species known from a single specimen | Profidia | [
"Biology"
] | 144 | [
"Individual organisms",
"Species known from a single specimen"
] |
57,845,368 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%201282 | NGC 1282 is an elliptical galaxy located about 230 million light-years away in the constellation Perseus. It was discovered by astronomer Guillaume Bigourdan on October 23, 1884. NGC 1282 is a member of the Perseus Cluster.
A type Ia supernova designated as SN 2008fh was detected near NGC 1282 on either July 30, or August 30, 2008. Oddly, though, the supernova was not associated with the galaxy.
See also
List of NGC objects (1001–2000)
References
External links
Perseus Cluster
Perseus (constellation)
Elliptical galaxies
1282
12471
Astronomical objects discovered in 1884
2675 | NGC 1282 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 134 | [
"Perseus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
57,845,698 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School%20of%20Transportation%20Science%20and%20Engineering%2C%20HIT | School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology () is one of nineteen schools of Harbin Institute of Technology, and the only school of transportation engineering within C9 League (an alliance of the top nine universities in China). The school was founded in 1995. With years of development, its quality of science research and student education have reached top-ranking level and it has been conferred as one of the most important training bases of civil engineering and transportation engineers by the nation.
History
School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology traces its origin back to the railway construction program of the Sino-Russian Industrial School, which was the precursor of Harbin Institute of Technology. In 1958, highway and urban road major was established by Professor N.S. Cai. In 1979, the school received qualification of enrolling graduates in majors of road and bridge. In 1986, the transportation engineering major was established and began to enroll graduate students. Seven years later, School of Transportation Science and Engineering began to enroll Undergraduate.
In 1995, the School was founded with HIT's merge with Harbin University of Architecture. In 1998, the majors of road and bridge were both conferred with the qualification to enroll Doctorate. In 2000, School of Transportation Science and Engineering was incorporated into Harbin Institute of Technology as Harbin University of Architecture was incorporated as the 2nd campus of HIT. In 2009, the Transportation Information and Control Engineering major was established.
Departments
Ever since 1958, the school has established five departments and one engineering center, namely Dept. of Road and Railway Engineering, Dept. of Bridge & Tunnel Engineering, Dept. of Transportation Engineering, Dept. of Road Materials Engineering, Dept. of Traffic Information & Control Engineering and the Measurement Center. It also owns a state key lab on urban road and traffic field and a provincial key lab on ITS (Intelligent Traffic System).
Road and railway engineering has been assigned as key discipline by both Heilongjiang Province and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Transportation planning, Engineering management and Bridge and tunnel engineering are listed as key discipline of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
Achievements
Since its foundation, the school has promoted many advanced researches in the technology of Highway engineering, Highway construction and observing road & bridge, mechanical analysis and simulation, transportation issues and their effects and solutions, materials for pavement and bridges, and applications of intelligent transportation system.
Communication
The School of Transportation Science and Engineering has various inter-school and international communications, having student exchange programs with Imperial College London, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University (MADI). The school also has about 20 part-time Adjunct professor. It has held two high-level international conferences and participated in 66 high-level international conferences.
References
External links
Transportation engineering
Harbin Institute of Technology | School of Transportation Science and Engineering, HIT | [
"Engineering"
] | 571 | [
"Civil engineering",
"Transportation engineering",
"Industrial engineering"
] |
57,845,886 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation%20oracle | A separation oracle (also called a cutting-plane oracle) is a concept in the mathematical theory of convex optimization. It is a method to describe a convex set that is given as an input to an optimization algorithm. Separation oracles are used as input to ellipsoid methods.
Definition
Let K be a convex and compact set in Rn. A strong separation oracle for K is an oracle (black box) that, given a vector y in Rn, returns one of the following:
Assert that y is in K.
Find a hyperplane that separates y from K: a vector a in Rn, such that for all x in K.
A strong separation oracle is completely accurate, and thus may be hard to construct. For practical reasons, a weaker version is considered, which allows for small errors in the boundary of K and the inequalities. Given a small error tolerance d>0, we say that:
A vector y is d-near K if its Euclidean distance from K is at most d;
A vector y is d-deep in K if it is in K, and its Euclidean distance from any point in outside K is at least d.
The weak version also considers rational numbers, which have a representation of finite length, rather than arbitrary real numbers. A weak separation oracle for K is an oracle that, given a vector y in Qn and a rational number d>0, returns one of the following::
Assert that y is d-near K;
Find a vector a in Qn, normalized such that its maximum element is 1, such that for all x that are d-deep in K.
Implementation
A special case of a convex set is a set represented by linear inequalities: . Such a set is called a convex polytope. A strong separation oracle for a convex polytope can be implemented, but its run-time depends on the input format.
Representation by inequalities
If the matrix A and the vector b are given as input, so that , then a strong separation oracle can be implemented as follows. Given a point y, compute :
If the outcome is at most , then y is in K by definition;
Otherwise, there is at least one row of A, such that is larger than the corresponding value in ; this row gives us the separating hyperplane, as for all x in K.
This oracle runs in polynomial time as long as the number of constraints is polynomial.
Representation by vertices
Suppose the set of vertices of K is given as an input, so that the convex hull of its vertices. Then, deciding whether y is in K requires to check whether y is a convex combination of the input vectors, that is, whether there exist coefficients z1,...,zk such that:
;
for all i in 1,...,k.
This is a linear program with k variables and n equality constraints (one for each element of y). If y is not in K, then the above program has no solution, and the separation oracle needs to find a vector c such that
for all i in 1,...,k.
Note that the two above representations can be very different in size: it is possible that a polytope can be represented by a small number of inequalities, but has exponentially many vertices (for example, an n-dimensional cube). Conversely, it is possible that a polytope has a small number of vertices, but requires exponentially many inequalities (for example, the convex hull of the 2n vectors of the form (0,...,±1,...,0).
Problem-specific representation
In some linear optimization problems, even though the number of constraints is exponential, one can still write a custom separation oracle that works in polynomial time. Some examples are:
The minimum-cost arborescence problem: given a weighted directed graph and a vertex r in it, find a subgraph of minimum cost that contains a directed path from r to any other vertex. The problem can be presented as an LP with a constraint for each subset of vertices, which is an exponential number of constraints. However, a separation oracle can be implemented using n-1 applications of the minimum cut procedure.
The maximum independent set problem. It can be approximated by an LP with a constraint for every odd-length cycle. While there are exponentially-many such cycles, a separation oracle that works in polynomial time can be implemented by just finding an odd cycle of minimum length, which can be done in polynomial time.
The dual of the configuration linear program for the bin packing problem. It can be approximated by an LP with a constraint for each feasible configuration. While there are exponentially-many such cycles, a separation oracle that works in pseudopolynomial time can be implemented by solving a knapsack problem. This is used by the Karmarkar-Karp bin packing algorithms.
Non-linear sets
Let f be a convex function on Rn. The set is a convex set in Rn+1. Given an evaluation oracle for f (a black box that returns the value of f for every given point), one can easily check whether a vector (y, t) is in K. In order to get a separation oracle, we need also an oracle to evaluate the subgradient of f. Suppose some vector (y, s) is not in K, so f(y) > s. Let g be the subgradient of f at y (g is a vector in Rn). Denote .Then, , and for all (x, t) in K: . By definition of a subgradient: for all x in Rn. Therefore, , so , and c represents a separating hyperplane.
Usage
A strong separation oracle can be given as an input to the ellipsoid method for solving a linear program. Consider the linear program . The ellipsoid method maintains an ellipsoid that initially contains the entire feasible domain . At each iteration t, it takes the center of the current ellipsoid, and sends it to the separation oracle:
If the oracle says that is feasible (that is, contained in the set ), then we do an "optimality cut" at : we cut from the ellipsoid all points x for which . These points are definitely not optimal.
If the oracle says that is infeasible, then it typically returns a specific constraint that is violated by , that is, a row in the matrix A, such that . Since for all feasible x, this implies that for all feasible x. Then, we do a "feasibility cut" at : we cut from the ellipsoid all points y for which . These points are definitely not feasible.
After making a cut, we construct a new, smaller ellipsoid, that contains the remaining region. It can be shown that this process converges to an approximate solution, in time polynomial in the required accuracy.
Converting a weak oracle to a strong oracle
Given a weak separation oracle for a polyhedron, it is possible to construct a strong separation oracle by a careful method of rounding, or by diophantine approximations.
See also
Algorithmic problems on convex sets
References
Computation oracles
Mathematical optimization | Separation oracle | [
"Mathematics"
] | 1,477 | [
"Mathematical optimization",
"Mathematical analysis"
] |
57,846,610 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu%20Boli | Liu Boli (; 17 March 1931 – 2 July 2018) was a Chinese nuclear chemist and expert in radiopharmaceuticals, considered a founder of the field in China. He was a professor at Beijing Normal University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Early life and education
Liu was born on 17 March 1931 in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. After graduating from Changzhou Senior High School, he studied at the Department of Chemistry of East China Normal University in Shanghai, and earned his bachelor's degree in 1953. He was assigned to Beijing Normal University, where he worked and studied under Hu Zhibin (). In 1958, he was transferred to the Institute of Nuclear Energy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to study nuclear chemistry under Feng Xizhang (). It was a turning point in his career.
Career
In the 1960s, Liu and his colleagues were tasked with recycling nuclear fuels from China's nuclear reactors. He worked under primitive conditions and was exposed to radiation for more than a decade, which caused his hair to turn gray before he was 40.
Starting in 1974, Liu focused on the application of nuclear science in medical fields and the research and development of radiopharmaceuticals. He became a professor at Beijing Normal University and served as deputy chair of its chemistry department and director of its Institute of Applied Chemistry. He made important discoveries in the properties of technetium-99m (99mTc), a radioactive isotope of technetium, and developed several medicines using 99mTc. He also researched radioactive isotopes of halogens, including bromine-82, iodine-131, and astatine-211.
Liu's research won many awards, including the National Science and Technology Conference Award (1979), the State Education Commission Science and Technology Progress Award, Second Class (1993 and 1998), and the State Science and Technology Progress Award, Second Class (1999). He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1997.
Death
Liu died on 2 July 2018 in Beijing, at the age of 87.
References
1931 births
2018 deaths
East China Normal University alumni
Academic staff of Beijing Normal University
Scientists from Changzhou
Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
Nuclear chemists
Chemists from Jiangsu
Chinese nuclear engineers
Educators from Changzhou | Liu Boli | [
"Chemistry"
] | 467 | [
"Nuclear chemists"
] |
77,476,192 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthonia%20thoriana | Arthonia thoriana is a species of bark-dwelling fungus in the family Arthoniaceae. It is found in the grazed pasture woodlands of Somerset, Great Britain.
Taxonomy
Arthonia thoriana was described as a new species by the lichenologists Damien Ertz and Nicholas Sanderson in 2018. The type specimen was collected in Great Britain, specifically in Horner Combe, Somerset, from the bark of ancient oak trees. The species epithet honours the Swedish lichenologist Göran Thor, "for his outstanding work on the taxonomy of the Arthoniaceae".
Description
The thallus of Arthonia thoriana is white, up to 3 cm in diameter, and up to 60 μm thick. It is non-lichenised despite the presence of large colonies of free-living single-celled green algae. The ascomata (fruiting bodies) are , black, and , with a diameter of 0.12–0.30 mm. The hymenium is hyaline to very pale brown, 35–45 μm thick, with a brown covered by crystals of calcium oxalate. The are hyaline, , and measure 9–12 by 3.0–3.5 μm. They are (1–2–)3-septate and lack a gelatinous sheath.
Habitat and distribution
Arthonia thoriana is found on the dry bark of ancient Quercus petraea in grazed pasture woodlands in Horner Combe, Somerset, at elevations of 110–180 metres. The species was observed to be most vigorous on well-lit trees and is associated with other lichen species such Chaenotheca trichialis, Chrysothrix candelaris, Inoderma subabietinum, and Dendrographa decolorans.
Similar species
Arthonia thoriana is similar to Arthonia pruinosella and Arthonia punctiformis, but it can be distinguished by its smaller, white-pruinose ascomata and smaller ascospores. A. pruinosella has circular to ascomata with a black and larger ascospores, while A. punctiformis has much larger and non-pruinose ascomata and larger ascospores.
See also
List of Arthonia species
References
thoriana
Fungus species
Fungi described in 2018
Fungi of Europe
Taxa named by Damien Ertz | Arthonia thoriana | [
"Biology"
] | 490 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
77,476,218 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass%20printing | Glass printing involves applying images, patterns, or text to glass surfaces. Various techniques can be used, each offering distinct aesthetic and functional results. This specialized field encompasses methods such as screen printing, digital printing, and pad printing, among others.
External links
Glass Magazine, July, 2023
Printing processes
Glass engineering and science | Glass printing | [
"Materials_science",
"Engineering"
] | 65 | [
"Glass engineering and science",
"Materials science"
] |
77,478,254 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocapavir | Pocapavir (V-073, SCH48973) is an antiviral drug which acts as a capsid inhibitor. It was developed for the treatment of enterovirus infections, including diseases such as polio and coxsackievirus, and also has activity against parechoviruses.
See also
Pleconaril
Rupintrivir
References
Chlorobenzene derivatives
Ethers
Antiviral drugs
Methoxy compounds | Pocapavir | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 95 | [
"Antiviral drugs",
"Functional groups",
"Organic compounds",
"Ethers",
"Biocides"
] |
77,478,470 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmona%20wine%20urn | The Carmona wine urn is a first-century Roman glass urn containing intact wine. The urn was discovered in 2019 in Carmona, Spain during excavations of the city's western Roman necropolis. Analysis of the urn's contents five years after its discovery demonstrated the contents to be the oldest surviving wine in the world. This surpasses the previous record holder, the Speyer wine bottle (discovered in 1867), by three centuries.
Discovery
Carmona, known as Carmo during Roman rule, was part of the province of Hispania Baetica. In the first century, agriculturalist Columella wrote of the production of white wine in the locality, as well as that of olive oil and wheat.
In 2019, house renovations at 53 Sevilla Street revealed an access shaft to an unlooted Roman mausoleum measuring 3.29 m long, 1.73 m wide, and 2.41 m high; the chamber contained eight niches with grave goods and the remains of two individuals named Hispanae and Senicio. Niche 8 contained a glass vessel called an olla ossuaria inside of a lead case. The vessel contained five liters of wine mixed with the cremains of the deceased and a gold ring at the bottom.
Content analysis
Roman wine in the Baetic region was often preserved by adding gypsum, cooked musts high in sugar, or salt.
Analysis of mineral salts in the wine revealed a high concentration of potassium salts, indicative of the cremains in the wine, and of silicon, sodium, and aluminium, probably due to two millennia of contact with the glass urn. The wine's mineral content was similar to that of sherry from Jerez de la Frontera and fino from Condado de Huelva and Montilla-Moriles.
Analysis of polyphenols in the wine identified quercetin, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, apigenin, vanillin, isoquercetin, naringin, and rutin, confirming the liquid's identification as wine. Each of these polyphenols is present in fino produced in Doña Mencía. Although the wine is now reddish, a lack of syringic acid indicated that the wine was originally white wine.
References
1st-century artifacts
Fermented drinks
Ancient wine
Wine packaging and storage
2019 archaeological discoveries
2024 archaeological discoveries
Viticulture
Urns | Carmona wine urn | [
"Biology"
] | 491 | [
"Fermented drinks",
"Biotechnology products"
] |
77,480,034 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubbens%20%28distillery%29 | Rubbens is a Belgian company that distils jenever. For most of its history it has been a family business, owned by the Rubbens family and located in Zele. The company buildings in Zele have been abandoned since 2014. The company is meanwhile active at a new location in Wichelen.
History
In 1817 Melchior Singeleyn founded an agricultural distillery in Zele, East Flanders. Originally, it was a farm that processed its surplus grain into alcohol. In 1872, under the leadership of Charles (Karel) Rubbens, agricultural activities were phased out in favour of an expansion of the distillery. In 1877 new buildings, with an industrial steam boiler and a round brick chimney, were constructed for the storage and processing of larger quantities of grain into jenever. Charles Rubbens subsequently gave his name to the company. In 1880, the distillery employed three people. Charles Rubbens regularly expanded the company’s land holding, via purchases and inheritance.
When Charles died in 1910, his widow Dymphna Callebaut managed the farm and the distillery until 1911, when sons Jean and Benoit Rubbens took over. Benoit was responsible for administration and sales. Jean, a graduate agricultural engineer, took care of the technical side. After the disruption of World War I, they modernised the company which was then known as Rubbens bros Liqueur Distillery. In 1920 the company employed 5 people.
During World War II, the rationing of raw materials forced the distillery to operate at a reduced rate. After the war, management passed to Jean's daughters, Elisabeth and Martha Rubbens. Together with their husbands they further expanded the distillery. In 1950, new warehouses were added and the mechanisation of production was improved.
In 2008, the family sold Rubbens Distillery to farmer Dirk Beck from Sint-Gillis-Waas. Between 2009 and 2014, to expand its production capacity, the distillery moved to Wichelen, to the industrial site of former steel drawing mill N.V. Produrac. Dirk Beck turned the activities of the distillery and the farm into a cycle: the grain produced by the farm was sent to the distillery for alcohol production and the spent grain was subsequently used as animal feed. In 2021 his son Hendrik Beck became co-manager of the company.
Production
The first production run was grain jenever. It was sold to outlets such as shops and inns in white stoneware jars and 30 and 50 litre oak casks.
Under the leadership of Jean and Benoit Rubbens, the company experienced its first major boom when it started to produce 'Vieux-Système' jenever, from 1911 onwards. Production was subsequently greatly diversified to include, among other things, liqueurs. Alcohol production was eventually phased out and more use was made of imported alcohol and self-produced distillates.
In 2021, Rubbens range included more than 120 products under different brand names, from jenever and gin, to aperitifs, liqueurs, absinthe and even non-alcoholic syrups. Beer production also commenced in that year.
Buildings
After the company moved, the original distillery, which was built in 1872 on the corner of Langemuntstraat and Oudburgstraat, was converted into an apartment block. Its original façade, a familiar sight in the centre of Zele, was retained. As well as 25 apartments and 4 family homes, a commercial building was also built. The project was called De Stokerij (The Distillery). The façade of the owners’ mansion, with the year 1817 above the door, was listed as architectural heritage. That protection was lifted in 2023.
Trivia
The Rubbens Distillery logo included a seahorse. It is said that this is because the hippocampus – the part of the brain affected by alcohol – is shaped like that bony little fish.
Distillery Rubbens promoted its products with, among other things, enamel signs. In 1949, it ordered a series of six enamel signs from Émaillerie Belge, in an edition of 55 copies of each. Many of these have been preserved by collectors.
References
Distilleries
Wichelen | Rubbens (distillery) | [
"Chemistry"
] | 857 | [
"Distilleries",
"Distillation"
] |
77,480,169 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schaltin%20Pierry%20%26%20Cie | Distillery 'Schaltin, Pierry & Cie' was a Belgian distillery that was founded in 1858 in the Walloon city Spa. One of the distillery's locations was Rue Hanster 8, 4900 Spa.
History
The distillery was founded in 1858 by a Frenchman named Duplais. He is said to have reconstituted the formula of the famous Elixir de Spa, Belgium's oldest elixir. In around 1863, Duplais handed the distillery over to pharmacist Henri Schaltin. From then on it was called Schaltin, Pierry & Cie and it soon started to develop a wide range of products.
The distillery is famous for taking over Elixir de Spa, a drink that had been distilled by Capuchin monks since the 12th century and was based on 40 herbs and plants from the Spa area.
In 1869 the distillery was awarded the title royal warrant holder. This made Henri Schaltin Belgium's first official Purveyor to the Court. The distillery was meanwhile very active on the international market thanks to its dynamic sales policy. It not only exported to several European countries but also to Canada and Russia.
Transfer of production
In 1956 Schaltin, Pierry & Cie decided to stop producing Elixir de Spa. Production of this elixir was taken over by Distillery F.X. De Beukelaar in Antwerp, the start of a new chapter for this venerable Belgian drink.
References
Distilleries
Spa, Belgium | Schaltin Pierry & Cie | [
"Chemistry"
] | 310 | [
"Distilleries",
"Distillation"
] |
77,480,365 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudhir%20Sastry | Sudhir K. Sastry is a food engineer, academic, and author. He is a professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Ohio State University (OSU).
Sastry's research started with sterilization and expanded to superior bacterial inactivation methods, including ohmic heating, moderate electric field (MEF) processing; high pressure processing (HPP), and pulsed electric fields (PEF). He has contributed to the development of thermal and nonthermal food manufacturing technologies, and established his lab at Ohio State. In 2001, he set up a 54 kW pilot facility at Ohio State, leading to industrial adoption of ohmic heating; and founded the nonprofit Society of Food Engineering to address the needs of food engineers, which has organized the Conference of Food Engineering since 2018.
Sastry has received awards including the IFT Research and Development Award, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) Senior Faculty Research Award, International Association of Engineering and Food (IAEF) Lifetime Achievement Award, International Food Engineering Award, and has also been named as Distinguished Professor of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at OSU in 2022–23.
Education
Sastry completed his B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in India, in June 1974. He earned his M.S. in Agricultural Engineering in June 1976 and subsequently achieved his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in August 1980, both from the University of Florida.
Career
Sastry began his academic career as an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) in September 1980. In March 1983, he was appointed as an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science at the same university, where he continued until June 1986, and then served as an Associate Professor for the next year. In September 1987, he joined OSU as an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Engineering, a position he held until June 1991. Since July 1991, he has been serving as a professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering at OSU.
Sastry became the managing director and OSU site co-director of the Center for Advanced Processing and Packaging Studies, a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center, from February 1999 to January 2006. Later, he served as the Interim Chair of the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering at OSU from July 2010 to June 2011.
Research
Sastry's research has focused on developing processing technologies like ohmic heating, high-pressure processing, and moderate electric field processing to inactivate harmful pathogens in food without compromising the quality, for which he received a number of patents and grants. He has collaborated with other researchers to create these processes, aiming to ensure widespread access to safe and healthy foods for future generations.
Ohmic heating and electrical conductivity
Sastry's co-authored book Aseptic Processing of Foods Containing Solid Particulates explored the techniques and innovations in aseptic processing and packaging, including thermal processing, sustainable packaging, and quality management, aimed at extending shelf life and ensuring food safety. He also co-edited the book Ohmic Heating in Food Processing, discovering the rapid and uniform heating method of Ohmic heating, covering its science, engineering, applications, and benefits for maintaining high-quality food products with minimal changes. Based on nine sections, this book looked into the issues in Ohmic heating equipment, Ohmic heating modeling issues, and process validation issues.
Sastry's group discovered that when all interfering variables were eliminated, ohmic heating accelerated the inactivation of bacterial spores such as Geobacillus stearothermophilus, Bacillus coagulans, and Bacillus subtilis. This discovery led to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and key spore components affected by the electric field. His work also included detailing kinetics and safety considerations for processing sterile or extended shelf-life products using ohmic and inductive heating.
Sastry and his postdoctoral researcher have developed the first method for sensing pH in situ under pressure.
Since the late 1990s, Sastry's work has focused on the effect of moderate electric fields (MEF) on food tissue, which used electric fields in the range of 1 to 1000 V/cm with or without ohmic heating effects. Discoveries from his research group included fermentation, drying, extraction, and patented tomato peeling process. In December 2012, he worked on a prototype for reheating food in space with NASA, discovering that long-duration space missions need improved, disposable packaging and rapid heating technologies like ohmic heating, which can also enhance Earth-based food sterilization, with packages designed to reheat and contain waste effectively, thereby leading to the development of a rectangular Ohmic heating packet.
Awards and honors
1977 – Presidential Recognition for Outstanding Contributions, University of Florida
2007 – Senior Faculty Research Award, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC)
2012 – Tech Brief Award for contribution to the development of scientific or technical innovation, NASA
2015 – Lifetime Achievement Award, International Association of Engineering and Food (IAEF)
2015 – International Food Engineering Award, ASABE
2023 – Distinguished Professor of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (2022–2023), Ohio State University
Bibliography
Books
Aseptic Processing of Foods Containing Solid Particulates (2002) ISBN 978-0471363590
Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering: Fundamental Concepts for First-Year Students (2013) ISBN 978-1461491255
Ohmic Heating in Food Processing (2014) ISBN 978-1420071085
Selected articles
Palaniappan, S., & Sastry, S. K. (1991). Electrical conductivities of selected solid foods during ohmic heating 1. Journal of Food Process Engineering, 14(3), 221–236.
Palaniappan, S., & Sastry, S. K. (1991). Electrical conductivity of selected juices: influences of temperature, solids content, applied voltage, and particle size 1. Journal of food process engineering, 14(4), 247–260.
Sastry, S. K., & Barach, J. T. (2000). Ohmic and inductive heating. Journal of food science, 65, 42–46.
Castro, I., Teixeira, J. A., Salengke, S., Sastry, S. K., & Vicente, A. A. (2004). Ohmic heating of strawberry products: electrical conductivity measurements and ascorbic acid degradation kinetics. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 5(1), 27–36.
Sarang, S., Sastry, S. K., & Knipe, L. (2008). Electrical conductivity of fruits and meats during ohmic heating. Journal of Food Engineering, 87(3), 351–356.
References
Food engineers
IIT Kharagpur alumni
University of Florida alumni
Ohio State University faculty
Indian academics
Indian writers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people) | Sudhir Sastry | [
"Engineering"
] | 1,449 | [
"Food engineers",
"Food engineering"
] |
77,480,531 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smeets%20%28distillery%29 | Smeets is a brand of Hasselt jenever. In the past it was also the name of a distillery in the Belgian town of Hasselt. This distillery was founded in 1923 by Gerard Smeets (1894-1966). Nowadays, Smeets' jenever is produced by La Martiniquaise Benelux.
History
In 1921, Gerard Smeets, his wife Emma Berghmans and his brother Joseph-Antoine opened a business that traded in spirits, liqueurs, aperitifs and tobacco products in Kapelstraat in Hasselt.
In the early years, all of this business's jenever and liqueurs were bought in. To facilitate this Gerard concluded a Limburg exclusivity contract for the Dutch brand De Oude Schiedamsche Genever - Vieux système De Papegaai, produced by the Dutch company Vanverckel & Co. from Delft.
In 1923, Gerard Smeets registered his first own brand of jenever, naming it Oude Genever De Leeuwerik after the distillery he had just opened. The company thereupon switched from reselling to production. In 1928 a further expansion of production led to the purchase of buildings on the Botermarkt (now Zuivelmarkt), with an installation that could also produce liqueurs. The signature green bottle was also introduced. By this time, the company employed seven people.
Between 1941 and 1943 the company expanded further. Gérard bought a building complex that ran from Paardsdemerstraat to Raamstraat from nv Malteries Brepoels-Schoofs, for example. Some of the buildings on Raamstraat were connected to the buildings on the Botermarkt (now Zuivelmarkt). When Gerard Smeets died in 1966, his son Louis had already started to build a new distillery in Sasstraat.
Over three generations, the small family-owned shop grew into a modern production company with sites at various locations in Hasselt inner city. The workforce had meanwhile grown from 15 people in 1930 to 45 people just before the move to Sasstraat.
In 1977, grandson Jo took the lead and under him the company experienced strong growth. At its peak – when exports greatly increased in the 1970s and 1980s – Smeets Distillery employed around 100 people. The company slogan was ‘Zoveel beter, en van bij ons’ (+/-.So much better, and local).
In 2002 Konings Distillery from Zonhoven took over Smeets. In April 2003, Konings moved 75,000 litres of pure, oak-barrelled Smeets to Zonhoven. The company Interbrew set up its commercial depot for Limburg in the buildings on Sasstraat. In 2011, the Ghent-based Bruggeman Distillery took over the Smeets brand. It is now thus a part of the French group La Martiniquaise Benelux.
Building
In the 18th century, when the Elsrack family from Hasselt already ran a distillery there, the building at 17 Raamstraat was called Brandewijnketel (+/- Brandy Kettle. By the mid-19th century that building had fallen into disuse and had not been used as a distillery for quite some time. Later it became a malt house under the name Brepoels-Schoofs.
Stoker Vinckenbosch took over the building and, via the Brepoels family, Smeets jenever distillery became the owner in 1943. In the 1970s, Smeets still regularly heated the installation. In 2002, when Konings took over Smeets, the building was closed and sold. The complex was a fine example of 19th-century functional business architecture.
In 1980, the building was given protected monument status. In 2013, the former distillery building was restored and repurposed as a shopping complex.
References
Distilleries
Hasselt | Smeets (distillery) | [
"Chemistry"
] | 833 | [
"Distilleries",
"Distillation"
] |
77,480,658 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellingwerff/Theunissen | Since 1987 the former Stellingwerff/Theunissen Distillery in Witte Nonnenstraat, Hasselt has housed the city's Jenever Museum. The Stellingwerff/Theunissen distillery was located along the Nieuwe Demer, where most of Hasselt's distilleries were located in the 18th century. It bordered Hasselt's beguinage.
History
Originally, the distillery was a convent farm run by the Sisters of St Francis of Penance – popularly known as the white nuns – whose convent Sint-Catharinadal was on the other side of the street.
Stellingwerff
During the French occupation, monastic properties were confiscated and sold. In 1803, Jean Antoine Séraphin Bamps (1776-1842) bought the convent farm and set up a jenever distillery. A few years later, in 1807, he sold the farm and its distillery to tobacco manufacturer and trader Leo Vaesen, who operated the distillery until his death in 1822.
When Leo Vaesen died, the distillery passed – via his sister Maria-Catherina Vaesen, widow of Guillaume Joseph Stellingwerff (1763-1814) – to the Stellingwerff family. Maria-Catherina lived there with her priest brother Nicolaas Gerard. They carried out a number of important renovation works: the distillery wing, for instance, was given an extra floor and an attic and converted into a house.
After Maria-Catherina's death in 1843, her son Adam Nicolaas Leon Stellingwerff (1798-1876) inherited the distillery. He ran it together with his brother Leon Joseph Victor (1805-1888). In 1850, the distillery was given its current appearance: a Neoclassical façade with a central gate.
Following Adam's death in 1876, Leon Joseph Victor continued the distillery, together with his cousins Victor Guillaume Gustave and Leon Hubert Joseph. When Leon Joseph Victor died in 1890, the two cousins sold the distillery to Godfried Vanrusselt and Paul Jozef Theunissen.
Theunissen
In 1891 Godfried Vanrusselt sold his shares to Jean Leonard Brauns, who partnered with Paul Jozef Theunissen until 1904, after which Theunissen continued alone. In 1912, one of the livestock sheds was converted into a liqueur factory. When Paul Jozef Theunissen died in 1927, he was succeeded by his sons Léon and Joseph Theunissen.
The distillery produced grain alcohol until World War II. After the war, until around 1965, it produced liqueurs on a limited scale. In the 1970s the buildings fell into an increasing state of disrepair.
Jenever Museum
On 21 August, 1975 the buildings of the former Stellingwerff/Theunissen distillery were protected by royal decree as Flanders’ first industrial-archaeological monument. A few years later, in 1979, Hasselt city council bought them with the intention of housing a museum there. The restoration work – funded by European, provincial and government grants – started in the spring of 1983 and was completed in July 1987. The museum opened its doors on 16 September of that same year.
References
Distilleries
Hasselt | Stellingwerff/Theunissen | [
"Chemistry"
] | 650 | [
"Distilleries",
"Distillation"
] |
77,480,764 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamson%20theorem | In the context of linear algebra and symplectic geometry, the Williamson theorem concerns the diagonalization of positive definite matrices through symplectic matrices.
More precisely, given a strictly positive-definite Hermitian real matrix , the theorem ensures the existence of a real symplectic matrix , and a diagonal positive real matrix , such that where denotes the 2x2 identity matrix.
Proof
The derivation of the result hinges on a few basic observations:
The real matrix , with , is well-defined and skew-symmetric.
Any skew-symmetric real matrix can be block-diagonalized via orthogonal real matrices, meaning there is such that with a real positive-definite diagonal matrix containing the singular values of .
For any orthogonal , the matrix is such that .
If diagonalizes , meaning it satisfies then is such that Therefore, taking , the matrix is also a symplectic matrix, satisfying .
See also
Symplectic geometry
Symplectic matrices
Definite matrix
References
Matrices
Symplectic geometry | Williamson theorem | [
"Mathematics"
] | 199 | [
"Theorems in algebra",
"Theorems in linear algebra",
"Matrices (mathematics)",
"Mathematical objects"
] |
77,481,293 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planar%20reentry%20equations | The planar reentry equations are the equations of motion governing the unpowered reentry of a spacecraft, based on the assumptions of planar motion and constant mass, in an Earth-fixed reference frame.where the quantities in these equations are:
is the velocity
is the flight path angle
is the altitude
is the atmospheric density
is the ballistic coefficient
is the gravitational acceleration
is the radius from the center of a planet with equatorial radius
is the lift-to-drag ratio
is the bank angle of the spacecraft.
Simplifications
Allen-Eggers solution
Harry Allen and Alfred Eggers, based on their studies of ICBM trajectories, were able to derive an analytical expression for the velocity as a function of altitude. They made several assumptions:
The spacecraft's entry was purely ballistic .
The effect of gravity is small compared to drag, and can be ignored.
The flight path angle and ballistic coefficient are constant.
An exponential atmosphere, where , with being the density at the planet's surface and being the scale height.
These assumptions are valid for hypersonic speeds, where the Mach number is greater than 5. Then the planar reentry equations for the spacecraft are:
Rearranging terms and integrating from the atmospheric interface conditions at the start of reentry leads to the expression:
The term is small and may be neglected, leading to the velocity:
Allen and Eggers were also able to calculate the deceleration along the trajectory, in terms of the number of g's experienced , where is the gravitational acceleration at the planet's surface. The altitude and velocity at maximum deceleration are:
It is also possible to compute the maximum stagnation point convective heating with the Allen-Eggers solution and a heat transfer correlation; the Sutton-Graves correlation is commonly chosen. The heat rate at the stagnation point, with units of Watts per square meter, is assumed to have the form:
where is the effective nose radius. The constant for Earth. Then the altitude and value of peak convective heating may be found:
Equilibrium glide condition
Another commonly encountered simplification is a lifting entry with a shallow, slowly-varying, flight path angle. The velocity as a function of altitude can be derived from two assumptions:
The flight path angle is shallow, meaning that: .
The flight path angle changes very slowly, such that .
From these two assumptions, we may infer from the second equation of motion that:
See also
Atmospheric entry
Hypersonic flight
References
Further reading
Regan, F.J.; Anandakrishnan, S.M. (1993). Dynamics of Atmospheric Re-Entry. AIAA Education Series. pp. 180-184.
Atmospheric entry
Differential equations
Aerospace engineering
Classical mechanics | Planar reentry equations | [
"Physics",
"Mathematics",
"Engineering"
] | 552 | [
"Mathematical objects",
"Differential equations",
"Classical mechanics",
"Equations",
"Atmospheric entry",
"Mechanics",
"Aerospace engineering"
] |
77,481,431 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van%20den%20Bergh%20en%20Cie | Van den Bergh en Cie (which originally traded as De Gulden Klok and later La Cloche - De Klok) was an Antwerp malt house, beer brewery and jenever distillery.
History
The business was founded by Jean (Jan) Jacques Van den Bergh-Aerts (1768-1844). He was also involved in the shipping company Van den Bergh et Fils and was a municipal councillor, alderman, senator and consul of Greece. His family had already been active as brewers and distillers for three centuries.
In 1843, shortly before Jean’s death, his sons Maximilian Van den Bergh (1802-1873) and Jean Félix Van den Bergh (1807-1885) bought the brewery from him.
Well-known Antwerp locations were 7-11 Oudeleeuwenrui for the brewery and 26-32 Brouwersvliet for the jenever distillery. A fire insurance map by Gervais from 1898, confirms the presence on Oude Leeuwenrui of, among other things, beer cellars, ovens, a workshop, a machine room, a cooperage and a forge.
The company subsequently passed – presumably after the brothers' death – into the hands of Louis Lysen, a well-known banker and a relative by marriage.
In 1919 the warehouses, designed by Frans J.H. Bex, were sold to the Werf- en Vlasnatie and renamed 'Magazijn Albert'.
On the corner of Oudeleeuwenrui and Hessenplein there is a yellow building Magasins et Entrepôts Réunis La Cloche. This was designed by architect Joseph Hertogs in 1909 and built in 1910. The name La Cloche is a reference to the former brewery, the original 17th-century gate of which was saved and reused.
References
Distilleries
Antwerp | Van den Bergh en Cie | [
"Chemistry"
] | 389 | [
"Distilleries",
"Distillation"
] |
77,481,788 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van%20de%20Velde%20%28distillery%29 | Distillery Van De Velde, a.k.a. Grain Jenever Distillery Betsberg, is a former jenever distillery in Landskouter (municipality of Oosterzele). The distillery operated for about 175 years, but closed shortly after World War II.
History
According to old advertising material, Den Betsberg agricultural distillery was founded in 1773. A document dated 1801, however, says it was opened by Philippe Janssens in 1752.
When Philippe died, his widow Isabelle Jacoba Billiet married Jacobus Franciscus Van de Velde. Isabelle and Jacobus then ran the distillery together. In 1815 Jacobus was appointed Mayor of Landskouter. This was the start of a long family tradition: that office remained in the family until 1950, when the distillery closed.
In 1822 Jacobus passed the distillery down to his two sons Marcellinus and Charles. Marcellinus bought out his brother and expanded the distillery. When Marcellinus died in 1847, he left the distillery to his son Hippolite Désiré, who in turn passed it down to his son Arthur in 1901.
During World War I, the distillery was forced to close when the Germans requisitioned its copper distillation plant. After the war Arthur installed new equipment and in 1927 opened a completely renovated distillery. In 1928 Arthur's son Jean joined the company.
World War II brought the company once again to a standstill. It was revived briefly after the war, but it closed again in 1950, this time permanently. In 1988 Jean Van De Velde sold off the entire complex.
The exhibition catalogue ‘In en om de alambiek, jenever en alcoholdistilleryen’ says that when demand was high the distillery operated every day of the week. The grain jenever it produced came in three varieties: ‘Jan-ze klaren’ (30°), the ‘Pur seigle’ (35°) and the ‘Pur sang’ (40°). Farming activities and jenever production came to an end in 1948.
Family
In the 20th century the Van de Velde family produced two mayors. Between them they governed Landskouter for almost 70 years. Another outstanding family member was Oblate Priest Frans Van De Velde, who spent more than 50 years with the Eskimos (Inuit) of northern Canada, where he worked as a missionary and an all-round nurse. His work there was so much appreciated that Dutch Princess Margriet – who was born in Canada - came to Landskouter in 1981 to inaugurate a monument in honour of Father Frans Van De Velde. Later in life Father Frans returned to Landskouter where he died in 2002. He now rests in the family burial plot in his native village.
Building
The 18th-century farm and agricultural distillery Betsberg and its surroundings enjoy protected townscape status. The distillery itself has been a protected monument since 1981.
Distilling installations from 1924 are still present. There is also a Cornish steam boiler, by Mahy Frères Wondelgem, from 1907; a horizontal monocylinder steam engine, installed in 1925–1926 to replace a vertical steam engine; three pumps from the 19th century; a distillation column, by Ateliers de Construction Dufour Frères, from 1924; a transfer box by the same manufacturer; a water container; three fermentation vats; a 19th-century “local special” excise duty measuring vessel; two cooling vats; a round cast-iron mixing bowl and a large water tank. In addition to these there are three alcohol storage units and an upstairs grain loft in the warehouse. After restoration, the buildings were divided into a number of residential units.
References
Distilleries | Van de Velde (distillery) | [
"Chemistry"
] | 766 | [
"Distilleries",
"Distillation"
] |
77,481,919 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiocyanuric%20acid | Thiocyanuric acid is the organosulfur compound with the formula . It is analogous to cyanuric acid (). Cyanuric acid is white whereas thiocyanuric acid is yellow. It can also be viewed as a trimeric thioamide.
Structure
It is a planar molecular as determined by X-ray crystallography. Like cyanuric acid, thiocyanuric acid forms extended hydrogen-bonded network resulting in a sheet-like structure. This arrangement is relevant to the high melting point of the compound.
Synthesis, reactions, applications
Thiocyanuric acid precipitates from warm, acidic solutions of thiocyanic acid. A modern synthesis begins instead with a preformed ring: cyanuric chloride reacts with sodium hydrosulfide to give table salt and thiocyanuric acid.
The compound is mildly acidic, with pKa's of 5.7, 8.4, and 11.4. Various salts of have been characterized.
The compound has an affinity for heavy metals. This attribute has been exploited by applying thiocyanuric acid and derivatives to treatment of waste waters.
References
Isocyanuric acids
Thioamides | Thiocyanuric acid | [
"Chemistry"
] | 249 | [
"Thioamides",
"Functional groups"
] |
77,482,091 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous%20Caucus | The expression Indigenous Caucus (or Caucus of Indigenous Peoples) refers to informal groups of Indigenous peoples representatives with ad hoc rules of engagement in certain United Nations and other intergovernmental fora.
World Intellectual Property Organization
An Indigenous Caucus participates as observer to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), particularly its Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC).
Modalities
WIPO Intergovernmental Committee (IGC)
Indigenous Peoples participate in the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore as observers for their respective organizations, but also collectively through the informal Indigenous Caucus, "averaging around 25 to 30 people per session."
According to WIPO IGC's Practical Guide for Participants:Upon invitation of the Chairperson of the WIPO Indigenous Caucus, accredited observers who represent indigenous and local communities meet at the Indigenous Consultative Forum in order to prepare for the IGC on the day preceding its session. A meeting room is made available by WIPO for that purpose. Any accredited observer who represents indigenous and local communities and who wishes to attend the Consultative Forum is requested to advise the WIPO Secretariat in advance in order to be granted a badge at his or her arrival at the WIPO premises.
2024 Diplomatic Conference
The Indigenous Caucus also participated in the Diplomatic Conference on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge which concluded the GRATK Treaty in May 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland.
During the Conference, the Caucus served as a coordinating forum, enabling its participants with "pivotal roles in liaising with their respective country delegations and others they could connect with." In addition, in the middle of the Diplomatic Conference, "a rotating member of the Indigenous Caucus" was allowed to participate in the reduced negotiating group, where other participants were representatives of WIPO's regional country groups. As a participant to the Caucus related during the Diplomatic Conference:The process gets truncated from now on with a much smaller group of representatives, including a rotating member of the Indigenous Caucus, participating in informal negotiations before wording is brought back to the two committees and then to a legal drafting group and into the final plenary session by Friday [24 May].
United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights
The United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights (UNFBHR) also has a Caucus of Indigenous Peoples.
References
Anti-biopiracy treaties
Biopiracy
Indigenous law
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous politics | Indigenous Caucus | [
"Biology"
] | 496 | [
"Anti-biopiracy treaties",
"Biodiversity",
"Biopiracy"
] |
77,482,469 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex%20healthcare | Intersex healthcare differs from the healthcare of endosex people due to stigma and potential complications arising from their bodily variations. People with intersex variations, also called disorders in sex development, have hormonal, genetic, or anatomical differences unexpected of an endosex male or female. 1.7% of the general population is estimated to be intersex. Healthcare for intersex people can include treatments for one's mental, cognitive, physical, and sexual health. The healthcare needs of intersex people vary depending on which variations they have. Intersex conditions are diagnosed prenatally, at birth, or later in life via genetic and hormone testing as well as medical imaging.
Intersex healthcare has historically focused on patients fitting physical and social norms for one's sex. This includes concealing information from patients and medically unnecessary surgeries. Intersex organizations advocate to end these practices and make further changes to respect and include intersex people. Medical trauma, lack of research, and lack of access can hinder quality healthcare. The medicalization of intersex conditions and the use of the term 'disorders of sex development' are disputed.
Presentation and Diagnosis
Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council describes variations in sex characteristics, also called intersex or disorders in sex development, as referring to "people with innate genetic, hormonal, or physical sex characteristics that do not conform to medical norms for female or male bodies. It refers to a wide spectrum of variations to genitals, hormones, chromosomes and/or reproductive organs." Intersex conditions can result in a combination of male and female structures, such as having both a womb and testes; atypical genital appearance, such as a closed vagina; or missing or underdeveloped reproductive organs, such as a vaginal opening with no womb. Other characteristics include the presence of micropenis, hypospadias, uretha opening into the vagina, partly fused labia, large clitoris, electrolye imbalance, undescended testes for males, and masses in the labia or groin for females. Some intersex conditions may result in genitals expected of one's sex, but differing chromosomes (having only an X chromosome, XXY chromosomes, etc.)
Intersex variations are diagnosed using physical exams, genetic testing, hormonal testing, and medical imaging or laproscopy of internal structures. A diagnosis at the molecular genetic level such as genome sequencing is preferred for predicting prognosis, but is not always possible. Intersex variations may become apparent at birth, during puberty, or while trying to conceive. Intersex variations may cause a delay in puberty, absence of puberty, or bodily changes unexpected for one's perceived sex. Genetic counsellors can help an intersex person or their family understand their diagnosis and its genetic impacts on health.
Some intersex variations can be detected before birth. Cell-free DNA screening can detect if a fetus has Turner syndrome or Klienfelter syndrome. Ultrasounds may show ambiguous gentalia or genitals that do not match what is expected based on the sex chromosomes found in the cell-free DNA test. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis for those receiving in vitro fertilization can detect variations such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS). 21-hydroxylase deficiency, also known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia 1, can be treated prenatally using dexamethasone to prevent ambiguous gentalia.
Medical characterization and nomenclature
The term 'disorders of sex development', often abbreviated as DSD, is contentious as some organizations and intersex advocates believe that being intersex should not be pathologized. For instance, Planned Parenthood describes being intersex as a "naturally occurring variation" rather than a medical problem. Professor Elizabeth Reis supports changing disorders of sex development to divergence of sex development, writing that "using divergence, intersex people would not be labeled as being in a physical state absolutely in need of repair."
Some parents of intersex children prefer the term 'disorders of sex development' because the term intersex evokes ideas of sexuality or that their child is a third gender rather than a boy or girl. Some people with intersex variations prefer using DSD instead of intersex because they see their variation as a medical condition rather than an identity. 60 percent of Australian intersex people prefer the term 'intersex' or a related term such as 'intersex variation', while 3 percent prefer the term 'disorder of sex development' outside of seeking medical care.
The term 'intersex' has been criticized by clinicians and parents who believe the term only applies to those with ambiguous genitals or whose chromosomes and anatomy do not align. Disagreement remains over which variations should be considered intersex.
Healthcare needs
Physical health
Bone health is a common concern for intersex patients. For instance, people with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) have low bone density as a result of "decreased circulating estrogen and skeletal resistance to androgen action." People with androgen insensitivity syndrome who have undergone a gonadectomy no longer produce endogenous hormones. This necessitates the use of long term hormone therapy to maintain bone health.
Turner syndrome, gonadal dysgenesis, Klinefelter syndrome and congenital adrenal hyperplasia also face issues with bone health, particularly osteopenia and osteoporosis. In Klinefelter syndrome and gonadal dysgenesis, this is caused by insufficient sex hormones. In CAH, it is due to excessive adrenal androgen as well as lifelong treatment with glucocorticoid, a type of steroid. Bone health is maintained through monitoring bone mineral density using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and providing hormone replacement therapy to prevent osteoporosis.
Hormone replacement serves additional purposes other than bone health. In those with CAH, steroids called mineralocorticoids help regulate salt and water in the body to prevent salt-wasting. In some intersex people, oestrogen or testosterone is needed to induce puberty. This is important to help the body mature and develop secondary sex characters, to allow intersex people to develop alongside their peers, and prevent delayed intellectual, social, and emotional development.
Some intersex variations are associated with an increased risk of cancer. Men with Klinefelter syndrome, especially, those with mosaicism, are at a higher risk of breast cancer mortality than endosex men. Those with Swyer syndrome are at an increased risk of developing cancer, specifically germ cell tumors, if atypical gonads are not removed.
Gonadoblastomas are precancerous lesions that predominantly form in intersex people with gonadal dysgenesis and a Y chromosome. This includes conditions such as Swyer syndrome or Turner syndrome with Y chromosome mosaicism. These cancer risks are addressed using genetic screening and performing a gonadectomy if necessary.
The undescended testes of those with androgen insensitivity syndrome also pose a cancer risk. Those with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome have a 3.6 percent chance of developing a malignant tumor by age 25 and a 33 percent chance by age 50, though malignancy before adulthood is rare. In contrast, partial androgen insensitivity syndrome poses a higher cancer risks if undescended testes are present. The risk for germ cell tumors from undescended testes is 15 to 50 percent, but the risk for scrotal testes is unknown. Orchiectomy, removal of the testes, is a preventative treatment option for these cancer risks. For those raised male with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome, a procedure to put the testes into the scrotum called an orchiopexy is done to lower the risk of malignancy.
Some intersex variations are associated with metabolic and cardiovascular conditions. Those with XY DSD are more likely to be born with heart defects. CAH is associated with hypertension, a higher body mass index, and insulin resistance. Intersex variations in sex chromosomes are associated with an increased risk of both type one and type two diabetes.
Turner syndrome, one such chromosomal intersex variation, is also associated with hypertension. 23 to 50 percent of those with Turner syndrome are born with congenital heart abnormalities. According to the Journal of the American Heart Association, fetuses with confirmed or suspected Turner syndrome should receive a fetal echocardiogram. Children born with Turner syndrome and accompanying heart abnormalities should receive care from a pediatric cardiologist.
Those with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome (MRKH) type 2 can also be born with defects related to their hearing, vertebrae, upper urinary tract, and kidneys. Doctors will check for congenital anomalies in patients with suspected MRKH by using MRI and/or transabdominal ultrasonography.
Renal congenital anomalies can coincide with various intersex conditions. Those with androgen insensitivity syndrome may also have atypical kidneys or upper urinary tract. Hypospadias may also be related to urinary tract anomalies, though data is conflicting. People with Herlyn-Werner-Wunderlich syndrome can be born with one kidney. Urinary tract ultrasonography can be used to check for renal abnormalities in those with Herlyn-Werner-Wunderlich syndrome.
Other types of congenital anomalies can occur as well. Most people born with campomelic dysplasia have a micrognathia, a small lower jaw, and laryngomalacia, floppy cartilage in the larynx that obstructs one's airway. Cleft palates are also present in most people born with the condition. Cleft palates, severe laryngomalacia and micrognathia are treatable through surgery.
Sexual health
Fertility varies depending on the intersex variations one has. For instance, people with Turner syndrome can become pregnant with donor eggs or, more rarely, become pregnant unassisted; in contrast, men with 46 XX are always infertile. Fertility counseling is a desired option for intersex people and families. This counseling can be provided by a clinician, though gaps in knowledge about intersex fertility are common.
Procedures such as testicular sperm extraction, uterus transplantation, and in vitro fertilization can help some intersex people have children. People with MRKH can produce children with a surrogate and in vitro fertilization of their own eggs. This is because those with MRKH are lacking or have an underdeveloped uterus and vagina, but typically have fully formed ovaries. Since 2015, uterus transplants have allowed women with MRKH to give birth without a surrogate.
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, a type of in vitro fertilization in which sperm is directly injected into an egg cell, is another tool for assisted reproduction. It can help people with 5-alpha-reductase type 2 deficiency or Klinefelter syndrome to have children. It can also be used in some cases of ovotesticular DSD if the father is able to produce sperm and has not had his testes removed. In vitro fertilization with donor eggs allows people with a uterus but no ovaries to give birth, such as in some cases of Swyer syndrome.
Cryopreservation is being developed as an option for intersex people whose testes are removed due to cancer risk or gender reassignment. Prepubertal testicular tissue can be cryproserved and may have potential for fertility based on animal and human studies. As of 2023, this approach remains experimental and it will produce biological offspring is still unclear.
Females with Turner syndrome lose their eggs at an accelerated rate compared to endosex females; before they are born, the majority of their egg cells are apoptopic, or in the process of dying. Most people with Turner syndrome experience early menopause by the time they reach adulthood. In some cases, cryopreservation is used to maintain reproductive options. For those with Turner syndrome who experience sponanteous puberty and periods, primarily those with 45X/46XX mosaicism, eggs may be cryopreserved. In 2022, the first successful live birth using this method on a mother with mosaic Turner syndrome was documented. Cryopreservation of the ovarian tissue is still experimental as of 2023.
Some intersex variations may result in increased risks of complications during pregnancy. Classic CAH is associated with higher risk of gestational diabetes. Those with classic CAH are at a higher risk of needing to deliver via cesarean section if they have previously undergone vaginoplasty. Those with CAH caused by 11-beta-hydroxylase deficiency often experience hypertension, and thus should receive care from cardiology specialists during pregnancy. Sixty pecent of women with Turner syndrome who become pregnant via egg donation experience complications such as pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, and intrauterine growth restriction. There is also a risk of death for the mother due to root aortic dilation, or the ballooning of the large artery sending blood from the heart. This can result in aortic dissection, the splitting of the aorta's walls causing blood to leak. Women with Turner syndrome should be informed of this risk, undergo cardiac review prior to pregnancy, and receive care from a multidisciplinary team while pregnant.
Some intersex people are more likely to experience sexual dissatisfaction or difficulty in sexual functioning. For example, 39.3 percent of men with Klinefelter syndrome and 37.1 to 44.1 percent of women with XY DSD are unsatisfied to very unsatisfied with their sex life compared to 20.8 percent of the general population. This is not universal across all intersex conditions as those with Turner syndrome and CAH report sex life satisfaction closer to that of the general population.
Some intersex conditions are associated with genital dissatisfaction due to concerns about penile length, vaginal length, size of clitoris, etc. Intersex people who have undergone genital surgery may experience reduced sexual sensation and functioning as a result. Young intersex people often experience sexual anxiety, and a quarter of intersex adults have not been in a romantic or sexual relationship.
According to a research paper in Obstetrics & Gynecology, intersex patients should be offered psychological support or sex therapy if they express anxiety about sexual function or fear of intimacy. A sexologist can be included in a multidisciplinary team to help address sexual health concerns. Hormone replacement therapy is used to maintain sexual functioning for some intersex conditions such as ovotesticular DSD. For those with CAIS who have had a gonadectomy, androgen substitution can prove better for sexual well-being and ability to orgasm than oestrogen.
Mental health
Intersex people are at a high risk of developing mental health disorders. A review of 18 studies found that intersex people were more likely to have depressive and anxiety disorders. A survey of intersex adults in the U.S. found that respondents 61.1 percent reported having depressive disorders compared to 19 percent of the general adult population. PTSD was also reported by 40.9 percent of those surveyed.
Surgeries on intersex people as infants can be a cause of trauma. Scarring, infertility, and other health issues caused by such surgeries can result in shame, gender dysphoria, sexual dysfunction and feeling betrayal or devalued. Stressful diagnosis procedures and medical treatments can feel like a challenge to one's gender identity, contributing to psychological distress and stigmatization. Intersex students are often the target of abuse at school, especially in bathrooms and changing rooms. Students whose appearance do not fit expected gender norms are at even greater risk of mistreatment. Intersex students are often told to keep medical treatments secret by family members or clinicians, leading to further isolation and untreated trauma.
Intersex people are at an increased risk of suicidality; in a European study, 6.8 percent of intersex people age 16 or older reporting attempted suicide compared to 1.8 percent in the control group. Intersex people are more likely to experience suicidal thoughts as well. Intersex people can face issues that worsen their mental health such as stigma and discrimination, bullying, family rejection, tension with partners about fertility, etc.
It is not uncommon for intersex people born with ambiguous sex characteristics to experience gender dysphoria. A 2021 meta analysis found that 15 percent of intersex people born with ambiguous sex characteristics experience gender dysphoria in adolescence or adulthood. Patients with 5-alpha-reductase deficiency and 17-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency have the highest prevalence of gender dysphoria, while those with CAH have the lowest prevalence.
Those with intersex variations should have a psychiatrist or psychologist working with a multidisciplinary team. Mental health professionals can aid intersex people when making choices about hormone treatments, gender assignment, gender reassignment, and surgeries. Psychotherapy can also be used to support self-acceptance. Psychological support for parents and family members helps reduce harm to an intersex child. This support helps by educating family against misconceptions about intersex variations, as well as encouraging parents to share age-appropriate information with their child. This aids in preventing secrecy about the child's intersex status.
Findings suggest peer support for intersex people and their parents can positively contribute to their well-being, though robust evidence is lacking. Trained facilitators are able to help participants process health information. The added social support mitigates isolation as well. Accessing peer support can prove difficult due to lack of referrals.
Cognitive health
Some intersex variations can impact cognitive and social functioning. Rates of autism symptoms are higher in intersex people. A survey of European intersex adults finding a 9.1 percent prevalence, compared to 1 percent in the general adult population. This percentage differs depending on the particular intersex variation, with those with Klinefelter syndrome having the highest autism symptom prevalence of the variations measured.
Intersex people have no significant difference in intelligence quotient compared to endosex people. Other cognitive differences depend on the particular variation. Females with Turner syndrome are more likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, can struggle with social competence in both childhood and adulthood, and can have visuospatial deficits that negatively impact math ability. Those with Klinefelter syndrome are likely to experience language issues. 70 to 80 percent of males with Klinefelter syndrome experience language difficulties at an early age; impairments in verbal fluency and confrontation naming have been found in adolescents and adults. Reading difficulties are similarly common in children and adults with Klinefelter syndrome.
A psychologist should be consulted to assess learning difficulties if they are present. Academic accommodations, tutoring, or other forms of support may be equipped to help those with cognitive impairments. Psychiatric interventions and other supports may be needed throughout one's life to help with difficulties in executive and cognitive functioning. Mental health issues may be the main cause of executive function issues, as a study comparing intersex and endosex people found that there was no significant difference in executive function when adjusting for mental health.
History
Intersex conditions have been documented since antiquity, and began to be studied by doctors in the late 1800s. Medical professionals in Great Britain, France, and the United States began searching for definitive markers to determine what was thought to be the intersex person's true sex. These determinants were used to inform the patient of their true sex with the expectation that the patient would subsequently change to fit social norms.
The term "intersexuality" was created in 1915 by German biologist Richard Goldschmidt. He came up with the term while studying sphynx moths with sex characteristics between male and female. The term was adopted for pediatric use until 2005.
In the 1930s, surgeries intended to correct the genitals of intersex people were developed and became a standard treatment. At the time, surgeon Lennox Ross Broster described that corrective surgery would cause patients to "lose their acquired male characters, and revert to their normal feminine ones...[and] return to normal sexuality psychologically." In the 1940s, boundaries were created to separate those who had physical intersex variations, and those who desired sex reassignment without physical variations. This served to provide surgical procedures only to intersex people, while directing transgender people towards psychological services.
In the 1950s, John Money theorized that children were gender neutral until the age of two, and gender could be assigned based on how a child was raised. This further pushed surgeries for intersex people, young children in particular. Clinicians often hid that a child was intersex both from patients and their parents.
That same decade, medical advances emerged to evaluate a fetus' sex and birth defects such as ultrasound, amniocentesis, and the discovery of the HLA system and its role in pregnancy. As technologies advanced, clinicians became able to detect intersex conditions such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia and Turner syndrome before the birth of the child.
During the 1990s, intersex activists challenged the use of corrective genital surgery and the stigma around intersex variations. Feminists used the term "intersex" while criticizing Johns Hopkins medical policy for using gender norms to make predictions about the gender of intersex infants and medically alter their bodies to fit those norms.
In 2005, the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and the Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society held a conference with 50 international experts and two intersex participants decide which term should be used to refer to people with intersex variations. The term disorders of sex development, abbreviated as DSD, was chosen. In a 2006 consensus statement, the adoption of the term DSD was purposed. Since then, the term DSD has replaced intersexuality in pediatric use.
Barriers to care
Medical trauma
Many intersex patients have gone through negative medical experiences including childhood genital surgery, having their medical history hidden from them, pathologization of intersex variations, and genital examinations and photography. Some treatments and behaviors have been described as medicalized rape. According to the NNID Foundation, an intersex organization in the Netherlands,
These experiences negatively impact the well-being of intersex people. Vaginal dilation and surgeries early in life cause physical and psychological trauma. Nonconsensual surgeries can contribute to healthcare avoidance and medical distrust among intersex people, causing them to delay receiving preventative or emergency care.
Lack of quality data
Data is often collected from populations using either sex or gender, but not both. This results in problems when collecting data from intersex people. Uncertainty in how to answer can result in data being miscollected. Assumptions underlying questions about sex, such as expecting a respondent's sex traits not to vary from their answer, can lead to misuse of data. These issues in data collection negatively impacts the healthcare of intersex people as some tests and medical treatments are affected by one's sex. In some cases, data on intersex people may not be collected at all. Data systems supported or led by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention between 2015 and 2018 collected no data on intersex conditions.
There is a lack of research into the general health, mental health, and cancer risks of intersex people. Intersex people often are not studied in the field of toxicology, making risk assessment for intersex patients difficult. Anesthesiology also under-represents intersex patients. A cross sectional analysis in 2016 found that of 709 studies from major anesthesiology journals, none included intersex participants. There is lack of research in fertility preservation for intersex patients due to the larger focus on creating a normative sex presentation.
Inaccessibility
Intersex patients have better outcomes when receiving specialized care. When intersex patients reach adulthood, they can experience difficulty finding specialized care for their variations; this is in part due to a lack of adult specialists with significant training about intersex conditions. A small study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that 28 percent of adult intersex participants had difficulty accessing specialist care.
Intersex patients and their families frequently experience a lack of psychological support. According to a study in the European Journal of Pediatrics, 40.4 percent of parents of intersex children requested psychological support, half of whom received it. When psychologists are included within multidisciplinary care teams for intersex patients, they often feel their role is marginalized by their peers. Family members of intersex children may feel a being recommended a psychologist implies they are not performing their role in the family well. Intersex patients and caretakers may also have negative perceptions about therapy, finding it taboo or unpleasant.
Intersex people desiring psychological support may not be offered such services. The study from the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that majority of intersex patients had not been offered psychological counseling, and 27 percent reported not being offered counseling while having an unmet need for it. Intersex children can have difficulty finding support at school as well. There are no standards for educational psychologists or counselors supporting intersex children, and peers are not properly educated about intersex people.
Intersex patients experience issues accessing sexual health and affirming doctors. A survey from the United Kingdom's Government Equalities Office found that 11 percent of intersex participants reported that it was difficult to access sexual healthcare compared to 5 percent of endosex LGBT participants. 6 percent of intersex people reported that their general practitioner was unsupportive compared to 2 percent of endosex LGBT people.
It is difficult for elderly intersex people to find providers capable of meeting their needs. They may fear living in retirement communities due to potential intolerance from other residents. Elderly intersex people can feel concerned about home care as well; they may fear caretaker abuse due to their intersex variation or surgical changes to their body.
Advocacy
Intersex and human rights organizations advocate against medically unnecessary genital surgeries on young children. Deferral of procedures is promoted whenever possible so patients are old enough to provide consent. Clinician advocates have worked with professional organizations to write position statements in support of deferring non-essential genital surgery until a child is older.
Advocates promote patient-centered care rather than procedures to ease parents. Intersex organizations and clinician advocates both promote mental health support of intersex people as a key part of intersex healthcare. Other changes supported by intersex advocates include ensuring intersex patients have access to medical records, acquiring government reparations for those who have received medically unnecessary surgery or demeaning treatment, and holding doctors who have given such treatment legally accountable.
Ensuring intersex people are respected in medical settings is another priority for intersex rights. Lambda Legal and InterACT support hospitals adding language to their patients' bill of rights to explicitly state the rights to nondiscrimination, privacy, and respect for intersex people receiving care. Advocates also support educating medical staff about respect and privacy for intersex patients; this is meant to protect their physical integrity and autonomy.
Another initiative in intersex advocacy is high quality and respectful research about intersex people. Common research issues cited by advocates include focusing predominantly on children instead of adults, making assumptions about intersex people having other LGBT identities, framing intersex as a gender, researchers' lack of understanding on intersex issues, and representing data as LGBTI data despite not having a significant number of intersex participants. Organizations such as InterACT and Intersex Human Rights Australia provide guidance and encourage researchers to contact them early in a studies design process.
See also
Intersex medical interventions
Intersex
Disorders of sex development
References
Intersex topics
Intersex topics in society
Intersex healthcare
LGBTQ | Intersex healthcare | [
"Biology"
] | 5,935 | [
"Intersex topics",
"Sex"
] |
77,484,063 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanesulfonyl%20azide | Methanesulfonyl azide is the azide of methanesulfonic acid. It is used as a reagent for the production of diazo compounds.
Preparation
Methanesulfonyl azide can be prepared from methanesulfonyl chloride by reaction with sodium azide in ethanol or methanol, Preparation in situ is also possible, for example in acetonitrile, and is advantageous to avoid explosion hazards.
Properties
Methanesulfonyl azide melts at 18 °C and decomposes from 120 °C. Like many other azides, it is explosive. At low temperature, methanesulfonyl azide crystallizes in the triclinic crystal system in the space group P1 with the lattice parameters a = 5.6240 Å; b = 5.9498 Å, c = 7.6329 Å, α = 72.216°, β = 70.897°, and γ = 88.601°, and two molecules per unit cell.
Reactions
Methanesulfonyl azide is a suitable reagent for introducing diazo compounds into other compounds. Historically, tosylazide was mainly used for this purpose. However, nowadays, compounds that are less explosive and/or form an amide after diazo transfer, which can be easily separated from the reaction products, are often used. In addition to imidazole-1-sulfonyl azide and 4-acetamidobenzenesulfonyl azide, methanesulfonyl azide is also utilized. The advantages of methanesulfonyl azide are particularly its simple and inexpensive production and the straightforward purification of the reaction mixture. Starting from Ω-bromoacetophenone, by reaction with trimethylphosphite, and then with sodium hydride and methanesulfonyl azide, a diazo reagent can be produced, which can convert aldehydes into alkynes. This method works similarly to the reaction with the Ohira-Bestmann reagent but is significantly more expensive to produce.
The photolysis of methanesulfonyl azide in a matrix of argon or neon yields a short-lived nitrene. If methanesulfonyl azide is irradiated in the presence of a hydrocarbon, methanesulfonyl amide is formed, as well as N-substituted derivatives by reaction with the hydrocarbon.
References
Alkyl compounds
Azido compounds | Methanesulfonyl azide | [
"Chemistry"
] | 516 | [
"Sulfones",
"Functional groups"
] |
77,485,804 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%20Protocol | The AT Protocol (Authenticated Transfer Protocol, pronounced "at-protocol" and commonly shortened to ATProto) is a protocol and open standard for decentralized social networking services. It is under development by Bluesky Social PBC, a public benefit corporation originally created as an independent research group within Twitter to investigate the possibility of decentralizing the service.
The AT Protocol aims to address perceived issues with other decentralized protocols, such as user experience, platform interoperability, discoverability, network scalability, and portability of user data and social graphs. It employs a modular microservice architecture and a federated, server-agnostic user identity to enable movement between protocol services, with the goal of providing an integrated online experience. Platforms can access and serve any user content within the network by fetching content formatted as predefined data schemas from federated network-wide data streams.
The AT Protocol powers the Bluesky social network, which was created as a proof of concept for the protocol, and is the main service in an ecosystem of platforms and services built on the AT Protocol referred to as the ATmosphere. Bluesky Social has pledged to transfer the protocol's development to a standards body such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in the near future.
Design
The AT Protocol aims to create a decentralized, interoperable, and scalable online ecosystem where users can retain, manage, and customize a single federated online identity across various online platforms and services. Bluesky Social describes the protocol as being "modeled after the open web itself".
Compared to other protocols for social networking such as ActivityPub, where implementations are typically designed as a monolithic server that hosts both user data and the application, it splits up these elements into smaller microservices, which can be used as needed.
AT Protocol clients and services interoperate through an HTTP API called XRPC that primarily uses JSON for data serialization. Additionally, all data within the protocol that must be authenticated, referenced, or stored is encoded in CBOR.
User identity
The AT Protocol utilizes a dual identifier system: a mutable domain name handle and an immutable decentralized identifier (DID). Handles serve as user-end identifiers and are verified by querying a domain's resource records. DIDs resolve to DID documents, which contain references to key user metadata, such as the user's handle, public keys, and data repository.
Services can assign handles to new users upon signup using subdomains (e.g. @username.bsky.social). Alternatively, users can set a custom domain or subdomain as their handle (e.g. @username.com or @username.wikipedia.org) by adding a TXT record to the domain's records or by responding a HTTP requests to a specific .well-known URL, associating the domain or subdomain to the user's DID.
The protocol's dual identifier system provides both user-friendly identifiers for use in end-user services and consistent cryptographic identities within the protocol, while also providing a robust TCP/IP-based account verification mechanism at the protocol level.
User data repositories
User data within the protocol is stored in dedicated data repositories, or "repos". Each user is associated with a single repository, over which they have exclusive management rights. Repositories contain mutable collections of user records, which log actions such as posts, likes, follows, and blocks. Records are persistent and can only be added or removed at the explicit request of the user.
Each record within a repository's collection is assigned a unique record key, which is used by network agents to reference records within a user's repository. The current implementation of record keys is the timestamp identifier (TID), derived from the record's creation time. Repositories store collections in a Merkle search tree, which sorts records chronologically based on their TID.
Media files, along with their metadata, size, and media type, are stored separately from repositories as blobs, a type of unstructured binary data, in the user's host server. This allows network agents to access and process arbitrary media files regardless of their original schema or upload context.
Personal Data Servers
Personal Data Servers (PDSes) host user repositories and their associated media. They also serve as the network access point for users, facilitating repository updates, backups, data queries, and user requests.
Platform clients access the protocol on the user's behalf by querying their PDS, which, in turn, fetches the requested data from other services within the network. This design differs from ActivityPub, where protocol interactions and services are handled by monolithic host servers. Since network events are resolved through the protocol's network-wide indexing infrastructure, the availability of any single PDS is, by design, potentially inconsequential to the user experience.
The AT Protocol prioritizes data portability, enabling users to back up and migrate repositories and associated media without data loss, even in the event of an adversarial PDS. The design of PDSes within the protocol results in low computational requirements for operation, allowing individuals or groups to run their own PDSes without the need for significant computational resources.
Although most users' repositories reside in PDSes run by Bluesky Social, many independent PDSes exist within the network.
Relays and the firehose
Relays are a key component of the protocol's indexing infrastructure, serving as the core indexers within the network. Relays crawl the network by continuously fetching repository updates from PDSes before aggregating, indexing, and forwarding these updates into network-wide data streams, collectively called the firehose. The firehose is available to all network agents, and can be consumed by any service within the network. Relays can choose to index all or part of the network.
By eliminating the need to crawl or store user data and providing a unified data stream, relays simplify the development of applications and services in the protocol and reduce their operational costs.
Relays have been criticized as being the most centralized component in the protocol's design, given their near-indispensable role in the network and a lack of clear incentives for running a relay.
App Views
App Views, analogous to current-day social networking services, are end-user platforms and services within the protocol that consume, process, and deliver data from the relay to user clients in response to queries from users' PDSes. They utilize network-wide information from the firehose, such as posts, likes, follows, and replies, to create customized user experiences within their clients.
The design of App Views within the protocol allows for significant variation in implementation. App Views can implement invite systems, custom algorithms, alternative clients, varying monetization and content moderation strategies, and off-protocol services. Despite these differences, all App Views operate from the same data sourced from the firehose. This architecture reduces the computational load and storage requirements of App Views, and prevents user lock-in by enabling users to easily switch between App Views while retaining their posts, follows, likes, etc.
The largest App View on the protocol is currently Bluesky, although other App Views, such as WhiteWind (a long-form blogging platform), Frontpage (a Hacker News-style social news website) and Smoke Signal (an RSVP management service) are also available within the protocol.
Lexicons
All posts within the AT Protocol follow a specific global schema language called a lexicon to support different service and platform modalities. App Views within the protocol have the flexibility to define their own unique lexicons, or utilize existing ones.
This approach allows App Views to create custom lexicons that are tailored to their specific use case while maintaining compatibility with the broader network. As an example, records displayed in an App View focused on microblogging would likely use a different lexicon than one focused on video-sharing, as their content types require different sets of attributes.
However, App Views can also choose to serve content using lexicons defined by other App Views, even if the content was originally posted elsewhere in the network. For example, a new microblogging App View could choose to serve previously posted content using the lexicon defined by an established competitor, enabling them to provide novel features and services while maintaining compatibility with existing content.
This schema design is intended to eliminate user lock-in and foster user-centric innovation by forcing App Views to differentiate themselves through unique user experiences and additional functionality, rather than relying on exclusive access to content.
Lexicons are referenced within records using Namespaced Identifiers (NSIDs), which consist of a domain authority in reverse domain-name order, followed by an arbitrary name segment. For example, com.appview.foo is a valid NSID, where com.appview is the domain authority, and foo is the name segment.
The most popular lexicon in the protocol, app.bsky, defines Bluesky's microblogging schema.
Opinionated services
Opinionated services are services within the protocol that process data from the firehose to provide subjective judgements on network data for the purposes of content moderation and curation. These services contrast with the intended "unopinionated" nature of relays and App Views. Opinionated services enable users to customize their content consumption and moderation preferences within the protocol while maintaining the neutrality of the protocol's core components.
Users have the ability to subscribe and unsubscribe to these services at any time through their client app (unless they are hard-coded into the user's current App View.) The modularity of these services allows for a customizable, stackable, user-centric approach to content curation and moderation within the protocol.
Labelers
Labelers produce judgements about user-generated content, such as identifying spam or inappropriate material. These labels can be applied to various aspects of the network, including posts, images, or accounts. The output of labelers is consumed by App Views and PDSes, which can then provide various strategies to users for handling labeled content, such as hiding, labeling, or blurring.
Bluesky Social has open-sourced its internal labeler moderation service "Ozone", allowing users to create custom moderation services for the network.
Although labelers can be used as a moderation service, they can also serve informational or entertainment purposes, such as labeling post topics, user pronouns, or adding positive or playful labels to user profiles and posts.
Feed generators
Feed generators process posts within the firehose for inclusion in custom feeds. After a PDS query, they return a list of post IDs to the user's App View, which can then be used to create curated feeds.
Adoption
The protocol's reference implementation was first released to GitHub on May 4, 2022 under the name Authenticated Data Experiment (ADX), and is licensed under both the MIT and Apache licenses. It rebranded to the AT Protocol in October 2022.
The AT Protocol has been adopted for use by the Bluesky social network (also developed by Bluesky Social PBC), and is its most popular implementation. The social network itself opened federation with other Personal Data Servers in late February 2024, as it had launched without the ability to federate with other servers not run by Bluesky Social. Additionally, the news aggregator Flipboard allows users to login with their Bluesky account to view and interact with posts from the service. To aid adoption, Bluesky Social funds various projects that use the AT Protocol for federating and/or creating content via grants. A notable application funded by the grants is a proxy server known as SkyBridge, which can convert API calls from Mastodon apps to their equivalent AT Protocol/Bluesky APIs, allowing users to have access to both networks even without official support.
While the AT Protocol is a separate protocol with no major technical similarities to other protocols, there have been services developed that can bridge content across protocols. An example is the Bridgy Fed software, which can crosspost content between ActivityPub and the AT Protocol. Posts from Nostr can also be "double-bridged" to the AT Protocol via another bridge that can crosspost notes from Nostr to ActivityPub.
Criticism
The AT Protocol has been criticized for being dependent on services operated by Bluesky, the costs that come with operating the heavier components of the protocol as well as all on-protocol content being locked open, particularly from users and developers of the fediverse. According to Christine Lemmer-Webber, co-author of the ActivityPub protocol (who was also involved in early architectural discussions during the project's time as a working group under Twitter), "Bluesky is not meaningfully decentralized and that it is certainly not federated according to any technical definition of federation we have had in a decentralized social network context previously. However, 'credible exit' is a reasonable term to describe what Bluesky is aiming for".
See also
Comparison of software and protocols for distributed social networking
ActivityPub, an alternative protocol that powers services like Mastodon
Nostr, a similar social networking protocol
Secure Scuttlebutt
Notes
References
Further reading
Bluesky and the AT Protocol: Usable Decentralized Social Media (2024)
How does BlueSky Work? (2024)
“I’m in the Bluesky Tonight”: Insights from a Year Worth of Social Data (2024)
External links
Bluesky API documentation
atproto on GitHub
2022 introductions
Communications protocols
Distributed computing
Social software | AT Protocol | [
"Technology"
] | 2,854 | [
"Mobile content",
"Computer standards",
"Communications protocols",
"Social software"
] |
77,486,710 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnipro%20%E2%80%93%20Kryvyi%20Rih%20Canal | The Dnipro – Kryvyi Rih Canal (), also known as the Dnieper – Krivoy Rog Canal (), is a canal in central Ukraine mainly used for supplying water to the city of Kryvyi Rih.
History
Construction of the canal began in 1957, and was completed by 1960. The canal also underwent renovations in the 1970s.
Characteristics
The canal begins at the Kakhovka Reservoir, and moves northwest to near the city of Kryvyi Rih.
The width of the canal is about , while the depth varies between and .
References
Canals in Ukraine
Irrigation projects
Irrigation canals
Canals opened in 1960
1960 establishments in Ukraine
Transport in Kryvyi Rih
Buildings and structures in Kryvyi Rih | Dnipro – Kryvyi Rih Canal | [
"Engineering"
] | 156 | [
"Irrigation projects"
] |
77,487,100 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnipro%20%E2%80%93%20Inhulets%20Canal | The Dnipro – Inhulets Canal (), also known as the Dnieper – Ingulets Canal (), is a canal in central Ukraine, and connects the Dnipro River with the Inhulets River.
History
The canal was completed in 1988, and is mainly used for irrigation and supplying water to residences and industires in nearby areas.
Characteristics
The canal begins at the Kremenchuk Reservoir on the Dnipro River, where it flows south to near Oleksandriia on the Inhulets River. The total length of the canal is about .
References
Canals in Ukraine
Irrigation projects
Irrigation canals
Canals opened in 1988
1988 establishments in Ukraine
Transport in Kirovohrad Oblast
Buildings and structures in Kirovohrad Oblast | Dnipro – Inhulets Canal | [
"Engineering"
] | 154 | [
"Irrigation projects"
] |
77,488,101 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakhovka%20Irrigation%20System | The Kakhovka Irrigation System (; ) is an irrigation system in southern Ukraine. With a total irrigation area of , it is the largest irrigation system in the entire country.
History
In 1951, construction began for the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, which created the Kakhovka Reservoir and provided a water source for local irrigation. By 1967, construction for an irrigation system began, and different sections began operation throughout the 1970s.
Characteristics
The irrigation system all begin at the Kakhovka Reservoir, where it flows south before diverging into different areas. The entire system includes many interconnected canals, such as the Kakhovka Canal, and it provides water for crops across much of Kherson Oblast.
Because of the vast size of the irrigation system, there are 16 pumping stations throughout the canals. This includes a main pumping station, which is sized by .
References
Canals in Ukraine
Irrigation projects
Irrigation canals
Transport in Kherson Oblast
Buildings and structures in Kherson Oblast | Kakhovka Irrigation System | [
"Engineering"
] | 195 | [
"Irrigation projects"
] |
77,488,197 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian%20right%20of%20armed%20resistance | Many scholars have argued that Palestinians have the right to resist under international law, including armed resistance. This right to resist is in a sense only; the conduct of such resistance () must be in accordance with laws of war. This implies that attacks on Israeli military targets could be allowed but attacks on Israeli civilians are prohibited. Whether it is Palestinians who have the right to resist against the Israeli occupation, or it is Israel that has the right to self-defense against Palestinian violence, is one of the most important questions in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
It is agreed that, under international law, Palestinians have the right to self-determination. Many scholars support Palestinians' right to use armed struggle in pursuit of self-determination. Such a right is derived from Protocol I, Declaration on Friendly Relations, as well as several resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly. Some writers caution that force can only be resorted to after non-violent means of achieving self-determination have been exhausted while other scholars state that Palestinians have indeed exhausted all non-violent means. As evidence, such writers point to the failure of the Oslo Accords to bring about Palestinian self-determination, believing that armed resistance is the only option. Some scholars argue Palestinians also have the right to self-defense, but others point out that not everyone recognizes the State of Palestine and insist that only the ousted sovereign may invoke self-defense from an occupied territory.
Scholars who support a right to armed resistance agree that such a right must be exercised in accordance with international humanitarian law. In particular, only Israeli soldiers may be targeted, and civilians must be spared. The State of Palestine has ratified and is a party to the Geneva Conventions.
Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions
Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions is frequently cited to justify Palestinians' right under international law to resist Israeli occupation. Additional Protocol I (API) of the Geneva Conventions says in Article 1(4):
The authors of this article were referring to wars of national liberation that had accompanied decolonistion, the Israeli occupation of Palestinians and the racist apartheid South Africa. "Alien occupation" refers to territory conquered by a state, but not yet annexed and was inhabited by a different ethnic group.
While most countries have ratified API, Israel has not. However, if API has the status of customary international law, then all states would remain bound by it, even if they have not ratified it. Whether Article 1(4) has the status of customary international law is disputed: Clayton Swisher argues it has, but Yoram Dinstein says it has not.
Jan Hessbruegge writes that while international law is generally neutral in cases of rebellions, the above constitutes an exception that considers a rebellion to be "a lawful exercise of a right to resistance." Yoram Dinstein argues that while international law doesn't prohibit such acts of resistance, it also doesn't prevent the occupying state from penalizing those who resist. In this view, Palestinians who resist don't have protected prisoner of war status.
Sahar Francis argues that the right of resistance against occupation is protected by international law, because Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention grants POW status to "organized resistance movements" who meet certain criteria.
Declaration on Friendly Relations
The Declaration on Friendly Relations is considered the most significant achievement for the right of self-determination, as it was adopted unanimously by the UNGA without any opposition. The relevant paragraph of that Declaration states,
Richard A. Falk, applies this to the case of Palestinians, arguing that the Palestinian right to armed resistance stems from Israel's denial of Palestinian right of self-determination. Thus, not only does it make Palestinian armed resistance legitimate, but it also legitimizes material support they may receive from third-party governments. Likewise, in 1983 John F. Murphy said the Declaration of Friendly Relations indicated that most UNGA members deemed it permissible to supply arms to Palestinians.
This right is affirmed in the context of the right of self-determination of all peoples under foreign and colonial rule. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has expressly affirmed the right of Palestinians to resist Israeli military occupation, including through armed struggle. General Assembly resolution A/RES/38/17 (22/11/1983) stated that it "Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for their independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial domination, apartheid and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle".
Ben Saul argues that armed resistance here is only legitimized if a people's right to self-determination has been forcibly denied. Jan Hessbruegge argues that the definition of "forcible denial of self-determination" is narrow, but does apply to Israel's occupation of Palestinians. Jeremie Bracka agrees that Israel has denied Palestinian self-determination. Antonio Cassese writes that the position that national liberation movements may only resort to force in response to "forcible denial of the right to self-determination" is an "awkward" legal situation that was created due to disagreements at the UN over when such movements can use force. Nevertheless, Cassese writes, on two "rare" occasions the UNGA explicitly granted a people "license" to use force: namely the Palestinians (in 1977) and the Namibians (in 1984).
Palestinian right of self-determination
The Palestinians' right to self-determination is widely recognized, and has been deemed "unassailable". It has been confirmed by numerous UN resolutions. Many scholars opine that Palestinians may resort to armed resistance to achieve their right to self-determination. The legitimacy of armed resistance for the struggle of self-determination can be seen in the international treaties and UNGA resolutions (see sections above). Some scholars opine that armed struggle is only legitimate after non-violent means of self-determination have failed (see sub-section below).
Marco Longobardo opines that the struggle for self-determination can only be invoked by armed groups operating under a national liberation movement recognized by the UNGA. The UNGA recognized the PLO as a representative of Palestinians in a 1974 resolution, and even the UNSC invited it for discussions relating to Palestine/Israel. The UNGA has also determined that the prolonged Israeli occupation is not justified, thus conferring legitimacy upon armed struggle against the occupying power (it also made that determination in case of Namibia and Western Sahara).
Traditional jus ad bellum concerns conflict between states, but the struggle for self-determination can confer similar legitimacy to armed resistance movements.
Exhaustion of non-violent means
Tom Farer argues that the spirit of the UN Charter is that violence must only be attempted as last resort. In his view, Palestinians have exhausted non-violent forms of resistance. Immediately after 1967, some Palestinian leaders demanded autonomy in the occupied territories, but Israel rejected that. In fact, Israel banned all political activity. Palestinians tried Gandhism by refusing to pay taxes, but Israel responded to that via violent beatings and mass detentions. For the next 20 years, Israel denied Palestinians many human rights. The initial months of the 1988 First Intifada, according to Farer, were relatively non-lethal as it often involved teenagers armed with nothing but stones; yet Israel responded with lethal violence.
Likewise, Ayman Salama argues the Palestinians, in their pursuit of self-determination, "have reached the end of their tether", leaving them with no choice but to use force. He points out that Palestinians have recognized Israel's 1967 borders, and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative was spurned by Israel.
Elyakim Rubenstein argues that Palestinians have no reason to resort to armed resistance given their rights are protected by Israeli courts, which he characterizes as "fair". Clayton Swisher points out that few Palestinians view the Israeli courts as fair.
In 2023, a letter by lawyers in the West Bank argued Palestinians had a right to resist, because the international community had failed the Palestinians.
In referring to Palestinian armed resistance to Israel, Robbie Sabel points out that countries often don't allow people to peacefully gain self-determination. For example, only due to the armed resistance in Cyprus and in Kenya did the British finally allow those countries to gain independence.
Oslo Accords
In 1996, Peter Malanczuk opined that as a result of the Oslo Accords, the PLO no longer has the right of armed resistance against Israel, nor can Israel invoke a right to force (including self-defense) against the PLO. Some Israelis further argue that PLO's renunciation of armed resistance means that right no longer exists for other Palestinian groups either. However, Clayton Swisher argues that the right of armed resistance in non-derogable as it guaranteed under Protocol I, which has become a part of customary international law (non-derogable rights can't be signed away). Thus many Palestinians believe their right to resist exists in spite of Oslo.
Richard Falk argues that by 2000, in spite of the Oslo process, it was clear that Israel would not be allowing for Palestinian right to self-determination; there exists strong consensus at the UN for the Palestinian right to self-determination. Thus, Palestinians maintain their right to armed resistance to achieve self-determination, according to Falk. In 2015, again he argued that Israel was using the peace process as cover for expanding illegal settlements and imposing apartheid on Palestinians, leaving Palestinians with resistance as the only way left to achieve self-determination.
Marco Longobardo agrees that PLO's renunciation of armed resistance indicates peaceful means to end the occupation are preferred. So long as both parties are conducting negotiations on Palestinian statehood, he opines, Palestinians can't claim the right to armed resistance on the basis of self-determination. Indeed, in December 2017, Hamas called for a new "intifada" against Israel on the basis of the peace process being "destroyed", in the eyes of Palestinians, by the US decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem.
Tom Farer argued that the "renewal" of violent resistance (in the Second Intifada) was due to continued Israeli occupation and justified in international law. He points out the 33 years of occupation had passed by then and that Palestinians had attempted various non-violent forms of resistance.
In 2022, a report by OHCHR argued that given the Oslo process perpetuated the Israeli occupation, it violated the Palestinian right to self-determination, a jus cogens norm, therefore rendering the Oslo process invalid. Shahd Hammouri cited that report to argue in favor of the Palestinian right to resist, in spite of the Oslo Accords.
Palestinian right to self-defense
Many scholars have argued that Palestinians also possess the right to use force in defending themselves from the Israeli occupation, the naval blockade of Gaza, and Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians. Many scholars argue that the aforementioned Israeli actions constitute acts of aggression against Palestinians. While some scholars argue Palestinians have the right to self-defense, others argue that only states have the right to self-defense and the State of Palestine doesn't exist.
Azmi Bishara argues for the Palestinian right to use force both for self-defense and also self-determination. On the other hand, Jan Hessbruegge argues that non-state groups do not have the right to self-defense, but still upholds Palestinians' right to use force in pursuit of self-determination, as discussed in section above. One reason why scholars differentiate between right to self-determination from right to self-defense, is because it is often held that while the former belongs to non-self governing peoples, the latter only belongs to states. However, not all scholars agree with this view.
Israeli acts of aggression
Those who support a Palestinian right to self-defense, cite Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians, the naval blockade of Gaza and the Israeli occupation itself as acts of aggression that justify self-defense.
Blockade of Gaza Strip
Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli naval and air blockade. The blockade has had devastating effects on availability of food and medicine in Gaza Strip, resulting in many deaths. Marco Longobardo argues the blockade can be construed as an act of war, and Yousef Shandi agrees that the blockade meets the UNGA definition of the crime of aggression.
Attacks on civilians
Birzeit University professor Yousef Shandi argues that attacks by Israel on the Gaza Strip, including civilians, meet the UNGA definition of the crime of aggression.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad has justified its military actions by citing the Palestinian right to self-defense, in response to the occupation and Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians. Likewise, Hamas has also characterized its military actions as an act of self-defense, citing Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights, destruction of infrastructure in Gaza etc. The founder of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin, differentiated between Palestinian armed struggle against Israel's occupation vs armed struggle against Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians.
The occupation itself
Palestinian professor Yousef Shandi quotes the Nuremberg trials, which upheld the right of self-defense of people against an enemy that "unrightfully" occupies territories. But, Israeli professor Yoram Dinstein says that there is a widespread idea that civilians under military occupation have the right to forcibly resist the Occupying power, but this is a misconception. If the occupied people try to resist the occupation, Dinstein argues, their actions are crimes that can be punished by the Occupying Power at its discretion.
John B. Quigley argues it is a legal for a state to try to forcibly recapture its own territory that is currently under occupation. For example, in 1973, UNSC did not condemn Egypt and Syria for starting a war to retake the territory Israel took from them in 1967.
Applicability to non-state groups
Whether non-state groups have the right to self-defense, and whether Palestinians constitute a state, are both controversial questions on which scholars are divided.
Article 51 of the UN charter
Article 51 of the UN charter states,
Many scholars believe the Article 51 self-defense is only available to states. Shahd Hammouri argues the wording "collective or individual" leaves open the possibility of individuals and collectives organizing self-defense in response to aggression.
Marko Milanovic argues that if one accepts a State of Palestine exists, then it would have the right to self-defense. Milanovic accepts there is no doubt whatsoever that Palestine ought to exist as a state, but despite widespread recognition, many states do not recognize it as a state, most notably Israel. Palestine remains a non-member observer at the UN. Milanovic proposes one could possibly argue that Article 51 also applies to "self-determination units" that have not yet achieved statehood, but admits that is a difficult argument to make. If Palestine does exist as a state, then Israel's occupation constitutes an armed attack against such a state.
Francis Boyle argues that the State of Palestine possesses the right to self-defense, like all other states, and this includes the right to use force to end Israel's illegal occupation. He compares Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation to French resistance to Nazi occupation.
Marco Longobardo argues that while Palestine is widely recognized, the Palestinian Authority has never invoked self-defense despite repeated Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. Even countries which have condemned Israeli attacks and recognized Palestinian statehood have not yet affirmed the Palestinian right to self-defense.
Self-defense from oppression
Jan Arno Hessbruegge writes that International Law, regrettably, does not give non-state groups a right to self-defense, not even from genocide. For example, during the Rwandan Genocide, the UNSC criticized the use of force not just by the Rwandan government (which was committing the genocide) but also the use of force by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (which was trying to stop the genocide). Similarly, the UNSC criticized all parties for violence during the Syrian Civil War, including those who were defending against atrocities. However, in the case of the First Libyan Civil War, the UNSC only condemned Gaddafi, not the rebels fighting against him. Hessbruegge concedes that many writers, nevertheless, do believe a right to resist against a government that commits international crimes or oppression.
Implication for Israeli right to self-defense
Scholars argue that if Palestinians have the right to self-defense then Israel does not; in corollary, in a situation where Israel has the right to self-defense implies deeming Palestinian resistance to be illegal. This is because a hypothetical situation in which both sides are justified in using force against the other is logically unfeasible. This can be restated as: there can be no self-defense against legitimate self-defense. Michael Neumann explains this via two analogies: robbers have no right to defend themselves against bank guards; Saddam's forces occupying Kuwait had no right to defend themselves against attacks by the US-led coalition, and in trying to defend themselves they committed further injustice. Israeli professor David Heyd disagrees and gives the example of the Israel–Hamas war. If one assumes Hamas launched the October 7 attacks in self-defense (in response to Israel's occupation), Israel still had the right to defend its civilians from Hamas; likewise if ones assumes Israel's invasion was an act of self-defense, Hamas still had the right to defend Palestinian civilians from Israeli violence.
Sharon Weill and Valentina Azarova argue that so long as Israel is occupying the Palestinian territories, it may not invoke Article 51 right to self-defence. Weill and Azarova argue that since Palestinians have the legitimate right of resistance to Israeli occupation, Hamas attacks on Israel are not jus ad bellum violations (although indiscriminate rocket attacks are jus in bello violations).
As for what should Israel do in response to these attacks, some scholars propose: withdraw from occupied territories. Michael Neumann writes that self-defense is only allowed if there are no alternatives, but an occupying power, by definition, can always withdraw. Yousef Shandi writes that Israel can only claim self-defense if the Palestinian armed attacks continue even after Israel ends its occupation of both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Sharon Weill and Valentina Azarova write that until Israel ends its occupation, it cannot invoke Article 51 right to self-defense.
Legality of Israeli occupation
Jan Hessbruegge writes that "who exercises self-defense against whom" is one of the most important issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and depends on whether one considers Israel's occupation of the Palestinians as legal. If the occupation is lawful, then Israel has right to self-defense, but if the occupation is unlawful, then it is the Palestinians who would have the right to self-defense against Israel.
Israel government dispute whether Israel still occupies Gaza in light of the 2005 disengagement. Even if one assumes the Gaza Strip is not occupied, there is no dispute that the West Bank remains under Israeli control (Israel controls Area C directly, and also retains control over the Palestinian Authority, which governs Areas A and B).
Russia—Ukraine analogy
Nathan J. Robinson compares Palestinian political violence against the Israeli occupation to the Ukrainian counteroffensives against the Russian occupation. Robinson further compares Palestinian rocket attacks into Israeli territory to Ukrainian attacks that crossed into Russian territory. He concludes that both Palestinians and Ukrainians have the right to resist, and doesn't support Israel's nor Russia's right to self-defense against such violence. (Robinson emphasizes that right to resist does not justify violence against civilians)
The comparison of Israel-Palestine to Russia-Ukraine is also made by an editorial in The New Humanitarian, and by Moustafa Bayoumi, Raji Sourani, Nour Odeh, Mustafa Barghouti, and Shawan Jabarin.
Harming civilians
Scholars who support a Palestinian right to resist Israeli occupation, nevertheless agree that this does not in any way justify killing or wounding civilians. David Thompson states Palestinian militants must only attack occupying Israeli forces and refrain from attacking Israeli civilians. Richard Falk, Azmi Bishara, and Francis Boyle, all staunch supporters of Palestinian right to armed resistance, absolutely oppose any attacks on civilians. By contrast, Joshua Muravchik accuses supporters of the Palestinian right to resist of endorsing "murders aimed at civilian targets".
"by all means"
The language used by supporters of Palestinian right to resist sometimes is written as "Palestinian People have the right to resistance by all means available at their disposal." The "by all means" is meant to be interpreted in a jus ad bellum sense, and not in a jus in bello sense. Azmi Bishara emphasizes that "any means" mean any means consistent with the UN Charter and other laws of war. Shahd Hammouri, for example, emphasizes that the right to resist, like the right to self-defense, must adhere to international humanitarian law. Hammouri prefers the phrasing "Palestinian people have the right of resistance by all means consistent with the principles of the UN Charter." Likewise, a 1974 UNGA resolution recognized "the right of the Palestinian people to regain its rights by all means in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations."
Palestinian diplomatic activities
The 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence (along the 1967 borders) also proclaimed "the right of peoples to resist foreign occupation" but also rejected "terror in all its forms, including state terror". Yasser Arafat later clarified that this was a reference to rejecting "anti-civilian terrorism".
In 1989, one year after declaring independence, the Palestinian state ratified the Geneva Conventions, recognizing its obligations for warfare under International Humanitarian Law (eg not attacking civilians). By contrast Israel has refused to apply the Geneva Conventions to occupied Palestinian territories.
In 2001, Hamas tried to persuade foreign ministers attending the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to issue a statement in support for its suicide bombings. In response, the Secretary General of the Arab League upheld the Palestinian right to resistance and self-defense against Israel's occupation, but also said that civilians must be protected. In 2005, Hamas renounced the use of suicide bombings against civilians.
Skepticism
Many supporters of Palestinians have lamented international law not being more assertive on the rights of stateless peoples. Yousef Munayyer argues that international law was "crafted by states, and largely for states" and ignored the needs of the stateless.
Some believe that Palestinians do not have any right of armed resistance against Israel's occupation. As mentioned above, Israeli professor Yoram Dinstein argued that occupied people have no right to resist the military occupation. In 2001, Amira Hass wrote that many Israelis do not believe Israel is occupying the Palestinians. Hass writes that these Israelis saw the Second Intifada as an unprovoked "act of aggression", rather than as an "act of resistance".
Valentina Capurri writes that the Palestinian right to armed resistance is treat by skepticism by two groups. The first are those who do not believe Israel is oppressing the Palestinians, and the second group are those who argue Palestinians can only resist through non-violent means (e.g. many in the BDS movement).
United Nations resolutions
A number of resolutions, both in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) have been interpreted as upholding the right of armed resistance against foreign occupation, especially for the Palestinians.
UNSC on Fatah raids (1968)
After Israel's occupation of the West Bank in 1967, Fatah began launching raids against Israel from Jordan. While most raids were aimed at military targets, some were aimed at civilians. Israel retaliated by attacking Fatah camps in Jordan, killing large numbers of people, many of them bystanders.
Twice in 1968, the UNSC condemned Israeli retaliations against Fatah: UNSC 248 and UNSC 256. During the debates, UNSC non-permanent member Pakistan argued Fatah attacks on Israel were legitimate because their goal was for Palestinians to "return in freedom in their own homeland". Likewise, France rejected Israel's claim to "security of the territory" under its jurisdiction, given that Israel's jurisdiction in the West Bank was established through occupation. France further said Palestinians raids into Israel were the "almost inevitable consequence of military occupation".
UNSC on raids on Portuguese colonies (1969)
Around the same time as Fatah was attacking Israel from Jordan, guerilla groups seeking independence were attacking Portuguese colonies of Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau from neighboring states. Like Israel, Portugal made cross-border reprisal attacks against these guerillas into the neighboring states that were hosting the guerillas. The UNSC condemned Portuguese reprisal attacks into Zambia (UNSC Res 268), Senegal (UNSC Res 273), and Guinea (UNSC Res 290). It rejected Portugal's supposed right to retaliate against guerilla attacks, and instead criticized Portugal for failing to respect the locals' right to self-determination. John Quigley opines that in doing so, the UNSC recognized guerillas' right to attack Portugal as superior to Portugal's right to attack the guerillas.
UNGA resolutions
The 1971 UNGA resolution 2787 states,
The 1979 UNGA resolution 34/44 states,
The 1982 UNGA resolution 37/43 states,
The 1983 UNGA resolution 38/17 states that it "Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for their independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial domination, apartheid and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle".
See also
Palestinian self-determination
Watermelon (Palestinian symbol)
Palestinian right of return
Notes
References
Israeli–Palestinian conflict legal issues
International law
Human rights in the State of Palestine
Resistance movements
Just war theory | Palestinian right of armed resistance | [
"Biology"
] | 5,269 | [
"Just war theory",
"Behavior",
"Aggression"
] |
77,488,930 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%20828 | NGC 828 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Andromeda. Its velocity with respect to the cosmic microwave background is 5200 ± 17km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of . Additionally, three non-redshift measurements give a distance of . It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 18 October 1786.
NGC 828 is a LINER galaxy, i.e. it has a type of nucleus that is defined by its spectral line emission which has weakly ionized or neutral atoms, while the spectral line emission from strongly ionized atoms is relatively weak. In addition, NGC 828 is classified as a radio galaxy.
One supernova has been observed in NGC 828: SN 2024lea (type Ib, mag. 19.1) was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility on 10 June 2024.
See also
List of NGC objects (1–1000)
References
External links
828
008283
01655
02071+3857
+06-05-092
Andromeda (constellation)
Astronomical objects discovered in 1786
Discoveries by William Herschel
Spiral galaxies
LINER galaxies
Radio galaxies | NGC 828 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 236 | [
"Andromeda (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
77,489,015 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maris%E2%80%93Tandy%20model | Within the Schwinger-Dyson equation approach to calculate structure of bound states under quantum field theory dynamics, one applies truncation schemes such that the finite tower of integral equations for Green's functions becomes manageable. For hadrons (mesons and baryons) as relativistic bound states of quarks and gluons interacting via the strong nuclear force, a well-adopted scheme is the rainbow-ladder truncation. Particularly the bound state amplitude (Bethe-Salpeter amplitude) of mesons is determined from the homogeneous Bethe-Salpeter equation. While the amplitude for baryons is solved from the Faddeev equation. Information on the structure of hadrons is contained within these amplitudes. The established quantum field theory of the strong interaction is quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The Maris-Tandy model is a practical case of the rainbow-ladder truncation that yields reasonable description for hadrons with up quarks, down quarks, and strange quarks as their valence quarks.
Description of the model
Within the Maris-Tandy model of QCD interactions for quarks and gluons, the quark-gluon proper vertex in combination with the dressed gluon propagator in the Landau gauge is replaced by the bare vertex multiplied by a scalar dressing function:
where , , and are the momenta of the quarks and the gluon in Euclidean space. The matrix is the Dirac matrix. And the scalar function is given by
The parameters and specify the strength and the scale of the infrared term, respectively. The elementary color charge is given by . The second term on the right-hand side is the ultraviolet (UV) term constructed in agreement with perturbative QCD, within which the parameter is the characteristic scale of QCD, Other parameters in the UV term are explained in Ref..
Applications
The Maris-Tandy model can be applied to solve for the structure of pions, kaons, and a selection of vector mesons from the homogeneous Bethe-Salpeter equation. It can also be used to solve for the quark-photon vertex from the inhomogeneous Bethe-Salpeter equation, for the elastic form factors of pseudoscalar mesons, and for the radiative transitions of mesons. Meanwhile the mass spectrum and structure of nucleons can be solved within this model from the Faddeev equation.
References
Quantum chromodynamics
Quantum field theory | Maris–Tandy model | [
"Physics"
] | 526 | [
"Quantum field theory",
"Quantum mechanics"
] |
77,490,433 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicalcium%20ruthenate | Dicalcium ruthenate, with the chemical formula Ca2RuO4, is a stochiometric oxide compound that hosts a multi-orbital (band) Mott insulating ground state. For this reason, Ca2RuO4 serves as an important "meeting-point" between conceptual developments of strongly correlated multi-band physics and advanced experimental spectroscopies. Its electronic structure and also orbital magnetism are therefore subjects of experimental and theoretical scrutiny.
Electronic properties
Around 350 K, Ca2RuO4 undergoes a metal insulator transition which involves a crystal structure transition leading to a strong c-axis compression. Negative thermal expansion has also been reported in conjunction with this c-axis compression. The metal insulator transition is sensitive to electrical current. Below 80 K, an anti-ferromagnetic ordering emerges.
Related materials
Ca1.8Sr0.2RuO4 has been proposed as a candidate system for orbital selective Mott physics. The bilayer compound Ca3Ru2O7 is metallic, but display a sequence of electronic transitions below 60 K. Finally, Sr2RuO4 hosts an unconventional superconducting state.
References
Calcium compounds
Ruthenates
Condensed matter physics | Dicalcium ruthenate | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry",
"Materials_science",
"Engineering"
] | 248 | [
"Phases of matter",
"Condensed matter physics",
"Matter",
"Materials science"
] |
47,574,543 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%20112 | NGC 112 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by American astronomer Lewis Swift on September 17, 1885. The galaxy lies approximately 295 million light-years from Earth, and is about 75,000 light-years in diameter.
References
External links
0112
Barred spiral galaxies
Andromeda (constellation)
00255
001654
Astronomical objects discovered in 1885
Discoveries by Lewis Swift | NGC 112 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 84 | [
"Andromeda (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
47,574,551 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HR%204339 | HR 4339 is a single star in the equatorial constellation of Hydra. It was designated as Beta Antliae by Lacaille, and Gould intended to keep it in that constellation. However, the delineating of constellation boundaries by the IAU in 1930 saw it transferred to Hydra. It has a white hue and is just visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.79. The distance to this star, as determined from parallax measurements, is approximately 366 light years. It is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +1.3 km/s.
This object is an A-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of A1V. It is a suspected variable star of unknown type and magnitude. The star has 2.6 times the mass of the Sun and it is spinning with a projected rotational velocity of 73 km/s. It is radiating around 72 times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 9,120 K.
References
A-type main-sequence stars
Suspected variables
097023
054561
Hydra (constellation)
4339
Durchmusterung objects | HR 4339 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 237 | [
"Hydra (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
47,574,578 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%20113 | NGC 113 is an unbarred lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Cetus. It was discovered by German astronomer, Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel, on August 27, 1876.
References
External links
0113
Unbarred lenticular galaxies
Cetus
001656
Astronomical objects discovered in 1876 | NGC 113 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 63 | [
"Cetus",
"Constellations"
] |
47,574,623 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%20114 | NGC 114 is a barred lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Cetus. It was discovered by American astronomer Truman Henry Safford on September 23, 1867. The galaxy lies approximately 195 million light-years from Earth, and is about 55,000 light-years in diameter, nearly half the size of the Milky Way.
References
External links
0114
NGC 0114
NGC 0114
001660
0259
Astronomical objects discovered in 1867
Discoveries by Truman Safford
Markarian galaxies | NGC 114 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 97 | [
"Cetus",
"Constellations"
] |
47,574,647 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%20115 | NGC 115 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the southern constellation of Sculptor. It was discovered by the British astronomer John Herschel on September 25, 1834. The galaxy is approximately 85 million light-years from the Sun, and is about 50,000 light-years in diameter, nearly half the size of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.
References
External links
0115
NGC 0115
NGC 0115
001651
Astronomical objects discovered in 1834
Discoveries by John Herschel | NGC 115 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 95 | [
"Constellations",
"Sculptor (constellation)"
] |
47,575,163 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termitomyces%20umkowaan | Termitomyces umkowaan is a species of agaric fungus in the family Lyophyllaceae. Found in South Africa, it was described as new to science in 1889 by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke and George Edward Massee from collections made in Durban. Cooke noted that was "called Umkowaan by the natives, and is delicious when cooked, much superior to the common mushroom." Derek Reid transferred the fungus to the genus Termitomyces in 1975.
References
Lyophyllaceae
Edible fungi
Fungi described in 1889
Fungi of Africa
Taxa named by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke
Fungus species | Termitomyces umkowaan | [
"Biology"
] | 128 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
47,575,312 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grifola%20gargal | Grifola gargal is a species of polypore fungus in the family Meripilaceae. Found in Chile, it was described as new to science in 1969.
References
Fungi described in 1969
Fungi of Chile
Meripilaceae
Taxa named by Rolf Singer
Fungus species | Grifola gargal | [
"Biology"
] | 56 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
47,575,329 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ke%20T%27ing-sui | Kê T'ing-sui or Ge Tingsui (; May 3, 1913 – April 29, 2000), also known as T.S. Kê, was a Chinese physicist and writer renowned for his contributions in internal friction, anelasticity, solid state physics and metallurgy. He was the member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, known for the Kê-type pendulum and Kê grain-boundary internal friction peak named after him. In March 1982, he founded the Institute of Solid State Physics in Hefei, Anhui, China.
Biography
Kê was born in Penglai, Shandong province. He was admitted to Tsinghua University in 1930 but suffered pulmonary disease which required him to rest for two years where he earned a B.S. in physics in 1937. He obtained an M.S. in physics at Yenching University in 1940. In July 1941, Kê married He Yizhen in Shanghai and the following month they traveled together to California. Kê received his Ph.D. in physics after only pursuing it for two years at the University of California at Berkeley in 1943. In the years 1943–1945 and 1945–1949, respectively, he worked as a staff member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and research associate at the University of Chicago.
In 1949, Kê returned to China and became a professor in physics at Tsinghua University and a research associate at the Applied Physics Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In October 1952, he relocated to Shenyang to participate in the establishment of the Institute of Metal Research of CAS as a research associate where he became deputy director from 1961 to 1981. In 1955, Kê was elected academician of CAS and became a member of the Mathematics and Physics Committee of CAS. In 1980, he was transferred to Hefei for the establishment of the Hefei branch of CAS where he served as its deputy director and later jointly became the first head of the Institute of Solid State Physics incepted in March 1982.
In 1979 he was a visiting professor at the Max-Planck Institut für Metallforschung in Germany, and in 1980, a guest professor at the INSA de Lyon in France.
Research
In 1945, Kê started research on internal friction and anelastic properties in metals at the University of Chicago where he accomplished advanced studies of grain-boundary relaxation and non-linear anelastic relaxation associated to interactions between point defects and dislocations. This work continued after he returned to China in 1949 where he made further progress. The Kê-type torsion pendulum bears his name, as well as the Kê grain-boundary internal friction peak. Kê also proposed the Kê grain-boundary model for disordered atomic groups. Kê also participated in the Manhattan Project and the Long-Range Radar projects.
Personal life
In 1941, Kê married He Yizhen, a physicist who would specialize in amorphous physics was metallic glass, and was a founder of the Institute of Metal Research and Institute of Solid State Physics. They developed a competitive relationship with one another due to their studies in the same field.
The couple met at Yenching University, where he had been a lecturer and was three years older than Kê. Because He came from a wealthy and influential family, she had a number of admirers; her family did not approve of her relationship with Kê became he came from a poor family and also suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, for which a valid treatment was not available at the time. Furthermore, Kê's political beliefs clashed with He's father, who disagreed with Ge's support of the political activism of students. In opposition to her family's wishes, she married Kê; their marriage became a much-told tale in Chinese academia and their love letters are still preserved in their biographies.
After their marriage, Kê obtained the opportunity to study in the United States with He, where they remained from 1941 to 1949. Their two children were born in the United States and eventually became scientists: their daughter Ge Yunpei (1942-2013) was a professor in Shenyang Jianzhu University, while their son Ge Yunjian (born 1947), is an expert in robotics. The couple returned to China in 1949, where they both worked for the Chinese Academy of Science for decades. When Kê was dispatched to work in Hefei in 1980, Kê and their children persuaded He to stop her research to join him in Hefei.
Awards
Professor T.S. Kê was a recipient of numerous national and international awards such as the Zener Prize in 1989, and Robert Franklin Mehl Award in 1999 (considered to be the highest international award in the field of materials science).
References
External links
1913 births
2000 deaths
20th-century Chinese physicists
20th-century Chinese science writers
Educators from Shandong
Manhattan Project people
Massachusetts Institute of Technology staff
Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
People from Penglai, Shandong
Physicists from Shandong
Solid state engineering
Tsinghua University alumni
Academic staff of Tsinghua University
University of California, Berkeley alumni
University of Chicago people
Writers from Yantai
Yenching University alumni
Chinese expatriates in the United States | Ke T'ing-sui | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry",
"Materials_science",
"Engineering"
] | 1,030 | [
"Electronic engineering",
"Solid state engineering",
"Condensed matter physics"
] |
47,576,179 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck%20Robbins | Charles H. Robbins (born 1965 or 1966) is an American businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems.
Early life
Robbins was born in Grayson, Georgia, and educated at Rocky Mount High School in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. In 1987, he earned a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Career
Robbins began his career as an application developer for North Carolina National Bank (now part of Bank of America). He joined Wellfleet Communications followed by a brief tenure at Ascend Communications before joining Cisco in 1997.
Robbins filled various posts at Cisco, including senior vice president of the Americas and senior vice president of Worldwide Field Operations, a role in which he led Cisco's Worldwide Sales and Partner Organizations and built out Cisco's partnership program.
In May 2015, Cisco announced that CEO and chairman John Chambers would step down as CEO in July 2015 while remaining as chairman. Robbins, then a senior vice president, was named as his successor. Mentored by Chambers, Robbins was unanimously voted in as the company's new chief executive, becoming CEO of Cisco Systems in July 2015.
As CEO, Robbins became noted for accelerating the pace of Cisco's modern growth, while disrupting outdated working modes, promoting employee trust based in transparency of policy and process, and humanitarian policies and workplace diversity.
Robbins has advocated for corporate social responsibility. However, in 2018, he said that talk of corporate social responsibility is becoming obsolete and just expected of "corporate icons."
In 2018, as the GDPR came into effect, Robbins called for more regulation and for the tech industry to help educate regulators. In February 2019, Robbins promoted the need for comprehensive global privacy legislation, asserting privacy as “a fundamental human right."
In 2019, Robbins advocated against a 15% increase on tariffs for Chinese goods.
In 2023, Robbins's total compensation at Cisco was $31.8 million, up 37% from the previous year and representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 267-to-1.
Boards and affiliations
Robbins serves the World Economic Forum as the chair for the IT Governors Steering Committee and as a member of the International Business Council. He is a member of the Ford Foundation board of trustees. He is a director for BlackRock and for The Business Roundtable where he chairs the Immigration Committee.
In 2018, Robbins authored a statement on behalf of Business Roundtable that applauded bipartisan lawmakers working to reform immigration policies, while urging the White House “Administration to end immediately the policy of separating accompanied minors from their parents,” decrying the practice as “cruel and contrary to American values.”
Robbins spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2016, 2017, and 2018, and at the 2019 WEF annual general meeting. As well as the 2024 annual meeting.
He has been a board member of the MS Society of Northern California, a member of the Advisory Board of Georgia Tech, and a member of the International Council for the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. He is also a member of the 2019 class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Robbins also serves as honorary counsel to Destination: Home, a non-profit organization devoted to ending homelessness in Santa Clara County, where Cisco's headquarters is located.
Personal life
Robbins is a fan of North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball, participates in social media, and is noted for his humor. He is married with four children and lives in Los Gatos, California.
References
External links
"Behind the scenes at Cisco with CEO Chuck Robbins and his team" (video) Cisco; April 2, 2019. Accessed June 28, 2109.
Living people
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni
American chief executives of manufacturing companies
American technology chief executives
Cisco people
1960s births
People from Los Gatos, California
People from Gwinnett County, Georgia
BlackRock people | Chuck Robbins | [
"Technology"
] | 790 | [
"Lists of people in STEM fields",
"Proprietary technology salespersons"
] |
47,576,594 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP%20Lyrae | HP Lyrae (HP Lyr) is a variable star in the constellation Lyra, with a visual magnitude varying between 10.2 and 10.8. It will likely be an RV Tauri variable, an unstable post-AGB star losing mass before becoming a white dwarf.
Discovery
HP Lyr was first reported to be variable in 1935 by Otto Morgenroth of the Sonneberg Observatory. The range was given as 9.5 - 10.5 and the variability type only as long-period. In 1961, it was formally designated as a β Lyr eclipsing variable with two A type supergiants in a close orbit producing smooth continuous variations with alternating minima of different depths. The period was given as 140.75 days, covering two maxima, and both a deep primary minimum and a slightly less deep secondary minimum.
In 2001 a request was made for observations of HP Lyr. Shortly after it was reported that HP Lyr was likely to be an RV Tauri variable rather than an eclipsing binary. This was confirmed with a more detailed study published in 2002.
Some authors still maintain that the spectral type and nature of variation mean HP Lyr is more likely to be an eclipsing variable.
Variability
HP Lyr varies by about 0.5 magnitude over a "halfperiod" of 68.4 days. The formal period, defined for an RV Tauri variable as being from deep minimum to deep minimum is twice that length. Its spectrum changes from A2-3 at maximum to F2 at the deepest minima. The radial velocity changes are typical for the pulsations of an RV Tauri variable, but are not compatible with a binary orbit. The spectral type and colour indicated that it was likely to be the hottest known RV Tauri star.
Until 1960, the period of HP Lyr was very consistent at 140.75 days. Since then it has been observed to reduce to below 140 days, probably quite suddenly. A survey of historic photography including the star showed that the period changed in 1962 or 1963, taking no more than four cycles to reach a new value of 138.66 days.
Properties
A 2005 study of the elemental abundances of RV Tauri stars calculated that HP Lyr had a temperature around and typical abundances for an RV Tauri variable. It also revealed that the abundances were altered by dust-gas separation in circumstellar material. HP Lyr has been included in a catalog of confirmed post-AGB stars, highly evolved and on its way to becoming a white dwarf. In 2017, the temperature was calculated to be , still one of the hottest known RV Tau variables.
The distance is uncertain, although large. Gaia Data Release 2 contains a parallax indicating a distance of around . Using luminosities derived from a period-luminosity-colour relationship, together with interstellar extinctions, gives a distance of around . From the radius and effective temperature, the radius is calculated to be .
HP Lyrae is a post-AGB star, one that has completed its evolution along the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) and is now rapidly shedding its outer layers prior to becoming a white dwarf. During this process it becomes hotter and crosses the instability strip which causes it to become unstable and pulsate.
Binary
Many RV Tauri stars are found to be in binary systems, and HP Lyrae has an invisible companion in a orbit. Its properties are not known, but the mass is estimated to be a little under , leaving open the possibility that it is a white dwarf.
References
External links
ASAS-3 information
INTEGRAL-OMC catalogue
Lyra
RV Tauri variables
A-type supergiants
F-type supergiants
J19213906+3956080
IRAS catalogue objects
Lyrae, HP
Beta Lyrae variables | HP Lyrae | [
"Astronomy"
] | 788 | [
"Lyra",
"Constellations"
] |
47,576,606 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThothX%20Tower | The ThothX Tower is a space launch platform tower design by Canadian aerospace company Thoth Technologies (ThothX). It is not a full space elevator, but a inflatable tubular tower structure in diameter, using elevators to transfer up and down to the stratospheric platform where rocket launch vehicles would land, refuel, load, and launch from to reach and return from orbit. It is projected that a launch from the top of the tower would save 30% of the fuel needed to reach orbit. From the top of the tower, the horizon would be away. The design has received UK and U.S. patent protection. The design is projected to cost and take 10 years to build. The full-sized tower would be about 20x taller than the tallest building as of 2015, Burj Khalifa of
Self-climbing electric elevators would travel within the inflated structure to convey material between the top platform and base. The cars would either run in the tower or along the outside and would carry about . Normal elevator cables cannot stretch longer than high. The tower would be built out of stacked kevlar cells inflated to extreme pressures with hydrogen or helium gas. Flywheels would be used to stabilize the structure, as the structure is much too tall for guywires to work. The tower is designed to be able to survive Category 5 hurricanes. With the reduction in fuel needed to reach orbit, it is projected that single-stage-to-orbit craft can be practicably used with current technology. The tower is high as most orbital rockets go up before curving towards orbit, and this tower could eliminate that portion of flight.
A tower model was unveiled in 2009. A demonstration tower is planned to be built. The basic design may be extended to towers.
Among other projected uses for the tower would be as a communications tower, low-altitude replacement for satellites, high-altitude wind turbine platforms.
References
Further reading
USPTO Patent no. 9085897 "Space Elevator" granted 21 July 2015.
Could A Sky Rail Work
Air-supported structures
Space access
Towers | ThothX Tower | [
"Astronomy",
"Engineering"
] | 423 | [
"Structural engineering",
"Outer space",
"Astronomy stubs",
"Towers",
"Civil engineering",
"Civil engineering stubs",
"Outer space stubs"
] |
47,576,613 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocking%20on%20Heaven%27s%20Door%20%28book%29 | Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World is the second non-fiction book by Lisa Randall. It was initially published on September 20, 2011, by Ecco Press. The title is explained in the text: "Scientists knock on heaven's door in an attempt to cross the threshold separating the known from the unknown."
Review
—American Scientist
See also
Higgs boson
Higgs mechanism
References
External links
2011 non-fiction books
Popular physics books
Works about particle physics
String theory books
Cosmology books
Ecco Press books | Knocking on Heaven's Door (book) | [
"Physics"
] | 119 | [
"Works about particle physics",
"Particle physics"
] |
47,577,080 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs%20Discovery | Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space is a short non-fiction book by Lisa Randall, in which she concentrates on the ideas discussed in her two previous books. Higgs Discovery was initially published on September 24, 2013 by Ecco Press.
Review
—The Guardian
See also
Higgs boson
Higgs mechanism
Nothing
References
External links
2013 non-fiction books
Physics books
Works about particle physics
String theory books
Cosmology books
Ecco Press books | Higgs Discovery | [
"Physics"
] | 92 | [
"Works about particle physics",
"Particle physics"
] |
47,577,212 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National%20Centers%20for%20Environmental%20Information | The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is a U.S. government agency that manages one of the world's largest archives of atmospheric, coastal, geophysical, and oceanic data. The current director is Deke Arndt.
NCEI is operated by the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), an office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which operates under the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In addition to archiving data, NCEI develops products and services that make data readily available to scientists, government officials, the business community, academia, non-governmental organizations, and the general public.
NCEI provides environmental data, products, and services covering the depths of the ocean to the surface of the Sun.
History
Formation
NCEI was created in 2015 from the merger of three NOAA data centers:
National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)
National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)
National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), which includes the National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC)
NCEI was established by the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, Public Law 113-235 in response to increasing demand for environmental information. The organization was created by merging the three existing NOAA National Data Centers with the goal of streamlining the collection and preservation of environmental data.
The merger, which came in response to increasing demand for environmental information, was intended to make NOAA's data more useful through the application of consistent data stewardship practices across all science disciplines. NCEI works with the ISC World Data System to make data free and accessible.
Hurricane Helene
In September, 2024, the NCEI headquarters in Asheville were buffeted by storm conditions and flooding from Hurricane Helene. Severe damage was done to infrastructure, limiting network services and website availability. Archived data was rendered inaccessible, certain webpages suffered limited availability, and the monthly climate reports for September were postponed. They confirmed on October 4th that all data products, however, were safe.
Data and services
The NCEI archive contains more than 60 petabytes of data, equivalent to more than 700 million filing cabinets filled with documents. NCEI offers users access to tens of thousands of datasets and hundreds of products. Data are collected by NOAA, other agencies and departments of the U.S. government, as well as by other institutions, organizations, and governments around the world.
Environmental data are collected from many sources, including satellites, land-based stations, ocean buoys, ships, remotely operated underwater vehicles, weather balloons, radar, forecasting and climate models, and paleoclimatological research. Once transmitted to NCEI, data are archived and made available for use by researchers and others in public and private sectors. The data and products offer information about climate and weather, coasts, oceans, and geophysics.
NCEI Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) collaborate on national and international research projects. In 2022, they collaborated with scientists from across the globe to produce world-class research and authored more than 90 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Areas of study were as varied as the environmental data housed at NCEI: hurricanes, drought, ocean warming, fire science, solar flares, artificial intelligence, marine microplastics, and many more.
NCEI data users
NCEI resources are used for scientific research and commercial applications in many fields, including agriculture, forestry, marine and coastal ecosystems, tourism, transportation, civil infrastructure, energy, transportation, water resources, energy, health, insurance, litigation, and national security.
For example, retail and manufacturing businesses use climate data to assess how weather has influenced past sales so they can better plan for the future. Corn farmers rely on NCEI data to decide how much fertilizer to apply. The reinsurance industry—which offers insurance to insurance companies—uses NCEI data to determine risks associated with natural disasters. Cattle ranchers use NCEI's weekly U.S. Drought Monitor to make decisions about land management, herd size, and feed purchases. The freight railway industry uses a number of NCEI products—including Local Climatological Data, Integrated Surface Daily Database, and Global Historical Climatology Network—to predict where tracks might be blocked by landslides and to help trains avoid the path of severe storms. U.S. fishing boats use NCEI ocean and coastal data to determine where fishing conditions are most promising. The third-party weather service industry uses NCEI data to create customized forecasts and other tools to serve a wide range of clients, such as transportation companies seeking to build facilities where fog or snow is less likely to create problems.
Locations
NCEI is headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina, with other primary locations in Boulder, Colorado; Silver Spring, Maryland; and Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi.
NOAA's six Regional Climate Services Directors, which are part of NCEI, represent the Eastern, Central, Southern, Pacific, Western, and Alaska regions. They work with a broad range of partners to provide climate information specific to each region.
NCEI manages the Regional Climate Center Program, which provides services through six regional offices:
High Plains Regional Climate Center (Lincoln, Nebraska)
Midwestern Regional Climate Center (West Lafayette, Indiana)
Northeast Regional Climate Center (Ithaca, New York)
Southeast Regional Climate Center (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
Southern Regional Climate Center (College Station, TX)
Western Regional Climate Center (Reno, Nevada)
NCEI partners with academic and nonprofit institutions known as cooperative institutes to conduct research and perform tasks that support its mission and goals. The cooperative institutes affiliated with NCEI are as follows:
Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies (CISESS)
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
Northern Gulf Institute (NGI)
See also
Earth System Research Laboratories
Environmental data rescue
National Snow and Ice Data Center
NOAA Central Library
Space Weather Prediction Center
References
External links
National Centers for Environmental Information
NCEI About Page
NCEI Environmental Products page
NCEI's Our Impact
NCEI Locations
NCEI/NOAA's Story Map Gallery
NCEI's Data Archive and More
The Value of NCEI Data: How NCEI Supports US Aviation
NOAA NCEI Data Bolster Nation's Transportation and Logistics Sector
Weather Data: Beyond the Forecast, How NOAA NCEI Data Assist Businesses and Economy
Climate change organizations based in the United States
Climate change assessment and attribution
Environmental Information
Geophysics organizations
Oceanography | National Centers for Environmental Information | [
"Physics",
"Environmental_science"
] | 1,307 | [
"Oceanography",
"Hydrology",
"Applied and interdisciplinary physics"
] |
47,577,255 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphoricarpos%20%C3%97%20chenaultii | Symphoricarpos × chenaultii, the Chenault coralberry, is a nothospecies (hybrid) group of shrubs in the honeysuckle family. It was grown in France in 1912 as a hybrid S. microphyllus × S. orbiculatus.
References
chenaultii
Plants described in 1921
Hybrid plants
Taxa named by Alfred Rehder | Symphoricarpos × chenaultii | [
"Biology"
] | 78 | [
"Hybrid plants",
"Plants",
"Hybrid organisms"
] |
47,577,342 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V473%20Lyrae | V473 Lyrae is a variable star in the constellation Lyra. It is an unusual Classical Cepheid variable with a visual range of 5.99 to 6.35.
Discovery
V473 Lyrae is a faint naked eye star, but its brightness variations were not reported until 1968. It was noted to be possibly variable, then examined as a possible δ Sct variable. It was confirmed as variable but the variations were considered semi-regular and so it was not catalogued as a δ Sct variable.
In 1979, brightness variations were again noticed and V473 was listed as a short-period Cepheid, although the period was thought to be 3.04 days. The correct period was found a few years later at 1.49078 days, at the time the shortest known period for a galactic Cepheid. Unusual periodic variations in the pulsation amplitude were also noticed, similar to the Blazhko effect in RR Lyrae variables.
Pulsations
The unusually short period of V473 Lyr is caused by pulsations in the second overtone and the fundamental pulsation period would be three times as long. The amplitude variations have an approximate period of 1,205 days, and there is a secondary modulation with a period of 5,300 days.
Companion
V473 Lyrae has a faint companion. Although the two stars are separated by 15", the companion is 15th magnitude and so faint that it is difficult to detect next to the naked eye primary. At the distance of V473 Lyrae, the separation corresponds to 8,300 astronomical units.
X-rays
X-rays have been detected from V473 Lyrae during a survey looking for x-rays from young main sequence companions to Cepheid variables. However, the x-rays in this case appear to originate from the Cepheid itself, not from the companion. There may be a closer unseen companion or the x-rays may have another cause.
References
F-type bright giants
Lyra
Lyrae, V473
Durchmusterung objects
180583
7308
Classical Cepheid variables
094685
Double stars | V473 Lyrae | [
"Astronomy"
] | 451 | [
"Lyra",
"Constellations"
] |
47,577,418 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha%20YM2154 | The Yamaha YM2154, also known as RYP4 (Rhythm Processor), is an audio microchip that was produced by the Yamaha Corporation. It been used for keyboards and drum machines. It has twelve individual samples and also an ADPCM Rompler and a ten channel Analog-to-digital converter.
Products
The chip was used in (1985) for the Porta Tone PSR-60, PSR-70 and PSR-80. It was also used in the RX-11, RX-15 and RX-17 drum machines.
References
Yamaha sound chips | Yamaha YM2154 | [
"Technology"
] | 125 | [
"Computing stubs",
"Computer hardware stubs"
] |
47,577,681 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be%20star | Be stars are a heterogeneous set of stars with B spectral types and emission lines. A narrower definition, sometimes referred to as classical Be stars, is a non-supergiant B star whose spectrum has, or had at some time, one or more Balmer emission lines.
Definition and classification
Many stars have B-type spectra and show hydrogen emission lines, including many supergiants, Herbig Ae/Be stars, mass-transferring binary systems, and B[e] stars. It is preferred to restrict usage of the term Be star to non-supergiant stars showing one or more Balmer series lines in emission. These are sometimes referred to as classical Be stars. The emission lines may be present only at certain times.
Although the Be type spectrum is most strongly produced in class B stars, it is also detected in O and A shell stars, and these are sometimes included under the "Be star" banner. Be stars are primarily considered to be main sequence stars, but a number of subgiants and giant stars are also included.
Discovery
The first star recognized as a Be star was Gamma Cassiopeiae, observed 1866 by Angelo Secchi, the first star ever observed with emission lines. Many other bright stars were found to show similar spectra, although many of these are no longer considered to be classical Be stars. The brightest is Achernar, although it was not recognised as a Be star until 1976.
Model
With the understanding of the processes of emission line formation in the early 20th century it became clear that these lines in Be stars must come from circumstellar material ejected from the star helped by the rapid rotation of the star. All the observational characteristics of Be stars can now be explained with a gaseous disk that is formed of material ejected from the star. The infrared excess and the polarization result from the scattering of stellar light in the disk, while the line emission is formed by re-processing stellar ultraviolet light in the gaseous disc.
Shell stars
Some Be stars exhibit spectral features that are interpreted as a detached "shell" of gas surrounding the star, or more accurately a disc or ring. These shell features are thought to be caused when the disc of gas that is present around many Be stars is aligned edge on to us so that it creates very narrow absorption lines in the spectrum.
Variability
Be stars are often visually and spectroscopically variable. Be stars can be classified as Gamma Cassiopeiae variables when a transient or variable disk is observed. Be stars that show variability without clear indication of the mechanism are listed simply as BE in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars. Some of these are thought to be pulsating stars and are sometimes called Lambda Eridani variables.
References
Further reading
External links
Philippe Stee's homepage: Hot and Active Stars Research
Article from Olivier Thizy: Be Stars
Star types
1866 in science | Be star | [
"Astronomy"
] | 582 | [
"Star types",
"Astronomical classification systems"
] |
47,577,922 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArangoDB | ArangoDB is a graph database system developed by ArangoDB Inc. ArangoDB is a multi-model database system since it supports three data models (graphs, JSON documents, key/value) with one database core and a unified query language AQL (ArangoDB Query Language). AQL is mainly a declarative language and allows the combination of different data access patterns in a single query.
ArangoDB is a NoSQL database system but AQL is similar in many ways to SQL, it uses RocksDB as a storage engine.
History
ArangoDB GmbH was founded in 2014 by Claudius Weinberger and Frank Celler. They originally called the database system “A Versatile Object Container", or AVOC for short, leading them to call the database AvocadoDB. Later, they changed the name to ArangoDB. The word "arango" refers to a little-known avocado variety grown in Cuba.
In January 2017 ArangoDB raised a seed round investment of 4.2 million Euros led by Target Partners. In March 2019 ArangoDB raised 10 million dollars in series A funding led by Bow Capital. In October 2021 ArangoDB raised 27.8 million dollars in series B funding led by Iris Capital.
Release history
Features
JSON: ArangoDB uses JSON as a default storage format, but internally it uses ArangoDB VelocyPack – a fast and compact binary format for serialization and storage. ArangoDB can natively store a nested JSON object as a data entry inside a collection. Therefore, there is no need to disassemble the resulting JSON objects. Thus, the stored data would simply inherit the tree structure of the JSON data.
Predictable performance: ArangoDB is written mainly in C++ and manages its own memory to avoid unpredictable performance arising from garbage collection.
Scaling: ArangoDB provides scaling through clustering.
Reliability: ArangoDB provides datacenter-to-datacenter replication.
Kubernetes: ArangoDB runs on Kubernetes, including cloud-based Kubernetes services Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), and Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
Microservices: ArangoDB provides integration with native JavaScript microservices directly on top of the DBMS using the Foxx framework.
Multiple query languages: The database has its own query language, AQL (ArangoDB Query Language), and also provides GraphQL to write flexible native web services directly on top of the DBMS.
Search: ArangoDB's search engine combines boolean retrieval capabilities with generalized ranking components allowing for data retrieval based on a precise vector space model.
Pregel algorithm: Pregel is a system for large scale graph processing. Pregel is implemented in ArangoDB and can be used with predefined algorithms, e.g. PageRank, Single-Source Shortest Path and Connected components.
Transactions: ArangoDB supports user-definable transactions. Transactions in ArangoDB are atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable (ACID), but only if data is not sharded.
AQL (ArangoDB Query Language) is the SQL-like query language used in ArangoDB. It supports CRUD operations for both documents (nodes) and edges, but it is not a data definition language (DDL). AQL does support geospatial queries.
AQL is JSON-oriented:
// Return every document in a collection
FOR doc IN collection
RETURN doc
// Count the number of documents in a collection
FOR doc IN collection
COLLECT WITH COUNT INTO length
RETURN length
// Add a new document into our collection
INSERT { _key: "john", name: "John", age: 45 } INTO collection
// Update document with key of “john” to have age 46.
UPDATE { _key: "john", age: 46 } IN collection
// Add an attribute numberOfLogins for all users with status active:
FOR u IN users
FILTER u.active == true
UPDATE u WITH { numberOfLogins: 0 } IN users
Editions
Community Edition: ArangoDB Community Edition is a graph database with native multi-model database capabilities written mainly in C++ and was available under an open-source license (Apache 2) until October 2023. It was then changed to "ArangoDB Community License, which limits its use for commercial purposes and imposes a 100GB limit on dataset size within a single cluster"
Commercial self-managed: ArangoDB Enterprise is a paid subscription that includes graph-aware sharding (called “SmartGraphs”) and collection replication (called “Satellite Collections”) to reduce query times, and increased security.
Cloud: ArangoDB is offered as a cloud service called Oasis, providing ArangoDB databases as a Service (DBaaS). ArangoDB Oasis provides the functionality of an ArangoDB cluster deployment while minimizing the amount of administrative effort required. ArangoDB Oasis run on multiple cloud service providers, include AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
See also
Comparison of multi-model databases
References
2011 software
Free database management systems
NoSQL products
NoSQL
Document-oriented databases
Graph databases
Structured storage
Distributed computing architecture
Database-related software for Linux
Key-value databases
Software using the Business Source License | ArangoDB | [
"Mathematics"
] | 1,122 | [
"Graph databases",
"Mathematical relations",
"Graph theory"
] |
47,578,523 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive%20Redaction | Adaptive Redaction is an alternate version of redaction whereby sensitive parts of a document are automatically removed based on policy. It is primarily used in next generation Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions.
Content and context
The policy is a set of rules based on content and context.
Context can include:
Who is sending (or uploading) the information.
Who is receiving the information (including a website if uploading or downloading).
The communication channel (e.g. email, web, copy to removable media).
The content can be 'visible' information, such as that you see on the screen. It can also be 'invisible' information such as that in document properties and revision history, and it can also be 'active' content which has been embedded in an electronic document, such as a macro.
Purpose
Adaptive Redaction is designed to alleviate "False Positive" events created with Data loss prevention software (DLP) security solutions.
False positives occur when a DLP policy triggers and prevents legitimate outgoing communication. In the majority of cases this is caused through oversight by the sender.
Examples
Sending unprotected credit card information outside an organisation breaches the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS regulations). Many organisations accept credit card information through email, however a reply to an email containing such information would send out the prohibited information. That would cause a breach of policy. Adaptive Redaction can be used to remove just the credit card number but allow the email to be sent.
'Invisible' information can be found in documents and has created embarrassment for several governments.
See also
Data masking
Redaction
Tokenization (data security)
References
Cryptography
Data security
Information technology | Adaptive Redaction | [
"Mathematics",
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 349 | [
"Information and communications technology",
"Cybersecurity engineering",
"Cryptography",
"Applied mathematics",
"Information technology",
"Data security"
] |
47,579,864 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kihnichthys | Kihnichthys ufermanni, the Usumacinta cichlid, is a species of cichlid found in a few rivers in the Usumacinta River basin in Guatemala and southern Mexico. It typically occurs in rivers that are about wide, fairly deep, have few or no aquatic plants, and a variable water current. This species is the only known member of its genus, but several of its features, including the chisel-like teeth, are shared with Cincelichthys and whether they should be merged into a single genus is not yet fully resolved; a review in 2020 recommended that the Usumacinta cichlid should be moved into Cincelichthys. The Usumacinta cichlid reaches a standard length of .
The generic name honours the Guatemalan ichthyologist Herman A. Kihn while the specific name honours the German aquarist, and friend of Robert Allgayer's, Alfred Ufermann who died in 2000.
References
Heroini
Monotypic Perciformes genera
Fish described in 2002
Controversial fish taxa | Kihnichthys | [
"Biology"
] | 221 | [
"Biological hypotheses",
"Controversial fish taxa",
"Controversial taxa"
] |
47,580,563 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary%20of%20ant%20terms | This is a glossary of terms used in the descriptions of ants.
A
B
D
E
F
G
H
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
W
See also
Glossary of entomology terms
Glossary of scientific names
Glossary of scientific naming
References
External links
Antkey glossary
Ants
Myrmecology
Wikipedia glossaries using description lists | Glossary of ant terms | [
"Biology"
] | 70 | [
"Glossaries of zoology",
"Glossaries of biology"
] |
47,580,620 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callows | Callows () are a type of wetland found in Ireland. They are a seasonally flooded grassland ecosystem found on low-lying river floodplains.
The callows are located at the center of Ireland. 5856 hectares of the callows are protected as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). At the heart of the callows is the River Shannon: one of the only unregulated rivers left in western Europe. The River Shannon extends 360 kilometers. More than 20% of Ireland's landmass is drained by the River Shannon. Unlike many other parts of the world, the callows is relatively untouched by mankind. The area has not fallen victim to intensive agriculture or development by humans, making it a refuge for a wide range of flora and fauna.
The callows are a wetland ecosystem full of rivers and creeks. Rolling hills and grassy meadows, which are full of cows, horses, flowers, birds, and more, extended for great distances in every direction. There are very few trees and tall plants as the grazers keep the plant life trimmed down. The region is also an ecotone that forms a gradient of dry to wet space controlled by flooding. Additionally the wetland area is mainly flat, which creates a flat river gradient and slows the movement of water.
There are a few main characteristics that control the biodiversity of riparian ecosystems: hydrology, productivity, disturbance, and the heterogeneity of space. Fluctuations in water levels regulate plant distributions, species diversity, and the composition of the callows community. Factors, such as time, depth, and frequency, greatly affect the functioning of the ecosystem. The wetlands and meadows are home to a variety of organisms. The unique and well preserved habitat promotes a number of biological services. For example, spanning the vast meadows in this region are a range of insect-pollinated plant species. Thus, pollination services are provided and the diversity of life in the callows will prevail.
Even though the area is mainly free of human interaction, there are still some aspects of the callows that are regulated by people. First, since floodplains typically support hay meadows, there are farmers that still cut hay annually. This process has gone on for hundreds of years and actually promotes diversity of flora. There have also been a number of failed attempts to control the magnitude and duration of flooding in the wetland area.
As with most places on Earth, climate change driven by humans is altering the callows ecosystem. Many aspects of seasonal flooding will begin to change with the drier summers and wetter winters that predicted in the future. Wetter winters mean longer flooding time and potentially deeper flood pools. As flood levels begin to rise, plant species that are not used to flooding will be affected. This will also change dynamics between flora and fauna by limiting food and habitat space. Also, increased agriculture and development are future threats. Protecting the callows and keeping it as a conservation area is vital to the survival of the unique array of organisms that call the callows home.
Examples
Shannon Callows
River Suck Callows
Little Brosna Callows
Lough Eidin
Callan, County Kilkenny
Castletroy
Literary references
Patrick Deeley's novel The Lost Orchard deals with the protection of "The Callows", a marshy area.
References
Wetlands | Callows | [
"Environmental_science"
] | 667 | [
"Hydrology",
"Wetlands"
] |
47,581,036 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological%20Complexity | Ecological Complexity is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the field of biocomplexity in the environment and theoretical ecology with special attention to papers that integrate natural and social processes at various spatio-temporal scales. The founding editor was Bai-Lian (Larry) Li (University of California at Riverside) and the current editor-in-chief is Sergei Petrovskii (University of Leicester).
External links
Elsevier academic journals
Quarterly journals
Ecology journals
Academic journals established in 2004
English-language journals | Ecological Complexity | [
"Environmental_science"
] | 103 | [
"Environmental science journals",
"Environmental science journal stubs",
"Ecology journals"
] |
47,581,074 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virophysics | Virophysics is a branch of biophysics in which the theoretical concepts and experimental techniques of physics are applied to study the mechanics and dynamics driving the interactions between virions and cells.
Overview
Research in virophysics typically focuses on resolving the physical structure and structural properties of viruses, the dynamics of their assembly and disassembly, their population kinetics over the course of an infection, and the emergence and evolution of various strains. The common aim of these efforts is to establish a set of models (expressions or laws) that quantitatively describe the details of all processes involved in viral infections with reliable predictive power. Having such a quantitative understanding of viruses would not only rationalize the development of strategies to prevent, guide, or control the course of viral infections, but could also be used to exploit virus processes and put virus to work in areas such as nanosciences, materials, and biotechnologies.
Traditionally, in vivo and in vitro experimentation has been the only way to study viral infections. This approach for deriving knowledge based solely on experimental observations relies on common-sense assumptions (e.g., a higher virus count means a fitter virus). These assumptions often go untested due to difficulties controlling individual components of these complex systems without affecting others. The use of mathematical models and computer simulations to describe such systems, however, makes it possible to deconstruct an experimental system into individual components and determine how the pieces combine to create the infection we observe.
Virophysics has large overlaps with other fields. For example, the modelling of infectious disease dynamics is a popular research topic in mathematics, notably in applied mathematics or mathematical biology. While most modelling efforts in mathematics have focused on elucidating the dynamics of spread of infectious diseases at an epidemiological scale (person-to-person), there is also important work being done at the cellular scale (cell-to-cell). Virophysics focuses almost exclusively on the single-cell or multi-cellular scale, utilizing physical models to resolve the temporal and spatial dynamics of viral infection spread within a cell culture (in vitro), an organ (ex vivo or in vivo) or an entire host (in vivo).
References
External links
Related meetings/conferences
Virophysics 2015
2nd Workshop on Virus Dynamics
Biophysics
Virology | Virophysics | [
"Physics",
"Biology"
] | 481 | [
"Applied and interdisciplinary physics",
"Biophysics"
] |
47,581,481 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frailty%20index | The frailty index (FI) can be used to measure the health status of older individuals; it serves as a proxy measure of aging and vulnerability to poor outcomes.
FI was developed by Dr. Kenneth Rockwood and Dr. Arnold Mitnitski at Dalhousie University in Canada.
FI is defined as the proportion of deficits present in an individual out of the total number of age-related health variables considered. A frailty index can be created in most secondary data sources related to health by utilizing health deficits that are routinely collected in health assessments. These deficits include diseases, signs and symptoms, laboratory abnormalities, cognitive impairments, and disabilities in activities of daily living.
Frailty Index (FI) = (number of health deficits present) ÷ (number of health deficits measured)
For example, a person with 20 of 40 deficits collected has an FI score of 20/40 = 0.5; whilst for someone with 10 deficits, the FI score is 10/40 = 0.25. The FI takes advantage of the high redundancy in the human organism. This is why it is replicable across different databases even when different items and different numbers of items are used. The standard procedure for creating a frailty index are found in an open-access publication.
There are several frailty indices, including a clinical deficits frailty index (FI-CD) and a biomarker-based frailty index (FI-B).
See also
Disability
Physiological functional capacity
References
Geriatrics
Gerontology
Medical scales | Frailty index | [
"Biology"
] | 315 | [
"Gerontology"
] |
47,583,718 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutorius%20eximius | Sutorius eximius, commonly known as the lilac-brown bolete, is a species of fungus in the family Boletaceae. This bolete produces fruit bodies that are dark purple to chocolate brown in color with a smooth cap, a finely scaly stipe, and a reddish-brown spore print. The tiny pores on the cap underside are chocolate to violet brown. It is widely distributed, having been recorded on North America, South America, and Asia, where it grows in a mycorrhizal relationship with both coniferous and deciduous trees.
Originally described in 1874 as a species of Boletus, the fungus has also been classified in the genus Leccinum because of the scabers on the stipe, or in Tylopilus because of the color of the spore print. Molecular genetic analysis revealed that the lilac-brown bolete was separate from both of these genera, and merited placement in a new genus. Sutorius was created to contain this bolete and the closely related Australian species S. australiensis.
Although the lilac-brown bolete was once considered edible, caution is typically recommended in modern field guides when considering this bolete for the table after several poisonings were reported in northeastern North America. Symptoms include severe gastrointestinal distress with vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea that generally lasts less than 24 hours.
Taxonomy
The species was originally described as Boletus robustus by American mycologist Charles Christopher Frost in 1874, from specimens collected in Vermont. He noted that the cap was "chocolate color, fleshy, and so succulent that it is difficult to dry and preserve". The name assigned by Frost, however, is an illegitimate homonym of a name previously used for a different species by Miles Joseph Berkeley in 1851. Charles Horton Peck published the new name Boletus eximius for the same species in 1887. William Alphonso Murrill transferred the species to Ceriomyces in 1909, but this genus is no longer recognized, having largely been subsumed into Boletus.
Various authorities have treated the taxon as either a Boletus, Leccinum, or Tylopilus, depending on which morphological characteristics they deemed most significant. Rolf Singer initially considered the species most appropriately placed in Tylopilus on account of the reddish-brown spore print, a taxonomic opinion shared by Alexander H. Smith and Harry Thiers, who wrote "Concerning whether or not the species should be placed in Leccinum, we can only say that the color of the stipe ornamentation is merely a reflection of the color of the stipe generally and that it does not change color in a characteristic pattern as it ages. For this reason we exclude it from Leccinum and agree with Singer that it is a Tylopilus." Later however, Singer thought the somewhat scabrous ornamentation of the stipe justified a placement in Leccinum. René Pomerleau had previously (1959) placed the species in Leccinum, but this transfer was invalid, as no basionym was specified.
Roy E. Halling designated a lectotype specimen in 1983 from Frost's original collections. Early molecular evidence suggested that the lilac-brown bolete was genetically distinct from the genera in which it had formerly been placed. In 2012, Halling and colleagues published molecular evidence indicating that the species did not belong in either Tylopilus or Leccinum as it does not share a recent common ancestor with either of those genera. Recognizing its genetic and morphological distinctiveness, they created the genus Sutorius, with S. eximius as the type species. As of 2015, the only other species in Sutorius is S. australiensis, found in Australia.
The generic name Sutorius is derived for the Latin word for "cobbler" (sutor), referring to Charles Frost's profession. The epithet eximius means "distinguished" or "excellent in size and beauty". Although Frost's reason for using this name is not known with certainty, Peter Roberts and Shelley Evans speculate "Perhaps it was the violet-brown colors, which are quite attractive in a formal, nineteenth-century manner." S. eximius is commonly known as the "lilac-brown bolete".
Description
Fruit bodies have caps that are initially convex, later becoming broadly convex to more or less flat, with a diameter of . The cap surface is dry to slightly sticky, with a texture ranging from smooth to somewhat felt-like. Its color is purplish brown to grayish brown to reddish brown; young specimens are often covered with a fine whitish bloom (a delicate, powdery coating). The flesh is whitish, and slowly stains gray-brown when it is cut or injured. It has no distinctive odor, and a mild to slightly bitter taste. On the cap underside, the pore surface is dark chocolate brown to purple brown, and stains dark brown where bruised. The nearly circular pores number up to 3 per millimeter, and the tubes are deep. The solid stipe measures long by thick. Its color is similar to that of the cap, and it has a scurfy surface from a dense coating of purplish to purple-brown scabers.
The lilac-brown bolete produces a pinkish to reddish-brown to amber-brown spore print. The smooth, translucent spores are narrowly spindle shaped and measure 11–17 by 3.5–5 μm. Collections made in Costa Rica have shorter spores (10.5–13.3 μm) and smaller fruitbodies than eastern North American material; Guyanese material also has smaller spores, measuring 9.7–12 μm. These differences are attributed to clinal variation. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are club shaped, four-spored, and measure 23–30 by 7–8 μm. The cystidia on the pore edges (cheilocystidia) are narrowly spindle-shaped (fusoid), measuring 20–30 by 7–8 μm. Cystidia on the pore surface (pleurocystidia) are thin-walled, fusoid to swollen (ventricose), with dimensions of 27–42 by 8–12 μm. There are no clamp connections in the hyphae of Sutorius eximius.
Similar species
The Australian congener Sutorius australiensis produces somewhat smaller and darker fruitbodies than S. eximius. The violet-grey bolete, Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus, is found in eastern North America and Korea. This species is somewhat similar in appearance, but can be distinguished by its smoother stipe, less brownish colors, and bitter taste. The Asian and North American black velvet bolete,T. alboater, has a black to grayish-brown cap and grows in deciduous woods. T. violatinctus, found in eastern North America, has whitish pores, a smooth stipe, and a somewhat paler cap than S. eximius.
Habitat and distribution
Fruit bodies of Sutorius eximius grow in the soil singly or scattered among leaf litter. A mycorrhizal species, the bolete has been recorded growing in association with plants from various genera, including Dicymbe, Dipterocarpus, Fagus, Hopea, Quercus, Shorea, and Tsuga. The species has been recorded from North America, Costa Rica, and Indonesia. In Costa Rica, where it usually associates with the endemic oaks Quercus seemannii and Q. copeyensis, the lilac-brown bolete can be locally abundant in the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera de Talamanca. Additional locations with collections that have not been confirmed by DNA analysis include Guyana, Japan, China. Although S. eximius has been reported from Thailand, molecular analysis of Thai collections suggests that they represent a distinct, as-yet unnamed species.
Edibility
Sutorius eximius is typically considered an edible mushroom, and listed as so in several North American field guides. Charles McIlvaine and Louis Krieger both wrote favorably of the bolete's esculent properties, but a series of poisonings reported from the New England region and eastern Canada have cast doubt on its edibility. According to Greg Marley, author Roger Phillips was the first to include a toxicity warning in his 1991 book Mushrooms of North America. Despite its revised status in North America, the lilac-brown bolete remains one of the most common fungi used as food by locals in the Hengduan Mountains region of southwestern China.
Chemistry
Tylopilusins are novel bisphenol pigment compounds isolated from the fruit bodies of Sutorius eximius. Tylopilusins A and B were identified in 2012, while tylopilusin C was reported a year later. Other compounds reported to occur in the fruit bodies include gyroporin and caffeic acid.
References
External links
Boletaceae
Edible fungi
Fungi described in 1887
Fungi of Asia
Fungi of Central America
Fungi of North America
Fungi of South America
Taxa named by Charles Horton Peck
Fungus species | Sutorius eximius | [
"Biology"
] | 1,907 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
47,584,675 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius%20Red | Sirius Red F 3B (Direct Red 80) is an azo dye primarily used in staining methods for collagen and amyloid. It has the molecular formula C45H26N10Na6O21S6.
In histology, sirius red staining is used in various domains of diagnostic to observe fibrosis levels in a lot of cases of inflammation induced by cancer, vascular or metabolic pathologies.
In bright field microscopy the following can be observed:
The nuclei in yellow
The cytoplasm in yellow
Collagen fibers in red
Muscular fibers in yellow
Red blood cells in yellow
See also
Collagen Hybridizing Peptide, a peptide that stains denatured collagen in tissues
References
Staining dyes
Azo dyes | Sirius Red | [
"Chemistry"
] | 153 | [
"Organic compounds",
"Organic compound stubs",
"Organic chemistry stubs"
] |
62,145,533 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caballer%C3%ADa | The () was a unit of land measurement in the Spanish viceroyalties in the Americas during the times of the Spanish Empire in the 16th through 19th centuries. It was equivalent to . The unit came from Spain, where it had already been in use.
History
A decree of King Ferdinand V on 18 June 1513 is the first known law granting land in the Americas to Europeans. The decree dictated that conquered lands could be granted to Spanish soldier in two units: caballerías and peonias. The decree extended to the New World a system Castile had already been using for areas it conquered in Europe. While a "peonia" was the amount of land granted a retiring foot soldier, a was the amount granted to a retiring cavalryman. The unit was over four times larger than a peonia.
Land grants measuring one or more were issued to the members of the cavalry of a Spanish war company upon resulting victorious over a territory during a war conquest expedition, with the condition that once the soldier had decided to make his residence at such location, they committed themselves to the defense of the town where they were to reside.
Demise
As open land became less available for granting by the Spanish Crown, and as portions of caballerías were pieced apart by their owners in sales transactions into smaller land units too small to be measured in caballerías and, thus, measured in the more convenient cuerda units, the use of caballería units started to become obsolete.
References
External links
Manufacturas en Michoacán.
Metrología Equivalencias aproximadas.
Feijoo Osorio, Carlos: Antiguas unidades de superficie.
Further reading
Don Fernando V, Valladolid, Spain, 18 June and 9 August 1513. Chapter 1.
Emperor Don Carlos. 26 June 1523. Toledo, Spain. 19 May 1525.
Don Felipe II. Chapter titled "Instrucción". Toledo, Spain, 25 May 1596. Ordenanza 104, 105 and 106, "Poblaciones".
Units of measurement
Units of area | Caballería | [
"Mathematics"
] | 429 | [
"Quantity",
"Units of area",
"Units of measurement"
] |
62,146,257 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wundowie%20charcoal%20iron%20and%20wood%20distillation%20plant | The Wundowie charcoal iron and wood distillation plant manufactured pig iron between 1948 and 1981 and wood distillation products between 1950 and 1977, at Wundowie, Western Australia.
Originally a state-owned enterprise, it seems not to have been incorporated as a company, during the time it was known as the Charcoal Iron and Steel Industry.
At its greatest extent, the plant comprised two blast furnaces, a metal foundry, a sawmill, retorts for charcoal production, a power plant, and a refinery for wood distillation products. The planned garden town of Wundowie, approximately east of Perth by road and west of Northam, was built to provide accommodation for the workers of the plant.
From 1966, the plant was privately managed by Australian National Industries, and its workers became employees of that company. The plant was sold by the government in 1974 to Agnew-Clough Ltd.
Production of iron ceased in 1981. The foundry continued in operation, under several different owners, and was still operating in 2019.
The blast furnaces at Wundowie were not the last ones to make charcoal iron in commercial quantities; there are still charcoal-based iron and steel-making operations in Brazil.
Historical context
A deposit of limonite iron ore existed at the future site of Wundowie, as nearby did extensive jarrah forests. There were other iron ore deposits nearby, at Coates Siding and Clackline. The future site of Wundowie lay along the route of the Eastern Railway, providing transport to and from Perth and access to further iron ore deposits to the east at Koolyanobbing. Limestonefor use as a smelting fluxcould be obtained from the Perth coastal plain.
Until 1966, it was conventional wisdom that iron ore was scarce in Australia and—as a strategic mineral reserved for local manufacturing—its export was banned in 1938. That left the only way to exploit local iron ore being the secondary processing of the ore to make iron. By 1943, an iron and steel industry was well established in New South Wales—at Newcastle (from 1915) and Port Kembla (relocated from Lithgow in 1928)—and in South Australia—at Whyalla (from 1941).
Although Western Australia had significant deposits of iron ore, the absence of coking coal disadvantaged the state as a location for an iron and steel industry. The south-west of the state did have extensive forests of jarrah, which made excellent charcoal that—provided it could be produced economically—could be used in a blast furnace instead of coke. At the time, such forests were considered a managed natural resource, and ripe for exploitation.
Immediately before and during the Great Depression, Australia—then largely an exporter of agricultural and mineral commodities—suffered as commodity prices fell. Unemployment peaked at 27% in 1932. During World War II, under wartime industry controls, unemployment in Australia reached a new low of 1.1%. During the war, new manufacturing facilities were established and employment in the sector accounted for much of the reduction in unemployment; the government saw growth in manufacturing as providing reliable employment, which would reduce the chance of another depression. Manufacturing in Australia was protected from import competition by a regime of tariffs.
At the end of World War II, the Commonwealth government and all state governments, except South Australia, were held by Australian Labor Party. The ALP has a key part of its platform known as the socialist objective. In more recent times, the socialist objective has largely been ignored but, in the 1940s, the ALP's policy was to centralise control of the economy, including plans to nationalise the banks. A significant number of large enterprises in the Australian economy were already state-owned enterprises, and the government thinking of the time was that was a desirable outcome.
Western Australia lies far from the more-industrialised, eastern parts of Australia. During and immediately after World War II, it had a Labor government. The government's view was that its involvement would be needed to facilitate the industrial development of the state. It also saw an iron and steel industry using local iron ore as being key to further industrialisation of the sparsely populated state.
Bert Hawke was the Minister of Industrial Development. He was also a member for the electorate of Northam, which contained the future location of Wundowrie.
History of operations
Foundation and construction
Although the government had been investigating local production of iron using charcoal for some years, the story of the plant at Wundowrie begins with the passing of the Wood Distillation and Charcoal Iron and Steel Industry Act 1943. This authorised the state government to set up and operate a plant to carry out wood distillation and the production of Charcoal Iron and of Steel and to set up a Charcoal Iron and Steel Industry Board of Management. The champion of this legislation was Bert Hawke.
The plant was to produce 10,000 tons of pig iron, 480 tons of acetic acid, and 112,000 gallons of wood naphtha each year. The chemicals were to be a by-product of the production—via destructive distillation of wood, in externally-heated closed retorts—of charcoal to be used in a blast furnace for making iron. The production of these chemicals was intended to enhance the commercial viability of the iron-making operation. The wood would come from the jarrah forests in the area, and any wood suitable for use as timber would be processed as sawn timber, to further enhance the commercial viability; wood for the retorts would mainly consist of offcuts and waste wood from the sawmilling operations.
Work at the site was underway by November 1944. In March 1945, the foundations for the blast furnace had been constructed but work on the furnace itself was held up by lack of steel, and work on the retorts had commenced.
The Department of Housing developed the model township of Wundowie, based on garden town principles, to house the workers at the plant.
In 1947, there was a change of government in Western Australia, and the incoming government—while still supporting in principle an iron and steel industry for south-west WA—held an enquiry into the Wundowie development, and placed a hold on building housing and business premises in the new town. However, construction of the plant itself was, by then, well advanced and the enquiry findings were in favour of the project. It was completed in late 1947.
Initial operation
On 22 January 1948, the Wundowie blast furnace produced its first iron. The smelting works were officially opened on 15 April 1948, by the new Premier of Western Australia, Ross McLarty. The wood distillation products refinery did not commence operating until January 1950.
It was expected that the entire output of 10,000 tons of iron per annum would be taken by the local foundries and the Chamberlain tractor project at Welshpool.
Difficulties experienced by the State Electricity Commission meant that the plant had to commence operating without its connection to the main grid. There were power shortages, until the grid connection became operational in October 1950. The plant used two forms of on-site power generation: steam and diesel. Two Babcock & Wilcox boilers were installed, capable of using four different kinds of fuel: blast furnace gas, wood, sawdust and tar. These different materials could be used separately or together. The steam generated by the boilers operated a 250 kW turbogenerator. Once the state grid supplied power, this generator continued to supply power to all the continuous processes on the site, such as the retorts, the blast furnace and the townsite. The supply grid powered the sawmills and the ore crushing equipment. Two diesel generators were available on stand-by.
Enhancement and expansion
The ore deposit at Wundowie was less extensive and more variable than initially thought and, from 1950, ore to mix with it was sourced from Koolyanobbing. By April 1951, the Board had decided to use Koolyanobbing ore exclusively; plant to process the ore was built at Koolyanobbing, from where it was sent by truck to Southern Cross where it was loaded onto trains. The Koolyanobbing ore had a significantly higher iron content.
Iron pigs were originally cast in sand moulds. The consistency of the pig's size, weight, and silica content was improved when pig-casting machine was put into operation in 1952.
Iron from the plant was used in the production of Chamberlain tractors. By 1955, the plant was having trouble fulfilling its orders.
During the period from the 1953 election to the 1959 election, Bert Hawke—member for Northam, who had been a force behind the establishment of the plant—was the Premier of Western Australia, something that was a favourable circumstance for the expansion of the plant at Wundowie. During 1955, the board discussed expanding the plant with the premier, and cabinet approved the expansion of the industry in May 1956; £300,000 was allocated for the expansion, which consisted of two new retorts, a second blast furnace, and associated equipment.
The second blast furnace entered service in early 1958 and the additional retorts were put into full operation in 1959. The production level for 1958/59 was 24,330 tons. In the following year, production levels had risen to 47,534 tons.
Difficulties and change to private management
The refinery for the wood distillation products proved to be less viable than the iron smelting operations. There was a lack of demand for its products in Western Australia, and the cost of transporting its products to other places affected its viability. Closing the refinery was investigated in 1958, but it was found to be marginally profitable and was kept in operation.
Production reached a record 52,262 tons of iron in 1960/61 but afterwards began to decline, due to static iron prices and escalating production costs. The plant lost £13,809 in 1963/64, not including loan costs. A study was carried out on future alternatives for the plant under full private ownership. One alternative identified was to operate a foundry at the site to make cast products, adding value to pig iron produced there. For this, more capital would be needed.
The realignment of the Eastern Railway opened in 1966 caused another difficulty for the Wundowie works, which were located on the old narrow-gauge line some distance from the new line. A section of the old narrow-gauge line from Northam remained open to allow ore trains to reach Wundowie. The Western Australian Government Railways overcame the problem of transporting iron ore the 322 km from Koolyanobbing to Wundowie, over two gauges. Special purpose open-topped, end-loading containers were lifted off flat cars from one gauge to another. Following a related realignment of the Eastern Goldfields Railway, the new line also carried iron ore directly from Koolyanobbing to BHP's newly opened blast furnace at Kwinana on Cockburn Sound. The existence, in Western Australia, of another and much larger capacity iron-producing plant probably coloured the state government's view about the future of the small marginally-economic plant at Wundowie.
The Liberal government of Western Australia became unwilling to commit to capital investment in the Wundowie plant. In June 1966, the government reached agreement with Australian National Industries (ANI) to take over management of the iron plant, build a foundry, and assume responsibility for future capital needs. In return, the government would receive a 25% share of profits. ANI received a ten-year option to buy the plant. Workers at the plant became employees of ANI.
In 1973—the final year before it was sold by the government—the Wundowie plant produced pig iron to the value of .
Sale, private ownership and end of iron production
The plant was sold by the government to Agnew-Clough Ltd in 1974, but that company did not take over the iron plant until June 1975. It became known as Wundowie Iron and Steel, a division of Agnew-Clough Ltd.
Agnew-Clough planned to set up a plant to process vanadium ore to produce vanadium pentoxide at the site, while continuing to operate the iron plant. The vanadium plant commenced operations in 1980.
The refinery had become uneconomic and closed in April 1977. In 1979, the saw mill was closed. Still reliant on supplies of wood for charcoal, the plant became increasingly less economically viable. Production of iron ceased in February 1981. All mining at Koolyanobbing ceased once the Australian Iron & Steel blast furnace at Kwinana also closed in 1982. For the first time since 1948, no iron was being made in Western Australia.
After iron production
Other smelting operations and proposals
It had been expected that the vanadium plant would absorb some of the workforce from the iron plant, but that plant closed in March 1982, due to technical problems and a market downturn.
Around 1987, there was a proposal to smelt silicon metal at Wundowie. This did not eventuate and a new silicon smelter—using charcoal as a reducing agent—was set up at Wellesley, entering production in 1989–1990.
Wundowie Foundry
After iron production ceased, the foundry continued in operation. The Wundowie Stove, a pot-belly stove designed in the plant's design office, was produced in the foundry from 1982 until 2005. The foundry also made anvils from ductile iron.
Wundowie Foundry Pty Ltd was founded in 1985, and was privately owned. New furnaces were installed in 1991 for the production of steel castings. In 2004–05, a consortium of managers bought the foundry and reassured the community that the operation was secure.
The Wundowie Foundry was acquired by Bradken on 14 November 2006. With the subsequent acquisition of Bradken by Hitachi Construction Machinery, in 2017, the Bradken foundry is now a part of that group.
Wundowie
The garden township of Wundowie suffered from the fall in employment after iron production ceased and the vanadium plant closed. By 1985, many households in the town's public housing were occupied by welfare recipients, for many of whom the planned town was a beautiful place to live but one lacking in social services.
Legacy and remnants
Wundowie in 1981 was one of the last places where charcoal iron was made in significant quantities in the developed world. Charcoal iron is still made in Brazil.
The blast furnaces at Wundowie were, when operating, the only iron-making plant in Australia not owned by BHP. Their small capacity and the lack of a steel-making operation meant that, in practice, Wundowie had little impact on BHP's monopoly in iron and steel.
The township of Wundowie and the remaining foundry operations there are the surviving legacy of the ironmaking operations. The administration building of the original plant is still used by the foundry and has a local government heritage listing. The extent of other remnants at the site of the old plant appears to be undocumented, but the distillation towers were still standing near the foundry in May 2010.
An annual event known as the Wundowie Iron Festival is named after the old plant.
Publications
1965
1966
1969
References
External links
'Forest to Foundry' (1956) - 16mm film, by W.A. Government Film Unit, showing, forestry and saw milling, wood distillation from 5:25, ore mine from 8:30, charcoal from 10:18, blast furnace from 10:56, pig-making machine from 12:40, product handling from 13:00, and summary from 15:30.
Charcoal Iron and Steel Industry closure (1981) - video recording of ABC television program on the closure of the iron-making plant.
'Cast in Excellence' (1990) - promotional video for the Wundowie Foundry.
Wheatbelt (Western Australia)
Smelting
Charcoal
Iron mining in Australia | Wundowie charcoal iron and wood distillation plant | [
"Chemistry"
] | 3,276 | [
"Metallurgical processes",
"Smelting"
] |
62,146,673 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glauber%20dynamics | In statistical physics, Glauber dynamics is a way to simulate the Ising model (a model of magnetism) on a computer.
The algorithm
In the Ising model, we have say N particles that can spin up (+1) or down (-1). Say the particles are on a 2D grid. We label each with an x and y coordinate. Glauber's algorithm becomes:
Choose a particle at random.
Sum its four neighboring spins. .
Compute the change in energy if the spin x, y were to flip. This is (see the Hamiltonian for the Ising model).
Flip the spin with probability where T is the temperature .
Display the new grid. Repeat the above N times.
In Glauber algorithm, if the energy change in flipping a spin is zero, , then the spin would flip with probability .
Comparison to Metropolis
In the Glauber dynamic, however, every spin has an equal chance of being chosen at each time step, regardless of being chosen before. The Metropolis acceptance criterion includes the Boltzmann weight, , but it always flips a spin in favor of lowering the energy, such that the spin-flip probability is:
.Although both of the acceptance probabilities approximate a step curve and they are almost indistinguishable at very low temperatures, they differ when temperature gets high. For an Ising model on a 2d lattice, the critical temperature is .
In practice, the main difference between the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm and with Glauber algorithm is in choosing the spins and how to flip them (step 4). However, at thermal equilibrium, these two algorithms should give identical results. In general, at equilibrium, any MCMC algorithm should produce the same distribution, as long as the algorithm satisfies ergodicity and detailed balance. In both algorithms, for any change in energy, , meaning that transition between the states of the system is always possible despite being very unlikely at some temperatures. So, the condition for ergodicity is satisfied for both of the algorithms. Detailed balance, which is a requirement of reversibility, states that if you observe the system for a long enough time, the system goes from state to with the same frequency as going from to . In equilibrium, the probability of observing the system at state A is given by the Boltzmann weight, . So, the amount of time the system spends in low energy states is larger than in high energy states and there is more chance that the system is observed in states where it spends more time. Meaning that when the transition from to is energetically unfavorable, the system happens to be at more frequently, counterbalancing the lower intrinsic probability of transition. Therefore, both, Glauber and Metropolis–Hastings algorithms exhibit detailed balance.
History
The algorithm is named after Roy J. Glauber.
Software
Simulation package IsingLenzMC provides simulation of Glauber Dynamics on 1D lattices with external field. CRAN.
Related pages
Metropolis algorithm
Ising model
Monte Carlo algorithm
Simulated annealing
References
Monte Carlo methods
Spin models | Glauber dynamics | [
"Physics"
] | 629 | [
"Spin models",
"Monte Carlo methods",
"Quantum mechanics",
"Computational physics",
"Statistical mechanics"
] |
62,147,643 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St%20Paul%27s%20Church%2C%20Newington | St Paul's Church is a parish church in Lorrimore Square in the London Borough of Southwark. The church describes itself as St Paul's, Lorrimore Square.
History
The original church was designed by local ecclesiastical architect Henry Jarvis. This church was built in the 1850s during the tenure as rector of William Cadman. The original church, then known as St Paul's, Walworth, was a prominent centre for Anglo-Catholicism; Choral Eucharist was the principal Sunday service as early as 1863. The Survey of London includes a plate of the original church. It was in the Gothic revival style, and was almost completely destroyed in the London Blitz.
Post War
The current church was designed by firm Woodroffe Buchanan & Coulter and built in 1959–60. It is Grade II listed.
The building is a modernist, reinforced concrete buttressed form with a community centre on the ground floor and the church itself and church hall above. There is an organ loft at the west end and a small Lady Chapel behind the altar at the east.
The "folded" roof is made of plate timber and coated in turquoise oxidised copper; it incorporates a series of triangles, symbolising the Holy Trinity. The external walls are a mix of brick, reclaimed stone from the original church, and artificial blocks, some incorporating multicoloured stained glass units.
The interior includes artworks by Freda Skinner and Gerald Holtom.
The key elements of the description in the listing are as follows: "Reinforced concrete in-situ frame supporting pre-cast timber and steel roof. Its facetted structure gives it triangulation and great strength, clad in copper. Wall infill of precast concrete blocks perforated and infilled with … coloured glass, and brick, over plinth formed of rubble stone from the earlier church destroyed in 1941. … Quirky elevations dominated by steep-pitched, faceted copper roof, with fleche over entrance, and with deep eaves. Six-bay church has concrete honeycomb concrete facade, with antique coloured glass infill, set between projecting concrete piers and under zig-zag gabled eaves. The Lady chapel forms a projection at East end, similar in style but with lower eaves. … The church is dominated by its soaring roof, lined in unpainted timber, with white painted ribs to emphasise this unusual structure. Fittings, including the pulpit, font, and crucifix all designed by [John] Wimbleton. East end sculpture of the Risen Christ in Glory by Freda Skinner, symbolic of the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension, over altar with applique decoration by Gerald Holtom depicting the twelve apostles."
Pevsner describes the church building as “a restless, somewhat self-consciously modern exterior”.
The parish website has an extensive photographic archive of the fixtures and fittings.
The church was the subject of a detailed article by the Twentieth Century Society as its Building of the Month in October 2010. The wood carving "The Risen Christ in Glory" is by Freda Skinner (1960); it has a cross 16 ft and the figure is 8 ft high.
RIBA’s online archive has a photograph of the church from 1962 on it, before the surrounding vegetation grew to its current height.
References
External links
Diocese of Southwark
Church of England church buildings in the London Borough of Southwark
Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Southwark
20th-century Church of England church buildings | St Paul's Church, Newington | [
"Technology"
] | 709 | [
"Structural system",
"Hyperboloid structures"
] |
62,149,090 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisashi%20Okamoto | Hisashi Okamoto (岡本 久, Okamoto Hisashi, born 23 November 1956) is a Japanese applied mathematician, specializing in mathematical fluid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics.
Okamoto graduated from the University of Tokyo in March 1979. In April 1981 he became a research associate to Hiroshi Fujita (known for the Fujita-Kato theorem) at the University of Tokyo. There in 1985 he received his Doctorate of Science with Fujita as advisor. For the academic year 1986–1987 Okamoto was a visiting fellow at the University of Minnesota's Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications. In August 1987 Okamoto became an associate professor in the University of Tokyo's Department of Applied Science. In 1988 he visited the National University of Singapore. At Kyoto University's Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (RIMS), he became an associate professor in April 1990 and a full professor in April 1994. At RIMS he was Head of the Computer Science Research Laboratory from 2004 to 2005 and deputy director in 2006, 2009, and 2011. He is editor-in-chief of the Japan Journal of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (JJIAM).
Okamoto is the author or co-author of over 100 articles in refereed journals or in books of conference proceedings. He wrote, with Mayumi Shōji, the 2001 monograph The mathematical theory of permanent progressive water-waves.
Awards and honors
1998 — Invited Speaker, International Congress of Mathematicians, Berlin 1998
2002 — Inoue Science Award
2011 — President of the East Asia SIAM, 2011–2012
2013 — Fellow of the Japan Society of Fluid Mechanics
2013 — Fellow of the Japan Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
2015 — Plenary Lecturer, Mathematical Society of Japan, September 2015.
2016 — Hiroshi Fujiwara Prize on Mathematical Science
References
1956 births
Living people
20th-century Japanese mathematicians
21st-century Japanese mathematicians
Applied mathematicians
Numerical analysts
Fluid dynamicists
University of Tokyo alumni
Academic staff of Kyoto University
Academic staff of the University of Tokyo | Hisashi Okamoto | [
"Chemistry",
"Mathematics"
] | 397 | [
"Applied mathematics",
"Applied mathematicians",
"Fluid dynamicists",
"Fluid dynamics"
] |
62,153,058 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytopological%20space | In general topology, a polytopological space consists of a set together with a family of topologies on that is linearly ordered by the inclusion relation where is an arbitrary index set. It is usually assumed that the topologies are in non-decreasing order. However some authors prefer the associated closure operators to be in non-decreasing order where if and only if for all . This requires non-increasing topologies.
Formal definitions
An -topological space
is a set together with a monotone map Top where is a partially ordered set and Top is the set of all possible topologies on ordered by inclusion. When the partial order is a linear order then is called a polytopological space. Taking to be the ordinal number an -topological space can be thought of as a set with topologies on it. More generally a multitopological space is a set together with an arbitrary family of topologies on it.
History
Polytopological spaces were introduced in 2008 by the philosopher Thomas Icard for the purpose of defining a topological model of Japaridze's polymodal logic (GLP). They were later used to generalize variants of Kuratowski's closure-complement problem. For example Taras Banakh et al. proved that under operator composition the closure operators and complement operator on an arbitrary -topological space can together generate at most distinct operators where In 1965 the Finnish logician Jaakko Hintikka found this bound for the case and claimed it "does not appear to obey any very simple law as a function of ".
See also
Bitopological space
References
Topology | Polytopological space | [
"Physics",
"Mathematics"
] | 322 | [
"Spacetime",
"Topology",
"Space",
"Geometry"
] |
62,153,665 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol%20D.%20Frost | Carol Denison Frost (born May 23, 1957) is an American isotope geologist, petrologist and professor. Her primary research focuses on the evolution of the continental crust and granite petrogenesis. She has spent over forty years investigating the geologic history of the Wyoming Province and the formation and geochemical classification of granite. Other contributions include isotopic fingerprinting of natural waters, including water associated with energy production. She served as Director of the Earth Sciences Division, National Science Foundation, from December 2014 to January 2018. Frost joined the British Geological Survey Board of Directors in 2023.
Early life
Frost grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. Prior to the 1964 Alaska earthquake her family home was four blocks from Cook Inlet; afterwards it was only two. This experience of the dynamic Earth led her to study geology at Dartmouth College, where she completed an undergraduate honors thesis in the Salt Range of northern Pakistan. She earned the PhD at the University of Cambridge in 1984. Her dissertation, using isotopic tracers to investigate sediment provenance and granite petrogenesis, underscored the important role of crustal recycling in the geochemical evolution of the continental crust.
Career
Frost joined the University of Wyoming as an assistant professor in 1983, rising through the ranks and becoming professor in 1995. Frost held a number of administrative positions, first at the University of Wyoming and then at the National Science Foundation. From 2006 to 2007, she was founding director of the School of Energy Resources at UW. She then served as Associate Vice President for Research (2008-2010), Vice President for Special Projects (2010-2012), and Associate Provost (2012-2013). In 2014 she became Division Director for the Division of Earth Sciences at the National Science Foundation, a position she held until returning to the University of Wyoming in early 2018. Frost became Professor Emerita in 2020.
Frost is the 101st President of the Mineralogical Society of America (2020).
Research
Frost's research involves studying how the continental crust has changed throughout Earth's history. She works with a multitude of rocks, including igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary (from the Archaean period to today) as well as natural waters and materials such as coal and crude oils. She focuses especially on the Archean continental crust in Wyoming, where she is looking at what she describes to be “the oldest high-pressure metamorphism in North America” (Frost, n.d., Research Statement, para. 2) in order to take note of a historical collision between continents. Most of her research is on the topic of Precambrian evolution of the continental crust and granite petrogenesis.
Frost's research in Wyoming has found that various groundwater aquifers are made up of unique Sr isotopic compositions, and therefore, by using Sr isotopic ratios, contamination between aquifers can be identified. In the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, she and her partners have also determined that unique Sr and C isotopic compositions can be found in groundwaters from aquifers made up of sandstone and coal, which can help them to trace and take note of changes in the movement of groundwater caused by dewatering (which is a result of the methane produced from coal beds and surface mining).
She has also acted as a private investigator on projects that stem from research regarding sites of geologic formations for carbon dioxide storage as well as depleted gas fields in southeastern and northeastern Wyoming, respectively. These projects provide the instruction needed for the “injection and storage of carbon dioxide in deep saline aquifer and depleted oil and gas fields” (Frost, n.d., Research Statement, para. 5).
Awards and honors
2019 Fellow, Geological Society of America
2016 Geochemistry Fellow, Geochemical Society and European Association of Geochemistry
2013 National Ski Patrol Purple Merit Star
2008 George Duke Humphrey Award, University of Wyoming
2007 Chosen “Top Ten Teacher” by UW College of Arts & Sciences students
2001 Carnegie Foundation/CASE Wyoming Professor of the Year
2000-2001 Ellbogen Meritorious Classroom Teaching Award, University of Wyoming
Fall 2000 Presidential Award, University of Wyoming
1998 Fellow, Mineralogical Society of America
Writings
2013 "Proterozoic ferroan feldspathic magmatism" Carol D. Frost, B. Ronald Frost
2008 "A Geochemical Classification for Feldspathic Igneous Rocks" B. Ronald Frost, Carol D. Frost
2006 "Archean geochronological framework of the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming" Carol D Frost, C Mark Fanning
2003 "Early Archean to Mesoproterozoic evolution of the Wyoming Province: Archean origins to modern lithospheric architecture" Carol D. Frost, B. Ronald Frost, Kevin R. Chamberlain
References
American geologists
University of Wyoming faculty
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
1957 births
Academics from Oregon
Women geochemists
American women geologists
Dartmouth College alumni
Living people
American women academics
21st-century American women
Scientists from Anchorage, Alaska
Scientists from Oregon | Carol D. Frost | [
"Chemistry"
] | 1,006 | [
"Geochemists",
"Women geochemists"
] |
62,154,166 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry%20Crapo%20%28mathematician%29 | Henry Howland Crapo (; August 12, 1932 – September 3, 2019) was an American-Canadian mathematician who worked in algebraic combinatorics. Over the course of his career, he held positions at several universities and research institutes in Canada and France. He is noted for his work in matroid theory and lattice theory.
Education and career
Crapo was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1932. He received his Ph.D. in 1964 under the supervision of Gian-Carlo Rota and Kenneth Hoffman, with thesis On the theory of combinatorial independence. While working on his thesis, he was an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University in Boston. He subsequently held academic positions at the University of Waterloo, Université de Montréal, INRIA Rocquencourt, and École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. During his time in Waterloo, Crapo became a Canadian citizen.
Crapo is known for his early work in matroid theory, and for related work in lattice theory. He introduced the beta invariant of a matroid, and published the first paper on the Tutte polynomial (though Tutte had already defined an equivalent polynomial in his thesis). Together with Gian-Carlo Rota, Crapo wrote the first book on matroid theory. He is also known for Crapo's Complementation Theorem in poset Möbius Inversion. Crapo wrote 65 mathematical publications during his career.
Upon his retirement, Crapo moved to the south of France. He continued some mathematical activity, and hosted several small conferences at his house there. He died on September 3, 2019.
Awards and honors
A special 1999 issue of the journal Advances in Applied Mathematics was dedicated to Crapo on the occasion of his 67th birthday.
Personal life
Crapo was a patron of the arts. At the University of Waterloo he donated a collection of rare books on the history of dance and ballet, as well as a copy of the Porcellino sculpture of Florence; the latter shoulder-high bronze sculpture of a wild boar later became a mascot for the University of Waterloo Faculty of Arts. He also donated The Temptation of St. Anthony by James Ensor to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp and Corpse of Man by Hyman Bloom to the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University.
References
1932 births
2019 deaths
20th-century American mathematicians
21st-century American mathematicians
20th-century Canadian mathematicians
21st-century Canadian mathematicians
Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
Northeastern University faculty
Academic staff of the University of Waterloo
Academic staff of the Université de Montréal
Combinatorialists
Scientists from Detroit
Writers from Detroit
Mathematicians from Michigan
Naturalized citizens of Canada
Canadian expatriates in France
American expatriates in France | Henry Crapo (mathematician) | [
"Mathematics"
] | 540 | [
"Combinatorialists",
"Combinatorics"
] |
62,155,116 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International%20Day%20of%20Women%20and%20Girls%20in%20Science | The International Day of Women and Girls in Science is an annual observance adopted by the United Nations General Assembly to promote the full and equal access and participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 70/212 on 22 December 2015, which proclaimed the 11th day of February as the annual commemoration of the observance. A theme is selected annually to highlight a particular focus and area of discussion around a focus point for gender equality in science.
The International Day of Women and Girls in Science is implemented annually by UNESCO in collaboration with UN Women. Both organisations work with national governments, intergovernmental organisations, civil society partners, universities and corporations in order to achieve the shared goal of promoting the role of women and girls in scientific fields and celebrate those already successful in the field.
Background
Context
In comparison to their male peers, females are underrepresented in science and technology fields. Between the 1960s and 1980s, the number of women obtaining science and engineering degrees steadily increased in American universities, however reached an unexpected plateau from the 1980s. A 2013 UK study explored that there has existed a persistent underrepresentation of women in STEM fields, and that in the prior 25-year period there had been little change of the participation of women in science and technology. Further, social barriers including the expectation of women in the home, early marriage and discriminatory practices in the labour market have been persistent in preventing women in developing regions across the world such as Africa, South Asia and the Caribbean from not only pursuing science and technology further, but education more broadly.
In the present day these barriers to participation are still persistent, and present as social barriers. A 2013 study in the United Kingdom explored the social barriers to participation post the compulsory participation age in sciences (particularly physics) and determined that pervasive gender biases exist, with girls less likely to be encouraged to study physics by their teachers, family, and friends.
Throughout the world there are also regional differences in the particular barriers for female participation in the sciences. In the United States, it was found that lower enrolment and attraction to scientific education across the pipeline resulted in lower female participation. This differed to the Arab world, where enrolment in scientific education is particularly high, comprising a sixty to eighty percent share of total enrolments, however career and social barriers prevented further participation.
Adoption by the United Nations
On 22 December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly met to adopt resolution 70/212 titled "International Day of Women and Girls in Science". This resolution formally proclaimed February 11 as the annual observation of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The United Nations General Assembly invited all member states, organisations and bodies of the United Nations alongside individuals and the private sector to engage in awareness raising and educational activities to promote the full and equal access for women and girls in science. In adopting the resolution, the United Nations drew on several of its previous resolutions in order to cite the need for the observation of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Notably, resolution 70/1 titled "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development", which declared the United Nations' 2030 sustainable development goals, was cited, namely the goals of quality education and gender equality. Alongside this, resolution 68/220 was cited, where the United Nations General Assembly recognised that in order to achieve gender equality and female empowerment, it is essential to promote the full and equal access of females to participate in science, technology and innovation. The two key United Nations organisations responsible for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science are UNESCO and UN Women.
Annual commemorations and official themes
Each year on February 11, the United Nations hosts the International Day of Women and Girls in Science Assembly. The assembly brings together both representatives of member states alongside representatives of international organisations, the private sector and leading scientists to discuss measures and initiatives to promote the increased participation of females in STEM. The Assembly is co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions to the United Nations of Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Bhutan, Chile, Ecuador, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Mexico, Nigeria, Republic of Korea, San Marino, and Uzbekistan. Each year the assembly focuses upon a key theme as a central topic of discussion.
Recognition by government organisations
Alongside the annual assembly of the United Nations, various governments and governmental organisations promote initiatives to recognise and endorse the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, including raising awareness and increasing funding to initiatives promoting women in science. Selected examples have been highlighted below.
Australia
As a permanent sponsor mission, the Australian Government has actively taken steps to promote and encourage female participation in alignment with the recognition and celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. To commemorate the event in 2022, the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources committed A$6.7 million of funding to address female underrepresentation in STEM fields by expanding successful initiatives targeting the issue.
European Union
The executive branch of the European Union, the European Commission, has specifically called upon its citizens to acknowledge the achievements of female participation in scientific research and innovation on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The European Union has actively implemented initiatives to promote women and girls in science, such as requiring organisations to have a Gender Equality Plan in place to be eligible to receive Horizon Europe funding and grants as well as awarding three EUR 50,000 grants in 2022 to female innovators under 35.
Ireland
The Irish Government actively recognises the International Day of Women and Girls in Science and has used the commemoration to announce reforms to recognise and promote the need for increased female participation in STEM. On recognition of the 7th annual observation of the event, the Irish Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, announced that the three largest providers of scientific funding in Ireland require Higher Education institutions to have gender equality accreditation before they have access to research funding.
Kenya
The Government of the Republic of Kenya, specifically the Ministry of Education and National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation have actively celebrated the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. In 2022, the organisations alongside the UNESCO Kenya National Mission hosted a virtual celebration to celebrate the 2022 theme involving speakers and educational aspects.
United Kingdom
The Government of the United Kingdom is an active supporter of the International Day of Women and Girls, and actively promotes it through its Government agencies. Notably, the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office actively promoted and stated the United Kingdom's commitment to supporting women and girls in STEM through its social media channels for the 2022 commemoration and through interviews with leading British female scientists in 2021.
Other recognition
Globally, non-government and corporate organisations have also recognised the International Day of Women and Girls in Science through their own initiatives to promote the role of females in STEM. Selected examples have been highlighted below.
Universities and academia
Universities and academic organisations play a key role in the recognition of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. For example, in 2017 for the 2nd annual commemoration of the event, the International Particle Physics Outreach Group, a network of academics and scientists from universities and research laboratories around the globe, launched masterclasses ran by female scientists for female students across Barcelona, Cagliari, Cosenza, Heidelberg, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. After their launch these masterclasses have continued to run annually alongside the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Associated members of the International Science Council including the International Astronomical Union, International Mathematical Union and International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry all host events both in person and virtually on an annual basis to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
Corporations
Various corporations actively participate in initiatives to promote women and girls in science that coincide with the commemoration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. L'Oreal sponsors the L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards which are presented annually on 11 February to five female scientists from regions across the globe to recognise esteemed accomplishment in scientific fields. Airbus, a global aviation company, utilises the focus of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science to highlight important women in their company and the key roles they play for the firm globally. In 2022, they highlighted the role of the first female to join Airbus' space programme manager's group in Madrid.
References
External links
February observances
2015 in the United Nations
United Nations days
Women in science and technology | International Day of Women and Girls in Science | [
"Technology"
] | 1,720 | [
"Women in science and technology"
] |
62,155,189 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola%20Razr%20%282020%29 | The 2019 Motorola Razr (stylized motorola razr, also known as RAZR 2019) is an Android foldable smartphone produced by Motorola Mobility. Unveiled on November 14, 2019, it was released on February 6, 2020. The device is designed to be reminiscent of the original Motorola Razr feature phone series and features a horizontally foldable screen (in contrast to other recent folding smartphones which are designed to be folded vertically). An updated version of the phone, Motorola Razr 5G, was announced on September 9, 2020, and released on September 15 of that year.
Specifications
The Razr is inspired heavily by the original feature phone line of the same name, and uses a clamshell design to conceal a 6.2-inch 21:9 OLED display. The device's exterior features a secondary 2.7-inch "Quick View" display to access selected features (such as notifications) when the device is closed. The screen is protected by a stainless-steel frame, is "scuff resistant", and has no visible crease at its folding point, with a fingerprint sensor located in the lower bezel. In response to concerns surrounding the Galaxy Fold, Motorola Mobility stated that it had "full confidence" in the durability of the phone's screen, that it would last the "average lifespan of a smartphone", and that they were "not going to go out there and say, consumers should be cautious of how they use the phone". The device was initially sold in a black finish. A second "Blush Gold" option was announced in February 2020. The Razr does not support physical SIM cards, and requires use of eSIM.
It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 system-on-chip and Adreno 616 GPU, with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of non-expandable internal storage. It uses two batteries which have a total capacity of 2510 mAh, and fast charging is supported at up to 15W over USB-C. A single camera is present on the rear with a 16 megapixel lens, while the front-facing camera has a 5 megapixel lens and is housed within a notch at the top of the display.
The Razr shipped with Android 9.0 "Pie", and received an update for Android 10 in mid-May 2020, adding theme support (carried over from the Motorola Edge+) and additional functionality to the Quick View display, such as virtual keyboard support, video calling, and Google Maps support. Motorola Mobility committed to supporting Android 11 as well. The software has a "Retro Razr" mode easter egg which changes the home screen to a recreation of the menu screen and keypad of the original Razr series.
Razr 5G
In September 2020, Motorola Mobility released an updated revision of the Razr branded as the Razr 5G, also known as the Razr 2 5G. Its design is nearly identical to the original model, but the fingerprint reader is re-located to the rear of the device. It now uses a Snapdragon 765G system-on-chip, with 8 GB of RAM and support for sub-6 GHz 5G wireless networks. Its cameras were also upgraded, with a 20 megapixel front-facing camera, and 48-megapixel rear-facing camera with laser autofocus and optical image stabilization. In the United States, the Razr 5G is exclusive to AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile.
Reception
The Razr was met with mixed reviews at launch, with several reviewers making comparisons to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. Common criticisms included the price, poor battery life and camera, sub-flagship level performance, Verizon exclusivity and bloatware, and an unrefined hinge and display, while praise went to the compact form factor, retro design and stock software. Patrick Holland of CNET gave the device a 7.5/10, praising the design, form factor and usability. Holland was impressed with the secondary Quick View display, but noted that the wide aspect ratio caused pillarboxing for apps and movies, and that the user interface was not well optimized for one-handed use. Sascha Segan of PC Magazine gave the device a 2.5/5, additionally panning the device for weak wireless performance, concluding that "Motorola [Mobility]'s gorgeous folding Razr doesn't deliver the performance you expect from a $1,500 phone".
Julian Chokkattu of Wired gave the Razr a 4/10, stating that "Motorola [Mobility]'s first foldable smartphone makes a good case for the return of the clamshell design, but the Razr is still stuck in the past". Dieter Bohn of The Verge gave the device a 4/10, stating that "if this phone didn't fold, I wouldn't recommend it at one-sixth of its current price". Adam Ismail of Tom's Guide likewise stated that “[the Razr’s] myriad shortcomings — from its fragility, to its performance, to its camera and battery life — mean it's not worth the $1,500 plunge.”
iFixit gave the Razr a repairability score of 1/10, deeming it "the most complicated phone-based contraption we've ever taken apart".
Versions
This information may be incomplete
See also
Huawei Mate X
Xiaomi Mi MIX Alpha
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
References
External links
Mobile phones introduced in 2019
Motorola smartphones
Android (operating system) devices
Foldable smartphones
Flip phones | Motorola Razr (2020) | [
"Technology"
] | 1,179 | [
"Crossover devices",
"Foldable smartphones"
] |
62,155,660 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methoxymethanol | Methoxymethanol is a chemical compound which is both an ether and an alcohol, a hemiformal. The structural formula can be written as CH3OCH2OH. It has been discovered in space.
Formation
Methoxymethanol forms spontaneously when a water solution of formaldehyde and methanol are mixed. or when formaldehyde is bubbled through methanol.
In space methoxymethanol can form when methanol radicals (CH2OH or CH3O) react. These are radiolysis products derived when ultraviolet light or cosmic rays hit frozen methanol.
Methanol can react with carbon dioxide and hydrogen at 80°C and some pressure with a ruthenium or cobalt catalyst, to yield some methoxymethanol.
Properties
Different conformations of the molecule are Gauche-gauce (Gg), Gauche-gauce' (Gg'), and Trans-gauche (Tg).
References
Ethers
Primary alcohols | Methoxymethanol | [
"Chemistry"
] | 209 | [
"Organic compounds",
"Functional groups",
"Ethers"
] |
63,058,336 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucangium%20carthusianum | Leucangium carthusianum is a species of ascomycete fungus. It is commonly known as the Oregon black truffle. It is found in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, where it grows in an ectomycorrhizal association with Douglas-fir. It is commercially collected, usually assisted by a specially trained truffle dog. Mature fruiting bodies can be dug up mostly during winter, but the season can extend from September through April.
Description
On the outside, the fruit bodies are dark brown and rough to smooth. They are sometimes mistaken for coal lumps. Inside, the gleba is gray to brownish and separated into pockets by veins. The odor is pungent and fruity, usually resembling pineapple.
Edibility
Leucangium carthusianum is a good edible mushroom; it can be prepared similarly to Oregon White and European truffles; it is typically shaved raw on top of a dish to add its complex musky aroma.
See also
Tuber oregonense
References
External links
Mushroaming.com: Truffles in the Pacific Northwest
Edible fungi
Fungi described in 1862
Fungi of North America
Morchellaceae
Fungus species | Leucangium carthusianum | [
"Biology"
] | 244 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
63,063,575 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-Neptune | The term sub-Neptune can refer to a planet with a smaller radius than Neptune even though it may have a larger mass or to a planet with a smaller mass than Neptune even though it may have a larger radius like a super-puff and both meanings can even be used in the same publication.
Neptune-like planets are considerably rarer than sub-Neptune sized planets, despite being only slightly bigger. This "radius cliff" separates sub-Neptunes (radii < 3 Earth radii) from Neptunes (radii > 3 Earth radii). This radius cliff is thought to arise because during formation when gas is accreting, the atmospheres of planets that size reach the pressures required to force the hydrogen into the magma ocean stalling radius growth. Then, once the magma ocean saturates, radius growth can continue. However, planets that have enough gas to reach saturation are much rarer, because they require much more gas.
On 29 November 2023, astronomers reported the discovery of six sub-Neptune exoplanets orbiting the star HD 110067, with radii ranging from 1.94 to 2.85.
See also
Super-Earth
Mini-Neptune
Mega-Earth
Further reading
The nature and origins of sub-Neptune size planets, Jacob L. Bean, Sean N. Raymond, James E. Owen, 22 Oct 2020
References
Exoplanets | Sub-Neptune | [
"Astronomy"
] | 285 | [] |
63,063,610 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center%20for%20Research%20on%20Computation%20and%20Society | The Center for Research on Computation and Society (CRCS, commonly pronounced "circus") is a research center at Harvard University that focuses on interdisciplinary research combining computer science with social sciences. It is based in Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. It is currently directed by Milind Tambe.
History
The center was officially founded in 2005, although there are appearances of CRCS affiliation back in 1996. The center name mimics the name of the centers for Internet and Society such as Stanford's or Harvard's.The Privacy Tools Project was one of the most important efforts led by CRCS. It received funding from multiple sources from 2009 throughout 2020 in order to research and build tools to enhance privacy, in a common effort with Harvard's Berkman Klein Center, Harvard's Data Privacy Lab, and MIT Libraries. The CRCS founding director was Stuart M. Shieber. After him, the center was directed by Greg Morrisett and later by Salil Vadhan until 2015, when Margo Seltzer was named new director. In 2018, after her departure to Columbia University, she was replaced as director by Jim Waldo. When Milind Tambe joined Harvard in September 2019 he became the new center director.
The center has a yearly fellowship program, and relevant past fellows include Simson Garfinkel or Ariel Procaccia. It also hosts regular public talks ("seminars") with distinguished invited speakers, which are usually video recorded. Some speakers include Susan Crawford, Bruce Schneier or Megan Price.
Research
The center has covered a broad spectrum of research lines within computer science, typically with social aspects. These include social computing, privacy-enhancing technologies, encryption and data security, misinformation, machine learning fairness, internet of things, or a citizen-science platform.
See also
Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society
References
Research institutes in Massachusetts
Computing and society
Research institutes established in 2005
2005 establishments in Massachusetts
Harvard University
Computer science institutes in the United States
Scientific organizations established in 2005
Information technology research institutes | Center for Research on Computation and Society | [
"Technology"
] | 418 | [
"Computing and society"
] |
63,064,591 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DH%20Tauri | DH Tauri, also known as DH Tau, is a type M star, located 140 parsecs (456.619 light years) away. It forms a binary system with DI Tauri away, and has a substellar companion, either a brown dwarf or massive exoplanet.
Characteristics
DH Tauri is a type M, or red dwarf star, one of the most common types of star in the Milky Way. It has an apparent magnitude of 13.71 and temperature of . DH Tauri has a mass of and an estimated radius of , which is unusually large for a red dwarf.
The companion DH Tauri B or b has a mass estimated to be between and , making it either a super-Jupiter or brown dwarf. Other sources give a mass as high as , with a bolometric luminosity of . The spectral type has been classified as M7.5 or M9.25. The companion has detected water vapor and carbon monoxide in its atmosphere and has a rotational velocity of 9.6 ± 0.7 km/s. This is between 9 and 15% of the breakup speed of DH Tau B. This low rotation is in agreement with magnetic coupling to a circumplanetary disk in the late stages of accretion, which reduces angular momentum of the companion. The companion, while its host star still having a protoplanetary disk, is still accreting material, being surrounded by a circumsubstellar disk (possibly a circumplanetary disk, depending on its formation history). It is potentially orbited by a smaller candidate companion DH Tauri Bb (possibly an exomoon) with , and a mass ratio with respect to the brown dwarf of one-tenth.
References
Tauri, DH
T Tauri stars
M-type main-sequence stars
J04294155+2632582
IRAS catalogue objects
Taurus (constellation)
Hypothetical planetary systems | DH Tauri | [
"Astronomy"
] | 396 | [
"Taurus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
63,066,808 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian%20Mathias | Adrian Richard David Mathias (born 12 February 1944) is a British mathematician working in set theory.
The forcing notion Mathias forcing is named for him.
Career
Mathias was educated at Shrewsbury and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read mathematics and graduated in 1965. After graduation, he moved to Bonn in Germany where he
studied with Ronald Jensen, visiting UCLA, Stanford, the University of Wisconsin, and Monash University during that period.
In 1969, he returned to Cambridge as a research fellow at Peterhouse and was admitted to the Ph.D. at Cambridge University in 1970. From 1969 to 1990, Mathias was a fellow of Peterhouse; during this period, he was the editor of the Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society from 1972 to 1974, spent one academic year (1978/79) as Hochschulassistent to Jensen in Freiburg and another year (1989/90) at the MSRI in Berkeley. After leaving Peterhouse in 1990, Mathias had visiting positions in Warsaw, at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach, at the CRM in Barcelona, and in Bogotá, before becoming Professor at the Université de la Réunion. He retired from his professorship in 2012 and was admitted to the higher degree of Doctor of Science at the University of Cambridge in 2015.
Work
Mathias became mathematically active soon after the introduction of forcing by Paul Cohen, and Kanamori credits his survey of forcing that was eventually published as Surrealist landscape with figures as being a "vital source" on forcing in its early days.
His paper Happy families, extending his 1968 Cambridge thesis, proves important properties of the forcing now known as Mathias forcing. In the same paper he shows that no (infinite) maximal almost disjoint family can be analytic.
Mathias also used forcing to separate two weak forms of the Axiom of choice, showing that the ordering principle, which states that any set can be linearly ordered, does not imply the Boolean Prime Ideal Theorem.
His more recent work on forcing includes the study of the theory PROVI of provident sets, a minimalist axiom system that still allows the forcing
construction to proceed.
Mathias is also known for his writings around sociological aspects of logic. These include The ignorance of Bourbaki and Hilbert, Bourbaki and the scorning of logic, in which Mathias criticises Bourbaki's approach to logic; in A Term of Length 4,523,659,424,929 he shows that the number in the title is the number of symbols required for Bourbaki's definition of the number 1. Mathias has also considered claims that standard ZFC is stronger than necessary for "mainstream" mathematics; his paper What is Mac Lane missing? on this topic appeared alongside Saunders Mac Lane's response Is Mathias an ontologist?. Mathias also conducted a detailed study of the strength of a weakened system suggested by Mac Lane.
References
External links
Home page
Adrian Richard David Mathias at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
20th-century English mathematicians
21st-century English mathematicians
1944 births
Living people
Mathematical logicians
Set theorists
Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Cambridge mathematicians | Adrian Mathias | [
"Mathematics"
] | 643 | [
"Mathematical logic",
"Mathematical logicians"
] |
63,067,144 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann%20sampler | A Boltzmann sampler is an algorithm intended for random sampling of combinatorial structures. If the object size is viewed as its energy, and the argument of the corresponding generating function is interpreted in terms of the temperature of the physical system, then a Boltzmann sampler returns an object from a classical Boltzmann distribution.
The concept of Boltzmann sampler was proposed by Philippe Duchon, Philippe Flajolet, Guy Louchard and Gilles Schaeffer in 2004.
Description
The concept of Boltzmann sampling is closely related to the symbolic method in combinatorics.
Let be a combinatorial class with an ordinary generating function which has a nonzero radius of convergence , i.e. is complex analytic. Formally speaking, if each object
is equipped with a non-negative integer size , then the generating function is defined as
where denotes the number of objects of size . The size function is typically used to denote the number of vertices in a tree or in a graph, the number of letters in a word, etc.
A Boltzmann sampler for the class with a parameter such that , denoted as
returns an object with probability
Construction
Finite sets
If is finite, then an element is drawn with probability proportional to .
Disjoint union
If the target class is a disjoint union of two other classes, , and the generating functions and of and are known, then the Boltzmann sampler for can be obtained as
where stands for "if the random variable is 1, then execute , else execute ". More generally, if the disjoint union is taken over a finite set, the resulting Boltzmann sampler can be represented using a random choice with probabilities proportional to the values of the generating functions.
Cartesian product
If is a class constructed of ordered pairs where and , then the corresponding Boltzmann sampler can be obtained as
i.e. by forming a pair with and drawn independently from and .
Sequence
If is composed of all the finite sequences of elements of with size of a sequence additively inherited from sizes of components, then the generating function of is expressed as
, where is the generating function of . Alternatively, the class admits a recursive representation This gives two possibilities for .
where stands for "draw a random variable ; if the value is returned, then execute independently times and return the sequence obtained". Here, stands for the geometric distribution .
Recursive classes
As the first construction of the sequence operator suggests, Boltzmann samplers can be used recursively. If the target class is a part of the system
where each of the expressions involves only disjoint union, cartesian product and sequence operator, then the corresponding Boltzmann sampler is well defined. Given the argument value , the numerical values of the generating functions can be obtained by Newton iteration.
Labelled structures
Boltzmann sampling can be applied to labelled structures. For a labelled combinatorial class , exponential generating function is used instead:
where denotes the number of labelled objects of size . The operation of cartesian product and sequence need to be adjusted to take labelling into account, and the principle of construction remains the same.
In the labelled case, the Boltzmann sampler for a labelled class is required to output an object with probability
Labelled sets
In the labelled universe, a class can be composed of all the finite sets of elements of a class with order-consistent relabellings. In this case, the exponential generating function of the class is written as
where is the exponential generating function of the class . The Boltzmann sampler for can be described as
where stands for the standard Poisson distribution .
Labelled cycles
In the cycle construction, a class is composed of all the finite sequences of elements of a class , where two sequences are considered equivalent if they can be obtained by a cyclic shift. The exponential generating function of the class is written as
where is the exponential generating function of the class . The Boltzmann sampler for can be described as
where describes the log-law distribution .
Properties
Let denote the random size of the generated object from . Then, the size has the first and the second moment satisfying
.
Examples
Binary trees
The class of binary trees can be defined by the recursive specification
and its generating function satisfies an equation
and can be evaluated as a solution of the quadratic equation
The resulting Boltzmann sampler can be described recursively by
Set partitions
Consider various partitions of the set into several non-empty classes, being disordered between themselves.
Using symbolic method, the class of set partitions can be expressed as
The corresponding generating function is equal to . Therefore, Boltzmann sampler can be described as
where the positive Poisson distribution is a Poisson distribution with a parameter conditioned to take only positive values.
Further generalisations
The original Boltzmann samplers described by Philippe Duchon, Philippe Flajolet, Guy Louchard and Gilles Schaeffer only support basic unlabelled operations of disjoint union, cartesian product and sequence, and two additional operations for labelled classes, namely the set and the cycle construction. Since then, the scope of combinatorial classes for which a Boltzmann sampler can be constructed, has expanded.
Unlabelled structures
The admissible operations for unlabelled classes include such additional operations as Multiset, Cycle and Powerset. Boltzmann samplers for these operations have been described by Philippe Flajolet, Éric Fusy and Carine Pivoteau.
Differential specifications
Let be a labelled combinatorial class. The derivative operation is defined as follows: take a labelled object and replace an atom with the largest label with a distinguished atom without a label, therefore reducing a size of the resulting object by 1. If is the exponential generating function of the class , then the exponential generating function of the derivative class is given byA differential specification is a recursive specification of type
where the expression involves only standard operations of union, product, sequence, cycle and set, and does not involve differentiation.
Boltzmann samplers for differential specifications have been constructed by Olivier Bodini, Olivier Roussel and Michèle Soria.
Multi-parametric Boltzmann samplers
A multi-parametric Boltzmann distribution for multiparametric combinatorial classes is defined similarly to the classical case. Assume that each object is equipped with the composition size which is a vector of non-negative integer numbers. Each of the size functions can reflect one of the parameters of a data structure, such as the number of leaves of certain colour in a tree, the height of the tree, etc. The corresponding multivariate generating function is then associated with a multi-parametric class, and is defined asA Boltzmann sampler for the multiparametric class with a vector parameter inside the domain of analyticity of , denoted as
returns an object with probability
Multiparametric Boltzmann samplers have been constructed by Olivier Bodini and Yann Ponty. A polynomial-time algorithm for finding the numerical values of the parameters given the target parameter expectations, can be obtained by formulating an auxiliary convex optimisation problem
Applications
Boltzmann sampling can be used to generate algebraic data types for the sake of property-based testing.
Software
Random Discrete Objects Suite (RDOS): http://lipn.fr/rdos/
Combstruct package in Maple: https://www.maplesoft.com/support/help/Maple/view.aspx?path=combstruct
Haskell package Boltzmann Brain: https://github.com/maciej-bendkowski/boltzmann-brain
References
Combinatorial algorithms | Boltzmann sampler | [
"Mathematics"
] | 1,566 | [
"Combinatorial algorithms",
"Computational mathematics",
"Combinatorics"
] |
63,067,469 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactarius%20albolutescens | Lactarius albolutescens is a member of the large genus Lactarius (order Russulales), known as milk-caps. Found in North America, the species was first described in 1957 by American mycologist Harry D. Thiers.
See also
List of Lactarius species
References
albolutescens
Fungi of North America
Fungi described in 1957
Fungus species | Lactarius albolutescens | [
"Biology"
] | 80 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
63,067,942 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian%20Lightning%20Detection%20%26%20Information%20System | ALDIS (Austrian Lightning Detection & Information System) is a sensor network in Austria for the detection and localization of lightning discharge occurring during thunderstorms. In addition to the location of the strike point, the associated peak current is also estimated. ALDIS is a member of the pan-European lightning detection project EUCLID (EUropean Cooperation for LIghtning Detection).
ALDIS was initiated in 1991. Project partners are the OVE (Austrian Electrotechnical Association) and APG (Austrian Power Grid).
The detection of lightning, either from cloud-to-ground or within the cloud is accomplished by eight sensors of type LS7002 (Vaisala), which are distributed across the Austrian territory. The performance of a lightning location system is best described by the main performance parameters detection efficiency (DE), location accuracy (LA), and classification accuracy (CA).
In a study by Schwalt et al. (2020) based on data from a high speed video camera and an electric field recording system, it is shown that the DE of flashes (any group of cloud-to-ground, CG, and intracloud, IC, discharges belonging to the same origin in the cloud) exceeds 96%. The LA of the detected cloud-to-ground discharges is about 100 m on average. The accuracy to classify correctly individual lightning events as cloud-to-ground (CG) or intracloud (IC) events is 80-90% (classification accuracy, CA) for the sensor system LS7002.
Since 1998 a radio tower located on top of the Gaisberg (a mountain near Salzburg, Austria) is equipped with instruments in order to record lighting current waveforms and allow to obtain parameters of the lightning strokes to the tower. Thereby obtained data are also applicable for the performance analyses and calibration of the lightning location system ALDIS and lightning research studies in general.
The main goals of the ALDIS project group are:
to provide lightning data to a number of lighting sensitive businesses and organizations in Austria (meteorological services, insurance companies, etc.)
to perform research about the origins and effects of lightning which has an impact on the development of lightning protection system
thunderstorm warning due to automatically monitoring of first indications of approaching thunderstorms. This can be used to send warning messages to critical industries (e.g. handling of explosives)
long-term archiving of located lightning for statistical evaluations in connection with the determination of the local lightning hazard or risk management according to the valid international lightning protection standards (IEC/EN 62305 series).
Some historical lightning data can be accessed via HORA (Natural Hazard Overview & Risk Assessment Austria, https://hora.gv.at). An overview of the actual lightning activity in Austria is shown on ALDIS mobile.
References
Lightning
Science and technology in Austria | Austrian Lightning Detection & Information System | [
"Physics"
] | 583 | [
"Physical phenomena",
"Electrical phenomena",
"Lightning"
] |
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