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70,381,229 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waitroom | Waitroom is a host-led livestreaming and video meeting platform that allows one-on-one engagement between hosts and their audiences. These engagements can range from 30 seconds to 30 minutes long. Waitroom was co-founded in the summer of 2020 by entrepreneurs Vinny Lingham, Margaret Grobler, and Michael Gaylord. The company has raised $3 million in seed funding and its lead investor is venture capital firm Craft Ventures.
Waitroom is headquartered in San Diego, California, and has 15 full-time and 6 part-time employees.
References
External links
2022 software
Web conferencing
Internet properties established in 2020
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on science and technology
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
Software associated with the COVID-19 pandemic
Livestreaming software | Waitroom | [
"Technology"
] | 173 | [
"History of science and technology",
"Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on science and technology"
] |
70,381,482 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutetium%20%28177Lu%29%20vipivotide%20tetraxetan | {{DISPLAYTITLE:Lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan}}
Lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan, sold under the brand name Pluvicto, is a radiopharmaceutical medication used for the treatment of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan is a targeted radioligand therapy.
The most common adverse reactions include fatigue, dry mouth, nausea, anemia, decreased appetite, and constipation.
Lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan is a radioconjugate composed of PSMA-617, a human prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting ligand, conjugated to the beta-emitting radioisotope lutetium-177, with potential antineoplastic activity against PSMA-expressing tumor cells. Upon intravenous administration of lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan, it targets and binds to PSMA-expressing tumor cells. Upon binding, PSMA-expressing tumor cells are destroyed by 177Lu through the specific delivery of beta particle radiation. PSMA, a tumor-associated antigen and type II transmembrane protein, is expressed on the membrane of prostatic epithelial cells and overexpressed on prostate tumor cells.
Lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan was approved for medical use in the United States in March 2022, and in the European Union in December 2022. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers it to be a first-in-class medication.
History
In 2006, scientists from Purdue University designed a targeting ligand that bound with high affinity and specificity to PSMA on prostate cancer cells and patented its ability to target attached radionuclides such as 177Lu, 99mTc, 68Ga, etc. to prostate cancers. The patents were licensed to Endocyte in 2007. In 2012, scientists at German Cancer Research Center and University Hospital Heidelberg improved the drug's affinity, patented, and licensed to ABX advanced biomedical compounds, a small German pharmaceutical company, for early clinical development. In 2017, the ABX patent was also acquired by Endocyte and Endocyte together with the above two sets of patents was acquired by Novartis in 2018.
Efficacy and safety was initially investigated as a compassionate access treatment in Germany with high tumor targeting and low doses to normal organs. Physician-scientists from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre conducted a phase 2 trial demonstrating high response rates, low toxicity and reduction in pain in men with metastatic castration-resistant cancer who progressed after conventional treatments. The ANZUP co-operative trials conducted the first randomized, multicentre trial comparing lutetium vipivotide tetraxetan to cabazitaxel chemotherapy. This trial demonstrated higher PSA response and fewer adverse effects with lutetium vipivotide tetraxetan.
Efficacy was evaluated in VISION, a randomized (2:1), multicenter, open-label trial that evaluated lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan plus best standard of care (BSoC) (n=551) or BSoC alone (n=280) in men with progressive, prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). All participants received a GnRH analog or had prior bilateral orchiectomy. Participants were required to have received at least one androgen receptor pathway inhibitor, and 1 or 2 prior taxane-based chemotherapy regimens. Participants received lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan 7.4 GBq (200 mCi) every 6 weeks for up to a total of 6 doses plus BSoC or BSoC alone.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the application for lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan priority review and breakthrough therapy designations.
Society and culture
Regulatory status
On 13 October 2022, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for the medicinal product Pluvicto, intended for the treatment of prostate cancer. The applicant for this medicinal product was Novartis Europharm Limited. Lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan was approved for medical use in the European Union in December 2022.
References
Lutetium complexes
Drugs developed by Novartis
Radiopharmaceuticals | Lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan | [
"Chemistry"
] | 1,003 | [
"Chemicals in medicine",
"Radiopharmaceuticals",
"Medicinal radiochemistry"
] |
70,383,764 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedition%2071 | Expedition 71 was the 71st long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the departure of Soyuz MS-24 on 6 April 2024 with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko continuing his ISS command from Expedition 70. It ended with his departure on Soyuz MS-25 with crewmates from MS-24 and MS-25 on 23 September 2024.
Background, Crew, and Events
Initially, the expedition consisted of Kononenko, his Russian Soyuz MS-24 crewmate Nikolai Chub (both on a year long ISS mission since 15 September 2023), and his American Soyuz MS-25 crewmate, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, who launched on 23 March 2024, as well as SpaceX Crew-8 crewmates, American astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, who launched on 4 March 2024 and were transferred from Expedition 70 after Soyuz MS-24 departure.
NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams arrived at the station on 6 June 2024 as part of the Boeing Crew Flight Test. Their visit was planned to be brief. However, due to technical issues with their spacecraft, their stay was extended, and they became de facto members of the ISS crew. They assisted with various tasks, including research, housekeeping, and maintenance. On 24 August 2024, NASA announced that the Boeing Starliner spacecraft would return to Earth unmanned with Wilmore and Williams returning on the SpaceX Crew-9 mission in early 2025. NASA also announced that Wilmore and Williams would formally be added to the Expedition 71/72/73 crew.
Events manifest
Events involving crewed spacecraft are listed in bold.
Previous mission: Expedition 70
6 April 2024 – Soyuz MS-24 Undocking (includes Visiting Expedition 21), official switch from Expedition 70
25 April 2024 – EVA-1 (VKD-62) Kononenko/Chub: 4 hrs, 36 mins
28 April 2024 – CRS SpX-30 Undocking
2 May 2024 – SpaceX Crew-8 Redocking
28 May 2024 – Progress MS-25/86P Undocking
1 June 2024 – Progress MS-27/88P Docking
6 June 2024 – Boeing Crew Flight Test Docking
24 June 2024 – EVA-2 (US-90) Dyson/Barratt: 0 hrs, 31 mins
12 July 2024 – CRS NG-20 Unberthing & Release
6 August 2024 – CRS NG-21 Capture & Berthing
13 August 2024 – Progress MS-26/87P Undocking
17 August 2024 – Progress MS-28/89P Docking
4 September 2024 – Wilmore and Williams' seat liner moved from Boeing CFT swapped to SpaceX Crew-8 for CFT uncrewed landing
6 September 2024 – Boeing Crew Flight Test Uncrewed Undocking
11 September 2024 – Soyuz MS-26 Docking
22 September 2024 – ISS Expedition 71/72 Change of Command Ceremony from Oleg Kononenko to Sunita Williams
23 September 2024 – Soyuz MS-25 Undocking, official switch to Expedition 72
Next: Expedition 72
Crew
Expedition Crew
Crewed test flight
Vehicle manifest
The Prichal aft, forward, starboard, and aft ports all have yet to be used since the module originally docked to the station and are not included in the table.
Notes
References
NASA
2024 in spaceflight
April 2024
May 2024
June 2024
July 2024
August 2024
Spaceflight
Expeditions to the International Space Station | Expedition 71 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 725 | [
"Spaceflight",
"Outer space"
] |
70,383,849 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lees%20Hall%20Roman%20Camp | Lees Hall Roman Camp is an archaeological site, a Roman camp near Hadrian's Wall, in Northumberland, England. It is near Haltwhistle and adjacent to the B6318 road.
Description
The camp is one of over 40 temporary Roman camps recorded near Hadrian's Wall; they may have been marching camps, or were occupied by troops constructing the wall, or were used during military training. This camp is unusual in having an outwork surrounding the main defences, suggesting that it was used for more than one campaign season.
The camp, a scheduled monument, is about south of Hadrian's Wall, and is south of the Vallum. There are extensive views to the north and east; a small stream, running from west to east, lies within the fort.
It survives as earthworks and ditches; the rampart has an average height of with an external ditch up to deep. It is rectangular, measuring west to east by north to south, enclosing an area of . There are four gateways, which are in the centre of the west and east side and offset to the east on the north and south sides, implying that the camp faced east.
The outwork surrounds the fort about outside the main defences; its average height is , with breaks opposite the gateways.
References
Roman sites in Northumberland
Scheduled monuments in Northumberland
Archaeological sites in Northumberland
Hadrian's Wall | Lees Hall Roman Camp | [
"Engineering"
] | 285 | [
"Hadrian's Wall",
"Fortification lines"
] |
70,383,921 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic%20freshwater%20flux | Oceanic freshwater fluxes are defined as the transport of non saline water between the oceans and the other components of the Earth's system (the lands, the atmosphere and the cryosphere). These fluxes have an impact on the local ocean properties (on sea surface salinity, temperature and elevation), as well as on the large scale circulation patterns (such as the thermohaline circulation).
Introduction
Freshwater fluxes in general describe how freshwater is transported between and stored in the earth's systems: oceans, land, the atmosphere and the cryosphere. While the total amount of water on Earth has remained virtually constant over human timescales, the relative distribution of that total mass between the four reservoirs has been influenced by past climate states, such as glacial cycles. Since the oceans account for 71% of the Earth's surface area, 86% of evaporation (E) and 78% of precipitation (P) occur over the ocean, the oceanic freshwater fluxes represent a large part of the world's freshwater fluxes.
There are five major freshwater fluxes into and out of the ocean, namely:
Precipitation
Evaporation
Riverine discharge
Ice freezing or melting (Sea ice freezing or melting, ice shelf melting, iceberg melting)
Groundwater discharge
whereby the 1., 3. and 5. are all inputs, adding freshwater to the ocean, while 2. is an output, i.e. a negative freshwater flux and 4. can be either a freshwater loss (freezing) or gain (melting).
The quantity and the spatial distribution of those fluxes determine the ocean salinity (the salt concentration of the ocean water). A positive freshwater flux leads to mixing of water with low to zero salinity with the salty ocean water, resulting in a decrease of the water salinity. This is for example the case in regions, where precipitation is greater than evaporation. On the contrary, if evaporation gets greater than precipitation, the ocean salinity increases, since only water (H2O) evaporates, but not the ions (e.g. Na+, Cl+) which make up salt.
Estimates of the annual mean freshwater fluxes into the ocean are for precipitation (88% of total freshwater input), for riverine discharge from land (9%), for ice discharge from land (<1%) and and for saline and fresh groundwater discharge respectively (<1%). The annual mean freshwater fluxes out of the ocean via evaporation is estimated to be .
The salinity, along with temperature and pressure, determines the density of the water. Higher salinity and cooler water results in a higher water density (see also spiciness of ocean water). Since differences in water density drive large-scale ocean circulation, freshwater fluxes are most important for ocean circulation patterns like the Thermohaline Circulation (THC).
Freshwater fluxes into the ocean
Evaporation and precipitation
There are large spatial and temporal variations in precipitation and evaporation patterns. The dominant reason for precipitation is adiabatic cooling when moist air rises, whose water vapor then becomes supersaturated above a certain altitude and condenses out. Areas of large precipitation are therefore areas of convection, which is most prominent in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), a band of latitudes around the equator.
Evaporation describes the process when surface water changes its phase from liquid to gaseous. This process requires a high amount of energy, due to the strong hydrogen bonds between the water molecules. This results in a global evaporation pattern, where high evaporation rates can be observed mostly in warm tropical and subtropical regions, where the surface was heated by solar radiation which can provide the necessary amount of energy. At higher latitudes the evaporation rate decreases. Additionally, the evaporation rate is influenced by the relative humidity of the air overlying the water surface. Approaching the saturation of the air with water vapour, the evaporation rate decreases, i.e. a lower air–sea humidity gradient decreases evaporation.
The actual freshwater flux that the ocean experiences in a certain timeframe is the net amount of precipitation and evaporation in this time interval. This means, if evaporation minus precipitation (E-P) is positive, the ocean experiences a net loss of freshwater, while the opposite is true for a negative value for E-P. On a global scale, the subtropical gyres and western boundary currents of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans are regions where evaporation exceeds precipitation. In contrast, the ITCZ as well as high latitudes (> 40° N/S) are regions of net precipitation, although the ITCZ exceeds the high latitudes in terms of quantity of rainfall. The equatorial region of net precipitation is centered north of the equator in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans but is broader and extends further south in the Indian Ocean. An additional center of strong net precipitation is located over the western Pacific-Indonesian region.
Both Atlantic subtropical gyres are net evaporative, as well as the Pacific subtropical gyres, although they show an east–west transition with increased evaporation near the eastern boundaries. This spatial pattern can be attributed to the fact that the overlying air becomes saturated in humidity, subsequently leading to decreasing evaporation rates as the air is driven westward by the trade winds.
An estimation of the annual mean freshwater flux into the ocean is for precipitation, while annual mean freshwater flux out of the ocean via evaporation is estimated to be .
When considering all the ocean basins, the only ocean basin which experiences net precipitation averaged over the year, is the North Pacific. The other ocean basins, namely the South Pacific, the North and South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean are areas of net evaporation, albeit with varying strength. The net evaporation over the South Pacific Ocean is distinctly smaller than over the other ocean basins, although the South Pacific Ocean covers an area as large the whole Atlantic Ocean and one third larger than the Indian Ocean.
It is very likely that the energy increase (heat flux) observed in the upper 700 m of the global oceans can be attributed to anthropogenic climate change and increased radiative forcing due to greenhouse gas emissions. Although observed trends in evaporation minus precipitation suggest that the Atlantic Ocean will become saltier, while the Indian Ocean will become fresher in the coming decades, it is easier to project global patterns of air-sea flux based on changes in heat content and salinity while regional trends are rarely robust.
Seasonal cycle
The amount and even the sign of the net total freshwater flux E-P from an ocean basin can change throughout the year.
The net evaporation over much of the subtropics is most pronounced during winter season due to the increased strength of the easterly trades in winter. This applies for both hemispheres. The wind impacts evaporation in two ways. Firstly directly, whereby a greater wind speed carries water vapour faster away from the evaporating surface, leading to a faster reestablishment of the air–sea humidity gradient, which were reduced by the evaporation beforehand and is necessary for high evaporation rates. Secondly indirectly, since enhanced surface wind strengthens the wind-driven subtropical gyre. Since the subtropical gyres drive a northwards heat transport via the western boundary currents, the sea surface temperatures warm up along the paths of the currents and cause more evaporation by providing more energy and enlarging the air–sea humidity gradients. In the extratropics the net precipitation is not explainable by a simple seasonal cycle. In the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans the net mid-latitude precipitation reaches its peak during June–August synchronously in the northern and the southern hemisphere, i.e. in different seasons.
In the North and South Atlantic Oceans and in the North Pacific Ocean evaporation exceeds precipitation in winter and spring. During summer and autumn the sign of E-P changes for all ocean basins but the South Atlantic Ocean, which is always net evaporative. When considering the Atlantic as a whole, the constant net loss of freshwater in the South Atlantic Ocean determines the sign of the total freshwater flux and cancels the net precipitation from the North Atlantic in summer out. This means, the Atlantic in total is net-evaporative during the whole year due to the prominent influence of the South Atlantic Ocean. The opposite can be stated about the Pacific Ocean as a whole, which shows an excess of precipitation over evaporation for every season. This pattern of evaporation minus precipitation is consistent with the observed higher salinity in the Atlantic compared to the Pacific Ocean. In the Indian Ocean a net evaporation rules most of the year, except during December–February.
Changes due to climate change
Past
The report from Working Group 1 in the IPCC 2021 AR6 concluded that patterns of evaporation minus precipitation (E-P) over the ocean have enhanced the present mean pattern of wetting and drying. In general, saline surface waters had become saltier (especially in the Atlantic Ocean) while relatively fresh surface waters had become fresher (especially in the Indian Ocean). However, AR6 assessed only low confidence in globally averaged trends in E-P over the 20th century due to observational uncertainty, with a spatial dominated by evaporation increases over the ocean. Even coarse-resolution models show that mean SST and variability in SST are sensitive to changes in flux forcing.
Future
Based on the assessment of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) models, AR6 concluded that it is very likely that, in the long term, global mean ocean precipitation will increase with increasing Global Surface Air Temperature. Annual mean and global mean precipitation will very likely increase by 1–3% per °C warming. Hereby, the precipitation patterns will also change and exhibit substantial regional and seasonal differences. Following the general trend ‘wet-gets-wetter-dry-gets-drier’, precipitation will very likely increase over high latitudes and the tropical ocean and likely increase in large parts of the monsoon regions, but likely decrease over the subtropics, including the Mediterranean, southern Africa and southwest Australia, in response to greenhouse-gas induced warming. Although these are the expected general trends there can be distinct deviations from those pattern changes on a local scale. One possible impact of the corresponding trend in ocean salinity is an altering of the Thermohaline Circulation, which is explained below.
Continental discharge
Another source of freshwater discharge into the ocean is runoff from continents, through river estuaries. The average yearly freshwater discharge from continents is estimated around .
Compared to other ocean basins, the discharge is relatively high into the western tropical Atlantic, led by the Amazon and the Orinoco river estuaries. This causes some local effects as well adjustment to the large scale thermohaline circulation, as discussed in the "Influence on the Thermohaline Circulation" chapter.
Seasonal cycles
Most rivers exhibit some sort of seasonal cycle in their discharge, often (but not always) related to seasonal variation in the precipitation. The figure on the right shows the seasonal cycle of the runoff from the 10 largest rivers (Amazon, Mississippi, Congo, Yenisey, Paraná, Orinoco, Lena, Changjiang, Mekong, Brahmaputra/Gange), compared with the local precipitation cycle and two different P-E estimates.
In several rivers, the runoff peak follows the precipitation peak, with different delays reflecting the time needed for the surface runoff to travel to the river mouth. For shorter rivers such as Changjiang, Mekong and Brahmaputra/Gange, the lag between the precipitation and the runoff peaks is about a month or less, while in the Amazon and the Orinoco rivers, the lag is of 2 or more months.
Other larger rivers at higher latitude, such as the Yenisey, Lena and Mississippi, seem to experience a runoff cycle decoupled from the precipitation cycle. The sharp June peak of the Lena and Yesiney cycle is likely due to snowmelt, as well as the less prominent peak between March and May in the Mississippi river.
The Panama and the Congo river do not experience significant seasonal runoff cycles, despite the precipitation cycles, this is probably due to human intervention through river damming.
Multi-annual cycles and climate change impacts
River runoff is also affected by other meteorological cycles that span over several years.
In particular, a significant correlation with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phase and strength has been observed for several major rivers, as well as a correlation with Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO).
These irregular cycles, and other possible factors of internal variation which are yet to be researched fully, make it difficult to identify the changes in river runoff that can be ascribed to human induced climate change.
However, climate simulations under a moderate emission scenario (RCP4.5) show significant changes in river runoff by the end of the century, with decreased runoff in Central America, Mexico, the Mediterranean Basin, Southern Africa and much of South America, and increased runoff in the rest of Eurasia and North America.
These changes are consistent with the expected precipitation changes, but a component of earlier snowmelt and permafrost thawing will also have to be considered.
A 2018 study has recorded the variation in river runoff into different each oceanic basin from 1986 to 2016, showing an increased discharge into the Arctic Ocean and a decreased discharge in the Indian Ocean over the last decade.
Local impacts of river runoff
The input of freshwater from river runoff may seem negligible compared to that precipitation, but several studies have shown that its impact can't be neglected
The largest annual changes in surface salinity have been observed on the western tropical Atlantic, peaking between spring and summer, when the precipitation peak in the ITCZ coincides with the peak in the Amazon discharge. The low salinity water influx have also been shown to follow the seasonal variation of currents on the Brazil coast (northwestward in spring, eastward in summer)
As a direct consequence of the freshwater discharge, rivers have an impact on the local Sea Surface Temperature (SST). This effect is theorethically present at all river mouths, but it was possible to measure it only for very large rivers.
The freshwater placed on top of the saline water serves to stabilize the stratification, restricting the vertical mixing of colder water from higher depths, hence increasing the local SST. Simulations have shown a large SST anomaly especially close to the mouth of the Congo river between July and April, up to +1 °C; a similar anomaly has also been simulated near the mouth of the Amazon river between May and October.
River discharge also has an impact on the local sea level, through two different processes:. Those are roughly represented by the first two terms of the following equation
In which is the sea surface variation from the mean, is the variation of bottom sea pressure, is the variation of sea water density from the mean (), and is the atmospheric pressure at sea level.
The first term represents the simple increase of the ocean mass: the importance of this contribution can be established through "hosing experiment", which entails simulating the same water input of the river but with the same salinity as ocean water. While it has been shown that sea level increase caused by this contribution is carried away by bartropic waves in the timescale of days, it can still have an impact when the water basin is semi-enclosed (as in the Arctic) or the water input is particularly large. Durand et altr. simulated a "hosing experiment" with seasonally variable input in the Bay of Bengal, that showed sea level oscillation to the order of 0.1 m
Further, since the freshwater from the river runoff has a lower density than the seawater, the term is negative across the first water layer, which results in a positive contribution to the sea level from the second term. This phenomenon is called halosteric effect. The contribution of the halosteric effect generally has a longer lasting effect compared to the ocean mass contribution, while still being in the same order of margnitude (0.1-0-2 m).
The third term of the equation represents the dependency on atmospheric pressure which is unaffected by river runoff.
Other oceanic freshwater fluxes
Groundwater
The total flux of groundwater to the ocean can be divided into three different fluxes: fresh submarine groundwater discharge, near-shore terrestrial groundwater discharge and recirculated sea water. The contribution of fresh groundwater accounts for less than 1% of the total freshwater input into the ocean and is therefore negligible on a global scale. However, due to a high variability of groundwater discharge there can be an important contribution to coastal ecosystems on a local scale.
Ice freezing and melting
Two categories of ice have to be considered in context of oceanic freshwater fluxes: sea ice and (recently) grounded ice like ice shelfs and icebergs.
Sea ice is considered as part of the oceanic water budget, therefore, its melting or freezing states not an input or output of water in general. However, at a regional scale and intraannually timescale, it can present an important determinator of ocean salinity, by adding freshwater during melting process or by rejecting salt during the freezing process. For example, over the Arctic Ocean evaporation and precipitation rates are quite low, respectively, about 5±10 cm/yr and 20±30 cm/yr in liquid water equivalent. The freshwater cycle in the Arctic Ocean is, therefore, significantly determined by freezing and melting of sea ice, for which characteristic rates are about 100 and 50 cm/yr, respectively. If the ice drifts during the long intervals between the phase changes (frozen and liquid), the result is a net local distillation, where the sea ice was formed and a net local freshening of water, where the sea ice melts. This freezing and melting of sea ice, with their accompanying salinity changes, supply local buoyancy forcing that influences ocean circulation.
The calving of a previously grounded ice sheet into the ocean as an iceberg as well as the melting of ice shelfs related to warm ocean water constitute a net freshwater influx, not only on a local but whole ocean scale. Although, the total input from the cryosphere is small compared to the total input of precipitation and riverine discharge (less than 1% on a global scale), on a local scale this can be an important contributor of freshwater and influencing ocean circulation.
Influence on thermohaline circulation (THC)
The Thermohaline Circulation is part of the global ocean circulation. Although this phenomenon is not fully understood yet, it is known that its driving processes are thermohaline forcing and turbulent mixing. Thermohaline forcing refers to density-gradient driven motions, whereby density is determined by the temperature (‘thermo’) and salt concentration (‘haline’) of the water. Heat and freshwater fluxes at the ocean's surface play therefore a key role in forming ocean currents. Those currents exert a major effect on regional and global climate.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is the Atlantic branch of the THC. Hereby, northward moving surface water release heat and water to the atmosphere and gets therefore colder, more saline and consequently denser. This leads to the formation of cold deep water in the North Atlantic. This cold deep water flows back to the south a depth of 2–3 km until it joins the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
The described differences in net precipitation-evaporation patterns between the Atlantic and the Pacific, with the Atlantic being net evaporative and the Pacific experiencing net precipitation, leads to a distinct difference in salinity contrast, with the Atlantic being more saline than the Pacific. This freshwater flux driven salinity contrast is the main reason that the Atlantic supports a meridional overturning circulation and the Pacific does not. The lower surface salinity of the North Pacific, due to high precipitation rates, inhibits deep convection in the Pacific. AR6 concluded from model simulations from the Climate Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) that the AMOC will very likely weaken in the 21st century, but there is low confidence in the models’ projected timing and magnitude of AMOC decline. The projected AMOC weakening can be explained by the CMIP6 projection of an increase in high-latitude temperature and precipitation, along with freshwater input from increased melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which cause high-latitude North Atlantic surface waters to become less dense and more stable, preventing overturning and weakening AMOC.
Impacts of river runoff on the large-scale thermohaline circulation
While evaporation and precipitation processes are the main cause of the salinity anomalies that drive the THC, large rivers seem to have a not negligible impact as well. In particular, a 2017 study simulated the shutdown of the Amazon runoff, and measured its impact on the AMOC. It was found that the Amazon shutdown could cause a strengthening in the AMOC, increased upwelling and lower SST in the equator and southern tropics. The cooler SST over the equator consequently could cause a reduction of the rainfall in the ITCZ, weakening of the meridional atmospheric cells and the westerlies winds in the extratropics. North America and the Arctic would then experience warmer winters (with anomalies up to 1.3 °C), while Northern Eurasia would have cooler and drier condition. In the southern hemisphere, the Amazonia region could also experience drier conditions, possibly causing a positive feedback. The paper concluded by advising caution in the building of dams over the Amazon river (more than a hundred new dams are being considered for construction in the next few decades)
In what could be seen as a small-scale case study, the damming of the Nile river in 1964 (Aswan High Dam) has been shown to have had an impact on the THC of the Mediterranean Sea. A steady increase in the surface and intermediate waters' salinity has been recorded in the West Mediterranean over the last 40 years. This is connected to a growth of the activity in the deep water formation sites in the South Adriatic. The damming of the Nile has been found to be responsible for about 40% of this salinity increase (and hence the increase in deep water formation)
References
Oceanography | Oceanic freshwater flux | [
"Physics",
"Environmental_science"
] | 4,613 | [
"Oceanography",
"Hydrology",
"Applied and interdisciplinary physics"
] |
70,385,899 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadley%20engine | The Ursa Major Technologies Hadley is a thrust Kerosene/LOX oxidizer-rich staged combustion cycle rocket engine.
Hadley is the first engine developed by Ursa Major Technologies. It started development in 2015, and prototypes were test fired in 2018. In March 2022 qualification of the engine was complete and flight-ready engines had been delivered to customers. In March 2024 Stratolaunch Systems announced completion of the first powered flight of the Talon-A test vehicle, TA-1. Hadley is the engine powering Talon-A.
Another initial customer, Phantom Space Corporation, plans to use Hadley on their Daytona small-lift rocket. ABL Space Systems initially announced they would use the Hadley engine for the upper-stage of their RS1 rocket, but have subsequently decided to use an internally-developed engine called E2. In April 2023, Astra suggested the vacuum variant of the Hadley engine would power the second stage of their Rocket 4.0 launch vehicle.
References
External links
Ursa Major Technologies Hadley webpage
Rocket engines using kerosene propellant
Rocket engines using the staged combustion cycle | Hadley engine | [
"Astronomy"
] | 226 | [
"Outer space stubs",
"Outer space",
"Astronomy stubs"
] |
70,386,320 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codon%20reassignment | Codon reassignment is the biological process via which the genetic code of a cell is changed as a response to the environment. It may be caused by alternative tRNA aminoacylation, in which the cell modifies the target aminoacid of some particular type of transfer-RNA. This process has been identified in bacteria, yeast and human cancer cells.
In human cancer cells, codon reassignment can be triggered by tryptophan depletion, resulting in proteins where the tryptophan aminoacid is substituted by phenylalanine.
See also
Expanded genetic code
References
Genetics
Amino acids
Biological processes
Bacteria
Yeasts
Cancer | Codon reassignment | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 132 | [
"Biomolecules by chemical classification",
"Fungi",
"Genetics",
"Yeasts",
"Prokaryotes",
"Amino acids",
"Bacteria",
"nan",
"Microorganisms"
] |
61,004,524 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon%20SageMaker | Amazon SageMaker AI is a cloud-based machine-learning platform that allows the creation, training, and deployment by developers of machine-learning (ML) models on the cloud. It can be used to deploy ML models on embedded systems and edge-devices. The platform was launched in November 2017.
Capabilities
SageMaker enables developers to operate at a number of different levels of abstraction when training and deploying machine learning models. At its highest level of abstraction, SageMaker provides pre-trained ML models that can be deployed as-is. In addition, it offers a number of built-in ML algorithms that developers can train on their own data.
The platform also features managed instances of TensorFlow and Apache MXNet, where developers can create their own ML algorithms from scratch. Regardless of which level of abstraction is used, a developer can connect their SageMaker-enabled ML models to other AWS services, such as the Amazon DynamoDB database for structured data storage, AWS Batch for offline batch processing, or Amazon Kinesis for real-time processing.
Development interfaces
A number of interfaces are available for developers to interact with SageMaker. First, there is a web API that remotely controls a SageMaker server instance. While the web API is agnostic to the programming language used by the developer, Amazon provides SageMaker API bindings for a number of languages, including Python, JavaScript, Ruby, Java, and Go. In addition, SageMaker provides managed Jupyter Notebook instances for interactively programming SageMaker and other applications.
History and features
2017-11-29: SageMaker is launched at the AWS re:Invent conference.
2018-02-27: Managed TensorFlow and MXNet deep neural network training and inference are now supported within SageMaker.
2018-02-28: SageMaker automatically scales model inference to multiple server instances.
2018-07-13: Support is added for recurrent neural network training, word2vec training, multi-class linear learner training, and distributed deep neural network training in Chainer with Layer-wise Adaptive Rate Scaling (LARS).
2018-07-17: AWS Batch Transform enables high-throughput non-real-time machine learning inference in SageMaker.
2018-11-08: Support for training and inference of Object2Vec word embeddings.
2018-11-27: SageMaker Ground Truth "makes it much easier for developers to label their data using human annotators through Mechanical Turk, third-party vendors, or their own employees."
2018-11-28: SageMaker Reinforcement Learning (RL) "enables developers and data scientists to quickly and easily develop reinforcement learning models at scale."
2018-11-28: SageMaker Neo enables deep neural network models to be deployed from SageMaker to edge-devices such as smartphones and smart cameras.
2018-11-29: The AWS Marketplace for SageMaker is launched. The AWS Marketplace enables 3rd-party developers to buy and sell machine learning models that can be trained and deployed in SageMaker.
2019-01-27: SageMaker Neo is released as open-source software.
Notable Customers
NASCAR is using SageMaker to train deep neural networks on 70 years of video data.
Carsales.com uses SageMaker to train and deploy machine learning models to analyze and approve automotive classified ad listings.
Avis Budget Group and Slalom Consulting are using SageMaker to develop "a practical on-site solution that could address the over and under utilization of cars in real-time using an optimization engine built in Amazon SageMaker."
Volkswagen Group uses SageMaker to develop and deploy machine learning in its manufacturing plants.
Peak and Footasylum use SageMaker in a recommendation engine for footwear.
Awards
In 2019, CIOL named SageMaker one of the "5 Best Machine Learning Platforms For Developers," alongside IBM Watson, Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, Apache PredictionIO, and AiONE.
See also
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Lex
Amazon Polly
Amazon Rekognition
Amazon Mechanical Turk
Timeline of Amazon Web Services
References
Amazon (company)
Amazon Web Services
Cloud infrastructure
2017 software
Deep learning software | Amazon SageMaker | [
"Technology"
] | 833 | [
"Cloud infrastructure",
"IT infrastructure"
] |
61,005,254 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OHBM%20Replication%20Award | The OHBM Replication Award is an award presented annually by the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM). It is presented to a researcher in recognition of conducting and disseminating the results of a neuroimaging replication study of exceptional quality and impact.
Winners
History
The award was originally conceived by Chris Gorgolewski as an attempt to elevate the status of replication studies, which were often considered not as prestigious as other scientific activities. Researchers focusing too much on novel discoveries instead of scrutinizing previously published findings was big contribution to reproducibility crisis in psychology.
The award has increased the likelihood of members of the neuroimaging community to conduct and disseminate results of replication studies and the procedure of running the award has been made publicly available in hope other academic communities could implement similar awards.
See also
List of neuroscience awards
References
Neuroimaging
Neuroscience awards | OHBM Replication Award | [
"Technology"
] | 180 | [
"Science and technology awards",
"Neuroscience awards"
] |
61,006,900 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip%20dating | Tip dating is a technique used in molecular dating that allows the inference of time-calibrated phylogenetic trees. Its defining feature is that it uses the ages of the samples to provide time information for the analysis, in contrast with traditional 'node dating' methods that require age constraints to be applied to the internal nodes of the evolutionary tree.
In tip dating, morphological data and molecular data are typically analysed together to estimate the evolutionary relationships (tree topology) and the divergence times among lineages (node times); this approach is also known as 'total-evidence dating'. However, tip dating can also be used to analyse data sets that only comprise morphological characters or that only comprise molecular characters (e.g., data sets that include samples of ancient DNA or of serially sampled viruses).
Tip dating has been implemented in Bayesian phylogenetic software and typically draws on the fossilised birth-death model for evolution. This is a model of diversification that allows speciation, extinction, and sampling of fossil and extant taxa.
This promising method is not yet fully mature, and there are a number of possible biases or undesirable behaviour that must be taken into account when interpreting its results.
References
Phylogenetics | Tip dating | [
"Biology"
] | 249 | [
"Bioinformatics",
"Phylogenetics",
"Taxonomy (biology)"
] |
61,007,576 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transient%20execution%20CPU%20vulnerability | Transient execution CPU vulnerabilities are vulnerabilities in which instructions, most often optimized using speculative execution, are executed temporarily by a microprocessor, without committing their results due to a misprediction or error, resulting in leaking secret data to an unauthorized party. The archetype is Spectre, and transient execution attacks like Spectre belong to the cache-attack category, one of several categories of side-channel attacks. Since January 2018 many different cache-attack vulnerabilities have been identified.
Overview
Modern computers are highly parallel devices, composed of components with very different performance characteristics. If an operation (such as a branch) cannot yet be performed because some earlier slow operation (such as a memory read) has not yet completed, a microprocessor may attempt to predict the result of the earlier operation and execute the later operation speculatively, acting as if the prediction were correct. The prediction may be based on recent behavior of the system. When the earlier, slower operation completes, the microprocessor determines whether the prediction was correct or incorrect. If it was correct then execution proceeds uninterrupted; if it was incorrect then the microprocessor rolls back the speculatively executed operations and repeats the original instruction with the real result of the slow operation. Specifically, a transient instruction refers to an instruction processed by error by the processor (incriminating the branch predictor in the case of Spectre) which can affect the micro-architectural state of the processor, leaving the architectural state without any trace of its execution.
In terms of the directly visible behavior of the computer it is as if the speculatively executed code "never happened". However, this speculative execution may affect the state of certain components of the microprocessor, such as the cache, and this effect may be discovered by careful monitoring of the timing of subsequent operations.
If an attacker can arrange that the speculatively executed code (which may be directly written by the attacker, or may be a suitable gadget that they have found in the targeted system) operates on secret data that they are unauthorized to access, and has a different effect on the cache for different values of the secret data, they may be able to discover the value of the secret data.
Timeline
2018
In early January 2018, it was reported that all Intel processors made since 1995 (besides Intel Itanium and pre-2013 Intel Atom) have been subject to two security flaws dubbed Meltdown and Spectre.
The impact on performance resulting from software patches is "workload-dependent". Several procedures to help protect home computers and related devices from the Spectre and Meltdown security vulnerabilities have been published. Spectre patches have been reported to significantly slow down performance, especially on older computers; on the newer 8th-generation Core platforms, benchmark performance drops of 2–14% have been measured. Meltdown patches may also produce performance loss. It is believed that "hundreds of millions" of systems could be affected by these flaws.
More security flaws were disclosed on May 3, 2018, on August 14, 2018, on January 18, 2019, and on March 5, 2020.
At the time, Intel was not commenting on this issue.
On March 15, 2018, Intel reported that it will redesign its CPUs (performance losses to be determined) to protect against the Spectre security vulnerability, and expects to release the newly redesigned processors later in 2018.
On May 3, 2018, eight additional Spectre-class flaws were reported. Intel reported that they are preparing new patches to mitigate these flaws.
On August 14, 2018, Intel disclosed three additional chip flaws referred to as L1 Terminal Fault (L1TF). They reported that previously released microcode updates, along with new, pre-release microcode updates can be used to mitigate these flaws.
2019
On January 18, 2019, Intel disclosed three new vulnerabilities affecting all Intel CPUs, named "Fallout", "RIDL", and "ZombieLoad", allowing a program to read information recently written, read data in the line-fill buffers and load ports, and leak information from other processes and virtual machines. Coffee Lake-series CPUs are even more vulnerable, due to hardware mitigations for Spectre.
2020
On March 5, 2020, computer security experts reported another Intel chip security flaw, besides the Meltdown and Spectre flaws, with the systematic name (or "Intel CSME Bug"). This newly found flaw is not fixable with a firmware update, and affects nearly "all Intel chips released in the past five years".
2021
In March 2021 AMD security researchers discovered that the Predictive Store Forwarding algorithm in Zen 3 CPUs could be used by malicious applications to access data it shouldn't be accessing. According to Phoronix there's little performance impact in disabling the feature.
In June 2021, two new vulnerabilities, Speculative Code Store Bypass (SCSB, CVE-2021-0086) and Floating Point Value Injection (FPVI, CVE-2021-0089), affecting all modern x86-64 CPUs both from Intel and AMD were discovered. In order to mitigate them software has to be rewritten and recompiled. ARM CPUs are not affected by SCSB but some certain ARM architectures are affected by FPVI.
Also in June 2021, MIT researchers revealed the PACMAN attack on Pointer Authentication Codes (PAC) in ARM v8.3A.
In August 2021 a vulnerability called "Transient Execution of Non-canonical Accesses" affecting certain AMD CPUs was disclosed. It requires the same mitigations as the MDS vulnerability affecting certain Intel CPUs. It was assigned CVE-2020-12965. Since most x86 software is already patched against MDS and this vulnerability has the exact same mitigations, software vendors don't have to address this vulnerability.
In October 2021 for the first time ever a vulnerability similar to Meltdown was disclosed to be affecting all AMD CPUs however the company doesn't think any new mitigations have to be applied and the existing ones are already sufficient.
2022
In March 2022, a new variant of the Spectre vulnerability called Branch History Injection was disclosed. It affects certain ARM64 CPUs and the following Intel CPU families: Cascade Lake, Ice Lake, Tiger Lake and Alder Lake. According to Linux kernel developers AMD CPUs are also affected.
In March 2022, a vulnerability affecting a wide range of AMD CPUs was disclosed under CVE-2021-26341.
In June 2022, multiple MMIO Intel CPUs vulnerabilities related to execution in virtual environments were announced. The following CVEs were designated: CVE-2022-21123, CVE-2022-21125, CVE-2022-21166.
In July 2022, the Retbleed vulnerability was disclosed affecting Intel Core 6 to 8th generation CPUs and AMD Zen 1, 1+ and 2 generation CPUs. Newer Intel microarchitectures as well as AMD starting with Zen 3 are not affected. The mitigations for the vulnerability decrease the performance of the affected Intel CPUs by up to 39%, while AMD CPUs lose up to 14%.
In August 2022, the SQUIP vulnerability was disclosed affecting Ryzen 2000–5000 series CPUs. According to AMD the existing mitigations are enough to protect from it.
According to a Phoronix review released in October, 2022 Zen 4/Ryzen 7000 CPUs are not slowed down by mitigations, in fact disabling them leads to a performance loss.
2023
In February 2023 a vulnerability affecting a wide range of AMD CPU architectures called "Cross-Thread Return Address Predictions" was disclosed.
In July 2023 a critical vulnerability in the Zen 2 AMD microarchitecture called Zenbleed was made public. AMD released a microcode update to fix it.
In August 2023 a vulnerability in AMD's Zen 1, Zen 2, Zen 3, and Zen 4 microarchitectures called Inception was revealed and assigned CVE-2023-20569. According to AMD it is not practical but the company will release a microcode update for the affected products.
Also in August 2023 a new vulnerability called Downfall or Gather Data Sampling was disclosed, affecting Intel CPU Skylake, Cascade Lake, Cooper Lake, Ice Lake, Tiger Lake, Amber Lake, Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake, Whiskey Lake, Comet Lake & Rocket Lake CPU families. Intel will release a microcode update for affected products.
The SLAM vulnerability (Spectre based on Linear Address Masking) reported in 2023 neither has received a corresponding CVE, nor has been confirmed or mitigated against.
2024
In March 2024, a variant of Spectre-V1 attack called GhostRace was published. It was claimed it affected all the major microarchitectures and vendors, including Intel, AMD and ARM. It was assigned CVE-2024-2193. AMD dismissed the vulnerability (calling it "Speculative Race Conditions (SRCs)") claiming that existing mitigations were enough. Linux kernel developers chose not to add mitigations citing performance concerns. The Xen hypervisor project released patches to mitigate the vulnerability but they are not enabled by default.
Also in March 2024, a vulnerability in Intel Atom processors called Register File Data Sampling (RFDS) was revealed. It was assigned CVE-2023-28746. Its mitigations incur a slight performance degradation.
In April 2024, it was revealed that the BHI vulnerability in certain Intel CPU families could be still exploited in Linux entirely in user space without using any kernel features or root access despite existing mitigations. Intel recommended "additional software hardening". The attack was assigned CVE-2024-2201.
In June 2024, Samsung Research and Seoul National University researchers revealed the TikTag attack against the Memory Tagging Extension in ARM v8.5A CPUs. The researchers created PoCs for Google Chrome and the Linux kernel. Researchers from VUSec previously revealed ARM's Memory Tagging Extension is vulnerable to speculative probing.
In July 2024, UC San Diego researchers revealed the Indirector attack against Intel Alder Lake and Raptor Lake CPUs leveraging high-precision Branch Target Injection (BTI). Intel downplayed the severity of the vulnerability and claimed the existing mitigations are enough to tackle the issue. No CVE was assigned.
Future
Spectre class vulnerabilities will remain unfixed because otherwise CPU designers will have to disable speculative execution which will entail a massive performance loss. Despite this, AMD has managed to design Zen 4 such a way its performance is not affected by mitigations.
Vulnerabilities and mitigations summary
The 8th generation Coffee Lake architecture in this table also applies to a wide range of previously released Intel CPUs, not limited to the architectures based on Intel Core, Pentium 4 and Intel Atom starting with Silvermont. Various CPU microarchitectures not included above are also affected, among them are ARM, IBM Power, MIPS and others.
Notes
References
External links
Linux kernel: Hardware vulnerabilities
Vulnerabilities associated with CPU speculative execution
A systematic evaluation of transient execution attacks and defenses
A dynamic tree of transient execution vulnerabilities for Intel, AMD and ARM CPUs
Transient Execution Attacks by Daniel Gruss, June 20, 2019
CPU Bugs
Intel: Refined Speculative Execution Terminology
Computer security exploits
Hardware bugs
Side-channel attacks | Transient execution CPU vulnerability | [
"Technology"
] | 2,394 | [
"Transient execution CPU vulnerabilities",
"Computer security exploits"
] |
61,010,407 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%20Teasdale | Washington Teasdale (8 August 1830 – 19 September 1903) was an engineer and photographer. He invented the field naturalist's microscope and was one of the first people to use lantern slides.
Early life
He was born in Brunswick Place, Leeds, Yorkshire to a wealthy family. Teasdale trained to be an engineer and worked in India on engineering projects. He became fluent in Hindi, and according to his obituary, continued to think in it all his life. His particular scientific interest was in photography. He was one of the first people to prepare and use lantern slides in lectures.
Man of science
Teasdale, who delivered hundreds of lectures throughout his lifetime, was a founding member of the Leeds Photographic Society, the Royal Society of Microscopy and was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Part of his photography collection, including cyanotype photography, is held at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. He photographed his scientific friends Henry Perigal and James Glaisher. As part of his work with the Society of Microscopy he invented the Field Naturalist's Microscope – a portable instrument of magnification. He died whilst attending a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
References
Engineers from Yorkshire
19th-century English photographers
1830 births
1903 deaths
People from Leeds
Microscopists
Photographers from Yorkshire | Washington Teasdale | [
"Chemistry"
] | 263 | [
"Microscopists",
"Microscopy"
] |
61,010,503 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCP%20family | The LCP family or TagU family of proteins is a conserved family of phosphotransferases that are involved in the attachment of teichoic acid (TA) molecules to gram-positive cell wall or cell membrane. It was initially thought as the LytR (lytic repressor) component of a LytABC operon encoding autolysins, but the mechanism of regulation was later realized to be the production of TA molecules. It was accordingly renamed TagU.
The "LCP" acronym derives from three proteins initially identified to contain this domain, LytR (now TagU, ), cpsA ("Capsular polysaccharide expression regulator"), and psr ("PBP 5 synthesis repressor"). These proteins were mistaken as transcriptional regulators via different reasons, but all three of them are now known to be TagU-like enzymes. While TagU itself only attaches TA molecules to the peptidoglycan cell wall (forming WTA), other LCP proteins may glycosylate cell wall proteins (A. oris LcpA, ) or attach TA molecules to a cell membrane anchor (forming LTA). Most, if not all, LCP proteins also have a secondary pyrophosphatase activity.
Typical TagU proteins are made up of an N-terminal transmembrane domain (for anchoring), an optional, non-conserved accessory domain (CATH 3tflA01), a core catalytic domain, and sometimes a C-terminal domain for which the structure is unknown. The core LCP domain is a magnesium-dependent enzyme.
References
External links
MetaCyc RXN-18030: Polyisoprenyl-teichoic acid—peptidoglycan teichoic acid transferase
Acids
Cells
Enzymes
Proteins | LCP family | [
"Chemistry"
] | 382 | [
"Biomolecules by chemical classification",
"Proteins",
"Acids",
"Molecular biology"
] |
61,010,924 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European%20High-Performance%20Computing%20Joint%20Undertaking | The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) is a public-private partnership in high-performance computing (HPC), enabling the pooling of European Union–level resources with the resources of participating EU Member States and participating associated states of the Horizon Europe and Digital Europe programmes, as well as private stakeholders. The Joint Undertaking has the twin stated aims of developing a pan-European supercomputing infrastructure, and supporting research and innovation activities. Located in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, the Joint Undertaking started operating in November 2018 under the control of the European Commission and became autonomous in 2020.
History
In June 2016, EU Member State leaders, meeting in the European Council called for greater coordination of EU efforts on high-performance computing as part of the EU's wider Digital Single Market strategy. The European Declaration on High-Performance Computing was launched in Rome in March 2017, initially signed by seven EU Member States (France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) committed to upgrading European computing power. In June 2018, the Council of the EU endorsed the European Commission’s proposal to establish the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. On 3 July 2018, the European Parliament voted in favour of the Commission’s proposal to create a European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking. The proposal was formally adopted by the Council of the European Union on 28 September 2018.
The Executive Director was appointed on 15 May 2020 and the Joint Undertaking became autonomous from the European Commission on 23 September 2020.
The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking was reviewed by means of Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173.
Funding and objectives
The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking is jointly funded by its members with a budget of around €7 billion for the period 2021-2027.
Most of this funding comes from the current EU long-term budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF 2021-2027) with a contribution of €3 billion, distributed as follows:
€1,9 billion from the Digital Europe Programme (DEP) to support the acquisition, deployment, upgrading and operation of the infrastructures, the federation of supercomputing services, and the widening of HPC usage and skills;
€900 million from Horizon Europe (H-E) to support research and innovation activities for developing a world-class, competitive and innovative supercomputing ecosystem across Europe;
€200 million from Connecting Europe Facility (CEF-2) to improve the interconnection of HPC, quantum computing, and data resources, as well as the interconnection with the Union’s common European data spaces and secure cloud infrastructures.
The EU contribution is matched by a similar amount from the participating countries. Additionally, private members are contributing an amount of €900 million.
The Joint Undertaking provides financial support in the form of procurement or research and innovation grants to participants following open and competitive calls.
The EuroHPC JU has the twin objectives of;
developing a pan-European supercomputing infrastructure: buying and deploying in the EU at least two supercomputers that will be among the top 5 in the world and at least two other that would today rank in the global top 25 for Europe's private and public users scientific and industrial users, for use in more than 800 scientific and industrial application fields;
supporting research and innovation activities: developing a European supercomputing ecosystem, stimulating a technology supply industry, and making supercomputing resources in many application areas available to a large number of public and private users, including small and medium-sized enterprises.
Supercomputers
In June 2019, the EuroHPC JU governing board selected 8 sites for supercomputing centres located in 8 different EU Member States to host the new high-performance computing machines. The hosting sites will be located in Sofia (Bulgaria), Ostrava (Czech Republic), Kajaani (Finland), Bologna (Italy), Bissen (Luxembourg), Minho (Portugal), Maribor (Slovenia), and Barcelona (Spain). 3 of the 8 sites will host precursor to exascale machines (capable of executing more than 150 Petaflops, or 150 million billion calculations per second) that will be in the global top 5 supercomputers, and 5 petascale machines (capable of executing at least 4 Petaflops, or 4 million billion operations per second).
In 2022, the EuroHPC governing board selected a further 5 sites to host a new fleet of EuroHPC supercomputers, including the first European exascale supercomputer to be located in Germany.
KAROLINA
KAROLINA was installed in 2021 at IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center in the Czech Republic. In the TOP500 list, which evaluates supercomputers in terms of their performance, it ranked 69th worldwide, 19th in Europe, and in the Green500 list of the most energy-efficient supercomputers, it even ranked 8th in 2021. The HPC system supplied by Hewlett Packard Enterprise is designed to respond coherently to the needs of its user communities, addressing complex scientific and industrial challenges, including standard numerical simulations, demanding data analysis, and artificial intelligence applications.
Discoverer
"Discoverer", the EuroHPC supercomputer located in Bulgaria, was the third launched under the program on October 21, 2021. It is located on the territory of the Bulgarian Science and Technology Park "Sofia Tech Park" in Sofia, Bulgaria. The cost is co-financed by Bulgaria and EuroHPC JU with a joint investment of € 11.5 million completed by Atos. Discoverer has a stable performance of 4.5 petaflops and a peak performance of 6 petaflops.
Vega
The Slovenian "Vega" was the first of the EuroHPC JU supercomputers to be launched on 20 April 2021. The system, built by Atos, is located at the Institute of Information Science Maribor (IZUM) in Maribor, Slovenia. The Vega supercomputer was jointly financed by EuroHPC JU and the Institute of Information Science Maribor (IZUM) to the sum of €17.2 million euros. Vega has a stable performance of 6.9 petaflops and a peak performance of 10.1 petaflops.
MeluXina
"Meluxina", Luxembourg's supercomputer, was the second to be launched under the programme on 7 June 2021. Located at the LuxProvide data centre in Bissen, Luxembourg, the €30.4 million euros system was completed by Atos, with the Luxembourg government paying for two thirds of the associated costs, and the European Commission contributing the rest. Meluxina has a stable performance of 10 petaflops and a peak performance of 15 petaflops. The system is named after Melusine — a figure of Luxembourg and European folklore.
LUMI
The LUMI supercomputer is located at CSC in Kajaani, Finland. The HPE Cray EX supercomputer was supplied by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), with joint funding by EuroHPC and the LUMI Consortium. As of mid-2022, the LUMI-C partition is operational, with the LUMI-G partition expected to become operational by the end of 2022. With a measured High Performance Linpack (HPL) performance of 151,9 petaflops, LUMI ranked 3rd on the June 2022 edition of the TOP500 list of the most powerful supercomputers. Once fully operational, the system will have a theoretical peak performance of 550 petaflops.
Leonardo
Located in the Technopole of Bologna, in Bologna, Italy, Leonardo is a pre-exascale supercomputer which was installed in 2022. It is supplied by ATOS, based on a BullSequana XH2000 supercomputer and hosted by CINECA. Once fully operational, it is expected to be capable of executing over 250 petaflops.
MareNostrum5
MareNostrum 5 will be located at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center in Barcelona, Spain. In 2022 it was announced that the system will be built by Atos. Once operational, MareNostrum 5 will be a top-of-the-range supercomputer, with an expected peak performance of 314 Petaflops.
Deucalion
Deucalion is a petascale supercomputer hosted at the Minho Advanced Computing Center in Guimarães, Portugal. Officially inaugurated in September 2023, it is supplied by Fujitsu Technology Solutions and integrates a Fujitsu PRIMEHPC system (ARM partition) with Atos Bull Sequana systems (x86 partitions). The ARM partition delivers a sustained performance of 3.96 petaflops and a maximum performance of 5.01 petaflops. Altogether, Deucalion can achieve a performance of 10 petaflops.
New supercomputers
In 2022, the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking announced a further five supercomputers coming soon to five European countries:
DAEDALUS hosted by the National Infrastructures for Research and Technology (GRNET) in Greece,
LEVENTE hosted by the Governmental Agency for IT Development (KIFU) in Hungary,
CASPIr hosted by the National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway) in Ireland,
EHPCPL hosted by the Academic Computer Centre CYFRONET AGH (CYFRONET) in Poland,
and JUPITER, the first European exascale supercomputer, will be hosted by the Jülich Supercomputing Centre in Germany.
In 2023, the EuroHPC JU announced a further two supercomputers:
The second European exascale supercomputer, hosted by GENCI in France; and
Arrhenius, a mid-range supercomputer hosted by Linköping University in Sweden.
Members
The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking is composed of public and private members.
Public members
As of October 2024, public members of the Joint Undertaking include, the European Union (represented by the European Commission), 27 of the 27 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden), and eight non-EU associated states of the EU's Horizon 2020 programme (Iceland, Israel, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Turkey and the United Kingdom).
Other EU Member States or countries associated to Horizon 2020 are able to become members, provided that they accept the Statutes and financially contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the Joint Undertaking.
Observer states
The United Kingdom lost its observer status following its departure from the EU on 31 January 2020, but subsequently rejoined EuroHPC in May 2024.
Private members
The Joint Undertaking's private members include the European Technology Platform for High Performance Computing (ETP4HPC), the European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC), and the Big Data Value (BDVA) associations. Any legal entity established in a Member State or country associated to Horizon 2020 that supports research and innovation may apply to become a private member of the Joint Undertaking.
Governance
There are three bodies in the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking:
Governing board
The governing board is composed of representatives of the EU and participating states. The European Commission and each participating state appoint one representative in the Governing Board. Each representative may be accompanied by one expert. The EU holds 50% of the voting rights through the European Commission representative. The rest of the voting rights are distributed among the participating states according to the following lines;
for the general administrative tasks of the Joint Undertaking, the voting rights of the participating states should be distributed equally among them;
for the tasks corresponding to setting up the work plan for the acquisition of supercomputers, the selection of the hosting entity and the research and innovation activities of the Joint Undertaking, the voting rights of the participating states that are EU Member States are based on the principle of qualified majority. Participating states that are not EU Member States hold voting rights for the tasks corresponding to the research and innovation activities;
for the tasks corresponding to the acquisition and operation of supercomputers, only those participating states and the EU that contribute resources to the procurement of petascale supercomputers and the total cost of ownership of pre-exascale supercomputers have voting rights proportional to their contribution.
Industrial and scientific advisory board
The industrial and scientific advisory board consists of two Groups which provide independent advice to the Governing Board;
the Research and Innovation Advisory Group (RIAG) identifies key research priorities. It is composed of no more than 12 members, where no more than six are appointed by the Private Members, and no more than six are appointed by the Governing Board;
the Infrastructure Advisory Group (INFRAG) provides advice on the acquisition and operation of the petascale and pre-exascale supercomputers. It is composed of no more than 12 members appointed by the Governing Board.
Executive director
The executive director is the chief executive responsible for day-to-day management of the Joint Undertaking. The position is currently held by Anders Dam Jensen.
Headquarters
The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking is headquartered in the Drosbach Building, used by the European Commission, in the Luxembourg City quarter of Gasperich, Luxembourg.
See also
Digital Single Market
HPC Europa
Supercomputing in Europe
References
External links
Official website
Luxembourg government video on EuroHPC
Joint undertakings of the European Union and European Atomic Energy Community
Information technology organizations based in Europe
Supercomputing in Europe
Science and technology in Europe
European Union organisations based in Luxembourg | European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking | [
"Technology"
] | 2,835 | [
"Supercomputing in Europe",
"Supercomputing"
] |
61,011,218 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidia%20Morrell | Nidia Irene Morrell (born 3 July 1953) is an Argentine astronomer who is a permanent staff member at the Las Campanas Observatory in La Serena, Chile. She was a member of the Massive Stars research group led by Virpi Niemelä and the Hubble Heritage Project. Professionally, she is known for her numerous contributions related to the astrophysics of massive stars. She participates in the systematic search for variations of brightness in stellar objects, including the observation of a candidate for the Thorne–Żytkow object. She was also a member of the team that discovered the supernova ASASSN-15lh.
Career
Nidia Morrell studied astronomy at the National University of La Plata (UNLP), obtaining a licentiate in 1977 and a doctorate in 1984. She received a postdoctoral fellowship (1989–1990) sponsored by the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) to conduct research in the United States, advised by at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Back in Argentina, she researched and taught at the UNLP Faculty of Astronomical and Geophysical Sciences.
She focused her work on young (mostly O-type and Wolf-Rayet) stars, in regions of star formation and binary stars of large masses, also called massive stars. That type of star quickly consumes its fuel, and ends its existence with a giant explosion: a supernova.
In La Plata, Morrell was a member of the Massive Stars research group led by Virpi Niemelä. She and Niemelä were part of the Hubble Heritage Project, which generated widely disseminated educational resources. From 1996 to 2001, Morrell was a representative of Argentina and a scientific advisor to the Gemini South Observatory.
For years she was one of the main users of the Jorge Sahade Telescope at the Leoncito Astronomical Complex (CASLEO). Many students, who are now astronomers and teachers, made their first observations with her at El Leoncito.
In late 2002, Morrell joined the scientific team at Las Campanas Observatory and, later, the Carnegie Supernova Project (as a part-time researcher), while continuing to collaborate on massive star studies. She was also a visiting professor at the National Autonomous University of Honduras and the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua.
In 2006 she settled in La Serena, Chile to continue her research. Among her most outstanding observations, she participated in the discovery of ASASSN-15lh, the brightest supernova ever detected.
Since 2008, Morrell has also participated in Chilean Observation Time Assignment Committees, contributing her knowledge about instruments and procedures for astronomical observation.
In 2009, she appeared in the documentary video El silencio de las Campanas made by Ricardo Benítez, which follows the daily activity of astronomers at a high-level observatory.
In 2014 she was one of the leaders in the detection of a possible hybrid star or Thorne–Żytkow object, which had been a theoretical postulate for years. This discovery involved the Magellan Telescopes. The chemical characteristics of this star, HV 2112, were studied using spectroscopy techniques, in which Morrell is an expert.
Beliefs
Throughout her career, Morrell has motivated students of all ages to participate in scientific projects. She has also joined professional initiatives to raise awareness of respecting the sky as world heritage.
She is a staunch defender of the use of free software, free knowledge, and the equality and inclusion of all human beings. She has also collaborated with amateur astronomers who contribute to the search for supernovae from their homes.
Recognitions
For her passion for astronomy, her dedication to mentoring students, and the enormous amount of observational data she has gathered, the international conference Massive Stars and Supernovae was held in celebration of her 65th birthday. The event took place from 5 to 9 November 2018 in Bariloche, Argentina, with the institutional support of the National University of Río Negro (UNRN), the UNLP Faculty of Astronomical and Geophysical Sciences, the , the Carnegie Institution for Science, and the Municipality of Bariloche.
Both for Dr. Morrell's scientific achievements and for her charisma, in the course of this meeting it was announced that the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid (Minor Planet 25906) in her honor.
References
External links
Nidia Morrell at the International Astronomical Union
1953 births
20th-century Argentine astronomers
Argentine expatriates in Chile
Argentine women scientists
Living people
National University of La Plata alumni
Academic staff of the National University of La Plata
People from Mar del Plata
Women astronomers
Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua
20th-century Argentine women scientists
21st-century Argentine astronomers
21st-century women scientists | Nidia Morrell | [
"Astronomy"
] | 949 | [
"Women astronomers",
"Astronomers"
] |
61,011,297 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPT0615-JD | SPT0615-JD is a dwarf galaxy situated within the constellation Pictor, and is the farthest galaxy ever imaged by means of gravitational lensing, as of 2018. Brett Salmon of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore was the lead scientist of the study of the galaxy.
The galaxy was identified in the Hubble Space Telescope Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS) and companion S-RELICS Spitzer program and is at the limits of Hubble's detection capabilities. As a consequence of the effect of a gravitational field of a galaxy cluster of an extremely large size, SPT-CL J0615-5746, (abbreviated to SPT0615), situated at a distance closer to Earth, light from SPT0615-JD located at a further distance, is amplified and distorted (lensed – Einstein 1936; Khvolson 1924; Link 1936) on its motion to the Hubble telescope. This distortion causes the light from the galaxy to arrive as an image lengthened to an arc of about 2 arcseconds long.
"JD" is short for "J-band Dropout" (the galaxy is not detected in the so-called J-band (F125W) The observed image is of 13.3 billion years ago, indicating the galaxy existed when the universe was about only 500 million years in existence. The galaxy is less than 2,500 light-years across.
References
Additional reading
Dwarf galaxies
Pictor | SPT0615-JD | [
"Astronomy"
] | 303 | [
"Pictor",
"Constellations"
] |
61,011,970 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estradiol%20benzoate/estradiol%20valerate/norethisterone%20acetate/testosterone%20enanthate | Estradiol benzoate/estradiol valerate/norethisterone acetate/testosterone enanthate (EB/EV/NETA/TE), sold under the brand name Ablacton, is an injectable combination medication of estradiol benzoate (EB), an estrogen, estradiol valerate (EV), an estrogen, norethisterone acetate (NETA), a progestin, and testosterone enanthate (TE), an androgen/anabolic steroid, which has been used to suppress lactation in women. It contains 5 mg EB, 8 mg EV, 20 mg NETA, and 180 mg TE in oil solution and is provided in the form of ampoules. It is given as a single intramuscular injection following childbirth. The medication was manufactured by Schering and was previously marketed in Italy and Spain, but is no longer available.
See also
List of combined sex-hormonal preparations § Estrogens, progestogens, and androgens
References
Abandoned drugs
Combined estrogen–progestogen–androgen formulations | Estradiol benzoate/estradiol valerate/norethisterone acetate/testosterone enanthate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 240 | [
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
61,012,947 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropospheric%20Emissions%3A%20Monitoring%20of%20Pollution | Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) is a space-based spectrometer designed to measure air pollution across greater North America at a high resolution and on an hourly basis. The ultraviolet–visible spectrometer will provide hourly data on ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde in the atmosphere.
TEMPO is a hosted payload on a commercial geostationary communication satellite with a constant view of North America. TEMPO's spectrometer measures reflected sunlight from the Earth's atmosphere and separates it into 2,000 component wavelengths. It will scan North America from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Alberta oil sands to Mexico City. TEMPO will form part of a geostationary constellation of pollution-monitoring assets, along with the planned Sentinel-4 from ESA and Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) from South Korea's KARI.
On 3 February 2020, Intelsat announced that the Intelsat 40e satellite will host TEMPO. Maxar Technologies, the builder of the satellite, is responsible for payload integration. The launch occurred on 7 April 2023.
Earth Venture-Instrument program
TEMPO, which is a collaboration between NASA and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, is NASA's first Earth Venture-Instrument (EVI) mission. The EVI program is an element within the Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) program office, which is under NASA's Science Mission Directorate Earth Science Division (SMD/ESD). EVI's are a series of innovative "science-driven, competitively selected, low cost missions". The series of "Venture Class" missions were recommended in the 2007 publication Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond. "nnovative research and application missions that might address any area of Earth science" are selected through frequent "openly-competed solicitations".
Earth Venture missions are "small-sized competitively selected orbital missions and instrument missions of opportunity" and include NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), ICESat-2, SAGE III on ISS, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow On (GRACE-FO), Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS), Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), and the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation lidar (GEDI).
References
External links
TEMPO website by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Satellite meteorology
Spacecraft instruments
Spectrometers
Piggyback mission
2023 in spaceflight | Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 521 | [
"Spectrometers",
"Spectroscopy",
"Spectrum (physical sciences)"
] |
61,013,658 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estradiol%20undecylenate | Estradiol undecylenate (EUe; developmental code name SH-368) is an estrogen medication and estrogen ester which was never marketed. It is the C17β undecenoate (undecylenate) ester of estradiol. Following an intramuscular injection, EUe has a very prolonged effect, exceeding that of other estradiol esters like estradiol valerate and estradiol enanthate. Due to its very long duration of action, EUe releases only subthreshold amounts of estradiol at conventional doses. However, this may still be useful in menopausal hormone therapy.
See also
Estradiol diundecylenate
List of estrogen esters § Estradiol esters
References
Abandoned drugs
Estradiol esters
Hydroxyarenes
Synthetic estrogens
Undecylenate esters | Estradiol undecylenate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 183 | [
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
61,014,226 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port%20Authority%20Building%20%28Antwerp%29 | The Port Authority Building (Dutch: Havenhuis), or the Port House, is a government building located in Antwerp, Belgium, built between 2009 and 2016. It is located in the area of Eilandje, in the Port of Antwerp, and acts as the new headquarters of the Antwerp Port Authority, housing various departments. Designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, the building opened in 2016, the year of her death. It is the sole government building designed by Hadid. The design of the building incorporates the use of a fire station, integrating it into the building. Attached above and connected to the fire station is a contemporary diamond-shaped structure marked by straight edges, with an additional column providing support from the floor.
The building houses approximately 500 employees, and acts as a meeting place for international contacts of the Antwerp port community. According to the Antwerp Port Authority, the building is meant to "symbolise the dynamic, reliable, ambitious and innovative nature" of the Port of Antwerp.
History
The Port of Antwerp is Europe's second largest shipping port by traffic, handling 26% of Europe's container shipping. Before the construction of the Port Authority Building, the Antwerp Port Authority hosted technical and administrative services in different locations, including in the Hofstraat and in the old Port House at the Entrepotkaai.
In 2007, port authorities determined that a new location would enable its technical and administrative services to be housed together, providing new accommodation for about 500 staff. The new Port House would centralize operation into one building, improving efficiency.
The lower section of the building was a disused fire station, and a protected replica of a former Hanseatic house. Thus, it could not be demolished, and the fire station had to be integrated into the new project. According to , president of the port of Antwerp, “There was only one rule laid down in the architectural competition, namely that the original building had to be preserved." Several studies, such as a historic survey and an investigation into the historical values of the site, were conducted.
Peel stated that five shortlisted candidates all opted for the addition of a modern structure above the original building, and the design by Zaha Hadid Architects was chosen. This was considered appropriate as the original fire station was intended to include a tower. The construction of the expansion began in October 2012 and the building was officially opened in September 2016.
The waterside site offered sustainable construction benefits, allowing materials and components to be transported by water, which would meet the port's ecological targets.
In honour of the architect, the quayside in front of the building was named Zaha Hadidplein ("Zaha Hadid Square") by the city council.
Design
The expansion of the building is located directly above the renovated fire station. It has a glass-covered facade to "reflect the complex interaction of shades and colours in the air", a reference to the building's location surrounded by water. The volume measures over 100 metres in length. The expansion resembles the hull of a sailing ship, with a protruding bow and the surface of the facets of a diamond facing the Kattendijk dock. This is also a reference to Antwerp's association with the diamond industry.
The exterior of the "diamond" consists of transparent and opaque triangular facets. This allowed the architects to control the amount of sunlight entering the building. The placement of the facets mimics the nearby River Scheldt. Project manager Joris Pauwels stated that concrete pillars and 900 tonnes of steel hold the glass workspace above the former fire station. A bridge level joins the two structures and gives employees a 360-degree view of the public square and the Scheldt below.
The design of the building took energy efficiency into account, reaching a 'Very Good' BREEAM environmental rating. A borehole energy system pumps water to a depth of 80 metres below grade in over 100 locations around the building to provide heating and cooling. The company Cegelec was in charge of installing and unifying the energy networks of the two buildings, with the insertion of plastic pipes to achieve an energy storage volume of 12 cubic metres.
The restored and preserved fire engine hall contains a public reading room and a library. The whole building has a total floorplan of 12,800 square metres, with 6,600 square metres in the refurbished fire station and a further 6,200 square metres in the extension.
Accessibility
The port house has two areas of private parking. The entrance of the underground parking area is at the Mexicostraat, with charging points for electric cars. The second parking area is roughly two minutes from the Port House, on the Merantistraat. Across Antwerpen-Centraal railway station is a tram stop where you can take tram 24 (Silsburg-Havenhuis) to its final stop in front of the Port House.
Awards
The Port House was nominated as a finalist for the A+Awards in the commercial office mid-rise category.
Gallery
References
External links
Zaha Hadid buildings
Buildings and structures in Antwerp
Government buildings in Belgium
Neo-futurist architecture
Postmodern architecture
Transport buildings and structures in Belgium | Port Authority Building (Antwerp) | [
"Engineering"
] | 1,047 | [
"Postmodern architecture",
"Architecture"
] |
61,014,351 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monalazone | Monalazone, used as monalazone disodium (; the disodium salt) and sold under the brand names Naclobenz-Natrium, Spergisin, and Speton, is a vaginal disinfectant or antiseptic and spermicidal contraceptive. It is a sulfonylbenzoic acid derivative and is closely related structurally to halazone. The compound was synthesized in 1937. A vaginal tablet combination of 0.125 mg estradiol benzoate and 10 mg monalazone was previously marketed under the brand name Malun 25.
References
Abandoned drugs
Antiseptics and disinfectants
Benzoic acids
Organochlorides
Spermicide
Sulfonamides | Monalazone | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 152 | [
"Biocides",
"Spermicide",
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
61,015,202 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife%20guy | On social media, a wife guy is a man whose fame is owed to the content he posts about his wife. The term has been applied more broadly to men who use their wife to upgrade their social standing or public persona.
History
The term was first coined for Internet memes about wives, notably a much-parodied "Email to my girlfriend's husband" circulating in 2016. Robbie Tripp, an American rapper/internet personality whose Instagram post of himself with his wife went viral in 2017, was dubbed the "curvy wife guy" by the media. The concept became more widely known in 2019 following the release of Tripp's debut single and music video "Chubby Sexy", after which several leading U.S. media outlets published articles about the terms effect on internet culture.
The phenomenon has been traced back to before the term was coined. Many media outlets identify dril, a Weird Twitter account, as pioneering the trope online. Dril is noted for making posts relating various things his fictional wife does that make him seem pathetic, like withholding his inhaler or keeping him from purchasing a harp. In a chapter of his book Dril Official "Mr. Ten Years" Anniversary Collection called "Wife", he details various ruses to thwart his ex-wife.
Meghan Roberts in Slate argued that Antoine Lavoisier was a wife guy, especially due to the notable portrait of him and his wife, where his wife Marie-Anne is the focus of the painting. His wife promoted his research above his competitors, and lent a public face to his work, which could be difficult to explain to a general audience. It is argued that Lavoisier was using his wife's image to build his personal brand. The New Yorker identifies post-women's liberation literary fiction as perpetuating it as a trope, with titles like The Time Traveler's Wife and The Zookeeper's Wife, books that were later made into films in the 21st century. The article identifies these titles and the meme itself as a being a form of erasure, where the nature of the wife guy erases the wife he derives his fame from.
In 2013, a Reddit post of a garage tagged in red spray-paint with "Don't e-mail my wife!!!" emerged on the Internet. The obscurity of the wife was noted as being similar to the wife guy trope in retrospect.
Assessments
The New York Times compared wife guys to incels, who define themselves by their inability to find a partner, in that wife guys define themselves by having found one, and expect to be congratulated for it. The paper also considered the "wife guy" phenomenon to reflect the changed status of marriage from societal default to personal achievement. Similarly, MEL Magazine wrote that wife guys treated their wives as "legitimizing for a male web celebrity", and as "a measure of the husband’s influence". Some outlets have argued that public figures and politicians often seek to be seen as a wife guy, in order to be seen as trustworthy and non-threatening.
References
Social media
Internet memes introduced in 2016
Social psychology
2016 neologisms
Internet slang
Marriage
Terms for men | Wife guy | [
"Technology"
] | 662 | [
"Computing and society",
"Social media"
] |
61,015,927 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone%20propionate/testosterone%20valerate/testosterone%20undecylenate | Testosterone propionate/testosterone valerate/testosterone undecylenate (TP/TV/TUe), sold under the brand name Triolandren, is an injectable combination medication of testosterone propionate (TP), testosterone valerate (TV), and testosterone undecylenate (TUe), which are all androgens/anabolic steroids. It contains 20 mg/mL TP, 80 mg/mL TV, and 150 mg/mL TUe (for a total of 250 mg testosterone ester and 173.8 mg free testosterone) in oil solution and is administered by intramuscular injection at regular intervals. The medication has been reported to have a duration of action of about 10 to 20 days.
See also
Testosterone propionate/testosterone enanthate/testosterone undecylenate
List of combined sex-hormonal preparations § Androgens
References
Abandoned drugs
Combined androgen formulations | Testosterone propionate/testosterone valerate/testosterone undecylenate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 194 | [
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
61,015,976 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International%20Sanitary%20Convention%20for%20Aerial%20Navigation%20%281933%29 | The International Sanitary Convention for Aerial Navigation (1933) was an international sanitary convention, drawn up in 1932 and signed at The Hague on 12 April 1933 (without a conference) and came into force on 1 August 1935 to protect communities against diseases liable to be imported by aircraft and to protect air crew against diseases due to flying. It contained a number of regulations consisting of measures to prevent the spread of plague, cholera, yellow fever, typhus and smallpox. It was formally ratified by around ten countries. Service aircraft were included in March 1939. Intelligence on infectious disease at ports was provided to health authorities by the health organisation at the League of Nations. It was amended in Washington on 15 December 1944, to form the International Sanitary Convention for Aerial Navigation (1944), which came into force on 15 January 1945.
After the amendment of the Convention in 1944, in addition to Personal, Aircraft and Maritime Declarations of Health, the Convention covered five certificates:
International Certificate of Inoculation Against Cholera.
International Certificate of Inoculation Against Yellow Fever.
International Certificate of Immunity Against Yellow Fever.
International Certificate of Inoculation Against Typhus Fever.
International Certificate of Vaccination Against Smallpox.
The old International Certificates of Inoculation and Vaccination remained valid until they expired, after which they were replaced by the International Certificate of Vaccination (Carte Jaune).
See also
International Certificate of Vaccination (Carte Jaune)
Immunity passport
International Sanitary Conferences
Vaccination requirements for international travel
References
Further reading
"International Sanitary Convention for Aerial Navigation, 1933"
1933 in aviation
Aviation agreements
Aviation law
International travel documents
Medical records
Regulation of aircraft
Vaccination | International Sanitary Convention for Aerial Navigation (1933) | [
"Biology"
] | 332 | [
"Vaccination"
] |
61,016,049 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone%20propionate/testosterone%20ketolaurate | Testosterone propionate/testosterone ketolaurate (TP/TKL), sold under the brand name Testosid-Depot, is an injectable combination medication of testosterone propionate (TP), an androgen/anabolic steroid, and testosterone ketolaurate (TKL; testosterone caprinoylacetate), an androgen/anabolic steroid. It contains 25 mg TP and 150 to 300 mg TKL in oil solution and is administered by intramuscular injection at regular intervals. The medication has been reported to have a duration of action of about 14 to 20 days.
See also
List of combined sex-hormonal preparations § Androgens
References
Abandoned drugs
Combined androgen formulations | Testosterone propionate/testosterone ketolaurate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 156 | [
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
61,016,420 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone%20undecylenate | Testosterone undecylenate (TUe) is an androgen/anabolic steroid medication and androgen ester which is no longer marketed. It was a component of Durasteron and Triolandren, long-acting mixtures of testosterone esters in oil solution that were administered by intramuscular injection.
See also
Boldenone undecylenate
Testosterone propionate/testosterone enanthate/testosterone undecylenate
Testosterone propionate/testosterone valerate/testosterone undecylenate
List of androgen esters § Testosterone esters
References
Abandoned drugs
Anabolic–androgenic steroids
Androstanes
Ketones
Testosterone esters
Undecylenate esters | Testosterone undecylenate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 142 | [
"Ketones",
"Functional groups",
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
61,016,518 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone%20propionate/testosterone%20enanthate/testosterone%20undecylenate | Testosterone propionate/testosterone enanthate/testosterone undecylenate (TP/TE/TUe), sold under the brand name Durasteron, is an injectable combination medication of testosterone propionate (TP), testosterone valerate (TV), and testosterone undecylenate (TUe), all of which are androgens/anabolic steroids. It contains 20 mg TP, 80 mg TE, and 150 mg TUe (for a total of 250 mg testosterone ester and 169.5 mg free testosterone) in oil solution and is administered by intramuscular injection at regular intervals, for instance once every 3 or 4 weeks. Use of Durasteron by bodybuilders has been reported.
See also
Testosterone propionate/testosterone valerate/testosterone undecylenate
List of combined sex-hormonal preparations § Androgens
References
Abandoned drugs
Combined androgen formulations | Testosterone propionate/testosterone enanthate/testosterone undecylenate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 196 | [
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
61,016,973 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C26H42O3 | {{DISPLAYTITLE:C26H42O3}}
The molecular formula C26H42O3 (molar mass: 402.61 g/mol, exact mass: 402.3134 u) may refer to:
Androstanolone enanthate (DHTH), also known as stanolone enanthate
CP 55,244 | C26H42O3 | [
"Chemistry"
] | 79 | [
"Isomerism",
"Set index articles on molecular formulas"
] |
61,017,029 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C22H27N3O | {{DISPLAYTITLE:C22H27N3O}}
The molecular formula C22H27N3O (molar mass: 349.4713 g/mol) may refer to:
AL-LAD, or 6-allyl-6-nor-LSD
CUMYL-PINACA, also known as SGT-24
Molecular formulas | C22H27N3O | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 76 | [
"Molecules",
"Set index articles on molecular formulas",
"Isomerism",
"Molecular formulas",
"Matter"
] |
61,017,030 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C23H27N3O2 | {{DISPLAYTITLE:C23H27N3O2}}
The molecular formula C23H27N3O2 (molar mass: 377.48 g/mol, exact mass: 377.2103 u) may refer to:
CUMYL-THPINACA (SGT-42)
Morazone
Molecular formulas | C23H27N3O2 | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 72 | [
"Molecules",
"Set index articles on molecular formulas",
"Isomerism",
"Molecular formulas",
"Matter"
] |
64,499,620 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic%20voting%20in%20the%20United%20States | Electronic voting in the United States involves several types of machines: touchscreens for voters to mark choices, scanners to read paper ballots, scanners to verify signatures on envelopes of absentee ballots, adjudication machines to allow corrections to improperly filled in items, and web servers to display tallies to the public. Aside from voting, there are also computer systems to maintain voter registrations and display these electoral rolls to polling place staff.
Most election offices handle thousands of ballots, with an average of 17 contests per ballot,
so machine-counting can be faster and less expensive than hand-counting.
Voluntary guidelines
The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is an independent agency of the United States government which developed the 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG). These guidelines address some of the security and accessibility needs of elections. The EAC also accredits three test laboratories which manufacturers hire to review their equipment. Based on reports from these laboratories the EAC certifies when voting equipment complies with the voluntary guidelines.
Twelve states require EAC certification for machines used in their states. Seventeen states require testing by an EAC-accredited lab, but not certification. Nine states and DC require testing to federal standards, by any lab. Four other states refer to federal standards but make their own decisions. The remaining eight states do not refer to federal standards.
Certification takes two years, costs a million dollars, and is needed again for any equipment update, so election machines are a difficult market.
A revision to the guidelines, known as the VVSG 1.1, was prepared in 2009 and approved in 2015. Voting machine manufacturers can choose which guidelines they follow. A new version has been written known as the VVSG 2.0 or the VVSG Next Iteration, which is being reviewed.
Optical scan counting
In an optical scan voting system, each voter's choices are marked on one or more pieces of paper, which then go through a scanner. The scanner creates an electronic image of each ballot, interprets it, creates a tally for each candidate, and usually stores the image for later review.
The voter may mark the paper directly, usually in a specific location for each candidate, then mail it or put it in a ballot box.
Or the voter may select choices on an electronic screen, which then prints the chosen names, usually with a bar code or QR code summarizing all choices, on a sheet of paper to put in the scanner. This screen and printer is called an electronic ballot marker (EBM) or ballot marking device (BMD), and voters with disabilities can communicate with it by headphones, large buttons, sip and puff, or paddles, if they cannot interact with the screen or paper directly. Typically the ballot marking device does not store or tally votes. The paper it prints is the official ballot, put into a scanning system which counts the barcodes, or the printed names can be hand-counted, as a check on the machines.
Most voters do not look at the machine-printed paper to ensure it reflects their choices. When there is a mistake, an experiment found that 81% of registered voters do not report errors to poll workers. No state requires central reporting of errors reported by voters, so the occasional report cannot lead to software correction. Hand-marked paper ballots more clearly have been reviewed by voters, but some places allow correction fluid and tape so ballots can be changed later.
Two companies, Hart and Clear Ballot, have scanners which count the printed names, which voters had a chance to check, rather than bar codes and QR codes, which voters are unable to check. When scanners use the bar code or QR code, the candidates are represented in the bar code or QR code as numbers, and the scanner counts those codes, not the names. If a bug or hack makes the numbering system in the ballot marking device different from the numbering system in the scanner, votes will be tallied for the wrong candidates. This numbering mismatch has appeared with direct recording electronic machines (below).
Errors in ballot marking devices
Ballot marking devices display contests and candidates on a screen where voters can make, change and check selections before printing the choices on paper to put in a ballot box. The election worker provides a code for each voter, to tell the machine what contests that voter may vote on. Contests presented to voters depend on the district boundaries they live in.
A common concern is picking one candidate and having the machine register another. Staff say that touching the touch screen near a boundary between candidates, or with a tremor can choose the wrong candidate, so voters need to check. If they discover a mistake after printing the ballot, they can spoil that ballot and start over. Some places put a privacy screen over the BMD's display, so voters must be "aggressive" when pressing the touchscreen to register a vote.
In a 2023 election in Northampton County, PA, misprogramming switched text on paper between two judge retention contests, so a vote to remove or retain the first was labeled with the name of the second, and vice versa. The county briefly changed to hand-marked paper ballots, but ran out, and went back to the mislabeled BMDs. The county and court changed instructions throughout the day.
In a 2022 election in Marietta, GA, up to 157 voters were presented lists of contests which were partly in error, due to recent changes in district boundaries.
In a 2019 election in Philadelphia, PA, 40% of polling locations had problems with BMDs, including "touchscreens that were hypersensitive or that froze; paper voting receipts getting jammed in the machines; and panels opening on some machines to expose the equipment's electronic controls."
In a 2019 election in Northampton County, PA, BMD screens were hypersensitive or insensitive, from being "configured improperly in the factory" so voters had to keep trying to select their candidates. An instructional message was treated as a Republican candidate, so straight party votes omitted the real candidate.
Errors in optical scans
Some scanners have a row of photo-sensors which the paper ballot passes by, and they record light and dark pixels from the ballot. Other scanners work by scanning the ballot to create an electronic image (i.e. a picture) of the ballot. Then the resulting image (picture) is analyzed by internal software to discern what votes were cast. In these types of vote tabulators, any defect in the scanning apparatus, such as dirt, scratches on the lens, or chads of paper, may mar the image of the ballot. These types of defects may produce long black lines, or white lines in the ballot image, which then may be misread by the software as an undervote (no votes for anyone), or as an overvote (a vote for every candidate).
Some offices blow compressed air over the scanners after every 200 ballots to remove dust.
Software can miscount or fail to count. If it fails or miscounts drastically enough, people notice and check. Errors can happen in the scanner or at the ballot printer. Staff rarely identify the person who caused an error, and assume it was accidental, not a hack.
2024
In the 2024 general election in Ashtabula County, OH, scanners mis-counted votes for levies, because the state Supreme Court changed the wording of the first state-wide ballot measure, so other measures shifted from where the scanners expected them on the page. The problem was discovered only when the county hand counted one measure because it was very close. Then the county hand counted other measures. Three measures changed from losing to winning. Other Ohio counties reported some ballots as unreadable, but did not hand count any ballots to check for shifted votes.
In the 2024 general election in Torrington, CT, broken tabulators and coding which did not match the layout of the printed ballots caused errors in counts of absentee and early ballots and ballots of voters who registered the same day they voted. Staff recounted these 7,000 ballots by hand.
In the 2024 general election in Centre County, PA, results from 13,000 scanned ballots did not upload to the central election computers, and were rescanned.
In the 2024 general election in Cambria County, PA, software and printing errors prevented counting votes on election day. Polls stayed open late and ballots were counted later.
In the 2024 general election in Nevada and Shasta Counties, CA, bar codes on the edges of ballots which tell machines the "style" or contests on the ballot were imprecisely printed ("ink overspray") by Runbeck, the ballot printing company, so scanners could not read them and process the ballots. They were hand-copied onto better ballots.
In the 2024 primary in Shasta County, CA, 100 ballots appear in the scanners' audit logs and not in final results, in a district with a contest decided by 14 votes. The logs show 20 manual time changes in 4 machines, half of which were logged exactly 60 seconds after a previous update. Seven were outside working hours, between nine at night and 4 in the morning, when video surveillance showed no one present. The county asked the US Justice Department to investigate.
In a 2024 primary in Utah, "adjudicated ballots were not reflected in the total results" in at least Tooele and Washington Counties, when more than a few adjudicated ballots were entered at once.
In a 2024 primary throughout Puerto Rico, parties found over 1,000 errors. The elections commission said the voting machines "incorrectly calculate vote totals". The election commission then "conducted a full vote tally and audited paper receipts from hundreds of ballot-counting machines." Dominion said the errors were in their software which exports counts from the voting system for public release.
2022
In a 2022 election in Monmouth County, NJ, software did not notice when staff uploaded six flashdrives of ballot images twice, which added more votes to candidates and switched a school board winner. It was caught by a council member who thought the numbers were too high, and made a public records request for detailed numbers, which showed more ballots than voters checked in. The part of the software designed to notice duplicates had not been installed, and there was no automated checking that the installation was right.
In a 2022 election in DeKalb County, GA, a candidate who actually won appeared to lose, after votes were not counted for her in some precincts, because another candidate withdrew, and programming did not categorize votes correctly.
in a 2022 election in Clackamas County, OR, scanners could not read more than 100,000 ballots on which the ballot printing company had printed a blurred bar code. The ballots needed to be hand-copied by teams of two onto correctly printed ballots. The problem was discovered May 3, for the May 17 election, and was not corrected until after the election.
in a 2022 election in Lancaster County, PA, scanners could not read 22,000 ballots on which the ballot printing company had put the wrong identification code. The ballots were hand-copied by teams of three onto correctly printed ballots. The state does not let mailed ballots be scanned before election day, so the problem was only discovered on election day.
2021
in a 2021 election in Williamson, TN, precinct scanners had two errors: They misread QR codes, mistakenly classifying some ballots as provisional and not to be tallied, then kept that not-to-be tallied classification for later ballots, so large numbers of ballots were not included in precinct reports at some precincts. They were re-scanned correctly on a central scanner and checked by a hand-tally. The county rented another brand for the 2022 elections.
In a 2021 primary in New York City, 135,000 test ballots were not removed from the database and were included in preliminary counts for the mayoral primary. They were discovered because totals were higher than the number of voters, and corrected by removing them from the count.
in a 2021 election in Lancaster County, PA, scanners could not read 12,300 ballots on which the ballot printing company had put the wrong identification code.
2020
in 2020 elections in Collier and Volusia Counties, FL, the election's optical scanners mis-interpreted voters' marks on 0.1% and 0.2% of ballot sheets respectively. These were not enough to change any outcomes, and involved voters' marks which barely touched the ovals intended to record votes. They were discovered by independent software re-examining all the ballot images.
in a 2020 election in Antrim County, MI, last minute updates to some ballots were not applied to all scanners, so the scanners had inconsistent numeric codes for different candidates and styles of ballots, causing errors of thousands of votes. Corrections happened in stages, leading to less and less confidence in the results. Results were eventually confirmed by a hand count.
In a 2020 election in Windham, New Hampshire, fold lines in the wrong places and dust on scanner sensors caused many fold lines to count as votes.
In a 2020 election in Baltimore, Maryland, the private company which printed ballots shifted the location of some candidates on some ballots up one line, so the scanner looked in the wrong places on the paper and reported the wrong numbers. It was caught because a popular incumbent got implausibly few votes, and corrected by hand-copying mailed ballots onto well-formatted ballots.
2010-2019
In a 2019 election in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, the software under-counted one candidate by 99%, reporting 164 votes, compared to 26,142 found in a subsequent hand-count, which changed the candidate's loss to a win.
In 2018 scanners in various states had problems from humidity, rejecting too many ballots, rejecting staff passwords, delivery to the wrong locations, broken machines, power outages, screen calibration shifting votes to other candidates, and broken cartridges to start machines.
In a 2018 New York City election when the air was humid, ballots jammed in the scanner, or multiple ballots went through a scanner at once, hiding all but one.
In a 2016 Maryland election, a comparison of two scanning systems on the same ballots revealed that (a) 1,972 ballot images were incorrectly left out of one system, (b) one system incorrectly ignored many votes for write-in candidates, (c) shadows from paper folds were sometimes interpreted as names written in on the ballot, (d) the scanner sometimes pulled two ballots at once, scanning only the top one, (e) the ballot printers sometimes left off certain candidates, (f) voters often put a check or X instead of filling in an oval, which software has to adapt to, and (g) a scratch or dirt on a scanner sensor put a black line on many ballot images, causing the appearance of voting for more than the allowed number of candidates, so those votes were incorrectly ignored.
In 2016 Wisconsin elections statewide, some voting machines did not detect some of the inks used by voters.
In a 2016 Rhode Island election, machines were misprogrammed with only one ballot style, though there were two. Results were surprising enough so officials investigated and found the error.
In a 2014 Stoughton, Wisconsin, election, all voters' choices on a referendum were ignored, because the scanner was programmed to look in the wrong spot on the ballot. It was corrected by a hand count.
In a 2012 Palm Beach County, Florida, election, votes in four Wellington City contests were reported for a different contest, causing the wrong winners to be certified in two of the contests. The problem did not occur in the county's other 15 municipalities.
In a 2010 New York election, 20,000 votes for governor and 30,000-40,000 votes for other offices were ignored, because the scanners overheated and disqualified the ballots by reading multiple votes in races where voters had properly only voted once.
Before 2010
Errors from 2002 to 2008 were listed and analyzed by the Brennan Center for Justice in 2010.
Errors before 2006 were listed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 2006.
In a 2004 Yakima, Washington, election 24 voters' choices on 4 races were ignored by a faulty scanner which created a white streak down the ballot.
In a 2004 Medford, Wisconsin, election, all 600 voters who voted a straight party ticket had all their votes ignored, because the manufacturer forgot to program the machines for a partisan election. Election officials did not notice any problem. The consultant who found the lost 600 voters also reported a Michigan precinct with zero votes, since staff put ballots in the scanner upside down.
In a 2000 Bernalillo County (Albuquerque area), New Mexico, election, a programming error meant that straight-party votes on paper ballots were not counted for the individual candidates. The number of ballots was thus much larger than the number of votes in each contest. The software was fixed, and the ballots were re-scanned to get correct counts.
In the 2000 Florida presidential race the most common optical scanning error was to treat as an overvote a ballot where the voter marked a candidate and wrote in the same candidate.
Researchers find security flaws in all election computers, which let voters, staff members or outsiders disrupt or change results, often without detection.
Security reviews and audits are discussed below.
Recreated ballots
Recreated ballots are paper
or electronic
ballots created by election staff when originals cannot be counted for some reason. Reasons include tears, water damage, folds which prevent feeding through scanners and voters selecting candidates by circling them or other abnormal marks. Reasons also include citizens abroad who use the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot because of not receiving their regular ballot in time. As many as 8% of ballots in an election may be recreated.
When auditing an election, audits are done with the original ballots, not the recreated ones, to catch mistakes in recreating them.
Cost of scanning systems
If most voters mark their own paper ballots and one marking device is available at each polling place for voters with disabilities, Georgia's total cost of machines and maintenance for 10 years, starting 2020, has been estimated at $12 per voter ($84 million total). Pre-printed ballots for voters to mark would cost $4 to $20 per voter ($113 million to $224 million total machines, maintenance and printing). The low estimate includes $0.40 to print each ballot, and more than enough ballots for historic turnout levels. The high estimate includes $0.55 to print each ballot, and enough ballots for every registered voter, including three ballots (of different parties) for each registered voter in primary elections with historically low turnout. The estimate is $29 per voter ($203 million total) if all voters use ballot marking devices, including $0.10 per ballot for paper.
The capital cost of machines in 2019 in Pennsylvania is $11 per voter if most voters mark their own paper ballots and a marking device is available at each polling place for voters with disabilities, compared to $23 per voter if all voters use ballot marking devices. This cost does not include printing ballots.
New York has an undated comparison of capital costs and a system where all voters use ballot marking devices costing over twice as much as a system where most do not. The authors say extra machine maintenance would exacerbate that difference, and printing cost would be comparable in both approaches. Their assumption of equal printing costs differs from the Georgia estimates of $0.40 or $0.50 to print a ballot in advance, and $0.10 to print it in a ballot marking device.
Direct-recording electronic counting
A touch screen displays choices to the voter, who selects choices, and can change their mind as often as needed, before casting the vote. Staff initialize each voter once on the machine, to avoid repeat voting. Voting data and ballot images are recorded in memory components, and can be copied out at the end of the election.
The system may also provide a means for communicating with a central location for reporting results and receiving updates, which is an access point for hacks and bugs to arrive.
Some of these machines also print names of chosen candidates on paper for the voter to verify. These names on paper can be used for election audits and recounts if needed. The tally of the voting data is stored in a removable memory component and in bar codes on the paper tape. The paper tape is called a Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT). The VVPATs can be counted at 20–43 seconds of staff time per vote (not per ballot).
For machines without VVPAT, there is no record of individual votes to check.
Errors in direct-recording electronic voting
This approach can have software errors. It does not include scanners, so there are no scanner errors. When there is no paper record, it is hard to notice or research most errors.
The only forensic examination which has been done of direct-recording software files was in Georgia in 2020, and found that one or more unauthorized intruders had entered the files and erased records of what it did to them. In 2014–2017 an intruder had control of the state computer in Georgia which programmed vote-counting machines for all counties. The same computer also held voter registration records. The intrusion exposed all election files in Georgia since then to compromise and malware. Public disclosure came in 2020 from a court case. Georgia did not have paper ballots to measure the amount of error in electronic tallies. The FBI studied that computer in 2017, and did not report the intrusion.
A 2018 study of direct-recording voting machines (iVotronic) without VVPAT in South Carolina found that every election from 2010 to 2018 had some memory cards fail. The investigator also found that lists of candidates were different in the central and precinct machines, so 420 votes which were properly cast in the precinct were erroneously added to a different contest in the central official tally, and unknown numbers were added to other contests in the central official tallies. The investigator found the same had happened in 2010. There were also votes lost by garbled transmissions, which the state election commission saw but did not report as an issue. 49 machines reported that their three internal memory counts disagreed, an average of 240 errors per machine, but the machines stayed in use, and the state evaluation did not report the issue, and there were other error codes and time stamp errors.
In a 2017 York County, Pennsylvania, election, a programming error in a county's machines without VVPAT let voters vote more than once for the same candidate. Some candidates had filed as both Democrat and Republican, so they were listed twice in races where voters could select up to three candidates, so voters could select both instances of the same name. They recounted the DRE machines' electronic records of votes and found 2,904 pairs of double votes.
In a 2015 Memphis, Tennessee, city election, the central processing system lost 1,001 votes which showed on poll tapes posted at precincts: "at Unity Christian ... precinct's poll tape ... 546 people had cast ballots ... Shelby County's first breakdown of each precinct's voting ... for Unity Christian showed only 330 votes. Forty percent of the votes had disappeared ... At first it looked like votes were missing from not just one precinct but 20. After more investigation, he appeared to narrow that number to four ... In all, 1,001 votes had been dropped from the election night count."
In a 2012 Shelby County, Tennessee, (Memphis area) election 801 voters signed into a polling place, and only 293 votes were recorded. In another precinct 20 extra memory cards were uploaded before polls closed. The central election management system let the number of memory cards be changed by hand, and reducing it could erase memory cards which had been loaded.
In a 2011 Fairfield Township, New Jersey, election a programming error in a machine without a VVPAT gave two candidates low counts. They collected more affidavits by voters who voted for them than the computer tally gave them, so a judge ordered a new election which they won.
Errors from 2002 to 2008 were listed and analyzed by the Brennan Center for Justice in 2010.
Errors before 2006 were listed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 2006.
In 2004, 4,812 voting machine problems were reported to a system managed by Verified Voting and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Most of these problems were in states which were primarily using direct-recording electronic voting equipment as of 2006.
Security reviews and audits are discussed below.
Online, email and fax voting
Email, fax, phone apps, modems, and web portals transmit information through the internet, between computers at both ends, so they are subject to errors and hacks at the origin, destination and in between.
Election machines online
As of 2018–19, election machines are online, to transmit results between precinct scanners and central tabulators, in some counties in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
Receiving ballots online
In many states, voters with a computer and printer can download a ballot to their computer, fill it out on the computer, print it and mail it back. This "remote access vote by mail" (RAVBM) avoids transmitting votes online, while letting distant voters avoid waiting for a mailed ballot, and letting voters with disabilities use assistive technologies to fill in the ballot privately and independently, such as screen readers, paddles or sip and puff if they already have them on their computer. The voter also receives a form with tracking numbers and a signature line, to mail back inside or outside the envelope with the ballot, so staff can review eligibility of the voter and prevent multiple votes from the same voter. Many states accept mailed ballots after election day, to allow time for mail from distant voters to arrive. The printed ballot may show just the choices and a bar code or QR code, not all the candidates and unvoted contests.
The voter's choices are not put online, which is an advantage for the voter's privacy. However the system does not work for people who have no printer or no computer. For people, such as soldiers, with a shared computer or printer, votes can be divulged by keystroke logging, by the print queue, or by people seeing ballots on the printer. Alternatives for distant voters are to get a paper ballot from the election office or the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot. Alternatives for local voters with disabilities are to use a ballot marking device (BMD) at a polling place, if they can get there, or have election staff bring a BMD and ballot box to the voter. The voter's printer does not necessarily use the weight and size of paper expected by the election scanners, so, after separating ballot from identifiers, staff copy the voter's choices onto a standard ballot for scanning. This copying has scope for error.
In California people send a signed application by mail, email or fax and receive a code by email, so there are signature checks both on the application and when the ballot envelope arrives. In Washington, people access the ballot electronically with name and birth date, so signature checks when the ballot envelope arrive are the method to authenticate ballots.
Individuals voting online
States which allow individual voters to submit completed ballots electronically in the United States are:
Hawaii allows email voting by any permanent absentee voter who has not received a ballot by five days before an election
Idaho allows email and fax voting in declared emergencies
Louisiana allows fax voting for voters with a disability
Utah allows email and fax voting for those with disabilities
Other states have tried or considered software, with problems discussed below.
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) lets overseas citizens and all military and merchant marine voters get ballots electronically (email, fax, or web site). They then submit ballots by mail to 19 states. Seven states allow submission through secure web sites: AL, AZ, CO (if needed), MA, MI, NC, ND, and WV. These seven and the remaining 25 states have a mix of rules allowing email or fax: AK, CA, DE, DC, FL, HI, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, OK, OR, RI, SC, TX (for danger, combat zones or space), UT, and WA. The Federal Voting Assistance Program converts emails to fax at voter request, so states which require fax receive ballots which started as emails.
Problems in online voting
Security experts have found security problems in every attempt at online voting,
including systems in Australia,
Estonia,
Switzerland,
Russia,
and the United States.
in 2019-2020 researchers found insecurities in online voting systems from Voatz,
and Democracy Live.
In 2010, graduate students from the University of Michigan hacked into the District of Columbia online voting systems during an online voting mock test run and changed all the cast ballots to cater to their preferred candidates. This voting system was being tested for military voters and overseas citizens, allowing them to vote on the Web, and was scheduled to run later that year. It only took the hackers, a team of computer scientists, thirty-six hours to find the list of the government's passwords and break into the system.
In March 2000 the 2000 Arizona Democratic presidential primary internet election was conducted over the internet using the private company votation.com. Each registered member of the party received a personal identification number in the mail. They could vote in person or over the internet, using their PIN and answering two questions such as date and place of birth. During the election older browsers failed, but no hacks were identified.
Electronic processing of postal and absentee ballots
Checking signatures on envelopes of absentee ballots is hard, and is often computerized in jurisdictions with many absentee ballots. The envelope is scanned, and the voter's signature on the outside of the envelope is instantly compared with one or more signatures on file. The machine sets aside non-matches in a separate bin. Temporary staff then double-check the rejections, and in some places check the accepted envelopes too.
Error rates of computerized signature reviews are not published. "A wide range of algorithms and standards, each particular to that machine's manufacturer, are used to verify signatures. In addition, counties have discretion in managing the settings and implementing manufacturers' guidelines… there are no statewide standards for automatic signature verification… most counties do not have a publicly available, written explanation of the signature verification criteria and processes they use"
Handwriting experts agree "it is extremely difficult for anyone to be able to figure out if a signature or other very limited writing sample has been forged".
The National Vote at Home Institute reports that 17 states do not mandate a signature verification process.
The Election Assistance Commission says that machines should be set only to accept nearly perfect signature matches, and humans should doublecheck a sample, but EAC does not discuss acceptable error rates or sample sizes.
In the November 2016 general election, rejections ranged from none in Alabama and Puerto Rico, to 6% of ballots returned in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky and New York.
Where reasons for rejection were known, in 2018, 114,000 ballots arrived late, 67,000 failed signature verification, 55,000 lacked voter signatures, and 11,000 lacked witness signatures in states which require them. The intent of the signature verification step was to catch and reject forged signatures on ballot envelopes.
The highest error rates in signature verification are found among lay people, higher than for computers, which in turn make more errors than experts.
Researchers have published error rates for computerized signature verification. They compare different systems on a common database of true and false signatures. The best system falsely rejects 10% of true signatures, while it accepts 10% of forgeries. Another system has error rates on both of 14%, and the third-best has error rates of 17%.
It is possible to be less stringent and reject fewer true signatures, at the cost of also rejecting fewer forgeries, which means erroneously accepting more forgeries.
Vendors of automated signature verification claim accuracy, and do not publish their error rates.
Voters with short names are at a disadvantage, since even experts make more mistakes on signatures with fewer "turning points and intersections".
E-pollbooks
An electronic pollbook, also known as an e-pollbook, is a combination of hardware and software which maintains voter register information at a polling place to check if each voter is registered and has not already voted in the election. When voters have a choice of multiple vote centers where they may vote, e-pollbooks communicating over the internet can prevent a voter from voting more than once.
In 2023 a contractor, WSD Digital, developing a voter registration and e-pollbook system for New Hampshire put in code to link to websites in Russia and used open source software managed by a Russian. New Hampshire found those issues by hiring another company, ReversingLabs, to review the code of the first company.
In 2022 Williamson County TX found two problems: that its use of e-poll books sometimes assigned the wrong ballot style to voters, so they voted on contests outside their area, and did not vote on contests in their own area; and that some ballots did not display the voters' precincts.
State and local websites for election results
Election offices display election results on the web by transferring USB drives between offline election computers, and online computers which display results to the public. USB drives can take infections from the online computers to the election computers. Local governments communicate electronically with their state governments so the state can display results, with the result that problems at the state level can affect all or many local offices.
Election-reporting websites run software to aggregate and display results. These have had programming errors which showed erroneous partial results during the evening, and the wrong winner. Local officials can change results. A Virginia official was charged with changing results by herself in the state's VERIS system. All charges were dropped when witnesses changed their stories, since computer logs did not prove whether changes were or were not made.
Before the 2016 general election, Russians gained access to at least one employee's account at a vendor which manages election-reporting websites. During the 2018 general election, a hacker in India gained administrative access to the Alaska election-reporting website.
Studies by McAfee and ProPublica in 2020 found that most election websites have inadequate security. McAfee analyzed swing states. ProPublica analyzed Super Tuesday states. They found many offices using outdated, insecure, dangerous and inappropriate software, including unsupported operating systems, and using the same few web hosts, which they said is dangerous for critical infrastructure, since finding a flaw in one can lead to access to them all. They criticized offices for not using https encryption, and for public sitenames ending in .com or .org, since it leads voters to trust sites which are not .gov, and voters can easily be tricked by a similar name.
Election security
Decentralized system
In 2016 Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence said that United States elections are hard to hack, because they are decentralized, with many types of machines and thousands of separate election offices operating under 51 sets of state laws. Others have made similar statements.
An official at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said a nation state would target hacks in key counties. A McAfee expert said decentralization makes defense hard and for "a very determined group, trying to compromise this system, I think it ends up playing more into their favor than against them." Each city or county election is run by one office, and a few large offices affect state elections. County staff cannot in practice defend against foreign governments.
Security reviews
The Brennan Center summarized almost 200 errors in election machines from 2002 to 2008, many of which happened repeatedly in different jurisdictions, which had no clearinghouse to learn from each other.
More errors have happened since then. Cleveland State University listed formal studies of voting systems done by several groups through 2008.
Machines in use are not examined to determine if they have been hacked, so no hacks of machines in use have been documented. Researchers have hacked all machines they have tried, and have shown how they can be undetectably hacked by manufacturers, election office staff, pollworkers, voters and outsiders and by the public. Vulnerabilities identified at the 2019 DEFCON Las Vegas hackers convention had been previously noted and "included poor physical security protections that could allow undetected tampering; easily guessable hard-coded system credentials; potential for operating system manipulations; and remote attacks that could compromise memory or integrity checks or cause denial of service." The public can access unattended machines in polling places the night before elections. Some of the hacks can spread among machines on the removable memory cards which tell the machines which races to display, and carry results back to the central tally location.
The CEO of Free and Fair, an open source vendor, said the cheapest way to improve security is for each election office to hire a computer student as a white hat hacker to conduct penetration tests.
Audits
Five states check all contests by hand tallies in a small percent of locations, AK, CA, PA, UT, WV, though California excludes about half the ballots, the ones counted after election day, and Alaska excludes small precincts.
Two states check all contests by machines independent of the election machines, in a small percent of locations, NY, VT.
Seventeen states check one or a few contests by hand, usually federal races and the governor; most local contests are not checked.
Four states reuse the same machines or ballot images as the election, so errors can persist, CT, IL, MD, NV.
Sixteen states do not require audits, or only in special circumstances.
In seven states many voters still lack paper ballots, so audits are not possible. IN, KY, LA, MS, NJ, TN, TX.
Even where audits are done, no state has adequate security on the paper ballots, so they can be damaged to impede audits, or altered to match erroneous machine tallies. Even insiders have breached security.
Public attitudes
The Pew Research Center found in October 2018 wide mistrust of election security in both parties, especially among Democrats
8% of voters were "very confident that election systems are secure from hacking and other technological threats".
37% were "somewhat confident", and the remaining 55% were not confident
13% of Republicans were very confident, and 41% were not confident
4% of Democrats were very confident, and 66%% were not confident
An MIT professor's survey found that Republicans think domestic hackers are more likely than foreigners; Democrats think the opposite.
Stanford and Wisconsin researchers in 2019 found that only 89% of voters disapprove if a foreign country would "hack into voting machines and change the official vote count to give [a] candidate extra votes" and the candidate wins. This 89% disapproval is not much more than the 88% who disapprove of a foreign country making campaign contributions and 78-84% against them spreading lies. Only 73-79% disapprove if their party got help, while 94-95% disapprove of the other party getting help. If a foreign country thought about interfering, but did not, 21% distrust the results anyway. This rises only to 84% distrusting final results after a foreign country hacked and changed results.
For any of the foreign actions (hacks, contributions or lies), 72% of voters support economic sanctions, 59% support cutting diplomatic relations, 25% support a military threat, and 15% support a military strike. There was less support for action, by 4-20 percentage points, if the foreign country helped one's own party win, so the researchers point out that retaliation is unlikely, since there is little support for it in a winning party. Deep investigation creates more certainty about who is to blame, which they find raises support for retaliation very little. They randomly listed China, Pakistan or Turkey as the interfering country, and do not report any different reactions to them.
A Monmouth University poll in May 2019 found that 73% thought Russia interfered in the 2016 election (not necessarily by hacking), 49% thought it damaged American democracy a lot, 57% thought Russia interfered in the 2018 election, and 60% thought the U.S. government is not doing enough to stop it. Margin of error is ±3.5%.
Election companies
Many election companies are members of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's Election Infrastructure Subsector Council.
Three vendors sell most of the machines used for voting and for counting votes. As of September 2016, the American Election Systems & Software (ES&S) served 80 million registered voters, Canadian Dominion Voting Systems 70 million, American Hart InterCivic 20 million, and smaller companies less than 4 million each.
Three companies sell mail sorting and signature verification machines: ES&S, Runbeck and a merged company, Olympus/Vantage/Pitney Bowes/Bell & Howell. In 2018 BlueCrest acquired the Pitney Bowes election business,
and in 2021 BlueCrest acquired Fluence,
which had obtained the Bell & Howell election business in 2017.
In 2022 the BlueCrest printing and sorting business was acquired by Corum Group.
Olympus
and Vantage
machines are sold by BlueCrest. Runbeck uses Vantage sorters from BlueCrest.
Runbeck also processes envelopes under contract.
The signature-matching software most used is from Parascript, spun off from Paragraph, a Soviet-American joint venture
though there are other companies.
Parascript had fewer errors than other software in 2010: Parascript rejected 14% of genuine signatures and accepted 8% of forgeries if they were modeled on a genuine signature.
Amazon provides election websites in 40 states, including election-reporting sites in some of them. A Spanish company, Scytl, manages election-reporting websites statewide in 12 U.S. states, and in another 980 local jurisdictions in 28 states.
Another website management company is VR Systems, active in 8 states.
Maryland's election website is managed by a company owned by an associate of Russian President Putin.
Timeline of development
1964: The Norden-Coleman optical scan voting system, the first such system to see actual use, was adopted for use in Orange County, California.
1974: The Video Voter, the first DRE voting machine used in a government election, developed by the Frank Thornber Company in Chicago, Illinois, saw its first trial use in 1974 near Chicago.
Mar. 1975:The U.S. Government is given a report by Roy G. Saltman, a consultant in developing election technology and policies, in which the certification of voting machines is analyzed for the first time.
August 28, 1986: The Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (UOCAVA) requires that U.S. states allow certain groups of citizens to register and vote absentee in elections for federal offices.
1990: The FEC (Federal Election Commission) released a universalized standard for computerized voting.
1996: The Reform Party uses I-Voting (Internet Voting) to select their presidential candidate. This election is the first governmental election to use this method in the U.S.
May 2002:The FEC revised the standards established for electronic voting from 1990.
Nov 2004: 4,438 of votes in the general election is lost by North Carolina's electronic voting machines. The machines continued to count electronic votes past the device's memory capacity and the votes were irretrievably lost.
Dec 2005: Black Box Voting showed how easy it is to hack an electronic voting system. Computer experts in Leon County, Fl lead a simulation where they changed the outcome of a mock election by tampering with the tabulator without leaving evidence of their actions.
September 13, 2006: It was demonstrated that Diebold Electronic Voting Machine can be hacked in less than a minute. Princeton's Professor of Computer Science, Edward Felten who installed a malware which could steal votes and replace them with fraudulent numbers without physically coming in contact with the voting machine or its memory card. The malware can also program a virus that can spread from machine to machine.
September 21, 2006: The governor of Maryland, Bob Ehrlich (R), advised against casting electronic votes as an alternative method for casting paper absentee ballots. This was a complete turn around since Maryland became one of the first states to accept electronic voting systems statewide during his term.
September 3, 2009: Diebold, responsible for much of the technology in the election-systems business, sells their hold to Election Systems & Software, Inc for $5 Million, less than 1/5 of its price seven years earlier.
October 28, 2009: The federal Military and Overseas Voters Empowerment Act (MOVE) requires U.S. states to provide ballots to UOCAVA voters in at least one electronic format (email, fax, or an online delivery system).
January 3, 2013: Voter Empowerment Act of 2013 – This act requires each U.S. state to make available public websites for online voter registration.
Spring 2019: Department of Defense DARPA announces $10 million contract for secure, open-source election system prototypes based on the agency's SSITH secure hardware platform work: a touch screen ballot-marking device to demo at the annual DEF CON hacker conference in summer 2019 and an optical scan system to read hand-marked paper ballots targeted for DEF CON 2020.
Legislation
In the summer of 2004, the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Association of Information Technology Professionals issued a nine-point proposal for national standards for electronic voting. In an accompanying article, the committee's chair, Charles Oriez, described some of the problems that had arisen around the country.
Legislation has been introduced in the United States Congress regarding electronic voting, including the Nelson-Whitehouse bill. This bill would appropriate as much as 1 billion dollars to fund states' replacement of touch screen systems with optical scan voting system. The legislation also addresses requiring audits of 3% of precincts in all federal elections. It also mandates some form of paper trail audits for all electronic voting machines by the year 2012 on any type of voting technology.
Another bill, HR.811 (The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003), proposed by Representative Rush D. Holt, Jr., a Democrat from New Jersey, would act as an amendment to the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and require electronic voting machines to produce a paper audit trail for every vote. The U.S. Senate companion bill version introduced by Senator Bill Nelson from Florida on November 1, 2007, necessitates the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to continue researching and to provide methods of paper ballot voting for those with disabilities, those who do not primarily speak English, and those who do not have a high literacy rating. Also, it requires states to provide the federal office with audit reports from the hand counting of the voter verified paper ballots. Currently, this bill has been turned over to the United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and a vote date has not been set.
During 2008, Congressman Holt, because of an increasing concern regarding the insecurities surrounding the use of electronic voting technology, submitted additional bills to Congress regarding the future of electronic voting. One, called the "Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008" (HR5036), states that the General Services Administration will reimburse states for the extra costs of providing paper ballots to citizens, and the costs needed to hire people to count them. This bill was introduced to the House on January 17, 2008. This bill estimates that $500 million will be given to cover costs of the reconversion to paper ballots; $100 million given to pay the voting auditors; and $30 million given to pay the hand counters. This bill provides the public with the choice to vote manually if they do not trust the electronic voting machines. A voting date has not yet been determined.
The Secure America's Future Elections Act or the SAFE Act (HR 1562) was among the relevant legislation introduced in the 115th Congress. The bill's provisions include designation of the infrastructure used to administer elections as critical infrastructure; funding for states to upgrade the security of the information technology and cybersecurity elements of election-related IT systems; and requirements for durable, readable paper ballots and manual audits of results of elections.
See also
Electronic voting in India
References
Elections in the United States
United States
Voting in the United States
Computer hardware standards
Articles containing video clips | Electronic voting in the United States | [
"Technology"
] | 9,960 | [
"Computer standards",
"Computer hardware standards"
] |
64,500,324 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAT-P-20 | HAT-P-20 is a K-type main-sequence star about 233 light-years away. The star has a strong starspot activity, and its equatorial plane is misaligned by 36° with the planetary orbit. Although star with a giant planet on close orbit is expected to be spun-up by tidal forces, only weak indications of tidal spin-up were detected.
Planetary system
In 2010 a transiting hot super-Jovian planet was detected. Its equilibrium temperature is 996 K.
References
Gemini (constellation)
K-type main-sequence stars
Planetary systems with one confirmed planet
Planetary transit variables
J07273995+2420118 | HAT-P-20 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 135 | [
"Gemini (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
64,500,784 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20Khmu%20plant%20common%20names | The following list of Khmu (Kammu Yuan dialect of Luang Namtha Province, Laos) plant names is from Jan-Olof Svantesson et al. (2013).
Flowering plants
Other plants
Fungi
See also
List of Khmu animal common names
Wildlife of Laos
References
Khmu language
Flora of Laos
Names
Environment of Laos
+Khmu | List of Khmu plant common names | [
"Biology"
] | 75 | [
"Plants",
"Plant common names",
"Common names of organisms"
] |
64,500,785 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20Khmu%20animal%20common%20names | The following list of Khmu (Kammu Yuan dialect of Luang Namtha Province, Laos) animal names is from Svantesson et al. (2013).
Insects
Other arthropods
Other invertebrates
Fish
Amphibians and reptiles
Birds
Mammals
See also
List of Khmu plant common names
Wildlife of Laos
References
Animal common names
Fauna of Laos
Names
Environment of Laos
Animal common names | List of Khmu animal common names | [
"Biology"
] | 80 | [
"Animals",
"Animal common names",
"Common names of organisms"
] |
64,501,093 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester%27s%20triangle%20problem | Sylvester's theorem or Sylvester's formula describes a particular interpretation of the sum of three pairwise distinct vectors of equal length in the context of triangle geometry. It is also referred to as Sylvester's (triangle) problem in literature, when it is given as a problem rather than a theorem. The theorem is named after the British mathematician James Joseph Sylvester.
Theorem
Consider three pairwise distinct vectors of equal length , and each of them acting on the same point thus creating the points , and . Those points form the triangle with as the center of its circumcircle. Now let denote the orthocenter of the triangle, then connection vector is equal to the sum of the three vectors:
Furthermore, since the points and are located on the Euler line together with the centroid the following equation holds:
Generalisation
If the condition of equal length in Sylvester's theorem is dropped and one considers merely three arbitrary pairwise distinct vectors, then the equation above does not hold anymore. However, the relation with the centroid remains true, that is:
This follows directly from the definition of the centroid for a finite set of points in , which also yields a version for vectors acting on :
Here is the centroid of the vertices of the polygon generated by the vectors acting on .
References
External links
Darij Grinberg: Solution to American Mathematical Monthly Problem 11398 by Stanley Huang – contains Sylvester's theorem including its proof as a lemma
Theorems about triangles
Triangle problems | Sylvester's triangle problem | [
"Mathematics"
] | 301 | [
"Geometry problems",
"Mathematical problems",
"Triangle problems"
] |
64,501,519 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sotoportego | Sotoportego (or sottoportego) is one of the characteristic elements of urban planning in the city of Venice.
It is a passageway that goes underneath a building. The sotoportego height typically equals to that of the ground floor. Oftentimes, the sotoportego is the only access to a courtyard or a small square. Many sotoporteghi contain sacred images of the saints or Madonna. The images can be bas-reliefs made of the Istrian stone or white marble.
Types
There are three basic types of sotoporteghi:
Sotoportego that connects a street (calle) or a campo with another street. This type is by far the most widespread in the city since in many cases these are absolutely necessary urban elements to ensure an access otherwise prevented by construction.
Sotoportego that goes along a canal and provides a landing place for boats. This type represents a way to create covered banks for the loading and unloading of goods and passengers sheltered from the weather and is also relatively widespread in the city.
Sotoportego that leads to a canal. This type creates a section of covered foundation. It is less widespread one but architecturally very impressive, since it combines peculiar aquatic, building, and road elements of the city.
Gallery
See also
Portego
References
Venetian Gothic architecture
Architectural design
Architectural elements | Sotoportego | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 267 | [
"Building engineering",
"Architectural elements",
"Architectural design",
"Design",
"Components",
"Architecture"
] |
64,502,232 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knotted%20column | Knotted column (also serpent column) is an architectural element, consisting of a pair of columns joined together by a "flat knot". The column was particularly used during the Romanesque period when it spread in a wide geographical area between Northern Italy, Bavaria, and Burgundy, and was particularly associated with the work of the Comacine masters and the Cistercian order.
Background
The knot is a symbol of the double human and divine nature of Christ, as well as of the Father and the Son united by the Holy Spirit.
One of the oldest examples can be considered the pulpit of the parish church of San Pietro di Gropina, perhaps from the Lombards era. One of its supports is made up of a pair of knotted columns. There are also examples in which four columns are knotted together, as in the Trento Cathedral.
According to some scholars, however, the origin of the knotted column would be Byzantine, as evidenced by a column found and exhibited at the Provincial Museum of Torcello (Venice).
Gallery
References
Architectural elements
Structural system | Knotted column | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 210 | [
"Structural engineering",
"Building engineering",
"Structural system",
"Architectural elements",
"Columns and entablature",
"Components",
"Architecture"
] |
64,502,904 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date%20palm%20leaf%20pati | A date palm leaf pati () is a traditional handmade furniture and house decoration. It was part of the cultural heritage of the village of Bengal, but fell out of use.
Materials
Pati is typically made of cane, bamboo and straw. A special kind of pati, it is made of date palm tree leaves. It was mainly used by the Muslim and Hindu communities. While most Hindu mat makers were members of the Vaishnava faith, the Muslim mat makers belonged to various communities.
Uses
Date palm leaf pati is typically used in Bangladesh and West Bengal in rooms for sitting and sleeping. It is used for sun drying produce. It is used for religious purposes such as Hindu wedding ceremonies. It can function as a prayer rug, Jainamaz, for Muslims.
Construction
First, the branches of the date palm are cut from the tree and sun-dried. Part of the base and the front of the leaves are cut off. Afterward, the leaf is divided into two parts. Once divided, the leaf pieces are prepared to be as thin as required to make the pati. Finally, the pieces are woven, side by side, to make a full pati. The total length of pati should be normally 4–6 feet. It takes about a week to complete a full pati. A pati can incorporate various colors.
Lifetime and price
A typical pati may last up to 12 to 18 months. The price of a pati depends on its length and the artwork applied to it. The selling price can vary from 3 to 6 USD (200-500 taka).
References
Culture of Bengal
Floors
Interior design
Bangladeshi handicrafts
Date palm | Date palm leaf pati | [
"Engineering"
] | 339 | [
"Structural engineering",
"Floors"
] |
64,503,842 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second%20International%20Congress%20of%20the%20History%20of%20Science | The Second International Congress of the History of Science was held in London from June 29 to July 4, 1931. The Congress was organised by the International Committee of History of Science, in conjunction with the Comité International des Sciences Historiques. The History of Science Society and the Newcomen Society also supported the event. Charles Singer presided over the congress. Although organised by the International Committee of History of Science, it was during this congress that this organisation was transformed into an individual membership organisation called the International Academy of the History of Science.
The inaugural session was held in the Great Hall of the Royal Geographical Society. This was opened by Hastings Lees-Smith, President of the Board of Education. The rest of the congress was conducted in four sessions held in the lecture hall of the Science Museum.
The Sciences as an Integral Part of General Historical Study
This session was chaired by Gino Loria (University of Genoa). George Clark (University of Oxford) initiated the session pleading that science has a truer sense of history than any other sphere of human activity. William Cecil Dampier then presented a hierarchical approach to the history of science. which he said should proceed from primitive emotions through law, economics, to science. This was followed by Thomas Greenwood (London University) who stressed the importance of understanding the history of mathematics in order to better grasp the history of philosophy. Archibald Hill (London University) then argued for more attention to the history of science in children's books.
This led to a response from the Soviet delegation: Boris Zavadovsky argued that the history of science should be conceived as the history of the process of development of mankind, showing the laws to which this history conformed, as a social whole particularly in relationship to class structure. Ernst Kolman discussed a letter which Charles Darwin sent to Karl Marx which touched on the former's avoidance of the topic of religion. Modest Rubinstein added that science had progressed through economic and social of which the "great men" were merely the expression.
The Teaching of the History of Science
Historical and Contemporary Inter-relationship of the Physical and Biological Sciences
The Interdependence of Pure and AppliedScience
Special Session: Science at the Crossroads
On the first day it was announced that there would be a "Special Session" to be held on the morning of 4 July at which the Soviet delegates would have the opportunity to present their papers. For the next five days the Soviet Embassy hosted a team of delegates, translators and proofreaders who produced the papers as separate documents by the morning of the Special Section. They were published as Science at the Crossroads 10 days later, with numerous typographical errors providing testimony to the rushed nature of their production process.
"Theory and Practice From The Standpoint of Dialectical Materialism" by Nikolai Bukharin, Member of the Academy of Sciences, Director of the Industrial Research Department of the Supreme Economic Council, President of the Commission of the Academy of Sciences for the History of Knowledge.
"Physics and Technology", Abram Ioffe, Member of the Academy of Sciences, Director of the Physico-Technical Institute, Leningrad.
"Relations of Science, Technology, and Economics Under Capitalism, and in the Soviet Union" by Modest Rubinstein, Professor at the Institute of Economics, Moscow; Member of the Presidium of the Communist Academy, Moscow; Member of the Presidium of the State Planning Commission (Gosplan).
The "Physical" and "Biological" in the Process of Organic Evolution" by Boris Zavadovsky, Director of the Institute of Neuro-Humoral Physiology, K. A. Timiriaseff, Director of the Biological Museum.
"Dynamic and Statistical Regularity in Physics and Biology" by Ernst Kolman, President of the Association of the Scientific Institute of Natural Science, Professor of the Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics, Moscow; Member of the Presidium of the State Scientific Council.
"The Problem of the Origin of the World's Agriculture in the Light of the Latest Investigations" by Nikolai Vavilov, Member of the Academy of Sciences, President of the Lenin Agricultural Academy.
"The Work of Faraday and Modern Developments in the Application of Electrical Energy" by Vladimir Mitkevich, Member of the Academy of Sciences.
"Electrification as the basis of the Technological Reconstruction in the Soviet Union" by Modest Rubinstein.
"The Social and Economic Roots of Newton’s Principia" by Boris Hessen, Director of the Moscow Institute of Physics, Member of the Presidium of the State Scientific Council. This highly influential work became foundational in the history of science and led to modern studies of scientific revolutions and sociology of science.
"The Present Crisis in the Mathematical Sciences and General Outlines for Their Reconstruction" by Ernst Kolman.
"Short Communication on the Unpublished Writings of Karl Marx Dealing With Mathematics, The Natural Sciences and Technology and the History of these Subjects" by Ernst Kolman.
References
External links
En español: Pablo Huerga Melcón "El Congreso de Londres de 1931"
[Kupriyanov, V.A. (2023). The Second Congress on the History of Science and Technology in London, 1931, in the history of science of the first half of the 20th century. Part I. The origin of the idea of international congresses on the history of science. The Digital Scholar: Philosopher’s Lab, 6 (4): 127-144. DOI: 10.32326/2618-9267-2023-6-4-127-144]
[Kupriyanov, V.A. (2023). The Second Congress on the History of Science and Technology in London, 1931 in the history of science of the first half of the XXth century. Part II. The holding of the congress and its significance for historiography.The Digital Scholar: Philosopher’s Lab, 6 (4): 145-167. DOI: 10.32326/2618-9267-2023-6-4-145-167]
June 1931 events in the United Kingdom
July 1931 events in the United Kingdom
History of science
1931 in science
1931 in London | Second International Congress of the History of Science | [
"Technology"
] | 1,250 | [
"History of science",
"History of science and technology"
] |
64,503,952 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AcademiaNet | AcademiaNet is an international database containing profiles of women scientists. It is a non-profit project with the goal to raise the share of women in leadership positions in academia. AcademiaNet was initiated in 2010 in Germany by the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the publishing house "Spektrum der Wissenschaft". The Swiss National Science Foundation assumed responsibility of the platform in 2020.
Goals and functions
The share of women professors and executives at research institutions across Europe is low and rising only slowly. AcademiaNet is a resource aimed at facilitating the search for women researchers in view of academic appointments or as conference speakers, experts on scientific committees or peer reviewers. A search function allows users to find the registered scientists according to their field or discipline.
As opposed to databases such as "Request a Woman in STEMM" by 500 Women Scientists or "WiLS database of women in science", women cannot create their own profile on AcademiaNet; they need to be nominated by a scientific partner based on clearly defined criteria.
History
The Robert Bosch Stiftung founded AcademiaNet in 2010. In her speech inaugurating the platform in November 2010, the German Chancellor and physicist Angela Merkel said that science would not achieve its full potential if it remained predominantly male and did not promote half of its talents. She also said that AcademiaNet offered more visibility to women scientists, who contribute with their expertise to scientific endeavours.
Initially, the platform was in German and contained primarily researchers from Germany, who were nominated by institutions such as the Leibniz Association, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) or the Fraunhofer Society. Since 2012, the platform has become more international. The language of the platform is now English.
In 2020, the management of AcademiaNet passed from the Robert Bosch Stiftung to the Swiss National Science Foundation, which continues to work with the publishing house "Spektrum der Wissenschaft".
Renowned members
A number of renowned female scientists are member of AcademiaNet. Here a list of some of the most famous among them:
May-Britt Moser, psychologist and neuroscientists, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Janet Rossant, developmental biologist
Françoise Combes, astrophysicist
Riitta Hari, neuroscientist and physician
Caroline Dean, plant scientist
Ottoline Leyser, plant biologist
Partner organisations
AcademiaNet is a non-profit project. It is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and 21 European research funding organisations, including the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Society, the Spanish National Research Council, the Swedish Research Council and the European Molecular Biology Organization. AcademiaNet is also included in the search map of The Brussels Binder, a database for more women in European debates.
More than 40 European science organisations nominate women scientists who meet the selection criteria of AcademiaNet. These organisations include:
Academy of Finland, Finland
French National Centre for Scientific Research, France
Foundation for Polish Science, Poland
National Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium
Austrian Science Fund, Austria
Fraunhofer Society, Germany
Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland
Danish Council for Independent Research, Denmark
Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
Estonian Research Council, Estonia
Notes and references
External links
Official Website
Scientific databases
Bibliographic databases and indexes
Women in science and technology | AcademiaNet | [
"Technology"
] | 676 | [
"Women in science and technology"
] |
64,504,321 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalili%20Collection%20of%20Enamels%20of%20the%20World | The Khalili Collection of Enamels of the World is a private collection of enamel artworks from the period 1700 to 2000, assembled by the British scholar, collector and philanthropist Nasser D. Khalili. It is one of the eight Khalili Collections, each of which is considered among the most important in its field.
The most extensive private collection of its kind, it consists of over 1,500 pieces and showcases the evolution of enamelling over a 300-year period. By including objects from Western Europe, Russia, Islamic countries, China, Japan, and America, it shows how these centres of enamel production influenced each other's styles. The best-known European enamellists are represented, including Peter Carl Fabergé, Cartier, and René Lalique, along with the Meiji-era Japanese artists who perfected the firing process. The collection illustrates the role of patronage in enamelling as many of its objects were created for royal or imperial households. These include the enamelled chariot belonging to Bhavsinhji II, Maharaja of Bhavnagar and a painted enamel throne table with the seal mark of the 18th century Chinese Qianlong emperor. Other objects include presentation chargers, jewellery, miniatures and ornamental pieces. The collection was the basis for a 2010 exhibition at the Hermitage Museum.
The collection
The collection is one of eight assembled, conserved, published and exhibited by Khalili, each of which is considered among the most important in its field, according to UNESCO. Three of them contain enamels, the others being the Khalili Collection of Japanese Art and the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. The enamels collection consists of over 1,300 pieces and showcases the evolution of enamelling over a 300-year period. It is the most comprehensive private collection of its kind.
Works
European works
A range of enamelling techniques, including plique-à-jour, ronde-bosse, and basse-taille were used by European craftsmen from 1700 onwards. Watchmakers in Geneva and silver-workers in Augsburg integrated enamel decoration into their work. Limoges in France was a centre for painted enamel from the late 15th century onwards. French workshops developed polychrome techniques in the early 17th century, giving their works much greater realism, similar to watercolour and gouache portraits. Portraits on painted enamel, as a way of decorating small objects, became common until largely replaced by portrait photography. Other uses of enamel continued into the 20th century, with mass production used for many kinds of wares from the most mundane to award-winning artistic examples.
The collection's European works come from Paris, Geneva, and Vienna, among other locations, and include decorative boxes, containers and other ornamental items by artists including René Lalique, Jean-Valentin Morel, and Adrien Vachette. A surtout de table by Lalique has two cast bronze peacocks, using enamel to colour their feathers and crests. One item from Paris is a decimal clock with one face showing normal twelve-hour time, a Moon phase indicator, and another face showing decimal time, which was promoted in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Works from early twentieth century Paris include some from the Cartier jewellery firm and its contemporaries. The Cartier items in the collection include timepieces and small cases. Other Parisian enamellers represented include Van Cleef & Arpels, Lacloche Paris, and Jean Schlumberger. A silver and gold timepiece by Maison Vever was exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889 as part of a display that won a Grand Prix for jewellery design. Its decoration illustrates the four seasons, the signs of the zodiac, and the four elements.
Many of the objects reflect the patronage of Europe's royal families. A silver-gilt casket dated 1897 was commissioned by Queen Elisabeth of Romania as a gift for the artist Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ. With champlevé enamel portraits and engraved text suggested by the Queen, it celebrates creativity and genius. A gold almanac was commissioned by Marie Louise, Empress of the French and comes in a leather case stamped with the French Imperial Eagle. It has an allegorical depiction of the birth of Napoleon II attended by Minerva, Cupid, Mars and Victory. A gold watch with chatelaine by Charles Oudin commemorates the wedding of Amédée de Béjarry, a French count. A desk set celebrates the engagement of Crown Prince Umberto of Italy and Archduchess Mathilda of Austria. A ewer with painted enamel was a wedding gift for William, Prince of Hohenzollern and Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The European enamel paintings in the collection include a portrait of Marshal Turenne by the Geneva-born artist Jean Petitot who worked for the English court of Charles I as well as for the French court.
English enamels were typically not signed, making identification of artists difficult, but the collection includes vases with the mark of George Richards Elkington and several other English works. The English artist Henry Bone was known for especially large enamel portraits. His works in the collection include portraits of Queen Victoria, Queen Charlotte, and Royal Navy captain William Hoste. Other portraits depict George III, Lord Raglan, William Kent, and Hugh Chamberlen the younger. Other paintings in the collection have religious or mythological subjects, including work by Charles Boit and George Michael Moser. Still life and landscape art are also included.
In the late 19th century, technological advances allowed for painted enamel panels of a much greater size than what could previously be produced. The collection includes a high depiction of the Crucifixion of Jesus in a Renaissance style which is the largest known single-piece enamel painting. Thought to be by Paul Soyer of Limoges who is responsible for similar large paintings, this was likely commissioned as a gift for the Vatican.
The collection includes many Swiss decorative boxes from the period 1785 to 1835. Geneva in the 18th century was successful at exporting jewellery and painted enamel, including gold snuff boxes, to the rest of Europe. Many boxes in the collection are decorated with miniature paintings, sometimes versions of well-known works. Subjects include Napoleon crossing the bridge at Arcole, the Judgement of Paris, Roman charity, the infant Christ, and Cupid disarmed by Euphrosyne. An inscription on one box indicates it was presented to the American artist George Catlin by Nicholas I of Russia in 1845. Another box is from the Royal House of Saxony and bears a double portrait of Prince Fernando (the future Fernando VII of Spain) and his wife Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily. One box by the artist Jean George Rémond shows a portrait of Louis XIV of France. Another box bears the mark of the firm of Jean-François Bautte and Jean-Gabriel Moynier. Snuff boxes with miniature portraits of the monarch were common diplomatic gifts in 18th century Europe; an example in the collection bears a portrait of Francis I of the Two Sicilies. Mahmud II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, also adopted this practice, and the collection includes a snuff box from Geneva with his portrait inside the lid.
The P. Bruckmann company of Heilbronn, Germany, exhibited at several international art exhibitions. The collection includes a silver wine cistern, 107 cm high, that was the centrepiece of their display at the Stuttgart exhibition of 1896. The cistern includes figures of Hedwig of Saxony and of Marie, the heroine of the novel Lichtenstein.
Russian works
Some works in the collection bear the mark of Peter Carl Fabergé whose father had founded the House of Fabergé in Saint Petersburg. Fabergé acquired a reputation for enamel artworks of the highest quality and received commissions from the Russian Imperial family, as well as being awarded the titles of Master Goldsmith and Goldsmith by Special Appointment to the Imperial Crown. In the 1880s Fabergé greatly expanded the range of colours and patterns of enamel surfaces, machining repeating patterns onto the underlying metal. His employees included the enamel artists Henrik Wigström, Michael Perkhin, and Hjalmar Armfeldt who are represented in the collection. The collection's objects from the House of Fabergé include timepieces, cases, frames, and a fan combining lace and gauze with silver, gold, and painted enamel.
An independent enameller who supplied filigree enamel to Fabergé was Feodor Rückert. Rückert's style changed dramatically during his career, at first imitating other artists then developing his own distinctive decorative style. The collection has works from before and after this change.
A bread and salt-dish given to President Émile Loubet of France by the residents of Tsarskoye Selo in Russia in May 1902 bears the arms of Tsarskoye Selo and cypher of Empress Elizabeth I.
Islamic works
At the start of the Islamic calendar in 622 AD, artisans of the Byzantine Empire were already making high quality enamels. Byzantine emperors gave luxury items to Muslim rulers in the 10th and 11th centuries and these would often be decorated with cloisonné. The influence of Byzantine art is visible in objects from the Fatimid Caliphate, Egypt, Syria, and Muslim Iberia. The historian Jack Ogden has argued Iran was producing champlevé enamelwork by the 14th or 15th century, but very few examples survive.
Champlevé enamel flourished in the Mughal Empire, especially during the reign of Shah Jahan in the 17th century, where it was used for personal jewellery, luxury objects and containers including hookahs. In the 19th century, Jaipur was known for enamels rivalling those of Europe or Iran, especially red transparent enamels, while Lucknow was known for blues and greens and Benares for painted enamels. Delhi and Calcutta also produced enamels but seem not to have had their own regional style. The Jaipur red enamel is exemplified in the collection by an ornamental dagger with scabbard and by a gold necklace. In the Mughal period, enamel was only used to decorate functional objects, but in the 19th century purely decorative enamel wares were produced. The collection includes both kinds of object. A silver Landau carriage in the collection was commissioned in 1915 by Bhavsinhji II, Maharaja of Bhavnagar and was kept by his family until 1968 for use in special events.
Enamel production in Iran dates from at least the early Safavid period in the 14th century and flourished during the Qajar period (1785–1914), whose artisans had a strong preference for gold as a base. Niccolao Manucci, an Italian writer and traveller who visited the Safavid court in 1655, noted Shah Abbas II employed a team of French enamellers and supervised their work. By the late 17th century there was an official position of Court enameller. By the end of the 18th century Iranian enamellers had mastered painted enamel, and were adding it to a wide variety of items for ordinary citizens as well as for royalty. The collection has several items from the Qajar period, including a silver-gilt hookah with portraits of people in Iranian and Western dress.
By the turn of the 20th century, the court of Ottoman Turkey had adopted the European convention of gifting decorative objects, with relevant emblems, as marks of favour. An example in the collection is a brooch with the name of Abdul Hamid II spelled out in diamonds. The collection has some objects commissioned by the Ottoman Empire from European artists. These include snuff boxes from Geneva and Paris depicting Mahmud II and a Bosporus landscape, one bearing the name of Muhammad Ali of Egypt in diamonds.
Japanese works
Japanese artists did not start producing cloisonné enamel until the 1830s, coinciding with the sharp fall in the Shogun's power, and followed by the Meiji Revolution, but their techniques advanced quickly. By the 1870s, enamel art works were being exhibited at national exhibitions and at world's fairs. From 1870 to 1900, the form went through a very rapid evolution which introduced translucent colours, dark black backgrounds, and smoother surfaces without cracks or pitting. New techniques included ("piling up") which places layers of enamel upon each other to create a three-dimensional effect, or which creates panels of transparent or semi-transparent enamel, and (), in which the metal foundation is hammered outwards to create a relief effect. "Wire-less" cloisonné or was introduced by Kawade Shibatarō and taken up by other artists. Namikawa Sōsuke created pictorial enamel works so similar to paintings they were shown in the painting section of the Japan–British Exhibition, rather than the craft section.
The period from 1890 to 1910 was known as the "Golden age" of Japanese enamels. At this point they were regarded as unequalled in the world in their breadth of designs and colours.
The collection includes works by, among other cloisonné artists, Namikawa Sōsuke, Namikawa Yasuyuki, Ando Jubei, and Hattori Tadasaburō all of whom were appointed Imperial Household Artists. It also includes works by Kawade Shibatarō who, like the others, is also represented in the Khalili Collection of Japanese Art. Some vases bear the sixteen-petaled chrysanthemum seal of the Imperial family, indicating they were commissioned as presentation wares. The hidden-wire technique is evident on some items and others have the distinctive black background Namikawa Yasuyuki was known for. The relief technique is visible on a vase by Kawade Shibatarō. Hayashi Kodenji, Kawaguchi Bunzaemon, and Kumeno Teitaro are other artists represented.
Chinese works
Cloisonné enamels on copper surfaces have been made in China since at least the early 15th century, building on a tradition of fired enamels that goes back much further. After its introduction, the technique developed rapidly. During the Qing dynasty, enamel artists used thinner wires and fired the enamel without pitting or bubbles, greatly improving on previous Chinese cloisonné. They also introduced a wider range of colours. From 1720 onwards, pink, white and yellow enamel overglazes were used on porcelain, cloisonné, and painted enamels. Cloisonné works included objects created for temples or for the imperial court.
The Chinese enamels in the Khalili collection date from the late Qing dynasty onwards. They include items made for temple altars, such as incense burners and candlesticks. Among the imperial works is a throne table, 90.5 centimetres (just under three feet) long, made for the Qianlong Emperor and bearing his seal. It is painted in fine detail with motifs of lotus and flying bats on a background of imperial yellow. Evenly firing such a large object would have presented a challenge, so the colourful and consistent result illustrates the skill of the Guangzhou workshops where it was made. Another imperial commission in the collection is a wall panel of a springtime landscape, with a poem by Yu Minzhong. A set of eight wall panels, 132 centimetres (52 inches) high and each featuring a different plant, illustrates the progress of the seasons. Each bears a Yu Minzhong poem, probably written as calligraphy and then converted to enamel.
Exhibitions
A selection of 320 objects from the collection formed the exhibition "Enamels of the World 1700–2000 from the Khalili Collection" from December 2009 to April 2010 at the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia. The museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky wrote that the collection "includes spectacular masterpieces from all the major centres of enamelling" and "reveals the remarkable technical achievements of the enamellers[.]" Art dealer Geoffrey Munn described the diversity of the exhibition as "astounding", observing Khalili "hasn’t followed the clichéd routes of enamel."
References
Notes
Sources
Further reading
External links
Official website
Video: Prof Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the State Hermitage Museum, talks about the Enamel of the World Exhibition
Vitreous enamel
Enamels of the World | Khalili Collection of Enamels of the World | [
"Chemistry"
] | 3,270 | [
"Coatings",
"Vitreous enamel"
] |
64,504,593 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloquium%20on%20Violence%20%26%20Religion | The Colloquium on Violence and Religion (COV&R) is an international organization dedicated to “exploring, critiquing, and developing” the mimetic theory proposed by the French historian, literary critic, and anthropological philosopher René Girard. Membership includes scholars of theology, religious studies, literary studies, philosophy, psychology, and other academic fields as well as clergy and other practitioners.
Girard's work focused on the sources of human violence in mimetic (unconsciously imitative) desire and the centrality of religion in the formation of culture through the management of violence (the single-victim mechanism or scapegoat effect), but the scope of the Colloquium on Violence & Religion's interest has expanded beyond violence to mimetic desire's positive potential and beyond religion to other disciplines.
The Colloquium on Violence & Religion is affiliated with regional organizations around the world devoted to Girard's work, mimetic theory, and peacemaking.
History
The Colloquium on Violence & Religion began with a meeting in 1990 at Stanford University with theologians James G. Williams, Robert Hamerton-Kelly, and Charles Mabee as its three co-founders. When constituted formally in 1991, it formed a board with Girard as honorary chair; Raymund Schwager, a theologian from the University of Innsbruck, as president; Williams as executive secretary; and Wolfgang Palaver (de), also a theologian from Innsbruck, as editor of the newsletter. Prominent board members have included James Alison, Eric Gans, and Walter Wink.
Publications
Michigan State University Press publishes the annual journal of Colloquium on Violence & Religion, Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture (ISSN 1930-1200) and two related series of books: Breakthroughs in Mimetic Theory and Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture.
Colloquium on Violence & Religion also publishes a quarterly online newsletter, The Bulletin of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion.
A complete bibliography is included in the fully searchable Index Theologicus database.
Annual meeting
Colloquium on Violence & Religion holds an annual summer meeting, usually in July. The location has recently rotated in a three-year cycle between sites in North America, Europe, and the rest of the world. It also meets in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in November.
Presidents
1991–1995: Raymund Schwager
1995–1999: Cesário Bandera
1999–2003: Diana Culbertson
2003–2007: Sandor Goodhart
2007–2011: Wolfgang Palaver (de)
2011–2015: Ann W. Astell
2015–2019: Jeremiah Alberg
2019–2023: Martha Reineke
References
External links
Index Theologicus bibliography of mimetic theory
Violence
Religion and society
Theology | Colloquium on Violence & Religion | [
"Biology"
] | 583 | [
"Behavior",
"Aggression",
"Human behavior",
"Violence"
] |
64,505,156 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium%20fluorosilicate | Potassium fluorosilicate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula .
When doped with potassium hexafluoromanganate(IV) (, with ) it forms a narrow band red producing phosphor, (often abbreviated PSF or KSF), of economic interest due to its applicability in LED lighting and displays.
Natural occurrence
Occurs naturally as hiereatite, found in the Aeolian islands (Sicily, Italy). A hexagonal form demartinite has also been found at the rim of volcanic fumaroles in the same islands.
The sea sponge Halichondria Moorei builds a skeleton of potassium fluorosilicate.
Structure and properties
According to analysis by Loehlin (1984), it has space group Fmm, with a0 = 0.8134 nm, V = 0.538.2 nm3 at 295 K. The Si-F bond length is 0.1683 nm. At high temperatures and pressures -beta and -gamma phases exist.
Applications
Potassium fluorosilicate has applications in porcelain manufacture, the preservation of timber, aluminium and magnesium smelting, and the manufacture of optical glass.
Red phosphor
When doped with potassium hexafluoromanganate(IV) ), a narrow band red phosphor is produced, emitting at around 630 nm. This substance has application improving the white light quality of white LEDs that use a blue emitting LED in combination with the yellow cerium doped yttrium aluminium garnet phosphor (YAG), .
Synthesis routes to the phosphor include co-crystallisation and co-precipitation. For example, in (40 %) hydrofluoric acid with potassium fluoride can be mixed with dissolved in (40 %) hydrofluoric acid to co-precipitate the phosphor.
The acronyms KSF or PSF are used for potassium fluorosilicate phosphors.
See also
Fluorosilicic acid
Ammonium fluorosilicate
Sodium fluorosilicate
References
Potassium compounds
Hexafluorosilicates
Phosphors and scintillators | Potassium fluorosilicate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 451 | [
"Luminescence",
"Phosphors and scintillators"
] |
64,505,300 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odd%20radio%20circle | In astronomy, an odd radio circle (ORC) is a very large (over 50 thousand times the diameter of our Milky Way ~ 3 million light years) unexplained astronomical object that, at radio wavelengths, is highly circular and brighter along its edges. As of 27 April 2021, there have been five such objects (and possibly six more) observed. The observed ORCs are bright at radio wavelengths, but are not visible at visible, infrared or X-ray wavelengths. This is due to the physical process producing this radiation, which is thought to be synchrotron radiation. Three of the ORCs contain optical galaxies in their centers, suggesting that the galaxies might have formed these objects.
Description
The ORCs were detected in late 2019 after astronomer Anna Kapinska studied a Pilot Survey of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU), based on the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope array. All of the ORCs are about 1 arcminute in diameter, and are some distance from the galactic plane, at high galactic latitudes. The possibility of a spherical shock wave, associated with fast radio bursts, gamma-ray bursts, or neutron star mergers, was considered, but, if related, would have to have taken place in the distant past due to the large angular size of the ORCs, according to the researchers. Also, according to the astronomers, "Circular features are well-known in radio astronomical images, and usually represent a spherical object such as a supernova remnant, a planetary nebula, a circumstellar shell, or a face-on disc such as a protoplanetary disc or a star-forming galaxy, ... They may also arise from imaging artefact around bright sources caused by calibration errors or inadequate deconvolution. This class of circular feature in radio images does not seem to correspond to any of these known types of object or artefact, but rather appears to be a new class of astronomical object."
See also
Fast radio burst
Gamma-ray burst
Radio lobes of radio galaxies
Gravitational wave
Baryon acoustic oscillations
References
External links
Images of ORCs (CTA Observatory / Western Sydney University; 04/20/2020)
(Anton Petrov; 07/15/2020)
(Mr. Researcher; 07/10/2020)
(World Today; 07/09/2020)
Astronomical objects
Radio astronomy
Stellar phenomena
Unexplained phenomena
Unsolved problems in astronomy
2020 in science | Odd radio circle | [
"Physics",
"Astronomy"
] | 509 | [
"Physical phenomena",
"Unsolved problems in astronomy",
"Astronomical sub-disciplines",
"Outer space",
"Concepts in astronomy",
"Radio astronomy",
"Astronomical controversies",
"Physical objects",
"Stellar phenomena",
"Astronomical objects",
"Matter"
] |
64,506,289 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photokinesis | Photokinesis is a change in the velocity of movement of an organism as a result of changes in light intensity. The alteration in speed is independent of the direction from which the light is shining. Photokinesis is described as positive if the velocity of travel is greater with an increase in light intensity and negative if the velocity is slower. If a group of organisms with a positive photokinetic response is swimming in a partially shaded environment, there will be fewer organisms per unit of volume in the sunlit portion than in the shaded parts. This may be beneficial for the organisms if it is unfavourable to their predators, or it may be propitious to them in their quest for prey.
In photosynthetic prokaryotes, the mechanism for photokinesis appears to be an energetic process. In cyanobacteria, for example, an increase in illumination results in an increase of photophosphorylation which enables an increase in metabolic activity. However the behaviour is also found among eukaryotic microorganisms, including those like Astasia longa which are not photosynthetic, and in these, the mechanism is not fully understood. In Euglena gracilis, the rate of swimming has been shown to speed up with increased light intensity until the light reaches a certain saturation level, beyond which the swimming rate declines.
The sea slug Discodoris boholiensis also displays positive photokinesis; it is nocturnal and moves slowly at night, but much faster when caught in the open during daylight hours. Moving faster in the exposed environment should reduce predation and enable it to conceal itself as soon as possible, but its brain is quite incapable of working this out. Photokinesis is common in tunicate larvae, which accumulate in areas with low light intensity just before settlement, and the behaviour is also present in juvenile fish such as sockeye salmon smolts.
See also
Kinesis (biology)
Phototaxis
Phototropism
References
Biology terminology | Photokinesis | [
"Biology"
] | 407 | [
"nan"
] |
64,506,449 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial%20outer%20membrane%20permeabilization | Mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP), also known as the mitochondrial outer membrane permeability, is one of two ways apoptosis (a type of programmed cell death) can be activated. It is part of the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis, also known as the mitochondrial pathway. MOMP is known as the point of no return in apoptosis. Once triggered, it results in the diffusion of proteins from the space between the inner and outer mitochondrial membranes into the cytosol.
Mechanism
Initiation of MOMP involves Bcl-2 family proteins, including BAX and BAK. The outer mitochondrial membrane, typically permeable to molecules smaller than 5 kDa, forms pores during MOMP that allow it to accommodate proteins larger than 100 kDa. During MOMP, it takes about five minutes for all mitochondrial membranes within a cell to permeabilize.
Outcome
MOMP has been referred to as the point of no return for apoptosis, almost always resulting in the completion of the process, and thus, cell death. However, in limited circumstances, apoptosis does not complete. Sometimes, MOMP does not complete, known as incomplete MOMP (iMOMP) or minority MOMP (miniMOMP). For incomplete MOMP, mitochondrial membranes become permeable in most, but not all, the cell's mitochondria. In minority MOMP, only a few mitochondria of the cell experience MOMP—the result of sublethal stress.
References
Apoptosis
Mitochondria | Mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization | [
"Chemistry"
] | 319 | [
"Mitochondria",
"Metabolism",
"Apoptosis",
"Signal transduction"
] |
64,506,743 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seble%20Wagaw | Seble-Hiwot Wagaw is an American organic chemist who is a senior leader at AbbVie pharmaceuticals outside Chicago, IL.
Background and Education
Wagaw was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and emigrated to the United States in 1974. Her father, Teshome Gebremichael Wagaw, was a faculty member at the University of Michigan for 28 years, and her mother is Tsehai Wolde-Tsadik. She is one of three children, with an older brother and sister. She received her Bachelor's and MS degrees in Chemistry from the University of Michigan in 1994, and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry with Stephen L. Buchwald at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999. Her research in the Buchwald lab utilized chiral complexes of Palladium to forge new carbon-nitrogen bonds on Aryl rings.
Career
As a Senior Director for process research and R&D at Abbott Laboratories (later AbbVie) for her entire career, Wagaw has published research on enantiomerically enriched lead molecules using Pybox ligands. She has led exploration into new technologies for her process group, including explorations of flow chemistry and commercial-scale electrochemistry.
She is on the advisory board for Asymchem and co-founded the Cross-industry Women's chemical process group.
Awards and recognition
1995 - Ford Foundation pre-doctoral fellowship, MIT
2004 - Women of Color Research investigators
2013 - American Chemical Society WCC Rising Stars Award
References
Pharmaceutical scientists
Process chemicals
Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
AbbVie
American women scientists | Seble Wagaw | [
"Chemistry"
] | 332 | [
"Process chemicals"
] |
64,506,933 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bettina%20G.%20Keller | Bettina G. Keller is a professor for Theoretical Chemistry at Freie Universität Berlin.
Life and education
Keller did her Abitur at the Remstal-Gymnasium Weinstadt in 2000. In October 2000, she started her diploma studies at University of Karlsruhe, Germany. In 2002, she continued her diploma studies at ETH Zürich. She received her diploma in 2005. The title of her diploma thesis was "Estimating the absolute entropy of a liquid based on a single molecular dynamics simulation under periodic boundary conditions." In 2005, she started her PhD studies in chemistry at ETH Zürich. She finished her PhD thesis "Algorithms for the Analysis of Biomolecular Simulations: Ensemble Averages, Marginal Distributions, Clustering, and Markov Models" in the group of Wilfred F. van Gunsteren in 2009. From January 2010 to July 2010, she was a visiting lecturer at CECAM Node "Scientific Computing in the Molecular Sciences" at Freie Universität Berlin. From July 2010 to September 2013, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Freie Universität Berlin. From October 2013 to September 2019, she was a junior professor for Theoretical Chemistry at Freie Universität Berlin. Since September 2019, she is a professor for Theoretical Chemistry at Freie Universität Berlin.
Awards
2018: Hans G. A. Hellmann-Preis for Theoretical Chemistry awarded by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Theoretische Chemie
Since June 2016: Member of the Junge Akademie of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
References
External links
21st-century German chemists
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology alumni
ETH Zurich alumni
Theoretical chemists
German women chemists
Academic staff of the Free University of Berlin
Studienstiftung alumni
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people) | Bettina G. Keller | [
"Chemistry"
] | 387 | [
"Quantum chemistry",
"Theoretical chemistry",
"Theoretical chemists",
"Physical chemists"
] |
64,507,510 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzoate%20degradation%20via%20hydroxylation | Benzoate degradation via hydroxylation is an enzyme-catalyzed, bacterial chemical reaction. Benzoate is degraded aerobically and anaerobically. Aerobic degradation forms catechol. Anaerobic degradation forms cyclohex-1,5-diene-1-carbonylCoA. A hybrid degradation forms Acetyl-CoA and Succinyl-CoA.
Potential microbes
References
Chemical reactions | Benzoate degradation via hydroxylation | [
"Chemistry"
] | 91 | [
"Chemical reaction stubs",
"nan"
] |
64,507,625 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link%20prediction | In network theory, link prediction is the problem of predicting the existence of a link between two entities in a network. Examples of link prediction include predicting friendship links among users in a social network, predicting co-authorship links in a citation network, and predicting interactions between genes and proteins in a biological network. Link prediction can also have a temporal aspect, where, given a snapshot of the set of links at time , the goal is to predict the links at time .
Link prediction is widely applicable. In e-commerce, link prediction is often a subtask for recommending items to users. In the curation of citation databases, it can be used for record deduplication. In bioinformatics, it has been used to predict protein-protein interactions (PPI). It is also used to identify hidden groups of terrorists and criminals in security related applications.
Problem definition
Consider a network , where represents the entity nodes in the network and x represents the set of "true" links across entities in the network.
We are given the set of entities and a subset of true links which are referred to as observed links.
The goal of link prediction is to identify the unobserved true links.
In the temporal formulation of link prediction the observed links correspond to true links at a time , and the goal is to infer the set of true links at time
Usually, we are also given a subset of unobserved links called potential links , and we need to identify true links among these potential links.
In the binary classification formulation of the link prediction task the potential links are classified as either true links or false links.
Link prediction approaches for this setting learn a classifier that maps links in to positive and negative labels i.e. .
In the probability estimation formulation, potential links are associated with existence probabilities.
Link prediction approaches for this setting learn a model that maps links in to a probability i.e. .
Single link approaches learn a model that classifies each link independently.
Structured prediction approaches capture the correlation between potential links by formulating the task as a collective link prediction task.
Collective link prediction approaches learn a model that jointly identify all the true links among the set of potential links.
Link prediction task can also be formulated as an instance of missing value estimation task.
Here, the graph is represented as an adjacency matrix with missing values.
The task is to complete the matrix by identifying the missing values.
Matrix factorization based methods commonly use this formulation.
History
The task of link prediction has attracted attention from several research communities ranging from statistics and network science to machine learning and data mining.
In statistics, generative random graph models such as stochastic block models propose an approach to generate links between nodes in a random graph.
For social networks, Liben-Nowell and Kleinberg proposed a link prediction models based on different graph proximity measures.
Several statistical models have been proposed for link prediction by the machine learning and data mining community.
For example, Popescul et al. proposed a structured logistic regression model that can make use of relational features.
Local conditional probability models based on attribute and structural features were proposed by O’Madadhain et al.
Several models based on directed graphical models for collective link prediction have been proposed by Getoor.
Other approached based on random walks. and matrix factorization have also been proposed
With the advent of deep learning, several graph embedding based approaches for link prediction have also been proposed.
For more information on link prediction refer to the survey by Getoor et al. and Yu et al.
Approaches and methods
Several link predication approaches have been proposed including unsupervised approaches such as similarity measures computed on the entity attributes, random walk and matrix factorization based approaches, and supervised approaches based on graphical models and deep learning.
Link prediction approaches can be divided into two broad categories based on the type of the underlying network: (1) link prediction approaches for homogeneous networks (2) link prediction approaches for heterogeneous networks.
Based on the type of information used to predict links, approaches can be categorized as topology-based approaches, content-based approaches, and mixed methods.
Topology-based methods
Topology-based methods broadly make the assumption that nodes with similar network structure are more likely to form a link.
Common neighbors
This is a common approach to link prediction that computes the number of common neighbors. Entities with more neighbors in common are more likely to have a link. It is computed as follows:
A weakness of this approach is that it does not take into account the relative number of common neighbors.
Jaccard measure
The Jaccard Measure addresses the problem of Common Neighbors by computing the relative number of neighbors in common:
Adamic–Adar measure
The Adamic–Adar measure is the sum of the log of the intersection of the neighbors of two nodes. This captures a two-hop similarity, which can yield better results than simple one-hop methods. It is computed as follows:
where is the set of nodes adjacent to .
Katz measure
Neighbor based methods can be effective when the number of neighbors is large, but this is not the case in sparse graphs. In these situations it is appropriate to use methods that account for longer walks. The Katz Measure is one metric that captures this. It is computed by searching the graph for paths of length in the graph and adding the counts of each path length weighted by user specified weights.
Let A be the adjacency matrix of a network under consideration. Elements of A are variables that take a value 1 if a node i is connected to node j and 0 otherwise. The powers of A indicate the presence (or absence) of links between two nodes through intermediaries. For instance, in matrix , if element , it indicates that node 2 and node 12 are connected through some walk of length 3. If denotes Katz centrality of a node i, then mathematically:
Note that the above definition uses the fact that the element at location of reflects the total number of degree connections between nodes and .
Node attribute-based methods
Node-similarity methods predict the existence of a link based on the similarity of the node attributes.
Euclidean distance
The attribute values are represented as normalized vector and the distance between the vectors used to measure similarity. Small distances indicate higher similarity.
Cosine similarity
After normalizing the attribute values, computing the cosine between the two vectors is a good measure of similarity, with higher values indicating higher similarity.
Mixed methods
Mixed methods combine attribute and topology based methods.
Graph embeddings
Graph embeddings also offer a convenient way to predict links. Graph embedding algorithms, such as Node2vec, learn an embedding space in which neighboring nodes are represented by vectors so that vector similarity measures, such as dot product similarity, or euclidean distance, hold in the embedding space. These similarities are functions of both topological features and attribute-based similarity. One can then use other machine learning techniques to predict edges on the basis of vector similarity.
Probabilistic relationship models
A probabilistic relational model (PRM) specifies a template for a probability distribution over a databases. The template describes the relational schema for the domain, and the probabilistic dependencies between attributes in the domain. A PRM, together with a particular database of entities and unobserved links, defines a probability distribution over the unobserved links.
Probabilistic soft logic (PSL)
Probabilistic soft logic (PSL) is a probabilistic graphical model over hinge-loss Markov random field (HL-MRF). HL-MRFs are created by a set of templated first-order logic-like rules, which are then grounded over the data. PSL can combine attribute, or local, information with topological, or relational, information. While PSL can incorporate local predictors, such as cosine similarity, it also supports relational rules, such as triangle completion in a network.
Markov logic networks (MLNs)
Markov logic networks (MLNs) is a probabilistic graphical model defined over Markov networks. These networks are defined by templated first-order logic-like rules, which is then grounded over the training data. MLNs are able to incorporate both local and relational rules for the purpose of link prediction.
R-Model (RMLs)
R-Models (RMLs) is a neural network model created to provide a deep learning approach to the link weight prediction problem. This model uses a node embedding technique that extracts node embeddings (knowledge of nodes) from the known links’ weights (relations between nodes) and uses this knowledge to predict the unknown links’ weights.
Applications
Link prediction has found varied uses, but any domain in which entities interact in a structures way can benefit from link prediction. A common applications of link prediction is improving similarity measures for collaborative filtering approaches to recommendation. Link prediction is also frequently used in social networks to suggest friends to users. It has also been used to predict criminal associations.
In biology, link prediction has been used to predict interactions between proteins in protein-protein interaction networks. Link prediction has also been used to infer interactions between drugs and targets using link prediction Another application is found in collaboration prediction in scientific co-authorship networks.
Entity resolution, also known as deduplication, commonly uses link prediction to predict whether two entities in a network are references to the same physical entity. Some authors have used context information in network structured domains to improve entity resolution.
See also
References
Graph algorithms
Link analysis
Network theory | Link prediction | [
"Mathematics"
] | 1,936 | [
"Network theory",
"Mathematical relations",
"Graph theory"
] |
64,508,219 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotopy%20associative%20algebra | In mathematics, an algebra such as has multiplication whose associativity is well-defined on the nose. This means for any real numbers we have
.
But, there are algebras which are not necessarily associative, meaning if then
in general. There is a notion of algebras, called -algebras, which still have a property on the multiplication which still acts like the first relation, meaning associativity holds, but only holds up to a homotopy, which is a way to say after an operation "compressing" the information in the algebra, the multiplication is associative. This means although we get something which looks like the second equation, the one of inequality, we actually get equality after "compressing" the information in the algebra.
The study of -algebras is a subset of homotopical algebra, where there is a homotopical notion of associative algebras through a differential graded algebra with a multiplication operation and a series of higher homotopies giving the failure for the multiplication to be associative. Loosely, an -algebra is a -graded vector space over a field with a series of operations on the -th tensor powers of . The corresponds to a chain complex differential, is the multiplication map, and the higher are a measure of the failure of associativity of the . When looking at the underlying cohomology algebra , the map should be an associative map. Then, these higher maps should be interpreted as higher homotopies, where is the failure of to be associative, is the failure for to be higher associative, and so forth. Their structure was originally discovered by Jim Stasheff while studying A∞-spaces, but this was interpreted as a purely algebraic structure later on. These are spaces equipped with maps that are associative only up to homotopy, and the A∞ structure keeps track of these homotopies, homotopies of homotopies, and so forth.
They are ubiquitous in homological mirror symmetry because of their necessity in defining the structure of the Fukaya category of D-branes on a Calabi–Yau manifold who have only a homotopy associative structure.
Definition
Definition
For a fixed field an -algebra is a -graded vector space
such that for there exist degree , -linear maps
which satisfy a coherence condition:
,
where .
Understanding the coherence conditions
The coherence conditions are easy to write down for low degreespgs 583–584.
d=1
For this is the condition that
,
since giving and . These two inequalities force in the coherence condition, hence the only input of it is from . Therefore represents a differential.
d=2
Unpacking the coherence condition for gives the degree map . In the sum there are the inequalities
of indices giving equal to . Unpacking the coherence sum gives the relation
,
which when rewritten with
and
as the differential and multiplication, it is
,
which is the Leibniz rule for differential graded algebras.
d=3
In this degree the associativity structure comes to light. Note if then there is a differential graded algebra structure, which becomes transparent after expanding out the coherence condition and multiplying by an appropriate factor of , the coherence condition reads something like
Notice that the left hand side of the equation is the failure for to be an associative algebra on the nose. One of the inputs for the first three maps are coboundaries since is the differential, so on the cohomology algebra these elements would all vanish since . This includes the final term since it is also a coboundary, giving a zero element in the cohomology algebra. From these relations we can interpret the map as a failure for the associativity of , meaning it is associative only up to homotopy.
d=4 and higher order terms
Moreover, the higher order terms, for , the coherent conditions give many different terms combining a string of consecutive into some and inserting that term into an along with the rest of the 's in the elements . When combining the terms, there is a part of the coherence condition which reads similarly to the right hand side of , namely, there are terms
In degree the other terms can be written out as
showing how elements in the image of and interact. This means the homotopy of elements, including one that's in the image of minus the multiplication of elements where one is a homotopy input, differ by a boundary. For higher order , these middle terms can be seen how the middle maps behave with respect to terms coming from the image of another higher homotopy map.
Diagrammatic interpretation of axioms
There is a nice diagrammatic formalism of algebras which is described in Algebra+Homotopy=Operad explaining how to visually think about this higher homotopies. This intuition is encapsulated with the discussion above algebraically, but it is useful to visualize it as well.
Examples
Associative algebras
Every associative algebra has an -infinity structure by defining and for . Hence -algebras generalize associative algebras.
Differential graded algebras
Every differential graded algebra has a canonical structure as an -algebra where and is the multiplication map. All other higher maps are equal to . Using the structure theorem for minimal models, there is a canonical -structure on the graded cohomology algebra which preserves the quasi-isomorphism structure of the original differential graded algebra. One common example of such dga's comes from the Koszul algebra arising from a regular sequence. This is an important result because it helps pave the way for the equivalence of homotopy categoriesof differential graded algebras and -algebras.
Cochain algebras of H-spaces
One of the motivating examples of -algebras comes from the study of H-spaces. Whenever a topological space is an H-space, its associated singular chain complex has a canonical -algebra structure from its structure as an H-space.
Example with infinitely many non-trivial mi
Consider the graded algebra over a field of characteristic where is spanned by the degree vectors and is spanned by the degree vector . Even in this simple example there is a non-trivial -structure which gives differentials in all possible degrees. This is partially due to the fact there is a degree vector, giving a degree vector space of rank in . Define the differential by
and for
where on any map not listed above and . In degree , so for the multiplication map, we have
And in the above relations give
When relating these equations to the failure for associativity, there exist non-zero terms. For example, the coherence conditions for will give a non-trivial example where associativity doesn't hold on the nose. Note that in the cohomology algebra we have only the degree terms since is killed by the differential .
Properties
Transfer of A∞ structure
One of the key properties of -algebras is their structure can be transferred to other algebraic objects given the correct hypotheses. An early rendition of this property was the following: Given an -algebra and a homotopy equivalence of complexes
,
then there is an -algebra structure on inherited from and can be extended to a morphism of -algebras. There are multiple theorems of this flavor with different hypotheses on and , some of which have stronger results, such as uniqueness up to homotopy for the structure on and strictness on the map .
Structure
Minimal models and Kadeishvili's theorem
One of the important structure theorems for -algebras is the existence and uniqueness of minimal models – which are defined as -algebras where the differential map is zero. Taking the cohomology algebra of an -algebra from the differential , so as a graded algebra,
,
with multiplication map . It turns out this graded algebra can then canonically be equipped with an -structure,
,
which is unique up-to quasi-isomorphisms of -algebras. In fact, the statement is even stronger: there is a canonical -morphism
,
which lifts the identity map of . Note these higher products are given by the Massey product.
Motivation
This theorem is very important for the study of differential graded algebras because they were originally introduced to study the homotopy theory of rings. Since the cohomology operation kills the homotopy information, and not every differential graded algebra is quasi-isomorphic to its cohomology algebra, information is lost by taking this operation. But, the minimal models let you recover the quasi-isomorphism class while still forgetting the differential. There is an analogous result for A∞-categories by Maxim Kontsevich and Yan Soibelman, giving an A∞-category structure on the cohomology category of the dg-category consisting of cochain complexes of coherent sheaves on a non-singular variety over a field of characteristic and morphisms given by the total complex of the Cech bi-complex of the differential graded sheaf pg 586-593. In this was, the degree morphisms in the category are given by .
Applications
There are several applications of this theorem. In particular, given a dg-algebra, such as the de Rham algebra , or the Hochschild cohomology algebra, they can be equipped with an -structure.
Massey structure from DGA's
Given a differential graded algebra its minimal model as an -algebra is constructed using the Massey products. That is,
It turns out that any -algebra structure on is closely related to this construction. Given another -structure on with maps , there is the relation
,
where
.
Hence all such -enrichments on the cohomology algebra are related to one another.
Graded algebras from its ext algebra
Another structure theorem is the reconstruction of an algebra from its ext algebra. Given a connected graded algebra
,
it is canonically an associative algebra. There is an associated algebra, called its Ext algebra, defined as
,
where multiplication is given by the Yoneda product. Then, there is an -quasi-isomorphism between and . This identification is important because it gives a way to show that all derived categories are derived affine, meaning they are isomorphic to the derived category of some algebra.
See also
A∞-category
Associahedron
Mirror symmetry conjecture
Homological mirror symmetry
Homotopy Lie algebra
Derived algebraic geometry
References
— Original paper linking structures to Mirror symmetry
Homotopical algebra
Homological algebra
Algebraic geometry
Homotopy theory | Homotopy associative algebra | [
"Mathematics"
] | 2,184 | [
"Mathematical structures",
"Fields of abstract algebra",
"Category theory",
"Algebraic geometry",
"Homological algebra"
] |
64,508,712 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab%20Astronomical%20Society | The Arab Astronomical Society (ArAS) الجمعية الفلكية العربية is a non-profit learned society that aims to advance astronomy and related sciences in the Arab world. Additionally, it seeks to support astronomical scholarship, technological development, education, and the spread of astronomical knowledge. It operates the Arab Astronomical Society School of Astrophysics (ArAS SfA).
The ArAS was founded in Marrakech, Morocco on November 30, 2016, legally recognized in Morocco in May 2017, and incorporated as a non-profit organization in the US in 2018.
Presently, the Society is working on establishing personal and material scientific infrastructure in the Arab world by training advanced undergraduate and graduate students in astrophysics and stimulating the building of new telescopes.
References
https://ar-as.org/
External links
International Astronomical Union | IAU
International Astronomical Union | IAU
International Astronomical Union | IAU
Pan-Arab organizations
Society of the Arab world | Arab Astronomical Society | [
"Astronomy"
] | 203 | [
"Astronomy stubs",
"Astronomy organizations",
"Astronomy organization stubs"
] |
56,183,416 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytestosterone%20phloretin%20phosphate | Polytestosterone phloretin phosphate (PTPP) is an androgen and anabolic steroid as well as androgen ester which was never marketed. It is an ester of testosterone with phosphoric acid that is in the form of a polymer and is coupled with phloretin. Like other androgen esters, PTPP acts as a long-lasting prodrug of testosterone in the body. However, analogously to the polymeric estrogen esters polyestradiol phosphate (PEP), polyestriol phosphate (PE3P), and polydiethylstilbestrol phosphate (PSP), PTPP has a strongly prolonged duration with very uniform testosterone levels in animals compared to non-polymeric testosterone esters. According to its developers, this is "exactly the effect which should be aimed at in order to approach natural hormone production as closely as possible". PTPP was developed around 1953 at the same time as PEP and its patent was published in 1960. The patent was assigned to the Swedish pharmaceutical company Leo Läkemedel AB, which also developed PEP.
PEP is a linear polymer of on average 13 repeat units of estradiol phosphate. Each individual estradiol unit in the molecule is connected by its C3 and C17β hydroxyl groups to phosphoric acid linkers that are present between the estradiol moieties. In contrast to estradiol, such a polymer is not possible with testosterone because testosterone has only one hydroxyl group and hence does not have the two hydroxyl groups necessary for linking the testosterone units together. In PTPP, phloretin is used as a coupling agent to solve this problem and create a testosterone phosphate polymer. Phloretin has four available hydroxyl groups present in its chemical structure. A linear polymer of phloretin with phosphoric acid linkers is present as the backbone of the molecule, and testosterone moieties are connected to the free third and fourth hydroxyl groups of each phloretin unit also with phosphoric acid linkers. As such, two testosterone moieties essentially "hang" or "dangle off" of each phloretin unit in the polymer, and these testosterone moieties are slowly cleaved from the polymer.
See also
List of androgen esters § Testosterone esters
References
Abandoned drugs
Anabolic–androgenic steroids
Androstanes
Copolymers
Dihydrochalcones
Phosphate esters
Testosterone esters | Polytestosterone phloretin phosphate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 515 | [
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
56,185,694 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus%20spinosus | Aspergillus spinosus is a species of fungus in the genus Aspergillus. Aspergillus spinosus produces aszonalenins, 2-pyrovoylaminobenzamide, fumigachlorin and pseurotins.
Growth and morphology
A. spinosus has been cultivated on both Czapek yeast extract agar (CYA) plates and Malt Extract Agar Oxoid® (MEAOX) plates. The growth morphology of the colonies can be seen in the pictures below.
References
Further reading
spinosus
Fungi described in 1989
Fungus species | Aspergillus spinosus | [
"Biology"
] | 127 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
56,186,026 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus%20stromatoides | Aspergillus stromatoides is a species of fungus in the genus Aspergillus. Aspergillus stromatoides produces Calmodulin inhibitors. Many of the strains of Aspergillus stromatoides have been isolated in Thailand.
References
Further reading
stromatoides
Fungi described in 1965
Fungus species | Aspergillus stromatoides | [
"Biology"
] | 69 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
56,186,448 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yau%27s%20conjecture | In differential geometry, Yau's conjecture is a mathematical conjecture which states that any closed Riemannian 3-manifold has infinitely many smooth closed immersed minimal surfaces. It is named after Shing-Tung Yau, who posed it as the 88th entry in his 1982 list of open problems in differential geometry.
The conjecture was resolved by Kei Irie, Fernando Codá Marques and André Neves in the generic case, and by Antoine Song in full generality.
References
External links
Conjectures
Differential geometry
Theorems in geometry | Yau's conjecture | [
"Mathematics"
] | 108 | [
"Conjectures that have been proved",
"Geometry",
"Theorems in geometry",
"Mathematical problems",
"Mathematical theorems"
] |
56,188,331 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasaki%20%28company%29 | Sasaki is a design firm specializing in Architecture, Interior Design, Urban Design, Space Planning, Landscape Architecture, Ecology, Civil Engineering, and Place Branding. The firm is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, but practices on an international scale, with offices in Shanghai, and Denver, Colorado, and clients and projects globally.
History
Sasaki was founded in 1953 by landscape architect Hideo Sasaki while he served as a professor and landscape architecture chair at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Sasaki was founded upon collaborative, interdisciplinary design, unprecedented in design practice at the time, and an emphasis on the integration of land, buildings, people, and their contexts.
Through the mid to late 1900s, Sasaki designed plazas (including Copley Square), corporate parks, college campuses, and master plans, among other projects.
The firm includes a team of in house designers, software developers, and data analysts who support the practice. Today, Sasaki has over 300 employees across its diverse practice areas and between its two offices. The firm engages in a wide variety of project types, across its many disciplines.
Milestones
In 2000, in honor of the passing of the firm's founder, the family of Hideo Sasaki together with Sasaki and other financial supporters, established the Sasaki Foundation. The foundation, which is a separate entity from Sasaki, gives yearly grants, supporting community-led research at Sasaki.
In 2012, Sasaki opened an office in Shanghai to support the firm's work in China and the larger Asia Pacific region.
In 2018, Sasaki opened the Incubator, a coworking space designed by and located within the Sasaki campus, which houses the Sasaki Foundation as curator of programming. The 5,000 square-foot space is home to several like-minded non-profits, organizations, and individuals.
In 2020, Sasaki established a new office in Denver, Colorado, marking the firm's third physical studio location. Opening an office in Denver, a region where Sasaki has been working since the 1960s, positions Sasaki to deliver on projects across western North America.
Awards and recognition
In 2007, Sasaki was honored as the American Society of Landscape Architects firm of the year. In 2012, Sasaki won the American Planning Association firm of the year award.
Sasaki has earned numerous consecutive Pierre L'Enfant International Planning awards from the American Planning Association. In 2017, two of the five annual finalists for the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence were Sasaki projects: the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building (Boston, MA) and the Chicago Riverwalk both were recognized as silver medalists. Sasaki has been named a top 50 firm by Architect Magazine numerous times.
The firm has been recognized by the Boston Society of Landscape Architects (BSLA), Boston Society of Architects (BSA), American Planning Association (APA), American Institute of Architecture (AIA), Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), Urban Land Initiative (ULI), Dezeen, and Fast Company, among others.
Research
Notable Sasaki-sponsored research projects include Sea-Change Boston (2016 ASLA Honor Award), Shifting Gears: An Urbanist's take on autonomous vehicles (2019 Fast Company honorable mention), Understanding Homelessness, and Where Design Meets Play.
Select projects
Sasaki has a large portfolio of work, which includes:
Charleston Waterfront Park; Charleston, SC
2008 Beijing Olympic Green; Beijing, China
Bruce C. Bolling Building (with Mecanoo Architecten); Boston, MA
Chicago Riverwalk; Chicago, IL (Phases 2 and 3)
Universidad de Lima Masterplan; Lima, Peru
Nord Family Greenway; Cleveland, OH
Zidell Yards Masterplan; Portland, OR
Middlebury College Virtue Fieldhouse; Middlebury, VT
Microsoft New England Research and Development Center (NERD); Cambridge, MA
Chengdu Panda Reserve; Chengdu, China
Bonnet Springs Park; Lakeland, FL
Tecnologico de Monterrey new main library; Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
Wuhan Yangtze Riverfront Park; Wuhan, China
Clemson University Core Campus Dining Facility; Clemson, SC
Wolverine Worldwide; Waltham, MA
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Master Plan Update; Blacksburg, VA
Sacred Heart University Martire Business and Communications Center; Fairfield, CT
The Lawn on D; Boston, MA
University of Washington Campus Master Plan and Innovation District Framework; Seattle, WA
Smale Riverfront Park; Cincinnati, OH
Salisbury University Patricia R Guerrieri Academic Commons; Salisbury, MD
Dar Ul-aman and Massoud Corridor Districts; Kabul, Afghanistan
The Incubator at Sasaki; Watertown, MA
Georgetown University Pedro Arrupe, S.J. Hall; Washington D.C.
Boston City Hall Plaza; Boston, MA
Denver Airport Strategic Plan; Denver, CO
Lincoln Memorial Landscape and Reflecting Pool; Washington D.C.
Greenwich Academy Masterplan; Greenwich, CT
798 Arts District Plan; Beijing, China
The Lawrenceville School Masterplan and Implementation; Lawrenceville NJ
401 Congress Street; Boston, MA
Gallery
References
Landscape architecture firms
Planning
Urban design
Interior design
Ecology | Sasaki (company) | [
"Biology"
] | 1,045 | [
"Ecology"
] |
56,189,045 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native%20American%20fashion | Native American fashion is the design and creation of high-fashion clothing and fashion accessories by Native Americans in the United States. This is a part of a larger movement of Indigenous fashion of the Americas.
Indigenous designers frequently incorporate motifs and customary materials into their wearable artworks, providing a basis for creating items for the haute couture and international fashion markets. Their designs may result from techniques such as beadwork, quillwork, leather, and textile arts, such as weaving, twining, and tufting. In some cases, however, they choose not to include any materials associated with Indigenous cultures.
In the United States, under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, in order to qualify as Native American designers, artists must be enrolled in a federally recognized tribe, state-recognized tribe, or be certified as a designated tribal artisan by the tribal council.
When Native American designers first broke into the modern fashion industry in the 1940s and 1950s, many adopted a pan-Indian approach. By selecting motifs and iconography easily identified as part of Indigenous culture, they were able to gain acceptance and develop a market share with mainstream buyers. As the field of Native designers in high fashion expanded, individual designers moved away from pan-Indianism, expressing their individual identity, whether or not it was based on their specific tribal heritage. Many have taken Indigenous themes and incorporated them into their works, while others have taken specific garments and updated them to contemporary aesthetics by changing necklines, sleeve lengths, hemlines, and other features.
Controversy has emerged over the misappropriation or inappropriate use of cultural heritage by non-Native designers. Respectful use of imagery by mainstream designers who are not Indigenous can help expand appreciation of Native cultures, but plagiarism of design or malapropos use reinforces negative stereotypes and spurs controversy. Similarly, utilizing artisan craftwork can expand awareness if designers are fairly compensated for their work and given credit for their contributions. Contemporary controversies have spurred both crowd-sourced and legislative action to protect the designs and cultural heritage of Indigenous designers.
History
Historical clothing of Native American peoples has been collected and displayed by curators of major museums with a focus on pre-20th century attire. For the most part, these collections failed to take into consideration the shift in clothing trends among Indigenous peoples brought about by assimilation policies or by access to tailoring training and industrially produced textiles. However, Indigenous-focused museums have featured exhibitions of contemporary Native fashion. For example, the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City's 2017 "Native Fashion Now" exhibit featured Project Runway finalist Patricia Michaels and The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe held exhibits as early as 2007 on Native couture and Institute of American Indian Arts founder Lloyd Kiva New.
While Native peoples have always produced clothing, until the 20th century the garments they made were often for personal, familial, or ceremonial use. However, forced assimilation policies throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on eradicating Native American culture, including religious observance, language, and other traditional practices. Later, policies such as the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act changed the strategy for the education of Native peoples, encouraging them instead to reconnect with their cultures, including the creation of traditional dress.
In 1942, the American anthropologist Frederic H. Douglas, sought to highlight the beauty of Native American fashion by presenting a fashion show featuring garments made by Native Americans between 1830 and 1950. During the same decade, Lloyd Kiva New, a Cherokee who had graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago began touring throughout Europe and the United States with clothing and accessory lines he had designed, using hand-woven and dyed fabrics and leather crafts. In 1945, New opened a studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, with financial backing from Douglas, which initially focused on belts, hats and purses. Influenced by Navajo medicine bags, his purses, decorated with hand-worked metals became a specialty. Recognizing the need to reduce labor costs, he began combining machine work with handcrafting and instituted an apprenticeship program to meet increasing production demands while gearing his designs for the up-scale market.
Gaining coverage from national magazines like Harper's Bazaar and The New Yorker, New began selling his bags at the Elizabeth Arden Salon and Neiman Marcus. Expanding into clothing with a focus on classic cuts and simple designs using quality materials, New incorporated woven Cherokee fabrics, bead- and silver-work into a line of coats and dresses for women and men's suits, capitalizing on the luxury clothing market which emerged after World War II. "Southwestern chic" became a national trend in the early 1950s. In 1951, New was the only Native American designer who participated in the Atlantic City International Fashion Show, winning national recognition. He began to consult with artists and incorporated silk screened fabrics using native motifs, such as Pima basket weaving designs, Hopi pottery patterns, Navajo and Zuni yei elements, drawing from a variety of tribal aesthetics. As with designers who followed him, his sacred symbols and iconography were modified to become secularized.
To encourage other Indigenous artists to enter fashion design and safeguard cultural traditions which he feared might be lost, New turned his attention to education in 1959, sponsoring a summer design project, known as the Southwest Indian Arts Project. The experimental project eventually resulted in the founding by New and other artists of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in 1962. The purpose of the school was to provide an education that fostered pride in students' Indigenous heritage and featured the development of skills designed to improve their economic opportunities. New taught a printed textiles course focused on dying techniques, and Azalea Thorpe (Scottish) taught weaving. Josephine Myers-Wapp (Comanche) was hired to instruct students in the traditional techniques used to make garments and accessories, laying the groundwork for the aesthetic appreciation of tribal traditions. She taught students to use traditional materials like feathers, leather and shells, and methods including beadwork, ribbonwork and weaving to create garments. By 1965, IAIA was hosting local fashion shows. Within three years, the students had begun showing their works in other venues in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and New York. Within ten years, the reputation of the textile design programs at the school had gained international acclaim.
During the 1970s, Native American designers began to make a name for themselves during the Indian and Natural movements, such as Jewel Gilham (Blackfeet) and Remonia Jacobsen (Otoe/Iowa). Gilham catered to working women, designing pantsuits and long dresses made of polyester fabrics with felt insets depicting geometric figures and native motifs. Jacobsen's work featured loose-fitting dresses featuring decorative techniques, such as embroidered ribbonwork in the Otoe and Iowa style, appliqué drawing on Seminole traditions, buckskin leggings patterned on Kiowa designs, as well as influences from Pueblo and Sioux decorative silhouettes. Fueled by the American Indian and Civil Rights Movement, countercultural consumers found appeal in Gilham and Jacobsen's work. Furthermore, their fashion fostered a pan-Indian unity in the quest for political power through self-expression.
1975 to 1990
When Josephine Wapp retired in 1975, Sandy Fife Wilson (Muscogee) took over instruction of her traditional techniques course and offered "Traditional and Contemporary Fashion Design" to include current fashion trends. Fife's students formed the Full Moon Fashions group and began targeting non-native women as prospective buyers for their products. In 1982, when Wendy Ponca (Osage) took over the fashion design courses at the IAIA, she renamed them fiber arts in accordance with other accredited university curricula, offering three levels of instruction. She founded the Waves of the Earth Fashion Group and required her students to participate in the fashion shows of the IAIA, giving them an opportunity to show their creations and discover how to market their works. Ponca changed the direction of Native American fashion by allowing the designers to determine whether their works would include traditional influences and media. She taught them garment design, structural integrity, and color theory, but allowed students to interpret how they used the lessons. Ponca's approach was to ignore demands to make designs fit stereotypical definitions of Indigenous identity. Instead she encouraged creativity and innovation, like utilizing mylar, a space-age material to create designs which reflected the Osage connection with the sky.
The fashion show of the Santa Fe Indian Market, hosted for nearly two decades by fashion expert, Jeri Ah-be-hill (Kiowa), quickly became another venue to showcase the students' work, using the body as a venue to display designs, rather than galleries. Native Uprising, initially called Native Influx was founded in the 1980s as a collaborative association of Indigenous artists, designers, and models, who were alumni of IAIA, with the express purpose of building a contemporary, Native fashion design movement and allowing members to profit from their fashion shows. With New as an advisor and Ponca as the coordinator, the group included many members who made a name for themselves in fashion, for example Marcus Amerman (Choctaw), who acted as the stage director and RoseMary Diaz (Santa Clara Pueblo), who majored in fashion design and creative writing, before turning to writing about fashion.
In 1981, Margaret Wood (Navajo/Seminole) of Arizona, known for fashion design as well as for her quilts, published Native American Fashion: Modern Adaptations of Traditional Designs. The book was the first treatment of contemporary Native American fashion and remains the sole in-depth treatment of the subject. Also in the 1980s, Indigenous designers like Luanne Belcourt (Chippewa-Cree) and Myrtle Raining Bird (Chippewa-Cree) operated their company Sitting Eagles, marketing custom-made garments on their reservation to high-end buyers. Jeanette Ferrara (Isleta Pueblo) opened a design studio known for coats and vests incorporating cotton, wool, and velvet, and Ardina Moore (Quapaw/Osage) founded Buffalo Sun in Oklahoma in 1983. Geraldine Sherman (Lakota) designed for non-native marketer and anthropologist Helene Hagan to produce garments featuring Native American iconography. Hagan marketed them, stressing their spiritual and symbolic meaning.
Healthcare professional and fashion designer, Marjorie Bear Don't Walk (Chippewa-Salish) designed high-end couture for working women and displayed her fashions featuring appliqué techniques at conferences. Shed ran a mail order business, allowing customers to provide her with their preferred materials which she then worked into her designs. In 1984, Selina Curley (Apache-Navajo) founded a design firm, Traditions by Selina, aimed at preserving the traditions of her heritage. Her typical designs are based on the Apache camp dress with a full, ankle-length skirt and long sleeves.
The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, hosted Talking Threads: Contemporary Native American Fashions in 1986. The exhibit featured designs by Joyce Begay-Foss (Navajo), Loretta Tah-Martin (Apache-Ponca) and Michelle Tsosie Naranjo (Santa Clara-Navajo-Laguna Pueblo-Mission), among others. The following year, the Red Earth Festival was established in Oklahoma City, showcasing creations by non-native designer Michael Kors, along with Phyllis Fife (Muscogee), to demonstrate that Native clothing was part of mainstream fashion. Fife was part of a group of native designers known as the Fashion Drums of Red Earth, who have made the fashion show of the Red Earth Festival an annual event, demonstrating that native clothing is wearable for every day and not simply as ceremonial costuming. Also in 1987, Patta Joest (Choctaw) established her firm Patta LT with the label Dancing Rabbit, to create high-fashion, producing contemporary garments with design elements from Southeastern Woodland tribal heritage. They included Cherokee tear dresses and Seminole patchwork vests, incorporating features such as Plains Tribes-style beadwork. Her line also included innovative bras and lingerie as well as broomstick skirts.
The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 was passed by the United States Congress. It specified that for artists to market their works as Native American, they must be enrolled in a state or federally recognized tribe or be certified by a tribal council as a member and must disclose their affiliated tribe. The law aimed to curtail the misappropriation of Native American designs by non-Natives wishing to capitalize on the Indigenous market. For Indigenous Americans, their symbols, such as the headdress have ceremonial and sacred properties. Inappropriate use of such objects, like the 2014 Next Top Model use of the headdress for non-Native models and its use in Dallas by Chanel for their Métiers d'Art show, were all too frequent occurrences. Though the law made it illegal to sell items by those not affiliated as a tribal member, little could be done when designs, symbols, or names were usurped. The law, written to protect the tribes and their cultures as a whole, does not cover individuals, with the result that there is no protection for the works of fashion designers. As part of their tribal tradition, symbols of various tribes are not typically trademarked, but one exception is the name "Navajo", which was legally trademarked in 1943.
1991–2010
The 1990s saw a split in the Native American fashion design styles, with one group pursuing simple silhouettes with defined, smooth transitions between fabric lines, while the other group focused on avant-garde Indigenous couture. Among those who favored classic, clean lines were Betty David (Spokane), known for her shearling coats; Dorothy Grant (Haida), who trained at Vancouver's Helen Lefeaux School of Fashion Design and whose work includes images of flora and fauna of the Pacific Northwest, formline art and basketry designs; and Penny Singer (Navajo), who added photographic images on fabric to her traditional men's and women's shirts and accessories decorated with beads and ribbon work. Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo) and Grant were the first Native American fashion designers to exhibit at an event in Manhattan. They held a show together at the Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week in 2009, though Ortiz's work generally is known as more cutting-edge and noted for incorporating colors, shapes, and symbols from pottery in his fashion design. Angela DeMontigny (Chippewa-Cree/Métis) of southwestern Ontario, a Canadian First Nation designer, also followed the classic traditional lines, with edgy elements based initially on leather and suede garments before branching into jewelry and accessories.
Other Native American designers from the early 1990s included the master weaver Margaret Roach Wheeler (Chickasaw/Choctaw), who earned a master's degree in art at Pittsburg State University in Kansas, under the tutelage of Marjorie Schick; Aresta LaRusso founded Deerwater Design in Flagstaff in 1994 featuring items made of silk or wool fabrics and deer or elk skin. To update her contemporary patterning, she used zebra and impala hide, decorated with beadwork, fringe, and silver.
Wendy Ponca, one of the leaders of the avant-garde group, left IAIA in 1993. After she was replaced by Pearl Sunrise (Navajo), a noted weaver, the fashion curriculum at IAIA was eliminated in 1995, though momentum for high fashion works produced by native designers was rising. Among Ponca's students at IAIA in the 1990s were the designers Pilar Agoyo (Ohkay Owingeh/Cochiti/Kewa), who works on costuming for several films, including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) and The Avengers (2012), and Patricia Michaels (Taos Pueblo), who went on to take second place in season 11 of Project Runway. Her women's jacket titled "Weathered Text: No Trespassing by the Taos War Chief." won the Best of Class award in the textiles category at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 2010. Another of Ponca's students, Brenda Wahnee (Comanche), developed her own line Com-N-Acha, featuring fashion forward designs. Her works were featured in 2003 at the Grammy Fest party. Tazbah Gaussoin
(Picuris Pueblo/Navajo), Consuelo Pascual (Navajo/Maya), and Rose Bean Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo) were other Ponca students who began making a name in fashion circles in the 1990s.
In 2005, the IAIA with support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, sponsored Tribal Fusions, as a cross-cultural fashion endeavor, uniting designers from Africa with Marcus Amerman, Dorothy Grant, Patricia Michaels, and Virginia Yazzie Ballenger for the annual fashion show at the Santa Fe Indian Market. It was a unique opportunity for designers from diverse Indigenous populations to share designs and methods of economic empowerment. In 2009, Jessica Metcalfe (Chippewa), a scholar who earned her doctorate from the University of Arizona, created a fashion blog called "Beyond Buckskin". Metcalfe used the blog to promote Native American designers, to talk about how they fit into popular culture and also to hold companies accountable when they attempted to appropriate Native culture. The following year, Patricia Michaels formed UNRESERVED Alliance, in an attempt to ensure that Native American fashion designers were represented at New York Fashion Week. Similarly to Native Uprising founded two decades previously, the collective of designers aimed through collaboration to improve inclusion of Indigenous artists.
2011 and beyond
As Native American designers recognized that marketing to Indigenous peoples alone limited their business sustainability, they increasingly created clothing that is derived from their cultural heritage but has been adapted to appeal to a larger aesthetic. Early designers tended to approach fashion from a pan-Indian perspective, but contemporary Indigenous designers often "stay within the realm of their own traditional tribal or regional clothing techniques". In 2012, Kelly Holmes (Cheyenne River Lakota), a former model, founded Native Max, "the first Native American fashion magazine". Jessica Metcalf (Turtle Mountain Chippewa), who wrote the "Beyond Buckskin" blog, opened a fashion boutique in Gardena, North Dakota the same year. Metcalfe, along with photographer Anthony Thosh Collins and designer Bethany Yellowtail (Northern Cheyenne/Crow) created a compilation of fashion called Beyond Buckskin Lookbook which she says is the "first compilation of modern Native fashion produced exclusively by Natives". In 2014, Loren Aragon (Acoma Pueblo) and Valentina Aragon (Diné) founded the ACONAV couture brand known for its asymetrical designsthat blend cultural ideas with modern silhouettes. Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo) creates futuristic fashion designs that reference the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 blended with science fiction narratives about fighters for freedom based in the year 2180.
In 2016, a survey exhibition, "Native Fashion Now," curated by Karen Kramer at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, traveled to Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Portland Art Museum in Oregon, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Manhattan. The exhibition and its catalog spotlighted on contemporary Native American fashion. Featuring designs from 75 fashion designers from throughout Canada and the United States, the exhibit presented a range of styles and designs from diverse cultures, such as Alano Edzerza (Tahltan Nation), Maya Stewart (Chickasaw/Muscogee/Choctaw) and Bethany Yellowtail (Northern Cheyenne/Crow), among others. Becki Bitternose (George Gordon), who designs jackets and coats from Pendleton blankets, was featured at the 2016 New York Fashion Week.
Controversy
Non-Native companies and individuals have attempted to use Native American motifs and names in their clothing designs. As early as the 1940s, Anglo designers in the United States had developed a type of one and two-piece dresses called "squaw dresses." These outfits were based on Mexican and Navajo skirts and Western Apache camp dresses. The dresses, also known as Fiesta, Kachina, Tohono or Patio Dresses "represented both idealized femininity and Americanness because of their Native American origins." These dresses, knowingly appropriating Indigenous styles, were considered a "fashion sensation" of the time, according to the Arizona Daily Star. The Navajo style that influenced the creation of Squaw Dresses was itself an adaptation of European styles by Navajo women. The bodice of a Squaw Dress drew from Western Apache and Tohono O'odham styles. Squaw dresses were popular in the United States for around 20 years. The original "designer" of the Squaw Dress was Dolores Gonzales of Tucson, Arizona. Gonzales herself said of her dresses, "I didn't design them; I lifted them. The Indian women were already wearing them." Other people involved in promoting and working on the designs included the designers Cele Peterson and George Fine.
Urban Outfitters created a collection in 2011 called "Navajo," featuring underwear, hats and other items with art based on traditional Navajo rugs. The Navajo Nation responded by issuing a cease and desist on their use of the word "Navajo". Pop band No Doubt released a 2012 video featuring stereotypical images of the American frontier and ended up pulling the video and issuing an apology. Victoria's Secret clothed a model in a "Native-inspired" bikini and giant war headdress at their fashion show that same year. Victoria's Secret was again accused of cultural appropriation in their 2017 fashion show, which featured outfits inspired by traditional Native fashion.
Another issue in regard to Native American fashion is the stereotypical representation of Indigenous peoples' clothing in mass media depictions. Native Americans are portrayed most often in historical contexts wearing traditional clothing.
See also
Textile arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Inuit clothing
References
Citations
Bibliography
and
, and
, and
and
Fashion design
Design occupations
Arts occupations
Native American art
Indigenous textile art of the Americas
Mesoamerican art
American fashion
Native American clothing
Indigenous fashion | Native American fashion | [
"Engineering"
] | 4,493 | [
"Design occupations",
"Design",
"Fashion design"
] |
56,189,901 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melampsora%20amygdalinae | Melampsora amygdalinae is a fungal pathogen and part of the division Basidiomycota. It is known as a rust fungus that is host specific. M. amygdalinae commonly infects willows of the genus Salix. This fungus was first discovered in 1909 by Heinrich Klebahn who was a professor of soil biology in Hamburg. Neimi at el. explain how the pathogen occurs throughout the whole distribution of the host, and the small natural populations are an area of interest. This rust fungus is annual (non systemic) and autoecious, which references the fungus spending its entire life in a single host.
Hosts and symptoms
Willows are a highly susceptible host that this pathogen targets. Fungicides are not usually used for its protection, as the result is not effective. The fungicides needed for this rust fungus would also affect the surrounding environment. “Several studies reported very low differentiation among samples of fungal pathogens of agricultural crops or forestry trees from different localities across a continent.” To further explain, this shows that this fungus affects its host similarly across the continent. The environment and location of the fungus does not differentiate its functionality. Symptoms that appear on willows are commonly seen as galls. M. amygdalinae distorts the blades and veins of willow, causing irregular spots, bearing the orange yellow uredinia, which is the lesion that forms on the leaf surface. Pustules are what the lesion is referred to as. “The host range and pathogenicity of these species have remained static as no breakdown in host resistance has been observed”. To expand, the host plant has yet to show signs of resistance, only emphasizing the evidence of its susceptibility. This pathogen lacks telia and tends to overwinter in its specific host. The pathogen and the host have the ability to reproduce sexually and are both locally adapted to each other.
Disease cycle
The life cycle of M. amygdalinae is macrocyclic, or has all spore states in its life cycle, which is important to know when trying to perform any disease management. In the spring it undergoes sexual reproduction and the teliospores germinate after overwintering, then produce basidia. The basidia then release basidiospores that travel through the wind to infect the host plant. The host is infected by the haploid basidiospores that form spermagonia. “After dikaryotization by transfer of spermatia to the receiving structures of compatible mating types, aecia are formed. From these, aecidiospores are dispersed, which, after germination, form uredia on infected host tissue”. The pustule structure formed on the leaf, asexually produce uredospores, which travel by wind dispersal. “The spread of rust on a willow host takes place during the summer and includes several repeated cycles of clonal propagation of urediniospores. The urediniospores are capable to produce the next generation in 6-7 days”. The life cycle is fast and regenerates quickly, taking over the hosts at a more rapid rate. This is an obligate pathogen, and heavily relies on its host for survival.
Management
With this fungal pathogen being highly host specific, it stays in the environment of its host the willow. Willows are not as shade tolerant as most other plants, so they need an open canopy of tree branches to let a good amount of sunlight in. They also thrive in moist, nutrient rich soils, that are in colder environments. One area of abundance can be found in Europe, in areas of wetter soils. Keeping this pathogen at bay can be a challenge. “Rusts caused by Melampsora spp. are the most severe threat today. Rust attacks influence the development of winter dormancy in the host and indirectly frost hardiness”. The severity of this fungal pathogen makes it hard to control. It can cause additional infections that require separate management. It takes a lot of time and effort to control fungal pathogens, so new methods may have to be performed in the case of new infections developing. Melampsora amygdalinae is only one of many species under the genus Melampsora. Identifying this pathogen directly requires a deeper examination of the proper prevention tasks. Little evidence has been recorded on preventative actions, due to its difficulty to control. Rust fungi such as this are usually damaged by outside factors such as beetles. So, the damage done to the Salix host may be further progressed even with other feeding damage. “The productivity of Salix biomass can be reduced by more than 30-50% dry matter by rust”.
References
Pucciniales
Fungal tree pathogens and diseases
Fungi described in 1909
Fungi of Europe
Willow galls
Taxa named by Heinrich Klebahn
Fungus species | Melampsora amygdalinae | [
"Biology"
] | 991 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
56,190,574 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donglei%20Fan | Donglei "Emma" Fan is an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering of the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and the principal investigator in its Nanomaterials Innovation Lab. In 2014, her team built a nanomotor that was significantly smaller, faster, and longer running than any previously designed. The techniques that they developed have been referred to as a "breakthrough technology".
The achievement was noted as a highlight of 2014 in Science Year by Year (2017).
Early life and education
Fan attended Nanjing University (NJU) as part of an honor program for gifted youth, the Department of Intensive Instruction, as an early admitted student, waived the National College Entrance Exam and awarded the Freshman Merit Scholarship. She received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from NJU in 1999.
She then attended Johns Hopkins University (JHU), from which she received two master's degrees, in materials science and engineering (2003) and in electrical engineering (2005). She went on to receive her Doctor of Philosophy degree in materials science and engineering from JHU in 2007. She was a postdoctoral fellow at JHU from 2007 to 2009.
Career
In 2010, Fan joined The University of Texas at Austin as an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
She is the principal investigator in its Nanomaterial Innovation Lab.
In 2012, Fan received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award.
In 2013, Fan was one of sixty engineers from Europe and the United States who were invited to participate in the EU-US Frontier of Engineering Symposium in France, supported by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).
In 2014, Fan was selected to participate in the Arab-American Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Symposium, organized by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
In 2016, Fan was promoted to associate professor with tenure.
In 2017, Fan received a Robert & Jane Mitchell Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Engineering.
Donglei Fan is on the editorial board of the Scientific Reports.
Research
Donglei Fan studies nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), in particular the design, assembly and control of rotary NEMS or nanomotors.
She and her coworkers have identified fundamental interactions at the nanoscale level and developed novel mechanisms for manipulating nanoscale components to create and control nanomotors.
The techniques developed have been described as a "breakthrough technology".
While at Johns Hopkins University, she helped to develop a technique for moving and positioning nanostructures using alternating and constant electric fields. Applied using lithographically patterned electrodes, the orientation of the nanowire is controlled by the alternating fields while the direction of translation is controlled by the constant fields. The technique has been referred to as "electric tweezers".
At the University of Texas at Austin, Fan has used this approach to move components and construct and manipulate nanomotors.
Fan's approach has enabled her team to design and build nanomotors that are substantially smaller, faster, and longer lasting than previous nanomotors.
In Nature Communications (2014), they describe the bottom-up assembly of arrays of nanomotors. Each nanomotor consists of only three parts: a quadrupole microelectrode for a stator, a nanomagnet for a bearing, and a nanowire for a rotor.
The resulting nanomotor is less than 1 micrometer in all dimensions, making it 1/500th the size of a grain of table salt. Significantly, it is small enough to fit inside a human cell.
It is able to spin at much higher speeds than previous nanomotors. It can run at speeds up to 18,000 rpm, comparable to the rate of a jet engine. The duration of rotation such nanomotor is as long as 15 hours. With a titanium nanobearing, one can run for as long as 80 hours with a total 1.1 million rotation cycles. Previous nanomotors could run at 500 rpm or less for seconds or minutes.
The speed and direction of the nanomotor's movement through liquid can be controlled using electric tweezers.
Experimenters were able to turn the nanomotors on and off and cause their rotation to occur in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. They were able to arrange the nanomotors in a pattern and direct their movements in a synchronized way. Raman spectroscopy can be used to quantitatively monitor the placement of the nanomotors and their rate of rotation in real-time.
Fan's nanomotor is the first to be capable of releasing a drug from its surface at a controllable rate.
The surface of the rotor can be coated with a biochemical, which will be released in accordance with fluid boundary layer theory as the rotor spins. As the rotor moves faster, more of the biochemical is released,
Potential applications as a controllable drug delivery mechanism include moving through the body to deliver insulin in diabetes, and attacking individual cancer cells.
Fan has applied for a number of patents relating to this technology, several of which have been granted.
Fan is also involved in studying microscale step-motors, chemical sensing, control of energy transfer in quantum dots using Förster resonance energy transfer, and three dimensional nanoporous materials.
Awards and honors
2017, Robert & Jane Mitchell Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Engineering
2014, Ranked third of ten "discoveries that will shape the future", BBC Focus magazine, British Broadcasting Corporation, for her work on bottom-up assembly of inorganic nanomotors
2012, National Science Foundation CAREER Awards, National Science Foundation
one of 24 finalists for the Beckman Young Investigators Award
References
External links
The University of Texas at Austin - Donglei "Emma" Fan
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American nanotechnologists
21st-century American engineers
21st-century American women engineers
Women materials scientists and engineers
Nanjing University alumni
Johns Hopkins University alumni
University of Texas at Austin faculty | Donglei Fan | [
"Materials_science",
"Technology"
] | 1,203 | [
"Women materials scientists and engineers",
"Materials scientists and engineers",
"Women in science and technology"
] |
56,190,982 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%207139 | NGC 7139 is a planetary nebula located in the constellation of Cepheus. It was discovered on November 5, 1787, by astronomer William Herschel.
See also
List of NGC objects
Planetary nebulae
References
External links
Planetary nebulae
Cepheus (constellation)
7139
17871105
Discoveries by William Herschel | NGC 7139 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 63 | [
"Nebula stubs",
"Astronomy stubs",
"Constellations",
"Cepheus (constellation)"
] |
56,193,369 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMPAS%20%28software%29 | Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) is a case management and decision support tool developed and owned by Northpointe (now Equivant) used by U.S. courts to assess the likelihood of a defendant becoming a recidivist.
COMPAS has been used by the U.S. states of New York, Wisconsin, California, Florida's Broward County, and other jurisdictions.
Risk assessment
The COMPAS software uses an algorithm to assess potential recidivism risk. Northpointe created risk scales for general and violent recidivism, and for pretrial misconduct. According to the COMPAS Practitioner's Guide, the scales were designed using behavioral and psychological constructs "of very high relevance to recidivism and criminal careers."
Pretrial release risk scale Pretrial risk is a measure of the potential for an individual to fail to appear and/or to commit new felonies while on release. According to the research that informed the creation of the scale, "current charges, pending charges, prior arrest history, previous pretrial failure, residential stability, employment status, community ties, and substance abuse" are the most significant indicators affecting pretrial risk scores.
General recidivism scale The General recidivism scale is designed to predict new offenses upon release, and after the COMPAS assessment is given. The scale uses an individual's criminal history and associates, drug involvement, and indications of juvenile delinquency.
Violent recidivism scale The violent recidivism score is meant to predict violent offenses following release. The scale uses data or indicators that include a person's "history of violence, history of non-compliance, vocational/educational problems, the person's age-at-intake and the person's age-at-first-arrest."
The violent recidivism risk scale is calculated as follows:
where is the violent recidivism risk score, is a weight multiplier, is current age, is the age at first arrest, is the history of violence, is vocational education scale, and is history of noncompliance. The weight, , is "determined by the strength of the item's relationship to person offense recidivism that we observed in our study data."
Critiques and legal rulings
Proponents of using AI and algorithms in the courtroom tend to argue that these solutions will mitigate predictable biases and errors in judges' reasoning, such as the hungry judge effect (the phenomenon that judges are more likely to make lenient decisions after eating a meal).
In July 2016, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that COMPAS risk scores can be considered by judges during sentencing, but there must be warnings given to the scores to represent the tool's "limitations and cautions."
A general critique of the use of proprietary software such as COMPAS is that since the algorithms it uses are trade secrets, they cannot be examined by the public and affected parties which may be a violation of due process. Additionally, simple, transparent and more interpretable algorithms (such as linear regression) have been shown to perform predictions approximately as well as the COMPAS algorithm.
Another general criticism of machine-learning based algorithms is since they are data-dependent if the data are biased, the software will likely yield biased results.
Specifically, COMPAS risk assessments have been argued to violate 14th Amendment Equal Protection rights on the basis of race, since the algorithms are argued to be racially discriminatory, to result in disparate treatment, and to not be narrowly tailored.
Accuracy
In 2016, Julia Angwin was co-author of a ProPublica investigation of the algorithm. The team found that "blacks are almost twice as likely as whites to be labeled a higher risk but not actually re-offend," whereas COMPAS "makes the opposite mistake among whites: They are much more likely than blacks to be labeled lower-risk but go on to commit other crimes." They also found that only 20 percent of people predicted to commit violent crimes actually went on to do so.
In a letter, Northpointe criticized ProPublica's methodology and stated that: "[The company] does not agree that the results of your analysis, or the claims being made based upon that analysis, are correct or that they accurately reflect the outcomes from the application of the model."
Another team at the Community Resources for Justice, a criminal justice think tank, published a rebuttal of the investigation's findings. Among several objections, the CRJ rebuttal concluded that the Propublica's results: "contradict several comprehensive existing studies concluding that actuarial risk can be predicted free of racial and/or gender bias."
A subsequent study has shown that COMPAS software is somewhat more accurate than individuals with little or no criminal justice expertise, yet less accurate than groups of such individuals. They found that: "On average, they got the right answer 63 percent of their time, and the group's accuracy rose to 67 percent if their answers were pooled. COMPAS, by contrast, has an accuracy of 65 percent.". Researchers from the University of Houston found that COMPAS does not conform to group fairness criteria and produces various kinds of unfair outcomes across sex- and race-based demographic groups.
See also
Algorithmic bias
Garbage in, garbage out
Legal expert systems
Loomis v. Wisconsin
Criminal sentencing in the United States
References
Further reading
Sample COMPAS Risk Assessment
Criminal justice in the United States
Government by algorithm
Legal software | COMPAS (software) | [
"Engineering"
] | 1,128 | [
"Government by algorithm",
"Automation"
] |
56,193,615 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IncludeOS | IncludeOS is a minimal, open source, unikernel operating system for cloud services and IoT, developed by Alf Walla and Andreas Åkesson. IncludeOS allows users to run C++ applications in the cloud without any operating system.
IncludeOS runs on virtual machines like Linux KVM, and VMWare ESXi/Fusion.
IncludeOS applications boot in about 300 ms. On Solo5/uKVM from IBM Research, boot times as low as 10 milliseconds are possible.
Architecture
The minimalist architecture of IncludeOS means that it does not have any virtual memory space. In turn, therefore, there is no concept of either system calls or user space.
References
External links
IncludeOS on GitHub
IncludeOS blog
Alfred Bratterud: Deconstructing the OS: The devil’s In the side effects, CppCon 2017 presentation
C++ Weekly – Ep 31 – IncludeOS
Computing platforms
Free software operating systems
Software using the Apache license
Software companies of Norway
Free software programmed in C++
IA-32 operating systems
X86-64 operating systems | IncludeOS | [
"Technology"
] | 223 | [
"Computing platforms"
] |
56,194,638 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean%20Ville | Jean Ville, also known under the names Jean-André Ville et André Ville, born 24 June 1910 in Marseille, died 22 January 1989 in Blois, was a French mathematician. He is known for having proved an extension of von Neumman's minimax theorem, as well as contributions in the fields of statistics and economics. He was one of the pioneers of the theory of martingales.
Life
Jean André Ville was the son of Jean Baptiste Ville (1871-1927) and Marie Vernet (1876-1955), both from families from Mosset in Pyrénées-Orientales. His first name was that of his godfather and uncle, Jean Ville, the second, that of his grandfather, André Vernet. André was the first name used in the family, but in his professional life, he used Jean. Bernard d'Orgeval, a classmate, writes in the directory of former students of the ENS 1992 "very discreet about his private life, discretion marked by the use of the first name Jean in his scientific and administrative career, while in the family he was André".
He was a former student of the lycée Thiers of Marseille and the École normale supérieure (Promo 1929), of which he entered first.
Ville's inequality is named for him, after he proved it in 1939.
Publications
Applications de la théorie des probabilités aux jeux de hasard, d'Émile Borel et Jean Ville (1938)
References
1910 births
1989 deaths
Scientists from Marseille
20th-century French mathematicians
Game theorists
École Normale Supérieure alumni | Jean Ville | [
"Mathematics"
] | 324 | [
"Game theorists",
"Game theory"
] |
56,194,906 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental%20health%20informatics | Mental health informatics is a branch of health or clinical informatics focused on the use of information technology (IT) and information to improve mental health. Like health informatics, mental health informatics is a multidisciplinary field that promotes care delivery, research and education as well as the technology and methodologies required to implement it.
Metrics and coding
Terminology and coding systems such as the (DSM)
Specific mental health assessment and diagnostic systems
Data collection and storage systems
Systematic collection of information is fundamental to successful practices. Collecting data useful for mental illness diagnosis and treatment is challenging, as we lack quantitative biomarkers that might be used in standard health informatics, such as body temperature or blood pressure. Largely, current diagnosis and treatment is driven by clinical interviews between professionals and patients. Interviews are not only difficult to draw standardized data from because of diverse individual experience, condition, and accuracy of a patient's memory. Rapid advancements in computation and storage systems have the potential to transform this data collection process. For example, a 2014 study in Ireland explored the use of a smartphone application to record daily mood and thoughts. Such a collection process would provide plentiful standardized data less afflicted by patient recollection issues.
Integration of mental health function into electronic health record systems (EHRs) and larger organisational systems
Mobile and digital sensors
The ubiquity of smartphones and other mobile computing platforms is beginning to enable new types of data collection. Recent work has pioneered the use of passive data collection combined with analysis to provide highly relevant features such as: amount of time exposed to human speech, geospatial activity (total distance traveled throughout the day), physical activity, and sleep duration. Additionally, researchers are prototyping simple mobile applications that could replace portions of infrequent qualitative clinical interviews with more regular quantitative data.
Telehealth
Telehealth, telemedicine and telepsychiatry are new care delivery methods made possible by information technology. Specifically, there is a body of research investigating the use of mobile devices to deliver treatment suggestions or treatment reminders in the context of mental health.
Much of the telehealth literature is concerned with patient populations that are difficult to provide traditional medical care to, such as those in rural locations, soldiers, or veterans. These groups stand to benefit from telehealth practices. An inspector general review of US Veterans Affairs facilities in North Carolina and Virginia revealed that 36% of patients had to wait more than a month for appointments. Telehealth professionals are interested in decreasing these wait times by increasing aspects of appointment efficiency.
Patient perspectives
Of course, introducing significant use of new technology into medical practice is a large departure from conventional mental health treatment. Several studies investigate the effect of introducing technology into general medical interventions as well as mental health treatments specifically. A review of several studies found that patients were generally satisfied with the medical care received via Telehealth, however the effectiveness and efficiency of programs reported mixed results. In many studies it's challenging to determine if the outcomes were a result of the introduction of technology, as authors fail to describe why they are making such an intervention.
A study investigating the design of a passive mental health mobile application for use by teenagers and young adults indicated that teenagers would be most open to using technology to help with mental health issues if it was developed as a smartphone application. Additionally, teenagers would be more motivated in using such applications if there was a social or gamified component, however they expressed potential concern about negative perceptions about using the app. Research indicates that while older patients struggle to accept changes in care, technological resistance is generational, indicating that current and future generations would be open to using telehealth.
Technology to promote healthy practices
In addition to providing more accurate and reliable data for mental health care providers, smartphones have the ability to provide reminders for healthy practices and appointments. Jen Hyatt, the founder and CEO of Big White Wall, a UK behavioral health social enterprise, comments that existing mental healthcare focuses on diseases rather than health practices and behaviors. Particularly, research has showed that how much we travel and communicate with other people throughout the day is an important factor in our overall mental health. Future applications may leverage location systems in modern mobile phones to track a user's geospatial activity and suggest certain actions through notifications if dangerous patterns are detected.
Augmenting care delivery
In addition to new types of treatments and interactions, the introduction of technology and informatics has the ability to improve existing mental healthcare effectiveness and efficiency. A UK based study found that a simple digital intervention such as sending SMS (text message) reminders to patients a few days before a mental health appointment decreased missed clinical appointments by 25% to 28%, translating to a potential cost savings of more than £150 million.
Data analysis
Collection of enormous amounts of structured data on mental health patients introduces the possibility of improved mental health care, mental health policy, and overall perception of mental health. This analysis would be performed on a macro-scale, the study of the incidence of mental health in a public health and epidemiological context.
Need for mental health informatics
The need for and application of health informatics in primary and secondary health care has been well established in developed countries for 20 years or more. The application of informatics in mental health has not become as pervasive, in spite of professional recognition the domain appearing well suited to computerisation and the need for quantified outcome evidence. There also may be a professional reluctance to effect changes in established working patterns that the introduction of systems necessarily entails.
Concerns
Data and information in health informatics are inherently private and personal. Pervasive software systems designed to help diagnose and treat mental health symptoms expose a privacy vulnerability and will likely require regulatory standards and data protection compliance such as HIPAA to protect patients. A major impediment may be societal stigma associated with mental disorders as well as increased sensitivity about protecting the privacy and confidentiality of records in mental health care.
References
Health informatics
Mental health | Mental health informatics | [
"Biology"
] | 1,226 | [
"Health informatics",
"Medical technology"
] |
56,195,112 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Beatles%20at%20Abbey%20Road | The Beatles at Abbey Road is a multimedia presentation hosted by Abbey Road Studios in London that focused on the recording career of the English rock band the Beatles. It took place from 18 July to 11 September 1983, while part of the studios were undergoing renovation. The program included a guided tour of Abbey Road's Studio 2, where the Beatles recorded most of their music for EMI in the 1960s; a two-part video presentation narrated by disc jockey Roger Scott, with interviews and rare archival footage; and previously unheard outtakes from the band's recording sessions. The event was hosted by studio manager Ken Townsend and the shows took place three times a day. Its staging reflected the elevation of Abbey Road (formerly EMI Studios) to the level of an English cultural location, as well as the enduring popularity of the Beatles, more than ten years after their break-up. The Beatles at Abbey Road was a commercial success, with 22,000 tickets sold.
The program marked the first time that the studios had been opened to the public, and was announced by EMI in June 1983. Visitors were offered the chance to experience Studio 2 as the Beatles used to work in it, with microphones and other equipment set up to replicate a typical recording session. Among the songs aired during the presentation were the band's unreleased versions of "How Do You Do It?" and "Leave My Kitten Alone".
Former Beatle Paul McCartney joined the audience at one of the shows and was said to have enjoyed the experience. At his suggestion, George Harrison and Ringo Starr also visited, although they attended a private presentation. According to EMI, Harrison was delighted to hear his initial solo take of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", from July 1968, and told the company that he would be happy to have the recording released immediately.
Recordings made surreptitiously by some visitors to the 1983 show soon became available on bootleg albums. A year after The Beatles at Abbey Road, the songs that had been unearthed for the presentation were remixed for a planned album, titled Sessions. The former Beatles initiated legal proceedings to prevent EMI from issuing the album, however, saying that the work was substandard. Sessions was scheduled for release in November 1984, but the release was cancelled.
The interest in these previously unissued recordings nevertheless confirmed that a collection of Beatles studio outtakes was a viable option. The songs were instead included on the three outtakes albums that formed part of the Beatles Anthology project in 1995–96.
References
Citations
Sources
Multimedia works
The Beatles | The Beatles at Abbey Road | [
"Technology"
] | 511 | [
"Multimedia",
"Multimedia works"
] |
56,195,203 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multichannel%20Speaking%20Automaton | Multichannel Speaking Automaton (MUSA) was an early prototype of Speech Synthesis machine started in 1975.
Description
It consisted of a stand-alone computer hardware and a specialized software that implemented a diphone-synthesis technology. It was one of the first real-time TTS systems. It was able to read Italian in intellegibile robotic voice and also to sing managing up to 8 synthesis channels in parallel thanks to Linear predictive coding technology. In 1978 it was released, after the building of a working prototype, a 45" rpm audio disk containing some trial content of such synthesis, including the song "Fra Martino Campanaro" in "a cappella" (multiple voices) style, attached to some commercial reviews. The experiment was conducted by CSELT, Turin, Italy and was led by Giulio Modena.
See also
Eloquens (software)
Notes
References
External links
Applications of artificial intelligence
Computational linguistics
History of human–computer interaction | Multichannel Speaking Automaton | [
"Technology"
] | 193 | [
"History of human–computer interaction",
"Natural language and computing",
"Computational linguistics",
"History of computing"
] |
76,161,867 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divertor%20Tokamak%20Test | The Divertor Tokamak Test (DTT) is a planned superconducting tokamak currently under construction in Frascati, Italy. It is set to be operated by the Italian government-sponsored research and development agency, ENEA, and will serve as a testbed for the construction of a DEMOnstration Power Plant. Its primary focus is to investigate the challenges posed by thermal heat loads endured by the divertor of a fusion power plant.
DTT was initially proposed in 2015 as part of the EUROfusion program, and it is scheduled for operation in 2026.
References
Tokamaks
Science and technology in Italy | Divertor Tokamak Test | [
"Physics"
] | 127 | [
"Plasma physics stubs",
"Plasma physics"
] |
76,162,223 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical%20navigable%20small%20world | The Hierarchical navigable small world (HNSW) algorithm is a graph-based approximate nearest neighbor search technique used in many vector databases. Nearest neighbor search without an index involves computing the distance from the query to each point in the database, which for large datasets is computationally prohibitive. For high-dimensional data, tree-based exact vector search techniques such as the k-d tree and R-tree do not perform well enough because of the curse of dimensionality. To remedy this, approximate k-nearest neighbor searches have been proposed, such as locality-sensitive hashing (LSH) and product quantization (PQ) that trade performance for accuracy. The HNSW graph offers an approximate k-nearest neighbor search which scales logarithmically even in high-dimensional data.
It is an extension of the earlier work on navigable small world graphs presented at the Similarity Search and Applications (SISAP) conference in 2012 with an additional hierarchical navigation to find entry points to the main graph faster. HNSW-based libraries are among the best performers in the approximate nearest neighbors benchmark.
Use in vector databases
HNSW is a key method for approximate nearest neighbor search in high-dimensional vector databases, for example in the context of embeddings from neural networks in large language models. Databases that use HNSW as search index include:
Apache Lucene Vector Search
Chroma
Qdrant
Vespa
Vearch Gamma
Weaviate
pgvector
MariaDB
MongoDB Atlas
Milvus
Several of these use either the hnswlib library provided by the original authors, or the FAISS library.
References
Graphs
Network science
Search algorithms
Database index techniques
Data mining
Machine learning | Hierarchical navigable small world | [
"Mathematics",
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 346 | [
"Machine learning",
"Graph theory",
"Graphs",
"Computer science",
"Mathematical relations",
"Artificial intelligence engineering",
"Computing stubs",
"Network science"
] |
76,162,350 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%205866B | NGC 5866B (also known as UGC 9769) is an intermediate spiral galaxy located about 52 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Draco. It is sometimes classified as a member of the NGC 5866 Group of galaxies and has a diameter of around . In visible light, the galaxy exhibits an overall bluish color and as it is relatively dim for a galaxy of its size, it is classified as a low surface brightness galaxy (LSB).
NGC 5866B is located relatively close in the sky to the more well-known NGC 5907 (Splinter Galaxy) and NGC 5866 (Spindle Galaxy).
References
Intermediate spiral galaxies
Low surface brightness galaxies
NGC 5866 Group
Draco (constellation)
09769
54267 | NGC 5866B | [
"Astronomy"
] | 157 | [
"Constellations",
"Draco (constellation)"
] |
76,162,447 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20Y-dwarfs | This is a list of astronomical objects with the spectral type Y. They are a mix of brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects. They are the coldest such objects in interstellar space and have a temperature around below 500 Kelvin (227°C; 440°F). Only a few are known due to their faint nature. The list is sorted after distance.
Notes
References
Lists of astronomical objects
Y-type brown dwarfs | List of Y-dwarfs | [
"Astronomy"
] | 86 | [
"Astronomy-related lists",
"Astronomical objects",
"Lists of astronomical objects"
] |
76,163,588 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%205963 | NGC 5963 is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Draco. It was discovered on May 5, 1788 by German-British astronomer William Herschel. NGC 5963 has an apparent visual magnitude of 13.1 and is located at a distance of from the Milky Way galaxy. It has an angular separation of just from NGC 5965, but the two galaxies are not physically related. Although it is relatively isolated, NGC 5963 is sometimes classified as a member of the NGC 5866 Group of galaxies.
The morphological classification of NGC 5963 is Sc, indicating a spiral galaxy with somewhat loosely wound spiral arms. It is characterized by an unusually low surface brightness and has just a hint of a bulge component. There is a high surface brightness nuclear region with an oval shape spanning , which forms a spiral sub-system. Surrounding this is a patchy, loosely wound spiral forming a faint disk. The rotation curve of NGC 5963 matches that of similar galaxies with normal surface brightness, suggesting this galaxy has a more concentrated halo.
References
External links
Spiral galaxies
Low surface brightness galaxies
NGC 5866 Group
Draco (constellation)
5963
09906
55419 | NGC 5963 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 239 | [
"Constellations",
"Draco (constellation)"
] |
76,164,032 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnotic%20Ego-Strengthening%20Procedure | The Hypnotic Ego-Strengthening Procedure, incorporating its constituent, influential hypnotherapeutic monologue which delivered an incremental sequence of both suggestions for within-hypnotic influence and suggestions for post-hypnotic influence was developed and promoted by the British consultant psychiatrist, John Heywood Hartland (1901–1977) in the 1960s.
Hartland's overall ego-strengthening approach was based upon, and derived from, the "Self-Mastery" method that French hypnotherapist Émile Coué (1857-1926) had created, promoted, and continuously polished over two decades of clinical practice (reaching its final form c.1920); and its constituent ego-strengthening monologue was entirely based upon the "curative suggestion" monologue component of Coué's method.
Hartland used his procedure to (pre-therapeutically) strengthen his patients' inner resources "designed to remove tension, anxiety and apprehension, and to gradually restore the patient's confidence in himself and his ability to cope with his problems", and "analogous to the medical setting in which a patient is first strengthened by proper nutrition, general rest, and weight gain before a radical form of surgery is performed" and, specifically, the procedure was intended to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of his (subsequent) symptom-removal hypnotherapy. Hartland later discovered that his "ego-strengthening procedure" could successfully address a wide range of clinical circumstances, on its own, as the sole form of therapy.
Hartland's 1965 article, "The Value of "Ego-Strengthening" Procedures Prior to Direct Symptom-Removal under Hypnosis" was significant for positioning the concept of "ego-strengthening" in the hypnotherapeutic literature; and "ever since then, the concept could be unequivocally named, identified, investigated, productively discussed, and generally understood by all concerned". In addition to providing his monologue's full text, Hartland's article was also significant for introducing the convention of ". . ." to indicate pauses in the operator's delivery.
"Ego-strengthening suggestions are designed to increase the patient's ability to cope with his difficulties or to encourage him to stand on his own feet. There are three kinds of ego-strengthening suggestions: (a) general ego-strengthening suggestions, (b) specific ego-strengthening suggestions to facilitate the discovery and enhancement of the patient's inner coping strategies, and (c) specific suggestions to foster the patient's sense of self-efficacy. ... Ego-strengthening suggestions, while seemingly simplistic, are quite valuable. Hartland and many others believe that in certain instances ego-strengthening suggestions alone can bring about a successful treatment outcome without [any need to resort to either] symptomatic or dynamic hypnotherapy. Some patients experience spontaneous alleviation of symptoms when they feel strong enough to cope without the symptoms. Direct suggestions for coping, therefore, are sometimes more effective than direct suggestions for symptom change."
"Ego strengthening began as a specific strategy for hypnotic interventions and evolved into an attitude pervading psychotherapy and clinical hypnotic work. ... Students in hypnosis training should be introduced to an ego strengthening attitude for clinical work, and master specific therapeutic interventions to induce ego strengthening. Such interventions may include guided imagery for self-acceptance and self-love, affirming language that counteracts negative self-talk, age regression to recapture forgotten strengths, and age progression to anticipate and imagine future wisdom and strengths."
Emile Coué and la méthode Coué
The insights, observations, technical developments, and procedural innovations of Émile Coué, the French scientist, apothecary (i.e., a first-contact prescribing pharmacist, a compounding and dispensing chemist, and a pharmacopolist that sold proprietary medicines), hypnotist, and psychotherapist in relation to his understanding, conceptualization, realization, and application of hypnotherapeutic suggestion have greatly influenced the theories and practices of hypnotism throughout the English-speaking world.
"Coué’s method was disarmingly non-complex—needing few instructions for on-going competence, based on rational principles, easily understood, demanding no intellectual sophistication, simply explained, simply taught, performed in private, using a subject's own resources, requiring no elaborate preparation, and no expenditure."
"Most of us are so accustomed ... to an elaborate medical ritual ... in the treatment of our ills ... [that] anything so simple as Coué's autosuggestion is inclined to arouse misgivings, antagonism and a feeling of scepticism."
"Continuously, unjustly, and mistakenly trivialised as just a hand-clasp, some unwarranted optimism, and a 'mantra', Coué's method evolved over several decades of meticulous observation, theoretical speculation, in-the-field testing, incremental adjustment, and step-by-step transformation. It tentatively began (c.1901) with very directive one-to-one hypnotic interventions, based upon the approaches and techniques that Coué had acquired from an American correspondence course. As his theoretical knowledge, clinical experience, understanding of suggestion and autosuggestion, and hypnotic skills expanded, it gradually developed into its final subject-centred version—an intricate complex of (group) education, (group) hypnotherapy, (group) ego-strengthening, and (group) training in self-suggested pain control; and, following instruction in performing the prescribed self-administration ritual, the twice daily intentional and deliberate (individual) application of its unique formula, "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better".
Apothecary
Initially apprenticed to a small Apothecary in Troyes in 1876, where "he learned to examine and diagnose; prescribe and compound medicines; regulate, control, and operate a chemical laboratory; and promote, market, and sell proprietary medicines and his employer's concoctions"," Coué won a government scholarship in 1879 to the prestigious Collège Sainte-Barbe, graduating with First Class Honours in Pharmacology, at the top of his class in July 1882. He then "spent six months as a pharmaceutical intern at Paris's Necker Hospital", before returning to Troyes in 1883 to take over the operation of the town's largest apothecary (a different one from the one to which he had been apprenticed), where he "constantly interacted with people who were, often, extremely sick, involving consultations, diagnosis and prescription, appraisal of treatment efficacy, deciding next treatment, etc."
Liébeault and "Suggestive Therapeutics"
In 1885, Coué's father-in law, the eminent French horticulturist Victor Lemoine, introduced him to Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault, a medical practitioner in nearby Nancy, France. Liébeault, who had earlier dabbled with animal magnetism, and who, now, promoted what he termed "suggestive therapeutics" i.e., "an imperfect re-branding of the 'dominant idea' theory that James Braid had appropriated from [his Edinburgh teacher,] Thomas Brown" (Yeates, 2016a, p. 12) that was centred, in part, on an extended, laborious, monotonous, "sleep, sleep, sleep" induction of "hypnosis", and the consequent state of "charme" (i.e., "spellbound") that it produced.
Greatly impressed, Coué employed a manager for his pharmacy, moved to Nancy, and studied with Liébeault in 1885 and 1886. Coué returned to Troyes in 1886, and resumed the management of his pharmacy (which had declined in his absence). Thoroughly convinced of the value of Liébeault's theoretical position ("suggestive therapeutics"), "on the potential that changes in [a subject's] mind-set offered for relief, amelioration, and cure", Coué began to experiment with Liébeault's "hypnosis" procedure with his Nancy clientele. Having soon discovered that Liébeault's techniques were hopeless in practice, he abandoned both Liébeault's "sleep"-based "hypnosis" and hypnotherapy altogether.
Correspondence Course
In 1901, fifteen years later, with the hope of improving his Apothecary business in Troyes, Coué sent for an advertised free book, Hypnotism as It is (Sage, 1899), which offered to disclose "secrets [of the] science that brings business and social success" and "the hidden mysteries of personal magnetism, hypnotism, magnetic healing, etc.”. His dormant interest in hypnotism reawakened, he purchased the associated correspondence course material produced by "Professor Xenophon LaMotte Sage, A.M., Ph.D., LL.D.", of Rochester, New York (i.e., E. Virgil Neal, the US entrepreneur), the successful stage hypnotist who had been admitted to the prestigious Medico-Legal Society of New York in 1899.
Before leaving (in 1895) to become the stage hypnotist, Xenophon LaMotte Sage, E. Virgil Neal had been a lecturer (in bookkeeping, etc.) at the Central Business College in Sedalia, Missouri, where its proprietor Clark W. Robbins (1850-1918) had taught Neal how to identify specific training needs, design coherent courses of study, and construct supportive training materials both for classroom- and distance-learning (Conroy, 2014, pp. 17-27). In March 1898, having abandoned professional stage hypnotism, Neal was commissioned by the New York publishers Williams & Rogers to produce a coherent set of practical, self-instruction textbooks, that emerged in the form of his two ground-breaking textbooks Modern Banking and Bank Accounting (1899), Modern Illustrative Bookkeeping (1900) which were intermittently re-issued, as required by various developments in commercial law and business practices, in the form of a single one-volume complete course over more than forty years (Neal & Moore, 1902; Neal & Cragin, 1909, 1911, etc.).
in addition to Sage's Hypnotism as It is (1899) the correspondence course's materials included (a) both the English and French versions of Sage's correspondence course (Sage, 1900a, 1900b, 1900c, 1900d), (b) both the English and French versions of Sage's hints for public demonstrations of hypnotic phenomena (Sage & Adkin, 1900a. 1900b), and (c) Neal's two compendia of contemporary hypnotic knowledge, containing articles from thirty two eminent individual experts (Neal & Clark, 1900a, 1900b, 1900c). Sage's well-structured, distance-learning course was firmly based upon both Braid's (Cartesian-reflex) upwards and inwards squint induced "hypnotism" (i.e., rather than the dormez, dormez, dormez suggestion-induced "hypnosis" of Bernheim and Liebeault), and the "mental therapeutics" of Thomson Jay Hudson (see Hudson, 1893, 1900, 1903). It continuously stressed that suggestion produced outcomes. Its approach was entirely consistent with Braid's "psycho-physiology", and with Hudson's "mental therapeutics"; and, from this, it concentrated entirely on the transformative power of the subject's mind.
Sage's approach was the complete opposite of Liébeault and Bernheim; Liébeault and Bernheim's approach was firmly centred on their view that, rather than amplifying the effectiveness of suggestion, "hypnosis" made suggestion inescapable. Consequently, their approach characterized by Yeates as "secular exorcism" (2002, pp. 10-11): concentrated entirely on the coercive power of the operator's suggestion.
"Therapeutic interventions (secular exorcisms) that assume humans are illness-prone and seek to identify and expel disease (goal: 'disease-free') are driven by a vastly different mind-set from those interventions (secular invocations) that view humans as robust and health-sustaining, and seek to locate and invigorate the good (goal: 'robust health')."
Hypnotism
Having immediately recognised that Sage's Braid-style approach was ideal for mental therapeutics, Coué began an intense study of the course material, and was soon skilled enough to offer hypnotism (free of charge) alongside his pharmaceutical enterprise. As his understanding of suggestion developed, as the efficacy of his interventions increased, and as the popularity of his (free) hypnotherapeutic services increased and, as the demand for his services grew, and with Coué’s recognition of the duplication of the many common aspects of each of these individual interventions he began to modify his approach from that of individual, specific, one-to-one interactions to the more generic ego-strengthening sessions with each patient; and, in the process, as his workload increased over the ensuing years, he gradually improved his explanations, his incremental training processes, and the form and content of his ego-strengthening procedure.
Nancy
In 1910, Coué abandoned pharmacy altogether, sold his Troyes Apothecary, and moved to Nancy, from whence he continued to offer free-of-charge hypnotherapy treatments to one and all from his residence until his death in 1926.
Formula
Initially suggested by Neal's associate, Thomas F. Adkin (1900, pp.115-116), and developed into its final form c.1915, Coué stressed that his "formula", "Tous les jours, à tous points de vue, je vaix mieux en mieux" (lit. "Every day, from all points of view, I grow better and better") was, "in practice", "Day by day I am approaching nearer and nearer to what I consider [to be] my physical, intellectual and moral ideal".
John Hartland
John Heywood Hartland (1901–1977), B.Sc. (Birmingham, 1921), M.B. Ch.B. (Birmingham, 1925), M.R.C.S. (England, 1925), L.R.C.P. (London, 1925), was initially a G.P., practising in West Bromwich, a town in the industrial West Midlands region of England. He later became a consultant psychiatrist, and served as vice-president of the British Society for Medical and Dental Hypnosis, and as editor of the British Journal of Clinical Hypnosis.
Hartland was convinced that hypnotherapy could be usefully applied, by G.P.s, to a wide range of clinical conditions, regardless of their familiarity with hypnotic theories and practices, At a time that "for many, hypnotism was far from respectable, regardless of whether delivered by a medical practitioner, or not" (Yeates, 2014a, p. 5), Hartland's "ideas and practices were disseminated worldwide", through the lectures, demonstrations, and seminars he delivered towards the end of his career throughout the U.K., France, Sweden, Australia, USA, and Singapore.
Lewis Wolberg and "symptom removal"
Hartland was greatly influenced by Lewis Wolberg, whose strategy of "symptom removal by hypnotic command" (Wolberg, 1948c, p. 1) was derived from the work of Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault and Hippolyte Bernheim of Nancy, France.
"Wolberg's interventions were strong and authoritarian; involving a dramatic induction procedure (to enhance therapist prestige), followed by direct (prestige) suggestions that the subject's symptoms would disappear upon de-hypnotizing".
Wolberg's "symptom removal" approach (Wolberg, 1948c, passim) was widely used by practising hypnotherapists until, at least, the 1980s: see, for instance, Meares (1960), Slater and Flores (1963), Clawson (1964), Weitzenhoffer (2002), Weitzenhoffer (2004), and Ball (2006), etc.
Lewis Wolberg and "ego strength"
Assuming the "appropriateness" of the approach and technique chosen by the operator (i.e., their technic), Wolberg (1948a, p. 430) attributed most "therapeutic failures" to (a) "inadequate time", (b) "inadequate motivation", or (c) "diminutive ego strength. From this, Wolberg observed, the appropriateness of the operator's chosen "therapeutic program" was contingent upon three dimensions:
The patient's "existing motivations": "what the patient actually seeks out of treatment".
The patient's "ego strength or weakness": namely, "the equipment with which the patient can function in treatment".
The operator's choice of "technic": "the kind of technic [the patient] will be able to utilize most effectively within set limits of time and finances.
Given the importance that he attributed to the dimension of "ego strength" as a significant predictor of therapeutic success, Wolberg was also well aware that,
"The ego strength is more difficult to estimate [than motivation] since adequate criteria have not yet been established. To some extent we may estimate limitations in ego strength from developmental failures of the individual, the incompetence of past and present psychobiologic adaptations, absence of a real precipitating factor, the difficulties in his relations with people, the intensity of dependency, the diminutiveness of self esteem and the inadequacy of his prevailing defenses against anxiety."
Brian Lake and "ego strength"
In 1985, the British psychiatrist Brian Lake (1922-2008) observed that "the concept of ego strength is recognised by most psychiatrists, used by some, and defined by few ... [and,] as with the notion of "mental health", many clinicians have an image of ego-strength, but no-one seems fully satisfied with any one else's definition"; "nevertheless, [he continued,] ample evidence exists in textbooks and research articles that the dimension of ego strength and weakness is used as a significant predictor of outcome for psychotherapy, despite its components often being dissimilarly identified, described, and measured".
Lake suggested (p. 473) solving this apparent problem by sidestepping this issue and, simply, presenting the (otherwise ambiguous) "ego strength" as if it were a combination of "personal competence" and "social competence", identifying nine "competencies" (pp. 474-477) which, he claimed, could be objectively observed as present or absent; and, if present, could be "measured in approximate terms of rank ordering, ranging from very much to very little" (p. 477). However, in doing so, Lake warned, whilst competence (i.e., "an overall measure of the ego's ability to interact efficiently with the environment and to perform its adaptive tasks") signified "sufficient strength to perform a task", strength, in and of itself, "[did] not necessarily signify competence" (p. 474).
Hartland and "psychotherapy"
According to his own account, Hartland had regularly used "hypnosis" since the early 1940s, "to facilitate the treatment of various psychosomatic complaints" that were presented in his general practice, with his "main object being the removal or alleviation of symptoms [in order] to achieve the rehabilitation of the patient and his early return to work".
Given the common-sense understanding of the extent to which "psychological and behavioral factors may adversely affect the course of medical conditions in almost every major disease category", Hartland's interventions addressed two inter-connected psychological issues:
(a) "Those arising as a consequence of the illness itself, such as anxiety, fear, tension and agitation"; and
(b) "Those arising from defects in [the patient's] own personality, such as nervousness, lack of confidence, dependence and maladjustment".
Because the time pressures of his busy general practice clearly "excluded any serious attempt to employ hypno-analytical techniques" and, having discovered that "direct symptom removal [was] both difficult and unsatisfactory in many cases" Hartland set about "[trying] to evolve a series of standard psychotherapeutic suggestions which [he] could employ at every session before trying to tackle the main symptoms". Taking advantage of the opportunity offered by the UK's adoption of the National Health Service in the late 1940s, Hartland was appointed as a consulting psychiatrist to the Hallam Hospital, in West Bromwich in the early 1950s.
At Hallam, Hartland began working with "six half-day sessions per week in its psychiatric out-patient department", directing his professional efforts towards "the more serious psycho-neurotic illnesses", with his initial (conventional) treatment approach, consisting of 20 half-hour sessions, with 7-8 minutes of suggestions each hypnotherapy session. Because these interventions demanded a considerable hypnotic "depth", Hartland spent the first three to four of those 20 sessions ensuring that his patients were appropriately trained, and had been convinced that they were talented subjects, ensuring that they could, later, "be induced deeply enough to enter the hypnotic state immediately it was suggested that they should do so" (1971b, p. xiv).
In 1966, Hartland stated that, "for many years now, I have used this ["ego-strengthening"] technique in every case that I treat and have found it to pay handsome dividends. Not only does the patient obtain relief from his symptoms, but he displays improvements in many other ways. He becomes more self-reliant, more confident, and more able to adjust to his environment, and is thus much less prone to relapse". In 1971, in relation to his "ego-strengthening" monologue, Hartland reported that, at Hallam, "when [his] employment of hypnoanalytical techniques was preceded by the same routine sequence of suggestions that had proved so successful in [his] general practice, not only was the average length of treatment substantially shortened, but the need for the more involved analytical techniques was also greatly reduced".
Hartland's "ego-strengthening" monologue
Wolberg
Despite Wolberg's constant references to the extent to which "ego strength/weakness" predisposed any hypnotherapeutic intervention to success/failure, there are no suggestive sequences (apart from the odd random sentence) in any of transcripts of the thirty recorded sessions of the three "illustrative cases" provided by Wolberg in his publications at (1948c, pp. 40-133), at (1948d, pp. 218-304), and at (1948e, pp. 366-502), that are specifically directed at strengthening "the ego".
Coué
In the early 1920s, Hartland, firstly the medical student, and then qualified medical practitioner and emerging hypnotist, would have been very familiar with Coué, with the content and rationale of Coué's "Methode", and with Coué's contributions to an understanding of "suggestion". Coué had visited England (conducting group clinical sessions, demonstrations, and lectures) on at least eight occasions between November 1921 and November 1925 (Rapp, 1987). The translation of his Nancy Clinic's hand-out (1922a) was widely available (1922b, pp. 5-35), with an abridged, rapidly-delivered versions of his presentation available as gramophone recordings (1923a); and a further, detailed explanation/elaboration of the rationale behind his "ego-strengthening" suggestions had been provided at Coué & Orton, 1924, pp. 80-88.
In addition to the many newspaper/magazine reports, a wide range of Coué-centred items were readily available for Hartland's edification, including reports of Coué’s lectures, eye-witness accounts of visits to Coué’s clinic at Nancy and observations of his interactions with his patients, more detailed accounts of his methode by followers, applications in sales and commerce, plus the items associated with the Coué-Orton Institute.
Hartland
The first versions of Hartland's ego-strengthening approach/procedure (influenced by Coué's "Self-Mastery" method), and its constituent ego-strengthening monologue (adapted/modified from Coué's "curative suggestion" monologue), were jointly published in 1965 (Hartland, 1965). This version was notable for introducing the convention of ". . ." to indicate pauses in the operator's delivery of the monologue. It was also unique in that it presented complete transcript of the monologue itself. It was reprinted in 1966 (Hartland, 1966).
His second version was published in 1967 (Hartland, 1967); and the third, final version was revealed in a 1970 lecture (Hartland, 1971c), and reprinted (with appropriate variations for British readers) in the second edition of his textbook (Hartland, 1971b), where the history, structure, rationale, and clinical delivery of his approach were also described. His third version of the monologue was reprinted, without change, in the two posthumous editions of his textbook: viz., Waxman (1989, pp. 219-224), and Heap & Aravind (2001, pp. 127-129).
Alternate versions of Hartland's "ego-strengthening" monologue
Hartland was emphatic that the published, "full and unabbreviated version" of his "ego-strengthening" monologue (which was a direct transcription of one of his interventions) was provided to deliver an understanding of the incremental suggestive sequence (its critical feature), and that alone a guide to the "principles underlying the construction and usage of this type of technique" (viz., the "important factors" worth "attention"). He stressed that it must never be used exactly as published.
"It is certainly not intended that this [transcript] should be adopted in the precise form that has been described. It is the principle that is worthy of attention, and the sequence [I have] outlined should be regarded simply as a guide to the individual therapist in framing his own suggestions to conform with his own personality, method of approach and style of delivery. It is impossible to suggest here the varying inflections of the voice, but the same cardinal rules of construction, stresses and pauses etc. should be used in order to maintain a rhythmical quality from start to finish.""In the construction of an ego-strengthening technique, quite apart from the actual suggestions themselves, it is essential that particular attention should be paid to such significant factors as ‘rhythm’, ‘repetition’, the interpolation of appropriate ‘pauses’, and the ‘stressing of certain important words and phrases’. ...[also, in order to] avoid excessive monotony ... you will notice that [within my version] repetition is often achieved by expressing the same fundamental idea in two or three different ways." — Hartland (1971b), pp.203, 198 (emphasis in original).
"Improved" versions of Hartland's monologue
A number of "improved" versions of Hartland's "ego-strengthening" monologue have been published with, perhaps, the most extraordinary being the "Poetic Hypnogram" of Samuel Silber, M.D. (1900–1988), the "Poet Laureate of the American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry and Medicine" including, for example, those of Gorman (1974), Stanton (1975), Stanton (1977), Gibbons (1979a), Hutchison (1981, pp. 72-73), Pratt, Wood, and Alman (1988, p. 122-123), Gregg (1990), and Heap (Heap & Aravind, 2001, pp. 129–130), etc., etc.
"Improvisations" upon a theme suggested by Hartland's monologue
A number of different versions of the "ego-strengthening" monologue, better understood as "improvisations", have also been published: including, for example, those of Jabush (1976), Susskind (1976), Gibbons (1979b), Stanton (1979), Stanton (1989), Barber (1990a), Barber (1990b), Carich (1990), Garver (1990), Torem (1990), Watkins (1990), Wilson and Barber (1990), McNeal and Frederick (1993), Stanton (1997), Milne (1994, pp. 114-117), Herber (2006, pp. 55-64), and Alladin (2008), etc., etc.
Evaluation
The American Psychological Association (APA)'s 2002 policy on "treatment guidelines" ("specific recommendations about treatments to be offered to patients"), recommended that treatments be evaluated from two perspectives:
Treatment Efficacy: "the systematic and scientific evaluation of whether a treatment works"; and
Clinical Utility: "the applicability, feasibility, and usefulness of the intervention in the local or specific setting where it is to be offered".
Treatment efficacy
Although there's a lot of anecdotal evidence suggesting that Hartland's approach is effective, it has never been rigorously evaluated using scientific methods. This is because entirely due to the absence of an operationalized definition of "ego-strength" and the lack of a widely accepted "ego-strength" rating scale no well-designed and productive experiments have ever been conducted. It is not because existing experiments have failed to find evidence of its effectiveness.
Conceptual issues of "measurement"
Assuming that whatever "measurement" (presence, absence, degree of change) made of an object/attribute has been made with a reliable, accurate device, and that the measuring device has delivered a precise value of so-and-so, two important conceptual issues arise in relation to abstractions such as "ego-strengthening":
to what degree is the precise value produced by the device (e.g., the height of a column of mercury in a sphygmomanometer) an accurate measure of the attribute (e.g., blood pressure) in question?
to what extent is the accurately measured value of the selected attribute (blood pressure) an index of the abstract concept (e.g. ego-strength) that is the ultimate item of interest (or not)?
Given the wide range of substantially different meanings, conceptualisations, and applications to which the expression "ego-strengthening" has been applied by its many different users (each operating from a different theoretical orientation), any appraisal of the efficacy of "ego-strengthening" involves two embedded questions:
"What is it that is being strengthened?"; which immediately demands recognition of the expression's overall equivocality:
Is "ego-strengthening" a generic (somewhat antiquated) qualitative, umbrella term that broadly identifies an overall approach of mobilizing an individual's inner resources such that they "experience greater inner strength, mastery, self-esteem, and self-confidence" (McNeal, 2020, p. 403): a valuable and productive therapeutic approach the modern theoretical, practical, and linguistic character of which, Michael Yapko argues (2019a, 2019b), is more accurately and appropriately denoted by the generic descriptor "empowerment".
Is "ego-strengthening" a specific, quantitative term, with "ego" modifying (as a sub-set) the activity denoted as "strengthening".
Does it centre upon the inappropriate "reification" (in the manner of Whitehead's "fallacy of misplaced concreteness") of the abstract concept, "ego"?
Is the intervention being delivered from an operator mind-set that seeks the reduction of a perceived "ego" deficit, or is with one seeking the enhancement of whatever "ego" strength is currently present?
"How is the strength of that entity being measured?"; which immediately raises a number of concerns:
To what extent is the attribute being measured (e.g., self-esteem) related to the concept ("ego-strength") under scrutiny?
To what extent is the measured attribute (e.g., self-esteem) a reliable and valid index of the concept ("ego-strength") under scrutiny?
To what extent is the (before- and after-intervention) rating of the measured attribute (e.g., self-esteem) a reliable and valid measure of the (before- and after-intervention) "strength" of the concept ("ego") under scrutiny?
Experimentation
Setting aside the complex issues of determining precisely how a "genuinely productive experiment" might (or might not) possibly be constructed to measure its efficacy or how, where, and upon whom a relevant, informative, and useful study might (or might not) be designed and performed and, further, if were to be conducted, how its results might be measured and appraised, there is the even-more-significant question of the extent to which any such findings could have any practical application at all, due to the differences in contexts identified by Gorman (1974):
Subjects of "hypnosis under experimental conditions" are "participating voluntarily" in an experiment, have "a detached state of mind", and are not "intimately and vitally" affected by the results of the experiment.
Subjects of "hypnosis under therapeutic conditions" are undergoing therapy, and are "acutely aware of the fact that the results of therapy may have a most important effect upon [their] subsequent feelings of well-being"; "[their] state of mind is therefore not detached, but, on the contrary, [they are] both anxious and critical".
In 1977, in perhaps the only investigation that ever attempted to measure the efficacy of Hartland's monologue within a clinical setting, Calnan's study reported that the ten psychiatric patients (test population: 40) who had received Hartland's monologue, under hypnosis, 12 times in 6 weeks, demonstrated (per medium of "psychological tests") considerable progress (i.e., compared to the other 30); the most interesting/relevant outcome of his interventions was that:
"[all of the] subjects who received Hartland's entire treatment procedure ... reported feeling more relaxed and self-confident. Very often they described their changes in exactly the same words as those used by Hartland in his ego strengthening suggestions and yet none of the subjects mentioned or seemed aware of their origin." (Calnan, 1977, p. 117, emphasis added).
Clinical utility
Hartland's overall "ego-strengthening" approach, clinical strategies, explanations, and his descriptions of the suggestive sequences (for within-hypnotic influence and post-hypnotic influence) he delivered in practice, have made a considerable contribution to modern hypnotherapeutic practice. Despite the obvious difficulties in determining its clinical efficacy, Hartland's approach clearly satisfies the APA's tripartite criteria for clinical utility:
Generalizability: "the extent to which an effect of a treatment is robust and therefore will be replicated even when details of the context ... [such as] patients’ characteristics, health care professionals’ characteristics, [etc.] ... are altered."
Feasibility: "the extent to which a treatment can be delivered to patients in the actual setting", including considerations such as "the acceptability of the intervention to potential patients", "patients' ability and willingness to comply with the requirements of the intervention", and "the ease of administration of the intervention".
Cost considerations: these include "the direct, indirect, short-term, and long-term costs to the patient, to the professional ... [including] the cost of any technology or equipment involved in the intervention, and the cost of training ... and to the health care system, as well as the costs associated with withholding treatment" as well as the "cost savings" that might accrue from the intervention's "prevention of future disorders" or its "mak[ing] other treatments unnecessary".
Hartland's overall approach
There are many reports of hypnotherapeutic interventions, directed at a wide range of conditions, that describe the valuable contribution that the adoption of an overall ego-strengthening approach has made to their treatment outcomes, in relation to building confidence, enhancing self-esteem, facilitating behavioural change, arousing dormant resources, promoting overall well-being, increasing a sense of self-efficacy and self-empowerment, and strengthening the sense of an internal locus of control: including, for instance, Melzack & Perry (1975); Deabler (1976); Gardner (1976); Stanton (1977); Stanton (1979); Newey (1986); Palan & Chandwani (1989); Stanton (1989); Barber (1990a); Barber (1990b); Hammond (1990b); Hammond (1990c); Watkins (1990); Darken (1992); Stanton (1993); Bennett (1994); Vanderlinden & Vandereycken (1994); Moss & Oakley (1997); Daniel (1999); Frederick & McNeal (1999); Hornyak (1999); Linden (1999); Lynch (1999); Mutter (1999); Barber (2001); Gafner & Benson (2001); Phillips (2001); Lavertue, Kumar & Pekala (2002); Stafrace (2004); McNeal (2007); Chandrashekhar (2016); Gafner (2016); Handel & Néron (2017); Moss & Willmarth (2017); Daitch (2018); and Shenefelt (2018), etc., etc.
Hartland's published monologue
The literature also contains many reports of Hartland's published ego-strengthening monologue being successfully applied, precisely as written, to a wide range of complaints: including, for instance, Rose (1967); Basker, Anderson and Dalton (1978); Wakeman and Kaplan (1978); Freeman and Baxby (1982); Gould and Tissler (1984); Finkelstein (1991); Torem (1995); and Spiegel (1996), etc., etc.
See also
Notes
References
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Therapy | Hypnotic Ego-Strengthening Procedure | [
"Biology"
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"Ethology",
"Behavior",
"Motivation",
"Human behavior"
] |
76,164,070 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular%20anastasis | Anastasis is a cellular phenomenon characterized by recovery of cells threatened by cell death; it essentially reverses the process of programmed cell death, or apoptosis. Contrary to the prior assumption that apoptosis is irreversible, some cells have been discovered to resist the stimuli that trigger apoptosis. Some of these cells can survive even following the activation of executioner caspases, forming the basis of anastasis. The initial phase of recovery begins when transcription is initiated and the cell recovers from previous stressors. Finally, the cell's cytoskeleton undergoes reorganization, reinforcing its structure and encouraging migration. The relatively recent discovery of anastasis is a key factor in the survival of cancer cells exposed to chemotherapy and changed the way scientists approach the topic of cell death. Anastasis is possible even during advanced stages of cell death, leading researchers to believe that further research on the topic can have therapeutic and pathological implications. Further exploration of the phenomenon could potentially bring forth information including treatment for neurodegenerative diseases and anti-aging therapy.
History
Apoptosis
Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, was discovered in 1842 by Carl Vogt and was initially believed to be irreversible. Once a cell exhibited signs of apoptosis, the cell was doomed. Apoptosis is triggered by external or internal signals, such as developmental cues or cellular damage, which activate cellular pathways leading to apoptosis. Cells at risk of cell death display shrinkage and membrane blebbing. Once the pathway to cellular death is initiated, an enzyme known as caspase, a proteolytic cysteine, is activated. Caspase breaks down proteins and DNA in the cells, preparing the cell for removal by phagocytes. Should apoptosis be restricted or prevented, uncontrolled cell division and tumor growth may occur. Apoptosis has a significant role in maintaining tissue homeostasis by eliminating damaged cells and preventing tumor formation. Cells that are no longer needed or damaged are targeted for apoptosis, aiding in the regulation of normal conditions and body functioning.
Anastasis
Apoptosis was once considered irreversible and unavoidable before the recent discovery of the process of anastasis. It is a rapid process with many initiating factors that were once believed to be permanent. Anastasis, meaning rising to life, was a term coined by siblings Ho Man Tang and Ho Lam Tang following their discovery at the University of Hong Kong in 2007. The Tang siblings executed their experiment by exposing breast cancer cells to various toxic chemicals and waiting for signs of apoptosis. After the cells displayed these characteristics, they then washed the cells with fresh medium and allowed them to incubate. The cancer cells were induced into apoptosis by treating them with ethanol, and the results showed that survival of these cells was possible. Many cells in the original study survived apoptosis and appeared normal once again following the washing of the cells by fresh medium. Tang's results were not initially well received due to the popular opinion at the time that apoptosis was irreversible. However, their research eventually became more accepted and challenged the traditional understanding of apoptosis as an irreversible process. The discovery of anastasis suggested that cells have the potential to reverse the process of cell death under certain circumstances.
Etymology
The word Anastasis comes from the Greek word for resurrection, ανάσταση. The prefix ana- means "upward" or "again", and the root sta- means "to stand", forming a combined meaning of "standing again" or "resurrection". In Christianity, the term anastasis refers to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The term is used to describe the notion of rising or standing again after a period of death or dormancy. The use of the word anastasis began increasing steadily following the Tang siblings' discovery in 2007.
Process
Anastasis begins in response to stimuli such as DNA damage, chemical stress, and other indicators of approaching cellular death. During early stages of apoptosis, mechanisms allow the cell to evade destruction and halt the process of cell death. Once the apoptotic process is halted, the cell undergoes recovery and repair. The process of transcription resumes, allowing the cell to synthesize vital proteins. Normal cellular morphology and function are restored, and the cell is no longer in danger of cell death. The recovery of cells can limit the damage done to tissue by injury or infection.
Clinical applications
Cancer treatment
Some cancer cells can undergo the process of anastasis after they are exposed to chemotherapy. Anastasis can help cancer cells by enhancing their migration, metastasis, and resistance to chemotherapy. The process of anastasis can be one explanation for the survival of cancer cells after they are treated with cytotoxic drugs; apoptotic cells are able to recover via anastasis following the elimination of such compounds. Similarly to the University of Hong Kong study on breast cancer cells, a study of HeLa cancer cells showed that the cells were able to recover from the presence of caspase and ethanol after being washed with fresh medium. Another study suggested that anastasis in normal cells can even induce carcinomatous results. Due to these effects, tumors can progress and grow in size thanks to anastasis. By understanding this phenomenon, cancer treatments may be improved.
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Cell signaling
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Programmed cell death | Cellular anastasis | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 1,121 | [
"Senescence",
"Immunology",
"Programmed cell death",
"Signal transduction"
] |
76,164,607 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gap%20junction%20modulator | A gap junction modulator is a compound or agent that either facilitates or inhibits the transfer of small molecules between biological cells by regulating gap junctions. Various physiological processes including cardiac, neural or auditory, depend on gap junctions to perform crucial regulatory roles, and the modulators themselves are the key players in this procedure. Gap junctions are necessary for diffusion of small molecules from cell to cell, keeping the cells interlinked and connecting the cytoplasm, allowing transfer of signals or resources between the body.
Many different molecules act as modulators in gap junctions, from simple ions to complex proteins. Protein kinases modulate the opening and closing of connexin pores by moderating phosphorylation. Chemical gating modulators such as calmodulin, calcium, and pH values are key in regulating the gap junction proteins. The functions of different modulators can be categorized into five aspects, including enhancement and inhibition of gap junctions activities; modulation of connexin; voltage specificity; and natural compounds.
These modulators can be potential therapeutic targets for a number of disorders and are essential in the regulation of several physiological processes, potentially providing solutions to some diseases caused by issues in the gap junction.s A variety of gap junction modulators as pharmaceutical agents are being investigated to treat and regulate these diseases, such as amiodarone to treat heart issues such as ventricular arrhythmia, tonabersat to treat Cortical Spreading Depression, or rotigaptide and danegaptide to combat bupropion overdose.
Gap Junctions
Gap junctions are collections of intercellular channels that allow ions and other tiny molecules to move directly between cells. These junctions are made up of a number of gap junction channels that consist of two connexons, each with six protein subunits called connexin, and a gene family of nearly 20 members encodes the connexins found in mammals
Through gap junctions, the majority of cells in tissues communicate with one another, with the exception of a small number of terminally differentiated cells like blood and skeletal muscle cells. The gap junction channels bridge the cytoplasm of the two cells, allowing ions and small molecules to pass in both directions through these channels
Categories of Gap Junction Modulators
Protein kinases
Protein kinase enzymes moderate phosphorylation, the addition of phosphate groups, to the junction proteins play important roles in controlling the junction protein and their possible subunits.
These kinases, such as PKA and PKC, phosphorylate the connexin gap junctions in the heart. Phosphate group addition changes the charge and configuration of the connexin protein, opening (for PKA) and closing (for PKC) the transmembrane channel pores. These same proteins can also undergo dephosphorylation by phosphatase enzymes, which reverses phosphorylation, reopening or reclosing the connexin pores.
Chemical gating
Calmodulin
Calmodulin is a model Ca2+ sensor that is very adaptable, and its high-affinity Ca2+ binding domains are EF-hands, which is a structure optimized for binding to calcium ions. Calmodulin is present in all eukaryotic cells, which mediates calcium-dependent signalling. Calmodulin conformationally varies upon binding Ca2+ to form complexes with a wide range of target proteins.
Intracellular Ca2+activated calmodulin (CaM) inhibits gap junction channels, which is critical for several cellular functions, such as lens transparency, heart contraction synchronization, and hearing.
Calcium
Calcium ions are a major modulator that can completely close the gap junction proteins. Ca2+ ions binding to the amino acid side chains changes the structure of the protein, decreasing connectivity of other molecules. Calcium affects not only connexin, but also Calmodulin, a transmembrane protein present in all eukaryotic cells. Calcium ions are fairly abundant in cells, as they are the main signal ion of the nervous system, where the calcium released by the nervous signals can inform the junction of proteins of changes needed to adapt to their surroundings. Ca2+ itself is associated with cell-to-cell uncoupling, which breaks apart the pathway between cells when the pathway itself becomes harmful, such as pathways to injured cells, as the abnormal pathways and communication between injured cells can cause various disorders.
pH changes
Changes in the pH of the environment to a more acidic or alkaline one can also affect the gap junction protein structure, changing their shape, which closes the diffusion pathways. These pH changes are caused by chemical reactions from other metabolic processes or even inflammation signals from disease or the body's immune system. Significant pH changes are acidification, the addition of hydrogen ions, and alkalinization, the removal of hydrogen ions. Higher pH is associated with the closing of the gap junction channels, either by protonation of amino acids which can change the entire protein structure, or in some cases even denaturing the whole protein if pH is too low, completely preventing passage of molecules through the gap junctions.
Functionality
Gap junction enhancers (GJEs)
Gap junction enhancers (GJEs) facilitate cell-to-cell communication by increasing gap junction coupling or inducing depolarization across cell membranes. Examples include growth factors like TGF-beta and EGF, which are important in wound healing and tissue repair; retinoic acid, which plays a part in cellular differentiation; and acetylcholine (ACh), which contributes to learning, motivation, alertness, focus, and the stimulation of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in the brain depolarizes the membrane potential closer to the threshold, thereby increasing the chance of neuron firing (the transfer of neurotransmitters).
Gap junction inhibitors (GJIs)
Gap junction inhibitors (GJIs) lessen communication between cells by lowering gap junction coupling or inducing hyperpolarization across cell membranes. Among them are the anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects of 18-alpha-glycyrrhetinic acid (18-AGA); carbenoxolone, which are used to treat inflammatory diseases; and Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which blocks signals and lessens the likelihood to generate action potential through the hyperpolarization of neurons. These inhibitors play a significant part in regulating the hyperactivity of nerve cells linked to stress, anxiety, and terror.
Connexin (Cx) specific modulators
Connexin (Cx) specific modulators target the building blocks of gap junction channels - connexin proteins. For example, the Cx43 mimetic peptides Gap26 and Gap27 bind to extracellular loop regions one and two of CxHc (connexin hemichannels), respectively, to selectively block Cx43-based gap junctions, resulting in the rapid closure of these channels.
Voltage-dependent modulators
Voltage-dependent modulators modify the cell membrane potential, which has an impact on gap junctions. For instance, substances like heptanol and quinine act as modulators and can interfere with gap junctions' ability to sense voltage, which inhibits the junctions.
Natural compounds
A variety of natural compounds such as flavonoids have been reported to modulate gap junction activity. For example, it has been shown that the dietary flavonoid quercetin inhibits gap junction communication in specific cell types such as cardiovascular cells or cancer cells.
Pharmaceutical agents
It has been found that many drugs either work primarily by modulating gap junction function or produce unintended side effects. Drugs that inhibit gap junction communication include the antiarrhythmic drug amiodarone, the anti-migraine drug tonabersat; or drugs that promote gap junction conduction, such as rotigaptide and danegaptide.
Amiodarone
Amiodarone treats ventricular arrhythmia, a potentially fatal form of arrhythmia, a disease of the heart where it has an irregular heartbeat that is either too fast or too slow. It is especially recommended for patients who do not respond well to other typical therapies. Amiodarone belongs to the third antiarrhythmic pharmacological class, which is known as antiarrhythmic drugs. It helps to maintain a regular heart rhythm by acting directly on heart tissue and effectively slowing down nerve impulses to the heart. In addition, amiodarone inhibits the potassium current, which repolarizes the myocardium during the third phase of the cardiac action potential. As a result, the effective folding time of the heart cells and the length of the action potential are prolonged, which in turn reduces the incidence of arrhythmia.
Tonabersat
Tonabersat is a novel benzopyran compound that selectively binds to a unique brain site, α2δ-1 subunit of voltage-gated calcium channels. This reduces calcium intake of this channel. Calcium intake reduction of the channels is associated with reducing Cortical Spreading Depression (CSD) as it inhibits gap-junction communication. This is important as CSD relies on neuronal-glial cell communication through connexin-containing gap junctions and hemichannels, and this abnormal sensory processing due to peripheral and/or central sensitization is found to cause migraines.
Rotigaptide and danegaptide
Recently, rotigaptide and danegaptide were found to be effective as an antidote to toxicity caused by overdose of certain drugs, such as Bupropion. Bupropion is an antidepressant, but is also a cardiotoxin if ingested in large doses. Rotigaptide and danegaptide, two small-molecule medications that increase gap junction conductance by facilitating gap junction activity, can prevent the binding or passing of bupropion to the cardiac gap junctions. Thus the modulators can be essential to preventing overdose of bupropion.
See also
Gap junction modulation
Gap junction protein
References
Cell communication
Cell signaling | Gap junction modulator | [
"Biology"
] | 2,094 | [
"Cell communication",
"Cellular processes"
] |
76,164,635 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%20light%20spectrum | The blue light spectrum, characterized by wavelengths between 400 and 500 nanometers, has a broad impact on human health, influencing numerous physiological processes in the human body. Although blue light is essential for regulating circadian rhythms, improving alertness, and supporting cognitive function, its widespread presence has raised worries about its possible effects on general well-being.
Prolonged exposure to blue light poses hazards to the well-being of the eye and may cause symptoms like dry eyes, weariness, and blurred vision. As our dependence on digital devices and artificial lighting increases, the complex pathways of the blue light spectrum that affect biological processes is crucial to understand. To reduce the hazards of blue light exposure, effective management strategies can be implemented, including limiting screen time before bed and using blue light filter.
The blue light spectrum is an essential part of the visible spectrum with wavelengths of about 400-480 nm. Blue light is primarily generated by Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) lighting and digital screens, it has now become prevalent in the world around us. LED lighting creates white light by combining blue light with other wavelengths, often with a yellow garnet phosphor. Blue lights from digital screens, including computers, smartphones, and tablets, emit significant amounts of blue light, contributing to constant exposure throughout the day and night.
Blue light has a significant impact on numerous physiological processes in human health. The widespread use of blue light in modern technology brings up a concern about the potential consequences of excessive blue light exposure. Such exposure has been associated with disruptions in ocular health, sleep patterns, and well-being.
Sources
Natural
Sunlight is the primary natural source of blue light, which is essential for regulating the circadian rhythm. Excessive exposure to sunlight without proper eye protection can lead to eye damage and cause vision issues.
Artificial
LED lighting, digital screens, and fluorescent bulbs are examples of common artificial blue light sources.
LED lighting is widely used due to its durability and energy efficiency. It emits more blue light than traditional incandescent bulbs, potentially impacting the quality of sleep and eye health if used excessively at night.
Blue light is emitted by digital screens such as computers, tablets, smartphones, and televisions, which can lead to extended exposure in modern lives. Digital screen overuse, especially before bed, can cause dry eyes, eye strain, and irregular sleep patterns.
Fluorescent lighting emits blue light and is frequently used in public areas and workplaces. Long-term use of fluorescent light bulbs can cause eye strain, exhaustion, and circadian rhythm problems, especially in interior spaces with little natural light exposure.
Mechanism
The short wavelength and high energy of blue light make it highly effective in penetrating the human eye and inducing biological effects
Effects on cornea
The cornea is located at the front of the eyeball and serves as the initial point where light enters the eye. Blue light exposure to the cornea increases the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), molecules in corneal epithelial cells. This activates a signalling pathway involving ROS, triggering inflammation in human corneal epithelial cells. Oxidative damage and potential cell death contribute to inflammation in the eye and the development of dry eyes.
Blue light disrupts the balance of the tear film on the cornea. Prolonged exposure to blue light leads to an increased rate of tear evaporation, resulting in dryness of the cornea and the development of dry eye syndrome.
Effects on lens
The lens is located at the entrance of the eyeball after light passes through the pupil. The lens is capable of filtering blue light, reducing retinal light damage occurrence. Blue light is absorbed by the structural proteins, enzymes, and protein metabolites found in the lens. The absorption of blue light creates yellow pigments in the lens's protein. The lens progressively darkens and turns yellow. Blue light is absorbed by the lens, preventing blue light from reaching the retina at the back of the eye. To prevent retinal damage, the lens has to lower transparency. This reaction causes visual impairment and the development of cataracts, a cloudy region in the lens.
Cumulative exposure to blue light also induces an increase in the production of ROS, free radicals, in the lens epithelial cells (hLECs) mitochondria. Accumulation of oxidative damage by free radicals in the lens contributes to the development of cataracts.
Effects on retina
The retina is a receiver of light signals and plays a crucial part in the process of visual formation. The retina is located at the back of the eye. Blue light can induce photochemical damage to the retina by passing through lenses and into the retina.
Two primary types of cells contribute to vision formation within the retina: photoreceptors (including rod and cone cells), and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. Photoreceptors are responsible for detection of light particles and convert them into detectable signals, initiating the visual process. RPE cells are located below the photoreceptor layer and maintain the integrity and functionality of the retina.
The primary cause of blue light’s effects on the retina is the production of ROS that leads to oxidative stress, meaning the imbalance between the generation of harmful reactive free radicals and the body’s ability to conduct detoxification. Retinal chromophores like lipofuscin and melanin absorb light energy, causing the generation of ROS and oxidative damage to retinal cells. The accumulation of oxidative stress from excessive exposure to blue light causes photochemical damage to the retina. Phototoxicity is caused by lipofuscin, which builds up inside RPE cells as a consequence of photoreceptor metabolism that is enhanced by exposure to blue light. This oxidative stress damages DNA integrity and interferes with protein homeostasis and mitochondrial activity within retinal cells, potentially contributing to disorders like cellular damage, retinal degeneration and eyesight impairment.
Psychological effects
The impact of blue light exposure on human health highlights the significance of reducing blue light exposure, particularly when using screens for prolonged periods of time, to protect ocular health and reduce the risk of vision-related issues.
Sleep disturbance
The circadian rhythm governs the sleep-wake cycle over a roughly 24-hour cycle, and is regulated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the brain. The SCN communicates with specialised cells called intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), to synchronise the internal biological clocks with external light-dark cycles.
When ipRGCs are activated by blue light, a signalling cascade is initiated, enabling the alignment of internal biological clocks with environmental light cues. Exposure to blue light during daylight hours suppresses the secretion of melatonin, a hormone critical for circadian rhythm regulation. Melatonin is synthesised by the pineal gland, located in the middle of the brain, in response to darkness, signalling the body’s transition to sleep. However, exposure to blue light at night disrupts the production and release of melatonin, leading to sleep disturbances. Melatonin is released in the blood circulation to reach target tissues in the central and peripheral regions. The amount of blue light received by ipRGCs regulates the circadian rhythm to control cycles of alertness and sleepiness. The more light stimulation, the less signals are transmitted to the pineal gland through the SCN of the hypothalamus to produce melatonin. Blue light exposure, particularly in the evening or at night, suppresses the production and release of melatonin. When light stimulates and activates the SCN, the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus receives more signals from a neurotransmitter called GABA. GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that aids in controlling neuronal activity. Both the neuronal pathway PVN and the pineal gland experience a decrease in activity as a response. This suppresses the release of melatonin. The suppression of melatonin release disrupts the body's natural circadian rhythm and interferes with the body's ability to fall asleep and achieve a restful sleep state, potentially leading to sleep disorders such as insomnia.
Ocular health
Harmful impacts on the well-being of the eye after prolonged exposure to blue light, particularly from digital screens or fluorescent lamps, have been observed. Systematic reviews have highlighted the association between blue light exposure and digital eye strain. Digital screens emit significant amounts of blue light with shorter wavelength and higher energy compared to other visible light, which can cause symptoms such as eye fatigue, eye dryness, blurred vision, irritation, and headaches. Blue light exposure can lead to light-induced damage to the retina, a phenomenon known as photochemical damage. When the eye is exposed to excessive levels of blue light from sources such as digital screens, a series of photochemical reactions within the retina can be stimulated. The photochemical reactions cause the production of ROS, inducing oxidative stress and damage cellular components in the eye such as ipRGCs.
Management
The management of blue light exposure is crucial in preventing associated eye disorders and promoting overall well-being. People can promote healthier lifestyles, preserve eye and general health, and lessen the risk of related health problems like digital eye strain and sleep disturbances by taking these preventive measures to manage blue light exposure.
Limit on screen time
The approach of limiting screen time is effective, especially before sleep. Research has shown that a higher average screen time is correlated to eye fatigue and discomfort. Growing evidence suggests that youth physical and mental functioning may be negatively impacted by insufficient sleep, both in terms of quantity and quality. By establishing a consistent bedtime routine that includes reducing electronic device usage before sleep, it can optimise the production of melatonin, enhancing sleep quality. Stopping using digital devices an hour before bedtime has been shown to increase the quality and length of sleep.
Filtering lens
Employing blue light-blocking eyewear, such as glasses with specialised lenses, offers an additional means of protection against excessive blue light exposure, particularly for individuals with extended screen time. Studies have been conducted on blue light filtering eyeglasses, which uses special blue light blocking lenses for eye protection against blue light. All visible light wavelengths can be transmitted through the spectacle lens, but some portions of the blue-violet light spectrum are selectively attenuated by coating the specifically-designed front and posterior sides of the lens. The blue-light filtering glasses can lessen the signs of digital eye strain and prevent causing phototoxic retinal damage. There are various blue light filter options available in the current eyeglasses market at different price points.
Digital Screen Use in the Workplace
Generally, over the past five to ten years, digital screen use has increased substantially with the rise of smartphone, tablet, and computer usage. Digital screen use has dramatically increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, as at home office setups were commonly for professional reasons. Since the pandemic, these remote working solutions have remained popular, and now more than ever, people work remotely. This shift from primarily natural lighting during work/school days to a mixture of artificial blue light exposure has led researchers to look into the amount of blue light exposure people receive the health impacts caused by blue light exposure, and preventative measures that are effective in blocking blue light. Blue light exposure during daylight hours ensures that our biological needs are in balance and affects our bodies and minds in order to regulate human behavior and circadian rhythm. Overexposure to blue light can lead to harmful health effects.
Workplace Blue Light Exposure
Office workplaces around the globe have experienced major change since March 2020. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a typical office worker completed their daily tasks in an office setting. Meetings, conferences, and tasks could be completed in person, placing a limit on how much time workers spent doing work on their computers or phones. As more office workplaces make the switch to remote working, every aspect of their employees' jobs must be completed using technology. Those who use electronic displays everyday are exposed to greater amounts of blue lighting than people who are generally exposed to blue light at most times of day.
Computer Vision Syndrome
Increased exposure to blue light via digital screens can negatively impact ocular health by contributing to a condition known as Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) or digital eye strain. CVS classifies a group of vision problems associated with computer use. About 70% of computer users are affected by CVS. Symptoms of CVS include eyestrain, headaches, blurred vision, and dry eyes. CVS is identified via comprehensive eye examination through methods such as reviewing patient history to determine risk factors, visual acuity measurements, refraction examination, and evaluating eye focus.
Preventative Measures
The American Optometric Association (AOA) recommends adjusting how a computer is viewed to prevent and treat CVS. According to the American Optometric Association: "Optimally, the computer screen should be 15 to 20 degrees below eye level (about 4 or 5 inches) as measured from the center of the screen and 20-28 inches from the eyes." Reference materials should be positioned in a way so that the head does not need to reposition when looking back and forth from the document and the screen. Ideally, reference materials should be positioned above the keyboard and below the monitor. A document holder placed beside the monitor is a helpful tool to achieve this prevention measure. The computer screen in use should also be positioned in a way that it avoids glare from overhead lighting and windows. Using curtains or blinds on nearby windows, desk lamps, screen glare filters and switching overhead light bulbs to lower wattage bulbs can prevent the development of CVS. The AOA also recommends taking rest breaks when working on computers via the 20-20-20 method. Following this method, users should take a 20 second break every 20 minutes and stare at something else 20 feet away. Blinking frequently is also recommended to prevent the development of dry eyes, as blinking helps keep the surface of the eye moist.
Related Research
In 2021, a group of researchers (Hwang Y, Shin D, Eun J, Suh B, Lee J) conducted a research project studying computer-based interventions for CVS. The study explored the interface elements of computer-based interventions for CVS to set design guidelines based on the pros and cons of each element. The study found that technology based solutions that induce eye resting reduces the prevalence of CVS in computer users. Customizable interfaces enhance user engagement with the intervention system.
According to the study, "Among the various interface elements that are being implemented in computer-based interventions for CVS, we found that the instruction page of the eye resting strategy, goal setting for eye resting, compliment feedback after completing eye resting, mid-size popup window, and symptom-like visual effects that provide an alarm for the eye resting time greatly affected user participation in the eye resting behavior."
Future research based off of these findings should aim to explore technologies such as facial-recognition and eye-tracking software to create more personalized CVS interventions.
References
Electromagnetic spectrum | Blue light spectrum | [
"Physics"
] | 3,124 | [
"Spectrum (physical sciences)",
"Electromagnetic spectrum"
] |
76,165,125 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylomirabilaceae | Methylomirabilaceae is a family of bacteria, represented by type genus Ca. Methylomirabilis. Represented most famously by the novel methane-oxidizing bacterium Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera, which appears to split oxygen from nitrates, it contains several other genera not yet described.
SILVA 138.1 lists 6 uncultured genera currently within the family:
Candidatus Methylomirabilis
MIZ14
MIZ17
SH765B-TzT-35
wb1-A12
Z114MB74
These genera are consistently described in methane-rich environments, but only species within Candidatus Methylomirabilis are confidently described as methane-oxidizers.
References
Gram-negative bacteria
Candidatus taxa
Taxa described in 2023 | Methylomirabilaceae | [
"Biology"
] | 159 | [
"Bacteria stubs",
"Bacteria"
] |
76,165,340 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse%20vaccine | An inverse vaccine, or reverse vaccine, is a hypothetical approach to the use of vaccines that trains the immune system to not respond to certain substances. Under laboratory conditions, an inverse vaccine has been shown to combat autoimmune diseases. An autoimmune disease attacks the body's own cells and substances, an inverse vaccine must counteract this. The current method of combating the effects of an autoimmune disease is to suppress the entire immune system, which means that infections cannot be fought.
Approaches
As of 2010, human trials were underway using naked DNA that encoded specific antigens of interests, particularly for multiple sclerosis using BHT-3009, and type 1 diabetes mellitus.
Possible applications
Possible applications of inverse vaccines include:
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Type 1 diabetes
Coeliac disease
Allergic asthma
Food allergies
Chronic inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn's disease
Preventing an immune response after an organ transplant
Rheumatoid arthritis
As of 2024, a study is underway into the safety of an inverse vaccine against multiple sclerosis, with a small group of patients and volunteers; for an inverse vaccine against celiac disease, a safety and efficacy study is underway in a limited group of subjects.
See also
Allergen immunotherapy, an analogous technique for the treatment of allergy
References
External links
What is an inverse vaccine and how can it reverse autoimmune disorders? (Video)
Inverse vaccination, the opposite of Jenner’s concept, for therapy of autoimmunity
Vaccines
Autoimmune diseases
Experimental drugs
Immunotherapy | Inverse vaccine | [
"Biology"
] | 330 | [
"Vaccination",
"Vaccines"
] |
76,167,693 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confluentic%20acid | Confluentic acid is an organic compound belonging to the chemical class known as depsides. It serves as a secondary metabolite in certain lichens and plays a role in distinguishing closely related species within the genus Porpidia. In 1899, Friedrich Wilhelm Zopf isolated a compound from Lecidea confluens, which he initially named confluentin and noted for its melting point of 147–148 °C. This substance demonstrated the ability to turn litmus paper red and, when interacting with alkali, decomposed into carbon dioxide and phenol-like compounds. Zopf subsequently revised the chemical formula and melting point of the compound. Siegfried Huneck renamed it confluentinic acid in 1962, characterising it as optically inactive, with distinct colour reactions and solubility properties, and determined its molecular formula as C28H36O8.
Researchers typically identify the presence of confluentic acid using methods such as thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography. Additionally, an alternative visual detection method involves examining the lichen's thallus or apothecium (fruiting body) under a microscope on a slide treated with potassium hydroxide, which reveals oil droplets indicative of confluentic acid. Several structural analogues of confluentic acid have been isolated from a variety of lichen species.
History
In 1899, Friedrich Wilhelm Zopf reported isolating a substance from Lecidea confluens, which he named confluentin, characterised by a melting point of . He also found that this substance turns litmus paper red, reacts with FeCl3 to produce a red-brown colour, and decomposes into carbon dioxide, a volatile substance, and a phenol-like compound with a melting point of 52 °C upon interaction with alkali. Zopf initially proposed the formula C37H50O10 for this compound before revising it to C26H36O7, noting the updated melting point as .
In his 1962 report of his chemical investigations into the substance, German chemist Siegfried Huneck proposed naming it 'confluentinic acid' due to the presence of the carboxylic acid functional group, aligning with the naming conventions of other lichen products. Huneck described the substance as optically inactive and noted its poor solubility in petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, and acetone, but found it readily soluble in ether, benzene, and methanol. He noted the following colour reactions: weak brownish with alcoholic FeCl3 solution, blue, green, and finally violet with potassium hydroxide and chloroform upon heating, orange to orange-red with tetrazotised benzidine, and gray-violet with p-phenylenediamine; no colouration was observed with barium hydroxide. Huneck used elemental analysis and molecular weight determination by titration to determine the molecular formula of confluentinic acid as C28H36O8. The Zeisel determination for methoxyl group analysis indicated two methoxyl groups per molecule.
John Elix and Brian Ferguson's proposal for the total synthesis of confluentic acid in 1978 marked a significant advancement in understanding of this lichen substance, enabling scientists to better study and understand the compound's structure and biological activity without relying solely on natural extraction. The synthesis began with the direct condensation of suitably substituted aromatic carboxylic acids and phenols, using dicyclohexylcarbodiimide. Key precursors involved were specially prepared benzoic acids, with protective measures for reactive groups. The process included steps like bromination, alkylation, and the strategic use of protecting groups for the phenol and carboxyl functionalities. The synthesis culminated in the removal of protecting groups and hydrogenolysis over palladised carbon to yield the desired depsides including confluentic acid. In 1993, G. Fegie and colleagues introduced a standardised high-performance liquid chromatographic method that enabled the separation and detection of hundreds of lichen products, confluentic acid included.
Properties
Confluentic acid is a member of the class of chemical compounds called depsides. Its IUPAC name is 4-[2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-6-(2-oxoheptyl)benzoyl]oxy-2-methoxy-6-pentylbenzoic acid. The ultraviolet absorbance maxima (λmax) has two peaks at 268 and 304 nm. In the infrared spectrum, significant peaks indicative of the carboxylic acid functional group occur at 1700 cm−1 (C=O stretching in carbonyl groups) and within the broad range of 2600 to 3100 cm−1 (O-H stretching). The broad band at 3100 is due to hydrogen bonding, while the peak at 3500 is the COOH stretching band. Confluentic acid's molecular formula is C28H36O8; it has a molecular mass of 500.57 grams per mole. In its purified form, it exists as crystalline needles with a melting point of .
Occurrence
The (fungal partner) of the lichen Lecidea tessellata has been shown to produce confluentic acid when cultured without its algal partner. Confluentic acid has also been reported from mycobiont cultures of Parmelina carporrhizans. Confluentic acid is produced by almost all species of the genus Immersaria, which is usually accompanied by 2'-O-methylmicrophyllinic acid. The absence of confluentic acid distinguishes Inoderma nipponicum, from others in genus Inoderma, which typically contain this chemical. The only character reliably distinguishing Porpidia contraponenda and the morphologically similar Porpidia cinereoatra is their secondary chemistry: the former contains 2'-O-methylmicrophyllinate and the latter has confluentic acid. A is a set of biosynthetically related compounds produced by a lichen. The confluentic acid chemosyndrome was identified in several lichens in the family Lecideaceae; it contains confluentic acid as the major metabolite, and minor amounts of 2'-O-methylperlatolic acid, olivetonide monomethyl ether, and 2'-O-methylmicrophyllinic acid.
Not just limited to lichen-forming fungi, confluentic acid has also been reported from the Brazilian plant Himatanthus sucuuba, highlighting the compound's broader biological distribution.
A study on Cryptothecia rubrocincta reveals distinct biochemical compositions in various parts of its thallus, suggesting specialised roles for the compounds present. Specifically, confluentic acid was found exclusively in localised brown flecks within the red and pink zones of the thallus, alongside calcium oxalate monohydrate. This distribution is in contrast to other thallus areas, such as the white zone containing only calcium oxalate dihydrate and the dark red zone with chiodectonic acid, chlorophyll, beta-carotene, and additional calcium oxalate dihydrate in the pink sub-zone. The presence of confluentic acid in specific areas without beta-carotene and chiodectonic acid—both known UV protectants—suggests that confluentic acid plays a different role in the lichen's survival strategy. While the exact function of confluentic acid in these localised brown flecks remains unclear, it is indicated that it is not required for radiation protection. The study also highlights a transition within the lichen from calcium oxalate dihydrate to the more stable monohydrate form, associated with the ageing process and possibly the metabolic activities involving confluentic acid.
Detection
Alan Fryday (1991) outlined a technique for the detection of confluentic acid in lichen samples. This method involves placing a section of the lichen's thallus or apothecium (fruiting body) on a microscope slide, which is then saturated with a 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution. When examined under a compound microscope at 40x magnification, a distinctive 'halo' of small oil droplets or bubbles emanating from the tissue section indicates the presence of confluentic acid. The oil droplets generated during this detection process consist of 4-O-methylolivetonide, a compound that is insoluble in potassium hydroxide solution. This substance forms as a result of confluentic acid undergoing hydrolysis in the presence of potassium hydroxide. This test is particularly useful in distinguishing between morphologically similar yet chemically distinct species within the genus Porpidia, aiding accurate identification and study.
Related compounds
The chemical diversity within lichens includes a variety of compounds related to confluentic acid, reflecting the complex biosynthetic capabilities of these symbiotic organisms and their significance in lichen taxonomy and ecology. In 1987, Chicita Culberson and colleagues reported the use of high-performance liquid chromatography to isolate and identify additional higher-carbon analogue substances in the "confluentic series", including hyperconfluentic acid, superconfluentic acid, and subconfluentic acid. These substances were isolated from the lichen Pseudobaeomyces pachycarpa. The structure of subconfluentic acid (4-[2'-hydroxy-4'-methoxy-6'-(2"-oxopentyl)benzoyloxy]-2-methoxy-6-pentylbenzoic acid) was later established by synthesis. The compound 4-O-demethylsuperconfluentic acid, structurally similar to confluentic acid, was isolated from Stirtonia ramosa. Another analogue, 2-O-methylconfluentic acid, was identified from Lecidea fuscoatra.
Gowan (1989) suggested a close chemical and biosynthetic relationship between methyl 2'-O-methylmicrophyllinate and confluentic acid, noting that the biosynthetic pathways leading to these compounds primarily differ in the length of the acetyl-polymalonyl segment. This means that the two compounds are synthesised through similar processes, differing mainly in the size of a specific chain within the molecule. Additionally, there is only a minor variation in their methylation patterns. Gowan further suggested that methyl 2'-O-methylmicrophyllinate likely originated from an ancestor that already produced confluentic acid.
Notes
References
Lichen products
Organic acids
Polyphenols
Methoxy compounds
Ketones | Confluentic acid | [
"Chemistry"
] | 2,266 | [
"Organic acids",
"Natural products",
"Lichen products",
"Acids",
"Ketones",
"Functional groups",
"Organic compounds"
] |
76,168,445 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WISE%200825%2B2805 | WISE 0825+2805 (WISE J082507.35+280548.5) is a (sub-)brown dwarf with a spectral type of Y0.5. It is about 21.4 light-years away from Earth in the Cancer constellation.
Discovery
WISE 0825+2805 was discovered in 2015 by Schneider et al. with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and the Hubble Space Telescope, using WFC3 near-infrared grism spectroscopy. The team also announced the discovery of three T-dwarfs as well as two additional Y-dwarfs (WISE J1206+8401 and WISE J2354+0240) in the same paper.
Physical properties
WISE 0825+2805 was observed with JWST NIRCam and MIRI. The modeling requires phosphine-free and diabatic models to produce a good fit. The good fit requires an effective temperature of 350 Kelvin and a surface gravity of log g = 4.0. Alternatively a lower surface gravity could improve the fit. The model parameters correspond to a mass of and an age of 800 Myrs.
See also
List of Y-dwarfs
List of star systems within 20–25 light-years
References
Brown dwarfs
Y-type brown dwarfs
Cancer (constellation)
Astronomical objects discovered in 2015
WISE objects | WISE 0825+2805 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 269 | [
"Cancer (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
76,170,000 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/2002%20N%205 | S/2002 N 5 is a prograde irregular satellite of Neptune. It was discovered on 14 August 2002 by Matthew Holman, John J. Kavelaars, Tommy Grav, and Wesley Fraser using the 4.0-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Observatory, Chile, but it became lost and was not observed again until Scott S. Sheppard rediscovered it on 3 September 2021. The discovery of S/2002 N 5 was announced on 23 February 2024, after observations were collected over a long enough time to confirm the satellite's orbit. S/2002 N 5 orbits Neptune at an average distance of over and takes almost 9 Earth years to complete its orbit.
Discovery
S/2002 N 5 was first observed on 14 August 2002 by Matthew Holman and collaborators, during their search for Neptunian irregular moons using the 4.0-m Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Observatory, Chile. Holman's team was able to detect this faint moon through the shift-and-add technique, in which they took many long-exposure telescope images, aligned and shifted them to follow Neptune's motion, and then added them together to create a single deep image that would show Neptunian moons as points of light against trailed background stars and galaxies. The moon was given the temporary designation "c02N4" and was among the faintest of the five Neptunian moons that Holman's team discovered in their search, which included Halimede, Sao, Laomedeia, and Neso. While four of these moons were successfully reobserved and subsequently announced, S/2002 N 5 was only reobserved once on 3 September 2002 by the 8.2-m Very Large Telescope at European Southern Observatory. Further attempts to reobserve S/2002 N 5 were unsuccessful. With very few observations, S/2002 N 5's orbit could not be confirmed and it became a lost moon.
S/2002 N 5 remained unobserved for 19 years since its last observation by Holman's team in September 2002. On 3 September 2021, Scott S. Sheppard rediscovered S/2002 N 5 while searching for Neptunian irregular moons with the 6.5-m Magellan–Baade Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. Like Holman's team, Sheppard used the shift-and-add technique to detect S/2002 N 5. From September 2021 to November 2023, Sheppard and his collaborators David J. Tholen, Chad Trujillo, and Patryk S. Lykawka conducted follow-up observations of S/2002 N 5 using the Magellan–Baade Telescope and the 8.2-m Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii to determine the moon's orbit and ensure it would not be lost. After Sheppard's follow-up observations concluded, his team was able to link the moon back to its original discovery observations from 2002. S/2002 N 5 and S/2021 N 1, another Neptunian irregular moon discovered by Sheppard's team, were both confirmed and announced by the Minor Planet Center on 23 February 2024, bringing Neptune's number of known moons from 14 to 16.
Orbit
S/2002 N 5 is an irregular moon of Neptune, since it has a distant, highly elliptical, and highly inclined orbit. Irregular moons are loosely bound by Neptune's gravity because of their great distance from the planet, so their orbits are frequently perturbed by the gravity of the Sun and other planets. This results in significant changes in the orbits of irregular moons over short periods of time, so a simple Keplerian elliptical orbit cannot accurately describe the long-term orbital motions of irregular moons. Instead, proper or average orbital elements are used to describe the long-term orbits of irregular moons more accurately, since these are calculated by averaging out the perturbed orbit over a long period of time.
Over an 800-year time span from 1600 to 2400, S/2002 N 5's average semi-major axis or orbital distance from Neptune is , with an average orbital period of 8.6 Earth years. S/2002 N 5 has an average orbital eccentricity of 0.43 and an average inclination of 46.3° with respect to the ecliptic, or the plane of Earth's orbit. Since S/2002 N 5's orbital inclination is less than 90°, the moon has a prograde orbit, meaning it orbits in the same direction as Neptune's orbit around the Sun. Due to perturbations, S/2002 N 5's orbital elements fluctuate over time: its semi-major axis can range from , eccentricity from 0.24 to 0.67, and inclination from 37° to 50°. S/2002 N 5's orbit exhibits nodal precession with an average period of about 3,100 Earth years and apsidal precession with an average period of about 2,900 Earth years.
S/2002 N 5 is part of the Sao group, a cluster of distant prograde irregular moons of Neptune that includes Laomedeia and the group's namesake Sao. The moons of the Sao group have orbital elements that are clustered with semi-major axes between , eccentricities between 0.3 and 0.5, and inclinations between 30° and 50°. Like all other irregular moon groups, the Sao group is thought to have formed from the destruction of a larger captured moon of Neptune due to asteroid and comet impacts, which left many fragments in similar orbits around Neptune.
Physical characteristics
S/2002 N 5 is very faint with an average apparent magnitude of 25.9, so it could only be observed with long-exposure imaging by large-aperture telescopes like the Subaru Telescope. Nothing is known about S/2002 N 5's physical properties other than its absolute magnitude of 11.2, which can be used to estimate the moon's diameter. Assuming a geometric albedo range of 0.04–0.10 that is typical for most irregular moons, S/2002 N 5 has a diameter between . Sheppard estimates the diameter to be 23 km, which if correct would make S/2002 N 5 one of the smallest known satellites orbiting Neptune.
Notes
References
External links
Sao group
Moons of Neptune
Irregular satellites
20020814
Discoveries by Matthew J. Holman
Moons with a prograde orbit
Recovered astronomical objects | S/2002 N 5 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 1,315 | [
"Recovered astronomical objects",
"Astronomical objects"
] |
76,171,337 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1-Methyl-4-pyridone-3-carboxamide | N1-Methyl-4-pyridone-3-carboxamide, also abbreviated as 4PY, is a breakdown product of niacin, that is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. It has 2 carbonyl groups that are close to each other.
References
Carboxamides
Dihydropyridines | N1-Methyl-4-pyridone-3-carboxamide | [
"Chemistry"
] | 71 | [
"Molecular biology stubs",
"Molecular biology"
] |
76,171,394 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GESTALT | Genome editing of synthetic target arrays for lineage tracing (GESTALT) is a method used to determine the developmental lineages of cells in multicellular systems. GESTALT involves introducing a small DNA barcode that contains regularly spaced CRISPR/Cas9 target sites into the genomes of progenitor cells. Alongside the barcode, Cas9 and sgRNA are introduced into the cells. Mutations in the barcode accumulate during the course of cell divisions and the unique combination of mutations in a cell's barcode can be determined by DNA or RNA sequencing to link it to a developmental lineage.
Background
Fate mapping is the process of identifying the embryonic origins of adult tissues. Lineage tracing is more specific, encompassing methods which examine the progeny that arise from a single/few cells. One of the first lineage tracing methods developed involved the injection of dyes into specific cells of an early embryo, thereby labeling them and their progeny at each cell division. Later methods used retroviral labeling, employing retroviruses to introduce a marker gene like fluorescent protein or beta-galactosidase into the genomes of the cells of interest, resulting in constitutive expression of the marker in those cells and their progeny. These methods have the drawback of being invasive, and relatively difficult in targeting which cells to label. Currently, the most widely used approach involves cell labeling via genetic recombination systems. These methods use recombinases, the two main ones being the Cre-loxP and Flp-firt systems, which can delete segments of DNA flanked by the loxP and frt sites, respectively. In this method, a transgenic model is created that can express Cre recombinase and has a reporter gene with an upstream stop cassette flanked by loxP sites. Cre recombination deletes the STOP cassette upstream of a reporter gene, allowing for expression of the reporter. Spatial control over the labeled cells is achieved by using specific Cre alleles under the control elements of a chosen marker gene, and temporal control can be obtained if inducible Cre alleles are used. For example, CreERT only has active recombination activity upon administration of tamoxifen. Although powerful, it requires significant optimization to facilitate single cell lineage tracing and is low throughput. Sequencing-based methods of lineage tracing have begun to emerge as they provide significantly higher resolution and high-throughput tracing of cell fate. Early approaches leveraged naturally occurring somatic mutations to identify cell lineage relationships.
Principles
GESTALT takes advantage of the CRISPR-Cas9 system, which allows for the targeting of double stranded breaks in DNA to highly specific sites adjacent to PAM motifs based on the sequence of the sgRNA. These breaks are then repaired by one of the endogenous cellular DNA mechanisms: non-homologous end joining DNA repair, or homology-directed repair. Non-homolgous end joining is the more active of the two repair pathways, resulting in indels occurring at the targeted site. The GESTALT system uses an array of ten CRISPR/Cas9 targets, with the first site having perfect specificity to the designed sgRNA, and the other nine having less Cas9 activity due to mismatches with the sgRNA. Introducing the CRISPR-Cas9 reagents to cells carrying this array will cause the accumulation of indels at potentially each target of the array, marking the cell with a unique barcode sequence that can be used to identify it and its progeny via DNA or RNA-sequencing.
Procedure
Design of the barcode array
The target sequences are 23 bp long, including a protospacer and PAM sequence. The target sequences are placed in contiguous array, separated by 3 to 5 bp linker sequences. Each target sequence must be screened against the genome of the host organism to ensure the specificity of the target sequences. Cas9 activity at each target site can be assessed using the GUIDE-seq assay.
Introducing the array into the target cell/organism
Two separate methods of introducing barcode arrays into the genomes of cells are used. The first method transduces progenitor cells with a lentivirus construct containing the barcode array inserted into the 3'-UTR of EGFP. This results in the incorporation of the barcode array into the genome and marks barcoded cells through stable expression of EGFP. A second method involves creating transgenic animal lines; the transgenic model has previously been generated using a Tol2 transgenesis vector which contains a barcode array cloned into the 3' UTR of DsRed under control of the ubiquitin promoter.
Induction of the CRISPR-Cas9-mediated editing of cellular barcodes
Initiation of barcode editing and labeling of cells is done by introducing the Cas9 protein and sgRNAs into progenitor cells. The CRISPR-Cas9 complex randomly produces double-stranded breaks in the barcode regions and subsequent NHEJ repair introduces random indels, resulting in a unique DNA sequence at the barcode region in each cell at time of labeling. There are multiple methods of delivering the CRISPR-Cas9 reagents into cells and it is an active field of research. CRISPR-Cas9 reagents can be introduced into cells via transfection using lipid nanoparticles. Alternatively, microinjection of the CRISPR-Cas9 reagents can be performed on 1-cell embryos. The delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 reagents can be done at different developmental times to change the labeled populations. Barcode editing may persist for several hours after delivery.
Sequencing of barcodes and reconstruction of cell lineage tree
Following delivery of the CRISPR-Cas9 reagents, time is allowed for barcode editing and further development to occur, resulting in the expansion of the labeled populations and the unique marking of their progeny. Genomic DNA or RNA can then be extracted from the progeny cells or tissues of interest and the barcodes can be PCR-amplified. Unique molecular identifiers are used to correct for PCR bias and each UMI-barcode combo is therefore from a single cell. All barcode alleles can then be sequenced via NGS and the entire set of identified alleles can be subjected to phylogenetic analysis, identifying cell lineage based on barcode similarity. To control for sequencing error, only indels can be considered as most sequencing errors inherent to next-generation sequencing are base substitutions.
scGESTALT
Single cell GESTALT (scGESTALT) adds upon the GESTALT system by integrating simultaneous capture of barcode and transcriptome information using scRNA-seq. In scGESTALT, the barcode is cloned into progenitor cells of interest downstream of an inducible promoter. When the developmental period is complete, expression of the barcode will be induced and the barcode mRNA will be sequenced alongside the rest of the transcriptome using scRNA-seq. The transcriptomic data can be used to track cell type differentiation while the barcodes can be used to create developmental relationships with other cells. An additional improvement is the ability to induce labeling at two different time points. This is enabled through the cloning of the Cas9/sgRNA under a heat shock promoter; the first labeling event is induced via microinjection like traditional GESTALT, while a subsequent second labeling period is initiated by heat shock-induced expression of Cas9 and sgRNAs. This enables lineage tracing during later stages of development, beyond what is possible with GESTALT.
Limitations
GESTALT is restricted to early embryogenesis because microinjection of Cas9 and sgRNA is only viable when performed on a small number of progenitor cells. As a result, barcode editing is restricted to early development, meaning that deciphering later lineage relationships is not possible. This limitation was partially addressed by the development of scGESTALT and related methods with inducible Cas9 and sgRNA expression systems which enable labeling at later developmental time points.
The barcode sequences of GESTALT alone do not provide any information about the cell type the barcode was identified in. scGESTALT addresses this challenge by linking the barcodes to the transcriptome of the cell, allowing for determination of cell identity.
In a portion of the cells, overlapping deletions may result in the loss of previously accrued marks in the barcode region, resulting in the loss of lineage information.
It is possible that a similar or identical edit can emerge by chance in cells belonging to two separate lineages, resulting in the erroneous association of those lineages.
scGESTALT suffers from the same drop-out issues observed in single-cell methods. Barcode sequences are only captured in 30% of the cells. Additionally, some cell types may silence the expression of the barcode construct, resulting in loss of lineage information for that cell type.
Applications
GESTALT was initially developed to examine the contributions of embryonic progenitors to the adult organ systems of zebrafish. By sequencing the barcodes from bulk extractions of organ systems, each organ was found to possess only a small number of the barcode alleles, indicating that organs arise from the clonal expansion of a small number of early progenitors. The lineage information of thousands of differentiated cells was captured in the experiment and demonstrated the high-throughput lineage tracing capabilities of GESTALT.
scGESTALT has been used to refine the lineage tree of the zebrafish brain. The existence of multipotent progenitors which give rise to cells that migrate across the brain was discovered following a scGESTALT experiment where some barcode sequences were captured in cell populations in the forebrain, midbrain, and the hindbrain. Pseudotime trajectories generated using the scRNA-seq data for oligodendrocyte progenitors to oligodendrocytes as well as atoh1c+ progenitors to pax6b+ neurons were found to be consistent with the barcode distribution across those cell types.
Related techniques
Memory by Engineered Mutagenesis with Optical In Situ Readout (MEMOIR) is a related lineage tracing method that relies on Cas9/gRNA modification of a barcode. There are two major differences from GESTALT. Firstly, instead of introducing mutations to a barcode, in MEMOIR the Cas9-sgRNA deletes regions of the barcode. Secondly, instead of traditional sequencing, MEMOIR employs sequential multiplexed single-molecule RNA fluorescence hybridization (seqFISH) to in-situ read the barcode within single cells.
Lineage tracing by nuclease-activated editing of ubiquitous sequences (LINNAEUS) is an attempt to improve upon scGESTALT. In LINNAEUS, the barcode is replaced with multiple transgenic reporter genes which are targeted by Cas9/sgRNA. The reporter genes are spread throughout the genome which ensures that subsequent Cas9 editing does not overwrite previous editing.
ScarTrace is a method based on the same principles as scGESTALT. It tracks cell lineages through Cas9/sgRNA editing of a barcode composed of eight in-tandem copies of a histone–green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgene. ScarTrace integrates scRNA-seq data for cell type analysis but instead of only sequencing the barcode from mRNA as in scGESTALT, ScarTrace also uses a nested PCR to amplify the barcode from gDNA. This is purported to be more reliable as the mRNA barcode could be unstable or situationally silenced.
References
Cell biology | GESTALT | [
"Biology"
] | 2,386 | [
"Cell biology"
] |
76,171,436 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clitocybe%20violaceifolia | Clitocybe violaceifolia, also known as the western cypress blewit, is a species of gilled mushroom native to western North America. C. violaceifolia can be distinguished from its choice-edible cousin, the wood blewit, by its association with trees in the cypress family. According to California mycologist Alan Rockefeller, C. violaceifolia "smells like mud". These mushrooms are theoretically edible but are reportedly quite unpalatable.
This species was first described by William A. Murrill in 1913 from a type species collected near Salem, Oregon by Morton E. Peck. Murrill's description was "Pileus convex, somewhat gibbous, solitary, 3 cm. broad; surface slightly viscid when moist, smooth, glabrous, grayish-violet tinted with brown at the center, margin entire, slightly paler; lamellae very narrow, adnexed to slightly decurrent, rather crowded, arcuate, pale-violet; spores ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, 7-8 X 3.5-4.5; stipe equal, fleshy, solid, smooth, glabrous, grayish-violet, mycelioid at the base, 3 cm. long, 6 mm. thick."
The western cypress blewit has been documented in Oregon, California, and Arizona.
References
Fungi of North America
Fungi described in 1913
Taxa named by William Alphonso Murrill
Fungus species
violaceifolia | Clitocybe violaceifolia | [
"Biology"
] | 306 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
76,171,783 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph%20Sabrina%20engine | The Triumph Sabrina engine is an internal combustion engine for automotive applications developed by the Triumph Motor Company division of the Standard Motor Company in England in the late 1950s. It powered Triumph's Le Mans team entries in 1959, 1960, and 1961, and was considered for use in a production road car.
History
In the late 1950s Triumph's Competitions department designed and built a new high performance engine given the development name 20X. An investment of £49,000 was approved for its development, as 'Project 51', by the Standard-Triumph board at its meeting on 19 September 1960. Some sources call this the 'S' engine, after Triumph's TR3S and TRS Le Mans cars. The engine's two prominent front-facing domical camshaft end covers earned it the popular nickname "Sabrina", after contemporary British actress Norma Ann Sykes. Sabrina later became the engine's official name.
Harry Webster, director and general manager at Standard-Triumph, reported that the engine was developed to explore new casting and engine production techniques. It also incidentally gave Triumph a chance to improve their showing at Le Mans after their modest results in 1955.
To accommodate the engine, a modified TR3 chassis was created with a track widened by four inches and a wheelbase extended by six inches over those of the production car. In late 1958 Triumph commissioned Giovanni Michelotti to create a body for the 20X development chassis. The project, called Zoom, resulted in a full-width body, with tall doors having wind-down windows, and headlamps moved to the tops of the front wings. By 1959 two Zoom prototypes were complete; one convertible and one coupé with a removable roof panel, both powered by 20X engines detuned to around .
By the middle of 1960, Triumph had prototypes for two potential TR replacements — Zest and Zoom — with a combined program cost of £676,000. Zest had been conceived as the TR3's replacement, and Zoom was considered for production as an upmarket model. Having seen Zoom, some at Triumph wanted it to become the next TR, but the cost to produce the 20X engine in volume killed the project.
Technical details
Sabrina is an inline four cylinder engine with dual overhead camshafts. The basic engine assembly is made up of five main components: an oil sump, a crankcase extension, the crankcase, a water jacket with cylinder liners, and a cylinder head. Of these, the crankcase is of cast iron, and the cylinder liners are of cast chrome-iron. The other components, including the water jacket, are cast in aluminium alloy. Alloy crankcases had been tried, but proved insufficiently rigid in bending.
Both the connecting rods and the crankshaft are of forged steel. The crankshaft is carried in five main bearings, two more than are in the Standard wet liner inline-four engine used in production TRs. The pistons are of die-cast aluminium, and the compression ratio was set by adjusting the height of the piston crown. Bore × stroke are , for a total displacement of .
The cylinder head has four hemispherical combustion chambers, each with two valves having an included angle of slightly over 73°, with the exhaust valves being inclined from the horizontal about 4° more than the intakes. The valves are made of nimonic steel, and have double valve springs. The camshafts are hollow, and run in five bearings each. Valve tappets are inverted bucket style, with iron guides and adjustment by shims. The camshaft drive comes off the nose of the crankshaft via primary and secondary duplex chains with Renold hydraulic tensioners.
The cylinder head has a separate intake and exhaust port for each cylinder. The exhaust manifold is a 4-2-1 style, with joins at and from the head's square exhaust port. The engine is fitted with two twin-choke SU DU6 carburettors. The front of the engine mounts a separate case that includes drives for the camshafts, oil pump, fuel pump, distributor and tachometer, with provision for the future addition of a fuel injection pump and dry sump oil scavenge pump.
A complete engine less ancillaries is long, wide, and tall, making the twin cam engine longer than the Standard wet-liner engine and more than lower, while widths are the same. At , Sabrina was lighter than the Standard wet-liner engine.
Power and torque figures for the engines in the 1960 Le Mans cars are reported as having been better than at 6500 rpm, and at 6590 rpm, while power for later engines was expected to exceed .
Motorsports
At the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans, three extensively modified TR3s, referred to as 'TR3S' models, were run. While superficially resembling the production TR3, the Le Mans cars were six inches longer than the production model, had bodywork of glass fibre, and were powered by Sabrina engines. The teams of drivers in the cars were Peter Jopp/Richard "Dickie" Stoop, Ninian Sanderson/Claude Dubois, and Peter Bolton/Mickaël "Mike" Rothschild. Both the Sanderson/Dubois and Bolton/Rothschild cars retired after cooling fan blades detached from their respective engines and perforated the cars' radiators. The Jopp/Stoop TR3S was called in to have its blades removed, then ran as high as seventh place overall before being forced to retire due to an oil pump failure with just over an hour remaining in the race.
The three Triumph TRS race cars fielded at the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans, registered as 926 HP, 927 HP and 928 HP, used the same chassis and engines as the previous year, with new fibreglass bodywork based on Triumph's Zoom prototype. The three driver teams this year consisted of Keith Ballisat/Marcel Becquart, Les Leston/Mike Rothschild, and Peter Bolton/Ninian Sanderson. The hardness of the metal in the valve inserts had been reduced from that of the 1959 engines, and during the course of the race the valve inserts were damaged, eliminating all tappet clearance. Post-race, with clearances restored but prior to a full rebuild, the engines still produced around . Despite the engine trouble, all three cars finished, in 15th, 18th, and 19th places, and staged a formation finish, but were unclassified due to having failed to cover their mandatory distance.
Triumph planned to field a revised car at la Sarthe in 1961, but the new cars were late, so the previous TRSes were updated, with power output raised by , and entered again in the 1961 race. The driver teams included Peter Bolton/Keith Ballisat, Les Leston/Rob Slotemaker, and Marcel Becquart/Mike Rothschild, which respectively finished 9th, 11th, and 15th overall, and claimed the manufacturer's team prize for Triumph.
Triumph Conrero
The Sabrina was to be used in a batch of newly designed cars at Le Mans in 1961. Although a team of four cars was planned for the race, ultimately only one car was built, and it was not delivered until 1962.
A new body designed by Michelotti was fitted over a custom multi-tubular steel chassis fabricated by Italian engineer and Alfa Romeo tuner Virgilio Conrero.
When tested on the M1 motorway, the Sabrina-powered Triumph Conrero reached a speed of nearly . The car did not race at Le Mans, as Triumph's Competitions Department was dissolved before it could be entered. It never appeared in any other race, but was run in practice at the 1963 12 Hours of Sebring. The Triumph Conrero was later returned to England for restoration, and appeared at the Brooklands Museum reunion in 2010.
References
Further reading
External links
Automobile engines
Triumph Motor Company engines
Straight-four engines
Gasoline engines by model
Engines introduced in the 1950s | Triumph Sabrina engine | [
"Technology"
] | 1,617 | [
"Engines",
"Automobile engines"
] |
76,171,872 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRNA-based%20disease%20diagnosis | mRNA-based disease diagnosis technologies are diagnostic procedures using messenger RNAs. as molecular diagnostic tools to discover the relationships between patient's DNAs and their specific biological features. The mRNA-based disease diagnosis technologies have been applied to medical field widely in recent years, especially on early diagnosis of tumors (such as renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, breast cancer and prostate cancer). The technology can be applied to various types of samples depending on how easily the samples are accessible and whether the samples reliably contain the mRNA that related to specific diseases. For example, in hepatocellular carcinoma, the tumor tissues excised during the operation are a good resource for mRNA-based test to analysis. Among those most commonly used samples, blood sample is one of the most easily accessible via minimally invasive method. degenerative diseases . Blood has been used in early diagnosis of some cancers, such as non-small lung cancer and neuroendocrine tumors.
Background
Even though modern medicine has been developing for centuries, we are still faced with quite number of medical challenges. For example, in breast cancer, three traditional expressions are routinely screened for target therapy. However, for the triple negative breast cancer, none of those biomarkers can be detected leaving it with poor prognosis and high mortality. Innovative technologies like mRNA are aimed to addressing such health-related issues that still exist today.
Commonly used methods in mRNA-based disease diagnosis
RNA sequencing (RNA-seq)
RNA-seq is a high-throughput RNA sequencing technology that allows scientists to profile the entire RNA (transcriptome). Therefore, novel transcripts and gene expression level can be identified based on cDNA libraries. This method can be used for cancer diagnosis and treatment evaluation.
Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)
RT-PCR is a widely used mRNA expression detection method. It enables reverse transcription of mRNA to cDNA for further identification and qualification. In early 1992, RT-PCR was applied in PSA gene expression in peripheral blood for early prostate cancer diagnosis.
Digital PCR (dPCR)
dPCR is a relatively accurate quantification method of measuring the initial concentration of mRNA targets. It can be applied to analyze genetic and epigenetic changes.
In-situ hybridization (ISH)
ISH is a tissue dependent visualization method of identifying mRNA targeted in the samples. The "tissue" can be blood sample. In chronic myeloid leukemia, ISH has been applied on peripheral-blood specimens.
Workflow
A general workflow of mRNA-based disease diagnosis can be summarized as the following steps:
Sample collection for targeted disease: Samples for mRNA-based technology can be blood, urine, cell culture, tissue biopsy, bronchial alveola lavage, saliva, cerebrospinal fluid. The basic principle to acquire the biological samples for mRNA-based disease diagnosis is that the samples are suitable, accessible, preservable, ethical and minimum invasive. Moreover for some specific research, the samples should be collected within certain time to guarantee the quality and reduce potential contaminants.
RNA processing: This step includes RNA extraction, reverse transcription to cDNA, amplification and detection. The aim to process RNA is to qualify and quantify the suspected genes for further analysis.
Data analysis: After obtaining the qualified raw data from last step, bioinformatics technology will be applied to further analysis the data. There are different tools and software for data analysis, including data normalization, statistical analysis, and modeling. The aim is to select specific genes that are significantly different expressed between disease and non-disease samples. Those selected genes can be identified as diagnostic biomarkers for further validation.
mRNA biomarker validation: The mRNA biomarkers are selected by bioinformatic methods. Thus, they need to be tested with real samples with reliable experiment on real identified samples with clear and accurate clinical diagnosis.
Clinical application: The validated mRNA-based diagnostic method for specific diseases can be conducted along with other clinical examinations to achieve a comprehensive evaluation of the patient's status. mRNA-based examination can provide the medical workers with interpretation at RNA levels and assist on further therapy advice.
Characteristics
High sensitivity
Take breast cancer as an example. The sensitivity of traditional ultrasound screening for breast cancer can be 76%. While with the blood-based mRNA diagnostic method, the sensitivity could be 80.6%.
Qualified and quantitive measurement
mRNA-based disease diagnostic technologies allow quantitive measurement of mRNA in the certain samples, such as leukemia
Guiding personalized therapy
As some technologies such as RNA-seq can provide the entire transcriptome of individual, the mRNA-based disease diagnosis can be developed in the landscape of personalized medicine. In HER-2 breast cancer, detection of ERBB2 mRNA expression levels is helpful in predicting response to anti-HER2-based treatments.
Early diagnostic and predictive method
As mentioned above, the mRNA-based disease diagnostic technology is more sensitive and specific to certain diseases. Even though there is no obvious symptom, the mRNA-based disease diagnostic technology can serve as screening method for early changes in RNA levels. High serum metadherin mRNA expression was observed in colorectal cancer and associated with poorly differentiated histological grades
References
Biological techniques and tools | MRNA-based disease diagnosis | [
"Biology"
] | 1,084 | [
"nan"
] |
76,172,564 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroRNA%20biosensors | MicroRNA (miRNA) biosensors are analytical devices that involve interactions between the target miRNA strands and recognition element on a detection platform to produce signals that can be measured to indicate levels or the presence of the target miRNA. Research into miRNA biosensors shows shorter readout times, increased sensitivity and specificity of miRNA detection and lower fabrication costs than conventional miRNA detection methods.
miRNAs are a category of small, non-coding RNAs in the range of 18-25 base pairs in length. miRNAs regulate cellular processes such as gene regulation post-transcriptionally, and are abundant in body fluids such as saliva, urine and circulatory fluids such as blood. Also, miRNAs are found in animals and plants and have regulatory functions that affect cellular mechanisms. miRNAs are highly associated with diseases such as cancers and cardiovascular diseases. In cancer, miRNAs have oncogenic or tumor suppressor roles and are promising biomarkers for disease diagnosis and prognosis. Many techniques exist in clinical and research settings for analyzing miRNA biomarkers. However, inherent limitations with current methods, such as high cost, time and personnel training requirements, and low detection sensitivity and specificity, create the need for improved miRNA detection methods.
Background
miRNAs are associated with physiological and pathological processes; hence, measuring them in fields like human health, agriculture, and environmental testing is in demand. Here are some key aspects of the necessity of detection of miRNAs:
Potential biomarkers: miRNAs have specific expression in diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and autoimmune diseases, which can be beneficial for early detection, prognosis and monitoring for response to treatments. Furthermore, because miRNAs are in body fluids like urine, saliva, and blood, detecting miRNAs is less invasive than methods such as biopsies. This is more comfortable for patients and can facilitate more frequent monitoring of their disease.
Molecular mechanisms: As miRNAs have regulatory roles in gene expression and signaling pathways, studying them can give the etiology of diseases and targeting them can provide therapeutic options.
Personalized medicine: Because the specific expression of miRNAs offers a promising avenue for enhancing personalized medicine, they provide a deeper understanding of individual disease risk, treatment response, and prognosis, which help clinicians make better informed clinical decisions.
History of miRNA detection technology
Early and current detection methods
The first miRNA (lin-4) was detected by Victor Ambros in Caenorhabditis elegans in 1993. The first detection method was Northern blotting (1977), which had low sensitivity. Following that was Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) (1990), which had high detection sensitivity.
Northern Blotting: Northern blotting involves hybridizing miRNA probes (short nucleic acid sequences) with miRNAs, followed by their separation on a gel and transfer to a membrane. The probes are labeled with radioactive isotopes (raising safety and environmental concerns), enzymes, or fluorescent markers. The quantity of RNA present is inferred from the probe signal’s intensity. While Northern Blotting is highly specific and helpful for validating high-throughput methods like RNA-seq, it requires a large sample volume, is time-consuming, and lacks precision in quantification analysis.
Real-Time Reverse Transcription–Polymerase Chain Reaction (Real-time RT-PCR): This method starts with converting miRNA into cDNA using reverse transcriptase enzymes. The cDNA is then amplified using sequence-specific primers, a process monitored by fluorescent dyes or probes. Real-time RT-PCR is noted for its sensitivity and specificity. However, it faces challenges such as the need for standardization, technical complexities (e.g., primer design, sample preparation), time-intensive processes, and high costs.
High-throughput Methods:
Microarrays (1990): Microarrays enable the detection of thousands of miRNAs in a single experiment. They consist of a solid surface to which complementary miRNA sequences are attached. Introducing miRNAs allows them to bind to these probes, with the amount of miRNA measured by the fluorescence intensity. Microarrays are cost-effective compared to real-time RT-PCR and NGS but have limitations in detecting low quantities of miRNAs and distinguishing between miRNAs with similar sequences.
Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) (2005): NGS begins with RNA extraction and reverse transcription into cDNA, followed by adaptor ligation and amplification. The cDNA is then sequenced on an NGS platform, producing millions of short reads. Expert bioinformaticians and sophisticated tools must align and analyze the data and map reads to reference miRNA sequences for miRNA discovery and identification. NGS offers high sensitivity and specificity for detecting low-quantity miRNAs and identifying miRNAs differing by a single nucleotide.
Principles of microRNA biosensors
Three essential elements make up miRNA biosensors:
Biological recognition element: they can detect specific target molecules and have different types, including antibodies, antigens, DNA/RNA, aptamers, enzymes, and MIPs (molecularly imprinted polymers).
Transducer: following recognition, the transducer is an element required to convert changes in the recognition element to a measurable signal. Based on the type of signal they produce, they are categorized into electrochemical, optical, and mechanical transducers.
Signal processor: computational elements that amplify and process the signals produced from transducers and can be demonstrated by numerical values and digital readouts.
Specificity in miRNA detection
The term “specificity” in the context of miRNA biosensors refers to the ability of the biosensor to identify a particular miRNA within a sample that contains various components and miRNAs with similar sequences. The challenge in achieving this specificity derives from the small size of miRNAs, which may differ from each other by only one nucleotide. Consequently, designing biosensors capable of precisely recognizing the target miRNA is essential.
Sensitivity in miRNA detection
Sensitivity in miRNA biosensors refers to their ability to detect target miRNAs in low concentrations within samples. Since miRNAs are typically found in small amounts, biosensors are engineered to identify concentrations as low as femtomolar (10^-15) or attomolar (10^-18) levels. Achieving such high sensitivity involves enhancements to recognition elements, amplification, and signal processing techniques. The LoD (limit of detection) is used to determine the concrete value of sensitivity in biosensors, which indicates the lowest concentration of miRNA that can be separated from the background (zero) signal with a specified level of confidence.
The dynamic range in miRNA biosensors refers to the concentrations over which the biosensor can accurately detect the target miRNAs, extending from the lowest detectable LoD to the maximum concentration that can be measured without necessitating sample dilution.
Types of microRNA biosensors
Electrochemical biosensors
Electrochemical biosensors present significant advantages to miRNA detection over conventional miRNA analysis methods. Using simple electronics reduces production costs and increases ease of use in portable system configurations. This allows for a broader scope of use, including environmental, clinical and food analysis applications.
miRNA electrochemical biosensor detection relies on measuring the changes in the electrode-property or electroactive compound redox signal in the transduction of electrochemically active reporter species and hybridization between the target miRNA and complementary probe. Various materials can be made into the transduction element, including silver, gold, graphite or nanoparticle variations of such materials. Detection of electrochemical property changes allows for real-time analysis and kinetics data, an advantage biosensor methods such as optical biosensors lack. Light pollution is not a limitation of electrochemical miRNA biosensors. However, amplification techniques such as rolling circle amplification (RCA) may be required when miRNA concentrations are insufficient to produce an electrical signal.
1. Voltammetric and amperometric electrochemical biosensors
Electrochemical miRNA biosensors can be designed to infer voltammetric or amperometric measurements. Upon hybridization of the miRNA target with its complementary probe sequence, voltammetric miRNA biosensors detect the change in current based on a controlled increase or decrease in electric potential on the detection platform. Amperometric-based biosensors detect the change in electric current at a fixed positive electric potential. Recent developments in voltammetric and amperometric miRNA biosensors can be classified as label-based or label-free biosensors, indicating whether or not electroactive labels on the miRNA target are used as the naming suggests.
Voltammetric and amperometric label-free (direct detection) miRNA biosensors
First published in 2009, label-free (direct detection) electrochemical miRNA biosensors function without labelling the target miRNA with electrocatalytic nanoparticle tags or hybridization indicators. Label-free miRNA biosensors were initially based on DNA detection through guanine electrooxidation measurements, with the lower detection limit being 5 nM of miRNA. Since then, electrode materials have been developed to increase the sensitivity of detection down to less than 1 pM, such as with graphene and ionic-liquid modified electrodes. For example, Wu et al. (2013) increased the conductivity of the electrode surface of an amperometric biosensor with a multilayer consisting of Nafion, thionine and palladium nanoparticles, which immobilized the target miRNA on the electrode surface for a lower limit of detection of 1.87 pM. Label-free miRNA biosensors detect signals before and after the hybridization of electroactive nucleic acid bases. For instance, doxorubicin-loaded gold nanoparticles (AuNps) have been integrated with a double-loop hairpin probe that hybridizes with the target miRNA to form heteroduplexes, in which duplex specific nucleases hydrolyze DNA in the heteroduplex structures to release target miRNA strands for amplification in a signal amplification system. The limit of detection in such a system is 0.17pM.
Voltammetric and amperometric label-based (indirect detection) miRNA biosensors
Label-based (indirect detection) electrochemical miRNA biosensors require electrocatalytic or redox active molecule or nanoparticle labelling of the miRNA target or complementary capture probes for detection. Generally, label-based approaches offer significantly greater sensitivity of miRNA detection than label-free methods, with sensitivity reaching the fM-aM range.
An example is AuNp-superlattice-based miRNA biosensors utilizing the small molecule cationic dye toluidine blue to detect miRNA-21. Toluidine blue acts as a miRNA intercalative label through electrostatic interaction with the negatively charged backbone phosphate groups. On the biosensor, toluidine blue is a redox indicator to measure the oxidation peak current of toluidine blue and indicated hybridization of miRNA. The LoD levels reached 78 aM.
2. Amplification (enzyme)-based electrochemical miRNA biosensors
Electrochemical detection or amplification strategies for miRNA biosensors have been developed using enzyme-based methods. Amplification of miRNA is often a necessary component of biosensor detection as miRNA concentrations are found in low abundance, and amplification of target miRNA strands will increase the sensitivity of detection. Additionally, inherent properties of miRNA include short strand length and high sequence homology, which present a challenge with detection sensitivity and specificity.
Various methods, such as duplex-specific nuclease enzymes and polymerase extension, can amplify miRNA targets to reach LoD in the fM range. Isothermal amplification techniques are widely used enzyme-based miRNA amplification techniques, given the advantages of cost and time-reduction associated with ease of use compared to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods. Isothermal methods amplify nucleic acids at a constant temperature, which removes the thermal cycling requirement as used in PCR and does not require specific enzymes for spatial recognition sites in the target miRNA. A commonly used isothermal technique for miRNA detection is rolling circle amplification (RCA). In the RCA of miRNA targets, the miRNA binds to a complementary circular DNA template, which is continuously and exponentially amplified through the synthesis of long single-stranded DNA. Research with gold electrode electrochemical biosensors has shown that RCA initiated on the electrode has provided LoD levels of 50 aM. RCA's isothermal nature and ease of use allow it to be used in clinical diagnostic and resource-lacking laboratory settings and in point-of-care biosensor devices.
Optical miRNA biosensors
Upon hybridization of the target miRNA tagged with a nucleic acid probe and an optically active reporter, label-based optical biosensors transduce the absorbance or fluorescence optical signal into quantifiable data. The reporters can be either quantum dots or dye labels. On the other hand, label-free optical miRNA biosensors detect changes in the refractive index (RI) at the recognition element, which are caused by the binding of the target miRNA to its bioreceptor. The electromagnetic field probes the RI changes, characterized as an evanescent wave. The electromagnetic fields are generated by guided or resonant optical modes that travel in the transducer element. Additionally, label-free optical miRNA biosensors are insensitive to unbound or background RNA or DNA molecules, as optical detection is confined to the sensing recognition surface. This is beneficial for miRNA detection in small volumes and is an advantage over other label-based miRNA biosensors, as signal detection is based on measuring the total number of miRNA in the sample.
Surface Plasmon resonance-based optical miRNA biosensors
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based miRNA biosensors are a label-free method that detects RI changes after target miRNA binds to its probes and forms a complex. Detection involves propagating a surface plasmon wave (SPW) across the metal-dielectric interface surface layer of the biosensor in a Kretschmann configuration. The SPW decays exponentially, where the changes in the SPW propagation constant are measured as the constant is sensitive to change in the RI. A practical example of a label-based SPR-based miRNA biosensor is miR-21 detection with a LoD of 1 fM. The biosensor utilized graphene oxide–gold nanoparticles integrated with the sandwiching of the target miRNA between two DNA probes to amplify the SPR signal and have secondary hybridization through miR-21 report probes.
Electromechanical biosensors
Electromechanical biosensors represent an integration of electrical and mechanical engineering disciplines, employing a detection strategy that hinges on the hybridization of miRNAs to specific probes anchored on the sensor’s surface. Subsequent alterations in parameters such as stress or mass are then transduced into electrical signals. A notable implementation involves Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), which has successfully identified has-mir-194 and has-mir-205 in samples related to colon and bladder cancer. The underlying mechanism of this approach is AFM’s ability to delineate the variations in stiffness across the gold surface of the biosensor, facilitating the detection of miRNA hybridization events. Another pivotal component in electromechanical biosensors is the gold-coated piezoelectric cantilever sensor, which is adept at recognizing hybridized miRNA. Although electromechanical biosensors are highly sensitive to miRNAs, it is difficult to measure them in samples with high amounts of different molecules.
Nanomaterials used in miRNA biosensors
Nanomaterials are used for their unique characteristics to facilitate the detection of miRNAs. Here, we discuss some features of nanomaterials used in miRNA biosensors.
Gold nanoparticles (AuNps): AuNps enhance miRNA detection signals and facilitate the stable conjugation of recognition elements into miRNAs. AuNps have excellent catalytic properties, conductivity, high surface area and interface energy and can be modified with molecules such as oligonucleotide aggregates for high affinity binding with specific substrates.
In electrochemical miRNA biosensors, AuNps allow for ease of functionalization for electrochemical reactions that involve changes in potential, current, conductivity, or impedance in detecting target miRNA binding on the detection surface. In optical biosensors, AuNps exhibit unique and tunable optical properties beneficial for SPR miRNA biosensors. When AuNps are exposed to light, propagating surface plasmons needed for detecting receptor-bonded miRNAs are created from a resonant interaction between the electromagnetic field of light and the electron-charged oscillations on the metal surface. This is due to AuNps exhibiting a high density of conduction band electrons and its nanoparticle size allowing multiple angular shifts for more reflectance angles.
Graphene: Graphene is a member of the carbon nanomaterials family and stands out for its biocompatibility, electrical conductivity, light molecular weight, stability, and affordability, making it an exceptional choice for miRNA biosensor applications. It demonstrates excellent responsiveness to chemical, optical, and mechanical stimuli. Graphene is predominantly utilized in electrical and optical miRNA biosensors. A notable recent application involves using laser-induced self-N-doped porous graphene in miRNA biosensors, capable of detecting miRNA hsa-miR-486-5p at concentrations as low as 10 fM. This approach combines cost-effectiveness with high reproducibility, offering significant advantages for conditions like preeclampsia.
Terahertz (THz) Metamaterial with Gold Nanoparticles: THz metamaterial is artificially synthesized and designed to interact with THz frequency waves. When combined with AuNps and after binding with target miRNA, they produce higher changes in THz spectral regions. For instance, a miRNA biosensor based on these materials could detect the miRNA-21 from clinical samples with a LoD of 14.54 aM.
Technologies and principles of multiplex miRNA biosensors
Multiplex miRNA biosensors are designed to detect multiple types of miRNAs simultaneously with high specificity and sensitivity. This capability is essential for several reasons: First, it allows for detecting various miRNAs within a single sample that may contribute to disease, enabling comprehensive monitoring during treatment while facilitating high-throughput screening. Second, it can significantly reduce cost and time by allowing the simultaneous analysis of data from multiple miRNAs. Here are some recent technologies in multiplex miRNA biosensors:
DNA-PAINT based using a DNA origami-based sensor platform - this miRNA biosensor has a unique geometric barcoding system and can detect up to 4 miRNAs at the same time. The 52 nm distance intervals between strands enable the platform to distinguish between single mismatches to the LoD of 11 fM to 388 fM.
CRISPR-Multiplex Biosensor- this platform utilizes various technologies, including electrochemical microfluidics and Cas13a, to enable the amplification-free detection of eight miRNAs. It features a design with four divided channels for electrochemical analysis.
Applications
Diagnostic and prognostic applications
Since the initial discovery of miRNAs, large databases of miRNAs have been identified in humans, plants and animals. As many miRNAs are associated with disease onset and development, miRNAs are a suitable biomarker for biosensor detection in clinical settings. Considerations must be taken into account of the biological sample source for miRNA targets. Clinical miRNA sample analysis commonly comes in blood, plasma, serum, seminal fluid, saliva, urine, and tissue-derived miRNAs. In the context of cancer, biosensor detection of miRNAs is most conveniently performed in the form of liquid biopsies, as circulatory miRNAs are found in the highest abundance in liquid samples.
Point-of-Care (POC) testing
Research into POC diagnostic tests has resulted in the development of microfluidic biosensors capable of early diagnostic clinical analysis of cancer-associated miRNAs, which produce cost- and time-efficient results with increased sensitivity and specificity over traditional methods. Liquid biopsy droplet-based microfluidic biosensors can be fabricated into POC devices for ease of use by integrating with pre-existing devices and interfaces and can extend utilization beyond traditional laboratory settings and those without sophisticated instruments. An example of developments in POC testing for prostate cancer is where miR-21 in low concentrations of urine samples was detected with a limit of detection of 2 nM on screen-printed, label-based electrochemical biosensor chips. Detection was rapid, with results produced in less than two hours.
Agriculture management
Besides clinical usage, miRNA biosensors have been adapted for managing agriculture plant stress and growth and disease analysis, as plant miRNAs are associated with growth regulatory mechanisms. An example is electrochemical biosensors fabricated for detecting miR-319a, a miRNA associated with phytohormone response that regulates rice seedling growth regulation. Isothermal alkaline phosphatase catalytic signal amplification of the target miRNA strands was integrated with a three-electrode system to detect miR319a to LoD levels of 1.7 fM. AuNp label-based optical biosensors were tested for detecting miRNA-1886, an indicator of drought stress in tomato plants. They found that decreasing irrigation levels increased the concentration of miRNA-1886 at a range of 100 to 6800 fM.
Research applications
1. Molecular and cellular biology
As miRNAs are one of the main regulators of genes, detection and measuring them in cells and molecular levels can be helpful to decipher miRNA interactions with other molecules. For instance, a study by Bandi et al. found that miR-15a and miR-16 function in tumorigenesis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines. miRNA biosensors also have a significant role in the elucidation of disease mechanisms. For example, a study on cardiovascular diseases found that miRNA biosensors based on DNA tetrahedron nanostructure can recognize miR-133a in aM levels, which is helpful for further studies on myocardial infarction.
2. Drug discovery and development
Because of their high-throughput potential, miRNA biosensors can significantly accelerate drug discovery by evaluating various drugs on miRNA expression levels to observe which drug can target unregulated miRNAs in diseases. Furthermore, miRNA biosensors can monitor the expression of miRNA expression in real-time to observe which changes happen in different concentrations of drugs, and this is especially crucial in early-phase clinical trials for drug dosage optimization. In addition, by testing various miRNA expressions, researchers can discover relations between diseases and miRNAs’ expression
Limitations to miRNA biosensors
While miRNA biosensors hold considerable promise for miRNA detection, several critical challenges must be addressed:
Sensitivity and Specificity: The low abundance of miRNAs in complex biological samples, such as blood, necessitates enhancing biosensor sensitivity to detect miRNAs at levels beyond femtomolar concentrations. Additionally, due to the high sequence similarity among miRNAs, improving the specificity of these biosensors is essential to differentiate between miRNAs based on single nucleotide differences.
Sample Preparation: Extracting miRNAs from samples presents significant difficulties. The process is complex and requires optimization to ensure the purity and integrity of the miRNAs for accurate detection.
Stability of miRNA Biosensor: The stability of miRNA biosensors is compromised by environmental conditions, particularly for components like aptamers and antibodies. This issue is especially pertinent for point-of-care (POC) devices, which require robustness and longevity to be effectively used in various settings.
Standardization: A significant limitation in the field is the absence of standardized guidelines and universal reference miRNAs for comparing results across blood and plasma samples. Establishing reliable normalizers, characterized by consistent expression and stability across all samples, is crucial for accurately interpreting miRNA levels.
Addressing these challenges is essential for advancing and adopting miRNA biosensor technologies.
Future directions
The significance of miRNA in diagnostics and the recent advancements in miRNA detection from various sample sources, particularly in clinical settings, underscore the need for enhancing miRNA biosensor technologies. The future of miRNA biosensor optimization encompasses several key areas:
Furthering nanomaterial integration research: The materials, including graphene, gold nanoparticles, and quantum dots, can significantly improve the biosensors’ specificity and sensitivity, making them more effective in detecting miRNAs.
Multiplex detection: Efforts are underway to refine miRNA biosensors for the simultaneous detection of multiple miRNA types, especially those within the same family, from small-volume samples; in this regard, artificial intelligence can aid in distinguishing between miRNA types and correlating them with clinical outcomes. Such advancements would be particularly beneficial for point-of-care (POC) devices, simplifying sample preparation, enhancing user-friendliness, and enabling physicians to monitor miRNA levels in real-time remotely.
Encapsulation technologies: Encapsulation technologies aim to safeguard the biosensors’ sensitive components from environmental threats, ensuring their durability and reliability.
Standardization of miRNA research and development: The development of standardized guidelines and the identification of universal genes for miRNA expression comparison will facilitate the accurate evaluation of miRNA biosensors across different clinical scenarios.
Clinical Sample Analysis: The study of prospective and retrospective analyses of clinical samples and comparing miRNA biosensor results with those obtained via real-time qPCR and sequencing technologies can assess biosensor performance under varied clinical conditions.
These advancements suggest a focused trajectory for miRNA biosensor development, aiming at technological enhancements that promise improved diagnostic capabilities and clinical applications.
References
MicroRNA
Clinical medicine
Genomics techniques
Biomedical engineering
Medical research | MicroRNA biosensors | [
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76,172,865 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced%20Micro-Fabrication%20Equipment | Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (AMEC; ) is a partially state-owned publicly listed Chinese company that manufactures semiconductor chip production equipment. It is currently one of the largest semiconductor equipment manufacturers in China.
History
AMEC was co-founded in May 2004 by Gerald Yin who had previously worked at Applied Materials and Lam Research. Yin who was 60 at the time and thinking of retirement, was invited by a middle school classmate who was now a government official in China to come home. Yin took a group of 15 employees with to him to Shanghai to establish AMEC. Early investors in AMEC included Qualcomm and Samsung. Within three years, AMEC developed its own etching machine.
In 2007, Applied Materials filed a lawsuit against AMEC claiming that Yin and several other employees at the firm were all its former staff and were involved in patent problems. In 2010, the two companies reached a settlement where they agreed to jointly own the patent family.
In 2009, Lam Research field a patent lawsuit against AMEC in Taiwan but was dismissed by the court. In December 2010. AMEC launched a counterclaim against Lam Research in Shanghai alleging infringement of trade secrets related to plasma etching equipment. In March 2017, the court sided in favour of AMEC but Lam Research appealed the case. On 30 June 2023, the Shanghai High People's Court issued a final judgement in favour of AMEC. It was speculated AMEC's victory would allow to clear intellectual property barriers that Lam Research enacted to prevent it entering the Taiwan Market.
In 2017, Veeco filed a patent lawsuit against AMEC but in January 2018 Chinese customs detained detained Veeco's imported Metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy (MOCVD) equipment on ground its infringed AMEC's patents. The incident was seen as crucial leverage for AMEC. In February 2018, both sides reached a settlement agreement regarding the patent lawsuit.
On 22 July 2019, AMEC held its initial public offering becoming a publicly listed company on the Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market. The largest shareholders of AMEC include Shanghai Venture Capital Co., Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing and the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund.
AMEC reported in July 2022, six of its executives included Yin planned to sell no more than 2.44 million shares in the following three months. This was done for a personal demand of cash. On 7 October that year, the United States New Export Controls on Advanced Computing and Semiconductors to China came into effect and the first trading day afterwards, shares of AMEC dropped more than 19%. On that day AMEC annourced that Yin had sold 549,500 of the 6.43 million shares he owned for 74.4 million yuan (US$10.5 million) by the end of September. Prior to that announcement, Yin had never sold any of his shares after the company went public. However, despite speculations of insider trading, there was no evidence to suggest that AMEC's executives knew about the US government upcoming restriction controls when they sold their shares.
In September 2023, Yin stated that US import restrictions would have a negligible effect on AMEC's capacity to operate. 80% of imported equipment which was now restricted could be replaced but domestic alternatives by end of the year. By the second half of 2024, AMEC could resume full operational capacity due to China's drive to achieve semiconductor self-sufficiency.
On 31 January 2024, the United States Department of Defense (DOD) added AMEC to the Chinese Military Companies (CMC) list in accordance with Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. It had been previously added on 14 January 2021 before being removed from the list on 3 June 2021. AMEC stated it has no connections to the People's Liberation Army and that the list had no specific sanctions which would have a material impact on its operations. In August 2024, AMEC announced it had filed a lawsuit against the DOD for adding it to the blacklist. In December 2024, AMEC was removed from the list again.
At the start of February 2024, AMEC announced a share repurchase plan valued at 300-500 million yuan (US$41.6-69.4 million). This was seen as the company's strong confidence in China's chip making industry.
Products
AMEC's Primo Nanova etching machines cover application for 14 nm, 7 nm and 5 nm processes. It is one of the five suppliers of etching equipment for TSMC's 7 nm production lines.
See also
Semiconductor industry in China
Applied Materials
Lam Research
References
External links
2004 establishments in China
2019 initial public offerings
Companies based in Shanghai
Companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange
Electronics companies established in 2004
Equipment semiconductor companies
Government-owned companies of China
Semiconductor companies of China
Companies in the CSI 100 Index | Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment | [
"Engineering"
] | 995 | [
"Equipment semiconductor companies",
"Semiconductor fabrication equipment"
] |
76,172,926 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CWISE%20J1055%2B5443 | CWISE J1055+5443 (CWISE J105512.11+544328.3) is a (sub-)brown dwarf with the spectral type of Y0 (pec). It is around 22 light years distant from earth.
Discovery
CWISE J1055+5443 was first identified as either a WISE galaxy or dwarf candidate by Griffith et al. in 2012. CWISE J1055+5443 was independently discovered as a close brown dwarf in 2021 by Kirkpatrick et al. using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and follow-up observations using the Spitzer Space Telescope. Dan Caselden, Samuel J. Goodman and J. Davy Kirkpatrick are the discoverers of this object. Two of these are citizen scientists of the Backyard Worlds project. Originally it was estimated that this object is a subdwarf with the spectral type T8. The spectral type was uncertain at that time. Follow-up observations with Keck/NIRES found it to be a nearby and unusual blue Y-dwarf.
Physical properties
A Spitzer follow-up program found a parallax of 145.0 ± 14.7 mas, which corresponds to a close distance of around 7 parsec.
The follow-up paper found that the J-band spectrum matches well with the Y0 standard. The spectrum in the YJHK bands do on the other hand not match with any standard. Ammonia (NH3) and methane (CH4) abundances, as well as Spitzer ch2 (4.5 μm) magnitude also match an early Y-type object. Absorption due to water vapor (H2O) was also detected in the spectrum. CWISE J1055+5443 shows peculiar colors. It is one of the reddest object in WISE W2-W3 colors and the Spitzer color (ch1−ch2 = 1.84 ±0.04) is the bluest among spectroscopically confirmed Y-dwarfs. Only the unconfirmed metal-poor Y-dwarf candidate WISE 1534–1043 is bluer at this wavelength.
The spectrum was compared to LOWZ models and Sonora Bobcat grid, but no satisfactory model fit was achieved. The best fits require a low surface gravity and it is suspected that models with an even lower gravity are required to produce a better fit. A low gravity is often seen as an indicator for a low mass and a young age for brown dwarfs. Using the astrometry of CWISE J1055+5443 the researchers found that it has a 98.2% probability to belong to the nearby candidate moving group Crius 197, which contains 10 young stars and is about 180 ± 9 Myr old. Assuming this group is real and CWISE J1055+5443 is a member of this group, then it would have a mass of 4–6 . The membership to this group and potential young age of CWISE J1055+5443 is not certain and follow-up observations are needed to confirm this.
See also
List of Y-dwarfs
List of star systems within 20–25 light-years
List of nearby stellar associations and moving groups
References
Brown dwarfs
Y-type brown dwarfs
Ursa Major
Astronomical objects discovered in 2012
WISE objects
Rogue planets | CWISE J1055+5443 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 671 | [
"Ursa Major",
"Constellations"
] |
71,825,654 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogenous%20ooze | Biogenous ooze is marine sediment that accumulates on the seafloor and is a byproduct of the death and sink of the skeletal remains of marine organisms.
Formation and composition
Biogenous ooze consists of organic compounds, usually in the form of microorganism tests that fall from closer to the ocean surface to the ocean floor after death. For marine sediment to receive this classification, it must be composed of more than 30% skeletal material which also includes teeth and shells.
Types of biogenous sediments
The two primary types of ooze are siliceous, which is composed primarily of silica (), and calcareous or carbonate, which is mostly calcium carbonate (). In an area in which biogenous is the dominant sediment type, the composition of microorganisms in that location determines to which category it is classified. The primary types of microorganisms used to classify ooze are radiolarians and diatoms (siliceous), and coccolithophores and foraminifera (calcareous). The presence of these organisms can lead to sub-classifications based upon their dominance.
Siliceous
Along some areas of terrigenous sediment are siliceous ooze. This is due to siliceous ooze being more abundant in areas of cooler, more nutrient rich water. The nutrients allow for the abundant growth of microorganisms, and silica dissolves slower in cooler water, allowing adequate time for deposition.
Radiolarians and diatoms are the primary plankton used to classify siliceous ooze. Radiolaria is a part of a diverse group of plankton with transparent skeletons and come in a variety of shapes. They range in size from . They are most abundant in regions near the equator as well as subpolar regions. Diatoms are single-celled siliceous algae that are a major part of phytoplankton. They come in pinnate and centric shapes and range in size from .
Siliceous oozes lean towards dissolution in warmer waters with lower pressures, meaning they are best preserved in deep ocean.
Calcareous
Calcareous sediments are more common in the deep ocean, comprising about half of its surface area. However, the deepest parts of the ocean are dominated by abyssal clay instead.
Calcareous debris are mostly composed of forminiferal ooze and make about almost 50% of sediments on the seafloor. Calcareous oozes also have a terrigenous fraction made up of quartz and clay minerals.
This is because calcareous ooze is limited by the calcite compensation depth (CCD). The CCD refers to the depth at which the rate of supply of calcareous deposits equal the rate of dissolution and varies around the world and is based upon temperature. The CCD occurs at approximately 4000-5000 meters deep because calcium carbonate dissolves faster in cooler water, so as water temperature decreases with depth, its deposition rate also decreases. The temperature dependence also means that calcareous ooze is more likely to be present in warmer waters, which also leads to its dominance in shallow areas surrounding tropical and subtropical islands that do not have much terrigenous sediment runoff.
Another important depth is the lysocline, also known as the depth where well preserved calcareous grain are separated from poorly preserved ones. The lysocline occurs at approximately deep. Calcareous grains above the lysocline are able to accumulate without threat of dissolution.
Distribution
Despite the common association between shallow water and high productivity, biogenous ooze is not as common around continental shelves. This is due to the transport of terrigenous sediments by methods such as rivers and wind from the continents. The terrigenous sediment buries most accumulated organic material, preventing enough biological material from being present for it to be classified as biogenous.
Distribution of biogenous sediments is determined by three factors:
Distance from continents and land masses, the closer these sediments are to land masses the higher the likelihood of being diluted by terrigenous materials
Water depth, which affects the likelihood of preservation of the sediments
Ocean fertility, which helps dictate productivity in surface oceans
Accumulation rate of biogenous ooze is about 1cm per 1000 years.
Determination of climate history
In the fields of paleoceanography and paleoclimatology, biogenous ooze and other pelagic sediments can be collected form the seafloor and used to reconstruct Earth's climate for the last 100 million years.
Reconstruction can be done through analysis of biogeography, stable isotopes along with important oxygen and carbon isotopes.
References
Oceanography
Sediments
Sedimentary rocks | Biogenous ooze | [
"Physics",
"Environmental_science"
] | 975 | [
"Oceanography",
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71,826,704 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxime%20V | Oxime V is a chemical compound that has been studied as a potential sweetener. Oxime V was first reported in 1976 as a synthetic analog of the artificial sweetener perillartine. It is about 450 times as sweet as sucrose and is more water-soluble than perillartine. Its metabolism and toxicology have been investigated, and it has been found to have promising properties, but it is not currently marketed.
In 2022, oxime V was identified in citrus.
References
Aldoximes
Sugar substitutes | Oxime V | [
"Chemistry"
] | 108 | [] |
71,828,364 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil%20Vasdev | Neil Vasdev is a Canadian and American radiochemist and expert in nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, particularly in the application of PET. Radiotracers developed by the Vasdev Lab are in preclinical use worldwide, and many have been translated for first-in-human neuroimaging studies. He is the director and chief radiochemist of the Brain Health Imaging Centre and director of the Azrieli Centre for Neuro-Radiochemistry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He is the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Radiochemistry and Nuclear Medicine, the endowed Azrieli Chair in Brain and Behaviour and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Vasdev has been featured on Global News, CTV, CNN, New York Times, Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail for his innovative research program.
Vasdev began his independent faculty career at CAMH/University of Toronto in 2004. From 2011–2017 he served as the director of radiochemistry and an associate centre director at the Massachusetts General Hospital and served as an associate professor in the department of radiology at Harvard Medical School from 2012–2022. He was recruited back to CAMH and the University of Toronto in November 2017.
Life and education
Vasdev grew up in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. He attended Oakville Trafalgar High School and graduated from McMaster University in 1998 with double bachelor degrees, summa cum laude, Hon. BSc in chemistry and B.A. in psychology. He concurrently worked as chemist at Astra Pharma and Glaxo-Wellcome. He then earned his Doctorate of Chemistry, supported by NSERC, at McMaster University in 2003, under the supervision of Professors Raman Chirakal and Gary J. Schrobilgen. He continued training with a NSERC postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Functional Imaging at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, mentored by Henry F. VanBrocklin.
Honours and awards
Scholarly and academic awards of Vasdev's career include:
Fellow of Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging in 2021, for his distinguished service to the Society, and exceptional achievement in the field of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging.
Fellow of American Chemical Society in 2020, for his outstanding achievements and contributions to science, the profession and the Society.
Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry in 2020, for his impact to the field of chemical sciences
Research award of John R. Evans Leaders Fund 2019–2024 (specialty: Radiochemistry) from Canada Foundation for Innovation. This funding supports his proposal: "Automated apparatus for PET radiopharmaceuticals to image the living human brain"
Research award of Endowed Azrieli Chair in Brain and Behaviour 2018–2023 (Specialty: Neuroimaging) from University of Toronto.
Research Award of Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Radiochemistry and Nuclear Medicine 2017–2024 (specialty: Radiochemistry and Nuclear Medicine) from Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).
Leaders Opportunity Fund (Research Infrastructure) 2009–2014 (specialty: Radiochemistry) from Canadian Foundation for Innovation.
Research statements
Iodonium ylide precursors for 18F-labeling
Current methods to radiofluorinate non-activated aromatic rings are generally limited to esoteric electrophilic [18F]F2 reactions, transition-metal mediated, or iodonium salt based methods. The Vasdev Lab has a long-established history of labeling non-activated aromatics and recently discovered a simple synthetic strategy for incorporating [18F]fluoride into non-activated aromatic molecules using spirocyclic iodoium ylide based precursors. Based on their paper in Nature Communications, a patent has been licensed by the pharmaceutical industry to employ this method for the synthesis of radiopharmaceuticals in humans. Hence, the iodonium ylide technology for fluorination represents a major advance for PET imaging.
11C-fixation strategies
There is a need for new methods of 11C radiosynthesis because current methods are largely limited to methylation. The Vasdev lab has co-developed new techniques of 11CO2 fixation that are suitable for human use with diverse precursors synthesized by labeling at the carbonyl group (rather than the common methyl group). This methodology can label 11C-carbamates for imaging the enzyme FAAH ([11C]CURB) or 11C-oxazolidinones for imaging MAO-B (11C-SL25.1188), both of which they have translated for human use. They have also synthesized 11C-ureas and a 11C-carboxylic acid (11C-Bexarotene).
New PET radiopharmaceuticals for Alzheimer's disease and brain injuries
Vasdev has introduced new radiochemical methods and radiopharmaceuticals for imaging the living human brain. The Vasdev Lab is exploring new ways to image neuroinflammation and tau protein. He is the co-inventor of the method patent for the first and only FDA-approved tau-PET radiopharmaceutical Tauvid that has been employed worldwide to image patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias, as well as patients with symptomatic traumatic brain injuries, including professional athletes and military veterans. The Vasdev Lab is partnering with Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada and the Canadian Military to work on the Project Enlist to study whether some military training exercises could be negatively impacting long-term brain health. “We are getting very close to advancing new radio tracers in humans to image the tau that is more prevalent in C.T.E.”.
Selected publications
Vasdev has over 10 families of patents and has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers including:
References
External links
Canadian psychiatrists
Fellows of the American Chemical Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory people
Living people
McMaster University alumni
Neuroimaging researchers
Radiochemistry
Academic staff of the University of Toronto
Year of birth missing (living people) | Neil Vasdev | [
"Chemistry"
] | 1,251 | [
"Radiochemistry",
"Radioactivity"
] |
71,831,510 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebivolol/valsartan | Nebivolol/valsartan, sold under the brand name Byvalson among others, is a medication used to treat hypertension.
It is available as a generic medication.
References
Further reading
External links
Combination antihypertensive drugs
Angiotensin II receptor antagonists | Nebivolol/valsartan | [
"Chemistry"
] | 60 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs"
] |
71,831,639 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isosulfan%20blue | Isosulfan blue, sold under the brand name Lymphazurin among others, is a contrast agent medication used to delineate the lymphatic vessels during a lymphography procedure.
References
External links
Radiocontrast agents | Isosulfan blue | [
"Chemistry"
] | 52 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs"
] |
71,835,165 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface%20Pro%209 | The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is a 2-in-1 detachable tablet computer developed by Microsoft to supersede the Surface Pro 8 and Surface Pro X, merging both brands. The device was announced on October 12, 2022 introducing two new colors and alongside the Surface Laptop 5 and Surface Studio 2+. The tablet is powered by the new Windows 11 operating system, and features 12th generation Intel Core processors or the ARM-based Microsoft SQ3 processor on 5G models.
Configurations
Hardware
The Surface Pro 9 is the 11th addition to the Surface Pro line and merges the Surface Pro and Surface Pro X brands.
Powered by Evo 12th Generation Intel Core or Qualcomm Snapdragon processors.
5G connectivity with nano SIM card slot for Qualcomm Snapdragon models.
Up to 15.5 hours of battery life with an Intel Processor and up to 19 hours with a Qualcomm processor.
13-inch touchscreen at 267 PPI, 3:2 aspect ratio, and 120 Hz refresh rate
2 USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4
Up to 1 TB of SSD storage.
Up to 32 GB of memory
4K video camera support.
Timeline
Notes
References
Tablet computers introduced in 2022
Microsoft Surface
2-in-1 PCs | Surface Pro 9 | [
"Technology"
] | 256 | [
"Computing stubs",
"2-in-1 PCs",
"Computer hardware stubs",
"Crossover devices"
] |
71,836,356 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia%20Dotto | Lydia Dotto (1949–2022) was a Canadian science journalist and author, a wildlife photographer, and an educator on science communication.
Career
Dotto was a journalist with the Edmonton Journal in 1969 and with the Toronto Star between 1970 and 1971. She graduated with an Honours degree from Carleton University School of Journalism in 1971. Her articles were published in The Globe and Mail, Canadian Business and en Route among others.
Dotto was staff science writer for The Globe and Mail from 1972-1978. Her writing on nuclear terrorism, high-energy physics, global warming and other topics earned awards from the Canadian Science Writers' Association. She completed two dives under the Arctic ice for an article on cold-water diving. She covered space missions including Skylab, Apollo, the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. She was the first female member of the press corps permitted aboard the aircraft carrier to cover the splashdown of Skylab 4 astronauts.
Dotto's association with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency continued even after leaving The Globe and Mail, in part through her rapport with astronauts Chris Hadfield and Marc Garneau. She held interviews with Canadian astronauts and participated in a zero-gravity training flight at the Johnson Space Centre. Through her skills and sources, Dotto published books and articles on space and the environment to become a leading freelance science writer and environmental journalist (see Bibliography).
Dotto was President of the Canadian Science Writers' Association from 1979-1980 and executive editor of Canadian Science News Service from 1982-1992. For her accomplishments, she was awarded the Sandford Fleming Medal for science communication by the Royal Canadian Institute in 1983. She was chosen to give a talk on "Planet Earth as a Life Support System" for the 1990 Royal Astronomical Society of Canada General Assembly.
The year she turned 65, Dotto shifted her focus to wildlife photography. Wildlife magazines published her pictures from Canada, Costa Rica, Tanzania and elsewhere. Starting in 2005, Dotto taught environmental communication at Trent University close to her home in Peterborough, Ontario and led science writing and communication workshops.
Personal life
Lydia Dotto was born to August and Assunta Dotto in Cadomin, Alberta, moving to Edmonton when she was a few years old. She has a younger sister, Terry.
Dotto attended the first Beatles concert in Canada at Empire Stadium in Vancouver and was a lifelong Beatles fan.
Lydia graduated from Austin O'Brien Catholic High School in 1968.
In her online art store, Dotto stated "I enjoy merging diverse artistic paths, never knowing where they will take me but always enjoying the journey".
Death and legacy
Lydia Dotto died in 2022 in Peterborough with her family by her side. Her archives are held by and available for research in Special Collections & Archives at the University of Waterloo.
Bibliography
Conference Report:
French Translation: Le ciel nous tombe sur la tête: sommes-nous entrain de risquer le climat de notre planète? (2001)
Encyclopedia Article: Canadian Space Agency
References
Canadian newspaper journalists
Women science writers
Canadian science writers
Canadian science journalists
1949 births
2022 deaths
Canadian women journalists | Lydia Dotto | [
"Technology"
] | 632 | [
"Women science writers",
"Women in science and technology"
] |
71,836,696 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rurouni%20Kenshin%20%282023%20TV%20series%29 | is a Japanese anime television series, based on Nobuhiro Watsuki's manga series Rurouni Kenshin. It is the second anime television series adaptation after the 1996–98 series. Animated by Liden Films, the series' first season, which was directed and storyboarded by Hideyo Yamamoto, aired from July to December 2023 on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. A second season, subtitled Kyoto Disturbance and directed by Yuki Komada, premiered in October 2024.
Premise
In the Meiji era in Japan, Himura Kenshin is a pacifistic swordsman, wandering the country and helping people with his swordsmanship skills. Once a deadly and feared political assassin known as Hitokiri Battōsai, he has since led a path of peace, wielding a reverse-bladed sword, known as , in a vow to never again take another life.
Voice cast
Production
On December 19, 2021, at the Jump Festa '22 event, it was announced that a new television series adaptation of the Rurouni Kenshin manga would be animated by Liden Films. A promotional video was shown at the Aniplex Online Fest 2022 on September 24, 2022. The series re-adapts the original manga story. It is directed by Hideyo Yamamoto, with scripts written by Hideyuki Kurata, character designs by , and music composed by . The original manga author, Nobuhiro Watsuki, supervised the character designs and scenario.
Yamamoto said that he used to watch all Rurouni Kenshin works during his youth, and was in particular impressed by the original video animations for its different artwork. He came to think the main appeal of the series was how the series showed people's lives in the Meiji era and how Kenshin not only fought enemies but also helped them redeem from their crimes while interacting with them. The latter was further noted to make Kenshin as a man every viewer wants to be like. From the beginning, he was thinking that he wanted to show "a way of foreshadowing" but wanted the details to be subtle, similar to the dramas that often air next to Kenshin. In contrast to the more comical original work, Yamamoto aimed to make the narrative more serious and avoid slapstick or superdeformed designs in order to make it more realistic. In animating the work, they used 3DCG with 3-D models of the rooms, fitting for the modern age. Horse carriages were animated through CGI as they were a common vehicle used in the Meiji. In regards to the action, the animation was given a more unique style for the fight scenes. The designs were made by Nishii under supervision by Yamamoto and Watsuki. Careful detail was given to the kimono and other clothing featured in the anime.
Among many supervisions of the series, and Watsuki aimed to make it fitting for the Reiwa era as well as accessible to both newcomers and returning audience. The story arc involving Raijuta was revised in order to be improved in the 2023 anime. Kurosaki in particular revised the scripts of the Raijuta episodes. Kurata came up with new ideas to revisit Sanosuke's backstory in order to bring further depth to the character. Meetings were done in order to supervise most episodes. While the clothing remained the same, the way bodies are drawn were revised due to improvements from the graphic style from the manga and 1990s version. Soma Saito was chosen because the staff found him fitting to portray both the gentle and rude demeanors of Kenshin. After the musical based on the manga was done, the staff found the manga very comical and wanted to generate different style with the new anime, to the point Kenshin no longer says his expression of "Oro?" meant to sound as comic relief to his reactions in jokes. Nevertheless, there was still a desire to keep some comical scenes.
Kenshin's voice actor, Soma Saito, said he was a fan of the series ever since he was a child and looks forward to creating his own take of Kenshin. Meanwhile, Kaoru's voice actress, Rie Takahashi, was surprised she was selected to voice the heroine and, similar to Saito, wanted to create an appealing version of Karou. Other main voice actors include Makoto Koichi, Yahiko's voice actor, who commented that she aimed to portray his passionate spirit, and Taku Yashiro, Sanosuke's voice actor, who expressed that he aimed to portray various aspects of his personality, such as his "straightness, youthfulness, roughness, strength, and warmth."
On December 16, 2023, a second season, subtitled , was announced at Jump Festa '24. Yuki Komada replaced Yamamoto for the second season, while Kazuo Watanabe (first season's sub-character designer and chief animation director) joined Nishii for the character designs.
Release
The first season of Rurouni Kenshin ran for two consecutive cours, for a total of 24 episodes aired from July 7 to December 15, 2023, on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. For the first season, the first opening theme is , performed by Ayase and (under the name Ayase×R-Shitei), while the ending theme is , performed by Reol. The second opening theme is , performed by Masaki Suda and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (under the name Masaki Suda×Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra), while the second ending theme is , performed by Kid Phenomenon. The episodes were collected by Aniplex on eight DVDs and Blu-ray sets; the first volume was released on October 25, 2023, and the last one on May 29, 2024.
Following the first season's finale, it was announced that the series was renewed for a second season. Subtitled Kyoto Disturbance, it premiered on October 4, 2024, on the same programming block, and is set to run for two consecutive cours. For the second season, the first opening theme is "Chained" (also known as ), performed by Tatsuya Kitani and (under the name Tatsuya Kitani×Natori), while the first ending theme is , performed by . The second opening theme is "Burn", performed by Yama and (under the name Yama×WurtS), while the second ending theme is , performed by .
Aniplex of America screened the U.S. premiere for the series at the 2023 Anime Expo on July 3 in the Main Events stage of the Los Angeles Convention Center. A conversation between Aniplex producer Masami Niwa and voice actors Soma Saito and Rie Takahashi followed the screening. Crunchyroll is streaming the series outside of Asia. An English dub premiered on October 15, 2023, although neither Aniplex of America nor Crunchyroll revealed the cast. The English dub for the second season premiered on October 24, 2024.
Episodes
Season 1 (2023)
Season 2
Home media release
Season 1
Season 2
Notes
References
External links
Rurouni Kenshin
Anime reboots
Anime series based on manga
Aniplex
Fiction set in 1878
Historical anime and manga
Liden Films
Meiji era in fiction
Noitamina
Samurai in anime and manga
Television series set in the 1870s
Television shows set in Japan
Works about atonement | Rurouni Kenshin (2023 TV series) | [
"Biology"
] | 1,520 | [
"Behavior",
"Works about atonement",
"Works about behavior"
] |
71,840,293 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Height%20above%20mean%20sea%20level | Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level varies in different countries due to different reference points and historic measurement periods. Climate change and other forces can cause sea levels and elevations to vary over time.
Uses
Elevation or altitude above sea level is a standard measurement for:
Geographic locations such as towns, mountains and other landmarks.
The top of buildings and other structures.
Mining infrastructure, particularly underground.
Flying objects such as airplanes or helicopters below a Transition Altitude defined by local regulations.
Units and abbreviations
Elevation or altitude is generally expressed as "metres above mean sea level" in the metric system, or "feet above mean sea level" in United States customary and imperial units. Common abbreviations in English are:
AMSL – above mean sea level
ASL – above sea level
FAMSL – feet above mean sea level
FASL – feet above sea level
MAMSL – metres above mean sea level
MASL – metres above sea level
MSL – mean sea level
For elevations or altitudes, often just the abbreviation MSL is used, e.g., Mount Everest (8849 m MSL), or the reference to sea level is omitted completely, e.g., Mount Everest (8849 m).
Methods of measurement
Altimetry is the measurement of altitude or elevation above sea level. Common techniques are:
Surveying, especially levelling.
Global Navigation Satellite System (such as GPS), where a receiver determines a location from pseudoranges to multiple satellites. A geoid is needed to convert the 3D position to sea-level elevation.
Pressure altimeter measuring atmospheric pressure, which decreases as altitude increases. Since atmospheric pressure varies with the weather, too, a recent local measure of the pressure at a known altitude is needed to calibrate the altimeter.
Stereoscopy in aerial photography.
Aerial lidar and satellite laser altimetry.
Aerial or satellite radar altimetry.
Accurate measurement of historical mean sea levels is complex. Land mass subsidence (as occurs naturally in some regions) can give the appearance of rising sea levels. Conversely, markings on land masses that are uplifted (due to geological processes) can suggest a relative lowering of mean sea level.
See also
Depth below seafloor
Height above average terrain
Height above ground level
List of places on land with elevations below sea level
References
Geography terminology
Geodesy
Topography
Altitudes in aviation
Vertical position
Vertical datums | Height above mean sea level | [
"Physics",
"Mathematics"
] | 525 | [
"Vertical position",
"Physical quantities",
"Distance",
"Applied mathematics",
"Geodesy"
] |
71,840,325 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das%20Plakat%20%28magazine%29 | Das Plakat () was a design and art magazine published from 1910 to 1922 in Berlin, Weimar Germany. It was one of the early and influential publications on the art of posters and commercial art.
History and profile
Das Plakat was started by Hans Sachs in 1910. Its founding publisher was the Verlag Das Plakat based in Berlin. Between 1912 and 1921 it was published by Verlag Max Chiliburger. The company was managed by Hans Sachs on instruction of the Verein der Plakatfreunde (German: Association of friends of the poster) as the official media outlet of the association. Sachs also edited the magazine which focused on the production of posters. It also published the early examples of the political pictorial maps in November 1915. These were the reproductions of two political cartoon maps of Europe which had been produced by Paul Hadol in 1870 and by Walter Trier. Heinrich Inheim and Ernst Carl Bauer were among its contributors.
Das Plakat sold only 200 copies at the beginning, but later it managed to sell 5,000 copies. It ceased publication in 1922.
References
External links
1910 establishments in Germany
1922 disestablishments in Germany
Defunct magazines published in Germany
Design magazines
German-language magazines
Magazines established in 1910
Magazines disestablished in 1922
Magazines published in Berlin
Professional and trade magazines
Visual arts magazines published in Germany | Das Plakat (magazine) | [
"Engineering"
] | 273 | [
"Design magazines",
"Design"
] |
59,572,014 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN-22 | SN-22 is a chemical compound which acts as a moderately selective agonist at the 5-HT2 family of serotonin receptors, with a Ki of 19 nM at 5-HT2 subtypes versus 514 nM at 5-HT1A receptors. Many related derivatives are known, most of which are ligands for 5-HT1A, 5-HT6 or dopamine D2 receptors or show SSRI activity.
See also
BRL-54443
LY-334370
LY-367,265
MPMI
MPTP
Naratriptan
N,N-Dimethyltryptamine
RU-24969
Sertindole
References
Serotonin receptor agonists | SN-22 | [
"Chemistry"
] | 153 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs"
] |
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