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68,886,251 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof%20of%20identity%20%28blockchain%20consensus%29 | Proof of identity (PoID) is a consensus protocol for permission-less blockchains, in which each uniquely identified individual receives one equal unit of voting power and associated rewards (minting token). The protocol is based on biometric identification, humanity identification parties and additional verification parties.
The proof of identity supersedes the approach of proof of work and proof of stake which distribute voting power and rewards to participants according to their investment in some activity or resource and introduces the opportunity to create a universal basic income (UBI) for individuals.
The proof of identity solves the problem with the proof of personhood in which individuals are requested to attend recurrent pseudonymous parties and creates a network that is permanently secured and censorship resilient.
Background
Currently used proofs of investment
In a permission-less network, some kind of proof is required to prevent Sybil attacks, i.e., the event in which an attacker gains control over the transactions of the network by creating multiple users generated with a malicious script.
The most common methods to prevent Sybil attacks are proofs of investment (proof of work, proof of stake) that require participants of the network to invest in some activity or resource as evidence of genuine involvement in the chain.
The growing criticism over this approach is that voting power and rewards are not distributed equally among individuals but instead, big holders/corporations benefit the most from the network.
Proof of investment blockchains are thus prone to the formation of oligarchies and marginally appeal to small investors/holders who receive minimal rewards. In the case of proof of work, there are additional sustainability concerns over the amount of electrical energy wasted as proof.
The idea of having a "unique identity system" as a consensus protocol for cryptocurrencies, which would give each human user one and only one anti-Sybil participation token, was initially proposed in 2014 by Vitalik Buterin.
The proof of personhood
In contrast with proofs of investment, proof of personhood aims to allocate to each individual one equal unit of voting power and its associated reward.
In the PoP protocol, each individual is required to demonstrate his humanity and uniqueness regardless of his identity by attending a pseudonymous party. To preserve privacy, attendances to parties are anonymous and individuals can wear masks or hide their appearance.
Whilst the PoP protocol achieves the goal of democratizing blockchain networks, some criticisms have been raised over the recurrent nature of PoP parties and more specifically:
To avoid multiple attendances to pseudonymous parties, each individual has to attend a new party every time the network expands; this suggests the process will be endless or will leave out those individuals unable to attend the last round of parties.
Because there is no control over the creation of PoP parties and anyone can organize them, more study should be conducted to rule out the possibility for an attacker to create a high number of parties with the intent of populating one or more parties entirely with forgeries and hence gaining a considerable number of minting tokens.
Because of the recurrent nature of pseudonymous parties, the PoP network does not guarantee the creation of a value stable in time. Any epoch can be better or worse than the previous one, so the network is possibly exposed to censorship and instability.
Other protocols
Some other protocols based on the use of national IDs, online face recognition CAPTCHA solving, and social network identification, have been also proposed; however, in general, they are deemed not secure enough against the threats posed by AI engines’ capacity to create spoofed identities when a banking security level is to be attained.
Biometric data-based proofs
The proof of UniqueID
To avoid the problems associated with the recurrent nature of PoP parties and strengthen identification methods against spoofed identities, the use of biometric identification and data storage of individuals/minters were introduced. The first comprehensive study was proposed in June 2018.
According to the white paper, individuals are biometrically identified in person by local verifiers. Then their data are encrypted using a trusted setup and recorded in the blockchain.
The system relies on the Ethereum blockchain for the execution of a set of smart contracts.
The protocol also proposes the use of CAPTCHA parties and the involvement of trusted, famous people to strengthen the system against Sybil attacks.
The proof of UniqueID achieves the goal of assigning one minting token to each identified individual while not requiring attendance to multiple recurrent PoP parties; however, there are some challenges and possible criticisms to consider under this proposal:
The reliance on the Ethereum blockchain ultimately ties down the security of the system to the security of the Ethereum blockchain and may present serious technical challenges.
A trusted setup for biometric data encryption may not guarantee the privacy of users against a governmental request of data disclosure. This seems to significantly penalize the censorship resistance of the system.
There is no certainty against the future possibility that AI engines will be able to solve CAPTCHAs.
Additional investigation and study may be required to rule out the possibility of carrying out a Sybil attack under this protocol. In fact, it is possible to figure out a scenario in which initial parties are kicked off by a colluding group, or a group of legit verifiers collude with each other and start to generate identity forgeries, particularly in remote locations (e.g., Papua New Guinea). Once spoofed identities successfully infiltrate the system there are no procedures in place to detect them.
The proof of identity
The proof of identity protocol proposes to overcome the possibility of biometric spoofed identities and collusions between participants using an AI engine stored in the blockchain which randomly organizes humanity identification parties and constantly computes the possibility of cheats for each individual/area/country which triggers additional verification parties either in a pyramid scheme or in a random way.
The identification procedure requires each party attendee to perform a face recognition of all others to establish the principle “everyone or no one is cheating,” which ultimately requires attackers to collude globally to avoid being discovered.
The protocol also introduces a new proposal to preserve the privacy of individuals: biometric data are stored partially encrypted. The amount of public data stored in the blockchain is enough to avoid a good number of biometric collisions, but it is not enough to securely identify a person.
Once biometric collisions occur, minters are requested by the system to temporarily disclose their encryption key. The system can be implemented according to CanDID methodology.
The proof of identity addresses the problems with the proof of personhood and UniqueID, however, there are some challenges and possible criticisms to consider:
The amount of data to store in the blockchain is considerable and may require some daily downtime for cohort leader servers to reboot.
The system includes the creation of a PoID global organization that facilitates the kick-off of identification venues and rules out rare biometric disputes. This may be seen as a center of authority.
Summary of the main protocols based on individuals
The following table summarizes the characteristics of the three main individuals-based protocols:
The proof of identity protocol
The proof of identity protocol combines state of the art of 3D mapping face recognition technologies, the attendance to humanity identification parties, and the decentralized (stored in the blockchain) supervision of an AI engine that randomly forms parties and carries on organizing additional verification parties to rule out any possible cheating.
The protocol is summarized in the following scheme:
Humanity identification/verification parties are designed in a way to enforce the principle: “everyone or no one is cheating,” ruling out the possibility of having a party formed by honest individuals and spoofed identities at the same time:
Individuals gather in the identification venue (fig. 1) randomly assigned by the AI engine.
Individuals are requested to firstly confirm the number of attendees and then to perform the face recognition of all others using their minting app.
One or more verifiers coming from remote locations attend the party in incognito
Parties kick off in a region once there are enough online data submissions and sufficient interoperability of verifiers. The process includes a public offer to interested “identification entrepreneurs” who are willing to make identification venues available; the PoID global organization facilitates the procedure.
Biometric disputes are very rare in the PoID because the 3D face-mapping technology is able to differentiate close biometric twins, however, the PoID Global Organization is able to rule out rare possible disputes while not constituting a significant center of authority in the system.
Additional verification parties are run by the PoID AI engine to check the status of the ecosystem and by leveraging the principle “everyone or no one is cheating” identity forgeries are discovered by forming verification parties in a pyramid mode, i.e., higher level of parties are made of individuals coming from single lower-level parties. The AI engine also searches for cheats and computes their probability in a random way/outside the principle of “everyone or no one is cheating.”
Use cases for the proof of identity network
The proof of identity consensus protocol has the prerogatives of being:
Non-quantitative: once the network is sufficiently populated, any blockchain/cryptocurrency can join the network and have its blocks validated by the PoID.
Permanently secured against Sybil attacks: the PoID security is based on the impossibility for an attacker to create identity forgeries.
Permanently censorship resilient: because of the high level of distribution and decentralization and the privacy of the minters, the PoID is marginally affected by censorship.
These conditions suggest the possibility for the PoID to become a globally used consensus protocol aggregating all blockchains/cryptocurrencies under the same network.
The second notable use is the creation of a universal basic income for individuals.
A third possible use is to create a direct instrument for democratic participation; in fact, the PoID is made of securely and uniquely identified individuals, which is the necessary requirement to run referendums and surveys.
References
Turing tests
Cryptography
Cryptocurrencies
Blockchains | Proof of identity (blockchain consensus) | [
"Mathematics",
"Engineering"
] | 2,061 | [
"Cybersecurity engineering",
"Cryptography",
"Applied mathematics",
"Artificial intelligence engineering",
"Turing tests"
] |
68,886,886 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81ngel%20Rubio | Ángel Rubio (born 27 September 1965 in Oviedo) is a Spanish theoretical physicist and director at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Hamburg. Rubio is also a Distinguished Research Scientist in computational quantum physics at the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute in New York City. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Physical Society.
Life
Rubio studied physics at the University of Valladolid, which awarded him a licenciatura in 1988 and a doctorate in 1991. After working as an assistant professor (Profesor Titular Interino de Universidad) at Valladolid for a year, he went to the University of California at Berkeley as a postdoctoral fellow in October 1992, where he remained until 1994. He then returned to Valladolid as an Assistant Professor (Profesor Titular de Universidad). In 2001, he moved to the University of the Basque Country in San Sebastián, where he has held a professorship since April 2001 and leads a research group on nano-bio-spectroscopy.
Rubio's research stays abroad as a visiting professor have included stints at the Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés of the École polytechnique in Palaiseau (2000-2001), the Free University of Berlin (2005 as well as 2006-2007), the University of Montpellier II (2007), and the University of California at Berkeley in 2014.
At the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, Rubio was a Distinguished Visiting Scientist from 2009 to 2011. In November 2011, he became an external scientific member and leader of the Theoretical Spectroscopy group.
In November 2014, Rubio became the Director and Head of the Theory Department at the Max Planck Institute for Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Hamburg, Germany. Since June 2016, he has been a professor at the University of Hamburg. In 2017, he became a Distinguished Research Scientist at the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Flatiron Institute research division of the Simons Foundation in New York City.
Research
Rubio's research concerns theoretical solid-state physics, in particular the theory and modeling of the properties of solids and nanostructures, with a focus on Carbon nanotubes, nanowires, and particularly semiconductor clusters under the influence of electromagnetic fields.
Rubio and his collaborators work using numerical methods. Areas of work include developments in many-particle theory and time-dependent density functional theory, including ab-initio descriptions of electronic excitations, optical spectroscopy and ultrafast spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, as well as the characterization of the electronic and optical properties of nanostructures.
He is acknowledged as a pioneer and leader in the area of computational materials physics and one of the founders of modern "theoretical spectroscopy". He is also the originator of the widely used ab initio open-source project "Octopus." He pioneered the development of "quantum electrodynamical density functional theory," focusing on the prediction and characterization of new non-equilibrium states of matter and the modeling of strong light-matter interaction phenomena in materials, nanostructures and molecules.
Honors and awards
2021: Fellow of the European Physical Society, EU
2020: Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences, EU
2018: Max Born Medal and Prize, Germany / UK
2016: Election to the Academia Europaea, EU
2016 Medal of the Real Sociedad Española de Física, Spain
2014: Election to the National Academy of Sciences, US
2014 Premio Rey Jaime I de Investigación Básica, Spain
2014 Foreign Associate Member of the National Academy of Sciences, US
2014 Miller Visiting Professor, University of California at Berkeley, US
2010: Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, US
2006: XVI Dupont Prize in Nanotechnology, Spain
2005: Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation), Germany
2004:Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), USA
2004: Sir Allan Sewell Fellow, Griffith University, Australia
Publications
Rubio is the author of more than 540 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He has been the co-editor of several conference proceedings and textbooks. , he has a Google Scholar h-index of 135 and of 99 on Web of Science.
References
External links
Group Leader: Professor Angel Rubio
Biography at Max Planck Institute
Biography at Simons Foundation
20th-century Spanish physicists
21st-century Spanish physicists
Living people
Theoretical physicists
Max Planck Society people
Academic staff of the University of Hamburg
1965 births
University of Valladolid alumni
Max Planck Institute directors
Academic staff of the University of Valladolid
People from Oviedo
Academic staff of the University of the Basque Country | Ángel Rubio | [
"Physics"
] | 966 | [
"Theoretical physics",
"Theoretical physicists"
] |
68,887,276 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic%20environmentalism | Islamic environmentalism is a strand of environmental philosophy as well as an Islamic movement that employs environmental principles derived from Islamic scriptures and traditions to the environment and the modern-day environmental crisis. Muslim environmentalists believe in God's absolute sovereignty over nature and emphasize humanity's role as God's vicegerent, making it their duty to protect and preserve the environment. Islamic environmentalism encompasses Islamic ecological philosophy, Sharia-based environmental law, and Islamic environmental activism.
History
Islamic environmentalism began with the Iranian philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr and has evolved since the 1960s. A series of lectures delivered at the University of Chicago in 1966 by Nasr serves as an original point of reference. He was, in fact, among the early thinkers "to draw attention to the spiritual dimensions of the environmental crisis". Nasr draws on Sufism and the concept of the unity of being to emphasize the connections between environmental degradation and the modern world's spiritual and moral crises. The field of Islamic environmentalism developed further in the 1980s with the contributions made by contemporary thinkers such as Mawil Izzi Dien and Fazlun Khalid.
People
The Iranian-born philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr is considered the founding father of Islamic environmentalism. Other notable figures in this field include: Fazlun Khalid, Mawil Izzi Dien, Othman Llewellyn, Ibrahim Ozdemir, Syed Nomanul Haq and Mustafa Abu Sway.
Ideas
No human sovereignty
The concept of human sovereignty over nature and natural resources, referred to as "dominion" in religious contexts, lies at the center of religious and secular environmental debates. The Quran, unlike the Hebrew Bible and secular philosophy, does not recognize human sovereignty over nature, which has a significant impact on Islamic environmental debate. The Quran declares in seventeen different places that mulk or dominion exclusively belongs to God (Allah). Mulk is derived from the root M L K and means "ownership" or "possession." It appears forty-eight times in the Quran, and it refers to both the earthly kingdom or kingship, such as the kingdom of Solomon in 2:102, and to "the heavens and the earth", implying the whole of creation. It is always God who possesses mulk in every passage when "the heavens and the earth" as a whole is mentioned, rather than a specific earthly kingdom.
Mankind as Khalifah
The Quran defined mankind as a Khālifah, or a representative or successor on the earth, rather than having dominion over or possession of it. The idea of khalifah (stewardship) is arguably the most important concept in Islamic environmentalism. Proponents of eco-Islamic beliefs emphasize man's duty as God's vicegerent or steward (khalifah) on the earth. As such, he is responsible for acting in line with God's will and caring for the earth in the way He demands. It is vital to recognize that stewardship does not imply supremacy over other living beings. Humans must learn to live in harmony with nature rather than working against it in order to practice stewardship. Some Muslim scholars even consider this stewardship a divine test. Natural world, as God's creation, is a sign through which humanity can perceive God.
Oneness of God
The idea of oneness of God (tawhid) is another important principle that is frequently pursued in Islamic ecology. Within the context of Islamic environmentalism, the notion of tawhid has different levels of meaning. To begin with, it denotes monotheistic oneness of God, in contrast to the polytheistic doctrines and beliefs, and unity of God, in contrast to the Christian idea of the Trinity. It is an expression of God's transcendent unity with all of His creation. This unity with creation expresses the reality that everything in the world is a part of God's creation and is interconnected, making the entire world meaningful, valuable, and deserving of preservation.
Notion of mizan
The notion of mizan, which means "balance", is fundamental to an Islamic environmental perspective. This idea is employed to describe the complex eco-systems and physical laws of the cosmos. The most common verse used by Muslim scholars when discussing mizan is 15:19, which says, "As for the earth, We have spread it out, set firm mountains on it, and made everything grow there in due balance". In other words humans must "make the best use of reason and to maintain the balance and proportion God has built into his creation". In Arabic, the word mizan connotes both physical balance, and justice.
Other ideas
To address contemporary issues such as pollution, Muslim authors employ the Islamic juristic practice of Qiyas (reasoning by analogy). They understand ahadith regulating cleanliness, prohibitions against odour, and hygiene as prohibitions against contamination of land, water, and air.
Islamic environmental literature cites sayings of the Prophet emphasising the importance of conserving water during ablution and not being wasteful as instances of Islam's attitude on wasteful resource consumption.
Islamic scholars and a host of ecological groups have put together a Muslim faith-based covenant called Al Mizan to inform people on the ecological references in the Quran and the Islamic take on protecting the planet. Topics include genetic engineering, the ecology during times of war and hunting animals like birds for sport. It was released in 2024.
See also
Biocentrism (ethics)
Deep ecology
Environmental ethics
Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science
Land ethic
Resacralization of nature
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Environmental Ethics and Islam — Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics
How Islam can represent a model for environmental stewardship — UN Environment Programme
The environment in Islamic civilization: The concept of human Khilafah on Earth by Dr. Ali Gomaa — Al-Masry Al-Youm
Islam and environmentalism
Environmentalism and religion
Ecotheology
Environmental philosophy
Seyyed Hossein Nasr | Islamic environmentalism | [
"Environmental_science"
] | 1,214 | [
"Environmental philosophy",
"Environmental social science"
] |
68,887,812 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung%20Galaxy%20M52%205G | The Samsung Galaxy M52 5G is a mid-range Android smartphone developed by Samsung Electronics as a part of its Galaxy M series. The device was scheduled to be launched on 19 September 2021 in India but the launch event was postponed to 28 September 2021. It was unveiled on 24 September 2021. Its key features are Qualcomm's new upper mid-range SoC Snapdragon 778G 5G, 120 Hz Super AMOLED Plus display, a triple camera setup with a 64 MP main camera and a 5000 mAh battery with 25W fast charging support. It went on sale on 3 October 2021 in India.
Specifications
Design
Samsung Galaxy M52 5G has a plastic frame and a plastic back panel, the front side is covered by glass. It has volume buttons and a recessed power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader at the right, a SIM/microSD card tray at the left and a USB-C port at the bottom. It has a 6.7 inch Infinity-O Display with a circular punch hole for the front-facing camera. It measures 164.2 x 76.4 x 7.4 mm and weighs 173 grams. It is available in Icy Blue, Blazing Black and White.
Hardware
Samsung Galaxy M52 5G is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G system-on-chip with 6 nm process, an integrated 5G modem, an octa-core CPU consisting of a high performance cluster with 4x 2.4 GHz Kryo 670 Gold cores and a power efficiency cluster with 4x 1.8 GHz Kryo 670 Silver cores, and an Adreno 642L GPU. It has a 6.7-inch (172 mm) Super AMOLED Plus display with 1080×2400 pixels resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, ~393 ppi pixel density, 120 Hz refresh rate and 16M colors. It features a triple camera setup at the rear with a 64 MP main camera with f/1.8 aperture, a 12 MP wide-angle camera with f/2.2 aperture and 123° field-of-view, and a 5 MP macro camera with f/2.4 aperture. There is a 32 MP front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture located in the circular punch hole of the display. It supports 4K video recording from the main camera and the front facing camera. It has a 5000 mAh non-removable battery with 25W fast charging support. However, there isn't a 25W charger in the box, and it needs to be bought separately. It comes with 6/8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage and supports memory expansion via the hybrid SIM/microSD card slot up to 1 TB. It supports 11 5G bands. Unlike most of the phones in the Galaxy M series, Galaxy M52 5G doesn't have a headphone jack.
Software
Samsung Galaxy M52 5G is shipped with Android 11 and Samsung's proprietary user interface One UI 3.1. It comes with Knox Security Suite and AltZMode. The camera application includes the Single Take mode that enables users to take photo and record video from all the supported camera simultaneously. The software will be updated quarterly.
References
Android (operating system) devices
Galaxy M52
Phablets
Mobile phones introduced in 2021
M52
Mobile phones with multiple rear cameras
Mobile phones with 4K video recording
M52 | Samsung Galaxy M52 5G | [
"Technology"
] | 704 | [
"Crossover devices",
"Phablets"
] |
68,889,599 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi2 | Jedi2 is a chemical compound which acts as an agonist for the mechanosensitive ion channel PIEZO1, and is used in research into the function of touch perception.
See also
Yoda1 and Jedi1
References
Furans
Thiophenes | Jedi2 | [
"Chemistry"
] | 54 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs"
] |
68,889,834 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SB-366791 | SB-366791 is a drug which acts as a potent and selective blocker of the TRPV1 ion channel. It has analgesic effects in animal studies, and is used in research into pain and inflammation.
See also
AMG-517
AMG-9810
Discovery and development of TRPV1 antagonists
References
4-Chlorophenyl compounds
Amides
3-Methoxyphenyl compounds
Transient receptor potential channel modulators | SB-366791 | [
"Chemistry"
] | 99 | [
"Amides",
"Functional groups"
] |
68,890,600 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White%20vine-stem | A white vine-stem or white vine is a kind of border or initial decoration found in illuminated manuscripts and incunabula. Sometimes the Italian term bianchi girari is also used in English.
The decoration consists of entangled white vines, usually contrasted with a colourful background. The stems themselves are often simply parchment left unpainted. It became popular among Florentine illuminators in the early 15th century, as a conscious imitation of forms found in Romanesque illuminated manuscripts, thought at the time to be antique forms. For this reason, it was considered suitable to use white vine-stems to decorate texts by classical authors and humanist books. From Florence the use of white vine-stems as a decorative element later spread to Rome and Naples, not least through the prolific work of Gioacchino de’ Gigantibus, during the second half of the century.
References
Iconography of illuminated manuscripts
Visual motifs
Book design | White vine-stem | [
"Mathematics",
"Engineering"
] | 190 | [
"Book design",
"Symbols",
"Visual motifs",
"Design"
] |
68,891,792 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptomyces%20phage%20%CE%A60 | Streptomyces phage Φ0 is a bacteriophage that infects Streptomyces. It was discovered in 2016. The bacteriophage contains a double-stranded RNA genome and probably belongs to the Cystoviridae family.
References
Cystoviridae
Bacteriophages
Unaccepted virus taxa
Infraspecific virus taxa | Streptomyces phage Φ0 | [
"Biology"
] | 81 | [
"Viruses",
"Controversial taxa",
"Virus stubs",
"Unaccepted virus taxa",
"Biological hypotheses"
] |
73,276,775 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional%20Phenological%20Knowledge | Traditional Phenological Knowledge can be seen as a "subset of Indigenous Knowledge". Traditional Phenological Knowledge (TPK) is the knowledge based on traditional observations made by Indigenous Peoples that predict seasonal changes of nature and their immediate environment. This can be useful for the management of naturally occurring phenomenon, as well as "adaptive management" such as fire management. TPK is not a novel practice and has been practiced for hundreds of years. TPK encompasses history, observations and Traditional Knowledge(TK) or Indigenous Knowledge (IK). Indigenous Knowledge is flexible and always evolves. It considers the past, present and future of environmental and biological generations.
TPK is integrative and interactive. It falls under the same teachings of Traditional Ecological Knowledge also known as TEK. Both TPK and TEK share close definitions which IK can be an umbrella term. Traditional forms of knowledge are combined with sustainable interaction with the land. Indigenous knowledge creates a relationship that is respectful and symbiotic with the natural world and promotes the existence of passing on hands-on experiences to future generations.
Phenology in TPK can be qualitative and quantitative. Observations can be described, passed down by oral histories. TPK can reinforce what is measured and recorded scientifically. TPK can be a tool to help leverage climate change and biodiversity loss in today's climate crisis.
TPK can be "direct" or "indirect". Direct observations of phenology in TPK can refer to species signals and timings of secondary species. Direct TPK is translated through the use of belief systems, spirituality, stories, myth and ceremonial events. Indirect TPK is passed on through the use of language specifically. The use of both direct and indirect embodies, reinforces and defines the values TPK. The observation of nature timings along with stories and beliefs, pass down the knowledge from elders and family members that also contribute to the essence of TPK.
Phenology
Phenology observes the timing of seasonality of biological and weather events. Plant cycles, animal behaviour, weather patterns and climate change cycle through seasonality i.e.Flowering. As Swartz defines; "Phenology is the study of recurring plant, fungi and animal life cycle stages, especially as they relate to climate and weather".
Some of these observations can be variant depending on location. For instance, observing temperature and photoperiod can be indicators of seasonal change in parts the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.
Observing plant species is an example of TPK. In temperate locations, the change of increased temperatures will signal growth which, in turn will create an environmental response that indicates spring and/or summer. Consequently, plants will flower with enough "accumulated heat".
Phenological processes
Phenology is describes as a process that revolves around the development of an organism (plants or animals) in relation to the change of the seasons. Moreover, temperature is a factor of these processes that create changes in the cycles. For instance, vegetation or biological beings can change due to temperature increase or decrease and that surpass a threshold which creates change in behaviour or change in seasonality.
Traditional phenological knowledge and phenology
Human observations and knowledge throughout generations is tied to TPK. The human response tied with seasonal change can create a symbiotic relationship with their proximity to the environment, hence Indigenous Peoples have been and still are practicing traditional practices that match timings of the seasonal change and seasonal indicators.
Synchronicity and natural timing
Time in most Indigenous communities is based on the pace of nature. Indigenous communities live synchronously with temporal phenological events that present themselves. It is also the interconnectivity between the natural environment and traditional Indigenous practices. The epistemology may differ from group to group, however, the many Indigenous groups share similarities regarding the innate knowledge of seasonal timings and landscape ecological practices.
The perception of time is unlike that of the Western world. For instance, the rainy season in some Indigenous communities may signal spring and/ or fall and the growing season signals spring and summer. Seasonal timings can relate to traditional practices as well. The observations of fish behaviour and migration patterns can indicate time windows in a season where one can fish. Spawning of salmon is also an indication of reproduction and multiplying of the species. Timing is important for availability. Too early fishing can affect spawning which can result in a decrease in numbers of fish. Fishing is also a cultural practice that many Indigenous communities still practise today and with TPK, these communities know there can be variance in time and change of numbers of fish from one year to the next.
Indigenous and Western application of Traditional Phenological Knowledge
TPK can be used as a predictive and management tool in both Traditional Indigenous practices and Western practices. Embracing TK and continuous observations of the physical environment creates reliable information for future generations. It pertains to the interconnectivity of animal species, plant species and human behaviour.
Indigenous applications
Fire management can be timed with phenological events in North-American Indigenous Nations. Burning shrubs in vast areas would help deer find food in the next season. Burning causes more water to be retained in the soil which promotes seedling sprouts in the spring and summer. For Indigenous communities in California, there can be more grass growth which is used for cultural "deer grass" weaving. Spring burning also promote species diversity and different cultivation such as Tobacco. Fire can kill fast growing vegetation and pests, and aid full-light vegetation to grow in these areas i.e. Oak and Huckleberries. Hence, Traditional Knowledge and TPK can help with food security, food for wildlife.
Western applications
TPK and TEK are seen as sustainable practices to help fight against climate change and are starting to be recognised as a tool to help mitigate food insecurity and issues regarding biodiversity loss. A term to describe the combination of Indigenous Knowledge and Western Knowledge is known as Two-eyed seeing. For instance, TPK is a tool for fire management that Western communities have adopted to decrease the severity of fires.
TPK and language
The transmission of TPK is passed down through stories which can be in the form of indirect TPK. It is not actually observed by the eye of the learner but rather transmitted through language by family members and community members.
Sustainability and biodiversity
Conservation of the land is engrained in indigenous knowledge. Practises of Indigenous Knowledge can be useful for sustainability and solutions for modern day environmental issues regarding climate change and biodiversity loss. TPK,TEK, TK, IK are ways to look at landscape ecology in a method that also scientists and the general public can learn from. Many practises can aid sustainable practises and fights against climate change.
Climate change
TPK can be a tool in understanding climate change. TPK is based on historical observations that can help climate scientists because of records of past and current changes in the environments around the world. TPK can provide knowledge and information that are not easily accessible to the Western Sciences regarding climate change. It can be a tool for decision making, revolving ecology and conservation where gaps of information and data are lacking.
Climate change affects First Nations and Indigenous communities differently than Western-based communities.The Western world is impacted mostly economically, financially and ecologically, whereas Indigenous communities have certain practices and traditions that are directly tied to the land. The change in climate might affect and threaten their livelihood and their relationship to the land. In other words, these communities might adapt their practices in new ways to fight against climate change. In recent years, communities have noticed changes of rainy periods and dry periods which can change the predictability of timings of traditional practices. Moreover, TPK can change and adapt due to climate change.
The dynamics of climate change in the Western world are linked to the growth of capital. This tends to lead to exploitation of natural resources, therefore leading to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, degradation of the environment, affecting fresh water systems and soil health, etc.
Changes in climate also change indicators of seasonality. TPK can play a role in the study of climate change and sustainability.
Climate change impacts on Alaskan TPK
In most parts of the world, especially in higher elevations and northern latitudes such as Alaska, Alaskan communities have observed changes in phenological cycles. Locations such as Alaska are severely impacted due to their northern locations and closeness to shore which intensifies the changes in climate.
The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Indigenous communities have observed changes in berry resources. These communities have noticed a decrease in snowpack in recent winters. Hotter summers and thawing of permafrost also create an unsteady landscape which affects negatively the vegetation in this region, for instance, wild berries. Berries are essential for human consumption and food for wildlife. For Alaskan communities, berry picking provides nutrition, but also indicators of seasonality change. These communities have seen changes in the last ten years; variability in berry abundance from year to year and earlier ripening. This is seen in cloud berries, blueberries and crowberries.
Barriers and challenges
Some of the barriers of TPK would be that some institutions do not recognise TPK as a scientific way of practice due to Western ways of teaching. This is can be due to priority of importance of the institutions and education systems already put in place.
TPK around the world
India
Tripura
Indigenous communities in the North-East of India such as Tripura can use TPK to predict weather patterns which aid with activities of agroforestry, farming and agriculture. Additionally it is used for prevention of natural disasters. Through folklore and myths, Traditional Knowledge is shared in these means. These lores and myths about weather can be found in ancient scriptures such as Vedang Jyotish of Maharshi Laugakshi, Seval Samhita and Gura Samhita among others.
TPK can be found under two categories; theories of prediction and observations. The use of astronomy and observation of planetary positions such as conjunctions are important for Tripura Indigenous communities. Atmospheric observations play a big part of weather conditions such as looking at clouds. Behavioural patterns of plants and animals are also indicators of predicting weather.
The night-flowering jasmine (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis L.) helps predict abundant rainfall. The night-flowering jasmine flowers year round, therefore, depending on the time of the year it flowers, different amount of rain is predicted. June and July are the months containing the highest amount of rainfall and accurately predicted by traditional farmers in the region which is confirmed by the Meteorological Department of Narsinghgarh Bimangarh India. The Indian Laburnum (Cassia fistula L.) also known as Golden Shower predicts rain. When the Indian Laburnum flows it predicts the beginning of the Monsoon.
Uganda
In the Teso Sub-region in Eastern Uganda, the Iteso people of Teso practice TPK in terms of agriculture and pasture. This region has a hot and humid climate. There is a strong agricultural practice in the region of Teso. The main crops cultivated are cereal such as millet, corn, cassava and cotton. The main animals for livestock are pigs, cattle, chickens amongst other animals. Due to the region's geographical location, there are several lakes which permit the community to practise fishing. TPK helps for drought and flood predictions, infestations, water conservation and timings for fishing and plays a role in the prediction of rainfall.
The use of TPK has changed in the recent decades because of climate unpredictability, however, the Iteso people have adapted TPK to recent climatic events. Previously, traditional communities of this region used to sow millet seeds according to leaf fall and growth because it would predict the time frame to seed grain to be on time for future rainfall. Now, however, this predictability now varies. Astronomical observations such as the location of the moon and its color are used to determine when is the next onset of rainfall and rain intensity. TPK is in the hands of elders whose phenological observations are monitored, but there is concern for the younger generations to lose Traditional Knowledge of phenological events. Elders notice longer of droughts, increase winds and species disappearance, and a halt of fish migrations to previously plentiful rivers due to climate change which is affecting phenological cycles at a quicker and greater rate.
Mongolia
Traditional herders of the land-locked country of Mongolia use TPK and TEK for herding animals, determining height of grasses in the next seasons and their understanding of the ever-changing land. Observations of seasons are present in story telling and observations made through their nomadic way of life.
Herders have a distinct way of understanding plants of the landscape. Mongolia has a mix of extreme climates which temperatures could reach 40 degrees Celsius in warmer months, to below 30 degrees in colder months. Mongolia is also desertic, mountainous, contains grasslands. It is a considerably dry climate. Traditional herders use TPK to determine rainfall, time of movement and timing of vegetation growth and blooms of medicinal plants. Herder's traditional movement is in accordance with seasonality where observations are made on the relationship and behaviour of vegetation and animals. These observations and knowledge can vary from herder to herder. For instance, in more desertic parts of Mongolia, prediction of grass growth can be described as the same height as the snow in the winter and grass grows to the extent of the amount of rain the area receives. Additionally, numbers are associated with certain areas based on characteristics of viability, zones of ecology, soil health and topology. Furthermore, knowing when a plant will bloom comes from repeated observations and counting the joints of vegetation and relative humidity in the atmosphere i.e. Bagluur or Anabasis Brevifolia.
Some herders intertwine human existence with phenology. The seasons change and also humans change regarding the seasons. Humans are also an important part in phenology. In the light of climate change, the earth gets older and changes, so do humans.
Protecting Intellectual Rights
With the information provided by Indigenous Peoples, TPK is based on knowledge and intellectual property. Intellectual property ought to be respected, acknowledged, protected and accredited.
References
Traditional knowledge
Ecology | Traditional Phenological Knowledge | [
"Biology"
] | 2,945 | [
"Ecology"
] |
73,276,921 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohr%E2%80%93Favard%20inequality | The Bohr–Favard inequality is an inequality appearing in a problem of Harald Bohr on the boundedness over the entire real axis of the integral of an almost-periodic function. The ultimate form of this inequality was given by Jean Favard; the latter materially supplemented the studies of Bohr, and studied the arbitrary periodic function
with continuous derivative for given constants and which are natural numbers. The accepted form of the Bohr–Favard inequality is
with the best constant :
The Bohr–Favard inequality is closely connected with the inequality for the best approximations of a function and its th derivative by trigonometric polynomials of an order at most and with the notion of Kolmogorov's width in the class of differentiable functions (cf. Width).
References
Inequalities
Theorems in real analysis | Bohr–Favard inequality | [
"Mathematics"
] | 169 | [
"Theorems in mathematical analysis",
"Mathematical analysis",
"Mathematical theorems",
"Mathematical analysis stubs",
"Theorems in real analysis",
"Binary relations",
"Mathematical relations",
"Inequalities (mathematics)",
"Mathematical problems"
] |
73,278,524 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aporia%20%28company%29 | Aporia is a machine learning observability platform based in Tel Aviv, Israel. The company has a US office located in San Jose, California.
Aporia has developed software for monitoring and controlling undetected defects and failures used by other companies to detect and report anomalies, and warn in the early stages of faults.
History
Aporia was founded in 2019 by Liran Hason and Alon Gubkin. In April 2021, the company raised a $5 million seed round for its monitoring platform for ML models.
In February 2022, the company closed a Series A round of $25 million for its ML observability platform. Aporia was named by Forbes as the Next Billion-Dollar Company in June 2022. In November, the company partnered with ClearML, an MLOPs platform, to improve ML pipeline optimization.
In January 2023, Aporia launched Direct Data Connectors, a novel technology allowing organizations to monitor their ML models in minutes (previously the process of integrating ML monitoring into a customer’s cloud environment took weeks or more.) DDC (Direct Data Connectors) enables users to connect Aporia to their preferred data source and monitor all of their data at once, without data sampling or data duplication (which is a huge security risk for major organizations.
In April 2023, Aporia announced the company partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide more reliable ML observability to AWS consumers by deploying Aporia's architecture to their AWS environment, this will allow customers to monitor their models in production regardless of platform.
Controversies
In 2022, Aporia faced significant challenges when a cybersecurity breach exposed sensitive client data stored within its machine learning observability platform. The breach was traced to a vulnerability in Aporia’s Direct Data Connectors (DDC), which allowed unauthorized access to integrated data sources. This incident compromised the confidentiality and integrity of data from several high-profile clients, including financial institutions and healthcare providers. Investigations revealed that Aporia had delayed patching the identified vulnerability despite prior warnings from independent security researchers.
References
Companies based in Tel Aviv
Machine learning
Israeli companies established in 2019
Information technology companies of Israel | Aporia (company) | [
"Engineering"
] | 449 | [
"Artificial intelligence engineering",
"Machine learning"
] |
73,278,652 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectorial%20operator | In mathematics, more precisely in operator theory, a sectorial operator is a linear operator on a Banach space whose spectrum in an open sector in the complex plane and whose resolvent is uniformly bounded from above outside any larger sector. Such operators might be unbounded.
Sectorial operators have applications in the theory of elliptic and parabolic partial differential equations.
Definition
Let be a Banach space. Let be a (not necessarily bounded) linear operator on and its spectrum.
For the angle , we define the open sector
,
and set if .
Now, fix an angle . The operator is called sectorial with angle if
and if
for every larger angle . The set of sectorial operators with angle is denoted by .
Remarks
If , then is open and symmetric over the positive real axis with angular aperture .
Bibliography
References
Functional analysis
Operator theory | Sectorial operator | [
"Mathematics"
] | 167 | [
"Functional analysis",
"Mathematical objects",
"Functions and mappings",
"Mathematical relations"
] |
73,278,804 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNA%20Agar | Columbia Nalidixic Acid (CNA) agar is a growth medium used for the isolation and cultivation of bacteria from clinical and non-clinical specimens. CNA agar contains antibiotics (nalidixic acid and colistin) that inhibit Gram-negative organisms, aiding in the selective isolation of Gram-positive bacteria. Gram-positive organisms that grow on the media can be differentiated on the basis of hemolysis.
Uses
CNA agar is commonly used in clinical microbiology laboratories to isolate pathogenic Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, Streptococcus, diphtheroids, and Listeria from clinical specimens. A common use for CNA agar is commonly used for the detection of Streptococcus agalactiae carriage in pregnant women. It is also effective for the isolation of Gram-positive anaerobes when incubated under anaerobic conditions.
CNA agar is supplemented with sheep blood to facilitate the growth of more fastidious Gram-positive organisms such as Streptococcus and Enterococcus. The sheep blood allows for the presumptive identification of some species of bacteria on the basis of hemolysis. Beta hemolytic organisms such as Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes will produce colonies surrounded with a clear zone. Alpha hemolytic organisms such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and viridans streptococci will produce colonies surrounded by a light to dark green zone.
Although CNA agar is formulated to select for Gram-positive bacteria, microbiologists working with this media should be aware of its limitations. Gram-negative rods that are resistant to quinolones and polymyxins may grow on the media. Additionally, Candida and other molds are not inhibited by the antibiotics. Gram-positive aerobic spore forming bacteria such as Bacillus are also usually inhibited by the media.
Contents
The addition of peptones into the agar provides the growth factors required by the bacteria to grow. Casein also provides a source of amino acids for organisms with fastidious growth requirements such as Lactobacillus brevis. It contains the antibiotics colistin and nalidixic acid which inhibit the growth of many gram-negative bacteria.
Composition
Source:
Casein peptone - 12.0 g
Meat peptone - 5.0 g
Sodium chloride - 5.0 g
Beef extract - 3.0 g
Yeast extract 3.0 g
Corn starch 1.0 g
Colistin - 10.0 mg
Nalidixic acid - 10.0 mg
Sheep blood - 5%
Agar - 13.5 g
Demineralized water 1000.0 ml
History
CNA agar was developed by Ellner et al. at Columbia university in 1965 while trying to develop an agar base that would enhance the hemolysis of Streptococcus pyogenes.
References
Microbiological media
Bacteriology
Medical microbiology
Gram-positive bacteria | CNA Agar | [
"Biology"
] | 628 | [
"Microbiological media",
"Microbiology equipment"
] |
73,279,016 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden%20record%20%28informatics%29 | In informatics, a golden record is the valid version of a data element (record) in a single source of truth system. It may refer to a database, specific table or data field, or any unit of information used. A golden copy is a consolidated data set, and is supposed to provide a single source of truth and a "well-defined version of all the data entities in an organizational ecosystem". Other names sometimes used include master source or master version.
The term has been used in conjunction with data quality, master data management, and similar topics. (Different technical solutions exist, see master data management).
Master data
In master data management (MDM), the golden copy refers to the master data (master version) of the reference data which works as an authoritative source for the "truth" for all applications in a given IT landscape.
See also
Single source of truth
Single version of the truth
References
Data quality
Data management
Data modeling | Golden record (informatics) | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 192 | [
"Data management",
"Data engineering",
"Data modeling",
"Data"
] |
73,279,350 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable%20architecture%20in%20Barcelona | Sustainable architecture is a type of architecture with the goal of limiting the environmental impact of a building when compared to regular architecture. Sustainable architecture has become a crucial aspect of modern urban development, with Barcelona at the forefront of this movement. Barcelona, a city already known for its unique architecture, has numerous innovative architectural projects combining cutting-edge design with eco-friendly technologies and materials. Famous architects such as Antoni Gaudí and Enric Ruiz-Geli have used sustainable techniques in their designs, causing Barcelona to be considered sustainably advanced. Barcelona is also working to expand green spaces, public transportation, and use more sustainable energy sources. From residential buildings to public spaces and cultural institutions, Barcelona's sustainable architecture has become a model for sustainable urban development for the rest of the world.
Eco-designs of neighborhoods
Barcelona is focusing on the sustainable eco-design of neighborhoods. Recent construction in Vallbona, Barcelona has used strategies to reduce energy usage, water consumption, and waste. Some of the energy reduction strategy actions were passive saving measures, natural ventilation, district heating, and efficient architecture. The water conservation measures were separative sewer, rainwater collection, irrigation with local river sources, groundwater use, and greywater reuse. The waste management techniques increased the composting of organic waste and improved the waste collection methods at the street level. The city designers also created green spaces, promoted city mobility, and designed public spaces. The green and agricultural spaces include xero gardening, the preservation of biodiversity, and irrigated agriculture plots. The creation of city mobility options included a road network with 75% of the space dedicated to pedestrians, bicycle lanes, bus networks, and minimal parking spaces. Finally, public spaces were made to reduce noise, and serve people’s social needs. While ecodesign, like the construction in Vallbona, can help with environmental protection, it is crucial that there is a structured way to maintain and monitor environmental conservation.
Supermanzanas
Supermanzanas are a sustainable urban design concept that involves several blocks joined together to create a pedestrian-friendly zone that reduces traffic, noise, and pollution levels. This approach is being successfully implemented in Barcelona, with the most well-known example being the Poblenou Supermanzana. The superblocks in Barcelona are designed to prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, and social spaces, with cars being relegated to the periphery. By reducing the number of cars in the superblocks, air and noise pollution levels are lowered, making these areas more livable and healthier for residents. The Poblenou Supermanzana covers nine blocks and features green spaces, bike paths, and outdoor seating areas. This superblock has been credited with reducing traffic by 60%, noise levels by 7 decibels, and air pollution levels by 42%. Supermanzanas are an example of how sustainable architecture can be used to create more livable cities by prioritizing the needs of people over cars. By encouraging walking, biking, and social interaction, these superblocks can create healthier, more vibrant communities while reducing the negative impacts of car-centric urban design.
Green facades
Green facades are created by growing plants on the side of buildings. When building a green facade, the architects must select the correct structure, orientation, and depth cavity for the wall to allow for solar radiation to reach the walls. There are an increasing number of green facades being built in L’Eixample and other areas of Barcelona. These green facades have psychological, economic, environmental, and aesthetic benefits. The facades require minimal maintenance because they cannot break down. Green facades help to control the effects of heat islands. They reduce the energy consumption of buildings by helping to reduce the amount of heating and cooling required. Additionally, they reduce pollution in the environment and increase the biodiversity of Barcelona through adding further plant varieties.
Sustainable buildings
The Blood and Tissues Bank of Catalonia
The Blood and Tissues Bank of Catalonia is located in the technological district and its design emphasized energy efficiency. The building's climate control system uses free cooling air conditioners and heat exchanges. These reduce the thermal demand of the building, thus making it more sustainable. There is also a wall of facades which prevents the building from getting overheated. This building saves 72% of energy consumption with their efforts to be sustainable when compared to buildings that are used in a similar manner. Specifically, the building is said to save nearly 1.5 million kWh and 963 Tm in emissions of carbon dioxide annually. Not only is this building environmentally friendly, but it is also sustainable in an economic sense since this building saves over 250,000 euros per year.
Media-tic
The Media-tic was made by Enric Ruiz-Geli, and the building relies solely on renewable energy for its operation. For climate regulation, the original facade has lux meters, which measure the illuminance in an area to optimize the light efficiency of the building. Teflon is used as a solar filter while the facade maximizes the solar light. This helps the building’s climate control and saves carbon dioxide emissions of the building by approximately 60%. Using this building as an example, it has been found that the cost of sustainable architecture is similar to the price of non-sustainable architecture, making it more appealing to build sustainably in the future.
Baró de Viver Civic Center
This building is the first sociocultural equipment in Spain to receive the LEED Platinum certificate. The LEED Platinum certificate is an award for sustainable buildings on the international level. This building is used to provide further green space to the community and social spaces, specifically for the elderly. The Baró de Viver Civic Center collects and filters rainwater with the plant cover in order to conserve water. It also has photovoltaic solar panels and a lot of natural light to limit use of unsustainable electricity. Regarding climate control and noise control, there is insulation to make the building more comfortable without having to use electricity.
Antoni Gaudí
Famous Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí used many sustainable practices in his projects around Barcelona. His buildings were constructed to be energy efficient by being bioclimatic, as he designed buildings based on the local climate. He was also known to reuse building materials and ensuring there was no material wasted. This can be seen in one of his favorite styles called Trencadis, in which he takes already broken pieces of ceramic and repurposes them. Furthermore, one of his most famous projects, Casa Batlló, incorporates light and solar energy, creating an energy-efficient house.
Barcelona Nature Plan 2030
Barcelona is especially prone to the effects of climate change due to its geography and location, so the city is taking additional measures to attempt to combat these effects. Barcelona has created a plan called “Barcelona Nature Plan 2030.” This plan's goal is to increase the amount of greenery present in Barcelona as well as promote the connectivity of green spaces to make them more effective. A concern regarding these improvements is green gentrification, but Barcelona is attempting to keep this to a minimum. The fact that Barcelona is an extremely dense city increases the need for green infrastructure throughout the city.
The goal of the Barcelona Nature Plan 2030 is to add a total of 160 new areas of green spaces. In addition to combatting the climate crisis, this additional green infrastructure aims to improve the wellbeing of the citizens of Barcelona. The city plans to seek community member input regarding plan for the green spaces in order to ensure the spaces will be used and accepted by the community.
Public transportation and sustainability
TMB is the public transportation system in the city of Barcelona and includes the metro, busses, and trams. The metro alone covers 146 kilometers of Barcelona. The TMB is dedicated to combating climate change by encouraging people to use the public transportation system. The majority of pollution in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, AMB, is due to vehicle traffic, with Barcelona having one of the highest number of vehicles per person in Europe. Barcelona has various incentives to encourage their citizens to use the public transportation available. For example, there is a metrocard called the T-Verda that gives unlimited access to public transportation for three years to people who have given up their personal cars. For other metrocards, the prices have recently been reduced by half to make them more accessible. In addition to encouraging people to take public transport, the TMB is also continuously improving the sustainability of the public transport through alternative energies.
References
Wikipedia Student Program
Sustainable architecture
Architecture of Barcelona | Sustainable architecture in Barcelona | [
"Engineering",
"Environmental_science"
] | 1,724 | [
"Sustainable architecture",
"Environmental social science",
"Architecture"
] |
73,280,006 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V686%20Coronae%20Australis | V686 Coronae Australis (HD 175362; HR 7129; V686 CrA) is a solitary, bluish-white-hued variable star located in the southern constellation Corona Australis. It has an apparent magnitude that ranges between 5.25 and 5.41, which makes it faintly visible to the naked eye. Gaia DR3 parallax measurements imply a distance of 480 light years and it is slowly receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of . At its current distance V686 CrA's average brightness is diminished by 0.35 magnitudes due to extinction from interstellar dust and it has an absolute visual magnitude of −0.24.
V686 CrA has been known to be variable since 1974. The discovery paper lists it as a helium variable with a period of 3.71 days. Earlier sources give it ordinary spectral classes such as B7.5 V, B8 IV. and B9 III:. In 1976, V686 CrA was found to have a large magnetic field ranging from −5,000 gauss to 7,000 gauss. Borra et al. (1983) gave a value of gauss. A catalogue of chemically peculiar stars gives a spectral class of B6 He wk. Si, indicating it is a helium-weak star. It has also been classified as a mercury-manganese star.
V686 CrA is an α2 Canum Venaticorum variable that ranges from 5.25 to 5.41 within 3.674 days. It has been proposed that the rotation period of the star, and hence the true variability period, is 7.34 days, with two near-identical minima in the light curve. It is a member of the Scorpius-Centaurus association and the Local Association.
The accepted stellar classification for V686 CrA is B3V, indicating that it is B-type main sequence star. It has 4.73 times the mass of the Sun and 3.52 times the Sun's radius. It radiates 504 times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of V686 has an unusually high metallicity of [Fe/H] = +1.13, which is over 10 times that of the sun. This only accounts for the spectrum of the star and not its entire composition. Like most chemically peculiar stars it spins rather slowly, having a projected rotational velocity of . Based on analysis of its surface magnetic fields, V686 CrA is estimated to be 63 million years old, although other sources give a much younger age: for example, 7.9 million years having completed only 0.9% of its main sequence lifetime.
References
Alpha2 Canum Venaticorum variables
B-type main-sequence stars
Helium-weak stars
Coronae Australis, V686
Corona Australis
Coronae Australis, 31
CD-37 12982
175362
092989
7129 | V686 Coronae Australis | [
"Astronomy"
] | 615 | [
"Corona Australis",
"Constellations"
] |
73,280,284 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucocoprinus%20gandour | Leucocoprinus gandour is a species of mushroom-producing fungus in the family Agaricaceae.
Taxonomy
It was described in 1909 by Paul Auguste Hariot and Narcisse Théophile Patouillard who classified it as Leucocoprinus gandour.
In 1912 it was reclassified as Hiatula gandour by Pier Andrea Saccardo and Alessandro Trotter however nothing remains in the Hiatula genus with the majority of the species it contained being now classified as Leucocoprinus.
The French mycologist Roger Heim suggested this species was synonymous with Chlorophyllum molybdites however the Belgian mycologist Paul Heinemann notes that this does not match with the description of the species as it does not mention green gills or truncated spores.
Description
Leucocoprinus gandour is a small dapperling mushroom with white flesh.
Cap: 10-15cm wide, starting subglobose then expanding to campanulate with an umbo. The surface is white with broad 5-10mm concentrically overlapping grey scales and lighter margins. Gills: Free, crowded and white discolouring pale yellowish with age. Stem: 6-10cm long and 12mm thick tapering up from a bulbous base. The surface is white and the interior is hollow. The membranous, persistent stem ring is white and located in the middle of the stem (median). Spores: 6-8 x 8 μm. Globose to ovate with a large oil droplet and appearing yellow when viewed microscopically.
Heinemann improves on the spore description as follows:
Spores: 7.9-8.5 x 6.1-6.7μm. Ellipsoid or oval in profile with a fairly thick membrane without a germ pore or sometimes with an indistinct germ pore. Metachromatic with an orthochromatic wall in Melzer's.
Heinemann's description is based on the examination of the remains of the deposited specimen which consisted of only two gill fragments and a small amount of spores so no description of macroscopic features could be made. However he notes that the spores fit poorly with Chlorophyllum or Macrolepiota and that it is not synonymous with Chlorophyllum molybdites. He suggests the species may belong in Leucoagaricus or possibly may be synonymous with Lepiota ochrospora however that species was found in Guyana, South America whereas Leucocoprinus gandour was found in Africa.
Etymology
The specific epithet gandour is named for the common name of this mushroom in Arabic.
Habitat and distribution
The specimens studied were found in Kindja, west of Iro Lake, near Fort Archambault (now known as Sarh) in the Chari region in Chad, Africa where they were found growing on the ground in June, 1903.
Edibility
Hariot and Patoulliard state that this is an excellent edible species and known by many culinary names including Dé in Kaba, Gandour in Arabic, Kopi mbala in Foulbé and Goko in Banda.
Similar species
Hariot and Patouillard state that Leucoagaricus nympharum appears to be related to this species.
References
gandour
Fungi described in 1909
Fungus species | Leucocoprinus gandour | [
"Biology"
] | 694 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
73,280,423 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicone%20gel%20sheeting | Silicone gel sheeting (SGS) has been an effective reduction and preventive scar therapy since 1980. It was first discovered to be used in treating scars by Perkins in Australia and New Zealand, and first discussed in the thesis of Karen Quinn, a British biomedical engineering student, in 1985.
It is now considered the first-line prevention and treatment for hypertrophic and keloid scars by occlusion and then hydration of the scar tissue. Silicone gel is made of medical-grade silicone polymers. Silicone gel sheet consists of a soft, semi-occlusive sheet and a membrane that increases the durability of the sheet. The sheet has a solid rubber-like appearance.
Although the mechanism of action of silicone gel sheeting remains partially unknown, its efficacy is confirmed by many clinical trials, and is similar to silicone gel.
Medical use
Silicone gel sheeting is the gold-standard and non-invasive treatment for hypertrophic and keloid scars. During skin injury repair, dermal cells proliferate and migrate from the skin tissue to the wound, producing collagen and causing contraction of the placement dermis. These scars are proliferative due to chronic inflammation and overproduction of abnormal collagen. Common clinical presentations of these scars are raised, thickened, red, or dark-colored. Patients may also experience pain and itching.
Hypertrophic scars are elevated scars that remain in the region of the original lesion following mechanical traumas, burns, and necrotizing infections. These scars typically develop in locations under tension, such as shoulders, ankles, knees, and the neck. Hypertrophic scars are generally confined to the boundaries of the original wound and tend to diminish over time.
Keloids grow extensively beyond the wound margins and tend to persist or even worsen over time. They are relatively difficult to treat due to their high risk of recurrence. Keloids are more common in people with darker skin tones and often occur in individuals with a genetic predisposition. Keloids are the most extreme type of scarring since minor wounds such as insect bites or piercings can all lead to an elevated tissue area. Patients may experience psychological trauma if their scars are not well-controlled. Therefore, the prevention of wound formation is crucial to them. They should avoid undergoing any unnecessary invasive procedures or cosmetic surgeries.
The beneficial effects of silicone gel sheeting on the treatment and prevention of these two scars have been confirmed. Since most patients develop hypertrophic and keloid scars within 3 months after surgery or injury, the silicone gel sheeting therapy should be started in the early repair phase to achieve an optimal therapeutic effect. The maturity of scars takes over a year; therefore, silicone treatment is also effective in scars aged over 12 months. The therapy usually requires 6 to 12 months of constant wear to achieve optimum results. Recent data suggest that the combination of silicone gel sheeting and pressure therapy can improve post-traumatic scar healing.
Use
The sheet should not be used on open wounds. The sheet is reusable with proper cleaning though it should be replaced when it starts to deteriorate.
Mechanism of action
The exact mechanism of action of silicone gel sheeting has not been fully studied. Currently, many proposed mechanisms explain the efficacy of such treatment, including the occlusion and hydration effect, increased body surface temperature, polarized electric charge, immunological effects, etc. The occlusion and hydration effect is the most studied mechanism of action.
Occlusion and Hydration
Silicone gel sheets occlude and hydrate the stratum corneum of the treated skin area. The stratum corneum normally conserves water and acts as a barrier to microbial infection. Its function can be disrupted by wound formation. The stratum corneum of hypertrophic scars and keloids absorbs more water than normal skin, depleting the water supply from the stratum corneum. Excessive dehydration of keratinocytes stimulates cytokine production, leading to increased collagen production. After applying the sheet, the rate of water loss via evaporation of the treated skin area is half of the untreated area. Therefore, the sheet prevents the drying up of stratum corneum, and thus further collagen production. Collagen production exacerbates the growth of hypertrophic scars and keloids and thus should be avoided. Hydrating a scar over a prolonged period can also relieve symptoms such as itching and pain. Such an effect is likely due to decreased capillary activity and thus local collagen deposition.
Temperature
Applying silicone gel sheeting causes a slight increase in surface temperature. Increased temperature intensifies the activity of collagenase, an enzyme that breaks down collagen. Since excessive collagen production leads to scar formation, increased levels of collagenase may help reduce the risk of scar formation.
Epidermal-dermal signaling
Silicone-related products can reduce the growth factor production of fibroblasts in hypertrophic scars and keloids. However, the relevance is unclear as silicone products do not have direct contact with dermal fibroblasts but with the epidermis only. Possible relevance may be due to the initiation of a signaling cascade by the epidermis. Through the signaling cascade, the epidermis regulates dermal fibroblast extracellular matrix production. Delayed epithelialization, which raises the risk of hypertrophic scar formation, is less likely to happen.
A negative static electric charge is formed by friction between the silicone gel sheet and the skin. The charge induces collagen realignment, aiding the elimination of the scar. Moreover, the negative electric field leads to the polarization of scar tissues and thus scar shrinkage.
Effectiveness
Silicone gel sheeting has remained the first-line therapy stated by international clinical recommendations on scar management.
Scar measurements studied in most clinical trials include color (vascularisation and pigmentation), thickness (height: clinical and histological), relief (surface irregularities), pliability (tissue elasticity), and surface area (scar contraction or expansion).
Scar elevation index is commonly used to indicate scar improvement. It measures the height of scar tissue compared to the normal surrounding skin. Studies show the effectiveness of silicone gel sheeting in minimizing scar elevation index. Another physical measure is the pliability of the scar tissue, which is also improved by silicone gel sheeting. Scar improvement is generally measured by size reduction, appearance, and calming effect. Silicone gel sheeting addresses the 3 requirements well among scar treatments. Several randomized controlled trials were carried out to assess the effectiveness. Silicone gel sheeting produces a statistically significant reduction in scar thickness and color amelioration. Therefore, it is an evidence-based non-invasive preventive treatment.
Results of comparative studies on the effectiveness of silicone gel sheeting and silicone gel do not show significant differences between the two.
Another non-invasive treatment is compression therapy, in which patients wear pressure garments to control the growth of scars. Pressure garments apply mechanical pressure to the surface of the scar, reducing the supply of blood and oxygen to the scar tissue. Formation of excessive scar tissue is thus prevented. The combination of silicone gel sheeting and compression therapy has been proven to be more effective than using the sheet alone.
Patients who find the non-invasive treatments ineffective may choose to undergo invasive treatments such as intralesional injections of corticosteroids, surgical excision of the scars, and radiotherapy.
Side effects
Common side effects of silicone gel sheets include itchiness, rash, maceration of the skin, and malodor. These symptoms are generally well-tolerated and can be minimized by rinsing the area properly daily. Patients who suffer from these side effects should wash the treated area and the silicone gel sheets with mild soap since the dirt or bacteria on the sheets may irritate the scar. In tropical climates with high humidity, excessive moisture underneath the gel may lead to heat rash and uncomfortable sensations in patients.
Design
Silicone gel sheets are usually made of medical silicone polymers such as polysiloxane and polydimethylsiloxane, along with silicon dioxide and volatile components. The long-chain silicone polymers form cross-linking with silicon dioxide and spread as a thin sheet.
They are either flesh color (most common) or clear and come as either a single large rectangle sheet or a roll. Available size varies with brands.
Notable brands
Advasil Conform: Polyurethane film backing and self-adhesive
Bapscarcare T: Self-adhesive
Cica-care: Soft, self-adhesive, and semi-occlusive with backing
Ciltech: Polyurethane film backing and self-adhesive
Dermatix: Self-adhesive (transparent or fabric-backed)
Mepiform: Polyurethane film backing and self-adhesive
Scar FX: Self-adhesive and transparent
Silgel: Thin and transparent
Scarcura: Self -adhesive, soft
References
Drug delivery devices
Medical dressings | Silicone gel sheeting | [
"Chemistry"
] | 1,890 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Drug delivery devices"
] |
73,280,504 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepiota%20ochrospora | Lepiota ochrospora is a species of mushroom producing fungus in the family Agaricaceae.
Taxonomy
It was described in 1893 by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke & George Edward Massee who classified it as Lepiota ochrospora.
Paul Heinemann suggested that this species may be synonymous with Leucocoprinus gandour however that species was found in Africa whereas Lepiota ochrospora was found in South America.
Description
Cap: 5–15 cm wide starting ovate then expanding with an umbo. The surface is pale with dark scales which are more dense around the umbo. The cap flesh is 2 cm thick at the disc and thinner at the margin, where there are striations. Gills: Free, moderately broad and ventricose. Yellowish drying to cinnamon. Stem: 6–15 cm long tapering upwards from a bulbous base. The surface has vertical striations running up the length and the interior is hollow. The stem ring is large and movable. Spores: 8 × 6 μm. Ovate and apiculate. Ochre in colour when viewed microscopically. Smell: Pleasant. Taste: Pleasant.
The dried specimen of this species is held by The New York Botanical Garden.
Etymology
The specific epithet ochrospora is named for the colour of the spores of this mushroom.
Habitat and distribution
The specimens studied were found the Coast Lands of British Guiana (now Guyana) where they were found growing on the ground.
Similar species
Cooke and Massee state that it resembles Lepiota procera (now Macrolepiota procera) but that the spores are distinctly coloured like those of Cortinarii (Cortinarius).
References
ochrospora
Fungi described in 1893
Taxa named by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke
Fungus species | Lepiota ochrospora | [
"Biology"
] | 371 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
73,282,484 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanina%20Ruhlmann-Kleider | Vanina Ruhlmann-Kleider (born 1961) is a French physicist and director of research for the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), at CEA Paris-Saclay. Originally working in experimental particle physics, her interests shifted to observational cosmology through her participation in the Supernova Legacy Survey and Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey projects.
Education and career
Ruhlmann-Kleider earned a diplôme d'études approfondies in nuclear and particle physics through her studies at the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles, and in 1988 completed a doctorate through the University of Paris, for research at CEA Paris-Saclay, with the dissertation Measurement of the strong running coupling constant from W and Z production (UA2 experiment) directed by André Roussarie. In the same year, she became a permanent researcher at CEA Paris-Saclay.
Until 2008, her research included experimental high-energy physics at CERN, including the search for the Higgs Boson. She began work on the Supernova Legacy Survey in 2006, and since then has continued her research in observational cosmology. More recently, her work on the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey has led to new insights into dark energy. She is one of the group leaders of the SPP Cosmology group in the CEA Institute of research into the fundamental laws of the universe (IRFU).
Recognition
Ruhlmann-Kleider received the Ordre des Palmes académiques in 2002, and the CNRS Silver Medal in 2003. She was named a chevalier in the Legion of Honour in 2010.
References
1961 births
Living people
Particle physicists
French astrophysicists
French women physicists
Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research
Knights of the Legion of Honour
People associated with CERN | Vanina Ruhlmann-Kleider | [
"Physics"
] | 385 | [
"Particle physicists",
"Particle physics"
] |
73,282,563 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.%20S.%20Steward | John Stanbury Steward (28 December 1906 – 18 September 1994) was an English biologist and veterinary scientist specialising in mammalogy, chemical pathology and microbiology.
Early life and education
Steward was born in Hereford, England, on 28 December 1906. He was the eldest son of Francis Victor Steward, a veterinary inspector and surgeon, and Elsie Mary Havill. His grandfather was John Alfred Steward , chairman of the Worcester Theatre Royal and director of the Worcester Gas Company who was twice Mayor of Worcester.
From 1921 to 1924, Steward attended Hereford Cathedral School, an independent boarding and day school. He attended the Royal Veterinary College from 1924 to 1928, winning the Royal Agricultural Society's silver medal for cattle pathology, the Royal Veterinary Medical Association's gold medal, and the Centenary Prize. He gained a diploma in veterinary medicine from the University of Edinburgh, which he attended from 1928 to 1929. In 1930, he enrolled at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and gained a Ministry of Agriculture research scholarship in veterinary pathology from the University of Cambridge.
Career
Steward was a member of the Colonial Services Club, Cambridge. He was elected a member of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club in 1954, and from 1964 to 1965 was president of the Central Veterinary Society.
While studying the infection of horses by strongyle worm in 1932, Steward found it existed in the diseased tendon tissues of the withers of farm colts.
In 1933, Steward was successful in establishing that the worm Onchocerca cervicalis Railliet and Henry is transmitted by Culicoides nubeculosus and probably by another species of Culicoides. This worm is the principal cause of fistulous withers and poll evil in horses.
A 1936 study of the life history of Brucella abortus by Steward revealed that adult forms of the parasite are common in the neck ligament, while embryos are found in the skin of this region. They develop in the midge's body in the course of about 24 to 25 days, and are then capable of infecting horses.
As a member of the Royal Society of Medicine, Steward believed that "the limitations and the great potentialities of veterinary inspection of dairy stock were scarcely appreciated." He proposed to the society in 1944 that, in the interest of public health, more should be done to educate the public by the Ministry of Health and to improve the safety of milk supply by the Ministry of Agriculture.
In 1945, Steward recorded malignant edema, a rapidly fatal wound infection likely due to Clostridium septicum, in swine for the first time in Great Britain.
In 1951, Steward announced the preliminary results of his application of Gammexane, an organochlorine chemical, to arthropods considered of veterinary importance. The results being promising, he concluded that "Among the synthetic insecticides Gammexane is outstanding in acaricidal activity, and this important veterinary use is being investigated further."
Regarding human interactions, Steward proposed the marsh rice rat as a model organism in 1951 to study certain infections to which other rodents used at the time are not susceptible. With Imperial Chemical Industries in 1952, he imported a dozen swamp rats from Florida to test the effectiveness of new drugs. These, he believed, would be more effective than the cotton rats often used "because they are considerably smaller".
In 1955, Steward wrote four articles on anthelmintic studies for the peer-reviewed scientific journal Parasitology, each focusing on a different approach to chemical testing.
After leaving Imperial Chemical Industries, Steward acquired a veterinary practice at 68 St James' Street, a Grade II* listed building in Nottingham, where he practised as Evershed, Smythe & Steward.
Personal life
Steward resided at Gwynne House, Gwynne Street, Hereford and later Inkersall Manor, Bilsthorpe.
Select publications
References
1906 births
1994 deaths
People from Hereford
Scientists from Worcester, England
20th-century English zoologists
British parasitologists
British mammalogists
British bacteriologists
English biochemists
English veterinarians
English pathologists
Chemical pathologists
Imperial Chemical Industries people
Fellows of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
People educated at Hereford Cathedral School
Alumni of the Royal Veterinary College
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Alumni of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Alumni of the University of Cambridge | J. S. Steward | [
"Chemistry"
] | 865 | [
"Chemical pathology",
"Chemical pathologists"
] |
73,283,923 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian%20Narcotic%20Officers%20Association | Norwegian Narcotic Officers Association (NNOA; , ) is a Norwegian lobbying organization. The organization is advocating for a strict drug enforcement law retaining punishment as a reaction to illegal drug use, only excluding punishment for people suffering from severe substance use disorder. It has established itself as staunch opponents of drug liberalization and is often critiqued for employing an outdated approach to policing.
It was established in November 1991 as an attempt to prevent and reduce organized crime related to illegal drugs. As of January 2023, senior police constable Jan Erik Bresil is the leader of the organization, and state attorney Geir Evanger functions as the deputy chairman.
References
External links
Drug control law
Non-profit organisations based in Norway
1991 establishments in Norway
Political organizations established in 1991
Opposition to cannabis legalization
Temperance organizations | Norwegian Narcotic Officers Association | [
"Chemistry"
] | 160 | [
"Drug control law",
"Regulation of chemicals"
] |
73,284,126 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentacyanocobaltate | In chemistry, pentacyanocobaltate is the coordination complex with the formula . When crystallized with a quaternary ammonium cation, it can be obtained as a yellow solid. Pentacyanocobaltate attracted attention as an early example of a metal complex that reacts with hydrogen. It contains low-spin cobalt(II), with a doublet ground state.
Synthesis and structure
Aqueous solutions of pentacyanocobaltate are produced by the addition of five or more equivalents of a cyanide salt to a solution of a cobalt(II) salt. Initially this reaction produces insoluble cobalt dicyanide, but this solid dissolves in the presence of the excess cyanide. Pentacyanocobaltate forms within seconds. When prepared using a quaternary ammonium (quat) cyanide, crystals can be obtained with the formula . According to X-ray crystallography, the salt features square pyamidal .
Reactions
Solutions of undergo a variety of reactions. The complex attracted attention in the 1940s for its reactivity toward hydrogen, which is now understood to produce a cobalt hydride:
When allowed to stand as a dilute solution for several minutes, the complex reacts with water to give two Co(III) derivatives:
In concentrated solution, the complex dimerizes:
With benzyl chloride and related alkylating agents, Co(III) alkyls are formed:
References
Cyano complexes
Cobalt(II) compounds
Anions
Cobalt complexes
Cyanometallates | Pentacyanocobaltate | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 317 | [
"Ions",
"Matter",
"Anions"
] |
73,284,387 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HR%201170 | HR 1170, also known as HD 23728 and V376 Persei, is a star about 220 light years from the Earth, in the constellation Perseus. It is a 5th magnitude star, so it will be faintly visible to the naked eye of an observer far from city lights. It is a variable star, whose brightness varies slightly from magnitude 5.77 to 5.91.
Michel Breger announced that HR 1170 is a Delta Scuti variable star in 1969, based on observations taken over 6 hours and 10 minutes on October 13, 1967. He reported that it varied with a mean amplitude of 0.08 magnitudes, over a period of 2.2 hours. In 1970 it was given the variable star designation V376 Persei.
Early investigations of HR 1170 showed that it has more than one pulsation period, as is true for most Delta Scuti stars, and the light curve shows the different periods beating with each other. Many investigators have tried to determine the modes of oscillation present in this star. All but one of these studies find only two significant periods. All agree that one of the periods is approximately 2.386 hours, but the studies do not agree on the second period. There is also no agreement as to whether the pulsations are radial, nonradial or a combination of the two, though most of the later studies, which examine data taken over a longer time window, conclude that at least one of the pulsation modes is nonradial.
References
Perseus (constellation)
017846
023728
Persei, V376
Delta Scuti variables
A-type subgiants
1170 | HR 1170 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 342 | [
"Perseus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
73,284,971 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar%20Surface%20Electromagnetics%20Experiment | The Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment (LuSEE-Night) is a planned robotic radio telescope observatory designed to land and function on the far side of Earth's Moon. The project is under development by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. If successfully deployed and activated, LuSEE-Night will attempt measurements of an early period of the history of the Universe that occurred relatively soon after the Big Bang, referred to as the Dark Ages of the Universe, which predates the formation of luminous stars and galaxies. The instrument is planned to be landed on the lunar far side as soon as 2026 aboard the Blue ghost lunar lander. LuSEE-Night, not to be confused with a companion lander planned for lunar landing in 2024 named LuSEE-Lite, is to be delivered to the lunar far side by Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS).
See also
Lunar Crater Radio Telescope
Chronology of the universe
Large Aperture Experiment to Detect the Dark Ages
References
External links
March 2023 NASA LuSEE-Night statement
Space probes
Lunar science
Radio telescopes
Astronomical instruments | Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment | [
"Astronomy"
] | 222 | [
"Astronomical instruments"
] |
73,285,598 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron%20and%20Steel%20Board | The Iron and Steel Board was a governmental body, originally established in 1946, to supervise the work and development of the United Kingdom iron and steel industry. It was reestablished in 1953 and was abolished in 1967.
Iron and Steel Board 1946-48
In 1946 the Labour government established an Iron and Steel Board to control the price of raw materials, finished products, and steel imports; and to regulate investment, pooling arrangements, and the development of new plant and equipment. Board members were appointed by the Minister of Supply and represented industry employers, workers and consumers.
Personnel
The Board originally comprised:
Sir Archibald Forbes (chairman)
Sir Alan Barlow
A. Callighan
Sir Lincoln Evans
G. H. Latham
R. Mather
Sir Wilfred Ayre
A. C. Boddis (secretary)
The Board was staffed by about 100 civil servants from the Ministry of Supply.
Nationalisation
The Board received little cooperation from the British Iron and Steel Federation. In October 1948 in light of the changed circumstances likely to arise from the government's nationalisation proposals five of the board members, with the exception of the trade unionists, refused a further term of office. As a consequence, the Board nominally ceased to exist from 1 October 1948. The work of the Board continued within the Ministry of Supply.
The Labour government nationalised the iron and steel industry. This was enacted by the Iron and Steel Act 1949. The Iron and Steel Bill included provisions for the establishment of a National Iron and Steel Board. During the passage of the Bill through Parliament the proposed Iron and Steel Board became the Iron and Steel Corporation.
Iron and Steel Board 1953-67
The Conservative government denationalised the iron and steel industry under the provisions of the Iron and Steel Act 1953. The 1953 Act established a new Iron and Steel Board which began operating on 13 July 1953. The Board had a duty 'to exercise a general supervision over the iron and steel industry... with a view to promoting the efficient, economic and adequate supply, under competitive conditions, of iron and steel products'. There were criticisms of work of the Board, its powers were sufficient when iron and steel were in short supply. However, when iron and steel became plentiful in the late 1950s the board's powers to set maximum prices and to veto development became meaningless. However, the ‘toothless tiger’ suited the steelmasters.
Personnel
The 1953 Act prescribed that the Board should comprise not less than 10 and not more than 15 members. They were appointed by the Minister of Supply. In 1953 the Board initially comprised:
Sir Archibald Forbes (chairman)
Sir Lincoln Evans (vice-chairman)
Robert Shone
Sir Andrew McCancy
Neville Rollason
James Owen
Wilfred Beard
James Shaw
Charles Connell
Sir Percy Lister
George Beharrell
Sir Cyril Musgrave became chairman on 1 March 1959 upon the retirement of Sir Archibald Forbes.
Other staff included: Sir Robert Shone, executive member (1955-62); J. Grieve-Smith, head of the economics division (1962-63); W. Taplin and Dr R. Robson, chief economists/senior economic advisors (1955-58); H. McArthur, head of finance/prices (1955-57); R.W. Foad, director of finance (1954-59).
Ministerial responsibility
In 1955 ministerial responsibility for the industry, including the Board, passed from the Ministry of Supply to the Board of Trade. In 1957 responsibility passed to the Ministry of Power.
Dissolution
In 1965 the Labour government announced plans to nationalise the iron and steel industry. The Iron and Steel Act 1967 vested the industry in the British Steel Corporation and the Iron and Steel Board was abolished.
Records
The records of the Iron and Steel Board are held at the National Archives, reference BE 1; and at the Modern Records Centre.
See also
Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain
British Iron and Steel Federation
British Steel Corporation
History of the steel industry (1850–1970)
References
1946 establishments in the United Kingdom
1948 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
1953 establishments in the United Kingdom
1967 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom
Government agencies established in 1946
Government agencies disestablished in 1948
Government agencies established in 1953
Government agencies disestablished in 1967
Metallurgical industry of the United Kingdom
Steel industry of the United Kingdom | Iron and Steel Board | [
"Chemistry"
] | 874 | [
"Metallurgical industry of the United Kingdom",
"Metallurgical industry by country"
] |
73,285,600 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XGC88000%20crawler%20crane | The XGC88000 crawler crane is a class of extremely large ultraheavy crawler crane made by XCMG. With a lifting capacity of 3,600 to 4,000 tons, a total boom length of 144 meters and a total gross weight of 5,350 tons. The XGC88000 crawler crane became the largest tracked mobile crane in the world, beating out the previous record holder, the Liebherr LR 13000 when it officially came into production in 2013. However, when it comes to absolute size, movability, and strength, the title still goes to the Honghai Crane which runs on rails.
It is also one of the largest ground vehicles in current operation, and - by its official production in 2013 - became the largest self-propelled ground vehicle by gross size, beating out the NASA crawler-transporters.
Design specifications
The XGC88000 crawler crane, unlike the majority of crawler cranes, comes in two sections. The primary section consists of the crane itself, which boasts a maximum boom length of 144 meters, a maximum total length of 173 meters (including the counterweight radius), a maximum height (when fully erect) of 108 meters, a lifting capacity ranging between 3,600 and 4,000 tons (although it managed to lift a maximum overload of 4,500 tons), and a maximum lifting momentum of 88,000 ton-meter.
The vehicle itself is powered by three U.S. Cummins engine units outputting a total power of . Each power unit could act as a mobile hydraulic power working station. Moreover, they can also work as an additional power source during the crane assembly/disassembly process to improve assembly efficiency, as well as act as an additional spare unit for each other. The crane driver sits in a large spacious cabin the size of a large office room. The cabin has an airconditioner, a seat, and a small sofa to accommodate three additional passengers.
The second section is a separate tracked compartment which essentially holds the crane's counterweight in total. The counterweight has a total height of 9.7 meters, a total length of 29 meters and a weight of 2,900 tons. The compartment houses its own driver's cockpit that can be independently driven and requires a working radius of 29 meters. The maximum weight of the vehicle clocks in at nearly 5,400 tons in weight.
See also
Honghai Crane - The largest mobile crane of any type.
List of largest machines
References
Cranes by type
Engineering vehicles
Construction equipment
Heavy equipment | XGC88000 crawler crane | [
"Engineering"
] | 523 | [
"Construction",
"Engineering vehicles",
"Construction equipment",
"Industrial machinery"
] |
73,286,776 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice%20navigation%20vessel | Ice navigation vessel or Ice-strengthened vessel is a class of ships specially prepared for independent ice navigation in the waters of the polar seas and for following icebreakers in especially difficult ice conditions. Various registration authorities assign ice classes to vessels based on their technical characteristics. Due to this, ice navigation vessels are usually referred to as ice-class vessels without indicating which class they belong to, but indicating the type of vessel (e.g. ice-class tanker, ice-class cargo ship etc).
Description
The geometry of the hull contours of ice navigation ships is intermediate between the contours of an icebreaker and the shape of a conventional transport vessel. The reliability of any vessel of this type is determined by their ability to withstand the loads acting on them while sailing in ice at a given speed, as well as the loads from compression by ice masses. The target capabilities determine the requirements for enhanced capacity of its engine, the strength of the hull, propellers, propeller shaft and steering gear. It may also include adaptations for functioning in freezing conditions, equipment necessary for navigation in ice and anti-icing system for the hull.
Ice-strengthened vessels
The ice navigation ships are also often referred as ice-strengthened vessels. This term has no international standard and its definition may vary in different In general, it is more commonly used for various research and expedition ships and less commonly for merchant cargo ships. The common characteristics of these vessels are the presence of an ice belt or a double hull with its geometry similar to that of icebreakers. Also, the hull is made of durable materials and is smooth and free of protruding fasteners to reduce friction. The water intake is designed so that the engine is not clogged with ice, the ship's rudder and propeller are protected from external damage.
Icebreaker-transport vessels
The term icebreaker-transport vessels is applied to a part of ice navigation vessels, namely, to such cargo and research vessels that are capable of systematic navigation through the ice of freezing non-polar and polar seas during the entire navigation season, both independently and in cooperation with an icebreaker. Following the example of the Sevmorput ship, which is referred to as them, ice navigation ships are called icebreaker-transport ships if the capacity of their ship engines allows free navigation in ice and they most likely do not need to be accompanied by an icebreaker. The shaft power of some vessels of this class can be comparable to the most powerful icebreakers currently in existence. For example, the shaft power of Yamalmax-type ships is 45 MW, and the same figure for nuclear-powered icebreakers of Arktika-class is 49.5 MW. And since specialized icebreakers are also actively used for transport purposes within their capabilities, the term “icebreaker-transport vessel” is often applied to them too. Thus, in general, the assignment of transport ships to this class means that they can be classified as icebreakers according to their technical characteristics and means that, despite their main transport purpose, they can be used as icebreakers for other ships if they have similar routes.
Compared to conventional icebreakers, vessels of this class can overcome ice hummocks more efficiently due to their greater mass. But since all merchant vessels as a whole have long sides, which, in the case of movement in ice, create significant friction and resistance to the movement of the vessel, in a number of cases they need the assistance of icebreakers, despite the high capacity of their ship engines. The elongated shape of these vessels also increases their susceptibility to sea ice compression.
And by analogy with the informal term "ice-class ship", clarifications by the type of ship are used for this class of vessels too. For example, an icebreaker-transport container ship or, for short, an icebreaker-container ship in the case of Sevmorput, an icebreaker-tanker in the case of Timofey Guzhenko, etc. Since the characteristics of ships of this class and their icebreaking ability are close to conventional icebreakers, the names "the biggest icebreaker in history" or "the biggest icebreaker in the world" are sometimes used for large vessels.
Double-acting ships
One of the varieties of ice navigation vessels are double-acting ships. To move through the ice, they use the combined effect of the ice-breaking shape of the ship's stern and the effect of the propellers on the ice. These vessels may have the usual bulbous bow and may be capable of moving in ice only astern. Since ice sailing astern also eliminates the stress on the hull that occurs when breaking ice in the classical way, this type of vessel has advantages. Due to the icebreaking use of their stern, it is impossible to equip these ships with a conventional rudder and they can only be driven by rudder propellers. It should also be noted that ships with an icebreaking shape of the bow and stern, as a rule, move through the ice in the classical way to reduce propeller wear and use stern forward movement only in severe ice conditions.
References
Ship types
Ice in transportation | Ice navigation vessel | [
"Physics"
] | 1,041 | [
"Physical systems",
"Transport",
"Ice in transportation"
] |
73,287,030 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial%20neural%20network | Spatial neural networks (SNNs)Spatial neural networks (SNNs) constitute a supercategory of tailored neural networks (NNs) for representing and predicting geographic phenomena. They generally improve both the statistical accuracy and reliability of the a-spatial/classic NNs whenever they handle geo-spatial datasets, and also of the other spatial (statistical) models (e.g. spatial regression models) whenever the geo-spatial datasets' variables depict non-linear relations. Examples of SNNs are the OSFA spatial neural networks, SVANNs and GWNNs.
History
Openshaw (1993) and Hewitson et al. (1994) started investigating the applications of the a-spatial/classic NNs to geographic phenomena. They observed that a-spatial/classic NNs outperform the other extensively applied a-spatial/classic statistical models (e.g. regression models, clustering algorithms, maximum likelihood classifications) in geography, especially when there exist non-linear relations between the geo-spatial datasets' variables. Thereafter, Openshaw (1998) also compared these a-spatial/classic NNs with other modern and original a-spatial statistical models at that time (i.e. fuzzy logic models, genetic algorithm models); he concluded that the a-spatial/classic NNs are statistically competitive. Thereafter scientists developed several categories of SNNs – see below.
Spatial models
Spatial statistical models (aka geographically weighted models, or merely spatial models) like the geographically weighted regressions (GWRs), SNNs, etc., are spatially tailored (a-spatial/classic) statistical models, so to learn and model the deterministic components of the spatial variability (i.e. spatial dependence/autocorrelation, spatial heterogeneity, spatial association/cross-correlation) from the geo-locations of the geo-spatial datasets’ (statistical) individuals/units.
Categories
There exist several categories of methods/approaches for designing and applying SNNs.
One-Size-Fits-all (OSFA) spatial neural networks, use the OSFA method/approach for globally computing the spatial weights and designing a spatial structure from the originally a-spatial/classic neural networks.
Spatial Variability Aware Neural Networks (SVANNs) use an enhanced OSFA method/approach that locally recomputes the spatial weights and redesigns the spatial structure of the originally a-spatial/classic NNs, at each geo-location of the (statistical) individuals/units' attributes' values. They generally outperform the OSFA spatial neural networks, but they do not consistently handle the spatial heterogeneity at multiple scales.
Geographically Weighted Neural Networks (GWNNs) are similar to the SVANNs but they use the so-called Geographically Weighted Model (GWM) method/approach by Lu et al. (2023), so to locally recompute the spatial weights and redesign the spatial structure of the originally a-spatial/classic neural networks. Like the SVANNs, they do not consistently handle spatial heterogeneity at multiple scales.
Applications
There exist case-study applications of SNNs in:
energy for predicting the electricity consumption;
agriculture for classifying the vegetation;
real estate for appraising the premises.
See also
Statistics
Neural networks' supercategories
Statistical software
Quantitative geography
Spatial analysis
GIS software
References
Neural network architectures
Spatial analysis | Spatial neural network | [
"Physics"
] | 706 | [
"Spacetime",
"Space",
"Spatial analysis"
] |
73,287,048 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc%20perchlorate | Zinc perchlorate is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula Zn(ClO4)2 which forms the hexahydrate.
Synthesis
Zinc perchlorate can be prepared by dissolving zinc oxide or zinc carbonate in perchloric acid:
ZnO + 2HClO4 -> Zn(ClO4)2 + H2O
ZnCO3 + 2HClO4 -> Zn(ClO4)2 + H2O + CO2
Chemical properties
The compound decomposes when heated to high temperatures and may explode if heated too strongly.
Like most other perchlorates such as copper perchlorate and lead perchlorate, zinc perchlorate is prone to deliquescence.
Zinc perchlorate can form complexes with ligands such as 8-aminoquinoline, tricarbohydrazide, and tetraphenylethylene tetratriazole.
Physical properties
The compound forms a hexahydrate ·6.
Zinc perchlorate forms a hygroscopic colorless solid, odorless, soluble in water and low-weight alcohols.
Uses
Zinc perchlorate is used as an oxidizing agent and catalyst.
References
External links
Perchlorates
Oxidizing agents
Zinc compounds | Zinc perchlorate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 260 | [
"Perchlorates",
"Redox",
"Oxidizing agents",
"Salts"
] |
73,288,581 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK%20Petroleum%20Industry%20Association | The UK Petroleum Industry Association (UKPIA) is a trade body representing downstream companies in the oil and gas sector in the UK. The current Chief Executive is Elizabeth de Jong.
The trade body's website says that "we and our members are committed to taking a leadership role in shaping a flexible and resilient fuels future for UK industry and ensuring the downstream fuels sector continues to play a part in tomorrow's sustainable, energy-secure landscape".
In written evidence to Parliament in 2021, UKPIA said that it represents "eight oil refining, distribution and marketing companies that operate the six major oil refineries in the UK and source over 85% of the transport fuels used. UKPIA members also own and operate multiple oil terminals and oil pipelines".
UKPIA publishes reviews and statistical studies about the downstream oil industries in the UK.
Lobbying allegations
In February 2022, The Guardian published a report alleging that lobbyists representing fossil fuel giants were running All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) to give oil producers a voice in parliament without having to declare an interest. The report notes that UKPIA "is playing a key role in the running of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on downstream energy and fuels", which gave the association's members access to MPs, for example by hosting presentations by UKPIA members like BP and Phillips 66.
Following an investigation by the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists concluded that "Based on assurances given, UKPIA has not conducted consultant lobbying activities."
References
Petroleum organizations | UK Petroleum Industry Association | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering"
] | 311 | [
"Petroleum",
"Petroleum organizations",
"Energy organizations"
] |
73,289,086 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous%20astronomy | Indigenous astronomy is the name given to the use and study of astronomical subjects and their movements by indigenous groups. This field encompasses culture, traditional knowledge, and astronomy. Astronomy has been practised by indigenous groups to create astronomical calendars which inform on weather, navigation, migration, agriculture, and ecology. Alongside calendric uses, constellations have names and stories that inform ceremony and social structures holding specific and deep cultural meanings for respective indigenous groups.
Knowledge systems
Indigenous astronomy is an aspect of indigenous knowledge systems, which are used to explain and predict nature. It involves the notion of a living relationship with the sky, celestial objects and processes. This living relationship is a product of long-held observation and participation traditions, recognising the spirituality and relatedness of living things.
Research on the knowledge, traditions and practices from indigenous astronomy has revealed the scientific and social information they contain. European colonisation attempted to suppress indigenous cultures; however, many groups successfully persisted, maintaining their culture and inter-generational knowledge transmission. In some groups, information is considered sacred, or only shareable in specific seasons or by specific community members, ages, or genders. Therefore, sharing certain astronomical knowledge to non-indigenous may be inappropriate, and the astronomical information available is only that which is given freely by indigenous traditional owners to researchers.
Examples from different regions
Indigenous astronomies are diverse in their specificities, but find commonality in some storytelling themes, practices, and functions.
In Aboriginal Astronomy, Kamilaroi and Euahlayi elders reveal that the Emu in the Sky, a dark constellation, informs on emu behaviour and seasonal changes, with consequences for food economics and ceremonial events.
The August–September positioning denotes when the Bora ceremony is held. The Bora ceremonial grounds are thought to reflect the major dark patches of the emu (its head and body), as two circles of different size, connected by a pathway.
The use of stars for sea-navigation is common across indigenous groups, especially those with island or archipelago geographies. For example, the Bugis people of Indonesia used the presence or absence of certain stars and their rising and setting times like compass points, in concordance with other signs such as wave, wind and cloud patterns. For example, the absence of bembé' é, the goat (the Coalsack), forecast calm weather. Polynesian astronomy also utilised star-compasses like the Buganese, with the memorisation of specific "steering-stars" and their rising and setting directions on the horizon.
Astronomy was used across many cultures to develop lunar calendars. Polynesian groups and southern African tribes both used the heliacal rise of the Pleiades stars to regulate agricultural and ceremonial activities.
Revitalisation and cultural heritage
Some academic literature argues that all science is embedded with culture, and to acknowledge this is integral to create diverse learning environments and decolonise Western knowledge systems. To acknowledge other cultures is to affirm them, revealing valuable alternative scientific perspectives. This is considered important and a responsibility of institutions such as planetariums, museums, and educational curricula to include.
There are several initiatives to revitalise and share indigenous astronomy. In the US, the Bell Museum planetarium of Minnesota worked with native American astronomer, Annette Lee, to construct a best practices framework for sharing Indigenous Astronomy and create a live online programme on Indigenous Star Knowledge. Lee also received NASA funding to deliver a school educational programme on Indigenous Astronomy.
In Australia, Aboriginal Astronomy has featured in Sydney Observatory's exhibition since 1997. Research into the development of Aboriginal astronomical knowledge was used to develop an educational program at the Sydney Observatory, called Dreamtime Astronomy. It includes activities such as creating a planisphere with both Western scientific and Boorong names for celestial objects.
There is a perception that public education institutions uphold colonial narratives through their collections. To include and embrace Indigenous science in these institutions changes the way science is collected, stored, and shared and is therefore considered to help decolonise the Western scientific knowledge basis.
Right to dark skies
The practice of observing space is currently threatened by increasing satellite traffic in the outer space environment. The crowding of Earth's orbit, particularly low-Earth orbit (LEO), by satellites poses a serious risk to practising astronomy due to satellite's visibility and disruption of the sky. Satellites are visible to the naked eye due to the reflection of sunlight. The proposed introduction of satellite mega-constellations, such as Starlink into LEO could disrupt Indigenous astronomical practices and the transmission of knowledge, heritage, and culture.
The Outer Space Treaty declares that outer space activity must occur in accordance with international law and for the benefit of all humankind. Protections for the rights of Indigenous cultures exist in varying degrees of strength. The right to practise and revitalise cultural traditions by Indigenous groups is protected by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), which encompasses Indigenous astronomy, and their right to maintain their spiritual relationship with land. However, the UNDRIP does not specifically protect the spiritual relationship of Indigenous peoples with space, and as a non-legally binding instrument, it may not be able to prevent the damage to Indigenous astronomy by increased satellite use. However, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is stronger legislation protecting Indigenous culture and may aid Indigenous communities in securing a right to dark skies. Progressive steps have been taken, such as the creation of 'VisorSat' by SpaceX to create less reflective and disruptive satellites, and the International Astronomical Union 2022 report on Quiet and Dark Skies raised the issue's profile and was presented at the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Such steps could promote collaboration and the inclusion of Indigenous voices in the planning process for satellites in outer space.
References
Folklore
Archaeoastronomy | Indigenous astronomy | [
"Astronomy"
] | 1,176 | [
"Archaeoastronomy",
"Astronomical sub-disciplines"
] |
73,289,766 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Longevity%20Diet | The Longevity Diet is a 2018 book by Italian biogerontologist Valter Longo. The subject of the book is fasting and longevity. The book advocates a fasting mimicking diet (FMD) coupled with a mostly plant based diet that allows for the consumption of fish, for greater longevity.
Background
Valter Longo, a PhD in biochemistry and director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California, invented the fasting mimicking diet. Longo has said, "Using epidemiology and clinical trials, we put all the research together..." The diet calls for an emphasis on combining a plant-based diet with fish, together with fasting, timing and food quantity.
Synopsis
In the book, Longo says one should alter one's diet to avoid illness in old age.
He advises dieters start the diet with a five-day fasting mimicking diet (FMD), which calls for a plant-based diet with calorie restriction of 1100 calories the first day, followed by 800 calories for the next few days. The fast-mimicking diet was pioneered by Valter Longo. The book calls for the five-day, calorie restriction FMD to occur twice per year. Before turning 65 the diet calls for minimal protein, and mostly plant-based diet augmented with calorie-restriction.
After someone finishes the fasting mimicking diet, Longo advocates following a mostly plant-based diet that includes fish. He also suggests implementing time-restricted eating, with daily eating windows of 11-12 hours.
Reception
The book is an international bestseller, has been translated into more than 15 languages, and is sold in more than 20 countries.
Writing for Red Pen Reviews, Hilary Bethancourt stated the diet might be difficult and expensive to follow. Bethancourt goes on to say that the book gives advice about how to have a longer lifespan and healthspan through the practice of following a five-day fasting-mimicking diet and by choosing what to eat, how much to eat, and how often to eat.
Reviewing the book for Glam Adelaide James Murphy felt that the book has "too much discussion of his thwarted ambitions to be a rock star".
References
2018 non-fiction books
Self-help books
Dieting books
Fasting
Books about life extension
Plant-based diets
Senescence | The Longevity Diet | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 482 | [
"Senescence",
"Metabolism",
"Cellular processes"
] |
73,289,767 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic%20door%20holder | An electromagnetic door holder (electromagnetic door holder and release or hold-open device, sometimes informally called a mag hold open or electric doorstop) is a simple electromechanical mechanism which can be used to hold a fire door or security door open until given a signal to release. A fire alarm control panel or a similar emergency control system usually powers and controls the door holder.
Operation
A simple electromagnetic door holder consists of a strong electromagnet, usually attached to a wall or mounted in a floor pedestal enclosure, next to the door it controls. The mechanism may be mounted near the floor, at the upper corner of the open door, or at any convenient height along the latch edge (away from the hinged edge).
A steel plate, often mounted on a ball joint or swivel joint, is attached to the door so that it can contact the electromagnet when the door is fully opened. An electric current typically energizes the electromagnet to attract and hold the steel plate, keeping the door open. Unlike electromagnetic locks, the magnetic attraction of an electromagnetic door holder is usually weak enough that it can be manually overpowered at any time by anyone, allowing the door to close.
If a fire alarm control panel, burglar alarm control panel, or similar emergency system is triggered, it will cut electrical power to the electromagnetic door holders under its control. The door holders release, allowing the doors to close automatically using door closers. The electric power to keep the doors open is typically 12 VDC, 24 VDC (common), 24 VAC, 120 VAC, or 240 VAC.
The closed doors may or may not mechanically latch or lock in the closed position. Many fire doors do not lock, to allow building occupants to move within the building to find an exit easily. On the other hand, security doors may close, latch, and lock, to prevent passage. Other designs are used to secure sliding or overhead doors similarly, holding them open until a signal to release the doors to close automatically.
Reliability
In life safety and security applications, electromagnetic door holders must be very reliable; the simplicity of the mechanisms helps considerably. They are designed to be fail-safe in that anything interfering with their operation (such as a power failure) will cause them to release the doors and allow them to close.
To overcome possible remanent magnetism, which could cause the electromagnet to fail to release, some door holders are equipped with a spring-loaded pin that helps push the magnetic plate away from the electromagnet when the power is cut.
See also
Electric strike
Smart doorbell
References
External links
Exterior Doors
Door furniture
Fasteners | Electromagnetic door holder | [
"Engineering"
] | 542 | [
"Construction",
"Fasteners"
] |
73,290,256 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yttrium%20perchlorate | Yttrium perchlorate is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula . The compound is an yttrium salt of perchloric acid.
Synthesis
Dissolving yttrium oxide in perchloric acid solution can produce yttrium perchlorate octahydrate.
Chemical properties
Potentially explosive.
Physical properties
The compound is soluble in water and forms a hexahydrate with the formula •6.
References
Perchlorates
Oxidizing agents
Yttrium compounds | Yttrium perchlorate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 97 | [
"Perchlorates",
"Redox",
"Oxidizing agents",
"Salts"
] |
73,290,589 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaetanina%20Calvi | Gaetanina Calvi (1887 Milan – 1964 Carate Brianza) was an Italian engineer. She was the first woman to graduate from Polytechnic University of Milan, in 1913, and second in Italy after Emma Strada.
Early life and education
She graduated from the Isep Parini high school. In the academic year 1908/1909, she enrolled in civil engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan. She graduated in 1913 with 85/100.
Career
Calvi worked for the engineers Gardella and Martini in Milan. In 1925 Calvi designed a new wing of the L'Istituto dei Ciechi (Institute for the Blind) in Milan, in collaboration with the architect Mario Faravelli.
She then taught mathematics at the Istituto dei Ciechi and in 1933 became a benefactor of the Institute’s Group Home with a large bequest following the death of her mother.
In 1940, with the entry of Italy into the Second World War, Calvi retired from teaching in Milan but took child students in mathematics, Latin and Italian from the local population of farmers or labourers who worked in the spinning mills of the River Lambro, near her home in Costa Lambro, a village in Carate Brianza. She was known as Countess Calvi and "those who could afford to paid a small amount; those who could not paid for their lessons with a few hens."
She worked as a freelancer engineer and teacher until her death, in Carate Brianza in 1964.
See also
List of women who obtained doctoral degrees before 1800
References
1887 births
1964 deaths
Polytechnic University of Milan alumni
Women engineers
People from Milan
Civil engineers
Italian engineers
Italian women engineers
Italian civil engineers
Women's firsts | Gaetanina Calvi | [
"Engineering"
] | 345 | [
"Civil engineering",
"Civil engineers"
] |
73,291,755 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative%20artificial%20intelligence | Generative artificial intelligence (generative AI, GenAI, or GAI) is a subset of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to produce text, images, videos, or other forms of data. These models learn the underlying patterns and structures of their training data and use them to produce new data based on the input, which often comes in the form of natural language prompts.
Improvements in transformer-based deep neural networks, particularly large language models (LLMs), enabled an AI boom of generative AI systems in the early 2020s. These include chatbots such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and LLaMA; text-to-image artificial intelligence image generation systems such as Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and DALL-E; and text-to-video AI generators such as Sora. Companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, and Baidu as well as numerous smaller firms have developed generative AI models.
Generative AI has uses across a wide range of industries, including software development, healthcare, finance, entertainment, customer service, sales and marketing, art, writing, fashion, and product design. However, concerns have been raised about the potential misuse of generative AI such as cybercrime, the use of fake news or deepfakes to deceive or manipulate people, and the mass replacement of human jobs. Intellectual property law concerns also exist around generative models that are trained on and emulate copyrighted works of art.
History
Early history
Since its inception, researchers in the field have raised philosophical and ethical arguments about the nature of the human mind and the consequences of creating artificial beings with human-like intelligence; these issues have previously been explored by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity. The concept of automated art dates back at least to the automata of ancient Greek civilization, where inventors such as Daedalus and Hero of Alexandria were described as having designed machines capable of writing text, generating sounds, and playing music. The tradition of creative automations has flourished throughout history, exemplified by Maillardet's automaton created in the early 1800s. Markov chains have long been used to model natural languages since their development by Russian mathematician Andrey Markov in the early 20th century. Markov published his first paper on the topic in 1906, and analyzed the pattern of vowels and consonants in the novel Eugeny Onegin using Markov chains. Once a Markov chain is learned on a text corpus, it can then be used as a probabilistic text generator.
Academic artificial intelligence
The academic discipline of artificial intelligence was established at a research workshop held at Dartmouth College in 1956 and has experienced several waves of advancement and optimism in the decades since. Artificial Intelligence research began in the 1950s with works like Computing Machinery and Intelligence (1950) and the 1956 Dartmouth Summer Research Project on AI. Since the 1950s, artists and researchers have used artificial intelligence to create artistic works. By the early 1970s, Harold Cohen was creating and exhibiting generative AI works created by AARON, the computer program Cohen created to generate paintings.
The terms generative AI planning or generative planning were used in the 1980s and 1990s to refer to AI planning systems, especially computer-aided process planning, used to generate sequences of actions to reach a specified goal. Generative AI planning systems used symbolic AI methods such as state space search and constraint satisfaction and were a "relatively mature" technology by the early 1990s. They were used to generate crisis action plans for military use, process plans for manufacturing and decision plans such as in prototype autonomous spacecraft.
Generative neural nets (2014-2019)
Since its inception, the field of machine learning used both discriminative models and generative models, to model and predict data. Beginning in the late 2000s, the emergence of deep learning drove progress and research in image classification, speech recognition, natural language processing and other tasks. Neural networks in this era were typically trained as discriminative models, due to the difficulty of generative modeling.
In 2014, advancements such as the variational autoencoder and generative adversarial network produced the first practical deep neural networks capable of learning generative models, as opposed to discriminative ones, for complex data such as images. These deep generative models were the first to output not only class labels for images but also entire images.
In 2017, the Transformer network enabled advancements in generative models compared to older Long-Short Term Memory models, leading to the first generative pre-trained transformer (GPT), known as GPT-1, in 2018. This was followed in 2019 by GPT-2 which demonstrated the ability to generalize unsupervised to many different tasks as a Foundation model.
The new generative models introduced during this period allowed for large neural networks to be trained using unsupervised learning or semi-supervised learning, rather than the supervised learning typical of discriminative models. Unsupervised learning removed the need for humans to manually label data, allowing for larger networks to be trained.
Generative AI boom (2020-)
In March 2020, 15.ai, created by an anonymous MIT researcher, was a free web application that could generate convincing character voices using minimal training data. The platform is credited as the first mainstream service to popularize AI voice cloning (audio deepfakes) in memes and content creation, influencing subsequent developments in voice AI technology.
In 2021, the emergence of DALL-E, a transformer-based pixel generative model, marked an advance in AI-generated imagery. This was followed by the releases of Midjourney and Stable Diffusion in 2022, which further democratized access to high-quality artificial intelligence art creation from natural language prompts. These systems demonstrated unprecedented capabilities in generating photorealistic images, artwork, and designs based on text descriptions, leading to widespread adoption among artists, designers, and the general public.
In late 2022, the public release of ChatGPT revolutionized the accessibility and application of generative AI for general-purpose text-based tasks. The system's ability to engage in natural conversations, generate creative content, assist with coding, and perform various analytical tasks captured global attention and sparked widespread discussion about AI's potential impact on work, education, and creativity.
In March 2023, GPT-4's release represented another jump in generative AI capabilities. A team from Microsoft Research controversially argued that it "could reasonably be viewed as an early (yet still incomplete) version of an artificial general intelligence (AGI) system." However, this assessment was contested by other scholars who maintained that generative AI remained "still far from reaching the benchmark of 'general human intelligence'" as of 2023. Later in 2023, Meta released ImageBind, an AI model combining multiple modalities including text, images, video, thermal data, 3D data, audio, and motion, paving the way for more immersive generative AI applications.
In December 2023, Google unveiled Gemini, a multimodal AI model available in four versions: Ultra, Pro, Flash, and Nano. The company integrated Gemini Pro into its Bard chatbot and announced plans for "Bard Advanced" powered by the larger Gemini Ultra model. In February 2024, Google unified Bard and Duet AI under the Gemini brand, launching a mobile app on Android and integrating the service into the Google app on iOS.
In March 2024, Anthropic released the Claude 3 family of large language models, including Claude 3 Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus. The models demonstrated significant improvements in capabilities across various benchmarks, with Claude 3 Opus notably outperforming leading models from OpenAI and Google. In June 2024, Anthropic released Claude 3.5 Sonnet, which demonstrated improved performance compared to the larger Claude 3 Opus, particularly in areas such as coding, multistep workflows, and image analysis.
According to a survey by SAS and Coleman Parkes Research, China has emerged as a global leader in generative AI adoption, with 83% of Chinese respondents using the technology, exceeding both the global average of 54% and the U.S. rate of 65%. This leadership is further evidenced by China's intellectual property developments in the field, with a UN report revealing that Chinese entities filed over 38,000 generative AI patents from 2014 to 2023, substantially surpassing the United States in patent applications.
Modalities
A generative AI system is constructed by applying unsupervised machine learning (invoking for instance neural network architectures such as generative adversarial networks (GANs), variation autoencoders (VAEs), transformers, or self-supervised machine learning trained on a dataset. The capabilities of a generative AI system depend on the modality or type of the data set used. Generative AI can be either unimodal or multimodal; unimodal systems take only one type of input, whereas multimodal systems can take more than one type of input. For example, one version of OpenAI's GPT-4 accepts both text and image inputs.
Text
Generative AI systems trained on words or word tokens include GPT-3, GPT-4, GPT-4o, LaMDA, LLaMA, BLOOM, Gemini and others (see List of large language models). They are capable of natural language processing, machine translation, and natural language generation and can be used as foundation models for other tasks. Data sets include BookCorpus, Wikipedia, and others (see List of text corpora).
Code
In addition to natural language text, large language models can be trained on programming language text, allowing them to generate source code for new computer programs. Examples include OpenAI Codex and the VS Code fork Cursor.
Images
Producing high-quality visual art is a prominent application of generative AI. Generative AI systems trained on sets of images with text captions include Imagen, DALL-E, Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, FLUX.1, Stable Diffusion and others (see Artificial intelligence art, Generative art, and Synthetic media). They are commonly used for text-to-image generation and neural style transfer. Datasets include LAION-5B and others (see List of datasets in computer vision and image processing).
Audio
Generative AI can also be trained extensively on audio clips to produce natural-sounding speech synthesis and text-to-speech capabilities. An early pioneer in this field was 15.ai, launched in March 2020, which demonstrated the ability to clone character voices using as little as 15 seconds of training data. The website gained widespread attention for its ability to generate emotionally expressive speech for various fictional characters, though it was later taken offline in 2022 due to copyright concerns. Commercial alternatives subsequently emerged, including ElevenLabs' context-aware synthesis tools and Meta Platform's Voicebox.
Generative AI systems such as MusicLM and MusicGen can also be trained on the audio waveforms of recorded music along with text annotations, in order to generate new musical samples based on text descriptions such as a calming violin melody backed by a distorted guitar riff.
Music
Audio deepfakes of lyrics have been generated, like the song Savages, which used AI to mimic rapper Jay-Z's vocals. Music artist's instrumentals and lyrics are copyrighted but their voices aren't protected from regenerative AI yet, raising a debate about whether artists should get royalties from audio deepfakes.
Many AI music generators have been created that can be generated using a text phrase, genre options, and looped libraries of bars and riffs.
Video
Generative AI trained on annotated video can generate temporally-coherent, detailed and photorealistic video clips. Examples include Sora by OpenAI, Gen-1 and Gen-2 by Runway, and Make-A-Video by Meta Platforms.
Actions
Generative AI can also be trained on the motions of a robotic system to generate new trajectories for motion planning or navigation. For example, UniPi from Google Research uses prompts like "pick up blue bowl" or "wipe plate with yellow sponge" to control movements of a robot arm. Multimodal "vision-language-action" models such as Google's RT-2 can perform rudimentary reasoning in response to user prompts and visual input, such as picking up a toy dinosaur when given the prompt pick up the extinct animal at a table filled with toy animals and other objects.
3D modeling
Artificially intelligent computer-aided design (CAD) can use text-to-3D, image-to-3D, and video-to-3D to automate 3D modeling. AI-based CAD libraries could also be developed using linked open data of schematics and diagrams. AI CAD assistants are used as tools to help streamline workflow.
Software and hardware
Generative AI models are used to power chatbot products such as ChatGPT, programming tools such as GitHub Copilot, text-to-image products such as Midjourney, and text-to-video products such as Runway Gen-2. Generative AI features have been integrated into a variety of existing commercially available products such as Microsoft Office (Microsoft Copilot), Google Photos, and the Adobe Suite (Adobe Firefly). Many generative AI models are also available as open-source software, including Stable Diffusion and the LLaMA language model.
Smaller generative AI models with up to a few billion parameters can run on smartphones, embedded devices, and personal computers. For example, LLaMA-7B (a version with 7 billion parameters) can run on a Raspberry Pi 4 and one version of Stable Diffusion can run on an iPhone 11.
Larger models with tens of billions of parameters can run on laptop or desktop computers. To achieve an acceptable speed, models of this size may require accelerators such as the GPU chips produced by NVIDIA and AMD or the Neural Engine included in Apple silicon products. For example, the 65 billion parameter version of LLaMA can be configured to run on a desktop PC.
The advantages of running generative AI locally include protection of privacy and intellectual property, and avoidance of rate limiting and censorship. The subreddit r/LocalLLaMA in particular focuses on using consumer-grade gaming graphics cards through such techniques as compression. That forum is one of only two sources Andrej Karpathy trusts for language model benchmarks. Yann LeCun has advocated open-source models for their value to vertical applications and for improving AI safety.
Language models with hundreds of billions of parameters, such as GPT-4 or PaLM, typically run on datacenter computers equipped with arrays of GPUs (such as NVIDIA's H100) or AI accelerator chips (such as Google's TPU). These very large models are typically accessed as cloud services over the Internet.
In 2022, the United States New Export Controls on Advanced Computing and Semiconductors to China imposed restrictions on exports to China of GPU and AI accelerator chips used for generative AI. Chips such as the NVIDIA A800 and the Biren Technology BR104 were developed to meet the requirements of the sanctions.
There is free software on the market capable of recognizing text generated by generative artificial intelligence (such as GPTZero), as well as images, audio or video coming from it. Potential mitigation strategies for detecting generative AI content include digital watermarking, content authentication, information retrieval, and machine learning classifier models. Despite claims of accuracy, both free and paid AI text detectors have frequently produced false positives, mistakenly accusing students of submitting AI-generated work.
Law and regulation
In the United States, a group of companies including OpenAI, Alphabet, and Meta signed a voluntary agreement with the Biden administration in July 2023 to watermark AI-generated content. In October 2023, Executive Order 14110 applied the Defense Production Act to require all US companies to report information to the federal government when training certain high-impact AI models.
In the European Union, the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act includes requirements to disclose copyrighted material used to train generative AI systems, and to label any AI-generated output as such.
In China, the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services introduced by the Cyberspace Administration of China regulates any public-facing generative AI. It includes requirements to watermark generated images or videos, regulations on training data and label quality, restrictions on personal data collection, and a guideline that generative AI must "adhere to socialist core values".
Copyright
Training with copyrighted content
Generative AI systems such as ChatGPT and Midjourney are trained on large, publicly available datasets that include copyrighted works. AI developers have argued that such training is protected under fair use, while copyright holders have argued that it infringes their rights.
Proponents of fair use training have argued that it is a transformative use and does not involve making copies of copyrighted works available to the public. Critics have argued that image generators such as Midjourney can create nearly-identical copies of some copyrighted images, and that generative AI programs compete with the content they are trained on.
As of 2024, several lawsuits related to the use of copyrighted material in training are ongoing.
Getty Images has sued Stability AI over the use of its images to train Stable diffusion. Both the Authors Guild and The New York Times have sued Microsoft and OpenAI over the use of their works to train ChatGPT.
Copyright of AI-generated content
A separate question is whether AI-generated works can qualify for copyright protection. The United States Copyright Office has ruled that works created by artificial intelligence without any human input cannot be copyrighted, because they lack human authorship. However, the office has also begun taking public input to determine if these rules need to be refined for generative AI.
Concerns
The development of generative AI has raised concerns from governments, businesses, and individuals, resulting in protests, legal actions, calls to pause AI experiments, and actions by multiple governments. In a July 2023 briefing of the United Nations Security Council, Secretary-General António Guterres stated "Generative AI has enormous potential for good and evil at scale", that AI may "turbocharge global development" and contribute between $10 and $15 trillion to the global economy by 2030, but that its malicious use "could cause horrific levels of death and destruction, widespread trauma, and deep psychological damage on an unimaginable scale".
Job losses
From the early days of the development of AI, there have been arguments put forward by ELIZA creator Joseph Weizenbaum and others about whether tasks that can be done by computers actually should be done by them, given the difference between computers and humans, and between quantitative calculations and qualitative, value-based judgements. In April 2023, it was reported that image generation AI has resulted in 70% of the jobs for video game illustrators in China being lost. In July 2023, developments in generative AI contributed to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. Fran Drescher, president of the Screen Actors Guild, declared that "artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to creative professions" during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Voice generation AI has been seen as a potential challenge to the voice acting sector.
The intersection of AI and employment concerns among underrepresented groups globally remains a critical facet. While AI promises efficiency enhancements and skill acquisition, concerns about job displacement and biased recruiting processes persist among these groups, as outlined in surveys by Fast Company. To leverage AI for a more equitable society, proactive steps encompass mitigating biases, advocating transparency, respecting privacy and consent, and embracing diverse teams and ethical considerations. Strategies involve redirecting policy emphasis on regulation, inclusive design, and education's potential for personalized teaching to maximize benefits while minimizing harms.
Racial and gender bias
Generative AI models can reflect and amplify any cultural bias present in the underlying data. For example, a language model might assume that doctors and judges are male, and that secretaries or nurses are female, if those biases are common in the training data. Similarly, an image model prompted with the text "a photo of a CEO" might disproportionately generate images of white male CEOs, if trained on a racially biased data set. A number of methods for mitigating bias have been attempted, such as altering input prompts and reweighting training data.
Deepfakes
Deepfakes (a portmanteau of "deep learning" and "fake") are AI-generated media that take a person in an existing image or video and replace them with someone else's likeness using artificial neural networks. Deepfakes have garnered widespread attention and concerns for their uses in deepfake celebrity pornographic videos, revenge porn, fake news, hoaxes, health disinformation, financial fraud, and covert foreign election interference. This has elicited responses from both industry and government to detect and limit their use.
In July 2023, the fact-checking company Logically found that the popular generative AI models Midjourney, DALL-E 2 and Stable Diffusion would produce plausible disinformation images when prompted to do so, such as images of electoral fraud in the United States and Muslim women supporting India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
In April 2024, a paper proposed to use blockchain (distributed ledger technology) to promote "transparency, verifiability, and decentralization in AI development and usage".
Audio deepfakes
Instances of users abusing software to generate controversial statements in the vocal style of celebrities, public officials, and other famous individuals have raised ethical concerns over voice generation AI. In response, companies such as ElevenLabs have stated that they would work on mitigating potential abuse through safeguards and identity verification.
Concerns and fandoms have spawned from AI-generated music. The same software used to clone voices has been used on famous musicians' voices to create songs that mimic their voices, gaining both tremendous popularity and criticism. Similar techniques have also been used to create improved quality or full-length versions of songs that have been leaked or have yet to be released.
Generative AI has also been used to create new digital artist personalities, with some of these receiving enough attention to receive record deals at major labels. The developers of these virtual artists have also faced their fair share of criticism for their personified programs, including backlash for "dehumanizing" an artform, and also creating artists which create unrealistic or immoral appeals to their audiences.
Cybercrime
Generative AI's ability to create realistic fake content has been exploited in numerous types of cybercrime, including phishing scams. Deepfake video and audio have been used to create disinformation and fraud. In 2020, former Google click fraud czar Shuman Ghosemajumder argued that once deepfake videos become perfectly realistic, they would stop appearing remarkable to viewers, potentially leading to uncritical acceptance of false information. Additionally, large language models and other forms of text-generation AI have been used to create fake reviews of e-commerce websites to boost ratings. Cybercriminals have created large language models focused on fraud, including WormGPT and FraudGPT.
A 2023 study showed that generative AI can be vulnerable to jailbreaks, reverse psychology and prompt injection attacks, enabling attackers to obtain help with harmful requests, such as for crafting social engineering and phishing attacks. Additionally, other researchers have demonstrated that open-source models can be fine-tuned to remove their safety restrictions at low cost.
Reliance on industry giants
Training frontier AI models requires an enormous amount of computing power. Usually only Big Tech companies have the financial resources to make such investments. Smaller start-ups such as Cohere and OpenAI end up buying access to data centers from Google and Microsoft respectively.
Energy and environment
Scientists and journalists have expressed concerns about the environmental impact that the development and deployment of generative models are having: high CO2 emissions, large amounts of freshwater used for data centers, and high amounts of electricity usage. There is also concern that these impacts may increase as these models are incorporated into widely used search engines such as Google Search and Bing; as chatbots and other applications become more popular; and as models need to be retrained.
Proposed mitigation strategies include factoring potential environmental costs prior to model development or data collection, increasing efficiency of data centers to reduce electricity/energy usage, building more efficient machine learning models, minimizing the number of times that models need to be retrained, developing a government-directed framework for auditing the environmental impact of these models, regulating for transparency of these models, regulating their energy and water usage, encouraging researchers to publish data on their models' carbon footprint, and increasing the number of subject matter experts who understand both machine learning and climate science.
Content quality
The New York Times defines slop as analogous to spam: "shoddy or unwanted A.I. content in social media, art, books and ... in search results." Journalists have expressed concerns about the scale of low-quality generated content with respect to social media content moderation, the monetary incentives from social media companies to spread such content, false political messaging, spamming of scientific research paper submissions, increased time and effort to find higher quality or desired content on the Internet, the indexing of generated content by search engines, and on journalism itself.
A paper published by researchers at Amazon Web Services AI Labs found that over 57% of sentences from a sample of over 6 billion sentences from Common Crawl, a snapshot of web pages, were machine translated. Many of these automated translations were seen as lower quality, especially for sentences that were translated across at least three languages. Many lower-resource languages (ex. Wolof, Xhosa) were translated across more languages than higher-resource languages (ex. English, French).
In September 2024, Robyn Speer, the author of wordfreq, an open source database that calculated word frequencies based on text from the Internet, announced that she had stopped updating the data for several reasons: high costs for obtaining data from Reddit and Twitter, excessive focus on generative AI compared to other methods in the natural language processing community, and that "generative AI has polluted the data".
The adoption of generative AI tools led to an explosion of AI-generated content across multiple domains. A study from University College London estimated that in 2023, more than 60,000 scholarly articles—over 1% of all publications—were likely written with LLM assistance. According to Stanford University's Institute for Human-Centered AI, approximately 17.5% of newly published computer science papers and 16.9% of peer review text now incorporate content generated by LLMs.
Visual content follows a similar trend. Since the launch of DALL-E 2 in 2022, it is estimated that an average of 34 million images have been created daily. As of August 2023, more than 15 billion images had been generated using text-to-image algorithms, with 80% of these created by models based on Stable Diffusion.
If AI-generated content is included in new data crawls from the Internet for additional training of AI models, defects in the resulting models may occur. Training an AI model exclusively on the output of another AI model produces a lower-quality model. Repeating this process, where each new model is trained on the previous model's output, leads to progressive degradation and eventually results in a "model collapse" after multiple iterations. Tests have been conducted with pattern recognition of handwritten letters and with pictures of human faces. As a consequence, the value of data collected from genuine human interactions with systems may become increasingly valuable in the presence of LLM-generated content in data crawled from the Internet.
On the other side, synthetic data is often used as an alternative to data produced by real-world events. Such data can be deployed to validate mathematical models and to train machine learning models while preserving user privacy, including for structured data. The approach is not limited to text generation; image generation has been employed to train computer vision models.
Misuse in journalism
In January 2023, Futurism.com broke the story that CNET had been using an undisclosed internal AI tool to write at least 77 of its stories; after the news broke, CNET posted corrections to 41 of the stories.
In April 2023, the German tabloid Die Aktuelle published a fake AI-generated interview with former racing driver Michael Schumacher, who had not made any public appearances since 2013 after sustaining a brain injury in a skiing accident. The story included two possible disclosures: the cover included the line "deceptively real", and the interview included an acknowledgment at the end that it was AI-generated. The editor-in-chief was fired shortly thereafter amid the controversy.
Other outlets that have published articles whose content and/or byline have been confirmed or suspected to be created by generative AI models – often with false content, errors, and/or non-disclosure of generative AI use - include:
NewsBreak
outlets owned by Arena Group
Sports Illustrated
TheStreet
Men's Journal
B&H Photo
outlets owned by Gannett
The Columbus Dispatch
Reviewed
USA Today
MSN
News Corp
outlets owned by G/O Media
Gizmodo
Jalopnik
A.V. Club
The Irish Times
outlets owned by Red Ventures
Bankrate
BuzzFeed
Newsweek
Hoodline
outlets owned by Outside Inc.
Yoga Journal
Backpacker
Clean Eating
Hollywood Life
Us Weekly
The Los Angeles Times
Cody Enterprise
Cosmos
outlets owned by McClatchy
Miami Herald
Sacramento Bee
Tacoma News Tribune
The Rock Hill Herald
The Modesto Bee
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Merced Sun-Star
Ledger-Enquirer
The Kansas City Star
Raleigh News & Observer
outlets owned by Ziff Davis
PC Magazine
Mashable
AskMen
outlets owned by Hearst
Good Housekeeping
outlets owned by IAC Inc.
People
Parents
Food & Wine
InStyle
Real Simple
Travel + Leisure
Better Homes & Gardens
Southern Living
outlets owned by Street Media
LA Weekly
The Village Voice
Riverfront Times
Apple Intelligence
In May 2024, Futurism noted that a content management system video by AdVon Commerce, who had used generative AI to produce articles for many of the aforementioned outlets, appeared to show that they "had produced tens of thousands of articles for more than 150 publishers."
News broadcasters in Kuwait, Greece, South Korea, India, China and Taiwan have presented news with anchors based on Generative AI models, prompting concerns about job losses for human anchors and audience trust in news that has historically been influenced by parasocial relationships with broadcasters, content creators or social media influencers. Algorithmically generated anchors have also been used by allies of ISIS for their broadcasts.
In 2023, Google reportedly pitched a tool to news outlets that claimed to "produce news stories" based on input data provided, such as "details of current events". Some news company executives who viewed the pitch described it as "[taking] for granted the effort that went into producing accurate and artful news stories."
In February 2024, Google launched a program to pay small publishers to write three articles per day using a beta generative AI model. The program does not require the knowledge or consent of the websites that the publishers are using as sources, nor does it require the published articles to be labeled as being created or assisted by these models.
Many defunct news sites (The Hairpin, The Frisky, Apple Daily, Ashland Daily Tidings, Clayton County Register, Southwest Journal) and blogs (The Unofficial Apple Weblog, iLounge) have undergone cybersquatting, with articles created by generative AI.
United States Senators Richard Blumenthal and Amy Klobuchar have expressed concern that generative AI could have a harmful impact on local news. In July 2023, OpenAI partnered with the American Journalism Project to fund local news outlets for experimenting with generative AI, with Axios noting the possibility of generative AI companies creating a dependency for these news outlets.
Meta AI, a chatbot based on Llama 3 which summarizes news stories, was noted by The Washington Post to copy sentences from those stories without direct attribution and to potentially further decrease the traffic of online news outlets.
In response to potential pitfalls around the use and misuse of generative AI in journalism and worries about declining audience trust, outlets around the world, including publications such as Wired, Associated Press, The Quint, Rappler or The Guardian have published guidelines around how they plan to use and not use AI and generative AI in their work.
In June 2024, Reuters Institute published their Digital New Report for 2024. In a survey of people in America and Europe, Reuters Institute reports that 52% and 47% respectively are uncomfortable with news produced by "mostly AI with some human oversight", and 23% and 15% respectively report being comfortable. 42% of Americans and 33% of Europeans reported that they were comfortable with news produced by "mainly human with some help from AI". The results of global surveys reported that people were more uncomfortable with news topics including politics (46%), crime (43%), and local news (37%) produced by AI than other news topics.
See also
References
Artificial neural networks
Deep learning
Machine learning
2020s in computing
2023 in computing
2024 in computing
2025 in computing | Generative artificial intelligence | [
"Engineering"
] | 6,880 | [
"Artificial intelligence engineering",
"Generative artificial intelligence",
"Machine learning"
] |
73,292,355 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatostatin%20inhibitor | Somatostatin receptor antagonists (or somatostatin inhibitors) are a class of chemical compounds that work by imitating the structure of the neuropeptide somatostatin, which is an endogenous hormone found in the human body. The somatostatin receptors are G protein-coupled receptors. Somatostatin receptor subtypes in humans include sstr1, 2A, 2 B, 3, 4, and 5. While normally expressed in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, pancreas, hypothalamus, and central nervous system (CNS), they are expressed in different types of tumours. The predominant subtype in cancer cells is the ssrt2 subtype, which is expressed in neuroblastomas, meningiomas, medulloblastomas, breast carcinomas, lymphomas, renal cell carcinomas, paragangliomas, small cell lung carcinomas, and hepatocellular carcinomas.
As a radiopharmaceutical compound that is selective for somatostatin receptors, there is research being done for these radiolabeled compounds to act as diagnostic tests in PET scans for neuroendocrine tumors and other tumors not previously targeted with radiolabeled somatostatin receptor agonists, and to act as radiopharmaceutical therapeutic compound, more specifically to conduct peptide radionuclide receptor therapy.
Some non-radiopharmaceutical compounds that are developed as competitive inhibitors of somatostatin, such as the hormone antagonist cyclosomatostatin.
Somatostatin
Somatostatin is a G protein-coupled receptor ligand. When the receptors are activated, it causes the cells where the receptors are expressed to decrease hormone secretion. Mainly, as a neuroendocrine inhibitor, it exerts its effects on the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, hypothalamus, and central nervous system, causing hormone secretions coupled to this pathway to be reduced. It can affect neurotransmission and memory formation within the central nervous system. Within human and animal models, it demonstrated its effects of preventing angiogenesis and reducing healthy and cancer cell proliferation.
Within tumors, somatostatin receptors, mostly of the ssrt2 subtype, are expressed in most neuroendocrine tumors, breast tumors, some brain tumors, renal tumors, lymphomas, and prostate tumors.
Somatostatin receptor antagonists in radiolabelling
These compounds work by binding to somatostatin receptors, which are more common in specific types of tumours. It does not activate the receptor. Due to the radionuclide, it will appear on PET scans. The radiolabeled somatostatin receptor antagonists share the following structure. The antagonist has a peptide moiety, and is responsible for receptor recognition and antagonist activities. Nomenclature is based on Radionuclide-Chelator-Receptor Antagonist.
The structure of somatostatin receptor antagonists is similar to that of the agonists. Some agonists were already approved by the FDA for clinical use, such as In-DTPA-octreotide and Ga-DOTATATE. Development started after the discovery of modifications that can be done to the octreotide group, an ssrt selective subtype agonist, to cause its agonistic effects to be lost and gain antagonistic effects. Different subtype receptor antagonists were later developed.
Research has been done mostly on the sstr2 receptor antagonist, as the sstr2 receptor is expressed on most tumors. Somatostatin receptor antagonists are divided by generation based on the type of the subtype receptor antagonist. The first generation consists of sst2-ANT and BASS, which are sstr2 selective; and sst3-ODAN-8, which is selective for sstr3.
After initial results of their increased sensitivity to neurocrine tumors appeared, ssrt2 selective antagonists that had even higher affinity were developed. These were LM3, JR10, and JR11, which make up the second generation. JR11 was shown to be the most effective among these 3 antagonists, and compounds that entered further clinical development to act as a PET imaging agent or therapeutic agent carried this subtype antagonist.
The presence of a chelator coupled to the subtype antagonist was shown to affect the biological properties., by increasing the binding stability of the radionuclide to the rest of the compound, and increasing the binding affinity to the receptor by allowing conjugation of the radionuclide to the receptor. Compounds were developed with 3 macrocyclic chelators: DOTA, NODAGA, and CB-TE2A. DOTA had already been used as a chelator in the radiolabeled somatostatin agonists, as well as NODAGA and CB-TE2A. Ga-NODAGA-based compounds were shown to have a higher binding affinity than its DOTA analogues. However, these somatostatin receptor antagonists showed a higher tumor uptake despite its lower affinity for ssrt receptors, due to being able to bind a receptor despite its activation status.
Compounds containing one of the radionuclides of indium-111, lutetium-177, copper-64, yttrium-80 and gallium-68 have been made. A study indicated the gallium compound had the lowest affinity to the sstr2 receptor.
List of radiolabeled somatostatin receptor antagonists
The following listed compounds are those that have entered some phase of a pre-clinical study.
Structure of selected antagonist peptides
The structure of the antagonist peptides shown in the above table are shown below.
Further clinical studies of radiolabeled somatostatin receptor antagonists
Ga-NODAGA-JR11 had entered further clinical studies as an imaging agent, while Lu-DOTA-JR11 had similar research done as a therapeutic agent, as JR11 has a high binding affinity for ssrt2 subtype receptors which are highly expressed on the surface of tumor cells. Gallium-containing agonists had already been established as an imaging agent. Lutetium-containing agonists were used as a therapeutic agent in peptide receptor radionuclide therapy, due to the lower energy electrons emitted, and γ-emission causing easier dose adjustment to patient characteristics to avoid renal damage. The NODAGA chelator was used over DOTA in Gallium antagonists due to higher binding affinity, while no Lu-NODAGA compounds were developed due to established usage of Lu-DOTA derivative agonist drugs, and poor uptake compared to DOTA, which is reverse that of the gallium-containing antagonists.
Safety of radiolabeled somatostatin receptor antagonists
In general, somatostatin receptor antagonists were noted to be well tolerated. However, due to its mechanism of action, it may decrease the effectiveness of SSA therapy (Somatostatin Analogue Therapy), but other studies indicate SSA may not need to be stopped if somatostatin antagonists are used to for tumor labelling instead of agonists. As somatostatin can cause inhibition of hormone production that uses it as a mediating hormone, it has an antiproliferative effect on cell tumors, especially in neuroendocrine tumors. Somatostatin analogue therapy uses longer-acting agonists than the endogenous somatostatin to extend the antiproliferative effects. Somatostatin receptor antagonists can bind to the receptors without activating them, antagonizing the therapeutic inhibitory effects of SSA therapy. Slow intravenous injection might be used until further safety data become available.
Comparison of somatostatin receptor agonists and antagonists in radiolabelling
Agonists of the somatostatin receptor had been long established as an imaging agent, with the first agonist Ga-DOTATOC coming out in 2001, which is based on a radiolabeled somatostatin receptor agonist drug octreotide, and further developments were based on its structure. Agonists share the characteristic of being uptaken into tumor cells, and degraded intracellularly. Antagonists, while not widely absorbed into the tumor cells, can bind to a wider range of receptors as they can bind to the receptors regardless if the receptors are activated or inactivated. They thus are more sensitive to neuroendocrine tumors.
Another study noted the antagonists showed lowered internalization into tumors, cleared from the blood quickly, and had a higher binding to tumors, which were noted to be properties benefitting its use over agonists in detecting metastatic tumors.
A head-to-head study of the gallium-containing compounds, where the Ga-NODAGA-JR11 antagonist and Ga-DOTATOC agonist are directly compared, showed that Ga-NODAGA-JR11 had a higher hepatic metastatic tumor detection rate and lesion sensitivity than Ga-DOTATOC.
Another head-to-head study of lutetium containing compound found the antagonist Lu-DOTA-JR11 bound with the receptors more quickly, had a longer retention time, and unbound more slowly than the Lu-DOTA-TATE agonist.
Radiolabeled somatostatin receptor antagonists in Peptide Radionuclide Receptor Therapy (PRRT)
Somatostatin receptor antagonists are also being developed as therapeutic agents in peptide radionuclide receptor therapy (PRRT) due to the wider binding of antagonists compared to agonists. Research indicated the antagonist Lu-DOTA-JR11 showed a higher tumor uptake, more double-strand breaks within tumor cells, longer adherence time to tumors and improved tumor-to-kidney dose ratio.
Moreover, another study finds out the radionuclide terbium-161, which can release short-ranged electrons, can combine with somatostatin receptor antagonists that localize at the cell membrane. acting as an alternative to the current clinically used lutetium-somatostatin receptor agonist, which are localized at the cytoplasm and nucleus. Moreover, Tb-antagonist in vitro shows 102-fold higher potency than Lu-antagonists in inhibiting tumor cell growth and survival prolongation in mice, due to its high linear energy transfer. This result is further repeated and confirmed in vivo, showing the high potential and strengths of radiolabeled somatostatin receptor antagonists to treat neuroendocrine neoplasms.
Further potential
Other compounds other than radiolabelled somatostatin receptor antagonists have also been studied. Cyclosomatostatin is one such compound. Contrary to previously discussed compounds, cyclosomatostatin does not contain a radionuclide. It is a non-selective somatostatin receptor antagonist, inhibiting the effects of somatostatin on target cells in the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, hypothalamus, and central nervous system. Cyclosomatostatin is used as a research chemical to investigate the effects of somatostatin on different cell types by antagonizing its receptors. However it acts as an agonist in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells.
Cyclosomatostatin is also known by the following names:
7-CPP
antagonist SRIF-A
CyCam
cyclo(7-Ahep-Phe-Trp-Lys-Thr(Bzl))
cyclo(7-aminoheptanoylphenylalanyl-tryptophyl-lysyl-benzylthreonyl)
cyclo-(7-aminoheptanoyl-Phe-D-Trp-Lys-Thr(Bzl))
Cyclosomatostatin may have the possibility of treating complications of acute hemorrhage. Hepatic insulin sensitizing substance (HISS), a hormone, will be secreted by the liver which stimulates skeletal muscle glucose uptake when responding to insulin. This action makes up around 56% of total insulin action. Hemorrhage was shown to cause insulin resistance by this type of HISS-dependent insulin resistance (HDIR). Two animal studies shows that cyclosomatostatin can help prevent HDIR without correcting the hyperglycemic condition in the situation of hemorrhage and exogenous somatostatin infusion.
Cyclosomatostatin may be related to other indications, including the potential of blocking the suppression of gastric emptying triggered by corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), the key regulator of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis released to alter the body response caused by stress. Furthermore, cyclosomatostatin, even if used alone, may modulate neurotransmitter levels. It increases acetylcholine (ACh) release by reversing the inhibitory effect of a substance, DHP agonist Bay K 8844, to L-type voltage-sensitive Ca2+ calcium channel.
References
Receptor antagonists | Somatostatin inhibitor | [
"Chemistry"
] | 2,739 | [
"Neurochemistry",
"Receptor antagonists"
] |
73,292,534 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago%20common%20brick | Chicago common brick are brick that were made in the area of Chicago during the 20th century.
Material
They have a unique color range due to the raw materials and the way that they were manufactured. The clays used to make these brick are unusually high in carbonates such as limestone giving brick their lighter color. Many brick were fired in periodic kilns or scove kilns that helped create their large color range.
History
The use of brick construction increased in Chicago after the Great Chicago fire of 1871. They are called common brick since they were used in multiwythe mass walls with many of the brick used on inner wythes while a facing brick was used for the outer wythe. Most of the brick manufacturers closed around the middle of the 20th century, and now Chicago Commons are highly desirable as a salvaged material.
References
Bricks
Building materials
Building materials companies of the United States | Chicago common brick | [
"Physics",
"Engineering"
] | 179 | [
"Building engineering",
"Construction",
"Materials",
"Building materials",
"Matter",
"Architecture"
] |
73,292,794 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20rail%20accidents%20in%20Italy | This is a list of the most serious rail-related accidents (excluding intentional acts) that occurred in Italy.
20th century
1940s
The 1944 Balvano train disaster was the deadliest railway accident in Italian history and one of the worst railway disasters ever. It occurred on the night of March 2, 1944 in Balvano, Basilicata. Over 500 people in a steam-hauled, coal-burning freight train (mostly stowaways) died of carbon monoxide poisoning during a protracted stall in a tunnel.
1950s
In 1957, the Codogno rail crash, killed 15 people and injured at least 30 more.
1960s
The 1961 Fiumarella rail disaster was one of the deadliest incidents in the history of the Italian railways. It occurred at about 7.45 am on 23 December 1961, at the Fiumarella viaduct, near Catanzaro, in the region of Calabria, southern Italy. The accident occurred as the train was passing over the curved Fiumarella viaduct, about an hour after departing from Soveria Mannelli for Catanzaro at 6:43 am. The trailer derailed from the track, due to the rupture of the tram type draw hook, and plunged into the river below after a falling about . Inside the trailer there were 99 passengers, many of them students. Seventy-one of them died on impact, and 28 others were injured to varying degrees. This was the worst rail disaster in peacetime Italy.
The 1962 Castel Bolognese train disaster occurred on March 8, 1962, in the Castel Bolognese railway station, near Ravenna, in Italy. The Diretto 152 night train between Bari and Milan derailed at 1:56 a.m. shortly before entering the station, killing 13 and wounding 127. A special speed limitation of 30 km/h had been enforced by means of an M40 mandatory alert, but the train failed to slow down. While entering the switch between the first and the second track, the engine derailed at 102 km/h and fell to the right side. The train skidded for about 100 meters, coming to a stop against the station's water refill tower.
The 1962 Voghera train crash occurred at track three of Voghera railway station, on the night of 31 May 1962. Sixty-four people died, and 40 were seriously injured. At 2:35 on 31 May 1962, a freight train from Milan, hauled by an E626 class electric locomotive, entered Voghera station at high speed, against protection signals set to 'danger'. It then collided with the rear of a passenger train, which was stationary on Track 3, and about to depart for Genoa.
1970s
The 1978 Murazze di Vado train disaster occurred on 15 April 1978, near Murazze di Vado, an area in the town of Vado, part of the Monzuno comune, Bologna. A passenger train derailed close to a ravine, and seconds later another train crashed into it. With 42 killed and 76 injured, it is the fourth highest death toll in the history of the Italian railways, after the Balvano, Fiumarella and Voghera disasters. While the official count of the injured is 76, the actual number of injured is often said to be from 117 to more than 120.
1980s
The 1980 Curinga train disaster occurred on 21 November 1980 between Curinga and Eccellente stations, in the Catanzaro province. The death toll was estimated at 10 dead and 80 injured, later updated to 20 and 122 respectively. The final count went up to 29 victims and 104 wounded. Ferrovie dello Stato train 587 was traveling southbound from Rome to Siracuse on the Salerno-Reggio Calabria railway. At 2:40 a.m., shortly after leaving Lamezia Terme station and heading to Paola, rammed into some loaded cars lost by a freight train leaving Lamezia Terme for Reggio Calabria.
On 21 November 1981, two express passenger trains crashed into freight cars near the Vibo Valentia rail station, killing at least 20 and injuring 100.
1990s
21st century
2000s
The 2002 Rometta Marea derailment occurred on Saturday 20 July 2002 in Rometta Marea, part of the Rometta comune in Sicily, Italy. The Espresso (express train) 1932 Freccia della Laguna, a Ferrovie dello Stato train coming from Palermo to Messina, where it would join another convoy coming from Siracuse, derailed while entering the town of Rometta Marea and hit an abandoned building, 400 metres from a pass-through railway station. Of the 190 passengers on board, 8 were killed and 47 were injured.
The 2005 Crevalcore train crash was a major railway accident which occurred on 7 January 2005 on the Verona–Bologna railway, Italy, killing 17. It was one of the worst accidents in the recent history of the state railway company Ferrovie dello Stato. In the accident, a cargo and a passenger train collided in dense fog after the passenger train's driver passed two red signals, possibly as a result of an unwarranted assumption by the driver that the line was clear, despite the warning signals.
The 2005 Eurostar 9410 derailment was a minor accident which occurred in Bari, Apulia, Italy, on 24 October 2005. While causing no deaths, it left 30 wounded and five critically injured. It received considerable attention from mass media.
The 2006 Rome Metro crash: on 17 October 2006 at 9:37 a.m. local time (07:37 UTC), one Rome Metro train ploughed into another train as it unloaded passengers at the Vittorio Emanuele underground station in the city centre, killing a 30-year-old Italian woman, Alessandra Lisi, and injuring about 145 others, of which a dozen were reported to be in life-threatening conditions.
The 2009 Viareggio train derailment was the derailment of a freight train and subsequent fire which occurred on 29 June 2009 in a railway station in Viareggio, Lucca, a city in Central Italy's Tuscany region. Thirty-two people were killed and a further twenty-six were injured.
2010s
The 2010 Merano derailment occurred on 12 April 2010 when a train derailed between Latsch and Kastelbell, near Merano, Italy, after running into a landslide, causing nine deaths and injuring 28 people.
The 2010 Circumvesuviana derailment occurred on Friday 6 August 2010 in Naples, Italy. A train of the Circumvesuviana line, a local railway providing transport in the area around the Mount Vesuvius, derailed between the San Giorgio a Cremano and Naples stations. The accident led to a single fatality, seventy-one-year-old Giuseppe Marotta, who lost his legs in the wreck and died shortly after arriving at Loreto Mare hospital. Among the fifty-eight injured, a twenty-five-year-old man entered a coma, and a woman had to be treated for severe wounds of the thorax and head. Eleven other people had severe wounds and had to be hospitalized.
The 2016 Andria–Corato train collision happened late in the morning of 12 July 2016 when two regional passenger trains on a single-track section of the Bari–Barletta railway collided head-on between the towns of Andria and Corato in the Apulia region of southern Italy. Twenty-three people were killed and 54 injured. The stretch of track is operated by regional rail company .
The 2018 Pioltello train derailment: on 25 January 2018, a commuter train operated by Trenord derailed in Pioltello when two of its carriages came off the track en route to Milan. The incident left three women dead and more than 100 people injured.
2020s
The 2020 Livraga derailment was the first crash on the Italian high speed rail network. It took place on 6 February 2020 when a high-speed train derailed at Livraga, Lombardy, Italy. Two people died and 31 were injured.
On December 10, 2023, a Frecciarossa train collided with a passenger train in Faenza, 17 people were injured
References
Railway accidents and incidents
Railway accidents and incidents in Italy | List of rail accidents in Italy | [
"Technology"
] | 1,697 | [
"Railway accidents and incidents"
] |
57,958,465 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sjors%20Scheres | Sjors Hendrik Willem Scheres FRS (born 1975) is a Dutch scientist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge, UK.
Education
Scheres studied Chemistry at Utrecht University in The Netherlands, and spent nine months at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France for his undergraduate research thesis. He then came back to Utrecht University for his DPhil in Protein Crystallography, which was supervised by Piet Gros.
Career
Scheres worked as a Postdoctoral researcher at the Spanish National Center for Biotechnology (CNB) with José Maria Carazo from 2003-2010, where he developed classification algorithms for Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) images based on Maximum likelihood estimation. In 2010 Scheres was appointed as a group leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge. There, he extended his maximum-likelihood methods to a general Empirical Bayes method for Protein structure determination by cryo-EM, which he implemented in the computer program RELION. In 2020, Scheres and collaborators used RELION to reach atomic resolution for a cryo-EM reconstruction of apo-Ferritin.
Besides developing algorithms for cryo-EM image processing, Scheres has also collaborated with experimental groups to solve important protein structures. For example, Xiaochen Bai, currently at UTSW, in his group solved the structure of human Gamma secretase in a collaboration with Shi Yigong. Since 2016, Scheres has worked closely together with Michel Goedert, who is also at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Using cryo-EM image processing methods that were developed by Scheres, they solved the structure of Amyloid fibrils of Tau protein from the brain of an individual with Alzheimer's disease. Since then, Scheres and Goedert have also solved the cryo-EM structures of tau filaments from multiple other Tauopathies, as well as filaments of Amyloid beta from Alzheimer's disease, Alpha-synuclein from Multiple system atrophy and TMEM106B.
Scheres has been a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors for eLife since 2014. He has been joint Head of the Division of Structural Studies of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology since 2018. In 2021, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 2022, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Awards
Leeuwenhoek Lecture of the Royal Society (2022)
Bijvoet medal of the Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research (2018)
Elected EMBO Member (2017)
Gold medal KNCV (2015)
Nature's 10 who mattered in 2014
References
1975 births
Living people
Structural biologists
Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Utrecht University alumni
Dutch expatriates in the United Kingdom
Bijvoet Medal recipients
Fellows of the Royal Society | Sjors Scheres | [
"Chemistry"
] | 608 | [
"Structural biologists",
"Structural biology"
] |
57,958,930 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia%206.1%20Plus | The Nokia 6.1 Plus, also known as the Nokia X6 (not to be confused with the 2009 Nokia X6), is a Nokia-branded mid-range smartphone running the Android operating system.
Nokia 6.1 Plus / X6 Models
References
6.1 Plus
Mobile phones introduced in 2018
Mobile phones with multiple rear cameras
Mobile phones with 4K video recording
Discontinued smartphones | Nokia 6.1 Plus | [
"Technology"
] | 79 | [
"Mobile technology stubs",
"Mobile phone stubs"
] |
57,958,935 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumurtei-Khandgait%20mine%20railroad | The Tumurtei-Khandgait mine railroad is a long broad gauge railway line with a gauge of for the transport of iron ore in the area of Darchan-Selenge in Mongolia.
History
The railway line was built in 2015–2016 with three loading and unloading terminals and railway stations. The signal systems and level crossings are equipped with the latest technology. The track was financed by the mining company QSC under a concession agreement. It was built by "Mongolian Railway Corporation" LLC with main sub contractor the Mongolian “Peak Development” LLC in collaboration with the Mongolian “Khutul Ceramzit” LLC, “Maximal” LLC and “Ulaanbaatar Railway” JSC. It was handed over to the Mongolian State Railways AG (MTZ), including a loading and unloading facility, following a government decision published on 1 February 2016. It is used to transport iron ore from the Tumurtei mine to a new steel and iron smelter, which is being built near the Darkhan Metallurgical Plant. On 3 April 2016, the railway line was officially opened by Speaker of the Parliament Zandaakhüügiin Enkhbold. The MTZ planned to transport one million tonnes of iron ore in 2016 and plans to increase its transport volume to eight to ten million tonnes in the future.
References
Rail transport in Mongolia
Mining railways
Mining in Mongolia
Iron ore railways | Tumurtei-Khandgait mine railroad | [
"Engineering"
] | 289 | [
"Mining equipment",
"Mining railways"
] |
57,959,148 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%2C4%2C7-Trimethyl-1%2C4%2C7-triazacyclononane | 1,4,7-Trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane is the aza-crown ether with the formula (CH2CH2NCH3)3. This colorless liquid is the N-methylated derivative of triazacyclononane (TACN), a face-capping tridentate ligand that is popular in coordination chemistry.
Although TACN is known for forming 2:1 "sandwich" complexes with many metal ions, corresponding 2:1 complexes of Me3TACN are only known for Ag+, Na+, and K+. This effect is mainly due to the greater bulk of Me3TACN, which requires ions with a larger ionic radius to accommodate two ligands.
Several related derivatives have been prepared with diverse substituents on nitrogen.
References
Polyamines
Chelating agents
Macrocycles
Heterocyclic compounds with 1 ring
Tertiary amines
Nine-membered rings
Tridentate ligands | 1,4,7-Trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane | [
"Chemistry"
] | 206 | [
"Organic compounds",
"Chelating agents",
"Macrocycles",
"Process chemicals"
] |
57,959,511 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel%20Kuntz | Marcel Kuntz is a French plant biotechnologist who is a Research Director in the Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire Végétale (Laboratory of Plant and Cell Physiology) at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Centre for Scientific Research) in Grenoble, France. He is known for his criticisms of the ways that the French government and popular media have exaggerated the risks associated with genetically modified foods. He has documented how public perception of the risks of such foods has diverged significantly from the conclusions that scientists have reached on the topic. He was a recipient of the Médaille d'Or (Gold Medal) from the Académie d'Agriculture (French Academy of Agriculture) in 2017.
References
External links
Kuntz's blog
21st-century French botanists
Living people
French National Centre for Scientific Research scientists
Biotechnologists
Year of birth missing (living people) | Marcel Kuntz | [
"Biology"
] | 189 | [
"Biotechnologists"
] |
57,960,948 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokwanda%20Makunga | Nokwanda Pearl (Nox) Makunga is a Professor of Biotechnology at Stellenbosch University.
Early life and education
Makunga grew up in Alice in the Eastern Cape, and attended a private boarding school in Grahamstown. Her father, Oswald, was a botanist who specialised in the Iridaceae. He grew up in rural poverty and won a scholarship to study at University of Fort Hare. She attended university in Pietermaritzburg. She completed her PhD at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2004, working on the molecular biology of plants.
Research and career
In 2005 Makunga was offered a position at Stellenbosch University. Her work looks to identify the molecular and genetic regulation of the secondary metabolism in medicinal plants. She often travels to rural areas to talk to traditional healers. She has a contributed to two books: Protocols for Somatic Embryogenesis in Woody plants and Floriculture, Ornamental and Plant Biotechnology: Advances and Topical Issues. In 2010 she delivered a TED talk on the Potential of a Medicinal Wonderland. She has acted as honorary secretary, Vice President and President of the South African Association of Botanists Council.
She won the 2011 National Science and Technology Forum Distinguished Young Black Researcher award. She also won the TW Kambule Award. In 2017 she was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She worked with Jerry Cohen on medicinal plants from the Eastern Cape. She studied the Stevia plant. She holds a patent for vegetative plant propagation.
Makunga is a passionate science communicator. Together with Tanisha Williams and Beronda Montgomery, she leads the annual Black Botanists Week.
References
21st-century South African scientists
Living people
People from the Eastern Cape
Academic staff of Stellenbosch University
University of KwaZulu-Natal alumni
University of Minnesota alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Biotechnologists
Women biotechnologists
Science communicators | Nokwanda Makunga | [
"Biology"
] | 398 | [
"Biotechnologists",
"Women biotechnologists"
] |
57,961,798 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicrOmega-IR | MicrOmega-IR is an infrared hyperspectral microscope that is part of the science payload on board the European Rosalind Franklin rover, tasked to search for biosignatures on Mars. The rover is planned to be launched not earlier than 2028. MicrOmega-IR will analyse in situ the powder material derived from crushed samples collected by the rover's core drill.
Development
The MicrOmega mnemonic is derived from its French name Micro observatoire pour la mineralogie, l'eau, les glaces et l'activité; IR stands for infrared. It was developed by France's Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale at the CNRS. France has also flown MicrOmega on other missions such as the 2011 Fobos-Grunt and the Hayabusa2 MASCOT mobile lander currently exploring asteroid Ryugu. France is also developing a variant called MacrOmega Near-IR Spectrometer for the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) lander, a Japanese sample-return mission to Mars' moon Phobos.
The Principal Investigator of the MicrOmega-IR for the Rosalind Franklin rover is Jean-Pierre Bibring, a French astronomer and planetary scientist at the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale. Co-PIs are astrobiologists Frances Westall and Nicolas Thomas.
MicrOmega was developed by a consortium including:
IAS (Orsay, France)
LESIA (Meudon, France)
CBM (Orléans, France)
University Of Bern (Bern, Switzerland)
Russian Space Research Institute (IKI) (Moscow, Russia)
Overview
MicrOmega-IR is a visible and infrared hyperspectral microscope that is designed to characterize the texture and composition of crushed samples presented to the instrument. Its objective is to study mineral grain assemblages in detail to try to unravel their geological origin, structure and composition, including potential organics. These data will be vital for interpreting past and present geological processes and environments on Mars. Because MicrOmega-IR is an imaging instrument, it can also be used to identify grains that are particularly interesting, and assign them as targets for Raman and MOMA observations.
It is composed of 2 microscopes: MicrOmega/VIS has a spatial sampling of approximately 4 μm, working in 4 colors in the visible range. The other one is the MicrOmega/NIR hyperspectral microscope working in the spectral range 0.95 μm - 3.65 μm with a spatial sampling of 20 μm per pixel. Its main supporting components include:
A monochromator based on an Acousto-optic modulator illumination system.
Infrared magnification optics.
Infrared focal plane.
The thermal control system.
The sample container.
The IR instrument uses a HgCdTe (Mercury-Cadmium-Telluride) matrix detector, the Sofradir Mars SW 320 x 256 pixels.
Examples of materials for identification, if present:
pyroxene
olivine
ferric oxides
hydrated phyllosilicates
sulfates
carbonates
ices
organics (organic as in organic chemistry)
See also
Astrobiology
Life on Mars
Mars Multispectral Imager for Subsurface Studies (Another ExoMars drill-related instrument)
References
ExoMars
Mars imagers
Astrobiology
Space science experiments | MicrOmega-IR | [
"Astronomy",
"Biology"
] | 694 | [
"Origin of life",
"Speculative evolution",
"Astrobiology",
"Biological hypotheses",
"Astronomical sub-disciplines"
] |
57,965,729 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water%20oxidation%20catalysis | Water oxidation catalysis (WOC) is the acceleration (catalysis) of the conversion of water into oxygen and protons:
2 H2O → 4 H+ + 4 e− + O2
Many catalysts are effective, both homogeneous catalysts and heterogeneous catalysts. The oxygen evolving complex in photosynthesis is the premier example. There is no interest in generating oxygen by water oxidation since oxygen is readily obtained from air. Instead, interest in water oxidation is motivated by its relevance to water splitting, which would provide "solar hydrogen," i.e. water oxidation would generate the electrons and protons for the production of hydrogen. An ideal WOC would operate rapidly at low overpotential, exhibit high stability and be of low cost, derived from nontoxic components.
Mechanistic and energetic principles
Water is more difficult to oxidize than its conjugate base hydroxide. Hydroxide is stabilized by coordination to metal cations. Some metal hydroxides, those featuring redox-active metal centers, can be oxidized to give metal oxo complexes. Attack of water on metal oxo centers represents one pathway for the formation of the O-O bond, leading to dioxygen. Alternatively, the crucial O-O bond forming step can arise by coupling suitably positioned pairs of metal hydroxo centers. The molecular mechanism of the OEC has not been elucidated.
The conversion of even metal hydroxo complexes to O2 requires very strong oxidants. In photosynthesis, such oxidants are provided by electron holes on porphyrin radical cations. For device applications, the aspirational oxidant is a photovoltaic material. For screening WOCs, ceric ammonium nitrate is a typical electron acceptor.
Homogeneous catalysis
Ruthenium complexes
A number of ruthenium-aqua complexes catalyze the oxidation of water. Most catalysts feature bipyridine and terpyridine ligands. Catalysts containing pyridine-2-carboxylate exhibit rates (300 s−1) comparable to that of photosystem II. Work in this area has ushered in many new polypyridyl ligands.
Cobalt and iron complexes
Early examples of cobalt-based WOCs suffered from instability. A homogeneous WOC [Co(Py5)(H2O)](ClO4)2 operates by a proton-coupled electron transfer to form a [CoIII--OH]2+ species, which on further oxidation forms a CoIV intermediate. The intermediate formed reacts with water to liberate O2. The cobalt-polyoxometalate complex [Co4(H2O)2(α-PW9O34)2]10− is highly efficient WOC.
Some iron complexes catalyze water oxidation. A water-soluble complex [Fe(OTf)2(Me2Pytacn)] (Pytacn=pyridine-substituted trimethyltriazacyclononane; OTf= triflate) is an efficient WOC. The concentration of the catalyst and the oxidant were found to be strongly affecting the oxidation process. Many related complexes with cis labile sites are active catalysts. Most complexes were found to undergo degradation in a few hours. Higher stability of the molecular catalyst may be achieved using robust clathrochelate ligands that stabilize high oxidation states of iron and prevent rapid degradation of the catalyst. The number and stereochemistry of reactive coordination sites on Fe have been evaluated but few guidelines have emerged.
Iridium complexes
The complexes [Ir(ppy)2(OH2)2]+ (ppy = 2-phenylpyridine) exhibit high turnover numbers, but low catalytic rates. Replacing ppy with Cp* (C5Me5) results in increased catalytic activity but decreased the turnover number. Water nucleophilic attack on Ir=O species was found to be responsible for the O2 formation.
Heterogeneous catalysis
Iridium oxide is a stable bulk WOC catalyst with low overpotential.
Ni-based oxide film liberates oxygen in quasi-neutral conditions at an overpotential of ~425 mV and shows long lasting stability. X-ray spectroscopy revealed the presence of di-μ-oxide bridging between NiIII/NiIV ions but no evidence of mono-μ-oxide bridging was found between the ions. Similar structures can be found in Co-WOC films and Mn-WOC catalysts.
Cobalt oxides (Co3O4) have been investigated to work on the same pattern as other cobalt salts. Cobalt phosphates are also active WOCs at neutral pH. Stable and highly active WOCs can be prepared by adsorbing CoII on silica nanoparticles.
The spinel compounds are also very efficient in oxidizing water. When nanodimensional spinels are coated over the carbon materials hydrothermally, followed by a further reduction, can exhibit high efficiency in splitting the water electrochemically.
Additional reviews
Meyer, T. J., Chemical approaches to artificial photosynthesis. Accounts of Chemical Research 1989, 22, 163–170.
Balzani, V.; Credi, A.; Venturi, M., Photochemical Conversion of Solar Energy. ChemSusChem 2008, 1, 26–58.
Sala, X.; Romero, I.; Rodríguez, M.; Escriche, L.; Llobet, A., Molecular Catalysts that Oxidize Water to Dioxygen. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2009, 48, 2842–2852.
Gratzel, M., Photoelectrochemical cells. Nature 2001, 414, 338–344.
Eisenberg, R.; Gray, H. B., Preface on Making Oxygen. Inorganic Chemistry 2008, 47, 1697–1699.
Sun, L.; Hammarstrom, L.; Akermark, B.; Styring, S., Towards artificial photosynthesis: ruthenium-manganese chemistry for energy production. Chemical Society Reviews 2001, 30, 36–49.
Gust, D.; Moore, T. A.; Moore, A. L., Solar Fuels via Artificial Photosynthesis. Accounts of Chemical Research 2009, 42, 1890–1898.
References
Hydrogen production
Industrial gases | Water oxidation catalysis | [
"Chemistry"
] | 1,334 | [
"Chemical process engineering",
"Industrial gases"
] |
57,966,080 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raman%20Laser%20Spectrometer | Raman Laser Spectrometer (RLS) is a miniature Raman spectrometer that is part of the science payload on board the European Space Agency Rosalind Franklin rover, tasked to search for biosignatures and biomarkers on Mars. The rover is planned to be launched not earlier than 2028 and land on Mars in 2029.
Raman spectroscopy is a technique employed to identify mineral phases produced by water-related processes. RLS will help to identify organic compounds and search for microbial life by identifying the mineral products and indicators of biologic activities. RLS will provide geological and mineralogical context information that will be scientifically cross-correlated with that obtained by other instruments.
Overview
Raman spectroscopy is sensitive to the composition and structure of any organic compound, making it a powerful tool for the definitive identification and characterisation of biomarkers, and providing direct information of potential biosignatures of past microbial life on Mars. This instrument will also provide general mineralogical information for igneous, metamorphous, and sedimentary processes.
RST will also correlate its spectral information with other spectroscopic and imaging instruments such as the Infrared Spectrometer and MicrOmega-IR. This will be the first Raman analyser to be deployed for a planetary exploration. The first version for the rover was presented by Fernando Rull-Perez and Sylvestre Maurice in 2003. The RLS is being developed by a European consortium integrated by Spanish, French, German and UK partners. The Principal Investigator is Fernando Rull-Perez, from Spanish Astrobiology Center. The co-investigator is from Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (LAOMP), France.
The three major components are the Spectrometer Unit, the Control and Excitation Unit (includes the power converters), and Optical head.
Principle and operation
The RLS instrument provides a structural fingerprint by which molecules can be identified. It is used to analyse the vibrational modes of a substance either in the solid, liquid or gas state. The technique relies on Raman scattering of a photon by molecules which are excited to higher vibrational or rotational energy levels. In more detail, it will collect and analyse the scattered light emitted by a laser on a crushed Mars rock sample; the spectrum observed (number of peaks, position and relative intensities) is determined by the molecular structure and composition of a compound, enabling the identification and characterisation of the compounds in the sample.
Some advantages of RLS over other analysers are that it is nondestructive, analysis is completed in a fraction of a second, and the spectral bands provide definitive composition of the material. RLS measurements will be conducted on the resulting crushed sample powder and it will be a useful tool for flagging the presence of organic molecules for further biomarker search by the MOMA analyser.
The processor board carries out several key functions for the Raman spectrometer control, spectral operation, data storage, and communications with the rover. The complete instrument has a mass of 2.4 kg (5.29 lb) and consumes about 30 W while operating.
Objectives
The goal of RLS is to seek signs of past life on Mars (biosignatures and biomarkers) by analysing drilled samples acquired from 2 meters below the Martian surface by the Rosalind Franklin rover core drill. The science objectives of RLS are:
Identify organic compounds and search for life.
Identify mineral products and indicators of biologic activity.
Characterize mineral phases produced by water-related processes.
Characterize igneous minerals and their alteration products.
Characterize the water/geochemical environment as a function of depth in the shallow subsurface.
See also
Astrobiology
Life on Mars
References
ExoMars
Spacecraft instruments
Mars imagers
Astrobiology
Space science experiments
INTA spacecraft instruments | Raman Laser Spectrometer | [
"Astronomy",
"Biology"
] | 781 | [
"Origin of life",
"Speculative evolution",
"Astrobiology",
"Biological hypotheses",
"Astronomical sub-disciplines"
] |
57,967,304 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%203859 | NGC 3859 is a spiral galaxy located about 295 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It was discovered by astronomer Édouard Stephan on March 23, 1884. The galaxy is a member of the Leo Cluster.
Physical characteristics
Deep imaging of NGC 3859 by Yagi et al. have revealed a distorted faint halo which is elongated toward the northeast along the major axis of the galaxy. On the southwestern side of the galaxy, the halo extends about ~ above the disk of the galaxy. To the north, there is a small dwarf galaxy which is possibly an interacting companion. A part of the extended halo of NGC 3859 may be the result of an interaction between the dwarf and NGC 3859.
Hα emission
The bright disk Hα emission in the disk together with the very blue color of the galaxy and the emission line dominated nuclear spectrum indicate that NGC 3859 is a starburst galaxy. The morphology of the Hα emission of NGC 3859 is peculiar, characterized by two narrow spurs which extend to the northwest and the southeast from the galaxy disk. Their widths are ~ and ~ respectively. The morphology and size of the two spurs of NGC 3859 are quite similar to the Hα nebula and extended ionized gas cloud which suggest that the spurs originated in a starburst superbubble or superwind. The northern part of an Hα nebula of NGC 3859 seems to be flowing toward the northeast. Also, the two spurs of the galaxy are bending in the same direction. These morphological characteristics suggest that the hot gas of the galaxy is being affected by ram pressure from the southwest. However, there is no indication of one-sided elongation of ionized gas within the galaxy. There is also no sharp cutoff at the southwest edge of the Hα nebula, and no extended part of the Hα emission out of the galaxy to the northeast, but it shows an extension toward the east-southeast. In addition, the northern faint flowing part of the nebular continuum is overlapped by the dwarf companion galaxy suggesting that this part of the Hα nebula could have been formed by a galaxy interaction rather than ram pressure. Therefore, ram pressure stripping may not be strong enough to create the overall structure of the extended ionized gas cloud (EIG) around NGC 3859.
SN 2014U
On February 23, 2014, a type II supernova designated as SN 2014U was discovered in NGC 3859.
See also
List of NGC objects (3001–4000)
NGC 3079-galaxy with starburst superbubble
Messier 82-nearby galaxy undergoing a starburst
References
External links
3859
36582
Leo (constellation)
Leo Cluster
Peculiar galaxies
Astronomical objects discovered in 1884
Spiral galaxies
Starburst galaxies
6721
Interacting galaxies
Discoveries by Édouard Stephan | NGC 3859 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 560 | [
"Leo (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
57,968,068 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared%20Spectrometer%20for%20ExoMars | Infrared Spectrometer for ExoMars (ISEM) is an infrared spectrometer for remote sensing that is part of the science payload on board the European Space Agency Rosalind Franklin rover, tasked to search for biosignatures and biomarkers on Mars. The rover is planned to be launched not earlier than 2028 and land on Mars in 2029.
ISEM will provide context assessment of the surface mineralogy in the vicinity of the Rosalind Franklin rover for selection of potential astrobiological targets. The Principal Investigator is Oleg Korablev from the Russian Space Research Institute (IKI).
Overview
The Infrared Spectrometer for ExoMars (ISEM) is being developed by the Russian Space Research Institute (IKI). It will be the first instance of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) observations done from the Mars surface. The instrument will be installed on the Rosalind Franklin rover's mast to measure reflected solar radiation in the near infrared range for context assessment of the surface mineralogy in the vicinity of Rosalind Franklin for selection of potential astrobiological targets. As the number of samples obtained with the drill will be limited, the selection of high-value sites for drilling will be crucial. Working with PanCam (a high-resolution panoramic camera), ISEM will aid in the selection of potential targets, especially water-bearing minerals, for close-up investigations and drilling sites.
ISEM could detect, if present, organic compounds, including evolving trace gases such as hydrocarbons like methane in the Martian atmosphere.
Objectives
The stated science objectives of ISEM are:
Geological investigation and study a composition of Martian soils in the uppermost few millimeters of the surface.
Characterisation of the composition of surface materials, discriminating between various classes of silicates, oxides, hydrated minerals and carbonates.
Identification and mapping of the distribution of aqueous alteration products on Mars.
Real-time assessment of surface composition in selected areas, in support of identifying and selection of the most promising drilling sites.
Studies of variations of the atmospheric dust properties and of the atmospheric gaseous composition.
Development
ISEM is a derivative of the Lunar Infrared Spectrometer (LIS) being developed by the Russian Space Research Institute (IKI) in Moscow for the planned Luna-25 and Luna-27 Russian landers. Collaborating institutions include: Moscow State University, Main Astrophysical Observatory, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the National Research Institute for Physicotechnical and Radio Engineering Measurements (VNIIFTRI) in Russia, Moscow State University, and the Aberystwyth University in United Kingdom. The science team includes researchers from Russia, France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
The instrument has been designed to specifically detect carbonates, oxalates, borates, nitrates, NH4-bearing minerals, that are good indicators of past habitable conditions such as aqueous minerals. It is also designed to detect organic compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and those containing aliphatic C-H molecules. In addition, ISEM can also detect seasonal frost, if present at the landing site, and it can be used to analyse the bore hole excavated by the ExoMars drill, if the rover backs away some distance.
See also
Astrobiology
Life on Mars
References
ExoMars
Spacecraft instruments
Astrobiology
Space science experiments
Space program of Russia | Infrared Spectrometer for ExoMars | [
"Astronomy",
"Biology"
] | 701 | [
"Origin of life",
"Speculative evolution",
"Astrobiology",
"Biological hypotheses",
"Astronomical sub-disciplines"
] |
57,968,159 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huang%20Weiyuan | Huang Weiyuan (; December 15, 1921 – November 17, 2015) was a Chinese organic chemist and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He served as President of the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry and President of the Chinese Chemical Society.
Early life and education
Huang was born in Putian, Fujian, China on December 15, 1921. He graduated from Fukien Christian University in 1943 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry. After earning his MS in 1949 from Lingnan University in Guangzhou, he entered Harvard University and received his Ph.D. in 1952. His graduate advisor was the organic chemist Louis Fieser.
Career
Huang joined the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955. In 1958, he responded to the demand of Chinese defense industry, stopped his established organic natural product research work and pursued research in the field of organofluorine chemistry. Under his leadership, the major base for organofluorine chemistry in China was established at the SIOC.
Huang discovered the sulfinatodehalogenation reaction in 1981, which converts perfluoroalkyl halides to the corresponding perfluoroalkanesulfinates with sulfinatodehalogenation reagents such as sodium dithionite. He and his students identified this reaction as a single electron transfer reaction. This reaction opens a new and practical way for perfluoroalkylation of unsaturated substrates such as alkenes alkynes and aromatics compounds with sulfinatodehalogenation reagents. This reaction is well documented internationally and he won the Second-class Award of National Natural Science in 1986.
Huang has published more than 200 research papers and has mentored twenty Ph.D. candidates, including the first Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in Mainland China. He was the first one in China (1958) to introduce NMR and IR applications in organic chemistry.
He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1980. Huang was deputy director of SIOC (1978-1984) and director from 1984-1987. SIOC is the major Chinese chemistry research center and the place edits and publishes several major Chinese academic journals of chemistry.
Huang was the founder and chief editor of the Chinese Journal of Chemistry. He was elected as President of the Chinese Chemical Society (1986-1990).
Huang was in the first delegation from the Chinese chemist community to visit USA in 1977 and he made great efforts to establish the good relationship in exchange of scholars and visiting between Chinese and American chemists.
Huang received broad recognition from international chemistry community. He was elected as bureau member of IUPAC (1985-1993). He was awarded the Moissan Medal in 1986 at the conference "Centenary of the Discovery of Fluorine" in Paris. He was the co-chairman of 17th international symposium of fluorine chemistry in 2003.
Death
Huang died in the United States on November 17, 2015, aged 93.
References
1921 births
2015 deaths
Chemists from Fujian
Fujian Normal University alumni
Harvard University alumni
Lingnan University (Guangzhou) alumni
Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chinese organic chemists
People from Putian | Huang Weiyuan | [
"Chemistry"
] | 651 | [
"Organic chemists",
"Chinese organic chemists"
] |
57,968,866 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George%20Minchin | George Minchin Minchin (born George Minchin Smith, 1845–1914) was an Irish mathematician and experimental physicist. He was a pioneer in the development of astronomical photometry: the first-ever celestial photometric measurements were made using photovoltaic cells that he developed for the purpose. He invented the absolute sine-electrometer and was a prolific author of mathematical and scientific textbooks and papers.
Early life and family
He was born George Minchin Smith on 25 May 1845 on Valentia Island, County Kerry, Ireland to George Smith and Alice Minchin. His mother died when he was nine years old. His father, an attorney who lived in Donnybrook, Dublin, placed him into the care of his uncle (by marriage) on his mother's side, David Bell. A literary scholar, Bell ran a school in Dublin and was uncle to another pupil at the school, one Alexander Graham Bell. Minchin's notable mathematical ability was encouraged.
He entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1862, matriculating under the name George Minchin Smith, and won the first university scholarship in mathematics in 1865, and the Lloyd exhibition in mathematics. In 1866, he graduated, still as G. M. Smith, with a Gold Medal in mathematics. By then he had assumed the name George Minchin Minchin, receiving his MA in 1870, under the new name, and then Madden's Premium in both 1871 and 1872 for his performance in the Fellowship examinations.
The Smiths were a Protestant family. George Minchin Smith changed his name to George Minchin Minchin evidently because his father had converted to Roman Catholicism and married a Catholic, Marie O’Neill, possibly his housekeeper, with whom he already had three children.
In 1887 Minchin married Emma Fawcett of Lecarrow (or Strandhill), County Leitrim. They had two children, George Robert Neville in 1888 and Una Eleanor in 1890. [George junior became an engineer and later the managing director of Peto & Radford (accumulator manufacturers) and the Chloride battery company.]
Career
In 1875 Minchin became the Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Royal Indian Engineering College (aka Coopers Hill or R.I.E. College) on the outskirts of London, and the same year he was elected to the London Mathematical Society. As a lecturer at RIEC, he was described as "brilliant", much admired for his wit and ability to draw in pupils and colleagues alike with otherwise dull topics. He maintained a regular correspondence, particularly with George Francis FitzGerald. Minchin wrote many mathematical and scientific texts and his clarity of exposition was lauded; he wrote and lectured about the importance of using clear English when producing texts for students. He also encouraged using "a touch of humour," citing the work of George Salmon and James Clerk Maxwell as exemplars. He wrote humorous works including comical mathematical poems. He has been credited with introducing the term 'potential function' with reference to applications in physics and engineering, but
George Green had in fact done so as early as 1828. He was noted for being one of the College's best tennis players (he had also been a cricketer). He loved birds and birdwatching and kept a few in cages in his rooms.
Minchin performed early experiments with radio waves, x-rays and photoelectricity, both at RIEC and University College London (in the latter at the new laboratory of George Carey Foster, from 1875). Experiments included coating platinum with light-sensitive dyes, a technique he developed until he was able to detect "Hertzian waves" (radio waves) in his "impulsion cell", and he suspected that the Branly's tube with iron filings which detected the waves operated similarly. The sensitivity of Minchin's photo-electric cell apparatus was tested through a number of thick walls and outside as far as the woods at the edge of the RIEC lawn. A light switch was successfully operated remotely. Oliver Lodge read Minchin's paper, The Action of Electromagnetic Radiation on Films containing Metallic Powders, and developed an improved 'Branly' tube that he named a coherer. In his publication Signalling Across Space Without Wires, Lodge tabled Branly's filings, Minchins impulsion cell and his own (and David Edward Hughes's) coherer as "microphonic" radiation detectors (the others being mechanical, electrical, thermal, chemical and physiological). One year later Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated wireless telegraphy with the usage of a coherer.
In 1877, Minchin began work on using photoelectricity with a view to transmitting images. Four years earlier, Willoughby Smith had discovered the photoelectric effect on selenium rods; Minchin became skilled at creating photovoltaic cells made from selenium. His idea was to have a bundle of many insulated wires in parallel, their ends light-sensitised with selenium to detect an image, and for the far ends to emit a proportional level of light registered by a photographic film, effectively as pixels. The efforts were unsuccessful.
Continuing his work, Minchin developed a selenium photocathode on an aluminium base which was immersed in acetone. He complained that some scientists rejected the worthiness of experimentation with photoelectricity out of ignorance, a situation he described as "madness." He was the most insightful of 19th century experimenters in suggesting that photocells transformed energy without being changed themselves. He also made the key point that one should not assume surfaces need to be black to absorb usefully the most energy and that undiscovered surface properties might absorb visible light or other unknown wavelengths better, so scientists could not comment on the efficacy of light-sensitive cells without further scientific testing. These posited differences in energy were in fact later identified through the work of Max Planck and Albert Einstein.
Keen to test his new cells, in late 1891 Minchin contacted a friend — William Monck – who had built an observatory with a 7.5 inch (19 cm) refractor at his home in Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin. For the experiment, Monck ordered a new quadrant electrometer after FitzGerald was unable to provide a suitable one. The following August, Minchin provided Monck with improved cells but returned to England because of bad weather. More clement conditions on the morning of 28 August enabled Monck and his neighbour Stephen Dixon to measure the "striking" effect of the Moon and the relative brightness of Venus and Jupiter, the first photometric measurements in the history of astronomy. The measurements of stars were uncertain, however.
Minchin met William Wilson in London and the latter invited him to try his cells at the new observatory at his home, Daramona House, County Westmeath. In April 1895, Wilson and Minchin operated the 2-foot (60 cm) reflector, and FitzGerald the galvanometer below. Minchin published the results of a few days' observations in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, describing the relative magnitudes of the stars Regulus, Arcturus and Procyon, and acknowledging Monck's measurements. It is believed he visited Wilson's home in 1894 and 1897, and he certainly did in September 1895 and January 1896, but no other observations were recorded.
Minchin invented a metrological device, the absolute sine-electrometer, a very sensitive development of the gold-leaf electroscope; this device was further developed and marketed as a 'tilted gold-leaf electrometer' by the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, amongst others.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1895.
He resisted his colleagues' and students' entreaties to scale up his experiments to create something of practical usage, preferring his work to be considered as purely for learning. RIEC closed in 1906 and he moved to New College, Oxford because of its laboratories and telescopes.
He died on 23 March 1914, survived by his wife and children.
Publications
Some publications ran to several editions, continuing until at least 1924.
A Treatise on statics, containing some of the fundamental propositions in electrostatics. (London, Longmans, 1877/Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1880-) [This treatise was one of a series on statics published over the following years with different sub-topics, volumes, editions and translations]
A General Theorem in Kinematics. (Nature, volume 23, no. 582, 1880)
Photo-Electricity. (Scientific American, volume 10 no. 283, 1880)
A Kinematical Theorem. (Nature, volume 24 no. 624, 1881)
The Determination of Electromotive Force in Absolute Electrostatic Measure. (Nature, volume 25, no. 638, 1882)
The Absolute Sine Electrometer. (Nature, volume 25, no. 369)
Electrostatic Measurement of E.M.F.(Nature, volume 29, no. 752)
Scientific Nomenclature. (Nature, volume 34, no. 865)
Minchin's Statics. (Science, volume 8, no. 180)
Ampère's Rule. (Nature, volume 34, no. 870)
A Manual of Mechanics. (Nature, volume 34, no. 877)
Naturae veritas. (London/New York, Macmillan, 1887)
Centre of Water Pressure. (Nature, volume 37, no. 948/no. 951)
General Equations of Fluid Motion. (Nature, volume 39, no. 1010)
Photo-electric Impulsion Cells. (Nature, volume 42, no. 1073)
Experiments in Photoelectricity. (Proceedings of the Physical Society of London, volume 11, no. 1) [also in other journals/languages]
“Nowhere can Mathematics be learned as at Cambridge” (Nature, volume 43, no. 1103)
Experiments in Photoelectricity. (London, Taylor & Francis, 1891)
Hydrostatics and Elementary Hydrokinetics. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1892)
Electromotive Force from the Light of the Stars. (Nature, volume 49, no. 1264)
A Fire Ball. (Scientific American, volume 73, no.24)
The Electrical Measurement of Starlight. (Nature, volume 52, no. 1341)
The electrical measurement of starlight. Observations made at the Observatory of Daramona House, Co. Westmeath, in April, 1895. Preliminary report. (London, Taylor & Francis, 1895)
The electrical measurement of starlight. Observations made at the Observatory of Daramona House, Co. Westmeath, in January, 1896. Second report. (London, Harrison & Francis, 1896)
Personal Injury from a Fire-ball. (Nature, volume 53, no. 1358)
Geometry for Beginners. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1898)
Geometry Versus Euclid. (Nature, volume 59, no. 1529)
The Teaching of Geometry. (London, Macmillan, 1899)
Bell's Science Series. Edited by P.M. Groom and G.M. Minchin. (London, George Bell & Sons, 1900–1909)
The student's dynamics : comprising statics and kinetics. (London, George Bell & Sons, 1900–1909)
England's Neglect of Science. (Nature, volume 64, no. 1653)
Plane and Solid Geometry. (Nature, volume 64, no. 1667)
A New Treatise on the Calculus. (Nature, volume 65, no. 1693)
Vectors and Rotors, with Applications. (Nature, volume 68, no. 1774)
The Glorification of Energy. (Nature, volume 68, no. 1750)
Mathematical Drawing. (Nature, volume 71, no. 1835)
Elements of the Differential and Integral Calculus. (Nature, volume 72, no. 1854)
The Photoelectric Property of Selenium. (Nature, volume 77, nos. 1991, 1993)
Seleno-Aluminium Bridges. (Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character, volume 81, no. 544)
The Teaching of Geometry. (Nature, volume 80, no. 2065)
A Treatise on Hydrodynamics. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1912)
A Treatise on Hydrostatics. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1912)
References
Experimental physicists
1845 births
1914 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Fellows of the Royal Society
People from Valentia Island
Scientists from County Kerry
19th-century Irish mathematicians
19th-century Irish physicists
20th-century Irish mathematicians
20th-century Irish physicists | George Minchin | [
"Physics"
] | 2,577 | [
"Experimental physics",
"Experimental physicists"
] |
51,876,736 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaqueline%20Kiplinger | Jaqueline Kiplinger is an American inorganic chemist who specializes in organometallic actinide chemistry. Over the course of her career, she has done extensive work with fluorocarbons and actinides. She is currently a Fellow of the Materials Synthesis and Integrated Devices group in the Materials Physics and Applications Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Her current research interests are focused on the development of chemistry for the United States’ national defense and energy needs.
Education
Kiplinger received her B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 1990. Under the guidance of Professor Ruminiski, Kiplinger has published several papers reporting coordination chemistry of iron and ruthenium featuring multidentate pyrazine-based ligands.
Kiplinger did her graduate studies at the University of Utah working with Professor Thomas Richmond. Her work focused on using organometallic species to break carbon-fluorine bonds in perfluoroalkanes, which are usually unreactive due to fluorine’s high electronegativity and the strength of the carbon-fluorine bond. One notable publication in Organometallics displayed a novel transformation of an aromatic carbon-fluorine bond to a carbon-carbon bond using tungsten(II), shown below. Additionally, Kiplinger and Richmond reported zirconium complexes that catalyze aromatic fluorocarbon hydrogenolysis.
From 1996 to 1999, Kiplinger worked as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley under Professor Robert G. Bergman.
Career
Following her postdoctoral work, Kiplinger was awarded the Frederick Reines Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship at LANL. There, she started the program focused on the chemistry of actinides and lanthanides in the group led by Dr. Carol Burns. In 2002, Kiplinger, Burns, and co-workers published the first f-block elemental complex containing a ketimido group. This was the first of many papers the group published pertaining to organometallic uranium chemistry. Soon after, Kiplinger and coworkers reported the first actinide hydrazonato complex using U(IV). During that time, Kiplinger also reported improved synthesis of uranium-based metallocene complexes (C5Me5)U(CH2C6H5)3.
Kiplinger continued her research at LANL after the conclusion of her fellowship, and she serves as a laboratory Fellow in the chemistry division to this day. She continued developing lanthanide and actinide chemistry, and published the synthesis of the first uranium and thorium halide complexes with tert-butyl substituted ketiminate ligands in 2013.
In 2016, Kiplinger reported the synthesis of an infinite thorium diazide coordination polymer; the first such polymer involving an actinide. The infinite property is unique to thorium azide complexes compared to other actinide metallocenes, such as uranium, which polymerize into trimers. By making alterations on the classic cyclopentadiene groups, different coordination polymers can be formed. (C5Me5)2Th(N3)2 utilizes pentamethylcyclopentadiene to form polymers with two bridging azide groups, while (C5Me4Et)2Th(μ-η1:η1-N3)(N3) uses ethyl-tetramethylcyclopentadiene caps to create a polymer with one bridging azide and one terminal azide group. Her recent efforts have been focused on the chemistry of uranium and thorium compounds with nitrogen-rich ligands. For example, experimental and theoretical work from her group revealed that tetrazolate ligands of these complexes act as sigma donors.
Another important thrust in her research involved the development of redox chemistry with uranium hydrides. She showed that phenylsilane can be used as a convenient stoichiometric reagent producing well-defined uranium (III), uranium (IV), and uranium (VI) complexes. Her more recent work details a new route to uranium and thorium metallocene borohydrides. The uranium complex had been synthesized previously from tetravalent uranium pentamethylborohydride and potassium cyclopentadiene, but the new synthesis using calcium borohydride and pentamethylcyclopentadienyl uranium chloride resulted in a higher yield under milder conditions. While the preparation of U(BH4)4 is dated to the seminal work of Schlesinger and Brown in 1940s, this is the first example of a thorium metallocene borohydride.
Awards
2018 Fellow of the American Chemical Society
2017 IUPAC International Distinguished Women in Chemistry Award
2016 University of Utah Distinguished Chemistry Alumna Award
2015 ACS F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry
2013-2014 Organometallic Subdivision Chair, ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry
2012 R&D 100 Award for U-TURN: Turning Uranium Around Process
2012- Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
2012- National Nuclear Security Administration Environmental Stewardship Award
2010- National Nuclear Security Administration Best-in-Class Pollution Prevention Award
1998 ACS Nobel Laureate Signature Award for the best Ph.D. thesis in the U.S.
References
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry
21st-century American chemists
University of Utah alumni
American inorganic chemists
American women scientists
Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel
University of Colorado alumni
21st-century American women scientists | Jaqueline Kiplinger | [
"Chemistry"
] | 1,148 | [
"American inorganic chemists",
"Inorganic chemists"
] |
51,877,724 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel%20Scrutton | Nigel Shaun Scrutton (born 2 April 1964) is a British biochemist and biotechnology innovator known for his work on enzyme catalysis, biophysics and synthetic biology. He is Director of the UK Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub, Director of the Fine and Speciality Chemicals Synthetic Biology Research Centre (SYNBIOCHEM), and Co-founder, Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the 'fuels-from-biology' company C3 Biotechnologies Ltd. He is Professor of Enzymology and Biophysical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester. He is former Director of the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) (2010 to 2020).
Early life and education
Scrutton was born in Batley, West Riding of Yorkshire and was brought up in Cleckheaton where he went to Whitcliffe Mount School. Scrutton graduated from King's College London with a first class Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry in 1985. He was a Benefactors' Scholar at St John's College, Cambridge where he completed his doctoral research (PhD) in 1988 supervised by Richard Perham. He was a Research Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge (1989–92) and a Fellow / Director of Studies at Churchill College, Cambridge (1992–95). He was awarded a Doctor of Science (ScD) degree in 2003 by the University of Cambridge.
Career and research
Following his PhD, Scrutton was appointed as Lecturer (1995), then Reader (1997) and Professor (1999) at the University of Leicester before being appointed Professor at the University of Manchester in 2005. He has held successive research fellowships over 29 years from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 (1851 Research Fellowship), St John's College, Cambridge, the Royal Society (Royal Society University Research Fellow and Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award), the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). He has been Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) and Cardiff University (UK), and adjunct professor at VISTEC (Thailand) and Beijing University of Chemical Technology (China).
He has made major contributions to the study of enzyme catalysis, the mechanisms and structures of enzymes and the photochemistry of photoreceptor proteins. His group has pioneered investigations that have led to both deep understanding and recognition of the general importance of quantum tunnelling and protein dynamics in enzyme H-transfer and conformational ensemble sampling in electron transfer reactions. This has involved the development of new biophysical approaches for reaction kinetics analysis including kinetic isotope effect studies, their integration into structural and computational programmes, and extension of theory. He has also made important contributions to enzyme kinetics, coenzyme chemistry, protein engineering, directed evolution, synthetic biology, biological engineering, biocatalysis and metabolic engineering, including the first rational redesign of the coenzyme specificity of an enzyme, the establishment of automated microorganism bioengineering platforms for the production of chemicals (e.g. fuels, materials, active pharmaceutical ingredients) and the discovery of new riboflavin cofactors.
His research has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, the Office of Naval Research Global, the European Union (Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development) and other industry / charity funders. He has supervised about 70 students for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, about 50 postdoctoral research workers. He has published over 500 research papers and several patents.
In 2015 Scrutton co-founded the company C3 Biotechnologies Ltd to commercialise technologies for fuels and chemicals production, and subsidiary companies C3 Biotechnologies (Maritime and Aerospace, UK) Ltd in 2020, and C3 Biotechnologies (Maritime and Aerospace, USA) Inc in 2022.
He is Director of the Manchester Synthetic Biology Research Centre SYNBIOCHEM, which he established in 2014 following major investment by the UK government in synthetic biology. In 2019, he established and became Director of the UK Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub, which is developing new technologies to accelerate bio-based manufacturing in the UK in three key sectors – pharmaceuticals, chemicals and engineering materials. He has served on several national committees, including research council / funding committees (BBSRC, EPSRC, Royal Society) and strategic advisory boards / scientific steering groups (e.g. Science and Technology Facilities Council). He is a former member of BBSRC Council (2021-24).
Under his leadership as Director, the enterprising vision of MIB was recognised by the award of the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education (2018–20) as 'a leader in the UK’s strategic development of biotechnology and bio-manufacturing, through innovative technologies in partnerships with industry'.
Awards and honours
Scrutton was awarded the Colworth Medal in 1999 from the Biochemical Society; the Enzyme Chemistry Award (Charmian Medal) from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2002; the Rita and John Cornforth Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2009; the Interdisciplinary Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2019.
Scrutton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2020; Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 1996; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB) in 2009; a Member of the Lister Institute in 2004.
He is recipient of a number of academic awards including: Sambrooke Exhibition Prize (King's College London, University of London, 1983); William Robson Prize (King's College London, University of London, 1985); Benefactors' Scholarship (St John's College, University of Cambridge, 1985); Henry Humphreys Research Prize / Research Fellowship (St John's College, University of Cambridge, 1989).
Personal life
Scrutton married Nia Francis Roberts in 1989 with whom he has two sons and one daughter.
References
External links
Nigel Scrutton's University of Manchester official website
Nigel Scrutton's research group website
SYNBIOCHEM website
Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub website
C3 Biotechnologies Ltd official website
1964 births
Living people
Alumni of King's College London
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Academics of the University of Leicester
Academics of the University of Manchester
Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology
Royal Society University Research Fellows
Fellows of the Royal Society
British biochemists
Quantum biology
People educated at Whitcliffe Mount School | Nigel Scrutton | [
"Physics",
"Biology"
] | 1,364 | [
"Quantum mechanics",
"nan",
"Quantum biology"
] |
51,880,209 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandin%20brothers | The Grandin Brothers; John Livingston Grandin (December 20, 1836 – September 10, 1912), William James Grandin (August 16, 1838 – December 7, 1904) and Elijah Bishop Grandin (December 20, 1840 – December 3, 1917) were a sibling trio of American entrepreneurs who were among the first to begin business ventures in commercial oil prospecting in the United States, and who later became involved in banking and Bonanza wheat farming. They eventually became titans of the wheat industry, operating the largest corporate wheat farm in the Dakota Territory (in Grandin, North Dakota) in the late 19th century.
Historical background
Grandin family ancestors reportedly came to America from the Isle of Jersey in the early 1700s. The first generations of Grandins in America found success in the mercantile industry. Samuel Grandin (1800-1888) was born in Sussex County, New Jersey where he was educated only until age 8 or 10, and then left school to apprentice as a tailor and follow his family in mercantile work. In 1822, Samuel Grandin decided to move to Pennsylvania in search of new opportunities. He continued mercantile work there for another 18 years. During this time he married Saran Ann Henry in 1832, and they had seven children, five sons and two daughters; Morris Worts Grandin (deceased in infancy), Stephen Girard Grandin (b.1835; deceased at 16), John Livingston Grandin (b.1836), William James Grandin (b.1838), Elijah Bishop Grandin (b.1840), Maria Jane Grandin (b.1843), and Emma Ann Grandin (b.1849; deceased during childhood).
Early life
The Grandin Brothers; Stephen Girard Grandin (b.1835), John Livingston Grandin (b.1836), and William James Grandin (b.1838), were all born in Pleasantville, Venango County, Pennsylvania. In 1840 their father moved the family to the nearby town of Tidioute. In Tidioute, Elijah Bishop Grandin was born (b.1840) and the boys' father ended his career as a tailor and entered the lumber industry, buying 33 acres of land and building a lumber mill. He began shipping timber down the Allegany River, much of which came from his land. At young ages the Grandin boys quickly followed their father into lumber work. In 1851, Stephen Girard tragically drowned at the age of 16, leaving only three of the five brothers surviving. John Livingston and William James worked in the lumber business early on and at the general store in Tidioute. Their younger brother Elijah Bishop, left home in early adulthood and went to work for the Hyde Bros. Lumber Company in Hydetown, Crawford County, Pennsylvania.
Second oil well, oil business
On August 27, 1859, Edwin Drake dug a successful commercial oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania which is commonly credited as the first oil well dug specifically as a commercial well in the United States. Days after the Drake well came in, news reached the Grandin General Store in Tidioute approximately 20 miles away. After hearing that Drake was selling barrels of oil at 75 cents each, John Livingston (then aged 23), who knew of petroleum seepage in the area, immediately began buying up small tracts of land surrounding an “oil spring” he knew of. On August 31, 1859, 4 days after the Drake well, John Livingston set up a spring-pole well, a simpler setup than Drake's technique. This well is credited as being the second well dug specifically for commercial oil drilling purposes in the United States. Despite drilling down 134 feet, nearly twice the depth of Drake's well, in an area Grandin had seen petroleum seepage at surface level, Grandin's first well was unsuccessful and dry. John Livingston then recruited his brother William James and after that first unsuccessful attempt, they dug several more wells that were then successful and turned extremely profitable. Around this time Elijah Bishop returned to Pennsylvania to join his brothers in their oil business. Together they set up pipelines and containers. Along with Edwin Drake's, their efforts were a precursor to the Pennsylvania oil rush. According to legend, over the next several years the Grandin Brothers' oil endeavors eventually became so successful that John Livingston set up an appointment to meet John D. Rockefeller, another oil prospector at the time, to negotiate a partnership, but Rockefeller kept him waiting and after a period of time, refusing to wait any longer, Grandin walked out before Rockefeller arrived, possibly forfeiting a chance for them to get in on the ground floor with Standard Oil.
Grandin Brothers Bank
In 1868, after several years of very successful oil endeavors, John Livingston Grandin and a business partner, A. Clark Baum, started a general banking business in Tidioute, founded with oil money. Two years later, John Livingston's brother William James purchased Baum's stake in the business and it became the Grandin Brothers Bank. Around this time the Philadelphia Financier Jay Cooke was undertaking a campaign to sell Northern Pacific Railway securities in his role as principal financier of the project. The Northern Pacific had turned to Cooke after his very successful efforts raising money for the Union Army during the Civil War by selling Civil War securities to investors in England. As the Grandin Bros. Bank grew its capital, the Grandin Brothers decided to use Jay Cooke & Company as one of their bank's depositories. However, in 1873 Cooke & Company went bankrupt, a major cause of the Panic of 1873. Cooke then told his creditors he could only repay them 15 cents on the dollar. Rather than accept 15 cents on the dollar for the considerable sum they were owed, and in turn lose a large portion of their oil profits, the Grandin Brothers decided to consider accepting the only collateral security available on the money. This collateral security was Northern Pacific Railway bonds with certain land purchasing rights to government land grants in the Dakota Territory made to the railroad. The theory for these bonds had been that once the railroad was completed, thus making the surrounding land much more valuable, the investors of the railway could exercise these bonds for a profit. However, since funding for the railroad ceased in 1873, so did the construction, and this land was thousands of acres of uninhabited prairie and wilderness in the Dakota Territory and beyond with no finished railway to reach them.
Western exploration, Dakota bonanza farming
In 1875, John Livingston went out to the Red River Valley of the Dakota Territory to inspect this land himself. He traveled to the farthest settlement into the territory, Fargo, which was then just a town of tents. At Fargo he hired an experienced Colonel and together they trekked fifty miles north in the Red River Valley to the government railroad land. Along the way they encountered a frontiersman living on the Red River and growing a small amount of wheat for himself. Considering what could be done with the land, John Livingston noted the rich surface soil and thick clay sub-soil, and recognized the good conditions for growing more wheat. He surveyed and marked off two townships, having the possibility to buy the odd sections. On reporting this survey to the Department of Interior in Moorhead, Minnesota, the survey was accepted. Deciding to exercise the Grandin Brothers' right to the Railroad Bonds with government land purchasing rights, he then purchased of Rail Road land. He also bought another of government land at a discount, by promising the U.S. Government at the Department of Interior that they would put aside land to put up a town thus helping to develop the country as there were no known settlers living on the prairie there at that time. (The town they put up became Grandin, North Dakota)
Knowing little about farming and interested in getting back to the banking, oil and lumber businesses in Pennsylvania, John Livingston contacted Oliver Dalrymple, a land speculator also from Pennsylvania who was cultivating half a section [] of wheat in nearby Minnesota, the largest known farm in the area at the time. The Grandin Brothers hired Dalrymple to get a corporate wheat farm up and running on a large portion of their land. As their success grew, they purchased more land and at the Grandin Farm's height they possessed by some accounts of the best wheat land in the American continent, and employed over 400 workers. Not a single year passed where their profits did not exceed the original amount owed to them by Jay Cooke & Company.
Since the Grandin Brothers now owned several miles of land along the Red River, in order to quickly get the cultivated wheat to market they set up the Grandin Steamboat Line of steamboats and barges to transport both wheat and passengers down to Fargo. In Fargo they set up a grain elevator on the railroad line to carry the wheat to market. By 1888 however, much of the steamboat traffic had been replaced by trains.
Grandin Farm land liquidation
After amassing sizable fortunes, the Grandin Brothers began to slowly reduce the Grandin Farm holdings, by selling off half sections []and full sections [] at a time, in then developed North Dakota, for vastly more than they originally paid for them. By their deaths in the early 20th century, much of the land had been sold off. In 1920, John Livingston Grandin Jr., the son of John Livingston Grandin sold the remaining as the final disposition of the Grandin Land. However the buyer was deceased 3 years later, and with the mortgage unpaid, the land was repossessed. It was then supervised by a member of the Grandin Family and rented from 1923 until 1934, when the land was conveyed to the Grandin Land Trust, to be sold when another buyer was found. The land was finally again sold outright in 1948, marking the true final disposition of Grandin land.
Descendants
John Livingston Grandin Jr. (son of John Livingston Grandin) continued the family business endeavors until his death in 1963. He attended Harvard University; in 1905 was a passenger on the first purpose built cruise ship, the Prinzessin Victoria Luise; and during WWI was the Director for the Red Cross Bureau of Supplies for the Northeast Division.
Temple Grandin (great-granddaughter of John Livingston Grandin), professor of Animal Science and autism advocate.
See also
Grandin, Missouri
References
Petroleum engineers
Cass County, North Dakota
Traill County, North Dakota
Brother trios
Business families of the United States
Grandin family | Grandin brothers | [
"Engineering"
] | 2,105 | [
"Petroleum engineers",
"Petroleum engineering"
] |
51,882,357 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return%20on%20modeling%20effort | Return on modelling effort (ROME) is the benefit resulting from a (supplementary) effort to create and / or improve a model.
Purpose
In engineering, modelling always serves a particular goal. For example, the lightning protection of aircraft can be modelled as an electrical circuit, in order to predict whether the protection will still work in 30 years, given the ageing of its electrical components. More and more effort can be put in making this model predict reality perfectly. However, this perfection comes at a price: researchers invest time and money in improving the model. As a Return on investment (ROI), the ROME is a metric for the use of further modelling. It may therefore serve as a 'stopping criterion'.
Typically, researchers will pull towards continuing modelling, while management will pull towards stopping modelling. Being explicit about the cost and benefits of continued modeling may help to make informed decisions that are understood by both sides. Continuous communication between model developers and model users increases the probability of models being actually put to profit.
Domains
ROME is a metric, which can be evaluated wherever modelling is performed with a quantifiable goal. Examples include:
Modeling the impact of federal policy on social problems.
Modeling a marketing mix to statistically correlate a number of inputs (or independent variables) – such as a marketing campaign – to outcomes (or dependent variables) – such as sales or profits.
Modeling the links between enterprise actors to make an informed choice on splitting organizations.
Modeling the coupling of an electromagnetic interference to a PCB to reduce its susceptibility by improving the routing of traces.
Research
The initiative "Models at Work" studies the creation, management and use of domain models in scientific and industrial practice, aiming at a diversity of goals, varying from (as truthful as possible) representation of the conceptual structure of the domain that is modelled, via animation, simulation, execution and gamification, until automated (logic-based) reasoning.
References
Financial ratios
Engineering ratios
Acronyms
Financial models | Return on modeling effort | [
"Mathematics",
"Engineering"
] | 399 | [
"Financial ratios",
"Quantity",
"Metrics",
"Engineering ratios"
] |
51,884,181 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-stage%20game | In game theory, a multi-stage game is a sequence of several simultaneous games played one after the other. This is a generalization of a repeated game: a repeated game is a special case of a multi-stage game, in which the stage games are identical.
Multi-Stage Game with Different Information Sets
As an example, consider a two-stage game in which the stage game in Figure 1 is played in each of two periods:
The payoff to each player is the simple sum of the payoffs of both games.
Players cannot observe the action of the other player within a round; however, at the beginning of Round 2, Player 2 finds out about Player 1's action in Round 1, while Player 1 does not find out about Player 2's action in Round 1.
For Player 1, there are strategies.
For Player 2, there are strategies.
The extensive form of this multi-stage game is shown in Figure 2:
In this game, the only Nash Equilibrium in each stage is (B, b).
(BB, bb) will be the Nash Equilibrium for the entire game.
Multi-Stage Game with Changing Payoffs
In this example, consider a two-stage game in which the stage game in Figure 3 is played in the first period and the game in Figure 4 is played in the second:
The payoff to each player is the simple sum of the payoffs of both games.
Players cannot observe the action of the other player within a round; however, at the beginning of Round 2, both players find out about the other's action in Round 1.
For Player 1, there are strategies.
For Player 2, there are strategies.
The extensive form of this multi-stage game is shown in Figure 5:
Each of the two stages has two Nash Equilibria: which are (A, a), (B, b), (X, x), and (Y, y).
If the complete contingent strategy of Player 1 matches Player 2 (i.e. AXXXX, axxxx), it will be a Nash Equilibrium. There are 32 such combinations in this multi-stage game. Additionally, all of these equilibria are subgame-perfect.
References
Game theory game classes | Multi-stage game | [
"Mathematics"
] | 458 | [
"Game theory game classes",
"Game theory"
] |
51,884,715 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%2CN%27-Dimethylethylenediamine | N,N'-Dimethylethylenediamine (DMEDA) is the organic compound with the formula (CHNH)CH. It is a colorless liquid with a fishy odor. It features two secondary amine functional groups. Regarding its name, N and N' indicate that the methyl groups are attached to different nitrogen atoms.
Reactions
DMEDA is used as a chelating diamine for the preparation of metal complexes, some of which function as homogeneous catalysts.
The compound is used as a precursor to imidazolidines by condensation with ketones or with aldehydes:
DMEDA complexes of copper(I) halides are used to catalyze C-N coupling reactions.
See also
1,1-Dimethylethylenediamine
Dimethylaminopropylamine
References
Diamines
Chelating agents | N,N'-Dimethylethylenediamine | [
"Chemistry"
] | 179 | [
"Chelating agents",
"Process chemicals"
] |
51,884,793 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%2C1-Dimethylethylenediamine | 1,1-Dimethylethylenediamine is the organic compound with the formula (CH)NCHCHNH. It is a colorless liquid with a fishy odor, featuring one primary amine and a tertiary amine. It is used to prepare chelating diamine-containing ligands for the synthesis of metal catalysts. Additionally, it is a precursor to the drug chloropyramine.
See also
1,2-Dimethylethylenediamine
Dimethylaminopropylamine
References
Diamines
Chelating agents | 1,1-Dimethylethylenediamine | [
"Chemistry"
] | 115 | [
"Chelating agents",
"Process chemicals"
] |
51,884,992 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrus%20cloud%20thinning | Cirrus cloud thinning (CCT) is a proposed method of climate engineering. Cirrus clouds are high cold ice that, like other clouds, both reflect sunlight and absorb warming infrared radiation. However, they differ from other types of clouds in that, on average, infrared absorption outweighs sunlight reflection, resulting in a net warming effect on the climate. Therefore, thinning or removing these clouds would reduce their heat trapping capacity, resulting in a cooling effect on Earth's climate. This could be a potential tool to reduce global warming. Cirrus cloud thinning is an alternative category of climate engineering, in addition to solar radiation management.
In 2021 the IPCC described CCT as a proposal "to reduce the amount of cirrus clouds by injecting ice nucleating substances in the upper troposphere." However it reported low confidence in the cooling effect of CCT, due to limited understanding of cirrus microphysics, its interaction with aerosols, and the complexity of seeding strategy. CCT may also increase global precipitation.
Basic principles
Typical cirrus clouds may be susceptible to modification to reduce their lifetime and optical thickness, and hence their net positive radiative forcing (in contrast to the typical low, warm liquid clouds). Material to seed such modification could be delivered via drones or by aircraft. Scientists believe that cirrus clouds in the high latitude upper troposphere are formed by homogeneous freezing, resulting in large numbers of small ice crystals. If effective ice nuclei were introduced into this environment, the cirrus may instead form by heterogeneous freezing. If the concentration of ice nuclei is seeded such that the resulting cloud particle density is less than that for the natural case, the cloud particles should grow larger due to less water vapor competition and attain higher settling velocities. By seeding with aerosols, ice crystals could grow rapidly and deplete water vapor, suppress nucleation and any growth of ice crystals by homogeneous nucleation. The net effect would be a reduced optical thickness and a reduced cloud lifetime, allowing more infrared radiation to be emitted at the top of the atmosphere, as the ice particles sediment out. Less upper tropospheric water vapor and infrared radiation in the atmosphere would consequently cool the climate.
Bismuth tri-iodide (BiI3) has been proposed as the seeding material, as it is effective as ice nuclei for temperatures colder than -10 °C, non-toxic and relatively inexpensive compared to e.g. silver iodide. The seeding aerosols would need to be added regularly, as it would sediment out along with the large ice crystals.
Current research
In contrast to solar radiation management techniques, which would be most effective during the day time at lower latitudes, cirrus cloud thinning would be most effective at high latitudes and high solar zenith angles, where the background concentrations of aerosol are low.
The cloud-aerosol-climate interactions important for cirrus cloud thinning are not well understood. Factors that related to the heterogeneous freezing process are uncertain, as ice growth kinetics are not well documented. Vertical velocities are essential for the activation of ice nuclei, but remain uncertain due to lack of observations. Heterogeneous freezing may already be common in cirrus, which could limit the cooling potential of the technique. There are significant uncertainties associated with not only ice nucleation processes in cirrus clouds and the fraction of nucleation that occurs via heterogeneous and homogeneous freezing, but also its representation in climate models. “Over-seeding” might lead to warming, as opposed to the desired cooling. Several studies assess the potential and viability of cirrus cloud thinning and the effectiveness of the technique remains a subject of debate.
Due to the lack of realistic representation of ice crystal nucleation in Earth system models, some studies have used a simplified representation of cirrus cloud thinning by increasing the terminal velocity of ice crystals below the homogeneous freezing threshold of about -38 °C.
Cirrus cloud formation may be effected by secondary organic aerosols, i.e. particles produced by natural plant life.
Some modelling of cirrus cloud seeding indicates significant reductions in climate damage due to increase.
See also
Solar radiation management
Marine cloud brightening
Cirrus clouds
Climate engineering
References
Planetary engineering
Climate engineering | Cirrus cloud thinning | [
"Engineering"
] | 899 | [
"Planetary engineering",
"Geoengineering"
] |
51,886,310 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche%20Neurowissenschaften-Olympiade | The Deutsche Neurowissenschaften-Olympiade (DNO or German Neuroscience Olympiad) is a series of competitions for students in grades 8 to 13, aimed at promoting interest in neuroscience. The competition takes place at two levels: city and national. Each competition is in question and answer format and conducted in English. The winner of the national German Neuroscience Olympiad will represent Germany at the International Brain Bee competition.
History
The "Deutsche Neurowissenschaften-Olympiad" is part of the International Brain Bee program which oversees more than 150 competitions in over 45 countries each year. The program was founded in 1999 by Dr. Norbert Myslinski in the United States. The program has since expanded beyond the United States.
Dr. Julianne McCall established the "German Brain Bee" competition in 2011, the first of its kind in Germany. The German Brain Bee takes place in Heidelberg and includes over 100 high schools across Germany.
In 2015, "The German Brain Bee" was renamed the Deutsche Neurowissenschaften-Olympiad and is organized by the Deutsche Neurowissenschaften-Olympiad Association.
In 2016, the board of the DNO began the process of expanding the competition throughout Germany.
Mission
The motto of DNO is "Driving Connectivity", the organization's mission is to motivate and inspire young people to learn about the human brain, foster interest in the various fields of neurosciences and pursuit of careers in basic neuroscience research. Through local and national competitions, summer research schools, practical courses, and other outreach programs DNO would like to encourage national and international exchange among students on their way towards a scientific career. The philosophy of DNO is that through encouraging young students to work together to face new and exciting challenges in neuroscience research, there can be a further understanding of brain functions.
Competition
The competition, which until 2016 has only taken place in Heidelberg, is open to students in grades 8 to 13 with the total number of participants limited to 60 students per city. Currently, the German Neuroscience Olympiad is expanding into other cities throughout Germany. In addition to Heidelberg, since 2017, there has been local student competitions in Berlin, Bonn, and Frankfurt. Therefore, 180 students are anticipated to participate in the local Neuroscience Olympiads in 2020.
The top 15 students from each local competition will be invited to the finals, the location of which is rotated each year. The DNO provides travel allowances for a student traveling long distances to participate in each consecutive level of the Olympiad. The competition is divided into 4 parts: podium section, where a jury of three professors will ask questions; a short written exam section; a neuroanatomy section with plastic brain models in addition to microscopy slides with real human brain samples; and a patient diagnosis section with patient videos and mock medical history data. The competition is held in English but a jury can assist in German, if necessary.
Awards
The winner of the German Neuroscience Olympiad finals competition receives a trophy and the opportunity to represent Germany at the International Brain Bee, for which flights and accommodation are paid for each winner and a chaperone. The 2nd and 3rd-place winners are also awarded smaller prizes. In the future, DNO aims to provide the top 3 students of each local German Neuroscience Olympiad competition with a chance to do a summer internship in a neuroscience research lab, to allow students to see what the day-to-day research is like.
List of International Brain Bee venues and associated conferences
Source
2009 Toronto, Canada – The American Psychological Association
2010 San Diego, United States – The American Psychological Association
2011 Florence, Italy – The International Brain Research Organization
2012 Cape Town, South Africa – The World Congress of Psychology
2013 Vienna, Austria – World Congress of Neurology
2014 Washington, DC, United States – American Psychological Association Convention
2015 Cairns, Australia – International Soc. for Neurochemistry, Asian Pacific Soc. for Neurochemistry and Australasian Neuroscience Soc. Biennial Meeting
2016 Denmark, Copenhagen, - Federation of European Neuroscience Societies Congress
2017 Washington, DC, United States – DCAPA Annual Convention
2018 Berlin, Germany – 11th FENS Forum of Neuroscience
2019 Daegu, South Korea – IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience
2020 Washington, DC, United States – American Psychological Association Convention (cancelled)
External links
German Neuroscience Olympiad website
References
Neuroscience organizations
Science competitions
Science events in Germany
Education competitions in Germany
Student quiz competitions
Youth science | Deutsche Neurowissenschaften-Olympiade | [
"Technology"
] | 881 | [
"Science and technology awards",
"Science competitions"
] |
51,886,508 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytobiome | A phytobiome consists of a plant (phyto) situated in its specific ecological area (biome), including its environment and the associated communities of organisms which inhabit it. These organisms include all macro- and micro-organisms living in, on, or around the plant including bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists, insects, animals, and other plants. The environment includes the soil, air, and climate. Examples of ecological areas are fields, rangelands, forests. Knowledge of the interactions within a phytobiome can be used to create tools for agriculture, crop management, increased health, preservation, productivity, and sustainability of cropping and forest systems.
Signaling
Diversity
The microbial community within the phytobiome is perhaps one of the most rich and diverse microbiomes on Earth. Plants form associations with billions of organisms across every kingdom of life. Recent metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches have allowed scientists to discover novel taxonomic species that are not easily cultured in a laboratory.
Bacteria
Recent research has shown that inter-kingdom communication between organisms is essential for proper phytobiome function. There are numerous physical and chemical signals such as secreted lipids, peptides and polysaccharides that allow organisms to recognize and interact within the phytobiome. Bacteria are known to produce quorum sensing molecules such as homoserine lactones, lipid-like diffusable factors and signaling peptides that mediate plant-bacteria interactions such as colonization. Homoserine lactones have been are reportedly produced by a large number of bacteria found in the rhizosphere. Plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPBs) often produce Nod factors (nodulation factors) that initiate nodule formation in plants. In addition to plant-bacterial interactions, bacteria often secrete bactericidal or fungicidal compounds into the phytobiome to reduce local competition for niches and resources. Additionally, organisms that feed on bacteria such as some species of algae and protists are attracted to these small signaling molecules.
Phages
Bacteriophages also play a critical role in the phytobiome through predator-prey interactions. Bacteriophages use a signaling peptides such as arbitrium to mediate the initiation of cell lysis and lysogeny in the host cell.
Fungi
Fungi communicate in the phytobiome through chemical signaling to aid in sexual reproduction, sporulation, cell-to-cell recognition and antibiosis; however, only a fraction of these chemicals have been studied for their function. Mycorrhizal fungi establish symbiotic relationships with plants through the production of Myc factors, or chitooligosaccharides that are recognized by receptors in the plant. Nematode-trapping fungi often utilize fungal signaling molecules to initiate morphogenesis towards prey. Other organisms can interfere with fungal signaling, such as plant-produced oxylipins that mimic fungal signaling molecules and can regulate fungal development or reduce virulence. Multiple species of bacteria, insects and nematodes have all been reported to respond to fungal signaling compounds.
Nematodes
Very little is known about nematode communication within the phytobiome. Plant-pathogenic nematodes often communicate through production of pheromones. Plants can detect these compounds and induce defense pathways. Nematodes also produce plant hormones such as cytokinins that aid in the establishment of association with plants.
Protists
Perhaps even less is known about the ecological role of protists and viruses within the phytobiome. Some amoebae species use cyclic nucleotides or peptide signals to adapt social behavior. Phytohormones produced by algae-associated bacteria can greatly impact microalgae populations in the soil. The presence of amoeba can also trigger the bacterium P. fluorescens to produce anti-amoebal toxins.
Insects
Insects communicate to transfer information regarding external threats, social status, food availability and mating through the production of volatile pheromones, also known as semiochemicals. This has made pheromones a subject of research since the 1950s for various applications in agriculture and insect-vectored diseases such as malaria. Plants can have profound impacts on insect pheromone production. Rattlebox plants produce various alkaloid compounds that insects use as a precursor for sex pheromone synthesis. Many plant species have evolved production of volatile chemicals that interfere with pheromone signaling, often through inhibition of proper olfactory neuron function. Bacteria and fungi can also produce volatile chemicals that affect insect behavior.
Plants
The presence of plants and their communication with other community members fundamentally shapes the phytobiome. Root exudates contain numerous sugars, amino acids, polysaccharides and secondary metabolites. The production of these exudates is heavily influenced by environmental factors and plant physiology and can alter the community composition of the rhizosphere and rhizoplane. The secretion of flavonoids helps to recruit Rhizobia bacteria that form a mutualistic symbiosis with numerous plant species. Rhizobia can also recognize other plant compounds such as betaines, aldonic acids and jasmonic acid. These signal molecules can have multiple or even counteracting effects. For example, plant cutins trigger arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization and symbiosis but can also be recognized by plant-pathogenic oomycetes and trigger pathogenesis. Plant volatile chemicals also attract herbivores, pollinators and seed carriers.
When plants recognize the presence of microbes, they often activate the production of phytohormone signals that are transported throughout the plant. Plants respond to pathogens and herbivores through production of hormones including salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and ethylene. In addition, many phytohormones that function in abiotic stress tolerance or plant growth also trigger responses with the microbial community. The production of salicylic acid in Arabidopsis was shown to influence the root microbiome composition by acting as a signal or carbon source. Secretion of strigolactone is known to stimulate spore germination and Myc factor production in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
The microbial community can also manipulate phytohormone function or the production of specific phytohormones in plants.
Research
In 2015 the American Phytopathological Society (APS) launched a research framework, the Phytobiomes Initiative, to facilitate the organization of research into phytobiome. As part of this effort, in 2016 it launched Phytobiomes Journal, an open-access journal. The journal focuses on transdisciplinary research that impacts the entire plant ecosystem. An overall research strategy has been published in the Phytobiomes Roadmap, a document developed by a group of scientific societies, companies, research institutes, and governmental agencies. It is intended to present a strategic plan to study phytobiomes and propose an action plan to apply phytobiome studies. The connected Phytobiomes Alliance is an international, nonprofit consortium of academic institutions, large and small companies, and governmental agencies coordinating public-private research projects on various aspects of agriculturally relevant phytobiomes.
See also
Plant microbiome
Soil biology
References
External links
Plant ecology
Biomes
Agriculture
Plant products | Phytobiome | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 1,549 | [
"Plants",
"Natural products",
"Plant ecology",
"Plant products"
] |
51,887,672 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural%20circuit%20reconstruction | Neural circuit reconstruction is the reconstruction of the detailed circuitry of the nervous system (or a portion of the nervous system) of an animal. It is sometimes called EM reconstruction since the main method used is the electron microscope (EM). This field is a close relative of reverse engineering of human-made devices, and is part of the field of connectomics, which in turn is a sub-field of neuroanatomy.
Model systems
Some of the model systems used for circuit reconstruction are the fruit fly, the mouse, and the nematode C. elegans.
Sample preparation
The sample must be fixed, stained, and embedded in plastic.
Imaging
The sample may be cut into thin slices with a microtome, then imaged using transmission electron microscopy. Alternatively, the sample may be imaged with a scanning electron microscope, then the surface abraded using a focused ion beam, or trimmed using an in-microscope microtome. Then the sample is re-imaged, and the process repeated until the desired volume is processed.
Image processing
The first step is to align the individual images into a coherent three dimensional volume.
The volume is then annotated using one of two main methods. The first manually identifies the skeletons of each neurite. The second techniques uses computer vision software to identify voxels belonging to the same neuron. The second technique uses Machine Learning software to identify voxels belonging to the same neuron. Popular approaches are U-Net architectures to predict voxel-wise affinities paired with a watershed segmentation and flood-filling networks. These approaches produce an over-segmentation which can be manually or automatically agglomerated to correctly represent a neuron. Even for automatically agglomerated segmentations, large manual proofreading efforts are employed for highest accuracy.
Notable examples
The connectome of C. elegans was the seminal work in this field. This circuit was obtained with great effort using manually cut sections and purely manual annotation on photographic film. For many years this was the only circuit reconstruction available.
The central brain of the fruit fly Drosophila Melanogaster was released in 2020. This data release introduced the first on-line tools to query the connectome.
The Human Cortex H01, released in 2021, is a 1.4 petabyte volume of a small sample of human brain tissue imaged at nanoscale-resolution by serial section electron microscopy, reconstructed and annotated by automated computational techniques, and analyzed for preliminary insights into the structure of human cortex.
In their 2022 study “Connectomic comparison of mouse and human cortex”, the researchers reconstructed 9 connectomes across species: Datasets of Mouse, Macaque and Human.
Querying the connectome
Connectomes of higher organism's brains requires considerable data. For the fruit fly, for example, roughly 10 terabytes of image data are processed, by humans and computers, to generate several gigabyte of connectome data. Easy interaction with this data requires an interactive query interface, where researchers can look at the portion of data they are interested in without downloading the whole data set, and without specific training. A specific example of this technology is the NeuPrint interface to the connectomes generate at HHMI. This mimics the infrastructure of genetics, where interactive query tools such as BLAST are normally used to look at genes of interest, which for most research comprise only a small portion of the genome.
Limitations and future work
Understanding the detailed operation of the reconstructed networks also requires knowledge of gap junctions (hard to see with existing techniques), the identity of neurotransmitters and the locations and identities of receptors. In addition, neuromodulators can diffuse across large distances and still strongly affect function. Currently these features must be obtained through other techniques. Expansion microscopy may provide an alternative method.
References
Brain
Neural coding
Neuroimaging
Neuroinformatics | Neural circuit reconstruction | [
"Biology"
] | 803 | [
"Bioinformatics",
"Neuroinformatics"
] |
51,887,861 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior%20authoring | Behavior authoring is a technique that is widely used in crowd simulations and in simulations and computer games that involve multiple autonomous or non-player characters (NPCs). There has been growing academic and industry interest in the behavioral animation of autonomous actors in virtual worlds. However, it remains a considerable challenge to author complicated interactions between multiple actors in a way that balances automation and control flexibility.
Several varieties of behavior authoring systems have been created.
The BML Sequencer and Smartbody
Behavior Markup Language (BML) is a tool for describing autonomous actor behavior in simulations and computer games. SmartBody is a framework for animation of artificial intelligence conversation agents to provide a more lifelike simulation. Combining both of these concepts, the BML sequencer is a tool to allow artists to create SmartBody compliant BML animation sequences for multiple virtual humans. SmartBody allows for complex behavior realization, synchronizing speech recordings with non-verbal behaviors by using the Behavior Markup Language (BML). However, there remain two problems for using BML and SmartBody to achieve the vision that an artist has for animating the character: the authoring problem and multi-party behavior synchronization. The BML Sequencer addresses both.
Behavior authoring in real-time strategy games
Behavior authoring for computer games consists of first writing the behaviors in a programming language, iteratively refining these behaviors, testing the revisions by executing them, identifying new problems and then refining the behaviors again.
References
Simulation
Crowds | Behavior authoring | [
"Technology"
] | 304 | [
"Computing stubs",
"Computer science",
"Computer science stubs"
] |
51,888,343 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WR%20135 | WR 135 is a variable Wolf-Rayet star located around 6,000 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus, surrounded by a faint bubble nebula blown by the intense radiation and fast wind from the star. It is just over four times the radius of the sun, but due to a temperature of 63,000 K it is 250,000 times as luminous as the sun.
WR 135, together with WR 134 and WR 137, was one of three stars in Cygnus observed in 1867 to have unusual spectra consisting of intense emission lines rather than the more normal continuum and absorption lines. These were the first members of the class of stars that came to be called Wolf-Rayet stars (WR stars) after Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet who discovered their unusual appearance. It is a member of the carbon sequence of WR stars, indicated by the lack of nitrogen lines and the strength of carbon emission. WR 135 has a spectrum with CIII emission slightly stronger than CIV, leading to the assignment of a WC8 spectral type. The spectrum also shows strong HeI emission and weaker lines of HeII and CII.
WR 135 is less than a degree away from WR 134 and the two are believed to lie at approximately the same distance from Earth within the Cygnus OB3 association. Both stars lie within a shell of hydrogen thought to have been swept up from the interstellar medium when one or both stars were on the main sequence. The shell is over forty parsecs wide and contains about of hydrogen. It is unclear which of the two stars is primarily responsible for creating the shell.
WR 135 has two close companions. HD 228235 is an 11th magnitude star 53" away and there is also a 12th magnitude star 41" away.
References
External links
Wolf-Rayet shells showing a spectrum of WR 135
WR134 Ring Nebula with WR 135 visible in the top left corner
Cygnus (constellation)
Wolf–Rayet stars
Cygni, V1042
099525
192103
Durchmusterung objects | WR 135 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 415 | [
"Cygnus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
64,534,250 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy%20concerns%20with%20Facebook | Meta Platforms Inc., or Meta for short (formerly known as Facebook), has faced a number of privacy concerns. These stem partly from the company's revenue model that involves selling information collected about its users for many things including advertisement targeting. Meta Platforms Inc. has also been a part of many data breaches that have occurred within the company. These issues and others are further described including user data concerns, vulnerabilities in the company's platform, investigations by pressure groups and government agencies, and even issues with students. In addition, employers and other organizations/individuals have been known to use Meta Platforms Inc. for their own purposes. As a result, individuals’ identities and private information have sometimes been compromised without their permission. In response to these growing privacy concerns, some pressure groups and government agencies have increasingly asserted the users’ right to privacy and to be able to control their personal data.
In September 2024, the Federal Trade Commission released a report summarizing 9 company responses (including from Facebook) to orders made by the agency pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 to provide information about user and non-user data collection (including of children and teenagers) and data use by the companies that found that the companies' user and non-user data practices put individuals vulnerable to identity theft, stalking, unlawful discrimination, emotional distress and mental health issues, social stigma, and reputational harm.
User data concerns
Widening exposure of member information 2011–2012
In 2010 the Electronic Frontier Foundation identified two personal information aggregation techniques called "connections" and "instant personalization". They demonstrated that anyone could get access to information saved to a Facebook profile, even if the information was not intended to be made public. A "connection" is created when a user clicks a "Like" button for a product or service, either on Facebook itself or an external site. Facebook treats such relationships as public information, and the user's identity may be displayed on the Facebook page of the product or service.
Instant personalization was a pilot program that shared Facebook account information with affiliated sites, such as sharing a user's list of "liked" bands with a music website, so that when the user visits the site, their preferred music plays automatically. The EFF noted that "For users that have not opted out, Instant Personalization is instant data leakage. As soon as you visit the sites in the pilot program (Yelp, Pandora, and Microsoft Docs) the sites can access your name, your picture, your gender, your current location, your list of friends, all the Pages you have Liked—everything Facebook classifies as public information. Even if you opt-out of Instant Personalization, there's still data leakage if your friends use Instant Personalization websites—their activities can give away information about you, unless you block those applications individually."
On December 27, 2012 CBS News reported that Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, criticized a friend for being "way uncool" in sharing a private Facebook photo of her on Twitter, only to be told that the image had appeared on a friend-of-a-friend's Facebook news feed. Commenting on this misunderstanding of Facebook's privacy settings, Eva Galperin of the EFF said "Even Randi Zuckerberg can get it wrong. That's an illustration of how confusing they can be."
Issues during 2007
In August 2007 the code used to generate Facebook's home and search page as visitors browse the site was accidentally made public. A configuration problem on a Facebook server caused the PHP code to be displayed instead of the web page the code should have created, raising concerns about how secure private data on the site was. A visitor to the site copied, published and later removed the code from his web forum, claiming he had been served and threatened with legal notice by Facebook. Facebook's response was quoted by the site that broke the story:
In November Facebook launched Beacon, a system (discontinued in September 2009) where third-party websites could include a script by Facebook on their sites, and use it to send information about the actions of Facebook users on their site to Facebook, prompting serious privacy concerns. Information such as purchases made and games played were published in the user's news feed. An informative notice about this action appeared on the third party site and allowed the user to cancel it. The user could also cancel it on Facebook. Originally if no action was taken, the information was automatically published. On November 29 this was changed to require confirmation from the user before publishing each story gathered by Beacon.
On December 1 Facebook's credibility in regard to the Beacon program was further tested when it was reported that The New York Times "essentially accuses" Mark Zuckerberg of lying to the paper and leaving Coca-Cola, which is reversing course on the program, with a similar impression. A security engineer at CA, Inc. also claimed in a November 29, 2007, blog post that Facebook collected data from affiliate sites even when the consumer opted out and even when not logged into the Facebook site. On November 30, 2007, the CA security blog posted a Facebook clarification statement addressing the use of data collected in the Beacon program:
The Beacon service ended in September 2009 along with the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against Facebook resulting from the service.
News feed and mini-feed
On September 5, 2006, Facebook introduced two new features called "News Feed" and "Mini-Feed". The first of the new features, News Feed, appears on every Facebook member's home page, displaying recent Facebook activities of the member's friends. The second feature, Mini-Feed, keeps a log of similar events on each member's profile page. Members can manually delete items from their Mini-Feeds if they wish to do so, and through privacy settings can control what is actually published in their respective Mini-Feeds.
Some Facebook members still feel that the ability to opt out of the entire News Feed and Mini-Feed system is necessary, as evidenced by a statement from the Students Against Facebook News Feed group, which peaked at over 740,000 members in 2006. Reacting to users' concerns, Facebook developed new privacy features to give users some control over information about them that was broadcast by the News Feed. According to subsequent news articles, members have widely regarded the additional privacy options as an acceptable compromise.
In May 2010 Facebook added privacy controls and streamlined its privacy settings, giving users more ways to manage status updates and other information broadcast to the public News Feed. Among the new privacy settings is the ability to control who sees each new status update a user posts: Everyone, Friends of Friends, or Friends Only. Users can now hide each status update from specific people as well. However, a user who presses "like" or comments on the photo or status update of a friend cannot prevent that action from appearing in the news feeds of all the user's friends, even non-mutual ones. The "View As" option, used to show a user how privacy controls filter out what a specific given friend can see, only displays the user's timeline and gives no indication that items missing from the timeline may still be showing up in the friend's own news feed.
Inability to voluntarily terminate accounts
Facebook had allowed users to deactivate their accounts but not actually remove account content from its servers. A Facebook representative explained to a student from the University of British Columbia that users had to clear their own accounts by manually deleting all of the content including wall posts, friends, and groups. The New York Times noted the issue and raised a concern that emails and other private user data remain indefinitely on Facebook's servers. Facebook subsequently began allowing users to permanently delete their accounts in 2010. Facebook's Privacy Policy now states, "When you delete an account, it is permanently deleted from Facebook."
Memorials
A notable ancillary effect of social-networking websites is the ability for participants to mourn publicly for a deceased individual. On Facebook, friends often leave messages of sadness, grief, or hope on the individual's page, transforming it into a public book of condolences. This particular phenomenon has been documented at a number of schools. Facebook originally held a policy that profiles of people known to be deceased would be removed after 30 days due to privacy concerns. Due to user response, Facebook changed its policy to place deceased members' profiles in a "memorialization state". Facebook's Privacy Policy regarding memorialization says, "If we are notified that a user is deceased, we may memorialize the user's account. In such cases we restrict profile access to confirmed friends and allow friends and family to write on the user's Wall in remembrance. We may close an account if we receive a formal request from the user's next of kin or other proper legal request to do so."
Some of these memorial groups have also caused legal issues. Notably, on January 1, 2008, one such memorial group posted the identity of murdered Toronto teenager Stefanie Rengel, whose family had not yet given the Toronto Police Service their consent to release her name to the media, and the identities of her accused killers, in defiance of Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act, which prohibits publishing the names of the under-age accused. While police and Facebook staff attempted to comply with the privacy regulations by deleting such posts, they noted difficulty in effectively policing the individual users who repeatedly republished the deleted information.
Customization and security
In July 2007 Adrienne Felt, an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia, discovered a cross-site scripting (XSS) hole in the Facebook Platform that could inject JavaScript into profiles. She used the hole to import custom CSS and demonstrate how the platform could be used to violate privacy rules or create a worm.
Inadequate privacy controls
Facebook offers privacy controls to allow users to choose who can view their posts: only friends, friends and friends of friends, everyone, custom (specific choice of which friends can see posts). While these options exist, there are still methods by which otherwise unauthorized third parties can view a post. For example, posting a picture and marking it as only viewable by friends, but tagging someone else as appearing in that picture, causes the post to be viewable by friends of the tagged person(s).
Photos taken of people by others can be posted on Facebook without the knowledge or consent of people appearing in the image; persons may have multiple photos which feature them on Facebook without being aware of it. A study has suggested that a photo of a person which reflects poorly on them posted online can have a more harmful effect than losing a password.
When commenting on a private post, the commenting user is not informed if the post they commented on is later made public – which would make their comment on said post also publicly viewable.
Quit Facebook Day
Quit Facebook Day was an online event which took place on May 31, 2010 (coinciding with Memorial Day), in which Facebook users stated that they would quit the social network due to privacy concerns.
It was estimated that 2% of Facebook users coming from the United States would delete their accounts.
However, only 33,000 (roughly 0.0066% of its roughly 500 million members at the time) users quit the site. The number one reason for users to quit Facebook was privacy concerns (48%), being followed by a general dissatisfaction with Facebook (14%), negative aspects regarding Facebook friends (13%), and the feeling of getting addicted to Facebook (6%). Facebook quitters were found to be more concerned about privacy, more addicted to the Internet, and more conscientious.
Photo recognition and face tagging
Facebook enabled an automatic facial recognition feature in June 2011, called "Tag Suggestions", a product of a research project named "DeepFace". The feature compares newly uploaded photographs to those of the uploader's Facebook friends, to suggest photo tags.
National Journal Daily claims "Facebook is facing new scrutiny over its decision to automatically turn on a new facial recognition feature aimed at helping users identify their friends in photos". Facebook has defended the feature, saying users can disable it. Facebook introduced the feature on an opt-out basis. European Union data-protection regulators said they would investigate the feature to see if it violated privacy rules.
Naomi Lachance stated in a web blog for NPR, All Tech Considered, that Facebook's facial recognition is right 98% of the time compared to the FBI's 85% out of 50 people. However, the accuracy of Facebook searches is due to its larger, more diverse photo selection compared to the FBI's closed database.
Mark Zuckerberg showed no worries when speaking about Facebook's AIs, saying, "Unsupervised learning is a long-term focus of our AI research team at Facebook, and it remains an important challenge for the whole AI research community" and "It will save lives by diagnosing diseases and driving us around more safely. It will enable breakthroughs by helping us find new planets and understand Earth's climate. It will help in areas we haven't even thought of today".
In May 2016 Facebook faced a lawsuit in Illinois for violations of the Biometric Information Privacy Act. In February 2021, the company settled, agreeing to pay $650 million, and shut down the feature in December 2021. Following the shutdown, Cher Scarlett, a former Apple security engineer, in January 2022 tweeted a photo that she had been auto-tagged in by someone unknown to her prior to shutdown. The photo was from the 19th century and she said that she learned it was her great-great-great-grandmother of Volga German ancestry, saying the technology was "dangerous" and "off-putting", and pointed to the implication of genocide.
In September 2024, Meta said it scraped all Australian adult users' public photos and posts on Facebook to train its AI without an opt-out option.
Tracking of non-members of Facebook
An article published by USA Today in November 2011 claimed that Facebook creates logs of pages visited both by its members and by non-members, relying on tracking cookies to keep track of pages visited.
In early November 2015 Facebook was ordered by the Belgian Privacy Commissioner to cease tracking non-users, citing European laws, or risk fines of up to £250,000 per day. As a result, instead of removing tracking cookies, Facebook banned non-users in Belgium from seeing any material on Facebook, including publicly posted content, unless they sign in. Facebook criticized the ruling, saying that the cookies provided better security.
Stalking
By statistics, 63% of Facebook profiles are automatically set "visible to the public", meaning anyone can access the profiles that users have updated. Facebook also has its own built-in messaging system that people can send messages to any other user, unless they have disabled the feature to "from friends only". Stalking is not only limited to SNS stalking, but can lead to further "in-person" stalking because nearly 25% of real-life stalking victims reported it started with online instant messaging (e.g., Facebook chat).
Sharing private messages and contacts' details without consent
In December 2018 it emerged that Facebook had, during the period 2010–2018, granted access to users' private messages, address book contents, and private posts, without the users' consent, to more than 150 third parties including Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, Netflix, and Spotify. This had been occurring despite public statements from Facebook that it had stopped such sharing years earlier.
Denial of location privacy, regardless of user settings
In December 2018 it emerged that Facebook's mobile app reveals the user's location to Facebook, even if the user does not use the "check in" feature and has configured all relevant settings within the app so as to maximize location privacy.
Health data from apps sent to Facebook without user consent
In February 2019 it emerged that a number of Facebook apps, including Flo, had been sending users' health data such as blood pressure and ovulation status to Facebook without users' informed consent. New York governor Andrew Cuomo called the practice an "outrageous abuse of privacy", ordered New York's department of state and department of financial services to investigate, and encouraged federal regulators to step in.
Oculus and metaverse platforms
Facebook's acquisition of virtual reality headset manufacturer Oculus has resulted in ongoing concerns over the integration of its hardware and software platforms with Facebook user data. After the acquisition, Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey had assured users that "you won't need to log into your Facebook account every time you wanna use the Oculus Rift."
Initially the Oculus desktop software provided opt-in integration with Facebook, primarily for identifying Facebook users within their Oculus friends list. In August 2020, Facebook announced that all Oculus products and services would become subject to the unified Facebook privacy policy, code of conduct, and community guidelines moving forward, and that a Facebook account would be required to use Oculus products and services beginning in October. This policy took effect beginning with the Oculus Quest 2. At that time, the ability to create a standalone Oculus account was discontinued, and it was announced that these accounts were to be deprecated effective January 1, 2023.
The requirements, as well as Facebook's later focus on "metaverse" platforms, have led to concerns over the amount of user data that could be collected by the company via virtual reality hardware and interactions, including the user's surroundings, motions and actions, and biometrics. Horizon, a VR social network run as part of the Oculus platform, is subject to Facebook policies, performs "rolling" recordings of interactions that could be uploaded to Facebook servers for the purposes of moderation if users are reported, and users can be observed by moderators without their knowledge if they are reported by others, or "signals" regarding that user are raised by other users via their own actions (such as muting).
In September 2020 Facebook pulled all Oculus products from the German market due to concerns from local regulators over the policy's compliance with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In December 2020, the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) launched an antitrust investigation into Facebook's mandatory integration of its social networking platform with its virtual reality products.
At the Facebook Connect event in October 2021 (where Facebook, Inc. announced its rebranding as Meta), Zuckerberg stated that Meta was "working on making it so you can log in into Quest with an account other than your personal Facebook account". The new "Meta account" was announced in July 2022 as a de facto replacement for Oculus accounts, which will not be explicitly tied to the Facebook social network, and can be linked with other members of the Facebook "Family of Apps" (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp). It was stated that Meta Quest users would be allowed to transition to Meta accounts and decouple their Facebook logins from its VR platforms. Ars Technica noted that the new terms of service and privacy policies associated with Meta account system could allow enforcement of a real name policy (stating that users would be obligated to provide "accurate and up to date information (including registration information), which may include providing personal data", and still allowed for "rampant" use of user data by Meta, especially if linked with other Facebook apps.
Scraping of contact information
Personal information of 533 million Facebook users, including names, phone numbers, email addresses, and other user profile data, was posted to a hacking forum in April, 2021. This information had been previously leaked through a feature allowing users to find each other by phone number, which Facebook fixed to prevent this abuse in September 2019. The company decided not to notify users of the data breach.
The Irish Data Protection Commission, which has jurisdiction over Facebook due to the location of its EU headquarters, then opened an investigation into the breach as a possible violation of GDPR.
Allegations of eavesdropping
There have been allegations by some users that Facebook's mobile app is capable of listening to conversations without consent, citing instances of the service displaying advertisements for products that they had only spoken about, and had otherwise had no prior interactions with. In August 2019, Facebook admitted that it had been sending anonymized voice data from the Messenger app to third-party contractors for human review to improve the quality of its automatic transcription function, but denied that this data was being used for personalized advertising. The company also stated that it had recently suspended human reviews after scrutiny over Amazon, Apple, and Google's use of similar practices for their voice assistant platforms.
Platform vulnerabilities
Data mining
There have been some concerns expressed regarding the use of Facebook as a means of surveillance and data mining.
Two Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students used an automated script to download the publicly posted information of over 70,000 Facebook profiles from four schools (MIT, NYU, the University of Oklahoma, and Harvard University) as part of a research project on Facebook privacy published on December 14, 2005. Since then, Facebook has bolstered security protection for users, responding: "We've built numerous defenses to combat phishing and malware, including complex automated systems that work behind the scenes to detect and flag Facebook accounts that are likely to be compromised (based on anomalous activity like lots of messages sent in a short period of time, or messages with links that are known to be bad)."
A second clause that brought criticism from some users allowed Facebook the right to sell users' data to private companies, stating "We may share your information with third parties, including responsible companies with which we have a relationship." This concern was addressed by spokesman Chris Hughes, who said, "Simply put, we have never provided our users' information to third party companies, nor do we intend to." Facebook eventually removed this clause from its privacy policy.
In the United Kingdom the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has encouraged employers to allow their staff to access Facebook and other social-networking sites from work, provided they proceed with caution.
In September 2007 Facebook drew criticism after it began allowing search engines to index profile pages, though Facebook's privacy settings allow users to turn this off.
Concerns were also raised on the BBC's Watchdog program in October 2007 when Facebook was shown to be an easy way to collect an individual's personal information to facilitate identity theft. However, there is barely any personal information presented to non-friends – if users leave the privacy controls on their default settings, the only personal information visible to a non-friend is the user's name, gender, profile picture and networks.
An article in The New York Times in February 2008 pointed out that Facebook does not actually provide a mechanism for users to close their accounts, and raised the concern that private user data would remain indefinitely on Facebook's servers. , Facebook gives users the options to deactivate or delete their accounts.
Deactivating an account allows it to be restored later, while deleting it will remove the account "permanently", although some data submitted by that account ("like posting to a group or sending someone a message") will remain.
Onavo and Facebook Research
In 2013 Facebook acquired Onavo, a developer of mobile utility apps such as Onavo Protect VPN, which is used as part of an "Insights" platform to gauge the use and market share of apps. This data has since been used to influence acquisitions and other business decisions regarding Facebook products. Criticism of this practice emerged in 2018, when Facebook began to advertise the Onavo Protect VPN within its main app on iOS devices in the United States. Media outlets considered the app to effectively be spyware due to its behavior, adding that the app's listings did not readily disclaim Facebook's ownership of the app and its data collection practices. Facebook subsequently pulled the iOS version of the app, citing new iOS App Store policies forbidding apps from performing analytics on the usage of other apps on a user's device.
Since 2016 Facebook has also run "Project Atlas"—publicly known as "Facebook Research"—a market research program inviting teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 35 to have data such as their app usage, web browsing history, web search history, location history, personal messages, photos, videos, emails, and Amazon order history, analyzed by Facebook. Participants would receive up to $20 per-month for participating in the program. Facebook Research is administered by third-party beta testing services, including Applause, and requires users to install a Facebook root certificate on their phone. After a January 2019 report by TechCrunch on Project Atlas, which alleged that Facebook bypassed the App Store by using an Apple enterprise program for apps used internally by a company's employees, Facebook refuted the article but later announced its discontinuation of the program on iOS.
On January 30, 2019 Apple temporarily revoked Facebook's Enterprise Developer Program certificates for one day, which caused all of the company's internal iOS apps to become inoperable. Apple stated that "Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple", and that the certificates were revoked "to protect our users and their data". US Senators Mark Warner, Richard Blumenthal, and Ed Markey separately criticized Facebook Research's targeting of teenagers, and promised to sponsor legislation to regulate market research programs.
2010 application privacy breach
In 2010 the Wall Street Journal found that many of Facebook's top-rated apps—including apps from Zynga and Lolapps—were transmitting identifying information to "dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies" like RapLeaf. The apps used an HTTP referer that exposed the user's identity and sometimes their friends' identities. Facebook said that "While knowledge of user ID does not permit access to anyone’s private information on Facebook, we plan to introduce new technical systems that will dramatically limit the sharing of User ID’s". A blog post by a member of Facebook's team further stated that "press reports have exaggerated the implications of sharing a user ID", though still acknowledging that some of the apps were passing the ID in a manner that violated Facebook's policies.
2010 user list
In 2010 Canadian security consultant Ron Bowes of Skull Security created a BitTorrent download consisting of the names of about 100 million Facebook users. Facebook likened the information to what is listed in a phone book. It included some who had opted not to be found by search engines, and some who did not realize their information was public. Bowes created the list to get statistical information about user names, which can be used in both penetration testing and computer break-ins.
AT&T routing glitch
In 2009 and 2010 the fact that Facebook was not requiring connections to use HTTPS other than at login meant that a routing glitch at AT&T caused cookie to end up on the wrong users' phones. This resulted in some Facebook users having continuous access to another person's account instead of their own.
Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data scandal
In 2018 Facebook admitted that an app made by Global Science Research and Alexandr Kogan, related to Cambridge Analytica, was able in 2014 to harvest personal data of up to 87 million Facebook users without their consent, by exploiting their friendship connection to the users who sold their data via the app. Following the revelations of the breach, several public figures, including industrialist Elon Musk and WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton, announced that they were deleting their Facebook accounts, using the hashtag "#deletefacebook".
Facebook was also criticized for allowing the 2012 Barack Obama presidential campaign to analyze and target select users by providing the campaign with friendship connections of users who signed up for an application. However, users signing up for the application were aware that their data, but not the data of their friends, was going to a political party.
Unpublished photo disclosure bug
In September 2018 a software bug meant that photos that had been uploaded to Facebook accounts, but that had not been "published" (and which therefore should have remained private between the user and Facebook), were exposed to app developers. Approximately 6.8 million users and 1500 third-party apps were affected.
Unencrypted password storage
In March 2019 Facebook admitted that it had mistakenly stored "hundreds of millions" of passwords of Facebook and Instagram users in plaintext (as opposed to being hashed and salted) on multiple internal systems accessible only to Facebook engineers, dating as far back as 2012. Facebook stated that affected users would be notified, but that there was no evidence that this data had been abused or leaked.
In April 2019 Facebook admitted that its subsidiary Instagram also stored millions of unencrypted passwords.
Facebook has denied for years that it listens to conversations and in turn releases ads based on them, however Facebook has been shown to have lied about their policies in the past. In 2016, Facebook stated "Facebook does not use your phone's microphone to inform ads or to change what you see in News Feed." a spokeswoman said, "some recent articles have suggested that we must be listening to people's conversations in order to show them relevant ads. This is not true. We show ads based on people's interests and other profile information, not what you’re talking out loud about."
Investigations
Cooperation with government requests
Government and local authorities rely on Facebook and other social networks to investigate crimes and obtain evidence to help establish a crime, provide location information, establish motives, prove and disprove alibis, and reveal communications. Federal, state, and local investigations have not been restricted to profiles that are publicly available or willingly provided to the government; Facebook has willingly provided information in response to government subpoenas or requests, except with regard to private, unopened inbox messages less than 181 days old, which would require a warrant and a finding of probable cause under federal law under Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). One 2011 article noted that "even when the government lacks reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and the user opts for the strictest privacy controls, Facebook users still cannot expect federal law to stop their 'private' content and communications from being used against them".
Facebook's privacy policy states that "We may also share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to prevent fraud or other illegal activity, to prevent imminent bodily harm, or to protect ourselves and you from people violating our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, courts or other government entities". Since the U.S. Congress has failed to meaningfully amend the ECPA to protect most communications on social-networking sites such as Facebook, and since the U.S. Supreme Court has largely refused to recognize a Fourth Amendment privacy right to information shared with a third party, no federal statutory or constitutional right prevents the government from issuing requests that amount to fishing expeditions and there is no Facebook privacy policy that forbids the company from handing over private user information that suggests any illegal activity.
The 2013 mass surveillance disclosures identified Facebook as a participant in the U.S. National Security Administration's PRISM program. Facebook now reports the number of requests it receives for user information from governments around the world.
In 2022 Nesbraska police charged a teenage girl and her mother after obtaining Facebook messages which allegedly showed that they performed an illegal self-managed medication abortion.
Complaint from CIPPIC
On May 31, 2008 the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), per Director Phillipa Lawson, filed a 35-page complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner against Facebook based on 22 breaches of the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). University of Ottawa law students Lisa Feinberg, Harley Finkelstein, and Jordan Eric Plener, initiated the "minefield of privacy invasion" suit. Facebook's Chris Kelly contradicted the claims, saying that: "We've reviewed the complaint and found it has serious factual errors—most notably its neglect of the fact that almost all Facebook data is willingly shared by users." Assistant Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham released a report of her findings on July 16, 2009. In it, she found that several of CIPPIC's complaints were well-founded. Facebook agreed to comply with some, but not all, of her recommendations. The Assistant Commissioner found that Facebook did not do enough to ensure users granted meaningful consent for the disclosure of personal information to third parties and did not place adequate safeguards to prevent unauthorized access by third-party developers to personal information.
Investigation by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, 2011–2012
In August 2011 the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) started an investigation after receiving 22 complaints by europe-v-facebook.org, which was founded by a group of Austrian students. The DPC stated in first reactions that the Irish DPC is legally responsible for privacy on Facebook for all users within the European Union and that he will "investigate the complaints using his full legal powers if necessary". The complaints were filed in Ireland because all users who are not residents of the United States or Canada have a contract with "Facebook Ireland Ltd", located in Dublin, Ireland. Under European law Facebook Ireland is the "data controller" for facebook.com, and therefore, facebook.com is governed by European data protection laws. Facebook Ireland Ltd. was established by Facebook Inc. to avoid US taxes (see Double Irish arrangement).
The group 'europe-v-facebook.org' made access requests at Facebook Ireland and received up to 1,222 pages of data per person in 57 data categories that Facebook was holding about them, including data that was previously removed by the users. The group claimed that Facebook failed to provide some of the requested data, including "likes", facial recognition data, data about third party websites that use "social plugins" visited by users, and information about uploaded videos. Currently the group claims that Facebook holds at least 84 data categories about every user.
The first 16 complaints target different problems, from undeleted old "pokes" all the way to the question if sharing and new functions on Facebook should be opt-in or opt-out. The second wave of 6 more complaints was targeting more issues including one against the "Like" button. The most severe could be a complaint that claims that the privacy policy, and the consent to the privacy policy is void under European laws.
In an interview with the Irish Independent, a spokesperson said that the DPC will "go and audit Facebook, go into the premises and go through in great detail every aspect of security". He continued by saying: "It's a very significant, detailed and intense undertaking that will stretch over four or five days." In December 2011 the DPC published its first report on Facebook. This report was not legally binding but suggested changes that Facebook should undertake until July 2012. The DPC is planning to do a review about Facebook's progress in July 2012.
Changes
In spring 2012 Facebook had to undertake many changes (e.g., having an extended download tool that should allow users to exercise the European right to access all stored information or an update of the worldwide privacy policy). These changes were seen as not sufficient to comply with European law by europe-v-facebook.org. The download tool does not allow, for example, access to all data. The group has launched our-policy.org to suggest improvements to the new policy, which they saw as a backdrop for privacy on Facebook. Since the group managed to get more than 7.000 comments on Facebook's pages, Facebook had to do a worldwide vote on the proposed changes. Such a vote would have only been binding if 30% of all users would have taken part. Facebook did not promote the vote, resulting in only 0.038% participation with about 87% voting against Facebook's new policy. The new privacy policy took effect on the same day.
International lobbying against privacy protections
In early 2019 it was reported that Facebook had spent years lobbying extensively against privacy protection laws around the world, such as GDPR.
The lobbying included efforts by Sandberg to "bond" with female European officials including Enda Kenny (then Prime Minister of Ireland, where Facebook's European operations are based), to influence them in Facebook's favor. Other politicians reportedly lobbied by Facebook in relation to privacy protection laws included George Osborne (then Chancellor of the Exchequer), Pranab Mukherjee (then President of India), and Michel Barnier.
In 2021 Facebook attempted to use "a legal trick" to bypass GDPR regulations in the European Union by including personal data processing agreement in what they considered to be a "contract" (Article 6(1)(b) GDPR) rather than a "consent" (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR) which would lead to the user effectively granting Facebook a very broad permission to process their personal data with most of the GDPR controls void. Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) expressed its preliminary approval for this bypass and sent its draft decision to other data protection authorities in the European Union, at which point the document was leaked to media and published on noyb.eu. DPC sent a takedown notice to noyb.eu, which was also published by the portal which reject to self-censor.
Promotion of service as "free"
In December 2019 the Hungarian Competition Authority fined Facebook around US$4 million for false advertising, ruling that Facebook cannot market itself as a "free" (no cost) service because the use of detailed personal information to deliver targeted advertising constituted a compensation that must be provided to Facebook to use the service.
Student-related issues
Student privacy concerns
Students who post illegal or otherwise inappropriate material have faced disciplinary action from their universities, colleges, and schools including expulsion. Others posting libelous content relating to faculty have also faced disciplinary action. The Journal of Education for Business states that "a recent study of 200 Facebook profiles found that 42% had comments regarding alcohol, 53% had photos involving alcohol use, 20% had comments regarding sexual activities, 25% had seminude or sexually provocative photos, and 50% included the use of profanity." It is inferred that negative or incriminating Facebook posts can affect alumni's and potential employers' perception of them. This perception can greatly impact the students' relationships, ability to gain employment, and maintain school enrollment. The desire for social acceptance leads individuals to want to share the most intimate details of their personal lives along with illicit drug use and binge drinking. Too often, these portrayals of their daily lives are exaggerated and/or embellished to attract others like minded to them.
Effect on class engagement
Students in general have a higher engagement when using Facebook groups in class, as students can comment on each other's short writings or videos. Increased teacher-student and student-student interaction, improved performance, and convenience of learning were some of the benefits of using Facebook as an educational instrument. However, it limits student's writing to be shorter since checking on spelling and typing on a phone keyboard is relatively more time-consuming.
Effect on higher education
On January 23, 2006 The Chronicle of Higher Education continued an ongoing national debate on social networks with an opinion piece written by Michael Bugeja, director of the Journalism school at Iowa State University, entitled "Facing the Facebook". Bugeja, author of the Oxford University Press text Interpersonal Divide (2005), quoted representatives of the American Association of University Professors and colleagues in higher education to document the distraction of students using Facebook and other social networks during class and at other venues in the wireless campus. Bugeja followed up on January 26, 2007, in The Chronicle with an article titled "Distractions in the Wireless Classroom", quoting several educators across the country who were banning laptops in the classroom. Similarly, organizations such as the National Association for Campus Activities, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and others have hosted seminars and presentations to discuss ramifications of students' use of Facebook and other social-networking sites.
The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative has also released a brief pamphlet entitled "7 Things You Should Know About Facebook" aimed at higher education professionals that "describes what [Facebook] is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning".
Some research on Facebook in higher education suggests that there may be some small educational benefits associated with student Facebook use, including improving engagement which is related to student retention. 2012 research has found that time spent on Facebook is related to involvement in campus activities. This same study found that certain Facebook activities like commenting and creating or RSVPing to events were positively related to student engagement while playing games and checking up on friends was negatively related. Furthermore, using technologies such as Facebook to connect with others can help college students be less depressed and cope with feelings of loneliness and homesickness.
Effect on college student grades
As of February 2012 only four published peer-reviewed studies have examined the relationship between Facebook use and grades. The findings vary considerably. Pasek et al. (2009) found no relationship between Facebook use and grades. Kolek and Saunders (2008) found no differences in overall grade point average (GPA) between users and non-users of Facebook. Kirschner and Karpinski (2010) found that Facebook users reported a lower mean GPA than non-users. Junco's (2012) study clarifies the discrepancies in these findings. While Junco (2012) found a negative relationship between time spent on Facebook and student GPA in his large sample of college students, the real-world impact of the relationship was negligible. Furthermore, Junco (2012) found that sharing links and checking up on friends were positively related to GPA while posting status updates was negatively related. In addition to noting the differences in how Facebook use was measured among the four studies, Junco (2012) concludes that the ways in which students use Facebook are more important in predicting academic outcomes.
Miscellaneous
Performative surveillance
Performative surveillance is the notion that people are very much aware that they are being surveilled on websites, like Facebook, and use the surveillance as an opportunity to portray themselves in a way that connotes a certain lifestyle—of which, that individual may, or may not, distort how they are perceived in reality.
Employer-employee privacy issues
In an effort to surveil the personal lives of current, or prospective, employees, some employers have asked employees to disclose their Facebook login information. This has resulted in the passing of a bill in New Jersey making it illegal for employers to ask potential or current employees for access to their Facebook accounts. Although the U.S. government has yet to pass a national law protecting prospective employees and their social networking sites, from employers, the fourth amendment of the US constitution can protect prospective employees in specific situations. Many companies examine Facebook profiles of job candidates looking for reasons to not hire them. Because of this, many employees feel like their online social media rights and privacy are being violated. In addition, employees begin to make performative profiles where they purposefully portray themselves as professional and have desired personality traits. According to a survey of hiring managers by CareerBuilder.com, the most common deal breakers they found on Facebook profiles include references to drinking, poor communication skills, inappropriate photos, and lying about skills and/or qualifications.
Facebook requires employees and contractors working for them to give permission for Facebook to access their personal profiles, including friend requests and personal messages.
Users violating minimum age requirements
A 2011 study in the online journal First Monday examines how parents consistently enable children as young as 10 years old to sign up for accounts, directly violating Facebook's policy banning young visitors. This policy is in compliance with a United States law, the 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires minors aged under 13 to gain explicit parental consent to access commercial websites. In jurisdictions where a similar law sets a lower minimum age, Facebook enforces the lower age. Of the 1,007 households surveyed for the study, 76% of parents reported that their child joined Facebook at an age younger than 13, the minimum age in the site's terms of service. The study also reported that Facebook removes roughly 20,000 users each day for violating its minimum age policy. The study's authors also note, "Indeed, Facebook takes various measures both to restrict access to children and delete their accounts if they join." The findings of the study raise questions primarily about the shortcomings of United States federal law, but also implicitly continue to raise questions about whether or not Facebook does enough to publicize its terms of service with respect to minors. Only 53% of parents said they were aware that Facebook has a minimum signup age; 35% of these parents believe that the minimum age is merely a recommendation or thought the signup age was 16 or 18, not 13.
Phishing
Phishing refers to a scam used by criminals to trick people into revealing passwords, credit card information, and other sensitive information. On Facebook, phishing attempts occur through message or wall posts from a friend's account that was breached. If the user takes the bait, the phishers gain access to the user's Facebook account and send phishing messages to the user's other friends. The point of the post is to get the users to visit a website with viruses and malware.
E-commerce and drop shipping scams
In April 2016 Buzzfeed published an article exposing drop shippers who were using Facebook and Instagram to swindle unsuspecting customers. Located mostly in China, these drop shippers and e-commerce sites would steal copyrighted images from larger retailers and influencers to gain credibility. After luring a customer with a low price for the item, they would then deliver a product that is nothing like what was advertised or deliver no product at all.
References
External links
How to Permanently delete or deactivate your Facebook Account on Android Phone step by step
How to delete your Facebook account and deactivate your Facebook account in hindi
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"Criticisms of software and websites"
] |
64,534,921 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataSpii | DataSpii (pronounced data-spy) is a leak that directly compromised the private data of as many as 4 million Chrome and Firefox users via at least eight browser extensions. The eight browser extensions included Hover Zoom, SpeakIt!, SuperZoom, SaveFrom.net Helper, FairShare Unlock, PanelMeasurement, Branded Surveys, and Panel Community Surveys. The private data included personally identifiable information (PII), corporate information (CI), and government information (GI). DataSpii impacted the Pentagon, Zoom, Bank of America, Sony, Kaiser Permanente, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Symantec, FireEye, Trend Micro, Boeing, SpaceX, and Palo Alto Networks. Highly sensitive information (e.g., private network topology) associated with these corporations and agencies was intercepted and sent to foreign-owned entities.
The data was made publicly available via Nacho Analytics (NA), a marketing intelligence company which described itself as "god mode for the internet." Both paid and free-trial members of NA were provided access to the leaked data. Upon signing up for NA membership, members were then provided access to the data via a Google Analytics account.
DataSpii leaked un-redacted information related to medical records, tax returns, GPS location, travel itinerary, genealogy, usernames, passwords, credit cards, genetic profiles, company memos, employee tasks, API keys, proprietary source code, LAN environment, firewall access codes, proprietary secrets, operational materials, and zero-day vulnerabilities.
DataSpii was discovered and elucidated by cybersecurity researcher Sam Jadali. By requesting data for a single domain via the NA service, Jadali was able to observe what staff members at thousands of companies were working on in near real-time. The NA website stated it collected data from millions of opt-in users. Jadali, along with journalists from Ars Technica and The Washington Post, interviewed impacted users, including individuals and major corporations. According to the interviews, the impacted users did not consent to such collection.
References
Data security
Data breaches | DataSpii | [
"Engineering"
] | 448 | [
"Cybersecurity engineering",
"Data security"
] |
64,535,374 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%20957 | NGC 957 (also known as Collinder 28) is a loosely bound open cluster located in the constellation Perseus. It has an apparent magnitude of 7.6 and an approximate size of 11 arc-minutes. It is young at less than 11 million years old.
Location
NGC 957 lies in north of the celestial equator, and is therefore easier to be seen from the northern hemisphere.
NGC 957 lies 1.5º WNW of NGC 884, which itself is part of the larger Double Cluster. The stars Gamma Persei and Eta Persei point in the general direction of the open cluster.
See also
Trumpler 2 - a nearby open cluster
References
External links
CCD image of NGC 957, Velimir Popov & Emil Ivanov, 2018
Open clusters
957
Perseus (constellation) | NGC 957 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 167 | [
"Perseus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
64,535,999 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nangibotide | Nangibotide is an inhibitor of TREM-1, a receptor found on certain white blood cells. Activation of TREM-1 stimulates inflammation. Nangibotide is therefore being investigated as a treatment for the overwhelming inflammation typically seen in severe sepsis.
Chemistry
Nangibotide is a 12-amino-acid polypeptide derived from TLT-1.
Mode of action
TREM-1 is a receptor found on neutrophils, macrophages and monocytes, key elements of the immune system. Activation of TREM-1 results in expression of NF-κB, which promotes systemic inflammation. Nangibotide inhibits TREM-1, thereby preventing the inflammatory activation. Absence of TREM-1 results in vastly reduced inflammation without impairing the ability to fight infection.
Animal models
LR17, a mouse equivalent of nangibotide, improves survival in mouse models of severe sepsis. In a pig model of sepsis, LR12 - another animal equivalent of nangibotide - resulted in significantly improved haemodynamics and less organ failure. In monkeys, LR12 also reduced the inflammatory and hypotensive effects of sepsis.
Human studies
Nangibotide has demonstrated safety in Phase 1 (healthy volunteers) and Phase 2 (sick patients with septic shock) studies. The ASTONISH trial will examine clinical efficacy in 450 patients with septic shock.
References
Anti-inflammatory agents
Peptides | Nangibotide | [
"Chemistry"
] | 303 | [
"Biomolecules by chemical classification",
"Peptides",
"Molecular biology"
] |
64,536,168 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipegfilgrastim | Lipegfilgrastim, sold under the brand name Lonquex, is a medication used to reduce the duration of neutropenia and the incidence of febrile neutropenia in adults. It is given by injection under the skin in the abdomen, upper arm or thigh.
The most common side effects include nausea as well as bone and muscle pain.
Lipegfilgrastim is similar to granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G‑CSF), a naturally occurring protein in the body that stimulates the production of white blood cells including neutrophils in the bone marrow. Lipegfilgrastim acts in the same way as G‑CSF, increasing the production of neutrophils and thereby helping to reduce the duration of neutropenia and the occurrence of febrile neutropenia (a sign of infection) in people receiving chemotherapy.
Lipegfilgrastim is a filgrastim biosimilar. In lipegfilgrastim, the filgrastim has been 'pegylated' (attached to polyethylene glycol). This slows down the medicine's removal from the body and allows the medicine to be given less often.
Lipegfilgrastim was authorized for medical use in the European Union in July 2013.
Medical uses
Lipegfilgrastim is indicated for the reduction in the duration of neutropenia and the incidence of febrile neutropenia in adults treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy for malignancy (with the exception of chronic myeloid leukaemia and myelodysplastic syndromes).
References
Further reading
Drugs acting on the blood and blood forming organs
Growth factors
Immunostimulants
Recombinant proteins | Lipegfilgrastim | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 380 | [
"Growth factors",
"Recombinant proteins",
"Biotechnology products",
"Signal transduction"
] |
64,536,317 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towards%20a%20New%20Socialism | Towards a New Socialism is a 1993 non-fiction book written by Scottish computer scientist Paul Cockshott, co-authored by Scottish economics professor Allin F. Cottrell. The book outlines in detail a proposal for a complex planned socialist economy, taking inspiration from cybernetics, the works of Karl Marx, and British operations research scientist Stafford Beer's 1973 model of a distributed decision support system dubbed Project Cybersyn. Aspects of a socialist society such as direct democracy, foreign trade and property relations are also explored. The book is, in the authors' words, "our attempt to answer the idea that socialism is dead and buried after the demise of the Soviet Union."
The book was covered in an article in Süddeutsche Zeitung in 2017, as well as reviewed by Leonard Brewster in the Spring 2004 issue of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics.
Contents
The book is divided into 15 chapters, excluding the introduction:
Inequality
Eliminating Inequalities
Work, Time and Computers
Basic Concepts of Planning
Strategic Planning
Detailed Planning
Macroeconomic Planning
The Marketing of Consumer Goods
Planning and Information
Foreign Trade
Trade Between Socialist Countries
The Commune
On Democracy
Property Relations
Some Contrary Views Considered
Ideas presented
The main features distinguishing Cottrell and Cockshott's ideas from other socialist tendencies are:
A rigorous theoretical defense of economic planning
The use of non-circulating labor money to replace circulating currency
Athenian-style participatory democracy, specifically the use of sortition rather than election to fill as many political offices as possible
Each of these represented major divergences from what was then the main currents of socialist opinion. The fall of the Soviet Union had convinced many socialists that economic planning was to be abandoned. Cottrell and Cockshott in contrast argued that new computer technology plus participatory democracy was actually making economic planning possible to greater extent than ever, a fact that would be noted in other books on economic planning in Japan and private industry. Marx considered non-circulated labor credits as crucial for socialism in his work Critique of the Gotha Program (while critiquing incompetent attempts to implement them), and an earlier generation of socialists (notably Edward Bellamy in his popular 19th century book Looking Backwards), had advocated for them. But after Frederick Engels' death, Karl Kautsky moved the socialist movement away the idea in the early 1900s, leading (among other things) to labor money never being implemented in the USSR (given Kautsky's substantial influence on Lenin's socialist organizing). Under Cottrell and Cockshott's labor credits idea, someone working 8 hours a day would receive 8 hours credit, goods and services would be priced in terms of the labor required to make them, prices would be adjusted upward/downward in accordance with supply and demand, and labor money would cancel out rather than circulate when used for a purchase. The idea incorporated the work from the growing field of econophysics, specifically the work of Israeli mathematicians Emmanuel Farjoun and Moshe Machover, whose book Laws of Chaos empirically demonstrated that labor content was responsible for around 95% of a good's price. Years later, University of Maryland econophysicist Victor Yakovenko would demonstrate that circulating money inherently creates an unequal Gibbs-Boltzmann distribution within an economy, even when beginning from conditions of perfect equality.
The emphasis on Athenian democracy stemmed from a desire to avoid the Iron Law of Oligarchy, a tendency noted by Robert Michels for the leadership of an organization to turn even democratic organizations into a dictatorship if given the chance. According to Cottrell and Cockshott, Lenin's failure to account for this tendency in State and Revolution (published in 1917) meant the Soviet Union was never able to find a stable democratic form of government, thus degenerating by Stalin's time into a stable but authoritarian one-party state. This dictatorship further distorted the Soviet economy, as major economic decisions were made by a political elite with little input or consideration of the larger population's needs, resulting in the classic hallmarks of the Soviet economy: Rapid advancement in areas like space exploration and weaponry favored by the political establishment, widespread shortages of consumer goods, and the failure of the Soviet government to develop an early Internet after the main proponents of the project fell out of favor with Communist Party leadership in the Brezhnev era. Athenian Democracy avoids this outcome by choosing political leaders on the basis of lot rather than election. Quoting Aristotle, Cottrell and Cockshott note that elections have an aristocratic tendency that has been recognized since Ancient Athens: voting for whoever one thinks is the best usually means voting for whoever has the most money, status, or education to convince voters that they're "the best." For this reason, Democratic Athens selected their legislature, judiciary, and executive branch officials entirely by lot, reserving elections only for military generals where specific skills in the military arts were required. Cottrell and Cockshott call for a restoration of this democratic practice, arguing that it is the only way to eliminate the barrier between ruler and ruled, and prevent the rulers from forming a caste increasingly separate from the rest of the population.
Reception
Leonard Brewster, Ph.D., reviewed the book in the Spring 2004 issue of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, positing that "Cockshott and Cottrell have come as close to developing a serious, up-to-date version of a neo-Marxist political economy as we are likely to see." Brewster concedes that C&C have "succeeded in countering a version of the calculation argument" but writes that this "ironically clarif[ies] and strengthen[s] the reasons for considering socialist calculation not just as troublesome, but impossible, and valuation in terms of labor an illusion." Furthermore, Brewster argues that C&C's allowance of a market for consumer goods, in effect, makes their model a "capitalistic, commodity producing society."
In 2009, Cockshott published an article entitled "Notes for a Critique of Brewster" in which he responded to Brewster's arguments against the book's model. Cockshott asserts that Brewster is "wrong in saying that our labour values are no longer labour values since they are now influenced by market prices", arguing that the distortion of labour value ratios, manifesting through exchange value ratios in capitalist economies, is a short-term artefact of supply and demand imbalances. Furthermore, Cockshott argues that maintaining these distinctions in his model does not "[prevent] labour values from being usable for economic calculation when dealing with intermediate goods." Summarising, Cockshott asserts that "we argue that the market has a place, but only a limited place. It should be restricted to consumer goods, and even here, market indicators are not the ultima ratio. They are just one among many constraints that society has to recognise."
References
External links
Towards a New Socialism (Book website)
Towards a New Socialism (PDF download)
Sozialismus ist machbar, German translation (PDF download)
走向新社会主义 , Mandarin translation (PDF download)
"Paul Cockshott - Towards a new Socialism (1/3)": video (recorded in Glasgow, GB, 25 min., 2006) produced by Oliver Ressler on Paul Cockshott and his planned economy-model. Transcription of video
Paul Cockshott, "Notes for a critique of Brewster" (June 20, 2009)
Books about socialism
Cybernetics
Marxism
Communism
Marxian economics
Economics books
Government by algorithm | Towards a New Socialism | [
"Engineering"
] | 1,538 | [
"Government by algorithm",
"Automation"
] |
64,536,328 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino%20effect%20accident | A domino effect accident is an accident in which a primary undesired event sequentially or simultaneously triggers one or more secondary undesired events in nearby equipment or facilities, leading to secondary accidents more severe than the primary event. Thus, a domino effect accident is actually a chain of multiple events, which can be likened to a falling row of dominoes. The term knock-on accident is also used.
Domino effect accidents are an important process safety issue affecting process plants where significant amounts of hazardous materials are stored, transported, and processed. Losses of containment that result in fires or explosions can escalate to nearby equipment, due to thermal radiation, blast overpressure or other mechanisms, thus potentially causing further fires, explosions, or toxic gas clouds.
Characteristics of domino effect accidents
The consequences of the domino effects of an accident are often more severe than the primary event. Escalation is caused by the physical effects induced by the primary event, which are referred to as escalation vectors. Domino effect accidents mainly consist of three elements: the primary scenario, the escalation vectors, and one or more secondary accidents.
Primary scenarios
The primary scenarios include various types of fire (flash fire, pool fire, jet fire, fireball, boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE), unconfined vapor cloud explosion (UVCE), confined explosion (CE), and mechanical explosion (ME). Normally, there is only one primary event, such as a tank fire in a gasoline storage farm. However, if the process is triggered by intentional attacks or natural disasters, multi-primary events may apply. In that case, it can be very difficult to prevent the escalation of domino effects due to the synergistic effects caused by multiple hazardous events. For example, an earthquake may lead to multiple equipment failures in a process plant, which can in turn cause further accidents.
Escalation vectors
The escalation vectors are the hazardous effects caused by the primary scenarios. The escalation vectors of pool fires, jet fires, and fireballs is thermal radiation and fire impingement. For BLEVE, ME, and VCE it is blast overpressure and fragment projection. Fire-induced domino effects are time-dependent (because the affected equipment has a certain time-to-failure), while explosion-induced domino effects are not related to time, as the failure of the affected equipment will occur instantaneously.
Single and multiple secondary accidents
If the primary scenario successfully escalates to other installations nearby, one or more secondary events occur. Escalation from the primary event to the secondary event is called the first-level escalation, while escalation from secondary event to a potential tertiary event is called second-level escalation, and so on. When lower-level event triggers multiple higher-level events, these are called parallel effects. A higher-level event caused by multiple lower-level events is a case of synergistic effects. Time-dependent escalation vectors from different sources and acting at different times may result in a synergic effect over a secondary target; this is called superimposed effects.
Types
Intentional and unintentional domino effect accidents
According to whether the primary event is deliberate or not, domino effect accidents can be divided into unintentional and intentional. The primary events of unintentional domino effects are caused by accidental events (e.g., corrosion, human errors, and leakage) or natural hazards (e.g., earthquake, lightning, floods). Intentional domino effects are cause by deliberate attacks such as acts of terrorism and sabotage.
Fire-induced and explosion-induced domino effect accidents
According to the physical nature of the primary event, domino effects can be divided into fire-induced and explosion-induced. According to some sources, toxic release may also directly induce domino effects via the movement of toxic gases, e.g., if poisoning induces plant operators to errors that result in secondary accidents.
Internal and external domino effect accidents
In a chemical cluster or a process plant industrial park, there are multiple hazardous materials sites located next to each other. An accident occurring in a site may escalate to the neighboring plants. Internal domino effect accidents are those accidents that occur within a plant, while external ones are those escalating to outside the primary plant boundaries. Preventing external domino effect accidents is especially complex, as these require managing the hazard across multiple companies. Encouraging the cooperation between different neighboring companies within a cluster of sites is essential for the management of domino effect hazards.
Examples
The consequences of domino effect accidents can be much more severe than the primary events. Past process industry catastrophes that involved domino effects significantly greater than the initiating event are the San Juanico disaster, the Piper Alpha disaster, the Esso Longford disaster of 1998, the 2005 Buncefield fire, the 2009 Jaipur fire, the 2009 Cataño oil refinery fire, the 2019 Xiangshui chemical plant explosion, etc. For example, at the 2019 Xiangshui chemical plant explosion, which led to more than 78 deaths and 617 injuries, many facilities near the chemical plant where the accident started were damaged.
Prevention and mitigation measures
Management of domino effects hazards focuses on one or more of three aspects: reduction of the likelihood of occurrence of the primary event; preventing the escalation of the primary event; mitigating the escalation of the primary event. The engineered and administrative safety barriers used in this context can be active, passive, or procedural and emergency measures.
Active protection measures
Active protection measures are those needing power and/or external activation to trigger their protection action. They can be used to suppress fire, such as water/foam deluge, and isolate process units, such as emergency shutdown (ESD) systems. An active protection measure usually consists of three elements: (i) a detection system, (ii) a treatment system, and (iii) an actuation system. In order to ensure the performance of active protection measures, all the above three elements should be effective.
Passive protection measures
No external activation is needed for passive protection measures. As a result, passive protection measures are generally more reliable than active ones. Fireproofing is a commonly-used passive protection measure used to insulate pressure vessels from heat radiation induced by external fire. Passive fire protection increases the time-to-failure of vessels, providing more time for emergency response actions to extinguish the fire. Pressure relief valves are another example of passive protection measure.
Procedural and emergency measures
Procedures are administrative barriers for escalation prevention. Emergency measures are also administrative in nature and focus on emergency response, both within the primary site and the surrounding ones. Emergency response procedures in process plants play an important role in protecting employees, installations, and other civilians nearby. In terms of domino effects, an emergency response such as firefighting can effectively prevent the escalation of accidents by reducing heat radiation and isolating undamaged vessels. Emergency response actions require a certain time to be initiated, and emergency resources are typically limited; optimizing emergency procedures and emergency resource allocation is essential for the prevention and mitigation of domino effects.
References
Accidents
Causality
Process safety | Domino effect accident | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry",
"Engineering"
] | 1,457 | [
"Chemical process engineering",
"Safety engineering",
"Process safety"
] |
64,536,355 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green%20building%20certification%20systems | Green building certification systems are a set of rating systems and tools that are used to assess a building or a construction project's performance from a sustainability and environmental perspective. Such ratings aim to improve the overall quality of buildings and infrastructures, integrate a life cycle approach in its design and construction, and promote the fulfillment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by the construction industry. Buildings that have been assessed and are deemed to meet a certain level of performance and quality, receive a certificate proving this achievement.
According to the Global Status Report 2017 published by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in coordination with the International Energy Agency (IEA), buildings and construction activities together contribute to 36% of the global energy use and 39% of carbon dioxide () emissions. Through certification, the associated environmental impacts during the lifecycle of buildings and other infrastructures (typically design, construction, operation and maintenance) could be better understood and mitigated. Currently, more than 100 building certifications systems exist around the world. The most popular building certification models today are BREEAM (UK), LEED (US), and DGNB (Germany).
History
In the mid-1980s, environmental issues were in the news and public attention due to different international disasters such as the Bhopal disaster (1984), Chernobyl nuclear explosion (1986) and the Exxon Valdez tanker spill (1989). Lifecycle assessments (LCAs) were starting to gain traction from its initial stages in the 1970s to the 1980s and it was in 1991 that the term was first coined. With increasing cognizance of environmental impacts due to human activities, a more comprehensive assessment of buildings utilizing the principles of LCA was much sought after. In 1990, the first Sustainability Assessment Method for buildings, BREEAM was released. In 1993, Rick Fedrizzi, David Gottfried and Mike Italiano formed the world's first Green Building Council (GBC) with the U.S. Green Building Council. Their mission was to promote sustainability-focused practices in the building and construction industry and advance sustainable building principles. USGBC was further responsible for the creation of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system in 1998. The integration of energy usage, materials performance and other building-related environmental issues, along with an aim towards standardizing the comparison of assessments led to more comprehensive building assessment methods.
With the principles of green building gaining momentum, several more GBCs were established across the world. In 2002, the World Green Building Council was officially formed to bring all the GBCs under one roof. GBCs from Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and USA were the founding members. As of 2018–19, there are 69 Green Building Councils under the World Green Building Council organization.
Goals and benefits of building certification
The goal of all certification rating systems is to provide tools and methods to assess the environmental and resource-efficient performance of a building. The main objectives of such tools are:
optimize building performance and minimize environmental impacts
provide a way to quantify a building's environmental effects
set standards and benchmarks to assess buildings objectively
Furthermore, the result of such an assessment is to provide a certificate verifying the achievement of the desired performance and quality of the building. Some benefits of certifying a building or a property include:
the negative impacts of a building on the environment can be better understood and this knowledge can be utilized to reduce such impacts.
holistic sustainability considerations will be made for the fulfillment of technical, economic, social and functional requirements of the building.
promotes sustainable design and construction principles throughout the building lifecycle.
increases the monetary value of a building or a property in the real estate market.
Building certification systems used around the world
Germany
The German Sustainable Building Council (Deutsche Gesellschaft für nachhaltiges Bauen e.V., DGNB in German) introduced its own green building certification in 2009 together with the German Federal Ministry of Traffic, Construction and Urban Development (Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung in German). The DGNB certification is voluntary and is based on German codes and standards (DIN and VDI). It is generally regarded as more comprehensive than BREEAM and LEED. The DGNB System is based on the three main paradigms of:
Life-cycle assessment
Holistic sustainability (environment, economy and society)
Performance-based approach.
It also takes into consideration the economic aspects and as such, also assesses the associated Life Cycle Costs and Value Creation of the building. It has six assessment categories and further assigns different weights to each category indicator.
The assessment is done by an auditor who is appointed by the project contractor. The auditor supports the contractor and supervises the construction process from the initial registration up to the certification and the project conclusion.
Sweden
The Sweden Green Building Council introduced its own certification system in 2011 with Miljöbyggnad which is based on Swedish standards and legislations. It is currently in its 3rd iteration with Miljöbyggnad 3.1 released in April 2020.
Miljöbyggnad has three levels of certification: Bronze, Silver and Gold. It is used to certify both new and existing constructions. It assesses 3 categories, namely:
Energy consumption
Indoor environment
Materials and chemicals.
Among these categories, there are 15 further sub-categories which have its own set of requirements for each certification levels. For example, for the "Energy use" sub-category, Bronze level requires energy use to be less than 65% of the requirements of the BBR, the Swedish Building Code. After 3 years, another follow-up inspection is conducted to see that everything is in the correct order and the standards are still being met.
Besides Miljöbyggnad, the Sweden Green Building Council also administers the Swedish version of the British BREEAM adapted for the Swedish construction practices and standards, called BREEAM-SE. It was first introduced in Sweden in 2013 and is used to certify new constructions.
Taiwan
EEWH is Taiwan's Green Building Label. EEWH is the abbreviation of "Ecology, Energy Saving, Waste Reduction, and Health" and is established in 1999 as the fourth green building label certification in the world. It is currently the only green building evaluation system independently developed in tropical and subtropical climates, and most especially for high-temperature and high-humidity climates. Apart from operating in Taiwan, there is also an international version of the EEWH certification for buildings abroad.
There are six types of EEWH, which are divided into "basic type, accommodation type, factory building type, old building improvement type, community type, and overseas version". Each type is based on the four major axes of "ecology, energy saving, waste reduction, and health". According to the standards of the nine indicators of "biodiversity, greening amount, base water conservation, daily energy saving, carbon dioxide reduction, waste reduction, indoor environment, water resources, sewage and waste improvement", to determine the "qualified grade, bronze grade, silver grade Level, Gold Level, Diamond Level" five certification levels, generally audit rewards if qualified level can get 2% volume, bronze level 4%, silver level 6%, gold level 8%, diamond level 10%.
United Kingdom
The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) is recognized as the first Sustainability Assessment Method for buildings. It was launched in 1990 by the UK-based organization Building Research Establishment (BRE).
BREEAM certification is carried out on the basis of a scoring system where projects are assessed on the basis of 10 categories (with individual weightings differing by project type) as follows:
Management
Health and well-being
Hazards
Energy
Transport
Water
Materials
Waste
Land use and ecology
Pollution
Surface water run-off
Each category is sub-divided into a range of assessment indicators, each having its own aim, target and benchmarks. When a target or benchmark is reached, the asset is given credits (or points) by a qualified BREEAM assessor. The category score is calculated according to the number of credits attained and the category weightings. Once the development has been fully assessed, the final performance rating is determined by the sum of the weighted category scores. The final performance rating is specified as:
A qualified assessor evaluates a building or project and ensures that it meets the quality and performance standards of the selected scheme. In some countries such as Netherlands, Germany and Sweden, there are national operators that officially certify for BREEAM adapted to that country's standards, processes and construction methods.
BREEAM certification has also been made mandatory for governmental construction projects in the UK. According to the Common Minimum Standards for governmental construction, an environmental assessment is required on all public projects and further states that, "where BREEAM is used, all new projects are to achieve an 'excellent' rating and all refurbishment projects are to achieve at least 'very good' rating."
United States
In 1998, the US Green Building Council devised its own building certification system through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. It has its own set of criteria for assessment and utilizes the ASHRAE codes and standards. Due to its simplicity and ease-of-use, the LEED quickly gained international recognition within a short period. Over the years, LEED has undergone many changes and is now currently in its fourth iteration, which was launched in late 2013.
LEED rating systems differ according to the type of the project. The different types of rating systems fall under:
Building Design and Construction: For new construction or major renovations
Interior Design and Construction: For commercial interior fit-out projects
Building Operations and Maintenance: For existing buildings undergoing improvement but with little construction work
Neighborhood Development: For new land development projects or redevelopment projects
Homes: For single family, low-rise multi-family or mid-rise multi-family homes
Cities and Communities: For entire cities or sub-sections of a city. Assessment of a city's water consumption, energy use, waste, transportation etc.
LEED Recertification: For occupied and currently-in-use projects that have already received LEED certification but aiming to maintain and improve the building.
LEED Zero: For projects with net-zero goals in carbon emissions and resource use.
LEED certification is voluntary and a qualified assessor evaluates the projects on the basis of various established categories. These categories are as follows:
Integrative process
Location and transportation
Sustainable sites
Water efficiency
Energy and atmosphere
Materials and resources
Indoor environmental quality
Innovation in design
Regional priority
The four levels of LEED certification are: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Certified.
References
Sustainable energy
Sustainable technologies
Energy efficiency
Low-energy building
Sustainable architecture | Green building certification systems | [
"Engineering",
"Environmental_science"
] | 2,172 | [
"Sustainable architecture",
"Environmental social science",
"Architecture"
] |
64,536,357 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysozyme%20PEGylation | Lysozyme PEGylation is the covalent attachment of Polyethylene glycol (PEG) to Lysozyme, which is one of the most widely investigated PEGylated proteins.
The PEGylation of proteins has become a common practice of modern therapeutic drugs, as the process is capable of enhancing solubility, thermal stability, enzymatic degradation resistance, and serum half-life of the proteins of interest. Lysozyme, as a natural bactericidal enzyme, lyses the cell wall of various gram-positive bacteria and offers protection against microbial infections. Lysozyme has six lysine residues which are accessible for PEGylation reactions. Thus, the PEGylation of lysozyme, or lysozyme PEGylation, can be a good model system for the PEGylation of other proteins with enzymatic activities by showing the enhancement of its physical and thermal stability while retaining its activity.
Previous works on lysozyme PEGylation showed various chromatographic schemes in order to purify PEGylated lysozyme, which included ion exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, and size-exclusion chromatography (fast protein liquid chromatography), and proved its stable conformation via circular dichroism and improved thermal stability by enzymatic activity assays, SDS-PAGE, and size-exclusion chromatography (high-performance liquid chromatography).
Methodology
PEGylation
The chemical modification of lysozyme by PEGylation involves the addition of methoxy-PEG-aldehyde (mPEG-aldehyde) with varying molecular sizes, ranging from 2 kDa to 40 kDa, to the protein. The protein and mPEG-aldehyde are dissolved using a sodium phosphate buffer with sodium cyanoborohydride, which acts as a reducing agent and conditions the aldehyde group of mPEG-aldehyde to have a strong affinity towards the lysine residue on the N-terminal of lysozyme. The commonly used molar ratio of lysozyme and mPEG-aldehyde is 1:6 or 1:6.67. When sufficient PEGylation is reached, the reaction can be terminated by addition of lysine to the solution or boiling of the solution. Various profiles can result in the PEGylation of the protein, which includes intact mono-PEGylated, di-PEGylated, tri-PEGylated, and also possibly their isoforms.
Purification
Ion exchange chromatography
Ion exchange chromatography is often employed in the first step, or capturing step, for the separation of PEGylated proteins as PEGylation may affect the charges of target proteins by neutralizing electrostatic interaction, changing the isoelectric point (pI), and increasing the pKa value. Due to the high pI of lysozyme (pI = 10.7), cation exchange chromatography is used. As the increased degree of PEGylation decreases the ion strength of the protein, the poly-PEGylated proteins tend to bind to the cation resin weaker than the mono-PEGylated protein or the intact form does. Thus, the poly-PEGylated proteins elute faster and the intact protein eludes last in the cation exchange chromatography. As mono-PEGylated is widely investigated and described as a protection of target proteins, the target eluate in the cation exchange chromatography is usually the mono-PEGylated proteins.
Hydrophobic interaction chromatography
Despite the capability of the cation exchange chromatography in purification process, hydrophobic interaction chromatography is also employed, usually at the second step as a polishing step. By using relatively small bead-sized cation resin, the cation exchange chromatography can identify and separate between isoforms by the apparent charges in the condition, but hydrophobic interaction chromatography is capable of identification and separation of the isoforms by their hydrophobicity.
Size-exclusion chromatography (FPLC)
Due to the apparent size differences by the degree of PEGylation of the protein, size-exclusion chromatography (fast protein liquid chromatography or FPLC) can be used. There is a negative correlation between molecular weight and the retention time of the PEGylated protein in the chromatogram; larger protein, or more PEGylated protein elutes first, and smaller protein, or intact protein the latest.
Characterization
Identification
The most common analyses for identifying intact and PEGylated lysozyme can be achieved via size-exclusion chromatography (high-performance liquid chromatography or HPLC), SDS-PAGE and Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI).
Conformation
The secondary structure of intact and PEGylated lysozyme can be characterized by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. The CD spectra range from 189 - 260 nm with a pitch of 0.1 nm showed no significant change in the secondary structure of the intact and PEGylated lysozyme.
Enzymatic activity assay
Glycol chitosan
Enzymatic activity of intact and PEGylated lysozyme can be evaluated using glycol chitosan by reacting 1 mL of 0.05% (w/v) glycol chitosan in 100 mM of pH 5.5 acetate buffer and 100 μL of the intact or PEGylated protein at 40 °C for 30 min and subsequently adding 2 mL of 0.5 M sodium carbonate with 1 μg of potassium ferricyanide. The mixture is immediately heated, boiled for 15 minutes, and cooled for spectral analysis at 420 nm. As the enzymatic activity to hydrolyze β-1,4- N-acetylglucosamine linkage was retained after PEGylation, there was no decay in the enzymatic activity by increasing the degree of PEGylation.
Micrococcus lysodeikticus
By the measurement of decrease in turbidity of M. lysodeikticus by incubating it with lysozyme, enzymatic activity can be evaluated. 7.5 μL of 0.1 - 1 mg/mL proteins is added to 200 μL of M. lysodeikticus at its optical density (OD) of 1.7 AU, and the mixture is measured at 450 nm periodically for reaction rate calculation. On the contrary to the result from glycol chitosan enzymatic activity, the increasing degree of PEGylation decreased the enzymatic activity. This difference in the trend of the enzymatic activity can be due to PEGylation to free lysine causing steric hindrance and subsequently preventing from forming enzyme-substrate complex in the case of reacting with macromolecule, such as M. lysodeikticus.
References
Biotechnology | Lysozyme PEGylation | [
"Biology"
] | 1,456 | [
"Biotechnology",
"nan"
] |
64,536,359 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human%20impact%20on%20river%20systems | Many river systems are shaped by human activity and through anthropogenic forces. The process of human influence on nature, including rivers, is stated with the beginning of the Anthropocene, which has replaced the Holocene. This long-term impact is analyzed and explained by a wide range of sciences and stands in an interdisciplinary context. The natural water cycle and stream flow is globally influenced and linked to global interconnections. Rivers are an essential component of the terrestrial realm and have been a preferable location for human settlements during history. River is the main expression used for river channels themselves, riparian zones, floodplains and terraces, adjoining uplands dissected by lower channels and river deltas.
Human impact
The relationship between humans and rivers, which represent freshwater environments, is complicated. Rivers serve primarily as a freshwater resource and as sinks for domestic and industrial waste water. The consequences from this usage occur from diverse activities and root themselves in complex, interdisciplinary systems and practices.
Environmental changes in rivers usually result from human development, such as population growth, the dependence on fossil resources, urbanization, global commerce and industrial and agricultural emission. Anthropogenic activities also include discrete elements like the use of fire, domestication of plants and animals, soil development, the establishment of settlements and irrigation. River ecosystems have been transformed downstream from the point of pollution. Active human transformations, river engineering, have altered the river systems and ecosystems.
River engineering
River engineering, a branch of civil engineering, deals with the process of planned human intervention to improve and restore rivers for human and environmental needs. With modern technologies, data collection and modelling, navigation can be improved, dredging reduced and new habitats can be created. River engineering also handles sediment and erosion control, which can be a threat to humankind by destroying infrastructure, hindering water supply and causing major river cutoffs. River training structures will help to modify the hydraulic flow and the sediment response of a river.
Humans have modified the natural behavior of rivers for longer than history is recorded. The management of water resources, protection against floods and hydropower are not new concepts. Regardless, river engineering has changed in the past century because of environmental concerns. The available amount and type of data about rivers has increased which provides more useful information about the behaviour of rivers and their ecosystems. Engineering experts are able to analyse and adapt in a more environmentally conscious way. Renaturalisation projects raise more awareness for the environment, however, rapidly growing and urbanizing population needs to be supplied with enough water resources and hydropower energy, which calls for more sustainable solutions.
River pollution
Water pollution occurs when water bodies, such as rivers, lakes and oceans are contaminated with harmful substances. These substances degrade the water quality and are toxic to humans as consumers and to the environment. The contamination in a river can come from a point source or non-point source pollution. The most common types of surface water pollution are agriculture, sewage and waste water (including stormwater runoff), oil pollution and radioactive substances. The agricultural sector consumes a lot of fresh water and is the leading source for water degradation.
Timeline
Most settlements in human history were placed along rivers, developing into riverine cities and traceable by their considerable environmental footprint. The human influence on rivers can be divided into six chronological stages:
Consequences
While river engineering can improve the behaviour of the river or hold it back to adapt to our infrastructure, and therefore be rated as positive or negative impact, pollution undoubtedly has a negative impact on our environment. The consequences are very complex and difficult to measure and classify, as often benefits for humankind imply drawbacks for the environment and the other way around.
Indicators
Indicators that make the human impact measurable and quantitatively assessable are: artificial water surface ratio, artificial water surface density ratio, disruption of longitudinal connectivity ratio, artificial river ratio, sinuosity of artificial cutoff, channelization ratio, artificial levee ratio, road along river ratio, artificial sediment transport ratio and the integrated river structure impact index.
Material and sediment flux
Through anthropogenic impact the material flux of rivers has changed, which enters the sea and has a strong effect on coastal and shelf environments.
Runoff
Alternate land use, deforestation, afforestation and different types of river engineering have also led to changes in hydrologic processes, such as runoff. Mushrooming illegal mining activity can, for example, change the soil structure, the pressure-gradient between stream flow and groundwater and the vegetation cover and therefore lead to increased or decreased runoff. In southern Ghana in the Lower Pra River Basin, the percentage of runoff change, which is linked to human activity is approximately up to 66%.
Human presence and infrastructure has benefited from river management, by changing and straightening rivers to make the valuable land around them more live-able.
Water quality
The consumption of polluted water leads to many deaths. In the year 2015, 1.8 million people world wide died because of water pollution and over 1 billion people became ill. Low-income and third-world communities are especially endangered, because they often live close to industries with high emission. Hazards like waterborne pathogens and diseases spread fast in water surface bodies like rivers and are especially threatening in third-world countries without sewage- and wastewater treatment systems.
Ecosystem and biodiversity
Large dams and the production of hydropower are an important part of today's energy supply and cover a broad part of river engineering. The approach of releasing small quantities of water through turbines responds to the growing power demand from rapidly growing cities; however, it also flattens the rivers hydrographs, and is responsible for a decline in seasonal hydraulic variability and for the loss of delta-building dynamics, as the sediments are stored in the reservoir. Small-scale users of the deltas lose the biodiversity and ecosystem productivity on which they depend.
The aquatic ecosystem consists of a chain of organisms which are dependent on each other. When pollution causes harm to one organism only, this process can start a chain reaction and danger the entire aquatic habitat. When the proliferation of newly introduces nutrients evoke plant and algae growth, oxygen levels in the water decrease. This process, known as eutrophication, suffocates plants and animals and leads to dead zones i.e. water habitats without any life. Chemicals and heavy metals from industrial wastewater are also toxic to aquatic life. They can shorten an organism's life span and its ability to reproduce while also endangering humans, since humans may feed on these organisms and any toxic impacts on these organisms may adversely impact humans.
Global and social impacts
Rivers have always been a reliable source for human communities. They have been a preferable place for settlements in early history and still provide a rich environment for big cities. Many trade routes lead along rivers and build global connections.
See also
River engineering
River management
Water pollution
Environmental engineering
Human impact on marine life
References
Environmental engineering
Riparian zone
Rivers
River regulation
Hydrology and urban planning
Water resources management | Human impact on river systems | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering",
"Environmental_science"
] | 1,401 | [
"Hydrology",
"Chemical engineering",
"Civil engineering",
"Hydrology and urban planning",
"Environmental engineering",
"Riparian zone"
] |
64,536,363 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrochemical%20quartz%20crystal%20microbalance | Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) is the combination of electrochemistry and quartz crystal microbalance, which was generated in the eighties. Typically, an EQCM device contains an electrochemical cells part and a QCM part. Two electrodes on both sides of the quartz crystal serve two purposes. Firstly, an alternating electric field is generated between the two electrodes to make up the oscillator. Secondly, the electrode contacting electrolyte is used as a working electrode (WE), together with a counter electrode (CE) and a reference electrode (RE), in the potentiostatic circuit constituting the electrochemistry cell. Thus, the working electrode of electrochemistry cell is the sensor of QCM.
As a high mass sensitive in-situ measurement, EQCM is suitable to monitor the dynamic response of reactions at the electrode–solution interface at the applied potential. When the potential of a QCM metal electrode changes, a negative or positive mass change is monitored depending on the ratio of anions adoption on the electrode surface and the dissolution of metal ions into solution.
EQCM calibration
The EQCM sensitivity factor K can be calculated by combing the electrochemical cell measured charge density and QCM measured frequency shift. The sensitivity factor is only valid when the mass change on the electrode is homogenous. Otherwise, K is taken as the average sensitivity factor of the EQCM.
where is the measured frequency shift (Hz), S is the quartz crystal active area (cm2), ρ is the density of quartz crystal, is the quartz crystal shear modulus and is the fundamental quartz crystal frequency. K is the intrinsic sensitivity factor of the EQCM.
In a certain electrolyte solution, a metal film will deposited on the working electrode, which is the QCM sensor surface of QCM.
The charge density () is involved in the electro-reduction of metal ions at a constant current , in a period of time ().
The active areal mass density is calculated by
where is the atomic weight of deposited metal, z is the electrovalency, and F is the Faraday constant.
The experimental sensitivity of the EQCM is calculated by combing and .
EQCM application
Application of EQCM in electrosynthesis
EQCM can be used to monitor the chemical reaction occurring on the electrode, which offers the optimized reaction condition by comparing the influence factors during the synthesis process. Some previous work has already investigated the polymerization process and charge transport properties, polymer film growth on gold electrode surface, and polymerization process of polypyrrole and its derivatives. EQCM was used to study electro-polymerization process and doping/de-doping properties of polyaniline film on gold electrode surface as well. To investigate the electrosynthesis process, sometimes it is necessary to combine other characterization technologies, such as using FTIR and EQCM to study the effect of different conditions on the formation of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) film structure, and using EQCM, together with AFM, FTIR, EIS, to investigate the film formation process in the alkyl carbonate/lithium salt electrolyte solution on precious metal electrodes surfaces.
Application of EQCM in electrodeposition and dissolution
EQCM is broadly used to study the deposition/dissolution process on electrode surface, such as the oscillation of electrode potential during Cu/CuO2 layered nanostructure electrodeposition, deposition growth process of cobalt and nickel hexacyanoferrate in calcium nitrate and barium nitrate electrolyte solution, and the Mg electrode electrochemical behaviour in various polar aprotic electrolyte solutions. EQCM can be used as a powerful tool for corrosion and corrosion protection study, which is usually combined with other characterization technologies. A previous work used EQCM and XPS studied Fe-17Cr-33Mo/ Fe-25Cr alloy electrodes mass changes during the potential sweep and potential step experiments in the passive potential region in an acidic and a basic electrolyte. Another previous work used EQCM and SEM to study the influence of purine (PU) on Cu electrode corrosion and spontaneous dissolution in NaCl electrolyte solution.
Application of EQCM in adsorption and desorption
EQCM has been used to study the self-assembled monolayers of long chain alkyl mercaptan and alkanethiol and mercaptoalkanoic on gold electrode surface.
Application of EQCM in polymer modified electrode
EQCM can be used to ideally modify polymer membranes together with other electrochemical measurements or surface characterization methods. A team has used CV, UV-Vis, IR and EQCM studied irreversible changes of some polythiophenes in the electrochemical reduction process in acetonitrile. Later on they used AFM and EQCM investigated growth of polypyrrole film in anionic surfactant micellar solution. Then combing with CV, UV-Vis, FTIR, ESR, they used EQCM to study conductivity and magnetic properties of 3,4-dimethoxy and 3,4-ethylenedioxy-terminated polypyrrole and polythiophene.
Application of EQCM in energy conversion and storage
EQCM can be used to study the process of adsorption and oxidation of fuel molecules on the electrode surface, and the effect of electrode catalyst or other additives on the electrode, such as assessment of polypyrrole internal Pt load in the polypyrrole/platinum composites fuel cell, methanol fuel cell anodizing process, and electrodeposition of cerium oxide suspended nanoparticles doped with gadolinium oxide under the ultrasound for Co/CeO2 and Ni/CeO2 composite fuel cells. EQCM can also be used to study the energy storage performance and influencing factors of supercapacitors and electrochemical capacitors. For example, EQCM is used to study the ion movement gauge of conductive polymer of capacitor on cathode. Some work studied the EQCM application in solar energy, which is mostly additive and thin film material related, for instance, using EQCM to study the electrochemical deposition process and stability of Co-Pi oxygen evolution catalyst for solar storage.
References
Electrochemistry
Weighing instruments | Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry",
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 1,321 | [
"Weighing instruments",
"Mass",
"Measuring instruments",
"Electrochemistry",
"Matter"
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64,536,370 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beam%20origin%20concept | The beam origin concept is used to describe the mechanisms governing the ecological condition of running waters. It is based on the positive influence of sections in very good condition on sections in less good condition. The idea was first introduced in 2008 by the German Council for Land Stewardship to reach the goals defined in the Water Framework Directive of the European Union.
Background
In order to force politics to take more responsibility in acting against ecological, economic and social problems related to water, the European Union implemented the Water Framework Directive. For each river basin district member, the states had to develop, implement and monitor measures to reach its prescribed goals. As a tool to accomplish this goal, so-called river basin management plans were required.
The implementation is an individual matter for the member states and must be reported regularly. In Germany, the German Council for Land Stewardship worked on a project financially supported by the North Rhine-Westphalia State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection and Lennart-Bernadotte-Stiftung, in order to investigate how, in the sense of a beam effect, water biocoenoses in restricted areas can be developed and decoupled from a complete structural improvement in the area concerned. The applicability of stepping stones was thereby to be examined for the beam effect of interventions on running waters, as a parallel to wildlife corridors.
Concept
The main driver of the concept is the beam effect, which indicates the influence of sections in very good ecological condition on sections in less good or rather poor condition with respect to their ecological status. There are two categories of beam effects which are biotic and abiotic. The biotic beam effect relies on the migration or drift of typical aquatic organisms; the abiotic beam effect refers to the transport of positive environmental conditions from one directed downstream. In general, the beam effect is not tied to the flow direction of the running water and can occur both upstream and downstream.
In contrast, negative long-distance and vicinity effects cause the opposite effect to the positive beam effect, thus deteriorate the ecological condition of running waters. For instance, negative biotic effects are migration or drift of atypical aquatic organisms, that might have a negative effect on domestic species in their habitats; carry-over of fine sediments, material load or temperature influences are examples of negative abiotic effects on the ecological condition. Another negative effect is given by the so-called colmation, which is the accumulation of fine particles on gravel deposits. Since the pores are used by organisms for spawning, over time the sediments cut off the oxygen supply, cover the gravels with a solid layer and destroy the habitat of local species.
Ecological condition
The definition of a good ecological status is a matter of interpretation. For member states of the European Union, the Water Framework Directive defines two different ecological target states, which are the good ecological status and the good ecological potential. The good ecological status refers to a natural body of surface water, whereas the good ecological potential specifically relates to a heavily modified or even artificial body of water that was created by human activity.
Typical indicators
Typical indicators for the evaluation of the ecological quality are the abundances of fish, macrozoobenthos, macrophytes and phytobenthos, and the number of type-specific taxa. Criteria to further classify the ecological status of river sections can be found in the European Directive or in country-specific guidelines.
Components
Beam origin
A beam origin (also beam source) is a river section that is in very good ecological condition. The river section may not necessarily be located in the main course but side waters. On the one hand, it shows structural, hydrological and hydraulic quality close to nature; on the other hand, it is the natural habitat of typical organisms that can drift and migrate to other sections. If a beam source only meets the prerequisites for an abiotic beam effect it is called a potential beam origin and it is assumed that in the long-term a typical inventory of species can be formed.
Beam path
A beam path is a river section of low ecological condition that borders on sections of higher ecological potential. An enhancing beam path is a type of beam path into which organisms of a nearby beam source can migrate or are at least temporarily settle. Furthermore, typical organisms can only drift or migrate through the beam path, which is then called a transit beam path. In a beam path a biocenosis can be established which is only possible due to the presence of adjacent beam origins.
Stepping stone
A stepping stone is a morphological element that allows organisms to either migrate and settle or drift though the river section. It does not necessarily have to be a stone or a group of stones; large woody debris (LWD), roots or aquatic plants can also have a supporting effect.
Degradation stretch
A degradation stretch is a river section that by definition meets none of the criteria to be a beam origin nor a beam path. Transverse structures such as weirs or dams can be obstacles for aquatic organisms but also canalised (artificial) river sections possibly prohibit organism to drift and migrate.
See also
River ecosystem
Integrated water resources management
Aquatic ecosystem
References
Environmental engineering
Hydraulic engineering
Hydrology
Aquatic ecology
Water and politics
Water resources management | Beam origin concept | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry",
"Engineering",
"Biology",
"Environmental_science"
] | 1,044 | [
"Hydrology",
"Chemical engineering",
"Physical systems",
"Hydraulics",
"Civil engineering",
"Ecosystems",
"Environmental engineering",
"Aquatic ecology",
"Hydraulic engineering"
] |
64,536,726 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lay-up%20process | A Lay-Up process is a moulding process for composite materials, in which the final product is obtained by overlapping a specific number of different layers, usually made of continuous polymeric or ceramic fibres and a thermoset polymeric liquid matrix. It can be divided into Dry Lay-up and Wet Lay-Up, depending on whether the layers are pre-impregnated or not.
Dry Lay-up is a common process in the aerospace industry, due to the possibility of obtaining complex shapes with good mechanical properties, characteristics required in this field. On the contrary, as Wet Lay-Up does not allow uni-directional fabrics, which have better mechanical properties, it is mainly adopted for all other areas, which in general have lower requirements in terms of performance.
The main stages of the Lay-Up process are cutting, lamination and polymerization. Even though some of the production steps can be automated, this process is mainly manual (hence often referred to as the Hand Lay-Up process), leading to laminates with high production costs and low production rates with respect to other techniques. Hence, nowadays, it is mainly suitable for small series production runs of 10 to 1000 parts.
Cutting
Cutting fabrics is the first stage of the Lay-Up process. Even though the fibres, in general, have high tensile strength, the shear strength is usually quite low, so they are fairly easy to cut. This process can be manual, semi-automatic or completely automatic.
As far as cutting tools are concerned, the most common are scissors, cutters, knives and saws. More automatized alternatives are die-cutting systems, which allow higher production rates to be reached while limiting overall costs, as they allow more layers of fabric to be cut simultaneously. These methods require different skills from the operator and provide different finish precisions, but they all are mechanical procedures and have one major disadvantage in common: the physical contact between the cutting tool and the fibres. An alternative process with less friction is the ultrasound method, which consists of cutting the fabrics with a blade actuated by high-frequency mechanical vibrations, produced by an internal source integrated into the system. There are also completely contact-free cutting techniques, such as laser cutting and water jet cutting, both usually embedded on CNC machines. The former is obtained through a convergent radiation beam which vaporizes the material underneath and uses pressurized gas to remove the volatile particles and the melted material. The latter is based on a high-pressure liquid beam which reaches a velocity of 2.5 times the speed of sound, creating a pressure on the fabric which is higher than the compression resistance of the material and resulting in a net cut. Both these methods share a common disadvantage which needs to be considered before choosing the cutting methods: the beams create high-temperature areas along the cut axes, in which the physical characteristics of the material can be altered significantly.
During the cutting process, a fundamental parameter to be considered is the nesting layout, which is the arrangement of the different shapes to be cut from the fabric in order to reduce the scraps. The patterns are generally created digitally and, when possible, given to a CNC machine or, otherwise, replicated by hand.
Lamination
Lamination of the fabrics is the second stage of the Lay-Up process. It is the procedure of overlapping all the layers in the correct order and with the correct orientation. In the case of Wet Lay-Up, the preparation of the resin is included in this operation, as the fabrics are not already impregnated. Lamination is usually performed in a clean-room to avoid particle inclusions within the layers, which would interfere with the characteristics of the final product.
The most important tool is the mould, which can be male or female depending on the application. It can be made of different materials, depending on the shrinkage and the thermal expansion coefficient of the composite material, the stiffness required, the surface finish needed, the draft angles and the bending angle. Furthermore, the mould must be stable at the lamination temperature, bear the operative pressure, be resistant to wear, be compatible with the other tools used, be resistant to washing solvents and it must be easy to apply release agents.
The first step of lamination is to apply a release agent on the mould, fundamental to avoid adhesion between the resin and the mould itself. If needed for surface finish, a layer of peel-ply may be added. Peel-plies are nylon films used to obtain a specific roughness of the surface on which they are applied, to protect them during storage and to trap volatile particles during polymerization. Then, all the fabric layers are overlapped following the instructions on the ply-book, which contains a list of all the operations to be performed during this process. Usually, intermediate compacting is performed every 4 or 5 layers, in order to let the air evacuate and to obtain a final product with better mechanical characteristics.
After all the fabric layers have been put in the right position, another layer of peel-ply is applied on top, with the same purpose as the first one. A sequence of other layers is added above it: the release film, which separates the laminate from the other layers but still allows the excess resin to pass through; the bleeder, whose main function is to absorb the excess resin; a barrier, to separate the bleeder from the breather; the breather, to distribute the vacuum homogeneously across the external surfaces and to avoid any folds of the vacuum bag being transferred to the laminate surface; the vacuum bag, a flexible polymeric film, typically made of nylon, able to maintain the vacuum created with a vacuum pump. Further important elements are the valves and the sealant used to hermetically seal the vacuum bag.
This process can be manual, semi-automatic or completely automatic. When done entirely by hand, lamination is a long and difficult process (due to the strict tolerances required). An alternative is a semi-automatic - also called "mechanically assisted" - process, consisting of a machine which handles the layers, which are then applied on the mould by an operator. It is completely automatic if a machine, such as an automatic tape laying machine, can also place the layers in the right position and orientation. These automatic methods allow high production rates to be reached.
Polymerization
Polymerization of the laminate is the third and final stage of the Lay-Up process. This phase is of utmost importance to obtain the required characteristics of the final product.
Polymerization in autoclave and industrial oven
This process can be done at room temperature with just a vacuum pump, to control vacuum, with the aid of an industrial oven connected to a vacuum pump, to control temperature and vacuum, or with an autoclave, to control temperature, vacuum and also hydrostatic pressure.
Polymerization in an autoclave is a technique which allows laminates with the best mechanical properties to be obtained, but it is the most expensive and permits only the use of open moulds. The advantage is due to the fact that the pressure helps to bond the composite layers and to eject air inclusions and volatile products, increasing the quality of the process. Each combination of fabric and resin has its own optimal polymerization cycles, dependent on the wettability of the fibres and resin properties, like viscosity and gel point. Typically, the three cycles of temperature, pressure and vacuum are studied experimentally to obtain the best combination of the three parameters. Polymerization in an industrial oven is similar but without pressure control. It is less expensive and therefore used for all those laminates which do not need to have the very highest mechanical strength and stiffness properties. Moreover, as industrial ovens are, in general, bigger than autoclaves, they are used for components with non-standard dimensions.
Polymerization with matched-die moulding
Polymerization with matched-die moulding is used for plane or simple-geometry laminates and can include a vacuum pump and an electric or hydraulic heat source. It is made of a press with male and female moulds that close to form a gap with the shape of the component, the width of which is regulated to control the thickness of the part. The press can not apply hydrostatic pressure as in an autoclave, but only a vertical one. Matched-die moulding allows a very high degree of dimensional control, a good surface finish on both surfaces, and reasonable production rates but, on the other hand, it may allow fibre misalignment and it is very expensive.
Problems
As Meola et al. pointed out in Infrared thermography in the evaluation of aerospace composite materials, "Several different types of defects may occur during the fabrication of composites, the most common being fibre/play misalignment, broken fibres, resin cracks or transversal ply cracks, voids, porosity, slag inclusions, nonuniform fibre/resin volume ratio, disbonded interlaminar regions, kissing bonds, incorrect cure and mechanical damage around machined holes and/or cuts."
Also, three main problems related to cutting polymerized composite materials must be considered. The first is that reinforcement fibers are abrasive, hence traditional cutting tools are not suitable, as their lives would be very short and their blunt edges would damage the materials. The second is that composite materials have low thermal conductivity, which can cause heat accumulations and deformations. The last is that composite materials tend to delaminate when cut, therefore it is necessary to consider this when choosing a cutting method.
References
Composite materials
Fibre-reinforced polymers
Composite material fabrication techniques | Lay-up process | [
"Physics"
] | 1,970 | [
"Materials",
"Composite materials",
"Matter"
] |
64,537,330 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linktree | Linktree is a freemium social media reference landing page developed by Alex Zaccaria, Anthony Zaccaria, and Nick Humphreys, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 2016, it serves as a landing page for a person or company's entire associated links in social media, which rarely allows linking to multiple sites. The site was inspired by the developers' annoyance with social media that cannot or do not allow multiple hyperlinks.
History
Linktree was established in 2016, out of annoyance regarding social media that do not allow multiple hyperlinks in profiles. The site was created in six hours. It is reported to have gained 3,000 users overnight, which caused the server to crash due to overload. In 2018, Instagram banned the site due to "spam", although it was lifted and Instagram issued an apology. In December 2018, the number of users reached 1 million, then 3 million by the end of 2019. By October 2020, Linktree had gained more than 8 million users.
As of March 2021, the number of users reached nearly 16 million, with an increase of 300% over the previous year.
In August 2021 Linktree announced the acquisition of smart link provider Odesli to become a "one-stop-shop" for musicians seeking to monetize their art.
Features and subscriptions
Linktree is a freemium service: it is free, but also offers a 'Pro' subscription launched in April 2017, which gives more benefits, such as more customization options, more detailed analytics, email sign-up integration, removal of the Linktree logo, etc. Users can upload as many links as they wish despite not subscribing. Pro analytics allows users to view their click-through rates. Both offerings allow users to create a personalized and customizable page, that houses all social media links and official websites. Linktree also partnered with Amazon, allowing users to upload their Amazon store profile as an affiliate link. Amid the George Floyd protests, Linktree allowed users to adopt a 'Support Anti-Racism' icon, which pops a tab linking visitors to articles to further understand racism, organizations to donate to, and places to protest.
Accolades
In 2019, Linktree was included in CNBC's 'Upstart 100' list of "brightest, most intriguing, young startups promising to become the great companies of tomorrow." In March 2020, Fast Company placed Linktree as fourth place in the 'Most Innovative Companies of 2020' list in the 'Social media' category for "making Instagram's 'link in bio' into a sleek menu for sharing articles, merch, or paid partnerships." For comparison's sake, in that year the first place was Cameo and the third Pinterest; while the fourth place of other years were Reddit (2018 and 2021), Are.na (2019) and Genies, Inc. (2022).
Instagram ban
It is reported that Linktree, started as a link-in-bio tool for Instagram, was banned from Instagram in 2018, since it is noted as "breaking the community standards," specifically as a spam website. Linktree stated that they were "working on it" with their "representatives on Instagram." This ban was lifted after thousands of users advocated on Linktree's behalf. Although the ban was lifted and Instagram issued an apology, as of March 2021, Instagram accounts for less than 40% of Linktree's profile traffic.
Funding
On October 27, 2020, Linktree announced that it had received US$10.7 million in Series A financing from Airtree Ventures and Insight Partners. The funding is the company's first from an institutional investor. On March 26, 2021, Linktree announced the closing of a $45M Series B financing round. The round was co-led by Index Ventures and Coatue, with participation from returning investors Airtree Ventures and Insight Partners.
After raising $110M in January 2022, and offering to pay its employees $6,000 in a yearly bonus, the company announced it would fire 17% of its workforce citing changing dynamics. It did not reveal cash on hand.
See also
Online advertising
Advertising network
References
Social media
Online services
Business services companies established in 2016
Online advertising services and affiliate networks
Companies based in Melbourne
Companies based in Sydney
Australian companies established in 2016 | Linktree | [
"Technology"
] | 892 | [
"Computing and society",
"Social media"
] |
64,537,584 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars%20Magna%20Lucis%20et%20Umbrae | Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae ("The Great Art of Light and Shadow") is a 1646 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It was dedicated to Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans and published in Rome by Lodovico Grignani. A second edition was published in Amsterdam in 1671 by Johann Jansson. Ars Magna was the first description published in Europe of the illumination and projection of images. The book contains the first printed illustration of Saturn and the 1671 edition also contained a description of the magic lantern.
Ars magna lucis et umbrae followed soon after Kircher's work on magnetism, Magnes sive de Arte Magnetica (1641) and the title was a play on words. In his introduction Kircher notes that the word 'magna' alluded to the powers of the magnet, so that the title could also be read "The Magnetic Art of Light and Shadow". The work was well known for several decades.
Content
Ars Magna is the first of Kircher's works to follow a symbolic structure. It consists of ten books, represented as the ten strings of the instrument with which the psalmist praises the Lord in Psalm 143. The ten books also have a kabbalistic significance, betokening the ten sefirot.
Kircher dealt comprehensively with many different aspects of light, including physical, astronomical, astrological and metaphysical. He discussed phenomena such as fluorescence, phosphorescence and luminescence, optics and perspective. He also described pareidolia. The work deals first with the Sun, Moon, stars, comets, eclipses and planets. It also discusses phenomena related to light, such as optical illusions, colour, refraction, projection and distortion. The work includes one of the first scientific on phosphorescence and the luminosity of fireflies. He devoted much care to descriptions of instruments such as sundials, moondials and mirrors that make use of light. He had written extensively on these subjects in an earlier work, the Primitiae gnomoniciae catroptricae. Kircher also discussed the "magic lantern" - he is sometimes, incorrectly, credited with inventing this device.
In the section "Cosmometria Gnomonica", Kircher set out to show how, by measuring sunlight and shadow, it was possible to measure the universe itself. He estimated the depth of the Earth's atmosphere, the distance between the Moon and the Earth, the diameter of the Sun and its distance from the Earth.
The book concludes with a verse:
<blockquote>"Disperge has radiis animae fulgentibus umbras
Ut tua sit mea lux lux mea sit tua lux"
("Disperse the shadows of the soul with splendid rays, so that your light be mine, and my light, yours.")</blockquote>
IllustrationsArs Magnes Lucis et Umbrae contained thirty-four engraved plate illustrations. The illustration of Saturn was a woodcut. The planet was represented as a sphere with two nearby ellipses, as the existence of the rings had not yet been discovered in 1641. By the time the second edition was published in 1671, it was understood that Saturn had rings and not two large satellites, but Kircher did not correct the illustration and it was reprinted unchanged.
Frontispiece
The frontispiece for the book by Pierre Miotte combines the physical, metaphysical and allegorical qualities of light. It depicts three realms, the divine, the starry and the earthly. In the divine realm the name of God appears in the Hebrew tetragrammation, surrounded by the nine orders of angels. Immediately below this are represented the two highest means by which humans can understand God's plan, sacred authority ('auctoritas sacra') and reason ('ratio').
In the centre of the starry realm below is a celestial sphere with the signs of the zodiac. On the left site the sun-god, his body marked with the signs of the zodiac that govern the respective parts of the body. He carries a caduceus, a token of Hermes, topped with the symbol of an eye, that may denote hermetic wisdom. His feet rest upon the double-headed eagle of the Habsburgs. From the clouds beneath a hand emerges holding a lantern revealing the text of a book, labelled profane authority ('auctoritas profana') (that is, the writings of ancient pagan philosophers and other authorities). Facing the sun-god is the moon-goddess, covered in stars and holding a shield which reflects the light of the Sun down to the Earth below. She holds a staff topped with an owl, symbol of Athena, and her feet rest on a peacock, symbol of Juno. Beneath her a finger points to the fourth source of knowledge, the senses ('sensus'), represented by a telescope casting an image of the sun onto a sheet of paper. (Ars Magna contained Kircher's own drawings of sunspots).
Above the earthly level appears the portrait of the Archduke Ferdinand, to whom the book was dedicated. Beneath this, on the left, is a formal garden, perhaps demonstrating the life-giving properties of sunlight and of enlightenment. Here the rays of the Moon are cast into a moondial. On the right a ray of sunlight penetrates the roof of a dark cave, and a mirror casts reflections on the wall of the cave. This is a representation of Plato's famous allegory of the cave.
Universal horoscope of the Society of JesusArs Magna Lucis et Umbrae'' contained many designs for sundials and related devices, including a large foldout sheet that allowed the user to know the time in every part of the world where the Jesuits had missions. Kircher intended to be of practical use, and suggested that it be mounted on wood, and then oriented precisely by use of a sundial. The rose at the bottom of the sheet could be cut out and mounted on stiff paper so that it could be rotated to show the hours. The main design is in the shape of an olive tree. When the sheet is hung vertically, with pins placed at the nodes of the tree, the shadows of all the pins align to spell "IHS", the logo of the Society of Jesus.
Magic lantern
Kircher's unusual depiction of the magic lantern has been taken by some critics to mean that he had not actually built one or seen it operate, since the illustration shows the mirror not properly alighted with the light source and the glass slider appears in front of the lens tube rather than behind it. Some argue that these anomalies are due to mistakes by the Dutch publisher Waesberghe; however others hold that the mechanism would work as depicted and that it was a variant of the normal type, designed as an analogicical demonstration of the Neoplatonic metaphysics of light.
External links
Digital copy of Ars Magna on the Internet Archive
Digital copy with index on the Herzog August Library
References
1646 non-fiction books
1646 in science
1646 in Italy
Light
Optical phenomena
Shadows
Athanasius Kircher
Magic lanterns | Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae | [
"Physics"
] | 1,487 | [
"Physical phenomena",
"Spectrum (physical sciences)",
"Shadows",
"Electromagnetic spectrum",
"Optical phenomena",
"Waves",
"Light"
] |
64,538,017 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute%20of%20Computer%20Engineers%20of%20the%20Philippines | The Institute of Computer Engineers of the Philippines (ICpEP, formerly Philippine Institute of Computer Engineers) is a non-profit professional organization of computer engineers in the Philippines. It is registered under the Securities and Exchange Commission as a non-stock and non-profit organization. ICpEP is also the official computer engineering organization for academic community and industry practitioners in the Philippines.
History
In 1992, a group of computer engineers formed a professional organization for computer engineers, the Philippine Institute of Computer Engineers, or PhICEs. But after years of being active and conducting conventions, seminars, and symposia to fellow computer engineers and students, PhICEs became inactive.
In 2008, several computer engineers tried to revive the professional organization after it's been inactive for years. Then the organization was reformed as Institute of Computer Engineers of the Philippines.
History of ICpEP.SE
ICpEP.SE or Institute of Computer Engineers of the Philippines Student Edition, is a student chapter of the ICpEP, which aims to link academics to various colleges and universities. The first group of student chapters started in 2008, it was founded by 11 schools, namely, Adamson University, Asia Pacific College, Central Colleges of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Far Eastern University Institute of Technology, Mapua Institute of Technology, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Manila, STI College-Recto, Technological Institute of the Philippines-Manila, and Technological Institute of the Philippines-Quezon City. And now, there are more than sixty-eight schools across the Philippines that have an ICpEP student chapter.
See also
Institute of Electronics Engineers of the Philippines
Computer engineering
References
External links
ICpEP official website
ICpEP Singapore Chapter website
ICpEP Facebook page
Professional associations based in the Philippines
Computer science-related professional associations
Engineering societies
1992 establishments in the Philippines | Institute of Computer Engineers of the Philippines | [
"Engineering"
] | 379 | [
"Engineering societies"
] |
64,538,576 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter%20Henrici%20Prize | The Peter Henrici Prize (; ; ) is a prize awarded jointly by ETH Zurich and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) for "original contributions to applied analysis and numerical analysis and/or for exposition appropriate for applied mathematics and scientific computing". The prize is named in honor of the Swiss numerical analyst Peter Henrici, who was a professor at ETH Zurich for 25 years.
Description
The prize, initiated in 1999 with funds contributed by ETH Zurich, is awarded every four years. It consists of a certificate containing the citation and (as of 2023) a cash prize of $5,000 (US). The winner is chosen by a prize committee, consisting of four members, two members chosen by SIAM and two others by ETH Zurich. "The prize may be awarded to any member of the scientific community who meets the general guideline of the prize description."
Award ceremony
The award is presented every four years at the International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM). The presentation of the prize is made by the SIAM president. The recipient is requested to give a lecture at the conference.
Prize winners
1999 : Germund Dahlquist
2003 : Ernst Hairer and Gerhard Wanner
2007 : Gilbert Strang
2011 : Bjorn Engquist
2015 : Eitan Tadmor
2019 : Weinan E
See also
Alice Roth Lecture Series
References
Awards established in 1999
Awards of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Numerical analysis
ETH Zurich
1999 establishments in Switzerland | Peter Henrici Prize | [
"Mathematics"
] | 298 | [
"Mathematical relations",
"Computational mathematics",
"Approximations",
"Numerical analysis"
] |
64,540,037 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror%20symmetry%20conjecture | In mathematics, mirror symmetry is a conjectural relationship between certain Calabi–Yau manifolds and a constructed "mirror manifold". The conjecture allows one to relate the number of rational curves on a Calabi-Yau manifold (encoded as Gromov–Witten invariants) to integrals from a family of varieties (encoded as period integrals on a variation of Hodge structures). In short, this means there is a relation between the number of genus algebraic curves of degree on a Calabi-Yau variety and integrals on a dual variety . These relations were original discovered by Candelas, de la Ossa, Green, and Parkes in a paper studying a generic quintic threefold in as the variety and a construction from the quintic Dwork family giving . Shortly after, Sheldon Katz wrote a summary paper outlining part of their construction and conjectures what the rigorous mathematical interpretation could be.
Constructing the mirror of a quintic threefold
Originally, the construction of mirror manifolds was discovered through an ad-hoc procedure. Essentially, to a generic quintic threefold there should be associated a one-parameter family of Calabi-Yau manifolds which has multiple singularities. After blowing up these singularities, they are resolved and a new Calabi-Yau manifold was constructed. which had a flipped Hodge diamond. In particular, there are isomorphisms
but most importantly, there is an isomorphism
where the string theory (the A-model of ) for states in is interchanged with the string theory (the B-model of ) having states in . The string theory in the A-model only depended upon the Kahler or symplectic structure on while the B-model only depends upon the complex structure on . Here we outline the original construction of mirror manifolds, and consider the string-theoretic background and conjecture with the mirror manifolds in a later section of this article.
Complex moduli
Recall that a generic quintic threefold in is defined by a homogeneous polynomial of degree . This polynomial is equivalently described as a global section of the line bundle . Notice the vector space of global sections has dimension but there are two equivalences of these polynomials. First, polynomials under scaling by the algebraic torus (non-zero scalers of the base field) given equivalent spaces. Second, projective equivalence is given by the automorphism group of , which is dimensional. This gives a dimensional parameter space since , which can be constructed using Geometric invariant theory. The set corresponds to the equivalence classes of polynomials which define smooth Calabi-Yau quintic threefolds in , giving a moduli space of Calabi-Yau quintics. Now, using Serre duality and the fact each Calabi-Yau manifold has trivial canonical bundle , the space of deformations has an isomorphism with the part of the Hodge structure on . Using the Lefschetz hyperplane theorem the only non-trivial cohomology group is since the others are isomorphic to . Using the Euler characteristic and the Euler class, which is the top Chern class, the dimension of this group is . This is because
Using the Hodge structure we can find the dimensions of each of the components. First, because is Calabi-Yau, so giving the Hodge numbers , hence giving the dimension of the moduli space of Calabi-Yau manifolds. Because of the Bogomolev-Tian-Todorov theorem, all such deformations are unobstructed, so the smooth space is in fact the moduli space of quintic threefolds. The whole point of this construction is to show how the complex parameters in this moduli space are converted into Kähler parameters of the mirror manifold.
Mirror manifold
There is a distinguished family of Calabi-Yau manifolds called the Dwork family. It is the projective family
over the complex plane . Now, notice there is only a single dimension of complex deformations of this family, coming from having varying values. This is important because the Hodge diamond of the mirror manifold has The family has symmetry group acting by Notice the projectivity of is the reason for the condition The associated quotient variety has a crepant resolution given by blowing up the singularities giving a new Calabi-Yau manifold with parameters in . This is the mirror manifold and has where each Hodge number is .
Ideas from string theory
In string theory there is a class of models called non-linear sigma models which study families of maps where is a genus algebraic curve and is Calabi-Yau. These curves are called world-sheets and represent the birth and death of a particle as a closed string. Since a string could split over time into two strings, or more, and eventually these strings will come together and collapse at the end of the lifetime of the particle, an algebraic curve mathematically represents this string lifetime. For simplicity, only genus 0 curves were considered originally, and many of the results popularized in mathematics focused only on this case.
Also, in physics terminology, these theories are heterotic string theories because they have supersymmetry that comes in a pair, so really there are four supersymmetries. This is important because it implies there is a pair of operators acting on the Hilbert space of states, but only defined up to a sign. This ambiguity is what originally suggested to physicists there should exist a pair of Calabi-Yau manifolds which have dual string theories, one's that exchange this ambiguity between one another.
The space has a complex structure, which is an integrable almost-complex structure , and because it is a Kähler manifold it necessarily has a symplectic structure called the Kähler form which can be complexified to a complexified Kähler form which is a closed -form, hence its cohomology class is in The main idea behind the Mirror Symmetry conjectures is to study the deformations, or moduli, of the complex structure and the complexified symplectic structure in a way that makes these two dual to each other. In particular, from a physics perspective, the super conformal field theory of a Calabi-Yau manifold should be equivalent to the dual super conformal field theory of the mirror manifold . Here conformal means conformal equivalence which is the same as an equivalence class of complex structures on the curve .
There are two variants of the non-linear sigma models called the A-model and the B-model which consider the pairs and and their moduli.
A-model
Correlation functions from String theory
Given a Calabi-Yau manifold with complexified Kähler class the nonlinear sigma model of the string theory should contain the three generations of particles, plus the electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces. In order to understand how these forces interact, a three-point function called the Yukawa coupling is introduced which acts as the correlation function for states in . Note this space is the eigenspace of an operator on the Hilbert space of states for the string theory. This three point function is "computed" as
using Feynman path-integral techniques where the are the naive number of rational curves with homology class , and . Defining these instanton numbers is the subject matter of Gromov–Witten theory. Note that in the definition of this correlation function, it only depends on the Kahler class. This inspired some mathematicians to study hypothetical moduli spaces of Kahler structures on a manifold.
Mathematical interpretation of A-model correlation functions
In the A-model the corresponding moduli space are the moduli of pseudoholomorphic curves
or the Kontsevich moduli spaces
These moduli spaces can be equipped with a virtual fundamental class
or
which is represented as the vanishing locus of a section of a sheaf called the Obstruction sheaf over the moduli space. This section comes from the differential equation which can be viewed as a perturbation of the map . It can also be viewed as the Poincaré dual of the Euler class of if it is a Vector bundle.
With the original construction, the A-model considered was on a generic quintic threefold in .
B-model
Correlation functions from String theory
For the same Calabi-Yau manifold in the A-model subsection, there is a dual superconformal field theory which has states in the eigenspace of the operator . Its three-point correlation function is defined as
where is a holomorphic 3-form on and for an infinitesimal deformation (since is the tangent space of the moduli space of Calabi-Yau manifolds containing , by the Kodaira–Spencer map and the Bogomolev-Tian-Todorov theorem) there is the Gauss-Manin connection taking a class to a class, hence
can be integrated on . Note that this correlation function only depends on the complex structure of .
Another formulation of Gauss-Manin connection
The action of the cohomology classes on the can also be understood as a cohomological variant of the interior product. Locally, the class corresponds to a Cech cocycle for some nice enough cover giving a section . Then, the insertion product gives an element which can be glued back into an element of . This is because on the overlaps giving
hence it defines a 1-cocycle. Repeating this process gives a 3-cocycle which is equal to . This is because locally the Gauss-Manin connection acts as the interior product.
Mathematical interpretation of B-model correlation functions
Mathematically, the B-model is a variation of hodge structures which was originally given by the construction from the Dwork family.
Mirror conjecture
Relating these two models of string theory by resolving the ambiguity of sign for the operators led physicists to the following conjecture: for a Calabi-Yau manifold there should exist a mirror Calabi-Yau manifold such that there exists a mirror isomorphism giving the compatibility of the associated A-model and B-model. This means given and such that under the mirror map, there is the equality of correlation functions This is significant because it relates the number of degree genus curves on a quintic threefold in (so ) to integrals in a variation of Hodge structures. Moreover, these integrals are actually computable!
See also
Cotangent complex
Homotopy associative algebra
Kuranishi structure
Mirror symmetry (string theory)
Moduli of algebraic curves
Kontsevich moduli space
External links
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-969-topics-in-geometry-mirror-symmetry-spring-2009/lecture-notes/
References
Books/Notes
Mirror Symmetry - Clay Mathematics Institute ebook
Mirror Symmetry and Algebraic Geometry - Cox, Katz
On the work of Givental relative to mirror symmetry
First proofs
Equivariant Gromov - Witten Invariants - Givental's original proof for projective complete intersections
The mirror formula for quintic threefolds
Rational curves on hypersurfaces (after A. Givental) - an explanation of Givental's proof
Mirror Principle I - Lian, Liu, Yau's proof closing gaps in Givental's proof. His proof required the undeveloped theory of Floer homology
Dual Polyhedra and Mirror Symmetry for Calabi-Yau Hypersurfaces in Toric Varieties - first general construction of mirror varieties for Calabi-Yau's in toric varieties
Mirror symmetry for abelian varieties
Derived geometry in Mirror symmetry
Notes on supersymmetric and holomorphic field theories in dimensions 2 and 4
Research
Mirror symmetry: from categories to curve counts - relation between homological mirror symmetry and classical mirror symmetry
Intrinsic mirror symmetry and punctured Gromov-Witten invariants
Homological mirror symmetry
Categorical Mirror Symmetry: The Elliptic Curve
An Introduction to Homological Mirror Symmetry and the Case of Elliptic Curves
Homological mirror symmetry for the genus two curve
Homological mirror symmetry for the quintic 3-fold
Homological Mirror Symmetry for Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces in projective space
Speculations on homological mirror symmetry for hypersurfaces in
Mathematical physics
Conjectures
String theory
Algebraic geometry | Mirror symmetry conjecture | [
"Physics",
"Astronomy",
"Mathematics"
] | 2,481 | [
"Astronomical hypotheses",
"Unsolved problems in mathematics",
"Applied mathematics",
"Theoretical physics",
"Conjectures",
"Fields of abstract algebra",
"Algebraic geometry",
"String theory",
"Mathematical problems",
"Mathematical physics"
] |
64,540,326 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%20Iran%20explosions | The 2020 Iran explosions were a series of eleven explosions in Iran, including at an advanced centrifuge assembly facility, alleged missile sites, petrochemical centers, power plants, a nuclear enrichment facility and a medical clinic. First reported on 25 June 2020, The Iranian government has denied reports of explosions in its missile sites while acknowledging damage to its largest nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz.
Some Western and Iranian officials stated the cause of explosions to be Israeli cyber attacks and covert US and Israeli strikes, as part of the broader Iran–Israel proxy conflict. The government vowed to retaliate if sabotage was confirmed in its Natanz nuclear facility.
Timeline
Parchin explosion and Shiraz blackout
At noon on 25 June 2020, an explosion hit in the military complex of Parchin, 30 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran. Within the same hour a power outage affected half of the southern city of Shiraz; housing major military facilities. Officials declared the explosion a gas storage accident and said that an explosion had hit the power station in Shiraz, causing the blackout. A Western analyst stated that the explosion in Parchin had occurred in a missile storage facility, with hidden nuclear detonation technology work.
A Western analyst claimed the explosion in Parchin was caused by an Israeli cyberattack, while a senior Iranian commander said he could not comment whether the explosion was a cyberattack until there was a conclusion on the issue. Citing an unnamed senior source, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported that the facility was destroyed in an airstrike by Israeli F-35 stealth fighter jets.
On 30 June 2020, American and Israeli officials speaking to The New York Times said they "had nothing to do with" the explosion in Parchin.
Tehran clinic explosion
On 30 June 2020, an explosion occurred in the Sina At'har health center in the capital Tehran, killing 19 people including 15 women and 4 men. According to the deputy mayor of Tehran the explosion was caused by a leak from medical gas tanks in the building.
Natanz centrifuge assembly facility explosion
On 2 July 2020, an explosion hit a centrifuge assembly facility near the city of Natanz. Three quarters of the above-ground parts of the facility where advanced centrifuges were being assembled were damaged. Iran admitted serious damage to its facility while Western analysts said the explosion had set back the Iranian nuclear program one to two years.
The same day, a US-based source reported that a group calling itself the "Homeland Panthers" ( yuzpalangan vatan) claimed responsibility for the explosion at the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. The New York Times claimed that a source which it identified as a "Middle Eastern intelligence official with knowledge of the episode" told the newspaper that Israel was responsible for the attack, and that a powerful bomb had been used. In addition, it cited an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps member who was briefed on the topic and had spoken to the newspaper anonymously as claiming that an explosive device was used. The New York Times later reported that officials with knowledge stated the blast was most likely the result of a bomb, possibly at a strategic gas line, but a cyberattack was not out of the question. The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported that Israel had caused the explosion with a cyberattack.
Khuzestan explosions
On 4 July 2020, an explosion hit the Shahid Medhaj Zargan power plant in the city of Ahvaz. Meanwhile 70 people were injured following a chlorine gas leak at Karun petrochemical center in the city of Mahshahr, near Ahvaz.
Baqershahr explosion
On 7 July 2020, 2 people were killed and 3 others were injured following an explosion inside an oxygen factory in the town of Baqershahr, south of the capital Tehran. IRIB said "human error" was the cause of the blast.
According to Western analysts the factory was near the warehouse where an archive of information on Iran's nuclear program was stolen in a raid by Israeli intelligence agents in 2018. It has been claimed that the factory belongs to an Iranian automotive manufacturer that closely cooperates with the Iranian Ministry of Defense as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Tehran explosions
On 9 July 2020, an explosion was reported in western Tehran. Officials denied that an explosion took place but admitted that power had been cut off in the area.
According to western analysts the blast hit a missile facility/warehouse belonging to Revolutionary Guards. Analysts speaking to The New York Times said that the blast had hit an area with underground facilities, associated with chemical weapons research and an unidentified military production site. An intelligence official told The New York Times that Israel was possibly behind the explosion.
On 11 July 2020, a gas explosion shook a residential building in Tehran, injuring one person.
Mahshahr petrochemical plant explosion
On 12 July 2020, a fire followed by an explosion hit the Tondgooyan petrochemical plant in the southwest. A spokesperson for the petrochemical company said the fire and explosion occurred due to "technical problems", and that "hot weather" was also to blame.
Mashhad explosion
On 13 July 2020, an explosion hit an industrial complex near the northeastern city of Mashhad. Mehr News Agency said the explosion occurred when a gas condensate storage tank exploded, and that the police were investigating the cause.
Ahvaz pipeline explosion
On 18 July 2020, an explosion was reported in an oil pipeline in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.
Isfahan power plant explosion
On 19 July 2020, an explosion hit a power plant in Isfahan province. No one was injured.
Alleged Israeli aims
According to one report from Business Insider, citing an unnamed former Israeli official and a European Union intelligence official, Israel is behind some of the explosions, with the European source "fearing" that the goal of the Israeli government to provoke a military confrontation with Iran while U.S. President Donald Trump remains in office. According to the EU official, "There would be a lot less appetite for adventures and secret missions to blow up nuclear facilities under a Biden administration."
Response
In October 2020, Rafael Grossi, Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed to Associated Press that Iran has started building an underground centrifuge assembly plant after the explosions, and added that Iran also continues to stockpile greater amounts of low-enriched uranium, but does not appear to possess enough to produce a weapon.
See also
Stuxnet
Assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists
Iran–Israel proxy conflict
References
2020 in computing
Cyberattacks on energy sector
Cyberwarfare in Iran
Explosions in 2020
Explosions in Iran
Hacking in the 2020s
Industrial computing
Iran–Israel proxy conflict
Iran–United States relations
July 2020 events in Iran
June 2020 events in Iran
Nuclear program of Iran
2020 murders in Iran | 2020 Iran explosions | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 1,386 | [
"Industrial computing",
"Industrial engineering",
"Automation"
] |
64,541,513 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron%20Folman | Ron Folman (; (Born Feb 16th, 1963), is an Israeli quantum physicist and social activist. He works at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) where he heads the Atom Chip group.
Biography
Folman, born in Tel Aviv, is the son of Russian born Ahuva (Luba) Gordon and Polish born Yeshayahu Folman. Folman’s mother, who barely escaped with her family from the burning city of Minsk as the Nazi army advanced, tried to make it to the land of Israel on the famous Exodus refugee ship, only to be returned by the British to Germany.
In 1998, Folman received his PhD degree from the Weizmann Institute of Science (work conducted at CERN). Between the years 2000-2003, he worked as a Researcher at the University of Heidelberg (Marie Curie fellow), Germany, and before that in 1999-2000 as a post-doctoral fellow in Innsbruck.
He is an advocate of Human Rights, Animal Rights, Social justice, Peace and Environmental sustainability.
Folman’s father is a survivor of Auschwitz where he was numbered B-1367. Folman tattooed an exact replica on his arm.
Activism
Human Rights: Folman has been a member of Amnesty International (AI) and in the 90s he was the chairperson of the Israeli Section of the organization.
Environmental Sustainability: Folman has been an active member of Greenpeace
Social Justice: Folman was a member of the board of the University center for the promotion of education and careers among the Bedouins of the Negev desert.
Science
Folman is a professor of quantum physics at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) where he heads the Atom Chip group. He was the founder and first director of the BGU center for quantum science and technology since 2010, and the founder and first director of the center for nano-fabrication since 2003. Folman is one of the inventors of the Atom Chip.
Folman is active in probing the interface between the general theory of relativity (gravity) and quantum mechanics.
Folman is involved in anti-matter physics at CERN (GBAR) and in the searches for Dark Matter (GNOME).
In 2011, he received the Willis Lamb award and in 2013, he was a Miller visiting professor at Berkeley
In 2021, Folman received the Falling Walls award for physics.
References
External links
A self-interfering clock as a “which path” witness, sciencemag
An experimental test of the geodesic rule proposition for the noncyclic geometric phase, Science & AAAS
What time does Schrödinger's clock show? | Vikki Academy, YouTube
The AtomChip: Bringing Nanofabrication and Quantum Optics Together, azonano
Einstein would have been pleased, jpost
חופש, אהבה וננו- טכנולוגיה, Haaretz
1963 births
Living people
People associated with CERN | Ron Folman | [
"Physics"
] | 627 | [
"Quantum physicists",
"Quantum mechanics"
] |
64,543,211 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hentak | Hentak is a thick fermented paste in Manipuri cuisine made with sun-dried fish powder and the petioles of aroid plants. The small Indian flying barb fish are sun dried on bamboo trays and crushed to powder. The aroid petioles are cut into pieces and left in the sun for one day, then in equal parts with the fish powder the mixture is sealed in an earthen pot and fermented for around one week.
Hentak is a standard ingredient in Manipuri households, where it is consumed as a condiment with boiled rice or curry. Some preparations may include other plant ingredients like Colocasia esculenta. The standard ingredient of aroid petioles enhances flavor and also serves the purpose of aiding the fermentation process. In Manipur, hentak is a homemade preparation that is not produced for commercial markets. It is custom to serve this to expecting mothers and patients in convalescent.
Another fish paste from Northeast India is tungtap.
See also
Fermented fish
Garum
Bagoong
Terasi
References
Manipuri cuisine
Fermented foods
Fermented fish
Fish sauces | Hentak | [
"Biology"
] | 237 | [
"Fermented foods",
"Biotechnology products"
] |
64,543,487 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungtap | Tungtap is a fermented fish paste found in Meghalayan cuisine, consumed by the Khasi and Garo
people. Like hentak, it is made with Indian flying barb or pool barb fish that are sun-dried, salted and fermented in a sealed earthenware vessel. The vessel is covered with pandan and tied with threads. It can be used in curry or eaten with rice, mixed with onion, garlic, chillis and Zanthoxylum nitidum and eaten as a pickle or chutney. Tungtap has a spongy, soft texture.
References
Fermented fish
Fermented foods
Northeast Indian cuisine
Fish sauces | Tungtap | [
"Biology"
] | 147 | [
"Fermented foods",
"Biotechnology products"
] |
64,543,768 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian%20Society%20for%20Ecological%20Economics | The Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE) was founded in 1998 and registered as a Society under the Societies Registration Act in January 1999. Headquartered in New Delhi, this is a regional society affiliated to the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE). The society publishes a bi-annual, open access peer-reviewed journal Ecology, Economy and Society–The INSEE Journal, books and other materials, and holds periodic meetings and conferences to facilitate a voice for ecological economists.
The INSEE was initially presided over by Kanchan Chopra of the Institute of Economic Growth, and subsequently by C.H. Hanumantha Rao, Gopal K. Kadekodi, Narpat Singh Jodha, Jayanta Bandyopadhyay, Sudarshan Iyengar, Kanchan Chopra, Amita Shah, Sharachchandra Lele, Pranab Mukhopadhyay, K.N. Ninan, and Shreekant Gupta. The present President of INSEE is Nilanjan Ghosh.
Areas of Work
The work of INSEE has broadly addressed issues of sustainable development, urbanization, climate change and disasters, global commons and environment. The INSEE journal and the biennial conferences have contributed significantly to the development and environment discourse in India. The conceptual approach of INSEE spans the disciplinary divide of the sub-fields of ecological economics and environmental economics and has "...remained both conceptually and methodologically open, and relatively free of this divide", from a position that does not "...typecast any specific definition of ecological economics". As noted by Ghosh and others (2016): "Ecological economics has been acknowledged by the Society to subsume the neoclassical framework of environmental economics, apart from considering the broader body of the literature emerging at the interface of economics, ecological sciences, hydrology, geology, geography, sociology, political science, anthropology etc."
Ecology, Economy and Society–The INSEE Journal
Ecology, Economy and Society–The INSEE Journal is a bi-annual journal published by the Indian Society for Ecological Economics. The first two issues appeared in 2018 and two issues have been published each year since then. The journal today publishes papers on ecological economics, sustainable development and multi-disciplinary subjects related to ecology, economy, and society. Besides regular academic and review papers, the journal also carries book reviews and commentaries on related topics.
INSEE Conferences
INSEE holds biennial conferences in different locations:
Tenth INSEE Biennial Conference, 2019, CESS, Hyderabad, INSEE-CESS International Conference, "Climate Change and Disasters: Challenges, Opportunities and Responses", 6–8 November 2019
Ninth INSEE Biennial Conference, 2017, KILA, Thrissur, "Sustainability, Institutions, Incentives: Voices, Policies and Commitments", 8–10 November 2017
Eighth INSEE Biennial Conference, 2016, Bengaluru, "Urbanization and the Environment", 4–6 January 2016
Seventh INSEE Biennial Conference, 2013, Guwahati, "Global Change, Ecosystems, Sustainability", 5–8 December 2013
Sixth INSEE Biennial Conference, 2011, Hyderabad, "Nature, Economy and Society: Understanding the Linkages", 20–22 October 2011
Fifth INSEE Biennial Conference, 2009, Ahmedabad, "Environmental Governance", 20–21 January 2009
Fourth INSEE Biennial Conference, 2005, Mumbai, "Ecology and Human Well Being", 3–4 June 2005
Third INSEE Biennial Conference, 2003, Mumbai, "Biodiversity and Quality of Life", 18–20 December 2003
Second INSEE Biennial Conference, 2001, Bhopal, "Water Resources, Sustainable Livelihood and Eco-system Services", 19–21 December 2001
First INSEE Biennial Conference, 1999, Bangalore, "Ecological Economics For Sustainable Development", 20–22 December 1999
References
External links
ISEE
Ecology, Economy and Society–The INSEE Journal
Natural resources organizations
Resource economics
Environmental social science
Ecological economics
Scientific societies based in India | Indian Society for Ecological Economics | [
"Environmental_science"
] | 799 | [
"Environmental social science"
] |
64,543,918 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geranium%20%C3%97%20oxonianum | Geranium × oxonianum, the Oxford geranium, is a hybrid variety of flowering plant in the family Geraniaceae, which is a 1932 cross of garden origin between Geranium endressii and Geranium versicolor. Growing to tall by , it is a highly variable plant with round palmate leaves and often veined flowers in various shades of pink. It can be invasive.
Hardy down to or below, this tough plant is the source of several garden-worthy cultivars. The following have been given the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-
'A.T. Johnson'
'Beholder's Eye'
'Wageningen'
References
oxonianum
Hybrid plants | Geranium × oxonianum | [
"Biology"
] | 149 | [
"Hybrid plants",
"Plants",
"Hybrid organisms"
] |
64,545,404 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHL%20293B | PHL 293B, also known as Kinman's dwarf, is a low-metallicity blue compact dwarf galaxy about 22.6 Mpc from the Earth in the constellation Aquarius.
It had a very likely associated, notable, blue-light, long-lived star with constant outbursts or a large supernova observed to have faded and which then disappeared. Although this bright visible jet-producing object responsible for broad hydrogen emission lines with P Cygni profiles was widely considered to be a luminous blue variable ejecting matter, other studies posited the mentioned, competing, explanations for the bright light source within.
Observation history
PHL 293 was first listed as entry 293 in a catalogue of faint blue stars published by Guillermo Haro and Willem Jacob Luyten in 1962. In 1965, Thomas Kinman observed two faint possible companions to it, about away, which he dubbed A and B. HL 293B, sometimes called Kinman's Dwarf, was noted to be an extragalactic, nonstellar object, with a jet, approximately 22.6 Mpc away from Earth. The acronym PHL has since been applied to distinguish it from other HL catalogues; it is most commonly referred to by astronomers as PHL 293B. The galaxy was identified as a blue compact dwarf, a type of small irregular galaxy undergoing a strong burst of star formation.
The spectrum of PHL 293B is unusual both for its low metallicity and for broad hydrogen emission lines with P Cygni profiles. These are interpreted as being from a large luminous blue variable star in the galaxy. The star is believed to have been undergoing an outburst during previous observations, an interpretation is disputed by some publications. An alternative explanation would be a long-lived type IIn supernova, similar to the transient event of SDSS1133. These emission features in the spectrum of the galaxy faded during 2019 and by the end of the year had disappeared (at least visibly), likely due to the disappearance of a bright star of the galaxy.
See also
AG Carinae
Markarian 177
LBV 1806-20
Eta Carinae
References
Aquarius (constellation)
Dwarf galaxies
SDSS objects
Luminous blue variables | PHL 293B | [
"Astronomy"
] | 440 | [
"Constellations",
"Aquarius (constellation)"
] |
64,545,466 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward%27s%20Pillar | Edward's Pillar or Galle Tower is a masonry column, which was used as a trigonometrical altitude station, located on the summit of Rumassala Kanda in Unawatuna.
The high column is located upon the hill, above sea level. Originally painted white it also served as a leading navigational mark for vessels entering the western channel into Galle Harbour. The pillar was erected in 1875 by W. Burton of the Ceylon Survey Department for trigonometrical work. The station was originally recorded as "Top of Galle Tower or Gibson's Hill near Galle Harbour". Gibson's Hill, now known as Rumassala Kanda, was named after William Carmichael Gibson, the first English Master Attendant of Galle Harbour, who resided on the hill.
Some locals, incorrectly, believe that it was erected as a fake lighthouse during World War I or served as a military lookout.
On 6 July 2007, it was formally recognised by the Government as an Archaeological Protected Monument.
References
See also
Unawatuna Peace Pagoda
Unawatuna
Towers in Sri Lanka
Buildings and structures in Galle District
Archaeological protected monuments in Galle District
Surveying | Edward's Pillar | [
"Engineering"
] | 233 | [
"Surveying",
"Civil engineering"
] |
64,546,096 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L4%20ribosomal%20protein%20leader | An L4 ribosomal protein leader is a ribosomal protein leader involved in ribosome biogenesis. It is used as an autoregulatory mechanism to control the concentration of the ribosomal protein L4. Known Examples were predicted in Archaeoglobi with bioinformatic approaches. The structure is located in the 5′ untranslated regions of mRNAs encoding ribosomal proteins L3 (rplC), L4 (rplD), L23 (rplW) and L2 (rplB).
References
External links
Ribosomal protein leader | L4 ribosomal protein leader | [
"Chemistry"
] | 121 | [
"Biochemistry stubs",
"Molecular and cellular biology stubs"
] |
63,187,256 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EICAR%20%28antiviral%29 | EICAR (5-ethynyl-1-β-D-ribofuranosylimidazole-4-carboxamide) is a nucleoside analogue which has both anti-cancer and antiviral effects, and was originally developed for the treatment of leukemia, but was unsuccessful in human clinical trials. It has broad spectrum antiviral effects with activity against pox viruses, Semliki forest virus, Junin virus, reovirus, influenza, measles virus and respiratory syncytial virus among others, although it is not active against coronaviridae such as SARS-CoV-1. This useful spectrum of activity means that EICAR and related derivatives continue to be investigated for the treatment of viral diseases.
EICAR was originally discovered as a potent inhibitor of the human enzyme IMP dehydrogenase, part of the guanylate biosynthesis pathway. This activity is responsible for its known anticancer and antiviral effects.
References
Antiviral drugs | EICAR (antiviral) | [
"Biology"
] | 213 | [
"Antiviral drugs",
"Biocides"
] |
63,188,350 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVTN%20702 | HVTN 702 was a clinical trial which the HIV Vaccine Trials Network organized to develop an HIV vaccine. In February 2020 the organizers halted the trial after finding no evidence of efficacy.
Around December 2019 various media outlets reported that HVTN 702 could be an effective vaccine in preventing HIV.
In 2016 various media outlets announced the start of the research.
HVTN 702 was based on outcomes of the RV 144 trial.
References
External links
profile at ClinicalTrials.gov
HIV vaccine research
Clinical trials related to HIV | HVTN 702 | [
"Chemistry"
] | 109 | [
"HIV vaccine research",
"Drug discovery"
] |
63,188,601 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V1298%20Tauri | V1298 Tauri is a young (23±4 Myr) weakly-lined T Tauri star that is part of the Taurus-Auriga association in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. Alternatively it is part of a proposed moving group, called Group 29 (or 93 Tau group) that is slightly older. The system has four transiting exoplanets, discovered with the Kepler space telescope in the K2 mission. One of the planets was discovered in August 2019 and the other three were discovered in November 2019 by the same team.
Stellar characteristics
V1298 Tauri has a spectral type of K0 - K1.5 and it has a mass of about 1.1 . The star appears in x-rays from ROSAT data and it does show strong lithium absorption lines, both signatures of youth and therefore it was a proposed member of Taurus-Auriga. On the other hand it does not show signs of accretion and it lacks infrared excess. Instead it shows H-alpha in absorption.
The brightness of V1298 Tauri varies in an unpredictable way between a maximum visual magnitude of 10.31 and a minimum of 10.54. The light curve of the star shows quasi-periodic variability that was interpreted as stellar rotation and starspots. The light curve also showed several flares.
Based on Gaia DR2 data this star is part of a co-moving pair, together with HD 284154. The star is included in an analysis of the 93 Tau group, which finds an age of 35 ±5 Myrs.
Planetary system
V1298 Tauri has four confirmed planets of which planets c, d and b are near a 1:2:3 resonance (with periods of 8.25, 12.40 and 24.14 days). Planet e only shows a single transit in the K2 light curve and has a period larger than 36 days. Planet e might be in a low-order resonance (of 2:3, 3:5, 1:2, or 1:3) with planet b. The system is very young and might be a precursor of a compact multiplanet system. The 2:3 resonance suggests that some close-in planets may either form in resonances or evolve into them on timescales of less than 10 Myr. The planets in the system have a size between Neptune and Saturn. Only planet b has a size similar to Jupiter.
Models predict that the planets have a minimum core mass of 5 and are surrounded by a thick envelope that make up 20% of their mass. The total mass of planet c and d was predicted to be 2 - 28 and the total mass of planet d and b was predicted to be 9 - 120 . In a follow-up paper the mass of V1298 Tauri b was constrained to <2.2 . The planet c was suspected to be shedding mass due to intense irradiation by the host star, but hydrogen tail existence was refuted by 2021.
Orbits of the planets b and c are nearly coplanar and planet c is not inclined to the equatorial plane of the star, misalignment equals to 2 degrees.
Planet b was observed with Hubble WFC3 and a transmission spectrum was produced. This observation found a clear primordial atmosphere and water vapor absorption. The mass was constrained from this observation to less than 23 earth-masses, making this planet one of the lowest density planet observed. The team retrieved a low metallicity for the atmosphere, challenging formation mechanisms. The planet will likely evolve into a sub-Neptune in the future. Comparison between the transmission spectrum of planet b and a newly obtained WFC3 transmission spectrum for planet c found that planet b has a large, haze-free envelope. For planet c hazes could not be ruled out. The masses were constrained for planet b to below 20 earth masses and for planet c to earth masses. An ongoing transit-timing variation study suggest that both planet b and c are in the mass range of super-Earth to sub-Neptune planets and will evolve into these types of planet.
Planet e could be a planet with a water-rich core and an substantial hydrogen envelope. Planet e was possibly detected by Kepler, TESS and CHEOPS in three transits with an orbital period of around 45 days. The transits have different depths, lengths and maybe has TTVs of a few hours. Alternatively CHEOPS could have detected a fifth planet.
See also
List of nearby stellar associations and moving groups
List of exoplanets discovered in 2019
Kepler-223 - the first confirmed system with four exoplanets in resonance
K2-138 - a system with five exoplanets in a 3:2 resonance chain
HD 110067 - a system with seven planets in orbital resonance
References
Planetary systems with four confirmed planets
Pre-main-sequence stars
T Tauri stars
K-type stars
Taurus (constellation)
Irregular variables
Tauri, V1298 | V1298 Tauri | [
"Astronomy"
] | 1,010 | [
"Taurus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
63,190,772 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International%20Journal%20of%20Machine%20Tools%20and%20Manufacture | The International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture is a peer-reviewed scientific journal dedicated to report the latest advancements in the fundamental understanding of mechanics of processes and machines applied to the manufacture of engineering parts made of metals, composites, ceramics and other structural/functional materials.
History
The journal was founded in 1960 in order to publish papers presented at and stimulated by the spin-off interest arising from the annual International Machine Tool Design & Research Conferences, held alternatively at the University of Birmingham and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.
Originally, it was titled, International Journal of Machine Tool Design and Research. Professor S.A. Tobias, as expert in machine tool dynamics at the University of Birmingham, was the founder of the journal and its first editor-in-chief.
Professor T.A. Dean, an expert in metal forming processes, at the University of Birmingham, took over this journal in 1986, when Professor S. A. Tobias died. On taking over, Professor Dean decided to reflect current developments in manufacturing technology by changing the focus of its aims and scope and renamed it International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture. Initially the journal was published by Pergamon Press and in 1991 was bought by Elsevier.
In 2018, following Professor Dean's retirement, Professor Dragos Axinte of University of Nottingham, an expert in machining technology, became editor-in-chief.
Indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in Engineering Index, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Applied Mechanics Reviews, Current Contents, COMPENDEX, Scopus, INSPEC.
According to the Elsevier Journal Insights, the journal has a 2021 impact factor of 10.331, a 5-year impact factor of 9.67, and a CiteScore of 17.0 with 98% percentile.
References
External links
Wrapping Machine
Monthly journals
Mechanical engineering journals
English-language journals
Academic journals established in 1960
Elsevier academic journals | International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture | [
"Engineering"
] | 385 | [
"Mechanical engineering journals",
"Mechanical engineering"
] |
63,191,880 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination%20in%20India | Vaccination in India includes the use of vaccines in Indian public health and the place of vaccines in Indian society, policy, and research.
Vaccination policy
India's Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) began in 1985. The UIP covers:
BCG vaccine for Tuberculosis
DPT vaccine for Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus
OPV vaccine for Poliomyelitis
Measles vaccine/ Measles and Rubella vaccine
Hepatitis B vaccine
TT vaccine
Pentavalent vaccine for Hib, DPT, Hep B
JE vaccine (localised)
Rotavirus vaccine
PCV for Streptococcus pneumoniae
Available vaccines
Coronavirus
India has been vaccinating against coronavirus since 16 January 2021.
Rotavirus
India's implementation of the rotavirus vaccine in its Universal Immunisation Programme has saved many children's lives.
Nearly every child in every country globally experiences at least one rotavirus infection in early childhood. However, in India, children are more likely to get this infection multiple times, and children in India are more likely to die from it.
A rotavirus vaccine is available. This vaccine is highly effective and has been preventing half of the severe rotovirus diarrhea cases which would occur in India otherwise. Scientists in India produce vaccines for this disease which are special for India only.
HPV
As of 2019 the Indian government is scaling up efforts to promote the HPV vaccine for girls to prevent cervical cancer. This effort began in 2008 with the introduction of one sort of vaccine and in 2018 the government began providing a newer version of the vaccine.
Respiratory syncytial virus
Cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in India mainly occur in North India in the winter. This virus causes lower respiratory tract infection.
Safety
India, like many other countries, uses the World Health Organization system for reporting and classifying "Adverse Events following Immunization". The government agency which manages this program is responsible for both increasing safety and giving an explanation if a problem occurs. Between 2012 and 2016, the system identified about 1000 cases. Researchers responded by examining these cases to improve safety.
History
In 1802 a 3-year-old girl in Mumbai received a smallpox vaccine, making her the first person to take a vaccine in India. The British government claimed success and began to block use of the previous technology variolation to only recommend vaccination instead. In hindsight, the situation was complicated because vaccines were the long-term solution but way that the British Raj introduced them was disruptive to how people accessed traditional health services, and to government operations, and in religion.
Society and culture
The pharmaceutical industry in India is strong and has a reputation for producing good vaccines for sale and export. Typically when a country makes vaccines, that means that local people have good access to them. For various reasons, India has both a strong vaccine manufacturing sector and also people in India, especially children, have higher rates of missing vaccines than in comparable countries.
Various commentators have given different reasons for why India has less vaccination. One historic reason is that India has contributed intensely to encouraging vaccines for smallpox and polio at the expense of being able to promote other vaccines. Another explanation could be that the Indian government underspends on vaccines in general. Somehow India's population does not demand vaccines, which could be a result of lack of public health education. India also has pseudoscience activists promoting vaccine hesitancy.
Some research has suggested that community engagement (CE) may be especially important to consider in supporting vaccination in India. This may include "[efforts that are] focused on upstream relationships (bidirectional), fostering trust, transparent communication, capacity building, and political will to ensure such approaches." There appears to be overarching support for vaccination CE among decisionmakers in India, but there remain many structural and social barriers to moving forward on this front.
Vaccines in research
Dengue
There has been a dengue vaccine available since 2015. However, this vaccine is not effective in many cases. The Indian government participates in the global research to develop an effective general use dengue vaccine.
Kala azar
There is research for a kala azar (Leishmaniasis) vaccine in India, but none exists.
Special populations
Foreign tourists visiting India contribute significantly to India's economy. People who visit India from countries with different diseases may not have vaccines to protect against infections in India. When tourists do get an infection in India, often that infection could have been prevented with a vaccine.
The World Health Organization recommends different vaccines for tourists in different circumstances. Those vaccines include diphtheria vaccine, tetanus vaccine, hepatitis A vaccine, hepatitis B vaccine, oral polio vaccine, typhoid vaccine, varicella vaccine, Japanese encephalitis, meningococcal vaccine, rabies vaccine, and yellow fever vaccine.
References
Healthcare in India
India | Vaccination in India | [
"Biology"
] | 1,004 | [
"Vaccination by country",
"Vaccination"
] |
63,192,046 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercollegiate%20Biomathematics%20Alliance | The Intercollegiate Biomathematics Alliance (IBA) is a syndicate of organizations focused on connecting both academic and non-academic institutions to promote the study of biomathematics, ecology, and other related fields. Biomathematics is a scientific area connecting biology, ecology, mathematics, and computer science. Founded in 2014 by Executive director Olcay Akman of Illinois State University, the Intercollegiate Biomathematics Alliance helps organizations to work together and share resources among one another that are not regularly available at all institutions. The IBA is still young and typically attracts smaller colleges around the United States who tend to benefit more from being part of a consortium. However, in recent years, universities such as Arizona State University have joined and the IBA continues to maintain connections with larger research groups such as the Mathematical Bioscience Institute (MBI) and the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS).
History
In 2007, Olcay Akman of mathematics and Steven Juliano of biological sciences started a master's degree program at Illinois State University. The program grew and is now operated under the same umbrella as the IBA, the Center for Collaborative Studies in Mathematical Biology. In 2008, the first BEER (Biomathematics Ecology Education and Research) conference was held at Illinois State University with only 10 speakers and less than 50 attendees. In 2014, the BEER conference was the second largest biomathematics conference globally with more than 100 speakers. Then in 2014, other universities were asked to collaborate with the common goal of educating students about biomathematics, and this led to the creation of the Intercollegiate Biomathematics Alliance (IBA).
The IBA is not the first to create a network of institutions. Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA participates in its own network of institutions that helps to provide students with greater access to resources. Similarly, Massachusetts Institute of Technology houses a consortium for research in energy, the MIT Energy Initiative. This network brings together the university and companies to expand research experiences and broaden educational perspectives. By pooling together resources, these consortia attempt to unite organizations under a common goal and share resources in infrastructure, intellect, and academia.
Member Institutions
As of 2021, the Intercollegiate Biomathematics Alliance has 9 member institutions. In 2019, the IBA had 11 member institutions. IBA members pay dues based on their institutional size. Individuals are also able to become members of the IBA with reduced rates for students.
There is some incentive beyond collaboration efforts to become an IBA member. The organization offers reduced registration fees to the International Symposium on BEER, access to distance education courses, a copy of Spora-Journal of Biomathematics, and travel funding.
Programs and Resources that the IBA Supports and Sponsors
BEAM: Biomathematics Education with Applications and Methods Grant
BEAM is a research grant for undergraduate research that supports both faculty members and students. BEAM also provides some support for participants at CURE.
BEER: Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research Symposium
BEER (Biomathematics Ecology Education and Research) is an annual research symposium that takes place in the fall. The first BEER symposium took place in 2008 at Illinois State University with only 10 speakers and 30 attendees. By 2014, BEER was the second largest biomathematics conference globally. In 2017, the 10th annual BEER symposium was celebrated at Illinois State University. BEER has also been hosted by other institutions such as Arizona State University (2018) and University of Wisconsin- La Crosse (2019). In 2020, the 13th annual BEER symposium was hosted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. BEER is expected to be hosted in 2021 by the University of Richmond in Richmond, VA.
CLOUD: CLOUD for Layering, Organizing, and Utilizing Data
IBA-CLOUD is a super computer available for IBA members to assist in research. IBA-CLOUD is a high-performance computing cluster server and available for members of IBA to use remotely.
CURE: Cross-Institutional Undergraduate Research Experience Workshop
Started in 2016, CURE is an undergraduate research workshop and experience. Students typically meet for a few days to work on their scientific research skills before choosing a faculty member to work with throughout the summer. Students come from around the country and some will present their work at BEER in the following fall.
PEER: Partners in Extending Education and Research
PEER is a service that the IBA provides for the scientific community. An appropriate IBA member will work together with individuals from other scientific fields to assist in experimental design, data analysis, and writing.
IBA-GCP: IBA Graduate Certificate Program
Designed to strengthen the mathematical biology background of students before they apply for graduate programs. Courses are available online and in person in the following areas: mathematical modeling, data analysis, computer science, and biological sciences.
Academic Journals: Letters in Biomathematics and Spora
Letters in Biomathematics (LiB) is an open access peer-reviewed international journal dedicated to showcasing the most current research in biomathematics and related fields.
Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics is an open-access research journal for undergraduate and graduate research in the field of biomathematics. Currently there are five published volumes of Spora and 31 total published papers.
Fellowship Awards
The IBA grants fellowship awards to outstanding scholars who have made significant contributions to the field of mathematical biology.
The Distinguished Senior Fellowship is awarded to senior scholars who have a record of significant scientific accomplishments and active leadership in biomathematics. This award is given on even-numbered years.
The Excellence in Research Award is awarded to junior scholars who have scientific accomplishments in biomathematics and the potential to become a leader in the field. This award is given on odd-numbered years.
References
Bioinformatics organizations
Organizations based in Illinois
Ecology
Academic organizations
Mathematical and theoretical biology | Intercollegiate Biomathematics Alliance | [
"Mathematics",
"Biology"
] | 1,181 | [
"Bioinformatics organizations",
"Mathematical and theoretical biology",
"Applied mathematics",
"Ecology",
"Bioinformatics"
] |
63,192,624 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astranis | Astranis Space Technologies Corp. is an American company specializing in geostationary communications satellites. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
In 2018, Astranis launched DemoSat-2, a prototype 3U CubeSat. The launch aimed to test software-defined radio (SDR) technology for future larger communications satellites.
The company publicly disclosed its projects in March 2018, following a funding round that was aimed at the development of geostationary communications satellites.
In January 2019, Astranis initiated a commercial program with Pacific Dataport, Inc. to increase the satellite internet capacity in Alaska. A 350 kg satellite was launched on April 30, 2023, as part of a multi-satellite payload.
Astranis was part of the Winter 2016 cohort of the Y Combinator accelerator program and has raised over $350 million in venture funding from firms such as BlackRock, Venrock, and Andreessen Horowitz.
History
Demonstration satellite
On January 12, 2018, Astranis launched its first satellite, "DemoSat 2", using an Indian PSLV-XL rocket. The satellite was a 3U cubesat measuring 10 cm x 10 cm x 30 cm and weighing less than 3 kg. It carried a prototype of the company's software-defined radio.
Geostationary satellites
Block 1
In 2019, Astranis leased its first MicroGEO spacecraft to Pacific Dataport, Inc., a subsidiary of Microcom. The satellite, named Arcturus, initially had an anticipated launch date in early 2022, which was later delayed to April 2023. After the launch, the company confirmed successful communication with the satellite and hardware deployment. Subsequent tests showed the spacecraft could deliver up to 8.5 Gbit/s, compared to its design specification of 7.5 Gbit/s.
In July 2023, Astranis reported a malfunction in an externally supplied solar array drive assembly on Arcturus, which affected the spacecraft's ability to provide internet service. According to Astranis CEO John Gedmark, no hardware built by Astranis failed.
Block 2
In April 2022, Astranis signed a launch contract with SpaceX for their "Block 2" MicroGEO spacecraft. The company had previously initiated component orders for these spacecraft, with an initial aim to complete them by the end of 2022.
Block 3
Block 3, consisting of five satellites, was originally planned to launch in mid-2024 but is now scheduled for 2025. Customers include Orbits Corp of the Philippines, Thaicom of Thailand, Orbith of Argentina, and Apco Networks of Mexico.
Future
A replacement for Arcturus is scheduled for early 2025. Astranis CEO John Gedmark stated in April 2022 that the company aims to have over 100 satellites in active service by 2030.
Spacecraft
References
Space
Communications satellite operators
Spacecraft manufacturers
Satellite operators | Astranis | [
"Physics",
"Mathematics"
] | 588 | [
"Spacetime",
"Space",
"Geometry"
] |
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