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63,755,704 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandra%20Pivec | Aleksandra Pivec (born 26 March 1972) is a Slovenian chemical engineer and politician who served as the country's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food from 2018 to 2020 and Deputy Prime Minister from March to October 2020.
Early life and education
Pivec was born on 26 March 1972 in Ptuj. Her family is known for wine-making.
Pivec has a Bachelor of Science and a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Ljubljana. Her thesis was on the optimisation of wine fermentation processes.
Career
Pivec worked at the Scientific Research Centre Bistra Ptuj for 17 years, including 6 years as its director. She served as state secretary at the Government Office for Slovenians Abroad from 2016 before being appointed Minister for Agriculture in the government of Marjan Šarec on 13 September 2018. She gained wide media exposure as a minister, appearing at numerous events across the country.
Pivec became leader of the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia on 18 January 2020, defeating Defence Minister Karl Erjavec, who then resigned. In the campaign leading up to the election, the media had focused on Pivec's failure to report money she made consulting for a state-funded tourism project to the anti-graft commission as required by law. She became Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Prime Minister Janez Janša on 13 March 2020.
Publications
References
Living people
1972 births
People from Ptuj
Women chemical engineers
University of Ljubljana alumni
Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia politicians
Women government ministers of Slovenia
Agriculture ministers of Slovenia
Food ministers of Slovenia
Forestry ministers of Slovenia
Deputy prime ministers of Slovenia
21st-century Slovenian women politicians
21st-century Slovenian politicians | Aleksandra Pivec | [
"Chemistry"
] | 340 | [
"Women chemical engineers",
"Chemical engineers"
] |
63,755,990 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quirin%20Vrehen | Quirinus Henricus Franciscus "Quirin" Vrehen (25 February 1932 – 5 February 2023) was a Dutch physicist. He served as head physicist of the Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium.
Life
Vrehen was born on 25 February 1932 in 's-Hertogenbosch. He obtained a PhD in physics from Utrecht University in 1963 under professor Volger with a thesis on electron spin resonance and optical studies of solids. From 1963 to 1966 he worked in the United States at the MIT National Magnetic Laboratory. At the institute he worked on magneto-optical experiments on semiconductors. Vrehen then returned to the Netherlands and started working at the Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium. At the laboratorium he served as leader of the spectroscopy group. From 1980 to 1985 he focused on laser spectroscopy. He later became head physicist at the laboratorium.
Vrehen was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1988. He died on 5 February 2023 in Eindhoven.
References
1932 births
2023 deaths
20th-century Dutch physicists
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
People from 's-Hertogenbosch
Spectroscopists
Utrecht University alumni | Quirin Vrehen | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 258 | [
"Physical chemists",
"Spectrum (physical sciences)",
"Analytical chemists",
"Spectroscopists",
"Spectroscopy"
] |
63,758,049 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuga%20cycle | A Yuga Cycle ( chatur yuga, maha yuga, etc.) is a cyclic age (epoch) in Hindu cosmology. Each cycle lasts for 4,320,000 years (12,000 divine years) and repeats four yugas (world ages): Krita (Satya) Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga.
As a Yuga Cycle progresses through the four yugas, each yuga's length and humanity's general moral and physical state within each yuga decrease by one-fourth. Kali Yuga, which lasts for 432,000 years, is believed to have started in 3102 BCE. Near the end of Kali Yuga, when virtues are at their worst, a cataclysm and a re-establishment of dharma occur to usher in the next cycle's Krita (Satya) Yuga, prophesied to occur by Kalki.
There are 71 Yuga Cycles in a manvantara (age of Manu) and 1,000 Yuga Cycles in a kalpa (day of Brahma).
Lexicology
A Yuga Cycle has several names.
Age or Yuga ():
"Age" and "Yuga", sometimes with reverential capitalization, commonly denote a "", a cycle of four world ages, unless expressly limited by the name of one of its minor ages (e.g. Kali Yuga). Its archaic spelling is yug, with other forms of yugam, , and yuge, derived from yuj (), believed derived from (Proto-Indo-European: 'to join or unite').
Chatur Yuga ():
A cyclic age encompassing the four yuga ages as defined in Hindu texts: Surya Siddhanta, Manusmriti, and Bhagavata Purana.
Daiva Yuga (),
Deva Yuga (),
Divya Yuga ():
A cyclic age of the divine, celestrial, or gods (Devas) encompassing the four yuga ages ( "human ages" or "world ages"). The Hindu texts give a length of 12,000 divine years, where a divine year lasts for 360 solar (human) years.
Maha Yuga ():
A greater cyclic age encompassing the smaller four yuga ages.
Yuga Cycle () + ():
A cyclic age encompassing the four yuga ages.
It is theorized that the concept of the four yugas originated some time after the compilation of the four Vedas, but prior to the rest of the Hindu texts, based on the concept's absence in the former writings. It is believed that the four yugas—Krita (Satya), Treta, Dvapara, and Kali—are named after throws of an Indian game of long dice, marked with 4-3-2-1 respectively. A dice game is described in the Rigveda, Atharvaveda, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas, while the four yugas are described after the four Vedas with no mention of a correlation to dice. A complete description of the four yugas and their characteristics are in the Vishnu Smriti (ch. 20), Mahabharata (e.g. Vanaparva 149, 183), Manusmriti (I.81–86), and Puranas (e.g. Brahma, ch. 122–123; Matsya, ch. 142–143; Naradiya, Purvardha, ch. 41). The four yugas are also described in the Bhagavata Purana (3.11.18–20).
Duration and structure
Hindu texts describe four yugas (world ages) in a Yuga Cycle—Krita (Satya) Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga—where, starting in order from the first age, each yuga's length decreases by one-fourth (25%), giving proportions of 4:3:2:1. Each yuga is described as having a main period ( yuga proper) preceded by its (dawn) and followed by its (dusk), where each twilight (dawn/dusk) lasts for one-tenth (10%) of its main period. Lengths are given in divine years (years of the gods), each lasting for 360 solar (human) years.
Each Yuga Cycle lasts for 4,320,000 years (12,000 divine years) with its four yugas: Krita (Satya) Yuga for 1,728,000 (4,800 divine) years, Treta Yuga for 1,296,000 (3,600 divine) years, Dvapara Yuga for 864,000 (2,400 divine) years, and Kali Yuga for 432,000 (1,200 divine) years.
The current cycle's four yugas have the following dates based on Kali Yuga, the fourth and present age, starting in 3102 BCE:
Mahabharata, Book 12 (Shanti Parva), Ch. 231:
Manusmriti, Ch. 1:
Surya Siddhanta, Ch. 1:
Greater cycles
There are 71 Yuga Cycles (306,720,000 years) in a manvantara, a period ruled by Manu, who is the progenitor of mankind. There are 1,000 Yuga Cycles (4,320,000,000 years) in a kalpa, a period that is a day (12-hour day proper) of Brahma, who is the creator of the planets and first living entities. There are 14 manvantaras (4,294,080,000 years) in a kalpa with a remainder of 25,920,000 years assigned to 15 manvantara-sandhyas (junctures), each the length of a Satya Yuga (1,728,000 years). A kalpa is followed by a pralaya (night or partial dissolution) of equal length forming a full day (24-hour day). A maha-kalpa (life of Brahma) lasts for 100 360-day years of Brahma, which lasts for 72,000,000 Yuga Cycles (311.04 trillion years) and is followed by a maha-pralaya (full dissolution) of equal length.
We are currently halfway through Brahma's life (maha-kalpa):
51st year of 100 (2nd half or parardha)
1st month of 12
1st kalpa (Shveta-Varaha Kalpa) of 30
7th manvantara (Vaivasvatha Manu) of 14
28th chatur-yuga ( Yuga Cycle) of 71
4th yuga (Kali Yuga) of 4
Yuga dates are used in an ashloka, which is read out at the beginning of Hindu rites to specify the elapsed time in Brahma's life. For example, an ashloka in 2007CE of the Gregorian calendar might include the lines:
Avatars
Ganesha
Ganesha avatars are described as coming during specific yugas.
Vishnu
The Puranas describe Vishnu avatars that come during specific yugas, but may not occur in every Yuga Cycle.
Vamana appears at the beginning of Treta Yuga. According to Vayu Purana, Vamana's 3rd appearance was in the 7th Treta Yuga.
Rama appears at the end of Treta Yuga. According to Vayu Purana and Matsya Purana, Rama appeared in the 24th Yuga Cycle. According to Padma Purana, Rama also appeared in the 27th Yuga Cycle of the 6th (previous) manvantara.
Vyasa
Vyasa is attributed as the compiler of the four Vedas, Mahabharata, and Puranas. According to the Vishnu Purana, Kurma Purana, and Shiva Purana, a different Vyasa comes at the end of each Dvapara Yuga to write down veda (knowledge) to guide humans in the degraded age of Kali Yuga.
Modern theories
Breaking from the long duration of a Yuga Cycle, new theories have emerged regarding the length, number, and order of the yugas.
Sri Yukteswar Giri
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri (1855–1936) proposed a Yuga Cycle of 24,000 years in the introduction of his book The Holy Science (1894).
He claimed the understanding that Kali Yuga lasts for 432,000 years was a mistake, which he traced back to Raja Parikshit, just after the descending Dvapara Yuga ended ( 3101BCE) and all the wise men of his court retired to the Himalaya Mountains. With no one left to correctly calculate the ages, Kali Yuga never officially started. After 499CE, in ascending Dvapara Yuga, when the intellect of men began to develop, but not fully, they noticed mistakes and attempted to correct them by converting what they thought to be divine years to human years (1:360 ratio). Yukteswar's yuga lengths for Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali are respectively 4,800, 3,600, 2,400, and 1,200 "human" years (12,000 years total).
He accepted the four yugas and their 4:3:2:1 length and dharma proportions, but his Yuga Cycle contained eight yugas, the original descending set of the four yugas followed by an ascending (reversed) set, where he called each set a "Daiva Yuga" or "Electric Couple". His Yuga Cycle lasts for 24,000 years, which he believed equals one precession of the equinoxes (traditionally 25,920 years; 1,920 years difference). He states that the world entered the Pisces-Virgo Age in 499CE ("cycle bottom"), and that the current age of ascending Dvapara Yuga started in 1699CE around the time of scientific discoveries and advancements such as electricity.
He explained that in a 24,000-year Yuga Cycle, the Sun completes one orbit around some dual star, becoming nearer and farther to a galactic center, which the pair orbit in a longer period. He called this galactic center Vishnunabhi (Vishnu's Navel), where Brahma regulates dharma or, as Yukteswar defined it, mental virtue. Dharma is lowest when farthest from Brahma at the descending-ascending intersection ("cycle-bottom"), where the opposite occurs at the "cycle-top" when nearest. At dharma's lowest (499CE), human intellect cannot comprehend anything beyond the gross material world.
Joscelyn Godwin states that Yukteswar believed the traditional chronology of the yugas wrong and rigged for political reasons, but that Yukteswar may have had political reasons of his own, evident in a police report printed in Atlantis and the Cycles of Time, which links Yukteswar to a secret anti-colonial movement called Yugantar, meaning "new age" or "transition of an epoch".
Godwin claims the Jain time cycle and the European myth of progress influenced Yukteswar, whose theory only recently became prominent outside India. Humanity in an upward cycle is contrary to traditional ideas. Godwin points out many philosophies and religions that started during a time when "man could not see beyond the gross material world" (701BCE1699CE). Only materialists and atheists would welcome the post-1700 age as an improvement.
John Major Jenkins, who adjusted ascending Kali Yuga from 499CE to 2012 in his version, criticizes Yukteswar as wanting the "cycle-bottom" to correspond to his education, beliefs, and historical understanding. Technology has thrust us deeper into material dependency and spiritual darkness.
René Guénon
René Guénon (1886–1951) proposed a Yuga Cycle of 64,800 years in his 1931 French article, which was later translated in the book Traditional Forms & Cosmic Cycles (2001).
Guénon accepted the doctrine of the four yugas, the 4:3:2:1 yuga length proportions, and Kali Yuga as the present age. He couldn't accept the extremely large lengths and felt they were encoded with additional zeros to mislead those who might use it to predict the future. He reduced a Yuga Cycle from 4,320,000 to 4,320 years (1,728 + 1,296 + 864 + 432), but he felt this was too short for humanity's history.
In looking for a multiplier, he worked backwards from the precession of the equinoxes (traditionally 25,920 years; 360 72-year degrees). Using 25,920 and 72, he calculated the sub-multiplier to be 4,320 years (72 × 60 = 4,320; 4,320 × 6 = 25,920). In noticing the "great year" of the Persians (~12,000) and Greeks (~13,000) as almost half the precession, he concluded a "great year" must be 12,960 years (4,320 × 3). In trying to find the whole number of "great years" in a manvantara or reign of Vaivasvata Manu, he found the reign of Xisuthros of the Chaldeans to be set to 64,800 years (12,960 × 5), someone he thought to be the same Manu. Guénon felt 64,800 years was a more plausible length that may line up with humanity's history. He calculated a 64,800 manvantara divided into a 4,320 "encoded" Yuga Cycle gave a multiplier of 15 (5 "great years"). Using 15 as the multiplier, he "decoded" a 5-"great year" Yuga Cycle as having the following yuga lengths:
Satya: 25,920 (4 ratio or 2 × "great year"; 15 × 1,728)
Treta: 19,440 (3 ratio or 1.5 × "great year"; 15 × 1,296)
Dvapara: 12,960 (2 ratio or 1 × "great year"; 15 × 864)
Kali: 6,480 (1 ratio or 0.5 × "great year"; 15 × 432)
Guénon did not give a start date for Kali Yuga, but instead left clues in his description of the cataclysmic destruction of the Atlantean civilization. His commentator, Jean Robin, in an early 1980s publication, claimed to have decoded this description and calculated that Kali Yuga lasted from 4481BCE to 1999CE (2000CE excluding year 0). In Les Quatre Âges de L’Humanité (The Four Ages of Humanity), a book written in 1949 by Gaston Georgel, this same end date of 1999 CE was calculated; although, in his 1983 book titled Le Cycle Judéo-Chrétien (The Judeo-Christian Cycle), he later argued to shift the cycle forward by 31 years to end in 2030 CE.
Alain Daniélou
Alain Daniélou (1907–1994) proposed a Yuga Cycle of 60,487 years in his book While the Gods Play: Shaiva Oracles and Predictions on the Cycles of History and the Destiny of Mankind (1985).
Daniélou and René Guénon had some correspondence where they both couldn't accept the extremely large lengths found in the Puranas. Daniélou mostly cited Linga Purana and his calculations are based on a 4,320,000-year Yuga Cycle containing (his calculation of 1000 ÷ 14) 71.42 manvantaras, each containing 4 yugas [4:3:2:1 proportions]. He pegged 3102BCE as the start of Kali Yuga and placed it after the dawn (yuga-sandhya). He claimed his dates are accurate to within 50 years, and that the Yuga Cycle started with a great flood and appearance of Cro-Magnon man, and will end with a catastrophe wiping out mankind.
Joscelyn Godwin found that Daniélou's misunderstanding rests solely on a bad translation of Linga Purana 1.4.7.
Hindu astronomy
In the early texts of Hindu astronomy such as Surya Siddhanta, the length of a yuga cycle is used to specify the orbital period of heavenly bodies. Instead of specifying the period of a single orbit of a heavenly body around the Earth, the number of orbits of a heavenly body in a yuga cycle is specified.
Surya Siddhanta, Ch. 1:
The orbital period of heavenly bodies can be derived from the above numbers provided the starting point of a yuga cycle is known. According to Burgess, the Surya Siddhanta fixes the starting point of Kali Yuga as:
Based on this starting point, Ebenezer Burgess calculates the following planetary orbital periods:
Other cultures
According to Robert Bolton, there is a universal belief in many traditions that the world started in a perfect state, when nature and the supernatural were still in harmony with all things in their fullest degree of perfection possible, which was followed by an unpreventable constant deterioration of the world through the ages.
In the Works and Days (lines 109–201; 700BCE), considered the earliest European writing about human ages, the Greek poet Hesiod describes five ages (Golden, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and Iron Ages), where the Heroic Age was added, according to Godwin, as a compromise with Greek history when the Trojan War and its heroes loomed so large. Bolton explains that the men of the Golden Age lived like gods without sorrow, toil, grief, and old age, while the men of the Iron Age ("the race of iron") never rest from labor and sorrow, are degenerated without shame, morality, and righteous indignation, and have short lives with frequent deaths at night, where even a new-born baby shows signs of old age, only to end when Zeus destroys it all.
In the Statesman (), the Athenian philosopher Plato describes time as an indefinite cycle of two 36,000-year halves: (1) the world's unmaking descent into chaos and destruction; (2) the world's remaking by its creator into a renewed state. In the Cratylus (397e), Plato recounts the golden race of men who came first, who were noble and good daemons (godlike guides) upon the earth.
In the Metamorphoses (I, 89–150; 8BCE), the Roman poet Ovid describes four ages (Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages), excluding Hesiod's Heroic Age, as a downward curve with the present time as the nadir of misery and immorality, according to Godwin, affecting both human life and the after-death state, where deaths in the first two ages became immortal, watchful spirits that benefited the human race, deaths in the third age went to Hades (Greek god of the underworld), and deaths in the fourth age had an unknown fate.
Joscelyn Godwin posits that it is probably from Hindu tradition that knowledge of the ages reached the Greeks and other Indo-European peoples. Godwin adds that the number 432,000 (Kali Yuga's duration) occurring in four widely separated cultures (Hindu, Chaldean, Chinese, and Icelandic) has long been noticed.
See also
Hindu eschatology
Hindu units of time
Kalpa (day of Brahma)
Manvantara (age of Manu)
Pralaya (period of dissolution)
Yuga Cycle (four yuga ages): Satya (Krita), Treta, Dvapara, and Kali
Itihasa (Hindu Tradition)
List of numbers in Hindu scriptures
Vedic-Puranic chronology
Explanatory notes
References
Four Yugas
Hindu astronomy
Hindu philosophical concepts
Time in Hinduism
Units of time | Yuga cycle | [
"Physics",
"Mathematics"
] | 4,221 | [
"Physical quantities",
"Time",
"Units of time",
"Quantity",
"Spacetime",
"Units of measurement"
] |
63,758,220 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic%20mutation | A somatic mutation is a change in the DNA sequence of a somatic cell of a multicellular organism with dedicated reproductive cells; that is, any mutation that occurs in a cell other than a gamete, germ cell, or gametocyte. Unlike germline mutations, which can be passed on to the descendants of an organism, somatic mutations are not usually transmitted to descendants. This distinction is blurred in plants, which lack a dedicated germline, and in those animals that can reproduce asexually through mechanisms such as budding, as in members of the cnidarian genus Hydra.
While somatic mutations are not passed down to an organism's offspring, somatic mutations will be present in all descendants of a cell within the same organism. Many cancers are the result of accumulated somatic mutations.
Fraction of cells affected
The term somatic generally refers to the cells of the body, in contrast to the reproductive (germline) cells, which give rise to the egg or sperm. For example, in mammals, somatic cells make up the internal organs, skin, bones, blood, and connective tissue.
In most animals, separation of germ cells from somatic cells (germline development) occurs during early stages of development. Once this segregation has occurred in the embryo, any mutation outside of the germline cells can not be passed down to an organism's offspring.
However, somatic mutations are passed down to all the progeny of a mutated cell within the same organism. A major section of an organism therefore might carry the same mutation, especially if that mutation occurs at earlier stages of development. Somatic mutations that occur later in an organism's life can be hard to detect, as they may affect only a single cell—for instance, a post-mitotic neuron; improvements in single cell sequencing are therefore an important tool for the study of somatic mutation. Both the nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA of a cell can accumulate mutations; somatic mitochondrial mutations have been implicated in development of some neurodegenerative diseases.
Exceptions to inheritance
There are many exceptions to the rule that somatic mutations cannot be inherited by offspring. Many organisms simply do not dedicate a separate germline during early development. Plants and basal animals such as sponges and corals instead generate gametes from pluripotent stem cells in adult somatic tissues. In flowering plants, for example, germ cells can arise from adult somatic cells in the floral meristem. Other animals without a designated germ line include tunicates and flatworms.
Somatic mutations can also be passed down to offspring in organisms that can reproduce asexually, without production of gametes. For instance, animals in the cnidarian genus Hydra can reproduce asexually through the mechanism of budding (they can also reproduce sexually). In hydra, a new bud develops directly from somatic cells of the parent hydra. A mutation present in the tissue that gives rise to the daughter organism would be passed down to that offspring.
Many plants naturally reproduce through vegetative reproduction—growth of a new plant from a fragment of the parent plant—propagating somatic mutations without the step of seed production. Humans artificially induce vegetative reproduction via grafting and stem cuttings.
Causes
As with germline mutations, mutations in somatic cells may arise due to endogenous factors, including errors during DNA replication and repair, and exposure to reactive oxygen species produced by normal cellular processes. Mutations can also be induced by contact with mutagens, which can increase the rate of mutation.
Most mutagens act by causing DNA damage—alterations in DNA structure such as pyrimidine dimers, or breakage of one or both DNA strands. DNA repair processes can remove DNA damages that would, otherwise, upon DNA replication, cause mutation. Mutation results from damage when mistakes in the mechanism of DNA repair cause changes in the nucleotide sequence, or if replication occurs before repair is complete.
Mutagens can be physical, such as radiation from UV rays and X-rays, or chemical—molecules that interact directly with DNA—such as metabolites of benzo[a]pyrene, a potent carcinogen found in tobacco smoke. Mutagens associated with cancers are often studied to learn about cancer and its prevention.
Mutation frequency
Research suggests that the frequency of mutations is generally higher in somatic cells than in cells of the germline; furthermore, there are differences in the types of mutation seen in the germ and in the soma. There is variation in mutation frequency between different somatic tissues within the same organism and between species.
Milholland et al. (2017) examined the mutation rate of dermal fibroblasts (a type of somatic cell) and germline cells in humans and in mice. They measured the rate of single nucleotide variants (SNVs), most of which are a consequence of replication error. Both in terms of mutational load (total mutations present in a cell) and mutation rate per cell division (new mutations with each mitosis), somatic mutation rates were more than ten times that of the germline, in humans and in mice.
In humans, mutation load in fibroblasts was over twenty times greater than germline (2.8 × 10−7 compared with 1.2 × 10−8 mutations per base pair). Adjusted for differences in the estimated number of cell divisions, the fibroblast mutation rate was about 80 times greater than the germ (respectively, 2.66 × 10−9 vs. 3.3 × 10−11 mutations per base pair per mitosis).
The disparity in mutation rate between the germline and somatic tissues likely reflects the greater importance of genetic integrity in the germline than in the soma. Variation in mutation frequency may be due to differences in rates of DNA damage or to differences in the DNA repair process as a result of elevated levels of DNA repair enzymes.
In April 2022 it has been reported that most mammals have about the same number of mutations by the time they reach the end of their lifespan, so those that have similar lifespan will have similar somatic mutation rates and those who live less/more will have a higher/lower rate of somatic mutations respectively.
Neurons
Post-mitotic neurons accumulate somatic mutations at a constant rate throughout life, and this rate is roughly similar to the mutation rates of mitotically active tissues. The mutations in neurons may arise as a consequence of endogenous DNA damage and the somewhat inaccurate repair of such damage that occurs all the time in cells.
Somatic hypermutation
As a part of the adaptive immune response, antibody-producing B cells experience a mutation rate many times higher than the normal rate of mutation. The mutation rate in antigen-binding coding sequences of the immunoglobulin genes is up to 1,000,000 times higher than in cell lines outside the lymphoid system. A major step in affinity maturation, somatic hypermutation helps B cells produce antibodies with greater antigen affinity.
Disease
Somatic mutations accumulate within an organism's cells as it ages and with each round of cell division; the role of somatic mutations in the development of cancer is well established, and the accumulation of somatic mutations is implicated in the biology of aging.
Mutations in neuronal stem cells (especially during neurogenesis) and in post-mitotic neurons lead to genomic heterogeneity of neurons—referred to as "somatic brain mosaicism". The accumulation of age-related mutations in neurons may be linked to neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, but the association is unproven. The majority of central-nervous system cells in the adult are post-mitotic, and adult mutations might affect only a single neuron. Unlike in cancer, where mutations result in clonal proliferation, detrimental somatic mutations might contribute to neurodegenerative disease by cell death. Accurate assessment of somatic mutation burden in neurons therefore remains difficult to assess.
Role in carcinogenesis
If a mutation occurs in a cell of an organism, that mutation will be present in all the descendants of this cell within the same organism. The accumulation of certain mutations over generations of somatic cells is part of the process of malignant transformation, from normal cell to cancer cell.
Cells with heterozygous loss-of-function mutations (one good copy of a gene and one mutated copy) may function normally with the unmutated copy until the good copy has been spontaneously somatically mutated. This kind of mutation happens often in living organisms, but it is difficult to measure the rate. Measuring this rate is important in predicting the rate at which people may develop cancer.
See also
Mosaic (genetics)
Human somatic variation
References
DNA
Genetics
Mutation | Somatic mutation | [
"Biology"
] | 1,816 | [
"Genetics"
] |
63,759,475 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernardo%20Houssay%20Award | The Bernardo Houssay Award () is a distinction awarded by Argentina's Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation to honor outstanding work by scientists and researchers. The Ministry selects recipients annually through a jury of prominent scientists. Presented by the President of Argentina, it is one of the country's most prestigious prizes in the field of science and engineering.
The award's name is a tribute to the doctor Bernardo Houssay, an Argentine Nobel Prize recipient. The Jorge Sabato Award is named in honor of an Argentine technology pioneer, and confers a significant sum of money in addition to a medal.
Distinctions
The Houssay Award is aimed at researchers under the age of 45 who carried out most of their scientific activity in Argentina. It recognizes work in each of four areas: physics, mathematics, and computer science; chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology; medical sciences; and social sciences (which includes psychology, educational sciences, sociology, law, demography, geography and political science).
The Houssay Career Award is given in the same categories, but to those over 45.
The Jorge Sabato Award (first given in 2013) goes to researchers who excel in technology transfer and developments with economic-productive impact in sectors critical to the country's growth.
The Researcher of the Nation Distinction was instituted in 2009. It is organized by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation through the Secretariat for Planning and Policies in Science, Technology, and Productive Innovation. The winner is selected among the recipients of the other three awards.
The jury is composed of notable national scientific figures, and according to the Minister of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, Lino Barañao:
Each winner receives a diploma, a medal, and a monetary prize. These are personally presented by the President of the Nation and the Minister of Science and Technology, either at the Casa Rosada or the headquarters of the .
In 2010 and 2011, the Rebeca Gerschman Award was also presented to women researchers over 60 years of age, which consisted of a gold medal.
History
The award was created by the national government through Law 25.467, Article 25 in 2001.
It was first presented in 2003 as the "Bernardo Houssay Awards for Scientific-Technological Research". They were given in three categories: Career, Consolidated Researcher, and Young Researcher.
Recipients
Researcher of the Nation
References
External links
2003 establishments in Argentina
Argentine awards
Awards established in 2003
Research awards | Bernardo Houssay Award | [
"Technology"
] | 494 | [
"Science and technology awards",
"Research awards"
] |
63,761,382 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochii | Mochii is a miniature scanning electron microscope made by Seattle-based startup company Voxa. The Mochii has the same capabilities as a conventional SEM, such as usage in materials science for research purposes, microchip and semiconductor quality control, and medicine. Mochii users are able to operate the microscope using an IOS app.
History
Development of what ended up being the Mochii began in 2012. The goal of the Mochii was to take scanning electron microscopes, conventionally large, expensive, and unwieldy tools, and shrink them down in order to decrease cost and increase portability.
In 2015, Voxa began collaborating with NASA who saw the potential of taking the Mochii to space. In the last few years, NASA has provided upwards of $450,000 for the development of the Mochii. The Mochii had to confront issues unique to space-based operation such as "errant fluid behavior, residual gravity gradients, cosmic rays, and safety of flight".
In 2018, the Mochii won the Microscopy Today Innovation Award, an industry award given for inventions that make microscopy more efficient and powerful.
In June 2019, the Mochii participated in the 23rd NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) mission.
On February 15, 2020, the Mochii launched on the Cygnus cargo spacecraft, headed to the ISS. Voxa's microscope is supposed to help with on-site imaging at the ISS, this eliminates the need for sending the sample back down to Earth which has the issues of cost, time, and potential sample damage.
Specifications
The Mochii measures and weighs around 6 pounds. The SEM's stage measures . The Mochii has a swap-able optical cartridge that eliminates the need for in-person servicing. The cartridge has a source potential of 10 kV, a 5000x magnification, a backscatter array detector, and auto-calibration. The microscope is capable of EDS, a technique which analyzes the energy spectrum of a sample in order to find out the abundance of certain elements. The Mochii comes outfitted with an app that runs on Apple devices that run IOS 8 or higher.
References
Scientific equipment
Microscopes
Scanning probe microscopy | Mochii | [
"Chemistry",
"Materials_science",
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 462 | [
"Measuring instruments",
"Microscopes",
"Scanning probe microscopy",
"Microscopy",
"Nanotechnology"
] |
63,762,429 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20content%20platforms%20by%20monthly%20active%20users | This is a list of top 100 content platforms services by monthly active users (MAU):
See also
List of social platforms with at least 100 million active users
References
Streaming
Internet-related lists | List of content platforms by monthly active users | [
"Technology"
] | 40 | [
"Multimedia",
"Streaming",
"Computing-related lists",
"Internet-related lists"
] |
63,762,870 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvation | Volvation (from Latin volvere "roll", and the suffix -(a)tion; sometimes called enrolment or conglobation), is a defensive behavior in certain animals, in which the animal rolls its own body into a ball, presenting only the hardest parts of its integument (the animal's "armor"), or its spines to predators.
Among mammals, vertebrates like pangolins (Manidae) and hedgehogs (Erinaceidae) exhibit the ability to conglobate. Armadillos in the genus Tolypeutes (South American three-banded armadillos) are able to roll into a defensive ball; however the nine-banded armadillo and other species have too many plates.
Earthworms may volvate during periods of extreme heat or drought.
Among pill millipedes, volvation is both a protection against external threats and against dehydration.
Woodlice or pillbugs (Armadillidae) curl themselves into "pills" not only for defense, but also to conserve moisture while resting or sleeping, because they must keep their pseudotrachaea ("gills") wet. Volvation is particularly well evolved in subterranean isopods, but only Caecosphaeroma burgundum is able to roll up into a hermetic sphere without any outward projections, and thus "approaches perfection in volvation".
Multi-shelled chitons also volvate, although evidence suggests that they do not use this behavior as an anti-predatory defense but rather as a form of locomotion.
In vertebrates, an animal's decision to volvate is mediated by the periaqueductal gray region.
Gallery
See also
Rotating locomotion in living systems
References
Ethology
Predation
Antipredator adaptations | Volvation | [
"Biology"
] | 378 | [
"Behavior",
"Biological defense mechanisms",
"Behavioural sciences",
"Antipredator adaptations",
"Ethology"
] |
63,763,459 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%202020 | NGC 2020 is an HII Region surrounding the Wolf-Rayet star BAT99-59. It is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
The nebula was discovered on 30 December 1836 by polymath John Herschel. Together with NGC 2014 it makes up the Cosmic Reef.
References
External links
H II regions
Large Magellanic Cloud
Dorado
2020 | NGC 2020 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 74 | [
"Nebula stubs",
"Dorado",
"Astronomy stubs",
"Constellations"
] |
63,763,867 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile%20infrastructure | Agile IT infrastructure, or Agile Infrastructure for short, is an emerging type of IT infrastructure that goes beyond Hyper-converged infrastructure and puts emphasis on:
speed of implementing change;
reducing complexity;
resilience;
quick adaptation to new technologies;
taking advantage of lightweight deployment options;
easy accessibility of management tools; and
making everyone heroes, not just a few individuals.
References
Infrastructure
Computing platforms
Information technology | Agile infrastructure | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 80 | [
"Information and communications technology",
"Computing platforms",
"Construction",
"Information technology",
"Infrastructure"
] |
63,764,103 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otoconin | Otoconin is a structural glycoprotein found in the otoconial membrane of vertebrates. It is the major protein component of the otoconia (ear dust).
In mice the protein is called otoconin-90, and is coded by the Ocn-95 gene. In humans the ortholog is called PLA2L, originally believed to be a pseudogene.
In mice the protein contains 469 amino acids, and is coded by 1906 base-pair DNA. In mice the protein is first formed at day 9.5 in the otic vesicle dorsal wall epithelium, and also in the endolymphatic duct. This is before any minerals are deposited. Four days later it also appears in the non-sensory epithelium of the utricle and saccule and semicircular canals. The roof of the cochlear duct also has some. By ten days after birth the protein is not found in any cells, but only in the acellular membranes.
The otoconin-90 contains two secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) domains. sPLA2 has a rigid structure with eight disulfide bonds. The sPLA2 domain has the ability to bind a phospholipid, but does not have enzymatic capability. Presumably the domain also binds calcium Ca2+ ions and carbonate CO32+. Otoconin-90 would position the ions to fit into a calcite lattice. The calcium is hypothesized to be secreted from the sensory epithelium into the gelatinous substance on the top of which it meets otoconin and forms otoconia.
In amphibians (Xenopus) a similar mass protein is contained in the utricle along with calcite. The saccule contains aragonite with otoconin-22 which is 22 kDa in mass. Otoconin-22 contains 127 amino acids. Otoconin-22 has a single sPLA2 domain.
Chondrostean fish contain a similar protein of 40 to 50 kDa mass, and vaterite as the mineral component.
In mammals otoconin makes up 90% of the protein component of an otoconium grain, primarily in the core.
References
Glycoproteins | Otoconin | [
"Chemistry"
] | 485 | [
"Glycoproteins",
"Glycobiology"
] |
63,764,290 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirTag%20%28company%29 | AirTag was a French startup that was acquired by Morpho, at the time a Safran subsidiary, in 2015. It was a mobile shopping and payments provider.
History
AirTag was founded in 2006 by Jérémie Leroyer, Cyrille Porteret, Cedric Nicolas and Gunnar Graef. As of late 2012, investors had provided €6 million in seed capital, following a second-round in 2011 when it secured €4 million.
In October 2008, AirTag launched what it called the first NFC software development kit (SDK). It included an NFC reader and four types of NFC tags. In 2012, the company launched another SDK. This one included hardware for smartphone-based payments.
In 2009, AirTag and its partner Netsize launched Airtag Pad, an in-store terminal for clients to check their loyalty points, ask about tailored products, etc. Reebok hired it for its line of Go Sport stores.
Nokia C7, the world's first smartphone with an NFC chip, was able to pick up loyalty points and discount coupons on the phone, through a partnership with AirTag.
AirTag built McDonald's France smartphone app GoMcDo which was one of the first to integrate with Apple's Passbook soon after the latter's initial launch with iOS 6 in 2012.
In 2012, Carrefour's mobile app for near-field communication (NFC) purchasing was built by AirTag. In 2013, French newspaper L'Express ranked AirTag among the top 30 French internet startups. That same spring, AirTag launched KFC’s first mobile wallet to order and pay via smartphone; three months later, 90% of those installing the app were placing orders through it. Late that year, AirTag admitted it was not profitable.
In 2014, the company had 50 employees when it launched mobile commerce applications for Dia France and for Brioche Dorée.
On November 28, 2018, the sole shareholder IDEMIA Identity et Security France (Courvevoie) decided to dissolve Airtag early without liquidation.
Criticism
Whereas AirTag said it launched the first NFC SDK in late 2008, industry magazine RFID Update said at the time that there were pre-existing SDK's from Nokia and from Alvin Systems.
References
External links
(Archived)
Near-field communication
Mobile payments
Mobile telecommunications
French companies established in 2006 | AirTag (company) | [
"Technology"
] | 483 | [
"Near-field communication",
"Mobile telecommunications"
] |
63,764,355 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20destroyed%20heritage%20of%20the%20United%20States | This is a list of destroyed heritage of the United States. The year of demolition is marked in parentheses.
This is a list of cultural-heritage sites that have been damaged or destroyed accidentally, deliberately, or by a natural disaster, sorted by state. Only those buildings and structures which fulfill Wikipedia's standards of notability should be included. The simplest test of this is whether the building or structure has its own article page.
Cultural heritage can be subdivided into two main types—tangible and intangible heritage. The former includes built heritage such as religious buildings, museums, monuments, and archaeological sites, as well as movable heritage such as works of art and manuscripts. Intangible cultural heritage includes customs, music, fashion and other traditions within a particular culture. This article mainly deals with the destruction of built heritage; the destruction of movable collectable heritage is dealt with in art destruction, whilst the destruction of movable industrial heritage remains almost totally ignored.
Alabama
David Rinehart Anthony House
Augusta Sledge House (circa 2010)
Birmingham Terminal Station (1969)
Cedar Haven (2000s)
Daniel Payne College
California
International Savings & Exchange Bank Building (1954): Demolished by the city government of Los Angeles.
MGM Silent and Early Sound Film Archive (1965): A fire in one of the studio's archival vaults destroyed the only copies of hundreds of silent and early sound era MGM films.
Richfield Tower (1969): Demolished to clear site for City National Plaza.
Samuel and Luella Maslon House (2002) Demolished for unknown reasons.
Andrew McNally House (2025): historic house destroyed during the 2025 California wildfires.
Bunny Museum (2025): novelty museum destroyed during the 2025 California wildfires.
Zane Grey Estate (2025): house of Canadian author Zane Grey destroyed during the 2025 California wildfires.
Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth County Park (2025) historical park destroyed during the 2025 California wildfires.
Georgia
Bonaventure Plantation (1804): fire
Georgia Guidestones (2022): bombing
Greenwich Plantation (1923): fire
Wetter House (1950): demolished
Illinois
Chicago Federal Building (1965)
Garrick Theater (1961)
Home Insurance Building (1931): Demolished to clear site for the Field Building.
Masonic Temple (1939)
Indiana
Bridgeton Covered Bridge (2005): arson
Bucklen Theatre (1986)
Cadle Tabernacle (1968)
Indianapolis Traction Terminal (1972)
Louisville and Nashville Railroad Station (Evansville, Indiana) (1985)
Snyderman House (2002): arson
Terre Haute Union Station (1960)
Tomlinson Hall (1958): fire
Wilbur Wynant House (2006): fire
Louisiana
New Orleans Cotton Exchange (1964)
Massachusetts
Kragsyde (1929)
Michigan
Detroit City Hall (1961)
Franklin H. Walker House (1998)
J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition (1998)
William Livingstone House (2007)
Minnesota
Metropolitan Building (1961)
Mississippi
Brierfield Plantation (1931): fire
Missouri
Kiel Auditorium (1992)
New Jersey
20th Century Fox Silent Film Archive (1937): A fire in the studio's archival vault destroyed the only prints and original negatives of a majority of silent era films produced by the Fox Film Corporation prior to 1932, as well as the majority of the silent film negatives of Educational Pictures.
Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel (1978): Demolished to clear site for construction of Bally's Atlantic City.
Traymore Hotel (1972): Demolished during a downturn in economic fortunes in Atlantic City.
Ulysses S. Grant Cottage (1963): Demolished by owners.
New York
Larkin Administration Building, Buffalo (1950)
Pennsylvania Station (1963)
World Trade Center (2001)
Ohio
Heinrich A. Rattermann House (2005)
Nasby Building
Many mounds of the Ohio Hopewell lost throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to cultivation and urban expansion. Notable examples include:
Marietta Earthworks - almost entirely covered by the city of Marietta.
Newark Earthworks - numerous probable ceremonial walkways and several large enclosures lost to urban expansion of Newark.
Mound City Group - Mostly destroyed during the construction of Camp Sherman. Evidence of the mounds is still present below the surface and are currently preserved by the National Park Service.
Pennsylvania
Broad Street Station (1953)
Carnegie Building (1952)
La Ronda (2009)
Linden Grove (2000)
President's House (Philadelphia) (1936 - 1951)
Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal (1954)
Whitemarsh Hall (1980)
Rhode Island
Whitehall (1971)
America Street School (1996)
Tennessee
Luther Brannon House (2021)
Virginia
Abingdon (1930)
Chantilly mansion (1863)
Leesylvania (1950)
Washington, D.C.
Raleigh Hotel (1964)
Wylie Mansion (1947): destroyed partially by fire and then demolished
See also
Save America's Treasures
List of destroyed heritage
List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests
Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials
References
Heritage
Architecture lists
destroyed heritage
United States | List of destroyed heritage of the United States | [
"Engineering"
] | 1,008 | [
"Architecture lists",
"Architecture"
] |
63,764,414 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTT-150 | RTT-150 () is a Russian-Turkish 1.5-m optical telescope. It is an international project, jointly led by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Council for Technical and Scientific Research of Turkey (TÜBİTAK, TUBITAK). The main performers are Kazan Federal University and the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences from the Russian side and the TUBITAK State Observatory (TUG; observatory code “A84”) from Turkey. Observational time of telescope is shared in the following proportion: 45% - KSU, 15% - IKI RAS (accordance with agreement between parties), and another 40% - are shared between Turkish universities through the TUG.
One of the main tasks of the telescope is the optical support of orbital X-ray observatories: INTEGRAL observatory and Spektr-RG.
References
External links
Official site.
TÜBİTAK ULUSAL GÖZLEMEV (Turkey)
Astronomical observatories
Astronomical observatories in Turkey
Astronomical observatories in Russia
Telescopes
LOMO production | RTT-150 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 223 | [
"Astronomical observatories",
"Telescopes",
"Astronomy organizations",
"Astronomical instruments"
] |
63,765,155 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itinerarium%20exstaticum | Itinerarium exstaticum quo mundi opificium is a 1656 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It is an imaginary dialogue in which an angel named Cosmiel takes the narrator, Theodidactus ('taught by God'), on a journey through the planets. It is the only work by Kircher devoted entirely to astronomy, and one of only two pieces of imaginative fiction by him. A revised and expanded second edition, entitled Iter Exstaticum, was published in 1660.
Background
In his 1641 work Magnes sive de Arte Magnetica, Kircher had argued against the cosmological theories of both Kepler and Galileo, but had written nothing on the subject since. It is not clear why Kircher took it up again, though the preface mentions encouragement from Emperor Ferdinand III. The book was dedicated to Queen Christina of Sweden, who visited the Vatican just after it was published.
Narrative
Itinerarium Exstaticum relates how, lulled into a sleepy reverie by a concert of sacred music in the Jesuit College, Theodidactus finds himself guided through the heavens by a guiding angel. The views Kircher explored in his dialogue were remarkable for a seventeenth-century Jesuit. He imagined stars of different sizes, accompanied by planets, turning around each other and moving through space. The stars, as he described them were “fixed” but moved in circular orbits sometimes in systems of binary or multiple stars, with vast distances between them. As he believed they were very far away and all moved around the Earth, he believed they moved with tremendous speed.
The only known translation of the work from Latin is an unpublished manuscript version Voyage extatique dans les globes célestes; dans les abimes de la mer et dans l'intérieur du globe terrestre. Traduit du Père Kirker composed in France between 1722 and 1736.
Criticism
As was normal, Kircher's manuscript was reviewed by Jesuit censors before publication was approved by the Superior of the order. There were some misgivings that the work included views that were "dangerous to faith". When published, Itinerarium Exstaticum attracted considerable criticism for its departure from the Aristotelian cosmology that the Catholic Church had essentially adhered to since the trial of Galileo. In his work Kircher supported the Tychonic model of the universe, with the Earth at its centre and other planets moving around the Sun. However he also maintained, against Aristotle, that the different planets were all made of the same material as the Earth, and that sunspots existed.
Iter Exstaticum
Rather than reply to his critics himself, he had his student Kaspar Schott prepare a second edition which included additional details in refutation of his critics' arguments. This was published in Germany in 1660 under the title Iter Exstaticum.
A separate work with a similar title was Iter Exstaticum II (1657). Kircher advertised as a prelude to his Mundus Subterraneus; an extatic journey that took Theodidactus in the opposite direction, down under the earth. Itinerarium Exstaticum and Iter Exstaticum II were Kircher's only two ventures into imaginative fiction.
Illustrations in Iter Exstaticum
As a work of imaginative literature, Itinerarium Exstaticum did not include illustrations. Iter Exstaticum (1660) however contained many explanatory diagrams. The frontispiece of Iter Exstaticum depicts Kircher himself holding a compass, with the angel Cosmiel next to him gesturing towards a huge image of the universe. This is a representation of the Tychonic system, but it is remarkable because while it is clearly marked as moving around the Earth, the Sun is represented at the centre of the universe, above all stands the name of God written in Hebrew. The frontispiece was the work of Johann Friedrich Fleischberger, a Nuremberg engraver.
A copy of the 1660 revised edition is listed as once in the Library of Sir Thomas Browne.
Bibliography
Harald Siebert (2006). Die große kosmologische Kontroverse: Rekonstruktionsversuche anhand des Itinerarium exstaticum von Athanasius Kircher SJ (1602–1680). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
References
Further reading
External links
digital copy of Itinerarium Exstaticum
contemporary graphic novel based on Itinerarium Exstaticum
1656 in science
1656 works
Copernican Revolution
Early scientific cosmologies
Athanasius Kircher | Itinerarium exstaticum | [
"Astronomy"
] | 947 | [
"Copernican Revolution",
"History of astronomy"
] |
63,765,255 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbeswar%20Bujarbarua | Sarbeswar Bujarbarua is an Indian physicist. Educated at Gujarat University and Gauhati University, he founded the Centre of Plasma Physics as part of the Institute for Plasma Research and served as its director for 30 years.
References
1948 births
Living people
Indian physicists
Plasma physicists
Space scientists
Gujarat University alumni | Sarbeswar Bujarbarua | [
"Physics"
] | 64 | [
"Plasma physicists",
"Plasma physics"
] |
65,304,975 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acutalamna | Acutalamna is an extinct genus of mackerel shark from the Cretaceous period. It contains a singular species, A. karsteni. The type locality is the La Luna formation of Venezuela, but teeth have been found in France, Peru, Ecuador, and Lithuania. It is possible these teeth represent new species within this genus. Teeth included in this genus were originally attributed to "Priscusurus adruptodontus". The holotype and some of type series of this species were found to be indeterminate Squalicorax teeth, thus rendering it a nomen dubium. Other teeth in the type series of "P. adruptodontus" are indeterminate members of Acutalamna. It bears resemblance to both Anacoracids and Cretoxyrhinids, but has yet to be confidently ascribed to any family.
References
Lamniformes
Cretaceous sharks
†
Nomina dubia
Prehistoric shark genera | Acutalamna | [
"Biology"
] | 196 | [
"Biological hypotheses",
"Nomina dubia",
"Controversial taxa"
] |
65,306,419 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation%20of%20Energy%2C%20Resource%2C%20Chemical%20and%20Related%20Workers | The Federation of Energy, Resource, Chemical and Related Workers (, FLERICA) was a trade union representing industrial workers in Italy.
The union was founded in 1981, when the Federation of Chemistry merged with the Federation of Energy. Like both its predecessors, it affiliated to the Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions. By 1998, it had 82,071 members, of whom half worked in mining and quarrying, 30% in chemicals, and the remainder in gas and water supply.
In 2001, the union merged with the Italian Federation of Textile and Clothing Workers, to form the Federation of Energy, Fashion, Chemistry and Related Workers.
References
Chemical industry in Italy
Chemical industry trade unions
Mining trade unions
Trade unions established in 1981
Trade unions disestablished in 2001
Trade unions in Italy | Federation of Energy, Resource, Chemical and Related Workers | [
"Chemistry"
] | 158 | [
"Chemical industry trade unions"
] |
65,306,535 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation%20of%20Chemistry | The Federation of Chemistry (, Federchimi) was a trade union representing workers in chemical and related industries in Italy.
The union was founded in 1950, as the Federation of Chemical, Oil and Gas Workers, by Christian democrats who had recently left the Italian Federation of Chemical Workers. It claimed 44,239 members in 1954. By 1957, it was the Federation of Chemical and Petroleum Workers, with four affiliates: the Union of Chemical Workers, the Union of Oil and Gas Workers, the National Union of Glass and Ceramic Workers, and the National Union of Nuclear Industry Workers. It affiliated to the Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions, and to the International Federation of Chemical and General Workers' Unions.
By 1981, the union had 114,415 members. That year, it merged with the Federation of Energy, to form the Federation of Energy, Resource, Chemical and Related Workers.
References
Chemical industry in Italy
Chemical industry trade unions
Trade unions established in 1950
Trade unions disestablished in 1981
Trade unions in Italy | Federation of Chemistry | [
"Chemistry"
] | 203 | [
"Chemical industry trade unions"
] |
65,307,654 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moto%20E%20%282020%29 | The Moto E (2020) is an Android smartphone part of the low-end Moto E family of Android smart phones developed by Motorola Mobility. It was presented on June 5, 2020 together with Moto G Fast.
Design
The screen is made of glass. The case is made of plastic.
Below are the micro USB connector, speaker, and microphone. At the top are the second microphone and 3.5 mm audio jack. On the left side, there is a slot for 1 SIM card and a microSD memory card up to 512 GB. On the right side, there are volume buttons and a smartphone lock button. The fingerprint scanner is located on the back panel.
The only available color is Midnight Blue.
Reception
The reception is neutral, saying that it is good for the price and has good battery life. The criticism is mainly on the camera, display, the micro USB port as most Android smartphones have moved to USB-C, and the lack of further software updates.
Technical characteristics
Platform
The device is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 processor and an Adreno 506 GPU.
Battery
The device has a non-removable 3550 mAh battery.
Cameras
The device has dual rear-facing cameras consisting of a 13 MP wide sensor and a 2 MP depth sensor, with autofocus. The rear cameras can record video at a resolution of 1080p @ 30fps. The front camera uses a 5 MP sensor.
Screen
The device has a 6.2-inch IPS LCD 720p display, with a resolution of 1520 × 720 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19:9, with a teardrop-shaped cutout for the front camera.
Memory
The device is sold with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB of internal storage which can be expanded with microSD.
Software
The device runs on Android 10. Motorola confirmed that the device will not receive any software updates.
References
Links
Official Site
Motorola smartphones
Android (operating system) devices
Mobile phones introduced in 2020
Mobile phones with multiple rear cameras | Moto E (2020) | [
"Technology"
] | 415 | [
"Mobile technology stubs",
"Mobile phone stubs"
] |
65,307,736 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial%20atmospheric%20lens | A Terrestrial Atmospheric Lens is a theoretical method of using the Earth as a large lens with a physical effect called atmospheric refraction.
The sun's image appears about a half degree above its real position during sunset due to Earth's atmospheric refraction.
In 1998, NASA astrophysicist Yu Wang from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the first time proposed to use the Earth as an atmospheric lens.
Wang suggests in his paper that:''If we could build a space telescope using the Earth's atmosphere as an objective lens the aperture of such space telescope would be the diameter of the earth. Telescope resolution could be enhanced by up to seven orders of magnitude and would enable detailed images of planets in far away stellar systems.'' If built, the terrestrial atmospheric lens would become the largest telescope ever built. Its high resolution would allow to directly image nearby Earth-like planets with a level of detail never seen before. As of September 2020, the main observation targets are Proxima b, located 4.2 light years away, Tau Ceti e, 12 light years away, and Teegarden b, also located 12 light years away. The three planets are currently considered to be potentially habitable.
However, using the Sun as a gravitational lens would produce images with higher resolution when imaging potentially habitable exoplanets.
See also
Gravitational lens
Gravitational microlensing
References
Atmospheric optical phenomena
Observational astronomy
Refraction | Terrestrial atmospheric lens | [
"Physics",
"Astronomy"
] | 285 | [
"Physical phenomena",
"Earth phenomena",
"Refraction",
"Observational astronomy",
"Optical phenomena",
"Atmospheric optical phenomena",
"Astronomical sub-disciplines"
] |
65,309,248 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20topologies | The following is a list of named topologies or topological spaces, many of which are counterexamples in topology and related branches of mathematics. This is not a list of properties that a topology or topological space might possess; for that, see List of general topology topics and Topological property.
Discrete and indiscrete
Discrete topology − All subsets are open.
Indiscrete topology, chaotic topology, or Trivial topology − Only the empty set and its complement are open.
Cardinality and ordinals
Cocountable topology
Given a topological space the on is the topology having as a subbasis the union of and the family of all subsets of whose complements in are countable.
Cofinite topology
Double-pointed cofinite topology
Ordinal number topology
Pseudo-arc
Ran space
Tychonoff plank
Finite spaces
Discrete two-point space − The simplest example of a totally disconnected discrete space.
Finite topological space
Pseudocircle − A finite topological space on 4 elements that fails to satisfy any separation axiom besides T0. However, from the viewpoint of algebraic topology, it has the remarkable property that it is indistinguishable from the circle
Sierpiński space, also called the connected two-point set − A 2-point set with the particular point topology
Integers
Arens–Fort space − A Hausdorff, regular, normal space that is not first-countable or compact. It has an element (i.e. ) for which there is no sequence in that converges to but there is a sequence in such that is a cluster point of
Arithmetic progression topologies
The Baire space − with the product topology, where denotes the natural numbers endowed with the discrete topology. It is the space of all sequences of natural numbers.
Divisor topology
Partition topology
Deleted integer topology
Odd–even topology
Fractals and Cantor set
Apollonian gasket
Cantor set − A subset of the closed interval with remarkable properties.
Cantor dust
Cantor space
Koch snowflake
Menger sponge
Mosely snowflake
Sierpiński carpet
Sierpiński triangle
Smith–Volterra–Cantor set, also called the − A closed nowhere dense (and thus meagre) subset of the unit interval that has positive Lebesgue measure and is not a Jordan measurable set. The complement of the fat Cantor set in Jordan measure is a bounded open set that is not Jordan measurable.
Orders
Alexandrov topology
Lexicographic order topology on the unit square
Order topology
Lawson topology
Poset topology
Upper topology
Scott topology
Scott continuity
Priestley space
Roy's lattice space
Split interval, also called the and the − All compact separable ordered spaces are order-isomorphic to a subset of the split interval. It is compact Hausdorff, hereditarily Lindelöf, and hereditarily separable but not metrizable. Its metrizable subspaces are all countable.
Specialization (pre)order
Manifolds and complexes
Branching line − A non-Hausdorff manifold.
Double origin topology
E8 manifold − A topological manifold that does not admit a smooth structure.
Euclidean topology − The natural topology on Euclidean space induced by the Euclidean metric, which is itself induced by the Euclidean norm.
Real line −
Unit interval −
Extended real number line
Fake 4-ball − A compact contractible topological 4-manifold.
House with two rooms − A contractible, 2-dimensional simplicial complex that is not collapsible.
Klein bottle
Lens space
Line with two origins, also called the − It is a non-Hausdorff manifold. It is locally homeomorphic to Euclidean space and thus locally metrizable (but not metrizable) and locally Hausdorff (but not Hausdorff). It is also a T1 locally regular space but not a semiregular space.
Prüfer manifold − A Hausdorff 2-dimensional real analytic manifold that is not paracompact.
Real projective line
Torus
3-torus
Solid torus
Unknot
Whitehead manifold − An open 3-manifold that is contractible, but not homeomorphic to
Hyperbolic geometry
Gieseking manifold − A cusped hyperbolic 3-manifold of finite volume.
Horosphere
Horocycle
Picard horn
Seifert–Weber space
Paradoxical spaces
Lakes of Wada − Three disjoint connected open sets of or that all have the same boundary.
Unique
Hantzsche–Wendt manifold − A compact, orientable, flat 3-manifold. It is the only closed flat 3-manifold with first Betti number zero.
Related or similar to manifolds
Dogbone space
Dunce hat (topology)
Hawaiian earring
Long line (topology)
Rose (topology)
Embeddings and maps between spaces
Alexander horned sphere − A particular embedding of a sphere into 3-dimensional Euclidean space.
Antoine's necklace − A topological embedding of the Cantor set in 3-dimensional Euclidean space, whose complement is not simply connected.
Irrational winding of a torus/Irrational cable on a torus
Knot (mathematics)
Linear flow on the torus
Space-filling curve
Torus knot
Wild knot
Counter-examples (general topology)
The following topologies are a known source of counterexamples for point-set topology.
Alexandroff plank
Appert topology − A Hausdorff, perfectly normal (T6), zero-dimensional space that is countable, but neither first countable, locally compact, nor countably compact.
Arens square
Bullet-riddled square - The space where is the set of bullets. Neither of these sets is Jordan measurable although both are Lebesgue measurable.
Cantor tree
Comb space
Dieudonné plank
Double origin topology
Dunce hat (topology)
Either–or topology
Excluded point topology − A topological space where the open sets are defined in terms of the exclusion of a particular point.
Fort space
Half-disk topology
Hilbert cube − with the product topology.
Infinite broom
Integer broom topology
K-topology
Knaster–Kuratowski fan
Long line (topology)
Moore plane, also called the − A first countable, separable, completely regular, Hausdorff, Moore space that is not normal, Lindelöf, metrizable, second countable, nor locally compact. It also an uncountable closed subspace with the discrete topology.
Nested interval topology
Overlapping interval topology − Second countable space that is T0 but not T1.
Particular point topology − Assuming the set is infinite, then contains a non-closed compact subset whose closure is not compact and moreover, it is neither metacompact nor paracompact.
Rational sequence topology
Sorgenfrey line, which is endowed with lower limit topology − It is Hausdorff, perfectly normal, first-countable, separable, paracompact, Lindelöf, Baire, and a Moore space but not metrizable, second-countable, σ-compact, nor locally compact.
Sorgenfrey plane, which is the product of two copies of the Sorgenfrey line − A Moore space that is neither normal, paracompact, nor second countable.
Topologist's sine curve
Tychonoff plank
Vague topology
Warsaw circle
Topologies defined in terms of other topologies
Natural topologies
List of natural topologies.
Adjunction space
Disjoint union (topology)
Extension topology
Initial topology
Final topology
Product topology
Quotient topology
Subspace topology
Weak topology
Compactifications
Compactifications include:
Alexandroff extension
Projectively extended real line
Bohr compactification
Eells–Kuiper manifold
Projectively extended real line
Stone–Čech compactification
Stone topology
Stone–Čech remainder
Wallman compactification
Topologies of uniform convergence
This lists named topologies of uniform convergence.
Compact-open topology
Loop space
Interlocking interval topology
Modes of convergence (annotated index)
Operator topologies
Pointwise convergence
Weak convergence (Hilbert space)
Weak* topology
Polar topology
Strong dual topology
Topologies on spaces of linear maps
Other induced topologies
Box topology
Compact complement topology
Duplication of a point: Let be a non-isolated point of let be arbitrary, and let Then is a topology on and and have the same neighborhood filters in In this way, has been duplicated.
Extension topology
Functional analysis
Auxiliary normed spaces
Finest locally convex topology
Finest vector topology
Helly space
Mackey topology
Polar topology
Vague topology
Operator topologies
Dual topology
Norm topology
Operator topologies
Pointwise convergence
Weak convergence (Hilbert space)
Weak* topology
Polar topology
Strong dual space
Strong operator topology
Topologies on spaces of linear maps
Ultrastrong topology
Ultraweak topology/weak-* operator topology
Weak operator topology
Tensor products
Inductive tensor product
Injective tensor product
Projective tensor product
Tensor product of Hilbert spaces
Topological tensor product
Probability
Émery topology
Other topologies
Erdős space − A Hausdorff, totally disconnected, one-dimensional topological space that is homeomorphic to
Half-disk topology
Hedgehog space
Partition topology
Zariski topology
See also
Citations
References
External links
π-Base: An Interactive Encyclopedia of Topological Spaces
General topology
Mathematics-related lists
Topological spaces | List of topologies | [
"Physics",
"Mathematics"
] | 1,845 | [
"General topology",
"Mathematical structures",
"Space (mathematics)",
"Topological spaces",
"Topology",
"Space",
"Geometry",
"Spacetime"
] |
65,309,277 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian%20Croudace | Ian Croudace (born 5 April 1951 in Trinidad W.I.) is a British geochemist, academic, researcher and entrepreneur. He is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Radioactivity and Environmental Geochemistry at the University of Southampton and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Croudace has published over 200 research articles and has supervised 32 PhD projects over his career. He is director at Raddec International Limited. He is the author of the book Micro-XRF Studies of Sediment Cores: Applications of a non-destructive tool for the environmental sciences and Executive Editor for the Quaternary International Special Issue entitled "Advances in Data Quantification and Application of High Resolution XRF Core Scanners". He specializes in analytical, environmental and isotope geochemistry and radioactivity. His research interests range from Micro-XRF analysis of sediments to Forensic Geochemistry to Radio-analytical developments.
Education
Croudace completed his bachelor's in geology and chemistry in 1973 from Liverpool University and his Ph.D. in granite petrogenesis from Birmingham University in 1980. In the following year, he moved to France as a postdoctoral researcher at Université de Paris VI, also known as Pierre and Marie Curie University and at Centre d’Etude Nucleaires, Saclay.
Career
Croudace served as an academic at the University of Southampton from 1983 till 2018. He became a professor in 2011. While teaching at University of Southampton, Croudace founded GAU-Radioanalytical Laboratories in 1987, and served as its director till 2018. Following this, he was promoted to professor emeritus at the university.
Entrepreneurship
Croudace is the inventor of the prototype Itrax micro-XRF sediment core scanner and the Hyperbaric Oxidiser and co-inventor of the Pyrolyser-Trio instrument. He is a co-founder and Director of Raddec International, an R&D company designing and manufacturing instruments for the extraction and trapping of volatile radionuclides.
Research and work
Croudace’s main research interests encompass the petrogenesis of granitoid rocks and the application of several analytical tools (X-ray fluorescence analysis, gamma ray spectrometry, radio-analytical chemistry, micro-XRF analysis of sediment, mass spectrometry) to solve problems in environmental geochemistry and nuclear forensics.
Croudace has conducted extensive research on the development and applications of the ITRAX Scanner and XRF Core Scanning techniques. In 2006, he authored a seminal article explaining the features and properties of the ITRAX along with the detailed comparison of data collected with a regular wavelength-dispersive XRF spectrometer. In 2020 Croudace co-authored publications that exploited the power of the ITRAX to undertake high resolution analysis of lake sediment cores which often hold long records of environmental change. In one study, Croudace and co-workers used Double-Spike Lead Isotopes, Radiochronology, and Sediment Microanalysis to study Anthropogenic and Natural Inputs to the largest lake in England (Windermere) that preserved a high-resolution record of pollution. The research indicated a significant concentration increase of elements zinc, copper and lead in sediment around the 1930s and identified the main sources of anthropogenic lead. Its new insights about the pollution history of Windermere could be applied to other lakes with anthropogenic inputs. ITRAX data also contributed a key component of another multi-proxy study of sediment cores from Windermere that provided information on climatic and anthropogenic changes with time and yielded a detailed history of lake and catchment conditions over the past 300 years. In another multi-proxy study, Croudace contributed ITRAX data for lake sediments from Vanuatu, Samoa, and the Southern Cook Islands that hypothesised that the timing and driver for human migration into East Polynesia coincided with a prolonged drought. High resolution variations in ITRAX titanium and other data indicated major catchment disturbances and increases in soil erosion linked to the arrivals of humans. An innovative application of ITRAX core scanners was in water pollution investigations. In this study, a series of ion exchange resin sachets were systematically deployed to monitor changes in heavy metal pollutants entering water courses. Rapid measurement of archived sets of sachets were efficiently made using an ITRAX scanner. The methodology became an environmental forensics tool for wastewater pollution sources.
Croudace’s 2015 book entitled "Micro-XRF Studies of Sediment Cores: Applications of a non-destructive tool for the environmental sciences" was reviewed by Wojciech Tylmann from University of Gdańsk. He writes that the book has a "clear structure" and contains "an impressive data set regarding specific applications of micro-XRF core scanners". He further writes that the "content is well illustrated" and that "this book will serve as a priceless source of information for new researchers".
Along with environmental geochemistry research using ITRAX and XRF scanners, Croudace also worked extensively on radionuclide science throughout his career. For example, he conducted an experiment in 1998 that used magnetotactic bacteria to recover radionuclides from wastewater. In 2000, he led a high-profile project that used Mass Spectrometric Measurements of Uranium Isotopes to investigate an alleged nuclear incident at Greenham Common Airbase in 1958. In order to detect the possible contamination from the supposed nuclear incident he studied over 600 soil samples from the Airbase and surrounding areas to determine their Uranium isotopic composition and developed an efficient and precise method of Uranium analysis. Results showed no evidence of anomalous Uranium isotope contamination on the Airbase. However, the detection of anomalous Uranium near the Atomic Weapons Establishment (Aldermaston) served to validate the effectiveness of the research approach used for the environmental survey.
In 1996, Croudace introduced for the first time the application of Lithium Borate Fusion for the ultra-rapid dissolution of soil and other complex samples in radioanalytical chemistry. He also showed the effectiveness of the method as being suitable for sample preparation in nuclear waste characterisation Based on his radioanalytical expertise he was invited to produce a paper to highlight recent contributions to the rapid screening of radionuclides in the field of nuclear forensics and nuclear waste characterisation. Croudace also undertook significant research and development in the extraction of volatile radionuclides (tritium, C-14 etc) from environmental and nuclear materials. This work led to the commercialization of the Raddec Pyrolyser thermal desorption instrument.
Awards and distinctions
2015 - Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry
Bibliography
Books
Micro-XRF Studies of Sediment Cores: Applications of a non-destructive tool for the environmental sciences, Springer (2015)
Selected articles
Croudace IW, Warwick PE, Taylor RN and Dee SJ (1998) Rapid procedure for Pu and U determination in soils using a borate fusion and extraction. chromatography. Analytica Chimica Acta, 371, 217-225.
Croudace IW. Warwick PE, Taylor RN and Cundy AB (2000) Investigation of an alleged nuclear incident at Greenham Common airbase using mass spectrometric measurements of uranium isotopes. Environmental Science and Technology, 34, 4496-4503.
Warneke T, Croudace IW, Warwick PE and Taylor RN (2002) First ground-level fallout record of uranium and plutonium isotopes for northern temperate latitudes. Earth Planet Sci. Lett., 203, 1047-1057.
Croudace IW, Warwick PE, Reading DG, Russell B (2016) Recent contributions to the rapid screening of radionuclides in emergency responses and nuclear forensics. Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 85B, 120-129.
Croudace IW, Rindby A and Rothwell RG (2006) ITRAX: Description and evaluation of a new sediment core scanner in R.G. Rothwell (ed.) New techniques in sediment core analysis. Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ., 267, 51-63.
Croudace, IW, Löwemark, L, Tjallingii, R, Zolitschka, B (2019). Current perspectives on the capabilities of high resolution XRF core scanners. Quaternary International, 514, 5-15
Fielding JJ, Croudace IW, Kemp AES, Pearce RB, Cotterill CJ, Langdon P, Avery R (2020) Tracing lake pollution, eutrophication and partial recovery from the sediments of Windermere, UK, using geochemistry and sediment microfabrics. Science of the Total Environment, 722, 1-20.
Sear DA, Allen MS, Hassall JD, Maloney AE, Langdon PG, Morrison AE, Henderson ACG, Mackay H, Croudace IW, Clarke C, Sachs JP, Macdonald G, Chiverrell RC, Leng MJ, Cisneros-Dozal, LM and Fonville T (2020) Human settlement of East Polynesia earlier, incremental, and coincident with prolonged South Pacific drought. PNAS, 117, 8813–8819.
Huang JS, Lin S, Löwemark L, Liou S YH, Chang T-K, Wei K-Y and Croudace IW (2019) Rapid assessment of heavy metal pollution using ion-exchange resin sachets and micro-XRF core-scanning. Sci Rep 9, 6601.
Warwick PE, Kim D, Croudace IW and Oh J (2010) Effective desorption of tritium from diverse solid matrices and its application to routine analysis of decommissioning materials. Analytica Chimica Acta, 676, 93–102.
Croudace IW, Warwick PE and Morris JE (2012) Evidence for the Preservation of Technogenic Tritiated Organic Compounds in an Estuarine Sedimentary Environment. Environ. Sci. Technol., 46, 5704–5712.
Kim D, Croudace IW and Warwick PE (2012) The requirement for proper storage of nuclear and related decommissioning samples to safeguard accuracy of tritium data. J. Hazardous Materials, 213-214, 292–298.
Croudace IW, Warwick PE & Kim D-J (2014). Using Thermal Evolution Profiles to Infer Tritium Speciation in Nuclear Site Metals: An Aid to Decommissioning. Analytical Chemistry, 86, 9177–9185.
Croudace IW, Warwick PE and Marsh R (2016) A suite of robust radioanalytical techniques for the determination of tritium and other volatile radionuclides in decommissioning wastes and environmental matrices. Fusion Sci. Technol., 71, 290-295.
References
External links
Ian W. Croudace's pages at University of Southampton
GAU-Radioanalytical
Raddec International Limited
1951 births
Living people
British geochemists
21st-century British inventors
Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United Kingdom
Alumni of the University of Birmingham
Alumni of the University of Liverpool
Academics of the University of Southampton | Ian Croudace | [
"Chemistry"
] | 2,320 | [
"Geochemists",
"British geochemists"
] |
65,309,316 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirchberger%27s%20theorem | Kirchberger's theorem is a theorem in discrete geometry, on linear separability. The two-dimensional version of the theorem states that, if a finite set of red and blue points in the Euclidean plane has the property that, for every four points, there exists a line separating the red and blue points within those four, then there exists a single line separating all the red points from all the blue points. Donald Watson phrases this result more colorfully, with a farmyard analogy:
More generally, for finitely many red and blue points in -dimensional Euclidean space, if the red and blue points in every subset of of the points are linearly separable, then all the red points and all the blue points are linearly separable. Another equivalent way of stating the result is that, if the convex hulls of finitely many red and blue points have a nonempty intersection, then there exists a subset of points for which the convex hulls of the red and blue points in the subsets also intersect.
History and proofs
The theorem is named after German mathematician Paul Kirchberger, a student of David Hilbert at the University of Göttingen who proved it in his 1902 dissertation, and published it in 1903 in Mathematische Annalen, as an auxiliary theorem used in his analysis of Chebyshev approximation. A report of Hilbert on the dissertation states that some of Kirchberger's auxiliary theorems in this part of his dissertation were known to Hermann Minkowski but unpublished; it is not clear whether this statement applies to the result now known as Kirchberger's theorem.
Since Kirchberger's work, other proofs of Kirchberger's theorem have been published, including simple proofs based on Helly's theorem on intersections of convex sets, based on Carathéodory's theorem on membership in convex hulls, or based on principles related to Radon's theorem on intersections of convex hulls. However, Helly's theorem, Carathéodory's theorem, and Radon's theorem all postdate Kirchberger's theorem.
Generalizations and related results
A strengthened version of Kirchberger's theorem fixes one of the given points, and only considers subsets of points that include the fixed point. If the red and blue points in each of these subsets are linearly separable, then all the red points and all the blue points are linearly separable. The theorem also holds if the red points and blue points form compact sets that are not necessarily finite.
By using stereographic projection, Kirchberger's theorem can be used to prove a similar result for circular or spherical separability: if every five points of finitely many red and blue points in the plane can have their red and blue points separated by a circle, or every points in higher dimensions can have their red and blue points separated by a hypersphere, then all the red and blue points can be separated in the same way.
See also
Hyperplane separation theorem, the theorem that disjoint compact convex sets are linearly separable
References
Further reading
Theorems in convex geometry
Theorems in discrete geometry | Kirchberger's theorem | [
"Mathematics"
] | 645 | [
"Theorems in convex geometry",
"Theorems in discrete mathematics",
"Theorems in discrete geometry",
"Theorems in geometry"
] |
65,310,008 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRC-6211 | GRC-6211 is a drug developed by Glenmark Pharmaceuticals which acts as a potent and selective antagonist for the TRPV1 receptor. It has analgesic and antiinflammatory effects and reached Phase IIb human trials, but was ultimately discontinued from development as a medicine, though it continues to have applications in scientific research.
References
Ureas
Benzopyrans
Fluoroarenes
Cyclobutanes
Spiro compounds
Abandoned drugs
Transient receptor potential channel modulators | GRC-6211 | [
"Chemistry"
] | 101 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Drug safety",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs",
"Organic compounds",
"Spiro compounds",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Abandoned drugs",
"Ureas"
] |
65,310,418 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical%20Cyclone%20Heat%20Potential | Tropical Cyclone Heat Potential (TCHP) is one of such non-conventional oceanographic parameters influencing the tropical cyclone intensity. The relationship between Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and cyclone intensity has been long studied in statistical intensity prediction schemes such as the National Hurricane Center Statistical Hurricane Intensity Prediction Scheme (SHIPS) and Statistical Typhoon Intensity Prediction Scheme (STIPS). STIPS is run at the Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, California, and is provided to Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) to make cyclone intensity forecasts in the western North Pacific, South Pacific, and Indian Oceans. In most of the cyclone models, SST is the only oceanographic parameter representing heat exchange. However, cyclones have long been known to interact with the deeper layers of ocean rather than sea surface alone. Using a coupled ocean atmospheric model, Mao et al., concluded that the rate of intensification and final intensity of cyclone were sensitive to the initial spatial distribution of the mixed layer rather than to SST alone. Similarly, Namias and Canyan observed patterns of lower atmospheric anomalies being more consistent with the upper ocean thermal structure variability than SST.
References
Oceanography
Oceanographic instrumentation | Tropical Cyclone Heat Potential | [
"Physics",
"Technology",
"Engineering",
"Environmental_science"
] | 239 | [
"Hydrology",
"Oceanographic instrumentation",
"Applied and interdisciplinary physics",
"Oceanography",
"Measuring instruments"
] |
65,312,394 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resonant%20interaction | In nonlinear systems a resonant interaction is the interaction of three or more waves, usually but not always of small amplitude. Resonant interactions occur when a simple set of criteria coupling wave vectors and the dispersion equation are met. The simplicity of the criteria make technique popular in multiple fields. Its most prominent and well-developed forms appear in the study of gravity waves, but also finds numerous applications from astrophysics and biology to engineering and medicine. Theoretical work on partial differential equations provides insights into chaos theory; there are curious links to number theory. Resonant interactions allow waves to (elastically) scatter, diffuse or to become unstable. Diffusion processes are responsible for the eventual thermalization of most nonlinear systems; instabilities offer insight into high-dimensional chaos and turbulence.
Discussion
The underlying concept is that when the sum total of the energy and momentum of several vibrational modes sum to zero, they are free to mix together via nonlinearities in the system under study. Modes for which the energy and momentum do not sum to zero cannot interact, as this would imply a violation of energy/momentum conservation. The momentum of a wave is understood to be given by its wave vector and its energy follows from the dispersion relation for the system.
For example, for three waves in continuous media, the resonant condition is conventionally written as the requirement that and also , the minus sign being taken depending on how energy is redistributed among the waves. For waves in discrete media, such as in computer simulations on a lattice, or in (nonlinear) solid-state systems, the wave vectors are quantized, and the normal modes can be called phonons. The Brillouin zone defines an upper bound on the wave vector, and waves can interact when they sum to integer multiples of the Brillouin vectors (Umklapp scattering).
Although three-wave systems provide the simplest form of resonant interactions in waves, not all systems have three-wave interactions. For example, the deep-water wave equation, a continuous-media system, does not have a three-wave interaction. The Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou problem, a discrete-media system, does not have a three-wave interaction. It does have a four-wave interaction, but this is not enough to thermalize the system; that requires a six-wave interaction. As a result, the eventual thermalization time goes as the inverse eighth power of the coupling—clearly, a very long time for weak coupling—thus allowing the famous FPUT recurrences to dominate on "normal" time scales.
Hamiltonian formulation
In many cases, the system under study can be readily expressed in a Hamiltonian formalism. When this is possible, a set of manipulations can be applied, having the form of a generalized, non-linear Fourier transform. These manipulations are closely related to the inverse scattering method.
A particularly simple example can be found in the treatment of deep water waves. In such a case, the system can be expressed in terms of a Hamiltonian, formulated in terms of canonical coordinates . To avoid notational confusion, write for these two; they are meant to be conjugate variables satisfying Hamilton's equation. These are to be understood as functions of the configuration space coordinates , i.e. functions of space and time. Taking the Fourier transform, write
and likewise for . Here, is the wave vector. When "on shell", it is related to the angular frequency by the dispersion relation. The ladder operators follow in the canonical fashion:
with some function of the angular frequency. The correspond to the normal modes of the linearized system. The Hamiltonian (the energy) can now be written in terms of these raising and lowering operators (sometimes called the "action density variables") as
Here, the first term is quadratic in and represents the linearized theory, while the non-linearities are captured in , which is cubic or higher-order.
Given the above as the starting point, the system is then decomposed into "free" and "bound" modes. The bound modes have no independent dynamics of their own; for example, the higher harmonics of a soliton solution are bound to the fundamental mode, and cannot interact. This can be recognized by the fact that they do not follow the dispersion relation, and have no resonant interactions. In this case, canonical transformations are applied, with the goal of eliminating terms that are non-interacting, leaving free modes. That is, one re-writes and likewise for , and rewrites the system in terms of these new, "free" (or at least, freer) modes. Properly done, this leaves expressed only with terms that are resonantly interacting. If is cubic, these are then the three-wave terms; if quartic, these are the four-wave terms, and so on. Canonical transformations can be repeated to obtain higher-order terms, as long as the lower-order resonant interactions are not damaged, and one skillfully avoids the small divisor problem, which occurs when there are near-resonances. The terms themselves give the rate or speed of the mixing, and are sometimes called transfer coefficients or the transfer matrix. At the conclusion, one obtains an equation for the time evolution of the normal modes, corrected by scattering terms. Picking out one of the modes out of the bunch, call it below, the time evolution has the generic form
with the transfer coefficients for the n-wave interaction, and the capturing the notion of the conservation of energy/momentum implied by the resonant interaction. Here is either or as appropriate. For deep-water waves, the above is called the Zakharov equation, named after Vladimir E. Zakharov.
History
Resonant interactions were first considered and described by Henri Poincaré in the 19th century, in the analysis of perturbation series describing 3-body planetary motion. The first-order terms in the perturbative series can be understood for form a matrix; the eigenvalues of the matrix correspond to the fundamental modes in the perturbated solution. Poincare observed that in many cases, there are integer linear combinations of the eigenvalues that sum to zero; this is the original resonant interaction. When in resonance, energy transfer between modes can keep the system in a stable phase-locked state. However, going to second order is challenging in several ways. One is that degenerate solutions are difficult to diagonalize (there is no unique vector basis for the degenerate space). A second issue is that differences appear in the denominator of the second and higher order terms in the perturbation series; small differences lead to the famous small divisor problem. These can be interpreted as corresponding to chaotic behavior. To roughly summarize, precise resonances lead to scattering and mixing; approximate resonances lead to chaotic behavior.
Applications
Resonant interactions have found broad utility in many areas. Below is a selected list of some of these, indicating the broad variety of domains to which the ideas have been applied.
In deep water, there are no three-wave interactions between surface gravity waves; the shape of the dispersion relation prohibits this. There is, however, a four-wave interaction; it describes the experimentally-observed interaction of obliquely moving waves very well (i.e. with no free parameters or adjustments). The Hamiltonian formalism for deep water waves was given by Zakharov in 1968
Rogue waves are unusually large and unexpected oceanic surface waves; solitons are implicated, and specifically, the resonant interactions between three of them.
Rossby waves, also known as planetary waves, describe both the jet-stream and oceanic waves that move along the thermocline. There are three-wave resonant interactions of Rossby waves, and so they are commonly studied as such.
The resonant interactions of Rossby waves have been observed to have a connection to Diophantine equations, normally considered to be a topic in number theory. Constructive methods for solving Diophantine equations appearing in the context of the resonant wave interactions of various types (including Rossby waves) have been first presented by Kartashova in 1990 and can be found in
During summertime in shallow coastal waters, low-frequency sound-waves have been observed to propagate in an anomalous fashion. The anomalies are time-dependent, anisotropic, and can exhibit abnormally large attenuation. Resonant interaction between acoustic waves and soliton internal waves have been proposed as the source of these anomalies.
In astrophysics, non-linear resonant interactions between warping and oscillations in the relativistically spinning accretion disk around a black hole have been proposed as the origin of observed kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations in low-mass x-ray binaries. The non-linearity providing the coupling is due to general relativity; accretion disks in Newtonian gravity, e.g. Saturn's rings do not have this particular kind of resonant interaction (they do demonstrate many other kinds of resonances, however).
During spacecraft atmospheric entry, the high speed of the spacecraft heats air to a red-hot plasma. This plasma is impenetrable to radio waves, leading to a radio communications blackout. Resonant interactions that mechanically (acoustically) couple the spacecraft to the plasma have been investigated as a means of punching a hole or tunneling out the radiowave, thus re-establishing radio communications during a critical flight phase.
Resonant interactions have been proposed as a way of coupling the high spatial resolution of electron microscopes to the high temporal resolution of lasers, allowing precision microscopy in both space and time. The resonant interaction is between free electrons and bound electrons at the surface of a material.
Charged particles can be accelerated by resonant interaction with electromagnetic waves. Scalar particles (neutral atoms) described by the Klein–Gordon equation can be accelerated by gravitational waves (e.g. those emitted from black hole mergers.)
The physical basis for macromolecular bioactivity — molecular recognition — the protein-protein and protein-DNA interaction, is poorly understood. Such interactions are known to be electromagnetic (obviously, its "chemistry"), but are otherwise poorly understood (its not "just hydrogen bonds"). The Informational Spectrum Method (ISM) describes such molecular binding in terms of resonant interactions. Given a protein, the valence electrons on various amino acids delocalize, and have some freedom of movement within the protein. Their behavior can be modelled in a relatively straightforward way with an electron-ion pseudopotential (EIIP), one for each distinct amino acid or nucleotide. The result of modelling provides spectra, which can be accessed experimentally, thus confirming numerical results. In addition, the model provides the needed dispersion relation from which the resonant interactions can be deduced. Resonant interactions are obtained by computing cross-spectra. Since resonant interactions mix states (and thus alter entropy), recognition might proceed through entropic forces.
Resonant interaction between high-frequency electromagnetic fields and cancer cells has been proposed as a method for treating cancer.
See also
Three-wave equation
Inverse scattering method
S-matrix
Orbital resonance
Nonlinear resonance
Tidal resonance
Arnold tongue
References
Nonlinear systems | Resonant interaction | [
"Mathematics"
] | 2,357 | [
"Nonlinear systems",
"Dynamical systems"
] |
65,312,707 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poco%20X3 | The POCO X3, POCO X3 NFC and POCO X3 Pro are Android-based smartphones developed by Xiaomi, announced on 7 and 22 September 2020. The phone has a FHD+ IPS LCD 120 Hz 6.67-inch display, a 48 MP wide, 8 MP ultra-wide, 2 MP macro, and 2 MP depth camera, a 5160 mAh battery, up to 8 GB RAM and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.
There has been lot of criticism with the reliability around the devices mainly with caused by the PMIC.
Specifications
Hardware
The POCO X3 and X3 NFC run on Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G (8 nm) processor with Adreno 618 to handle graphics. It is equipped with Liquid Cool Technology 1.0 Plus for heat dissipation.
They have a 6.67" 1080 × 2400 pixels (20:9 aspect ratio) IPS LCD display which supports 120 Hz refresh rate and 240 Hz touch sampling rate. The display is certified by TÜV Rheinland.
They are protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 5, plastic frame and plastic back. The phones support IP53 splash-proof protection.
POCO X3 and X3 NFC come with 6 GB LPDDR4X RAM, 64 GB or 128 GB UFS 2.1 storage options which is expandable up to 512 GB with microSD card.
The POCO X3 and X3 NFC have quad rear camera set-up with 64-megapixels Sony Exmor IMX682 as the primary sensor, 13-megapixels ultrawide camera with 119° angle of view, 2-megapixel macro camera and 2-megapixels depth sensor. The phone can record 4K video at 30 FPS and 720p slow motion video at 960 FPS. The camera app by default outputs 16-megapixels photos while the PRO-mode in camera can capture in 64-megapixels.
The NFC model has a typical battery capacity of 5160 mAh while the non-NFC model has a typical battery capacity of 6000 mAh (lithium ion). On both models a battery can be charged over USB-C at up to 33 W. A 33 W charger is included in the box.
Camera sensors used:
Wide: Sony IMX682_l
Front: Samsung Isocell s5k3t2_l
Ultrawide: Hynix _hi1337_l
Macro: Hynix_hi259_I
Depth: OV_ov02b1b_l
Software
The POCO X3 and X3 NFC come with MIUI 12 for POCO, based on Android 10 with POCO Launcher 2.0. The POCO X3 can be updated to MIUI 13 for POCO based on Android 12 and the POCO X3 NFC can be updated to MIUI 14 for POCO based on Android 12. It also supports third-party operating systems such as the Android 11-based LineageOS 18 along with Ubuntu Touch and postmarketOS.
Price
In the European market, Poco X3 Pro was launched at €249 for 6 GB RAM/128 GB storage variant and €299 for 8 GB RAM/256 GB storage variant
Criticism
The Poco X3 Pro and maybe the Poco X3 NFC had a faulty PMIC, which eventually caused the phone to not charge and the memory chip to corrupt, rendering the phone bricked, as you need an authorized Mi account to flash using EDL. Unlike popular belief it affected both the Indian and the EEA variants. A temporary fix was rebooting the phone into fastboot, which caused a "recalibration" of the PMIC. Xiaomi confirmed the issue and gave another 6 months of warranty to the Indian version.
Lot of screens were defect, which caused ghost touch issues and random wake-ups. Sometimes it corresponded with a PMIC failure which caused some to believe that the PMIC caused these issues, although Xiaomi has not acknowledged it.
See also
Redmi Note 10 Pro 5G — marketed as the POCO X3 GT on global market.
References
External links
POCO X3 NFC
POCO X3 PRO
Phablets
Xiaomi smartphones
Mobile phones introduced in 2020
Mobile phones with multiple rear cameras
Mobile phones with 4K video recording
Mobile phones with infrared transmitter
Ubuntu Touch devices
postmarketOS devices
Discontinued smartphones | Poco X3 | [
"Technology"
] | 923 | [
"Crossover devices",
"Phablets"
] |
65,313,388 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%20Refinery | The Sturgeon Refinery also NWR Sturgeon Refinery is an bitumen refinery built and operated by North West Redwater Partnership (NWRP) in a public-private partnership with the Alberta provincial government. It is located in Sturgeon County northeast of Edmonton, Alberta, in Alberta's Industrial Heartland. Premier Jason Kenney announced on July 6, 2021, that the province of Alberta had acquired NWRP's equity stake, representing 50% of the $10-billion project, with the other 50% owned by Canadian Natural Resources.
Ownership and organization
The Sturgeon refinery is owned and operated by the Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and the Alberta government. On July 6, 2021 Premier Jason Kenney announced that the province of Alberta had acquired a 50% "equity stake" in the Sturgeon Refinery through the APMC, which now owns the "stake previously owned by Calgary-based North West Refining Inc." In the Financial Post article reporting the acquisition, the refinery was described as "over-budget and behind-schedule".
Previously, the NWRP/Sturgeon Refinery Contractual and Ownership Structure consisted of three main parties who entered into a public private partnership agreement—Canadian Natural Resources, North West Refining Inc and the Government of Alberta's Crown corporation, Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission (APMC). According to their agreement as described in the 2018 report by the Office of the Auditor General of Alberta, the APMC—which is responsible for the implementation of Alberta's Bitumen Royalty-in-Kind (BRIK) policy and processing agreements, has a financial obligation to supply 75% of feedstock to the refinery, take on 75% of the funding commitment of toll obligation, and 75% of subordinated debt. The toll obligation which the pays, is a processing fee or toll for each barrel of bitumen refined. This includes an operating toll, a debt toll, an equity toll, and an incentive fee. The original assessment included a capital cost cap of $6.5 billion. In return, APMC can collect Bitumen Royalty-in-Kind (BRIK) when the refinery is fully operational. Under the agreement, Canadian Natural Resources Partnership (CNR), which is 100% owned by Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL), and which has 50% ownership of North West Redwater Partnership (NWRP), provides 25% of feedstock and 25% toll obligation.
North West Refining Inc. owns the other half of North West Redwater Partnership (NWRP) through two subsidiaries—North West Upgrading LP (NWU) and North West Phase One Inc. The North West Redwater Holding Corporation and the NWR Financing Company Lts are both 100% owned by North West Redwater Partnership (NWRP).
A February 2018 report by the Office of the Auditor General of Alberta entitled "APMC Management of Agreement to Process Bitumen at the Sturgeon Refinery", said that the original agreement between the Alberta government and North West Redwater Partnership (NWRP) resulted in the province taking on "many of the risks as if it were building the refinery as a 75 per cent tollpayer in this arrangement". The APMC has only one vote representing 25% of decision-making power in the partnership, while the two private companies together hold 75% of the decision-making power. In contrast, in regards to the $CDN26 billion in toll payments to be made over a thirty-year period APMC is responsible for 75% while CNRL is responsible for the rest. Because of the "unconditional nature of the debt component of the toll payments", a "substantial amount of the risk was transferred to the province" when APMC entered into these agreement.
The AG's report described the arrangement between Alberta's provincial government and the NWRP, as "high-benefit" and "high-risk"—a "$26 billion commitment on behalf of the government to supply bitumen feedstock to the NWR Sturgeon refinery over a thirty year period. When the Department of Energy and the APMC acknowledged that taking bitumen-in-kind was neither "practical or cost-efficient", the APMC entered into contracts with bitumen suppliers to provide the 75% feedstock to fulfill their commitment to the refinery. In effect, the APMC is purchasing bitumen instead of collecting bitumen-in-kind royalties.
During construction, the APMC CEO and some staff managed the contract itself; NWRP, with its 400 staff members, oversaw the actual construction and "risk management activities".
Alberta’s Industrial Heartland
The 2017, Alberta's Industrial Heartland Association's website, listed NWRP's Sturgeon Refiner as one of the major energy projects in the Heartland—"Canada’s largest hydrocarbon processing center" with over forty companies. The Heartland's geographic region encompasses its 5 five municipal partners, the City of Fort Saskatchewan, Lamont County, Strathcona County, Sturgeon County, and the City of Edmonton.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS)
According to Global News, the $CDN1.2 billion, Alberta Carbon Trunk Line System (ACTL), a -pipeline which came online on June 2, 2020, is part of NWRP's Sturgeon refinery system. The ACTL is a "major carbon capture project", according to the NWRP, and is the Alberta's "largest carbon capture and storage system". The ACTL, which was partially financed through federal government programs and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), is owned and operated by Enhance Energy and Wolf Midstream. The ACTL captures carbon dioxide from industrial emitters in the Industrial Heartland region, like the Sturgeon refinery, and transports it to "central and southern Alberta for secure storage" in "aging reservoirs", and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects.
Products
According to NWR Sturgeon refinery's website, operations include upgrading bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands into ultra-low-sulfur diesel. Other finished products include "high quality recycled and manufactured diluents" used in the process of extracting bitumen in Alberta, "pure naptha", used in "petrochemical processes or as part of the manufactured diluent pool", "low sulphur" vacuum gas oil (VGO)", that can be used as "intermediate feedstock in refineries", butane, and propane.
Background
The September 18, 2007 Alberta government commissioned report, entitled "Our Fair Share", by the Alberta Royalty Review panel had concluded that bitumen royalty rates and formulas had "not kept pace with changes in the resource base and world energy markets" and as a result, Albertans, who own their natural resources, were not receiving their "fair share" from energy development. In 2008, the global price of oil reached its peak all-time high of $USD145 a barrel, but later in 2008, during the financial crisis of 2007–2008, oil prices had plummeted to $32 a barrel resulting in "the cancellation of many energy projects" in Alberta.
In response to Review, which the then Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach had commissioned, the Alberta government enacted new regulations under the provincial Alberta Mines and Minerals Act at that were identified in the Alberta Royalty Framework.
The 2007 Alberta Royalty Framework identified the need for a Bitumen Royalty-in-Kind (BRIK) option, allowing the government to choose how the Crown could collect its bitumen royalty share of "conventional crude oil production"—in cash or in kind. Through BRIK, the Crown could use its share of bitumen royalties "strategically", to "enhance Alberta’s value-add activities such as upgrading, refining, and petrochemical development", to Alberta's economy, and to hedge risks in the commodity market. Under the new royalty formulas, the government had anticipated revenue of $2 billion annually.
On July 21, 2009 Stelmach's provincial government released a BRIK Request for Proposals (RFP) to "procure a long-term contract to process or purchase a share of royalty volumes of bitumen".
The only proposal was that submitted by North West Upgrading LP (NWU). After receiving a report from the NWU proposal evaluation team in April 2010, which warned that the agreement placed a "disproportionate risk" on Alberta's government, the NWRP and AMPC agreement was signed in February 2011.
A private consortium North West Redwater Partnership (NWRP) was "selected to construct and operate" the Sturgeon Refinery. Originally the estimate for capital costs for the project was $5.7 billion By 2011, the estimate had increased to $6.5 billion.
In 2012, the construction of Phase 1 of the Sturgeon Refinery was sanctioned. In its announcement, NWRP said that the refinery was to be built, owned and operated by NWRP.
Originally, the Sturgeon upgrader was supposed to be fully operational by October 2016.
2014 APMC $CDN324 loan to NWRP
In January 2014, under then Premier Jim Prentice, the Building New Petroleum Markets Act was passed, allowing the Minister of Energy to provide loans to projects, like the NWRP's Sturgeon Refinery. When the APMC, the NWU and CNRL reached an amended agreement in April 2014, the APMC providing a $CDN324 million loan to NWRP.
By May 2017, the expected completion date was delayed until June 2018. As a result, the Ministry of Energy updated the estimate for the refinery's capital cost to $9.4 billion. The delay and resulting cost increases represented an additional $CDN95 million loan to NWRP by the APMC.
In 2017, Sturgeon Refinery began producing diesel from synthetic crude upgraded Alberta oilsands feedstock, and by November 2018, was producing about 35,000 to 40,000 barrels per day of diesel. The heavily discounted price of "stranded Alberta heavy oil" resulted in deep discounts for the refineries feedstock—as much as US$30 per barrel less than usual. In 2017, NWRP proceeded with phase one of the refinery capable of upgrading bitumen at a rate of 50,000 barrels a day. with the cost estimated at $CDN9.7 billion.
Because of the onerous obligations under the agreement, in June 2018, the provincial New Democratic Party (NDP) under Premier Rachel Notley, had to begin to pay "75 per cent of the debt-servicing costs related to financing of the project." Even though no revenue had been generated for Alberta by the Sturgeon Refinery, the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission (APMC)—a Crown corporation responsible for the "implementation of BRIK policy, processing agreements", had "been making payments averaging $27 million a month related to the financing" the $9.9-billion Sturgeon Refinery, which represents approximately "$466 million in debt-servicing costs" since 2018—tied to the government's "commitments" to the project.
By March 2020, due to start up issues, the refinery was not "processing the government’s bitumen at the facility — or generating revenue for the province from its refining operations" according to a Calgary Herald article. By March 2020, the capital costs of the project had climbed to about $10 billion.
It took fifteen years, but in May 2020 founder, president and CEO of North West Refining, Ian McGregor, announced that the Sturgeon Refinery was fully operational and had reached commercial operations, as the transition from "primarily processing synthetic crude feedstock to bitumen feedstock" had been successful.
Because of the agreement made by the former Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta government with North West Redwater Partnership (NWRP) in 2009, the current United Conservative Party (UCP) provincial government is responsible for continuing the debt-servicing costs that have been paid since June 2018, as well as an added cost of "debt principal repayments of about $21 million a month, on top of the debt-servicing costs," starting in June 2020. This increase in payments comes against the backdrop of the collapse of global oil prices precipitated by interconnecting and unprecedented global events—the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the COVID-19 recession, the 2020 stock market crash, and the 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war, which Premier Jason Kenney called—"the greatest challenge" in Alberta's "modern history, threatening its main industry and wreaking havoc on its finances."
APMC reported in its annual 2020 report on the loans and agreements with NWRP's Sturgeon Refinery project, that the NWRP's Sturgeon Refinery project, had a "negative $CDN2.52 billion net present value" based mainly on "pricing and on-stream factor".
See also
Husky Lloydminster Refinery, Lloydminster (Husky Energy),
Scotford Upgrader, Strathcona County (Shell Oil Company),
Strathcona Refinery, Strathcona County (Imperial Oil),
Sturgeon Refinery, Sturgeon County (North West Redwater Partnership — Canadian Natural Resources and North West Refineries),
Suncor Edmonton Refinery, Strathcona County (Suncor Energy),
Notes
References
Oil refineries in Alberta
Petroleum industry in Alberta
Buildings and structures in Alberta
2011 establishments in Alberta
Petroleum technology
Bituminous sands of Canada
Sturgeon County
Energy infrastructure completed in 2020
Government of Alberta | Sturgeon Refinery | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering"
] | 2,744 | [
"Petroleum engineering",
"Petroleum technology"
] |
65,313,858 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher%20J.%20Cramer | Christopher J. Cramer (born September 23, 1961) is a research chemist and served as vice president for research at the University of Minnesota from 2018–2021. He presently serves as senior vice president and chief research officer for Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
Education
Cramer studied mathematics and chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, working with doctoral advisor Scott E. Denmark.
Military service
Cramer served for four years as an officer in the U.S. Army Chemical Corps from 1988 to 1992, including combat duty in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.
Scientific career
In 1992, Cramer joined the faculty in the University of Minnesota's department of chemistry, where he remained for his entire academic career. In addition to teaching and research, Cramer was director of both undergraduate and graduate studies in the chemistry department for three years each. He led the university's Faculty Consultative Committee in 2011–2012. From 2013 to 2018, he was associate dean for academic affairs in the U of M's College of Sciences and Engineering. He moved into the position of associate dean for research and planning in 2018, then became vice president for research later that year on the retirement of predecessor Allen Levine. Cramer oversaw one of the largest public-research programs in the United States, managing the administration, planning, and regulation of nearly $1 billion in research projects across the entire University of Minnesota system, including economic and technical development, and interdisciplinary efforts involving transportation and the environment. In 2021, he left the University of Minnesota and became the senior vice president and chief research officer for Underwriters Laboratories Inc. He made this career move shortly after his wife, Laura Gagliardi, left the University of Minnesota for a faculty position at the University of Chicago.
Cramer was editor-in-chief (and before that, associate editor) of the scientific journal Theoretical Chemistry Accounts from 1997 to 2014. He was associate editor for the Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry from 1997 to 2018.
He is the author of the 2013 textbook Essentials of Computational Chemistry: Theories and Models. Cramer also helped pioneer the university's e-learning programs by developing the online course Statistical Molecular Thermodynamics.
His research work has covered a wide area, including advancements in solar energy (as head of the Center for the Study of Charge Transfer and Charge Transport in Photoactivated Systems), and computer simulations of chemical weapons to assist in identification and cleanup. He has also worked extensively with the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute.
Cramer has received several awards for teaching and public service. He was named a Distinguished McKnight University Professor, received the George W. Taylor Award of Distinguished Service in 2013, and the Horace T. Morse-University of Minnesota Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education in 2011.
He has also worked to increase public awareness and appreciation of science, and has been quoted in news articles and television reports as an expert on popular chemistry-related topics such as tear gas and pepper spray, slime, road salt, and the persistence of particular smells.
Publications
Even after moving into administrative roles, Cramer continued to be active in scientific research. Cramer has written or co-written more than 500 articles for scientific journals and other scholarly publications. He has also written or edited several books, as follows:
As author
Essentials of Computational Chemistry: Theories and Models (2013)
Statistical Molecular Thermodynamics (Coursera Massive Open Online Course)
As editor
Structure and Reactivity in Aqueous Solution: Characterization of Chemical and Biological Systems (American Chemical Society Symposium Series, 1994)
Theoretical Chemistry Accounts: New Century Issue (2000; a special reprint of Vol. 103, issues 3-4 of the journal)
Perspectives on Theoretical Chemistry: Five Decades of Theoretical Chemistry Accounts and Theoretica Chimica Acta
Awards and fellowships
In 2010, he was named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society. In August 2020, he received the society's Arthur C. Cope Scholar award for 2021.
In 2000, he was named a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
In 1996, he was named a Fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
In 1991, he received the Arthur S Flemming Award.
Personal life
Cramer is married to University of Chicago chemistry professor Laura Gagliardi; the couple has three children from a prior marriage.
References
External links
The Cramer Group
1961 births
Theoretical chemists
American organic chemists
Computational chemists
University of Minnesota faculty
Washington University in St. Louis alumni
20th-century American chemists
21st-century American chemists
Fellows of the American Chemical Society
Living people
United States Army personnel of the Gulf War
Sloan Research Fellows
University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni | Christopher J. Cramer | [
"Chemistry"
] | 952 | [
"Organic chemists",
"Theoretical chemists",
"American theoretical chemists",
"American organic chemists"
] |
65,314,337 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casirivimab/imdevimab | Casirivimab/imdevimab, sold under the brand name REGEN‑COV among others, is a combination medicine used for the treatment and prevention of COVID19. It consists of two human monoclonal antibodies, casirivimab and imdevimab that must be mixed together and administered as an infusion or subcutaneous injection. The combination of two antibodies is intended to prevent mutational escape. It is also available as a co-formulated product. It was developed by the American biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
The most common side effects include allergic reactions, which include infusion related reactions, injection site reactions, brief pain, weakness and others.
The combination is approved under the brand name Ronapreve for medical use in Japan, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Australia.
In January 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised the authorizations for two monoclonal antibody treatments – bamlanivimab/etesevimab (administered together) and casirivimab/imdevimab – to limit their use to only when the recipients are likely to have been infected with or exposed to a variant that is susceptible to these treatments because data show these treatments are highly unlikely to be active against the omicron variant.
Medical uses
In the European Union, the combination is indicated for the treatment of COVID19 in people aged twelve years of age and older weighing at least who do not require supplemental oxygen and who are at high increased risk of progressing to severe COVID19; and for the prevention of COVID19 in people aged twelve years of age and older weighing at least .
Deployment
REGEN‑COV is manufactured at the Regeneron's manufacturing facility in Rensselaer, New York. In September 2020, to free up manufacturing capacity for REGEN‑COV, Regeneron began to shift production of its existing products from Rensselaer to the Irish city of Limerick.
Regeneron has a deal in place with Roche (Genentech) to manufacture and market REGEN‑COV outside the United States.
Society and culture
On 2 October 2020, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced that then-US President Donald Trump had received "a single 8 gram dose of REGN-COV2" after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. The drug was provided by the company in response to a "compassionate use" (temporary authorization for use) request from the president's physicians.
In August 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott received REGEN‑COV after testing positive for COVID19.
Economics
In January 2021, the United States agreed to purchase 1.25 million doses of the drug for $2.625 billion, at $2,100 per dose. On 14 September, another 1.4 million doses were purchased for the same price, totaling $2.94 billion.
In January 2021, the German government purchased 200,000 doses for €400 million at €2,000 per dose.
In May 2021, Roche India and Cipla announced that the medicine would be available in India for Rs 59,750 ($) per dose.
In September 2021, the World Health Organization urged producers and governments to address the drug's high cost and called for technology sharing to enable the manufacture of biosimilar versions. The WHO also said that Unitaid is negotiating with Roche for lower prices and equitable distribution, especially in low- and middle income countries.
Legal status
In November 2021, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended granting a marketing authorization in the European Union for casirivimab/imdevimab (Ronapreve) for the treatment and prevention of COVID19. The company that applied for authorization of Ronapreve is Roche Registration GmbH. Casirivimab/imdevimab was approved for medical use in the European Union in November 2021.
Research
COVID-19
On 21 November 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for casirivimab and imdevimab to be administered together for the treatment of mild to moderate [COVID19] in people twelve years of age or older weighing at least with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing and who are at high risk for progressing to severe COVID19. This includes those who are 65 years of age or older or who have certain chronic medical conditions. Casirivimab and imdevimab must be administered together by intravenous (IV) infusion or subcutaneous injection.
Casirivimab and imdevimab are not authorized for people who are hospitalized due to COVID19 or require oxygen therapy due to COVID19. A benefit of casirivimab and imdevimab treatment has not been shown in people hospitalized due to COVID19. Monoclonal antibodies, such as casirivimab and imdevimab, may be associated with worse clinical outcomes when administered to hospitalized people with COVID19 requiring high flow oxygen or mechanical ventilation. In June 2021, the EUA was revised to authorize "the use of the unapproved product, REGEN‑COV (casirivimab and imdevimab) co-formulated product and REGEN‑COV (casirivimab and imdevimab) supplied as individual vials to be administered together, for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID19 in people aged twelve years of age and older weighing at least with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID19, including hospitalization or death".
The EUA was issued to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.
In February 2021, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) started a rolling review of data on the REGN‑COV2 antibody combination (casirivimab/imdevimab), which is being co-developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and F. Hoffman-La Roche, Ltd (Roche) for the treatment and prevention of COVID19. In February 2021, the CHMP concluded that the combination, also known as REGN-COV2, can be used for the treatment of confirmed COVID19 in people who do not require supplemental oxygen and who are at high risk of progressing to severe COVID19.
The Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) in India, on 5 May 2021, granted an Emergency Use Authorization to Roche (Genentech) and Regeneron for use of the casirivimab/imdevimab cocktail in the country. The announcement came in light of the second wave of the COVID19 pandemic in India. Roche India maintains partnership with Cipla, thereby permitting the latter to market the drug in the country.
In July 2021, the US FDA revised the emergency use authorization (EUA) for REGEN‑COV (casirivimab and imdevimab, administered together) authorizing REGEN‑COV for emergency use as post-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) for COVID19 in people aged twelve years of age and older weighing at least who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID19, including hospitalization or death. REGEN‑COV remains authorized for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID19 in people aged twelve years of age and older weighing at least with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID19, including hospitalization or death.
In April 2021, Roche (Genentech) and Regeneron announced that the Phase III clinical trial REGN-COV 2069 met both primary and secondary endpoints, reducing risk of infection by 81% for the non-infected participants, and reducing time-to-resolution of symptoms for symptomatic participants to one week vs. three weeks in the placebo group.
In June 2021, preliminary results form the Recovery trial showed reduced mortality from 30% to 24% in people that had produced no antibodies themselves which were 33% of the total of participants.
Trials
In a clinical trial of people with COVID19, casirivimab and imdevimab, administered together, were shown to reduce COVID19-related hospitalization or emergency room visits in people at high risk for disease progression within 28 days after treatment when compared to placebo. The safety and effectiveness of this investigational therapy for use in the treatment of COVID19 continues to be evaluated.
The data supporting the emergency use authorization (EUA) for casirivimab and imdevimab are based on a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in 799 non-hospitalized adults with mild to moderate COVID19 symptoms. Of these participants, 266 received a single intravenous infusion of 2,400 milligrams casirivimab and imdevimab (1,200 mg of each), 267 received 8,000 mg casirivimab and imdevimab (4,000 mg of each), and 266 received a placebo, within three days of obtaining a positive SARS-CoV-2 viral test.
The prespecified primary endpoint for the trial was time-weighted average change in viral load from baseline. Viral load reduction in participants treated with casirivimab and imdevimab was larger than in participants treated with placebo at day seven. However, the most important evidence that casirivimab and imdevimab administered together may be effective came from the predefined secondary endpoint of medically attended visits related to COVID19, particularly hospitalizations and emergency room visits within 28 days after treatment. For participants at high risk for disease progression, hospitalizations and emergency room visits occurred in 3% of casirivimab and imdevimab-treated participants on average compared to 9% in placebo-treated participants. The effects on viral load, reduction in hospitalizations and ER visits were similar in participants receiving either of the two casirivimab and imdevimab doses.
As of September 2020, REGEN‑COV is being evaluated as part of the Recovery Trial, and in June 2021 the first results of the research were announced with evidence proving the effectiveness of the treatment.
References
Further reading
External links
Combination antiviral drugs
COVID-19 drug development
Monoclonal antibodies
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Drugs developed by Hoffmann-La Roche | Casirivimab/imdevimab | [
"Chemistry"
] | 2,202 | [
"COVID-19 drug development",
"Drug discovery"
] |
65,314,772 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical%20purity | In chemistry, chemical purity is the measurement of the amount of impurities found in a sample. Several grades of purity are used by the scientific, pharmaceutical, and industrial communities. Some of the commonly used grades of purity include:
ACS grade is the highest level of purity, and meets the standards set by the American Chemical Society (ACS). The official descriptions of the ACS levels of purity is documented in the Reagent Chemicals publication, issued by the ACS. It is suitable for food and laboratory uses.
Reagent grade is almost as stringent as the ACS grade.
USP grade meets the purity levels set by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). USP grade is equivalent to the ACS grade for many drugs.
NF grade is a purity grade set by the National Formulary (NF). NF grade is equivalent to the ACS grade for many drugs.
British Pharmacopoeia: Meets or exceeds requirements set by the British Pharmacopoeia (BP). Can be used for food, drug, and medical purposes, and also for most laboratory purposes.
Japanese Pharmacopeia: Meets or exceeds requirements set by the Japanese Pharmacopoeia (JP). Can be used for food, drug, and medical purposes, and also for most laboratory purposes.
Laboratory grade is suitable for use in educational settings, but is not acceptable for food or drug use.
Purified grade is not precisely defined, and it is not suitable for drug or food usage.
Technical grade is suitable for industrial applications, but is not acceptable for food or drug use.
References
Materials
Chemical tests
Environmental chemistry
Adulteration
Harm reduction | Chemical purity | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry",
"Environmental_science"
] | 343 | [
"Adulteration",
"Environmental chemistry",
"Drug safety",
"Chemical tests",
"Materials",
"nan",
"Matter"
] |
65,318,331 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia%20%2813N%29 | {{DISPLAYTITLE:Ammonia (13N)}}
Ammonia (13N) (ammonia with radioisotope nitrogen-13) is a medication for diagnostic positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of the myocardium.
References
External links
Radiopharmaceuticals | Ammonia (13N) | [
"Chemistry"
] | 63 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Medicinal radiochemistry",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs",
"Chemicals in medicine",
"Radiopharmaceuticals",
"Pharmacology stubs"
] |
65,318,944 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre%20G%C3%B6nczy | Pierre Gönczy (born 1962 in Winterthur, Switzerland) is a Swiss and Italian cell and developmental biologist. His research focuses on centriole biology and asymmetric cell division. He is currently professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), where he directs the Laboratory of Cell and Developmental Biology.
Career
Gönczy studied biology at University of Geneva and graduated in 1987 with a diploma thesis in molecular immunology at the Department of Microbiology at University of Geneva. In 1995, he received a PhD for his work on developmental biology and molecular genetics from the Rockefeller University, New York City, United States. From 1996 to 2000 Gönczy joined the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany as a postdoctoral research fellow with Anthony Hyman to work on cell biology, cell division, and early embryonic development. In 2000, he became Junior Group leader at Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2005, he was first nominated Associate Professor, and since 2009 has been a Full Professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
Research
Gönczy's research is in the realm of cell and developmental biology, focused mainly on the questions of centriole assembly and function, as well as asymmetric cell division. His laboratory employs notably the model organism C. elegans and human cell lines in their research. The methods they use include functional genomics, cell biology, live imaging, super-resolution microscopy, biophysical analysis, and electron cryotomography. He spearheaded the first ever functional genomic screening of a metazoan organism, leading to the systematic discovery of the function of the compendium of genes needed to build an embryo.
Distinctions
Gönczy is recipient of the EMBO Young Investigator Program Award (2000). In 2005, he was elected an EMBO member. He was co-founder of the startup company Cenix Bioscience. He was a Whitman Fellow at the Marine Biology Laboratory, Woods Hole, USA in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Select publications
References
External links
Publications indexed on ORCID:
Website of the Laboratory of Cell and Developmental Biology
Living people
1962 births
University of Geneva alumni
Rockefeller University alumni
Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Molecular biologists
Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization
People from Winterthur | Pierre Gönczy | [
"Chemistry"
] | 491 | [
"Biochemists",
"Molecular biology",
"Molecular biologists"
] |
65,318,989 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data%20embassy | A data embassy is a solution traditionally implemented by nation states to ensure a country's digital continuity with particular respect to critical databases. It consists of a set of servers that store one country's data and are under that country's jurisdiction while being located in another country.
Purpose
Data embassies are regarded as a tool to ensure a government's digital continuity, meaning the survival of critical databases to allow the continuation of government even in a situation where governing from within the country's borders is no longer an option. Among threats that might lead to such situation are natural disasters, large-scale cyberattacks, and military invasion. In the worst-case scenario, a data embassy could enable government to provide its digital services without the national territory under its control. This makes data embassies particularly attractive to countries that have already digitalized their most crucial databases and are situated in the vicinity of the aforementioned threat vectors. Additionally, data embassies can offer additional computing power for heightened server traffic, for example during election season or the period of electronic tax return filing.
History
The 2007 cyberattacks on Estonia disrupted websites of Estonian organizations including the Estonian parliament as well as newspapers and banks. Furthermore, Estonia has implemented a stringent paperless policy, meaning that many crucial databases only exist in a digital format. Tasked with ensuring the security and immutability of these databases, the ministries looked towards data embassies as a possible solution for digital continuity. This was crucial not just for Estonia's own citizens but also for e-Residents who rely on these services around the world. These efforts were also written down in the Estonian Cyber Security Strategy 2014-2017 which created an outline for ensuring the digital continuity of the state.
In 2013, then-CIO of the Estonian government Taavi Kotka made active efforts to determine, in which constellation a data embassy would be the most useful and effective. The Estonian government also collaborated with Microsoft on two studies to determine the feasibility of virtual data embassies. The government decided against the option of converting selected Estonian embassies into data embassies because embassies did not possess the necessary technical and crisis response competence, were reliant on whatever telecommunications services they would be offered by virtue of their environment, and were not physically constructed according to safety criteria that datacenters could fulfil.
On 14 November 2016, the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and Luxembourgish Ministry of Media and Communications signed a Memorandum of Understanding about the hosting of data and information systems. On 20 June 2017, Prime Minister of Estonia Jüri Ratas and Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel signed the agreement to establish an Estonian data embassy in Luxembourg. This agreement was ratified by the parliaments of Luxembourg and Estonia in 2018. In its first iteration, the Estonian data embassy in Luxembourg currently acts as a backup and source of additional computing power for the following datasets that are considered critical for the functioning of the state: e-file court system, treasury information system, e-land register, taxable persons’ register, business register, population register, state gazette, identity documents register, land cadastral register, and national pension insurance register.
In 2018, Bahrain implemented the so-called Cloud Law which allows data stored in Bahraini datacenters to be subject to the domestic law in a third country.
Legal basis
Initially, academic research also considered the application of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations or the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to ensure the protection and inviolability of data but found that these conventions would require significant changes.
As a result of the lack of international legal precedent, data embassies have thus far only been created on the basis of bilateral agreements that are inspired by the wording used in the Vienna Conventions. These bilateral agreements also usually require ratification from the parliaments of the partnering countries.
Sources
Continuity of government
Data protection
Backup
E-government
Diplomatic missions | Data embassy | [
"Engineering"
] | 792 | [
"Reliability engineering",
"Backup"
] |
65,319,607 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSK1016790A | GSK1016790A (aka GSK101) is a drug developed by GlaxoSmithKline which acts as a potent and selective agonist for the TRPV4 receptor. It has been used to study the role of TRPV4 receptors in the function of smooth muscle tissue, particularly that lining blood vessels, lymphatic system, and the bladder.
References
Piperazines | GSK1016790A | [
"Chemistry"
] | 87 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs"
] |
65,320,438 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine%20Nakalembe | Catherine Nakalembe is an Ugandan remote sensing scientist and an associate research professor at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the Department of Geographical Sciences and the NASA Harvest Africa program Director. Her research includes drought, agriculture and food security.
In 2020, Nakalembe was awarded the Africa Food Prize.
Education
In 2007, Nakalembe received her undergraduate degree in Environmental Sciences from Makerere University.
After undergraduate studies, she received a partial scholarship for the master’s program in geography and environmental engineering at the Johns Hopkins University. She received her Master's degree in 2009.
Nakalembe received her Ph.D in Geographical Science at the University of Maryland under the supervision of Chris Justice. Her doctoral research aimed to highlight the consequences of drought on land use and on the lives of North Eastern Ugandans. It was the first step in forming the basis of the remote sensing element of the disaster risk financing project which has supported over 75,000 households in the region since initial scaleup in 2017 and saving the Uganda government resources that would otherwise go towards emergency assistance.
Work
She is the Africa Program Director in the NASA Harvest Program and is known for her work using remote sensing and machine learning technology supporting the development of agriculture and food security across Africa. She pioneered the remote sensing by unmanned aerial vehicles in surveying refugee settlements and landslide mapping in Uganda. She has conducted research in remote sensing of drought, agriculture, and leading the integration of earth observations in agricultural monitoring of small holder agriculture in multiple countries.
Nakalembe organizes and leads training on remote sensing tools and data, works with national ministries on their agricultural decision-making processes, and heads initiatives to prevent potentially disastrous impacts of crop failure.
Honors and awards
She received the Group on Earth Observations first Individual Excellence Award in 2019.
In 2020, she shared the Africa Food Prize (AFP) with Dr. André Bationo from Burkina Faso. Olusegun Obasanjo, Chair of the AFP Committee, stated "We need innovative Africans like Dr. Bationo and Dr. Nakalembe to demonstrate the potential of new knowledge and technology together with practical technologies that help improve the value proposition for farmers. These two are indeed exceptional Africans."
She was a 2020 UMD Research Excellence Honoree. In 2022, she received the Ugandan Golden Jubilee medal (civilian). It was presented to her parents by president Yoweri Museveni.
Personal life
Nakalembe grew up in Kampala, Uganda. Her father is a self-taught car mechanic, and her mother owns and operates a restaurant in Makindye.
Nakalembe entered the environmental science field by chance, as she missed her first preference sports science course when she was enrolling for her undergraduate program at Makerere University early in 2002.
As of 2020, Nakalembe is married to Sebastian Deffner, an associate professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
They have two children.
References
External links
Catherine Nakalembe at NASA Harvest
Interview at Project Geospatial, 13 Mars 2020
Profile on BBC News, 27 Dec 2020
Living people
Makerere University alumni
Johns Hopkins University alumni
Ugandan women scientists
University of Maryland, College Park faculty
NASA people
People from Kampala
Year of birth missing (living people)
Environmental scientists | Catherine Nakalembe | [
"Environmental_science"
] | 663 | [
"Environmental scientists"
] |
76,876,760 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather%20of%202001 | The following is a list of weather events that occurred on Earth in the year 2001. There were several natural disasters around the world from various types of weather, including tornadoes, floods and tropical cyclones. The deadliest disaster was Typhoon Lingling in November, which caused 379 fatalities. The costliest event of the year was Hurricane Michelle, which caused $2.43 billion in damages.
2001 was the second hottest year on record at the time behind 1998, which was amplified by the end of a years-long La Niña. The Atlantic and Pacific tropical storm seasons were both unusually active.
Many
Winter storms and cold waves
In January, a winter storm hit parts of the northern United States, causing an injury but no fatalities.
Droughts, heat waves, and wildfires
In May, a severe drought affected portions of the United States, but caused no injuries or fatalities. 2001 had a relatively low amount of droughts and heat waves.
Large wildfires took place in California in 2001, killing over 2 people, destroying over 390 buildings, and causing US$196 million (2001 USD) in damages. The Observation Fire was the largest fire to take place during the season, burning over 67,000 acres of land.
The Poe Fire in September was the most destructive wildfire of 2001, injuring over 23 people and destroying more than 133 buildings in parts of north-central California. No fatalities were reported.
Floods
In April, a historic flood occurred in portions of the Upper Mississippi River, rising to the highest water levels for the river since 1965. Many homes were washed away, and an unknown number of injuries were reported.
On May 21 a large flood in Lensk, Russia washed away 400+ homes and left over 2,000 people homeless.
On June 4, the 2001 Southeastern United States floods, were triggered by Tropical Storm Allison, killed over 30 people in the Houston, Texas area and left over 40,000 people homeless. Other smaller floods were also triggered as a result of Allison, but none were significant.
Tornadoes
There were 1,215 tornadoes in the United States, resulting in 40 deaths. In February, a tornado outbreak caused $35 million in damage, and one tornado killed 6 people. In April a large tornado outbreak killed 4 people and injured 18. In September, the tornado outbreak of September 24, 2001 killed 2 people, injured 57 others, and caused $105.157 million (2001 USD) in damages. In November, the Tornado outbreak of November 23–24, 2001 impacted the southern United States, killing 13 and injuring 219.
Tropical cyclones
In 2001, tropical cyclones and hurricanes formed in various parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. A total of 128 tropical cyclones formed within tropical cyclone basins, and 83 of them were named by weather agencies when they attained maximum sustained winds of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). Typhoon Faxai is the strongest tropical cyclone throughout the year, peaking with a pressure of 915 hPa (27.02 inHg) and attaining 10-minute sustained winds of 195 km/h (120 mph).
The deadliest tropical cyclone of the year was Lingling in the West Pacific which caused 379 fatalities in total as it struck the Philippines and Vietnam, while the costliest storm of the year was Michelle, with a damage cost of around $2.43 billion as it catastrophically affected the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas in late October.
23 Category 3 tropical cyclones formed, and 2 Category 5 tropical cyclones formed. The accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index for the 2001, as calculated by Colorado State University was 672.4 units.
References
Weather by year
Weather-related lists
2001-related lists | Weather of 2001 | [
"Physics"
] | 738 | [
"Weather",
"Physical phenomena",
"Weather by year",
"Weather-related lists"
] |
76,877,543 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coking%20factory | A coking factory or a coking plant is where coke and manufactured gas are synthesized from coal using a dry distillation process. The volatile components of the pyrolyzed coal, released by heating to a temperature of between 900°C and 1,400 °C, are generally drawn off and recovered. There are also coking plants where the released components are burned: this is known as a heat recovery process. A layer of ash then forms on the surface of the resulting coke. The degassing of the coal gives the coke a highly sought-after porosity. The gases are broken down by fractional condensation into hydrocarbon tars, sulfuric acid, ammonia, naphthalene, benzol, and coke gas; these products are then purified in further chemical reactors. Germany still has five coking plants in operation (as of 2010) to meet the needs of its domestic industry.
Coke is mainly used to produce cast iron in blast furnaces, which remains its main use today. Degassing considerably reduces its sulfur content, enabling the iron and steel industry to produce higher-quality cast iron with lower emissions. Apart from this, coke ash has more or less the same composition as ordinary hard coal.
History and principle
In the early days of the ferrous metallurgy, charcoal was used exclusively in the production of ores. Raw fossil coals (lignite and black coal) or uncharred wood are unsuitable for iron metallurgy, as their impurity content prevents them from reaching a temperature high enough to produce good cast iron. The demand for charcoal, drawn from coke ovens operating in much the same way as modern coking plants, led to massive clearings that permanently disfigured entire regions (e.g. the Ashdown Forest in England). It wasn't until the 18th century that the idea of purifying natural coal in coking plants was conceived. The new fuel soon displaced charcoal entirely, making mass production of cast iron possible, and hence the railroads.
Heating coal in the absence of air produces coke, a particularly carbon-rich fuel that is purer and of higher quality than natural coal. By controlling the process, we can achieve specific performance levels in terms of the following properties:
water content;
ash content;
sulfur content;
grain size;
hardness;
friability.
Coke is most often used in blast furnaces and foundries. One of the most important properties of blast furnace coke is its hardness, which it retains even at high temperatures: thus, while serving as a fuel, it ensures the stability of the stack of iron ores and flux, whereas ordinary hard coal would bake and hinder the oxygenation of the mixture.
Description
Coke ovens
The coke oven is the central element of a coking plant. Horizontal ovens, which are the most commonly used (they are suitable for monitoring the various extraction stages), take the form of narrow compartments (approx. 50 cm wide), but several meters high and several meters deep. Modern compartments have a volume of up to 100 m3 (e.g. 0.5 × 6 × 32 m). As a rule, these furnaces are arranged in a battery, separated by injectors for gases burned at between 1,200 and 1,400 °C, which ensures that the internal temperature is maintained. These gases come from the smoke evacuators, which also ensure heat recovery. If you're on the site of an iron and steel plant, blast furnace gas can also be used to heat the lower floors, where it is mixed with gas from the coal roaster. Every half-hour, the heating of the furnace battery alternates between the sides and the top, to ensure isotropic coal roasting.
After an initial phase of around three months following commissioning, the heating system of a coking plant runs continuously. Heating up too quickly, or stopping too abruptly, is accompanied by thermal stresses that cause irreparable damage to the furnaces.
Furnaces, like blast furnaces, are lined internally with refractory layers of chamotte or silicate. Each furnace has three openings: the front and rear doors, which are about as wide as the furnace itself, and the filling/emptying hatch at the top. An oleo-hydraulic rake adjusts the coal layers horizontally inside the furnace.
The roof
The roof is not just the closing slab of the furnace battery: it's also where the overhead crane carrying the coal bucket comes to load each individual furnace. For the worker in charge of this operation, exposure to risk is at a maximum: dust, heat, and flames make the task extremely perilous.
Coal bins
Depending on the type of furnace, coal bins are located either on top of the furnace battery or at one end. Each bin contains the quantity of coal required to fill one furnace. These bins contain a mixture of coals specially selected for the quality of coke to be produced, and previously screened or pulverized.
Bar screen
The bar screen is a mobile carriage on rails, positioned along one side of the oven battery. It is designed to take coke briquettes out of the ovens and transport them to the processing site. It is equipped with an articulated arm, often comprising two joints, capable of sweeping the entire length of the oven battery. The hydraulic power unit is located at the base of this articulated arm. The aisle in front of the furnaces along the rails is called the master aisle; it must allow simultaneous passage of the worker in charge of closing the doors and the foreman.
Sequence of operations
Coal is fed into the furnace, mixed, crushed and compacted;
Overhead crane opens the feed hatch at the top of the furnace;
Coal discharge into a single furnace;
Depending on furnace type or coal quality, coal spiking;
Airtight closing of the furnace;
Heating;
This is followed by degassing and waiting for sufficient porosity;
Opening of furnace end doors;
Coke recovery;
Simultaneous extinguishing and feeding of the furnace for the next cycle.
Once the kiln is full, the kiln feeder returns to the coal hopper and loads the next kiln. Cycles are timed so that a new oven can be started up every two minutes. The kiln walls are continuously heated. Depending on the properties of the coke bricks and the size of the oven, firing takes between 15 and 30 hours.
Extinguishing coke
Coke needs to be cooled particularly quickly, because as soon as it comes into contact with ambient air, its extremely high temperature causes it to start burning.There are two ways of cooling coke:
Wet cooling
This process requires approx. 2 m3 of water per tonne of coke;
Heat is lost;
Almost a third of the water dissipates as steam;
Purification of this steam, contaminated with sulfuric acid, dust and water gases, remains a problem.
In 1986, between 200 g and 2 kg of solid impurities were found per ton of coke during cooling. Thanks to the modern Coke Stabilizing Quenching process, this quantity has been reduced to 10 to 15 g/t.
Dry cooling
This is usually carried out with liquid nitrogen, chosen as the inert gas.
This technique saves energy;
Avoids borrowing water from the natural environment;
Releases less dust;
As the final water content is lower, coke of superior quality is obtained;
On the other hand, the process is costly in terms of investment and maintenance, an aspect disputed by some experts and contractors. This is particularly true of energy recovery, which reduces annual operating costs. In China, the world's second-largest steel producer, Nippon Steel Corporation, estimates that its investments in dry cooling deliver savings of between 20% and 33%.
The gas phase
Towards the middle of the 19th century, industrialists realized the value of off-gases for the chemical industry. The distillers used to wash the gases and separate their components were often mounted on the base of the furnace battery and connected by watertight pipes. The gases are drawn off by fans, which must maintain an overpressure of between 2 mbar and 5 mbar, to avoid any risk of explosion in the furnace as a result of outside air entering. If the fan is blocked, a routine flaring is created.
The coal gas is cooled and washed in a scrubber; the condensation products are then separated and sent to various plants.
By-products
Coal tar;
Benzole;
Sulfur;
Ammonia;
Ammonium sulfate, and more rarely ammonium nitrate (fertilizer);
sulfuric acid;
Alkaline phenols.
Coking plants in the 21st century
World prices for coke have soared. Between 2002 and 2004, demand for steel caused the price of coke produced in China to soar from $80 to almost $350, more than quadrupling in price and three times higher than the simultaneous rise in the price of steel itself.
At the same time, the Chinese dismantled the modern Kaiserstuhl coking plant in Dortmund in the Ruhr and rebuilt it in China. Germany's last dry-cooling plant was unable to take up the slack, as the ThyssenKrupp group consolidated its iron and steel plants in Dortmund and Duisburg.
The last three coking plants in operation in the Ruhr – the ArcelorMittal Prosper coking plant in Bottrop, the Carbonaria / ThyssenKrupp coking plant in Duisburg-Schwelgern and the coking plant at the Duisburg-Huckingen thermal power station – have been at the limits of their capacity since 2010. On June 3, 2005, the Düsseldorf district authorities approved the extension of the Duisburg-Huckingen coking plant for HKM (Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann) as being in the public interest, and this was confirmed on January 13, 2006. The coking plant was inaugurated on March 29, 2014.
In December 2005, approval was given for the upgrading of the Saarland central coking plant (Zentralkokerei Saar GmbH) in Dillingen. This involves the construction of an entirely new third furnace battery. This will eventually enable the operation of furnace battery 1 to be discontinued, which will be rebuilt. Battery 2 will be phased out.
In France, in November 2000, 6 coking plants were in operation: 3 owned by the Usinor steel group at Serémange, Dunkirk and Fos-sur-Mer, 2 owned by Charbonnages de France at Drocourt and Carling, and the suspended Pont-à-Mousson plant. In May 2020, following the closure of the Serémange coking plant, only the Dunkirk and Fos-sur-Mer plants will remain.
The coking plant in Carling was closed in October 2009 due to polychlorobiphenyl contamination and demolished completely by 2014.
Industrial policy
Given the sustained rise in the price of coke, several supporters of the industry have represented to the German authorities that it would be profitable to reopen certain coal pits. For example, there is an entirely privately-funded project to open a mine north of Hamm, but the size of the investment makes this impossible. Skeptics fear that investment in this sector during the current economic cycle could have consequences for public finances in the event of a shortage.
See also
Air pollution
Carbochemistry
Coal
Coal-mining region
Coke
Mining district
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
Bibliography
References
Carbon
Manufacturing plants
Chemical plants | Coking factory | [
"Chemistry"
] | 2,346 | [
"Chemical process engineering",
"Chemical plants"
] |
76,877,585 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef%20Gierer | Josef Franz Gierer (born 12 January 1919) is an Austrian-born Swedish chemist and wood scientist who is emeritus professor of organic chemistry, specialising in lignin research, who is a member of the International Academy of Wood Science and honorary recipient of the Anselme Payen Award.
His contributions in chemistry of wood and pulping have been well recorded. He was the recipient of the Ekman medal from the Swedish Association of Pulp and Paper (1989), and in 1992 received the prestigious Anselme Payen Award from the American Chemical Society for his yearlong scientific work.
Gierer was born in Piesting, Austria on 12 January 1919. In 1948, he achieved his Ph.D. degree at the University of Vienna, working on topics relating to organic chemistry.
He afterwards moved permanently to Sweden, where he worked at the Swedish Forest Products Laboratory in Stockholm (1951–1983). He later became a professor of wood chemistry at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
During his career, Gierer authored numerous publications in the area of wood chemistry.
References
External links
Google Scholar
1919 births
Possibly living people
Academic staff of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Austrian emigrants to Sweden
Fellows of the International Academy of Wood Science
People from Steyr-Land District
University of Vienna alumni
Wood scientists | Josef Gierer | [
"Materials_science"
] | 265 | [
"Wood sciences",
"Wood scientists"
] |
76,877,642 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoroantimonate | The fluoroantimonates are a family of polyatomic weakly coordinating anions composed of antimony and fluorine, consisting of the fluorine adducts of antimony pentafluoride, . They occur in the internal chemistry of fluoroantimonic acid.
The most notable fluoroantimonates are hexafluoroantimonate and undecafluorodiantimonate . Both are used as components of ionic liquids and as weakly coordinating anions in the study of highly reactive cations.
Properties
Hexafluoroantimonate is the conjugate base of the superacid fluoroantimonic acid . As fluoroantimonic acid is one of the strongest known acids (only weaker than the helium hydride ion and potentially some carborane acids), hexafluoroantimonate is one of the weakest known bases.
Higher fluoroantimonates are believed to be even less basic
Synthesis
Fluoroantimonates result from the fluorination of antimony pentafluoride. is an extremely strong Lewis acid, especially towards fluoride sources.
In fluoroantimonic acid
In solutions of fluoroantimonic acid, the extreme Lewis acidity of towards fluoride overcomes the very low basicity of hydrogen fluoride and strips it of its bonding electrons and fluoride. This forces HF to act as a Brønsted–Lowry base, producing the solvated protons which account for the mixture's superacidity:
While fluoroantimonic acid is often depicted according to the above - roughly analogous to the autooxidation of water into hydronium and hydroxide - this reaction is an oversimplification. In addition to reacting with hydrogen fluoride, excess is also capable of forming Lewis adducts with fluoroantimonates, yielding a higher fluoroantimonate:
As fluoroantimonic acid is often mixed in a 1:1 ratio, is the dominant anion in the solution. Further, solvated protons are not limited to , and can form heavier cations such as or , leaving more to react and form higher fluoroantimonate ions.
As salts
Fluoroantimonates may be crystallised from a solution of fluoroantimonic acid with some cation. The most common salts are of , but salts of and have been isolated in the laboratory.
As fluoroantimonic acid and antimony pentafluoride are highly reactive, other routes to fluoroantimonates are industrially desirable. Fluorination of antimonate and of antimony trioxide (with hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant) with HF as a solvent can yield fluoroantimonates from metal fluoride salts.
Applications
As weakly coordinating anions, fluoroantimonates can be used to study highly reactive cations. Examples include hydronium (crystallised from magic acid as the undecafluorodiantimonate), fluoronium (directly crystallised from fluoroantimonic acid as the undecafluorodiantimonate), noble gas-noble metal cations such as tetraxenonogold(II) (as the undecafluorodiantimonate) and xenonomercury(II) (as a mixed salt of hexafluoroantimonate and undecafluoroantimonate), and derivatives or complexes of platinum group metals.
Fluoroantimonate is also a component of ionic liquids used in catalysis.
References
Antimony(V) compounds
Fluorine compounds
Anions | Fluoroantimonate | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 772 | [
"Ions",
"Matter",
"Anions"
] |
76,878,085 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James%20Taylor%20%28ceramicist%29 | James Taylor (1839–1898) was an English-born ceramicist who is considered "the father of the American architectural terra cotta industry."
Biography
Taylor was born in England and experienced in architectural terracotta manufacturing there, acting as superintendent of J.M. Blashfield & Company for five years. He emigrated to the United States in 1870 and immediately encountered stubborn misconceptions about terracotta's suitability for use in the United States, with many architects advising him to return to England.
After having no luck finding financing for a new company in New York City, Taylor traveled west and replaced the superintendent of the Chicago Terra Cotta Company. Terracotta manufacture was new to Chicago, but the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 demonstrated the flaws of presumed fireproof materials such as stone and iron and increased demand for brick and clay products. The Chicago Terra Cotta Company had formed a few years earlier but its first superintendent, Giovanni Meli, did not have previous experience producing architectural terra cotta and lacked technical skills.
After his hiring in Chicago, Taylor introduced English methods for preparing clay and producing terracotta, employing muffle kilns in what is believed to be their first use in the United States. Whereas many American architects initially considered terracotta to be a decorative element, Taylor promoted its use for entire building facades.
Taylor's family settled on a farm in Port Monmouth, New Jersey and while there he worked with his friend Edward Adolphus Spring to form Eagleswood Art Pottery, which was one of the first institutes in the United States to offer an education in making ceramics.
In 1878 Taylor moved to Boston to operate the Chicago Terra Cotta Company's new Boston branch and worked there until it closed the next year. By 1880 he had been recruited by another new company; the Boston Terra Cotta Company. His work there allowed him to spend many weekends at home with his family in New Jersey.
While working for the Boston Terra Cotta Company, Taylor helped produce 540 tons of terracotta for use on Orlando Potter's Potter Building in New York City. Potter was so impressed by the use of terracotta that after the building's completion in 1886 he recruited Taylor to help form the New York Architectural Terra-Cotta Company, which became one of the largest manufacturers in the country. Taylor was a proponent of the company's urban location, feeling that unfired clay was cheaper to transport than fired pieces.
Taylor remained with the New York company for several years and helped them achieve success, even acting as a guest modeler and leaving his signature on a terracotta fireplace in the company office. In 1893 he left after his health began to fail and retired to his farm in New Jersey, where he remained until his death in 1898.
Legacy
Taylor was widely considered to be the leading authority on architectural terracotta and many contemporary accounts described him as being always willing to share knowledge and help those looking to improve their product. Surviving letters revealed that he provided lengthy written advice to competitor Gladding, McBean while working at the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company, and he was likely paid to do so.
Taylor's work in promoting terracotta production within the United States played a key role in establishing its usefulness and suitability for American architecture. Much of the success of the architectural ceramics industry around the turn of the century can be traced to innovations and techniques introduced by Taylor. The Clay-Worker, a trade journal of the time, wrote that "what Mr. Taylor don't know about terra cotta is not worth knowing."
References
1839 births
1898 deaths
British ceramicists
19th-century American ceramists
Manufacturer of architectural terracotta
Terracotta | James Taylor (ceramicist) | [
"Engineering"
] | 750 | [
"Manufacturer of architectural terracotta",
"Architecture"
] |
76,879,832 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne%20Lema%C3%AEtre | Anne Lemaître (born 1957) is a retired Belgian applied mathematician, formerly of the Université de Namur. She is an expert in orbital mechanics and orbital resonance, and their effects in the Solar System on bodies including asteroids, Mercury, and space debris.
Education and career
Lemaître completed her Ph.D. in 1984 at the Université de Namur. Her dissertation concerned Kirkwood gaps, dips in asteroid density caused by orbital resonances with Jupiter; it was supervised by Jacques Henrard. She is a professor emerita in the mathematics department of the Université de Namur.
Recognition
Minor planet 7330 Annelemaître is named in her honor, "for her pioneering analytic studies of the dynamics of minor planets in mean-motion resonances".
Selected publications
References
1957 births
Living people
Belgian mathematicians
Belgian women mathematicians
Applied mathematicians
Université de Namur alumni
Academic staff of the Université de Namur | Anne Lemaître | [
"Mathematics"
] | 185 | [
"Applied mathematics",
"Applied mathematicians"
] |
76,879,876 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain%20rot | In internet culture, brain rot (or brainrot) describes internet content deemed to be of low quality or value, or the supposed negative psychological and cognitive effects caused by such material. The term also refers to the deleterious effects associated with excessive use of digital media, especially short-form entertainment and doomscrolling, which may affect cognitive and mental health. The term originated within the online cultures of Generation Z and Generation Alpha and has since become mainstream.
Origin and usage
According to Oxford University Press, the first recorded use of the term traces back to the 1854 book Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau was criticizing what he saw as a decline in intellectual standards, with complex ideas being less highly regarded, and compared this to the 1840s "potato rot" in Europe.
In online settings, it was used as early as 2004. In 2007, the term "brain rot" was used by Twitter users to describe dating game shows, video games and "hanging out online". Usage of the phrase increased online in the 2010s before becoming rapidly more popular in 2020 on Discord, when it became an Internet meme. In 2024, it is most frequently used in the context of Generation Alpha's digital habits, by critics expressing that the generation is "excessively immersed in online culture". It is commonly associated with an individual's vocabulary consisting exclusively of internet references. From 2023 to 2024, Oxford reported the term's usage increased by 230% in frequency per million words. Linguist Brent Henderson predicted that the term will stay around, citing its memorability and relevance.
The term is often linked with slang and trends popular among Generation Alpha and Generation Z, such as "skibidi" (a reference to the YouTube shorts series Skibidi Toilet), "rizz" (charm), "gyatt" (referring to the buttocks), "fanum tax" (stealing food), "sigma" (referring to a leader or alpha male), and "delulu" (truncation of delusional). Some online content are commonly labelled "brainrot", such as the web series Skibidi Toilet.
Impact
The term was named Oxford Word of the Year in 2024, beating other words like demure and romantasy. Its modern usage is defined by the Oxford University Press as "the supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging".
In the same year, millennial Australian senator Fatima Payman made headlines by making a short speech to the Australian parliament using Generation Alpha slang. She introduced the speech as addressing "an oft-forgotten section of our society", referring to Generations Z and Alpha, and said that she would "render the remainder of my statement using language they're familiar with". Using slang terms, Payman criticised the government's plans to ban under-14s from social media and closed by saying that, "Though some of you cannot yet vote, I hope that, when you do, it will be in a more goated Australia for a government with more aura. Skibidi!" The speech, written by a 21-year-old staff member, was labeled by some as an example of "brainrot" outside the online world.
See also
Elsagate, a YouTube controversy
References
Internet memes introduced in 2023
Internet terminology
Generation Alpha
Generation Z
2020s fads and trends | Brain rot | [
"Technology"
] | 717 | [
"Computing terminology",
"Internet terminology"
] |
76,880,025 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary%20tinkering | Evolutionary tinkering is an explanation of how evolution happens in nature. It explains that evolution works as a tinkerer who experiments with miscellaneous items, unsure of the outcome, and utilizes whatever is available to craft functional objects whose utility may only become evident later. None of the materials serve a defined purpose initially, and each can be employed in multiple ways. According to the tinkering concept, “evolution does not produce novelties from scratch". It comes from previously unseen associations of old materials to modify an existing system to give a new function or combine systems together to enhance the functions. The transformation from unicellular to multicellular during evolution is such an event which has elaborated the existing function.
The process of evolutionary tinkering takes quite a long time. As a meticulous tinkerer who continuously refines its creations, making adjustments, trimming and extending here and there, seizing every chance to gradually tailor them to their evolving purposes, this process happens over countless eons.
Most of the time, traits in nature are barely favorable enough for organisms to survive. For instance, RuBisCO is profoundly inefficient, despite the fact that it catalyzes one of the most important reactions on the planet: carbon fixation. This is likely due to the enzyme originating in the common ancestor of all plastids when the atmospheric conditions were drastically different than they are today.
François Jacob
In his seminal article 'Evolution and Tinkering', François Jacob first introduced the idea of tinkering to a broad audience of scientists, drawing from diverse fields such as molecular biology, evolutionary biology, and cultural anthropology. The concept of tinkering, or more precisely, the notion of bricolage, serves as a theoretical framework for analyzing various phenomena characterized by a common underlying process: the opportunistic rearrangement and recombination of existing elements. Jacob and Monod also won the Nobel Prize in 1965 for his work on the lac operon.
Engineering versus tinkering
Natural selection is frequently likened to the work of an engineer, yet this analogy falls short. Unlike the engineer who operates based on meticulous planning and a clear vision of the end product, evolution lacks such deliberate intent. Additionally, while the engineer has access to carefully selected materials and specialized equipment tailored for their tasks, evolution relies on the resources available in its surroundings.
Moreover, the engineer's creations tend to approach a level of perfection achievable with current technology, whereas evolution does not strive for perfection but rather resembles a tinkerer. This tinkerer, akin to evolution, lacks a precise blueprint of the outcome and instead utilizes whatever materials are at hand to fashion something functional. While the engineer depends on specific materials and tools precisely suited to their project, the tinkerer makes do with miscellaneous scraps and remnants. The resulting creations of the tinkerer emerge from a series of opportunistic events, enriching their repertoire with each encounter.
The development of lungs in terrestrial vertebrates illustrates a process akin to tinkering rather than deliberate engineering. It originated in certain freshwater fish faced with oxygen deficient environments, leading them to ingest air and absorb oxygen through their esophageal walls. Over time, this behavior favored the enlargement of the esophageal surface area, eventually giving rise to lung-like structures through the emergence and enlargement of esophageal diverticula.
The brain is the key adaptive feature of humans, yet still holds mysteries regarding its precise purpose. The brain has also evolved through natural selection over millions of years, like other body parts, primarily to serve our reproductive needs. However, the human brain's development was more complex unlike straightforward evolutionary changes such as a leg into a wing. It involved adding new structures, particularly the neocortex, onto older ones. This rapid evolution led to a division between the neocortex, responsible for intellectual functions, and the older structures, controlling emotional and visceral activities. These older structures lack the discriminative and symbolic abilities of the neocortex and are primarily associated with emotions. Despite the dominance of the neocortex in intellectual processes, the older structures maintain strong connections with automatic centers, ensuring vital functions like obtaining food and responding to threats. This evolutionary process, characterized by the emergence of a dominant neocortex alongside the persistence of older systems, resembles a tinkering process, where new elements are added onto existing ones without fully replacing them.
Evolution by molecular tinkering
Jacob was convinced that although morphological analysis supports his notion of bricolage, one would find more evidence of tinkering at the molecular level. The tinkering model suggests that the genes of the earliest organisms were very short, and all subsequent genes were formed by duplication, combination, and reassorting these original sequences. It is well established that gene duplication has produced a great deal of diversity throughout evolutionary history. One example of molecular tinkering can be found in mitochondrial nucleoproteins, some of which originate from eukaryotes; in this case, the tinkerer used whatever tools were at her disposal, including materials from an entirely different taxonomic domain.
To understand molecular tinkering, it is important to grasp the concept of a protein domain, which is a distinct region of a protein that has a defined shape, which determines the function of the protein. Some have used the analogy of Lego blocks to explain: the domains can be taken apart and put together again in unique ways, thus changing the shape and function of the protein. There are many different means by which tinkering can result in molecular and phenotypic novelty, primarily by taking apart the Lego blocks of proteins and putting them together again in unique patterns. Generally, these processes add to the organizational complexity of the genome, the proteome, or both.
Internal gene duplication
There are several forms of gene duplication. The product of whole-gene duplication is two copies of the gene, whereas that of diploid-type gene duplication is one gene that has doubled in length. Internal gene duplication results in repeated nucleotide sequences within a gene, and less than 100% of the gene is replicated. Because adding nucleotides to a sequence could impact splicing, this process may result in changing the identity of introns and exons; alternatively, the sequence may retain its original identity as an exon or intron, respectively. If an exon that encodes for one or more domains is duplicated, this could directly result in a more complex protein via domain accretion. Eukaryotic genes have undergone frequent internal gene duplication throughout evolutionary history. One example is seen in the dinucleotide-binding regions of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and alcohol dehydrogenase: the duplicated domain is capable of binding with more molecules than the unduplicated. Another is the ovomucoid gene, which is the product of two internal duplications.
Mosaic proteins
Mosaic proteins are encoded by chimeric genes (or mosaic genes). These genes result from domain shuffling, which is accomplished via exon shuffling, gene fusion, or gene fission. Domain shuffling has been found to be at least partially responsible for some traits in modern vertebrates. Most domains only have a small number of uses, while very few domains are used as Lego blocks over and over again in multidomain proteins. Phenotypic innovation does not arise solely from the creation of new proteins, but also from changing gene expression and protein-protein interactions. One example of novelty associated with domain shuffling is multicellularity.
Gene fusion (the creation of a fusion gene by joining two genes together) and gene fission or fragmentation, which results in splitting one gene with many domains into multiple smaller genes, are the other two molecular mechanisms by which mosaic proteins can be formed.
Alternative splicing
Alternative splicing is another mechanism of molecular tinkering that may be responsible for increasing diversity in the proteome. One special kind of alternative splicing is nested genes, which produce intron-encoded proteins. It has been proposed that nested gene structures could be maintained via neutral processes according to the neutral theory of evolution.
De novo evolution of protein-coding genes from non-coding DNA
De novo gene birth is very rare. The most probable path from noncoding DNA to a protein-coding gene is to first become a protogene, similar to how functional genes first become pseudogenes before becoming completely nongenic. Although they are too rare to notably increase the number of proteins in a given lineage, the tinkering model posits that adding just a few Lego blocks to the collection allows for many new possible combinations of domains, i.e., proteins with new shapes and functions.
Exonization of introns and pseudoexonization of exons
Exonization is a very rare phenomenon in which an intron becomes an exon. In pseudoexonization, an exon becomes nonfunctional; this in turn changes the shape and function of the protein.
Gene loss and unitary pseudogenes
When selective constraints disappear, it is possible for genes to be lost via one of two mechanisms. The first is deleting a single-copy gene. The second is nonfunctionalization of a single-copy gene; this produces a unitary pseudogene, which has no functional paralogs, is comparable to vestigial anatomical structures, and is uncommon due to its often deleterious nature. In the rare case that gene loss becomes fixed in a population, it is difficult to definitively say what was the cause.
References
Biological evolution
Biology theories | Evolutionary tinkering | [
"Biology"
] | 1,987 | [
"Biology theories"
] |
76,880,461 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane%20MacMaster | Jane MacMaster is a mechanical, aerospace and systems design engineer, and was Chief Engineer of Engineering Australia from 2020 to 2024.
Education
MacMaster has a Bachelor of Engineering from Sydney University, graduating in 1993, with first class honours. She also has a Master of Arts in International Relations, from Deakin University (2010), is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (2024).
Career
MacMaster is a mechanical, aerospace, systems design engineer, working across the whole engineering lifecycle, design and systems engineering.
MacMaster is also a mentor for Science Technology Australia women in STEM programs.
MacMaster is also a director on the Board of the Australian Council of Professions. MacMaster has written about engineering in education.
Recognition & awards
2023 - Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
2017 - Fellow, Institution of Engineers Australia.
1993 - University Medal, Mechanical Engineering, University of Sydney.
References
External links
ATSE Fellows
Science Technology Australia Profile
University of Sydney alumni
Deakin University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Mechanical engineers
Australian women scientists
Australian women academics
Women engineers | Jane MacMaster | [
"Engineering"
] | 224 | [
"Mechanical engineers",
"Mechanical engineering"
] |
76,880,557 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather%20of%202000 | The following is a list of weather events that occurred on Earth in the year 2000. There were several natural disasters around the world from various types of weather, including floods, droughts, heat waves, tornadoes, and tropical cyclones. The deadliest disaster were the 2000 Mozambique Floods which killed 800 people, and the costliest event of the year was Typhoon Saomai, which caused $6.3 billion (2000 USD) in damages.
Winter storms and cold waves
In January, an extremely powerful and historic blizzard, commonly referred to as the Carolina Crusher, hit parts of North Carolina and Central Virginia on January 25, causing thousands of power outages within the area leaving 11 inches of snow in Richmond, VA and 20.3 inches in Raleigh-Durham International Airport before moving out to the Atlantic.
In December, a significant nor'easter impacted the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions of the United States around the end of the month. It began as an Alberta clipper that moved southeastward through the central United States and weakened over the Ohio Valley. The storm dropped heavy precipitation throughout the Northeast, especially in northern New Jersey and eastern New York, where snowfall often exceeded 2 ft (0.61 m). Even so, as it struck on a weekend, its effects were generally minor and mostly limited to travel delays, traffic accidents, and business closures.
Droughts, heat waves, and wildfires
The 2000 California wildfire season produced multiple wildfires, killing 1 or more people and injuring multiple others. Over 130 buildings were destroyed during the season, amounting to $154 million (2000 USD) in damages. The Storrie Fire on August 17 caused $22 million (2000 USD) in damages, and burned 55,261 acres of land.
In August and September, a large heat wave affected parts of the southern United States, with highs commonly peaking well over 100 °F.
Floods
In February and March, a large and deadly flood in Mozambique killed 800 people. The flood caused $500 million (2000 USD) in damages, and is one of Mozambique's worst-ever floods.
The Autumn of 2000 was the wettest recorded in the United Kingdom since records began in 1766. Several regions of Atlantic Europe from France to Norway received double their average rainfall and there were severe floods and landslides in the southern Alps.
The United Kingdom saw the most extensive nationwide flooding event since the snow-melt of 1947. Prior to 1947, three similar events occurred in the second half of the 19th century where prolonged rainfall led to widespread flooding throughout England in the month of November, in 1894, 1875, and 1852.
In November, a catastrophic flood occurred in Hawaii. The floods led to $70 million (2000 USD) in damage, but there were no fatalities. The flood was indirectly triggered by Tropical Storm Paul.
Tornadoes
There were 1,075 tornadoes in the United States alone, collectively resulting in 41 deaths.
On February 13 and 14, a deadly tornado outbreak killed 18 people, caused 23 injuries and caused more than $20 million (2000 USD) in damages. It was the single deadliest tornado outbreak in the United States between June 1999 and October 2002.
On March 28, a small but deadly tornado outbreak caused extensive damage in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, causing damage to skyscrapers and other buildings. 2 people were killed by this tornado, and 80 more were injured. $450 million (2000 USD) were recorded. Another F3 tornado touched down as part of the outbreak, but caused little damage and no injuries.
On April 23, a tornado outbreak produced 33 tornadoes across Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, with three of these being rated F3. An F1 tornado moved through Shreveport, Louisiana, injuring six people and causing $10,000+ (2000 USD) in damages. In total, 12 people were injured, but no fatalities were recorded.
On May 11 and 12, an F3 tornado killed one person near Cedar Falls, Iowa. Another F3 tornado caused two fatalities in Laguna Park, Texas.
On May 17 and 18, a small storm system produced 69 tornadoes. One tornado was rated F3, and caused damage to multiple buildings. 2 people were injured.
On July 14 an F3 tornado touched down and moved toward Green Acres Campground at Pine Lake, Alberta. 12 people at the campground were killed and over 100 were injured. Winds of up to 300 km/h (190 mph) caused $15.2 million (2000 Canadian dollars) in damage to the campground. It was the fourth-deadliest tornado in Canadian history.
On July 25, a small outbreak produced 12 tornadoes, one of which was a violent tornado that hit the city of Granite Falls in Yellow Medicine County, and the tornado killed one person and injured 15 others. It is one of the strongest tornadoes in Minnesota history.
On September 20, an F4 tornado struck Xenia, Ohio, killing 1 person and injuring 100 others. The tornado damaged over 150 homes.
On December 16, a mid-sized outbreak produced 24 tornadoes, and an F4 tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama killed 11 people and injured 144. It was the strongest tornado to hit Alabama since 1950.
Tropical cyclones
During 2000, tropical cyclones formed in seven different areas called basins, located within various parts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. A total of 140 tropical cyclones formed within bodies of water known as tropical cyclone basins, with 81 of them being further named by their responsible weather agencies when they attained maximum sustained winds of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). The strongest storm of the year was Cyclone Hudah, peaking with a minimum pressure of 905 hPa (26.72 inHg), and with 10-minute sustained winds of 220 km/h (135 mph). The highest confirmed number of deaths from a storm was from Typhoon Kai-tak, which killed 188 people, however, Leon–Eline may have killed up to 722 people. The costliest storm was Saomai, which caused $6.3 billion in damage. The accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index for the 2000 (seven basins combined), as calculated by Colorado State University was 677.3 units.
There was an above-average number of storms during the year; the most active basin of the year was the Western Pacific, where a below-average 23 named storms formed. The Eastern Pacific and the North Atlantic were both relatively above-average, with 19 named storms forming in the Eastern Pacific and 15 in the North Atlantic. The Southern Hemisphere was also relatively average. Three Category 5 tropical cyclones were formed in 2000.
References
Weather by year
Weather-related lists
2000-related lists | Weather of 2000 | [
"Physics"
] | 1,345 | [
"Weather",
"Physical phenomena",
"Weather by year",
"Weather-related lists"
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76,883,269 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omobayo%20Godwins | Omobayo Marvellous Godwins (born 19 July 1986) is a Nigerian engineer and politician who served as the deputy governor of Edo State from April 2024 to November 2024. He was appointed deputy governor following the impeachment of Philip Shaibu on 8 April 2024. He is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, and holds a B.Eng Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Benin.
Early life and education
Godwins was born and raised in Akoko Edo Local Government Area. He completed his tertiary education at the University of Benin, earning a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
Career
Before entering politics, Godwins worked as an engineer, specifically as a Senior Maintenance Engineer at Dresser Wayne West Africa Limited, where he oversaw operations in the South-South region of Nigeria. He began his political career in local government politics.
Godwins ran in the 2023 House of Representatives election for Akoko Edo Federal Constituency under the Labour Party. After an unsuccessful run and a subsequent legal challenge, he joined the PDP and was later appointed as the Deputy Governor of Edo State.
As Deputy Governor, Godwins has stated his commitment to supporting the development of sports and other sectors in Edo State. His appointment has been acknowledged by his kinsmen in Akoko-Edo.
References
Deputy governors of Edo State
21st-century Nigerian politicians
Living people
1986 births
People from Edo State
Peoples Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians
University of Benin (Nigeria) alumni
Nigerian engineers
Electrical engineers
Electronics engineers
21st-century Nigerian people
Edo State politicians | Omobayo Godwins | [
"Engineering"
] | 317 | [
"Electrical engineering",
"Electronic engineering",
"Electronics engineers",
"Electrical engineers"
] |
76,883,568 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belomorite | Belomorite ( — from the toponym), sometimes peristerite or moonstone, also murchisonite, Ceylon opal, hecatolite — a decorative variety of albite (oligoclase) of white or light gray color with a distinct iridescence effect. By composition, belomorite belongs to the feldspar family; it is a sodium aluminosilicate from the plagioclase group, in most cases belonging to the isomorphic series albite (Ab) — anorthite (An) with an approximate percentage of 70Ab-30An.
The name “belomorite” was given to this variety of albite by academician Alexander Fersman in 1925, based on the location of its discovery near the shore of the White Sea, and also by association — for the similarity of iridescence colors with the shades of sea water. The best varieties of belomorite are translucent or transparent, they have a pearl-glass luster and iridescence in blue, gray-blue, violet-blue, greenish-blue or pale violet tones. The most famous deposits of this gem are in the north, in the pegmatites of the Kola Peninsula and Karelia.
Belomorite is a spectacular and popular jewelry and ornamental material, one of the varieties of moonstone. However, due to its fragility and perfect cleavage, the mineral often breaks and is difficult to process, so it is cut in the form of simple cabochons (oval, round, teardrop-shaped), as well as balls or polished plates.
History and name
A decade and a half after the discovery of this variety of albite near the White Sea coast, Alexander Fersman described the history of his “find” in sufficient detail and accurately in a short lyrical essay entitled “Belomorite.” Together with his companion, he got off the train at the in the Loukhsky District of the Republic of Karelia and they set off together towards the “Blue Pale” — that was the name of the mined-out vein of feldspars, located in the middle of a swampy area, between hills (in Karelian - varaks) almost on the very shore of the White Sea, about six kilometers east of the station.
There, in an old working, among dark amphibole shales, there was a snow-white vein of albite at least ten meters long, it rose to the top of the neighboring hill and went with lateral branches into the dark stone of shale rocks. Alexander Fersman sat down near a stack of feldspar, folded for transportation, looked at it carefully and, as he writes, could no longer look away, — in front of him was “a white, barely bluish stone, barely translucent, barely transparent, but clean and even, like a well-ironed tablecloth.”
The stone was split along individual shiny surfaces, and some mysterious light played on these edges. These were gentle bluish-green, barely noticeable iridescences, only occasionally they flashed with a reddish light, but usually a continuous mysterious moonlight flooded the entire stone, and this light came from somewhere from the depths of the stone — well, just like the Black Sea burns with blue light in autumn evenings near Sevastopol.
The delicate pattern of the stone from some thin stripes crossed it in several directions, as if imposing a mysterious lattice on the rays emanating from the depths. I collected, selected, admired and again turned the moonstone towards the sun.
— Alexander Fersman, “Memories of a Stone”, 1940
The stone found in an old mine was called “belomorite” — because, as Fersman explains, “The White Sea shimmered with the colors of moonstone... or did the stone reflect the pale blue depths of the White Sea?..” — Geologists took several samples to the , recommending it as a new jewelry stone.
Meanwhile, the authors of the “new mineral” did not insist that they had made some kind of mineralogical discovery, noting that the decorative variety of stone received from them a new poetic name or even a trademark. On the one hand, Fersman directly writes that belomorite “was not born there, it was we who invented it there”; and on the other hand, he calls this variety of feldspar “true moonstone”.
It must be remembered that the coast and, more broadly speaking, the environs of the White Sea are by no means the only place where Fersmanovsky belomorite, which belongs to the class of perhaps the most common rock-forming minerals on earth, reveals itself. Deposits of this type of plagioclase, most often associated with mica-bearing and ceramic pegmatites, are located in other places in North Karelia (the vicinity of , Mica Bor), as well as in the south of the Kola Peninsula.
Another name for iridescent feldspar — peristerite — also comes from its geographical name (Peristeri — a mountain in western Greece). Other regional synonyms of belomorite are used even less frequently — murchisonite, Ceylon opal and jarisol, associated with the sites of finds. There are also names like hecatolite associated with the crystallographic orientation of the iridescence. All of them, one way or another, can be attributed to local territorial or commercial brands, one way or another connected with the trade in jewelry or ornaments made from iridescent albite.
Properties
The reasons for the iridescence of belomorite have repeatedly been the subject of study, with generally consistent conclusions. Most researchers agreed that the bluish or greenish glow is associated with specific defects in the layered structure of the mineral. Alexander Fersman notes in his memoirs that the “mysterious light” emanating from the depths of the stone played precisely “on individual shiny surfaces,” lines of cleavage or fracture, naturally passing along the boundaries of the perfect cleavage of belomorite. This effect also appears much stronger and brighter after polishing the mineral.
The perfect cleavage of belomorite (peristerite) is manifested in its structure. The mineral consists of the thinnest (parallel) plates, almost invisible to the naked eye. Light, reflected from the internal cleavage planes, is refracted many times, which leads to spectacular color on spinodal decomposition structures commensurate with its wavelength. These properties of belomorite are by no means unique; their manifestations are characteristic of many minerals, collectively called “moon stones.” Also, other iridescent plagioclases, such as many labradorites, have a narrowly directed (within an approximate range of 15-20°) approximately along the b axis a colored iridescent reflection, most often manifested in beautiful blues and dark blues, less often in green, yellow or even reddish tones. Iridescence is a special type of pseudochromatism caused by the interference of light on spinodal decomposition structures commensurate with its wavelength. A similar effect is also occasionally typical for some potassium feldspars (orthoclases), anthophyllite, and quite often for enstatite and bronzite.
The characteristic optical effect of moonstones is most often called iridescence. However, the nature of their colored glow has a special specificity; it would be more accurate to call it adularescence (from the name of the titular mineral: adularia or moonstone). This effect is associated with the scattering of white light by very small submicroscopic point defects in the structure of the stone such as microperthite ingrowths, thin cleavage plates or spatial fluctuations in the internal composition. According to the Rayleigh scattering theory, short-wave radiation, other things being equal, is always scattered more strongly, and therefore the reflected and scattered light will have a bluer tint than the original one. In addition, belomorite sometimes exhibits weak orange luminescence in ultraviolet rays.
As a rule, belomorite forms solid granular and crystalline masses or massive crystalline aggregates; crystals of tabular and tabular-prismatic types are much less common. Complex polysynthetic twinning is very often observed.
Mineral formation
Belomorite is of igneous origin; it is part of many granites and granite pegmatites. Albites (oligoclases) are very widespread throughout the world and are among the most common rock-forming minerals. Iridescent regional varieties, which are quite similar in composition and properties to belomorite, are naturally less common, but it would be wrong to call them rare minerals. Plagioclases with moonlight have long been known in some pegmatite veins of Shaitanka and Lipovka (Middle Urals), as well as in Utochkina Pad near Ulan-Ude (Buryatia).
High-quality industrially significant belomorite, used in jewelry production, is mined mainly in Ceylon (most often called «Ceylon opal» there). Belomorites have also been found in large quantities in Madagascar, Tanzania, India, and the USA (California and Colorado). In addition, local deposits of iridescent albite are known in Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Norway, Poland, Ukraine, as well as in France, Switzerland, Sweden and Japan.
Typical (title) deposits of belomorite are located in North Karelia, where this stone was discovered by Alexander Fersman, as well as in the south of the Kola Peninsula.
Usage
Belomorite is a spectacular, inexpensive and popular ornamental stone; it is used in jewelry as one of the varieties of “moonstone”. It is typically cut into cabochons, often double-sided, convex in both directions, thus enhancing its brilliance, unlike, say, similar labradorite, which is often cut into flat plates cut parallel to the cleavage lines.
At the same time, the brittleness and perfect cleavage of belomorites serves as a natural obstacle in the process of their processing. As a result, the mineral often breaks and is difficult to produce, also for this reason it is most often cut in the form of simple cabochons (oval, round, teardrop-shaped), as well as balls, taking into account existing cracks and cleavage lines. Moonstones are at the top of the list in terms of the number of synthetic minerals (counterfeits) that enter the market under the guise of natural minerals. In addition to the brighter effect of iridescence, artificial minerals are not as fragile and vulnerable as their natural counterparts.
See also
Albite
Oligoclase
Plagioclase
Feldspar
Iceland spar
Moonstone
References
External links
Belomorite (A material that is NOT an approved mineral species): information about the mineral belomorite in the Mindat database.
Moonstone (Belomorite) in the database Mineralienatlas
Sodium minerals
Aluminium minerals
Calcium minerals
Silicate minerals
Triclinic minerals
Gemstones | Belomorite | [
"Physics"
] | 2,297 | [
"Materials",
"Gemstones",
"Matter"
] |
76,884,508 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaeli%20McEwen | Kaeli Mae McEwen (born May 10, 2000), known professionally as Kaeli Mae, is an American content creator and social media influencer from Seattle, Washington known for her TikTok videos about cleaning and organizing and contributing to the "Clean Girl" Internet aesthetic. She has Type 1 diabetes. Her fame was attributed to an increase in use of the name Kaeli for newborn girls in the United States in 2023.
References
McEwen, Kaeli
McEwen, Kaeli
McEwen, Kaeli
McEwen, Kaeli
McEwen, Kaeli
McEwen, Kaeli
McEwen, Kaeli
McEwen, Kaeli
McEwen, Kaeli
McEwen, Kaeli
McEwen, Kaeli
McEwen, Kaeli
2000 births | Kaeli McEwen | [
"Chemistry",
"Technology"
] | 165 | [
"Cleaning",
"Computing and society",
"Surface science",
"Social media"
] |
76,884,684 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk%20Again%20Project | Walk Again Project is an international, non-profit consortium led by Miguel Nicolelis, created in 2009 in a partnership between Duke University and the IINN/ELS, where researchers come together to find neuro-rehabilitation treatments for spinal cord injuries, which pioneered the development and use of the brain–machine interface, including its non-invasive version, with an EEG.
History
Nicolelis, a Brazilian neuroscientist working at Duke University, who had been proposing the use of BMI in his laboratory since 2006, but had been exploring this area since 1999. He had demonstrated the viability of BMI alongside scientist John Chapin, in 2008, together with Gordon Cheng, in an experiment where they tested the first continental BMI, where an ape in North Carolina controlled a robot in Kyoto. This was a precursor of the Walk Again Project. Previously, in 2000, Nicolelis had already demonstrated, in a publication in Nature, the possibility of a computer decoding an ape's brain signals in order to move a robotic arm. The project, which began in 2009, is a partnership between institutions in the US, Switzerland, Germany, and Brazil.
In one of its first steps, published in 2011, the project team made a monkey control a mechanical arm and receive tactile information from this tool, including in the virtual world, with the team's research being welcomed "as an important advance by the scientific community", according to Veja magazine. That year, in his book “Beyond boundaries”, Nicolelis described his plan to make a patient take the opening kick of the FIFA World Cup, in a project budgeted at R$33 million at the time (U$S in 2013), and funded by Finep.
In 2012, in the process of creating the BRA-Santos Dumont exoskeleton for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the project team recorded 1847 neurons simultaneously, something, until then, unprecedented. The next research project saw mice being able to sense tactile information from infrared light, as a possible new form of BMI communication. The following year, the project received authorization to test the exoskeleton in Brazil, with volunteers from the testing the equipment since the beginning of November 2013.
When he returned to Brazil for the project, Nicolelis found that the patients did not want to undergo surgery as a way of regaining movement. This led his team to develop non-invasive techniques that were able to help patients chronically, something, according to the scientist, “that had never been done in decades of research and treatment of spinal cord injuries.”
In 2013, the project team revealed that they had been able to make two rhesus monkeys control two virtual arms, using only their thoughts. The research was published in Science Translational Medicine. In March 2014 the two exoskeletons were already in Brazil.
The initial contact with FIFA was made in 2012, but the plan to give the inaugural kick, which would even involve the patient getting up from his wheelchair and crossing 25 meters of the pitch, was abandoned by the entity. Nicolelis has been aware of the time limitation since March. 2014. In the end the demonstration, carried out by the patient Juliano Alves Pinto during the 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony, was reduced to just three seconds on the world network, which was the subject of controversy.
The Walk Again team, made up of 150–156 people for the World Cup, had no control over image production, but the rest of the project was carried out successfully. The “MIT Technology Review” listed the exoskeleton as one of the “main failures” in technology in 2014, something Nicolelis refuted, while “The Verge” identified him as “one of the 50 world personalities of 2014”.
On March 3, 2016, the team demonstrated the use of BMI on apes so that they could move wheelchairs using only their thoughts. On August 11 of the same year, a new study was published in Scientific Reports. Eight paraplegic patients, who had lost all movement in their lower limbs due to spinal cord injuries, experienced a partial neurological recovery after 12 months of training with virtual reality, a robot, and an exoskeleton.
The experiment described above involved 6 men and 2 women: in four cases, the patients became “partially paralyzed”; a 32-year-old woman who had been paralyzed for more than a decade became able to walk with support after 13 months. One of the two women was able to become pregnant after restoring sensation inside and outside the body, as well as some men regaining sexual ability. The patients reported that the treatment had improved their quality of life.
The researchers were surprised by the improvements, since the damage to the spinal cord would have prevented the brain from communicating with the rest of the body. Nicolelis then theorized, still without evidence via imaging tests, that the immersion and mental focus on the training would have stimulated brain plasticity, possibly causing the brain to transmit information through what remained of the nerves.
In 2018, in an article published in PLOS One, the project demonstrated seven complete paraplegic patients becoming partial paraplegics due to the 28-month-long training with the BMI. In 2019, in a study published in Scientific Reports, three paraplegic patients tested the “brain–muscle interface”, where small electrical charges in their legs helped them to move without an exoskeleton. In a study published on May 1, 2021, in Scientific Reports, two patients suffering from chronic paraplegia were shown to be able to walk on 70% of their own weight, in addition to taking 4580 steps, also with the help of non-invasive techniques.
A study published in 2022 demonstrated the superior clinical effect that the use of non-invasive BMI has compared to putting patients on robots that don't have the same technology. Between 2023 and 2024, Nicolelis began to criticize the company Neuralink, founded by two of his former students. He raised ethical concerns about how the company works, as well as criticizing the way they advertised as new a type of research that Nicolelis' team had already carried out over the previous two decades. Also in 2023, Nicolelis announced the creation of the Nicolelis Institute for Advanced Brain Studies, which aims to bring low-cost solutions, based on BMI, to the treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases for 1 billion people. The first hub will be created in Milan, Italy, developed with the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital and the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, as announced in March 2024.
Other research
Unrelated to “Walking Again”, on July 9, 2015, two studies were published in Scientific Reports, demonstrating brain–brain interaction, inside the concept of Brainet.
Awards
In 2010, Nicolelis won the U$S 2.5 million prize from the National Institute of Health, becoming the first Brazilian to receive this award. For his research with BMI, in 2016 Nicolelis won the Daniel E. Noble Award in the category of emerging technologies.
Works
In 2019, the laboratory responsible for the project published a two-volume compilation of 20 years of scientific articles by the group, which can be downloaded free of charge.
See also
Brain–computer interface
Brain–brain interface
Spinal cord injury research
Rehabilitation in spinal cord injury
References
Note
External links
Brain–computer interface
Cerebral palsy and other paralytic syndromes
2009 establishments in the United States
Neuroscience
Rehabilitation medicine organizations based in the United States | Walk Again Project | [
"Biology"
] | 1,529 | [
"Neuroscience"
] |
76,884,991 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATM%20burglaries%20using%20explosives | The idea of an ATM blow up is to destroy the automated teller machine, in order to get the money that is inside it. It is also called ATM burglary using explosives. Such burglaries have also been done with other vending machines, such as those selling tickets, cigarettes or other goods. In some cases, the machines are destroyed to get the goods that are inside the machine.
Blowing up a machine is a crime.
Mode of operation
Very often, a flammable substance is led to the machine. Common substances are air with propane gas or acetylene. A device is then used to detonate the mixture remotely. These devices are often self-built, improvised explosive devices. In other cases, true explosives or pyrotechnics are used.
Such attacks began in the Netherlands. As the country reduced the number of ATMs from 20000 to 5000 by 2015 and discouraged cash use because of the crimes, the mostly Moroccan-Dutch gangs expert in the attacks moved elsewhere such as Germany, where cash is especially popular. Both professional criminals, and amateurs blow up devices. They operate alone, or in small groups or gangs. Usually, they operate at night, when there are few customers. Most detonations occur in the early morning hours.
Despite German banks spending more than €300 million on additional security, the Federal Criminal Police Office estimated that 60% of attacks on ATMs in the country succeeded. When they blow up the machine, the perpetrators are not always successful, and often they don't get to the money inside the machine. The Federal Criminal Police Office reported that in 2017, that only in 48% of the cases, the perpetrators were able to get some money. In most cases, the damage done is more than the money stolen. In some cases, the damage is more than a million euros. There can also be a lot of damage to the surrounding area. The explosions cause damage to buildings, in some cases, uninvolved people are hurt.
When a group of people blew up a ticket vending machine in Wittighausen, Baden-Württemberg, on 17 September 2013, one of the peretrators was killed. On December 10, 2016, there was a lot of damage to the bank, and the doctor's office opposite the bank, in Hagen. Another detonation of a ticket vending machine, in Dortmund, on March 21, 2017, killed the peretrator. In Ottersberg, Lower Saxony, an apartment block had to be evacuated after a detontion of an ATM in April 2017, for fear that the building would collapse. A detonation in Espelkamp, on March 15, 2018, put the whole branch office of the bank on fire. On March 31, 2018, a mixed-use apartment block was heavily damaged, when there was an attempt at blowing up an ATM. Because of such attacks landlords reluctant to lease space to banks with ATMs, especially when there are residences in the same building.
In 2020, about 40% of the detonations were done using explosives.
Countermeasures
There are countermeasures: These include cartouches with specially colored ink, which will mark the bank notes, if an attempted blow up is detected. While ink is the most common ATM attack-prevention system worldwide, a disadvantage is that it newer glue systems make the cash unusable. There are also systems to monitor, and neutralize gas that is pumped into the ATM, and finally, the chamber containing the money has a strong protection, which will survive a detonation. Other measures include closing ATMs that are accessible from outside. Because more potent explosives are used more often, there are setups that use up to 15 cm of reinforced concrete on free-standing ATMs. These constructions weight up to 10 tonnes, and conventional explosives show no effect on them. Criminals have adjusted their methods in response. When anti-gas explosion prevention devices and reinforced ATMs were installed, thieves began using leaf blowers to remove smoke, and more powerful solid explosives.
External links
Judith Brosel und Ahmet Şenyurt von Report Mainz: Geldautomatensprengungen: Täter und Hintergründe – Video, 10 min vom 10. Oktober 2023
Christian Kirchner: Tatort Geldautomat: Der aussichtslose Kampf der Banken Finanz-Szene.de, 10. September 2020.
References
Automated teller machines
Robbery
Bombing | ATM burglaries using explosives | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering"
] | 918 | [
"Bombing",
"Automation",
"Explosions",
"Automated teller machines"
] |
76,886,312 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James%20Meadowcroft | James R. Meadowcroft (born 15 January 1954) is a Canadian sustainability scientist. He was a reader at the University of Sheffield, before returning to Canada, where held a Tier I Canada Research Chair for fourteen years at Carleton University. At Carleton, Meadowcroft also held a Chancellor's Professorship.
Education
Meadowcroft earned his Bachelor of Arts at McGill University, followed by a DPhil at the University of Oxford.
Career
Meadowcroft has served as chair of the Earth System Governance Project which has a team of two rotating co-chairs since 2019. He is also a member of its scientific steering committee.
References
1954 births
Living people
McGill University alumni
Sustainability scientists
Academics of the University of Sheffield
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Canada Research Chairs
Academic staff of Carleton University
Canadian expatriate academics in the United Kingdom | James Meadowcroft | [
"Environmental_science"
] | 163 | [
"Sustainability scientists",
"Environmental scientists"
] |
76,888,104 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markarian%20817 | Markarian 817 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Draco. It is located 456 million light-years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that Markarian 817 is about 80,000 light-years across. It is a Seyfert galaxy.
Features
The nucleus of Markarian 817 is found to be active. It is classified as a Seyfert 1.5 or Seyfert 1.2 galaxy by the recent work done, according to Koss et al. 2017. The nucleus sits in a barred spiral galaxy, close to face-on and not typical for optically selected unobscured Seyferts. There is evidence of dust along the galaxy's bar according to the Hubble image.
A study conducted in February 2011, shows that the active core is not fixed as it shows strong variabilities in X-rays and ultraviolet rays (UV). The X-ray luminosity varies by a factor of ~40 over 20 years, while the UV continuum/emission lines vary at the most by a factor of ~2.3 over the past 30 years.
A 2021 study shows that the X-ray spectrum in Markarian 817 is highly absorbed and there are new blueshifted, broad, and narrow UV absorption lines, suggesting a dust-free, ionized obscurer that is located in the inner broad-line region, partially covering the central source. During the first 55 days, scientists observed there is a de-coupling of the UV continuum and the UV broad emission line variability. The next 42 days of the campaign showed the correlation recovering, as Markarian 817 entered the less obscured state. The short C IV and Lyα lags suggest that the accretion disk extends beyond the UV broad-line region.
Markarian 817 has become a notable target of the AGN STORM 2 project, in which a group of astronomers led by Edward M. Cackett from the Wayne State University in Detroit, monitored the galaxy with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory for 15 months, during which they obtained observations in X-rays and six ultraviolet/optical filters to shed more light on Markarian 817.
Further observations done in 2022 showed that the source flux in Markarian 817 has declined compared to that recorded at a prior point during the 19-year mission. From the deep XMM Newton and NuSTAR observations, the spectra presents a complex X-ray wind which consists of neutral and ionized absorption zones. Three velocity components are detected from the part of the structured ultra-fast outflow with v/c = 0.043 (+0.007,-0.003), v/c = 0.079 (+0.003,-0.0008), and v/c = 0.074 (+0.004,-0.005). These suggest that the wind likely arises at radii that are smaller compared to the optical broad line region.
Black hole
The central black hole in Markarian 817 has an estimated solar mass of (4.9 +/- 0.8) E+7 according to Peterson et al. 2004. Such winds tend to move at many millions of kilometers per hour, thus cleaning up interstellar gas from their region of space. This cuts off the rate of production of new stars being formed in Markarian 817, leaving very little matter to feed the accretion disk. This suggests that the black hole is experiencing a "temper tantrum" and is responsible for shaping its host galaxy.
In an article in which Markarian 817 and another Seyfert galaxy NGC 7469 is studied, it is revealed both AGNs displayed time lags in the broad emission line, including H, H, He~{\sc ii} and He~{\sc i} and also the Fe~{\sc ii} for Markarian 817 with respect to the varying continuum at 5100~Å. From the relationship of line widths and time lags, both galaxies showed that the broad-line regions (BLR) dynamics are consistent with the viral predication. Data provided from Markarian 817 showed almost the same kinetic structures, in which the time lags in the red wing is larger compared to the time lags in the blue wing. This indicates the BLR of Keplerian motion seemly has outflowing components during the monitoring period.
See also
Markarian 590 - a Seyfert galaxy in Cetus
Markarian 273 - a Seyfert and ultraluminous infrared galaxy
References
Seyfert galaxies
0817
Draco (constellation)
09412
052202
Barred spiral galaxies
IRAS catalogue objects | Markarian 817 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 972 | [
"Constellations",
"Draco (constellation)"
] |
76,888,591 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC%20310 | IC 310 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Perseus. It is located 265 million light-years from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, it is about 117,000 light-years across. The galaxy was discovered by Edward D. Swift on November 3, 1888.
Characteristics
IC 310 is classified as a head-tail radio galaxy or specifically a narrow-angle tail radio galaxy described by Sijbring et at. 1998 and Feretti et at. 1998. IC 310 has an active nucleus (AGN) and seems to represent a low-luminosity FRI radio galaxy at the borderline angle which reveals its BL Lac-type central engine.
At the redshift of z = 0.0189, it is one of the brightest objects detected in the Perseus Cluster at both radio frequencies and X-ray energies, and also the fourth closest AGN detected in terms of VHE gamma rays after Centaurus A, Messier 87 (M 87), and 3C 84 known as NGC 1275 which belongs to same cluster. It shares the similar properties similar to M 87, which the emission can be traced to its blazar-like central engine but shows time variability and hard spectrum that is harder to the spectrum.
In addition, IC 310 is identified as a γ-ray emitter based on the observations at GeV energies with Fermi-LAT and with MAGIC telescopes at high energies (VHE, E > 100 GeV), making it a subject of curiosity since its nucleus displays blazar-like behavior. According to further studies, it is suggested IC 310 is the closest blazar and key object for AGN research, due to the fact, a blazar-like radio jet has been found using parsec-scale VLBL imaging, together with the unusual flat gamma-ray spectrum and variable high-energy emission.
There is a point-like emission in IC 310 according the XMM-Newton observation, without signs of the structure correlated with its radio halo tail. The temperature of the intracluster medium decreases as a function of distance from the cluster center from kT ~ 6 keV located northwest corner of the field to about 3 KeV in the southwest region. Although no shape edges found in the surface brightness profile, there is a brightness excess of a smooth β model by about 20% seen. There is an increase in temperature by 10% in the same region indicating the region in IC 310 is infalling into the Perseus Cluster. The gas in front of the galaxy is compressed as well, indicating the IC 310 system is undergoing a merger.
Black hole
A supermassive black hole inside IC 310 has been found to weigh over 300 million times the mass of the sun. According to an observation, over 250 million years ago, the high gamma-ray radiation left the vicinity of the black hole and reached Earth between the night of 12 and 13 November, 2012, which was observed by the pair of 17m diameter MAGIC Telescopes in La Plama.
This shocked an impressively bright flare on the variability time scales on minutes reaching up average flux level in the night up to one Crab above 1 TeV with hard spectrum over the past 20 years in energy. It showed a series of strong outbursts from the intra-night light curve. This shows the fast variability that constrains the size of the gamma-ray emission regime, to shrink 20% of the gravitation radius from the black hole challenging shock acceleration models.
Group membership
IC 310 belongs to the NGC 1275 group, which is part of the Perseus Cluster. Other members include NGC 1224, NGC 1267, NGC 1270, NGC 1273, NGC 1277, NGC 1279, IC 288, IC 294 and IC 312.
References
Lenticular galaxies
Radio galaxies
Perseus (constellation)
Perseus Cluster
Discoveries by Edward Swift
Astronomical objects discovered in 1888
0310
02624
012171
03135+4108
+07-07-045 | IC 310 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 824 | [
"Perseus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
76,889,940 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl%20chlorate | Methyl chlorate is a hypothetical organic compound having a chemical formula CH3ClO3. It would be a methyl ester of chloric acid if it existed. Attempts to synthesize it failed. No physical properties are known.
Properties
There is limited research on methyl chlorate but it is suspected to be a highly hazardous material. Potential properties include:
Flammability: Due to the presence of organic component (methyl group), methyl chlorate is likely flammable.
Explosive nature: Chlorate salts are well known for being shock-sensitive and prone to explosive decomposition under certain conditions. This makes methyl chlorate potentially explosive under pressure, shock, or exposure to heat.
Strong oxidizing agent: It is potentially a strong oxidizing agent.
Toxicology: Being a chlorate, it is suspected to be harmful if inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin.
References
Chlorates
Hypothetical chemical compounds
Methoxy compounds | Methyl chlorate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 199 | [
"Chlorates",
"Hypotheses in chemistry",
"Salts",
"Theoretical chemistry",
"Hypothetical chemical compounds"
] |
70,927,665 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick/Menard%20V6%20Indy%20engine | The Menard engine was a modified Buick V6 engine designed for the newly formed Indy Racing League by John Menard, the owner of Team Menard. The engine only lasted through 1996, the IRL's only season without its own unique chassis and engine combination. Before being used in the IRL, the Menard engine was used almost exclusively in the Indianapolis 500, with its first appearance being in the 1993 race. Menard engines powered many future IRL drivers such as Scott Brayton, Eddie Cheever Jr., Arie Luyendyk, and Buddy Lazier in various Indianapolis 500s before the IRL was conceived.
Menard engines did not win any races in the short 1996 season, but won the pole at Indianapolis with Brayton. When Ongais, as a replacement driver, was moved to the back of the field, fellow Menard driver Tony Stewart inherited the pole position.
The engine's best 1996 finish was 2nd at Disney World, in the league's inaugural race, with Tony Stewart driving. Its best driver overall was also Stewart, who finished 8th in the series standings that year.
Menard engines were only permitted for the first two races of the 1996-97 season, the last two run with old CART equipment. The best finish any Menard driver could muster in the old equipment was 10th place at New Hampshire by Paul, who was ten laps off the pace. Eventual season champion Stewart failed to finish his last two races in the old equipment, dropping out with electrical problems at New Hampshire despite leading 165 laps and crashing at Las Vegas. John Paul Jr. would be the last driver to lead laps with the engine, leading 22 laps early in the Las Vegas race before handling issues caused him to finish 30 laps off the lead.
Applications
Lola T93/00
Lola T95/00
References
Engines by model
Gasoline engines by model
Buick engines
IndyCar Series
V6 engines | Buick/Menard V6 Indy engine | [
"Technology"
] | 385 | [
"Engines",
"Engines by model"
] |
70,931,046 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFK%20equation | ZFK equation, abbreviation for Zeldovich–Frank-Kamenetskii equation, is a reaction–diffusion equation that models premixed flame propagation. The equation is named after Yakov Zeldovich and David A. Frank-Kamenetskii who derived the equation in 1938 and is also known as the Nagumo equation. The equation is analogous to KPP equation except that is contains an exponential behaviour for the reaction term and it differs fundamentally from KPP equation with regards to the propagation velocity of the traveling wave. In non-dimensional form, the equation reads
with a typical form for given by
where is the non-dimensional dependent variable (typically temperature) and is the Zeldovich number. In the ZFK regime, . The equation reduces to Fisher's equation for and thus corresponds to KPP regime. The minimum propagation velocity (which is usually the long time asymptotic speed) of a traveling wave in the ZFK regime is given by
whereas in the KPP regime, it is given by
Traveling wave solution
Similar to Fisher's equation, a traveling wave solution can be found for this problem. Suppose the wave to be traveling from right to left with a constant velocity , then in the coordinate attached to the wave, i.e., , the problem becomes steady. The ZFK equation reduces to
satisfying the boundary conditions and . The boundary conditions are satisfied sufficiently smoothly so that the derivative also vanishes as . Since the equation is translationally invariant in the direction, an additional condition, say for example , can be used to fix the location of the wave. The speed of the wave is obtained as part of the solution, thus constituting a nonlinear eigenvalue problem. Numerical solution of the above equation, , the eigenvalue and the corresponding reaction term are shown in the figure, calculated for .
Asymptotic solution
The ZFK regime as is formally analyzed using activation energy asymptotics. Since is large, the term will make the reaction term practically zero, however that term will be non-negligible if . The reaction term will also vanish when and . Therefore, it is clear that is negligible everywhere except in a thin layer close to the right boundary . Thus the problem is split into three regions, an inner diffusive-reactive region flanked on either side by two outer convective-diffusive regions.
Outer region
The problem for outer region is given by
The solution satisfying the condition is . This solution is also made to satisfy (an arbitrary choice) to fix the wave location somewhere in the domain because the problem is translationally invariant in the direction. As , the outer solution behaves like which in turn implies
The solution satisfying the condition is . As , the outer solution behaves like and thus .
We can see that although is continuous at , has a jump at . The transition between the derivatives is described by the inner region.
Inner region
In the inner region where , reaction term is no longer negligible. To investigate the inner layer structure, one introduces a stretched coordinate encompassing the point because that is where is approaching unity according to the outer solution and a stretched dependent variable according to Substituting these variables into the governing equation and collecting only the leading order terms, we obtain
The boundary condition as comes from the local behaviour of the outer solution obtained earlier, which when we write in terms of the inner zone coordinate becomes and . Similarly, as . we find . The first integral of the above equation after imposing these boundary conditions becomes
which implies . It is clear from the first integral, the wave speed square is proportional to integrated (with respect to ) value of (of course, in the large limit, only the inner zone contributes to this integral). The first integral after substituting is given by
KPP–ZFK transition
In the KPP regime, For the reaction term used here, the KPP speed that is applicable for is given by
whereas in the ZFK regime, as we have seen above . Numerical integration of the equation for various values of showed that there exists a critical value such that only for , For , is greater than . As , approaches thereby approaching the ZFK regime. The region between the KPP regime and the ZFK regime is called the KPP–ZFK transition zone.
The critical value depends on the reaction model, for example we obtain
Clavin–Liñán model
To predict the KPP–ZFK transition analytically, Paul Clavin and Amable Liñán proposed a simple piecewise linear model
where and are constants. The KPP velocity of the model is , whereas the ZFK velocity is obtained as in the double limit and that mimics a sharp increase in the reaction near .
For this model there exists a critical value such that
See also
Fisher's equation
References
Partial differential equations
Combustion | ZFK equation | [
"Chemistry"
] | 977 | [
"Combustion"
] |
70,931,336 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MERMAID | MERMAID is a marine scientific instrument platform, short for Mobile Earthquake Recorder for Marine Areas by Independent Divers.
MERMAID evolved from a first prototype, developed and built by Scripps Institution of Oceanography in partnership with Princeton University, to a second, built by Teledyne Webb Research in collaboration with the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, and now third-generation model, operational today, commercialized by OSEAN SAS in Le Pradet, France. Fourth-generation models add hydrographic monitoring capability to complement the acoustic sensor suite, and are designed to carry out measurement profiles to depths exceeding 4,000 m.
MERMAID is a freely-drifting float equipped with a hydrophone to collect hydroacoustic data for the study of earthquakes worldwide. Typically floating at a parking depth of 1500 m, the instrument uses a buoyancy engine (a hydraulic oil bladder system) to return to the surface for triggered data transmission (on average every 6–7 days) via the Iridium satellite constellation, to respond to on-demand data requests, and to receive mission parameter updates. MERMAID carries lithium-ion batteries, sufficient to power about 250 descend/ascend cycles, which translates to an instrument autonomy of about 5 years. A pressure sensor monitors descent depth, and a GPS receiver provides location and time corrections during the brief intervals that MERMAID surfaces (on average less than one hour).
Fourth-generation models are multidisciplinary and carry a conductivity-temperature-depth sensor to collect hydrographic profiles of ocean temperature and salinity (similar to those from the Argo program) during their voyages. They can be additionally equipped with high-frequency hydrophones for the study of, e.g. cetacean (whale) vocalizations, and other sensors.
Scientific objectives and capabilities
Imaging Earth's interior via the technique of seismic tomography is reliant on dense source-receiver distribution, or data coverage, but two thirds of the Earth's surface are covered by water. Increasing station density in the oceanic domain is an objective widely shared in the global seismological research community. After the first detections of teleseismic events by first-generation MERMAID, relatively small-scale deployments of second-generation MERMAID instruments in the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and in the Pacific around the Galápagos, demonstrated MERMAID's potential for closing the oceanic seismic coverage gap, both for global and regional seismic events, and for seismic tomography of the Earth's mantle.
The ongoing multinational experiment SPPIM (South Pacific Plume Imaging and Modeling), coordinated by Ifremer with JAMSTEC, deployed an array of fifty-one third-generation instruments to image, in detail, the massive mantle plume in the lower mantle beneath the South Pacific. The instruments are owned by Southern University of Science and Technology, Princeton University, JAMSTEC and Géoazur, and the data management and distribution is handled by EarthScope-Oceans.
The standard third-generation model reports pressure time-series, waveforms triggered by earthquakes, whereas the third-generation model deployed in the Mediterranean was configured to report time-resolved hydroacoustic spectral densities.
Deployments and network configuration
MERMAIDs first-generation model (2003-2005) retired after gathering about 120 hours of acoustic pressure data from a depth of around 700 m offshore from La Jolla, California.
Of the second-generation MERMAIDs (2012-2016), the first were deployed in the Mediterranean and recovered after 10, respectively 18 months of autonomous operations. Other deployments followed in the Indian Ocean, and in the Pacific around Galápagos, where an array of nine MERMAIDs remained operational for about two years.
Sixty-seven third-generation MERMAIDs (2018-now) were launched in the Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea, and the Mediterranean, from a variety of international (French, Japanese, Chinese) research vessels.
Data collection and distribution
Every MERMAID instrumental sensor has a unique identifier. In contrast to conventional (land-based) seismometers or ocean-bottom seismometers (OBS), MERMAID instruments are passively adrift with the ocean currents: they do not remain at any fixed geographic location. Data from particular units are location-tagged hydroacoustic time-series as recorded at depth in the oceans. Data segments triggering transmission mostly contain pressure-wave signals from particular earthquakes worldwide, but also noise generated by a variety of sources (e.g. microseisms or volcanic eruptions). Since GPS signals do not penetrate under water, the actual location of recording specific events is derived from interpolation in post-processing.
Seismic data from the US and French MERMAIDs are being deposited with the IRIS Consortium. Primary seismoacoustic arrivals from distant teleseismic earthquakes are prioritized for automatic reporting, although the complete records (and the year-long buffer, which can be queried remotely) contain multiple other types of seismic arrivals. Seismic waveforms are released to the public through the IRIS Data Management Center, after a rolling embargo period of typically two years.
Trajectory metadata are released by EarthScope-Oceans in near real-time. Float trajectories allow for the reconstruction of ocean currents, and are used in educational and outreach programs, e.g. using the free iOS app Adopt-A-Float.
The EarthScope-Oceans Consortium
EarthScope-Oceans is an international academic consortium that collects seismic data using robotic mobile—drifting—diving platforms (profiling floats) in the world's oceans, and distributes them to scientific user communities, with the objective to plug the oceanic data coverage gap in earthquake detection. MERMAID is EarthScope-Oceans' chief instrument platform.
Funded in part by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), EarthScope-Oceans is not affiliated with NSF's EarthScope program. EarthScope is a trademark of the IRIS Consortium.
EarthScope-Oceans is one of 361 Decade Actions endorsed by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, part of the Ocean Observing Co-Design program, falling under the umbrella of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
The expansion of the EarthScope-Oceans fleet to include new multidisciplinary MERMAID models adds oceanography, meteorology, climate science, and bioacoustics to the seismological domain of interest of the EarthScope-Oceans Consortium.
EarthScope-Oceans is a member organization of the International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks. Its network code is MH, and its doi 10.7914/SN/MH. EarthScope-Oceans is a member of the Marine Technology Society.
References
External links
EarthScope-Oceans Data & Metadata
EarthScope-Oceans: 300 MERMAIDS
UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development
EarthScope-Oceans Code Repository
Adopt-A-Float iOS App
Adopt-A-Float iOS App Code Repository
The Argo Program
South Pacific Plume Imaging and Modeling (SPPIM)
The GLOBALSEIS Project
IRIS Data Management Center
The Global Seismographic Network
Hi Tech hydrophones
OSEAN SAS
RBR profiling CTD sensors
Sea-Bird profiling CTD sensors
Teledyne Webb Research
Seismology instruments | MERMAID | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 1,463 | [
"Seismology instruments",
"Measuring instruments"
] |
70,932,034 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft%20Support%20Diagnostic%20Tool | The Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) is a legacy service in Microsoft Windows that allows Microsoft technical support agents to analyze diagnostic data remotely for troubleshooting purposes. In April 2022 it was observed to have a security vulnerability that allowed remote code execution which was being exploited to attack computers in Russia and Belarus, and later against the Tibetan government in exile. Microsoft advised a temporary workaround of disabling the MSDT by editing the Windows registry.
Use
When contacting support the user is told to run MSDT and given a unique "passkey" which they enter. They are also given an "incident number" to uniquely identify their case. The MSDT can also be run offline which will generate a .CAB file which can be uploaded from a computer with an internet connection.
Security vulnerabilities
Follina
Follina is the name given to a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability, a type of arbitrary code execution (ACE) exploit, in the Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) which was first widely publicized on May 27, 2022, by a security research group called Nao Sec. This exploit allows a remote attacker to use a Microsoft Office document template to execute code via MSDT. This works by exploiting the ability of Microsoft Office document templates to download additional content from a remote server. If the size of the downloaded content is large enough it causes a buffer overflow allowing a payload of Powershell code to be executed without explicit notification to the user. On May 30 Microsoft issued CVE-2022-30190 with guidance that users should disable MSDT. Malicious actors have been observed exploiting the bug to attack computers in Russia and Belarus since April, and it is believed Chinese state actors had been exploiting it to attack the Tibetan government in exile based in India. Microsoft patched this vulnerability in its June 2022 patches.
DogWalk
The DogWalk vulnerability is a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in the Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT). It was first reported in January 2020, but Microsoft initially did not consider it to be a security issue. However, the vulnerability was later exploited in the wild, and Microsoft released a patch for it in August 2022.
The vulnerability is caused by a path traversal vulnerability in the sdiageng.dll library. This vulnerability allows an attacker to trick a victim into opening a malicious diagcab file, which is a type of Windows cabinet file that is used to store support files. When the diagcab file is opened, it triggers the MSDT tool, which then executes the malicious code.
Originally discovered by Mitja Kolsek, the DogWalk vulnerability is caused by a path traversal vulnerability in the sdiageng.dll library. This vulnerability allows an attacker to trick a victim into opening a malicious diagcab file, which is a type of Windows cabinet file that is used to store support files. When the diagcab file is opened, it triggers the MSDT tool, which then executes the malicious code.
The vulnerability is exploited by creating a malicious diagcab file that contains a specially crafted path. This path contains a sequence of characters that is designed to exploit the path traversal vulnerability in the sdiageng.dll library. When the diagcab file is opened, the MSDT tool will attempt to follow the path. However, the path will contain characters that are not valid for a Windows path. This will cause the MSDT tool to crash.
When the MSDT tool crashes, it will generate a memory dump. This memory dump will contain the malicious code that was executed by the MSDT tool. The attacker can then use this memory dump to extract the malicious code and execute it on their own computer.
Retirement
Microsoft will no longer be supporting the Windows legacy inbox Troubleshooters. In 2025, Microsoft will remove the MSDT platform entirely. Get Help is the replacement tool.
Windows versions
Windows 7
Windows 8.1
Windows 10
Windows 11 (up to 22H2)
Future versions and feature upgrades will depreciate the MSDT after May 23, 2023.
References
Windows services
Injection exploits
Computer security
Software bugs
2022 in computing
Cybersecurity engineering | Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 859 | [
"Cybersecurity engineering",
"Computer engineering",
"Computer networks engineering",
"Injection exploits",
"Computer security exploits"
] |
70,932,358 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museomics | Museomics is the study of genomic data obtained from ancient DNA (aDNA) and historic DNA (hDNA) specimens in museum collections.
Early research in this area focused on short sequences of DNA from mitochondrial genes, but sequencing of whole genomes has become possible.
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) and high-throughput sequencing (HTS) methods can be applied to the analysis of genetic datasets extracted from collections materials. Such techniques have been described as a "third revolution in sequencing technology". Like radiocarbon dating, the techniques of museomics are a transformative technology. Results are revising and sometimes overturning previously accepted theories about a wide variety of topics such as the domestication of the horse.
Museum collections contain unique resources such as natural history specimens, which can be used for genome-scale examinations of species, their evolution, and their responses to environmental change. Ancient DNA provides a unique window into genetic change over time. It enables scientists to directly study evolutionary and ecological processes, comparing ancient and modern populations, identifying distinct populations, and revealing patterns of change such as extinctions and migrations. Research may be used to identify isolated populations and inform conservation priorities.
However, museum specimens can be poorly preserved and are subject to degradation and contamination. Genomic analyses face considerable challenges as a result of the highly degraded DNA typical of museum specimens. DNA from such samples is often subject to post-mortem nucleotide damage such as the hydrolytic deamination of cytosine (C) to uracil (U) residues. PCR amplification of damaged templates can further substitute uracils with thymine (T), completing a C to T substitution path. Such errors tend to occur towards the ends of molecules, accumulate with time, and can be significant in specimens a century-old or later. Robust genomic and statistical techniques are needed to rigorously detect and avoid errors and genotyping uncertainties when carrying out analyses based on museum collections. Optimal methods for working with hDNA and aDNA can differ as a result of differences in their DNA degradation history.
Museomics also involves destructive sampling, irreversibly removing parts of sometimes rare specimens to obtain DNA. This can be contentious for curators and collection staff, involving a variety of ethical issues around the handling and destruction of objects, colonial acquisition and repatriation practices, and present-day social and political implications of research. Museums, universities and journals are increasingly developing ethics statements, best practices and guidelines for such work.
See also
Genomics
Proteomics
List of omics topics in biology
References
Museology
DNA
Genetics
Genetic genealogy
Methods in archaeology
Ancient DNA (human)
Analytical chemistry
Omics | Museomics | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 546 | [
"Bioinformatics",
"Omics",
"Genetics",
"nan"
] |
70,932,387 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrich%20Hofmann | Ulrich Hofmann (January 22, 1903 – July 5, 1986) was a German chemist known for his study of clay minerals and the pioneering use of electron microscopes in the study of carbonaceous materials.
Education and career
Hofmann was born in Munich in 1903 and the son of the German chemist Karl Andreas Hofmann. He studied chemistry at Technische Universität Berlin and obtained a diploma in 1925. He went on to receive his doctorate in 1926 from his father with the work Glanzkohlenstoff und die Reihe des schwarzen kristallinen Kohlenstoffs (Lustrous carbon and the series of black crystalline carbon). In 1931 he received habilitation on graphite oxide and then worked as a lecturer at Technische Universität Berlin.
In 1937, Hofmann joined the NSDAP. In the same year, he also became a professor of chemistry and the head of the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Rostock. He only served briefly in World War II since he was released for war-related work. In 1942, he became head of the Institute for Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry at the Vienna University of Technology, where he also installed an electron microscope by Manfred von Ardenne. In 1945, Hofmann left Vienna and, from 1948, taught chemistry and set up his laboratory at the Philosophical-Theological University of Regensburg (now University of Regensburg), where no chemistry had previously been taught. In 1951, he became professor of inorganic and physical chemistry at Technische Universität Darmstadt. In 1960, Hofmann became head of the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Heidelberg, where he later retired in 1971.
Scientific research
Hofmann's research dealt in particular with the chemistry of clay minerals, as well as with pigments and ancient ceramics. In the 1930s, he and Kurd Endell examined the structure of clay minerals using X-ray structure analysis, among other things. Among other things, they published in 1933 on the structure of the clay mineral montmorillonite. Together with Kurd Endell, he also found the reason why German bentonites, in contrast to those from Wyoming in the USA, were not suitable for the construction industry - the cation between the silicate layers was sodium in American bentonite, and calcium or magnesium in German deposits. However, German bentonite could also be used by adding sodium carbonate, which they patented in 1934/35. Hofmann also examined other clays (such as kaolin) to see how the properties (e.g., swelling behavior) changed with the cations between the silicate layers when absorbing water.
Continuing the work of Peter Debye and Paul Scherrer, who analyzed the structure of graphite and diamond with X-rays, he studied lustrous carbon and graphite oxide, among other things. He studied, for example, the absorptivity and catalytic activity of graphite and graphite growth at high temperatures. This also brought him into contact with industries such as Siemens-Plania in Berlin before World War II. In 1941, together with Manfred von Ardenne, he examined carbon black particles using an electron microscope and found them to be made up of chains of spherical carbon structures.
Honors and awards
In 1952 he became the first president of the German Society for Electron Microscopy. In 1955 he received the Alfred Stock Memorial Prize, in 1964 the Seger Plaque, and in 1965 the Wolfgang Ostwald Prize. He was a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (1961) and the Leopoldina (1962). In 1968 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Munich.
References
1986 deaths
1903 births
Nazi Party members
Academic staff of Heidelberg University
Academic staff of Technische Universität Darmstadt
Academic staff of TU Wien
Technische Universität Berlin alumni
Academic staff of the University of Regensburg
Academic staff of the University of Rostock
Inorganic chemists
Academic staff of Technische Universität Berlin
20th-century German chemists
German materials scientists | Ulrich Hofmann | [
"Chemistry"
] | 826 | [
"Inorganic chemists"
] |
70,932,543 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter%20R%C3%BCdorff | Walter Rüdorff (October 3, 1909 – April 1, 1989) was a German chemist known for his research on clathrates of graphite and ternary oxides.
Education and career
Rüdorff was born in Berlin in 1909. He studied chemistry as an undergraduate at Technische Hochschule Berlin (now Technische Universität Berlin) and graduated in 1925. His graduate study was carried out under the supervision of Ulrich Hofmann at the same university, where he graduated with a PhD thesis titled Über die Kristallstruktur der Hexacarbonyle von Chrom, Molybdän und Wolfram. He then moved to the University of Rostock along with Ulrich Hofmann and achieved his habilitation status with the thesis titled Neuartige Verbindungen mit Graphit in 1941. In 1942, Rüdorff moved to TU Wien following Ulrich Hofmann. He later took up a faculty position at University of Tübingen in 1947. He stayed in Tübingen until his retirement.
Along with his supervisor Ulrich Hofmann and his father Karl Andreas Hofmann, Rüdorff cowrote the famous textbook on inorganic chemistry that are referred to as Rüdorff-Hofmann.
Scientific research
Rüdorff and Ulrich Hofmann's work on graphite intercalation compound and sulfuric acid became an ancestor of lithium-ion battery.
Rüdorff's team discovered the ternary oxide series (including LiVO2 and NaVO2) in 1954 with a unique structure. The compounds with the same structural type are called rudorffites for this reason.
Rüdorff's work in 1965 on hosting lithium in titanium disulfide (TiS2) inspired early efforts into using metal chalcogenides as battery cathode material.
See also
Ulrich Hofmann
References
Technische Universität Berlin alumni
Academic staff of the University of Rostock
Academic staff of the University of Tübingen
1909 births
1989 deaths
German chemists
Inorganic chemists
Academic staff of Technische Universität Berlin
Solid state chemists | Walter Rüdorff | [
"Chemistry"
] | 418 | [
"Solid state chemists",
"Inorganic chemists"
] |
70,933,720 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolyltriazole | Tolyltriazole is a mixture of isomers or congeners that differ from benzotriazole by the addition of one methyl group attached somewhere on the benzene ring. "The term tolyltriazole (CAS 29385-43-1) generally [refers to] the commercial mixture composed of approximately equal amounts of 4- and 5-methylbenzotriazole, with small quantities of [their respective 7- and 6-methyl tautomers]".
Structure
Synthesis and reactions
Synthesis is much like that of benzotriazole, but starting with methyl-o-phenylenediamine instead of o-phenylenediamine. Isomers of methyl-o-phenylenediamine include 3-methyl-o-phenylenediamine, 4-methyl-o-phenylenediamine, and N-methyl-o-phenylenediamine (not involved here).
Applications
Tolyltriazole has uses similar to benzotriazole, but has better solubility in some organic solvents.
Corrosion inhibitor
Environmental relevance
Related compounds
Hydroxybenzotriazole
References
Benzotriazoles
Chelating agents
Conservation and restoration materials
Corrosion inhibitors | Tolyltriazole | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 260 | [
"Matter",
"Process chemicals",
"Conservation and restoration materials",
"Organic compounds",
"Materials",
"Corrosion inhibitors",
"Chelating agents",
"Organic compound stubs",
"Organic chemistry stubs"
] |
70,934,258 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson%20matrix | Wilson matrix is the following matrix having integers as elements:
This is the coefficient matrix of the following system of linear equations considered in a paper by J. Morris published in 1946:
Morris ascribes the source of the set of equations to one T. S. Wilson but no details about Wilson have been provided. The particular system of equations was used by Morris to illustrate the concept of ill-conditioned system of equations. The matrix has been used as an example and for test purposes in many research papers and books over the years. John Todd has referred to as “the notorious matrix W of T. S. Wilson”.
Properties
is a symmetric matrix.
is positive definite.
The determinant of is .
The inverse of is
The characteristic polynomial of is .
The eigenvalues of are .
Since is symmetric, the norm condition number of is .
The solution of the system of equations is .
The Cholesky factorisation of is where .
has the factorisation where .
has the factorisation with as the integer matrix .
Research problems spawned by Wilson matrix
A consideration of the condition number of the Wilson matrix has spawned several interesting research problems relating to condition numbers of matrices in certain special classes of matrices having some or all the special features of the Wilson matrix. In particular, the following special classes of matrices have been studied:
the set of nonsingular, symmetric matrices with integer entries between 1 and 10.
the set of positive definite, symmetric matrices with integer entries between 1 and 10.
An exhaustive computation of the condition numbers of the matrices in the above sets has yielded the following results:
Among the elements of , the maximum condition number is and this maximum is attained by the matrix .
Among the elements of , the maximum condition number is and this maximum is attained by the matrix .
References
Matrices | Wilson matrix | [
"Mathematics"
] | 361 | [
"Matrices (mathematics)",
"Mathematical objects"
] |
70,934,679 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fexofenadine/pseudoephedrine | Fexofenadine/pseudoephedrine, sold under the brand name Allegra-D among others, is a fixed-dose combination medication used for the treatment of nasal congestion and other symptoms of allergies and the common cold. It contains fexofenadine, as the hydrochloride, an antihistamine; and pseudoephedrine, as the hydrochloride, a nasal decongestant.
In 2021, it was the 279th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 800,000 prescriptions.
References
Combination drugs
Decongestants
Sanofi | Fexofenadine/pseudoephedrine | [
"Chemistry"
] | 129 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs"
] |
70,935,003 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hordatine%20A | Hordatine A is a phenolic secondary metabolite and an adrenergic antagonist that is found in barley. This natural product is a member of the class benzofurans, and can also be found in barley malt and beer, as it withstands moderate processing. Hordatine A is a hydroxycinnamic acid amide derivative (HCAA) as well as a dimer of coumaroyl agmatine, and is plentiful during the development of barley seedlings, specifically in the shoots. Hordatines and their hydroxycinnamoyl agmatine precursors are of interest because of their antifungal activity against plant pathogens, such as inhibiting spore germination of many fungi species. Hordatine A is thought to be a phytoanticipin, because it is observed in significant amounts in young seedlings and at early growth stages.
Biosynthesis
The first step in the biosynthesis of hordatine A is characterized by the use of the enzyme agmatine coumaroyltransferase (ACT), which catalyzes the formation of p-coumaroylagmatine from p-coumaroyl-CoA and agmatine. The second step in the biosynthesis of the natural product is characterized by the oxidative coupling of two molecules of p-coumaroylagmatine by the enzyme peroxidase. The formation of this homodimer and its observable furan ring results from the hydroxy group of one p-coumaroylagmatine molecule reacting with the ethylene double bond of the other molecule.
Function
Hordatine A and hordatine B are potential inhibitors of COVID-19 main protease and RNA polymerase, and could serve as potential therapeutic drugs against COVID-19. Hordatine A has been found to overcome activity of key targets of COVID-19, the first being the protease 7BQY and the second being the RNA polymerase 7bV2. Out of multiple target compounds found to possess binding affinities to these targets, hordatine A and hordatine B were found to not only have the highest binding affinity but to also have a higher binding affinity than the native ligand in RNA polymerase, Remdesivir. This is due to the substantial interaction of Hordatine A and B with varying receptor-binding residues, as well as the hydrogen bond formation of Hordatines to catalytic residues.
References
External links
Hordatine A via PubChem
Benzofurans
Guanidines
Amides
4-Hydroxyphenyl compounds | Hordatine A | [
"Chemistry"
] | 556 | [
"Guanidines",
"Amides",
"Functional groups"
] |
70,935,987 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian%20Mathieson | Ian James Mathieson (23 May 1927 – 24 June 2010) was a Scottish Egyptologist and Land Surveyor. He pioneered various methods of surveying and mapping of large archaeological sites avoiding the expense or intrusion of excavation.
Early life
Ian Mathieson was born in Edinburgh, the son of James Mathieson, a design engineer. Mathieson attended Daniel Stewart’s College. After military service he qualified as a mining surveyor and geologist at the Heriot Watt College, Edinburgh.
Career
Mathieson first applied his surveying and geological skills with the National Coal Board. In 1956 he joined Hunting Surveys hoping to be part of a survey team in Antarctica that year. Instead, he found himself mapping the valley of the Euphrates River in Iraq. At home and abroad, his projects with the company included working on the location of the Tay Road Bridge and the Severn Bridge, the building of the Dez Dam in Iran, and the mapping of the Five Rivers Canal System in Pakistan and India. In 1965-66, he was in a party that crossed the great Nafud Desert in Saudi Arabia, travelling in convoy and navigating by the sun and stars. In 1972 he became a partner and technical director with Survey and Development Services, Edinburgh, subsequently establishing offices in Saudi Arabia and in Egypt.
Archaeology
Mathieson had long had an interest in archaeology, having visited many Roman sites in Scotland. He devised non-intrusive excavation methods using his experience in geology and civil engineering. However, it was while working in Egypt that he developed a passion for the ancient history of that land. From that point on, especially after he retired from full-time work in 1986, Ancient Egypt would be the focus of his attention.
He first volunteered his services to Harry Smith and David Jeffreys at Memphis and Barry Kemp at Tel el Amarna where he developed his experience in the use of the resistivity meter and the proton magnetometer. Then in 1990 he successfully applied to the Egyptian Antiquities organisation for a concession at Saqqara, the great necropolis of the ancient capital of Memphis. Although numerous sites on the plateau had been examined by different parties in the 19th and 20th centuries, there had never been a comprehensive survey of the entire area.
So the Saqqara Geophysical Survey Project was born, and ran until 2009. The project championed the use of non-destructive and cost-effective geophysical survey techniques in Egypt. Over the years, the project employed a number of methods, but the two used most often were magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar.
Magnetometry exploits the fact that buried structures can cause local variations in the Earth’s magnetic field. By using sensitive magnetometers, systematic measurements over a grid enable these variations to be plotted and subsurface features to be seen. Every season an area of the Saqqara plateau was selected to be the target of the survey. Eventually a large proportion of the North Saqqara necropolis was surveyed, revealing the location of many long-lost tombs and temples beneath the desert sand. Radar, on the other hand, involves the transmission of a short pulse of radio energy into the ground with returning echoes being listened for. The radar is then moved and the process repeated.
Gisr el-Mudir
One of the original aims of the project was to use radar to map the Gisr el-Mudir, an enormous stone structure to the south-west of the Step Pyramid enclosure, which had long fascinated Mathieson. He inferred from the apparently poor construction technique, and from pottery recovered from targeted excavations, that the Gisr predated the adjacent Step Pyramid and that it, rather than the pyramid, was probably the world’s oldest free standing stone structure.
Personal life
Mathieson’s other interests included amateur dramatics, through which he met his wife, Padi, whom he married in 1958. He was actively involved in the Edinburgh University Dramatic Society and later with the Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group. He served on the board of directors of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society in the 1970s. He also enjoyed fly-fishing on the rivers and lochs of the Scottish Borders and Highlands.
Legacy
Mathieson’s most tangible legacy was the map showing the underground structures over a large area of the Saqqara plateau. He was supported during his various surveys and excavations by the National Museums of Scotland and Glasgow Museums. Records of his findings have been carefully preserved for reference by future archaeologists.
His other great achievements were the methods he devised to survey and map large sites to discover what lay beneath the ground. In 2010 the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors awarded him The Richard Carter Prize for his outstanding contributions in geospatial engineering.
He was highly regarded in Egypt and his name is included in a list of illustrious archaeologists in the Imhotep Museum at Saqqara.
Publications
Notes
References
Padi Mathieson, ed (2013), "Seeing Under the Sands of Saqqara", The Scottish Egyptian Archaeological Trust
Jon Dittmer (2013), "Geophysical Surveying on the Saqqara Plateau", in P. Mathieson 2013, pp.18-25
Vivian Davies, Renee Friedman (1998), “Egypt”, The British Museum Press, 1998, ISBN 0 7141 1934 2
1927 births
2010 deaths
Scottish Egyptologists
Scottish archaeologists
People from Edinburgh
People educated at Stewart's Melville College
Geophysics | Ian Mathieson | [
"Physics"
] | 1,095 | [
"Applied and interdisciplinary physics",
"Geophysics"
] |
70,936,440 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry%20Johnston%20Scott%20Matthew | Henry Johnston Scott Matthew FRCPE (22 March 1914 – 7 April 1997) was a Scottish physician and toxicologist in charge of the Regional Poisoning Treatment Centre from 1964 and Director of the Scottish Poisons Information Bureau from 1965. Matthew changed his career path, concentrating on Toxicology in 1957 and was known as the Father of Clinical Toxicology.
Education and early career
Matthew was born in Edinburgh in 1914. He went to the University of Edinburgh to study Medicine after schooling at Edinburgh Academy. Matthew graduated from the University of Edinburgh in the top five of the final examinations of 1937. His career in surgery began at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Great Ormond Street Hospital, London; however, this didn't last long because of the outbreak of World War II. During the war, he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Middle East and Persia. Following the war, after a brief break, he returned to Scotland and went into general practice, joining the faculty of Medicine as a consultant physician specializing in Cardiology at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in 1945. In 1951 he was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh.
Career change and research
Matthew had to convert his specialization because of the crucial decision made by the manager of the Royal Infirmary, designating the ward for incidental delirium (Ward 3) a Regional Poisoning Treatment Centre (RPTC) in response to a report issued by the Ministry of Health in England and the Scottish Home and Health Department. In 1964, He officially started his long-term research and clinical practice of Toxicology. Regarding the turning point of his motivation in concentrating on Toxicology, he noticed that patients were prescribed and overdosed on barbiturates as a remedy, with which he strongly disagreed. Matthew reassessed and improved the role of gastric lavage and aspiration in respect of barbiturates overdose, which was abandoned in Denmark in 1946; the research has become a recommended reference among the clinical staff widely.
Later life
Matthew retired in 1975 and suffered from prostate cancer in his later life.
Works
Acute Barbiturate Poisoning, edited by Henry Matthew (Excerpta Medica, 1971)
Treatment of common acute poisonings, edited by Henry Matthew and Alexander A. H. Lawson (Longman, 1975)
References
1914 births
1997 deaths
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Academics from Edinburgh
British toxicologists
Toxicology
Members of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh
People educated at Edinburgh Academy | Henry Johnston Scott Matthew | [
"Environmental_science"
] | 492 | [
"Toxicology"
] |
70,936,988 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%20Karol%20Estreicher | Stefan Karol Estreicher is a theoretical physicist, currently serving as Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Physics Department of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.
Education
He received his PhD from the University of Zurich in 1982 and joined the faculty of Texas Tech University in 1986.
Academic Work
He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1997 and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK) in 2006. He won the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel research award from the Alexander von Humboldt Society in 2001. He served for 6 years as the Chair of the International Steering Committee of the ICDS conferences series and, also for 6 years, as the elected Spokesperson of the P.W. Horn Distinguished Professors at Texas Tech University. He has published over 200 scientific papers dealing with the electrical, optical, and magnetic properties of defects in semiconductors. His studies of vibrational lifetimes revealed the concept of phonon trapping which provides a natural explanation for why and how defects reduce heat flow. He was the first to calculate from first-principles the Kapitza resistance and its temperature dependence at a semiconductor interface. He also published several articles on the history of wine and viticulture.
Family
He is the son of Zygmunt Estreicher (professor of musicology), grandson of Tadeusz Estreicher (professor of chemistry and historian), great-grandson of Karol Estreicher senior (author of Bibliografia Polska), nephew of Karol Estreicher junior, and grand-nephew of Stanisław Estreicher.
References
American physicists
Theoretical physicists
Texas Tech University faculty
University of Zurich alumni
1952 births
Living people
People from Neuchâtel | Stefan Karol Estreicher | [
"Physics"
] | 352 | [
"Theoretical physics",
"Theoretical physicists"
] |
70,939,631 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon%20isotope%20geochemistry | Xenon isotope geochemistry uses the abundance of xenon (Xe) isotopes and total xenon to investigate how Xe has been generated, transported, fractionated, and distributed in planetary systems. Xe has nine stable or very long-lived isotopes. Radiogenic 129Xe and fissiogenic 131,132,134,136Xe isotopes are of special interest in geochemical research. The radiogenic and fissiogenic properties can be used in deciphering the early chronology of Earth. Elemental Xe in the atmosphere is depleted and isotopically enriched in heavier isotopes relative to estimated solar abundances. The depletion and heavy isotopic enrichment can be explained by hydrodynamic escape to space that occurred in Earth's early atmosphere. Differences in the Xe isotope distribution between the deep mantle (from Ocean Island Basalts, or OIBs), shallower Mid-ocean Ridge Basalts (MORBs), and the atmosphere can be used to deduce Earth's history of formation and differentiation of the solid Earth into layers.
Background
Xe is the heaviest noble gas in the Earth's atmosphere. It has seven stable isotopes (126Xe,128Xe,129Xe,130Xe,131Xe, 132Xe, 134Xe) and two isotopes (124Xe, 136Xe) with long-lived half-lives. Xe has four synthetic radioisotopes with very short half-lives, usually less than one month.
Xenon-129 can be used to examine the early history of the Earth. 129Xe was derived from the extinct nuclide of iodine, iodine-129 or 129I (with a half-life of 15.7 Million years, or Myr), which can be used in iodine-xenon (I-Xe) dating. The production of 129Xe stopped within about 100 Myr after the start of the Solar System because 129I became extinct. In the modern atmosphere, about 6.8% of atmospheric 129Xe originated from the decay 129I in the first ~100 Myr of the Solar System's history, i.e., during and immediately following Earth's accretion.
Fissiogenic Xe isotopes were generated mainly from the extinct nuclide, plutonium-244 or 244Pu (half-life of 80 Myr), and also the extant nuclide, uranium-238 or 238U (half-life of 4468 Myr). Spontaneous fission of 238U has generated ~5% as much fissiogenic Xe as 244Pu. Pu and U fission produce the four fissiogenic isotopes, 136Xe, 134Xe, 132Xe, and 131Xe in distinct proportions. A reservoir that remains an entirely closed system over Earth's history has a ratio of Pu- to U-derived fissiogenic Xe reaching to ~27. Accordingly, the isotopic composition of the fissiogenic Xe for a closed-system reservoir would largely resemble that produced from pure 244Pu fission. Loss of Xe from a reservoir after 244Pu becomes extinct (500 Myr) would lead to a greater contribution of 238U fission to the fissiogenic Xe.
Notation
Differences in the abundance of isotopes among natural samples are extremely small (almost always below 0.1% or 1 per mille). Nevertheless, these very small differences can record meaningful geological processes. To compare these tiny but meaningful differences, isotope abundances in natural materials are often reported relative to isotope abundances in designated standards, with the delta (δ) notation. The absolute values of Xe isotopes are normalized to atmospheric 130Xe. Define where i = 124, 126, 128, 129, 131, 132, 134, 136.
Applications
The age of Earth
Iodine-129 decays with a half-life of 15.7 Ma into 129Xe, resulting in excess 129Xe in primitive meteorites relative to primordial Xe isotopic compositions. The property of 129I can be used in radiometric chronology. However, as detailed below, the age of Earth's formation cannot be deduced directly from I-Xe dating. The major problem is the Xe closure time, or the time when the early Earth system stopped gaining substantial new material from space. When the Earth became closed for the I-Xe system, Xe isotope evolution began to obey a simple radioactive decay law as shown below and became predictable.
The principle of radiogenic chronology is, if at time t1 the quantity of a radioisotope is P1 while at some previous time this quantity was P0, the interval between t1 and t0 is given by the law of radioactive decay as
Here is the decay constant of the radioisotope, which is the probability of decay per nucleus per unit time. The decay constant is related to the half life t1/2, by t1/2= ln(2)/
Calculations
The I-Xe system was first applied in 1975 to estimate the age of the Earth. For all Xe isotopes, the initial isotope composition of iodine in the Earth is given by
where is the isotopic ratios of iodine at the time that Earth primarily formed, is the isotopic ratio of iodine at the end of stellar nucleosynthesis, and is the time interval between the end of stellar nucleosynthesis and the formation of the Earth. The estimated iodine-127 concentration in the Bulk Silicate Earth (BSE) (= crust + mantle average) ranges from 7 to 10 parts per billion (ppb) by mass. If the BSE represents Earth's chemical composition, the total 127I in the BSE ranges from 2.26×1017 to 3.23×1017 moles. The meteorite Bjurböle is 4.56 billion years old with an initial 129I/127I ratio of 1.1×10−4, so an equation can be derived as
where is the interval between the formation of the Earth and the formation of meteorite Bjurböle. Given the half life of 129I of 15.7 Myr, and assuming that all the initial 129I has decayed to 129Xe, the following equation can be derived:
129Xe in the modern atmosphere is 3.63×1013 grams. The iodine content for BSE lies between 10 and 12 ppb by mass. Consequently, should be 108 Myr, i.e., the Xe-closure age is 108 Myr younger than the age of meteorite Bjurböle. The estimated Xe closure time was ~4.45 billion years ago when the growing Earth started to retain Xe in its atmosphere, which is coincident with ages derived from other geochronology dating methods.
Xe closure age problem
There are some disputes about using I-Xe dating to estimate the Xe closure time. First, in the early solar system, planetesimals collided and grew into larger bodies that accreted to form the Earth. But there could be a 107 to 108 years time gap in Xe closure time between the Earth's inner and outer regions. Some research support 4.45 Ga probably represents the time when the last giant impactor (Martian-size) hit Earth, but some regard it as the time of core-mantle differentiation. The second problem is that the total inventory of 129Xe on Earth may be larger than that of the atmosphere since the lower mantle hadn't been entirely mixed, which may underestimate 129Xe in the calculation. Last but not least, if Xe gas not been lost from the atmosphere during a long interval of early Earth's history, the chronology based on 129I-129Xe would need revising since 129Xe and 127Xe could be greatly altered.
Loss of earth's earliest atmosphere
Compared with solar xenon, Earth's atmospheric Xe is enriched in heavy isotopes by 3 to 4% per atomic mass unit (amu). However, the total abundance of xenon gas is depleted by one order of magnitude relative to other noble gases. The elemental depletion while relative enrichment in heavy isotopes is called the "Xenon paradox". A possible explanation is that some processes can specifically diminish xenon rather than other light noble gases (e.g. Krypton) and preferentially remove lighter Xe isotopes.
In the last 2 decades, two categories of models have been proposed to solve the xenon paradox. The first assumes that the Earth accreted from porous planetesimals, and isotope fractionation happened due to gravitational separation. However, this model cannot reproduce the abundance and isotopic composition of light noble gases in the atmosphere. The second category supposes a massive impact resulted in an aerodynamic drag on heavier gases. Both the aerodynamic drag and the downward gravitational effect lead to a mass-dependent loss of Xe gases. But following research suggested that Xe isotope mass fractionation shouldn't be a rapid, single event.
Research published since 2018 on noble gases preserved in Archean (3.5–3.0 Ga old) samples may provide a solution to the Xe paradox. Isotopically mass fractionated Xe is found in tiny inclusions of ancient seawater in Archean barite and hydrothermal quartz. The distribution of Xe isotopes lies between the primordial solar and the modern atmospheric Xe isotope patterns. The isotopic fractionation gradually increases relative to the solar distribution as Earth evolves over its first 2 billion years. This two billion-year history of evolving Xe fractionation coincides with early solar system conditions including high solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation and large impacts that could energize large rates of hydrogen escape to space that are big enough to drag out xenon. However, models of neutral xenon atoms escaping cannot resolve the problem that other lighter noble gas elements don't show the signal of depletion or mass-dependent fractionation. For example, because Kr is lighter than Xe, Kr should also have escaped in a neutral wind. Yet the isotopic distribution of atmospheric Kr on Earth is significantly less fractionated than atmospheric Xe.
A current explanation is that hydrodynamic escape can preferentially remove lighter atmospheric species and lighter isotopes of Xe in the form of charged ions instead of neutral atoms. Hydrogen is liberated from hydrogen-bearing gases (H2 or CH4) by photolysis in the early Earth atmosphere. Hydrogen is light and can be abundant at the top of the atmosphere and escape. In the polar regions where there are open magnetic field lines, hydrogen ions can drag ionized Xe out from the atmosphere to space even though neutral Xe cannot escape.
The mechanism is summarized as below.
Xe can be directly photo-ionized by UV radiation in range of
Or Xe can be ionized by change exchange with H2 and CO2 through
where H+ and CO2+ can come from EUV dissociation. Xe+ is chemically inert in H, H2, or CO2 atmospheres. As a result, Xe+ tends to persist. These ions interact strongly with each other through the Coulomb force and are finally dragged away by strong ancient polar wind. Isotope mass fractionation accumulates as lighter isotopes of Xe+ preferentially escape from the Earth. A preliminary model suggests that Xe can escape in the Archean if the atmosphere contains >1% H2 or >0.5% methane.
When O2 levels increased in the atmosphere, Xe+ could exchange positive charge with O2 though
From this reaction, Xe escape stopped when the atmosphere became enriched in O2. As a result, Xe isotope fractionation may provide insights into the long history of hydrogen escape that ended with the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). Understanding Xe isotopes is promising to reconstruct hydrogen or methane escape history that irreversibly oxidized the Earth and drove biological evolution toward aerobic ecological systems. Other factors, such as the hydrogen (or methane) concentration becoming too low or EUV radiation from the aging Sun becoming too weak, can also cease the hydrodynamic escape of Xe, but are not mutually exclusive.
Organic hazes on Archean Earth could also scavenge isotopically heavy Xe. Ionized Xe can be chemically incorporated into organic materials, going through the terrestrial weathering cycle on the surface. The trapped Xe is mass fractionated by about 1% per amu in heavier isotopes but they may be released again and recover the original unfractionated composition, making them not sufficient to totally resolve Xe paradox.
Comparison between Kr and Xe in the atmosphere
Observed atmospheric Xe is depleted relative to Chondritic meteorites by a factor of 4 to 20 when compared to Kr. In contrast, the stable isotopes of Kr are barely fractionated. This mechanism is unique to Xe since Kr+ ions are quickly neutralized via
Therefore, Kr can be rapidly returned to neutral and wouldn't be dragged away by the charged ion wind in the polar region. Hence Kr is retained in the atmosphere.
Relation with Mass Independent Fraction of Sulfur Isotopes (MIF-S)
The signal of mass-independent fractionation of sulfur isotopes, known as MIF-S, correlates with the end of Xe isotope fractionation. During the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), the ozone layer formed when O2 rose, accounting for the end of the MIF-S signature. The disappearance of the MIF-S signal has been regarded as changing the redox ratio of Earth's surface reservoirs. However, potential memory effects of MIF-S due to oxidative weathering can lead to large uncertainty on the process and chronology of GOE. Compared to the MIF-S signals, hydrodynamic escape of Xe is not affected by the ozone formation and may be even more sensitive to O2 availability, promising to provide more details about the oxidation history of Earth.
Xe Isotopes as mantle tracers
Xe isotopes are also promising in tracing mantle dynamics in Earth's evolution. The first explicit recognition of non-atmospheric Xe in terrestrial samples came from the analysis of CO2-well gas in New Mexico, displaying an excess of 129I-derived or primitive source 129Xe and high content in 131-136Xe due to the decay of 238U. At present, the excess of 129Xe and 131-136Xe has been widely observed in mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORBs) and Oceanic island basalt (OIBs). Because 136Xe receives more fissiogenic contribution than other heavy Xe isotopes, 129Xe (decay of 129I) and 136Xe are usually normalized to 130Xe when discussing Xe isotope trends of different mantle sources. MORBs' 129Xe/130Xe and 136Xe/130Xe ratios lie on a trend from atmospheric ratios to higher values and seemingly contaminated by the air. Oceanic island basalt (OIBs) data lies lower than those in MORBs, implying different Xe sources for OIBs and MORBs.
The deviations in 129Xe/130Xe ratio between air and MORBs show that mantle degassing occurred before 129I was extinct, otherwise 129Xe/130Xe in the air would be the same as in the mantle. The differences in the 129Xe/130Xe ratio between MORBs and OIBs may indicate that the mantle reservoirs are still not thoroughly mixed. The chemical differences between OIBs and MORBs still await discovery.
To obtain mantle Xe isotope ratios, it is necessary to remove contamination by atmospheric Xe, which could start before 2.5 billion years ago. Theoretically, the many non-radiogenic isotopic ratios (124Xe/130Xe, 126Xe/130Xe, and 128Xe/130Xe) can be used to accurately correct for atmospheric contamination if slight differences between air and mantle can be precisely measured. Still, we cannot reach such precision with current techniques.
Xe in other planets
Mars
On Mars, Xe isotopes in the present atmosphere are mass fractionated relative to their primordial composition from in situ measurement of the Curiosity Rover at Gale Crater, Mars. Paleo-atmospheric Xe trapped in the Martian regolith breccia NWA 11220 is mass-dependently fractionated relative to solar Xe by ~16.2‰. The extent of fractionation is comparable for Mars and Earth, which may be compelling evidence that hydrodynamic escape also occurred in the Mars history. The regolith breccia NWA7084 and the >4 Ga orthopyroxene ALH84001 Martian meteorites trap ancient Martian atmospheric gases with little if any Xe isotopic fractionation relative to modern Martian atmospheric Xe. Alternative models for Mars consider that the isotopic fractionation and escape of Mars atmospheric Xe occurred very early in the planet's history and ceased around a few hundred million years after planetary formation rather than continuing during its evolutionary history
Venus
Xe has not been detected in Venus's atmosphere. 132Xe has an upper limit of 10 parts per billion by volume. The absence of data on the abundance of Xe precludes us from evaluating if the abundance of Xe is close to solar values or if there is Xe paradox on Venus. The lack also prevents us from checking if the isotopic composition has been mass dependently fractionated, as in the case of Earth and Mars.
Jupiter
Jupiter's atmosphere has 2.5 ± 0.5 times the solar abundance values for Xenon and similarly elevated argon and krypton (2.1 ± 0.5 and 2.7 ± 0.5 times solar values separately). These signals of enrichment are due to these elements coming to Jupiter in very cold (T<30K) icy planetesimals.
See also
Geochronology
Isotopes of Xenon
References
Xenon
Isotopes
Geochemistry | Xenon isotope geochemistry | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 3,778 | [
"nan",
"Isotopes",
"Nuclear physics"
] |
70,940,234 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD%20199223 | HD 199223 (HR 8010) is a double star in the equatorial constellation Delphinus. However, the system was originally in Equuleus prior to the creation of official IAU constellation borders. The components have a separation of at a position angle of as of 2016. They have apparent magnitudes of 6.34 and 7.49 and distances of 354 and 359 light years respectively. The system is drifting closer with a radial velocity of .
The brighter component has a stellar classification of G8 III/IV, indicating that it is a G-type star with the blended luminosity class of a giant star and a subgiant. It has 125% of the mass of the Sun and an enlarged radius of . It shines at 37.1 times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of , giving it a yellow glow. HD 199223A's iron abundance is 135% that of the Sun and it spins modestly with a projected rotational velocity less than .
As for the dimmer one, it is classified as an F/G star, and is calculated to be an F-type subgiant. It has 146% of the mass of the Sun and 2.1 times its radius. It radiates with a luminosity of from its photosphere at an effective temperature of , giving it a yellow white glow.
References
Delphinus
199223
103301
8010
G-type subgiants
G-type giants
BD+03 4461
Equulei, 1
Double stars
F-type subgiants | HD 199223 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 328 | [
"Delphinus",
"Constellations"
] |
70,940,262 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSR%20J0901%E2%80%934046 | PSR J0901–4046 is an ultra-long period pulsar. Its period, 75.9 seconds, is the longest for any known neutron star pulsar (some objects believed to be white dwarf pulsars, such as AR Scorpii, have longer periods). Its period is more than three times longer than that of PSR J0250+5854, the previous long period record-holder. The pulses are narrow; radio emission is seen from PSR J0901–4046 for only 0.5% of its rotation period.
PSR J0901–4046 was discovered serendipitously on September 27, 2020, by the MeerTRAP team, when a single pulse from it was noticed during MeerKAT observations of Vela X-1 (which is less than 1/4 degree away from PSR J0901–4046 on the sky). After that pulse was detected, further examination of the data revealed that 14 weaker pulses were present in the ~30 minute long data set, but they had been missed by the real-time detection software. The deepest image of the MeerKAT field showed a diffuse shell-like structure that may be a supernova remnant associated with the birth of the neutron star.
PSR J0901–4046's period, combined with its period time derivative of 2.25×10−13 second/second, implies a characteristic age of 5.3 million years. The discovery of PSR J0901–4046 challenges the understanding of how neutron stars evolve.
See also
GLEAM-X J162759.5−523504.3
GPM J1839−10
PSR J1748−2446ad, shortest period pulsar known
References
Vela (constellation)
Astronomical objects discovered in 2020
Pulsars | PSR J0901–4046 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 388 | [
"Vela (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
75,233,430 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OV1-16 | Orbiting Vehicle 1–16 (also known as OV1-16, LOADS1 (Low Altitude Density Satellite 1), and Cannonball 1), was launched 11 July 1968 via Atlas F side-by-side with OV1-15. Part of the OV1 series of USAF satellites, OV1-16 was a small, extremely dense sphere, able to withstand air drag much better than a conventional satellite. Along with OV1-15, it was the first satellite to return long-term information on the density and weather patterns of the Earth's upper atmosphere to better predict satellite orbits as well as the splash-down points of reentering satellites and spacecraft. The satellite reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 19 August 1968 after 39 days in orbit.
History
The Orbiting Vehicle satellite program arose from a US Air Force initiative, begun in the early 1960s, to reduce the expense of space research. Through this initiative, satellites would be standardized to improve reliability and cost-efficiency, and where possible, they would fly on test vehicles or be piggybacked with other satellites. In 1961, the Air Force Office of Aerospace Research (OAR) created the Aerospace Research Support Program (ARSP) to request satellite research proposals and choose mission experiments. The USAF Space and Missiles Organization created their own analog of the ARSP called the Space Experiments Support Program (SESP), which sponsored a greater proportion of technological experiments than the ARSP. Five distinct OV series of standardized satellites were developed under the auspices of these agencies.
The OV1 program, managed by Lt. Col. Clyde Northcott Jr. was an evolution of the 2.7 m "Scientific Passenger Pods" (SPP), which, starting on 2 October 1961, rode piggyback on suborbital Atlas missile tests and conducted scientific experiments during their short time in space. General Dynamics received a $2 million contract on 13 September 1963 to build a new version of the SPP (called the Atlas Retained Structure (ARS)) that would carry a self-orbiting satellite. Once the Atlas missile and ARS reached apogee, the satellite inside would be deployed and thrust itself into orbit. In addition to the orbital SPP, General Dynamics would create six of these satellites, each to be long with a diameter of , able to carry a payload into a circular orbit.
Dubbed "Satellite for Aerospace Research" (SATAR), the series of satellites was originally to be launched from the Eastern Test Range on Atlas missions testing experimental Advanced Ballistic Re-Entry System (ABRES) nosecones. However, in 1964, the Air Force transferred ABRES launches to the Western Test Range causing a year's delay for the program. Moreover, because WTR launches would be into polar orbit as opposed to the low-inclination orbits typical of ETR launches, less mass could be lofted into orbit using the same thrust, and the mass of the SATAR satellites had to be reduced.
Prior to the double launch of which OV1-16 was a part, there had been 14 satellites in the OV1 series, the first orbited on January 21, 1965. After OV1-1, the last ABRES test launch, OV1-2 through 12 were launched on decommissioned Atlas D ICBMs, with the exception of OV1-6, launched via the Titan IIIC tasked for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory test flight. OV1-13 and OV1-14 were the first to be launched on a decommissioned Atlas F.
Spacecraft design
OV1-16 was developed to return information on the weather patterns, particularly the short-term changes in atmospheric density, of the upper atmosphere. This information is useful in predicting satellite orbits as well as the splash-down points of reentering satellites and spacecraft. Up to the launch of OV1-15 and 16, virtually nothing was known about the density of the atmosphere at altitudes between and —only a few brief sounding rocket flights had probed that region. Theoretical models had suggested that air density would decrease with increased solar activity (the opposite of what the two OV1 satellites ultimately discovered)
Dr. Kenneth S. W. Champion, Chief of the Atmospheric Structure Branch at AFCRL's Aeronomy Laboratory since 1964, designed the OV1-16 satellite. Unlike most of the standardized, cylindrical OV1 satellites, OV1-16 was a , diameter sphere with a solid brass shell thick, making it the densest ( satellite yet launched. This unusually high density was a design feature: by creating a vehicle with as large a mass/area ratio as possible, the satellite was more resistant to wind resistance. Thus, OV1-16 could stay in orbit, measuring the properties of lower thermosphere between and above the Earth, far longer than conventional satellites, which would be forced to reenter almost immediately at such a low altitude.
Several retractable antennas were used to transmit telemetry, while two small antennas were employed by a radar tracking beacon. The satellite was painted black with gold-plated circular areas to moderate heat from sunlight and atmospheric heating. The battery-powered satellite carried no onboard tape recorder, instead transmitting to 12 ground stations when in range.
Experiments
The main instrument on OV1-16 was a triaxial acceleration sensor developed by the Bell Aerospace Corporation. It consisted of three mutually perpendicular linear "Miniature Electrostatic Accelerometers" (MESA). The instrument calculated air density by measuring the electrostatic force required to restrain a hollow cylindrical mass as the satellite experienced wind drag. Though in principle, the device could measure drag accelerations as low as 10-8 g, but in practice the satellite's measurements were in the range 5×10-5 g to 1×-7 g due to data noise, imperfect location of the accelerometers, and the spacecraft's rotation. The satellite's radio beacon also facilitated tracking of the satellite, the path of which also revealed details of the air density of the atmosphere it traveled through.
Mission
OV1-16 was launched from Vandenberg's 576-A-2 launch pad along with OV1-15 on an Atlas F rocket on 11 July 1968 at around 19:30:00 UTC into an eccentric medium orbit that took it from above the Earth to an atmosphere-scraping altitude of just . The satellite reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 19 August 1968 after 39 days in orbit. More than 200 data acquisitions were received by ground stations, and the satellite's mission was deemed very successful.
Results
The findings of OV1-15 and 16 quickly led to refined models of the upper atmosphere of immediate use to the Air Force and the Department of Defense. Their data proved that increased solar activity increased the air density at high altitudes, contradicting the prevailing model of the time. Moreover, the satellites determined that the density of the upper atmosphere was 10% lower than predicted by theoretical models.
The OV1 program ultimately comprised 22 missions, the last flying on 19 September 1971.
References
Spacecraft launched in 1968
Spacecraft which reentered in 1968
Military satellites
Satellites | OV1-16 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 1,452 | [
"Satellites",
"Outer space"
] |
75,234,281 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese%20computational%20linguistics | Chinese computational linguistics is a subset of computational linguistics; it is the scientific study and information processing of the Chinese language by means of computers. The purpose is to obtain a better understanding of how the language works and to bring more convenience to language applications. The term Chinese computational linguistics is often employed interchangeably with Chinese information processing, though the former may sound more theoretical while the latter more technical.
Rather than introducing computational linguistics in a general sense, this article will focus on the unique issues involved with implementing the Chinese language compared to other languages. The contents include Chinese character information processing, word segmentation, proper noun recognition, natural language understanding and generation, corpus linguistics, and machine translation.
Chinese character information processing
Chinese character Information Technology (IT) is the technology of computer processing of Chinese characters. While the English writing system makes use of a few dozen different characters, Chinese language needs a much larger character set. There are over ten thousand characters in the Xinhua Dictionary. In the Unicode multilingual character set of 149,813 characters, 98,682 (about 2/3) are Chinese characters. This means that computer processing of Chinese characters is the most intensive among all languages.
Chinese character input
Computer input of Chinese characters is more complicated than languages which have simpler character systems. For example, the English language is written with 26 letters and a handful of other characters, and each character is assigned to a key on the keyboard. Theoretically, Chinese characters could be input in a similar way, but this approach is impractical for most applications due to the number of characters; it would require a massive keyboard with thousands of keys, and the user would find it difficult and time-consuming to locate individual characters on the keyboard. An alternative method is to use the English keyboard layout, and encode each Chinese character in the English characters; this is the predominant method of Chinese character input today.
Sound-based encoding is normally based on an existing Latin character scheme for Chinese phonetics, such as the Pinyin Scheme for Mandarin Chinese or Putonghua, and the Jyutping Scheme for the Cantonese dialect. The input code of a Chinese character is its pinyin letter string followed by an optional number representing the tone. For example, the Putonghua Pinyin input code of (Hong Kong) is "xianggang" or "xiang1gang3", and the Cantonese Jyutping code is "hoenggong" or "hoeng1gong2", all of which can be easily input via an English keyboard.
A Chinese character can alternatively be input by form-based encoding. Most Chinese characters can be divided into a sequence of components each of which is in turn composed of a sequence of strokes in writing order. There are a few hundred basic components, much less than the number of characters. By representing each component with an English letter and putting them in writing order of the character, the input method creator can get a letter string ready to be used as an input code on the English keyboard. Of course the creator can also design a rule to select representative letters from the string if it is too long. For example, in the Cangjie input method, character (border) is encoded as "NGMWM" corresponding to components "弓土一田一", with some components omitted.
Popular form-based encoding methods include Wubi (五笔) in the Mainland and Cangjie (仓颉) in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The most important feature of intelligent input is the application of contextual constraints for candidate character selection. For example, on Microsoft Pinyin, when the user types input code "daxuejiaoshou", he/she will get "" (University Professor), when types "daxuepiaopiao" the computer will suggest "" (heavy snow flying). Though the non-toned Pinyin letters of 大学 and 大雪 are both "daxue", the computer can make a reasonable selection based on the subsequent words.
Chinese character encoding for information interchange
Inside the computer each character is represented by an internal code. When a character is sent between two machines, it is in information interchange code. Nowadays, information interchange codes, such as ASCII and Unicode, are often directly employed as internal codes.
The first GB Chinese character encoding standard is GB2312, which was released by the PRC in 1980. It includes 6,763 Chinese characters, with 3,755 frequently-used ones sorted by Pinyin, and the rest by radicals (indexing components). GB2312 was designed for simplified Chinese characters. Traditional characters which have been simplified are not covered. The code of a character is represented by a two-byte hexadecimal number, for instance, the GB codes of (Hong Kong) are CFE3 and B8DB respectively. GB2312 is still in use on some computers and the WWW, though newer versions with extended character sets, such as GB13000.1 and GB18030, have been released.
The latest version of GB encoding is GB18030, which supports both simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and is consistent with the Unicode character set.
The standard of Big5 encoding was designed by five big IT companies in Taiwan in the early 1980s, and has been the de facto standard for representing traditional Chinese in computers ever since. Big5 is popularly used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
The original Big5 standard included 13,053 Chinese characters, with no simplified characters of the Mainland. Each character is encoded with a two byte hexadecimal code, for example, 香 (ADBB) 港 (B4E4) 龍 (C073). Chinese characters in the Big5 character set are arranged in radical order.
Extended versions of Big5 include Big-5E and Big5-2003, which include some simplified characters and Hong Kong Cantonese characters.
The full version of the Unicode standard represents a character with a 4-byte digital code, providing a huge encoding space to cover all characters of all languages in the world. The Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP) is a 2-byte kernel version of Unicode with 2^16=65,536 code points for important characters of many languages. There are 27,522 characters in the CJKV (China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam) Ideographs Area, including all the simplified and traditional Chinese characters in GB2312 and Big5 traditional. In Unicode 15.0, there is a multilingual character set of 149,813 characters, among which overs 98,682 (about 2/3) are Chinese sorted by Kangxi Radicals. Even very rarely-used characters are available. For example:
H (0048) K (004B), 香 (9999), 港 (6E2F), 龍(9F8D), 龙 (9F99), 龖 (9F96), 龘 (9F98), 𪚥 (2A6A5).
Unicode is becoming more and more popular. It is reported that UTF-8 (Unicode) is used by 98.1% of all the websites. It is widely believed that Unicode will ultimately replace all other information interchange codes and internal codes, and there will be no more code confusing.
Chinese character output
Like English and other languages, Chinese characters are output on printers and screens in different fonts and styles. The most popular Chinese fonts are the Song (宋体), Kai (楷体), Hei (黑体) and Fangsong (仿宋体) families.
Fonts appear in different sizes. In addition to the international measurement system of points, Chinese characters are also measured by size numbers (called zihao, 字号) invented by an American for Chinese printing in 1859.
Word segmentation
It is straightforward to recognize words in English text because they are separated by spaces. However, Chinese words are not separated by any boundary markers. Hence, word segmentation is the first step for text analysis of Chinese. For example,
(Chinese original text)
(word-segmented text)
Chinese information journal (word-by-word English translation)
Journal of Chinese Information Processing (English name)
Chinese word segmentation on a computer is carried out by matching characters in the Chinese text against a lexicon (list of Chinese words) forwardly from the beginning of the sentence or backwardly from the end. There are two kinds of segmentation ambiguities: the intersection-type (交集型歧义字段) and polynomial type (多义型歧义字段) ).
Typically an intersection ambiguity is in the format of
ABC, where A, AB, BC and C are all words in the lexicon.
It is possible to divide the original character string into word AB followed by C, or A followed by BC. For example ‘美国会’ may mean ‘美 国会’ (the US Parliament) or ‘美国 会’ (the US can/will).
The most common form of polynomial segmentation ambiguity is
AB, where A, B, and AB are all words.
That means the character string can be regarded as one single word or be divided into two. For example, string ‘可以’ in the following sentences:
(1) 你 可以 坐下。
you can sit down.
You can sit down.
(2) 你 可 以 他们 为 样板。
you can take them as example.
You can take them as an example.
Word segmentation ambiguities can be resolved with contextual information, using linguistic rules and probability of word co-locations derived from Chinese corpora. Usually longer words matching are more reliable.
The correctness rate of automatic word segmentation has reached 95 % . However there will be no guarantee of 100% percent correctness in the foreseeable future, because that will involve a complete understanding of the text.
An alternative solution is to encourage people to write in a word segmented way, like the case in English . But that does not means computer word segmentation will no longer be needed, because even in English, word segmentation is required for speech analysis.
Proper noun recognition
A proper noun is the name of a person, a place, an institution, etc. and is written in English with the initial letter of each word capitalized, for example, ‘Mr. John Nealon’, ‘America’ and ‘Cambridge University’. However, Chinese proper nouns are usually not marked in any style.
Recognition of names of people and place in Chinese text can be supported by a list of names. However such a list can never be complete, considering the huge number of places and people all over the world, not to mention their dynamic feature of coming, changing and going. And there are names similar to non-proper nouns. For example, there is a town named 民众 (Minzhong) in southern China, which is also a common noun meaning ‘people’. Therefore, recognition of names of people and place has to make use of their distinguishing features in internal composition and external context. Corpora with proper nouns annotated can also serve as useful reference.
A people’s name not found in the dictionary can be recognized with a list of surnames and titles, for example ‘张大方先生’’,李经理’, where 张 (Zhang) and 李 (Li) are Chinese surnames, and 先生 (Mr.) and 经理 (Manager) are titles. In 张大方说, 张大方 can be successfully recognized as a person’s name by the rule that a Chinese given name normally follow the surname and consists of 1 or 2 characters, and the fact that people can speak (说).
Names of place also have characteristics useful for computer recognition. For example, in ‘在广东省中山市民众镇’, component words 省 (province), 市 (city) and 镇 (town) are end markers of place names, while 在 (in, at, on) is a preposition frequently appearing in front of a location.
The correctness rate of computer recognition has reached around 90 % for persons’ names and 95 % for place names .
Journals and proceedings
Journal of Chinese Information Processing (http://jcip.cipsc.org.cn/CN/home)
International Journal of Computational Linguistics and Chinese Language Processing (IJCLCLP) (https://www.aclclp.org.tw/journal/index.php)
China National Conference on Chinese Computational Linguistics (https://link.springer.com/conference/cncl)
Rocling Proceedings (https://www.aclclp.org.tw/pub_proce.php)
See also
Computational linguistics
Natural language processing
Chinese language
Chinese characters
Chinese character IT
Notes
References
Citations
Works cited
Computational linguistics
Chinese language | Chinese computational linguistics | [
"Technology"
] | 2,623 | [
"Natural language and computing",
"Computational linguistics"
] |
75,234,508 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACR-PCR%20method | The Aircraft Classification Rating (ACR) - Pavement Classification Rating (PCR) method is a standardized international airport pavement rating system developed by ICAO in 2022. The method is scheduled to replace the ACN-PCN method as the official ICAO pavement rating system by November 28, 2024. The method uses similar concepts as the ACN-PCN method, however, the ACR-PCR method is based on layered elastic analysis, uses standard subgrade categories for both flexible and rigid pavement, and eliminates the use of alpha factor and layer equivalency factors.
The method relies on the comparison of two numbers:
The ACR, a number defined as two times the derived single wheel load (expressed in hundreds of kilograms) conveying the relative effect on an airplane of a given weight on a pavement structure for a specified standard subgrade strength;
The PCR, a number (and series of letters) representing the pavement bearing strength (on the same scale as ACR) of a given pavement section (runway, taxiway, apron) for unrestricted operations.
Aircraft Classification Rating (ACR)
The ACR calculation process is fully described in ICAO Doc 9157 Aerodrome Design Manual – Part 3 "Pavements" (3rd ed.).
The procedure to calculate the ACR is as such:
Design a theoretical pavement according to a defined criterion:
For flexible pavements, design the pavement for 36,500 passes of the aircraft according to the layered elastic analysis (LEA) design procedure
For rigid pavements, design the pavement to resist a standard flexural stress of 2.75 MPa at the bottom of the cement concrete layer according to the LEA design procedure
Calculate the single wheel load with a tire pressure of 1.50 MPa that would require the same pavement structural cross-section, this is the Derived Single Wheel Load (DSWL)
The ACR is defined as twice the DSWL, expressed in hundreds of kilograms
ACRs are calculated for four standard subgrade strengths, for flexible and rigid pavements, thus leading to 8 different values.
ACRs depend on the landing gear geometry (number of wheels and wheel spacing), the landing gear load (that is dependent upon the aircraft weight and center of gravity) and the tire pressure.
Pavement Classification Rating (PCR)
As opposed to ACR, the ICAO Aerodrome Design Manual does not prescribe a standardized calculation procedure for the PCR; however, ICAO does require an airport authority to use the cumulative damage factor (CDF) concept to determine PCR.
The CDF is the amount of structural fatigue life of a pavement that has been used up. The CDF is expressed as the ratio of applied load repetitions to allowable load repetitions to failure. Damage from multiple aircraft types can be accounted for by summing the CDF for each aircraft in the traffic mix in the application of Miner's rule for the prediction of fatigue life in structures.
ICAO defines a standardized reporting format for the PCR that comprises the PCR numerical value and a series of 4 letters.
The ICAO Aerodrome Design Manual contains example calculations for a technical evaluation of PCR with the French pavement design procedure using French material specifications and with the FAA pavement design procedure using standard material specifications found in the United States.
References
Pavement engineering
Airport infrastructure | ACR-PCR method | [
"Engineering"
] | 662 | [
"Airport infrastructure",
"Aerospace engineering"
] |
75,234,578 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%202959 | NGC 2959 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. Its velocity relative to the cosmic microwave background is 4,525 ± 6 km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 66.7 ± 4.7 Mpc (~218 million light years.). NGC 2959 was discovered by British astronomer John Herschel on 28 October 1831.
NGC 2959 has a luminosity class of I-II and a broad H I line.
According to the Simbad database, NGC 2959 is a LINER galaxy, i.e. a galaxy whose nucleus has an emission spectrum characterized by broad lines of weakly ionized atoms.
Supernovae
Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 2959:
SN 2021bbm (type II, mag. 17.412) was discovered by ATLAS on 24 January 2021.
SN 2023vog (type II, mag. 18.5768) was discovered by Automatic Learning for the Rapid Classification of Events (ALeRCE) on 21 October 2023.
See also
List of NGC objects (2001–3000)
References
External links
2959
05202
027939
+12-09-062
09409+6849
Ursa Major
18311028
LINER galaxies
Discoveries by John Herschel
Intermediate spiral galaxies | NGC 2959 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 264 | [
"Ursa Major",
"Constellations"
] |
75,234,682 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphaerosporella%20brunnea | Sphaerosporella brunnea is a pryophilic species of small ascomycete cup fungi that commonly makes its habitat on burned substrates. Sphaerosporella brunnea is synonymous with Sphaerosporella hinnulea, Trichophaea brunnea, Peziza brunnea and numerous other fungi due to previously conceived variations in the fungi's habitat, substrate, and color ranging from dark brown to a light yellow-orange, however these differences were soon found to be negligible. S. brunnea is ectomycorrhizal, suspected to be saprobic, and is thought to be commonly widely distributed in Australia, Asia, the eastern United States and parts of Europe, such as Germany, Austria, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. This minuscule fungi is a detrimental contaminant in black truffle orchards, where Sphaerosporella brunnea seems to compete and inhibit the infection and growth of Tuber fungi, causing economic loss due to decreased infection rates of Tuber species.
Taxonomy and phylogeny
Sphaerosporella brunnea was first identified by Johann Baptist von Albertini and Lewis David von Schweinitz in their Conspectus fungorum in Lusatiae Superioris agro Niskiensi crescentium, e methodo Persooniana (1805), a publication that described fungi in Germany and Lusatia. Albertini & Schwinitz classified this fungi as Peziza brunnea, and S. brunnea's current name was given by Czech mycologists Mirko Svrček and Jiří Kubička in 1961.
This species has had many genus and species changes. Sphaerosporella hinnulea and Trichophaea brunnea are two of the more significant synonyms of S. brunnea.
Sphaerosporella brunnea and Sphaerosporella hinnulea were thought to be separate species based on small differences in morphology and different habitats. S. brunnea was designated as having fruiting bodies 1-6mm in diameter, being "pale- to dark-brown", and growing in groups on burnt substrates, while S. hinnulea was thought to reach diameters of 1cm, be "reddish-brown" and grow on sandy soils in forests. However this distinction on the colors of these supposed two species was not agreed upon. In 1969 Rifai reported that S. hinnulea had more "reddish coloration of the discs"[ while Seaver (1928) described both S. hinnulea and S. brunnea as "reddish-brown". Furthermore, upon finding burnt charcoal in the substrate of the type specimen of S. hinnuella, there can not be said that there are clear differences between neither the habitat nor morphology of S. hinnuella and S. brunnea, and it was determined that these two taxa were synonymous..
Morphology
S. brunnea fruiting bodies appear as round cups ascocarps when young and appear more saucer shaped as they mature, and have a 1-6mm diameter. These fruiting bodies lack stalks and are connected to their substrate at a central location. Fruiting bodies have darker septate hairs around their margin and underside, while the top surface of the fungi is hairless. It seems that S. brunnea can range in color from being brown to yellow-brown to orange-brown, which caused confusion in whether the lighter colors of S. brunnea were a separate species. The flesh of S. brunnea is an orange color. According to Yao & Spooner (1996) the hyphae of S. brunnea appears " thin, with cells often inflated or irregularly lobed".
The asci of S. brunnea are cylindrical, thin walled and contain 8 ascospores arranged in a single file row. The ascospores themselves are unicellular, colorless, spherical and appear perfectly circular and, according to Wu et al. (1994), young spores contain "small-lipid droplets and large vacuoles", while mature spores contain a "very large lipid droplet, almost filling the spore". S. brunnea is not thought to be toxic, and the flesh has been described as having "no distinctive odor or taste".
Ecology
Sphaerosporella brunnea makes its habitat on burnt substrates, soil containing charcoal or other burnt matter, however it has also been found in sandy soils and among mosses and peat. S. brunnea has been found in Australia, North America, Asia, and Europe. Yao & Spooner (1996) report that S. brunnea is found on "new or old burnt ground and charcoal heaps, sometimes amongst mosses". The occurrence of pyrophilous fungi on burnt substrates is not totally understood, but could be due to "changes in soil pH, increased carbon content, heat activation of spores, lack of competition from other less heat-tolerant fungi, or fruiting in response to loss of a nutritional host".
S. brunnea is a fast-growing operculate fungi whose "ascospores germinate readily", and is thus one of the first new pioneering growths in post-fire soils. S. brunnea is ectomycorrhizal, has low host specificity, and has been found to form ectomycorrhizal relationships with a wide range of hosts such as Jack pine trees (Pinus banksiana), Picea, Larix, Populus, Quercus robur, Quercus ilex and Castanea sativa. In a study done by Danielson (1984), Jack pine roots infected with S. brunnea were examined, and it was found that it had formed mycorrhizae that were "simple or dichotomously branched once or twice" "ochraceous (light brownish yellow) but darkening with age" and composed of "smooth hyphae 4-14 μm in diameter" and with a "well-developed" Hartig net. In addition to this, Ángeles-Argáiz et al. (2015) describes S. brunnea ectomycorrhizae as having "thin and smooth mantles in brown to reddish-brown colorations, sometimes opaque or lacquers, without cystidia or clamp connections", and "without rhizomorphs or mycelial mats. In inoculation tests on Jack pine, it was found that this ability to form mycorrhizal relationships is not shared by related taxa: Anthracobia melaloma, Trichophaea minuta, T. contradicta, and T. abundans. In a study done by Hughes et al. (2020) Sphaerosporella endophytes were found in pine needles, which has not been reported in the past. Hughes et al. found that the infection of roots and needles are separate, and infection in the roots my be due to interactions with Sphaerosporella in the soil, while infection of the roots may be facilitated by "air-borne propagules entering through stomates". In the same study, Sphaerosporella ascocarps were more often observed in severely burned sites which suggests dormant Sphaerosporella ascospores were trigged to germinate by heat.
S. brunnea was capable of degrading pure cellulose and "was a strong producer of phenol oxidases", which indicates that S. brunnea could be saprobic. It is not certain whether a mycorrhizal fungi can also be capable of saprobic growth, but Danielson (1984) believes that S. brunnea is the ideal fungi to test this theory. Moreover, according to Bennuchi et al. (2019), compared to relative taxa, proteins in the genome of S. brunnea show an "enriched capacity to produce plant cell wall -degrading enzymes" which could support S. brunnea having possible saprobic ability
Overall biology and relevance for humans
S. brunnea is a known greenhouse contaminant that can interfere with the production of seedling attempting to be infected with species of Tuber, including Tuber melanosporum (black truffle), and has therefore caused significant economic losses in truffle orchards, even making it necessary to destroy entire batches of seedlings. Danielson (1984) proposed that the use of unsterilized peat moss in planting substrate mixtures is the source of S. brunnea contamination, but Ángeles-Argáiz et al. (2015) found that S. brunnea, among other species, can be found in commercial pasteurized peat moss, perhaps due to more heat tolerant spores. Ángeles-Argáiz et al. (2015) report that S. brunnea also seems to be able to be transported to plants from the local environment and not only peat moss, perhaps by air. Once S. brunnea has been established in soils it is difficult to eradicate, but so far there have been no quantitative reports detailing the exact economical damages caused by S. brunnea S. brunnea can prevent Tuber mycorrhizal infection in nurseries producing truffle-infected seedlings across Europe, North America, Oceania, and Asia due to its "massive production of spores that germinate rapidly and quickly infect host plants", but there are currently no long-term solutions to prevent infections of S. brunnea in truffle nurseries.
References
Pyronemataceae
Fungus species
Fungi described in 1805
Taxa named by Johannes Baptista von Albertini
Taxa named by Lewis David de Schweinitz
Fungi of Europe
Fungi of North America | Sphaerosporella brunnea | [
"Biology"
] | 2,061 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
75,235,069 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weissert%20Event | The Weissert Event, also referred to as the Weissert Thermal Excursion (WTX), was a hyperthermal event that occurred in the Valanginian stage of the Early Cretaceous epoch. This thermal excursion occurred amidst the relatively cool Tithonian-early Barremian Cool Interval (TEBCI). Its termination marked an intense cooling event, potentially even an ice age.
Duration
The start of the WTX has been astrochronologically dated by one study to 134.50 ± 0.19 million years ago (Ma), with its positive δ13C excursion being found to last until 133.96 ± 0.19 Ma and the plateau phase of elevated δ13C values until 132.44 ± 0.19 Ma. However, astrochronological studies of sediments in the Vocontian Basin have yielded a duration of 2.08 Myr, with the positive δ13C excursion being 0.94 Myr in duration and the δ13C plateau being 1.14 Myr. A different study concludes the WTX lasted for about 1.4 million years (Myr) based on the chronological length of the high δ13C plateau observed over its course in the Bersek Marl Formation of Hungary.
Causes
An addition of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere via the activity of the Paraná-Etendeka Large Igneous Province (PE-LIP) is generally accepted as the leading candidate for what sparked the WTX, although this is not universally accepted, with some reconstructed geochronologies showing a lack of causality between the emplacement of the PE-LIP and the onset of the WTX. The prolonged, drawn out manner in which the PE-LIP erupted has been brought up as a further argument against its emplacement as the driving perturbation causing the WTX.
Effects
The WTX resulted in a rapid global temperature increase during the otherwise mild TEBCI. The sharp jump in global temperatures during this hyperthermal event was accompanied by oceanic anoxia. However, unlike other oceanic anoxic events, the WTX is not associated with widespread black shale deposits. Nannoconids experienced a decline at the onset of the WTX resulting from marine regression, but bloomed in abundance later on in the event as ocean productivity skyrocketed. In the Vocontian Basin, the WTX is associated with an increase in marlstones. At the end of the WTX, temperatures cooled by ~1–2 °C based on the results of palaeothermometry done in southern France, whereas the Boreal Ocean and its surroundings cooled by as much as 4 °C. Geochemical records of 187Os/188Os point to an increase in unradiogenic osmium flux into the ocean, suggesting the occurrence of silicate weathering of PE-LIP basalts during this slice of time, providing the most likely explanation for the temperature drop. Some studies have suggested that a transient ice age with limited but significant polar ice caps occurred in the aftermath of the WTX, although the lack of a positive δ18Oseawater excursion during the latest Valanginian interval of cooling and the presence instead of a very slightly negative excursion calls into question the existence of any significant polar ice growth.
References
Anoxic events
Valanginian Stage | Weissert Event | [
"Chemistry"
] | 680 | [
"Chemical oceanography",
"Anoxic events"
] |
75,236,406 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femoral%20gland | The femoral gland is a specialised gland found in some male frogs that plays a role in chemical communication and reproductive signalling. Particularly prominent within the frog family Mantellidae, these glands are located on the underside of the hindlimbs, usually on the inner thighs or shanks. Femoral glands can be identified by their swollen appearance and distinct colouration, which differ from the surrounding skin. Femoral glands are classified into four distinct morphological types, varying from minute granular structures to conspicuous patches characterised by large granules and prominent central indentations.
Femoral glands in certain frogs, particularly in the subfamily Mantellinae, are implicated in reproductive signalling and species recognition, affecting behaviours like oviposition. These glands, which develop early in species like Nyctibatrachus major, are subject to hormonal and environmental influences. Unlike the amplexus (sexual clasp) observed in other anuran frogs, Mantellinae males employ these glands in a unique, loose mating clasp. The volatile organic compounds secreted by the glands serve a chemical communication role that influences mating behaviour. Research indicates that compounds from femoral glands in mantellid frogs can specifically activate olfactory neurons, responsible for detecting and transmitting odour signals to the brain. Structural variations in the femoral glands assist in the taxonomic differentiation of some frog species and genera.
Characteristics
Femoral glands can be identified by their swollen appearance and distinct colouration, which typically differ from the surrounding skin. In the family Mantellidae, four structural types of femoral glands have been documented, ranging from tiny granules to well-defined patches with large granules and central depressions:
Type 1: A patch of densely packed small granules without defined edges, specific to Guibemantis species, with G. liber having more distinct edges. Towards the edges of the gland patch they are increasingly arranged in small rosette-like groups—with five to seven granules surrounding one central granule.
Type 2: A single group of moderate-sized granules forming an ovoid patch, found in Blommersia, Pandanusicola, Spinomantis, Gephyromantis, and Phylacomantis.
Type 3: A prominent, rounded structure with a central depression surrounded by large granules and a secondary group of smaller granules, reduced in M. brevipalmatus, occurring in the genus Brygoomantis and subgenera Ochthomantis, Hylobatrachus, and Chonomantis.
Type 4: Similar to type 3 but lacking the secondary group of granules, seen in the genus Mantidactylus.
In addition to their prevalence in the family Mantellidae, femoral glands are also found in some species in several frog genera: Indirana (family Ranixalidae), Nyctibatrachus (Nyctibatrachidae), Petropedetes (Petropedetidae), and Phrynobatrachus (Phrynobatrachidae).
Function and evolution
Femoral glands in mantelline frogs are used by males for secreting chemical compounds important in territory marking and attracting mates. Some of these chemicals display double bond isomerism, meaning the molecules, while similar in composition, differ in the arrangement of their double bonds. This difference in structure, as seen in molecules like the gephyromantolide A (a macrocyclic lactone) from Gephyromantis boulengeri compared to its counterpart in Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris, results in distinct chemical signals for each species. This specificity in chemical messaging aids in mating and species recognition, reducing mating between different species by using different isomers. This kind of molecular specificity, while not exclusive to amphibians, is less common in the animal kingdom and has been predominantly observed in insects. It helps ensure accurate mate identification during courtship.
The emergence of femoral glands in amphibians is attributed to convergent evolution, with their independent appearance across different clades of ranoid frogs likely due to the expansion and specialization of granular glands in the skin of the ventral shank. The Dutch herpetologist Blommers-Schlösser regarded these glands as an ancestral trait within the Mantellidae, supporting a phylogenetic standpoint that views the family as a descendant of the early rhacophorid lineage.
Reproductive significance
During mating, the femoral glands' placement on the male's ventral surface of the thigh suggests that they may contact the female's dorsal skin, implicating the glands in reproductive signalling. Gland secretions may influence female behaviour, potentially stimulating oviposition and aiding intra-species recognition. The variation of the femoral glands in the species Nyctibatrachus major may reflect hormonal regulation akin to thumb pad elaboration, a common secondary sex characteristic in male frogs. The size and function of femoral glands in N. major show seasonality and a correlation with reproductive activity, paralleling the strict seasonal changes in the Western Ghats environment. The presence of femoral glands in males of this species with small snout–vent lengths indicates that the development of these glands begins at a relatively early stage.
The role of femoral glands in facilitating amplexus (the mating clasp) among hill-stream anurans such as N. major has been proposed. While these glands do not seem to be involved in the typical amplexus seen in Ranidae and Rhacophoridae, they are related to a more relaxed form of mating embrace. In this unique mating behaviour, observed solely in Mantellinae, males may drape their thighs over the female's head and shoulders if arboreal, or clasp the female briefly and loosely around the waist if terrestrial, with the mating grasp lasting only from a few seconds to minutes.
Biochemical diversity
Research has uncovered a vast diversity of volatile compounds that are produced in the femoral glands across many species within the subfamily Mantellinae, indicating a complex chemical communication system not directly correlated with gland size or prominence. For instance, in the Madagascar-native frog Mantidactylus betsileanus, macrolide compounds produced by the femoral glands stimulate female attraction and generally heighten activity in both genders. A suspected pheromone from M. betsileanus, the macrolide phoracantholide J, has the ability to activate specific smell-sensitive sensory neurons in the olfactory region of the brain. Meanwhile, it appears not to affect the secondary smelling system, known as the vomeronasal organ. This separation of functions is a specialised trait that has developed alongside the presence of femoral glands in mantellid frogs.
History and taxonomic utility
In 1909, the French herpetologist François Mocquard in 1909 first proposed using the presence and structure of the femoral gland as a taxonomic character in distinguishing species in genus Mantidactylus. This character has since been recognised for its utility as a trait in classifying amphibian species, and modern species descriptions often give morphometric parameters such as FGL (femoral gland length), FGW (femoral gland width), FGD (distance between femoral glands on opposite thighs).
The distinct count of granules in the femoral gland serves as a key feature to distinguish species within the subgenus Laurentomantis. Gephyromantis marokoroko, for example, is easily identified by its eight prominent granules in each femoral gland, setting it apart from other species in the subgenus. In contrast, a 2011 taxonomic review of the genus Nyctibatrachus determined the presence of male femoral glands to be an unreliable characteristic for diagnosis due to their inconsistent seasonal prominence.
References
Amphibian anatomy
Sexual anatomy | Femoral gland | [
"Biology"
] | 1,584 | [
"Sexual anatomy",
"Sex"
] |
75,236,641 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicheme | Chicheme is a beverage that can be described as a fermented atole or cream, made from pounded corn. It is traditional in some Latin American countries such as the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, Colombia (mainly in the municipality of Ciénaga de Oro in Córdoba), and Panama (mainly in the Chiriquí Province and La Chorrera in the Panama Oeste Province). Additionally, in the Guanacaste Province in northern Costa Rica, it is also made with purple corn.
It is mainly made from corn, to which spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg are added, along with water, panela, and ginger. There are many preparations depending on the locality. Generally, after mixing the ingredients, it is allowed to ferment gradually, soaking the corn and then finely grinding it. The resulting dough is cooked and cold water is added to strain it.
The word "chicheme" seems to come from Nahuatl, derived from "chicha" (fermented corn wine), although it may come from the Guna word "chichab" (corn) or the Mozarabic "chichen" (to cook, to boil).
References
Fermented drinks
Maize-based drinks
Panamanian cuisine
Colombian cuisine
Costa Rican cuisine | Chicheme | [
"Biology"
] | 265 | [
"Fermented drinks",
"Biotechnology products"
] |
75,237,428 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashrate | The proof-of-work distributed computing schemes, including Bitcoin, frequently use cryptographic hashes as a proof-of-work algorithm. Hashrate is a measure of the total computational power of all participating nodes expressed in units of hash calculations per second. The hash/second units are small, so usually multiples are used, for large networks the preferred unit is terahash (1 trillion hashes), for example, in 2023 the Bitcoin hashrate was about 300,000,000 terahashes per second (that is 300 exahashes or hash calculations every second).
Impact on network security
A higher hashrate signifies a stronger and more secure blockchain network. Increased computational power dedicated to mining operations acts as a defense mechanism, making it more challenging for malicious entities to disrupt network operations. It serves as a barrier against potential attacks, particularly the significant concern of a 51% attack.
Mining difficulty
Mining difficulty, intrinsically connected to hashrate, indicates the challenge miners face in producing a hash lower than the target hash. It is purposefully designed to adjust periodically, ensuring a consistent addition of blocks to the blockchain.
Hashrate and miner participation
An increase in the miner count results in higher hashrate. This surge is often driven by the attractiveness of potential returns due to the escalated demand for cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.
References
Sources
Blockchains
Benchmarks (computing) | Hashrate | [
"Technology"
] | 298 | [
"Benchmarks (computing)",
"Computing comparisons",
"Computer performance"
] |
75,238,884 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butts%3A%20A%20Backstory | Butts: A Backstory is a 2022 microhistory by journalist Heather Radke. It examines the cultural history of women's buttocks. It received generally positive reviews and was named to the Time, Esquire, Amazon, Inc. and Publishers Weekly lists of the best books of the year. Published in November 2022 by Avid Reader, it is Radke's first book.
Content
The book examines the cultural history surrounding women's buttocks. It addresses exploitation, historical changes in women's fashions, historical changes in concepts of sexual attractiveness, body dysmorphia, body shaming, misogyny, gender-specific experiences, fitness fads, eugenics, appropriation, monetization, popular culture, racial stereotypes, and pseudoscientific racism. It also investigates the evolutionary development of the human buttocks.
Reception
The book was reviewed favorably in multiple national publications and named to multiple best-of lists. Publishers Weekly, calling it "whip-smart" and "an essential study of 'ideas and prejudices' about the female body", gave it a starred review and named it to their list of best nonfiction books of 2022. Time named it to their 100 must-read books of the year. Esquire called it "wildly entertaining" and "the best kind of nonfiction—the kind that forces you to see something ordinary through completely new eyes" and named it to their list of best books of 2022. Library Journal called Radke's writing "captivating" and her approach "witty". Amazon named it to their list of 20 best books of the year. Inc. named it to their list of best books of the year.
Some reviews were more mixed. The Washington Post called the book "winning, cheeky and illuminating" but called the introduction "weak and gratuitous". Kirkus called it "a thorough uncovering of the symbolism, history, and significance of the female posterior in Western culture" but said the book's "language and sentence structures are repetitive, even tedious".
See also
Saartjie Baartman
Baby Got Back
Brazilian butt lift
Buns of Steel
Bustle
Callipygia
Twerking
References
2022 debut works
2022 non-fiction books
Anatomy books
Books about women
Buttocks
History books about culture
Human body | Butts: A Backstory | [
"Physics"
] | 481 | [
"Human body",
"Physical objects",
"Matter"
] |
75,239,063 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrosiella%20roeperi | Ambrosiella roeperi is the fungal symbiont of the granulate ambrosia beetle, Xylosandrus crassiusculus, facilitating this insect’s capacity to accumulate on and damage a diverse array of woody plants from around the world. It is one of several important nutritional partners derived from order Microascales that sustain and are transported by xylomycetophagous scolytine beetles.
Taxonomy
Although unnamed Ambrosiella-like fungi had previously been documented from the galleries and mycangia of native X. crassiusculus populations in central Japan, A. roeperi was first described as a novel species of ambrosia fungus by Harrington and McNew in 2014 based on isolations from beetles collected and trapped in the eastern United States, where it is invasive. It has not been assigned a common name at the time of this writing. All Ambrosiella are ambrosia beetle symbionts and belong to the family Ceratocystidaceae, which, where sexual stages are recognized, produce round, ostiolate (with a pore) fruiting bodies for their ascospores with a fine peridium (outer layer) and aseptate (lacking crosswalls) paraphyses (sterile tissue found among – and arising from the same surface as – spore-bearing cells). This family also includes Ceratocystis, representing several plant pathogens and sap-staining fungi, often transported by insects (including scolytine beetles); Chalaropsis, encompassing a few economically insignificant root diseases; Huntiella, primarily made up of saprobes associated with lesions on trees, transported by sap beetles and in one case an Ips bark beetle; Thielaviopsis, containing various agents of disease affecting monocots; Davidsoniella, comprising several species of tree pathogens, and Endoconidiophora, growing on conifers, producing disease and/or sap stain, and also often acting as a bark beetle associate. The closest relatives within the genus are Ambrosiella xylebori, the symbiont of Xylosandrus compactus (the black twig borer), and Ambrosiella grosmanniae, the symbiont of Xylosandrus germanus (the black stem borer).
The genera of Ceratocystidaceae have been revised multiple times based on molecular data, incorporating sequences derived from other Ambrosiella species but not necessarily A. roeperi (and sometimes only including Ambrosiella that have now been moved elsewhere). These analyses imply the genus is most closely related to Huntiella. Within this taxon, studies incorporating the LSU rDNA of A. roeperi suggest that it, A. xylebori, A. hartigii, and A. beaveri comprise a monophyletic lineage excluding A. ferruginea (now Phialoporopsis ferruginea) and most closely aligned to Ceratocystis adiposa, subsequent analysis using 18S rDNA and translation elongation factor alpha confirms this and suggests a monophyletic clade of Ambrosiella associated with the scolytine tribe Xyleborini.
Morphology
When within a host tree, A. roeperi appears as a dark stain along the walls of X. crassiusculus galleries, not immediately distinguishable from many other ambrosia fungi. Culturing A. roeperi on malt yeast extract agar (MYEA) for approximately a week in darkness at 25 °C yields large colonies with translucent, filamentous edges, immediately preceded by a dark inner ring speckled with white powder, which grows increasingly dense moving towards the middle of the colony but tapers out towards the very center. There may also be droplets of orange exudate coming from the powdery region of growth; this fluid may darken as the culture ages. The bottom of the colony similarly becomes a much deeper brown as it matures, even in refrigerated cultures.
Only one Ambrosiella (A. cleistominuta from the xyleborine ambrosia beetle Anisandrus maiche) has ever been reported to produce sexual structures, and the rest (including A. roeperi) have been assumed to undergo exclusively clonal reproduction. All Ambrosiella produce translucent, flask-shaped conidiogenous cells (phialides) borne on non-fertile sporodochia (minute, dense cushions of nonreproductive hyphae holding up the fertile tissue). Conidia may arise from these phialides as chains – i.e., new spores are successively pushed out, with the newest growth closest to the original conidiogenous cell – or singly, as an aleurioconidium that ruptures the membrane of the mother cell and then remains a unique, differentiated terminal unit without any subsequent neighbors produced from the phialide. A. roeperi operates only through the latter mechanism, which is distinct from what is reported in A. beaveri, A. trypodendri, and A. hartigii (suggested to use the former, chain-like method).
The conidia typically retain at least one adjacent spore-producing cell when broken away from the sporodochia, distinguishing A. roeperi conidiogenous structures from the less swollen, non-detachable conidiophores of A. xylebori; the original species description suggests this feature is meant to allow these units to snap off easily while X. crassiusculus is grazing upon the gallery. When within the beetle mycangium (a pocket in the insect cuticle for fungal dispersal), A. roeperi can be found as small, several-cell chains with crosswalls; this material is likely derived from chunks of mycelium scraped from the gallery walls and may thus constitute an arthrospore-like structure. Notably, this indicates that the conidia produced in the galleries are unlikely to act as the predominant dispersive forms of A. roeperi, and beetles instead transport fungi to new trees as disarticulated hyphae.
Ecology
In nature, A. roeperi is found primarily on the walls of ambrosia beetle galleries within a wide variety of host trees, where it survives by degrading compounds within wood. Traditionally, although they facilitate beetle growth and reproduction in nutritionally poor xylem tissue, ambrosia fungi are considered to be ineffective agents of wood decomposition, producing enzymes primarily dedicated to degradation of xylan, glucomannan, and callose (common components of hemicellulose) rather than cellulose, mirroring similar analyses made for various saprotrophic fungi. However, no equivalent studies have been performed on A. roeperi specifically, and it is worth noting that the article often cited in support of this conclusion only examined the fungal galleries of one beetle (Xyleborinus saxenii) associated with a different symbiont, Raffaelea sulfurea. Interestingly, metabolomic studies incorporating A. roeperi indicate that when growing on wood, this fungus possesses a lipid profile more similar to non-mutualistic Ceratocystidaceae than to other ambrosia fungi, further supporting the idea that making sweeping conclusions about fungal lifestyles based on data from apparently similar convergent systems can be misleading, as well as reinforcing how much remains to be learned about this and other ambrosial species.
There are various molecular indications that hint at other ways in which A. roeperi may interact with its woody hosts. The genus Ambrosiella shares at least two nonribosomal peptide synthesis gene clusters with the rest of Ceratocystidaceae encoding intracellular and extracellular siderophores. These products generally help chelate or bind iron for various cellular processes and can be major virulence factors in other fungi; however, seeing as Ambrosiella do not act as serious plant pathogens, the exact role of these peptide products in mediating their relationship with live or decaying tissue has yet to be determined. Unlike serious disease-causing fungi within the Ceratocystidaceae, Ambrosiella possess only half of the full complement of catechol dioxygenases common to this family. These enzymes are generally needed to help fungi metabolize certain plant chemical defenses, and the loss of these genes may reflect this genus’s association with individuals that are already weakened or dead and thus less likely to be producing effective antifungal metabolites.
Aside from its association with trees, A. roeperi shares its most significant ecological interactions with the granulate ambrosia beetle Xylosandrus crassiusculus. As in other ambrosia beetles, the fungus benefits from the opportunity for dispersal via the insect’s mycangium, which in X. crassiusculus consists of a spacious mesonotal pouch. According to the current understanding of this symbiosis, when beetles emerge from pupae, their mycangia are inoculated with ambrosial fungi, and special gland cells flanking the mycangium begin to secrete compounds that promote their growth over that of assorted commensals. When the beetles colonize a new tree, the fungus growing in the cuticular pouch is introduced to the walls of the new gallery, glandular activity stops, and the mycangium ceases to act as a selective organ. The larvae and adults feed exclusively upon the conidia produced along the walls of the gallery, through which the beetles meet all of their nutritional requirements. (This feature differentiates ambrosia beetles from bark beetles, which typically feed on the phloem and, though they may eat and/or disperse some fungi, can generally survive on wood alone.) Structures possibly comprising lipid bodies can be seen within the cytoplasm of A. roeperi spores and conidiogenous cells, which may represent a means of storage for energy-rich compounds that it then imparts to the feeding beetles.
Though trees and insects are perhaps the most pivotal points of Ambrosiella ecology, the galleries in which A. roeperi grows are not monocultures and other fungi, particularly yeasts, can often be found within and even seem to exceed the density of A. roeperi during certain seasons (for example, in the winter, when adult beetles remain dormant until their springtime emergence). It has been suggested that during the height of a beetle attack, the presence of ethanol – produced by stressed trees and sometimes even by the fungus itself – helps to select for the proliferation of A. roeperi over potential competitors such as molds, which are unable to effectively detoxify this compound.
The distribution of A. roeperi mirrors that of its insect partner and is thus quite expansive, both in terms of hosts and geographic range. X. crassiusculus has been reported feeding on woody plants from over 40 families, though it seems to prefer non-coniferous species (with the exception of cedars, from which infestations have been reported). Perhaps in part due to its capacity for extreme polyphagy, this beetle is highly invasive and has spread beyond its native range in southeast Asia to Africa (from tropical regions to the southern tip), Australia and New Zealand, Europe, South America, and the United States, taking A. roeperi with it.
Significance
Among bark and ambrosia beetle pests that disperse various fungi, the degree to which the beetle and its symbiont are each responsible for causing host damage varies from system to system – for example, Harringtonia lauricola represents a true pathogen of Lauraceae vectored by Xyleborus glabratus, but others merely facilitate the mass accumulation of beetles on wood. A. roeperi and the symbionts of most other Xylosandrus fall into the latter category. As previously mentioned, X. crassiusculus is highly attracted to ethanol produced by stressed trees, in which they can kill twigs, branches, and saplings; this makes them of particular concern in settings such as nurseries and orchards, where the protrusion of noodle-like extrusions of beetle frass can be a diagnostic feature for this and other Xylosandrus. The potential for damage necessitates management techniques such as ensuring the growth of vigorous, unstressed stands by allowing more space between individual trees, keeping track of soil water content, selecting plants well-adapted to the climate, pruning infested twigs, monitoring beetle populations with ethanol-based lures, designating trap trees or logs, and applying insecticides (for example, through direct injection) [28]. Novel methods such as entomopathogenic or mycopathogenic microorganisms remain under exploration [29]. Ecologically, though biologists may be concerned about the downstream impact of beetle attacks on native plants such as oaks, cedars, maples, elms, redbud, magnolia, etc. [19], healthy trees outside of intensively managed environments are unlikely to sustain serious permanent damage from these insects.
Both in silvicultural and natural contexts, the beetles themselves remain the most problematic and worrisome components of the symbiosis, and A. roeperi is not in and of itself a severe tree disease, merely a critical foundation for X. crassiusculus nutrition. Disrupting the relationship between fungus and beetle may thus someday provide fruitful avenues for pest control.
References
Microascales
Fungi described in 2014
Fungus species | Ambrosiella roeperi | [
"Biology"
] | 2,837 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
75,241,155 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuliangomyces%20illinitus | Zhuliangomyces illinitus is a mushroom-forming fungus species of genus Zhuliangomyces in the family Amanitaceae in the order Agaricales. It has been known most recently as Limacella illinita. Also known previously as Agaricus illinitus and Mastocephalus illinitus. This fungus is known for its distinctive slimy cap. Z. illinitus is commonly known as the dripping slimecap or the overflowing slimy stem.
As Limacella illinita, it was commonly known as the white limacella.
Taxonomy and phylogeny
Zhuliangomyces illinitus was originally described by Elias M. Fries in 1812 as a member of Lepiota, and later changed (again by Fries) in 1874 to the subgroup Viscosae. Amanitella Maire reclassified Agaricus illinitus as Limacella illinita in 1914. Z. illinitus is part of the Amanitaceae family, with its closest relatives being the Limacella and Amanita genera, the species originally belonging to the Limacella genus until 2018. Though Zhuliangomyces’s placement was originally based on the similar morphologies between itself and the Amanita genus, a phylogenetic analysis performed in 2000 confirmed this through both maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses.
In 2018, a study proposed splitting the Limacella genus into three separate genera, due to morphological differences in members’ stipes and pileus structures, with L. illinita being reclassified as Myxoderma illinitum. Due to the pre-existence of a Cyanobacteria clade by the same name, the new genera was then renamed Zhuliangomyces by Scott A. Redhead, giving Myxoderma illinitum the new classification Zhuliangomyces illinitus.
Morphology
Members of the Z. illinitus species generally have white or gray-brown, convex caps, which range between 2–7 cm in width. The caps typically become plane with age. The flesh and gills of the fruiting body is white. The gills are free from the stalk and produce a white spore print. The stalk is typically 5–10 cm long and can stain brown when bruised. Microscopically, the spores of the species are between 4–6.5 um, smooth, and spherical.
Most notably, the fruiting body's cap is covered with a thick, translucent veil of slime when fresh. This slime is part of the universal veil of the fungus that does not leave the volva when mature. This slimy veil is a key difference between the Zhuliangomyces genus and its relative Amanita. Another difference between the two is that the uppermost layer of hyphae of Z. illinitus’ pileus is composed of narrow, subcylindrical terminal cells. For the newly defined Zhuliangomyces, the key difference between members of this genus and the Limacella genus is the lack of a rudimentary annulus and the presence of slimy, smooth stalk.
Cap : It has approximately 2–7 cm long radius. It is round becoming convex then wide or with a broad umbo, the margin hanging with slimy veil remnants. It is white or cream in color. It feels smooth and sticky or slimy.
Gills : They are free, non-waxy, close, broad and white in color.
Stem / Stipe : The 5–10 cm long stem tapers a bit towards the top. It is fleshy, soft and has a ring. White in color, it is also sticky and slimy.
Spores : Spores are globose to broadly ellipsoid and smooth.
Microscopic features : The spores measure 4.5–6.5 x 4–6 μm.
Flesh : Flesh is slimy and sticky.
Fruiting : These mushrooms flower in between August or July and October or November.
Ecology
According to Hutchinson (1998), the fungus was expected to be facultatively mycorrhizal, in which the fungus draws its nutrients from a symbiotic relationship with plant roots. However, in a laboratory setting, it was found that this species does not form ectomycorrhizal relationships with plant roots. It has since been assumed that the members of this species are saprobic, although more research is required to fully determine this. This mushroom can be found in North America, parts of Europe, and China. It is typically found scattered in temperate mixed forests, swamps, and grass lawns, growing in scattered formations.
Biology
Zhuliangomyces illinitus is not currently considered economically important for humans, and its full ecological impact is unknown. In 2007, a study identified 4 unique bioactive compounds produced by Z. illinitus in vitro. Two illinitones (compounds 1 and 2) and one limcellone (compound 3), along with compound 4a, 11-Desoxyeleganthol, were isolated from the fermentative product of Z. illinitus. Compounds 2 and 3 exhibited some cytotoxic effects, while Compound 1 exhibited nematocidal activity when introduced to Caenorhabditis elegans. Compounds 1 and 3 both also inhibited the growth of plant shoots at high concentrations, with Compound 1 also affecting root growth. The biological activity of Compound 4a remains undescribed. None of the isolated molecules displayed any antibacterial properties.
Distribution and habitat
L. illinita is widely distributed in North America and often found in Europe. These can habitat singly, scattered, or in groups in woods, swamps, fields, lawns, roadsides and sand dunes.
Bioactive compounds
A study in 2007 discovered four new bioactive compounds from basidiomycetes, isolated from fermentations of L. illinita: Illinitone A that exhibited weak phytotoxic and moderate nematicidal activities against Caenorhabditis elegans, Illinitone B that was moderately cytotoxic, Limacellone that exhibited weak cytotoxic and phytotoxic activities and muurolane sesquiterpene 4a that was found to be inactive in the assays performed there.
References
Amanitaceae
Fungus species
Fungi of North America
Fungi of Europe
Taxa named by Elias Magnus Fries | Zhuliangomyces illinitus | [
"Biology"
] | 1,324 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
75,243,715 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-385 | Kepler-385 (also designated KOI-2433) is an F-type main-sequence star located about away from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. The star is 10% larger and 5% hotter than the Sun. The star has at least three, and potentially up to seven, exoplanets discovered orbiting it.
The star has a mass of 1.05 solar masses, a radius of 1.157 solar radii, a temperature of 5829 Kelvin and a luminosity of 1.39 times the solar luminosity.
Planetary system
Kepler-385 was observed by the Kepler space telescope, which initially detected a total of seven planet candidates. Two of these, KOI-2433.01 & .02, were confirmed in 2014 as Kepler-385 b & c, and a third, KOI-2433.03, was confirmed in 2020 as Kepler-385 d. These confirmations were part of studies using statistical validation to confirm large numbers of Kepler candidates. The candidate KOI-2433.05 was shown to be a false positive.
In 2023, a new updated catalog of Kepler candidates was presented, including an eighth candidate around Kepler-385, KOI-2433.08, making it a candidate seven-planet system. Kepler-385 is tied with Kepler-90 - a confirmed eight-planet system - as the Kepler system with the most planet candidates.
References
Cygnus (constellation)
F-type main-sequence stars
Planetary systems with three confirmed planets
J19372123+5020115
2433
27082352 | Kepler-385 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 326 | [
"Cygnus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
75,243,791 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild%20Blue%20Yonder%20%28Doctor%20Who%29 | "Wild Blue Yonder" is the second of the 60th anniversary specials of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 December 2023, and was written by Russell T Davies and directed by Tom Kingsley. David Tennant stars as the Fourteenth Doctor, alongside Catherine Tate as Donna Noble.
Set directly after the events of "The Star Beast", the episode focuses on the Doctor and Donna being stranded by the TARDIS on an abandoned spaceship at the edge of the universe, where they encounter a pair of sadistic, shapeshifting duplicates of themselves. It is dedicated to Bernard Cribbins, who posthumously appears as Wilfred Mott, following his death in July 2022.
The episode was watched by 7.14 million viewers and received positive reviews from critics, with praise being directed toward the performances of Tennant and Tate. A novelisation of the episode was written by Mark Morris, which was then turned into an audiobook read by former companion actress Bonnie Langford.
Plot
The TARDIS lands in Isaac Newton's apple tree in 1666. As the Doctor and Donna depart, they accidentally cause Newton to name his discovery "mavity".
Malfunctioning, the TARDIS lands on a spaceship at the edge of the universe. As Donna and the Doctor quickly exit, it spews flames while playing "Wild Blue Yonder", then shuts down. The Doctor plugs his sonic screwdriver into the TARDIS to repair it. As the pair explore a vast corridor, the TARDIS vanishes. Back in the corridor, the pair hear a single-word announcement, and the ship's layout reconfigures around them. The Doctor and Donna approach a figure in the distance and find an old robot walking very slowly down the corridor. There are no signs of life anywhere on the ship.
The Doctor and Donna split up and encounter doppelgängers of each other. Called 'Not-Things', they lack the concept of size and shape, and can't avoid deforming. Briefly reuniting, the Doctor and Donna realise the Not-Things are taking on their thoughts as well as their form. A reconfiguration of the ship splits the pair up again, and when they both apparently re-encounter one another, they struggle to tell if the other is a Not-Thing. All four meet and the real Doctor and Donna identify each other. The Doctor tries to use superstition to trick the Not-Things by saying they have to stay behind a line of salt.
The Doctor realises the ship's captain died to stop the Not-Things copying them and taking control of the ship, and also set in motion a trap. The Not-Doctor as clever as the Doctor now realises the trap is a very slow self-destruct sequence intended to kill them, and that the robot is the trigger. The Doctor speeds up the countdown as the Not-Things race to stop the robot. The TARDIS returns just before the bomb goes off, and the Doctor takes Not-Donna with him by accident. He notices her wrist is too thick and returns to eject her and rescue the real Donna just as the ship explodes. The Doctor regrets invoking a superstition at the edge of the universe.
The pair return to Camden Market and are greeted by Wilfred Mott, who is overjoyed to see them. As he tells the Doctor he knew he'd come back and save everyone, a riot starts and a plane crashes.
Production
Development
Plot and cast details were deliberately kept secret in the build-up to the episode, leading to speculation it would feature cameo appearances of previous incarnations of the Doctor, with Davies later saying that he had conflicting plans for the episode and originally considered including an appearance by the First Doctor and a robot-filled cellar. Before the episode was broadcast, director Tom Kingsley made a statement attempting to calm speculation, and afterwards Davies explained that the secrecy was because it was "the simplest of the lot", as he had scrapped all other concepts in order to focus on the core premise of Tennant and Tate's characters being alone with the Not-Things on the spaceship. Some critics described "Wild Blue Yonder" as a bottle episode because it used limited sets and had a small cast.
The episode primarily uses VFX and computer-generated imagery to create the appearance of the spaceship's interior; Davies stated that this was inspired by the 1978 serial Underworld, which also used special VFX techniques to portray the episode's setting. The episode references The Timeless Child and the Flux from his predecessor Chris Chibnall's era of the show, with the Not-Things taunting the Doctor about events that happened during these episodes. In one scene, the Doctor invokes a superstition by laying a line of salt to halt the Not-Things. In the following episode, "The Giggle", this is revealed to be the cause of the appearance of the Toymaker, and has larger repercussions in the following season.
The VFX and Art teams collaborated on design for the sets, primarily the main hallway. Pre-visualisations were made in order to create references for scene outlines. The design of the ship used in concept art for the episode remained consistent throughout production, with Davies describing the goal as aiming for an "ideal" with the design. 3D models were taken of Tennant and Tate and were used by the VFX and props teams to create the Not-Things's body abnormalities. Tennant and Tate used physical props to simulate the inhuman aspects of the Not-Things, such as plastic teeth and an oversized controllable arm. A prosthetic leg with extra knees was created for Tate, and a prosthetic face was used to double for Tennant. Production designer Phil Sims and graphic designer Stephen Fielding created a language of glyphs to decorate the ship. These glyphs were inspired by horse hooves, with Sims citing the pilot of the ship's equine appearance for this.
The old robot, nicknamed "Jimbo," was constructed as a puppet in order to make sure the design did not appear human. An aluminium frame was constructed from scratch, and 3D printing and fibreglass moulds were used. The final prop was controlled by a team of five pupeteers, who controlled the joints individually.
Casting
David Tennant and Catherine Tate both returned to the series as part of the 60th anniversary specials. Tennant stars as the Fourteenth Doctor while Tate reprises her role as Donna Noble. Additionally, Nathaniel Curtis appears as Isaac Newton. This episode also marked the first appearance of Susan Twist, who would reappear in other roles throughout the subsequent series. George Cheetham acted as a stunt double for David Tennant, with floor runner Helen Langford standing in for Catherine Tate. Additional doubles included Daniel Tuite, Ophir Raray, and Tommaso de Vincenzo for Tennant, and Helen Cripps for Tate. Contortionist Tommaso Di Vincenzo portrayed the Not-Thing mimicking the Doctor in a scene where the creature bent double backwards.
The episode marked the final appearance of Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott. Cribbins died in July 2022, and the episode is dedicated to him. Davies had wanted Cribbins to appear in more scenes in the anniversary specials, but due to Cribbins' health he was only able to film one.
Filming
The episode was directed by Tom Kingsley. The episode was filmed in July 2022, during a heat wave. Filming was done entirely on set, with large amounts of green screens and VFX work done to show the pair being on board the spaceship. When the Not-Things were in the same scene with Tennant and Tate, stunt doubles stood in opposite the actors, and Tennant and Tate would run through the scene as the "good" pair and the "bad" pair.
The scene featuring Isaac Newton was filmed in Dunraven Gardens in Wales. The scene where the Doctor and Donna crash land into a tree was filmed a few days later at Wolf Studios. Due to concerns of actor safety, the scene was filmed on the ground, and then composited into the shot in editing. For the London plane crash scene, a smoke cannon was used to simulate the appearance of air being propelled from a long distance away. The SFX team researched plane landings and explosion effects in order to make the plane crash look realistic.
Broadcast and reception
Broadcast
"Wild Blue Yonder" was broadcast on 2 December 2023 as the second of the three 2023 specials, filmed for the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who. The episode initially aired on BBC One, and was later released on BBC iPlayer. It was released worldwide via Disney+.
Ratings
"Wild Blue Yonder" was watched by 4.83 million viewers overnight. It was the third-most watched programme of the night. The consolidated ratings gave a figure of 7.14 million viewers, ranking the episode as the ninth most watched programme of the week, beaten only by that week's episodes of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Strictly Come Dancing.
The episode was the second highest viewed of the three specials.
Critical reception
The special received positive reviews. On the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 16 critics gave "Wild Blue Yonder" a positive review, with an average rating of 9.09/10. The site's consensus reads "'Wild Blue Yonder' gets real weird with the formula, and yet it hits home as classic Doctor Who with its heartfelt attention paid to the characters."
The Guardian Martin Belam rated the special a 4/5, describing the acting as "impeccable" and further praising the visual effects. Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times responded positively to the episode, highlighting the performances of Tennant and Tate, the episode's visuals, and the cameo appearance of Cribbins. Richard Edwards of Total Film praised the episode, highlighting the performances of Tennant and Tate, as well as Davies's writing.
Chris Allcock of Den of Geek responded positively to the episode, highlighting the episode's ending act, but criticized the episode's middle act for how the Not-Things were uncovered and revealed by the Doctor and Donna, as well as some of the CGI effects used for the Not-Things. Samantha Coley of Collider praised the performances of Tennant and Tate, highlighting the horror elements and character work done in the episode, though criticized some of the CGI used for the Not-Things.
Home media
"Wild Blue Yonder", along with the other two specials "The Star Beast" and "The Giggle", were released on home media on 18 December 2023.
In print
A novelisation of the episode, written by Mark Morris, was released as an eBook on 7 December 2023. Followed by a paperback edition on 11 January 2024 as part of the Target Collection and then an audiobook read by Bonnie Langford on 1 February 2024.
References
External links
2023 British television episodes
Articles containing video clips
Bottle television episodes
British television specials
Cultural depictions of Isaac Newton
Doctor Who anniversary specials
Fiction set in 1666
Fourteenth Doctor episodes
Television episodes set in outer space
Television episodes written by Russell T Davies
Fiction set in 2023
Television episodes set in the 17th century
Television episodes set in the 2020s
Television episodes set in London | Wild Blue Yonder (Doctor Who) | [
"Astronomy"
] | 2,330 | [
"Cultural depictions of Isaac Newton",
"Cultural depictions of astronomers"
] |
75,244,753 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentinus%20crinitus | Lentinus crinitus is a basidiomycete in Agaricomycotina. It is in the order Polyporales and in the family Polyporaceae, within the group Polyporellus. There are many synonyms including Agaricus essequeboensis, Lentinus chaetoloma, Lentinus essequeboensis, Lentinus microloma, Lentinus rigidulus, Lentinus subcervinus, Curtis, Lentinus wrightii, Panus crinitus, Panus wrightii, Polyporus phyllostipes, and Agaricus crinitus. The common name is The Fringed Sawgill.
This fungus was first described by Carl Linnaeus, reported and identified by Elias Magnus Fries in 1825.
The closest relative is to L. crinitus is Lentinus swartzii and the closest genus is Polyporus with Ganoderma being closely related as well.
It has been included in multiple phylogenetic studies.
Lentinus crinitus appears to form a single mating group. In fungi, a single mating group means that a species has one mating type, or that it is homothallic. This means that the species can mate with itself, or reproduce asexually.
Ecology
Lentinus crinitus is a white rot fungus so it is saprotrophic and is able to break down lignin and cellulose and use it for energy. It can be found on decaying logs; in open areas; in tropical forest and in mixed oak-dominated forest. Known hosts of L. crinitus include dead wood from Nerium oleander, Hevea spp., Hippomane spp., Quercus spp., Barringtonia spp., Nyssa spp., Salix spp., Rhizophora mangle.
Lentinus crinitus is distributed across 27 countries. In South America, it can be found in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, French Guiana, Guyana, and Argentina. In North America, it occurs in the United States and Mexico. Its range in Central America includes the Dominican Republic, Belize, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Martinique, Guatemala, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Cayman Islands. It is also found in Africa, specifically in the Congo and Ethiopia, as well as in Asia, in the Philippines. They are typically found at an altitude of 50 – 2800 meters above sea level, though there have been many observations of this species from Florida.
It is most often found in April to July in the northern hemisphere, and from September to December in the southern hemisphere. This means that this fungi is best suited to warmer and wetter climates so it is found in the summer months during the rainy season.
It is known to be a potential host of the parasitic fungus Hypomyces aurantius (Pers.) Fuckel 1870, Hypomyces aurantius is known to parasitize many species in the family Polyporaceae.
There are potential interactions with animals which may be attracted to the mushroom for food. Squirrels have been seen to eat this fungi.
Some have reported insects using it for food and habitat.
Morphology
The fruiting bodies of Lentinus crinitus commonly grow in irregular, clustered formations. The cap ranges in shape from flat or slightly convex to depressed in the center or funnel-shaped (infundibuliform), with a leathery texture. Its surface appears striated, densely covered with short, stiff, appressed hairs (strigose), and varies in color from cream to dark brown, with dark brown-gray (fuscous) scaly, tufted hairs. The cap margin is often rolled inward (circinate). Has a pileus with 2.5–7.5 cm width. The margin usually turns downward and the hairs are yellowish brown to dark reddish brown), silky in the center, and the pileus surface below the hairs is whitish when young turning pale yellowish brown with age).The stipe can be 2.0–4.0 cm in length and 2.0–6.0 mm in thickness, usually having a small bulb at the base. The stipe is not hollow, has a somewhat roughened surface and a leathery feel. The stipe is lighter in color than the cap but the same color profile. The gills (lamellae) extend slightly down the stem (decurrent), are narrow, somewhat forked, and finely toothed (denticulate), with a glandular surface. They appear in shades from pale to dark fuscous, sometimes featuring yellowish-brown hairs along the edges. The stipe, measuring 1.1–2.2 cm in length, can be central or off-center (eccentric) in relation to the cap, cylindrical, and leathery in texture, with a covering of light yellow scaly hairs (squamulose) and darker scales (squamules).
The basidiospores are white in and usually range between 5.5–8.0 × 1.8–3.0 The spores are rounded but may have a subtle point on one end that is off center and pointing right or left. The spores are not textured/smooth. These spores do not react with Meltzer's reagent. Spore print is white.
L. crinitus has a monomitic hyphae system with clamp connections. This fungi has generative hyphae and skeleton-ligators which differs from Skeletal hyphae. Skeletal hyphae are generally thick-walled, non-septate and unbranched or sparsely branched while skeletal-ligators are highly branched and more flexible but still provide more structure and rigidity than generative hyphae alone. Skeletal-ligative hyphae help with connecting and binding other hyphal types, contributing to both strength and flexibility.
Overall biology and relevance to humans
L crinitus can be used as a biological control against plant pathogenic fungi and bacteria since it has shown antimicrobial activity against 11 species of microorganisms, with greater activity against Aspergillus niger (spores), Aspergillus flavus (spores), and Mucor rouxii (spores)
L crinitus has potential to fight foodborne illness and food spoilage because extracts 1-desoxyhypnophylline (1) and 6,7-epoxy-4(15)-hirsuteno-5-ol (3), from the basidiocarp of L. crinitus basidiocarp showed antimicrobial activity against bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Micrococcus luteus, P. aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica, Bacillus cereus, and Enterobacter cloacae; and fungi such as Aspergillus fumigatus, A. niger, Aspergillus versicolor, Penecillium. ochrochloron, Talaromyces funiculosus, and T. virens, and two fungal food isolates A. ochraceus and Penicillium aurantiogriseum.
Potential to be cultivated in active agroforestry plantations as another source of income. Cultivation of this fungi provides nutritional alternatives in a growing world that has an increasing demand for food sources.
Can be cultivated in various substrates that yield differing nutritional values.
3.4% mineral matter, 26% crude fiber, and 1.5% ether extract make up Lentinus crinitus. Compared to many other edible mushrooms that are sold commercially, this fungus has a higher fiber content. Its protein levels are correlated with its nitrogen concentration, which is 2.24%. Significant amounts of other minerals are also found, including calcium (0.53%), phosphorus (0.19%), potassium (0.50%), magnesium (0.10%), and sulfur (0.18%). Copper is at 10 ppm, manganese is at 28 ppm, zinc is at 31 ppm, cobalt is at 0.11 ppm, sodium is at 109 ppm, and molybdenum is at 0.5 ppm. Wild mushrooms of L. crinitus presented content of 14.42% protein which is similar to other comerical mushrooms. Lentinus citrinus cultivated on cupuaçu exocarp (Theobroma grandiflorum) mixed with litter (CE + LI) can have up to 27% protein. 27% protein is very high for commercial and this is especially important for those trying to build and retain muscle on a vegan diet.
The ability of the L. crinitus mycelium to convert agricultural waste to substrate with high protein, fiber, and nitrogen content may make it suitable for use as a beneficial soil amendment or as animal feed.
Lentinus crinitus basidiocarp pileus and stipe have high antioxidant activity due to high amounts of antioxidant compounds such as malic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acids and β-tocopherol. The buildup of reactive oxygen species(free radicals) in the body causes oxidative stress, which seems to be linked to a number of clinical conditions, including aging, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurological illnesses, antioxidant compounds may provide relief to that but research is still limited and inconclusive.
The pileus has a high concentration of protein, ash, tocopherols, and organic acids, particularly malic and oxalic acids. The stipe contains a lot of carbohydrates, energy, soluble sugars, and phenolic acids, primarily p-hydroxybenzoic acid. Trehalose is the major soluble sugar found in the basidiocarp pileus and stipe.
Polysaccharides extracted from L. crinitus basidiocarps shown antiproliferative action in breast carcinoma cells . After treatment, these polysaccharides may activate J774 macrophages, as evidenced by an increase in the production of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and nitric acid, which induces tumor cell death. These chemicals may improve anticancer activity.
The majority of the chemicals found in Lentinus crinitus are documented for the first time in the genus Lentinus. These studies demonstrated that the fungus produces a variety of physiologically active secondary metabolites. The findings discovered extracts included phytochemical 1,13,4-di-O-Caffeoylquinic which was shown to have potential for inhibiting the Zika virus.
Traditional use
Many indigenous communities have utilized Lentinus crinitus in their diets. The Amazonian communities of the Yanomami and Txicó in Brazil, the Uitoto, Muinane, and Andoke (Caquetá) in Colombia, the rural Loreto in Peru, and the Hotï in Venezuela use mushrooms, including Lentinus crinitus, as a staple food. The indigenous Uitoto people of Colombia use L.crinitus while they are young since adult specimens are tough and leathery and therefore are unpleasant. They eat it roasted on yarumo leaves and in broth. It is reportedly used as a postpartum strength-boosting medication in Mexico.
References
Polyporaceae
Fungus species | Lentinus crinitus | [
"Biology"
] | 2,377 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
75,245,710 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin%20efsitora%20alfa | Insulin efsitora alfa (LY3209590) is a novel insulin analog developed by Eli Lilly for the treatment of diabetes. Its glycemic control and safety were found similar to insulin degludec in a phase II trial.
Research
A systematic review and metanalysis of insulin efsitora alfa, published in 2024, found that it may be useful in the management of type1 and type2 diabetes.
References
Experimental diabetes drugs
Insulin receptor agonists | Insulin efsitora alfa | [
"Chemistry"
] | 102 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs"
] |
75,245,736 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropicoporus%20linteus | Tropicoporus linteus is a tropical American mushroom. Its former name Phellinus linteus is applied wider, including to an East Asian mushroom.
Taxonomy
Polyporus linteus was named by Miles Joseph Berkeley and Moses Ashley Curtis and first reported with specimen from Nicaragua in 1860. Phellinus linteus was a rename by Shu Chün Teng in 1963. It was renamed Tropicoporus linteus by Li-Wei Zhou and Yu-Cheng Dai in 2015.
The following mushrooms are applied with the name Phellinus linteus:
Americas
Phellinus linteus per se, the tropical American species, now Tropicoporus linteus
In subtropical South America, Phellinus linteus on Cordia americana is actually Tropicoporus drechsleri; specimens collected on other plant hosts require further studies.
Asia
Phellinus linteus in East Asia
Africa
Xanthochrous rudis, an African species formerly regarded as a synonym of Phellinus linteus, regained taxon independency and was renamed Tropicoporus rudis.
Description
A description was made by Tian et al. (2012) for the epitype.
This mushroom's tube trama is dimitic, contains generative and skeletal hyphae.
Ecology and habitat
Tropicoporus mushrooms cause a white rot.
This mushroom is known distributed in Nicaragua, United States (Florida) and Brazil.
Tropicoporus linteus grows on oak and tamarind.
References
Fungi of North America
Fungi of Central America
Fungi of South America
Taxa named by Miles Joseph Berkeley
Taxa named by Moses Ashley Curtis
Hymenochaetaceae
Fungus species | Tropicoporus linteus | [
"Biology"
] | 351 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
75,247,252 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John%20W.%20Valley | John Williams Valley (born February 28, 1948, in Winchester, Massachusetts) is an American geochemist and petrologist. He is an expert on stable isotope geochemistry, especially as applied to understanding the evolution of the Earth's crust.
Biography
Valley grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, and started collecting rocks when he was four years old. He studied geology at Dartmouth College (AB 1970) and at the University of Michigan (MS 1977, PhD 1980) He was an assistant professor at Rice University (1980-1983) before moving to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he was an assistant professor (1983-1985), associate professor (1985-1989), and full professor from 1989 until his retirement in 2019 as professor emeritus. In 2005 he was appointed Charles R. Van Hise Distinguished Professor. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Edinburgh (1989-1990). His doctoral students include Claudia Mora, Jean Morrison, and John Eiler.
Valley is an expert on stable isotope geochemistry applied to metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary rocks. He has worked extensively on high-grade metamorphic Precambrian rocks, especially in the Grenville Province of New York and Canada. He and his colleagues investigated the Sierra Nevada batholith, lavas from Pacific islands, and rhyolites from the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field.
Valley has studied numerous proxies for paleoclimate including speleothems, mollusks, foraminifera, otoliths, pearls, and fossil teeth. He organized three conferences on applications of new SIMS technology to paleoclimatology (HiRes2013, 2015 and 2017).
Valley and others demonstrated that carbonates in the Martian meteorite ALH84001 formed at low temperatures, and that material from the comet 81P/Wild is chondrule-like indicating transport from the asteroid belt to the cold outer reaches of the solar system.
In 2001, Valley, with 3 co-workers, discovered the oldest known samples of Earth, detrital zircons from the Jack Hills in Western Australia, which document the existence of differentiated crust on Earth by 4.4 Ga (billion years ago) about 150 Myr (million years) after the Earth's formation at 4.55 Ga. The oxygen isotope ratios of these zircons indicate that the Earth cooled sooner, by over 600 Myr, than previous evidence indicated and that oceans were habitable to life by 4.3 Ga, 800 Myr earlier than the oldest well-documented micro-fossils. He has also shown, by a unique correlation of carbon isotope ratios (measured at micron-scale) to morphology, that these ancient fossils are indeed biogenic and lived in complex communities of microbial life 3,465 million years ago, indicating that the first life came earlier.
Valley has been active in professional service. In 2005, he founded the Wisconsin Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Laboratory (WiscSIMS) to develop new methods for measuring stable isotopes in the nano to micrometer range. Over 400 scientists have now worked at WiscSIMS. He served on many committees for mineralogy, geochemistry, and geology, including the NRC Committee on the Scientific Context for the Exploration of the Moon (2007). From 2014 to 2023 he served on the board of governors for the Gemological Institute of America. He has been associate editor for the Geological Society of America Bulletin (1985-1991), the American Journal of Science (1996-) and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021-). From 2011 to 2015 he was an editor in chief for the journal Elements. He was the president of Mineralogical Society of America in 2005–2006.
Valley was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America (GSA, 1992), the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA, 1993), the American Geophysical Union (AGU, 1996), the European Association of Geochemistry (2011), and the Geochemical Society (2011). AGU gave him the Norman L. Bowen Award in 2003 In 2019 GSA awarded him the Arthur L. Day Medal. In 2022 he received the Roebling Medal from MSA. He was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2019.
In 2017, the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) approved the name "valleyite" for the mineral Ca4Fe6O13, discovered by Huifang Xu and named in honor of John W. Valley.
In 1972 Valley married Andrée Simone Taylor. They have two sons, Matthew and David. Valley is also a skilled woodworker. Before graduate school, he made furniture in Helena, Montana, while there with Andrée, who was Resident Artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts. Andrée works extensively in metal and ceramic sculpture. Her work is displayed internationally.
Selected publications
Valley JW and O’Neil JR. (1982) Oxygen isotopic evidence for shallow emplacement of Adirondack anorthosite. Nature 300, 9, 497–500.
Valley, J. W., Bohlen, S. R., Essene, E. J., and Lamb, W. (1990) Metamorphism in the Adirondacks. II. The Role of Fluids. Jour. Petrol. 31, Part 3, 555–596.
Valley, J. W. and Graham, C. M. (1993) Cryptic Grain-Scale Heterogeneity of Oxygen Isotope Ratios in Metamorphic Magnetite. Science 259, 1729-1733.
Valley, J. W., Kitchen, N. E., Kohn, M. J., Niendorf, C. R., and Spicuzza, M. J. (1995) UWG-2, A Garnet Standard for Oxygen Isotope Ratio: Strategies for High Precision and Accuracy with Laser Heating. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 59, 5223-5231.
Valley JW, Kinny PD, Schulze DJ & Spicuzza MJ (1998) Zircon Megacrysts from Kimberlite: Oxygen isotope heterogeneity among mantle melts. Contributions to Mineralogy & Petrology, 133, 1–11.
Valley JW, Spicuzza MJ, Ushikubo T (2014) Correlated δ18O and [Ti] in Lunar Zircons: A Terrestrial Perspective for Magma Temperatures and Water Content on the Moon. Contributions to Mineralogy & Petrology, vol 167 (1): 1-15. doi:10.1007/s00410-013-0956-4.
Valley JW, Reinhard DA, Cavosie AJ, Ushikubo T, Lawrence DF, Larson DJ, Kelly TF, Snoeyenbos D, Strickland A (2015) Nano- and Micro-geochronology in Hadean and Archean Zircons by Atom-Probe Tomography and SIMS: New Tools for Old Minerals. American Mineralogist, 100: 1355-1377. doi.org/10.2138/am-2014-5134.
As editor
Valley JW, Taylor HP and O'Neil JR (1986) Stable Isotopes in High Temperature Geological Processes. Reviews in Mineralogy, Vol. 16, 570 p.
Valley JW and Cole DR, eds. (2001) Stable Isotope Geochemistry. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Vol. 43, 662 p.
References
1948 births
Living people
American geochemists
American mineralogists
Petrologists
Dartmouth College alumni
University of Michigan alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
Fellows of the American Geophysical Union
Fellows of the Geological Society of America
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences | John W. Valley | [
"Chemistry"
] | 1,611 | [
"Geochemists",
"American geochemists"
] |
75,247,814 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%20864 | NGC 864 is a star-forming intermediate spiral galaxy located in the Cetus constellation. It's also classified as an isolated galaxy on the AMIGA (Analysis of the Interstellar Medium of Isolated Galaxies) catalogue as CIG 96. Its discovery and first description was realized by William Herschel in October 25th, 1785 and the findings made public through his Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, published in 1786.
Due to its diameter, declination and inclination, NGC 864 was selected in 2012 by a group of astronomers working at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory as an object for kinematics study. Besides collecting data to help understand NGC 864's morphology, the objective of the project was to develop a method of flux-calibration for the new GHαFaS system on the William Herschel Telescope.
Morphology
Galaxies are the basic building blocks of the Universe and their formation is of great interest in current astrophysical research. A galaxy's morphology is the result of both externally driven (like a galaxy merger) and internal evolution (as in a spiral pattern driven). Using ACAM and GHαFaS to produce high spectral resolution Hα images of NGC 864, and integral-field spectrograph data, astronomers were able to determine its bar presents bright regions of massive star formation at the ends, where two asymmetric arms arise.
NGC 864's outer spiral shows a flocculent pattern, leading some astronomers to classify it as a grand design galaxy.
Integral HI spectrum asymmetry
Due to its isolation, one of the most interesting characteristics of this galaxy is its asymmetry. The asymmetry in galaxies located in high-density areas is often the result of galaxy-galaxy interaction, like in a merger. The origin of asymmetries in isolated galaxies however, is not well understood. Some astronomers suggest it could originate from long-lived dynamical instabilities.
In a study from 2005, astronomers realized an integral HI spectra of NGC 864, producing a detailed analysis of its HI density distribution and velocity field. The data showed the interstellar medium to be symmetric in velocity, but asymmetric in intensity, suggesting the possibility of its asymmetry being the result of an internal dynamical instability unlikely. The researchers speculate NGC 864's asymmetry might have been the result of a minor galaxy companion crossing the equatorial plane just outside the optical disc but still within the extended HI disc, causing the warp we can observe today.
See also
New General Catalogue
List of NGC objects
References
External links
NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database - Extensive database of NGC objects.
Cetus
Intermediate spiral galaxies
0864
J02152764+0600094
8631
1736
+01-06-061
02128+0546 | NGC 864 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 574 | [
"Cetus",
"Constellations"
] |
75,248,360 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezrat%20Nashim | The Ezrat Nashim () or Vaybershul (), commonly referred to in English as the women's section or women's gallery, is an area of a synagogue sanctuary reserved exclusively for women.
Scholars have long debated the existence of Ezrat Nashim in synagogues during the periods of the Second Temple, the Mishnah, and the Talmud. Shmuel Safrai, through a combination of textual analysis and archaeological evidence, has argued that while women consistently attended synagogue services, there is no definitive evidence to support the existence of a partition separating the genders or the existence of a Ezrat Nashim. The archaeologist Lee Levin agrees with Safrai that not only is there no archaeological evidence for the existence of Ezrat Nashim in ancient synagogues, but there are also many ancient synagogues that have only a single prayer hall, indicating that there was no segregation at all.
The Ezrat Nashim could be either a separate annex, as observed in synagogues like the Altneuschul in Prague and the synagogue of Worms, or an elevated gallery situated within the synagogue sanctuary. If the latter, it is typically located on the west side of the building, though variations exist with some galleries positioned on the north or south sides. In larger synagogues, it is common to find two galleries, one above the other.
In the mid-19th century, Reform synagogues in Germany and Austria introduced separate pews for men and women on the same floor. Later, Reform congregations in the United States introduced "family seating", whereby congregants sit together irrespective of gender. Many Orthodox synagogues built in the 20th and 21st centuries do not have a separate Ezrat Nashim area, instead partitioning a single floor into men's and women's sections with a mechitza.
See also
Gender separation in Judaism
References
Architectural elements
Synagogue architecture | Ezrat Nashim | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 385 | [
"Building engineering",
"Architectural elements",
"Components",
"Architecture"
] |
75,248,361 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yajnavalkya%2095%20Years%20Cycle | Yajnavalkya's 95-year cycle is a method of harmonizing the lunar and solar calendars. It was proposed by the ancient Indian sage Yajnavalkya, who is believed to have lived around the 9th - 8th century BCE. He was described as the greatest Brahmajnyani by all the sages at the philosophical function organised by king Janaka. This cycle of reconciliation is also known as Yajnavalkya Cycle.
Yajnavalkya was Indian astronomer who studied about the motion of Sun and mentioned these theories in his work Shatapatha Brahmana. He invented a method of reconciliating the lunar calendar and the solar calendar. He described the 95-year cycle to synchronize the motions of the sun and the moon. It is mentioned as 95 year “Agnichayana” in the 6th Kānda of Shatapatha Brahmana.
Description
The lunar calendar is based on the cycle of the Moon and consists of 12 months of 29.5 days each. This means that the lunar calendar is about 11 days shorter than the solar calendar, which is based on the Earth's orbit around the Sun.
The Yajnavalkya 95-year cycle corrects this difference by adding an extra month (Adhik Maasa) to the lunar calendar every 32.5 years. This means that there will be 71 lunar years and 70 solar years in a 95-year cycle.
There is a logic behind this cycle that if the year is counted as 360 Tithis, then this leads to exactly 35 intercalary months (with a residual small error) in 95 years.
Metonic Cycle
Yajnavalkya 95-years cycle consisted of five sub cycles of 19 years. The sub cycle of 19 years is called as Metonic Cycle in the modern times. The cycle of 19 years had been derived from the cycle of 95 years.
References
Astronomy
Indian inventions
Early scientific cosmologies
Ancient Indian astronomical works | Yajnavalkya 95 Years Cycle | [
"Astronomy"
] | 405 | [
"nan"
] |
75,248,449 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequential%20infiltration%20synthesis | Sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) is a technique derived from atomic layer deposition (ALD) in which a polymer is infused with inorganic material using sequential, self-limiting exposures to gaseous precursors, enabling precise manipulation over the composition, structure, and properties. The technique has applications in fields such as nanotechnology, materials science, and electronics, where precise material engineering is required.
This synthesis uses metal-organic vapor-phase precursors and co-reactants that dissolve and diffuse into polymers. These precursors interact with the functional groups of the polymers through reversible complex formation or irreversible chemical reactions, resulting in composite materials that can exhibit nano-structured properties. The metal-organic precursor (A) and co-reactant vapor (B) are supplied in an alternating ABAB sequence. Following SIS, the organic phase may be removed thermally or chemically to leave only the inorganic components behind. This approach facilitates the fabrication of materials with controlled properties such as composition, stylometric, porosity, conductivity, refractive index, and chemical functionality on the nano-scale.
SIS has been utilized in fields, including electronics, energy storage, AI, and catalysis, for its ability to modify material properties. SIS is sometimes referred to as "multiple pulsed vapor-phase infiltration" (MPI), "vapor phase infiltration" (VPI) or "sequential vapor infiltration" (SVI).
SIS involves the 3D distribution of functional groups in polymers, while its predecessor, ALD, is associated with the two-dimensional distribution of reactive sites on solid surfaces. In SIS, the partial pressures and exposure times for the precursor pulse are typically larger compared to ALD to ensure adequate infiltration of the precursor into the three-dimensional polymer volume through dissolution and diffusion. The process relies on the diffusive transport of precursors within polymers, with the resulting distribution influenced by time, pressure, temperature, polymer chemistry, and micro-structure.
History
The diffusion of precursors below the surfaces of polymers during ALD was observed in 2005 by the Steven M. George group when they observed that polymers could uptake trimethylaluminium (TMA) via absorption within their free volume. In the study, the interactions between the ALD precursors and the polymer functional groups were not recognized, and the diffusion of precursors into polymer films was considered a problem. Hence, the diffusion and reactions of ALD precursors into polymer films were considered challenges to address rather than opportunities. However, potential benefits of these phenomena were demonstrated by Knez and coworkers in a 2009 report describing the increased toughness of spider silk following vapor-phase infiltration.
Sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) was developed by Argonne National Laboratory scientists Jeffrey Elam and Seth Darling in 2010 to synthesize nanoscopic materials starting from block copolymer templates. A patent application was filed in 2011 and the first patent was issued in 2016. SIS involves vapour diffusing into an existing polymer and chemically or physically binding to it. This results in the growth and formation of inorganic structures by selective nucleation throughout the bulk polymer.
With SIS, the shapes of various inorganic materials can be tailored by applying their precursor chemistries to patterned or nano-structured organic polymers, such as block copolymers. SIS was developed to intentionally enable the infusion of inorganic materials such as metal oxides and metals within polymers to yield hybrid materials with enhanced properties. Hybrid materials created via SIS can further be subjected to thermal annealing steps to remove the polymer constituents entirely to derive purely inorganic materials that maintain the structure of the original polymer morphology, including mesoporosity.
Although the early research in SIS focused on a small number of inorganic materials such as Al2O3, TiO2, and ZnO, the technology diversified over the next decade and came to include a wide variety of both inorganic materials and organic polymers, as detailed in reviews.
Principles and process
SIS is based on the consecutive introduction of different precursors into a polymer, taking advantage of the material's porosity on the molecular scale. This allows the precursors to diffuse into the material and react with specific functional groups located along the polymer backbone or pendant group. Through the selection and combination of the precursors, a rich variety of materials can be synthesized, each of which can endow unique properties to the material.
The process of SIS involves various key steps, the first of which is materials selection. A suitable substrate material, such as a polymer film, and precursors, typically molecules that can react with the substrate's functional groups, are used for the infiltration synthesis. The pairing of polymer chemistry and precursor species is vital for acquiring the desired fictionalization and modification.
The substrate is placed in a reactor with an inert atmosphere (typically an inert gas or vacuum). The first precursor vapor (e.g., trimethylaluminum, TMA) is introduced at a sufficiently high vapor pressure and duration such that the precursor molecules diffuse into the substrate. Thus the precursor infiltrates the material and then reacts with the interior functional groups.
After a suitable diffusion/reaction time, the reactor is purged with inert gas or evacuated to remove reaction byproducts and UN-reacted precursors. A second vapor-phase species, often a co-reactant, such as H2O, is introduced. Again, the precursor partial pressure and exposure time are selected to allow sufficient time and thermodynamic driving force for diffusion into the polymer and reaction with the functional groups left by the first precursor exposure. The second precursor is then purged or evacuated to complete the first SIS cycle.
The second precursor may also create new functional groups for reaction with the first precursor for subsequent SIS cycles. Sequential infiltration steps can then be repeated using the same or different precursor species until the desired modifications are achieved. When the desired infiltrations are achieved, the modified material can undergo further post-treatment steps to enhance the modified layers' properties, including stability. Post-treatment may include heating, chemical treatment, or oxidation to remove the organic polymer.
With SIS it is natural to apply to block co-polymer substrates. Block co-polymers such as polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methotrexate), PS-b-PMMA, can spontaneously undergo micro-phase separation to form a rich variety of periodic mesoscale patterns. If the SIS precursors are selected to react with just one of the BCP components but not with the second component, then the inorganic material will only nucleate and grow in that component. For instance, TMA will react with the PMMA side chains of PS-b-PMMA but not with the PS side chains. Consequently, SIS using TMA and H2O as precursor vapors to infiltrate a PS-b-PMMA micro-phase-separated substrate will form Al2O3 specifically in the PMMA-enriched micro-phase subdomains. Subsequent removal of the PS-b-PMMA by using oxygen plasma or by annealing in air will convert the combined organic and inorganic mesoscale pattern into a purely inorganic Al2O3 pattern that shares the mesoscale structure of the block copolymer but is more chemically and thermally robust.
Applications
Lithography
SIS is capable of enhancing etch resistance in lithographic photo-resist, such as those used in photo-lithography, micro-fabrication, and nano-lithography. This method involves the sequential deposition of inorganic materials within a patterned resist's micro/nano-structures. By controlling the infiltration of these materials, SIS can engineer the chemical composition and density of the resist, thus enhancing its resistance to common etching processes. This allows for finer feature patterns and increased durability in micro-fabrication, which has advanced the capabilities of semiconductor manufacturing and nanotechnology applications. Another recent application for SIS in lithography is to enhance the optical absorption of the photo-resist in the extreme ultraviolet range to improve EUV lithography.
Surface coatings
SIS has applications in the field of surface coatings, particularly in the development of coatings with specific functional properties. With the sequential infiltration of different precursors into the material, SIS allows for the creation of coatings with enhanced properties and performance such as durability, corrosion resistance, eosinophilic,Lipophilicity, anti-reflection, and/or improved adhesion to substrates. Such an application of SIS can be used for protective coatings for metals, anti-fouling coatings for biomedical applications, and coatings for optical and electronic devices. In this application, the diffusion and reaction of the SIS precursors below the polymer surface facilitate a bulk-like transformation such that the effective thickness of the surface coating (e.g., several microns) is much larger than the film thickness that would result using the same number of atomic layer deposition (ALD) cycles on a conventional, dense substrate (e.g., a few nanometers).
Sensors and actuators
SIS, with its precise control over material properties, can be used to develop sensors and actuators. The functional layers created through the selective infiltration of specific precursors can enhance the sensitivity, selectivity, and response of sensors, which have applications in gas sensing, chemical sensing, biosensing, and environmental monitoring. SIS is also sued to engineer actuators with tunable properties, as it allows for the creation of devices on the micro and nano scales.
Energy devices
SIS has also shown promise in energy devices, especially in improving the performance and stability of energy storage and conversion systems. Employing SIS and the correct precursors, the technique can modify the surfaces and interfaces of materials used in batteries, super-capacitors, and fuel cells, enhancing charge transport, electrochemical stability, and energy density. SIS is also being explored for its applications in photovoltaics, in which it can be used to engineer interfaces and increase light absorption.
Biomedicine
SIS is a tool for surface modifications to improve bio-compatibility, bio-activity, and controlled drug release, making it useful in some biomedical applications. Polymers and radioactive macro-molecules treated with SIS can obtain coatings with developed cell adhesion and reduced bacterial adhesion, as well as provide a medium for the controlled release of therapeutics. Such properties are applicable in biomedicine, such as implantable medical devices, tissue engineering, and drug delivery systems.
Bio-materials
Modifying the mechanical properties of proteins is an early example of SIS application. For spider dragline silk, the toughness characteristic was significantly enhanced when metallic impurities, such as titanium or aluminum, infiltrated the fibers. This fiber doping using SIS techniques attempts to mimic the effect of metallic impurities on silk properties observed in nature.
Limitations
One of the main challenges of SIS is the need to perform the process in an inert environment. Creation of a vacuum and/or introduction of inert gas carries costs that may be prohibitive for applications.
A second challenge lies in the inherent complexity of the diffusion-reaction process. The specifics of reactor configuration and process parameters significantly influence the final material properties, complicating process optimization, reproducibility, and scalability. While SIS is versatile and applicable to a broad range of materials, not all materials are compatible with this technique. The relatively slow diffusion rate of SIS precursor vapors through polymers can make the process time-intensive, particularly over macroscopic distances. For example, infiltrating millimeter-scale depths into a polymer may necessitate precursor exposure times of several hours. For comparison, ALD of thin films on dense surfaces that do not involve diffusion into the substrate would require exposure times of <1 s using the same precursors.
References
Thin film deposition | Sequential infiltration synthesis | [
"Chemistry",
"Materials_science",
"Mathematics"
] | 2,415 | [
"Thin film deposition",
"Coatings",
"Thin films",
"Planes (geometry)",
"Solid state engineering"
] |
75,248,462 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82awomir%20Ko%C5%82odziej | Sławomir Kołodziej (Polish: ; born 12 March 1961, Bielsko-Biała) is a Polish mathematician and Professor at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. His research interests include complex analysis and theoretical mathematics including Monge–Ampère equation and plurisubharmonic functions.
Life and career
He graduated in mathematics from the Jagiellonian University and continued his scientific career there obtaining his doctoral degree written under the supervision of Józef Siciak in 1989. He further received his habilitation in 1998 and the title of professor in 2005. He assumed the chair of Mathematical Analysis at the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science of the Jagiellonian University. His doctoral students include Rafał Czyż and Sławomir Dinew.
He published his scientific papers in such journals as Acta Mathematica, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, Indiana University Mathematics Journal, Michigan Mathematical Journal, Mathematische Zeitschrift and Advances in Mathematics. He serves as editor-in-chief of the Annales Polonici Mathematici. He is a member of the Polish Mathematical Society (PTM), having served as the organization's deputy director between 2014–2016.
Awards
In 1998, he was awarded the Stanisław Zaremba Prize of the Polish Mathematical Society. In 2014, he became the joint recipient of the Stefan Bergman Prize of the American Mathematical Society, together with Takeo Oshawa, "for his seminal contributions to the complex Monge-Ampère equation and pluripotential theory, including necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of bounded solutions, stability, and other sharp estimates."
See also
List of Polish mathematicians
Complex analysis
Theoretical mathematics
References
Living people
1961 births
Polish academics
Polish mathematicians
Jagiellonian University alumni
Academic staff of Jagiellonian University
People from Bielsko-Biała
Mathematical analysis | Sławomir Kołodziej | [
"Mathematics"
] | 394 | [
"Mathematical analysis"
] |
75,249,148 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel%20Unison | Intel Unison is a software functionality created by Intel for seamless integration between a personal computer and mobile device.
Unison was announced in September 2022 and launched broadly throughout 2023 12th generation Core processors, although some Intel Evo compliant computers had a preview version of it already. The feature allows an Android or iOS device to pair with an Intel-powered PC, and be able to make and receive calls via the PC, send and receive texts, and receive and respond to notifications.
Intel also said that Unison would turn into a platform for any developer to take advantage of. Unison has been compared to a number of software such as Microsoft's Phone Link, Samsung Flow, and Dell's Mobile Connect.
References
Intel
Intel software
Computer telephony integration | Intel Unison | [
"Technology"
] | 152 | [
"Information technology",
"Computer telephony integration"
] |
75,250,158 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthscraper | An earthscraper is a building that provides multiple stories of permanent space below ground where people may live: the inverse of very tall high-rise buildings.
Though humans have been building structures underground for centuries, such dwellings are generally called Earth shelters, and typically are only one or two stories deep at most. It is the number or depth of below ground stories that distinguish an earthscraper.
An earthscraper might have some exposed sides, such as one built in a quarry with open exposure on some sides for lighting or ventilation purposes.
Definition
The term "earthscraper" was first applied to buildings that had continuously habitable space, as measured in stories, below ground, though no clear number of stories has been applied to the word. The word does not refer to, or count, the very deep foundations that are often required of skyscrapers in order to anchor and balance such tall structures—such as the Shanghai Tower which has foundations deep. Deep parking garages, defensive bunkers, shelters, or buildings other than habitable structures designed with the same sort of purpose as a skyscraper, are not considered earthscrapers.
History
The first known earthscraper that was both proposed and then subsequently completed was the InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland. This property was first unveiled in 2013, experienced significant delays initially due to the novel nature of its construction, but then finally was completed in 2018. This hotel earthscraper property has 16 underground stories, and two additional stories aboveground, making it 18 stories in total. This design presents opportunities for developers to transform potentially unappealing landmasses, such as an old, abandoned quarry in the case of the Intercontinental Shanghai, and turn them into useful, productive, or aesthetically appealing projects.
Earthscrapers have also been thought of as a way to deal with urban planning issues such as overcrowding, historically the notion of "building up" was thought of as the solution when space was scarce and at a premium, however neighborhood externalities such as a tall building casting shade over other previously existing properties arise, issues which may not be problems with an earthscraper.
Proposed earthscrapers
A 65-story deep earthscraper was proposed in 2011 to be built in Mexico City's central plaza, a region called "Zócalo", though as of 2023 no such earthscraper has been completed.
Environmental impact compared to skyscrapers
Earthscrapers have been proposed as a means to deal with the effects of climate change, and to make human living less harmful on the external environment. This may be different from skyscrapers, which some critics allege are not good for the environment or for climate change. Some of the reasons that earthscrapers might be considered an improved option for large-scale human dwellings in urban environments over skyscrapers include the massively reduced cost of heating, or cooling, a large structure that is built mostly underground. Also, the amount of steel required in a skyscraper is enormous due to it needing to support its own weight, something an earthscraper does not need to do. Though an earthscraper still would still require large amounts of steel and concrete, it also has the support of the surrounding earth upon which the outer walls and frame can rest.
See also
Groundscraper
Earth shelter
Underground living
Fallout shelter
Seascraper
Hobbit hole
References
Structural engineering
Structural system
Building types | Earthscraper | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 691 | [
"Structural engineering",
"Building engineering",
"Structural system",
"Construction",
"Civil engineering"
] |
75,250,253 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%203786 | NGC 3786 is an spiral galaxy located away in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. It was discovered by English astronomer John Herschel on April 10, 1831. This object appears to form a close pair with its peculiar neighbor to the north, NGC 3788. They show some indications of interaction, such as minor distortion of the disk or tidal features.
The morphological classification of this galaxy is (R')SA(rs)a, indicating an unbarred spiral galaxy (SA) with an outer ring (R'), transitional inner ring (rs), and tightly wound spiral arms (a). The galactic plane is inclined at an angle of to the line of sight from the Earth. A mini-bar structure appears in the circumnuclear region. It is a type 1.8 Seyfert galaxy, with a detectable X-ray emission that is being partially absorbed by warm, dusty material along the line of sight. The active galactic nucleus of this galaxy is driven by a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of . An outburst from the core was observed in 1996 and a mid-infrared flare in 2022.
Type Ic supernova SN 1999bu was detected from an image taken April 16, 1999. It was magnitude 17.5 and was located at an offset west and south of the galactic nucleus of NGC 3786. A possible progenitor to this core collapse supernova event was identified in 2003 from archival images. A second supernova, SN 2004bd, was discovered April 7, 2004. This was a type Ia supernova located west and south of the nucleus.
References
Astronomical objects discovered in 1831
Seyfert galaxies
Unbarred spiral galaxies
3786
NGC 3786
36158
Discoveries by John Herschel
294
Markarian galaxies | NGC 3786 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 367 | [
"Ursa Major",
"Constellations"
] |
75,250,359 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mmwave%20sensing | Millimeter wave (mmWave) sensing is a non-contact system of using mmWave radar sensors to measure movement, acceleration, and angles as small as a fraction of a millimeter. This system requires a mmWave radar sensor to transmit and receive pulses of millimeter electromagnetic wave energy, detecting targets and motion from the reflections it receives back. Additional components such as converters, signal processors and other embedded technologies create new use cases and improve performance of the system. Current applications for this technology include human and animal movement tracking, human presence detection, and detection of vital signs for use across automotive, meteorological, medical and pet health industries and is often an alternative to wearable-based technologies for the same uses.
Compared to sensing technologies using other radio frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum such as infrared or ultra-wideband, mmWave uses 30 to 300 gigahertz (GHz). Typical mmWave sensors use the 24-, 60- and 77-GHz band each with their own benefits for specific applications.
Applications
Automotive
mmWave sensing can be used inside vehicles to improve driver and passenger safety and comfort functions. Notable advantages of using mmWave technology in vehicles revolve around its capability to operate effectively in spaces with low-lighting and limited visibility. mmWave sensing can penetrate materials like plastic, textiles, and glass, making it a contactless.
Recent applications for automotive mmWave sensing include:
Occupancy detection
Child presence detection (CPD)
Seatbelt reminders
Optimized airbag deployment
Monitoring of driver vital signs
Assisted Living and Elderly Care
mmWave sensing can be used in homes and nursing homes to assist seniors, individuals aging in place, and caregivers. Using mmWave technology is non-intrusive as it does not use cameras or microphones for its applications, and does not require patients to use wearable devices for tracking.
Use-cases in assisted living and elderly care include:
Fall detection
Posture detection
Occupancy detection
Vital signs monitoring
Smart Home
Integrated within applications for presence and occupancy detection, mmWave sensing can be applied to the smart home to enable home automations without requiring wearable technology or cameras.
Applications include:
Water level detection of toilets
Sleep apnea tracking
Smart lighting control
Other
Other applications for mmWave sensing include pet monitoring, where the technology can be used to track and monitor animal vital signs to interpret pet emotions.
References
Sensors
Radar by band
Radar | Mmwave sensing | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 484 | [
"Sensors",
"Measuring instruments"
] |
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