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75,251,889 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aprocitentan | Aprocitentan, sold under the brand name Tryvio, is a medication used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure). It is developed by Idorsia. It is taken by mouth.
Aprocitentan is a receptor antagonist that targets both endothelin A and endothelin B receptors.
Aprocitentan was approved for medical use in the United States in March 2024. It is the first endothelin receptor antagonist to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat systemic hypertension. The FDA considers it to be a first-in-class medication.
Medical uses
Aprocitentan is indicated for the treatment of hypertension in combination with other antihypertensive drugs, to lower blood pressure in adults who are not adequately controlled on other medications.
Adverse effects
Aprocitentan may cause hepatotoxicity (liver damage), edema (fluid retention), anemia (reduced hemoglobin), and decreased sperm count.
Contraindications
Data from animal reproductive toxicity studies with other endothelin-receptor agonists indicate that use is contraindicated in pregnant women.
Mechanism of action
Aprocitentan is an endothelin receptor antagonist that inhibits the protein endothelin-1 from binding to endothelin A and endothelin B receptors. Endothelin-1 mediates various adverse effects via its receptors, such as inflammation, cell proliferation, fibrosis, and vasoconstriction.
Society and culture
Economics
Aprocitentan is developed by Idorsia, which sold it to Janssen and purchased the rights back in 2023, for .
Legal status
Aprocitentan was approved for medical use in the United States in March 2024.
In April 2024, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for the medicinal product Jeraygo, intended for the treatment of resistant hypertension in adults. The applicant for this medicinal product is Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Deutschland GmbH. Aprocitentan was approved for medical use in the European Union in June 2024.
References
Further reading
Endothelin receptor antagonists
Human drug metabolites
Pyrimidines
Bromoarenes
4-Bromophenyl compounds
Glycol ethers
Sulfamides | Aprocitentan | [
"Chemistry"
] | 495 | [
"Chemicals in medicine",
"Human drug metabolites"
] |
75,252,094 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip%20distance | In discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science, the flip distance between two triangulations of the same point set is the number of flips required to transform one triangulation into another. A flip removes an edge between two triangles in the triangulation and then adds the other diagonal in the edge's enclosing quadrilateral, forming a different triangulation of the same point set.
This problem is known to be NP-hard. However, the computational complexity of determining the flip distance between convex polygons, a special case of this problem, is unknown. Computing the flip distance between convex polygon triangulations is also equivalent to rotation distance, the number of rotations required to transform one binary tree into another.
Definition
Given a family of triangulations of some geometric object, a flip is an operation that transforms one triangulation to another by removing an edge between two triangles and adding the opposite diagonal to the resulting quadrilateral. The flip distance between two triangulations is the minimum number of flips needed to transform one triangulation into another. It can also be described as the shortest path distance in a flip graph, a graph that has a vertex for each triangulation and an edge for each flip between two triangulations. Flips and flip distances can be defined in this way for several different kinds of triangulations, including triangulations of sets of points in the Euclidean plane, triangulations of polygons, and triangulations of abstract manifolds.
Feasibility
The flip distance is well-defined only if any triangulation can be converted to any other triangulation via a sequence of flips. An equivalent condition is that the flip graph must be connected.
In 1936, Klaus Wagner showed that maximal planar graphs on a sphere can be transformed to any other maximal planar graph with the same vertices through flipping. A. K. Dewdney generalized this result to triangulations on the surface of a torus while Charles Lawson to triangulations of a point set on a 2-dimensional plane.
For triangulations of a point set in dimension 5 or above, there exists examples where the flip graph is disconnected and a triangulation cannot be obtained from other triangulations via flips. Whether all flip graphs of finite 3- or 4-dimensional point sets are connected is an open problem.
Diameter of the flip graph
The maximum number of flips required to transform a triangulation into another is the diameter of the flip graph. The diameter of the flip graph of a convex -gon has been obtained by Daniel Sleator, Robert Tarjan, and William Thurston when is sufficiently large and by Lionel Pournin for all . This diameter is equal to when .
The diameter of other flip graphs has been studied. For instance Klaus Wagner provided a quadratic upper bound on the diameter of the flip graph of a set of unmarked points on the sphere. The current upper bound on the diameter is , while the best-known lower bound is . The diameter of the flip graphs of arbitrary topological surfaces with boundary has also been studied and their exact value is known in several cases.
Equivalence with other problems
The flip distance between triangulations of a convex polygon is equivalent to the rotation distance between two binary trees.
Computational complexity
Computing the flip distance between triangulations of a point set is both NP-complete and APX-hard. However, it is fixed-parameter tractable (FPT), and several FPT algorithms that run in exponential time have been proposed.
Computing the flip distance between triangulations of a simple polygon is also NP-hard.
The complexity of computing the flip distance between triangulations of a convex polygon remains an open problem.
Algorithms
Let be the number of points in the point set and be the flip distance. The current best FPT algorithm runs in . A faster FPT algorithm exists for the flip distance between convex polygon triangulations; it has time complexity
If no five points of a point set form an empty pentagon, there exists a algorithm for the flip distance between triangulations of this point set.
See also
Associahedron
Flip graph
Rotation distance
Tamari lattice
References
Triangulation (geometry)
Reconfiguration | Flip distance | [
"Mathematics"
] | 884 | [
"Triangulation (geometry)",
"Reconfiguration",
"Planar graphs",
"Computational problems",
"Planes (geometry)",
"Mathematical problems"
] |
75,252,127 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firibastat | Firibastat is a prodrug of two brain aminopeptidase A inhibitors, developed to treat resistant hypertension. It failed to show efficacy in a Phase III trial.
References
Prodrugs
Antihypertensive agents
Sulfonic acids
Diamines
Organic disulfides | Firibastat | [
"Chemistry"
] | 63 | [
"Chemicals in medicine",
"Functional groups",
"Prodrugs",
"Sulfonic acids"
] |
75,252,202 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aminopeptidase%20A%20inhibitor | Aminopeptidase A inhibitors are a class of antihypertensive drugs that work by inhibiting the conversion of angiotensin II to angiotensin III by the aminopeptidase A enzyme. The first medication in this class is firibastat. It is hypothesized that the drugs may be more effective in overweight people and those of African descent.
References
Antihypertensive agents | Aminopeptidase A inhibitor | [
"Chemistry"
] | 91 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs"
] |
75,252,279 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olinciguat | Olinciguat (IW-1701) is a soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator that was in development for sickle cell anemia. After receiving orphan drug status in 2018 and completing a phase II trial, its development for sickle cell anemia was discontinued in 2020.
References
Sickle-cell disease
Soluble guanylate cyclase stimulators
Amides
Trifluoromethyl compounds
Fluoroarenes
Oxazoles
Pyrimidines
Pyrazoles
2-Fluorophenyl compounds | Olinciguat | [
"Chemistry"
] | 113 | [
"Amides",
"Functional groups"
] |
75,253,555 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soluble%20guanylate%20cyclase%20stimulator | Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) stimulators are a class of drugs developed to treat heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, and other diseases. The first-in-class medication was riociguat, approved in 2013 for pulmonary hypertension. They have also been investigated for hypertension, systemic sclerosis, and sickle cell disease.
Background
In 1998, the role of nitric oxide (NO) in cardiovascular disease received the Nobel Prize in Physiology. Although NO is still used to treat angina, its side effects, potential for tolerance, short duration of action, and narrow therapeutic index limit its therapeutic use. PDE5 inhibitors increase NO and are approved for erectile dysfunction, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and benign prostatic hyperplasia, but they are less effective in patients for whom NO production is suppressed, such as people with diabetes or obesity. Soluble guanylate cyclase is one of the downstream targets of NO, but the stimulators operate independently of it. sGC activators, another experimental class of drugs, may be more effective than stimulators when oxidative stress is high.
The drugs are also considered to possibly have the potential to treat kidney disease, lung fibrosis, scleroderma, and sickle cell disease.
List of drugs
FDA approved
Riociguat, approved in 2013 for pulmonary hypertension
Vericiguat, approved in 2021 for heart failure
Investigational
Praliciguat was tried in a phase II trial for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
Olinciguat was developed for sickle cell disease but its development was discontinued in 2020.
References
Soluble guanylate cyclase stimulators
Drugs by mechanism of action | Soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator | [
"Chemistry"
] | 361 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs"
] |
75,254,077 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceansat-3 | Oceansat-3 (also known as EOS-06) is an Earth observation satellite, which is the third satellite in the Oceansat series launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was launched on 26 Nov 2022, 06:26 UTC using a PSLV rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, First Launch Pad (FLP). The satellite aims to improve the existing remote sensing capabilities related to the field of oceanography.
Launch
Oceansat-3 was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 06:26 UTC on November 26, 2022. It was launched aboard a PSLV rocket of XL configuration, aboard the PSLV-C54 mission along with eight secondary payloads: INS-2B, the Anand satellite, two Thybolt satellites, and four Astrocast satellites.
References
Earth observation satellites of India
ISRO satellites
Spacecraft launched in 2022
2022 in India
Oceanographic satellites | Oceansat-3 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 191 | [
"Astronomy stubs",
"Spacecraft stubs"
] |
75,254,121 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UHZ1 | UHZ1 is a background galaxy containing a quasar. At a redshift of approximately 10.1, UHZ1 is at a distance of 13.2 billion light-years, seen when our universe was about 3 percent of its current age. This redshift made it the most distant, and therefore earliest known quasar in the observable universe as of 2023. To detect this object, astronomers working at the Chandra X-ray Observatory used the Abell 2744's cluster mass as a gravitational lens in order to magnify distant objects directly behind it. At the time of discovery, it exceeded the distance record of QSO J0313−1806.
The discovery of this object has led astronomers to suggest the seeds of the first quasars may have been direct-collapse black holes, from the collapse of supermassive primordial stars at the beginning of our universe.
Impact on astronomical research
The Chandra-JWST discovery of a quasar with a redshift of ≈ 10.1 at the center of UHZ1 reveals that accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs) already existed at about 470 million years after the Big Bang. The detection of early black holes as they transition from "seeds" to supermassive black holes (BHs) provides good sources at high redshift, facilitating the testing on seeding and growth models for BHs.
One of the open questions about the formation of supermassive BHs is whether they originate from stellar-mass black holes, remnants from the death of massive stars or whether there are mechanisms that operate to form heavier initial seeds to begin its formation. UHZ1's data shows it requires either continuous growth exceeding the Eddington limit for >200 Myr, or a massive seed. Data collected provides a clue to the seeding mechanism and supports it.
UHZ1 as a potential first OBG candidate
The Chandra X-ray source detected in UHZ1 is Compton-thick. It has a bolometric luminosity of Lbol ~ 5 erg s, corresponding to an estimated BH mass of ~ 4 M⊙.
The data collected from UHZ1 and its quasar are in agreement with prior theoretical predictions by astronomers for a unique class of transient, high-redshift objects known as Overmassive (or Outsize) Black Hole Galaxies (OBGs, or O.B.G.s). OBGs are heavy initial black hole seeds that likely formed from the direct collapse of gas clouds. Due to the agreement between the multi-wavelength properties of UHZ1 and the theoretical model template predictions, some astronomers suggest UHZ1 is the first detected OBG candidate.
Footnotes
References
External links
Sculptor (constellation)
Quasars | UHZ1 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 570 | [
"Constellations",
"Sculptor (constellation)"
] |
75,254,721 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bene%20Meat%20Technologies | Bene Meat Technologies a.s. (BMT) is a Czech biotechnology start-up focused on research and development of technology for the production of cultivated meat on an industrial scale. It cooperates with scientific institutions and companies in the Czech Republic and abroad. The company has its laboratories on the first floor of the Cube building in Vokovice, Prague.
History
Bene Meat Technologies a.s. was founded in 2020 by Mgr. Roman Kříž, who is the project leader. The main biologist of the scientific team is Jiří Janoušek and one of the external scientists involved in the ongoing research is the immunologist Prof. RNDr. Jan Černý, Ph.D. In 2022, the BMT research team consisted of 70 scientists
Research objective
Developing a technology to produce cultured meat by propagating animal cells without using fetal bovine serum, ideally with growth factors from their own production. BMT claims that their final technology will allow its operators to produce and offer the product at prices affordable to consumers.
In March 2023, the company said that the first cultured meat product launched on the market may not be for human consumption, but as pet food. However, BMT states that the creation of meat meant for human consumption is one of their goals.
Progress
BMT is the first company registered in European Feed Materials Register for the production and sale of laboratory-grown meat for pet food; specifically cat and dog food. BMT claims to be the only entity in the world that can produce and sell this product for the pet food market. By 2024, BMT plans to make several metric tons per day of laboratory-grown meat meant for pet food.
References
Cellular agriculture
Tissue engineering
Meat substitutes
Biotechnology companies
Pet foods
Food and drink companies established in 2020 | Bene Meat Technologies | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering",
"Biology"
] | 362 | [
"Biological engineering",
"Cloning",
"Chemical engineering",
"Tissue engineering",
"Biotechnology companies",
"Biotechnology organizations",
"Medical technology"
] |
75,257,512 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waj%C5%AB | A is a hydraulic engineering and flood control structure unique to the alluvial floodplain of the Kiso Three Rivers in central Japan. It is comparable to the European polder, although a wajū is usually not reclaimed. The hardships endured for centuries by farmers whose lives revolved around the wajū has given rise to the term .
History
Since prehistoric times, sudden freshets along the course of the major rivers of Owari and Mino in late spring caused by snowmelt in the snow country, especially in the Japanese Alps and Koshi, created great suffering for agricultural communities. The wajū was developed to protect fertile riparian farmland from becoming submerged by rising water levels during these freshets. Wajū are known to have been in use since at least the 16th century, but some wajū are reputed to be much older, such as which was allegedly completed in 1319.
To develop a wajū, an area of land, usually a river island, was enclosed by a levee ring. In the event of a levee failure, most wajū incorporated structures allowing for vertical evacuation.
One evacuation system used by those who could afford to build it, such as the well-to-do gōnō, was the , a sort of tower house above the high water line built on a foundation in ishigaki style. For lower class people, including peasants and rural samurai (gōshi), who couldn't afford to build mizuya, there was the an artificial earthen high ground similar to the terps of Northern Europe or the cattle mounds built on American ranches.
Over the centuries, the wajū suffered numerous failures due to engineering deficiencies. In the 18th century, was among the first to suggest redirecting the rivers to relieve water pressure on the wajū and compensate for the inadequacies of the existing system of pressure-regulating aqueducts, known as . In the late 19th century, the wajū were improved and reinforced using technology imported from Europe.
See also
Ōgaki Castle, which is protected by a wajū
Johannis de Rijke
Tatsuta wajū sluice gates
1754 Hōreki River incident
References
Further reading
Water in Japan
Hydraulic engineering
Hydraulic structures
Flood control projects
Hydrology
Artificial landforms
Agriculture in Japan
Irrigation | Wajū | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry",
"Engineering",
"Environmental_science"
] | 462 | [
"Hydrology",
"Physical systems",
"Hydraulics",
"Civil engineering",
"Environmental engineering",
"Hydraulic engineering"
] |
75,259,344 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatreez | Tatreez () is a form of traditional Palestinian embroidery. Tatreez, meaning ‘embroidery’ in Arabic, is used to refer to the traditional style of embroidery practiced in Palestine and Palestinian diaspora communities. The contemporary form of tatreez is often dated back to the 19th century, but the style of cross-stitch embroidery called fallahi has been practiced amongst Arab communities in the Mediterranean for centuries. The embroidery is particularly associated with embellishments on traditional dress (the thobe,) with the motifs and colors representing regional identity and social relationships. Tatreez is commonly used on garments and includes a variety of symbols including birds, trees and flowers. The craft was originally practiced in rural areas of Palestine, but is now common across the Palestinian diaspora. In 2021, the art of embroidery in Palestine was recognized by UNESCO as an important intangible cultural heritage. According to Reem Kassis, this style of embroidery in particular is often celebrated as one of the most rich and exquisite.
Historically, each village in Palestine had their own tatreez patterns, with unique designs telling stories about the local people, legends, animals and plants, and various beliefs people had. The different styles of tatreez have become less distinct and have continued to evolve with the diaspora. The practice of tatreez has accreted an additional politicized significance within the context of Palestinian displacement and resistance. Tatreez patterns have incorporated nationalist symbolism within the Nakba, the Intilaqa, and the Six-Days War, and the practice remains imbued with social significance as a way to embody and propagate cultural heritage.
Origins
Hanan K. Munayyer, a scholar of Palestinian dress, considers one of the first examples of Tatreez-like embroidery to be a fragment of geometric silk cross-stitch embroidery from 11th-century Alexandria. Dresses found in a 1283 CE burial in Lebanon represent the earliest intact garments with Tatreez embroidery, and strongly resemble the regional dress of Ramallah.
Many popular Tatreez motifs mimic elements of Arab architectural and mosaic design. For example, the cup and acanthus leaf motif is often found in stone carvings.
Historically, the materials used for Tatreez embroidery were from the local area of the embroiderer. Silk was cultivated in Palestine from the sixth to the nineteenth century in order to make the embroidery thread. Before industrialization, the fabric was woven by men in home looms. Plant dyes, such as indigo or madder, were used to color the embroidery thread.
Terminology
The cross-stitch mode of embroidery is known as fallahi, from the Arabic word denoting a rural person ‘fallah.’ This is the most common mode of embroidery throughout Palestine, but certain regions are known for idiosyncratic techniques. Bethlehem embroidery usually uses a satin stitch known as tahiri, and may incorporate metallic thread embroidery (qasab,) because the thobe material was often finely woven and unsuitable for fallahi. Embroidered aspects of a thobe were often decorated before being assembled. The parts of a thobe that would often be embroidered include the chest panel (qabbah,) which has patterns and colors that vary from region to region and identify the wearer easily. Other commonly embroidered areas of the thobe include the radah (shoulderpiece,) side skirt panels (benayiq,) the front of the skirt (hiijer,) and the lower back panel (shinyar.)
Prominent motifs
A completed piece of tatreez comprises many motifs. These motifs each carry symbolic meanings, telling a story through textile. Different motifs are passed down through generations, becoming identifiers of particular villages, towns, regions, or even families. The variation reflects the deep connection between tatreez and Palestinian heritage - motifs depict the environment, history, and even daily life of Palestinians.
Tree of life: Also known as the Cypress Tree, this motif is one of the most popular, seen across regions. Symbolizing longevity, resilience, and stability, the cypress tree is often depicted in symmetrical patterns, reflecting its persistent role in the natural environment of Palestine.
Palm tree: Another common motif is the palm tree, though it is seen most frequently in relation to thobes from Ramallah. The palm tree is reflective of the Palestinian natural landscape, it symbolizes fertility and life - as is the nature of Palestine.
Khemet el Basha: A motif related to Palestinian history is the Khemet el Basha. The Khemet el Basha is also referred to as Pasha’s Tent, associated with a high ranking official from the Ottoman Empire.
Star of Bethlehem: As it’s name alludes to, this motif is incredibly popular in the region of Bethlehem, communicating messages of love and family with its ties to the Canaanite goddess of fertility.
Border Motifs: Bordering elements also play a significant role in the symbolic nature of Tatreez and Palestinian thobes. Often working to frame larger motifs, or the edges of a garment borders depict feathers, roses, soap, triangles, and toothed lines.
Each completed thobe, with a tapestry of motifs, is a direct reflection of the personal circumstances of the artist, displaying social and marital status, wealth, village of origin, even communicating personality.
Regional differences
In each region, the embroidery serves as a form of aesthetic and cultural expression and carries deep social significance, reflecting the community's identity and traditions. For instance, In the Northern regions like Bethlehem and Ramallah, the embroidery is distinguished by its intricate motifs and the use of luxurious materials, reflecting the historical and religious importance of the area. Bethlehem is especially well-known for its extravagant use of silver and gold threads in wedding attire, representing prestige and wealth. Ramallah's embroidery features detailed geometric and floral patterns, often adorning handwoven white linen used in traditional dresses, marking celebrations and significant life events.
On the other hand, the Southern areas, such as Gaza and Hebron, exhibit distinct styles. Although Gazan dresses are more simple and represent the practical needs of everyday life, they are exquisitely adorned with vibrant embroidery down the sleeves and hems. Hebron, known for its vivid cross-stitch designs on thick linen, exhibits a strong aesthetic with rich reds and greens that represent a bond with the land and local traditions. In addition to adding beauty to the clothing, the tatreez of each region is a form of identity and expression passed down through the generations, reflecting the artistry and resilience of Palestinian culture.
Tatreez after the Nakba
After the 1948 ethnic cleansing and displacement of over 700,000 Palestinians (known as the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe), the practice of tatreez was disrupted, as was every aspect of daily life. Countless treasured works were lost as the vast majority of Palestinians became refugees. Before the Nakba, embroidery was largely a family business, the technique passed down through generations of women.
After Palestinians were torn away from almost every aspect of their everyday lives, tatreez, like other routine practices, became something to preserve. The process of “heritagization” turned smaller aspects of Palestinian life into hallmarks of their existence, and resistance. Tatreez also became a necessary part of the economy for refugees- the practice was commodified as women sold their art to support their families. Many women’s organizations cropped up around this time, centered around giving women the supplies to take back their craft and their lives.
Tatreez after the 1967 Six-Day War
A second tatreez revival occurred in the 1970’s and 80’s, after the Six Day War. Commercialization of tatreez increased,the market drawing international attention to Palestine. At this point, practicing and teaching tatreez became a revolutionary act. The Palestine Liberation Organization even established tatreez workshops in refugee camps. “In short, in the 1970s and 80s, people extended resistance and the political struggle to culture and other nonpolitical domains, like the domestic sphere, that were less exposed to immediate Israeli repression: This culture resistance was imbued with folklore.” Embroidery gave Palestinian women work, power, and identity: though at this time the art was no longer just women’s work. It is now not only a symbol for Palestinian heritage but a new form of mobilization and activism.
Tatreez and the Intifadas
Throughout the First Intifada, nationalist art and imagery had a strong influence on resistance, and vice versa. This escalated Israeli censorship of Palestinian art, to the extent that the colors of the flag itself were not permitted to be shown in public. Tatreez, along with other tasks traditionally performed by women, was not only publicized but politicized into a format for nationalist rebellion. Using tatreez to display the Palestinian flag on thobes became a popular form of resistance for Palestinian women. These dresses came to be known as “intifada dresses” or “flag dresses”. Thobes became an excellent media for the palestinian flag after it was banned in public places. Women could wear their “intifada dresses” in their homes or other private places, and even if displayed in public at a protest, the dresses could not be removed off their bodies.
See also
Palestinian handicrafts
Palestinian traditional costumes
References
Palestinian handicrafts
History of Palestine (region)
Embroidery
Palestinian inventions
National symbols of the State of Palestine
Textile design
Palestinian arts | Tatreez | [
"Engineering"
] | 1,917 | [
"Textile design",
"Design"
] |
75,260,335 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agn%C3%A8s%20Beaudry | Agnès France Marie Beaudry is a Canadian mathematician specializing in algebraic topology, including stable homotopy theory, chromatic homotopy theory, equivariant homotopy theory, and applications of these theories to condensed matter physics. She is an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Education and career
Beaudry majored in mathematics at McGill University in Canada, with a minor in philosophy. After graduating in 2008, she went to Northwestern University for doctoral study in mathematics. She completed her Ph.D. in 2013, with the dissertation The Duality Resolution Spectral Sequence for the Moore Spectrum at the Prime 2 supervised by Paul Goerss.
After working at the University of Chicago from 2013 to 2016 as an L. E. Dickson Instructor in mathematics, she joined the Department of Mathematics at the University of Colorado as an assistant professor in 2016. She was promoted to associate professor in 2022.
Recognition
Beaudry was elected as a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in the 2024 class of fellows.
References
External links
Home page
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Canadian mathematicians
Canadian women mathematicians
Topologists
McGill University alumni
Northwestern University alumni
University of Colorado Boulder faculty
Fellows of the American Mathematical Society | Agnès Beaudry | [
"Mathematics"
] | 245 | [
"Topologists",
"Topology"
] |
75,260,711 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aureoboletus%20flaviporus | Aureoboletus flaviporus, commonly known as the viscid bolete, is a species of bolete fungus found in western North America, where it grows in ectomycorrhizal association with coast live oak, madrone, manzanita, and possibly with tanoak. In California, this mushroom appears during the rainy season in locations south of Mendocino County. This mushroom is "fairly common" but does not appear in large groupings, only as one-offs or small clusters in scattered locations.
The cap is sticky-slimy, the pores are neon yellow, and this flesh of this bolete does not stain blue when it is cut or torn. The taste is said to be "acidic-lemony," and the overall edibility "mediocre" because of a deficient combination of flavor and texture. From 1905 until 2010, the binomial name of this fungus was Boletus flaviporus.
See also
Oak-loving bolete
List of North American boletes
References
Further reading
flaviporus
Fungi of North America
Fungi described in 1905
Edible fungi
Fungus species
Mycorrhizal associates of oaks | Aureoboletus flaviporus | [
"Biology"
] | 243 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
75,261,622 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD%2036384 | HD 36384 is a star with an orbiting exoplanet companion in the northern constellation Camelopardalis. It is dimly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 6.19. The distance to this system is approximately 693 light-years based on parallax measurements, but is drifting closer with a heliocentric radial velocity of −5 km/s.
This is an evolved red giant star with a stellar classification of M0 III. It is a suspected variable star with a pulsation period of around 586 days. The star has 1.1 times the mass of the Sun and has expanded to 38.4 times the Sun's radius. It is radiating 388 times the luminosity of the Sun from its enlarged photosphere at an effective temperature of 3,940 K.
In 2017, radial velocity variations were detected in this star, which were considered to most likely be caused by stellar pulsations. A follow-up study by the same team in 2023 instead interpreted the radial velocity variations as being caused by a planetary companion, in addition to stellar activity. This is a super-jovian exoplanet with at least 6.6 times the mass of Jupiter; the exact mass is unknown since the orbital inclination has not been determined. It was among the six exoplanet discoveries that marked the 5,500 discovery milestone.
References
M-type giants
Pulsating variables
Planetary systems with one confirmed planet
Camelopardalis
36384
026638 | HD 36384 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 310 | [
"Camelopardalis",
"Constellations"
] |
75,266,397 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnePlus%2011 | The OnePlus 11 is an Android-based smartphone manufactured by OnePlus and co-developed with Hasselblad. It was released on January 9th, 2023 and succeeded the OnePlus 10 Pro. It ships with a screen protector pre-applied.
It diverted from usual portfolio offering, in which there is only one flagship offered. This is an effort by OnePlus to streamline its flagship and marked the end of 'Pro' naming scheme onwards. There is a lesser variant called OnePlus 11R which is only available in India.
Design
The OnePlus 11 brings a sleek and modern design that reflects the brand's focus on aesthetics and build quality. It is composed of glass and metal combination. Both front and back are covered in Gorilla Glass Victus and 5 respectively. It is supported by aluminium frame.
At launch, two colors were available, with color addition later on:
Titan Black - has a matte-frosted glass with silky finish. Fingerprint-resistant design.
Eternal Green - has a glossy finish, inspired by the shade of rainforest dusk. Features an internal layering treatment that reduces fingerprint smudges. Only available for 256GB model and above.
OnePlus also brings another new edition, called OnePlus 11 Jupiter Rock Limited Edition, also powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It is only available in China.
Its distinguishing appearance is on the design of its back camera. It features a circular camera housing on the back, which contains a triple-camera setup and the flash. Hasselblad branding is visible in the middle. The circular design is distinctive enough to make it one of the standout design elements of the OnePlus 11.
It has curved front screen and back design. The placement of front camera is at upper left. Volume rocker is situated at left frame and there is a unique feature called alert slider, which make a return after being removed by OnePlus for previous series on the right. Power button is at the lower right frame.
Sim tray, microphone, USB C connector and speaker are on the bottom. The top hosts another speaker and microphone.
Hardware
Chipset
OnePlus 11 uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor with the Adreno 740 GPU.
Display
It has curved 120Hz 2K Super Fluid AMOLED, manufactured by Samsung Display. This 6.7-inch screen is of third generation LTPO AMOLED and has 1440 x 3216px resolution. Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos HDR standard, 10-bit color depth are on the list. It supports variable refresh rate.
Camera system
Connectivity
OnePlus 11 supports eSIM, aside from conventional dual nano sim card slot.
It has Bluetooth version 5.3. Codec supported: aptX HD, aptX, LDAC, LHDC, AAC, SBC.
Battery & charging
OnePlus 11 comes with non-removable dual cell battery, 2,500mAh each, totalling to 5,000mAh. To achieve the fastest charging speed, it uses proprietary OnePlus's technology, Super VOOC 100W. Those in United States are supplied with 80W variant due to the country limitation on voltage socket.
Average charging speed to full capacity is around 25 minutes using global proprietary charger.
Software & support
OnePlus 11 ships with OxygenOS 13.0 on top of Android 13 for global market. China variant uses ColorOS. OnePlus claims to support at least four generations of android OS upgrades and five years of security updates from the launch date.
Reception
Allison Johnson at The Verge praised its screen, long software support, and price tag while criticized its lack of wireless charging and inconsistent telephoto camera performance.
References
External links
OnePlus mobile phones
Phablets
Android (operating system) devices
Mobile phones with multiple rear cameras
Mobile phones with 8K video recording
Mobile phones introduced in 2023 | OnePlus 11 | [
"Technology"
] | 805 | [
"Crossover devices",
"Phablets"
] |
75,268,648 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olezarsen | Olezarsen, sold under the brand name Tryngolza, is a medication used in the treatment of familial chylomicronemia syndrome. Olezarsen is an apolipoprotein C-III-directed antisense oligonucleotide. It is given by injection under the skin.
Olezarsen was approved for medical use in the United States in December 2024. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers it to be a first-in-class medication.
Medical uses
Olezarsen is indicated as an adjunct to diet to reduce triglycerides in adults with familial chylomicronemia syndrome.
History
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the application of olezarsen orphan drug designation in February 2024.
Society and culture
Legal status
Olezarsen was approved for medical use in the United States in December 2024.
Names
Olezarsen is the international nonproprietary name.
Olezarsen is sold under the brand name Tryngolza.
References
Further reading
External links
Antisense RNA
Hypolipidemic agents
Nucleic acids
Orphan drugs
Triglycerides | Olezarsen | [
"Chemistry"
] | 238 | [
"Biomolecules by chemical classification",
"Nucleic acids"
] |
75,269,142 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward%20A.%20Bouchet%20Award | The Edward A. Bouchet Award is an annual prize presented by the American Physical Society (APS) to recognize distinguished physicists from underrepresented communities who have made significant contributions to research in the field of physics and for the advancement of minority scientists. The award provides a stipend of $5,000 and travel expenses for attending an APS meeting and visiting up to three institutions for talks and classroom visits.
The prize has been awarded since 1994 and is named after Edward A. Bouchet, the first African American to earn a doctorate degree from Yale University. He earned a Ph.D. in physics from Yale University in 1876.
Recipients
2024: Alvine Kamaha
2023: Carlos R. Ordóñez
2022: Paul L. J. Guèye
2021: Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
2020: Nadya Mason
2019: Carlos O. Lousto
2018: Miguel José Yacamán
2017: Enrico J. Ramirez-Ruiz
2016: Pablo Laguna
2015: Jorge Lopez
2014: Luz Martinez-Miranda
2013: Stephon Alexander
2012: Ramon Lopez
2011: Peter Delfyett
2010: Herman B. White
2009: Gaston R. Gutierrez
2008: Ronald E. Mickens
2007: Gabriela Gonzalez
2006: Angel Garcia
2005: Godfrey Gumbs
2004: Juan M. Maldacena
2003: Homer Alfred Neal
2002: Oliver Keith Baker
2001: Jorge Pullin
2000: Philip W. Phillips
1999: Alfred Z. Msezane
1998: Jose D. Garcia Jr.
1997: Larry Donnie Gladney
1996: Anthony Michael Johnson
1995: Joseph Johnson III
1994: Sylvester James Gates
See also
List of physics awards
References
Awards of the American Physical Society
Physics awards | Edward A. Bouchet Award | [
"Technology"
] | 342 | [
"Science and technology awards",
"Physics awards"
] |
75,271,433 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh%20P.%20Taylor%20Jr. | Hugh Pettingill Taylor Jr. (December 27, 1932, Holbrook, Arizona – October 26, 2021) was an American geochemist.
Biography
Hugh P. Taylor Jr. and his (non-identical) twin brother lived in Arizona and New Mexico until 1943 when they moved with their parents to Los Angeles County, California. The family struggled financially. He and his brother attended South Gate High School. Their parents divorced in 1944. In 1949 Hugh P. Taylor Jr. scored the highest on a state-wide chemistry exam and won a scholarship from the American Chemical Society, enabling him to attend California Institute of Technology (Caltech). There he played varsity football, under head coach Bert LaBrucherie, and was inspired to study geology by a course taught by Professor Robert P. Sharp with the teaching assistants Clarence Allen and Leon Silver. Taylor graduated in 1954 with a B.S. in geochemistry. He was one of the first two graduating geochemistry majors in Caltech's history. From 1954 to 1955 Taylor was a graduate student at Harvard University, where he graduated with an M.S. in geology. In 1955 he returned to Caltech as a graduate student in geochemistry. He spent the summers of 1955 and 1956 working for the U.S. Steel Corporation to explore for iron ores in southeastern Alaska. His 1959 Ph.D. thesis O¹⁸/0¹⁶ Ratios in Coexisting Minerals of Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks was supervised by Samuel Epstein. Taylor married his first wife in 1959.
Taylor had a temporary teaching position at Caltech until the end of 1960. From January 1961 until the summer of 1961 he held an appointment as an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University. At Caltech he was an assistant professor from 1962 to 1964, an associate professor from 1964 to 1969, and a full professor 1969 to 2002, when he retired as professor emeritus. From 1981 he held an appointment as Robert P. Sharp Professor of Geology. From 1987 to 1994 Taylor served as Caltech's executive officer for geology.
Taylor was in the autumn semester of 1979 a Crosby Visiting professor at M.I.T. He was in the academic year 1980–1981 a geologist the U.S. Geological Survey in Saudi Arabia and in the academic year 1981–1982 a visiting professor at Stanford University (shortly after divorcing his first wife). He served as editor for Chemical Geology and as an associate editor for Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
Taylor's Ph.D. research on oxygen isotopes formed the basis of much his scientific career over decades. He gained a reputation as a leading expert on stable isotopes in geochemistry. He studied rocks in terms of isotope variations of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, silicon, and other elements. In the 1960s Epstein and Taylor did research on oxygen isotope variation in tektites. In the 1970s Epstein and Taylor analyzed isotopic compositions of samples of lunar rocks and minerals, returned from 6 Apollo missions — Apollo 11, 12, & 14 to 17. Epstein and Taylor also analyzed samples returned by Soviet Union's Luna 20 mission.
Taylor was the author or co-author of more than 150 scientific articles. He was a co-editor, with John W. Valley and James R. O'Neil, of the 1986 book Stable Isotopes in High Temperature Geological Processes He did research with Bruno Turi on igneous rocks in Italy. Taylor and his colleagues did research on the interactions of the oceans with the underlying igneous crust, the hydrothermal circulation cells that form around intrusive igneous rocks, the geochemical origins of ore deposits (such as the Comstock Lode), and oxygen isotope analyses of minerals in stony meteorites.
In 1981 Taylor was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences and also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded in 1993 the Arthur L. Day Medal and in 1995 the Urey Medal. He delivered the 30th William Smith Lecture to the Geological Society of London.
Upon his death in 2021, Hugh P. Taylor was survived by his second wife and his son.
Selected publications
References
1932 births
2021 deaths
20th-century American geologists
21st-century American geologists
American geochemists
California Institute of Technology alumni
Harvard University alumni
California Institute of Technology faculty
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences | Hugh P. Taylor Jr. | [
"Chemistry"
] | 895 | [
"Geochemists",
"American geochemists"
] |
75,271,665 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-H%20mode%20transition | Low to High Confinement Mode Transition, more commonly referred to as L-H transition, is a phenomenon in the fields of plasma physics and magnetic confinement fusion, signifying the transition from less efficient plasma confinement to highly efficient modes. The L-H transition, a milestone in the development of nuclear fusion, enables the confinement of high-temperature plasmas (ionized gases at extremely high temperatures). The transition is dependent on many factors such as density, magnetic field strength, heating method, plasma fueling, and edge plasma control, and is made possible through mechanisms such as edge turbulence, E×B shear, edge electric field, and edge current and plasma flow. Researchers studying this field use tools such as Electron Cyclotron Emission, Thomson Scattering, magnetic diagnostics, and Langmuir probes to gauge the PLH (energy needed for the transition) and seek to lower this value. This confinement is a necessary condition for sustaining the fusion reactions, which involve the combination of atomic nuclei, leading to the release of vast amounts of energy.
Background
Key terms and concepts needed to comprehend L-H Transition include understanding plasma and fusion.
Plasma
Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter, other than solid, liquid, and gas. In contrast to other states, plasma is composed of ionized gas particles, which cause the separation of its electrons from atoms/molecules and result in the creation of an electrically conductive medium. It occurs in phenomena like lightning, stars, and fusion plasma.
Fusion
Fusion is a nuclear process in which two atomic nuclei combine to form a single bigger nucleus. This phenomenon releases a substantial amount of energy and is the process that powers stars. On Earth, controlled nuclear fusion is being pursued as a clean and virtually limitless energy source. It involves the fusion of isotopes like deuterium (hydrogen atom with 1 neutron) and tritium (hydrogen atom with 2 neutrons), and generates energy in the form of kinetic energy (energy in the form of motion/high speed) of released particles, such as neutrons, and intense heat. The principle is based on Einstein's equation E=mc^2, and as the resulting helium is marginally lighter than the two original hydrogens, the difference in the mass is converted into energy, known as mass defect. It is this energy that can be converted into clean electricity without producing waste.
Overview of Confinement Modes
Sources:
Plasma in both L-Mode and H-Mode exhibit distinct characteristics related to turbulence, control, power thresholds, energy efficiency, and confinement durations.
PLH (H-Mode Power Threshold)
PLH
PLH (H-mode power threshold) is an essential parameter in nuclear fusion. It represents the minimum power input required to trigger the transition from a low-confinement mode (L-Mode) to a high-confinement mode (H-Mode) in plasma confinement devices, such as tokamaks or stellarators. The PLH signifies the point at which the plasma attains the conditions necessary for enhanced energy confinement, reduced turbulence, and improved stability characteristic of H-Mode. Controlled nuclear fusion requires understanding and precise control of the PLH in order to facilitate the continuous generation of energy from the fusion process.
Factors Influencing PLH
Plasma Density and Magnetic Field Strength
H-Mode Power Threshold (PLH) in experimental nuclear-controlled fusion is highly dependent on both plasma confinement and magnetic field intensity. Higher plasma densities and stronger magnetic fields correlate positively with the elevated PLH.
τ is the confinement time
n is plasma density
V is the volume of the plasma
B is the magnetic field strength
Higher plasma densities result in increased particle collisions, enhancing the confinement of energy and increasing the plasma's stability. The greater the density, the higher the threshold of power (PLH) required to transition from L-Mode to H-Mode. The increased particle density allows for improved plasma confinement, which is vital for sustaining fusion reactions efficiently.
Similarly, stronger magnetic fields serve to contain and shape the plasma, mitigating its loss and preventing contact with the reactor's walls, which would ultimately lead to the reaction's failure. This magnetic confinement is essential for preventing energy losses and ensuring that the plasma reaches the conditions necessary for the L-Mode to H-Mode transition.
Heating Method
The heating methods used in fusion devices significantly impact the PLH. Various techniques, such as neutral beam injection (introduction high energy neutral particles to increase plasma temperature), radio frequency heating (uses radiofrequency waves to increase kinetic energy of particles), and magnetic confinement(uses magnetic fields to control extremely hot plasma), are employed to heat the plasma to the required temperatures for H-Mode. The choice of heating method and the effectiveness of energy transfer to the plasma are key factors in determining the PLH.
Plasma Fueling
Plasma fueling, which involves introducing additional fuel into the plasma, is another factor influencing the PLH. By injecting fuel, researchers can alter the plasma's density and temperature. An efficient and well-calibrated fueling system can elevate the plasma density, increasing the number of particles within the plasma, which is essential for enhancing confinement and stability. Additionally, effective fueling contributes to the rise in plasma temperature, a vital factor in achieving the conditions required for the L-Mode to H-Mode transition.
Edge Plasma Control
Edge plasma control is an important aspect of achieving and maintaining H-Mode in fusion devices. The edge plasma region, located at the outer boundary of the plasma confinement area, is susceptible to instabilities and turbulence.
The edge plasma is sensitive to disturbances because it's close to the magnetic confinement boundaries, where the plasma interacts with the walls of the containment vessel. These disturbances can lead to issues like uneven heat and particle movement or localized turbulence, which affect the transition to H-Mode.
To tackle this techniques such as magnetic shaping and advanced tools can control the edge plasma. The aim is to reduce these disturbances and make the edge plasma more stable. By regulating factors such as temperature, density, and impurities in the edge plasma, researchers can influence the PLH (H-Mode Power Threshold). Effective control of these factors ensures that the conditions for transitioning from L-Mode to H-Mode are met and maintained.
Methods for Measuring and Determining PLH
Electron Cyclotron Emissions (ECE)
Electron Cyclotron Emission (ECE) diagnostics, involve observing the radiation emitted by electrons as they undergo cyclotron motion (motion where a particle moves in a spiral path away from the center) in the magnetic field. This technique provides valuable insights into plasma parameters, including electron temperature and density. By analyzing the emitted radiation's spectral characteristics, researchers can precisely measure these properties, aiding in the determination of PLH.
Thomson Scattering
Thomson scattering employs laser beams to scatter off plasma electrons. The scattered light's characteristics show data on the velocity and temperature of these electrons, providing critical information about the plasma's thermal energy.
Magnetic Diagnostics
Magnetic sensors and probes are employed to map the magnetic fields within the plasma confinement device. Knowledge of the magnetic field's strength and configuration is fundamental for determining PLH, as it directly affects plasma stability and confinement.
Langmuir Probes
Langmuir probes are small electrodes inserted into the plasma to measure its properties, including electron temperature, density, and plasma potential. These measurements are critical for evaluating PLH and understanding the behavior of the plasma.
Transition Mechanisms
A few key processes that make the transition between L-H transition possible and allow for the improved stability of H-mode are edge turbulence, E×B shear, edge electric field, edge current, and plasma flow.
Mechanisms Driving L-H Transition
Edge Turbulence
The behavior of edge turbulence, a common feature in plasmas, is closely linked to the L-H transition. Researchers study how turbulence responds to changes in parameters like E×B shear, Er gradients, and other variables.
E×B Shear
One of the mechanisms thought to be responsible for triggering the L-H transition is the phenomenon known as E×B shear stabilization of turbulence. This refers to the rotation of the plasma resulting from the interaction between the electric field (E) and the magnetic field (B). As the plasma approaches the transition point, the E×B shear increases, creating a shearing (moving in a way that opposes the turbulent transport of particles, heat, and energy) motion within the plasma. This shearing motion suppresses turbulent transport (turbulent structures, such as eddies and vortices, within the plasma), promoting stability and improved confinement characteristic of H-mode.
Edge Electric Field (Er)
The behavior of the plasma at its edge, specifically the edge electric field (Er), plays a role in the L-H transition. As the transition approaches, there is the emergence of increasingly steep Er gradients near the plasma's edge. These gradient changes are closely associated with the suppression of turbulent transport, which refers to the erratic movement of particles and heat within the plasma. This suppression marks the shift to the H-mode, a state of plasma confinement that is significantly more efficient and stable, making it a key goal in nuclear fusion research.
Edge Current and Plasma Flow
The L-H transition's characteristics are further influenced by edge current and the toroidal flow of plasma. The complex interactions between these two elements can introduce variability in the threshold conditions for the transition to the more efficient H-mode.
Future Implications
L-H transition in nuclear fusion, if understood and used correctly, has the potential for clean energy and sustainable power plants.
Importance of Understanding L-H Transition in Nuclear Fusion
Enhanced Confinement
The transition to H-Mode brings about an improvement in plasma confinement. This leads to increased energy production and more efficient fusion reactions.
Pedestal Formation
H-Mode is associated with the development of a "pedestal" in the plasma profile. This pedestal acts as a protective barrier, preventing the plasma from contacting the reactor walls. The pedestal enhances stability and enables the plasma to reach the conditions necessary for sustained fusion reactions.
PLH Optimization
Achieving and maintaining H-Mode requires reaching the PLH (H-Mode Power Threshold). Understanding the factors that influence PLH, such as plasma density, magnetic field strength, heating methods, and edge plasma control, is essential for ensuring a smooth transition and sustained H-Mode operation.
Future Energy Solutions
Controlled nuclear fusion has the potential to revolutionize the energy sector. It offers a clean and virtually limitless energy source, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing energy demands. The L-H transition is a critical step towards harnessing the immense energy release of fusion reactions.
References
Plasma phenomena | L-H mode transition | [
"Physics"
] | 2,163 | [
"Plasma phenomena",
"Physical phenomena",
"Plasma physics"
] |
75,271,883 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubblegram%20imaging | Bubblegram imagining is a technological device developed in 2012 by Dr. Alasdair Steven from NIAMS Laboratory of Structural Biology Research, in collaboration with Dr. Lindsay Black at the University of Maryland Medical School. Where the device or technique is used in research and medical fields in order to identify protein structures of viruses and bacteria. A three-dimensional computer reconstruction (computer animation, graphics, and virtual reality to capture such images) is also used to reconstruct the initial images of the specimens before they are destroyed.
High exposure of X-ray crystallography, (beams of X-rays being aimed into different directions of the proteins/bacteria structure), radiation is utilized to see the structures of the bacteria. The structures are very sensitive to the radiation that destroys the virus or bacteria being analyzed. You need 3D computer reconstruction to capture the images of the layouts before they are damaged. Bubblegram imaging made it possible to identify several molecular cells, nucleic acids, and more, by incorporating these two main components into one technique. It has helped further the understanding of how molecular structures interact with viruses to advance medicinal practices. It is important to see or identify certain viruses with bubblegram imaging in order to create vaccines or treatments for patients.
Evolution
Bubblegram imaging is a recent technique created to view the surfaces of specimens. The prior method used was Cryo-EM, and it also served the same purpose to identify the structures of bacteria, viruses, and proteins. Cryo-EM had some defects that couldn't fully capture the internal structures as the structures were damaged with radiation before any images could be captured. So, this is where bubblegram imaging comes into the picture.
Cryo-electron Microscopy (cryo-EM)
Cryo-electron Microscopy (cryo-EM) is the initial technique that allowed scientists to image particles and structures on the surface of viruses. An electron microscope is utilized so electrons illuminate the viruses or bacteria observed. The light is manipulated at different angles and this creates multiple images of the bacterial structure. Radiation is emitted by the electrons since they are being shot at high speeds. However, this radiation damages the original structures. So, the researchers had to find alternatives to where they could capture moments before the structures were denigrated.
How Bubblegram Imaging was created
Bubblegram imaging replaced the cryo-EM in January 2012 as it displayed exact representations of the structures and cellular complexes. The researchers found that high radiation exposure made the internal structures of the specimens look like bubbles clumped up together. So, they named this technique after a bubblegram. A bubblegram is a block of glass or transparent plastic that has special engravings inside, that when you shift the block around you can see all the angles and details of whatever image has been printed. The computer images help the researchers recognize, and see 3 dimensional angles of the assembly of the objects, which is another characteristic similar to a bubblegram.
Three-dimensional computer reconstruction
Three-dimensional computer reconstruction is when a specimen, item, or object is observed under a designated computer and then recreated with virtual technology on the computer. In this process, you try to reconstruct the actual object observed with the use of 2D images, or previous photographs of the item. Due to the X-ray crystallography, the structures are exposed to radiation so the computer is able to manipulate the image of the protein structures to see its surface seconds before it was exposed to the X-rays. The computer is able to produce images that highlight different parts of the surface in different colors or shades so that it is easier for the researchers to identify the internal assembly. It provides accurate angles of the 2D image by using advanced points of view, lighting, and technological components. The computer has camera calibration which includes intrinsic and extrinsic parameters making it possible to extract all of the certain features within the structure.
Intrinsic parameter- the internal properties of the camera like how it focuses on different lengths, optics, and overall image quality
Extrinsic parameters-is how the camera interacts with its surroundings and correlates with the world's 3D points
X-ray crystallography
X-ray crystallography is one of the essential components in bubblegram imaging as it is the process of how X-ray radiation is used to identify structures and surfaces of specimens. The electromagnetic radiation emitted is from the charged electrons being controlled to reveal the patterns formed by the protein.
X-ray crystallography is a tool that is able to identify the structure of a crystal at the molecular and atomic levels; by using electromagnetic radiation, in specific X-ray beams. Within the process of X-ray crystallography clouds of electrons form, and these clouds have the equivalent wavelength of X-ray radiation. This is why the light scattered by the electrons is called "diffraction". Electron diffraction, are patterns formed from the electron beams that help locate the atoms in the crystal structure. Electron beams are streams of electricity-charged electrons that are being deflected, charged at and collide with each other to create the patterns needed. electrons that play a huge role in resulting the (further explain diffraction) After determining the atoms they can then analyze the density of the electrons to map the protein structure with the Fourier transformation calculation. The Fourier transformation is the calculation that must be used as it calculates the frequencies present in the structure with the Fourier transformation calculation. The Fourier transformation is the calculation that must be used as it calculates the frequencies present in the function or experiment. These calculations are usually done with computers since their software can be programmed to find the solution.
A lot of steps go into successfully viewing molecular level layouts which is why the bubblegram imaging technique is so useful because it uses x-ray crystallography along with 3D computer reconstruction to produce accurate images that will continue improving the research and medicinal fields.
References
X-ray computed tomography
X-ray crystallography | Bubblegram imaging | [
"Chemistry",
"Materials_science"
] | 1,198 | [
"X-ray crystallography",
"Crystallography"
] |
75,272,374 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%20871 | NGC 871 is a barred spiral galaxy in the Aries constellation. Its discovery and first description was realized by William Herschel on October 14, 1784 and the findings made public through his Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars in 1786.
By using the galaxies' radial velocities and distances as a grouping factor, astronomers assign this galaxy to LGG (Lyon Groups of Galaxies) 53 along with 8 other members (UGC 1693, UGC 1761, NGC 876, NGC 877, UGC 1817, IC 1791 and UGC 1773).
Galaxy group NGC 871/6/7
At the current epoch, most galaxies can be found in medium-density group environments, where tidal interactions play an important role in galactic evolution. Several nearby, gas-rich groups exhibit clear signs of these interactions, giving the opportunity for scientists to study how galaxies are formed and interact with each other.
In 2012 astronomers conducted an extensive survey to measure the Hl emissions from NGC 871 and other galaxies in LGG 53, using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope. This galaxy group first attracted attention due to its gas-rich interaction as well as harboring AGC (Arecibo General Catalog) 749170, a galaxy with a mass of ~ M☉. This group resides in a common HI distribution with a total HI mass of Mhl 6 x 10 M☉. Such a massive structure is very rare in the local Universe (galaxies with a Mhl > M☉ represents less 2 per cent of cases) and each large spiral in NGC 871/6/7 seems to exceeds this value.
The study suggests seven of the eight gas-rich detections (three spirals and four dwarfs) contain stellar components and appear to be standard dark-matter dominated galaxies that were built during the epoch of galaxy assembly. AGC 749170 however is probably the result of major mergers and very active tidal interaction, resulting in the massive structure 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.
Aries (constellation)
Barred spiral galaxies
0871
J02171073+1432521
8722
Astronomical objects discovered in 1784
Discoveries by William Herschel | NGC 871 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 468 | [
"Aries (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
75,273,699 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD%20169904 | HD 169904 (HR 6912; 35 G. Octantis) is a solitary star located in the southern circumpolar constellation Octans. It has an apparent magnitude of 6.26, placing it near the limit for naked eye visibility, even under ideal conditions. Gaia DR3 parallax measurements imply a distance of 482 light-years and it is currently drifting closer with a somewhat constrained radial velocity of . At its current distance, HD 169904's brightness is diminished by 0.24 magnitudes due to interstellar extinction and it has an absolute magnitude of +0.19.
HD 169904 has a stellar classification of B8 V, indicating that it is an ordinary B-type main-sequence star that is generating energy via hydrogen fusion at its core. It has 3.25 times the mass of the Sun and 2.42 times the radius of the Sun. It radiates 141 times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of , giving it a blue-white hue when viewed in the night sky. HD 169904 is metal deficient with an iron abundance of [Fe/H] = −0.18 or 66.1% of the Sun's, and it spins rapidly with a projected rotational velocity of . HD 169904 is estimated to have completed 47.5% of its main sequence lifetime.
The object was listed as a suspected variable star based on photometric observations, but subsequent observations have not confirmed this.
References
B-type main-sequence stars
Suspected variables
Octans
Octantis, 35
CD-81 00693
169904
091723
6912
00351920521 | HD 169904 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 349 | [
"Octans",
"Constellations"
] |
68,072,537 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RVT-802 | RVT-802 (allogeneic cultured postnatal thymus-derived tissue) is a medication being developed by Enzyvant Therapeutics Ireland Limited for the treatment of congenital athymia (absence of a thymus gland), especially in the context of DiGeorge syndrome.
Development history
Enzyvant licensed the technology underlying RVT-802 from Duke University in 2017. In the same year, the Food and Drug Administration granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy – the second such approval ever to be granted – status to RVT-802. In December 2019, the Food and Drug Administration raised concerns about the manufacturing of RVT-802, and declined to approve it, instead issuing a Complete Response Letter. In April 2021, Enzyvant resubmitted its Biologics License Application. It is expected that the review of RVT-802 will conclude in October 2021 (PDUFA date).
Method of action
RVT-802 is an investigational treatment for congenital athymia, primarily associated with DiGeorge syndrome. It is a tissue-based therapy that consists of cultured donor thymus-derived tissue. RVT-802 consists of donor thymus-derived tissue that is cultured and surgically implanted into the recipient
In patients with congenital athymia, the thymus gland is absent. Because of the crucial role the thymus gland plays in the maturation and differentiation of T cells, athymia results in severe immunodeficiency, typically resulting in death within the first two years of life.
RVT-802 is manufactured by extracting thymus tissue from infants undergoing cardiac surgery, depleting it of immature T cells to prevent graft-versus-host disease, then implanting the processed tissue into the recipient's leg, where it fulfils the immunological role of the thymus.
References
Immunology
Thymus
Orphan drugs | RVT-802 | [
"Biology"
] | 389 | [
"Immunology"
] |
68,073,128 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datavant | Datavant is a health information technology company based in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, which develops and maintains a digital ecosystem for the exchange of healthcare data. Datavant's clients include clinical research organizations, pharmaceutical companies, payers, analytics companies, hospitals, and providers, operating primarily in the US healthcare market.
Along with the Health Care Cost Institute, Snowflake, Elsevier, Parexel, and others, Datavant operates the COVID-19 Research Database, which "enables public health and policy researchers to use real-world data to understand and combat the COVID-19 pandemic."
History
Datavant was co-founded by Roivant Sciences in 2017 with a focus on data management in support of clinical trials. Datavant's founding CEO was Travis May, a former co-founder of LiveRamp.
The company received a $40.5mm Series A investment in 2018 led by Roivant Sciences, followed by a $40mm Series B investment in 2020. In June 2021, Datavant entered into a seven billion dollar deal to merge with the healthcare information management company Ciox Health. Following the merger, May became president and joined the company's board, while Ciox's CEO Pete McCabe become the CEO of the joint entity that continued under the Datavant name. Also in June 2021, Datavant announced a partnership with Biodesix, a data-driven diagnostics company.
References
External links
Health information technology companies
Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Health informatics
2017 establishments in California
Privately held companies based in California | Datavant | [
"Biology"
] | 317 | [
"Health informatics",
"Medical technology"
] |
68,073,712 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%20Moghbazar%20explosion | The Moghbazar explosion took place on 27 June 2021 at the wireless gate of Moghbazar in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. At least 7 people were killed and more than 100 injured, out of whom 66 were admitted to various hospitals. Police suspect the incident was caused by frozen gas.
Casualties and damage
Hundreds of people were injured in the blast. Six people were killed. Among the injured, about 66 people are undergoing treatment at the hospital. Most of the injured were from nearby buildings, a few bus passengers and pedestrians.
The three-storey old building on 79 Outer Circular Road on the Mouchak-Magbazar road has partially collapsed. Sounds and blast waves caused by the blast damaged 14 nearby multi-storey buildings. 12 of the buildings are commercial and 2 are residential. In one building was the office of the online news portal 'Aparajey Bangla'. The damaged buildings are: building no. 79 on Outer Circular Road, Rashmono Specialized Hospital, Nazrul School, Arang Showroom, Bishal Center, Dom-Ino Commercial, Best Buy Showroom, Bengal Trades Center, Calcutta Dry Cleaners, Moghbazar Plaza, Hamdard Medical and Sales Center and the Vision Emporium Showroom. The blast also damaged three local buses and wounded their occupants.
References
2021 fires in Asia
Gas explosions
2020s in Dhaka
Building and structure fires in Dhaka
Explosions in 2021
Industrial fires and explosions in Dhaka
Building and structure collapses in 2021
June 2021 events in Bangladesh
Building and structure collapses caused by fire
2021 disasters in Bangladesh
Building and structure collapses in Asia
2021 industrial disasters | 2021 Moghbazar explosion | [
"Chemistry"
] | 328 | [
"Natural gas safety",
"Gas explosions"
] |
68,073,714 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosauroid | The dinosauroid is a hypothetical species created by Dale A. Russell in 1982. Russell theorized that if a dinosaur such as Stenonychosaurus had not perished in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, its descendants might have evolved to fill the same ecological niche as humans. While the theory has been met with criticism from other scientists, the dinosauroid has been featured widely in books and documentaries since the theory's inception.
Theory
In 1982, Dale A. Russell, then curator of vertebrate fossils at the National Museum of Canada in Ottawa, conjectured a possible evolutionary path for Stenonychosaurus, if it had not perished in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, suggesting that it could have evolved into intelligent beings similar in body plan to humans. Over geologic time, Russell noted that there had been a steady increase in the encephalization quotient or EQ (the relative brain weight when compared to other species with the same body weight) among the dinosaurs. Russell had discovered the first Troodontid skull, and noted that, while its EQ was low compared to humans, it was six times higher than that of other dinosaurs. Russell suggested that if the trend in Stenonychosaurus evolution had continued to the present, its brain case could by now measure 1,100 cm3, comparable to that of a human.
Troodontids had semi-manipulative fingers, able to grasp and hold objects to a certain degree, and binocular vision. Russell proposed that his dinosauroid, like members of the troodontid family, would have had large eyes and three fingers on each hand, one of which would have been partially opposed. Russell also speculated that the dinosauroid would have had a toothless beak. As with most modern reptiles (and birds), he conceived of its genitalia as internal. Russell speculated that it would have required a navel, as a placenta aids the development of a large brain case. However, it would not have possessed mammary glands, and would have fed its young, as some birds do, on regurgitated food. He speculated that its language would have sounded somewhat like bird song.
Reflecting on the dinosauroid theory, Russel said in an interview in 2000;
The theory, perhaps due to its outlandish premise and the dinosauroid's striking image, became a staple in dinosaur books published throughout the 1980s and into the 2000s.
Sculpture
Dale Russell worked in collaboration with taxidermist and artist Ron Seguin to create models of both a Stenonychosaurus and the fictional dinosauroid. While the model of Stenonychosaurus was constructed to reflect the biology of Stenonychosaurus as accurately as possible, the dinosauroid was wholly fabricated. The models were made in tandem, the Stenonychosaurus model taking about seven months to construct and the dinosauroid model taking about three and a half months to construct. The two models were built using similar techniques, built up over a skeleton of the creature, the final sculpt then being recast in fiberglass and filled with sand.
It can be assumed Seguin's sculpture depicts a male dinosauroid since Russell conjectured that males of the species could have had a wattle under their chin.
Reception
Russell's thought experiment has been met with criticism from other paleontologists since the 1980s, many of whom point out that his Dinosauroid is overly anthropomorphic. Gregory S. Paul (1988) and Thomas R. Holtz, Jr., consider it "suspiciously human" and Darren Naish has argued that a large-brained, highly intelligent troodontid would retain a more standard theropod body plan, with a horizontal posture and long tail, and would probably manipulate objects with the snout and feet in the manner of a bird, rather than with human-like "hands".
As Darren Naish explained in a 2012 Scientific American article on the subject of the dinosauroid,
Some authors, however, had more favourable opinions on the dinosauroid, with David Norman remarking in the 1985 book The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs that “Such an idea is an obviously fanciful, though provocative thought.”
The dinosauroid theory, along with the often repeated fact that Troodontids were the most intelligent dinosaurs, may have led to an overestimation of its intelligence among the general public; while Stenonychosaurus did have a larger brain to body ratio when compared to other theropod dinosaurs of its time, its intelligence was likely comparable to that of modern birds such as bustards and emus.
Modernisation
Since Russell's original work in the 1980s, alternate interpretations of intelligence in non-avian dinosaurs have been depicted in art. The collaborative work of Turkish artist C. M. Kosemen and Canadian comic book artist Simon Roy is a particularly notable example of a modern take on the dinosauroid concept. These art pieces from the late 2000s show dinosaurs with anatomy more reflective of modern paleontological understanding and retain more of their ancestral, theropod features. These designs for a dinosauroid were based on Darren Naish's writings on Russell and Seguin's original.
Kosemen and Roy's work expands upon the original concept by creating a wide range of different dinosauroid species and placing them inside of an entirely speculative ecosystem in a world without the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. These new dinosauroids are more inspired by birds and their tool use capability, with some inspiration from early hunter-gatherer societies as well.
See also
The New Dinosaurs
Silurian hypothesis
References
Anthropomorphic dinosaurs
Speculative evolution
Thought experiments
Anthropomorphic reptiles | Dinosauroid | [
"Biology"
] | 1,145 | [
"Biological hypotheses",
"Speculative evolution",
"Hypothetical life forms"
] |
68,074,571 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise%3A%20A%20Flaw%20in%20Human%20Judgment | Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment is a nonfiction book by professors Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein. It was first published on May 18, 2021. The book concerns 'noise' in human judgment and decision-making. The authors define noise in human judgment as "undesirable variability in judgments of the same problem" and focus on the statistical properties and psychological perspectives of the issue.
Examples they give include their own finding at an insurance company that the median premiums set by underwriters independently for the same five fictive customers varied by 55%, five times as much as expected by most underwriters and their executives. Another example is that two psychiatrists who independently diagnosed 426 state hospital patients agreed on which mental illness the patient suffered from only in half of the cases and a finding that French court judges were more lenient if it happened to be the defendant's birthday.
Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein argue that noise in human judgment is a thoroughly prevalent and insufficiently addressed problem in matters of judgment. They write that noise arises because of factors such as cognitive biases, mood, group dynamics and emotional reactions. While contrasting statistical bias to noise, they describe cognitive bias as a significant factor giving rise to both statistical bias and noise.
The authors write that noise can lead to gross injustices, unacceptable health hazards, and loss of time and wealth. They argue that organizations should be more committed to reducing noise and promote noise audits and decision hygiene as strategies to detect, measure, and prevent noise. Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment became a The New York Times Bestseller and received generally positive reviews among critics. Common critiques against efforts to reduce noise are that such efforts dehumanize those affected by the judgments and that it can lead to discrimination. Some commentators also questioned the authors' claims about the novelty of the noise concept.
Content
Noise in human judgment
Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment was authored by psychologist and Nobel Prize in Economics laureate Daniel Kahneman, management consultant and professor Olivier Sibony, and law professor and Holberg Prize laureate Cass Sunstein. They write that 'noise' in human judgment presents itself in several forms: disagreement between judges, disagreement within judges, and even in judgments made only once by a person or group, since such a judgment can be viewed as only one possible outcome in a cloud of possible judgments that the judge in question could have arrived at. (Note that the term "judge" in the book denotes any person making an assessment of some kind.)
The reasons given by the authors for why noise arises include cognitive biases, differences in skill, differences in 'taste' (preferences) and emotional reactions, mood in the moment, level of fatigue, and group dynamics. The authors consider noise in predictions and evaluations but not in thought processes such as habits and unconscious decisions.
They write that whereas it is good to have noise for certain types of judgments, such as matters of taste when it comes to cultural entities (for example film reviews), society should do much to decrease noise in matters of judgment. This is because noise leads to sizeable consequences for example for fairness, health, safety and costs in terms of time and money.
Noise, statistical bias, and cognitive bias
Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein use a shooting range as an analogy to illustrate noise and statistical bias, and how cognitive bias affect them both. Fig. 1 is an adaptation of the same illustration in the book, comparing how noise and bias affect the accuracies of judgments made by a team of judges. (The original illustration comes from an academic article on noise by Kahneman and his colleagues.)
Target a): Since all shots here are in or close to the bullseye, the collective judgment is accurate.
Target b): Here there is less accuracy, because of statistical bias: the shots are systematically off in one direction. Put differently, on average there is an error.
Target c): Here there is no error on average and thus no bias, because the errors from each shot cancel each other out. However, there is much noise, because the shots differ much from each other.
Target d): This error is the largest, since it has both bias and noise. Reducing error is most difficult here.
Examples of noise
In the book, Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein provide many examples of noise in human judgment. Beyond the below areas where noise exists, the book also looks at for example performance evaluation and business strategy. However, a recurring statement in the book is that "wherever there is judgment, there is noise, and more of it than you think", so they argue that there is noise in most areas of human decision making.
Criminal law
A study on 208 criminal judges showed that their independently given punitive recommendations on 16 fictive cases varied greatly in harshness. For example, the judges only unanimously recommended imprisonment in three of the cases, and while the recommended number of prison years in one case was 1.1 years on average, one recommendation was as high as 15 years.
Education
A study looked at 682 real decisions by college admissions officers and found that the officers awarded the academic strengths of applicants more importance on cloudy days and, conversely, favored nonacademic strengths on sunny days.
Medicine
One study showed that whereas some radiologists never produced false negatives (missed real breast cancer) when examining mammograms, other radiologists did so half the time. For false positives, the range was 1–64 %.
Recruitment
A meta-analysis showed that a quarter of the time, two separate recruitment interviewers disagreed on which job candidate was the best fit for the job. This was despite the interviewers sitting on the same panel, thus having seen the candidates in the exact same circumstances.
Types of noise
Typology
Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein propose the following typology/components of noise: level noise (arises due to different holistic views on the decision task among judges), stable pattern noise (arises due to permanent or semi-permanent differences between judges on how they react to certain circumstances in what is being judged), and occasion noise (arises due to factors temporarily affecting judgment, having little to do with the judgment/case itself).
What the authors call 'the first lottery' in how one's case will be judged regards level noise and stable pattern noise and thus which judge is assigned to make the judgment, whereas 'the second lottery' regards occasion noise and thus whether or not the judge makes the judgment on an occasion beneficial or not to those affected by the judgment.
Relative contribution
Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein write that there is typically more noise than statistical bias. Within the noise, there is typically more pattern noise than level noise. Within the pattern noise, there is typically more stable pattern noise than occasion noise, which is often just a small share of the noise; stable pattern noise is typically larger than level noise on its own. This is all illustrated in Fig 2.
With this said, the authors stress that this is only a tentative understanding of the typical relative sizes of the different types of noise and, moreover, that there are clear exceptions. For instance, they note that noise in asylum cases almost certainly consists mainly of level noise.
Noise detection
Difficult
According to the authors, there has been a large lack of attention given to noise. They speculate that the reasons for this include that the human brain tends to be better at spotting and understanding patterns rather than randomness (noise). They write that this is because humans in general are pattern seekers. People constantly search for causal explanations and are often satisfied with shallow ones that they often do not even attempt to falsify. The authors call this the causal mode of thinking (which is part of what Kahneman has dubbed the brain's System 1), in contrast to the statistical mode of thinking (which is part of what Kahneman calls System 2).
Beyond the trouble the human mind has with understanding and seeing randomness as compared to seeing bias, Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein put forth several possible further explanations for why noise is relatively hard to spot. These explanations include the following:
People do not want to believe that there could be so much unwanted variability between judges/judgments.
The human mind always wants to blame a bias.
People often think that other people reason as they themselves do and hence may not suspect that there could be noise.
People often consider bad decisions to be rare exceptions or outliers made by "bad apples", rather than being legitimate data points to consider.
They write that detecting and measuring noise requires deliberate efforts, since "Noise is inherently statistical: it becomes visible only when we think statistically about an ensemble of similar judgments." Of the three types of noise, only level noise can sometimes be detected without expending substantial effort. At the same time, Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein argue that measuring noise has one advantage over measuring statistical bias: noise can be measured even when the true value of the judgment task is unknown (the bullseye in Fig 1 is not required).
Noise audit
Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein propose a method to detect noise that they dub noise audit. Such an audit can be performed in organizations where different judges routinely make judgments on many similar cases. A noise audit as outlined by the authors is a carefully designed study within the organization that comprises collecting anonymous and independent decisions by employees/teams on carefully prepared fictive cases. The amount of noise is then calculated. Judges and executives are also asked beforehand to reveal their confidence in their judgments and how much noise there will be, respectively, which the authors write can further increase the likelihood of eye-opening moments when the results are presented.
Among other caveats, however, the authors caution that a noise audit requires substantial levels of internal buy-in and resource devotion so as to successfully measure noise objectively. Independence between the employees/teams is an important criterion.
Noise and bias reduction
Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein's stated hope in the book is to create a new sub-science focused on analyzing and reducing noise in organizations and judgments of all kinds. They argue that the fact that noise has historically gone largely unnoticed and unchecked is not only a tragedy but also an opportunity, since big improvements in judgment accuracy, and thus fairness etc., are within relatively close reach.
Furthermore, the authors write that noise reduction often goes hand in hand with bias reduction and therefore can help address long-known but still persistent problems of bias as well. This is both because bias can be decreased as a direct result of noise reduction and because reducing noise will make bias easier to spot, since less variability in the data means less masking of the bias error.
Leaning on mathematical proof, the authors also state that since a reduction in noise will give the same reduction in the total error as would an equally large reduction in bias, and since noise often constitutes the larger part of the total error, noise reduction should often be the first-hand choice (unless there is a good reason not to) as it is then the easiest way to realize large reductions in error.
Decision hygiene
Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein use the term decision hygiene to describe the use of various techniques that can reduce noise in human judgment. The reason they favor the hygiene metaphor was that both the causes of noise in human judgment and the noise itself is difficult to see with the naked eye. They write that threats can harm you even though they are invisible, giving the analogy that if something goes wrong in the surgery room it is not necessarily because of scalpel misuse – it could be because the highly skilled surgeon forgot to perform proper hand hygiene before entering. Just as how washing one's hands protects against unidentified enemies we don't even see, decision hygiene can eliminate or diminish sources of noise we don't even think about.
In the book, the authors present various decision hygiene techniques through different case study chapters. These techniques include both relatively small changes to the choice architecture (the physical and psychological environment in which the judgment is made) such as nudges (a concept made famous by Sunstein together with Richard Thaler) and larger changes. The latter include debiasing, use of algorithms/rules, use of guidelines, use of relative scales, use of base rates, aggregation of judgments, structured and carefully sequenced decision-making processes, or even simply finding better judges. In other words, one path of decision hygiene is to aid judges in various ways, such as which factors they look at, how they weigh the different factors and how they use the scale in question. The other decision hygiene path is to wholly replace human judgment by algorithms, hard rules or better judges. Examples given of the rule-based approach are algorithms for making fairer and more accurate bail decisions concerning flight risk and the rules and procedures doctors use to quantify tendon degeneration.
The type of decision hygiene technique most suitable for the given situation depends on the type of judgment, the authors write. For example, evaluations performed by state officials are different in many respects from predictions made by political advisors.
Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein also weave several of these decision hygiene techniques together into a decision hygiene procedure they call mediating assessments protocol (MAP). They argue that organizations of many different kinds should use MAP for group decisions that require considering and weighting multiple dimensions. This would not make the decision easier, they concede, but the emphasis on good process will make the decision better.
Zero noise is undesirable
Although they argue for much noise reduction, Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein also caution that the goal should not always be zero noise in human judgment. First, reaching zero noise may not be feasible, for various reasons, not least due to costs and the fact that for many types of judgment some noise will always remain. Second, reaching zero noise may not be desirable since it would reduce flexibility, especially if the decision hygiene technique considered has to do with rules. Here, using standards can be a better option. Third, it is often important to let judges have a sense of agency and feel fulfilment after having reached a decision, as evidenced by the abandonment of the noise-wise successful federal sentencing guidelines in the US. Fourth, potentially important information possessed by individual judges can be lost, again especially if the decision hygiene technique considered has to do with rules.
For these reasons, there will always be room and need for intuition, consideration of particulars and discrete judgment – but preferably not until noise reduction has been performed, the authors argue. The idea is to not rely on human judgment all the way, especially not snap judgment. Instead, carefully informed intuition that is less prone to error, thanks to decision hygiene, should be used.
Reception
Critical response
Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment received generally positive scores among critics, with praise of the concept, its importance and the depth of analysis as to which it was treated. However, common critiques of the book were directed towards its understandability, inconsistency of style, and length.
In the American Press, The Washington Post reviewed the book as "well-researched, convincing, and practical," and only criticized a lack of consistency in style: "some sentences and sections read like a psychology or statistics textbook, others like a scholarly article, and still others like the Harvard Business Review." The New York Times called it "tour de force of scholarship and clear writing". The Financial Times described it as a "humbling lesson in inaccuracy" and compared it to Kahneman's earlier work Thinking, Fast and Slow. They also pointed out that Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment may be more difficult to take for readers than Thinking, Fast and Slow because the former concerns a more narrow problem and therefore has a difficult time reaching the same level of entertainment. The Wall Street Journal Magazine listed the book in an "The Nine Best Books of Spring" article.
In the British press, The Times considered the book a "a rigorous approach to an important topic" and wrote that "anyone who has found the literature on cognitive biases important will find this a valuable addition to their knowledge". However, they also included criticism on the consistency, accessibility, and length. The Sunday Times, a sister paper to The Times, argued that the book is an "outstanding study" and "a monumental, gripping book" but also wrote that the book is "a hard read if you don’t happen to be a statistician". The Economist credited the book's positive tone but criticized that "despite the book’s title, the authors struggled to extract the signal from the noise" and wrote that "a tighter argument would have enhanced the ideas they present". The Guardian penned that the book is "blunt, half-baked" and says that it "could have been half the length and it would have been a far better book for it".
Book industry magazines Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews praised the book's practical analysis of noise and bias, but they found the language somewhat over-complicated and dense.
Critiques of concept
Side effects
Irish Minister of Finance Paschal Donohoe commented that decreasing the space for noise to arise can increase rigidity, which may demoralize judges and squelch their creativity and sense of professional pride and agency. Donahoe praised the book in general but in this regard wrote that "The risk is that this is at the expense of the diversity of thought and outlook that is central to human agency" and that "guiding decisions towards a sterile central average can also create vulnerabilities".
Anticipating this critique (and several others, including that people may feel dehumanized if not judged by a fellow human being), Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein wrote in the book that this fear of what algorithmic decision making can lead to is indeed valid, but mainly for certain types of decision hygiene; other types can in fact increase the role for human judgment by freeing up time for thought and deliberation and by unearthing more perspectives on a question.
Writer Michael Blastland wondered whether noise reduction can be overly risky to perform when it comes to evaluative judgments, seeing as how the authors themselves say – although not as clearly as would be desired, Blastland wrote – that if a set of judgments is biased to the side of the real value which has asymmetrically large consequences, and noise reduction leads to lower variability in judgments, that means that a higher share of the judgments will be on the wrong side of the true value and thus a higher likelihood that catastrophes may occur, such as businesses making a faulty decision that ends up ruining the company. So noise reduction could be a bad idea in these judgments, he argued.
Anticipating this critique, Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein write in the book that noise reduction should ideally be followed by decision makers using the now-better judgment data together with their values and potential risk-avoidance criteria to make the optimal choice.
Novelty
Some commentators interpreted how Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein express themselves in the book and in interviews (such as ) and similar forums as claiming that the concept of noise in human judgment is something new or at least has been "discovered" by them. The above-mentioned Blastland as well as professor in statistics and political science Andrew Gelman challenged this notion, especially with reference to the existing and similar use of the concept within statistics. Professor in experimental and behavioural economics Andreas Ortmann did so with reference to the previous use of the concept within psychology. Blastland also argued that noise can be seen as simply another word for subjectivity.
Book development
Kahneman and Sibony worked on the concept and the drafting process intermittently for several years before bringing Sunstein in, and even conducted a study on noise at an insurance company in the shape of what they would later call a noise audit. They discussed the project with Sunstein in a meeting in New York in 2018. In the meeting they reportedly all realized the high potential of collaborating on the subject, and asked him to join that same day. The authors finalized the manuscript during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kahneman has said that the restrictions and difficulties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant adjusted writing process of video calls rather than meeting in person made the writing more productive, which meant that they were able to finish the book faster than what would otherwise have been the case: "We might not have finished the book if it hadn’t been for the virus." The writing process was coordinated by decision making scientist Linnea Gandhi, who also did much of the editing. Gandhi also co-wrote the Harvard Business Review article that introduced the concept of noise in human judgment in 2016. In the Acknowledgements section of the book, the authors thank many fellow social scientists for their input during the writing of the book, not least on the statistical parts.
See also
Criminal law
Insurance
Organizational behavior
The Signal and the Noise
References
External links
Applied psychology
Applied statistics
Prediction
Evaluation | Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment | [
"Mathematics"
] | 4,286 | [
"Applied mathematics",
"Applied statistics"
] |
68,076,170 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proximity%20chat | Proximity chat or spatial chat or positional chat is type of internet platform that overlays video teleconferencing software on a virtual world environment, so that users can navigate freely and have conversations among small groups.
A distribution of small groups across a virtual world map can be more informal than a many-to-many session, and to some extent this format is a functional replacement for breakout rooms. Some of the platforms employ a retrogaming aesthetic similar to a 2D overworld, while others work from a blank virtual world or one built up of a collage of photos placed by the user.
Proximity chat has been featured in many multiplayer video games. One popular software for implementing this functionality in games without built-in proximity chat is Mumble.
In 2021, the children's game platform Roblox introduced a proximity chat feature for verified users over the age of 13. This feature prompted complaints by privacy advocates, since verification involves submitting a selfie and government issued ID to the company, which has a prior history of data leaks. Users have also expressed skepticism that the verification system has properly excluded younger users. Users and the parents of users have also complained, as inappropriate content such as slurs, sexual content, and illegal conduct such as drug deals have been documented as being audible on the platform.
See also
Chat room
Metaverse
References
Virtual events
Virtual world communities
Web conferencing
Video game terminology | Proximity chat | [
"Technology"
] | 286 | [
"Computing terminology",
"Video game terminology"
] |
68,076,992 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noisy%20intermediate-scale%20quantum%20era | The current state of quantum computing is referred to as the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era, characterized by quantum processors containing up to 1,000 qubits which are not advanced enough yet for fault-tolerance or large enough to achieve quantum advantage. These processors, which are sensitive to their environment (noisy) and prone to quantum decoherence, are not yet capable of continuous quantum error correction. This intermediate-scale is defined by the quantum volume, which is based on the moderate number of qubits and gate fidelity. The term NISQ was coined by John Preskill in 2018.
According to Microsoft Azure Quantum's scheme, NISQ computation is considered level 1, the lowest of the quantum computing implementation levels.
In October 2023, the 1,000 qubit mark was passed for the first time by Atom Computing's 1,180 qubit quantum processor. However, as of 2024, only two quantum processors have over 1,000 qubits, with sub-1,000 quantum processors still remaining the norm.
Algorithms
NISQ algorithms are quantum algorithms designed for quantum processors in the NISQ era. Common examples are the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) and quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA), which use NISQ devices but offload some calculations to classical processors. These algorithms have been successful in quantum chemistry and have potential applications in various fields including physics, materials science, data science, cryptography, biology, and finance. However, due to noise during circuit execution, they often require error mitigation techniques.
These methods constitute a way of reducing the effect of noise by running a set of circuits and applying post-processing to the measured data. In contrast to quantum error correction, where errors are continuously detected and corrected during the run of the circuit, error mitigation can only use the outcome of the noisy circuits.
Beyond-NISQ era
The creation of a computer with tens of thousands of qubits and enough error correction would eventually end the NISQ era. These beyond-NISQ devices would be able to, for example, implement Shor's algorithm for very large numbers and break RSA encryption.
In April 2024, researchers at Microsoft announced a significant reduction in error rates that required only 4 logical qubits, suggesting that quantum computing at scale could be years away instead of decades.
See also
Quantum complexity theory
Quantum noise
List of companies involved in quantum computing or communication
List of quantum processors
Timeline of quantum computing and communication
Quantum information
References
External links
John Preskill lecture on NISQ era
Computer architecture statements
History of computing hardware
Quantum computing
Quantum information science
Computational complexity theory | Noisy intermediate-scale quantum era | [
"Technology"
] | 548 | [
"History of computing hardware",
"History of computing"
] |
68,078,439 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House%20allocation%20problem | In economics and computer science, the house allocation problem is the problem of assigning objects to people with different preferences, such that each person receives exactly one object. The name "house allocation" comes from the main motivating application, which is assigning dormitory houses to students. Other commonly used terms are assignment problem and one-sided matching. When agents already own houses (and may trade them with other agents), the problem is often called a housing market. In house allocation problems, it is assumed that monetary transfers are not allowed; the variant in which monetary transfers are allowed is known as rental harmony.
Definitions
There are n people (also called: agents), and m objects (also called: houses). The agents may have different preferences over the houses. They may express their preferences in various ways:
Binary valuations: each agent values each house at either 1 (which means that the agent likes the house), or 0 (which means that the agent dislikes the house).
Preference ranking: each agent ranks the houses from best to worst. The ranking may be strict (no indifferences) or weak (indifferences allowed).
Cardinal utility: each agent assigns a non-negative numeric value to each house.
Several considerations may be important in designing algorithms for house allocation.
Pareto efficiency (PE) - no other allocation is better for some agents and not worse to all agents.
Fairness - can be defined in various ways, for example, envy-freeness (EF) - no agent should envy another agent.
Strategyproofness (SP) - each agent has an incentive to report his/her true preferences to the algorithm.
Individual rationality (IR) - no agent should lose from participating in the algorithm.
Efficient allocations
In economics, the primary efficiency requirement in house allocation is PE. There are various algorithms attaining a PE allocation in various settings.
Probably the simplest algorithm for house allocation is serial dictatorship: the agents are ordered in some arbitrary order (e.g. by seniority), and each agent in turn picks the best remaining house by his/her preferences. This algorithm is obviously SP. If the agents' preferences are strict, then it finds a PE allocation. However, it may be very unfair towards the agents who pick last. It can be made fairer (in expectation) by choosing the order uniformly at random; this leads to the mechanism called random serial dictatorship. The mechanism is PE ex-post, but it is not PE ex-ante; see fair random assignment for other randomized mechanisms which are ex-ante PE.
When each agent already owns a house, fairness considerations are less important, it is more important to guarantee to agents that they will not lose from participating (IR). The top trading cycle algorithm is the unique algorithm which guarantees IR, PE and SP. With strict preferences, TTC finds the unique core-stable allocation.
Abdulkadiroglu and Sönmez consider an extended setting in which some agents already own a house while some others are house-less. Their mechanism is IR, PE and SP. They present two algorithms that implement this mechanism.
Ergin considers rules that are also consistent, that is, their predictions do not depend of the order in which the assignments are realized.
In computer science and operations research, the primary efficiency requirement is maximizing the sum of utilities. Finding a house allocation maximizing the sum of utilities is equivalent to finding a maximum-weight matching in a weighted bipartite graph; it is also called the assignment problem.
Fair allocations
Algorithmic problems related to fairness of the matching have been studied in several contexts.
When agents have binary valuations, their "like" relations define a bipartite graph on the sets of agents and houses. An envy-free house allocation corresponds to an envy-free matching in this graph. The following algorithmic problems have been studied.
Deciding whether a complete EF allocation exists. This holds iff there exists a matching that saturates all the agents; this can be decided in polynomial time by just finding a maximum cardinality matching in the bipartite graph.
Finding a partial EF allocation of maximum cardinality. Aigner-Horev and Segal-Halevi present a polytime algorithm.
Finding a partial EF allocation of maximum cardinality and minimum cost (where each edge has a pre-specified cost for society). Aigner-Horev and Segal-Halevi present a polytime algorithm.
Finding a complete EF allocation, in which the number of envious agents is minimized. Kamiyama, Manurangsi and Suksompongprove that it is NP-hard. The proof is by reduction from the minimum coverage (aka bipartite expansion) problem. Madathil, Misra and Sethia prove that it is NP-hard even when each agent values at most 2 houses, and W[1]-hard when parameterized by the number of envious agents. The proof is by reduction from Maximum clique problem. However, the problem is fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by the total number of house types and agent types, and can be solved efficiently when agents have "extremal intervals" preferences.
Finding a complete EF allocation, in which the maximum number of agents envied by a single agent is minimized. Madathil, Misra and Sethia prove that it is NP-hard even when each agent values at most 2 houses, every house is approved by a constant number of agents, and the maximum allowed envy is just 1. The proof is by reduction from Maximum independent set on cubic graphs. However, the problem is fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by the total number of house types and agent types, and can be solved efficiently when agents have "extremal intervals" preferences.
When agents have cardinal valuations, the graph of agents and houses becomes a weighted bipartite graph. The following algorithmic problems have been studied.
Deciding whether a complete EF allocation exists.
When m=n, all houses must be assigned, so an allocation is EF iff each agent gets a house with a highest value. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the original graph to an unweighted graph, in which each agent is adjacent only to his highest-valued houses, and look for a perfect matching in this graph.
When m>n, the above algorithm may not work, since not all houses must be assigned: even if a single house is most-preferred by all agents, there may exist a complete EF allocation in which this specific house is not assigned. Gan, Suksompong and Voudouris present a polynomial-time algorithm that decides, in polynomial time, whether a complete EF allocation exists for any m ≥ n. Their algorithm uses, as a subroutine, an algorithm for finding an inclusion-minimal Hall violator.
Deciding whether a complete local-envy-free allocation exists. Local envy-freeness means that the agents are located on a social network, and they only envy their neighbors in that network. Beynier, Chevaleyre, Gourves, Harutyunyan, Lesca, Maudet and Wilczynski study the problem of deciding whether a complete local-envy-free allocation exists for m=n, for various network structures.
Finding a complete EF allocation, in which the number of non-envious agents is maximized. Kamiyama, Manurangsi and Suksompong. prove that, under common complexity theoretic assumption, this problem is hard to approximate. In particular, if NP cannot be solved in subexponential time, then it cannot be approximated to within a factor of for some ; if the small set expansion hypothesis is true, then it cannot be approximated to within a factor of for any (for it is trivial to approximate: just give one agent his favorite house, and allocate the other agents arbitrarily). The proof is by reduction from the maximum balanced biclique problem.
Deciding whether a complete proportional allocation exists. Kamiyama, Manurangsi and Suksompong prove that it is NP-complete, by reduction from exact 3-set cover.
Deciding whether a complete equitable allocation exists. Kamiyama, Manurangsi and Suksompong present a polytime algorithm.
Finding a partial EF allocation of maximum cardinality. The runtime complexity of this problem is open.
Related problems
Assignment problem - each agent must get a single object. The goal is to maximize the sum of valuations, or minimize the sum of costs.
Fair random assignment - each agent must get a single object. Randomization is allowed. The allocation should be fair and efficient in expectation.
Rental harmony - each agent must get a single object and pay a price; the allocation of objects+prices should be envy-free.
Envy-free matching - some agents may remain unallocated, as long as they do not like any of the allocated houses.
Fair item allocation - each agent may get any number of objects.
References
Fair item allocation
Matching (graph theory) | House allocation problem | [
"Mathematics"
] | 1,863 | [
"Matching (graph theory)",
"Mathematical relations",
"Graph theory"
] |
68,079,080 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szczecin%20water%20pumps | The Szczecin water pumps, colloquially known as Berliners, are historic water pumps in Szczecin, Poland, that are a characteristic object of the city. There were 70 pumps originally made between 1865 and 1895, with 28 surviving to this day, 27 of which hold the status of cultural property.
History
The pumps were manufactured between 1865 and 1895, in the F. Poepck Water Pump factories located in Szczecin and Chojna. Originally, there were around 70 pumps made, of which 28 survive to this day. Originally, the pumps were painted in blue with colorful details depicting the city coat of arms. After World War 2, they were repainted to a green colour. In the first years after the war, the pumps were very useful for the city inhabitants as the water supply network remained not fully functional at the time. At that time, the elements from damaged pumps were relocated to the working ones. At the beginning of the 21st century, the pumps were repainted to their original colours.
In 2000, thanks to a city conservator-restorer, Małgorzata Gwiazdowska, 27 of the pumps were listed as cultural property. By the 2010s, all pumps required restoration to their original state, as they were damaged, and decorative details of the pumps had been stolen over the years. Polcast foundry, in cooperation with West Pomeranian University of Technology, was tasked by the Szczecin Department of Water Supply and Sewage to prepare the copies of missing decorative elements. Such copies were made using both traditional methods used in the original manufacturing and modern technologies, such as computer modeling. In 2013, the department was given 25,000 Polish złoty from the city for the restoration efforts.
Many of the pumps no longer work, due to the lowering of the groundwater levels in the 2000s.
Currently, the pumps are a characteristic object of the city, and are popular among tourists.
Description
The pumps are made of iron and have a form of almost 3-metre-tall (9.8 ft.) column with diameter of 36 cm (14.2 in) and base in the shape of the square with the side dimensions of 61 cm (24 in). The water is pumped with a hand lever and discharged from an opening in a form of a sculpture of a dragon. They are painted in a blue colour with a yellow crown placed at the top and a city coat of arms at the bottom. They were originally painted as such in 19th century, and after World War 2, were repainted to green. At the beginning of the 21st century, the pumps were repainted to their original colours.
The pumps are independent from the city water supply network, instructed using the ground water. Many of them do not work anymore, due to the lowering of the groundwater levels in the 2000s. They are under the administration and maintenance of the Szczecin Department of Water Supply and Sewage.
The pumps are colloquially known as Berliners, as they are the same model as the historical water pumps in the city of Berlin, Germany.
There are currently 28 of them in the city, located at:
intersection of Piątego Lipca Street and Noakowskiego Street;
Bazarowa Street;
Concord Square;
intersection of Cieszkowskiego Street and Bojki Street;
intersection of Grodzka Street and Mariacka Street;
intersection of Tkacka Street and Grodzka Street;
intersection of Heleny Street and Karpińskiego Street;
intersection of Pope John Paul II Avenue and Mazurska Street;
intersection of Kaszubska Street and Narutowicza Street;
intersection of Kopernika Street and Krzywoustego Street;
intrsection of Królowej Jadwigi Street and Krzywoustego Street;
intersection of Bogusława X Street and Łokietka Street;
8 Malczewskiego Street in Strefan Żeromski Park;
55 Małopolska Street;
intersection of Monte Cassino Street and Jagiellońska Street;
Mściwoja Street at the Hay Market Square
Independence Avenue
intersection of Bałuki Street and Św. Wojciecha Street at Anders Park
Grey Ranks Square;
Grunwald Square
Św. Piotra i Pawła Street near the Castle Way;
Zawisza the Black Square;
Polish Soldier Square;
intersection of Potulicka Street and Drzymały Street;
intersection of Wyzwolenia Avenue and Felczaka Street;
intersection of Odzieżowa Street and Wyzwolenia Avenue;
intersection of Wyzwolenia Avenue and Rayskiego Street;
and an intersection of Żupańskiego Street and Niemierzyńska Street.
Notes
References
Buildings and structures in Szczecin
Pumps
History of Szczecin
Objects of cultural heritage in Poland
1865 establishments in Prussia
Infrastructure completed in 1865
Buildings and structures completed in 1865 | Szczecin water pumps | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 1,009 | [
"Physical systems",
"Hydraulics",
"Turbomachinery",
"Pumps"
] |
68,080,473 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue%20%28album%29 | Fatigue is the second record by Brooklyn-based experimental musician Taja Cheek, under the moniker of L'Rain. It is her first recording with record label Mexican Summer. Fatigue builds on Cheek's experimental compositional approach, drawing from an eclectic collection of genres and employing field recording elements. Instrumentally, it has help from twenty collaborators, who lend the record clavinet, saxophone, and more.
Upon its release, Fatigue was greeted with rave reviews. It was named the best album of the year by British magazine The Wire.
Background
Taja Cheek planned on naming her second record Suck Teeth because she "loved how it encapsulated a very black sound of disapproval, annoyance, and disappointment."
Composition
Fatigue has musical footing in experimental pop, as well as orchestral pop. However, the record contains diverse songs that bend genre. Ambient music, gospel, jazz, post-punk, neo soul, R&B, shoegazing, soft rock and sound collage have all been melded into L'Rain's own aesthetic.
Fatigue makes significant use of field recordings. The latter half of "Find It" samples a pastor singing at a funeral Cheek attended. "Black Clap" has sounds from a hand game she created alongside co-producer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Chapoteau-Katz. About it, she said that "in the studio, I was thinking about ways that play can improve your life, and I was like, 'I'll just make up a hand game, because that's something I used to do when I was a kid.'"
It is also shaded in psychedelia, with its songs working in neo-psychedelia. Psychedelic musicians like Syd Barrett and quartet Animal Collective have been noted as spiritual touchstones for L'Rain's music. L'Rain has cited the latter's early recordings as informative to her.
The second song, "Find It", digs into "warped, genre-mashing" pop-soul and "sweet, distorted" shoegaze pop. Experimentation continues even when songs dip into conventional pop and dance sounds, like on "Kill Self" and "Two Face". The latter song's R&B yields a "heady cacophony".
Critical reception
Fatigue was welcomed with critical applause upon its release. On Metacritic, the record holds a score of 86 out of 100, based on seven reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Paul Simpson for AllMusic applauded the record, seeing it as "even bolder and dreamier than [her] self-titled debut" and "a uniquely powerful expression of her uncompromising vision." Aymeric Dubois for The Line of Best Fit called it "reflective and exposing...a transformative listen".
Accolades
Semester-end lists
Year-end lists
Track listing
Personnel
Adapted from the record's Bandcamp page.
References
2021 albums
L'Rain albums
Mexican Summer albums
Field recording | Fatigue (album) | [
"Engineering"
] | 600 | [
"Audio engineering",
"Field recording"
] |
68,080,888 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer%20Life | Computer Life was a magazine which focused on computers. The New York Times called it "an endless array of permutations that marry the term PC to some older, less-capitalized form of existence" because of its coverage of "the culture of computers." Amidst "hundreds of computing magazines" its focus was Generation X.
History
Ziff Davis began publishing the San Francisco monthly in 1994. Advertising revenues had increased
by 1996, but not in proportion to "the increase in overall spending." Part of this was attributed to major portions of some company's ad budgets focused on television.
When it first came out, Family Life was "the largest start-up ever undertaken" by Ziff Davis. This was the era when the magazine's big brother was "No. 1 in total advertising, ahead of Forbes and Business Week." By 1998 it had been renamed; it was subsequently closed by Ziff Davis.
References
Defunct computer magazines published in the United States | Computer Life | [
"Technology"
] | 196 | [
"Computing stubs",
"Computer magazine stubs"
] |
68,081,463 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos%20Hazard%20Emergency%20Response%20Act | The Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) is a US federal law enacted by the 99th United States Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. It required the EPA to create regulations regarding local educational agencies inspection of school buildings for asbestos-containing building material, prepare asbestos management plans, and perform asbestos response actions to prevent or reduce asbestos hazards. AHERA was implemented under the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1986.
AHERA demanded the EPA develop a plan for states for accrediting persons conducting asbestos inspection and corrective-action activities at schools. Whistleblowers are protected from retribution by the act.
References
Asbestos
Hazardous air pollutants
Carcinogens
IARC Group 1 carcinogens
Occupational safety and health
Industrial minerals
Air pollution in the United States
United States federal environmental legislation
1986 in American law
1986 in the environment
1986 in the United States
Environmental law in the United States | Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act | [
"Chemistry",
"Environmental_science"
] | 178 | [
"Carcinogens",
"Toxicology",
"Asbestos"
] |
68,082,871 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HR%203831 | HR 3831, also known as HD 83368, is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Vela at a distance of 233 light years. This object is barely visible to the naked eye as a dim, blue star with an apparent visual magnitude of 6.232. It is approaching the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of 4.0 km/s.
The star system is a visual binary with a 3.29″ projected separation, identified as such in 2002. The larger star, HD 83368A, is a pulsating variable of a rapidly oscillating Ap type. It has a single yet strongly distorted dipole pulsation mode with a frequency of 1427 μHz. The primary star is chemically peculiar, exhibiting spots of enhanced concentrations of lithium, europium and oxygen.
The star's variability was discovered by Pierre Renson, and announced in 1977. It was given its variable star designation, IM Velorum, in 1981.
See also
Vela (Chinese astronomy)
References
A-type main-sequence stars
F-type main-sequence stars
Binary stars
Ap stars
Rapidly oscillating Ap stars
Vela (constellation)
CD-48 4831
83368
Velorum, IM
047145
3831
J09362541-4845042 | HR 3831 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 274 | [
"Vela (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
68,086,820 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD%20283750 | HD 283750, also known as V833 Tauri, is a K-type main-sequence star 57 light-years away from the Sun. The star is much younger than the Sun's at 1 billion years. HD 283750 is similar to the Sun in its concentration of heavy elements.
The star has a co-moving white dwarf companion WD 0443+270 at a projected separation of 124″, both possibly ejected members of the Hyades cluster. The white dwarf companion has a rather exotic iron core and belongs to spectral class DA9 and has the mass of 0.62.
Although HD 283750 was classified as a multi-period variable, a paper in 2020 claims its variability is not exceeding the variability of the Sun, and no period can be identified.
HD 283750 is covered by a large amount of starspots, filling up to 28% of the stellar surface at the maxima of the magnetic cycle. In November 1993, the star emitted an extremely powerful flare with energy of 7.47×1034 ergs, which is on or even above the upper limit of possible energy releases in flare stars. The flares of HD 283750 are accompanied by particle beams strong enough to affect the polarization properties of the stellar photosphere.
Suspected substellar companion
In 1996 a suspected 50- brown dwarf HD 283750b on a 1.79-day orbit around HD 283750 was detected by the differential Doppler spectroscopy method. By 2007, the mass of the companion was refined to 0.19, making it a red dwarf star.
References
Taurus (constellation)
K-type main-sequence stars
Binary stars
J04364822+2707559
0171.2
BD+26 730
283750
021482
Flare stars
BY Draconis variables
Tauri, V833 | HD 283750 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 380 | [
"Taurus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
68,087,771 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katalin%20Bal%C3%A1zsi | Katalin Balázsi (née Sedláčková; born 1978) is a Slovakia-born Hungarian material scientist. She is the head of the Thin Film Physics department in the Institute of Technical Physics and Materials Science, a component of the Centre for Energy Research, Eötvös Lóránd Research Network. She has also served as the President of the Association of Hungarian Women in Science (2018-2021).
Early life
Balázsi was born in Šahy (Ipolyság), Slovakia in 1978. While in elementary school, she represented her school in mathematics competitions. For high school, her father enrolled her in an electrician high school: there were four other girls in her class, and thirty-two boys. She graduated with the top ranking in her class.
Balázsi completed her university degrees at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU). In 2000, she received a bachelor's degree in Electromaterials Engineering; she received a master's degree in materials science in 2002 from the same. During her master's degree, Balázsi worked as a technician at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. She then became a researcher at the Academy, using transmission electron microscopy to characterise the structures of nanomaterials; she received her doctorate in materials science from the STU in 2005. The Institute of Electrical Engineering at the Academy named her the "Young Researcher".
Career
In 2006, Balázsi became a research fellow at the Institute of Technical Physics and Materials Science, part of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She was appointed as a senior scientist at the Institute's Centre for Energy Research in 2012. Besides her work with electron microscopy, Balázsi has also studied the development of different ceramic materials.
Balázsi and nine other female scientists founded the Association of Hungarian Women in Science in 2008 to address the national gender imbalance in Hungary's science sector; this Association won the first Nature Research Innovating Science Award in 2018. She has served as the Association's president from 2018 to 2021. She also received the 2021 Acta Materialia Mary Fortune Global Diversity Medal.
In 2021, she became the second Hungarian fellow of the European Ceramic Society (ECerS). She is a board member of the European Platform of Women Scientists (EPWS). She has also been secretary of the Hungarian Society for Material Sciences (2013-2020), as well as secretary and treasurer of the Hungarian Microscopic Society (2018-2022).
Personal life
Her husband Csaba Balázsi is also a scientist. They have two sons. Besides Hungarian, she speaks Slovak, Czech, and English.
References
External links
Thin Film Physics Department at the Centre for Energy Research
Katalin Balázsi profile at the Hungarian Doctoral Council
1978 births
Hungarian women scientists
Nanotechnologists
Ceramic engineering
Women materials scientists and engineers
Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava alumni
People from Šahy
Living people
Slovak women scientists | Katalin Balázsi | [
"Materials_science",
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 596 | [
"Ceramic engineering",
"Materials scientists and engineers",
"Nanotechnology",
"Women materials scientists and engineers",
"Nanotechnologists",
"Women in science and technology"
] |
68,089,494 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem%20cell%20therapy%20for%20macular%20degeneration | Stem cell therapy for macular degeneration is an emerging treatment approach aimed at restoring vision in individuals suffering from various forms of macular degeneration, particularly age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This therapy involves the transplantation of stem cells into the retina to replace damaged or lost retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptor cells, which are critical for central vision. Clinical trials have shown promise in stabilizing or improving visual function, but are nevertheless inefficient.
History
The first fetal retinal transplant into the anterior chamber of animal eyes was reported in 1959. In 1980, experiments involving cell cultures of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) began. Human RPE cells grown in culture were subsequently transplanted into animal eyes, initially using open techniques and later through closed cavity vitrectomy methods.
In 1991, Gholam Peyman attempted to transplant RPE in humans, but the success rate was limited. Later efforts focused on allogenic fetal RPE cell transplantation, which faced significant challenges due to immune rejection. It was observed that rejection rates were lower in cases of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) compared to the wet form of the disease. Autologous RPE transplantation became more common, using two main techniques: RPE suspension and full-thickness RPE-choroid transplantation. Clinical outcomes from autologous RPE-choroid transplantation, where tissue from the eye’s periphery is transplanted to a diseased area, have shown promise.
Since 2003, researchers have successfully transplanted corneal stem cells into damaged eyes to restore vision. Sheets of retinal cells used in these procedures were initially harvested from aborted fetuses, which raised ethical concerns for some. These retinal sheets, when transplanted over damaged corneas, stimulated repair and eventually restored vision. In June 2005, a team led by Sheraz Daya at Queen Victoria Hospital in Sussex, England, restored sight in forty patients using a similar technique with adult stem cells sourced from the patient, a relative, or a cadaver.
In 2014, surgeons at Riken Institute’s Center for Developmental Biology reported the first transplantation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into a human patient. This clinical study involved creating a retinal sheet from iPSCs, developed by Shinya Yamanaka, which were reprogrammed from the patient's own mature cells. The retinal sheet was transplanted into a woman in her 70s suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition that blurs central vision and can lead to blindness. The use of iPSCs aimed to halt the progression of AMD. In March 2017, the team conducted the first successful transplant of retinal cells created from donor-derived iPSCs into a patient with advanced wet AMD. This surgery was made more efficient by using "super donor" cells, derived from individuals with specific white blood cell types that reduce the risk of immune rejection. Approximately 250,000 retinal pigment epithelial cells, generated from these donor-derived iPSCs, were transplanted into the patient’s eye.
See also
Cell therapy
Ophthalmology
Stem cell therapy
Macular degeneration
Gene therapy for color blindness
Gene therapy of the human retina
References
Further reading
Haruta, M. et al. In vitro and in vivo characterization of pigment epithelial cells differentiated from primate embryonic stem cells. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 45, 1020–1025 (2004).
External links
EuroStemCell: types of stem cells and their uses
Stem cells
Eye procedures
Stem cell research | Stem cell therapy for macular degeneration | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 779 | [
"Translational medicine",
"Cell therapies",
"Tissue engineering",
"Stem cell research"
] |
68,089,820 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallus%20giganteus | Gallus giganteus, Jago cock, or Jago Fowl, is a hypothetical species of fowl. It was first described in 1813 by Coenraad Jacob Temminck who named it on the basis of a large foot that he received, having a spur. Temminck thought it was a wild bird from southern Sumatra and western Java. Temminck assigned large domesticated species to the binomial Gallus patavinus (from Padua, as there were two breeds from Italy) used by Mathurin Jacques Brisson. It was again described by Leonard Fitzinger in 1878. The birds were described as being large with a comb that extended back in a line along the eye, thick, raised and appearing truncated on the top. The throat was bare and the wattles under the mandibles small. Later authors began to use the name Gallus giganteus for large domesticated species, including from Malabar, which was illustrated in Hardwicke's collection. Temminck believed that Gallus giganteus was one of six wild ancestors of the domestic chicken. Edward Blyth believed that domestic chickens were entirely derived by artificial selection of red junglefowl (Gallus gallus). Charles Darwin also favoured Blyth's hypothesis.
References
Hypothetical species | Gallus giganteus | [
"Biology"
] | 270 | [
"Biological hypotheses",
"Hypothetical species",
"Controversial taxa"
] |
73,899,128 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad%20Planetarium | The Baghdad Planetarium () was a green-domed astronomical Planetarium based in al-Zawra'a Park located diagonally across from the Baghdad Central Railway Station in Baghdad, Iraq.
Biography
Historical background
Plans to construct a planetarium in Baghdad can be traced back to the Kingdom of Iraq period in which plans for a Greater Baghdad were outlined. Among the people invited for the plans by King Faisal II was American architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright who designed several cultural buildings as part of the project, one of these was a planetarium next to a civic auditorium located below several vast ramps for east access to the planetarium. The planetarium was supposed to be located on an island alongside an Opera House, a grand Islamic bazaar, and a monument of Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid. However, these plans were never implemented due to the 1958 coup that overthrew the Iraqi monarchy and killed King Faisal II, and lack of interest upon the new Iraqi government established by Abd al-Karim Qasim to continue the project.
Establishment
The Planetarium was built and opened in 1979 under the leadership of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. It is considered one of Iraq's most important scientific and astronomical tributaries, and a landmark of Baghdad in its design, location, and cognitive role. It was the first Planetarium in the Middle East. It became a hotspot for school field trip visits to the planetarium, especially for specialists, and those interested in astronomy, stars, and horoscopes. The building included many astronomical devices and equipment before it was looted and stolen in the events of the first Gulf War in 1991 before it was rehabilitated and became active again. That was until the US Invasion of Iraq in 2003 when it was subjected to the largest vandalism and looting of its laser devices, cameras, and cooling devices that it has seen in its existence. Moreover, the building and its equipment were burned, causing it to close its doors and remain abandoned. Nevertheless, a project to rehabilitate the Planetarium was launched by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in 2011 although no update on the project has been given as of 2023. Despite that, many former visitors of the Planetarium expressed their hope that the dome would be rehabilitated to open its doors again to students and those interested in astronomy.
See also
Zeiss-Planetarium Jena
Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world
Astrolabe
Astronomical clock
List of planetariums
References
Planetaria
Defunct planetaria
Buildings and structures in Baghdad
1979 establishments in Iraq
2003 disestablishments in Iraq
Science museums
Astronomy in Iraq
History of Baghdad | Baghdad Planetarium | [
"Astronomy"
] | 527 | [
"Astronomy education",
"Astronomy organizations",
"Planetaria"
] |
73,899,353 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IM%20Lupi | IM Lupi is a young stellar object with a surrounding protoplanetary disk. The young star is suspected to host a still forming protoplanet at a distance of 110 astronomical units (AU) and a mass of 2-3 . IM Lupi is 508 light-years (156 parsec) distant.
Star
The star IM Lupi was classified as a class II YSO with a spectral type M0. The star is probably not actively accreting, but there is evidence that the accretion is variable around IM Lupi. The young star is associated with the Lupus 2 Molecular Cloud.
Protoplanetary Disk
Many features at different wavelengths have been observed in this disk, which is very massive (0.17 ). The disk has a gas and a dust component. The gas component reaches out to 751 AU and the smaller dust component reaches out to 334 AU. In a scattered light image from SPHERE the upper surface and part of the lower surface was imaged. Dust observations with ALMA shows two rings and with SPHERE 2 additional rings were detected. ALMA observations at 1.25 mm shows a spiral pattern, which is also imprinted on the surface of the dusty part as seen by SPHERE. ALMA also observed the molecule 12CO, which traces the gas component of the disk. The CO observations show several deviations from Keplerian motion in the form of 16 kinks. The kinks and spirals could be caused by an undetected planet with a mass of 2-3 orbiting at about 110 AU. It is also possible that gravitational instability causes the patterns in this disk.
References
Protoplanets
Circumstellar disks
Lupus (constellation) | IM Lupi | [
"Astronomy"
] | 340 | [
"Constellations",
"Lupus (constellation)"
] |
73,899,767 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane%20Thomas-Oates | Jane E. Thomas-Oates (born 16 May 1960) is a British chemist who is an emeritus professor at the University of York. Her research has considered the development of mass spectrometry for biological applications including proteomics, metabolomics, and glycomics.
Early life and education
Thomas-Oates' parents were both teachers. Her father was a physical chemist before teaching science and her mother was also a botanist. She has said that she can remember being excited by mass spectrometry during her chemistry lessons. Thomas-Oates studied biochemistry at Imperial College London, where she remained for a doctorate with Anne Dell. Her doctoral research considered atom bombardment mass spectrometry of oligosaccharides and glycopeptides. She then moved to the United States as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder. She worked in the University of Colorado Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and the University of Georgia.
Research and career
In 1986, Thomas-Oates returned to Imperial College London. Her research considered the development of mass spectrometry for biological applications. She was appointed a Beit Memorial Research Fellow at the University of Dundee in 1989, where she spent two years before joining Utrecht University as a lecturer in mass spectrometry. In Dundee, she studied the structures of glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchors, and in Utrecht she developed the first mass spectrometry technique to determine glycan attachment to glycoproteins. In 1996, Thomas-Oates moved to University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology as a Senior Lecturer. She moved to the University of York as a Research Chair in 2002.
Thomas-Oates was made the British Mass Spectrometry Society lecturer in 2019.
Selected publications
References
1960 births
Living people
Academics of the University of York
Alumni of Imperial College London
20th-century British chemists
21st-century British chemists
British women chemists
20th-century British women scientists
21st-century British women scientists
Academic staff of Utrecht University
Academics of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
Mass spectrometrists | Jane Thomas-Oates | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 433 | [
"Biochemists",
"Mass spectrometry",
"Spectrum (physical sciences)",
"Mass spectrometrists"
] |
73,899,808 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carteirada | Carteirada () is a situation in which one seeks advantage or privilege due to their position, profession, financial or social status. Usually, it involves seeking minor non-financial advantages, such as using one's status to facilitate obtaining preferences, favors, tolerances, and/or courtesies that would not normally be accessible to ordinary citizens.
Luciana Tamburini case
In November 2014, Brazilian judge João Carlos de Souza Correa gained notoriety for suing a traffic officer who had fined him, being referred to as "the king of carteirada" ("flashing one's credentials"). The newspaper O Globo reported that Carlos' career has been marked by controversies, citing an incident in which the judge called the Federal Police after attempting to enter a ship to shop at a duty-free store. The judge was driving without a license, in an unmarked and undocumented vehicle, and was fined by Tamburini. After an argument, Correa arrested the officer. Correa's conduct was subject to a disciplinary process and judged by the Special Body of the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice, which deemed the magistrate's posture appropriate. The episode sparked outrage and expressions of support for the traffic officer, demanding justice against Correa in both the media and social networks.
TAM Linhas Aéreas case
In December 2014, in the city of Imperatriz, Maranhão, Judge Marcelo Testa Baldochi arrested three employees of TAM after being prevented from boarding a flight due to a delay.
The judge accused the employees of committing a crime against the consumer. However, years earlier, he had denied compensation for a missed flight, claiming that the fault lay solely with the customer.
Baldochi was born in the state of São Paulo, passed a public examination in 2003, and took office as a judge in Maranhão in 2006.
Reactions
The Brazilian Association of Magistrates (AMB) stated in a note that it considers any action representing an abuse of power unacceptable. The president of the Maranhão Association of Magistrates (AMMA), Gervásio Protásio, declared, "We, the judges of the state of Maranhão, do not condone this type of attitude."
The Order of Attorneys of Brazil (OAB) in Maranhão announced that it would file a complaint against the judge with the National Council of Justice (CNJ).
The incident became the subject of jokes on the Internet.
Other controversies
He was previously injured when fighting with a parking attendant over a parking space, and in 2007 labor inspectors rescued 25 people from conditions akin to slavery on the judge's farm in Açailândia.
See also
Abuse of authority
Brazilian jeitinho
Influence peddling
References
External links
Folha: 'Carteirada' is an abuse of rights and compromises condominium security
Behavior
Brazilian cultural conventions | Carteirada | [
"Biology"
] | 587 | [
"Behavior"
] |
73,899,847 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic%20pollution%20in%20the%20Mediterranean%20sea | The Mediterranean Sea has been defined as one of the seas most affected by marine plastic pollution.
It has concentrations of microplastics which are estimated to be higher than those on average found at the global level. Studies conducted within the WWF Mediterranean Marine Initiative of 2019 have estimated that 0.57 million metric tons of plastic enter the Mediterranean Sea every year; this quantity corresponds to the dumping of 33.800 bottles made of plastic into waters every minute, representing important risks for marine ecosystems, human health, but also for the blue economy of the area, whose coastal zones are very densely populated and among the first tourist destinations worldwide.
Marine plastic pollution was found in Mediterranean waters in amounts similar to those present in the ocean gyres (Indian Ocean Gyre, North Atlantic Gyre, North Pacific Gyre, South Atlantic Gyre, South Pacific Gyre). Therefore, the Mediterranean Sea is oftentimes being defined as the "world's sixth greatest accumulation zone" for marine plastic litter or as an invisible "sixth garbage patch", primarily composed of microplastics. This is an invisible garbage patch as there is no trace of permanent litter accumulation areas in the Mediterranean Sea, primarily because of the semi-enclosed shape of its basin, the cyclonic circulation and the currents present in the region.
The Mediterranean Sea receives waste from coastal areas and from waters, such as rivers (like in the case of the Nile river, which, as of 2017, brought around 200 tonnes of plastic waste into the Mediterranean basin yearly).
A World Wide Fund for Nature report of 2019 estimates that, considering the Mediterranean countries, around 70% of plastic pollution coming from water-based sources comes from three areas: Egypt (41.3%), Turkey (19.1%) and Italy (7.6%). Plastic litter originating from land-based sources is instead estimated to be coming from, in decreasing order: Turkey, Morocco, Israel, Spain, France, Syria, Egypt, Albania, Tunisia and Italy.
Initiatives are being implemented at various levels to reduce and end the problem of marine plastics pollution in the Mediterranean Sea; however, the governance of this problem is very complex because of the nature of such plastics (especially microplastics), the transboundary character of this matter, the difficulties connected with the multiplicity of the actors involved, the increasing levels of production of plastics and the issues connected with responsibility at different levels.
History of research on the problem
Studies on marine plastic pollution began in the 1970s, when plastic debris was found in gyres in the Sargasso Sea and the first scientific findings were published in 1972.
Around a decade later, in the 1980s, the first researches focusing on the problem of marine plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea were published. The first study on the Mediterranean basin focused on an area 40 miles SW of Malta and reported the presence of floating debris, the majority of which was constituted by plastic.
This body of research focusing on the Mediterranean continued growing in the 1990s, with numerous studies on the impacts, especially biological, of plastic pollution in the marine environment and with the start of interstate discussions, primarily in the form of conferences such as, among others, that of the "International Symposium on plastics in Mediterranean countries". However, the real increase in the number and variety of such studies only came later, around 2010, when more pieces of information on the quantity and distribution of plastics in the Mediterranean Sea was made accessible, when the knowledge on microplastics was being spread and when the impacts started to be addressed through diverse investigations as a concern.
Recent researches, conducted at various regional, national and international levels, address the impacts of plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea from ecological, biological, economic and social points of view and the possibilities in terms of reduction efforts and governance of the problem, also while awaiting the prospective Global plastic pollution treaty.
Types of plastics found in the Mediterranean Sea
Plastics accounts for 80% of waste dispersed in the marine and coastal environment of the Mediterranean Sea.
Recent studies focus on the types of plastics found and primarily on the issue of microplastics, both at a global but also at a regional level, as in the case of the Mediterranean Sea, which was identified as a "target hotspot of the world" due to its amounts of microplastics, around four times higher than those present in the North Pacific Ocean. In the Mediterranean Sea, microplastics are found on surface waters, as well as on beaches and deep seafloor. 94% of microplastic items present in the Mediterranean Sea are thought to be in the seabed, 5% on beaches and 1% on surface waters.
Plastics on Mediterranean beaches and surface waters
Plastics has been identified as the primary source of litter found on beaches of the Mediterranean Sea.
Researches conducted between 2019 and 2023 within the framework of the COMMON project ("COastal Management and MOnitoring Network for tackling marine litter in the Mediterranean Sea", financed by the European Union through the ENI CBC MED programme) show that, out of more than 90.000 collected objects on beaches of Italy, Tunisia and Lebanon, 17.000 are cigarette butts and 6.000 are cotton buds sticks, which contain plastics.
Earlier researches, conducted in 2016, present similar findings and show that the ten "top marine litter items" found on beaches and surface waters of the Mediterranean Sea were, from the most abundant: cigarette butts and filters, plastic and polystyrene pieces, plastic caps and lids and plastic rings from bottle caps and lids, cotton bud sticks, nets and pieces of nets, bottles, foam sponge, cigarette packets, plastic bags and what remains from these when they are ripped off. These items, primarily made of single-use plastics, account for more than 60% of marine waste in the beaches and surface waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
The surface waters of the Mediterranean Sea present concentrations of microplastics that, according to a 2015 study (UNEP/MAP), are above 100.000 objects per km2, with more than 64.000.000 floating particles per km2. As of 2019, the most common types of microplastics found are polyethylene, polystyrene, polyester and polypropylene.
Plastics in the Mediterranean seafloor
Plastic litter that accumulates in the Mediterranean Sea is fragmented into small particles that then tend to gather in the seabed.
Studies aimed at analysing plastic pollution in the sea floor of the Mediterranean have shown that plastic debris can be found in every depth from 900 m to 3000 m; plastic litter could be found in 92.8% of the surveys collected from the Mediterranean deep-sea.
Particular attention is now being devoted to the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in the Mediterranean seabed and sediments, the two regions with the highest levels of microplastics in the Mediterranean Sea.
In 2020, scientists from the University of Manchester analysed sediment samples of the Mediterranean Sea and identified the highest concentration ever recorded of microplastics on sediments of the sea floor; the scientists also discovered that such microplastics are moved by wind, storms, hurricane and currents present in the sea bed which then make them accumulate in specific areas. Once these items are deposited, their degradation is minimal because of a lack of oxygen or light and therefore the microplastics, once they come to the seafloor, remain preserved.
Another study from 2020 has led to the discovery of two types of plastic debris in the Mediterranean seabed for the first time, on Giglio Island, Italy: plasticrust and pyroplastics. Plasticrust had been found for the first time in the Atlantic Ocean. This discovery revealed that the contamination by plastic debris may be more widespread than previously expected.
Plastics in Marine Protected Areas
Researches on the sediment of the Cabrera Archipelago National Maritime-Terrestrial Park marine protected area has found that the majority of plastic debris in these waters is microplastics, probably transported by wave currents and winds; the study also showed that higher amounts of microplastics were found in the marine protected area rather than on other samples taken from different sites, thus opening the debate regarding the protection and conservation of these areas.
Other studies on the presence of plastic debris in marine protected areas have been conducted, among others, in the waters of the Natural Park of Telaščica bay in Croatia and on the EU Site of Community Interest in the North-West Adriatic; both areas present marine litter, primarily in the form of microplastics and mesoplastics.
Sources of plastic litter in the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is considered as a hotspot for plastic pollution and one of the most impacted regions of the world by this problem. As of 2019, of the estimated 10.000 tons of plastic input per year in the Mediterranean Sea, half of this litter had land-based origins (from coastal zones) whereas the other half originated from rivers and maritime routing. This is the case for example of the Nile River which, as of 2017, brought around 200 tonnes of plastic waste into the Mediterranean basin yearly.
Once plastic waste reaches Mediterranean waters, it hardly gets out: the peculiar shape of the Mediterranean sea and its currents mean that the outflow circulation of waters is limited and, therefore, that the waste that enters from the coastlines remains inside the Mediterranean, accumulating within it.
Researchers identify some main causes of the large presence of plastic pollution in this Sea: namely its semi-enclosed shape, its densely populated coasts, tourism activities, fishing, shipping, waste disposal problems, increase of the use of plastic and unsustainable consumption patterns.
Land-based sources of plastic litter in the Mediterranean Sea
The primary land-based sources of plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea are tourism activities, vast population on the coasts, inefficient management of waste, unsustainable consumption patterns and increase on the use of plastics. According to a UNEP report, inhabitants and tourists of the Mediterranean region produce 24 million metric tons of plastic waste (of which less than 6% is recycled) each year; this figure normally grows during the summer because of tourism presence and activities. Mediterranean countries are the world's number one tourism destination (considering both international and domestic visitors) and waste management facilities frequently experience overload. Most of the waste produced is dumped into unprotected landfills and gets into the Mediterranean Sea through stormwater runoffs, wind currents, rivers, wastewater streams. To this extent, considering the fact that wastewater is a pathway for waste disposal in open waters, a key challenge is also constituted by the fact that only small percentages of wastewater in the Mediterranean area undergo basic and tertiary treatment.
Ocean-based sources of plastic litter in the Mediterranean Sea
Ocean-based sources of plastic litter are connected with some important economic sectors in the Mediterranean: fisheries, shipping and acquaculture, which generate diverse types of debris that ends up in waters. The shipping sector in the Mediterranean Sea is very important as about 15% of global shipping passes through this region. Cruise-liners, military fleets, oil and gas stations, drilling activities are other ocean-based sources of plastic litter: the debris produced is then fragmented into microplastics present at all levels of the Mediterranean basin.
Impacts and costs of plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea
As the Mediterranean Sea is characterised by a rich biodiversity, ecological value and intense presence of economic activities, the current and future impacts of marine plastic pollution in this area are particularly high. The Mediterranean Sea in fact hosts between 4% and 18% of all marine exemplars, and tourism on the coastal zones, aquaculture, the fishing industry and maritime transport represent substantial sources of income for the Mediterranean countries .
Research shows that marine plastic pollution has impacts on marine ecosystems and economic activities at various levels, but further studies are currently being conducted to thoroughly investigate the size of such impacts in the Mediterranean area, both on marine biota and on human health.
Biological and ecological impacts
A study conducted by Legambiente on 700 individuals of 6 different fish species discovered that one out of three fish had ingested plastic items and that more than half of the sea turtles that were analysed presented plastic litter either inside or around the body. Other studies found traces of ingested plastic debris also in the stomachs of seabirds and nanoplastic particles in mussels.
These are just some of the signals of the negative impact that plastic litter has on the marine biodiversity of the Mediterranean basin. Marine plastic litter causes problems not only in terms of the accidental ingestion of plastic items (which can lead to gastrointestinal blockages, diseases and mortality), but also in terms of the toxic effects that additives used in plastics can have. Moreover, studies have shown that plastic items soaks up contaminants in a more rapid and efficient way than organic items floating on sea waters. Long-term exposure to such plastic items and the contaminants, in particular microplastic debris, has been shown to have topological effects on species living in regions where marine plastic pollution is intense, like in the case of the Mediterranean region, whose ecosystem is in constant contact with plastics.
Impacts on human health
Potential impacts on human health are connected, among others, with the possibility of eating fish that had ingested plastics, of drinking waters that do not undergo treatment, or through releases of chemical substances. However, effects of plastics (and especially microplastics) on human health are a particularly debated topic within scholars and researchers and more studies are being conducted to assess these effects.
Impacts and costs on marine industries
The dangerous effect of plastic pollution has also noticeable impacts on the blue economy of the Mediterranean basin, in particular on the tourism, fishing and shipping sectors. Calculating the complete economic impacts of marine plastic litter in the Mediterranean Sea is very complicated due to the various sources, the impacts at the environmental, social and economic levels, and the number of involved sectors in different geographic locations. A 2021 report by UNEP tried estimating annual losses of US$700 million on the entire blue economy of the Mediterranean Sea. Because of current waves, high amounts of plastic objects accumulate on beaches, thus demanding continuous clean-ups and potentially disincentivizing tourism.
Aquaculture and fishery are impacted as the marine ecosystem is affected and as litter can damage nets, contaminate the catches and also reduce them. For the fishing sector, researches of 2021 estimate a general annual loss of euros 61.7 millions due to marine debris in European countries; this figure is also comprising a loss due to the decreasing of demand of fish products due to concerns on the quality of these items.
The specific loss at the Mediterranean level is more complicated to calculate but scholars argue the costs are considered to be higher to the substantial concentration of marine litter.
The shipping sector suffers economic pressures too, as plastic marine litter, among others, can damage motors, which then have to be repaired. Assessments on the impact of plastic marine litter on the shipping sector in the Mediterranean region are being conducted.
Social and clean up costs
Marine pollution in the Mediterranean has led to an increase in the costs sustained by diverse local, regional and national authorities to clean-up the beaches and coastal areas. For example, as of 2016, Nice's administration spent around euros 2 million to clean up beaches.
Analysis conducted within the CleanSea project estimated a cost of Euros 3.800 to clean up one tonne of marine litter in European countries' beaches: Euros 2.200 have been estimated to be spent annually to clean up each tonne of floating plastic litter.
Other impacts have been registered at the local level with losses of income and jobs in the tourism sector, as well as losses in values of residential property.
Reduction efforts
Marine plastic pollution has been defined as a global concern by the European Union, the G7 and G20, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and various organisations and institutions at local, regional and international levels. Over the last few years, marine plastic debris has started to be recognised as a relevant issue also in terms of its governance and regulatory complexities, which are also due to the fact that it is a transboundary, "multifaceted" problem, with multiple causes, sources and actors involved, and that requires integrated approaches and solutions at various levels.
National, regional and international actors, along with civil society and private industries are trying to address the problem of pollution in the Mediterranean Sea with initiatives, policies, campaigns. The majority of these initiatives addresses marine pollution in general, while also focusing, among others, on the problem of marine plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea and region.
Policies and conventions on the Mediterranean Sea
The Barcelona Convention, which was adopted in 1995, was the first regional treaty aiming at reducing pollution, and marine plastic pollution, in the Mediterranean region; the European Union and all countries with a Mediterranean shoreline are parties to the Convention and to the Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution from Land Based Sources and to Activities that concern plastic pollution in the Mediterranean basin.
The Barcelona Convention and its Protocols were established within the regional cooperation platform "Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme" (UNEP/MAP), the first regional action plan of the UNEP Regional Seas Programme, which was instrumental in the adoption of the Convention itself. The UNEP/MAP - Barcelona Convention System has been playing a role for responding to environmental challenges threatening marine and coastal ecosystems in the Mediterranean region. It collects data for marine debris, litter in waters and on coastlines, amounts of plastic litter ingested by marine species.
The first ever legal binding instrument with the purpose of preventing and limiting marine plastic pollution and of cleaning up marine litter already affecting the area of the Mediterranean Sea is the "Regional Plan on Marine Litter Management" (RPML) in the Mediterranean, which was adopted, among others, in the framework of the Barcelona Convention in 2013. The Plan is further supported by the EU funded "Marine Litter MED II project" (2020-2023), which is focused on countries of the Southern Mediterranean (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Israel and Lebanon) and is built on the results of the Marine Litter MED project, carried out between 2016 and 2019.
Scholars have argued that an international agreement among countries with shorelines on the Mediterranean Sea could be pursued, with actions focused on eliminating plastic waste in nature, on creating plans for the prevention, control and removal of plastic litter from marine ecosystems, on banning specific types of plastic products and prevent their dumping into waters, and on establishing international committees.
The prospective Global Plastic Pollution Treaty is awaited.
Marine Protected Areas
Marine Protected Areas represent a policy instrument which can be helpful in reducing plastic pollution in seas and its impacts on marine ecosystems, as they ban or limit fisheries, some tourism activities, dumping of materials, mining and building of harbours and offshore wind farms.
Nevertheless, high levels of plastic pollution, especially microplastics, have been recorded in Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean Sea. Initiatives focusing specifically on Marine Protected Areas and plastic pollution in the Mediterranean region are awaited.
Other actors, initiatives and programmes
Programmes and strategies at the EU level address the problem of plastic pollution in Europe's seas, therefore also the Mediterranean Sea. Key policies are the EU Green Deal and the Zero Pollution Action Plan, of which an important goal is that of reducing waste, marine plastic pollution and the dispersal of microplastics.
Among the relevant strategies, some are the Water Framework Directive, the Industrial Emissions Directive, the Environmental Liability Directive, the Environmental Crimes Directive, the Waste Framework Directive, the Waste Shipment Regulation, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, the Single-Use Plastics Directive.
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive constitutes the EU legal framework for the safeguard and preservation of the European Seas, also from marine plastic litter; the Directive addresses the importance of identifying the sources of marine litter and its impacts to deploy efficient and comprehensive measures. Among various actions, there is the European Union's ban on diverse kinds of single-use plastics.
The EU has invited Mediterranean countries to implement legal, administrative and financial actions to create sustainable waste management systems to limit the problem of plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea.
Some of the other actors carrying out activities to raise awareness and build knowledge on the topic of plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea involve: the Union for the Mediterranean; the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and IUCN-Med, which conducts researches on macro, micro and nano plastics in the Mediterranean Sea and builds partnerships and alliances for the implementation of projects in the region;WWF with different analyses and projects, such as the WWF Mediterranean Marine Initiative; the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE) and the MARLISCO project; Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change.
States and civil societies actors are also operating and creating partnerships (like in the case of the COastal Management and MOnitoring Network for tackling marine litter in the Mediterranean Sea) in awareness-raising initiatives and in clean-up activities on the coastlines of the Mediterranean Sea, like in the case of OGYRE and ENALEIA, who are directly cooperating with fishermen in cleaning various seas, including the Mediterranean Sea. Other clean-up activities comprise the "Mediterranean CleanUP" (MCU), "Clean up the Med" by Legambiente and spontaneous initiatives at various levels.
The Day of the Mediterranean is celebrated each year on 28 November to commemorate the foundation of the Barcelona Convention and to raise awareness on various issues of the Mediterranean basin, among which that of plastic pollution.
References
Environmental toxicology
Ecology
Pollution | Plastic pollution in the Mediterranean sea | [
"Biology",
"Environmental_science"
] | 4,364 | [
"Toxicology",
"Environmental toxicology",
"Ecology"
] |
73,899,904 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time%20Shelter | Time Shelter () is a 2020 novel by Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov. In 2021, the Italian version of the novel, titled Cronorifugio and translated by Giuseppe Dell'Agata was awarded the Strega European Prize. In 2023, the English version of the novel, translated by Angela Rodel, became the first Bulgarian-language novel to both be nominated for and win the International Booker Prize. The £50,000 prize was equally shared between Gospodinov and Rodel.
Plot
The novel follows an unnamed narrator and Gaustine, a psychiatrist who creates a clinic for people with Alzheimer's disease in Zürich. Each floor of the clinic recreates a decade in intricate detail, aiming to transport patients back in time to revisit their memories. Tasked with collecting past artifacts for the clinic, the narrator travels across countries. Soon, healthy people turn to the clinic to flee their monotonous lives and the idea becomes widespread when more clinics open. Referendums are held across Europe to decide which past decade each country should live in, in the future.
Development
Time Shelter is Gospodinov's third novel to be published in English. In an interview with The Booker Prizes, Gospodinov revealed that his inspiration came from the rise of the populism movement in 2016, as well as Brexit, and that his writing was influenced by writers Thomas Mann and Jorge Luis Borges. Overall, the novel took nearly three years to write and around six months to be translated into English.
Reception
Critical reception
Time Shelter has received international praise from critics. The review aggregator website Book Marks reported an overall "Positive" rating for the novel based on 8 reviews: 2 critics gave a "Rave" review, while 6 gave a "Positive" review.
In 2022, the novel was named as one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker magazine. Kirkus Reviews described Time Shelter as "an ambitious, quirky, time-folding yarn", while Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk described the novel as "the most exquisite kind of literature, on our perception of time and its passing, written in a masterful and totally unpredictable style". In its review, The Guardian commented "from communism to the Brexit referendum and conflict in Europe, this funny yet frightening Bulgarian novel explores the weaponisation of nostalgia". Sam Sacks, in The Wall Street Journal described the title of Georgi Gospodinov’s novel “Time Shelter” to a sanatorium established in Switzerland for patients suffering from amnesia. The clinic functions like “a bomb shelter of the past”—each floor represents a different decade and is filled with the minutiae of the era (even its distinctive scents), allowing for full immersion in a cherished period of history.
Awards and accolades
In 2021, the Italian translation of Time Shelter was awarded the Strega European Prize, Italy's most prestigious literary award. The win marked the first time that the award was given to an Eastern European writer.
In 2023, the English translation of the novel was awarded the International Booker Prize. It is the first Bulgarian novel to win the prize. Leïla Slimani, the chairwoman of the judging panel, described the novel as "a brilliant novel, full of irony and melancholy." The novel was ultimately chosen from a shortlist of six books. On winning the prize, author Gospodinov commented, "it is commonly assumed that 'big themes' are reserved for 'big literatures,' or literatures written in big languages, while small languages, somehow by default, are left with the local and the exotic. Awards like the International Booker Prize are changing that status quo, and this is very important."
References
2020 novels
International Booker Prize–winning works
21st-century Bulgarian novels
Fiction about time
Novels set in Zurich | Time Shelter | [
"Physics"
] | 790 | [
"Spacetime",
"Fiction about time",
"Physical quantities",
"Time"
] |
73,900,066 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%203516 | NGC 3516 is a barred lenticular galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major. NGC 3516 is located about 150 million light years away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 3516 is approximately 100,000 light years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on April 3, 1785.
Characteristics
In 1943, this galaxy was one of six nebulae listed by American astronomer Carl Keenan Seyfert that showed broad emission lines in their nuclei. Members of this class of objects became known as Seyfert galaxies, and they were noted to have a higher than normal surface brightness in their nuclei. NGC 3516 is believed to host a supermassive black hole whose mass is estimated to be based on broad emission-line reverberation mapping or as measured based on velocity dispersion.
Due to its high brightness in both UV and X-rays, and its prominent and clear active galactic nucleus absorption features, it has been an ideal laboratory for studying the AGN warm-absorber outflows with high-resolution spectroscopy. Over the past few decades, there have been many UV and X-ray case studies of the ionized outflows in NGC 3516. NGC 3516 has been a remarkably variable AGN, showing changes in both the intrinsic continuum and the intrinsic absorption by the ionized outflows. In 2014, the broad lines almost disappeared, probably becoming obstructed, and thus the galaxy has been identified as a changing-look AGN, meaning it changed spectra between type 1 and type 2 AGN.
The galaxy has been found to emit radiowaves, with the source extending towards the north for about 0.65 arcseconds. That structure is a bit curved and probably is related to the gaseous outflow. A spiral dust feature measuring 3 arcseconds in diameter is visible north of the nucleus. A blue filamentary feature is visible northeast of the nucleus and another blue feature is visible 1.5 arcseconds southwest of the nucleus.
Nearby galaxies
NGC 3516 is a relatively isolated galaxy. Near galaxies include NGC 3147 with its group that NGC 3155, UGC 5570, UGC 5686, and UGC 5689, NGC 3183, NGC 3348, and NGC 3364. Garcia identified NGC 3516 as a member of group that also includes the galaxies NGC 3348, and NGC 3364.
References
External links
NGC 3516 on SIMBAD
Barred lenticular galaxies
Seyfert galaxies
Ursa Major
Discoveries by William Herschel
Astronomical objects discovered in 1785
3516
06153
33623 | NGC 3516 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 533 | [
"Ursa Major",
"Constellations"
] |
73,900,375 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela%20Schoellig | Angela P. Schoellig is a German computer scientist whose research involves the application of machine learning to the control theory of robot motion, especially for quadcopters and other flying devices. She is an Alexander von Humboldt Professor for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at the Technical University of Munich, and an associate professor in the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS).
Education and career
After high school in Backnang, near Stuttgart, Schoellig studied engineering science and mechanics in the US at Georgia Tech, earning a master's degree there in 2007 under the supervision of Magnus Egerstedt. She returned to Germany for a second master's degree in engineering cybernetics at the University of Stuttgart, in 2008, working there with Frank Allgöwer. She completed a doctorate in 2013 at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, with Raffaello D'Andrea as her doctoral advisor.
After continued postdoctoral research at ETH Zurich, she became an assistant professor at the University of Toronto in 2013, was given a Canada Research Chair in 2019, and was promoted to associate professor in 2020. In 2021 she was given the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship in Artificial Intelligence at the Technical University of Munich, where she holds the Chair of Safety, Performance and Reliability for Learning Systems in the Department of Computer Engineering.
References
External links
Home page at U. Toronto
Home page at TU Munich
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
German computer scientists
German women computer scientists
Control theorists
German roboticists
Women roboticists
Georgia Tech alumni
University of Stuttgart alumni
ETH Zurich alumni
Academic staff of the University of Toronto
Canada Research Chairs
Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich | Angela Schoellig | [
"Engineering"
] | 334 | [
"Control engineering",
"Control theorists"
] |
73,901,822 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mild%20non-BH4-deficient%20hyperphenylalaninemia | Mild non-BH4-deficient hyperphenylalaninemia (HPANBH4) is a rare metabolic disorder characterized by mild hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA) and a range of variable neurologic symptoms, including movement abnormalities and intellectual impairment. HPANBH4 has an autosomal-recessive pattern of inheritance.
Causes
The disorder is caused by homozygous and compound heterozygous mutations in the DNAJC12 gene, which encodes a molecular chaperone belonging to the DnaJ/HSP40 family of proteins.
History
Mild non-BH4-deficient hyperphenylalaninemia was first reported in 6 patients from 4 unrelated consanguineous families by a large group of researchers in 2017.
Alternative names
DNAJC12 deficiency
References
External links
Hyperphenylalaninemia, mild, non-BH4-deficient - OMIM entry for the disease.
Metabolic disorders | Mild non-BH4-deficient hyperphenylalaninemia | [
"Chemistry"
] | 202 | [
"Metabolic disorders",
"Metabolism"
] |
73,901,890 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest%20Kempton%20Adams%20Lectures | The Ernest Kempton Adams (EKA) Lectures at Columbia University is a lecture series on physics that originally took place from 1905 to 1913. According to physicist Andrew Millis, the series "marked the beginning of America’s engagement with modern physics," and was the first and only occasion on which several leading European physicists visited or lectured in America. It was originally funded by Edward Dean Adams with a $50,000 endowment in memory of his son, Ernest Kempton Adams, who was an 1897 alumnus of Columbia’s School of Mines. The lecture series was founded by Professor George B. Pegram. The series was revived in 2022 with a lecture by Michael Berry.
List of lectures
1905–06: Vilhelm Bjerknes, "Fields of Force"
1906–07: Hendrik Lorentz, "The Theory of Electrons and its Application to the Phenomena of Light and Radiant Heat"
1909: Max Planck, "Eight Lectures on Theoretical Physics"
1909–10: Carl Runge, "Graphical Methods"
1911: Jacques Hadamard, "Four Lectures on Mathematics"
1913: Robert W. Wood, "Researches in Physical Optics, Part I"
1913: Wilhelm Wien, "Neuere Probleme der theoretischen Physik"
2022: Michael Berry, "Four Geometric Optical Illusions"
See also
Bampton Lectures (Columbia University)
Man's Right to Knowledge Lectures
References
Lecture series at Columbia University
Recurring events established in 1905
1905 establishments in New York City
Physics education
1913 disestablishments in New York (state)
Physics events | Ernest Kempton Adams Lectures | [
"Physics"
] | 318 | [
"Applied and interdisciplinary physics",
"Physics education"
] |
73,903,837 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenia%20cordata | Frankenia cordata is a flowering plant in the family Frankeniaceae and grows in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. It is a small, spreading shrub with pink flowers.
Description
Frankenia cordata is a small, thickly branched shrub high, branches smooth to covered with soft, fine hairs or short soft, weak thin hairs that are spreading to slightly curved. The leaves are yellow-green to greyish, usually heart-shaped at the base, long, dotted with small hollows, leaves variable, narrow to broadly egg-shaped, oblong or triangular, thickened in the middle at the base, flattened toward leaf margin, wide at the apex and long. The lower surface sometimes smooth with occasional to thickly covered with soft, upright, spreading to slightly curved hairs, upper surface mostly smooth with occasional soft, upright hairs. The flowers are borne at the top 1-4 nodes of higher branches mostly in dichasia formation of 2-17 flowers or singly, 5-6 pink spoon-shaped petals, long and the bracts fused at the base in whorls of 4. Flowering occurs from February to October and the fruit has 1-3 seeds.
Taxonomy and naming
Frankenia cordata was first formally described in 1918 by John McConnell Black and the description was published in Transactions and proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia. The specific epithet (cordata) means "heart-shaped" referring to the leaves.
Distribution and habitat
This species is often found growing in saline soils, flood plains, clay-sand and rocky locations in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
References
cordata
Halophytes
Caryophyllales of Australia
Flora of South Australia
Flora of the Northern Territory
Flora of Western Australia | Frankenia cordata | [
"Chemistry"
] | 350 | [
"Halophytes",
"Salts"
] |
73,904,332 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyranocoumarin | Pyranocoumarins are a class of chemical compounds that have a core structure that consists of a pyran ring fused to a coumarin. As phytochemicals, pyranocoumarins are uncommon and found mainly the plant families Apiaceae and Rutaceae. For example, Citrus sinensis and Citrus limonia are sources of xanthyletin and seselin.
In the biosyntheses of pyranocoumarins, the pyran ring is formed via the methylerythritol phosphate pathway and the coumarin is derived from the shikimate pathway.
See also
Furanocoumarin
References
Pyrans
Coumarins
Heterocyclic compounds with 3 rings | Pyranocoumarin | [
"Chemistry"
] | 157 | [] |
73,904,905 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang%203300 | The Wang 3300 was an minicomputer released by Wang Laboratories in 1971.
Description
Model with machine time sharing created between Wang 4000 and Wang 2200. Wang's first computer, the Wang 3300, was an 8-bit integrated circuit general-purpose minicomputer designed to be the central processor for a multi-terminal time-sharing system. Byte-oriented, it also provided a number of double-byte operand memory commands. Core memory ranged from 4,096 to 65,536 bytes in 4,096-byte increments. Up to 16 teletype terminals could be connect to one 3300. Wang claimed at the time that it was "the most easily operated minicomputer time-sharing system available" but it has become to be seen as a "false start" since programs, stored on paper tape, took up to 40 minutes to load and it only used the physical teletype terminals instead of CRTs.
Development began after hiring Rick Bensene in June 1968. The software was developed by PHI Computer Services, which Wang had purchased in 1968, on an IBM 360/65 emulating the 3300. The product was announced in February 1969 and shipped to its first customer on March 29, 1971.
References
External links
Wang 3300 Extensive information about the Wang 3300
Wang 3300 Emulator A true emulator of the Wang 3300
Wang Laboratories: From Custom Systems to Computers
Wang 3300 on YouTube Video showing a running Wang 3300 System
Minicomputers
Computer-related introductions in 1971
Wang Laboratories
BASIC programming language | Wang 3300 | [
"Technology"
] | 321 | [
"Computing stubs"
] |
73,905,908 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%205252 | NGC 5252 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. It is located at a distance of about 220 to 320 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 5252 is about 100,000 light years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on February 2, 1786.
Characteristics
Nucleus
The nucleus of NGC 5252 has been found to be active and it has been categorised as a type II Seyfert galaxy or type 1.9. A broad H-alpha line has been observed, indicating that a broad line region is partially hidden and the nucleus of NGC 5252 is more active than originally thought.
The most accepted theory for the energy source of active galactic nuclei is the presence of an accretion disk around a supermassive black hole. The mass of the black hole in the centre of NGC 5252 is estimated to be based on the dynamics of the circumnuclear gas. The mass of the black hole is larger than that observed in Seyfert galaxies and it is more in line with a radio-quiet quasar, with a black hole which is accreting at a slow rate. The X-ray observations of the galaxy indicate a flat spectrum with a soft X-rays element due to ionised gas cones, which also indicate that the galaxy hosts a quasar relic.
The nucleus is surrounded by filamentary structures which glow green due to the ionised oxygen. These were illuminated when the nucleus of the galaxy hosted a quasar.
Ultraluminous X-ray source
An ultraluminous X-ray source has been observed 22 arcseconds from the nucleus of the galaxy, which corresponds to about 10 kiloparsec at the distance of the galaxy. Its luminosity is estimated to be erg s−1. The source has also been observed in visual light and radiowaves. In radiowaves it features two components, one east and one west. The redshift of the source is similar to that of the galaxy, indicating that it is gravitationally bound to the galaxy. It probably is an intermediate-mass black hole with a mass over solar masses, probably the remnant of a nucleus of dwarf galaxy with low-luminosity activity, as the black hole is probably accreting weakly.
See also
Hanny's Voorwerp
References
External links
NGC 5252 on SIMBAD
Lenticular galaxies
Seyfert galaxies
Virgo (constellation)
5252
08622
48189
Discoveries by William Herschel
Astronomical objects discovered in 1786 | NGC 5252 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 529 | [
"Virgo (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
73,905,971 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang%204000 | The Wang 4000 was the first programmable computer system from Wang Laboratories, released in 1967.
Description
However, already in the spring of 1968, An Wang, seeing that he was not able to compete with the PDP-8, focused on a new computer — model 3300. Allowed the use of peripheral devices, in particular printers.
References
External links
Wang 4000 Computer Extensive information about the Wang 4000
Wang 4000 on YouTube Discussing the Wang 4000
Minicomputers
1967 introductions
Wang Laboratories | Wang 4000 | [
"Technology"
] | 97 | [
"Computing stubs"
] |
73,907,236 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppet%20Master%3A%20The%20Game | Puppet Master: The Game is a 2023 free-to-play early access survival horror game based on the Puppet Master franchise. It was developed by October Games and published by Full Moon Features and October Games. It features co-operative gameplay and player versus player (PvP) combat. Puppet Master: The Game was released in early access for Steam on March 1, 2023.
Gameplay
Puppet Master: The Game is a third-person survival horror game set in a different locations from the Puppet Master franchise.
The game is an asymmetrical single-player and multiplayer video game. The multiplayer portion of the game features a human player against three puppet players as the human player attempts to retrieve artifacts related to André Toulon and escape with them. Perks can also be unlocked with experience points earned during gameplay that can be used to update characters' statistics. Players can also alter the appearance of their characters with skins.
Characters
The game features three different humans and seven puppets. The humans featured are Agent, Dana Hadley and Neil Gallagher. The puppets featured are Blade, Jester, Leech Woman, Pinhead, Six-Shooter, Torch and Tunneler. New playable characters are also in the works.
Release
On March 1, 2023, Puppet Master: The Game was released for an early access open beta on Steam. In April 2023, a roadmap was released for the game that detailed plans for upcoming updates that includes new factions, humans, maps, perks, puppets and weapons for humans as well as a Halloween event.
Downloadable content
On Halloween, Full Moon announced downloadable content featuring the Demonic Toys, another Full Moon horror franchise. This marks their second crossover with Demonic Toys since Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys from 2004. This one has been reported to be "canonical" by those unfamiliar with the franchise. However, more discerning critics have noted that the inclusion of demonic toys contributed to the overall weakening of the brand; one built on the idea that a French magician--who stole esoteric knowledge from an Egyptian demon--was persecuted by the Nazis because of his love of puppets, and also the inherent evil of puppets in general. This moral choreography was reframed in Puppet Master 4: When Bad Puppets Turn Good.
See also
List of horror video games
References
External links
2020s horror video games
2024 video games
Asymmetrical multiplayer video games
Cooperative video games
Early access video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Survival horror video games
Video games based on films
Windows games | Puppet Master: The Game | [
"Physics"
] | 502 | [
"Asymmetrical multiplayer video games",
"Symmetry",
"Asymmetry"
] |
73,907,946 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmira%20Ramazanova | Elmira Mammadamin gizi Ramazanova (; 28 October 1934 – 8 December 2020) was an Azerbaijani geologist who specialized in the efficiency of oil and gas extraction and was a professor at Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University.
Biography
Elmira Mammadamin gizi Ramazanova was born on 28 October 1934 in Baku, the capital of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (now Azerbaijan), and was educated at School No. 134 in Baku and the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute (now Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University. In 1965, she received her PhD in Technical Sciences, with her thesis titled "Razrabotka i issledovaniye metodiki rascheta usloviy razdeleniya gaza v gazokondensatnykh sistemakh" ().
After working sometime at the Azerbaijan SSR's energy department, she remained at the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute (by then renamed the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute) as a faculty member, eventually being promoted to the rank of professor in 1978. In 1975, she received a Doctorate of Technical Sciences, with her thesis titled "Termodinamicheskiye issledovaniya neftyanykh i gazokondensatnykh mestorozhdeniy na osnove primeneniya metodov adaptatsii" (). In 1992, she moved to the Geotechnological Problems of Oil, Gas and Chemistry Scientific Research Institute, where she became director that same year, and she subsequently remained in that position until her death.
As an academic, Ramazanova specialized in the efficiency of oil and gas extraction. In 1986, she and Fuad Veliyev wrote the book "Prikladnaya termodinamika neftegazokondensatnykh mestorozhdeniy" (). She served on the editorial board of the Azerbaijan Oil Industry Journal. She was vice-president of the country's National Oil Committee and, according to Azerbaijani newspaper İki sahil, "devoted her life and all her work to the development of oil and gas science and the oil and gas industry in Azerbaijan".
Ramazanova won several awards, including Order of the Badge of Honour in 1986, Honored Science Worker of the Azerbaijan SSR (1990), Honored Oilman of the USSR (1990), and the Shohrat Order in 2014 (for her "services in training highly qualified specialists for the oil and gas industry in the Republic of Azerbaijan"). In 2007, Ramazanova was elected to the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences as a corresponding member.
Ramazanova died on 8 December 2020, aged 86.
References
1934 births
2020 deaths
Azerbaijani geologists
Women geologists
20th-century geologists
Petroleum engineers
Azerbaijani engineers
Azerbaijani women engineers
20th-century women engineers
Academic staff of Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University
Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University alumni
Recipients of the Shohrat Order | Elmira Ramazanova | [
"Engineering"
] | 590 | [
"Petroleum engineers",
"Petroleum engineering"
] |
73,908,203 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tympanella%20galanthina | Tympanella galanthina, or cottonbud pouch, is a secotioid fungus in the monotypic genus Tympanella, a member of the Bolbitiaceae family. It is endemic to New Zealand.
Etymology
Tympanella, derived from the Latin Tympanum meaning little drum or stretched and -ella meaning small.
The specific epithet galanthina is possibly derived from the Greek, Γαλα = milk, ανθοσ = flower, and the adjectival ending, -ιον; possibly referring to similarities to the snowdrop, Galanthus.
Taxonomy
Mordecai Cubitt Cooke and George Edward Massee first described the species as Agaricus galanthinus in 1890. The species was described as Naucoria galanthina in 1891 by Peir Andrea Saccado. The genus Tympanella was re-described by mycologist Egon Horak in 1971. The holotype specimen was collected by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke and George Edward Massee in New Zealand in 1890.
Description
The pileus of Tympanella galanthina is dry, and 7–30 mm diameter. It is secotioid and globose when young. Later in development the pileus may become convex or campanulate, however, the margin is still strongly incurved. The colour varies and can be white, cream, clay, or buff. The pileus is densely squamulose, with small hairs or scales. There are fibrillose remnants of the veil near the margin, white and conspicuous particularly on young fruit bodies. The lamellae are a distinct rust to cinnamon brown, not lacunose or anastomosing, adnate or adnexed, sometimes subdecurrent and floccose with a coloured edge. The cylindrical stipe is also dry and is typically 10–40 mm tall and 1.5–5 mm wide. It is light brown, concolourus with the pileus and has white fibrils down from the veil. This species does not have a permanent cortina or ring and columella is absent /not attenuated near the apex. The stipe is singularly fistulose, watery brown context without smell or taste.
The spores are smooth, elliptical, and thick-walled, 10.4–13.5 × 6.3–8 μ. The spores have a germ pore and are reddish-brown, but are not amyloid or dextrinoid. The basidia are 27–36 × 8–11 μ with 4 spores. The cheilocystidia are 15–45 × 12–25 μ and are thin-walled, hyaline, clavate or lageniform with a sterile zone at the edge. Cylindrical or fusoid hyphae form a cuticle, a trichoderm (5–20 μ diam.) which is thin walled, gelatinised, without pigment, and has suberect tips and clamp connections.
Habitat and distribution
Tympanella galanthina is found in New Zealand forests among leaf litter or fallen tree fern fronds, and occasionally on rotting wood. It prefers wet forest conditions and is distributed over the North and South Islands. It has been found in association with Beilschmiedia tawa, Sphaeropteris medullaris, Leptospermum scoparium, Nothofagus fusca, N. menziesii, N. solandri, and with Podocarpus.
References
Bolbitiaceae
Fungi of New Zealand
Fungus species | Tympanella galanthina | [
"Biology"
] | 760 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
73,908,482 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockloft | A cockloft is a horizontal void between a building's uppermost ceiling and its roof, with no habitable or accessible space. They are typically of combustible construction, with limited or no access. They may create a large space over multiple occupancies or adjoining buildings. They are commonly present in North America in older commercial buildings and rowhouses, with the roof above sloping from front to back, creating a shallow attic-like space.
Cocklofts have particular significance in firefighting, since they are difficult to access, are unlighted, require stooping or crawling, with no walkable floors, and are typically constructed with exposed lumber. Fire may remain active and undetected in such spaces, and may flash over when oxygen is introduced by ventilation.
See also
Crawl space
Rain roof, a superimposed roof structure over an existing roof that creates a concealed shallow space
References
Architectural elements | Cockloft | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 187 | [
"Building engineering",
"Architectural elements",
"Components",
"Architecture"
] |
73,908,804 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pladienolide%20B | Pladienolide B is a polyketide natural product that is made by the bacterium Streptomyces platensis MER-11107, which is a gram-positive bacteria isolated from soil in Japan. Pladienolide B is a molecule of interest due to potential anti-cancer properties. The proposed mechanism of action of this molecule is via binding to and inhibiting the SF3B complex within the human spliceosome.
Biosynthesis
As a polyketide, pladienolide B is synthesized in the polyketide synthase (PKS) type I pathway, a biosynthetic pathway that is derived from the fatty acid synthase (FAS) pathway. Polyketides are formed through the condensation of acyl-thioester units. The synthesis of pladienolide B begins with acyl transferase loading propionyl CoA onto the holo (activated) acyl carrier protein (ACP). The molecule is then extended ten times, each time by two carbon units, by iterative PKS (Figure 1). Figure 1 indicates the loading unit (malonyl CoA or methylmalonyl CoA) and tailoring enzymes for each module (turquoise enzyme clusters in part c of Figure 1). After the ten elongation modules, the active site serine residue of thioesterase (TE) acts as a nucleophile by attacking the ketone directly bound to CoA-SH. This nucleophilic attack causes CoA-SH to leave and thus transfers the elongated chain to TE. Then the hydroxyl group on carbon 11 acts as a nucleophile by attacking the terminal ketone so that carbons 1-11 form a cyclic, 12-membered ring, releasing TE in the process. This concludes the PKS portion of the biosynthesis, and thus results in the pladienolide B backbone structure.
Post-PKS modifications:
Acetyl-transferase (AT) transfers an acetyl group to carbon 7. The following step is either that a P450 I enzyme (PldB C6-hydroxylase) adds a hydroxyl group on carbon 6, and/or that an epoxide group is added between carbons 18 and 19 by P450 II (PldD C18-C19-epoxidase). Based on the purification results of these post-PKS compounds by Boothe et al., it seems that either hydroxylation or acetylation could occur first, but Boothe et al. found a that hydroxylation seems to occur first more than twice as often as acetylation occurs first. However, regardless of hydroxylation or acetylation occurring first, the result of these tailoring steps yields pladienolide B (Figure 1).
Carbons are numbered using the traditional IUPAC naming system in which C1 is the ketone carbon in the ring, and C23 is the terminal carbon on the chain.
References
Lactones
Epoxides
Polyketides
Twelve-membered rings | Pladienolide B | [
"Chemistry"
] | 638 | [
"Biomolecules by chemical classification",
"Natural products",
"Polyketides"
] |
73,909,228 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycena%20mariae | Mycena mariae is a species of fungus in the family Mycenaceae. The species was scientifically described by G. Stevenson and effectively published in 1964.
Description
Mycena mariae mushrooms are distinguished by their dark red pigment and large, elongate spores. M. mariae has tissues are more pseudoamyloid than those of similar species such as Mycena morris-jonesii.
The cap of the mushroom is small, pink to red, with gills underneath. The stipe is hollow and darker at the base.
Habitat and distribution
Mycena mariae mushrooms are typically found in litter under the canopy of a mixed podocarp forest.
References
mariae
Fungus species | Mycena mariae | [
"Biology"
] | 140 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
73,909,252 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholiota%20glutinosa | Pholiota glutinosa is a species of poisonous fungi in the genus Pholiota, endemic to New Zealand.
Taxonomy
First discovered by George Edward Massee in 1989 where it was originally named Hypholoma glutinosum. It has also been named P. adiposa and P. aurivellaas..
Description
This species produces its fruit body from Autumn to early Winter. The pileus is convex and obtuse, ranging from 40-60mm in diameter and 60-80mm in height. The pileus is yellow with concentrically arranged evanescent darker squarrose scales 5-12mm across. The pileus is shiny in dry weather due to the dried gluten layer on its surface. In wet conditions, the scales dissolve into the surface gluten. The flesh is white. Gills adnate and range from 6-8mm long. The spores are rusty orange, elliptical in shape with an area of 7 x 3 μm. The stem is 7-12cm long and can be up to 2cm thick.
Pholiota glutinosa is poisonous.
Habitat and distribution
Pholiota glutinosa is found on decaying wood and trees. Distribution is all over New Zealand, also found in Europe and the United States.
Etymology
glutinosa: From the Greek gloeo ‘glue’, refers to the shiny pileus due to gluten present on its surface, giving it a shiny appearance.
See also
List of Pholiota species
References
External links
NZTCS
Strophariaceae
Fungi of New Zealand
Inedible fungi
Fungi described in 1971
Fungus species | Pholiota glutinosa | [
"Biology"
] | 337 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
73,912,077 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schei%C3%9Ftag | Scheißtage (literally "shitting days") referred to the additional one to three unpaid working days in Southern Germany and Austria for peasants and servants to compensate for the time they needed to defecate during their agreed employment.
This practice existed in the 18th and 19th centuries, and occasionally even until the early 20th century. The "Scheißtage" were performed after the expiration of the employment contract, usually after Candlemas, or at the end of each year on the 29th. or December 30.
Nowadays, the term Scheißtag is used in a vulgar-colloquial sense to mean a bad day.
Literature
Entry in Johann Andreas Schmeller, Georg Karl Frommann: Bayerisches Wörterbuch. 2nd edition, revised and supplemented by G. Karl Fromann. Volume 2, containing part III and IV of the first edition. Munich 1877, p. 475 (digital edition).
scheisztag. In: Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): Deutsches Wörterbuch. Band 14: R–Schiefe – (VIII). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1893 (woerterbuchnetz.de). – refers to the entry in Schmeller's work.
References
Economic history of Germany
Economic history of Austria
Days
Defecation | Scheißtag | [
"Biology"
] | 270 | [
"Excretion",
"Defecation"
] |
70,941,704 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High%20Altitude%20Research%20Laboratory | High Altitude Research Laboratory (HARL) is a research laboratory located at Gulmarg, India.
History
The laboratory was established in 1954, jointly by Aligarh Muslim University and University of Jammu and Kashmir to conduct scientific research in the field of ionospheric studies, cosmic ray astrophysics, radio astronomy, geomagnetism, and atmospheric neutron monitoring. It was formally opened on 4 April 1954.
In 1963, the laboratory became a constituent part of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and it is managed by BARC's Astrophysical Sciences Division (ASD).
In 1974, to assist HARL in executing different research projects in the field of nuclear physics and radiation physics, Nuclear Research Laboratory was set up in Srinagar.
Research & development
Gulmarg observatory
Since 1977, the Gulmarg Observatory is in operation. It was established to study the geomagnetic field near the center of the ionospheric Sq current system to fill a gap in the chain of magnetic observatories between India and the erstwhile Soviet Union.
References
1954 establishments in Bombay State
Atomic Energy Commission of India
Nuclear technology in India
Energy research
Nuclear research institutes
Laboratories in India | High Altitude Research Laboratory | [
"Engineering"
] | 237 | [
"Nuclear research institutes",
"Nuclear organizations"
] |
70,942,889 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prescopranone | Prescopranone is a key intermediate in the biosynthesis of scopranones. Prescopranone is the precursor to scopranone A, scopranone B, and scopranone C, which are produced by Streptomyces sp. BYK-11038.
Biosynthesis
The biosynthesis of prescopranone follows the module structure of a Type I polyketide synthase (PKS) with three elongation modules and a lactonizing thioesterase domain. Genome mining of Streptomyces sp. BYK identified a scopranone biosynthetic gene cluster containing 3 genes, sprA, sprB, and sprC, that encode modular PKSs.
A starter acyl carrier protein is loaded with malonyl-CoA, and decarboxylated by a ketosynthase (KSQ). The starter unit is then transferred to module 1, which elongates the polyketide chain with ethyl malonyl-CoA. The tailoring domain of this module reduces the β-carbonyl to an alkene. Module 2 elongates the polyketide with ethylbutyl-malonyl-CoA. Finally, module 3 elongates the polyketide chain with ethyl malonyl-CoA, and is released upon the lactonization of the polyketide product by a thioesterase domain. Following the cyclization and release of the polyketide, the product undergoes a keto-enol tautomerism to form prescopranone.
Both modules 2 and 3 contain dysfunctional ketoreductase (KR) domains, which do not reduce the β-carbonyl due to missing NAD(P)H binding motifs and tyrosine residues in their active sites.
Prescopranone undergoes post-PKS transformations to form scopranones. Additionally, the deletion of a downstream gene sprT can disrupt biosynthesis of scopranones in Streptomyces avermitilis SUKA54. The products of this mutated pathway have yet to be elucidated.
Research
Prescopranone and similar compounds are currently being investigated as bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) inhibitors for the treatment of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP).
References
Lactones
Enols | Prescopranone | [
"Chemistry"
] | 518 | [
"Enols",
"Functional groups"
] |
70,943,912 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James%20B.%20Thompson%20Jr. | James Burleigh Thompson Jr. (November 20, 1921 – November 15, 2011) was an American mineralogist and geologist. He was known for his research into the thermodynamics of minerals and the relationship to structure. He introduced the term polysomatic series for describing layered structures with chemically distinct layers.
Education and career
Thompson studied geology at Dartmouth College, graduating with an AB in 1942. From 1942 to 1946, he worked in the United States Army Air Forces as a weather forecaster. He started graduate school afterwards, studying in geology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated with a PhD in 1950.
Thompson was hired at Harvard University as an instructor in petrology in 1949 as a successor of Esper Signius Larsen. He was promoted to assistant professor in the following year to full professorship in 1960. Thompson was named Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard in 1977.
Honors and awards
Thompson was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1958, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1967. He was awarded the Arthur L. Day Medal of the Geological Society of America in 1964, the Roebling Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America in 1978, and the V. M. Goldschmidt Award of the Geochemical Society in 1985.
References
1921 births
2011 deaths
Dartmouth College alumni
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
Harvard University faculty
American mineralogists
Presidents of the Geochemical Society
Recipients of the V. M. Goldschmidt Award | James B. Thompson Jr. | [
"Chemistry"
] | 301 | [
"Geochemists",
"Presidents of the Geochemical Society",
"Recipients of the V. M. Goldschmidt Award"
] |
70,943,916 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapur%20chemical%20plant%20explosion | On 4 June 2022, a major explosion and fire occurred at a chemical plant in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, India. At least 13 people were killed and 20 others injured.
Details of the disaster
The explosion took place on a Saturday afternoon at the Ruhi Industries electronic equipment manufacturing unit where 33 people were working. The magnitude caused roofs to blow off houses, with sound travelling 10 km away. The factory was owned by Dilshad of Meerut, and had been leased to Wasim of Hapur. After the explosion, Wasim fled the scene after receiving medical treatment but was later arrested. A forensic science laboratory criminal investigation was launched initiated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in order to determine the exact cause of the blast.
After further investigation
Initial reports were of a burst boiler which had caused the explosion. However the subsequent suspected cause was gunpowder used to manufacture toy gun pellets, because police retrieved plastic pellets used in their manufacture from the scene. This was despite the factory's license obtained in 2021 to manufacture electronic equipment not toy guns.
Location
The factory is located in Dhaluana, at the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation governed industrial district of Harpur, 60 Kilometers from New Delhi, the capital of India. Harpur coordinates:
Local response
The local response was rapid. The Chief Minister announced a rescue and relief operation with victims to be supported. Firefighters attended for 3 hours to extinguish the fire, and forensics attended the scene to gather evidence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to those affected, and the state government offered support for the treatment of victims.
Mortality and morbidity
Initial reports were of 9 people dead and 19 injured. However, later reports confirmed 13 killed and 20 injured. 11 of those who died came from the areas of Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh) and Bihar. Wasim, owner of the factory suffered burns and incurred stitches. Victims were taken to hospitals for medical care in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and Meerut, including Safdarjung Hospital for optimal treatment.
Consequences
The owner and operator of the factory were charged under Indian Penal Code sections 286, 287, 304, 308, 337 and 338. As a result, further investigations were carried out in neighboring factories to ensure licenses were correctly used.
See also
2022 Sitakunda fire, on the same day
List of explosions
References
2022 disasters in India
2022 fires in Asia
2022 industrial disasters
2020s in Uttar Pradesh
Chemical plant explosions
Disasters in Uttar Pradesh
Explosions in 2022
Chemical plant explosion
Industrial fires and explosions in India
June 2022 events in India
Man-made disasters in India | Hapur chemical plant explosion | [
"Chemistry"
] | 540 | [
"Chemical plant explosions",
"Explosions"
] |
70,944,233 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD%20104237 | HD 104237 is a candidate multiple star system in the southern constellation of Chamaeleon. It has the variable star designation DX Chamaeleontis, abbreviated DX Cha; HD 104237 is the stellar designation from the Henry Draper Catalogue. The system is dimly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude that ranges from 6.59 down to 6.70. It is located at a distance of approximately 348 light-years from the Sun based on parallax measurements. The system is positioned just to the north-east of the 5th magnitude star Epsilon Chamaeleontis, and is a member of the ε Cha association of co-moving stars.
N. Houk and A. P. Cowley found a stellar classification of 'B/A peculiar' for this object in 1975. The following year, K. G. Nehize catalogued it as a star displaying emission lines. In 1988, J. Y. Hu and associates found it to be a candidate Herbig Ae/Be star. This is a class of pre-main sequence stars that recently formed from a molecular cloud. In particular, the star displays an infrared excess associated with a dusty circumstellar shell, and its spectrum closely resembles other Herbig Ae/Be stars such as AB Aurigae and HR 5999. No characteristic molecular cloud was detected nearby, although there are small molecular clumps in the vicinity that may be the remains of a dissipating cloud.
This is the optically brightest Herbig star known, making it a useful object for investigation. Delta scuti-like pulsations have been detected with frequencies of 33.29 and 36.61 cycles per day. It is an X-ray source with a luminosity of ·sec−1, which may originate in a hot corona. DX Cha displays an ultraviolet excess, which indicates the star is still accreting matter at a rate of ≈ 10−8 ·yr−1. This inflow is generating a pair of jets emerging from the poles of the star. The circumstellar disk is being viewed from nearly edge on.
Infrared observations in 1996 showed evidence of an infrared source located at an angular separation of , now designated component B. In 2003, optical observations combined with the Chandra X-ray Observatory indicated that five low mass, pre-main sequence objects lie within , equivalent to a projected distance of from the primary, component A. At least two of these are T Tauri stars. It is uncertain whether all of the nearby companions form a gravitationally bound system with the primary. The close A/B pair display radial velocity variation that indicate this is a double-lined spectroscopic binary with a K-type secondary.
References
Further reading
Herbig Ae/Be stars
Delta Scuti variables
Circumstellar disks
Spectroscopic binaries
T Tauri stars
Pre-main-sequence stars
Multiple star systems
Chamaeleon
Durchmusterung objects
104237
058520
Chamaeleontis, DX | HD 104237 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 622 | [
"Chamaeleon",
"Constellations"
] |
70,944,651 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD%2074438 | HD 74438 is a spectroscopic quadruple stellar system composed of a pair of double star systems approximately 425 light years from Earth, located in open cluster IC 2391. With an estimated age of million years, HD 74438 is the youngest quadruple star system known. The outer orbital period of the system, estimated at around 5.7 years, is also among the shortest of quadruple systems.
The HD 74438 system was confirmed to be a gravitationally bound quadruple system in 2017 from data collected in the Gaia-ESO Survey. In a paper published in 2022, HD 74438 was identified as a possible progenitor of a sub-Chandrasekhar Type Ia supernova.
References
A-type main-sequence stars
074438
Vela (constellation)
G-type main-sequence stars
4 | HD 74438 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 176 | [
"Vela (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
70,945,144 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saphenamycin | Saphenamycin is an antibiotic with the molecular formula C23H18N2O5 which is produced by the bacterium Streptomyces canarius and other Streptomyces species.
References
Antibiotics
Phenazines
Esters
Benzoic acids
Salicylic acids | Saphenamycin | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 61 | [
"Biotechnology products",
"Esters",
"Functional groups",
"Organic compounds",
"Antibiotics",
"Biocides",
"Organic compound stubs",
"Organic chemistry stubs"
] |
70,948,162 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher%20by%20ingredient | Kosher by ingredient is an approach to observing the laws of kashrut that determines whether a food is kosher or not based on ingredient, rather than by the presence of a hechsher. This approach has fallen out of favor with Orthodox Jews, but is practiced by many Conservative Jews as well as by some Reform Jews and Reconstructionist Jews.
History
For much of history, Jews who kept kosher commonly utilized a "kosher by ingredient" approach in many situations. Prior to the 20th century, hechsherim were not commonly used for commercially available foods. As late as the 1960s and 1970s it was common for Jews who kept kosher, including Orthodox Jews, to examine boxes and cans of commercially processed foods to check for themselves whether they considered the food to be kosher or not. The rapid rise of commercial kosher certification during the mid-to-late 20th century caused this approach to fall out of favor with Orthodox Jews by the 1980s. However, many Conservative Jews and some Reform and Reconstructionist Jews still rely on this approach. Few contemporary Orthodox Jews would purchase commercially processed food that doesn't have a valid kosher certification according to Orthodox halakha.
Individual non-Orthodox synagogues differ on their interpretation of when "kosher by ingredient" food is or is not acceptable. Some synagogues maintain a policy that individual members may keep kosher by ingredient, but if they prepare food for communal events such as synagogue potlucks, they must use food with a hechsher. Other Conservative synagogues may regard it as preferable to keep a kosher kitchen by hechsher, but do not consider a kosher by ingredient kitchen to be non-kosher.
Some Jews may keep kosher by ingredient for much of the year, but are stricter during holidays such as Passover and prefer to use hechshered products during those times. Others are strict with meat and will only purchase kosher meat that has been certified, but are otherwise lenient by using the kosher by ingredient approach for dairy and pareve foods.
Because eating out at non-kosher restaurants is a challenge for Jews who want to keep kosher, many prefer to eat at restaurants that are vegetarian or that offer foods that are kosher by ingredient. Jews who follow this approach at restaurants may inquire about the ingredients in a dish, or mention lactose intolerance or shellfish allergies, rather than explain in detail the laws of kashrut to the server.
Foods
Vegetarian and vegan food is often kosher by ingredient. Some vegetarian foods, such as eggs from non-kosher birds or milk from non-kosher animals, may not be kosher by ingredient. Vegan food is more likely to be kosher by ingredient than vegetarian food, as vegan food does not contain eggs or dairy. Vegan or vegetarian food that is otherwise kosher by ingredient may be rendered non-kosher due to preparation by non-Jews or use of non-kosher equipment.
Most commercially available beers are kosher by ingredient, even if they do not have a hechsher. Ingredients that could render beer non-kosher include uncharacterized yeasts, extracts of hops and malts, and certain clarifying agents, among others. In 2019 Samuel Adams offered Kosmic Sour, a sour beer certified kosher under the supervision of Star-K.
See also
Kosher style
Products without kosher certification requirements
References
Conservative Judaism
Kashrut
Reconstructionist Judaism
Reform Judaism
Food ingredients | Kosher by ingredient | [
"Technology"
] | 712 | [
"Food ingredients",
"Components"
] |
70,949,177 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raimond%20Castaing | Raimond Bernard René Castaing (December 28, 1921 – April 10, 1998), also spelt as Raymond Castaing, was a French solid state physicist and inventor of various materials characterization methods. He was the founder of the French school of microanalysis and is referred to as the father of microanalysis.
Education and career
Castaing went to school in Monaco, Condom, and Toulouse. From 1940 he studied physics at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris (ENS) and at the University of Paris, interrupted by work service in 1943/44. He also attended lectures by Frédéric Joliot-Curie, who taught at the Collège de France, and courses by Alfred Kastler and others at the ENS. In 1946 he graduated from the ENS and from 1947 he was an engineer with the national space research organization ONERA. In 1951 he received his doctorate under the supervision of André Guinier, with the thesis titled Application des sondes électroniques à une méthode d'analyse ponctuelle chimique et cristallographique (Application of electron probes to local chemical and crystallographic analysis). He developed the microprobe named after him, which enabled material investigations in the micrometer range from the analysis of the X-ray spectra after electron bombardment (electron beam microanalysis, EPMA, Electron Probe Micro Analysis). In the late 1950s he was also involved in the development of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) (with his student Georges Slodzian). The first demonstration took place in 1960 and further development took place at the Cameca company and there was competition with the SIMS developed in the US by Richard Herzog and Helmut Liebl. In 1952, he became a lecturer (maître de conferences) at the University of Toulouse and from 1956 at the University of Paris. From 1959 he was a professor at the University of Paris-Sud in Orsay, where he founded the Laboratory for Solid State Physics with Jacques Friedel and others.
From 1968 to 1973 he was scientific director and later general director of ONERA. From 1982 he was on the French National Council for Reactor Safety Issues and from 1987 on the French National Committee for Nuclear Energy. In this capacity, he headed a state commission in 1996 that was to assess the Superphénix reactor. From 1984 to 1987 he was on the supervisory board of the French steel group Usinor.
Honors and awards
In 1966 he received the Holweck Prize, in 1975 the CNRS Gold Medal and in 1977 the Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America. In 1968 he became a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina. In 1977 he also became a member of the French Academy of Sciences.
Bibliography
External links
Raimond Castaing's research achievements
Raimond Castaing Microanalysis Centre, Toulouse, France
References
1998 deaths
1921 births
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Academic staff of the University of Toulouse
Mass spectrometrists
20th-century French physicists
École Normale Supérieure alumni
University of Paris alumni
French materials scientists
French National Centre for Scientific Research scientists
French National Centre for Scientific Research awards
Experimental physicists
Academic staff of Paris-Saclay University
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina | Raimond Castaing | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 674 | [
"Biochemists",
"Mass spectrometry",
"Spectrum (physical sciences)",
"Mass spectrometrists"
] |
70,949,495 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trampling | Trampling is the act of walking on something repeatedly by humans or animals.
Trampling on open ground can destroy the above ground parts of many plants and can compact the soil, thereby creating a distinct microenvironment that specific species may be adapted for.
It can be used as part of a wildlife management strategy along grazing.
When carrying out investigations like a belt transect, trampling should be avoided. At other times, it is part of the experimental design.
Trampling can be a disturbance to ecology and to archaeological sites.
References
Human impact on the environment
Ecology | Trampling | [
"Biology"
] | 116 | [
"Ecology"
] |
70,949,556 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter%20Koch%20%28wood%20scientist%29 | Peter Koch (October 15, 1920 – February 14, 1998) was an American engineer and wood scientist who was considered an expert in the field of wood technology by his peers. From 1963 to 1982, Koch led a team of US Forest Service scientists in forest products utilization research specific to forests of the southeastern US. Accomplishments by Koch and his research team included eight US patents plus hundreds of research publications.
Biography
Peter Koch was the youngest of 3 sons born to Elers and Gerda (Heiberg-Jurgensen) Koch in Missoula, Montana. In 1942, he graduated from Montana State College of Agriculture and Engineering at Bozeman with a degree in mechanical engineering. After graduation, Koch enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps as a pilot, mostly flying bombers over the hump into China from 1942 to 1946, attaining the rank of captain.
From 1946 to 1952, Koch worked in Washington (state) at Stetson-Ross Machine Company – a company that designs lumber processing machinery. In 1950, Koch married Doris Ann Hagen. In 1952, he enrolled in graduate school at the University of Washington and received a PhD in wood technology in 1954. Afterwards, Koch taught at Michigan State University (1955–1957) and was vice-president of a hardwood lumber producer – the Champlin Company – in Rochester, New Hampshire (1957–1963).
Forest Service research
By the 1960s, there was concern by timber industries in the South about the lack of forest product utilization research into the use of smaller trees that had replaced the virgin pine forests. To address that concern, the US Forest Service recruited Peter Koch in 1963 to head a newly formed wood utilization research program at the Southern Forest Experiment Station in Pineville, Louisiana. One of the first staff members enlisted by Koch was Chung-Yun Hse, a young graduate student of Taiwanese descent, to focus on adhesives for gluing southern pine plywood. During his tenure, Koch and his staff of scientists generated the following technological advancements:
Developed wood adhesives that would bond layers of southern pine plywood.
Developed laminated wooden beams by gluing laminae (layers of wood) from single species.
Developed new versions of chipping headrigs, to convert small round logs into square timbers, thereby reducing waste from wood slabs and sawdust.
Developed a method for reducing the time for drying southern pine 2-by-4 studs while maintaining straightness.
Developed structural flakeboard from mixed southern pine and hardwood species.
Developed equipment to sever the lateral roots of trees to extract the main root mass for use as fuel or pulp.
Developed a prototype of a mobile chipper to gather post-harvest limbs and tops of cut trees, as well as shrubs and stumps for conversion into mulch, fuel, or fiber.
In 1982, Koch returned to Montana and served as chief wood scientist at the Forest Service Intermountain Research Station in Missoula until 1985. In 1985, Koch established his own corporation – Wood Science Laboratory, Inc. – in Corvallis, Montana. In 1996, Koch produced his last publication – a thousand-page tome on lodgepole pine based on more than a decade of research.
Death
Peter Koch died February 14, 1998, in Missoula, Montana.
Selected publications
Koch, Peter. 1964. Wood Machining Processes. Ronald Press Company, NY. 530 p. ISBN 0608115290
Koch, Peter. 1972. Utilization of the Southern Pines – Volumes I (p. 1-734) and II (p. 735-1663). Agricultural Handbook SFES-AH-420. Asheville, NC: USDA-Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station.
Koch, Peter. 1985. Utilization of Hardwoods Growing on Southern Pine Sites – Volumes I (p. 1-1418), II (p. 1419-2542), and III (p. 2543-3710). Agricultural Handbook SFES-AH-605. Asheville, NC: USDA-Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station.
Peter Koch. 1996. Lodgepole Pine in North America – Volumes I, II and III. Forest Products Society. Madison, Wisconsin. 1096 p. ISBN 0-935018-78-6.
Patents
Method for producing studs from cordwood and veneer cores, (1969).
A process for producing laminated beams, where the entire log or bolt of wood is utilized, regardless of undesirable properties in the lumber, (1971).
A process for steam straightening and kiln drying lumber, (1972).
A method for producing parallel laminated pine lumber from veneer, (1975).
A helical flaking head with multiple cutting circle diameters for milling lumber, (1977).
A system for burning green bark to produce heat or power in sawmills, (1977).
A wood pulping apparatus modified to yield paper products of improved properties, (1978).
Honors and awards
1968 – Superior Service Medal of the USDA for his contributions in development of chipping headrigs, gluing practices for the manufacture of southern pine plywood, and a system for gluing single-species wooden beams.
1973 – John Scott Award for "invention of the chipping headrig".
1974 – Designated "Fellow" in the International Academy of Wood Science.
1980 – Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Maine.
1982 – Designated "Fellow" in the Society of American Foresters.
1987 – Society of Wood Science and Technology Distinguished Service Award "...in recognition of distinguished service to the profession as a whole and for extraordinary contributions in wood science and technology".
Recipient of the Fred W. Gottschalk Memorial Award for outstanding service to the Forest Products Society.
References
1920 births
1998 deaths
University of Montana alumni
People from Missoula, Montana
United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II
University of Washington alumni
American mechanical engineers
American industrial engineers
20th-century American engineers
20th-century American inventors
Engineers from Montana
American engineering writers
American technology writers
American company founders
Wood sciences
Fellows of the International Academy of Wood Science
Wood scientists | Peter Koch (wood scientist) | [
"Materials_science",
"Engineering"
] | 1,240 | [
"Wood sciences",
"Wood scientists",
"Materials science"
] |
70,949,708 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemonomycin | Lemonomycin is an antibiotic with the molecular formula C27H41N3O9 which is produced by the bacterium Streptomyces candidus. Lemonomycin was first isolated in 1964 Lemonomycin has also shown activity against human colon tumor cells.
References
Further reading
Antibiotics
Heterocyclic compounds with 4 rings
Nitrogen heterocycles
Methoxy compounds
Tertiary amines
Tertiary alcohols
Geminal diols
Tetrahydropyrans | Lemonomycin | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 94 | [
"Antibiotics",
"Biocides",
"Biotechnology products"
] |
70,950,228 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica%20M.%20Bierbaum | Veronica Marie Bierbaum is an emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder, specialising in mass spectrometry in the areas of atmospheric chemistry and stellar chemistry.
Education
Bierbaum studied for a BA in chemistry at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., graduating in 1970. She then studied for a PhD at the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1974. Bierbaum demonstrated an aptitude for chemistry whilst in secondary school, winning first place in the Senior High chemistry section of the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science competition.
Career
Bierbaum joined the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1974 as a postdoctoral research associate. Her early work at Boulder involved collaborations with Charles H. DePuy and Stephen Leone. Her research interests strongly overlapped with DePuy and Leone, and focus on the use of mass spectrometry to understand gas-phase ion-molecule interactions, an area of research which is relevant to the fields of atmospheric chemistry and stellar chemistry. She remains at University of Colorado, Boulder, and was appointed research professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry, as well as joining JILA (formerly the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics) which is based at Boulder.
Bierbaum served as the president of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry between 1996 and 1998, and prior to this served as secretary and vice-president. She was also an associate editor for the Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, standing down in 2019 after 20 years.
She was awarded the Frank H. Field and Joe L. Franklin Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mass Spectrometry in 2021.
Bierbaum is also active at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in enabling access to higher education for minorities.
References
Year of birth missing (living people)
University of Pittsburgh alumni
University of Colorado Boulder faculty
Mass spectrometrists
American women chemists
20th-century American women scientists
20th-century American chemists
Living people | Veronica M. Bierbaum | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 399 | [
"Biochemists",
"Mass spectrometry",
"Spectrum (physical sciences)",
"Mass spectrometrists"
] |
70,951,075 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistomycin | Resistomycin is an antibiotic with the molecular formula C22H16O6. Resistomycin is similar to hypericin. Resistomycin was first isolated in 1951 from the bacterium Streptomyces resistomycificus.
References
Further reading
Antibiotics
Polyols
Hydroxyketones
Pentacyclic compounds
Diketones
Tetrols | Resistomycin | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 74 | [
"Biotechnology products",
"Organic compounds",
"Antibiotics",
"Biocides",
"Organic compound stubs",
"Organic chemistry stubs"
] |
70,951,258 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphomycin | Amphomycin is an antibiotic with the molecular formula C58H91N13O20 which is produced by the bacterium Streptomyces canus.
References
Further reading
Antimicrobial peptides
Pyrrolidines
Carboxylic acids
Hendecapeptides | Amphomycin | [
"Chemistry"
] | 61 | [
"Carboxylic acids",
"Functional groups",
"Organic compounds",
"Organic compound stubs",
"Organic chemistry stubs"
] |
70,951,352 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splittance | In graph theory, a branch of mathematics, the splittance of an undirected graph measures its distance from a split graph. A split graph is a graph whose vertices can be partitioned into an independent set (with no edges within this subset) and a clique (having all possible edges within this subset). The splittance is the smallest number of edge additions and removals that transform the given graph into a split graph.
Calculation from degree sequence
The splittance of a graph can be calculated only from the degree sequence of the graph, without examining the detailed structure of the graph. Let be any graph with vertices, whose degrees in decreasing order are . Let be the largest index for which . Then the splittance of is
The given graph is a split graph already if . Otherwise, it can be made into a split graph by calculating , adding all missing edges between pairs of the vertices of maximum degree, and removing all edges between pairs of the remaining vertices. As a consequence, the splittance and a sequence of edge additions and removals that realize it can be computed in linear time.
Applications
The splittance of a graph has been used in parameterized complexity as a parameter to describe the efficiency of algorithms. For instance, graph coloring is fixed-parameter tractable under this parameter: it is possible to optimally color the graphs of bounded splittance in linear time.
References
Graph invariants | Splittance | [
"Mathematics"
] | 281 | [
"Graph invariants",
"Mathematical relations",
"Graph theory"
] |
70,951,753 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%204637 | NGC 4637 is a lenticular galaxy located in the Virgo constellation, originally discovered by R.J. Mitchell on March 1, 1854. It is a member of the Virgo Cluster, and is located in the sky very close to the brighter and larger galaxy NGC 4638, which historically led to some confusion upon discovery and later observations.
See also
New General Catalogue
NGC 4638
References
4637
Lenticular galaxies
Virgo (constellation) | NGC 4637 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 90 | [
"Virgo (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
70,952,091 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mueller%E2%80%93Weiss%20syndrome | Mueller–Weiss syndrome, also known as Mueller–Weiss disease, is a rare idiopathic degenerative disease of the adult navicular bone characterized by progressive collapse and fragmentation, leading to mid- and hindfoot pain and deformity. It is most commonly seen in females, ages 40–60. Characteristic imaging shows lateral navicular collapse. This disease had been historically considered to be a form of adult onset osteonecrosis, with blood flow cutoff to the navicular.
Presentation
The onset is sub-acute; subsequent foot discomfort may progress to disabling pain with prolonged standing. It is considered a pain out of proportion, where the symptoms described do not correspond to the other signs, making an early diagnosis more difficult. Pain is in mid- and hindfoot, with tenderness on the top of the midfoot. Depending on the severity there may be a hindfoot varus with a flat arch. Delay in diagnosis is particularly problematic; early diagnosis is critical. It is frequently misdiagnosed, increasing the level and length of pain and disability for affected patients. Other conditions which may mimic or have features of Mueller–Weiss include Paget's disease of bone, osteomyelitis, healing fractures, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and Charcot arthropathy.
Navicular
The navicular, deriving its name from its boat–like shape, is a small but critical bone. It connects the ankle with the bones of the foot. It articulates with five tarsal bones (talus, cuboid, and three cuneiform bones) forming slightly mobile syndesmotic (fibrous) joints and has a significant function in maintaining the arch and the dynamic biomechanics of walking. The middle third of the bone lacks blood vessel penetration and it bears the majority of the load applied to the tarsal bones during weight bearing. Its vascular and biomechanical properties make it susceptible to injury. This may partly explain a higher risk of stress fractures and osteonecrosis in this location. Athletes who run, cut and pivot are particularly susceptible to injuries in this area. It is known as the keystone of the foot and injuries to it can be "exasperating."
Pathogenesis/pathomechanics
Mueller–Weiss syndrome had been traditionally considered a spontaneous osteonecrosis of the navicular bone, but there is no certain pathogenetic explanation. Pathologic evidence of osteonecrosis (empty lacunae) is seen in only a minority of pathological specimens. It is frequently bilateral and associated with increased body mass. Factors that have been thought to play a role include trauma, delayed ossification of the navicular and chronic biomechanical factors that put stress on the navicular. Multiple pathogenetic theories have been proposed over the years. Pathomechanic abnormalities involve shifting of the foot bones, which leads to a paradoxic flat foot, with a varus deformity instead of a valgus. Multiple ligaments and the posterior tibial tendon attach to the navicular. These perform a significant function in acting as a dynamic stabilizer and maintaining bipedal biomechanics.Regardless of the exact cause, the pathogenesis of Mueller-Weiss syndrome is probably multifactorial and related to chronic loading on a suboptimally ossified navicular—a bone that is predisposed to central ischemia owing to its centripetal vascular perfusion arch.
Diagnosis
Weight-bearing radiography of the foot is the mainstay in diagnosis. MRI can be useful early in the disease to separate MWS from mimics and demonstrate bone marrow changes and effusion in adjacent joints; this will help making a diagnosis before changes on conventional weight-bearing X-rays. Despite its distinctive radiological features, Mueller–Weiss syndrome is often a diagnosis of exclusion and is felt to be under-diagnosed.
Characteristic findings of conventional radiology include:
Normal earliest in the disease
Lateral collapse of the navicular
Dorsomedial subluxation of the remnant navicular
Lateral deviation of the talus
Severe disease may demonstrate:
Pes planus (flat foot)
Osteoarthritis of the talonavicular joint with or without the involvement of other midfoot joints
Treatment
Treatment should be commenced as early as possible. Initial treatment is conservative, with modalities including immobilization with orthoses (such as a walking boot) or short leg casts, activity modification, injections, physical therapy, radio frequency ablation, and anti-inflammatories. Failure of conservative management is more likely in patients with mid-foot abduction and radiologically noted talonavicular arthritis. Surgical options are reserved for greater than six months of severe pain. There is no gold standard of treatment, with many surgical approaches.
History
In 1927 Walther Mueller, a Leipzig orthopedic surgeon, reported a case that had severe damage to the navicular bone with compression and fragmentation.I have recently had occasion to observe changes in the os naviculare pedis in the adult, which may have some similarities with the Köhler-like disease of the adolescents, which is not yet known in this form. In 1929 Konrad Weiss, an Austrian radiologist, reported two patients with similar findings. The disease was named after them, though there had been a 1925 report by Georg Schmidt of a similar case, but with no images provided. Mueller believed the problem was congenital; Weiss believed it was an osteonecrotic process as the radiological findings were similar to Keinbock's disease, another osteonecrotic condition. Since then controversy has persisted around the cause and pathogenesis of the disease. In 1939 James Frederick Brailsford, an English radiologist, described nine cases in adult women. Mueller–Weiss syndrome is also known as Brailsford disease.
Society and culture
Rafael Nadal has had symptoms of Mueller–Weiss in his left foot since the early part of his tennis career, being diagnosed in 2005 at age 19. He put off surgery as long as he could. He has successfully continued his career after having surgery in 2021, winning the 2022 Australian and French Opens, though continuing to play through pain. In winning the French Open he had two numbing injections and anti-inflammatories before each of his seven matches to alleviate the pain; he won the tournament playing on a numb foot. He said he would not do this again. Regarding his injury: I am not injured; I am a player living with an injury. It's something that is there, and unfortunately, my day by day is difficult, honestly. It's difficult for me to accept the situation sometimes.
See also
Köhler disease
References
Osteonecrosis
Foot diseases
Syndromes affecting bones
Rafael Nadal
Circulatory system | Mueller–Weiss syndrome | [
"Biology"
] | 1,408 | [
"Organ systems",
"Circulatory system"
] |
70,952,312 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saprobic%20system | The saprobic system is a tool to measure water quality, and specifically it deals with the capacity of a water body to self-regulate and degrade organic matter. The saprobic system derives from so-called saprobes — organisms that thrive through degradation of organic matter, which is called saprotrophic nutrition.
The saprobic system is based on a survey of indicator organisms. For example, the abundance of Lymnaea stagnalis water snails and other organisms is estimated, and using a formula, the listed saprobic and tolerance values of the organisms allow the water quality grade — the saprobic index — to be computed.
Saprobic water quality is expressed in four classes ranging from I to IV; and with three intermediate grades (I-II, II-III and III-IV). Water bodies of class I are the cleanest and of the highest quality. The inherent drawback of the saprobic systems as a water quality measure is that it only regards biodegradable organic material, and so ignores other factors like heavy metal pollution. Though the presence of certain organisms can rule out the presence of toxic substances, the incorporation of such organisms would deviate from the saprobic system's concept.
Computing the saprobic index
This section explains how the saprobic index of a water body is computed according to the Zelinka & Marvan method; without adjusting for several confounding factors.
In a first iteration, the abundance A of each indicator species is counted and converted to categories ranging from 1 to 7. An abundance of 1 means that only one or two animals were found, while the class 7 means more than 1000 individuals during a survey. There are different abundance classes — for example, some methods use classes where the next-bigger class contains roughly double the number of individuals. The following table follows the DIN 38410-1 (2008) standard used in Germany, where the next-bigger class is about three times larger than the previous one.
The saprobic value s denotes how much organic matter must be present for an aquatic species to thrive. An animal with a saprobic value 1 can only survive in water with little organic matter present, while one with a value of 4 requires water bodies with a large amount of organic matter. The aforementioned example, the Lymnaea stagnalis snail, has a saprobic value of 2.0. The annelid worm Tubifex tubifex needs a lot of organic matter and has an s value of 3.6.
The weighting factor g has a value of either 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16, and denotes a tolerance range. If a species can survive in both unpolluted and heavily polluted water, g is very small because finding the species in a survey has little predictive value. In practice, only indicator species with a weighting factor g ≥ 4 are used. For example, a caddisfly, Agapetus fuscipes, has a g value of 16, while the zebra mussel's value is g = 4.
The saprobic index of a water body - the water quality - is finally computed with the following formula:
The water body's quality, in Roman numerals, is the rounded value of S.
Some species and their s and g values
Source
The species used in Germany to measure saprobic water quality tend to group around s = 2, while other countries like Austria and the Czech Republic use a more diverse list of organisms.
Pantle & Buck method
The earlier Pantle & Buck method (1955) uses the same saprobic values s of each species, but not the weighting factor g. The Pantle-Buck saprobity index S, ranging from 0 to 4, is thus calculated:
where the abundance A is expressed as one of nine subjective categories, ranging from "very rare" to "mass development". It does not require the organisms to be counted – which can save a lot of time – but raises the issues of intra- and inter-rater reliability.
Confounding factors and corrections
The saprobic index is only regarded as a valid estimate if the sum of the abundance classes is at least 20. For example, if a survey only found a total of 500 individuals of any species, the sample would still be valid if the survey found four species with 125 individuals each (abundance class 5).
Likewise, a single water body has to be surveyed several times in different months in order to account for fluctuations.
During its history, several correcting factors have been introduced. For example, they deal with the flow rate of the river (fast-flowing water bodies are inherently better oxygenated, thus speeding up organic matter degradation), water acidification, and human-made changes to the water body. Likewise, corrections must be applied for the altitude of the ecosystem (lowland rivers naturally carry more organic matter than mountainous ones, where biomass production is lower), and for the different size of catchment areas.
The saprobic system was never designed to accurately indicate water quality if only a selection of organisms is surveyed. Deviations can be sizeable if a survey only studies ciliates and members of the macrozoobenthos (benthos animals larger than 1 millimeter), as the latter's abundance can be easily influenced by oxygen levels and not by the availability of organic matter.
History
The saprobic system has a long history in German-language countries. The idea of saprobes to estimate water quality has been foreshadowed by the works of Arthur Hill Hassall (1850) and Ferdinand Julius Cohn (1853). In a series of publications, the Germans botanists Richard Kolkwitz and Maximilian Marsson (1902, 1908, 1909) have developed the saprobic system to judge water quality. They compiled a list of about 300 plant and 500 animal species (excluding fish), and estimated saprobic values for them.
In 1955, H. Knöpp introduced abundance classes, and the calculation of a water quality index was established during the 1950s and 1960s (Pantle & Buck, 1955; Zelinka & Marvan, 1961; Marvan, 1969).
In 2000, the Pantle & Buck technique has been criticized because it requires the surveyed organisms to be identified by genus, something that freshwater ecologists are rarely trained for. Furthermore, it focuses on aquatic organisms that are prevalent in Western Europe, something that hampers water quality assays in Eastern Europe and Asia.
The procedure used in Germany to estimate the saprobic index has been standardized in DIN 38410.
Literature
Reviews some of the history and the issues of the saprobic system.
Contains a short introduction to the saprobity index, and compares Pantle & Buck's method to the more complicated Zelinka & Marvan method.
German
References
Water quality indicators
Bioindicators
Freshwater ecology | Saprobic system | [
"Chemistry",
"Environmental_science"
] | 1,413 | [
"Environmental chemistry",
"Bioindicators",
"Water quality indicators",
"Water pollution"
] |
70,952,512 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingjun%20Li | Lingjun Li is a Professor in the School of Pharmacy and Department of Chemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She develops mass spectrometry based tools to study neuropeptides, peptide hormones and neurotransmitters.
Early life and education
Li was born in Beijing, China in 1969. She graduated from Beijing University of Technology in 1992, and did an internship at Environment Canada. She received a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2000, under the direction of Jonathan Sweedler.
Career
From 2000 to 2002, Li conducted postdoctoral research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richard Smith), Brandeis University (Eve Marder), and University of Illinois (Jonathan Sweedler). She then joined University of Wisconsin-Madison as Assistant Professor in 2002. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2008, and Full Professor in 2012. She has been appointed as a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor since 2015, and Charles Melbourne Johnson Distinguished Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences.
She serves on the US Human Proteome Organization Board of Directors, Chinese American Society for Mass Spectrometry Board of Directors, and on the editorial board for Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis and Frontiers in Biology. She was the President of the Chinese American Society for Mass Spectrometry (2013-2015), and an Associate Editor for Analytical Methods (2013-2016).
Awards
2004 American Society for Mass Spectrometry Research Award
2005 National Science Foundation Career Award
2006 Sloan Research Fellowships
2011 Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award
2014 American Society for Mass Spectrometry Biemann Medal
2016 Analytical Scientist The Power List - Top 50 most influential women in the analytical sciences
2019 Analytical Scientist The Power List
2021 Analytical Scientist The Power List
2024 Analytical Scientist The Power List, Human Health Heroes
Patent applications
Isobaric tandem mass tags for quantitative proteomics and peptidomics (2012) US 9388132 B2
Mass defect-based multiplex dimethyl pyrimidinyl ornithine (DiPyrO) tags for high-throughput quantitative proteomics and peptidomics (2016) AU 2016338691 A1
Isobaric Multiplex Reagents for Carbonyl Containing Compound High-Throughput Quantitative Analysis (2019) US 20190225559 A1
Development of a Novel Mass Spectrometry-Based Method for Simultaneous Qualitative and Quantitative Protein Citrullination Analysis of Complex Biological Samples (2020) US 20210181206 A1
References
Mass spectrometrists
University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people) | Lingjun Li | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry"
] | 538 | [
"Biochemists",
"Mass spectrometry",
"Spectrum (physical sciences)",
"Mass spectrometrists"
] |
66,556,599 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itala%20D%27Ottaviano | Itala Maria Loffredo D'Ottaviano (born 1944) is a Brazilian mathematical logician who was president of the Brazilian Logic Society. Topics in her work have included non-classical logic, paraconsistent logic, many-valued logic, and the history of logic.
Education
After graduating from the , a music school in Campinas, in 1960, D'Ottaviano studied mathematics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas, graduating in 1966. She earned a master's degree in mathematics at the University of Campinas in 1974, and completed a Ph.D. there in 1982, advised by Mário Tourasse Teixeira and Newton da Costa, respectively. Her doctoral dissertation, Sobre Uma Teoria de Modelos Trivalente, concerned the model theory of three-valued logic. She earned a habilitation at the University of Campinas in 1987.
Career
D'Ottaviano was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Stanford University, and the University of Oxford. She taught mathematics at the University of Campinas beginning in 1969, and became a titular professor there in 1998. From 2013 to 2014 she was Provost of Graduate Studies at the university.
She was president of the Brazilian Logic Society twice, from 1994 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2014. She also headed the Committee on Logic in Latin America of the Association for Symbolic Logic from 1993 to 1999.
Book
With Roberto Cignoli and Daniele Mundici, D'Ottaviano is a coauthor of the book Algebraic Foundations of Many-Valued Reasoning (Kluwer, 2000).
Recognition
D'Ottaviano is a full member of the International Academy of Philosophy of Science.
References
External links
1944 births
Living people
Brazilian mathematicians
Brazilian women mathematicians
State University of Campinas alumni
Mathematical logicians
Women logicians | Itala D'Ottaviano | [
"Mathematics"
] | 375 | [
"Mathematical logic",
"Mathematical logicians"
] |
66,558,232 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%20oxidation | In organic chemistry, the Davis oxidation or Davis' oxaziridine oxidation refers to oxidations involving the use of the Davis reagent (2-(phenylsulfonyl)-3-phenyloxaziridine) or other similar oxaziridine reagents. This reaction mainly refers to the generation of α-hydroxy carbonyl compounds (acyloins) from ketones or esters. The reaction is carried out in a basic environment to generate the corresponding enolate from the ketone or ester. This reaction has been shown to work for amides.
Other oxidations carried out by Davis' reagent include the oxidation of sulfides and selenides to sulfoxides and selenoxides without further oxidation; the oxidation of alkenes to epoxides; and the oxidation of amines to hydroxylamines and amine oxides.
Mechanism
Regarding the α-hydroxylation of carbonyls, the base first converts the ketone or ester into its corresponding enolate. Then, the enolate anion as a nucleophile attacks the oxygen atom of the oxaziridine in a SN2 mechanism, forming a hemiaminal intermediate. The intermediate then fragments into a sulfinimine, and, after protonation, the desired α-hydroxyketone or α-hydroxyester.
See also
Rubottom oxidation - also produces α-hydroxy carbonyl compounds
References
Name reactions | Davis oxidation | [
"Chemistry"
] | 308 | [
"Name reactions",
"Chemical reaction stubs",
"Organic redox reactions",
"Organic reactions"
] |
66,558,416 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%20reagent | Davis reagent (3-phenyl-2-(phenylsulfonyl)-1,2-oxaziridine or 2-(benzenesulfonyl)-3-phenyloxaziridine) is a reagent used for oxidation in the Davis oxidation reaction, as well as oxidation of thiols to sulfones. It is named for Franklin A. Davis.
References
Reagents for organic chemistry | Davis reagent | [
"Chemistry"
] | 97 | [
"Organic compounds",
"Organic compound stubs",
"Organic chemistry stubs",
"Reagents for organic chemistry"
] |
66,558,678 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRPV3-74a | TRPV3-74a is a drug which acts as a selective antagonist for the TRPV3 calcium channel. It has analgesic effects in animal studies against both neuropathic pain and normal pain responses.
References
Trifluoromethyl compounds
2-Pyridyl compounds
Tertiary alcohols
Cyclobutanes | TRPV3-74a | [
"Chemistry"
] | 70 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacology stubs",
"Medicinal chemistry stubs"
] |
66,560,053 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CalyxOS | CalyxOS is a Android-based operating system for select smartphones, foldables and tablets with mostly free and open-source software. It is produced by the Calyx Institute as part of its mission to "defend online privacy, security and accessibility."
CalyxOS preserves the Android security model, using Android's Verified Boot system of cryptographic signing of the operating system, and running with a locked bootloader. CalyxOS also features an installer that guides the user through the process of unlocking and then re-locking the bootloader.
History
The Calyx Institute annual reports state CalyxOS was publicly launched during their 2018–2019 fiscal year. Inspiration included Tails and Qubes OS, and goals were said to be "completely open source", removing proprietary Google tracking, and including apps Tor, Signal and CalyxVPN for increased privacy.
CalyxOS supports select Google Pixel, Motorola and Fairphone devices, While offering "extended support" for some older Google Pixel devices and the SHIFT SHIFT6mq.
Around April 2022, CalyxOS announced support for the Fairphone 4, OnePlus 8T, 9, and 9 Pro.
However, in May 2022, CalyxOS announced OnePlus builds were pulled because the bootloader could no longer be relocked on newer device firmware.
In March 2024, CalyxOS added support for the Fairphone 5.
Software
CalyxOS ships with MicroG as an open-source alternative to the Google Mobile Services, including Mozilla Location Services as an optional replacement to the location services provided by Google, but gives the user the option to disable microG and its location services.
Reception
In October 2020, Moritz Tremmel reviewed CalyxOS. A month later, Tremmel explained why he preferred CalyxOS over LineageOS. A year later in September 2021, Tremmel further explained how CalyxOS was different from other ROMs because it did not require as much "fiddling". Rahul Nambiampurath, writing for MakeUseOf in March 2021, termed CalyxOS, "[one of the] best [Android] ROMs for privacy ... offers the perfect middle ground between convenience and privacy". In August 2021, Android Authority wrote CalyxOS "puts privacy and security into the hands of everyday users."
In 2022, the book c't Sicher ins Netz: How to block out monitors and attackers, said "CalyxOS is one of the youngest custom ROMs, it will only celebrate its second birthday in summer 2022. With a built-in Datura firewall, VPN and Cloudflare DNS, Calyx promises more security than some other mobile systems."
In 2023, CalyxOS was the one alternative phone operating system recommended by Carey Parker in the book Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons.
See also
Comparison of mobile operating systems
List of custom Android distributions
Security-focused operating system
Guardian Project
References
Android (operating system) software
ARM operating systems
Computing platforms
Custom Android firmware
Embedded Linux distributions
Free and open-source Android software
Linux distributions
Linux distributions without systemd
Mobile Linux
Operating system families
Software using the Apache license | CalyxOS | [
"Technology"
] | 655 | [
"Computing platforms"
] |
66,560,515 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irpiciporus%20pachyodon | Irpiciporus pachyodon is a species of fungus belonging to the family Polyporaceae.
It has cosmopolitan distribution.
Synonym:
Spongipellis pachyodon
References
Polyporaceae
Fungus species | Irpiciporus pachyodon | [
"Biology"
] | 42 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
66,561,238 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculocide | A tuberculocide is a substance or a process which disables or destroys the spore which causes tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
History
In 1955, Bergsmann studied dairin as a tuberculocide.
In 1976, Sachse studied peracetic acid as a tuberculocide.
In 1998, Wang and Ding studied diterpenoids from the roots of Euphorbia ebracteolata (one of the Euphorbia genus) as a tuberculocide.
In 2010, Zhang et al. reported that Euphorbia fischeriana had been used especially in Asia as a tuberculocide.
In 2011, Nde et al. studied three oxidative disinfectants as tuberculocides.
References
Tuberculosis
Bactericides | Tuberculocide | [
"Biology"
] | 166 | [
"Bactericides",
"Biocides"
] |
66,561,413 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phellinidium%20ferrugineofuscum | Phellinidium ferrugineofuscum is a species of fungus belonging to the family Hymenochaetaceae. It has been found growing on Abies sibirica.
It is native to Eurasia and Northern America.
References
Hymenochaetaceae
Fungi described in 1984
Fungus species | Phellinidium ferrugineofuscum | [
"Biology"
] | 64 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
66,561,472 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletocutis%20odora | Skeletocutis odora is a species of fungus belonging to the family Incrustoporiaceae.
Synonyms:
Polyporus odorus Peck, 1885
References
Polyporales
Fungus species | Skeletocutis odora | [
"Biology"
] | 41 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
66,562,107 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-Chloromethylpyridine | 2-Chloromethylpyridine is an organohalide that consists of a pyridine core bearing a chloromethyl group. It is one of three isomeric chloromethylpyridines, along with 3- and 4-chloromethylpyridine. It is an alkylating agent. 2-Chloromethylpyridine is a precursor to pyridine-containing ligands.
Safety
2-Chloromethylpyridine is an analogue of nitrogen mustards, and has been investigated for its mutagenicity.
References
Alkylating agents
Organochlorides
2-Pyridyl compounds | 2-Chloromethylpyridine | [
"Chemistry"
] | 145 | [
"Alkylating agents",
"Reagents for organic chemistry"
] |
66,564,318 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum%20energy%20product | In magnetics, the maximum energy product is an important figure-of-merit for the strength of a permanent magnet material. It is often denoted and is typically given in units of either (kilojoules per cubic meter, in SI electromagnetism) or (mega-gauss-oersted, in gaussian electromagnetism). 1 MGOe is equivalent to .
During the 20th century, the maximum energy product of commercially available magnetic materials rose from around 1 MGOe (e.g. in KS Steel) to over 50 MGOe (in neodymium magnets). Other important permanent magnet properties include the remanence () and coercivity (); these quantities are also determined from the saturation loop and are related to the maximum energy product, though not directly.
Definition and significance
The maximum energy product is defined based on the magnetic hysteresis saturation loop (- curve), in the demagnetizing portion where the and fields are in opposition. It is defined as the maximal value of the product of and along this curve (actually, the maximum of the negative of the product, , since they have opposing signs):
Equivalently, it can be graphically defined as the area of the largest rectangle that can be drawn between the origin and the saturation demagnetization B-H curve (see figure).
The significance of is that the volume of magnet necessary for any given application tends to be inversely proportional to . This is illustrated by considering a simple magnetic circuit containing a permanent magnet of volume and an air gap of volume , connected to each other by a magnetic core. Suppose the goal is to reach a certain field strength in the gap. In such a situation, the total magnetic energy in the gap (volume-integrated magnetic energy density) is directly equal to half the volume-integrated in the magnet:
thus in order to achieve the desired magnetic field in the gap, the required volume of magnet can be minimized by maximizing in the magnet. By choosing a magnetic material with a high , and also choosing the aspect ratio of the magnet so that its is equal to , the required volume of magnet to achieve a target flux density in the air gap is minimized. This expression assumes that the permeability in the core that is connecting the magnetic material to the air gap is infinite, so unlike the equation might imply, you cannot get arbitrarily large flux density in the air gap by decreasing the gap distance. A real core will eventually saturate.
See also
Tetrataenite
References
Magnetostatics
Magnetism
Magnetic ordering | Maximum energy product | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry",
"Materials_science",
"Engineering"
] | 532 | [
"Magnetic ordering",
"Condensed matter physics",
"Electric and magnetic fields in matter",
"Materials science"
] |
66,565,501 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulnaria%20ulna | Ulnaria ulna is a species of diatom belonging to the family Ulnariaceae.
Synonym:
Synedra ulna (Nitzsch) Ehrenberg 1832
References
Diatoms | Ulnaria ulna | [
"Biology"
] | 41 | [
"Diatoms",
"Algae"
] |
66,567,874 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor%20network | Tensor networks or tensor network states are a class of variational wave functions used in the study of many-body quantum systems and fluids. Tensor networks extend one-dimensional matrix product states to higher dimensions while preserving some of their useful mathematical properties.
The wave function is encoded as a tensor contraction of a network of individual tensors. The structure of the individual tensors can impose global symmetries on the wave function (such as antisymmetry under exchange of fermions) or restrict the wave function to specific quantum numbers, like total charge, angular momentum, or spin. It is also possible to derive strict bounds on quantities like entanglement and correlation length using the mathematical structure of the tensor network. This has made tensor networks useful in theoretical studies of quantum information in many-body systems. They have also proved useful in variational studies of ground states, excited states, and dynamics of strongly correlated many-body systems.
Diagrammatic notation
In general, a tensor network diagram (Penrose diagram) can be viewed as a graph where nodes (or vertices) represent individual tensors, while edges represent summation over an index. Free indices are depicted as edges (or legs) attached to a single vertex only. Sometimes, there is also additional meaning to a node's shape. For instance, one can use trapezoids for unitary matrices or tensors with similar behaviour. This way, flipped trapezoids would be interpreted as complex conjugates to them.
History
Foundational research on tensor networks began in 1971 with a paper by Roger Penrose. In “Applications of negative dimensional tensors” Penrose developed tensor diagram notation, describing how the diagrammatic language of tensor networks could be used in applications in physics.
In 1992, Steven R. White developed the Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) for quantum lattice systems. The DMRG was the first successful tensor network and associated algorithm.
In 2002, Guifre Vidal and Reinhard Werner attempted to quantify entanglement, laying the groundwork for quantum resource theories. This was also the first description of the use of tensor networks as mathematical tools for describing quantum systems.
In 2004, Frank Verstraete and Ignacio Cirac developed the theory of matrix product states, projected entangled pair states, and variational renormalization group methods for quantum spin systems.
In 2006, Vidal developed the multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA). In 2007 he developed entanglement renormalization for quantum lattice systems.
In 2010, Ulrich Schollwock developed the density-matrix renormalization group for the simulation of one-dimensional strongly correlated quantum lattice systems.
In 2014, Román Orús introduced tensor networks for complex quantum systems and machine learning, as well as tensor network theories of symmetries, fermions, entanglement and holography.
Connection to machine learning
Tensor networks have been adapted for supervised learning, taking advantage of similar mathematical structure in variational studies in quantum mechanics and large-scale machine learning. This crossover has spurred collaboration between researchers in artificial intelligence and quantum information science. In June 2019, Google, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and X (company), released TensorNetwork, an open-source library for efficient tensor calculations.
The main interest in tensor networks and their study from the perspective of machine learning is to reduce the number of trainable parameters (in a layer) by approximating a high-order tensor with a network of lower-order ones. Using the so-called tensor train technique (TT), one can reduce an N-order tensor (containing exponentially many trainable parameters) to a chain of N tensors of order 2 or 3, which gives us a polynomial number of parameters.
See also
Tensor
Tensor diagrams
Tensor contraction
Tensor Processing Unit (TPU)
Tensor rank decomposition
Einstein Notation
Spin network
References
External links
tensornetwork.org - a resource for tensor network algorithms, theory, and software
tensors.net - tensor network tutorials, sample implementations and other resources
Tensor Network Contractions: Methods and Applications to Quantum Many-Body Systems
Applied mathematics
Concepts in physics
Quantum states
Applications of artificial intelligence
Lattice field theory | Tensor network | [
"Physics",
"Mathematics"
] | 847 | [
"Applied mathematics",
"Quantum states",
"Quantum mechanics",
"nan"
] |
66,568,074 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd%20Engineer%20Brigade%20%28United%20States%29 | The 2nd Engineer Brigade was a military engineering brigade of the United States Army, that was subordinate to United States Army Alaska and had its headquarters at Fort Richardson, Alaska, prior to deactivation in 2015.
History
World War II
The 2nd Engineer Amphibian Brigade was activated at Camp Edwards on 20 June 1942, with the 532nd Engineer Shore Regiment and 592nd Engineer Boat Regiment assigned. Colonel William F. Heavey, who was appointed its commander on 6 August 1942, and was promoted to brigadier general on 10 September, led the brigade for the rest of the war. It quickly expanded to 6,000 men, but lost 1,500 in September to the 540th Shore Regiment. On 1 October, the brigade was reorganized; the 532nd and 592nd became engineer amphibian regiments and the 542nd Engineer Amphibian Regiment was formed. The brigade, less the 542nd Engineer Amphibian Regiment, moved by rail to Camp Carrabelle on 15 October. On 7 November, the brigade moved to Fort Ord, California, where it was joined by the 542nd Engineer Amphibian Regiment the following day. In January and February 1943, the brigade embarked from the San Francisco Port of Embarkation on a series of vessels bound for Australia.
In Australia, the brigade was based at Cairns, although its headquarters was co-located with that of I Corps in Rockhampton, away. The brigade helped the 411th Base Shop Battalion establish a landing craft construction facility, which produced its first finished LCVP on 7 April. In May, elements of the brigade began moving to New Guinea. A detachment of ten LCMs of the 592nd Engineer Amphibian Regiment went to Port Moresby, where it moved supplies to the Lakekamu River. They were followed by detachments of the 532nd and 542nd, which moved to Milne Bay, Oro Bay and Samarai. On 30 June, the brigade participated in its first amphibious operation, the landing at Nassau Bay. On 4 July, the brigade was renamed the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade, and its three regiments became engineer boat and shore regiments.
The 2nd Engineer Special Brigade trained at Cairns with the Australian 9th Division in June and July 1943. The 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment then moved to New Guinea, and landed part of the 9th Division at Red Beach near Lae on 4 September. On 22 September, it landed elements of the 9th Division at Scarlet Beach near Finschhafen. On 11 October, four Japanese barges attempted to land on Scarlet Beach. They were defeated by men of the 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment, including Private Junior Van Noy, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Over the next few months, units of the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade participated in the landings at Arawe, Long Island, Saidor, Sio, Los Negros, Talasea, Hollandia, Wakde and Biak. On 20 October 1944 it participated in the amphibious assault on Leyte in the Philippines. Over the following months it participated in a series of amphibious operations to liberate the Philippines. Nine of the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade's units were awarded Presidential Unit Citations.
Organization
Brigade Headquarters
532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment
542nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment
592nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment
562nd Engineer Boat Maintenance Battalion
1458th Engineer Maintenance Company
1459th Engineer Maintenance Company
1460th Engineer Maintenance Company
1570th Engineer Heavy Equipment Shop Company
1762nd Engineer Parts Supply Platoon
262nd Medical Battalion
162nd Ordnance Maintenance Company
189th Quartermaster Gas Supply Company
287th Signal Company
695th Truck Company
3498th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company
5204th Transportation Corps Amphibious Truck Company
Medical Detachment, 2nd Engineer Special Brigade
Support Battery (Provisional) 2nd Engineer Special Brigade
416th Army Service Forces Band
Korean War
The 2nd Engineer Special Brigade arrived back in San Francisco on 16 December 1945, and returned to Fort Ord. It later moved to Fort Worden, Washington, where it was stationed when the Korean War broke out in June 1950. The brigade moved to Yokohama, Japan, and participated in the landing at Inchon in September 1950. Afterwards it operated the ports of Suyong and Ulsan. The brigade was redesignated as the 2nd Amphibious Support Brigade on 26 June 1952. In December 1953 it moved to Camp McGill in Japan, where it was inactivated on 24 June 1955.
The brigade was reactivated at Fort Belvoir, Virginia as the 2nd Amphibious Support Command, on 13 November 1956, and inactivated at Fort Story, Virginia, on 25 August 1965.
Afghanistan
The brigade was reactivated as the 2nd Engineer Brigade from the 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, on 16 September 2011. Although no longer an amphibian brigade, it wore the World War II-era seahorse emblem until inactivated there on 15 May 2015.
Structure in 2011
2nd Engineer Brigade
17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion
6th Engineer Battalion
793rd Military Police Battalion
9th Army Band
United States Army Alaska NCO Academy
References
Bibliography
Engineer Brigades of the United States Army
United States Army Corps of Engineers
Military units and formations established in 1942 | 2nd Engineer Brigade (United States) | [
"Engineering"
] | 1,030 | [
"Engineering units and formations",
"United States Army Corps of Engineers"
] |
66,568,992 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De%20Kimpe%20aziridine%20synthesis | The De Kimpe aziridine synthesis is a name reaction of organic chemistry, for the generation of aziridines by the reaction of α-chloroimines with nucleophiles such as hydride, cyanide, or Grignard reagents.
The De Kimpe aziridine synthesis is suitable for both aldimines and ketimines, particularly those with two alkyl substituents on the α-carbon (Thorpe-Ingold effect).
Mechanism
The nucleophile attacks the imino carbon atom, forming a tetrahedral intermediate. The intermediate then undergoes an intramolecular nucleophilic substitution, with the negatively charged nitrogen atom attacking the α-carbon and having the chloride anion as the leaving group.
References
Name reactions | De Kimpe aziridine synthesis | [
"Chemistry"
] | 168 | [
"Name reactions",
"Chemical reaction stubs",
"Ring forming reactions",
"Organic reactions"
] |
66,569,125 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal%20Commission%20on%20Animal%20Magnetism | The Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism involved two entirely separate and independent French Royal Commissions, each appointed by Louis XVI in 1784, that were conducted simultaneously by a committee composed of four physicians from the Paris Faculty of Medicine (Faculté de médecine de Paris) and five scientists from the Royal Academy of Sciences (Académie des sciences) (i.e., the "Franklin Commission", named for Benjamin Franklin), and a second committee composed of five physicians from the Royal Society of Medicine (Société Royale de Médecine) (i.e., the "Society Commission").
Each Commission took five months to complete its investigations. The "Franklin" Report was presented to the King on 11 August 1784 – and was immediately published and very widely circulated throughout France and neighbouring countries – and the "Society" Report was presented to the King five days later on 16 August 1784.
The "Franklin Commission's" investigations are notable as a very early "classic" example of a systematic controlled trial, which not only applied "sham" and "genuine" procedures to patients with "sham" and "genuine" disorders, but, significantly, was the first to use the "blindfolding" of both the investigators and their subjects.
"The report of the ["Franklin"] Royal Commission of 1784 . . . is a masterpiece of its genre, and enduring testimony to the power and beauty of reason. . . . Never in history has such an extraordinary and luminous group [as the "Franklin Commission"] been gathered together in the service of rational inquiry by the methods of experimental science. For this reason alone the [Report of the "Franklin Commission"] . . . is a key document in the history of human reason. It should be rescued from obscurity, translated into all languages, and reprinted by organizations dedicated to the unmasking of quackery and the defense of rational thought." – Stephen Jay Gould (1989).
Both sets of Commissioners were specifically charged with investigating the claims made by Charles d’Eslon for the existence of a substantial (rather than metaphorical) "animal magnetism", "le magnétisme animal", and of a similarly (non-metaphorical) physical "magnetic fluid", "le fluide magnétique". Further, having completed their investigations into the claims of d'Eslon – that is, they did not examine Franz Mesmer, Mesmer's theories, Mesmer's principles, Mesmer's practices, Mesmer's techniques, Mesmer's apparatus, Mesmer's claims, Mesmer's "cures" or, even, "mesmerism" itself – they were each required to make "a separate and distinct report".
"Before the ["Franklin" Commission's] investigations began, [Antoine Lavoisier] had studied the writings of d'Eslon and [had] drawn up a plan for the conduct of the inquiry. He decided that the commissioners should not study any of the alleged cures, but [that] they should determine whether animal magnetism existed by trying to magnetize a person without his knowledge or making him think that he had been magnetized when in fact he had not. This plan was adopted by the commissioners, and the results came out as Lavoisier had predicted." – Frank A. Pattie (1994).
From their investigations both Commissions concluded (a) that there was no evidence of any kind to support d'Eslon's claim for the substantial physical existence of either his supposed "animal magnetism" or his supposed "magnetic fluid", and (b) that all of the effects that they had observed could be attributed to a physiological (rather than metaphysical) agency. Whilst each Commission implicitly accepted that there was no collusion, pretence, or extensive subject training involved on the part of d'Eslon, they both (independently) concluded that all of the phenomena they had observed during each of their investigations could be directly attributed to "contact", "imagination", and/or "imitation".
"For clearness of reasoning and strict impartiality [the "Franklin" Commissioners' report] has never been surpassed. After detailing the various experiments made, and their results, they came to the conclusion that the only proof advanced in support of Animal Magnetism was the effects it produced on the human body – that those effects could be produced without passes or other magnetic manipulations – that all these manipulations, and passes, and ceremonies never produce any effect at all if employed without the patient's knowledge; and that therefore imagination did, and animal magnetism did not, account for the phenomena." – Charles Mackay (1841, emphasis added to original).
Reasons for the investigation
"The rise of mesmerism [was] symptomatic of several philosophical and psychological conflicts: spirit/mind vs. body; science and philosophy vs. psychology and the imagination; rationalism and empiricism vs. the irrational and unknown; [and] consciousness vs. the unconscious" (Faflack, 2009, p. 53).
According to Armando & Belhoste (2018, pp. 6–8), the true history of Mesmer, of Mesmer's version of 'animal magnetism', and of the rationale, conduct, investigations, experimentation, and findings of the 1784 Royal Commissions has been seriously distorted by the modern ("cherry picking") concentration upon "the transformations of animal magnetism after 1820 [in relation to] hypnotism", and, especially, upon "the elements of continuity and analogy between the various versions of psychoanalysis".
Consequently, to accurately understand the contemporary significance of the Commissions' work, and the matters that they severally and collectively examined (and, as well, those which they did not) it is important to identify the wide range of significant tensions, disputes, and circumstances prevailing at the time, which prompted the need for an official investigation of the particular nature and type that was undertaken, and the sort of (implicit) issues – in addition to the more specific questions of medicine and of science – that their inquiries would, hopefully, address.
Moreover, in order to gain a balanced understanding of the contemporary significance of the Commissions – as stand-alone historical events – appointed at a specific time, in specific circumstances, with specific goals and, further, in order to apprehend the nature of their investigations, their findings, and the immediate consequences of their reports, a complex of different factors need to be examined (as has been suggested by Craver & Darnden, 2013):
"From the perspective of a given phenomenon, one can look down to the entities and activities composing it. One can look up to the higher-level mechanisms of which it is a component. One can look back to the mechanisms that come before it or by which it developed. One can look forward to what comes after it. [And, finally] one can look around to see the wider context with which it operates." (p. 163)
Tensions within the Royal family
Prior to his arrival in Paris in 1777 – with a letter of recommendation from Chancellor von Kaunitz of the Habsburg monarchy to the Austrian Ambassador to France, the Comte de Mercy-Argenteau (who, in turn, introduced Mesmer to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy (1720–1800), the Director of the Academy of Sciences) – Mesmer was already known to Marie Antoinette.
At the urging of her two closest friends, Marie-Paule Angélique d’Albert de Luynes (1744–1781), "the Duchesse de Chaulnes" and Marie Thérèse Louise de Savoie-Carignan (1749–1792), "the Princess of Lamballe", both of whom "had benefited from Mesmer's treatment", Marie Antoinette had been able to arrange for both Mesmer and d'Eslon to be officially "interviewed" by (an otherwise unidentified) representative of the King on 14 March 1781 (Walmsley, 1967, p. 267). At the conclusion of the interview, Mesmer reluctantly agreed to the proposed conditions: that a number of his (previous and current) patients be examined by a team of "commissioners" – it was also stipulated that, as a "requirement" of the King, Mesmer was to "remain in France", until his "doctrines" and his "principles" had been thereby "established", and that he was "not [to] leave except by permission of the King" – and that, if the commissioners' reports were "favourable", the government would issue "a ministerial letter" to that effect (Pattie, 1994, p. 110).
Within two weeks Mesmer had rescinded his agreement, on the grounds that it had been made under duress, and a new "interview" was conducted, involving Mesmer, d'Eslon, the unidentified bureaucrat, and the Minister of State, Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux de Maurepas.
"The Minister . . . began by saying that the King, informed of Mesmer's dislike of being investigated by commissioners, wished to excuse him from that formality and would grant him a life annuity of 20,000 French livres and pay 10,000 livres a year for the instruction of students, of whom three were to be selected by the government. "The rest of the benefits would be granted when the government's students recognize the utility of the discovery"." (Pattie, 1994, p. 111).
Once again, Mesmer rejected the offer made on behalf of the King; and, having been told that the King's decision was final, and given that the impetus for the first interview had come from the Queen, Mesmer wrote an extraordinary letter (translated at Pattie, 1994, pp. 112–115), the nature of which would have meant imprisonment in the Bastille, if it had been written 20 years earlier.
"Meditating [on the Minister's use of the word "final",] Mesmer returned to his clinic and put his name to what would surely be one of the most extraordinary letters ever written to a queen of France [who also shared his "native land"] even if he had sent it privately. Instead, he had it printed, [be]rating her in public about the offer [that had been] made in her name and giving her an ultimatum."
So, there were many reasons for the 1784 Commission to satisfy the (French) interests of the King, rather than the (Austrian) interests of his queen.
Social impact
It is already more than six years since Animal Magnetism was announced to Europe, particularly in France and in this Capital. But it is only over about the last two years that it has been of particular interested to a considerable number of citizens and that it has become the object of public discussion. Never had a more extraordinary question divided the opinions of an enlightened nation. – The Franklin Commission's Report to the Royal Academy of Sciences (September 1784, emphasis added)
Mesmer's overall stress on the quest for "harmony" as a therapeutic outcome and, especially, given the demonstrated fact that the effects of his 'animal magnetism' – predicated upon the presence of a force analogous to gravity – were equally demonstrated by all, regardless of age, gender, class, race, intellect, etc., was an important influence on many of the moves (and 'movers') within French society towards democracy and greater equality.
Festering political issues
The increasingly unpopular "Ancien Régime" was under considerable pressure from many quarters; and, within five years of the Commissions' Reports, the French Revolution had broken out. The storming of the Bastille took place on 14 July 1789; and four years later, King Louis XVI was executed on 21 January 1793, and his Queen, Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, and the sister of Emperor Joseph II, was executed on 16 October 1793.
Professional tensions
Apart from the wider issue of having to evaluate and decide how to deal with those within the medical profession "who saw animal magnetism as an interesting therapeutic resource" (Armando & Belmonte, 2018, p. 13) – namely, the boundary disputes between the conventional therapeutic practices of the sorts that Brockliss and Jones (1997) usefully identify as lying within the established "medical penumbra" (pp. 230–283) and the novel and innovative practices at the "frontier" that were (potentially) responsible for the "expansion of the medicable" (pp. 441–459) – there were also significant tensions, differences, and boundary disputes between the more theory- and principle-centred Paris Faculty of Medicine (formed some five centuries earlier), and the more practitioner-centred Royal Society of Medicine (formed just 5 years earlier), the "primary function" of which was "to evaluate patent medicines and, by extension, new forms of therapy" (Forrest, 1999, pp. 18–19).
Scientific issues
In a prevailing atmosphere of "[an overall] redefinition of frontiers in the legitimacy of knowledge" – and, in relation to Mesmer's claims, a redefinition "which did not necessarily match the public popularity that they attracted" (Zanetti, 2018), p. 59) – the issue of the existence (or not) of a substantial "magnetic fluid" and/or "animal magnetism" required resolution.
Medical issues
At a time when, in relation to "healers and healing", the conglomerate of "physicians, empirics, surgeons, apothecaries, folk healers, and religious personalities all vied with each other (as well as worked together) for medical legitimacy and patients" (Broomhall, 2004, p. 5), Mesmer was not only a "foreign national", but also one that had no affiliation of any kind with any known professional medical association within France (or elsewhere in Europe); and, as a consequence, his professional conduct, his medical practice, his medico-commercial enterprises, and his therapeutic endeavours were not regulated in any way.
Moreover, the efficacy of Mesmer's interventions had never been objectively tested, neither the agency nor the (pre- and post-intervention) veracity of his supposed "cures" had ever been objectively verified, and, finally, in relation to the presenting conditions of those with (supposedly) 'real' ailments, the question of whether the pre-intervention conditions of each case were of "organic" or "psychogenic" origins had never been objectively determined.
Religious issues
As discussed at considerable length by Spanos and Gottlieb (1979) there were not only a wide range of controversial secular and religious issues relating to the similarities and differences between the induction, manifestations, and immediate and long-term consequences of the "crises" that were (sporadically) produced by the 'magnetic' interventions, and the exorcisms of the Roman Catholic Church, but, also, of greater significance, to the occasional (apparently veridical) reports of post-magnetic "clairvoyance" – a condition that was one of the classic indications for an exorcism whenever it was considered to be "demonically inspired" (as distinct from those cases in which it was considered to be "divinely inspired" (Spanos and Gottlieb, 1979, p. 538)).
The two Commissions
The Commissions were appointed in early 1784 by the Baron de Breteuil, Secretary of State for the King's Household and Minister of the Department of Paris at the command of King Louis XVI.
"At length [the matter of Animal Magnetism] was thought to deserve the attention of government, and a committee, partly physicians, and partly members of the royal academy of Sciences, with doctor Benjamin Franklin at their head, were appointed to examine it. M. Mesmer refused to have any communication with these gentlemen; but M. Deslon, the most considerable of his pupils, consented to disclose to them his principles, and assist them in their enquiries." – William Godwin (1785).
"Franklin Commission"
The first of the two Royal Commissions, usually referred to as the "Franklin Commission", was appointed on 12 March 1784.
It was composed of four physicians from the Paris Faculty of Medicine – the physician and chemist Jean d'Arcet, the physician and close friend of Franklin, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin(1738–1814), the Hôtel-Dieu physician, Michel-Joseph Majault (1714–1790), and the Professor (of physiology and pathology) Charles Louis Sallin – and, at the request of those four physicians, five scientists from the Royal Academy of Sciences – the astronomer (and first mayor of Paris) Jean Sylvain Bailly(1736–1793), the geographer, cartographer, and former governor of St. Domingue, , Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), the chemist and biologist Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794), and the physicist (and expert on things electrical), Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, the Director of the Academy of Sciences.
"If the effects of magnetism . . . can be as well explained by the effects of an excited or exalted imagination, all the efforts of the Commissioners must be directed to distinguishing in "magnetism" . . . [per medium of] a single conclusive experiment [viz., une seule expérience concluante] . . . those things that are related to physical causes [viz., causes physiques] from those that are related to [psychological] causes [viz., causes morales], [that is,] the effects of a real agent [viz, les effets d'un agent réel] from those due to the imagination. . . .By magnetising people without their knowledge and by persuading them that they are being magnetised when they are not . . . one will obtain separately the effects of magnetism and those of the imagination and, from this, one will be able to conclude what should be attributed to the one and what to the other." – Antoine Lavoisier (1784).
It is important to note that, despite the contemporary and modern salience given to Benjamin Franklin – who, as the most eminent of the commission's eleven members, was recognized as its titular head – it is a matter of record that Franklin, now aged 78, and otherwise engaged in his duties as the U.S. Ambassador to France, had little involvement in any of the commission's investigations. In particular, this was because his own ill-health prevented him from leaving his residence in Passy and participating in the Paris-centred investigations – although the commission's Report does note that several experiments were conducted at Franklin's Passy residence in Franklin's presence.
In addition to his general scientific interests in electricity and (terrestrial) magnetism, "Franklin had known Mesmer for some years prior to the investigation and was familiar with the practice of animal magnetism", and, on occasion, he and Mesmer had even "dined together" – and, also there was "no doubt [that] Franklin's curiosity was aroused by the mere connotation of the term animal magnetism, for it implied something in connexion with electricity, and [Franklin] himself had already made [25 years earlier] a number of experiments on the effect of electric discharges on paralytics, epileptics, etc." (Duveen & Klickstein, 1955, p. 287).
"Society Commission"
The second of the two Royal Commissions, usually referred to as the "Society Commission", was appointed on 5 April 1784.
It was composed of five eminent physicians from the Royal Society of Medicine – the physician and one of the first members of the Royal Society, , the physician Claude-Antoine Caille (1743-), the botanist Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (1748–1836), the physician, Collège de France professor, one of the original directors of the Royal Society, and committed advocate of the therapeutic applications of electricity, , and the physician and Professor of chemistry in the Collège de France, – and, as Pattie remarks (1994, p. 156), "the impression given by [their] report is that the commissioners were busy practitioners who wanted to devote no more time to the project than was necessary".
Although the investigations of the "Society Commission" were less thorough and less detailed than those of the "Franklin Commission" they were essentially of the same nature, and it is a matter of fact that neither Commission examined Mesmer's practices – they only examined the practices of d'Eslon.
Franz Mesmer
Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815), born in Swabia, having first studied law at Dillingen and Ingolstadt universities, transferred to the University of Vienna and began a study of medicine, graduating Medicinae Doctor (M.D.) at the age of 32, in 1766: his doctoral dissertation (Mesmer, 1766) had the official title A Physico-Medical Dissertation on the Influence of the Planets.
Although he was made a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1775, and, despite his M.D. qualification, there is no record of Mesmer ever having been accepted as a member of any medical "learned society" anywhere in Europe at any time.
Mesmer left Austria in 1777, in controversial circumstances, following his treatment of the young Austrian Pianist Maria Theresia von Paradis for her blindness, and established himself, in Paris, in February 1778. He spent several years in Paris itself – during which time he published his Précis Historique (i.e., Mesmer, 1781) – interspersed with time spent in various parts of France, a complete absence from France (1792–1798), a return to France in 1798, and his final departure from France in 1802.
While in France it was his habit to travel to the town of Spa, in Belgium to "take the waters"; and he was enjoying an extended stay at Spa when the reports of the two Royal Commissions were released. Mesmer lived for another 31 years after the Royal Commissions. He died at the age of 80, in Meersburg, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, on 5 March 1815.
Positioner of a concept
Rather than being the "inventor" of "a technique", as some (mis)represent the circumstances, it is clear that Mesmer's significance was in his "positioning" of an overarching "concept" (or "construct") through his creation and development – using analogies with gravity, terrestrial magnetism, and hydraulics (as they were understood at the time) – of "an explanatory model to represent the way that healers had been healing people for thousands of years" (Yeates, 2018, p. 48).
The (oft-forgotten) value and long-term significance of Mesmer's "positioning", according to Rosen (1959, pp. 7–8), is that "Mesmer's theory [in] itself . . . diverted attention from the phenomena produced by animal magnetism to the agent alleged to produce them"; yet, both 1784 Commissions side-stepped this issue, and "simply ascribed the magnetic cures to imagination, but never bothered to ask how imagination can produce a cure".
Mesmer's "protoscience", rather than "pseudoscience"
According to Tatar (1990, p. 49), rather than Mesmer's proposal being some sort of "occult theory", "[Mesmer] actually remained well within the bounds of eighteenth-century thought when he formulated his theories" and "the theories [that Mesmer] invoked to explain [the agency of "animal magnetism"] fit squarely into the frame of eighteenth-century cosmology": and, moreover, "to consider animal magnetism independently of the tradition out of which it emerged is to magnify its distinctively occult characteristics and to diminish in importance those features that mirror the scientific and philosophical temper of the age in which it flourished."
Rosen (1959, pp. 4–5) noted that, it was clear that
Mesmer's theory of animal magnetism . . . [within which] he employed the term magnetism to characterize a reciprocal relationship between the forces of nature and the human body, and [which] conceived of nature as the harmony of these relations in action . . . contains a number of themes and theoretical concepts common to the medical world of the eighteenth century . . . [which] is evident, for example, in his interpretation of disease as a disharmony attributable to a functional disturbance of the nervous fluid . . . [which is a] concept . . . derived from the ancient humoral pathology with its doctrines of dyscrasia and critical days, from the irritability theory of Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777), and from the excitation theory of John Brown (1735–1788).
In other words, as a product of its time, Mesmer's enterprise was one of protoscience, rather than being one of pseudoscience – or, even, one of fringe science.
A concept that must not be reified
It is clear from his Mémoire (1799) that Mesmer was very aware of the human propensity – in the normal, conventional use of language (la langue de convention) – to speak of "properties" or "qualities" (i.e., these "metaphysical abstractions", illusions de la méthaphysique), as if they were "substances": in Mesmer's words, "substantivise the properties", substantisia les propriétés (Mesmer 1799, pp. 15–17) in other words, "reification", in the manner of Whitehead's "fallacy of misplaced concreteness".
Mesmer was also well aware of the extent to which, through the "distortion" caused by these "substantive words" (mot substantif) – which inappropriately "personified" (personnifia) these metaphysical abstractions (p. 16) – one is induced to believe in the actual physical existence of the "substance" itself. Given these observations, Mesmer was most emphatic in his continuous warnings that his abstract "principles" should not be "substantivised".
It is significant that Mesmer (1799) describes how, once he had formulated the abstract, overarching (metaphorical) construct/concept of "animal magnetism" as the therapeutic agent (a quarter of a century earlier) – and with his hope that this newly described "principle of action" (principe de action), when considered as an agent, "could become a means of healing and, even, one of preserving/defending oneself against disease" (p. 7, Mesmer's emphasis) – the primary focus of his enterprise had become the threefold quest for the acquisition of an understanding of:
(a) how to rouse (and maintain) this agent, by every possible means – and acquire the knowledge of how, so-roused, it might be therapeutically harnessed in the most efficacious fashion (Mesmer, 1799, p. 48);
(b) (given that the agent's therapeutic effects were observed to be gradual, rather than instantaneous) the "obstacles" that typically divert, disturb, or impede the agent's capacity to attain the optimal treatment outcomes – and, once these "obstacles" had been identified, determine appropriate ways to "clear them away" ("de connoître et lever les obstacles qui peuvent troubler ou empêcher son action", p. 48); and
(c) the natural pathway along which the agent's therapeutic effects are realized, so that, in its application, these outcomes can be systematically anticipated – meaning that, with this knowledge, the (otherwise random) clinical applications can be controlled, regulated, and incrementally applied in a systematic way, until the target goal of a "cure" is attained (p. 49).
Based on natural principles
Mesmer held the materialist position – that his therapies, which involved easily understood, systematic natural principles, were "physiological", rather than "psychological" interventions – in contrast to the supernatural positions of, say, the exorcist Johann Joseph Gassner (1727–1779),
By contrast with many "faith healers", [Gassner] had a quasi-scientific method of diagnosis, according to which he separated diseases that should be treated by a physician from those that he should treat. He first admonished the patient that faith in the name of Jesus was essential. He then obtained consent to use the method of "trial" exorcism. He entreated the Devil to defy Jesus by producing the patient's symptoms. If the convulsions or other symptoms appeared, Gassner believed they were the work of the Devil; he proceeded to exorcise the responsible demon. If symptoms failed to appear, he could not attribute them to a demon and sent the patient to a physician. – Ernest Hilgard, (1980).
the mystic José Custódio de Faria, a.k.a. "Abbé Faria" (1756–1819), and the magnetists, such as d'Eslon, and, later, Charles Lafontaine (1803–1892), whose demonstrations of "animal magnetism" were attended by James Braid in November 1841,
"Mesmer's approach to healing and his healing theory were physically oriented. His explanation of the phenomena of animal magnetism was consistently formulated in terms of matter and motion, and he believed that every aspect of animal magnetism could sooner or later be verified through physical experimentation and research." (Crabtree, 1993, p. 51)
"When Mesmer took a patient, his first concern was to determine whether the ailment was organic or functional. If it was organic, the result of physical damage to the tissue, he considered it, following [his] Proposition 23, beyond the aid of animal magnetism. If it was functional, a physiological disorder affected by the nerves, it fell within the class of diseases he felt uniquely qualified to handle with his therapeutic technique." (Buranelli, 1975, pp. 107-108).
Charles d'Eslon
, "a disciple of the [eminent French] surgeon J.L. Petit", was a docteur-régent of the Paris Faculty of Medicine, and the one-time personal physician to the King's brother, Charles Philippe, Comte d’Artois – who, later (following the Bourbon Restoration in France) became King Charles X.
Association with Mesmer
d’Eslon, a one-time patient, pupil, and associate of Mesmer, published a work on Mesmer's version of animal magnetism (while still associated with Mesmer), Observations sur le Magnétisme Animal (1780), which presented details of 18 cases (10 male, 8 female) treated by Mesmer.
In stressing the efficacy of Mesmer's "animal magnetism" interventions, d'Eslon defended (at p. 124) the absence of clear explanations (from Mesmer) of the mechanism through which "animal magnetism" effects its "cures" with an observation that, although the purgative actions of rhubarb and Shir-Khesht manna (a.k.a. purgative manna) are well known to the medical profession, the mechanisms involved are not; and, so, in these cases, "facts" and "experience" are "our only guides" – and, in a similar fashion, asserts d'Eslon, "in relation to Animal Magnetism, it is the same, I don't know how it works, but I do know that it does work".
d'Eslon also directly addressed the charge that Mesmer had "discovered" nothing, and that the "extraordinary things" (des choses extraordinaires) that Mesmer had demonstrably effected were due to his "captivation of the imagination" (en séduisant l’imagination), with the comment that,
"If [it were to be true that] Mesmer had no other secret than that he has been able to make the imagination exert an influence upon health, would he not still be a wonderful doctor? If treatment by the use of the imagination is the best treatment, why do we not make use of it?" (1780, pp. 46-47).
Ostracism
On 7 October 1780 – still associated with Mesmer and still a member of the Paris Faculty of Medicine – d'Eslon made an official request "that an investigation of the authenticity and efficacy of Mesmer's claims and cures be made. The Faculté rejected his plea, and in refusing accused [d'Eslon] personally of misdemeanour".
On 15 May 1782, d'Eslon presented the Faculty with his arguments in the form of a 144-page pamphlet; and then, "on 26 October 1782, [d'Eslon] was finally struck from the [Faculty's] roster and forbidden to attend any meeting for a period of two years" (Duveen & Klickstein, 1955, p. 286).
Post-Mesmer
In late 1782, and eighteen months before the Royal Commission, d'Eslon had (acrimoniously) parted ways with Mesmer; and, despite a brief reconciliation, the relationship was terminated in late 1783. On 28 December 1783, d'Eslon wrote a letter to the Journal de Paris, which not only described the difficulties he had experienced with Mesmer, but also announced that he was opening his own (entirely independent) clinic.
Following his break with Mesmer, d’Eslon not only launched his own clinical operation – on his break with Mesmer, d'Eslon took all of the patients he had brought to Mesmer with him – but also began teaching his own theories and practices (i.e., rather than those of Mesmer). According to d'Eslon's own account (d'Eslon, 1784b, pp. 25–26), Mesmer had taught 300 students, 160 of whom were medical men (Médecins), and d'Eslon himself had taught 160 medical men (this group included 21 members of the Paris Faculty of Medicine).
Given that many of those who had privately paid Mesmer for the details of "the secret" were greatly dissatisfied, and had "[justifiably] accused [Mesmer] of having enunciated a theory which was merely a collection of obscure principles" (Binet & Féré, 1888, p. 13), it seems that d'Eslon's version was little better. Greatly confused by d'Eslon's version of "the secret", d'Eslon's student and associate, François Amédée Doppet, is said to have remarked that those to whom d'Eslon had revealed "the secret" doubted it even more than those to whom it had not been revealed.
It was under these circumstances that a decision was made to investigate the work of d'Eslon – although he was already ostracized from the Paris Faculty of Medicine – when "d’Eslon, through influential friends, and tact, and other favourable circumstances, procured [the commissions'] establishment [specifically] to investigate animal magnetism as practised in his own clinic" (Gauld, 1992, p. 7, emphasis added).
Last days
Once d'Eslon had been expelled from the rank of docteur-régent, his membership of the Faculty of Medicine was never reinstated; and unlike Mesmer, he remained in Paris following the publication of the reports of the two Commissions. Although apparently in good health in the preceding months, he died somewhat suddenly in Paris, on 21 August 1786, at the age of 47, from a complex of disorders including pneumonia, a malignant fever (une fièvre maligne), and renal colic.
Aspects of Mesmer's evolving practices
Mesmer's early experiments with magnets
It is significant that Mesmer, initially impressed by the therapeutic enterprises of the Jesuit astronomer, explorer, and healer Maximilian Hell (1720–1792) – which involved the application of steel magnets that had been specifically shaped either to fit particular body contours, or to match the actual dimensions of a specific organ (e.g., the liver) – and, immediately recognizing the "prima facie plausibility" of Hell's approach, purchased a number of steel magnets from Hell in 1774 and began applying them to his patients; however, as Pattie reports (1994, p. 2), Mesmer "had [entirely] abandoned the use of magnets" by 1776, because his own clinical experimentation had proved them to be utterly useless.
By 1779, Mesmer (1779, pp. 34–35) was expressing his concern that many had "confused" – such as the "Berlin Academy" in 1775 – and were continuing to "confuse" the "properties" of his (abstract/theoretical) "Magnétisme animal" with those of an actual physical magnet (l'aimant): objects of which, he stressed, he had only ever spoken of as possible "conductors" of "animal magnetism".
And, he argued, from this "confusion" of his "animal magnetism" with "mineral magnetism", his use of magnets – which, although "useful", were always "imperfect', unless they had been applied according to "la théorie du Magnétisme animal" – was being consistently misrepresented and misunderstood.
The glass armonica
Mesmer developed particular theatrical therapeutic rituals, often accompanied by the sounds of the Glass Armonica – an instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin himself – that were associated with a wide range of (figurative) magnetic connotations, such as the use of "magnetic wands", and the treatment tub known as "the baquet", which, in the view of Yeates (2018, p. 48), were "obviously, designed to amplify each subject's "response expectancy" (Kirsch, 1997, etc.) via impressive "metonymical acts" (Topley, 1976, p. 254)".
The "baquet"
The "baquet" (lit. 'a tub') was a device of Mesmer's design, that he had constructed by analogy with the newly invented "Leyden Bottle" – i.e., "the first electric condenser [viz., capacitor] in history" (Morabito, 2019, p. 90) – which was "supposed by analogy to 'store' animal magnetism" (Forrest, 1999, p. 20).
In its initial conception, Mesmer's "baquet" was "a vat containing bottles of magnetized water from which steel bars escaped through which the 'magnetization’ took place in the [subjects or patients], who were arranged around the tub holding their hands" (Morabito, loc.cit.). According to Mesmer's own description, in the (undated) "Catechism" that he had delivered exclusively to his followers,
"[The baquet] is a vat about six to seven feet, more or less, in diameter by eighteen inches in height. There is a double bottom in the interior of this vat, in which fragments of broken bottles, gravel, stones, and sticks of pounded sulfur and iron filings are placed. All of this is filled with water and covered up with a floor nailed into the vat. On the surface of the lid, six inches in from the rim, one makes various holes in order to allow the passage of iron rods which are arranged so that one end penetrates the bottom of the vat and the other is directed, by means of a curve, over the pit of the stomach of the patient or other affected parts of the body."
Mesmer specifically stressed the primary importance of the patients' hand-holding as a factor in the "augmentation" of the force/quality of the power of the "animal magnetism".
Moreover, and significantly, Mesmer (separately) acknowledged that, if it was ever to come to pass that he had a suitable "establishment" – i.e., one with sufficient space available for all the assembled patients to hold hands – he would "abolish the use of baquets" (je supprimerois les baquets) and, as well, also significantly remarking (loc. cit.) that, "In general, I only use these little devices [sc. "baquets"] when I am forced to do so" (En general, je n'use des petits moyens que lorsque j'y suis forcé).
The "magnetic crisis"
"One feature of Mesmer's methods . . . was the "mesmeric crisis". Some patients, especially those suffering from more serious symptoms, experienced nervous trembling, nausea, occasionally delirium or convulsions. Mesmer regarded these as an inevitable accompaniment of the process of normalization of the flow of animal magnetism, and had special padded "crisis rooms" [salle de crises] in which patients could throw themselves about without hurting themselves, while Mesmer or his assistants gave them individual attention. The depth of the crisis naturally varied from case to case, but Mesmer insisted that some degree of crisis, no matter how slight or transient, would always be found if it was looked for carefully enough." — (Anthony Campbell, 1988, p. 36)
Given Mesmer's regular (analogical) references throughout his works to the efficient grinding activities of smoothly functioning mills – speaking of how the windmills are driven by the wind, and watermills by the flow of water. – he usefully extended those analogies to explain the circumstances in which "crises" occur, especially in relation to the magnitude of the "crises": i.e., the dramatic circumstances of the sudden restoration of the lost function of a watermill installation – a direct consequence of the magnitude of the force of the flow of water that has been applied (through the currently stationary waterwheel) to the milling mechanism, which is, in and of itself, directly related to the extent to which the (now-operative) milling mechanism was formerly stationary, out of order, or, even, jammed:
"Mesmer states that magnetism is to the bodily organs as the wind is to the windmill . . . If the wind ceases to blow, the milling process comes to a halt, and should the cessation continue for long enough, the windmill may fall into disrepair or even ruin. The salvation of the miller comes when the wind begins to blow again, making the machinery of the windmill work again. . . . [A] greater effort is required to start a windmill after it has stopped than to keep it going, especially if disrepair has set in. . . . [In a similar fashion,] when animal magnetism ceases to course freely through the nervous system, the organs begin to malfunction and the whole physiology slows down. Fluids become stagnant and viscous and begin to block the blood vessels and other canals of the body. . . . The symptoms become worse because the organs grow weaker as the obstructions grow larger and larger and vice versa. Mesmer thought the organs then must be galvanized into a greater effort than ever before to push the fluids through the natural channels, and it is animal magnetism that galvinizes them." – (Buranelli, 1975, p. 108)
The Commissions' observations and description of d'Eslon's "magnetic crises"
The Commissions' remarks on d'Eslon's "magnetic crises"
Noting that some of those who were "magnetized" by d'Eslon over an extended time "fell into the convulsive movements that have been called Crises" – and noting that these "convulsive movements" (mouvemens convulsifs) were "viewed [by d'Eslon] as evidence of the particular agent to whom they are attributed" – the "Society" Commissioners' Report, in its discussion of the "Crises", identified a number of common characteristics among the majority of those who displayed these "convulsive movements":
(a) Only "the most sensitive subjects" – i.e., who were "sensitive" either as a consequence of "their constitution" or of "their illness" – displayed these "convulsive movements".
(b) In the majority of cases, "convulsive movements" were only displayed after extended exposure to "magnetic procedures that involved direct physical contact" (procédés du Magnétisme animal, par contact immédiat) – there were, also, they noted, rare examples of "convulsive movements" due to the operator's action at a distance, where no direct physical contact had been involved.
(c) Even the "weakest" of patients very rarely displayed "convulsive movements" if they were "magnetized separately".
(d) Compared with individual treatments, group treatments – when given to the same subjects – always produced a greater number of "convulsive movements", of greater magnitude, in a greater number of patients, with less treatment, and in a shorter time.
(e) Female patients were far more likely to display "convulsive movements" than male patients.
(f) Rich female patients (de femmes riches) were far more likely to display "convulsive movements" than poor female patients (de femmes indigentes).
(g) The majority of those who displayed "convulsive movements" only did so after an extended exposure to group treatment at the one treatment location.
The Commissions' remarks on the perceived dangers of the "magnetic crises"
In the last section of its Report, the "Franklin" Commission, in addition to its remarks on the impact of the phenomena associated with a "crisis", made a number of significant observations on the perceived dangers of experiencing, or simply observing, a "crisis" in a number of domains, including:
(a) the immediate and long-term physiological and psychological consequences of experiencing a "crisis" upon the "animal economy" of an already seriously ill person,
(b) the immediate and long-term physiological and psychological consequences of experiencing a "crisis" upon the "animal economy" of an otherwise completely healthy person,
(c) (given the considerable impact of the onlooker-consequences of issues such as behavioral contagion, Vicarious trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder. etc.), the immediate and long-term physiological and psychological consequences of observing another individual manifest a "crisis" upon the "animal economy" of an individual observer (regardless of whether the observer in question was healthy or not), and, on, a larger scale,
(d) the detrimental effects of the "crises" on society as a whole.
Observations of the frequency of "crises"
One interesting aspect of a number of the pro-d'Eslon and pro-Mesmer responses to the Commissions' Reports, collectively, was that they provided figures on the level to which the author in question had observed individual patients manifest full-blown "magnetic crises" as a consequence of their exposure to an extended sequence of standard "magnetic" treatments.
In his response to the Reports (d'Eslon, 1784b, pp. 21–22), d'Eslon complained that the Commissioners' emphasis on "convulsions" was not justified: among those who received group treatment during the commission's investigations (i.e., involving "50 to 60 individuals"), he wrote, there were never more than six or seven who displayed "convulsions" to any degree – and, further, of the more than 500 patients he had treated over the preceding three years, only 20 of those had manifested "convulsions" (and almost all of those had been suffering from "convulsions" before presenting for any treatment from d'Eslon). He also rejected the suggestions of any connection between the "convulsions" of epilepsy and those of the "crises", citing the cases of two of his patients, who were epileptic and "frequently had seizures at home", who never had a single "attack" during their treatment at his clinic (p. 23).
Joseph Michel Antoine Servan, the one time Advocate-General to the Parlement of Grenoble, who reported (at Servan, 1784, p. 3) that, in "the Provinces" – where the various social classes were not kept apart around "the baquet", as they were in Paris – that, in relation to the concerns that the Commissioners expressed in relation to the "seizures" they had observed (and identified as one of the principal "dangers of magnetism"), he (Servan) had only observed "barely a few convulsions" ("not at all annoying in themselves") in only five or six individuals out of the fifty whose sequential treatments (and responses) he had observed in person.
Jean-Baptiste Bonnefoy (1756–1789), a member of the Royal College of Surgeons at Lyon, and an associate of Mesmer, rejected the notion that Animal Magnetism was "the art of arousing convulsions" (l'art d'exciter des convulsions) (Bonnefoy, 1784, pp. 87–88); and, although he chose not to comment on d'Eslon's treatments, he stated that, from his own direct observation of Mesmer's treatment of more than 200 patients, he had only seen eight of them display "crises" – and, further, that only six of the more than 120 patients treated in his own clinic had displayed a "crisis".
"Mesmerism" vs. "Animal Magnetism"
In order to understand the significance of the two Commissions' concentration on their examination of d'Eslons' claims for the existence of "animal magnetism" (rather than, that is, conducting an examination of the clinical efficacy of Mesmer's actual therapeutic practices) – and, in order to clarify certain ambiguities, and correct particular errors that persist in the literature – a number of basic facts need to be addressed (see, for example, Yeates, 2018, pp. 48–52), it is useful to isolate what later, subsequent to the publication of Wolfart's Mesmerismus (1814), became known as "Mesmerism" from other "animal magnetism" practices in general.
Similarities and differences
The materialist "mesmerists" and the metaphysical "animal magnetists" each held that all animate beings (i.e., "living" beings: humans, animals, plants, etc.), in virtue of being alive, possessed an invisible, natural "magnetic" or "gravitational force" – thus magnetismus animalis, "animal magnetism", or gravitas animalis, "animal gravity" – and the therapeutic interventions of each were directed at manipulating the ebb and flow of their subject's "energy field".
That constant flux and reflux of the vital principles and corporeal humours in man (without which both motion and life are stopped) produce those effects of sympathy and antipathy which become more natural and less miraculous; the atmospherical particle to each individual receives from the general fluid the proper attraction and repulsion. In the divers crossings of those individual atmospheres, some emanations are more attractive between two beings, and others more repulsive; so again, when one body possesses more fluid than another, it will repel; and that body which is less will make an effort to restore itself into equilibrium or sympathy with the other body. — Ebenezer Sibly (1820).
Despite these fundamental similarities, there were many (even more fundamental) differences between the two.
The "mesmerists"
In order to foster and promote orthopraxia, the materialist "mesmerists" used qualitative (rather than quantitative) constructs – centred on Mesmer's abstract and metaphorical overarching analogies with gravity, terrestrial magnetism, and hydraulics – to explain the application of their techniques and to describe their therapeutic rationale.
"When we call this principle magnetic fluid, vital fluid, we are using a figurative expression. We know that something emanates from the magnetizer: this something is not a solid, and we call it a fluid." – Joseph-Philippe-François Deleuze (1814), p. 233.
The "animal magnetists"
In contrast to the mesmerists, the metaphysical "magnetists" – who (mistakenly) reified (i.e., "substantivised") the magnetic/fluidic metaphors of Mesmer – firmly believed that they were channeling a substantial "fluidium" and were manipulating a particular, substantial "force".
What Thomas Brown(e), writing in the seventeenth century, deemed a vulgar error was the belief in sympathy as a unifying force working outside the human state, in this instance between two magnetically charged needles that of themselves are clearly incapable of having feelings, sensibilities, and affections. This alternative use of sympathy experienced a resurgence in the early 1780s, particularly in the field of animal magnetism, a practice that drew on the study of magnetism and electricity and fused these with the language of magic and the occult, blurring the boundaries between superstition and rational experimental philosophy.
The "higher" and "lower" phenomena of the magnetists
By the time of James Braid's (1841) Manchester encounter with the "magnetic demonstrator" Charles Lafontaine, those who were still committed to the existence of a substantial 'magnetic fluid", etc., maintained that the phenomena produced by their acts of "magnetization" were of two general classes – lower phenomena, and higher phenomena – the distinction being "that, while there might be natural explanations for 'lower' phenomena, 'higher' phenomena could only be explained in terms of a paranormal or metaphysical agency" (Yeates, 2018, p. 52).
The investigations
The substantial existence of "animal magnetism" and "magnetic fluid" were investigated
Rather than being concerned with the applications, utility, and clinical efficacy of d'Eslon's "animal magnetism", the primary concern of each Commission was the significant, crucial, and exclusive question of whether or not d'Eslon's (supposed) "animal magnetic fluid" actually existed in some substantial physical way – for the simple reason that, as the two sets of Commissioners each noted in their independent reports, "Animal magnetism may well exist without being useful but it cannot be useful if it does not exist."
Mesmer's earlier refusal to have his "magnetic" interventions scrutinized
Already, in his earlier (18 September 1780) interaction with the Paris Faculty of Medicine, Mesmer had refused to have his therapeutic interventions on a set of entirely "new" patients directly scrutinized, claiming that his already-achieved "cures" were an objective matter of record. Mesmer justified his refusal as follows:
"Here is what I said to M. de Lassonne; however bizarre [it may seem] at first sight it is nevertheless entirely serious and very much applicable to the question. When a thief is convicted of theft he is hanged: when a murderer is convicted of murder he is executed on the wheel. But to exact these terrible penalties the thief is not required to thieve again to prove that he is a thief, and the murderer is not required to murder a second time to prove that he is a murderer. One is content to establish by testimony and by material evidence that the theft or the murder was committed and then one hangs or executes on the wheel in good conscience.Very well! It is the same with me. I ask, kindly, to be treated like a man to be executed on the wheel or hanged and that an effort should be made to establish that I have cured [patients] without asking me to perform new cures to prove that I am to be regarded as someone who cures."
Mesmer's "cures" were never investigated
In relation to the question of the agency/cause of Mesmer's supposed "cures" – and in the process of constructing the protocols for their investigations into d'Eslon's "animal magnetism" – both Commissions were well aware that "an effect's objective reality does not substantiate [any of the] proffered explanations [for its existence]" (Yeates, 2018, p. 61).
Notwithstanding Mesmer's earlier refusal to co-operate, and aside from the fact that the two Commissions were specifically charged with investigating d’Eslon's claims for the existence of "animal magnetism", there were two additional, significant reasons for not investigating the veracity of the "cures" attributed to Mesmer.
(1) They had no persuasive evidence to suggest that the reports of Mesmer's "cured patients" were false.
(2) The Commissioner's took the entirely reasonable and non-controversial step of accepting the existence of Mesmer's "cured patients" as a given.
In support of this decision, and noting that "observations over the centuries prove & Physicians themselves recognize, that Nature alone & without the help of medical treatment cures a great number of patients", the Commissioners agreed with the previously expressed observations of Mesmer – namely, that, even if significant improvements in his patients' presenting conditions had been objectively verified, the existence of those "cures", in and of themselves, would not have provided conclusive evidence of (metaphorical) "animal magnetism" – and, in support of their decision, the Commissioners cited Mesmer's own statements: viz., that "nothing conclusively proves that the Physician or Medicine heals the sick", and because of that, it was (in Mesmer's own words), "a mistake to believe that this kind of proof is irrefutable".
Further, as Kihlstrom (2002) observed, even though the "Franklin Commission" had accepted that "Mesmer's cures were genuine", and that "he was able to succeed where conventional approaches had failed",
"evidence of efficacy was not sufficient for academic approval. The scientific revolution had made physicians increasingly dissatisfied with purely empirical treatments, which were known to be effective but whose underlying mechanisms were unknown. In the emerging profession of scientific medicine, theories of treatment, like theories of disease, had to conform to what was known about anatomy and physiology. Then, as now, this scientific basis distinguished medicine from quackery and so was an important source of the physician's professional authority. While Mesmer wanted approval for his technique, the academy wanted verification of his theory." (p. 414)
The efficacy of "magnetic" treatments and the agency of (supposed) "magnetic" cures were not investigated
The two Reports also (separately, and in some detail) explained why the nature of the "effects" of (supposedly efficacious) treatments were not being examined, and why the agency of the (supposed verified) "cures" were not being investigated.
In noting that there were two different ways that "the action of magnetism on animate bodies" ("l’action du Magnétisme sur les corps animés") could be observed:
(a) from the long-term curative effects of "magnetic" treatments on disease, or
(b) from the changes produced by its temporary effects on the individual's "animal economy" (l’économie animale),
and, despite d'Eslon's insistence that its investigations principally (and, almost, exclusively) concentrate on the "prolonged" effects of his (d'Eslon's) treatments on disease, the "Franklin Commission" firmly stated that its investigations would exclusively concentrate on the "momentary" effects of d'Eslon's procedures on the "animal economy".
Problems with objectively determining the precise agency of any supposed "cure"
The Commissioners (Bailly, 1784, p. 15) stressed that, because they had been specifically charged with determining whether (or not) d'Eslon's "magnetic fluid" actually existed in some substantial form, and because it was obvious that, in order to unequivocally settle the "uncertain" and "misleading" issue of whether there were real "cures" of "real" diseases from d'Eslon's therapeutic interventions, and whether any such "cures" were entirely the "effects" of d'Eslon's treatment, and nothing else – and even if the Commissioners were able "to strip from these therapeutic effects all of the illusions which might be involved with them" – any such determination would require an "infinity of cures", supported by the "experience of several centuries". And, further, given the specified goal of the commission, the significance of whatever its findings might be, and the obligation to produce its Report "promptly", the Commissioners considered that,
"it was [their] duty . . . to confine themselves to arguments purely physical, that is, to the effects of the fluid upon the animal frame, excluding from these effects all the illusions which might mix with them, and assuring themselves that they could proceed from no other cause than the animal magnetism."
Problems with objectively determining the precise therapeutic action of any supposed "efficacious remedy"
In support of its decision, the "Franklin Commission" produced a cogent, extended argument, consistent with the medical knowledge of the day, that is equally relevant to similar investigations in the present day:
The majority of diseases have their seat in the interior part of our frame. The collective experience of a great number of centuries has made us acquainted with the symptoms, which indicate and discriminate them; the same experience has taught the method in which they are to be treated.What is the object of the efforts of the physician in this method? It is not to oppose and to subdue nature, it is to assist her in her operations. Nature, says the father of the medical science [viz., Hippocrates], cures the diseased; but sometimes she encounters obstacles, which constrain her in her course, and uselessly consume her strength.The physician is the minister of nature; an attentive observer, he studies the method in which she proceeds. If that method be firm, strong, regular and well directed, the physician looks on in silence, and [is careful of not] disturbing it by remedies which would at least be useless; if the method be [hindered], he facilitates it; if it be too slow or too rapid, he accelerates or retards it.Sometimes, to accomplish his object, he confines himself to the regulation of the diet: sometimes he employs medicines.The action of a medicine, introduced into the human body, is a new force, combined with the principal force by which our life is maintained: if the remedy follow the same route, which this force has already opened for the expulsion of diseases, it is useful, it is salutary [viz., conducive to health]; if it tend to open different routes, and to turn aside this interior action, it is pernicious.In the mean time it must be confessed that this salutary or pernicious influence, real as it is, may frequently escape common observation.The natural history of man presents us in this respect with very singular phenomena.It may be there seen that regimens the most opposite, have not prevented the attainment of an advanced old age. We may there see men, attacked according to all appearance with the same disease, recovering in the pursuit of opposite regimens, and in the use of remedies totally different from each other; nature is in these instances sufficiently powerful to maintain the vital principle in spite of the improper regimen, and to triumph at once over [both] the distemper and the remedy. If it [viz., "the vital principle"] have this power of resisting the action of medicine, by a still stronger reason it must have the power of operating without medicine.The experience of the efficacy of remedies is always therefore attended with some uncertainty; in the case of the magnetism the uncertainty has this addition, the uncertainty of its existence.How then can we decide upon the action of an agent, whose existence is contested, from the treatment of diseases; when the effect of medicines is doubtful, whose existence is not at all problematical? – Bailly (1784a, pp. 11-13).
Other highly significant, but unassociated "causative" factors
In addition to reflecting the position of the "Franklin Commission" in these matters, the "Society Commission" also noted that there were other equally significant causative factors, concomitant with, but unassociated with, the treatment delivered, in relation to the circumstances of the patients themselves; namely,
"the hope [of being cured] that they conceived, the exercise that they took every day, [and especially, whilst under the "magnetic" treatment] the suspension of the remedies they were previously using – the quantity of which is often so harmful in such cases – these are, in themselves, multiple and sufficient causes for the results that have been said to have been observed in similar circumstances". – Poissonnier, et al. (1784, p. 36).
Common misrepresentation of fact
The preceding facts expose the error – a classic example of equivocation due to lexical ambiguity – in the commonly expressed (in modern literature) and extremely misleading misrepresentation of affairs; namely, the (historically incorrect, and mistaken) implication that, rather than simply having, for convenience, accepted Mesmer's assertions at face value (and left it at that), both Commissions had objectively verified that:
(a) prior to Mesmer's intervention, all of those who had been supposedly "cured" by Mesmer had, indeed, been suffering from a "real" medical disorder,
(b) subsequent to Mesmer's intervention, all of those who had been supposedly "cured" by Mesmer had been genuinely "cured" of their "real" pre-intervention disorders; and
(c) it was Mesmer himself that had "cured" those patients.
Consequently,
"Although it is entirely correct to assert that both sets of Commissioners accepted [in a manner of speaking] that Mesmer's "cures" were, indeed, "cures", it is completely wrong to suggest that any of the Commissioners accepted that any of those "cured" individuals had been "cured" by Mesmer.
Procedures
The "Franklin" Commission's investigations were conducted at a number of different locations, including d’Eslon's clinic (which they visited once a week), Lavoisier's home, and the gardens of Franklin's Passy residence. The intricate structure and detailed procedures of the investigations were designed by Lavoisier; and great care was taken to eliminate what James Braid would later identify as "sources of fallacy".
In the process of examining d'Eslon's claims, the "Franklin Commissioners" not only tested the influence of a wide range of situations, circumstances, variables, but also, from time-to-time, individually presented themselves as experimental subjects, because, they reported, "they were very curious to experience through their own senses the reported effects of this agent".
When they visited d’Eslon's establishment, the Commissioners discovered that, not only did d’Eslon's standard therapeutics involve (his version of) Mesmer's "baquet", but also a musical (and, from time to time, vocal) accompaniment as a standard part of his treatment:
"They saw in the centre of a large apartment a circular box, made of oak, and about a foot or a foot and half deep, which is called the bucket [viz., the "baquet"]; the lid of this box is pierced with a number of holes, in which are inserted branches of iron, elbowed and moveable. The patients are arranged in ranks about this ["baquet"], and each has his branch of iron, which by means of the elbow may be applied immediately to the part affected; a cord passed round their bodies connects them one with the other: sometimes a second means of communication is introduced, by the insertion of the thumb of each patient between the forefinger and thumb of the patient next him; the thumb thus inserted is pressed by the person holding it; the impression received by the left hand of the patient, communicates through his right, and thus passes through the whole circle.A piano forté is placed in one corner of the apartment, and different airs are played with various degrees of rapidity; vocal music is sometimes added to the instrumental.The persons who superintend the process, have each of them an iron rod in his hand, from ten to twelve inches in length." – "Franklin" Report (pp. 3-4.)
And, moreover, given that the overarching metaphorical "principle" of Mesmer had been (inappropriately) reified ("substantified") by d'Eslon – and, also, given that "the existence of [d'Eslon's] alleged magnetic fluid was only based on the effects on the patients: in other words, the existence of a [substantial] physical entity [was being] inferred not from instrumental measurements and/or quantitative considerations, but by the psychophysical reaction of a living body" (Bersani, 2011, p. 61) – it is significant that,
"the commissioners in the progress of their examination discovered, by means of an electrometer and a needle of iron not touched with the loadstone, that the ["baquet"] contained no substance either electric or magnetical; and from the detail that M. has made to them respecting the interior construction of the ["baquet"], they cannot infer any physical agent, capable of contributing to the imputed effects of the magnetism." – "Franklin" Report (p. 5.)
The conduct and rationale of the commission's investigations is described in considerable detail in its Report.
In the process of their investigations they discovered that many non-"magnetised" subjects – wrongly believing themselves to have been "magnetised" – displayed a wide range of "magnetic" phenomena; and, by contrast, supposedly "magnetised" subjects, believing themselves to be non-"magnetised", displayed no "magnetic" phenomena at all. For instance, during the investigations conducted at Franklin's residence, d'Eslon "magnetized" one of five trees in Franklin's garden and, when a "sensitive" subject was brought to the trees, he fainted at the foot of one of the other four; and, on another occasion, during the investigations undertaken at Lavoisier's house, a normal cup of water swallowed by a subject (who believed the water to be "magnetized") immediately produced "magnetic" phenomena.
The commission's procedures were, obviously, "[specifically designed] to give unequivocal answers to clearly defined hypotheses" (Donaldson, 2017, p. 166):
(1) "they tested subjects from all classes of society in both group and one-to-one treatment settings";
(2) "(given claims that "animal magnetism" affected 'the infirm' differently from 'the healthy'), they tested d’Eslon's procedures on genuine 'healthy', genuine 'infirm', and sham 'infirm' subjects";
(3) "they observed and compared the responses of subjects when blindfolded and when not" – and, as Jensen, et al. (2016, pp. 13) observe, the Commissioner's use of blindfolding very strongly suggests that, rather than "[being] interested in proving [something that] they believed to be true", their investigations concentrated on "disproving, rather than proving, the efficacy of [d'Eslon's] treatments"; and
(4) "they observed the responses of all varieties of subject to genuine and sham 'magnetisation'; and, as well, their responses to genuine and sham 'magnetised' locations, objects, apparatus, and equipment".
The Report(s) of the "Franklin Commission"
L'imagination fait tout, le Magnétisme est nul ('Imagination is everything, magnetism nothing') – "Franklin Commission" Report.
"Rather than introducing a problem – the Franklin report . . . provided a language for addressing one that already existed, forcefully articulating the suspicion that mechanical imagination could plague natural philosophers and religious "fanatics" alike" (Ogden, 2012, p. 149).
The "Franklin Commission's" investigations produced three separate reports.
The issue of d'Eslon vs. Mesmer
At the head of their principal report, the Commissioners directly summarize Mesmer's 27 Propositions, as expounded in Mesmer's 1779 Memoire (1779, pp. 74–83). They also quote Mesmer's own "characterization" of his principle – namely, that "In the influence of the magnetism, Nature holds out to us a sovereign instrument for securing the health and lengthening the existence of mankind".
They clearly state (p. 3) that, on the basis of a presentation given to the Commissioners, by d'Eslon (at his residence), on 9 May 1784 – at which d'Eslon had not only described his version of the "theories" of "animal magnetism", but also described and demonstrated his therapeutic procedures – the Commissioners were more than satisfied that d'Eslon's theories, principles, methods, and practices were consistent with those that Mesmer had made known through his publications; and, moreover, having acquired this thorough understanding of the "theory and practice of animal magnetism", the Commissioners then concentrated their efforts on determining the effects of its application – and, in order to do so, they visited d'Eslon's establishment on several occasions.
In an extended footnote to the last paragraph of their principal report, the Commissioners justified their investigative approach, and the appropriateness of their conclusions, in some detail.
The Commission's report
The first (66 page) report was presented to the King on 11 August 1784.
"Knowing that their report would be published and that the task of convincing the public lay wholly in their hands, the authors produced an account that was both scientifically sound and accessible, making for compelling reading. Chronology was unimportant; few dates were specified. The rationale for every decision and the details of every experiment, however, were explained in terms that anyone could understand.
Immediate publication and dissemination
The report was immediately published by the government printer; and at least 20,000 copies were rapidly and very widely circulated throughout France and neighbouring countries. Within four months (16 December 1784), the London publishing house of Joseph Johnson was announcing the publication of a complete English version, translated by William Godwin (i.e., Godwin, 1785), and, in between February and July 1785, four different "periodical abridgements of the Franklin report, each printed multiple times in the Atlantic coast publications" were published in the United States (Ogden, 2012, p. 167); and, in 1837, Godwin's complete translation was published, in Philadelphia, as part of a collected work.
Touch, imagination, and imitation
Clearly "recogniz[ing] that publicly endorsing the curative effects of a technique that had no demonstrable basis in the science of the late 18th century could lead to a proliferation of medical quackery" (McConkey & Perry, 2002, p. 328) and, based on their own "experiments" and "observations", the Commissioners concluded that "the true causes of the effects attributed to this new agent known by the name of animal magnetism, [and] to this fluid which is said to circulate in the body and to communicate itself from one individual to another" were "touch, imagination, [and] imitation":
... having demonstrated by decisive experiments, that the imagination without the magnetism produces convulsions, and that the magnetism, without the imagination produces nothing; [the Commissioners] concluded with unanimous voice respecting the existence and the utility of the magnetism, that the existence of the fluid is absolutely destitude of proof, that the fluid having no existence can consequently have no use, that the violent symptoms observed in the public process are to be ascribed to the compression, to the imagination called into action, and to that propensity to mechanical imitation, which leads us in spite of ourselves to the repetition of what strikes our senses. – George Winter (1801).
No evidence to support d'Eslon's claims
The Commission found no evidence of any kind to support d'Eslon's claim for the existence of a "magnetic fluid":
"The most reliable way to ascertain the existence of Animal-magnetism fluid ["l’existence du fluide magnétique animal'] would be to make its presence tangible; but it did not take long for the Commissioners to recognize that this fluid escapes detection by all the senses. Unlike electricity, it is neither luminescent nor visible. Its action does not manifest itself visibly as does the attraction of a magnet; it is without taste or smell; it spreads noiselessly & envelops or penetrates you without your sense of touch warning you of its presence. Therefore, if it exists in us & around us, it does so in an absolutely undetectable manner." – Bailly (1784a), p. 9.
The Commission's secret report ("for the King's eyes only")
A second (brief) report – which had been presented privately to the King on 11 August 1784, but not made public until 1800 (i.e., in the time of The Consulate period of French First Republic) – specifically addressed the perceived moral dangers occasioned by the physical practices of the animal magnetists:
"The uniformly critical tone of this private document was in stark contrast to the scrupulously evenhanded voice of the official report; . . . [and its] message was blunt: the practice of animal magnetism was a threat not only to health . . . but also to morality, especially in the case of weak, virtuous women. . . . [It] provided an explicit description of a certain kind of prolonged "convulsion" that resulted not from the alleged healing power of animal magnetism but rather from the close physical contact and mutual arousal of male magnetizers and female patients who did not fully understand what was being done to them. himself had admitted, under interrogation by [the Chief of Paris Police] Lenoir [who was present at a number of the Commission's investigations], how easy it would be to abuse a woman in such a state. Many women had been in treatment for years without being cured. Most of them were not ill to begin with, but had been drawn to the clinic for the amusement it provided, attending regularly as a relief from boredom. Around the tub, the ease with which symptoms spread from person to person was striking. The commissioners reiterated the health risks of inducing full-blown crises, a dangerous practice that any responsible physician would shun. They [also] implied [in this secret report] the possibility that magnetic seances were a deliberate fraud."
In concluding their report, they stress that they had not observed any "real cures" (guérisons réelles) from d'Eslon's treatments – which were, they noted, both "very long" and "unfruitful" – and, also, stress that, among d'Eslon's patients, those who had been under his treatment for 18 months to 2 years, without any benefit, ceased to present for any further treatment, having exhausted their patience (p. 152).
Finally, they noted (pp. 153–155) that, although charged with investigating d'Eslon's claims and d'Eslon's methods alone, they were satisfied that – offering essentially the same explanation as that in their for-public-consumption report (see "The Report's final footnote" in the Gallery above) – although they had not examined any of Mesmer's methods, etc., their findings applied equally to Mesmer and his methods, especially in relation to the attribution of all observed phenomena to "contact", "imagination", and/or "imitation" (p. 154).
The Commission's brief "courtesy report" to the Royal Academy of Sciences
On 4 September 1784, Bailly presented a third, brief (15 page) courtesy report to the Royal Academy of Sciences (Bailly, 1784b) on behalf of himself, Franklin, Le Roy, de Bory, and Lavoisier (i.e., those Commissioners who were also Academy members), which provided their Academy colleagues with a brief account of the commission's proceedings, the rationale behind its investigations, and the results. Noting that all of their investigations were jointly conducted with the four members of the Paris Faculty, and that all nine shared the same "interest in [discovering] the truth", they stressed that all the findings of their combined efforts were "unanimous" (p. 2).
The importance of "the Sciences"
Further (p. 4), given that the understanding of the Sciences – "which [collectively] are increased by [establishing] the truth" (qui s’accroissent par les vérités) – is increased by "the suppression of error": i.e., given that "error" is always "a bad leaven that ferments and, in the long run, corrupts the mass into which it has been introduced". By contrast, however, in those cases wherein the "error" has been generated by "The Empire of Science", and has spread to "the multitude" – not only to divide and agitate minds, but also, in deceptively presenting a means of curing the sick, prevent them from seeking their cures elsewhere – "good Government has an interest in destroying it".
Moreover, anticipating the later remarks of Louis Brandeis ("Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the best policeman": Brandeis, 1913, p. 10), the Commissioners (p. 4) remarked that, in terms of the "good Government" of an "Enlightened nation", "the distribution of light is a fine use of authority!" (C'est un bel emploi de l’autorité, que celui de distribuer la lumière!).
Not only did they endorse the Administration's decision to conduct an Inquiry, but they also "embraced the honour [implicit in] its choice" of their own appointment as Commissioners.
Physics
Noting that the "greater" and "more extraordinary" a discovery, the more difficult it was to settle on suitable proof, they reported that, as physicists, they were unable to detect the presence of d'Eslon's supposed (substantial) "fluid" (p. 6). From this absence of "physical evidence", they were forced, instead, to "examine the affections of the spirit and the ideas of those who had been exposed to the action of 'Magnetism'"; and, from this, ceased to be "physicists", and became nothing more than "philosophers" (p. 8).
Chemistry
However, having been unable to operate as physicists, they had decided to follow the standard procedures of "chemists" – who, having "decomposed substances" and thereby discovered their "principles", assured themselves of the "exactness" of their findings by "recomposing" the same substances from their "reunited" constituents (p. 9).
Imagination
Given their inability to detect any (substantial) 'magnetism' – and, from their observations that the "effects" (that were attributed by d'Eslon to the supposed 'magnetism' and the supposed 'fluid') were only manifested when the subjects believed they were 'magnetised' (and were not manifested when they were unaware that they had been 'magnetised') – the Commissioners concluded that the "principle" involved was the subject's "imagination"; and, therefore, as a consequence of their investigations, they were well satisfied that they had been "fully successful" in experimentally proving that the observed "effects" had been produced "by the power of the imagination alone" (p. 9).
More than a century later, and entirely consistent with the Commissioners' findings, both Jean-Martin Charcot (of the "Hysteria School" of hypnosis at the Salpêtrière hospital), and his rival, Hippolyte Bernheim (of the "Suggestion School" of hypnosis at Nancy in Alsace-Lorraine), were united in their views that all of the supposed "miracle cures" at Lourdes were due to "auto-suggestion".
The Report(s) of the "Society Commission"
The "Society Commission's" investigations produced two separate reports.
The report of four of the five Commissioners
The first of the two reports, made by four of the five Commissioners (of 39 pages) – namely, Charles-Louis-François Andry, Claude-Antoine Caille, Pierre Jean Claude Mauduyt de La Varenne, and Pierre-Isaac Poissonnier – was presented to the King on 16 August 1784.
Given that the "Society" Commissioners' investigations were far less complex than those conducted by the "Franklin Commission" – and, also, given that the (smaller number of) experiments that they described "duplicate[d] similar ones in the ["Franklin Commission's"] Report" (Pattie, ibid., p. 156) – the report itself is briefer (39 pages), far less complex, and, therefore, far less influential. The Report was divided into two sections:
Part One (pp. 2–21), discussing the theories of the practices known as "Animal Magnetism". It commences with d'Eslon's definition of "animal magnetism"; namely that it is "the action which one man exercises on another, either through immediate contact or at a certain distance by the mere pointing of a finger or any kind of conduct", and that "this action", according to d'Eslon, "is the effect of a fluid that is distributed throughout the universe"
Part Two (pp. 22–37), discussing the procedures and practices of "Animal Magnetism", as well as addressing the issues of their therapeutic efficacy (or not), and those of whether (or not) the procedures/practices should be admitted to conventional medical practice ("doivent-ils être admis en Médecine!": p. 22).
The conclusions drawn (pp. 37–39) were, in brief, that they had found no evidence of d'Eslon's "magnetic fluid", that there were "no grounds for any belief in animal magnetism", that "the effects attributed to it are due to known causes", including not only the influence of "contact", "imagination", and/or "imitation", but also the influence of "the environment of the treatment room with its closed windows, fetid air, dim light, and the sight of other patients [and their responses to their treatments]" – and, as Laurence notes, that "the [observed] results . . . were not due to animal magnetism but to the patients‘ rest, exercise, abstinence from medication, and hopes for a cure!" (2002, p,316) – and that, from this, there was no reason for "the procedures to which the name "animal magnetism" has been given [to be] introduced into the practice of medicine" (Pattie, 1994, p. 157).
The (later) representations of Burdin and Dubois
Although the "Society" Commission did not directly investigate the clinical efficacy of d'Eslon's therapeutic interventions, and did not examine the circumstances of any earlier (i.e., pre-Commission) "cures" claimed by d"Eslon, two members of the Royal Academy of Medicine, Charles Burdin (1778–1856) and , writing in 1841, drew attention to the fact that, in the process of their (1784) investigations, the "Society" Commissioners identified three categories of patient treated by d'Eslon – (a) those with an "obvious ailment" with "a known cause", (b) those with "mild" and "vague" ailments with no known cause, and, finally, (c) the melancholics ("Les mélancoliques") – and, significantly, having followed the collective progress of d'Eslon's patients over a period of four months, the Commissioners found no evidence of any kind that any members of the '(a) group' (many of whom had been receiving d'Eslon's treatment "for more than a year") had been "cured" (guéris), or, even, "noticeably relieved" (notablement soulagés) of their ailment.
de Jussieu's "dissenting" report
The second of the two reports, made by de Jussieu alone (of 51 pages) was independently published on 17 September 1784.
In de Jussieu's dissenting view, "[and] despite d’Eslon's "magnetic fluid" claims having been debunked [he felt that] there were sufficient “effects” (such as, for instance, ‘post-magnetic amnesia’) unattributable to "imagination" that still required further investigation into their exact nature; and, therefore, he argued, the continued use of animal magnetism was justified" (Yeates, 2018, p. 50).
Noting that, in his view, "a longer use of this agent will make its real action and degree of usefulness to be better understood", de Jussieu concluded:
The theory of magnetism cannot be admitted so long as it will not be developed and supported by solid facts. The experiments instituted to ascertain the existence of the magnetic fluid prove only that man produces on his like a sensible action by friction, by contact, and more rarely by simple approximation at some distance. This action, attributed to a universal fluid not demonstrated, certainly appertains to animal heat [la chaleur animale] existing in bodies, which constantly emanates from them, is carried to a considerable distance, and is capable of passing from one body into another. Animal heat is developed, increased, or diminished in a body by moral as well as by physical causes. Judged by its effects, it participates in the property of tonic remedies, and like them produces salutary or injurious effects according to the quantity communicated, and according to the circumstances in which it is employed. – de Jussieu, 1784, pp. 50-51.
Responses to the Commissions' conclusions
A measure of the influence of . . . the claims investigated, the methods employed, and the conclusions reached . . . [by] the Franklin Report is seen in the changing fortunes of Mesmer during the months of 1784. Prior to the submission of the Report, Mesmer had been the toast of Paris, dealing with many wealthy patrons . . . Following publication of the Report, Mesmer was a focus of public scorn and ridicule . . . – McConkey & Barnier (1991, pp. 77-78)
The release of the reports generated a proliferation of publications, many of which were simply addressing issues relating to either "mesmerism" or "animal magnetism" in general – such as, for instance, those of Jean-Jacques Paulet (1784), and (1784) – while others, such as those of Charles Joseph Devillers, himself a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences – who (at Devillers, 1784, pp. 165–166) compared the "cures" of Mesmer, with those supposed to have been effected at the tomb of François de Pâris in Saint-Médard, some forty years earlier – and Jacques Cambry (1784) – who provided details of beliefs similar to those of Mesmer previously held by the ancient Greeks, Persians, and Romans – strongly supported the findings of the Commissions.
Response of the Paris Faculty of Medicine
Immediately following the release of the reports of the two Commissions, the Paris Faculty of Medicine "pressure[d] its own members to renounce animal magnetism" (Crabtree, 1993, p. 32).
The Faculty identified some thirty of its docteurs-régent, including François Louis Thomas d'Onglée and Charles-Louis Varnier, who "openly favored animal magnetism or were suspected of so doing". According to the contemporary account of Thomas d'Onglée (1785, passim), the thirty "magnetic physicians" were subjected to "abuse" and were presented with a declaration, of which it was demanded that they sign. Both Thomas d'Onglée and Varnier, among others, refused to sign the declaration (and were, thereby, immediately expelled). The declaration in question read:
"No Doctor may declare himself a partisan of animal magnetism, through writings or through practice, under penalty of being removed from the role of docteurs-régents".
d'Eslon's response
d'Eslon immediately published an attack on the commission's reports, in which he criticized their failure to investigate the longer-term effects of his treatments, and their refusal to accept his (alleged) "cures" as proof of the existence of "animal magnetism", as well as noting that, "the commissioners' recommendation that the practice of magnetism should be prohibited . . . would hardly be possible [to implement]", because, apart from those within the medical profession who had been trained by himself and by Mesmer, "a large number of other people had, as a result of their own study, begun to practice it" (Pattie, 1994, p. 171).
In addition to his specific criticisms of the reports of the two Royal Commissions – and to emphasize the significance of the Royal Commissions' refusal to investigate either the alleged efficacy of his treatment procedures (i.e., investigate d'Eslon's actual practices, rather than just the veracity (or not) of his theoretical claims, and that alone), and the alleged curative effects of his standard, extended regimens of "magnetic" treatment – d'Eslon published an 80-page supplementary volume (i.e., d'Eslon, 1784c), that provided the case histories of 115 individuals (the majority of whom were identified by name), that had been successfully treated by d'Eslon's procedures for a very wide range of diseases.
On 10 December 1784, and in support of d'Eslon, one of his associates (and a former student), Louis Caullet de Veaumorel, published a set of Mesmer's class notes that he (Caullet de Veaumorel) had acquired from one of Mesmer's "disloyal" students.
Caullet de Veaumorel's work, which made no mention of d'Eslon's theories, teachings, or clinical procedures, went into three editions. Caullet de Veaumorel stressed that although, as a "disciple of d'Eslon", he was bound by his "word of honour" not to reveal any of d'Eslon's teachings, he was entirely free to publish Mesmer's material – and, in doing so, he had not altered one word of Mesmer's "maxims" – and, moreover, he was certain that, given Mesmer's dissemination of his ideas through his already published works, Mesmer would not be "offended" by the publication of his aphorisms.
Although Mesmer protested to the Journal de Paris that Caullet de Veaumore's Aphorismes "were a distorted account of his lectures", according to Pattie (1994, p. 213), "they [were] accurate" and, moreover, "they agree[d] with later writings of Mesmer".
Mesmer's response
In his own responses to the Commissions' Reports, Mesmer stressed that – simply because he had not been involved in any of their investigations – the Commissioners' conclusions had nothing whatsoever to do with his (metaphorical) "animal magnetism"; and, because their conclusions only applied to d'Eslon's theories and practices, any responses to those conclusions were entirely the concern of d'Eslon alone.
Further, and immediately following the publication of the Reports of the two Commissions, both Nicolas Bergasse (1750–1832) (Bergasse, 1784) and Antoine Esmonin, Marquis de Dampierre (Esmonin, 1784) wrote strong criticisms of the Commissions' orientation, investigations, and findings; and, separately, a number of Mesmer's followers published a composite volume (i.e., Mesmer, et al., 1784) of 478 pages, which included a number of previously published items written by Mesmer, as well as a number of shorter and up-to-date contributions from a range of various authors describing their continued success with animal magnetism.
The "Franklin" Commissions' investigations considered to be a "classic" example of a controlled trial
"[T]his is the first scientific investigation that we know of into what would today be considered a paranormal or pseudoscientific claim. . . . [And it is clear that] the control of intervening variables and the testing of specific claims, without resort to unnecessary hypothesizing about what is behind the "power", is the lesson modern skeptics should take from this historical masterpiece." – Michael Shermer (1996, emphasis added to original).
The detailed studies of Stephen Jay Gould (1989) and John Kihlstrom (2002), drew disciplinary attention to nature and the form of the commission's extended examination as a watershed moment in the history of science – subsequent to which things were never the same.
If the commission was not the first, it was, at least, one of the very earliest examples of a controlled trial; and, in particular, one that included the use of physical (rather than metaphorical) blindfolds – which were used from time to time on both the experimenters and their experimental subjects – as well as testing both "sham" and "real" procedures on both "sham" and "real" patients.
Inspired by these studies, a number of other scholars, in other scientific domains – such as, for example, Shermer (1996), Kaptchuk (1998), Green (2002), Best, Neuhauser, and Slavin (2003), Herr (2005), Lanska & Lanska (2007), Kaptchuk, Kerr & Zanger (2009), Davies Wilson (2014), Jensen, Janik & Waclawik (2016), Zabell (2016), Donaldson (2017), and Rosen et al. (2019) – have also identified the commission's examination as a previously unrecognized "classic" example of a controlled trial.
The "Franklin" Commissions' legacy
The "classic" structure of the investigations undertaken by the "Franklin" Commission inspired – among many others over the ensuing years – the (1799) investigations of Chester physician John Haygarth (1740–1827) into the efficacy of Perkins' "tractors".
In the process of discussing the experiments he had conducted (with medical colleagues as witnesses) with (dummy) "wooden tractors" on 7 January 1799, and with Perkins' "true metallick tractors" on 8 January 1799, Haygarth emphasized his considerable debt to the (earlier) "Franklin Commission" enterprise:
"It need not be remarked, how completely the trial illustrates the nature of this popular illusion, which has so wonderfully prevailed, and spread so rapidly; it resembles, in a striking manner, that of Animal Magnetism, which merited the attention of Dr. Franklin, when ambassador from America, and of other philosophers at Paris. If any person would repeat these experiments, they should be performed with due solemnity. During the process, the wonderful cures which this remedy is said to have performed ought to be particularly related. Without these indispensable aids, other trials will not prove as successful as those which are above reported. The whole effect undoubtedly depends upon the impression which can be made upon the patient's Imagination.This method of discovering the truth, distinctly proves to what a surprising degree mere fancy deceives the patient himself; and if the experiment had been tried with the metallick Tractors only, they might and most probably would have deceived even medical observers. Yet this test of truth was perfectly candid. A fair opportunity was offered to discover whether the metallick Tractors possessed any efficacy superior to the ligneous Tractors, or wooden pegs." – John Haygarth (1801).
Four vestiges of the magnetization-by-contact practice
In relation to the findings of both Commissions – viz., that there was no evidence for d'Eslon's claims, and that d'Eslon's magnetization-by-contact practices had no place within the "medical penumbra" – and despite the consequent, and widespread demedicalization of both d'Eslon's magnetization-by-contact and of animal magnetism in general, there remained a small number of historically significant vestigial remnants of d'Eslon's magnetization-by-contact, the boundary-work of which, for a short while, operated at the frontier of the "medical penumbra" (Brockliss and Jones, 1997) in the (vain) hope of producing an "expansion of the medicable" (such that they would be admitted to conventional medical practice), which were (later) abandoned by their original advocates.
Phreno-magnetism
In 1843, Robert Hanham Collyer (1814–1891), an American physician and former pupil of John Elliotson, announced that he had discovered the existence of phreno-magnetism in November 1839; and, prior to Collyer's later retraction, two others claimed to have independently confirmed the veracity of Collyer's "discovery": the architect, Henry George Atkinson (1812–1890), at London, in November 1841, and the chemist, Charles Blandford Mansfield (1819–1849), at Cambridge, in December 1841.
Phreno-magnetism, as a practice, involved the physical activation (termed "excitation") of specific "phrenological organs", via the operator's 'magnetisation', directly through the particular cranial area supposedly corresponding to that specific phrenological "organ". It was claimed that, in a suitable subject, whenever an operator "excited" a particular phrenological "organ" the subject would manifest whatever sentiments were considered appropriate to that "organ".
Four years later, by mid-1843, further experiments that had been conducted by Collyer himself had conclusively proved to his own satisfaction that he was mistaken, and Collyer concluded that there was no such thing as phreno-magnetism at all.
Unaware, at the time, of Collyer's retraction, James Braid made a careful examination of "phreno-hypnotism" in December 1842; and continued his comprehensive experimentation until August 1844 – when he concluded, along with John Campbell Colquhoun (Colquhoun, 1843), that there was no foundation for phrenology, in general, and for phreno-magnetism, in particular.
As a consequence of the debunking by Colquhoun, Braid, and others, phreno-magnetism – which, in yet another case of "prima facie plausibility", had (initially) seemed to promise such a wide range of valuable therapeutic and moral applications – "soon morphed into theatrical performances demonstrating the ‘reality’ of phrenology to credulous audiences, with lecturers pressing specific locations on the cranium of their [magnetised] subjects, and their subjects immediately displaying responses appropriate to the characteristics of each phrenological zone" (Yeates, 2018, p. 56) [see, for example, figure at right].
The "zones" of Albert Pitres
Around 1885, the neurologist Albert Pitres – the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bordeaux, and an associate of Charcot at the Salpêtrière hospital – claimed that he had discovered a system of "zones" on the surface of the body, the stimulation of which induced (or terminated) the hypnotic state; namely:
zones hypnogènes, or "hypnogenetic zones" which, he said, when stimulated, threw people into the hypnotic state, and
zones hypno-frénatrices, or "hypno-arresting zones", which, he said, when stimulated, abruptly threw people out of that same hypnotic state.
Pitres further claimed that, despite the location of the specific "zones" differing from individual to individual, the location of the relevant "zones" remained constant for each individual: viz., they had a "position habituelle" (Pitres (1891), p. 497).
There is no evidence that there was ever any independent verification of Pitres' claims.
The psychoanalytic couch of Sigmund Freud
The noted neurologist and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud not only studied and wrote about "hypnosis" (e.g., Freud, 1891, and 1966), but he also actively used "hypnosis" in his clinical practice for some time.
However the (à la Salpêtrière) "hypnosis" that Freud employed – quite unlike the conventional "hypnotism" of James Braid (that was induced by Braid's standard "upwards and inwards squint") – relied upon an induction process that often involved rubbing the top of a patient's head. This requirement, of course, demanded that Freud sat at the end of the therapeutic couch – in order to gain easy access to his subject's head – a practice that Freud continued to follow for his entire (post-"hypnosis") professional career.
Another vestige of phreno-magnetism that demanded that Freud position himself at the patient's head was Freud's application of the "head pressure" technique that he had, in person, observed Hippolyte Bernheim use, on one of his visits to Bernheim's clinic, at Nancy, in 1899.
Freud had discontinued this "head pressure" practice by, at least, 1904 – and, possibly, by 1900.
Mistaken identification of Esdaile's Jhar-Phoonk with d’Eslon's magnetization-by-contact
Due, to a large extent, to the (mistaken) enthusiastic promotion of Esdaile's (otherwise) valuable work in India as "mesmerism" by John Elliotson (1791–1868), and William Collins Engledue (1813–1858) – especially by Elliotson – in their influential journal, The Zoist, over its fifteen years of existence (i.e., March 1843 to January 1856), the entirely mistaken, generally held, and (at the time) widely published view that (the otherwise highly significant) James Esdaile used "mesmerism" to produce the condition under which he conducted completely pain-free surgery is still being repeated in many of the modern accounts of the history of mesmerism, anaesthesia, and hypnotism.
It is clear, however, that – having noticed a vague, and superficial similarity between Esdaile's (Islamic/exorcism derived) Jhar-Phoonk procedures and the (secular/healing derived) "magnetization-by-contact" procedures of d’Eslon – in Esdaile's Jhar-Phoonk, Elliotson and his associates had, to use a biological analogy, (mis)identified in "mesmerism à la d'Eslon" what was a clear case of "homoplasy" (i.e., similar entities descended from an entirely separate lineage) as if it were, instead, a case of "homology" (i.e., similar entities descended from a common ancestor).
See also
Abstract and concrete
Animal magnetism
Blinded experiment
Causality
Clinical study design
Construct (philosophy)
Convulsionnaires of Saint-Médard
Correlation does not imply causation
Design of experiments
Élan vital
Emotional contagion
Exorcism
Experimentum crucis
Fallacy of misplaced concreteness
Iatrophysics
Mill's Methods
Natural history of disease
Necessity and sufficiency
Placebo-controlled study
Protocol (science)
Protoscience
Randomized controlled trial
Research design
Scientific control
Scientific method
Sham surgery
Signs and symptoms
Spurious relationship
The Zoist: A Journal of Cerebral Physiology & Mesmerism, and Their Applications to Human Welfare
Therapeutic effect
Vis medicatrix naturae
Vitalism
Footnotes
References
Note that "many pamphlets on magnetism bear false imprints; they purport to have been printed in London, The Hague, Philadelphia, Peking, etc. In this way they evaded French censorship" (Pattie, 1994, p. 179).
Anon (1837), Animal Magnetism: Report of Dr. Franklin and other Commissioners, charged by the King of France with the Examination of the Animal Magnetism as practised at Paris: Translated from the French, with an Historical Outline of the "Science", an Abstract of the report on Magnetic Experiments made by a committee of the Royal Academy of Medicine in 1831, and remarks on Col. Stone's pamphlet, Philadelphia: H. Perkins: includes (at pp. 1–44), a reprint of Godwin (1785), pp. 1–108.
Anon (1843), "Recent Demonstrations of Animal Magnetism", Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, Vol. 12, No. 598, (Saturday, 15 July 1843), pp. 205-207.
Anon (1844), "Conversazione on "Hypnotism" -- At the Royal Manchester Institution", The Medical Times, Vol. 10, No. 243, (18 May 1844), pp. 137-139.
Anon (1911/1912), "Nova et Vetera ('New and Old '): Modern Faith Healing: F. Anton Mesmer]", The British Medical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2658, (9 December 1911), pp. 1555-1559; Vol. 1, No. 2663, (13 January 1912), pp. 79-84; Vol. 1, No. 2664, (20 January 1912), pp. 133-137; Vol. 1, No. 2665, (27 January 1912), pp. 199-201; and Vol. 1, No. 2666, (3 February 1912), pp. 249-252: includes (at pp. 79–84, 133–137) a translation of Bailly (1784a), and (at pp. 199–201) a translation of Bailly (1800).
Armando, D. (trans. J. Johnson) (2018), " Magnetic Crises, Political Convulsions: The Mesmerists in the Constituent Assembly", Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française, Vol. 391, No. 1, (January-March 2018), pp. 129-152.
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Poissonnier, P.-I., Caille, C.-A., Mauduyt de La Varenne, P.-J.-C., & Andry, C.-L.-F. (1784), Rapport des commissaires de la Société royale de médecine nommés par le Roi pour fair l’examen du magnétisme animal, Imprimé par ordre du Roi, Paris: Imprimerie royale.
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Rosen, G. (1946), "Mesmerism and Surgery: A Strange Chapter in the History of Anesthesia", Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 4, (October 1946), pp. 527–550.
Rosen, G. (1959), "History of Medical Hypnosis", in Schneck, J.M. (ed.), Hypnosis in Modern Medicine, (Second Edition), Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1959.
Rosen, G.M., Lilienfeld, S.O. & Glasgow, R.E. (2019), "Psychiatry's stance towards scientifically implausible therapies: Are we losing ground?", The Lancet Psychiatry, Vol. 6, No. 10 (October 2019), pp. 802–803.
Salas D. & Salas, D. (trans.), "The First Scientific Investigation of the Paranormal Ever Conducted, Commissioned by King Louis XVI. Designed, Conducted, & Written by Benjamin Franklin, Antoine Lavoisier, & Others", Skeptic, (Fall 1996), pp. 68–83: a translation of Bailly (1784a)'''.
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External links
Museum of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy, at Lyon.
Museum of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy, at Lyon: Mesmer's Baquet.
Glass Armonica by Benjamin Franklin, The Bakken Museum Artifact Collection'', (catalog no. 81.064):
1784 in France
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Vitalism | Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism | [
"Technology",
"Biology"
] | 35,983 | [
"Vitalism",
"History of science",
"Obsolete biology theories",
"Biology theories",
"Phrenology",
"Non-Darwinian evolution",
"History of science and technology"
] |
66,570,719 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapteyn%20series | Kapteyn series is a series expansion of analytic functions on a domain in terms of the Bessel function of the first kind. Kapteyn series are named after Willem Kapteyn, who first studied such series in 1893. Let be a function analytic on the domain
with . Then can be expanded in the form
where
The path of the integration is the boundary of . Here , and for , is defined by
Kapteyn's series are important in physical problems. Among other applications, the solution of Kepler's equation can be expressed via a Kapteyn series:
Relation between the Taylor coefficients and the coefficients of a function
Let us suppose that the Taylor series of reads as
Then the coefficients in the Kapteyn expansion of can be determined as follows.
Examples
The Kapteyn series of the powers of are found by Kapteyn himself:
For it follows (see also )
and for
Furthermore, inside the region ,
See also
Schlömilch's series
References
Series expansions | Kapteyn series | [
"Mathematics"
] | 208 | [
"Series expansions",
"Mathematical relations",
"Approximations",
"Algebra"
] |
69,443,414 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime%20graph | In the mathematics of graph theory and finite groups, a prime graph is an undirected graph defined from a group. These graphs were introduced in a 1981 paper by J. S. Williams, credited to unpublished work from 1975 by K. W. Gruenberg and O. Kegel.
Definition
The prime graph of a group has a vertex for each prime number that divides the order (number of elements) of the given group, and an edge connecting each pair of prime numbers and for which there exists a group element with order .
Equivalently, there is an edge from to whenever the given group contains commuting elements of order and of order , or whenever the given group contains a cyclic group of order as one of its subgroups.
Properties
Certain finite simple groups can be recognized by the degrees of the vertices in their prime graphs. The connected components of a prime graph have diameter at most five, and at most three for solvable groups. When a prime graph is a tree, it has at most eight vertices, and at most four for solvable groups.
Related graphs
Variations of prime graphs that replace the existence of a cyclic subgroup of order , in the definition for adjacency in a prime graph, by the existence of a subgroup of another type, have also been studied. Similar results have also been obtained from a related family of graphs, obtained from a finite group through the degrees of its characters rather than through the orders of its elements.
References
Application-specific graphs
Finite groups | Prime graph | [
"Mathematics"
] | 301 | [
"Mathematical structures",
"Algebraic structures",
"Finite groups"
] |
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