id int64 39 79M | url stringlengths 31 227 | text stringlengths 6 334k | source stringlengths 1 150 ⌀ | categories listlengths 1 6 | token_count int64 3 71.8k | subcategories listlengths 0 30 |
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68,405,909 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavin%20%28wood%29 | Bavin (wood) was a traditional unit of firewood, a large log.
Description and use
A bavin in the 16thC was a piece of wood standardised as three foot long and two feet round.
In Hampshire in the early19thC, its cost was between 6 and 15 shillings per hundred bavins.
Charles Vancouver in 1813 wrote of "Bavins for heating the oven and making a sudden but transient fire".
Bavins were used especially by bakers.
Literary associations
Jane Austen in 1814 complained to her sister that “My Mother’s Wood is brought in-but by some mistake, no Bavins. She must therefore buy some”.
See also
Faggot (unit)
Fascine
Withy
References
External links
Definition
Firewood
Fuels
Wood fuel | Bavin (wood) | [
"Chemistry"
] | 161 | [
"Fuels",
"Chemical energy sources"
] |
68,406,280 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melloconcha%20miranda | Melloconcha miranda, also known as the Miranda's glass-snail, is a species of land snail that is endemic to Australia's Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea.
Taxonomy
The species is sometimes placed in the monotypic genus Annacharis because of its distinctive channelled sutures.
Description
The discoidal shell of the mature snail is 3.7 mm in height, with a diameter of 6.7 mm, and a low spire. It is smooth, glossy and pale golden in colour The whorls are rounded, with deeply channelled sutures and finely incised spiral grooves. It has an ovately lunate aperture and closed umbilicus. The animal is unknown.
Distribution and habitat
The snail is only known from a single empty shell collected from the summit of Mount Gower in 1913. It is evidently very rare and may be extinct.
References
miranda
Gastropods of Lord Howe Island
Taxa named by Tom Iredale
Gastropods described in 1944
Species known from a single specimen | Melloconcha miranda | [
"Biology"
] | 203 | [
"Individual organisms",
"Species known from a single specimen"
] |
68,406,330 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network%20Culture | Network Culture. Politics for the Information Age is a 2004 book by Italian scholar Tiziana Terranova, focusing on the effects of information technology on society.
References
2004 non-fiction books
Books about the Internet | Network Culture | [
"Technology"
] | 43 | [
"Computing stubs",
"Computer book stubs"
] |
68,406,463 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network%20Propaganda | Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation and Radicalization in American Politics is a 2018 book by American scholars Robert Faris, Hal Roberts and Yochai Benkler, focusing on the negative effects of information technology on the American society and its impact on media polarization. Covering the period from the start of the 2016 election cycle to the one year anniversary of Donald Trump's inauguration, it tracks a rapid conversion of the right-wing media ecosystem from mainstream journalism with a fact-checking dynamic, to an insular self-referential model rewarding ideological consonance over factual accuracy.
References
External links
Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics on Oxford Academic
2018 non-fiction books
Books about the Internet
Books about politics of the United States
Oxford University Press books | Network Propaganda | [
"Technology"
] | 163 | [
"Computing stubs",
"Computer book stubs"
] |
68,407,128 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OrthoFinder | OrthoFinder is a command-line software tool for comparative genomics. OrthoFinder determines the correspondence between genes in different organisms (also known as orthology analysis). This correspondence provides a framework for understanding the evolution of life on Earth, and enables the extrapolation and transfer of biological knowledge between organisms.
OrthoFinder takes FASTA files of protein sequences as input (one per species) and as output provides:
Orthogroups
Rooted Phylogenetic trees of all orthogroups
A rooted species tree for the set of species included in the input dataset
Hierarchical orthogroups for each node in the species tree
Orthologs between all species
Gene duplication events mapped to branches in the species tree
Comparative genomic statistics
As of August 2021, the tool has been referenced by more than 1500 published studies.
See also
Bioinformatics
Homology (biology)
Sequence homology
Protein family
Sequence clustering
References
Evolutionary biology
Bioinformatics software
Phylogenetics | OrthoFinder | [
"Biology"
] | 205 | [
"Evolutionary biology",
"Bioinformatics software",
"Taxonomy (biology)",
"Bioinformatics",
"Phylogenetics"
] |
68,407,499 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics%20of%20apportionment | In mathematics and fair division, apportionment problems involve dividing (apportioning) a whole number of identical goods fairly across several parties with real-valued entitlements. The original, and best-known, example of an apportionment problem involves distributing seats in a legislature between different federal states or political parties. However, apportionment methods can be applied to other situations as well, including bankruptcy problems, inheritance law (e.g. dividing animals), manpower planning (e.g. demographic quotas), and rounding percentages.
Mathematically, an apportionment method is just a method of rounding real numbers to natural numbers. Despite the simplicity of this problem, every method of rounding suffers one or more paradoxes, as proven by the Balinski-Young theorem. The mathematical theory of apportionment identifies what properties can be expected from an apportionment method.
The mathematical theory of apportionment was studied as early as 1907 by the mathematician Agner Krarup Erlang. It was later developed to a great detail by the mathematician Michel Balinski and the economist Peyton Young.
Definitions
Input
The inputs to an apportionment method are:
A positive integer representing the total number of items to allocate. It is also called the house size, since in many cases, the items to allocate are seats in a house of representatives.
A positive integer representing the number of agents to which items should be allocated. For example, these can be federal states or political parties.
A vector of numbers representing entitlements - represents the entitlement of agent , that is, the amount of items to which is entitled (out of the total of ). These entitlements are often normalized such that . Alternatively, they can be normalized such that their sum is ; in this case the entitlements are called quotas and termed denoted by , where and . Alternatively, one is given a vector of populations ; here, the entitlement of agent is .
Output
The output is a vector of integers with , called an apportionment of , where is the number of items allocated to agent i.
For each party , the real number is called the entitlement or seat quota for , and denotes the exact number of items that should be given to . In general, a "fair" apportionment is one in which each allocation is as close as possible to the quota .
An apportionment method may return a set of apportionment vectors (in other words: it is a multivalued function). This is required, since in some cases there is no fair way to distinguish between two possible solutions. For example, if (or any other odd number) and , then (50,51) and (51,50) are both equally reasonable solutions, and there is no mathematical way to choose one over the other. While such ties are extremely rare in practice, the theory must account for them (in practice, when an apportionment method returns multiple outputs, one of them may be chosen by some external priority rules, or by coin flipping, but this is beyond the scope of the mathematical apportionment theory).
An apportionment method is denoted by a multivalued function ; a particular -solution is a single-valued function which selects a single apportionment from .
A partial apportionment method is an apportionment method for specific fixed values of and ; it is a multivalued function that accepts only -vectors.
Variants
Sometimes, the input also contains a vector of integers representing minimum requirements - represents the smallest number of items that agent should receive, regardless of its entitlement. So there is an additional requirement on the output: for all .
When the agents are political parties, these numbers are usually 0, so this vector is omitted. But when the agents are states or districts, these numbers are often positive in order to ensure that all are represented. They can be the same for all agents (e.g. 1 for USA states, 2 for France districts), or different (e.g. in Canada or the European parliament).
Sometimes there is also a vector of maximum requirements, but this is less common.
Basic requirements
There are basic properties that should be satisfied by any reasonable apportionment method. They were given different names by different authors: the names on the left are from Pukelsheim; The names in parentheses on the right are from Balinsky and Young.
Anonymity (=Symmetry) means that the apportionment does not depend on the agents' names or indices. Formally, if is any permutation of , then the apportionments in are exactly the corresponding permutations of the apportionments in .
This requirement makes sense when there are no minimal requirements, or when the requirements are the same; if they are not the same, then anonymity should hold subject to the requirements being satisfied.
Balancedness (=Balance) means that if two agents have equal entitlements, then their allocation should differ by at most 1: implies .
Concordance (=Weak population monotonicity) means that an agent with a strictly higher entitlement receives at least as many items: implies .
Decency (=Homogeneity) means that scaling the entitlement vector does not change the outcome. Formally, for every constant c (this is automatically satisfied if the input to the apportionment method is normalized).
Exactness (=Weak proportionality) means that if there exists a perfect solution, then it must be selected. Formally, for normalized , if the quota of each agent is an integer number, then must contain a unique vector . In other words, if an h-apportionment is exactly proportional to , then it should be the unique element of .
Strong exactness means that exactness also holds "in the limit". That is, if a sequence of entitlement vectors converges to an integer quota vector , then the only allocation vector in all elements of the sequence is . To see the difference from weak exactness, consider the following rule. (a) Give each agent its quota rounded down, ; (b) give the remaining seats iteratively to the largest parties. This rule is weakly exact, but not strongly exact. For example, suppose h=6 and consider the sequence of quota vectors (4+1/k, 2-1/k). The above rule yields the allocation (5,1) for all k, even though the limit when k→∞ is the integer vector (4,2).
Strong proportionality means that, in addition, if , and , and there is some h-apportionment that is exactly proportional to , then it should be the unique element of . For example, if one solution in is (3,3), then the only solution in must be (2,2).
Completeness means that, if some apportionment is returned for a converging sequence of entitlement vectors, then is also returned for their limit vector. In other words, the set - the set of entitlement vectors for which is a possible apportionment - is topologically closed. An incomplete method can be "completed" by adding the apportionment to any limit entitlement if and only if it belongs to every entitlement in the sequence. The completion of a symmetric and proportional apportionment method is complete, symmetric and proportional.
Completeness is violated by methods that apply an external tie-breaking rule, as done by many countries in practice. The tie-breaking rule applies only in the limit case, so it might break the completeness.
Completeness and weak-exactness together imply strong-exactness. If a complete and weakly-exact method is modified by adding an appropriate tie-breaking rule, then the resulting rule is no longer complete, but it is still strongly-exact.
Other considerations
The proportionality of apportionment can be measured by seats-to-votes ratio and Gallagher index. The proportionality of apportionment together with electoral thresholds impact political fragmentation and barrier to entry to the political competition.
Common apportionment methods
There are many apportionment methods, and they can be classified into several approaches.
Largest remainder methods start by computing the vector of quotas rounded down, that is, . If the sum of these rounded values is exactly , then this vector is returned as the unique apportionment. Typically, the sum is smaller than . In this case, the remaining items are allocated among the agents according to their remainders : the agent with the largest remainder receives one seat, then the agent with the second-largest remainder receives one seat, and so on, until all items are allocated. There are several variants of the LR method, depending on which quota is used:
The simple quota, also called the Hare quota, is . Using LR with the Hare quota leads to Hamilton's method.
The Hagenbach-Bischoff quota, also called the exact Droop quota, is . The quotas in this method are larger, so there are fewer remaining items. In theory, it is possible that the sum of rounded-down quotas would be which is larger than , but this rarely happens in practice.
Divisor methods, instead of using a fixed multiplier in the quota (such as or ), choose the multiplier such that the sum of rounded quotas is exactly equal to , so there are no remaining items to allocate. Formally, Divisor methods differ by the method they use for rounding. A divisor method is parametrized by a divisor function which specifies, for each integer , a real number in the interval . It means that all numbers in should be rounded down to , and all numbers in should be rounded up to . The rounding function is denoted by , and returns an integer such that . The number itself can be rounded both up and down, so the rounding function is multi-valued. For example, Adams' method uses , which corresponds to rounding up; D'Hondt/Jefferson method uses , which corresponds to rounding down; and Webster/Sainte-Laguë method uses , which corresponds to rounding to the nearest integer. A divisor method can also be computed iteratively: initially, is set to 0 for all parties. Then, at each iteration, the next seat is allocated to a party which maximizes the ratio .
Rank-index methods are parametrized by a function which is decreasing in . The apportionment is computed iteratively. Initially, set to 0 for all parties. Then, at each iteration, allocate the next seat to an agent which maximizes . Divisor methods are a special case of rank-index methods: a divisor method with divisor function is equivalent to a rank-index method with rank-index .
Optimization-based methods aim to attain, for each instance, an allocation that is "as fair as possible" for this instance. An allocation is "fair" if for all agents i; in this case, we say that the "unfairness" of the allocation is 0. If this equality is violated, one can define a measure of "total unfairness", and try to minimize it. One can minimize the sum of unfairness levels, or the maximum unfairness level. Each optimization criterion leads to a different optimal apportionment rule.
Staying within the quota
The exact quota of agent is . A basic requirement from an apportionment method is that it allocates to each agent its quota if it is an integer; otherwise, it should allocate it an integer that is near the exact quota, that is, either its lower quota or its upper quota . We say that an apportionment method -
Satisfies lower quota if for all (this holds iff ).
Satisfies upper quota if for all (this holds iff ).
Satisfies both quotas if both the above conditions hold (this holds iff ).
Hamilton's largest-remainder method satisfies both lower quota and upper quota by construction. This does not hold for the divisor methods.
All divisor methods satisfy both quotas when there are 2 agents;
Webster's method is the only divisor method satisfying both quotas for 3 agents;
Adams' method is the only divisor method satisfying upper quota for any number of agents;
Jefferson's method is the only divisor method satisfying lower quota for any number of agents;
No divisor method simultaneously violates upper quota for one agent and violates lower quota for another agent.
Therefore, no divisor method satisfies both upper quota and lower quota for any number of agents. The uniqueness of Jefferson and Adams holds even in the much larger class of rank-index methods.
This can be seen as a disadvantage of divisor methods, but it can also be considered a disadvantage of the quota criterion:"For example, to give D 26 instead of 25 seats in Table 10.1 would mean taking a seat from one of the smaller states A, B, or C. Such a transfer would penalize the per capita representation of the small state much more - in both absolute and relative terms - than state D is penalized by getting one less than its lower quota. Similar examples can be invented in which some state might reasonably get more than its upper quota. It can be argued that staying within the quota is not really compatible with the idea of proportionality at all, since it allows a much greater variance in the per capita representation of smaller states than it does for larger states."In Monte-Carlo simulations, Webster's method satisfies both quotas with a very high probability. Moreover, Webster's method is the only division method that satisfies near quota: there are no agents such that moving a seat from to would bring both of them nearer to their quotas:.Jefferson's method can be modified to satisfy both quotas, yielding the Quota-Jefferson method. Moreover, any divisor method can be modified to satisfy both quotas. This yields the Quota-Webster method, Quota-Hill method, etc. This family of methods is often called the quatatone methods, as they satisfy both quotas and house-monotonicity.
Minimizing pairwise inequality
One way to evaluate apportionment methods is by whether they minimize the amount of inequality between pairs of agents. Clearly, inequality should take into account the different entitlements: if then the agents are treated "equally" (w.r.t. to their entitlements); otherwise, if then agent is favored, and if then agent is favored. However, since there are 16 ways to rearrange the equality , there are correspondingly many ways by which inequality can be defined.
. Webster's method is the unique apportionment method in which, for each pair of agents and , this difference is minimized (that is, moving a seat from to or vice versa would not make the difference smaller).
for This leads to Adams's method.
for . This leads to Jefferson's method.
. This leads to Dean's method.
. This leads to the Huntington-Hill method.
This analysis was done by Huntington in the 1920s. Some of the possibilities do not lead to a stable solution. For example, if we define inequality as , then there are instances in which, for any allocation, moving a seat from one agent to another might decrease their pairwise inequality. There is an example with 3 states with populations (737,534,329) and 16 seats.
Bias towards large/small agents
The seat bias of an apportionment is the tendency of an apportionment method to systematically favor either large or small parties. Jefferson's method and Droop's method are heavily biased in favor of large states; Adams' method is biased in favor of small states; and the Webster and Huntington–Hill methods are effectively unbiased toward either large or small states.
Consistency properties
Consistency properties are properties that characterize an apportionment method, rather than a particular apportionment. Each consistency property compares the outcomes of a particular method on different inputs. Several such properties have been studied.
State-population monotonicity means that, if the entitlement of an agent increases, its apportionment should not decrease. The name comes from the setting where the agents are federal states, whose entitlements are determined by their population. A violation of this property is called the population paradox. There are several variants of this property. One variant - the pairwise PM - is satisfied exclusively by divisor methods. That is, an apportionment method is pairwise PM if-and-only-if it is a divisor method.
When and , no partial apportionment method satisfies pairwise-PM, lower quota and upper quota. Combined with the previous statements, it implies that no divisor method satisfies both quotas.
House monotonicity means that, when the total number of seats increases, no agent loses a seat. The violation of this property is called the Alabama paradox. It was considered particularly important in the early days of the USA, when the congress size increased every ten years. House-monotonicity is weaker than pairwise-PM. All rank-index methods (hence all divisor methods) are house-monotone - this clearly follows from the iterative procedure. Besides the divisor methods, there are other house-monotone methods, and some of them also satisfy both quotas. For example, the Quota method of Balinsky and Young satisfies house-monotonicity and upper-quota by construction, and it can be proved that it also satisfies lower-quota. It can be generalized: there is a general algorithm that yields all apportionment methods which are both house-monotone and satisfy both quotas. However, all these quota-based methods (Quota-Jefferson, Quota-Hill, etc.) may violate pairwise-PM: there are examples in which one agent gains in population but loses seats.
Uniformity (also called coherence) means that, if we take some subset of the agents , and apply the same method to their combined allocation , then the result is the vector . All rank-index methods (hence all divisor methods) are uniform, since they assign seats to agents in a pre-determined method - determined by , and this order does not depend on the presence or absence of other agents. Moreover, every uniform method that is also anonymous and balanced must be a rank-index method.
Every uniform method that is also anonymous, weakly-exact and concordant (= implies ) must be a divisor method. Moreover, among all anonymous methods:
Jefferson's method is the only uniform method satisfying lower quota;
Adams's method is the only uniform method satisfying upper quota;
Webster's method is the only uniform method that is near quota;
No uniform method satisfies both quotas. In particular, Hamilton's method and the Quota method are not uniform. However, the Quota method is the unique method that satisfies both quotas in addition to house-monotonicity and "quota-consistency", which is a weaker form of uniformity.
Encouraging coalitions
When the agents are political parties, they often split or merge. How such splitting/merging affects the apportionment will impact political fragmentation. Suppose a certain apportionment method gives two agents some seats respectively, and then these two agents form a coalition, and the method is re-activated.
An apportionment method always encourages coalitions if a coalition of two parties receives at least seats (in other words, it is split-proof - a party cannot gain a seat by splitting).
An apportionment method always encourages schisms if the coalition receives at most seats (in other words, it is merge-proof - two parties cannot gain a seat by merging).
Among the divisor methods:
Jefferson's method is the unique split-proof divisor method;
Adams's method is the unique merge-proof divisor method;
Webster's method is neither split-proof nor merge-proof, but it is "coalition neutral": when votes are distributed randomly (with uniform remainders), a coalition is equally likely to gain a seat or to lose a seat.
Since these are different methods, no divisor method gives every coalition of exactly seats. Moreover, this uniqueness can be extended to the much larger class of rank-index methods.
A weaker property, called "coalitional-stability", is that every coalition of should receive between and seats; so a party can gain at most one seat by merging/splitting.
The Hamilton method is coalitionally-stable.
A divisor method with divisor is coalitionally-stable iff ; this holds for all five standard divisor methods.
Moreover, every method satisfying both quotas is "almost coalitionally-stable" - it gives every coalition between and seats.
Summary table
The following table summarizes uniqueness results for classes of apportionment methods. For example, the top-left cell states that Jefferson's method is the unique divisor method satisfying the lower quota rule.
Implementations
Javascript demo of several common apportionment rules
See also
Proportional representation
Proportional cake-cutting with different entitlements
Fair item allocation
Further reading
– assigning some seats randomly.
– Apportionment when there are errors in the population counts
References
Apportionment (politics)
Mathematical theorems
Apportionment method criteria | Mathematics of apportionment | [
"Mathematics"
] | 4,487 | [
"Mathematical theorems",
"Mathematical problems",
"nan"
] |
68,407,718 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucophycidae | Fucophycidae is a subclass of Phaeophyceae (brown algae) which contains the most complex and evolved orders of Chromista algae. The members of this subclass have stalks with several morphological forms and distinct structures, characterized by an intercalary growth and a basic heteromorphic, sometimes secondarily iso- or sub-isomorphic life cycle.
Taxonomy
Subclass Fucophycidae Cavalier-Smith 1986
Order Ascoseirales Petrov1964 emend. Moe & Henry 1982
Family Ascoseiraceae Skottsberg 1907
Order Asterocladales T.Silberfeld et al. 2011
Family Asterocladaceae Silberfeld et al. 2011
Order Desmarestiales Setchell & Gardner 1925
Family Arthrocladiaceae Chauvin 1842
Family Desmarestiaceae (Thuret) Kjellman 1880
Order Ectocarpales Bessey 1907 emend. Rousseau & Reviers 1999a [Chordariales Setchell & Gardner 1925; Dictyosiphonales Setchell & Gardner 1925; Scytosiphonales Feldmann 1949]
Family Acinetosporaceae Hamel ex Feldmann 1937 [Pylaiellaceae; Pilayellaceae]
Family Adenocystaceae Rousseau et al. 2000 emend. Silberfeld et al. 2011 [Chordariopsidaceae]
Family Chordariaceae Greville 1830 emend. Peters & Ramírez 2001 [Myrionemataceae]
Family Ectocarpaceae Agardh 1828 emend. Silberfeld et al. 2011
Family Petrospongiaceae Racault et al. 2009
Family Scytosiphonaceae Ardissone & Straforello 1877 [Chnoosporaceae Setchell & Gardner 1925]
Order Fucales Bory de Saint-Vincent 1827 [Notheiales Womersley 1987; Durvillaeales Petrov 1965]
Family Bifurcariopsidaceae Cho et al. 2006
Family Durvillaeaceae (Oltmanns) De Toni 1891
Family Fucaceae Adanson 1763
Family Himanthaliaceae (Kjellman) De Toni 1891
Family Hormosiraceae Fritsch 1945
Family Notheiaceae Schmidt 1938
Family Sargassaceae Kützing 1843 [Cystoseiraceae De Toni 1891]
Family Seirococcaceae Nizamuddin 1987
Family Xiphophoraceae Cho et al. 2006
Order Laminariales Migula 1909 [Phaeosiphoniellales Silberfeld, Rousseau & Reviers 2014 ord. nov. prop.]
Family Agaraceae Postels & Ruprecht 1840 [Costariaceae]
Family Akkesiphycaceae Kawai & Sasaki 2000
Family Alariaceae Setchell & Gardner 1925
Family Aureophycaceae Kawai & Ridgway 2013
Family Chordaceae Dumortier 1822
Family Laminariaceae Bory de Saint-Vincent 1827 [Arthrothamnaceae Petrov 1974]
Family Lessoniaceae Setchell & Gardner 1925
Family Pseudochordaceae Kawai & Kurogi 1985
Order Nemodermatales Parente et al. 2008
Family Nemodermataceae Kuckuck ex Feldmann 1937
Order Phaeosiphoniellales Silberfeld, Rousseau & Reviers 2014
Family Phaeosiphoniellaceae Phillips et al. 2008
Order Ralfsiales Nakamura ex Lim & Kawai 2007
Family Mesosporaceae Tanaka & Chihara 1982
Family Neoralfsiaceae Lim & Kawai 2007
Family Ralfsiaceae Farlow 1881 [Heterochordariaceae Setchell & Gardner 1925]
Order Scytothamnales Peters & Clayton 1998 emend. Silberfeld et al. 2011
Family Asteronemataceae Silberfeld et al. 2011
Family Bachelotiaceae Silberfeld et al. 2011
Family Splachnidiaceae Mitchell & Whitting 1892 [Scytothamnaceae Womersley 1987]
Order Sporochnales Sauvageau 1926
Family Sporochnaceae Greville 1830
Order Tilopteridales Bessey 1907 emend. Phillips et al. 2008 [Cutleriales Bessey 1907]
Family Cutleriaceae Griffith & Henfrey 1856
Family Halosiphonaceae Kawai & Sasaki 2000
Family Phyllariaceae Tilden 1935
Family Stschapoviaceae Kawai 2004
Family Tilopteridaceae Kjellman 1890
References
Brown algae | Fucophycidae | [
"Biology"
] | 927 | [
"Algae",
"Brown algae"
] |
68,408,039 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shit%20flow%20diagram | A shit flow diagram (also called excreta flow diagram or SFD) is a high level technical drawing used to display how excreta moves through a location, and functions as a tool to identify where improvements are needed. The diagram has a particular focus on treatment of the waste, and its final disposal or use. SFDs are most often used in developing countries.
Development
In 2012–2013, the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program sponsored a study on the fecal sludge management of twelve cities with the goal of developing tools for better understanding the flow of excreta through the cities. As a result, Isabel Blackett, Peter Hawkins, and Christiaan Heymans authored The missing link in sanitation service delivery: a review of fecal sludge management in 12 cities. Using this as a basis, a group of excreta management institutions began collaborating in June 2014 to continue development of SFDs.
In November 2014, the SFD Promotion Initiative was started with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Initially funded as a one year project, it was extended in 2015. In September 2019, the focus of the program shifted to scaling up the current methods of producing SFDs to allow for citywide sanitation in South Asia and Africa. As of 2021 more than 240 shit flow diagram reports have been published. The initiative is managed as part of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance and is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is partnered with many nonprofit organizations such as the Centre for Science and Environment, Eawag, and the Global Water Security & Sanitation Partnership.
Use in developing countries
The great majority of those living in urban areas, especially the poor, use non-sewer sanitation systems. This poses environmental and health challenges for growing urban areas in developing countries, and many of these countries will need to change their sanitation strategies as their population grows. Using a shit flow diagram allows political leaders and members of the community to see at a glance the challenges facing their sanitation systems, and where improvements will be most effective. The simplified nature of the diagram allows for easier dialog about local excreta management. Over 140 cities in the developing world have had SFDs prepared and published, many by nonprofit organizations. They are then used to identify where resources should be focused.
References
Biological waste
Biodegradable waste management
Sanitation
Sewerage
Excretion
Human physiology
Diagrams | Shit flow diagram | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering",
"Biology",
"Environmental_science"
] | 476 | [
"Biodegradable waste management",
"Excretion",
"Water pollution",
"Biodegradation",
"Sewerage",
"nan",
"Environmental engineering"
] |
68,408,273 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclearite | Nuclearites are hypothetical objects consisting of nuggets of strange quark matter or a strangelet surrounded by an electron shell, forming an atom-like neutral system, but with masses much larger than a normal atom. These heavy compact particles were first proposed by E. Witten, and the name coined by A. De Rujula and S. L. Glasgow to describe such particles colliding with the Earth's atmosphere, by analogy to more conventional meteorites. It is predicted that nuclearites would travel at hundreds of kilometers per second. Owing to their high energies and mass to size ratio, they should form streaks of light in the lower atmospheric regions. To date, no nuclearites have been successfully observed, but this failure itself places constraints on some theories of dark matter.
Properties of nuclearites
The strangelet forms what is called a nuclearite core, composed primarily of a up, down, and strange quarks, in almost equal proportions. Nuclearites are estimated to have masses between 0.1 and 100 kg. Additionally, they are predicted to be more stable than particles composed of solely up and down quarks. Nuclearites are expected to have a constant matter density. The hypothesized source of these particles are relics from the early universe or the big bang, as well as extreme energetic astrophysical phenomena such as the merger of two quark stars.
Experimental techniques for detection
Nuclearites should in principle be detectable based on their interaction with the Earth's atmosphere, with neutrino telescopes, and in collider experiments. In particular, neutrino telescopes such as ANTARES or Ice Cube are possible detectors for nuclearites.
See also
Strangelet
Cosmic rays
References
Exotic matter
Hypothetical objects | Nuclearite | [
"Physics"
] | 348 | [
"Hypotheses in physics",
"Theoretical physics",
"Particle physics",
"Exotic matter",
"Particle physics stubs",
"Matter"
] |
68,410,308 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OAO%201657-415 | OAO 1657-415 is a high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) located in the constellation of Scorpius, over 20,000 light years away. It is believed to be composed of a compact object (likely a neutron star) and a highly evolved massive slash star, with Wolf–Rayet and O-type features in its spectrum, with a spectral type of Ofpe/WN9. OAO 1657-415 is special as it has the largest eccentricity and orbital period of any HMXB, and also because its donor star is much more evolved than many other HMXB donor stars.
Distance
OAO 1657-415 is very far away, located between 4.4 and 12 kiloparsecs from Earth, most likely being about 7.1 kiloparsecs from Earth. However, recent Gaia data suggests a lower distance of just 2.2 kiloparsecs based on the parallax angle of the optical companion.
OAO 1657-415 is extremely reddened. In the visible wavelength, it is reddened by 20.4 magnitudes. Therefore, it is certainly invisible to the naked eye and likely requires at least a very powerful telescope to be seen in visible light. Despite dedicated efforts to locate OAO 1657-415 in the visible band, no optical component was found with a visible magnitude of under 23.
Orbit
OAO 1657-415's two components orbit each other every 10.44812 days, with an eccentricity of 0.107, very high for a HMXB. This orbital period is decreasing at a rate of around 3 seconds a year. Eclipses in the binary last 1.7 days.
Stellar properties
OAO 1657-415's donor star is a very evolved star, clearly more evolved than typical OB supergiant or main sequence HMXB donor stars. This is apparent because OAO 1657-415's atmosphere is severely depleted of hydrogen (XH = 5%), much like many Wolf–Rayet stars. OAO 1657-415 is only the 4th such HMXB found with such an evolved donor star. The only other similar galactic example is Cygnus X-3, an early WN-type Wolf-Rayet star circled by a compact object, either a neutron star or black hole.
An attempt to derive the physical properties of OAO 1657–415, although not able to get a formal fit to the model, was able to determine general estimates for the properties. The donor star has a luminosity of around (105.1 L☉), a temperature of around 20,000 K and a radius of ~30 solar radii. However, OAO 1657-415's derived luminosity is quite low for a star of its type, implying that it may instead be a B-type supergiant rather than an Ofpe/WNL star. However, this is likely not the case as, for one, its low terminal velocity and mass loss rate is incompatible with many values found at B-type supergiants. Also, B-type supergiants normally have 5 times more hydrogen than helium (XH = 83%), and this is clearly not the case. Some late-type Wolf-Rayet stars with similarly low concentrations of hydrogen and comparable radii have been found, such as the emission-line star V1104 Scorpii, which is entering the Wolf-Rayet stage as a WN8 star with a radius of 30 RSol and an XH value of just 3%. WR 123, another WN8 star, has a very low XH value that could be as low as 0.5%, and yet has a radius of ~7 RSol.
Future of the binary
Just prior to core collapse, the mass of a Wolf-Rayet star, like what OAO 1657-415 will imminently become is 5-10 MSol. If OAO 1657-415 continues to lose its mass through its strong fast stellar wind, the two stars will orbit each other in over 65 days when the donor star's mass is reduced to 5 MSol prior to core collapse in under 1 million years. If, after the death of the donor star, its core becomes a neutron star, the supernova produced can disrupt the binary by getting rid of much of one star's mass. However, a supernova can kick a neutron star a certain direction in order for it to remain bound to the other, depending on the direction of this kick. This will produce a double neutron star system with a period longer than the longest period double neutron star system known, PSR J1811-1736, which has an orbital period of 18.8 days.
References
Wolf–Rayet stars
Scorpius
Astronomical X-ray sources
X-ray binaries | OAO 1657-415 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 1,006 | [
"Astronomical X-ray sources",
"Scorpius",
"Astronomical objects",
"Constellations"
] |
68,410,729 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda%20Cid | Hilda Cid Araneda (born 20 February 1933) is a Chilean scientist who excelled in the field of crystallography. She was the first Chilean female to complete a PhD in Exact Sciences. She made remarkable contributions both as a professor of mathematics and physics and as influential researcher on structural biology, specially in protein crystallography.
Life and career
Hilda Cid Araneda was born on 20 February 1933 in the port city of Talcahuano (Chile), where she completed her primary and secondary studies. She was the daughter of two school teachers, well aware of the importance of the education of their children.
In 1951, Hilda enrolled in the Teacher's career in physics and mathematics at the University of Concepción and in 1955 won the university prize awarded to the best undergraduate student. She moved then to the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Chile in Santiago (Chile), where she joined the laboratory of crystallography and did some research in physics while she was an assistant professor in the Optics lab. These research led her to write her thesis degree, with the title “Some optical methods in determining the crystal structures by X-ray” and later to publish one of her first scientific papers in the field. In 1958 she completed the requirements for obtaining the title of Teacher of Physics and Mathematics, with distinction (summa cum laude).
In 1960 she moved, with her husband and two sons, to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States) to continue her crystallography studies under the Professor Martin J. Buerger. Her MSc Thesis, written in 1962, reported the determination, by X-ray crystallography, of the structure of hexatitanate potassium. During these years, she developed high expertise in the use of X-rays to determine the crystal structure of complex large molecules and she played a role in the determination of the structure terramycin (oxytetracycline). In 1964, she completed her PhD in Exact Sciences, “Crystal structure of the turquoise group minerals”. Only four women had graduated before her in this department at MIT.
After her doctorate studies, she returned to Chile, where she created a new team of academics and researchers in the relatively new field of crystallography at the University of Chile. Later, she began to work as a full professor of Biophysics at the Austral University of Chile in Valdivia.
In 1974, after the military coup, Hilda and her family went into exile to Uppsala (Sweden). She joined the Wallenberg Protein Laboratory at the University of Uppsala, where she worked on the characterization by X-ray diffraction of large biological molecules. The team managed to determine the three-dimensional structure of carbonic anhydrase and a particular structure of G-actin binding to DNase I.
In 1979, she returned from exile carrying some scientific equipment from the University of Uppsala to the Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics at the University of Concepción. She continued to work at her alma mater until her retirement in 1996.
Legacy
On top of her great contributions to scientific research, Hilda is known for being an excellent professor, an advocate for science education, an early visionary of the potential of interdisciplinary work and for her strong commitment to social justice and democracy.
In 1965, she participated in the foundation of the Chilean Physical Society (Sociedad Chilena de Física, SOCHIFI), where she remained as the only woman in the managing board until 2013.
In 1972, she actively participated in the First National Congress of Scientists, where the responsibility of the science community in the progress of society was recognised.
In the decade of 1980, she was essential for the organization of the Association of Academics of the University of Concepción, being elected president, and supported the student movement against the military intervention of universities.
In 2018, a hall auditorium was named after her at the University of Concepción.
References
1933 births
Living people
20th-century Chilean biologists
Chilean women scientists
Structural biologists
Crystallographers
University of Concepción | Hilda Cid | [
"Chemistry",
"Materials_science"
] | 811 | [
"Crystallography",
"Structural biologists",
"Structural biology",
"Crystallographers"
] |
68,411,455 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time%20in%20Rwanda | Time in Rwanda is given by a single time zone, officially denoted as Central Africa Time (CAT; UTC+02:00). Rwanda has never observed daylight saving time.
IANA time zone database
In the IANA time zone database, Rwanda is given one zone in the file zone.tab – Africa/Kigali. "RW" refers to the country's ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code. Data for Rwanda directly from zone.tab of the IANA time zone database; columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself:
See also
List of time zones by country
List of UTC time offsets
list of other countries as he same Time zones of Rwanda
References
External links
Current time in Rwanda at Time.is
Time in Rwanda at TimeAndDate.com
Time by country
Geography of Rwanda
Time in Africa | Time in Rwanda | [
"Physics"
] | 172 | [
"Spacetime",
"Physical quantities",
"Time",
"Time by country"
] |
68,411,632 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time%20in%20Zambia | Time in Zambia is given by a single time zone, officially denoted as Central Africa Time (CAT; UTC+02:00). Zambia has never observed daylight saving time. Zambia, as North-Eastern Rhodesia, has observed CAT since 1903.
IANA time zone database
In the IANA time zone database, Zambia is given one zone in the file zone.tab – Africa/Lusaka. "ZM" refers to the country's ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code. Data for Zambia directly from zone.tab of the IANA time zone database; columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself:
See also
List of time zones by country
List of UTC time offsets
References
External links
Current time in Zambia at Time.is
Time in Zambia at TimeAndDate.com
Time by country
Geography of Zambia
Time in Africa | Time in Zambia | [
"Physics"
] | 174 | [
"Spacetime",
"Physical quantities",
"Time",
"Time by country"
] |
68,412,280 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time%20in%20Zimbabwe | Time in Zimbabwe is given by a single time zone, officially denoted as Central Africa Time (CAT; UTC+02:00). Zimbabwe has never observed daylight saving time. Zimbabwe, as Southern Rhodesia, has observed CAT since 1903.
IANA time zone database
In the IANA time zone database, Zimbabwe is given one zone in the file zone.tab – Africa/Harare. "ZW" refers to the country's ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code. Data for Zimbabwe directly from zone.tab of the IANA time zone database; columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself:
See also
List of time zones by country
List of UTC time offsets
References
External links
Current time in Zimbabwe at Time.is
Time in Zimbabwe at TimeAndDate.com
Time by country
Geography of Zimbabwe
Time in Africa | Time in Zimbabwe | [
"Physics"
] | 172 | [
"Spacetime",
"Physical quantities",
"Time",
"Time by country"
] |
68,413,557 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina%20Guenza | Marina Guenza is an Italian theoretical physical chemist who studies the fluid dynamics of macromolecules. She is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Oregon.
Education and career
Guenza earned a master's degree at the University of Genoa in 1985, and completed her Ph.D. in 1989 through a consortium of the University of Genoa, University of Turin, and University of Pavia.
Formerly a tenured researcher for the National Research Council (Italy), she moved to the University of Oregon as an assistant professor in 2002, earned tenure as an associate professor in 2006, and became full professor in 2012.
Recognition
In 2011, Guenza was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), after a nomination from the APS Division of Polymer Physics, "for significant contributions to the field of polymer physics through the development of theoretical methods to study macromolecular structure and dynamics". She became a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2018.
References
External links
The Guenza Lab
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
21st-century Italian chemists
Italian women chemists
Fluid dynamicists
University of Genoa alumni
Fellows of the American Physical Society
Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science | Marina Guenza | [
"Chemistry"
] | 257 | [
"Fluid dynamicists",
"Fluid dynamics"
] |
68,414,170 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romaleosyrphus%20villosus | The name Romaleosyrphus villosus was published by Jacques-Marie-Frangile Bigot in 1882, in reference to a species of hoverfly from Mexico.
Unfortunately, its name has been confused with the name of a related species described from the United States, which was originally described as Merapioidus villosus, published in 1879 by the same author. These two species are now both placed in the same genus, Criorhina, and only the older of the two names (the one from 1879) can remain as Criorhina villosa, so the 1882 name will need to be replaced, and as of 2023 this has not yet occurred, so the species is effectively nameless, other than its original (but nomenclaturally invalid) name.
References
Milesiini
Insects described in 1882
Taxa named by Jacques-Marie-Frangile Bigot
Controversial taxa | Romaleosyrphus villosus | [
"Biology"
] | 190 | [
"Biological hypotheses",
"Controversial taxa"
] |
68,414,750 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chet%20Moritz | Chet T. Moritz is an American neural engineer, neuroscientist, physiologist, and academic researcher. He is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and holds joint appointments in the School of Medicine departments of Rehabilitation Medicine, and Physiology & Biophysics at the University of Washington.
Moritz's research is focused on neurotechnology including stimulation to restore function after brain and spinal cord injury. His work also includes brain-computer interfaces to control muscle and spinal stimulation. His discoveries have been featured in Nature, MSNBC national news, Wired, Popular Mechanics and local TV news and community outreach videos. He has also been quoted in the New York Times, Newsweek, Scientific American, Forbes, and Science News, and in a news story by Nature.
Education
Moritz graduated with a bachelor's degree in Zoology from the University of Washington in 1998. He then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned his Doctoral Degree in Integrative Biology in 2003. From 2003 till 2004, he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado, and subsequently rejoined the University of Washington as a Senior Fellow.
Career
Following his Postdoctoral fellowship, Moritz joined the faculty at the University of Washington as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics in 2009, and was promoted to Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine in 2010. Along with this appointment, he held secondary appointments as assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2014, and later joined the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering in 2018. Since 2010, he has been a member of the Graduate Faculty, and a mentor for the Neuroscience Graduate Program.
Research
Moritz has worked in the area of neurotechnology, neuromodulation, brain-computer interfaces, and home rehabilitation physical therapy.
Brain computer interfaces
Moritz conducted a study in 2008 demonstrating that a brain-computer interface can be used to control stimulation of paralyzed muscles and restore movement. This has spawned several successful human trials of this concept in people with spinal cord injury. With Alik Widge, Moritz also demonstrated that cognitive areas of the pre-frontal cortex could be used to limbic stimulation paving the way for psychiatric neuroprostheses and an allowed patent. With David Bjanes, Moritz demonstrated a new way to provide sensory feedback directly to the brain.
Neurotechnology
Moritz's team demonstrated that stimulation of the spinal cord could lead to lasting improvements in hand and arm function that persisted beyond stimulation. This demonstration of ‘engineered neuroplasticity’ paved the way for human trials of spinal cord stimulation. He and Fatma Inanici's recent studies regarding transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation indicate that non-invasive transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the spinal networks is very effective in restoring movement and function of the hands and arm for people with both complete paralysis and long-term spinal cord injury. This work lead directly to a multi-site clinical trial with ONWARD medical, for which Moritz serves as one of two co-PIs for the study. Parallel work is also exploring optogenetic stimulation of the spinal cord with collaborators Polina Anikeeva and Sarah Mondello.
Motor unit physiology and biomechanics
In his studies of motor unit physiology, Moritz focused on experimentally measured force variability across a wide range of forces to improve the ability of a motor unit model to predict steadiness in the hand. He also published a paper in 2004 demonstrating the contributions of feed-forward anticipation and neuro-mechanical reaction when humans encounter surprise, expected, and random changes from a soft elastic surface to a hard surface underfoot. Furthermore, he studied implications regarding muscle pre-stretch and elastic energy storage in locomotion.
Home rehabilitation
Moritz and colleagues demonstrated that surface electromyography (sEMG) can be used to control a therapy video game using activation of weak or spastic muscles. Termed NeuroGame Therapy (NGT), the team showed improve wrist control in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and tested the approach in older adults following stroke.
Awards and honors
2003 - President's Award, American Society of Biomechanics
2009 - EUREKA Award, National Institutes of Health
2012 - Young Faculty Award, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
2013 -2018 - Allen Distinguished Investigator, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
2015 -2018 - International Research Consortium on Spinal Cord Injury, Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
2020 - Weill Neurohub Investigator, Weill Neurohub at UCSF, Berkeley and U. Washington
Bibliography
Moritz, C. T., Barry, B. K., Pascoe, M. A., & Enoka, R. M. (2005). Discharge rate variability influences the variation in force fluctuations across the working range of a hand muscle. Journal of Neurophysiology, 93(5), 2449–2459.
Moritz, C. T., Perlmutter, S. I., & Fetz, E. E. (2008). Direct control of paralysed muscles by cortical neurons. Nature, 456(7222), 639–642.
Kasten, M. R., Sunshine, M. D., & Moritz, C. T. (2012). Cervical intraspinal microstimulation improves forelimb motor recovery after spinal contusion injury. International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society.
Widge, A. S., & Moritz, C. T. (2014). Pre-frontal control of closed-loop limbic neurostimulation by rodents using a brain–computer interface. Journal of neural engineering, 11(2), 024001.
Inanici, F., Samejima, S., Gad, P., Edgerton, V. R., Hofstetter, C. P., & Moritz, C. T. (2018). Transcutaneous electrical spinal stimulation promotes long-term recovery of upper extremity function in chronic tetraplegia. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 26(6), 1272–1278.
Bjånes, D. A., & Moritz, C. T. (2019). A robust encoding scheme for delivering artificial sensory information via direct brain stimulation. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 27(10), 1994–2004.
Inanici, F., Brighton, L. N., Samejima, S., Hofstetter, C. P., & Moritz, C. T. (2021). Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation restores hand and arm function after spinal cord injury. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 29, 310–319.
Samejima, S., Khorasani, A., Ranganathan, V., Nakahara, J., Tolley, N. M., Boissenin, A., ... & Moritz, C. T. (2021). Brain-Computer-Spinal Interface Restores Upper Limb Function After Spinal Cord Injury. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 29, 1233–1242.
References
Neural engineering
American neuroscientists
Physiologists
Electrical and computer engineering
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
University of Washington faculty | Chet Moritz | [
"Engineering"
] | 1,495 | [
"Electrical and computer engineering"
] |
68,415,328 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi%20Shu%CA%BFeib%20%28archaeological%20site%29 | Wadi Shuʿeib is a Neolithic archaeological site in Wadi Shuʿeib, Jordan. Considered a "", it consists of the remains of large village occupied through the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B and Late Neolithic periods.
References
Neolithic sites of Asia
Archaeological sites in Jordan
Megasites
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B | Wadi Shuʿeib (archaeological site) | [
"Physics",
"Mathematics"
] | 64 | [
"Quantity",
"Megasites",
"Physical quantities",
"Size"
] |
78,570,221 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leistus%20tanaognathus | Leistus tanaognathus is a species of ground beetle found in the Yunnan Province, China.
Description
The color scheme in this species is black, reddish brown, and pale red. The legs, except the femora, are reddish. The pronotum and elytra are black but the pronotal lateral margin is paler. The pronotum is shiny but the rest of the body is relatively matte, although the elytra are slightly iridescent.
Distribution and ecology
The species is only known from one specimen from Nankang Yakou, Baoshan County in the Yunnan Province.
The holotype was found running across dry leaf litter near a stream but was not found again. 80 specimens of L. gaoligongensis, a species described at the same time as L. tanaognathus, were found in the same place.
Etymology
The specific epithet of this species comes from the Greek words "tanaos" (long) and "gnathos" (jaw), which refer to its characteristically long jaws.
References
tanaognathus
Carabidae stubs
Beetles of Asia
Insects of China
Species known from a single specimen | Leistus tanaognathus | [
"Biology"
] | 236 | [
"Individual organisms",
"Species known from a single specimen"
] |
78,570,495 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn%20McDonald%20%28data%20engineer%29 | Glenn McDonald is a former employee of Spotify who was responsible for grouping and naming genres at the company. Often described by media as a "data alchemist", he created the music discovery website Every Noise at Once, and is in part responsible for the naming of the hyperpop musical movement.
Biography
McDonald worked for a time at the music intelligence firm The Echo Nest. This company was acquired by Spotify in 2013, and the genre mapping data created by McDonald was built into various Spotify features, including its "Daily Mix" and "Fans also like" recommendation functions. He created the Every Noise at Once website that year. Under Spotify, he continued to work as part of a team to categorize tracks from about one million artists into 6,291 named genres, including 56 kinds of reggae, 202 kinds of folk and 230 kinds of hip hop. He developed an algorithm for the company which evaluated music based on what he called "subjective psychoacoustic attributes", including "tempo," "duration," "color," "modernity," and "femininity." He then named what he called "emerging genres" himself, including the Spotify genre Escape Room, so named because of its sonic connection to trap music. In 2018, McDonald input the genre name "hyperpop" into this metadata, which was later used to name Spotify's hyperpop playlist and thus the musical movement itself.
On December 4, 2023, McDonald was one of the 1,500 employees, or 17% of its workforce, laid off by Spotify. As a result, he lost access to the data needed to maintain and update his website's database, as well as the ability to fix any errors caused by possible changes on Spotify's end. A spokesperson for Spotify stated that the current status of Every Noise was likely to remain for the foreseeable future.
In 2024, McDonald's book You Have Not Yet Heard Your Favourite Song, about the increasing reliance of the music industry upon streaming, was published. In the book, he describes Spotify as "surveillance capitalism" that makes use of name, age, gender, location and existing tastes, but is limited in its knowledge. Upon the release of the 2024 edition of Spotify Wrapped, he criticised its rollout, stating that "the goal of Wrapped, in particular, is brand virality," and that "there’s not much in the way this year of data storytelling."
References
Living people
Data engineers
Spotify people
Year of birth missing (living people) | Glenn McDonald (data engineer) | [
"Engineering"
] | 523 | [
"Data engineers",
"Data engineering"
] |
78,571,423 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%20Pharmacy%20Council | The World Pharmacy Council (WPC) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to representing and advancing the role of community pharmacies in global healthcare systems. Established in 2017, building upon the foundation of Pharmintercom (founded in 1987), the WPC aims to provide a unified voice for community pharmacists, advocating for their critical role in patient care and public health.
History
The origins of the World Pharmacy Council date back to 1987 with the formation of Pharmintercom. This group consisted of community pharmacy organizations from seven countries that met annually to share information, discuss best practices, and address challenges facing community pharmacy. Recognizing the need for a more formal and influential global body, Pharmintercom members agreed to establish the World Pharmacy Council (WPC) in 2016, officially launching in 2017. Since its inception, the WPC has expanded its membership to include numerous national community pharmacy organizations across Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia.
Purpose
The WPC's primary purpose is to advocate for the recognition and integration of community pharmacists' skills and services within healthcare systems worldwide. The organization strives to highlight the vital role community pharmacies play in providing accessible healthcare, managing medication therapies, delivering public health services, and contributing to positive patient outcomes. The WPC works to influence health policy at both national and international levels, promoting the full scope of practice for community pharmacists and their inclusion in integrated care models.
Structure and governance
The World Pharmacy Council operates as a not-for-profit public company registered in Australia, with its registered office located in Melbourne, Victoria. It is regulated by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC). The WPC is governed by a Board of Directors composed of representatives from its member organizations.
Since 2021 the WPC's President has been Douglas Hoey, pharmacist and CEO of the USA's National Community Pharmacists Association.
Activities
The WPC engages in various activities to achieve its objectives, including:
Advocacy: Representing the interests of community pharmacy at international forums like the OECD. As an Associate Expert Group member of Business at OECD (BIAC), the WPC participates in discussions and contributes to policy development related to health and business.
Research and Data Analysis: Publishing sector analysis reports and conducting research on the impact and value of community pharmacy.
Networking and Collaboration: Facilitating communication and collaboration among member organizations.
Annual Conferences: Organizing international conferences to share knowledge and promote best practices.
Policy Development: Contributing to the development of policies that support the role of community pharmacy in healthcare systems.
Members
The WPC comprises full and affiliate members. Full members are national pharmacy organizations representing community pharmacists in their respective countries. Affiliate members are companies and other organizations with an interest in the field of community pharmacy. As of November 2024, the full members include:
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia
Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada
Danmarks Apotekerforening (Danish Pharmacies Association)
Federal Union of German Associations of Pharmacists (ABDA)
Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU)
Israel Pharmacists Association
The Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand
Associação Nacional das Farmácias (National Association of Pharmacies)
Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Farmacéuticos (General Council of Official Colleges of Pharmacists)
National Pharmacy Association (NPA)
Community Pharmacy England
National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA)
References
Pharmacy
Pharmacy_organizations | World Pharmacy Council | [
"Chemistry"
] | 715 | [
"Pharmacology",
"Pharmacy"
] |
78,572,415 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagonospora%20exasperatulae | Stagonospora exasperatulae is a species of lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling) fungus in the family Phaeosphaeriaceae. It was described as a new species by Wolfgang von Brackel in 2009. It has a limited distribution, reported only from Austria, Germany, and Ukraine. It also has a narrow host range, as it only grows on the foliose lichen Melanohalea exasperatula.
Taxonomy
Stagonospora exasperatulae was first formally named and described by Wolfgang von Brackel in 2009. The species was classified within the genus Stagonospora based on its conidial morphology and reproductive characteristics. Unlike many members of Stagonospora, which are plant pathogens or parasites primarily on grasses, S. exasperatulae demonstrates a mycoparasitic lifestyle, exclusively infecting the lichen Melanohalea exasperatula. Its holoblastic, monoblastic conidiogenesis (a method of spore production) and the absence of conidiophores further support its placement in Stagonospora. The species is distinct from other fungal parasites on vascular plants, such as Stagonospora subseriata, due to its unique host association and morphological features.
Description
The fungus forms singular, immersed to semi-immersed fruiting bodies known as conidiomata, which are black, subglobose (nearly spherical), and measure 180–250 μm in diameter. These structures are ostiolate, meaning they have small openings through which spores are released. The conidiomata walls consist of (brick-like) cells, 6–11 μm long and 6–8 μm wide, arranged in two to three layers at the base and a single layer at the apex.
Conidiophores, which typically bear spore-producing cells, are absent in this species. Instead, the conidiogenous cells, where spores are produced, are directly attached to the inner walls of the conidiomata. These cells are subglobose to (flask-shaped), smooth, hyaline (colourless), and measure 8–14 μm in length and 6–10 μm in width. The conidia, or asexual spores, are abundant and broadly spindle-shaped, with straight to slightly curved forms. They are hyaline when young but may turn pale brown at maturity. The conidia are transversely septate, containing 1 to 6 compartments, and often feature a thin gelatinous sheath. Mature conidia measure 34.1–42.7 μm in length and 6.5–7.4 μm in width.
Habitat and distribution
Stagonospora exasperatulae has been found exclusively on the thallus of the lichen Melanohalea exasperatula. The infected portions of the host lichen show noticeable bleaching, transitioning from their typical glossy dark green coloration to a dull light brown. Nearby lichens in direct contact with the infected thallus, such as Melanelia subaurifera, Parmelia sulcata, and Punctelia subrudecta, show no signs of infection, suggesting host specificity.
The species has a restricted geographical range. In Bavaria, Germany, it has been recorded at three sites: a campground in Thalkirchen, Munich; a nearby area south of Hinterbrühl; and a pasture near Gut Hartschimmel at lake Ammersee. These sites are characterised by elevations ranging from 525 to 720 metres. In 2018, it was recorded from Tirol, Austria, and in 2020, from Ternopil Oblast in Ukraine.
References
Pleosporales
Fungus species
Fungi described in 2009
Fungi of Europe
Lichenicolous fungi | Stagonospora exasperatulae | [
"Biology"
] | 803 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
78,572,571 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/1932%20Y1%20%28Dodwell%E2%80%93Forbes%29 | Comet Dodwell–Forbes, formally designated as C/1932 Y1, is a long-period comet discovered independently by Alexander F. I. Forbes and George F. Dodwell in late 1932. It was Dodwell's only comet discovery, while it was Forbes's third overall.
Discovery and observations
The comet was the brightest of thirteen comets observed in 1932, when George F. Dodwell reported his discovery on 17 December 1932. However, it was soon realized that Alexander F. I. Forbes first spotted the comet from his reflector two days earlier. The comet was a 10th-magnitude object at the time of its discovery.
In 1949, it was speculated that comet Dodwell–Forbes and eight known others were members of a "Neptune-family" of comets based on their similar aphelia (85 AU) and orbital periods ranging between 235 and 300 years. However, it is now concluded that this comet family did not exist, and their apparent association with Neptune were a result of orbital resonances with Jupiter.
References
External links
Long-period comets
Near-Earth comets | C/1932 Y1 (Dodwell–Forbes) | [
"Astronomy"
] | 219 | [
"Astronomy stubs",
"Comet stubs"
] |
78,572,711 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD%20159062 | HD 159062 is a spectroscopic binary consisting of a Sun-like star and a white dwarf positioned in the northern constellation of Hercules. With an apparent magnitude of 7.305, it is too faint to be seen by the naked eye but is readily visible via binoculars. It is located at a distance of according to parallax calculations, and is approaching the Solar System at a heliocentric radial velocity of −83.980 km/s.
Stellar properties
The primary star, designated HD 159062 A, is a G-type main-sequence star slightly cooler than the Sun with 80% the mass and 76% the radius. It has the spectral type G9V Fe−0.8, where the "Fe−0.8" suffix indicates a slight but anomalous deficiency of metals like iron. Indeed, it has a low metallicity of [Fe/H]= dex. The star is thought to be ancient, somewhere between 9-13 billion years old, and has been marked as a population II star and a candidate blue straggler. It rotates on its axis at roughly 2 km/s, about the same as the Sun's equatorial rotational velocity (1.997 km/s).
Based on stellar kinematics, it is very likely (88% probability) a part of the thick disk population, and has been measured to have a europium abundance typical of thick disk stars. However, it is highly enhanced in s-process elements, such as barium, lanthanum, and cerium. Fuhrmann et al. (2017) noted that the barium overabundance is particularly extreme at [Ba/Fe]=0.40 dex, which they argued was almost certainly the result of stellar wind accretion from a distant (orbital period 10-1,000 years) former asymptotic giant branch primary, which would have shriveled up into a cool white dwarf companion.
As predicted, a white dwarf, HD 159062 B, was discovered in 2019 by Hirsch et al. in a near-circular orbit around HD 159062 A at a distance of approximately 62 AU with a period of 411 years. The low eccentricity and large separation of the orbit implies that a Roche lobe overflow never took place. It was once a ~1.5 star, whose lifespan came to an end roughly 8 billion years ago and has been radiating away heat as a stellar remnant ever since. It has now cooled to an effective temperature of . Its mass, together with its orbital parameters, was determined precisely using a Python script devised in 2021.
See also
List of star systems within 70–75 light-years
References
G-type main-sequence stars
White dwarfs
Spectroscopic binaries
Binary stars
Hercules (constellation)
159062
BD+47 02491
J17301639+4724078
085653 | HD 159062 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 600 | [
"Hercules (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
78,573,730 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCD%20manufacturing | LCD manufacturing is the process of making liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. It involves using glass and silicon substrates. Photolithography is used to pattern the substrates, and liquid crystal materials are added. In the case of a color TFT LCD, color filters are patterned in layers to make red, green, and blue pixels.
Liquid crystal displays are manufactured in cleanrooms, borrowing techniques from semiconductor device manufacturing.
Process
A class of photolithography known as display lithography is used to etch patterns into substrates.
LCD manufacturing shares some of the process with OLED manufacturing.
The process flow involves multiple separate components that are joined together: a process for making a thin-film transistor (TFT) backplane, a process for making color filters, and a liquid crystal cell process.
Large-scale chemical vapor deposition (CVD) systems have been used in the manufacture of LCDs.
Once LCD panels are manufactured, they can be measured for color quality and panel uniformity using characterization equipment.
TFT backplane process
TFT backplanes are made using photolithography techniques, which involve using photomasks. The photomask(s) are used to create TFTs on a substrate, which involves formation of a gate layer, source/drain layer formation, and contact-hole formation.
The TFT backplane process involves patterning of indium tin oxide (ITO), which is a transparent and electrically conductive material.
Conventional LCDs use a back-channel etched (BCE) TFT display pixel structure.
Liquid crystal cell process
The cell process involves layer alignment, sealant formation, and depositing liquid crystal. The panels are then bonded and cut into individual displays.
A technique that can be used is one drop fill (ODF).
UV photocuring equipment can be used for bonding LCD panels.
Modules
An LCD module (LCM) is a ready-to-use LCD with a backlight. Thus, a factory that makes LCD modules does not necessarily make LCDs, it may only assemble them into the modules.
An LCD panel is attached to a driver board using anisotropic conductive film.
Generations
LCDs are manufactured using large sheets of glass whose size has increased over time. Several displays are manufactured at the same time, and then cut from the sheet of glass, also known as the mother glass or LCD glass substrate. The increase in size allows more displays or larger displays to be made, just like with increasing wafer sizes in semiconductor manufacturing. The glass sizes are as follows:
In 2004, Sharp started manufacturing panels using the 6th-generation glass size, which is 1.8 meters by 1.5 meters.
Until Gen 8, manufacturers would not agree on a single mother glass size and as a result, different manufacturers would use slightly different glass sizes for the same generation. Some manufacturers have adopted Gen 8.6 mother glass sheets which are only slightly larger than Gen 8.5, allowing for more 50- and 58-inch LCDs to be made per mother glass, specially 58-inch LCDs, in which case 6 can be produced on a Gen 8.6 mother glass vs only 3 on a Gen 8.5 mother glass, significantly reducing waste. The thickness of the mother glass also increases with each generation, so larger mother glass sizes are better suited for larger displays.
Companies
Companies that have made or sold LCD panels include:
Sharp Corporation
Japan Display
AUO Corporation
Companies that have produced FPD lithography equipment include Canon and Nikon.
LCD glass substrates are made by companies such as AGC Inc., Corning Inc., and Nippon Electric Glass.
Display lithography equipment include the H803T and H1003T from Canon. Display Technologies, Inc. is a defunct joint venture that manufactured LCD panels.
Materials
Optically clear adhesives are used to bond display components in the manufacturing process.
See also
Liquid crystal on silicon
References
Manufacturing
Liquid crystal displays | LCD manufacturing | [
"Engineering"
] | 798 | [
"Manufacturing",
"Mechanical engineering"
] |
78,574,567 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boryl%20radicals | Boryl radicals are defined as chemical species with an unpaired electron localized on the boron atom in a molecule. There is renewed interest in their discovery as they have recently showcased useful organic reactivities. While the first studies of boryl radicals involved borane radical anions, the study of overall neutral boryl radical species was unlocked through the investigation of what are referred to as ligated boryl radicals. A boryl radical in its isolated form has a three-center-five-electron (3c-5e) configuration, while the ligation results in its transformation to a four-center-seven-electron complex (4c-7e). These descriptions found in the literature refer to the number of coordinated atoms that surround the boron atom plus the boron atom, and the number of electrons involved in the immediate bonding environment. For example, in the case of the 3c-5e boryl radical, the boron is covalently bonded to two atoms (two bonds with two electrons each) and is predicted to have its unpaired electron in the sp2-like orbital (1 electron). This leads to a highly reactive radical and an empty p orbital on the boron. In contrast, the ligated boryl radicals with a 4c-7e configuration have an additional, dative bond with a Lewis base, such that the sp2 orbital is now filled. In this configuration, the radical occupies the p orbital and has the appropriate symmetry to interact with the coordinated groups and the ligand, allowing the otherwise strongly lewis basic radical to be stabilized. These structures, and the stabilizing interactions are showcased in the figure below.
While the definition of the boryl radical requires the unpaired electron density to be localized on the boron atom, in practice the extent at which the radical spin density is localized on the boron itself can vary greatly (0.15 electrons to 0.90 electrons). This leads to a diverse list of structures that are studied as boryl radicals, as long as the boron has some calculated/measured radical character or showcases radical type reactivity in corresponding organic reactions. Examples to these structures include sigma-type boron radical anions generated from borane, trialkylamine- and dialkylsulphide- ligated radicals, boron-based heterocyclic radicals, N-heterocyclic carbene-stabilized boryl radicals, and a variety of ligated boryl radical anions and cations. Studies have also revealed cations that can undergo electrochemical reduction to form a neutral boryl radical species.
Study of boryl radicals have also allowed for probing the phenomenon referred to as Polarity-reversal catalysis (PRC) by Roberts and his colleagues, where a normally slow single-step hydrogen atom abstraction (HAT) reaction from an electron rich C-H bond can be split into two steps where the radicals and substrates are polarity matched in the presence of a nucleophilic hydridic catalyst, making it faster. Recent breakthroughs in stable and isolable boryl radicals such as borafluorene based radicals by the Gilliard group suggest a future where boryl radicals may find generalized use in new types of materials, as well as catalytic reactivities in a wider range of reactions.
History of Boron Containing Molecules in Radical Chemistry
Boranes as Radical Sources
Investigations of organoboron compounds date as far back as 1860, when Sir Edward Frankland described a range of substitution reactions in which triethylborane is autoxidized in the presence of oxygen. More than a century later, the autoxidation of organoboranes was revealed to occur through a radical mechanism by B. P. Roberts and colleagues, and trialkylborane compounds established themselves as useful radical initiators. They were used in methyl-methacrylate polymerization initiation by Contreras as early as 1969. Although fascinatingly little was known about the mechanism, they noted that the reaction with just the peroxide and borane without oxygen was very slow, and reaction with peroxide with oxygen without borane was also similarly slow. This suggested that a radical species was involved that needed both the oxygen and the borane.
A couple potential radical initiation mechanisms are given below, where recent research the radical species and reactions that occur the chain reaction is highly complicated and even dependent on the amount of oxygen present.
Since then, organoboranes have demonstrated wide applicability in radical chemistry as chain-transfer reagents, radical precursors, reducing agents, and more. However, most of the relevant reagents containing boron in these reactions involve a radical species in which the radical itself is localized on an atom that is not boron. As a result, they are not considered boryl radicals. This is a very important distinction to make in the investigation and literature search associated with boron containing reagents in the context of radical based organic chemistry.
Radical Localized on the Boron Atom
The study of boryl radicals starts with the investigation of ligated 4c-7e species like trialkylborane given in the figure. The ligated forms of the boryl radical such as the one above were successfully identified in the 80s by Roberts et. al. through electron spin resonance spectroscopy (ESR, now also referred to as electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy or EPR) and investigated in its reaction pathways through the decay of the EPR signal under reaction conditions. In the two decades following the first studies, the literature presents a considerable lack of interest for boryl radical species. The beginning of a new wave of recent interest in studying the radical species can be correlated with the successful isolation and structural analysis of persistent radicals starting in 2007 with Gabbai's acridinium moiety attached to a boryl radical. Around the same time, NHC-boranes were identified as atomic hydrogen donors in the radical deoxygenation of xanthanes in a cornerstone investigation by Curran et al. Following mechanistic studies led to the eventual identification of a boron centered radical intermediate. This resulted in a multitude of NHC-stabilized boryl radicals to be designed by exploiting the tunable electronic and steric characteristics of the carbene. The stability of the radicals has been successfully engineered to achieve kinetic persistency and thermodynamic stability such that they now allow for an investigation of radical containing organoboron complexes that are relevant for potential applications in materials. A recent example from the Gilliard group in 2020 is the persistent borafluorene radical which is not simply an intermediate species but demonstrates solid state and solution stability. Incorporating radicals onto functional boranes such as borafluorene may unlock new areas of materials research, by combining the luminescence and reactivity observed in borafluorene based materials. These properties can be potentially electronically addressable due to the presence of energetically accessible electrons provided by the radical species.
Classes of Boryl Radicals
Non-Ligated, 3c-5e Type Radicals
The simplest type of boryl radicals are sigma-type 3c-5e radicals that have only been observed under extremely specialized conditions inside a specially constructed mass spectrometer. This was done under pyrolysis conditions at very high vacuum using a special quadrupole lens, wide slits and ionizing chamber open all sides to minimize wall collisions and a sensitive detector. This way, Fehlner and Koski were able to preserve the highly reactive species long enough to confirmed the presence of ·BH2 as a pyrolysis product in 1964. Since it is not stable, it is not a useful species other than for spectroscopic investigations.
Ligated, 4c-7e Type Radicals
As highlighted in the above sections, the breakthrough was the stability introduced through the formation of a Lewis acid-Lewis base adduct whereby the electrons donated by the Lewis base stabilized the boryl radical. This was because the complex, now a 4c-7e boryl radical with the unpaired electron in a vertical p-type orbital. This suggested that the interaction between the ligand orbitals parallel to the out of plane p-orbital of the boryl radical was critical in determining its stability, and potentially with the alkyl framework surrounding the boron atom (though limited in correlation compared to the interaction with the lewis base).
Assuming the alkyl framework surrounding the boron center is flexible, if the lewis base donates a lot of electron density to the boryl radical via hyperconjugation, this manifests itself as an interaction which favors the trigonal pyramidal center over the trigonal planar at the boron center. While this is one of the electronic interaction that determines the geometry at the boryl radical center, there are other effects such as the electronic nature of the substrates covalently bonded to the boron, as well as back bonding to the ligand π-system (if present), both of which favor a trigonal planar geometry. In these cases, significant portion of the radical density is delocalized onto the Lewis base itself. Some possible interactions summarized as synergistic interactions by Lu et al, are given below. It is a combination of these which ends up deciding the geometry, stability and reactivity of a boryl radical at hand.
Tertiary-Amine-Boryl Radicals
Tertiary amine boryl radicals can be generated from the reaction of a tertiary amine boryl adduct with a heteroatom centered radical.
Even though the tertiary-amine-borylradical and alkyl radicals are isoelectronic with one another, the amine-boryl radical demonstrates reactivity similar to metalloidyl radicals such as trialkylsilyl and trialkylstannyl analogues. Even through they appear isoelectronic, the difference in reactivity can be attributed to the nature of the bonds and the orbitals involved in the dative interaction. A recent extensive survey by Nagib et al in 2024 quantifies the nucleophilic nature of the boryl radicals when compared with other radical species. The amine-boryl radicals also demonstrate distinct reactivity compared to the other metalloidyl radicals such as beta-scission and hydrogen atom transfer(HAT). Some of the reactivities observed are presented below as seen in publications by Roberts et al. as compiled by the Knowles group.
Phosphine-boryl and dialkyl sulfide-boryl radicals
Similar to the amine-boryl radical, phosphine boryls can also be generated inside the EPR cavity by reacting with a radical on a heterolytic atom. The hyperfine structure of the EPR spectra suggests that these are both closer to a trigonal planar geometry at the boron center.
Phosphine-boryl radicals and dialkyl sulfide-boryl radicals were found to be distinct in their reactivities. Phosphine-boryl radicals were less reactive towards halogen atom transfer (XAT) , β-scission and addition reactions and the dialkyl-sulfide-boryl radicals were very reactive for XAT and β-scission, where XAT was faster.
The investigation into the more stable ligated-boryl radical species and their reactivity therefore showcased a variety of interesting reactions and established more stable and tunable analogues.
Carbene-Stabilized Radicals
The first isolable example of a boryl radical ligated by a carbene analogue was a 9-borylated acridinyl-radical synthesized by Gabbai in 2007, lending credibility to the idea that persistent boryl radicals could be obtained through other strongly binding ligand systems with steric and electronic tunability. The use of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) as a way to stabilize boryl radicals was first demonstrated as a part of the mechanism involving the radical deoxygenation of xanthanes using NHC-boranes, which had previously been synthesized by Kuhn. They were able to isolate NHC-(methylthiocarbonylthio)borane as a solid product from the reaction of xanthanes and NHC-borane with Et3B/O2 as a radical initiator. The product, rate and EPR experiments supported the presence of a boryl radical with spin delocalization onto the NHC-π-system orbitals whereby the radical demonstrated π-character.
This then led to the synthesis of a persistent NHC-boryl radical from a NHC-borenium cation reduced with magnesium. It was identified as a part of the reaction mixture, but unfortunately could not be isolated and stored. The first isolable NHC-stabilized boryl radical was synthesized by Braunschweig from an NHC-borolyl anion reduced by a single electron using triphenyltin chloride as a reducing agent. Cyclic alkyl amino carbene (CAAC) ligands are similarly strongly σ donating carbene ligands like NHCs, but are missing a nitrogen atom adjacent to the carbene, and as a result are much better π-acceptors compared to NHCs. CAAC based boryl radicals were also synthesized. An example to a CAAC analogue by Braunschweig and was synthesized via a reduction of an adduct with decamethylchromocene. One of the radicals with the largest spin density on the boron atom itself, as revealed by the hyperfine coupling observed in the EPR spectra, is the following diarylboryl radical stabilized by an NHC. The spin density on the boron is found to be diminished and highly delocalized to the CAAC system which lacks one of the nitrogens in the heterocycle, while NHCs with their significantly less π-accepting character appear to showcase the larger spin densities localized on the boron atom. In the decade following, there have been many persistent and isolable boryl radicals synthesized through a multitude of reactions, most of which appear to involve the redox chemistry of a stable precursor anion or cation, where the increased stability allows for increased tunability of the reactivity of the radical complex.
Applications
Organic Reactivity
The newly synthesized NHC and CAAC-boryl radicals and their analogues have been implemented as radical mediators, reactants and boron sources in various contexts.
One of the ways in which the tunable ligand environment directly presents itself as an advantage is found in the highly active area of asymmetric catalysis of organic reactions. An example of this is demonstrated in the context of radical cycloisomerization reactions.
Potential use in Materials
Boron-doped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (B-PAHs) are known to exhibit a variety of electronic and optical properties. To understand these heterocyclic aromatic compounds better, model systems could be a good way to probe the underlying principles. With this goal in mind, it is therefore valuable to synthesize "B-doped aromatic systems" with different electronic landscapes by introducing defects into the band structure.
With this goal in mind, persistent borafluorene radicals were recently synthesized using both NHC and CAAC ligands which yielded blue and purple crystals respectively, hinting at their tunable electronic environments. The net spin density located on the CAAC (0.38 electrons) was calculated to be more than double that of NHC (0.16 electrons), in agreement with lesser π accepting character of NHC induced by the additional N lone-pair.
Another system that has recently been explored is the borepin which is a 7 membered ring with 6π-electron B-PAH. It was also easy to synthesize its anion analogue through a single electron reduction. These investigations not led to a new boryl radical environment to model aromatic systems, but also suggested that a stable radical can act as an intermediate to access the corresponding reduced or oxidized anion species. These electronically addressable molecules are projected to electronically and optically tune materials they are implemented in.
Larger and more complicated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon frameworks can also be accessed as of 2023, where Gilliard et. al. reported a new Bis(9-Boraphenanthrene) and its biradical through a facile, one-pot synthesis. It also interestingly showcases an open-shell singlet boron-doped biradical with usually high 95% biradical character when using a CAAC ligand.
References
Free radicals
Boron compounds | Boryl radicals | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 3,411 | [
"Senescence",
"Free radicals",
"Biomolecules"
] |
78,574,611 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZD-1134 | AZD-1134 is an investigational new drug that was being evaluated for the treatment of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder but was never marketed. It is a selective serotonin 5-HT1B receptor antagonist.
Pharmacology
The drug has been found to increase serotonin levels in the dorsal hippocampus in animals and to increase serotonin turnover (as measured by 5-HIAA/serotonin ratio) in the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, hippocampus, and striatum. Alone, AZD-1134 increased hippocampal serotonin levels to 179% of baseline, and in combination with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) citalopram, it increased levels to 950% of baseline. The increases in serotonin levels and turnover with AZD-1134 are presumably due to blockade of inhibitory presynaptic 5-HT1B autoreceptors. AZD-1134 administered alone produced antidepressant-like effects in animals.
History
AZD-1134 reached preclinical research prior to the discontinuation of its development. It was under development by AstraZeneca. Another selective serotonin 5-HT1B receptor antagonist, AZD-3783, was also subsequently developed and studied by AstraZeneca. However, this drug was later found to produce unexpected neurotoxicity.
References
5-HT1B antagonists
Abandoned drugs
Carboxamides
Drugs developed by AstraZeneca
Experimental antidepressants
Experimental anxiolytics
Fluoroarenes
Chromones
Piperazines
Acetamides | AZD-1134 | [
"Chemistry"
] | 353 | [
"Drug safety",
"Abandoned drugs"
] |
78,579,366 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD%20148937 | HD 148937 is a likely binary star system in the southern constellation of Norma. It has a combined apparent visual magnitude of 6.73, a brightness that is below the limit for being readily visible to the naked eye. Based on parallax measurements, it is located at a distance of approximately 3,900 light years from Sun, but is drifting closer with a radial velocity of about −54 km/s. The star is located in the hourglass-shaped emission nebula NGC 6164/65, which it generated through episodes of mass ejection.
Observations
In 1955, C. S. Gum identified HD 148937 and possibly 15 Sagittarii as responsible for the emission from the region of NGC 6164/65. In 1959, K. G. Heinze catalogued NGC 6164/65 as a planetary nebula and placed HD 148937 at its center, with the two nebulae and the star being co-linear. However, the apparent brightness of HD 148937 is brighter than any other nucleus for a nebula of this class, and the spectra of the star raised questions about their evolutionary status. B. E. Westerlund classified the star as class O6fp in 1960, with the 'O' meaning an O-type star, 'f' indicating emission from ionized helium and nitrogen, and the 'p' meaning an unspecified peculiarity. He found a series of symmetrical nebular shells surrounding the star at angular separations of , , and .
In 1970, R. M. Catchpole and M. W. Feast showed that the radial velocities for the two nebulae are consistent with them being ejecta expanding away from the central star. A very luminous absolute visual magnitude of −6 was confirmed for the central star in 1972, which demonstrated that the surroundings are not a planetary nebula. This star lies within an H II region spanning 2°, which is surrounded by a thin dust shell. In 1980, the star showed a mass loss rate of ·yr−1, similar to other O-type main-sequence stars.
An abundance analysis of the surrounding nebulae in 1987 demonstrated a strong overabundance of nitrogen, which most likely comes from stellar processing. This indicates the star is evolved, rather than being in a pre-main-sequence phase. The estimated mass of the NGC 6164/6165 nebulae is twice the mass of the Sun, and it shows a kinetic age of . The surrounding stellar wind bubble is much older at .
In 2008, a magnetic field with a longitudinal strength of was detected in the star. It shows spectroscopic variability with a period of , and has a nitrogen enhancement of about four times that in the Sun. Based on variations in the magnetic field strength, the seven day variance is interpreted as the stellar rotation period. X-ray emission has been detected and is interpreted as originating in hot plasma about one stellar radius from the photosphere.
Observations of the star made between 2015 and 2019 showed a significant change in the spectrum. Radial velocity measurements made during this period suggest that this is a double-lined spectroscopic binary system of high mass stars. Initial measurements suggest they have an eccentric orbit with a period of about 26 years and an orbital eccentricity of 0.75. Only one member of the pair is magnetic, and it appears younger than the companion. This younger star may have been formed by a merger with a third member of the system, an event that can explain both the magnetic field and the surrounding nebula.
References
Further reading
Spectroscopic binaries
O-type stars
Norma (constellation)
Durchmusterung objects
148156
081100 | HD 148937 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 742 | [
"Norma (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
78,581,512 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship%20Propellant%20Transfer%20Demonstration | The Starship Propellant Transfer Demo is expected to occur in 2025. A similar test occurred during Starship's third test flight, though the transfer during that test was between two tanks on the same vehicle. The ability to refuel a Starship in low orbit is critical for the Artemis program, as Starship HLS requires approximately ten tanker launches to reach the lunar surface.
Mission profile
The mission profile for the Starship Propellant Transfer Demo will begin with the first launch. This launch will deliver the upper stage into orbit around the earth, while the first stage returns to the launch site for a catch. The second launch will repeat this profile three to four weeks later, and dock with the first starship. Once docked, the vehicles will use a pressure differential between them to force propellant from the second vehicle into the first. After this is complete, the two ships will undock, and reenter.
Payload
The second launch in the propellant transfer will fly an unknown amount of propellant as its payload. In order to prevent the propellant from boiling during the vehicle's time in orbit, significant insulation and vacuum jacketing will be added to the propellant lines inside the vehicle. This change has already been observed on Block 2 vehicles.
References
Spaceflight | Starship Propellant Transfer Demonstration | [
"Astronomy"
] | 257 | [
"Spaceflight",
"Outer space",
"Astronomy stubs",
"Spacecraft stubs"
] |
78,581,577 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag%20planting | Flag planting is a behavior humans have exhibited in various different contexts. It is often done as a means to assert territorial claims in military or geopolitical situations, though it has also become common in sports – particularly college football in the United States.
In war
World War II had multiple notable flag planting incidents, including those by American soldiers on Iwo Jima, by Finnish soldiers on the Three-Country Cairn, and by Soviet soldiers over the Reichstag. The capture of Umm al-Rashrāsh (modern day Eilat) in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War was marked by the raising and planting of the Ink Flag.
In college football
Flag planting incidents occurred, but were relatively infrequent, during the 2000s and 2010s. These included Michigan State players planting their flag on Notre Dame's field in 2005 and Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield planting a flag at Ohio State in 2017.
Much discourse surrounded flag planting following the 2024 season's rivalry week, with Michigan's upset road win over Ohio State and their subsequent flag planting on the latter's field drawing particular attention. Following the 2024 incidents, Mayfield stated "College football is meant to have rivalries. That's like the Big 12 banning the 'horns down' signal. Just let the boys play". Former college football head coach Nick Saban conversely called flag planting "disrespectful" and "bad for the game". The incidents led to Ohio state Representative Josh Williams proposing the O.H.I.O Sportsmanship Act, which would make sports planting a felony in Ohio; Williams stated that "Behavior that incites violent brawls and puts our law enforcement officers in danger has no place on the football field".
In scientific missions
The Apollo program planned to erect the American flag on the lunar surface, with the Lunar Flag Assembly being the specific kit designed for this goal. Russia performed a crewed descent to the North Pole's ocean floor in 2007, dubbed Arktika 2007, in which explorers planted a rust-proof titanium metal Russian flag.
Gallery
References
Flags
Flag controversies in the United States
College football rivalries in the United States | Flag planting | [
"Mathematics"
] | 434 | [
"Symbols",
"Flags"
] |
78,582,329 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unextendible%20product%20basis | In quantum mechanics, an unextendible product basis is a set of orthogonal, non-entangled state vectors for a multipartite system, with the property that local operations and classical communication are insufficient to distinguish one member of the set from the others. Because these states are product states and yet local measurements cannot tell them apart, they are sometimes said to exhibit "nonlocality without entanglement". They provide examples of non-entangled states that pass the Peres–Horodecki criterion for entanglement.
See also
Bound entanglement
References
Quantum information theory
Quantum states | Unextendible product basis | [
"Physics"
] | 123 | [
"Quantum states",
"Quantum mechanics",
"Quantum physics stubs"
] |
78,582,379 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/1974%20V2%20%28Bennett%29 | Comet Bennett, formally designated as C/1974 V2, is a non-periodic comet that was seen in 1974. During its most recent perihelion, the comet was observed to split apart and disintegrate.
Discovery and observations
On the morning of 13 November 1974, John Caister Bennett discovered his second comet as a diffuse 9th-magnitude object in the constellation Hydra using a refractor from Pretoria, South Africa. He had spent a total of 482 hours searching for a new comet since his first discovery in 1969. At the time, the comet had no discernible coma nor tail, however Bennett was of the opinion it experienced an outburst lasting about five days just before discovery
References
Notes
Citations
External links
Non-periodic comets
Hyperbolic comets
Near-Earth comets
Destroyed comets | C/1974 V2 (Bennett) | [
"Astronomy"
] | 160 | [
"Astronomy stubs",
"Comet stubs"
] |
78,582,498 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fakhreddine%20Karray | Fakhreddine (Fakhri) Karray is a Tunisian-Canadian artificial intelligence scientist, electrical and computer engineer, author, and academic. He served as the Loblaws Research Chair of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Waterloo's (UWaterloo) Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and as the inaugural co-director of the Waterloo AI Institute at UWaterloo. Having previously served as the provost of Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), he serves as a professor of machine learning at the university and as an emeritus professor at the University of Waterloo's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Karray's research interests encompass operational and generative AI, cognitive machines, natural human-machine interaction, and autonomous and intelligent systems. He has published in the fields of pattern analysis and machine intelligence and is the co-author of Elements of Dimensionality Reduction and Manifold Learning and Soft Computing and Intelligent Systems Design. His work on operational AI has been applied to intelligent transportation systems, virtual healthcare, and driver safety with him being featured in The Washington Post, Wired, The Globe and Mail, and CBC. He holds twenty US patents and has won the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society's Best Land Transportation Award for his work on improving traffic flow prediction with weather Information in connected cars and the MeditCom Conference Best Paper Award for his study on federated learning in communication systems.
Karray is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Kavli Frontiers of Science, the Canadian Academy of Engineering. and the Engineering Institute of Canada.
Education
Karray received his Ing. Dip. in electrical engineering from the University of Tunis in 1984 followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1989.
Career
Karray served as a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. He is the former Provost of MBZUAI, a research-based AI university in Abu Dhabi, and has been serving as its Professor of Machine Learning. He held the position of Loblaws Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UWaterloo and served as a Founding Co-Director of its AI Institute. He is also the Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Yourika, a provider of AI-based online learning systems.
Research
Karray has focused his research on operational and generative AI, cognitive and self-aware machines, natural human-machine interaction, and autonomous intelligent systems, with applications in virtual care systems, cognitive devices, and predictive analytics for intelligent transportation systems and supply chain management.
Transportation safety and traffic flow prediction
Exploring the impact of weather on transportation systems, Karray proposed an integrated deep learning architecture for enhanced traffic flow prediction using weather parameters in connected cars leading him to win the Best Land Transportation Paper Award. He then developed driver distraction recognition systems with generative adversarial networks to improve safety by identifying distracted driving behaviors. In an interview with Craig Norris, host of The Morning Edition on CBC Radio, he said "We have provided the system also with other abnormal behavior, driving behavior, and we taught the system to start working and generating classes." Building on this research, he proposed a visual-based lane following system using a long-term recurrent convolutional neural network exploring the fusion of temporal history to predict future control variables with high accuracy. His advancements in driver monitoring involved the introduction of a deep recurrent neural network-based system which predicted imminent driving maneuvers by utilizing both driver behavior and environmental data.
Artificial intelligence methods, intelligent systems and human-computer interaction
Karray, along with Benyamin Ghojogh, Mark Crowley, and Ali Ghodsi, published Elements of Dimensionality Reduction and Manifold Learning providing a review of dimensionality reduction techniques, covering spectral, probabilistic, and neural network-based methods, with essential background in linear algebra, optimization, and kernels. Previously, in his book, Soft Computing and Intelligent Systems Design: Theory, Tools and Applications, co-authored with Clarence W. De Silva, he discussed the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) tracing its development from traditional symbolic logic-based techniques to modern biologically-inspired methods, highlighting their integration into academic curricula. His overview of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) included a survey of existing technologies and recent advancements, common system architectures, and various applications of HCI, offering a list of references for each concept.
Medical diagnostics using tools of AI
Karray has applied technologies to improve diagnostic accuracy and user interaction. He presented a knowledge-based natural speech dialogue system that integrated flexible dialogue control and context information retention, enabling effective handling of complex user requests and supporting mixed-initiative conversations. Participating in the first international microaneurysm detection competition, he compared five different automated methods for diabetic retinopathy screening against human experts, highlighting the challenges and advancements in detecting microaneurysms from digital color fundus photographs. Further refining his focus on retinal image analysis, he introduced the MF-FDOG method, a novel approach that enhanced vessel extraction in computer-aided diagnosis by combining the original matched filter with the first-order derivative of Gaussian. His subsequent work focused on diabetic retinopathy diagnosis used multi-scale correlation filtering (MSCF) and dynamic thresholding for more accurate microaneurysm detection and classification. While conducting a survey on speech emotion classification, he designed effective classification schemes and prepared emotional speech databases to improve system evaluation. In 2021, his research on COVID-19 diagnosis reviewed deep learning-based systems by using medical imaging modalities such as CT and X-ray.
Awards and honors
2011 – Pattern Recognition Society Medal for Best Paper Award, Pattern Recognition Society
2016 – Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE
2018 – Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering
2020 – Fellow, IEEE
2020 – Fellow, Engineering Institute of Canada
2021 – Best Land Transportation Paper Award, IEEE
2022 – MeditCom Best Paper Award, IEEE
Bibliography
Selected books
Soft Computing and Intelligent Systems Design: Theory, Tools and Applications (2004) ISBN 978-8131723241
Elements of Dimensionality Reduction and Manifold Learning (2023) ISBN 978-3031106040
Selected articles
Karray, F., Alemzadeh, M., Abou Saleh, J., & Arab, M. N. (2008). Human-computer interaction: Overview on state of the art. International Journal on Smart Sensing and Intelligent Systems, 1(1), 137-159.
Niemeijer, M., Van Ginneken, B., Cree, M. J., Mizutani, A., Quellec, G., Sánchez, C. I., ... & Abràmoff, M. D. (2009). Retinopathy online challenge: automatic detection of microaneurysms in digital color fundus photographs. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 29(1), 185-195.
Zhang, B., Zhang, L., Zhang, L., & Karray, F. (2010). Retinal vessel extraction by matched filter with first-order derivative of Gaussian. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 40(4), 438-445.
El Ayadi, M., Kamel, M. S., & Karray, F. (2011). Survey on speech emotion recognition: Features, classification schemes, and databases. Pattern Recognition, 44(3), 572-587.
Khaleghi, B., Khamis, A., Karray, F. O., & Razavi, S. N. (2013). Multisensor data fusion: A review of the state-of-the-art. Information Fusion, 14(1), 28-44.
Koesdwiady, A., Soua, R., & Karray, F. (2016). Improving traffic flow prediction with weather information in connected cars: A deep learning approach. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 65(12), 9508-9517.
Muhammad, G., Alshehri, F., Karray, F., El Saddik, A., Alsulaiman, M., & Falk, T. H. (2021). A comprehensive survey on multimodal medical signals fusion for smart healthcare systems. Information Fusion, 76, 355-375.
Islam, M. M., Karray, F., Alhajj, R., & Zeng, J. (2021). A review on deep learning techniques for the diagnosis of novel coronavirus (COVID-19). IEEE Access, 9, 30551-30572.
Selected patents
O. Basir, F. Karray, K. Desrochers, J.P. Bhavnani, D. Bullock, I. Rahim, "Vehicle Visual and Non-Visual Data Recording System," United States Patent US7983811, Issued: July 19, 2011
J. Sun, F. Karray and O. Basir, "Knowledge Based Flexible Natural Speech Dialogue System," United States Patent US7386449, Issued: June 10, 2008
S. Shehata, F. Karray, M. Kamel, "Methods and Systems for Extracting Keyphrases from Natural Text for Search Engines," United States Patent US9390161, Issued: July 12, 2016
S. Shehata, F. Karray, M. Kamel, "System, Method and Computer Program for Searching Within a Sub-Domain by Linking to Other Subdomain," United States Patent US9075879, Issued: July 7, 2015
M. Aloqaily, H ElAyan, M. Guizani, F. karray, "Cooperative Health Intelligent Emergency Response System for Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems," United States Patent # 12125117, Issued October 2024
References
Tunisian academics
Electrical engineers
Computer engineers
Artificial intelligence researchers
Academic staff of the University of Waterloo
Tunis University alumni
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people) | Fakhreddine Karray | [
"Engineering"
] | 2,112 | [
"Electrical engineering",
"Electrical engineers"
] |
78,584,063 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayo%20Ojulari | Bayo Bashir Ojulari is a Nigerian engineer and expert in petroleum, process and production engineering. He was managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) from 2015 to 2021.
Career
Ojulari began his engineering career in Nigeria and served in different leadership positions in Nigeria engineering professional organisations including as chairman and member of board of trustees of Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigeria Council) between 1998 and 1999. He is a Fellow of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE). Ojulari worked in Europe and Middle East in different managerial capacities in Petroleum Engineering, Process Engineering, Production Engineering and in health and safety roles.
Ojulari was appointed Managing Director Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) and as general manager, Deepwater in November 2015. Within this period, he served as a member of the board of directors of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) responsible for Onshore and Offshore Petroleum Engineering, Technical Integration of Development, Well and Project Engineering. He retired from his positions in Shell in July 2021. He is chairman of BAT Advisory & Energy Company.
References
Living people
Nigerian engineers
Petroleum engineers
Year of birth missing (living people) | Bayo Ojulari | [
"Engineering"
] | 246 | [
"Petroleum engineers",
"Petroleum engineering"
] |
78,585,824 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itel%20S23 | The Itel S23 is a series of Android-based smartphones developed and manufactured by Itel Mobile. This phone was announced in Indonesia in May 2023 for the S23 4G model, and in September 2023 for the S23+ model.
References
Android (operating system) devices
Smartphones | Itel S23 | [
"Technology"
] | 63 | [
"Mobile technology stubs",
"Mobile phone stubs"
] |
78,586,725 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Dirac%20fermion | In condensed matter physics, semi-Dirac fermions are a class of quasiparticles that are fermionic with the unusual property that their energy dispersion relation changes from quadratic to linear dependent on their direction of motion. Their theoretical properties have been studied for some time.
Their first observation in a solid was in zirconium silicon sulfide (ZrSiS), a topological semi-metal, and was published in 2024.
See also
Dirac fermion
References
Fermions
Quasiparticles
External links
David Nield: Physicists Find Particle That Only Has Mass When Moving in One Direction. ScienceAlert, 14 December 2024. | Semi-Dirac fermion | [
"Physics",
"Materials_science"
] | 139 | [
"Matter",
"Fermions",
"Quantum physics stubs",
"Quantum mechanics",
"Condensed matter physics",
"Quasiparticles",
"Subatomic particles"
] |
78,587,285 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC%205601 | NGC 5601 is a lenticular galaxy around 259 million light-years away in the constellation Boötes. NGC 5601 was discovered on March 27th, 1867 by the irish astronomer Robert Ball, and it has a diameter around 88,000 light-years. NGC 5601 is not known to have much star formation, and it is not known to have an active galactic nucleus.
References
External links
Boötes
5601 | NGC 5601 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 84 | [
"Boötes",
"Constellations"
] |
78,587,932 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael%27s%20theorem%20on%20paracompact%20spaces | In mathematics, Michael's theorem gives sufficient conditions for a regular topological space (in fact, for a T1-space) to be paracompact.
Statement
A family of subsets of a topological space is said to be closure-preserving if for every subfamily ,
.
For example, a locally finite family of subsets has this property. With this terminology, the theorem states:
Frequently, the theorem is stated in the following form:
In particular, a regular-Hausdorff Lindelöf space is paracompact. The proof of the theorem uses the following result which does not need regularity:
Proof sketch
The proof of the proposition uses the following general lemma
References
Ernest Michael, Another note on paracompactness, 1957
A. Mathew’s blog post
Ryszard Engelking, General Topology, Revised and Completed Edition, Heldermann Verlag, Berlin, 1989.
Further reading
Michael's Theorem in Ncatlab
Topology | Michael's theorem on paracompact spaces | [
"Mathematics"
] | 194 | [
"Theorems in topology",
"Topology stubs",
"Topology",
"Mathematical problems",
"Mathematical theorems"
] |
72,781,264 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9orie%20%C3%89l%C3%A9mentaire%20de%20la%20Botanique | Théorie Élémentaire de la Botanique is a book written by Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, which was first published in 1813 and later re-issued in 1819 with a new edition. This book contributed to the field of botany by introducing the use of the term taxonomy and a new classification system for grouping plants together. This book placed emphasis on the study of evolutionary relationships in grouping plants together, rather than on shared morphological characteristics.
Context
After studying science and law at the Geneva Academy, de Candolle began his formal botanical career when, upon the recommendation of Renè Loiche Desfontaines, de Candolle began to work at Charles Louis L’Hèritier de Brutelle’s herbarium in the summer of 1798. After establishing his first discovered genus, Senebiera, in 1799, de Candolle published his first books, Plantarum Historia Succulentarum in 1799 and Astragalogia in 1802. In 1805, Jean-Baptiste Lamark put de Candolle in charge of the publication of the third edition of Lamark’s Flore Française and writing the introduction of Principes Élémentaire de Botanique. In this introduction, de Candolle proposed a discrete model of classifying plant taxa that was opposed to the linear model of Carl Linnaeus.
After being appointed as a professor of botany at the University of Montpellier in 1807 and becoming the first Chair of Botany in the medical faculty of the university, de Candolle published his book Théorie Élémentaire de la Botanique in 1813, which was later reissued in 1819.
Contents
The book was a seminal work and revolutionary contribution to the field of botanical classification and research. First published in 1813, the book provides an exhaustive collection of the principles of scientific botany, including the nomenclature, classification, and phytography.
The book is divided into three main parts, each focusing on a distinct area of botanical study:
Part I - Theory of Classifications, or Plant Taxonomy, is the first section and explores the principles of natural classification, including the use of morphological characteristics and the significance of evolutionary relationships in classifying plant species.
Part II - Theory of Descriptive Botany, or Phytography, is the second section that covers the science of describing and studying plants, including how to observe and record plant characteristics, with the aid of tools such as herbariums and microscopes.
Part III - Knowledge of the Terms, or Botanical Glossology, is the final section and delves into a detailed analysis of the numerous plant families and their characteristics, providing a valuable resource for botanists. This also includes a description of the physiology of plants, including the structure and function of plants and their organs.
In this book, De Candolle introduced for the first time the word "taxonomy" related to the practice of botanical classification. The word is derived from a combination of two ancient Greek words: taxis meaning arrangement and nomos meaning rules or law. The book is also notable for its detailed descriptions of plant families and their characteristics, as well as its emphasis on the importance of evolutionary relationships, providing a valuable resource for botanists.
Reception
The book, first published in French in 1813, was reissued in 1819 and soon translated to German by Kurt Sprengel, who expanded on the ideas presented in the book in respect to the structure of plants and also included his own ideas about the distribution of plants. In 1821, the German translation was translated to English, and the English translator noted that the textbook successfully documents the recent advances in botany and represents both the current wealth of established knowledge and the very latest emerging theories in plant science at the time. A year later, in 1820 de Candolle would publish one of his most significant works, "Essai élémentaire de géographie botanique" which contained information on biogeography not found in any of his previous works, with the exception of the German translation by Sprengel, in where Sprengel expanded on these ideas based loosely on Candolle’s ones.
The reception for the book was positive, with de Candolle being considered one of the "founding fathers" of natural systematics thanks to this work, in which he introduced a new classification system and the term taxonomy. Beyond the field of biology, the book was well received by some notable people of the time, such as Jean-Baptiste Say, who wrote a letter to de Candolle telling him that his book put him "amongst the best philosophers", and William Whewell, who quoted de Candolle on several occasions.
After the first publication in 1813, de Candolle received criticisms from proponents of intelligent design for dealing with the problem of useless organs in plants. The critics claimed that his argument would embolden and give arguments to the proponents of the world as a product of chance. In the 1819 edition, de Candolle addresses this issue by claiming that these "mistakes" in the designs of plants can help as evidence for intelligent design, as they can function as a way to achieve symmetry. Charles Darwin later criticized these ideas, claiming that: "At a period not far distant, naturalists will hear with surprise, perhaps with derision, that grave and learned men formerly maintained that such useless organs were not remnants retained by inheritance, but were specially created and arranged in their proper places like dishes on a table (this is the simile of a distinguished botanist) by an Omnipotent hand to complete the scheme of nature." In the third edition of the book, published by Alphonse de Candolle (de Candolle’s son) in 1844, a footnote mentions that the corresponding pages for the argument were crossed out by his father, indicating that his father had intention to change them.
From 1813 to his death in 1841, de Candolle continued to form and refine his new botanical classification system which was established in Théorie Élémentaire de la Botanique. In 1824, de Candolle began the publication of the collection, Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis, a summary of all plant types known at the time along with their characteristics, including taxonomy, evolutionary history, and biogeography. He completed the first seven volumes of the total seventeen of this collection prior to his death. Despite not completing his goal for the collection, he characterized more than 100 plant families in this process, which became a base for the field of studying general botany. The final ten volumes were completed by de Candolle's son, Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle, with the seventeenth published in 1873.
References
Botany books
1813 non-fiction books
Taxonomy (biology) books | Théorie Élémentaire de la Botanique | [
"Biology"
] | 1,358 | [
"Taxonomy (biology)",
"Taxonomy (biology) books"
] |
72,781,726 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk%20of%20Hera | The myth of the milk of Hera () is an ancient Greek myth and explanation of the origin of the Milky Way within the context of creation myths. The standard telling goes that the mythical hero Heracles, as an infant, breastfed from an unsuspecting Hera, the goddess of marriage and Zeus's wife, who threw him away, causing a little bit of her milk to splash and create the galaxy with all its stars.
Etymology
The ancient Greek word for 'Milky Way' and 'galaxy' both is , literally meaning "milky", derived from , which means milk, and is itself from the Proto-Indo-European root *glakt-, *galakt- (compare to the Latin lac).
Mythology
It was said that once Heracles had been born, either Zeus or his son Hermes took the infant and brought him to Hera, who was sleeping, and placed him to her breast so that he could suckle from her. Once Hera awoke and understood the situation, she pushed the baby away, and her unexpressed milk was sprayed. This story was attributed to (pseudo-)Eratosthenes.
In another telling, after Alcmene managed to bring forth both infants, she grew fearful of Hera's wrath and imminent retribution, so she exposed the infant in some field. The goddess Athena, Heracles' half-sister, found him and brought him to Hera, without revealing his identity. Hera, admiring the baby, offered to breastfeed him. But Heracles bit too hard on her breast, hurting her and forcing Hera to cast him aside in pain, as Athena returned him to his mortal parents.
A version that diverges significantly from the more known ones states that the milk was not Hera's at all. According to the Roman mythographer Hyginus, when Rhea presented a swaddled rock to her husband Cronus pretending to be the infant Zeus, Cronus asked her to nurse the child one last time before he ate it. Rhea complied and pressed her breast against the rock, releasing a bit of milk. Hyginus, while recounting the more traditional story by Eratosthenes, supplants the infant Heracles for the infant Hermes, the son of the nymph Maia, instead.
Both Eratosthenes and Hyginus link Heracles breastfeeding Hera to his legitimation as an infant, since the only way for a son of Zeus to be able to receive honours in heaven was through being nursed by Hera, with Hyginus providing an additional example with Hermes. Neither Diodorus nor Pausanias make such connection between the breastfeeding and Heracles suckling from his father's wife breast; Diodorus mentions another ritual, which included a mock labour with Hera acting as Alcmene, as the way Heracles was legitimized after his apotheosis.
Whatever the details and the circumstances of the myth, it was said that the divine milk that spilt and sprayed across the heavens became the Milky Way galaxy, known to the ancient Greeks as Galaxias Kyklos (). This rather dramatic myth has been depicted throughout history by many artists, including Tintoretto and Rubens.
In a lesser-known variant, some of the milk's portion that was released fell down on the earth, and transformed into a lily, a flower as white as Hera's milk.
See also
Milky Way (mythology)
Heracles at the crossroads
Five Suns
Tyros
References
Bibliography
Hyginus, Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Online version at Perseus.tufts project.
Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
External links
Star Tales – Milky Way
Milk in culture
Metamorphoses into flowers in Greek mythology
Deeds of Hera
Deeds of Zeus
Deeds of Athena
Deeds of Hermes
Mythology of Heracles
Astronomical myths
Creation myths
Metamorphoses in Greek mythology
Mythological food and drink
Greek myths | Milk of Hera | [
"Astronomy"
] | 924 | [
"Cosmogony",
"Astronomical myths",
"Creation myths"
] |
72,783,720 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10%20Cassiopeiae | 10 Cassiopeiae (10 Cas) is a blue-white giant star in the constellation Cassiopeia, about 960 light years away.
10 Cassiopeiae is a B9 giant star. It shows emission lines in its spectrum and is classified as a Be star. It shows slight variations in its brightness, between magnitudes 5.54 and 5.59.
At an age of 218 million years, 10 Cassiopeiae has expanded away from the main sequence after exhausting its core hydrogen and now has a radius about eight times that of the Sun. With an effective temperature of about , it emits nearly a thousand times the luminosity of the Sun.
References
B-type giants
Cassiopeia (constellation)
Cassiopeiae, 10
0007
000144
000531
BD+63 2107
Be stars
Suspected variables | 10 Cassiopeiae | [
"Astronomy"
] | 175 | [
"Cassiopeia (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
72,785,367 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limonium%20otolepis | Limonium otolepis, the saltmarsh sea lavender, lacy sea lavender or Asian sea lavender, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plumbaginaceae. It is native to Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Xinjiang and western Gansu in China. A halophyte, it is common in saline areas, such as the bed of the former Aral Sea. It has been introduced to California as a garden escapee, and is also present in southeastern Australia. There appears to be an ornamental cultivar, 'Lavender Lace'.
References
otolepis
Halophytes
Flora of Afghanistan
Flora of Central Asia
Flora of Xinjiang
Flora of North-Central China
Plants described in 1891 | Limonium otolepis | [
"Chemistry"
] | 139 | [
"Halophytes",
"Salts"
] |
72,786,457 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20COM-clade%20families | The COM clade consists of, and is named for, three orders of flowering plants: Celastrales, Oxalidales and Malpighiales. A subgroup of the rosids, it is divided into 45 families of trees, shrubs, vines and herbaceous perennials and annuals.
Coca leaves, containing small amounts of cocaine, have been chewed as a stimulant for thousands of years in the Andes. Cassava crops provide a substantial source of carbohydrates in the tropics. Bruguiera, Rhizophora and other mangroves are planted to protect coasts from storms and to anchor beach sand. A single rootstock that supports a grove of quaking aspen may be the world's oldest living individual plant, at around 80,000 years. Hybrids of the wild pansy (Viola tricolor) and other species of the violet family are grown as ornamentals, even in temperate winters.
Glossary
From the glossary of botanical terms:
annual: a plant species that completes its life cycle within a single year or growing season
basal: attached close to the base (of a plant or an evolutionary tree diagram)
climber: a vine that leans on, twines around or clings to other plants for vertical support
deciduous: falling seasonally, as with bark, leaves or petals
glandular hair: a hair tipped with a secretory structure
herbaceous: not woody; usually green and soft in texture
perennial: not an annual or biennial
succulent (adjective): juicy or fleshy
unisexual: of one sex; bearing only male or only female reproductive organs
woody: hard and lignified; not herbaceous
The APG IV system is the fourth in a series of plant taxonomies from the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. In this system, Celastrales is basal within the COM clade.
Families
See also
List of plant family names with etymologies
Notes
Citations
References
See the Creative Commons license .
See their terms-of-use license .
Systematic
COM-clade families
COM-clade families
COM-clade families
Rosids | List of COM-clade families | [
"Biology"
] | 431 | [
"Lists of biota",
"Lists of plants",
"Plants"
] |
72,787,218 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDSS%20J1152%2B3313 | SDSS J1152+3313 is a galaxy cluster in the constellation of Ursa Major, approximately 4 billion light-years away. According to NASA, this particular cluster provides a valuable clue about how stars formed in the early universe. NASA and ESA used the Wide Field Camera 3 of the Hubble Space Telescope to image the cluster, which demonstrates the effects of gravitational lensing. The lens of SDSS J1152+3313 is not only warping the appearance of the distant galaxy, but also amplifying its light.
References
Galaxy clusters
Ursa Major | SDSS J1152+3313 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 116 | [
"Galaxy clusters",
"Ursa Major",
"Astronomical objects",
"Constellations"
] |
72,788,608 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulworthiomycetidae | Lulworthiomycetidae is a subclass of Sordariomycetes.
Sordariomycetes are one of the classes that can also be found in the sea, such as orders, Lulworthiales and Koralionastetales, which were placed in the subclass Lulworthiomycetidae, consist of exclusively marine taxa.
Orders
As accepted by Wijayawardene et al. 2020;
Koralionastetales (1 family)
Koralionastetaceae (2 genera Koralionastes and Pontogeneia )
Lulworthiales
Lulworthiaceae (16 genera)
Cumulospora (2)
Halazoon (2)
Haloguignardia (1)
Hydea (1)
Kohlmeyeriella (2)
Lindra (2)
Lulwoana (6)
Lulwoidea (1)
Lulworthia (32)
Matsusporium (1)
Moleospora (1)
Moromyces (1)
Orbimyces (1)
Paralulworthia (3)
Rostrupiella (1)
Sammeyersia (1)
References
Sordariomycetes
Fungus subclasses
fungus taxa
Taxa described in 1997 | Lulworthiomycetidae | [
"Biology"
] | 260 | [
"Fungus taxa",
"Fungi"
] |
72,789,745 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EW%20Lacertae | EW Lacertae, also known as HD 217050 and HR 8731, is a star about 940 light years from the Earth, in the constellation Lacerta. It is a 5th magnitude star, so it will be faintly visible to the naked eye of an observer located far from city lights. It is a Gamma Cassiopeiae variable, varying in brightness from magnitude 5.22 to 5.48, over a period of about 8.7 hours. The star's variable spectrum, which shows changes on timescales ranging from hours to decades, has been monitored for more than a century.
The spectral class of EW Lacertae has been given as B4IIIpe, a hot giant star showing emission lines. Other publications have given types between B1 and B5, a luminosity class of III (giant) or IV (subgiant), and noted various spectral peculiarities related to being a shell star. Models published in Gaia Data Release 3 place the star towards the end of its main sequence life.
Although spectrograms of EW Lacertae, then known as Boss 5918 or BD+47°3985, had been acquired as early as 1887, the existence of an envelope surrounding EW Lacertae was first noticed in a spectrogram taken in 1913. Edwin Frost noted that the star's spectrum was variable, in 1919. In 1943, Ralph Baldwin reported that EW Lacertae had a shell spectrum. The shell spectrum had disappeared in the years 1918 - 1921, but reappeared in 1922. Spectra taken in 1925, 1926 and 1928 again showed no features associated with a shell, but the shell features in the spectrum were very clear by the end of 1940.
Observations in the early 1950s at the Lick Observatory by Merle Walker revealed that EW Lacertae was a variable star, and it was given its variable star designation in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars.
The complex variations seen in the spectrum of EW Lacertae may be caused by a disk of gas surrounding the star, seen nearly edge-on by an observer on the Earth, which occasionally has temporary density enhancements which persist for years.
References
Lacerta
113327
217050
Durchmusterung objects
Lacertae, EW
Gamma Cassiopeiae variable stars
B-type giants
8731 | EW Lacertae | [
"Astronomy"
] | 478 | [
"Lacerta",
"Constellations"
] |
72,791,058 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lainingthou%20Sanamahi%20Kiyong | The , officially known as the , is a temple of God Lainingthou Sanamahi of Meitei religion (Sanamahism), built on the Nongmaiching mountain (Selloi Langmai mountain) in the Imphal East district of . It is a center of the Sanamahism followers in Manipur.
It is the central body of the "Sanamahi Lainingkol" (University of Sanamahi Culture) at Chingoi Maru Langmaiching (Nongmaiching).
The Sanamahi Kiyong is a religious destination and a pilgrimage site for the Meitei people, even for those living outside Manipur in other Northeast Indian states and also for the Kabui people and the Zeliangrong people living in Manipur, Assam and Tripura inside India as well as in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Aim
The construction of the Sanamahi Kiyong temple aims at the establishment of a university of Sanamahi religion on the Nongmaiching mountain.
It was built according to a 2002 resolution adopted at a public meeting having a goal to construct a university for Sanamahism, with the aim to teach the future generations of people about the ancient Meitei culture of the Sanamahi religion, offering its students various subjects about indigenous art forms, dance forms, music, Thang-Ta and etc.
Architecture
The Sanamahi Kiyong is tall. It has 7 stories, that represent the seven clans () of the Meitei people. The 7 stories are painted in the colours of the 7 Meitei clans.
Construction
The construction of the Sanamahi Kiyong started in the year 2006. It was done through the donated funds raised from the public.
As of March 2012, the construction cost reached and the then estimation of net cost was around .
Inauguration
The Sanamahi Kiyong was previously planned to be inaugurated on 16 May 2019. But it was postponed to 8 June 2019 because religious leaders advised that it should be done on Meitei month of Enga () and not on the month of Kalen () and 8 June falls on Enga, the favourable month.
On 8 June 2019, the was organised by the "Foundation For University of Sanamahi Culture" and the "Laiyingthou Sanamahi Thougal Kanglup". The event was attended by N Hiyainu, wife of Nongthombam Biren, the then Chief Minister of Manipur.
Gallery
See also
Nongmaiching Ching
Nongmaiching Reserved Forest
Heingang Ching
Marjing Polo Complex
Marjing Polo Statue
Hiyangthang Lairembi Temple
Kangla
Kangla Nongpok Thong
Kangla Nongpok Torban
Notes
References
External links
Sanamahi Kiyong at
Sanamahi Kiyong at Wikimapia
Meitei architecture
Imphal East district
Meitei pilgrimage sites
Monuments and memorials in Imphal
Monuments and memorials to Meitei royalty
Public art in India
Temples in Manipur
Tourist attractions in Manipur | Lainingthou Sanamahi Kiyong | [
"Engineering"
] | 619 | [
"Meitei architecture",
"Architecture"
] |
72,792,023 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limonium%20bonduellei | Limonium bonduellei, the yellow statice (a name it shares with Limonium sinuatum), is a species of flowering plant in the family Plumbaginaceae. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility calls it Algerian statice and lists it as Limonium sinuatum subsp. bonduellei, but a 2018 molecular study showed that it is good species with 100% bootstrap support. An annual facultative halophyte reaching , it is native to Spain and North Africa, and has been introduced to Italy. It is naturalized in New Zealand.
The British florists' association Interflora claims that its cultivar 'Forever Gold' is one of the most popular and widely available taxa of Limonium in the trade and in gardens, along with Limonium platyphyllum. The Royal Horticultural Society lists 'Forever Gold' as a cultivar of Limonium sinuatum.
References
bonduellei
Halophytes
Flora of Spain
Flora of North Africa
Flora of Mauritania
Flora of Chad
Plants described in 1891 | Limonium bonduellei | [
"Chemistry"
] | 211 | [
"Halophytes",
"Salts"
] |
72,795,293 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD%2045866 | HD 45866, also known as HR 2363 is a solitary star located in the northern circumpolar constellation Camelopardalis. It is faintly visible to the naked eye as an orange-hued star with an apparent magnitude of 5.72. Gaia DR3 parallax measurements place it 726 light years away and it is currently approaching the Solar System with a heliocentric radial velocity of . At its current distance, HD 45866's brightness is diminished by 0.26 magnitudes due to interstellar dust. It has an absolute magnitude of −0.89
This is an evolved red giant with a stellar classification of K5 III. It has 2.34 times the mass of the Sun but it has expanded to nearly 50 times the radius of the Sun at an age of 1.15 billion years. It radiates 468 times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of . It has an iron abundance 78% of the Sun's, making it slightly metal deficient.
References
K-type giants
Camelopardalis
BD+78 00227
045866
031940
2363 | HD 45866 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 241 | [
"Camelopardalis",
"Constellations"
] |
72,795,403 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian%20Astronomy%20Olympiad | The Brazilian Astronomy and Astronautics Olympiad (in Portuguese: Olimpíada Brasileira de Astronomia e Astronáutica - OBA) is a national astronomy competition realized since 1998 in Brazilian schools by the Brazilian Astronomical Society (SAB). Since 2005, the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) started to participate in the olympiad's organizing committee, with the event officially acquiring its current name.
Goals
Comparable to other science competitions in the country, the OBA has its main goal of spreading the knowledge of astronomy throughout all of Brazilian society, encouraging youths' interest in astronomy and astronautics and in scientific thought in general.
References
External links
Brazilian Astronomy and Astronautics Olympiad Official Site (in Portuguese)
Brazilian Astronomical Society Official Site (in Portuguese)
Astronomy in Brazil
Astronomy competitions
Science competitions | Brazilian Astronomy Olympiad | [
"Astronomy",
"Technology"
] | 158 | [
"Science and technology awards",
"Science competitions",
"Astronomy stubs"
] |
72,795,443 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saproamanita%20praeclara | Saproamanita praeclara, or the playing field lepidella, is a species of fungus from South Africa.
Description
Saproamanita praeclara is a robust, white mushroom. The cap is in diameter. It is white with lemony yellow tinges. The cap starts off conical and hairless, but becomes convex and loosely hairy with time. It is sometimes slightly dented and hairless at the center. The margins of the cap are shaggy and hang down towards the stem. The cap has a strong very noticeable scent.
The solid stem is long. It ranges from white to lemony yellow in colour. It becomes bulbous towards the base and is powdery and hairy near the top. It has a soapy scent.
The ring is hairy. The gills are free, deep and crowded. They are white or cream coloured when the organism is young and become yellow with age. The spore print is white.
Distribution and habitat
S. praeclara grows in southern parts of the Western Cape of South Africa. It grows in rings in grassy areas (such as fields and lawns) and near woods.
References
Amanitaceae
Fungus species | Saproamanita praeclara | [
"Biology"
] | 240 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
72,796,039 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watershed%20delineation | Watershed delineation is the process of identifying the boundary of a watershed, also referred to as a catchment, drainage basin, or river basin. It is an important step in many areas of environmental science, engineering, and management, for example to study flooding, aquatic habitat, or water pollution.
The activity of watershed delineation is typically performed by geographers, scientists, and engineers. Historically, watershed delineation was done by hand on paper topographic maps, sometimes supplemented with field research. In the 1980s, automated methods were developed for watershed delineation with computers and electronic data, and these are now in widespread use.
Computerized methods for watershed delineation use digital elevation models (DEMs), datasets that represent the height of the Earth's land surface. Computerized watershed delineation may be done using specialized hydrologic modeling software such as WMS, geographic information system software like ArcGIS or QGIS, or with programming languages like Python or R.
Watersheds are a fundamental geographic unit in hydrology, the science concerned with the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth. Delineating watersheds may be considered an application of hydrography, the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers. It is also related to geomorphometry, the quantitative science of analyzing land surfaces. Watershed delineation continues to be an active area of research, with scientists and programmers developing new algorithms and methods, and making use of increasingly high-resolution data from aerial or satellite remote sensing.
Manual watershed delineation
The conventional method of finding a watershed boundary is to draw it by hand on a paper topographic map, or on a transparent overlay. The watershed area can then be estimated using a planimeter, by overlaying graph paper and counting grid cells, or the result can be digitized for use with mapping software. The same process can be done on a computer, sketching the watershed boundary (with a mouse or stylus) over a digital copy of a topographic map. This is referred to as "heads up digitizing" or "on-screen digitizing."
For "manual" watershed delination, one must know how to read and interpret a topographic map, for example to identify ridges, valleys, and the direction of steepest slope. Even in the computer era, manual watershed delineation is still a useful skill, in order to check whether watersheds generated with software are correct.
Instructions for manual watershed delineation can be found in some textbooks in geography or environmental management, in government pamphlets, or in online video tutorials.
According to the US Geological Survey, there are 5 steps to manual watershed delineation:
Find the point of interest along a stream on the map. This is the "watershed outlet" or "pour point."
Imagine or draw surface water flow lines that point downhill perpendicular to the topographic contours (this is the steepest direction).
Mark the location of topographical high points (peaks) around the stream.
Mark the points along contours that divide flows towards or away from the stream (ridges).
Connect the dots to delineate the watershed.
General Rules:
The watershed boundary should be perpendicular to contour lines where it crosses them.
The watershed boundary must not cross rivers or streams other than at the outlet. (In some cases, a blue line representing a man-made canal or pipeline may traverse your watershed boundary.)
The watershed boundary should run along ridgelines and connect high points.
One disadvantage to manual watershed delineation is that it is subject to errors and the individual judgment of the analyst. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency wrote, "bear in mind that delineating a watershed is an inexact science. Any two people, even if both are experts, will come up with slightly different boundaries."
Especially for smaller watersheds and when accurate results are important, field reconnaissance may be needed to find features that are not shown on maps. "Going out into the field allows you to identify human alterations, such as road ditches, storm sewers and culverts that could change the direction of waters flow and thus change the watershed boundaries."
Automated or computerized watershed delineation
Using computer software to delineate watersheds can be much faster than manual methods. It may also be more consistent, as it removes analyst's subjectivity. Automatic methods of watershed delineation have been in use since the 1980s, and are now in widespread use in the science and engineering communities. Researchers have even used computer methods to delineate watersheds on Mars.
Automated watershed delineation methods use digital data of the earth's elevation, a Digital Elevation Model, or DEM. Typically, algorithms use the method of "steepest slope" to calculate the flow direction from a grid cell (or pixel) to one of its neighbors.
It is possible to use DEMs in different formats for watershed delineation, such as a Triangular Irregular Network (TIN), or Hexagonal tiling however most contemporary algorithms make use of a regular rectangular grid. In the 1980s and 1990s, digital elevation models were often obtained by scanning and digitizing the contours on paper topographic maps, which were then converted to a TIN or a gridded DEM. More recently, the DEM is obtained by aerial or satellite remote sensing, using stereophotogrammetry, lidar, or radar.
To use a rectangular grid DEM for watershed delineation, it must first be processed or "conditioned" in order to return realistic results. The result is sometimes referred to as a "hydro-enforced" DEM or a "HydroDEM." Most of the software packages listed below can perform these functions on a "raw" DEM, or analysts can download hydrologically-conditioned DEMs such as the near-global HydroSHEDS, MERIT-Hydro, or EDNA for the continental United States. The usual steps for hydrologic conditioning of a DEM are:
Fill sinks.
"Burn in" the stream channels.
Calculate flow direction.
Calculate flow accumulation.
Additionally, some methods allow for "fencing ridgelines" and burning in flow pathways through lakes. Some methods also enforce a small slope onto flat areas so that flow will continue to move toward the outlet. The step of "burning in" stream channels involves artificially deepening the channel, by subtracting a large elevation value from pixels that represent the channel. This ensures that once flow has entered the channel, it will stay there rather than jumping out and flowing overland or into another channel. Some algorithms infer the location of channels automatically from the DEM. Better results are usually obtained by burning in mapped stream channels, or channels derived from satellite or aerial imagery.
There are several different algorithms available for calculating flow direction from a DEM. The first method, introduced by Australian geographers O'Callaghan and Mark in 1984, is referred to as D8. Water flows from a pixel to one of 8 possible directions to a neighboring cell (including diagonally), based on the direction of steepest slope. There are disadvantages to this method as water flow is limited to 8 directions, separated by 45°, which may result in unrealistic flow patterns. Also, because all of the flow is routed in one direction, the D8 method is unable to model situations where the flow diverges, such as on convex hillsides, in a river delta, or in branched or braided rivers. Alternative algorithms have been proposed and implemented to overcome this limitation, such as D∞. Nevertheless, the D8 algorithm remains in widespread use, and has been used to create important datasets such as HydroBasins and MERIT-Basins.
Computerized watershed delineation is not always correct. Some errors stem from incorrectly placing the watershed outlet on the digital river network, or "snapping the pour point." Another class of errors stems from inaccuracies in the digital terrain data, or where its resolution is too coarse to capture flow pathways. In general, DEMs with higher spatial resolution can more realistically describe topography of the land surface and flow direction. However, there is a tradeoff, as a finer grid with more pixels increases computing time. Nevertheless, even high-resolution data may not adequately capture flow pathways in complex environments like cities and suburbs, where flow is directed by curbs, culverts, and storm drains. Finally, some errors can result from the algorithm or the choice of parameters.
Because errors are common, some authorities insist that the results of automated delineation must be carefully checked. The US Geological Survey's standards for the US Watershed Boundary Dataset allow the use of software "to generate intermediate or “draft” boundary lines," which then must be verified by the analyst by overlaying them on a computer display over basemaps (scanned topographic maps, aerial photographs) to verify their accuracy.
Software for watershed delineation
Some of the first watershed delineation software was written in FORTRAN, such as CATCH and DEDNM.
Watershed delineation tools are a part of several Geographic Information System software packages such as ArcGIS, QGIS, and GRASS GIS. There are standalone programs for watershed delineation such as TauDEM. Watershed delineation tools are also incorporated into some hydrologic modeling software packages.
Software developers have also published libraries or modules in several languages (see list below). Many of these packages are free and open source, which means they can be expanded or adapted by those willing and able to write or modify code. Finally, there are web applications for delineating watersheds. Some of these web apps have extra features for science and engineering like calculating flow statistics or watershed land cover types (e.g.: StreamStats, Model My Watershed).
Standalone watershed delineation software
TauDEM, Toolbox for ArcGIS, or command line executable for Windows.
TOPAZ, from the US Department of Agriculture, Windows executable.
Hydrologic Modeling Software with Watershed Delineation Capability
WMS (hydrology software)
SWAT model
BASINS
BasinMaker, for use with the RAVEN software suite, for parts of US and Canada only
WEAP Model
GIS-based software
ESRI ArcGIS or the ArcGIS online web application
GRASS GIS, modules r.water, r.watershed, and r.stream
QGIS
SAGA GIS
Whitebox Geospatial Analysis Tools
ILWIS
TerrSet (formerly IDRISI)
TNTmips
MapWindow GIS
Manifold System
Web Applications
Global Watersheds, web app and API
Stream Stats, from the US Geological Survey, allows you to delineate watersheds in the US only
Model My Watershed, by the Stroud Water Research Center, US only, can delineate watersheds based on an outlet point, and perform analyses related to water quality
Ontario Watershed Information Tool, for the province of Ontario in Canada
Vector datasets of pre-delineated watersheds
There are a number of vector datasets representing watersheds as polygons that can be displayed and analyzed with GIS or other software. In these datasets, the entire land surface is divided into "subwatersheds" or "unit catchments." Individual unit watersheds can be combined or merged to find larger watersheds. The unit catchments have linked hydrological code data or similar metadata to create a flow network, so flow pathways and connections can be determined via network analysis.
This list is non-exhaustive, as many organizations and territories have produced their own watershed map data and have published via the web. Notable datasets include:
United States Watershed Boundary Dataset, website (continually updated)
Canadian National Hydrographic Network Watershed Boundaries, website
HydroBasins website (global, 2013)
Hydrologic Derivatives for Modeling and Applications (HDMA), (global, 2017)
MERIT-Basins, website (global, 2021)
Hydrography90m, website (2022, global, shows smaller headwater streams)
References
Drainage basins
Hydrology | Watershed delineation | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering",
"Environmental_science"
] | 2,451 | [
"Hydrology",
"Drainage basins",
"Environmental engineering"
] |
72,796,265 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurotus%20geesterani | Pleurotus geesterani, also known as pocket-sized oyster, is an edible species of fungus in the family Pleurotaceae, described as new to science by mycologist Rolf Singer in 1962. It can be cultivated, and it has gained popularity in China (under the name 秀珍菇, xiùzhēn gū) for its umami taste.
See also
List of Pleurotus species
References
External links
Fungi described in 1962
Pleurotaceae
Fungus species | Pleurotus geesterani | [
"Biology"
] | 99 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
72,796,926 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture%20of%20Porto%20Alegre | With a history of over two centuries, the architecture of Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, is a mosaic of ancient and modern styles. This characteristic is most visible in the center of the city, the historic urban center, where examples of eighteenth-century architecture survive amidst nineteenth-century and contemporary buildings.
Overview
The architectural evolution of Porto Alegre does not differ in its general mechanism from most large Brazilian cities, although it has some unique elements. Its condition of provincial capital almost from the beginning resulted in a tendency to expand and monumentalize. Today it is the largest city in the state, the seat of a Metropolitan Region, and one of the largest cities in Brazil. Throughout its history, it has collected an extensive series of monumental buildings, many of extraordinary value, and some advanced urban planning projects, but as a whole, this did not result in a coherent plan nor did it reveal a spirit of long-term planning, having grown vastly in a disorganized and poorly controlled way, with urban plans being very much linked to political and economic oscillations.
The architecture in the city began with the Portuguese colonial style, went through the neoclassical, eclectic, and modernist schools. Porto Alegre verticalized, expanded, merged with neighboring cities, and became a metropolis. Now its architecture is being renewed under the influence of postmodernism and globalization, developing a hybrid and internationalizing style. This has given rise to criticism about the de-characterization of its identity and the extensive destruction of irreplaceable historical architecture in the wave of "progress" and real estate speculation.
Today, the city is reorganizing its urban landscape with major infrastructure works, especially roads, and erecting significant examples of contemporary architecture. At the same time, it faces the challenges of growing into one of Brazil's largest capitals, with almost 1.5 million inhabitants. There is still a large population living in slums and without access to basic services, and dissatisfaction is growing with the directions that the public administration has adopted in the areas of urban planning, popular housing, use of special areas, urban mobility, nature preservation, and others. Urban revitalization projects promoted by the state and municipal governments, such as those of the Mauá Pier, the former Industrial District, and a program of concessions of parks and other public spaces to the private sector, have produced intense controversy.
The Portuguese Colonial Style
Porto Alegre was born due to the occupation of Rio Grande do Sul by Portuguese estancieiros and sesmeiros in the XVIII century, when this territory still legally belonged to the Spanish Crown. The settlement grew around a natural anchorage in the Guaíba Lake, a vast water mirror resulting from the merging of the mouth of four large rivers. This area is protected to the east and south by a gentle range of hills, which defines much of the geography of the place and also defines many architectural and urban solutions of the settlement. The lake, a few kilometers to the south, opens onto the Lagos dos Patos, which has communication with the sea at Rio Grande, difficult for ships, but highly sought after, as it is the only port and sea access to the interior of a large stretch of coastline that runs from Santa Catarina to the da Prata River. With these hydrographic characteristics and strategic importance, it would soon become an administrative headquarters of great importance in the geopolitics of the south of the continent. It became a flourishing commercial entrepôt and a busy fluvial port for ships of small and medium draught coming from the sea through Lagoa dos Patos, receiving goods, people, and even militias and settlers who would later be distributed throughout the vast surrounding region, both by land and up the various rivers that flowed into it. From this region, these people established contact with people from the Missões region - Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay - in addition to people from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Spain, and Portugal. It was a meeting point of many cultures, and its geography remains an important part of its cultural identity in contemporary times.
On December 7, 1744, Jerônimo de Ornellas received by royal charter possession of the land he had occupied since 1732 for animal husbandry, around the anchorage on the Guaíba known at the time as the Port of Viamão. Viamão was located a few kilometers to the east. Consolidating a series of previously sparse initiatives of occupation of the state, from 1752 onwards, families of Azorean immigrants sent by the Portuguese government began to arrive, giving rise to the historical center of the future Porto Alegre, and also to some conflicts with the first sesmeiro, Ornellas. The area was then expropriated and made legally available to the settlers already there, but the actual sharing and delivery of the individual lots would only happen in 1772. In 1760, a large surrounding region, ranging from the Central Depression, the northeast, and the entire coast, already de facto occupied by the Portuguese, was organized into the captaincy of Rio Grande de São Pedro. Indigenous peoples living in the area were gradually removed or exterminated. In 1772, the settlement was elevated to the status of a Freguesia, placed under the protection of Francis of Assisi, and officially named Freguesia de São Francisco do Porto dos Casais, in allusion to the Azorean couples who founded it, disconnecting it from the town of Viamão, then head of the Captaincy. Governor José Marcelino de Figueiredo then ordered the captain of engineering and cartographer Alexandre José Montanha to draw a plan. He organized the layout around the Alto da Praia, a hill by the lakeside from which there is an unobstructed view of the entire surroundings, an embryo of the Praça da Matriz (Matriz Square), the vital core of the settlement that would concentrate its main public buildings and then attract the elite.
In these early years, what was built was modest, and the buildings consisted of small adobe dwellings covered with straw scattered irregularly along the shores of the Guaíba. The first public place to appear was a cemetery, by the lake, but soon transferred to Alto da Praia. The Freguesia became the capital in 1773 even though it was not yet officially a village (this would only occur in 1809, permanently in 1810). The reason for the transfer of the political center to this place, which was still an inexpressive village, was due to its fortunate geographic location.
With this, came new infrastructure needs. Among them was the construction of the so-called "Clay Palace" ("Palácio de Barro"), the first important building of the small town, erected in 1773 at the behest of the governor, aiming to receive the general administration of the captaincy. The building was completed in 1789 and was used until 1896 when it was demolished. It was a two-story palace with two main floors and an attic, symmetrically organized - a central door with four windows on each side. Above, a row of windows, and a pitched roof. The openings had a curved arch, typical of colonial Baroque, and the upper ones received an ornamental cornice, also in a curve.
As the Freguesia grew and became richer, the quality of construction also improved, leaving the provisional in favor of the typical colonial style common to all of Brazil, a Portuguese heritage more permanent, voluminous, complex, and ornamental, and which is described aesthetically as a derivation of the Baroque. A special connection with the Azorean version of this Baroque is also often cited since the first waves of settlers came from the Azores, which had developed a rich architectural tradition, although this heritage is controversial.
However, the most ambitious project of this early settlement was the Mother Church ("Igreja Matriz"), whose construction was ordered in the ecclesiastical provision that created the Freguesia. The works began in 1780, based on a drawing sent ready-made by the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, whose authorship is unknown. Its design was late Baroque, or Rococo, and very simple, with little external ornamentation. Its most characteristic element was the delicate undulating pediment, which otherwise followed the functional plan of the Catholic church during the colony: a two-story façade in a tripartite scheme, with decorated openings, an ornamental pediment, and two lateral bell towers. Inside, as was colonial practice, it was more luxurious, with a vestibule under the choir, a nave, a chancel decorated with wood carving, a scenographic retable in the background, secondary altars in side niches, and statuary. The church was not exceptionally rich, but had a very significant internal decoration in a vigorous Rococo style, similar to what can still be seen today in the Mother Church of Viamão. Its construction took many years, and even without being finished, it already needed restoration, as can be seen in an order from the Count of Caxias in 1846 requiring the finishing of the left tower, plastering on the outside, and repairing of the roof that was already in ruins. From the same period and erected on the same site is the Casa da Junta, dated 1790, in a style very close to the Palácio de Barro, but smaller in size. It is the oldest building in the city still standing and served as the headquarters of the Legislative Assembly and the Board of Administration and Collection of the Treasury. Its current appearance is not entirely original, having been remodeled in the 19th century.
The heritage of the colonial style remained strong in the city until the end of the 19th century, especially regarding popular architecture; very austere, with ornaments reduced to a wrought iron railing in the upper floor openings, transformed into doors, and more rarely, a tile coating on the facade. Due to the needs imposed by the urban model of the time, partly for reasons of security and ease of defense in a time of constant military conflicts, the facades were attached, built on the alignment of public roads, with side walls on the limits of the land, leaving yards to the rear. The dwellings could be one or two stories high and built on long, narrow plots of land, their rooms were arranged in a row, mostly poorly ventilated and illuminated, some without any opening to the outside, the so-called alcoves. At the ends of the row were two larger rooms, a drawing room at the front and a multi-purpose room at the back, with a kitchen, dining room, and service area. The material used was adobe or brick, with tiled roofs that sometimes ended in curved eaves. They were plastered and whitewashed on the outside, and the openings had exposed wooden frames. One of the oldest examples of this urban type of residence that has survived to the present day is the Casa Ferreira de Azevedo, but in a ruinous condition, listed by the Municipality but abandoned by its owners.
The elite, on the other hand, built much larger houses and decorated interiors with increasing luxury, sometimes with extensive gardens and secondary buildings, such as the Solar dos Câmara, the oldest residential construction of the city still standing, today transformed into a cultural center. It was built by the Viscount of São Leopoldo between 1818 and 1824 and extensively remodeled in 1874. In the outskirts and rural areas, the manor house remained the most important style, conceived as a mere country house for occasional use or as the headquarters of a more or less self-sufficient production unit. It usually constituted an architectural ensemble composed of a manor house surrounded by improvements, such as storerooms, and slave quarters A good example is Solar Lopo Gonçalves, probably built between 1845 and 1855, still in good condition, being the headquarters of the Joaquim Felizardo Museum.
In the religious field, the 1807 Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows ("Igreja das Dores") is a highlight, the oldest surviving church in Porto Alegre and declared a National Heritage Site by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN). Although its projected colonial facade was modified in the early 20th century, its interior is practically intact and displays rich gilded carving. A decade later, the foundation stone of the Rosário Church ("Rosary Church") would be laid (also in colonial Baroque style) and demolished in 1951 amidst great controversy. Of the same aesthetic was the Our Lord of the Steps Chapel (" Capela Senhor dos Passos"), remodeled as a Neogothic building in 1909. In 1851, the Conceição ("Our Lady of Conception") Church was begun, designed, and decorated by João do Couto Silva, the only colonial-style church that has been preserved in its primitive state. In its carving, very rich, neoclassical traces can also be seen. In all of them, important statuary survives.
Neoclassicism and Eclecticism
By mid-century, Neoclassicism had become an important influence, and blended with the old colonial, giving rise to a variety of eclectic solutions, a trend that would dominate the landscape until the 1930s. Of Neoclassical profile, the most important remaining building is the Metropolitan Curia, built in 1865 with a project by Jules Villain (or Villiers), altered in detail by Johann Grünewald, composing a majestic ensemble of palatial dimensions that was hailed by Athos Damasceno as the only monument in the city worthy of its name:
Surpassing it in fame is the São Pedro Theater, whose project was elaborated in Rio de Janeiro and executed by Phillip von Normann. Inaugurated on June 27, 1858, with a capacity for 700 spectators and decorated in velvet and gold, at a time when Porto Alegre had little more than twenty thousand inhabitants, it is the oldest theater in the city. It suffered stark degradation and was almost demolished in the 1970s, but has been recovered. The theater was conceived with a twin building that rose across the street, the old Court of Justice, but this was destroyed by fire in the 1950s. The purest neoclassicism left scant remnants, among them the Torelly House and the Bonfim Chapel.
Soon Eclecticism would predominate. An imposing example is the Public Market, which replaced the earlier, smaller market. It was planned by engineer Frederico Heydtmann in 1861. The construction had its cornerstone laid in 1864, being inaugurated in 1869. The complex underwent substantial modification in the 1910s with the addition of a second floor, while preserving the style. Of similar stylistic characterization are the Museu do Comando Militar do Sul ("Museum of the Southern Military Command"), a large building inaugurated in 1867, built by master-operator Manoel Alves de Oliveira as an annex to the War Arsenal; the building of the 8th Military Service Circuit, erected on an earlier construction that housed the Royal Stores; and the Provisional Palace, whose design, by engineer Francisco Nunes de Miranda, was later modified by engineer Antônio Mascarenhas Telles de Freitas. Work on the Provisional Palace began in 1857 and the project included structural solutions that were advanced for the time, such as the roof slab with a system of double "T" steel profiles combined with compression bricks, forming small arches. Another imposing eclectic building was the House of Correction, later demolished, of neoclassical distribution and detailing that referred to military architecture. One of the grand examples of Porto Alegre's eclecticism is the historical complex of the São Pedro Psychiatric Hospital, which according to Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (IPHAE) technicians is:
Another aesthetic element that added diversity to the Porto Alegre Eclecticism was the Neogothic, which was restricted to the religious sphere. Present in the city since the mid-19th century, its first manifestations were discrete - a small chapel in Matriz Square, the Empire of the Holy Spirit, and the modified balustrades of the Metropolitan Curia. The style only gained visibility with the construction, in the early 20th century, of several important temples: the neogothic reform of the Passos Chapel, the Our Lady of Navigators church (Porto Alegre), the Santa Teresinha Church, likely the most refined (designed by Friar Cyríaco de São José), the Anglican Cathedral, the Methodist Cathedral, and the São Pedro Church, the most imposing of all, designed by Josef Hruby.
The "golden phase" of monumental architecture
With a more ornate Eclecticism is the Paço Municipal (Town Hall), designed by Giovanni Colfosco, an Italian. Its construction began in 1898, and it would be one of the first architectural examples to display the influence of Positivism, perceived in the complex network of allegories represented in the decorative statuary of the facade. It would also be one of the first monumental public buildings of what was called the "golden phase" of Porto Alegre's architecture. According to Beatriz Thiesen:
This desire for renewal brought several novelties to the city's architecture. A rich bourgeoisie formed mainly by descendants of German immigrants, together with the official spheres, gave the most decisive impulse, commissioning sumptuous works, at a time when the state was experiencing a phase of prosperity, having become the third economy in Brazil. The most important influences that defined the profile of the main buildings erected during this phase were French Pompier architecture, with its exuberant decorativism and ostentatious character, and the positivist philosophy adopted by the government, creating an idealistic iconography that mirrored visions of progress, civilization, hygiene, and order.
Construction techniques kept up with the development of technology and industry: reinforced concrete, steel, and cement were used more extensively for construction; buildings rose to greater heights; facade statuary multiplied and cheap solutions were found for its manufacture, such as cement molds. The decorative materials also changed, with stained glass windows, metal ornaments, wall paintings with landscapes and ornaments in the interiors, and marble for columns, floors, and other elements becoming common. Also important was the formulation in 1914 by the Municipal Government of the General Improvement Plan, possibly conceived by João Moreira Maciel, and considered by Helton Bello the greatest legacy of the positivist administration in urbanistic terms, as it was a fundamental instrument for the modernizing transformations that would consolidate soon after, supplanting the structure and urban image of colonial heritage.
The most significant names in this phase were Theodor Wiederspahn, German-born architect, owner of a powerful and original eclectic style, combining Renaissance, Neo-Baroque, and Neoclassical features with a luxurious decorative conception; Rudolf Ahrons, engineer-builder, head of a construction office that carried out the most important works, and João Vicente Friedrichs, owner of the most requested and populous local decoration studio, employing a multitude of local and foreign craftsmen with solid preparation, such as Alfred Adloff, Wenzel Folberger, Alfredo Staege, and many more. The partnership established between them lasted until 1914, when Ahrons' office closed, and left a series of imposing buildings, some accomplishing remarkable architectural feats, such as the building of the former Brahma Brewery, which at its inauguration was the largest reinforced concrete building in Brazil. Other examples are the Post and Telegraph Office, the Medical School of the UFRGS, and the Tax Police Station building, whose authorship by Wiederspahn is controversial but likely.
Günter Weimer also attributes to him the basic layout of the new Metropolitan Cathedral, which replaced the old Matriz, although credit for the project is usually given to the Italian Giovanni Giovenalle. Wiederspahn would continue designing after Ahrons' withdrawal from the market, still often relying on Friedrichs for decoration. His work counts more than 500 projects, not only in Porto Alegre. Many of them no longer exist but are preserved as the Ely Building, the Hotel Majestic, and the Previdência do Sul, in addition to more than a dozen palaces for the elite. For Maturino Luz, his role in the history of architecture in Porto Alegre compares, keeping the proportions, to that of Gaudí in Barcelona. He was one of the founders of a School of Arts and Crafts and the first union of architects.
Manoel Itaqui, one of the introducers of Art Nouveau, designed several buildings in the central campus of Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul such as the Castelinho ("Little castle"), the Astronomical Observatory, as well as the former headquarters (now gone) of Colégio Júlio de Castilhos and the Otávio Rocha Viaduct (the latter in partnership with Duilio Bernardi); Hermann Menschen, author of the UFRGS Law School and several residences; Affonso Hebert, whose most notable work is the State Public Library; and finally the Frenchman Maurice Gras, author of only one project in the city, but of great importance, the Piratini Palace, the current seat of the State Government and official residence of the governor.
Some examples, in particular, can also be cited for being rare or outstanding in their type, such as Carvalho Pharmacy and Godoy House, among the few examples of Art Nouveau in its purest state; Confeitaria Rocco, with its monumental Atlas; the old Army Headquarters, with Moorish and medieval influence; the Palmeiro and Argentina palaces, typical residences of the elite, of great sumptuousness; the Banco da Província, with rich stained-glass windows and decoration. The remaining set on Travessa dos Venezianos, on the other hand, is a good example of simplified Eclecticism, adapted to the low-income classes.
Representatives of industrial architecture include the Gasômetro power plant, the aforementioned Brahma Brewery, the Moinho Rio-Grandense, and several other buildings in the former Industrial District. Worthy of note is the Cais Mauá complex, designed by Ahrons, a vast public work that cost decades of work, representing one of the greatest efforts by the government and society of Rio Grande do Sul in the early twentieth century toward urban modernization and economic development. The structures erected also set new standards of hygiene, functionality, and aesthetics for civil construction, particularly notable are the large central iron portico and the side, collapsible warehouses, which were imported from France.
The next generation was more adept of Art Deco, considered the last eclectic derivation or the first stage of Modernism, where Fernando Corona, Armando Boni, and Joseph Lutzenberger stood out. The Deco aesthetic abandons the heavy decorativism of late Eclecticism in search of solutions with reduced ornamentation and more integration with the functionality and structure of the spaces, which, together with advances in construction techniques, made possible the beginning of the verticalization process of the city. Its works reflect this new synthesis, a new vision of progress and beauty linked to simplicity, rationality, practicality, and structural authenticity, ideas that would be radicalized by the modernists.
The Deco presence was detected between 1920 and 1930, preceding Modernism in the city by about 10 years. Corona began as a sculptor, a pupil of Friedrichs, but soon ventured into architecture, with good results. He adapted the exterior of a project by Wiederspahn for the Província Bank, now the Farol Santander, and designed the Chaves Gallery and the Flores da Cunha Institute of Education. Boni designed the Globo Library building, the Concha Acústica of the former Araújo Vianna Auditorium, and the São Miguel e Almas Cemetery, the first vertical cemetery in Latin America, as well as several other public and private works, such as his own residence. Lutzenberger came from Germany to work at the construction company Weis & Cia, designing important buildings such as the São José Church, the Comércio Palace, and the Pão dos Pobres Foundation. The works of the three creators were hailed by their contemporaries as landmarks of the most modern architecture, and remain among the most significant examples of the building style in the city in the interwar period, with several of them being protected by the public authorities.
Modernism
According to Davit Eskinazi, it was only in the mid-1930s, more precisely on the occasion of the Farroupilha Revolution Centennial Fair in 1935, that the first examples of clearly modern architecture began to appear on the urban scene of Porto Alegre:
By the 1930s the old General Improvement Plan was obsolete, and the city required a new organization. Edvaldo Paiva and Ubatuba de Faria, city employees, and Arnaldo Gladosch, hired in Rio de Janeiro, sketched some tests of reorganization of the central urban network according to modern principles, but none was fully implemented. In parallel, another model for the city's peripheral and horizontal expansion was devised. Several neighborhoods or residential subdivisions that emerged mainly in the 1930s and 1940s proposed a local interpretation of the "garden city" prototype, with an organic layout, isolated low-scale buildings, and dense vegetation, the best examples of which are Vila Jardim, Vila Assunção, and Vila Conceição.
A decade later, everything that once was a tradition in architecture seemed to have disappeared, and the avant-garde was already working only with essential geometric shapes, stripped of all decorative artifice. In 1946, one of the first buildings erected in Porto Alegre in the typically modernist aesthetic, the Colégio Venezuela, by Demétrio Ribeiro, retained only residual traces of traditional architecture. At the same time, Edgar Graeff, a graduate of the National Faculty of Architecture at the University of Brazil, began working in the city, having had first-hand contact with the pioneers of Modernism in Brazil. His work induced a more or less general adoption of elements derived from the work of Lúcio Costa, Oscar Niemeyer, and other exponents of the Rio school, which was in turn a derivation of the Le Corbusier school. According to Carlos Goldman:
Another prominent name, arriving at the same time with the same training was Carlos Alberto de Holanda Mendonça, leaving a large number of works in less than a decade of activity, some of great size. In 1948, the state department of the Institute of Architects of Brazil was created, opening a new forum for specialized debates, and in 1949 the first class of the architecture course of the Institute of Fine Arts of the UFRGS graduated, introducing a new regular flow of new and qualified professionals in the market.
By the 1950s, Modernism was already well established. Examples are the Farroupilha Palace, designed by Gregório Zolko and Wolfgang Schoedon for the Legislative Assembly, and the Palace of Justice, designed by Fernando Corona and Carlos Fayet, both of which were built following entirely modernist principles. Other highlights from this phase include the Hipódromo do Cristal and the Esplanada Building, both by Uruguayan Román Fresnedo Siri; the Fêmina Hospital, by Irineu Breitman; the old headquarters of the Salgado Filho Airport, by Nelson Souza; and the initial layout of the Hospital de Clínicas, by Jorge Moreira, which, had it not been later distorted, would have been, according to Marcos da Silva, one of the architectural landmarks of the gaucho capital. By this time the urban center was already full of buildings of considerable height, with Emil Bered and Salomão Kruchin standing out as authors of several residential buildings.
The rapid population expansion was forcing urban planners to find housing solutions on a large scale. Among the initiatives to solve the problem, the Conjunto Residencial do Passo D'Areia was built, one of the most successful projects of all those executed at the time, and it was recently declared a Cultural Heritage of the city. At the end of the decade, the first Master Plan of Porto Alegre was finally implemented, composed by Edvaldo Paiva and Demétrio Ribeiro, based on the Charter of Athens, and supported by specific legislation (Law 2046/59). For Helton Bello, with this Plan, the verticalization of the city was accentuated, making Porto Alegre:
As an effect of Juscelino Kubitschek's developmentalism and with the addition of the patriotic feeling generated by the Brazilian Miracle after the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état, the Modernism of the Rio school gradually lost space to a brutalist variant originating in São Paulo, which by 1970 was the dominant trend throughout the country. It offered a vigorous and monumental visual appeal in a model convenient for the volume and size of the opportunities offered by the Brazilian Miracle when the country's GDP was growing at an average of 11.2% per year, and the military dictatorship intensified.
The verticalization accelerated, and extensive housing developments financed by the National Housing Bank were built in the suburbs. But the technical approach of the projects disregarded elementary aspects of urban landscaping and favored the de-characterization of the historic center, with the disappearance of numerous eclectic buildings, some of great value, and the last remnants of colonial architecture, both residential and public. Faced with the disregard towards the past, some intellectuals began to protest against so many demolitions, launching the seeds for the formation of a preservationist conscience that would slowly gain body among the people from Porto Alegre. And as a contradiction to the government's exacerbated patriotic program, in this period, favelas began to appear in the surrounding area. The city was thus isolated from Lake Guaíba and the port that gave it its name with the construction of an extensive wall to prevent flooding.
The modernist principles were still in use, as an extension of the Athens Charter, which was endorsed by the new Master Plan of 1979, although some innovations were introduced, such as an inspiration in the superblocks model used in Brasília and greater community participation in decisions through Municipal Councils. The overall quality of the buildings, however, declined. On the other hand, academia was already starting to review Modernism, and the influence of Uruguayan architects became significant, introducing new technical resources such as reinforced ceramics. Some of the most prominent works in this period were the State Administrative Center, by Charles Hugaud, Cairo da Silva and others; the Central Supply Station, by Carlos Fayet, Carlos Comas, and Cláudio Araújo; and the Memphis industries buildings, by Araújo and Cláudia Frota.
Contemporaneity
The 1979 Plan was not entirely successful in its application, the new construction indexes gave rise to a series of frictions among residents of the residential zones, and between them, the public authorities and real estate agents, due to the authorization of higher buildings in predominantly one-story areas, breaking up the residential fabric of some traditional neighborhoods by buildings of up to 20 stories. The controversy led to a new reformulation of the legislation in the 1980s. It was then that it was definitively understood that a mutually comprehensive alliance would be necessary not only between architecture and urbanism for a harmonious general growth, but also to attract other areas of knowledge to the discussion and to imagine solutions that were more dynamic, realistic and adaptable to the increasingly fluent profile of society, developing strategic plans based on the axes of structuring and urban mobility, the forms of private land use, environmental qualification, economic promotion and a series of more up-to-date planning criteria, taking into account aspects of collective memory, cultural identity, and human coexistence. The success of proposals in this direction over the years, including new revisions of the Master Plan, has proven to be very controversial, with progress and throwbacks. There are still zones of problematic occupation, real estate speculation continues to pressure public authorities and influence decisions, and serious problems of popular housing remain to be solved.
In parallel, with the creation in 1981 of the Historical and Cultural Heritage Team, shortly afterward linked to the Coordination of Cultural Memory of the Municipal Secretariat of Culture, a process of study and rescue of the cultural assets owned by the Municipality of special historical, social, and architectural interest was started, systematizing the municipal registrations, which had started a few years before, in 1979. This performance was strengthened by the installation of IPHAN's regional office, taking care of national interests in the area of historical heritage throughout the state, and of the Coordenadoria do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico do Estado ("State Historical and Artistic Heritage Coordination'), IPHAE's predecessor, both in 1979. These institutions have been carrying out several federal and state level preservation actions in the city. The existence of the "historic center" was also recognized, and conservation and sustainable development measures were proposed, as well as other stabilized areas such as the "garden-city" neighborhoods and areas of special cultural interest.
A new consciousness towards old buildings and green areas was born, and many secular buildings that were on the demolition list were saved. The case of the Capela do Bonfim is exemplary in this sense. After many years of abandonment and degradation, it caught fire in what was suspected to be arson. Important elements were lost, such as the carved retable, and under the pretext of being too ruined, it was almost demolished, but society reacted, and all the subsequent commotion contributed to an imprint in everyone's conscience, citizens, and public power, of the value of memory, art, history and its material testimonies. The chapel was eventually listed and restored in 1983.
However, the performance of the institutions of historic heritage preservation is still frequently hampered by opposing private interests, by the slowness of the processes of listing, and by a chronic insufficiency of funds. Thus, even though the work in this direction has advanced much, with the intensification of municipal actions and the recent listing of more than 130 buildings of the historic center by the Monumenta Program, of the Ministry of Culture, the public powers still have taken a long time to protect buildings of the importance of the Conceição Church and the Catedral-Cúria complex (listed in 2007 and 2009 respectively). Also, that buildings which already are protected are being demolished even with the legal instruments established, and that a number of other historic buildings still do not receive any official care.
In aesthetic terms, in the last decades, there has been a decline of the Modernist school and its replacement by the values of Post-Modernism, re-reading historical styles, and creating a new sense of eclecticism, freedom, and formal democracy. The most paradigmatic examples of this trend are the shopping centers that in recent years have punctuated the landscape, many of them with bold formal solutions, extravagant decoration, and a high-tech spirit.
Some critics refuse to recognize a truly living architecture in the present in Porto Alegre, no longer find works that can stand as cultural references and urban landmarks, and denounce an identity crisis in local production. But for others, the high level of debate about architecture, which attracts international personalities, the success of revitalization projects of old areas and structures by local architects, such as the Nova Olaria Shopping Center, and the work in the city of renowned foreign designers, such as Álvaro Siza, responsible for the Iberê Camargo Foundation building - considered a masterpiece - indicates that Porto Alegre's architecture maintains an appreciable dynamism and is integrated to what is happening in the rest of the world. This most recent phase in the evolution of Porto Alegre's architecture is, however, still in need of further study and documentation.
In recent years, the public administration has undertaken major infrastructure renovation works, in terms of urban mobility, urban planning of public spaces, green areas, and others. The works for the 2014 World Cup have become notorious, however, at the same time that the official instances make great propaganda of this activity, pointing to alleged economic, social, environmental, and cultural benefits, criticism mounts: Accusations of technical errors, various irregularities, corruption, and human rights violations multiply, and influential sectors of the population claim that they are not being heard, triggering many protests, which have sometimes ended in violence.
Examples are "urban revitalization" projects such as that of Cais Mauá ("Mauá Pier"), the Historic Center, and the former Industrial District (4th District), as well as state and municipal programs to grant parks, squares, and cultural facilities to private investors. The latter produced controversies, being accused of promoting gentrification of selected areas and commodifying public spaces, and enriching entrepreneurs to the detriment of the real interests of the population, especially the poorest. Associated with this model of urban renewal, which has persisted for many years, come real estate speculation, threats to the quality of life and historical heritage, dismantling of the Master Plan, and governance of the environment. Since 2021, there has been only one municipal secretariat to manage the areas of Environment, Urbanism, Sustainability, and Historic Heritage.
Mayor Sebastião Melo promised in January 2022 to send a new "very liberal" Master Plan to the City Council, and that in the meantime he will try to introduce punctual changes. Interviewed on the occasion, Melo said that "our government is very liberal in the economy, liberal for the entrepreneur, in opening businesses, but has a very strong eye for the social." There is criticism that several large urbanistic projects have been approved contrary to the Master Plan and environmental norms. In the opinion of André Augustin, from the Observatório das Metrópoles, there is "strong state action to build a city that generates profit for certain sectors. If anyone has doubts about who are the beneficiaries of this real estate valorization policy, just look at the campaign financing data released by TSE ("Superior Electoral Court"). Among the biggest donors to Melo's 2020 campaign are partners from companies like Goldztein, Cyrela, Melnick, CFL, Multiplan, and Arado Empreendimentos. It is for these that Porto Alegre is governed, whether in transportation policy, sanitation, or changes in the Master Plan." Despite all the advances, the housing deficit remains: According to IBGE, 192,885 people were still living in the city's 108 favelas in 2010, without access to essential services.
See also
Architecture of Brazil
References
Architecture by city
Porto Alegre
Rio Grande do Sul
Architecture in Brazil | Architecture of Porto Alegre | [
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72,797,009 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioconvergence | Bioconvergence is a multidisciplinary approach in life sciences that combines the disciplines of biotechnology, engineering, and computing to address complex challenges. The method is used in diagnostic processes and in the development of materials and pharmaceuticals. In addition to healthcare, bioconvergence contributes to improvements in sectors such as agriculture, energy, food, security, and climate. Research by McKinsey & Company indicates that the majority of bioconvergence's potential uses fall outside the healthcare sector, in areas like agriculture, aquaculture, consumer products, novel materials, chemistry, and energy. McKinsey estimates that bioconvergence solutions currently under development could generate an economic impact of up to annually within the next 10 to 20 years.
Implications
Bioconvergence uses methods from various disciplines such as biology, engineering, medicine, agriculture, computational sciences and artificial intelligence (AI), in order to solve challenges across several sectors.
Healthcare
Bioconvergence technologies in healthcare may include translational medicine, enabling the extraction of new insights from massive data sets; neuromorphic computing, which seeks to emulate the biological neural structure of the brain to increase processing performance and energy efficiency; creation of digital twins for clinical trials; and biochips such as an "organ on a chip" (OOC). Other potential implications of bioconvergence include new methods of using nanorobotics for drug delivery, regenerative medicine, diagnostics and biological sensors, optogenetics, bioelectronics, engineered "living" materials, and more. According to Belén Garijo, CEO of Merck, bioconvergence can also bring about the potential of personalized medicine".
Food and agriculture
Traditional agriculture relies on land, water, and a suitable climate. Proponents of bioconvergence research attest that its technologies could be used to grow food anywhere in labs and indoor vertical farms.
Potential applications also include new ways to conduct breeding of animals and plants using molecular or genetic markers that may be quicker than established selective-breeding methods; more precise tools for genetic engineering of plants; use of the microbiome of plants, soil, animals, and water to improve the quality and productivity of agricultural production; and the development of alternative proteins, including cultured meat, alternative eggs, and alternative milk.
Energy, climate and advanced materials
Bioconvergence could transform the natural resource sector through new ways of making and obtaining raw materials and fuels, as well as new manufacturing techniques. This could potentially reduce consumption of natural resources.
History
The term "bioconvergence" was used in 2005 to describe the integration of bio- and information-technologies into the healthcare industry. Since 2020, it has gained wider recognition.
In April 2020, The European Investment Bank and the Israel Innovation Authority concluded a cooperation agreement to jointly pursue investments in the globally emerging domain of bioconvergence.
In March 2021, the US National Intelligence Council (NIC), which bridges the United States Intelligence Community with policy makers in the US, published a research paper on the "Future of Biology", concluding that "During the next 20 years, a more multidisciplinary and data-intensive approach to life sciences will shift our understanding of and ability to manipulate living matter. These disciplines, combined with cognitive science, nanotechnology, physics, and others, are propelling new leaps in our understanding. It is anticipated that the collective application of these diverse technologies to the life sciences—known as bioconvergence— will accelerate discovery and predictability in biotech design and production."
In September 2021, CELLINK Life Sciences, a Swedish publicly traded company that commercialized the first bio-based ink in 2016, changed its group name to BICO Group, short for "bioconvergence." It is building a portfolio that blends biology, engineering and computer science technologies and considering acquisition opportunities in bioconvergence technology companies.
In May 2022, Israel launched a 5-year national plan worth () to boost research and development in bioconvergence. Also in May 2022, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Soroka Medical Center announced a strategic collaboration for the development of novel technologies in the field of bioconvergence.
In October 2022, Japan announced that it will establish a global center of bioconvergence innovation in the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. It will be supported by a grant from the Japan Science and Technology Agency JST Program on Open Innovation Platform for Academia-Industry Co-Creation.
According to a McKinsey report on public policy and "Biological innovations for complex problems", the Israel Innovation Authority is "investing in bioconvergence technologies to ensure that professionals in biology, computer science, mathematics, engineering, and nanoscience work seamlessly together". The Israel Innovation Authority views bioconvergence as potentially "one of the next significant growth engines of Israeli high-tech".
Market
According to research company Grand View Research, the global bioconvergence market was valued at USD 110.9 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4% from 2022 to 2030. The significant market growth can be attributed to the increasing elderly population and the accelerating stem cell technology for the fixing of injured cells, tissues, and organs. A McKinsey report in 2020 suggests that a pipeline of over 400 scientifically feasible use cases are already visible, and that these applications alone could have direct economic impact of up to per year over the next 10 to 20 years.
References
Further reading
Biotechnology
Biological engineering
Medical technology | Bioconvergence | [
"Engineering",
"Biology"
] | 1,142 | [
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72,797,083 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchwaldoboletus%20brachyspermus | Buchwaldoboletus brachyspermus is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae native to Martinique.
Taxonomy and naming
Originally described by David Norman Pegler as Pulveroboletus brachyspermus in 1983, it was given its current name by Ernst Both and Beatriz Ortiz-Santana in "A Preliminary Survey of the Genus Buchwaldoboletus", published in Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences in 2011.
Description
The cap is convex and viscid. Its color is brown. Unlike many Buchwaldoboletus species, the skin is not separated from the flesh by a thin gelatinous layer. The pores are small and angular, olivaceous yellow, bruising greenish blue. The stipe is russet-colored with a yellow floccose layer over the basal area, and there is a yellow bluing mycelium at the stipe base.
Spores are small and measure 4.7–6.2 by 3.5–4.2 μm.
Distribution and ecology
Buchwaldoboletus brachyspermus has been recorded in Martinique, growing on decaying wood of dicotyledon plants in xero-mesophytic forests.
References
External links
Boletaceae
Fungi described in 1983
Fungi of the Caribbean
Fungus species | Buchwaldoboletus brachyspermus | [
"Biology"
] | 272 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
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72,797,186 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/44%20Tauri | 44 Tauri, also known as HD 1287 and IM Tauri, is a star located about 210 light years from the Earth, in the constellation Taurus. It is a 5th magnitude star, making it faintly visible to the naked eye of an observer located far from city lights. It is a Delta Scuti variable star, ranging between magnitude 5.37 and 5.58 over a period of about 3.5 hours.
In 1966, Ivan Danziger and Robert Dickens discovered that 44 Tauri was a low amplitude variable star, with a period of approximately 3.22 hours. In a follow-up study published the next year, they reported that the period was irregular, indicating beat phenomena, and they classified it as a δ Scuti variable. In 1968, 44 Tauri was given the variable star designation IM Tauri.
44 Tauri has been a popular object for detailed astroseismic and spectroscopic studies, because its very slow (relative to other δ Scuti stars) rotation speed of km/sec does not complicate pulsation mode identification or greatly broaden spectral lines. As of 2010, 44 Tauri had been found to pulsate with 15 independent periods, ranging from 1.89 to 4.52 hours.
References
Taurus (constellation)
019513
026322
Durchmusterung objects
Tauri, IM
Tauri, 044
Delta Scuti variables
F-type subgiants
Tauri, p | 44 Tauri | [
"Astronomy"
] | 297 | [
"Taurus (constellation)",
"Constellations"
] |
72,797,459 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchwaldoboletus%20sphaerocephalus | Buchwaldoboletus sphaerocephalus is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae native to Europe, North America and Southwest Australia.
Taxonomy and naming
Originally described by Jean-Baptiste Barla as Boletus sphaerocephalus in 1859, it was given its current name by Roy Watling & Tai Hui Li in 2004.
Description
The cap is convex, glabrous, silky and tomentose, viscid when wet. Its color is yellow to yellow-fulvus. The pores are small, tubes short, adnate ventricose, and context yellow, bluing when bruised. The stipe is fleshy, ventricose, and there is a yellow mycelium at the stipe base.
Spores are ovoid, pale ochraceous and measure 5.5–7.2 by 3.3–4.5 μm.
Distribution and ecology
Buchwaldoboletus sphaerocephalus has been recorded in Europe, North America and Southwest Australia, growing in clusters on sawdust of pines, often in enclosed areas.
References
External links
Boletaceae
Fungi described in 1859
Fungi of Europe
Fungi of North America
Fungi of Australia
Fungus species | Buchwaldoboletus sphaerocephalus | [
"Biology"
] | 253 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
72,797,693 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchwaldoboletus%20pseudolignicola | Buchwaldoboletus pseudolignicola is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae native to Japan.
Taxonomy and naming
Originally described as Pulveroboletus pseudolignicola in 1987, it was reclassified to the genus Buchwaldoboletus in 2011.
Description
The cap is 4–17 cm, pulvinate to plane, velutinous, silky and tomentose, viscid when wet. Its color is yellow to cinnamon-brown. The pores are small and chrome yellow, tubes arcuate-decurrent; yellow, and context yellow, bluing when bruised. The stipe is 5–8 cm × 2–6 mm, central to sub eccentric, firm, yellow to orange, darker toward the base, bruising blue, and there is a yellow mycelium at the stipe base.
Spores are 5–7 × by.5–4.5 μm.
Distribution and ecology
Buchwaldoboletus sphaerocephalus has been recorded in Japan, growing on sawdust of pines, fruiting July to September.
References
External links
Boletaceae
Fungi described in 1987
Fungi of Japan
Fungus species | Buchwaldoboletus pseudolignicola | [
"Biology"
] | 245 | [
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
72,798,347 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary%20Lai | Gary Lai is an American aerospace engineer. He was the chief architect for New Shepard, a vehicle developed by aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin for space tourism. On March 31, 2022, he flew on New Shepard's 20th mission to space, NS-20. He is a Co-Founder and the Chief Technology Officer of a company called Interlune.
Early life and education
Lai was born in Hong Kong in 1973. He grew up in the New York City metro area and attended Cornell University, graduating in 1995 with a degree in Applied Economics and Business Management. He credited a class he took at Cornell with the late astronomer Carl Sagan in his senior year as steering him towards a career in engineering and space exploration. After Cornell, he attended the University of Washington and graduated with a degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 1999.
Career
Lai worked at Kistler Aerospace in Kirkland, Washington, a company that was eventually acquired and renamed Rocketplane Kistler. At Kistler, he worked as a payload systems engineer for the K-1 launch vehicle, a project to develop a fully reusable, two-stage vehicle to launch payloads to orbit from Australia. Lai is named as a co-inventor on two of Kistler Aerospace's patents for its payload systems.
In 2004, Lai joined Blue Origin, an American aerospace manufacturer founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, as one of its first 20 employees. The roles he held at Blue Origin include Senior Director of Design Engineering, System Architect, Crew Capsule Element Lead, NASA Commercial Crew Development Program Manager, Lead Systems Engineer, and Pathfinding Lead with responsibility for advanced research and development. In addition to New Shepard, Lai was involved in product development, strategic planning, and business development for other Blue Origin programs including the New Glenn orbital launch vehicle, rocket engine programs, and the Blue Moon lunar lander.
On April 14, 2021, Lai participated in NS-15, the 15th test flight of New Shepard, a rehearsal for a human spaceflight. He, along with another company employee, Audrey Powers, entered the capsule after the booster was fueled and strapped into the seats. After a few minutes, they exited the capsule and left the launch pad before the vehicle took off.
NS-15 was the last rehearsal before New Shepard's first human spaceflight, NS-16, carrying Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, pilot and Mercury 13 member Wally Funk, and Dutch student Oliver Daemen to suborbital space. Before NS-16, Lai was a company spokesperson on the safety systems of New Shepard, interviewed by Bloomberg Technology, CNN, the Washington Post, and other outlets. Lai co-hosted the Blue Origin live webcast of NS-16 with Ariane Cornell.
Lai subsequently flew on New Shepard himself on the NS-20 flight on March 31, 2022. The seat was originally going to be occupied by comedian Pete Davidson, but the company announced he would no longer fly and announced Lai as his replacement. Lai, unlike the other passengers, did not pay for the flight. In advance of NS-20, Blue Origin published a video on his contributions to New Shepard and his thoughts on his upcoming spaceflight, describing him as “the architect of New Shepard.”
Lai is a member of the University of Washington Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics External Advisory Board. He received a Stellar award from the RNASA Foundation in 2017 for, “Outstanding leadership of the New Shepard technical team, which performed five launches and landings of the same booster in one year.” He is credited by Blue Origin for leading the technical team that won the 2016 Collier Trophy. He received a Pathfinder Award from the Museum of Flight in 2023, given to individuals "with ties to the Pacific Northwest who have made significant contributions to the development of the aerospace industry."
During the ceremony at the Museum of Flight where he received the Pathfinder award, Lai revealed that he had co-founded a company called Interlune. Lai said the other founders include Rob Meyerson, who was Blue Origin’s president from 2003 to 2018; and Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt, a geologist who set foot on the Moon in 1972 and served in the U.S. Senate from 1977 to 1983. Lai said, "We aim to be the first company that harvests natural resources from the moon to use here on Earth. We’re building a completely novel approach to extract those resources, efficiently, cost-effectively and also responsibly. The goal is really to create a sustainable in-space economy.”
References
Aerospace engineers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Cornell University alumni
New Shepard passengers
People who have flown in suborbital spaceflight | Gary Lai | [
"Engineering"
] | 961 | [
"Aerospace engineers",
"Aerospace engineering"
] |
72,799,686 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculator%20%28Nintendo%20Switch%29 | Calculator is a software calculator released by Sabec for the Nintendo Switch, a video game console, in May 2021. It was widely criticized for its price point and platform, with critics noting that better-suited devices featured free software with equivalent functionality. As an Internet meme, it became one of Metacritic's best-rated games for the Switch by user score. Calculator was cited as an influence on subsequent utility software releases on the Nintendo eShop.
Overview
Calculator replicates a scientific calculator, including methods to compute elementary arithmetic, trigonometric functions, and logarithms. It visually resembles the calculator app bundled with iOS devices. Calculator was developed by the British company Sabec for the Nintendo Switch, a video game console. Before it, the company had been known to release utility software and simple games for the platform. These include a piano, drum set, and guitar, as well as a night vision app that uses the Joy-Con's infrared sensor. TouchArcades Shaun Musgrave, who had regularly reported on Sabec's releases, regarded them as "over-priced, virtually useless software". Calculator was first listed on the Nintendo eShop on May 11, 2021, and released on May 12. It was priced at or . Sabec advertised it as suited for students and engineers. The app was later rated for ages 3 and up by the International Age Rating Coalition and then released in Japan on June 24 at .
Reception
Calculator was the first Sabec app to go viral. It was widely criticized for its price point, which was more expensive than some physical calculators, while not having more features than free alternatives for smartphones and personal computers. Publications that criticized Calculator's price–performance ratio include CNET, Engadget, Eurogamer, GameSpot, Gfinity, Kotaku, Nintendo Life, and TechRadar. Several critics questioned its usefulness, similar to the web browser on the PlayStation 5, as there were devices better suited to use as calculators. Musgrave considered it to not be the company's worst release and highlighted the comedic aspect of using a calculator on a gaming platform. In his review for Gfinity, Henry Stockdale noted that the app's widescreen layout felt unnatural for a calculator. Adam Vjestica, writing for TechRadar, considered Calculator proof of the faulty maintenance of the eShop, saying that "the bar is so low, that as long as a game works, it'll be allowed to slither onto the eShop, even if it stinks up the joint in the process". He believed that the number of low-quality releases, as well as the media coverage they attained, hampered the visibility of higher-quality indie games.
Calculator became an Internet meme. On Metacritic, a review aggregator for video games and other media, users review-bombed the app with perfect 10/10 scores accompanied by humorous comments. This gave Calculator an average user score of 9.1/10 within days of its release, ranking it as the fifth-best Switch game by user score, on par with Monster Hunter Rise. In speedrunning, the video game streamer SmallAnt set the record for counting to 1,000 using Calculator in 38 seconds.
Legacy
Shortly following the popularity of Calculator, Sabec released further non-game software to the eShop, including a xylophone, a handpan, and Spy Alarm, which uses the Joy-Con's infrared sensor to detect motion. The company also developed licensed games based on the British game show Bullseye and the character Popeye. Calculator has been cited as an influence on other non-game products entering the eShop, such as the note-taking software Notes released by Game Nacional in June 2021. In August, it spawned the multiplayer game Battle Calculator by Blacksmith DoubleCircle, in which up to four players compete to compute a given number as quickly as possible.
See also
The Last Hope: Dead Zone Survivalanother product cited when criticizing the eShop's quality control
References
2021 video games
Internet memes introduced in 2021
Nintendo Switch games
Nintendo Switch-only games
Software calculators
Utility software
Video game memes
Video games developed in the United Kingdom | Calculator (Nintendo Switch) | [
"Mathematics"
] | 901 | [
"Software calculators",
"Mathematical software"
] |
72,800,198 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysine%20acetylsalicylate | Lysine acetylsalicylate, also known as aspirin DL-lysine or lysine aspirin, is a more soluble form of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin). As with aspirin itself, it is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic and antipyretic properties. It is composed of the ammonium form of the amino acid lysine paired with the conjugate base of aspirin.
Lysine acetylsalicylate was developed for intravenous administration in acute pain management, enabling faster onset of action compared to oral aspirin. Adverse effects are similar to those of orally administered aspirin, including upset stomach, and heartburn. In more serious cases, it can cause peptic ulcers, gastric bleeding, and exacerbate asthma. Due to its antithrombotic properties, patients using lysine acetylsalicylate or oral aspirin have an increased risk of bleeding especially for patients on blood thinning medications. It should not be used in children with infections, as it poses a risk of Reye syndrome, nor should it be used in the final trimester of pregnancy due to risks of premature closure of the foramen ovale in the fetal heart.
The therapeutic effects of salicylic acids were first documented in 1763 by Edward Stone, with acetylsalicylic acid being synthesized by Felix Hoffmann, a chemist working under Bayer, in 1897. Acetylsalicylic acid-derived salt compounds were first discovered in 1970, and the synthesis of lysine acetylsalicylate was first documented in 1978.
Mechanism of action
Lysine acetylsalicylate is considered a prodrug, requiring it to be metabolized before displaying its therapeutic properties. After administration, lysine acetylsalicylate is hydrolyzed, separating into lysine and acetylsalicylate compounds.
Cyclo-oxygenase enzyme (COX) inhibition
Two forms of COX enzymes have been identified, COX-1 and COX-2. COX enzymes are responsible for catalyzing the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins, which are used as precursors for other substances, in particular thromboxane A2. Thromboxane A2 is a potent platelet activator, inducing changes in platelets that ultimately promote aggregation and the formation of clots. Thromboxane A2 also displays vasoconstrictor properties by acting on vascular smooth muscle cells. Prostaglandins are also important mediators of the inflammatory response, with high levels of prostaglandins being seen in inflamed tissues.
Acetylsalicylate compounds act as inhibitors of COX-1 and COX-2 enzyme activity, enabling the drug to display its antiplatelet and anti-inflammatory properties. The compound irreversibly suppresses COX-1 activity by addition of an acetyl group to a serine amino acid. This disables the binding mechanism of arachidonic acid, inhibiting the synthesis of prostaglandins and thromboxane A2 which stops platelet aggregation and inflammation. The same mechanism is also shown in COX-2 enzymes, albeit with lower efficiency of binding.
Other proposed mechanisms
Acetylsalicylate compounds are also thought to have other mechanisms that exert anti-inflammatory effects on cells, which are mainly prostaglandin-independen.t Acetylsalicylate inhibits neutrophil activation by desensitizing them to endogenous chemical signals such as leukotrienes, stopping the inflammatory cascade. Acetylsalicylate also reduces the expression of nitric oxide synthase, obstructing the synthesis of nitric oxide compounds. Nitric oxide plays a key role in inflammation by activating macrophages and regulating apoptosis. Acetylsalicylate also inhibits the activation of nuclear factor kappa-B, which decreases the expression of pro-inflammatory molecules such as interleukins.
Chemical properties
Lysine acetylsalicylate exists as a white, crystalline substance displaying weakly acidic properties. Lysine acetylsalicylate is generally unstable in a basic medium, readily undergoing a multi-step hydrolysis reaction that is catalyzed by the presence of negatively charged hydroxide ions. The primary target of the hydrolysis reaction is the ester group, dissociating into a carboxylic acid and aromatic alcohol.
Synthesis
The synthesis of lysine acetylsalicylate requires the precursor sodium salicylate, another salt of salicylic acid. Sodium salicylate is prepared by adding acetylsalicylic acid to a solution of sodium hydrogen carbonate. The solution is then stirred and filtered to produce sodium salicylate crystals, which are dried to remove water.
Sodium salicylate can be synthesized into acetylsalicylate through two methods. The first method is through mixing a 30% sodium salicylate solution with lysine, and heating the mixture under reflux for 40 minutes. Next, the solution is cooled and heated again to evaporate the resulting water. When a precipitate is noticed, the solution is put into a refrigerator until fully crystallized, with the resulting crystals being lysine acetylsalicylate. The second method involves the same process, but the mixture is not initially heated and is instead left at room temperature for 48 hours. Method 1 is noted to obtain a greater yield of lysine acetylsalicylate.
Pharmacokinetics
Lysine acetylsalicylate is normally administered intravenously into the blood due to its high water solubility when compared to only acetylsalicylate. This enables aspirin to be released directly into blood circulation, bypassing the need for absorption through the stomach as well as liver metabolism.
When compared to oral doses of aspirin, lysine acetylsalicylate displays a greater antiplatelet and anti-inflammatory response. Additionally, lysine acetylsalicylate shows a faster onset of action when compared to oral aspirin of an equivalent dose. Lysine acetylsalicylate also displays a shorter mean residence time in the body (0.37 hours) as well as a shorter elimination half-life (17 minutes) when administered intravenously, which could indicate that it displays a shorter duration of exposure. Lysine acetylsalicylate also provides less interpatient variability in antiplatelet properties.
Acetylsalicylate is predominantly metabolized through a conjugation reaction with glycine to form salicyluric acid. Salicyluric acid also acts as the main compound of aspirin excretion, with 98% of aspirin being secreted via this pathway by the kidney. Salicyluric acid can undergo further metabolism to form glucuronide compounds, or hydroxylation to form gentisic acid (1% of total aspirin).
Medical uses
Lysine acetylsalicylate is used acutely in an inpatient setting, for conditions presenting with severe pain, particularly acute migraine attacks and severe headache. It is also used as an ultra-rapid platelet blockade agent for intra-procedural clearance of thrombus, and among patients with an urgent need for antiplatelet therapy without feasible nasogastric or oral access. These include, but are not limited to: patients with acute ischemic stroke, arterial dissection, and those undergoing endovascular stent placement.
Pain
In an inpatient setting, lysine acetylsalicylate has been shown to be safe and effective in the inpatient management of severe headache and migraine. Two randomized trials found that when combined with metoclopramide, lysine acetylsalicylate has comparable efficacy to sumatriptan for migraine.
Antiplatelet
Clinical trials on the use of lysine acetylsalicylate as an antiplatelet for acute coronary syndrome and chronic coronary syndrome finds comparable efficacy of lysine acetylsalicylate to oral aspirin. The economic efficiency of using lysine acetylsalicylate in the secondary prevention of ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction has also been demonstrated in one pharmacoeconomic study. Lysine acetylsalicylate is generally reserved for patients with urgent need of antiplatelet therapy with no oral or nasogastric access. However, its rapid onset through IV administration makes it applicable for thrombus clearance during stent placement and other surgical procedures.
Diagnosis of NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease
NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease refers to the combination of NSAID intolerance, asthma, with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis. Lysine acetylsalicylate is used as a challenge test to diagnose NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease. Drops of lysine acetylsalicylate are instilled via pipette or spray to both nostrils. Patients with NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease had a significant increase in symptoms compared to those without NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease.
Side effects
Contraindications
All NSAIDs, including aspirin, should be avoided 20 weeks or later in pregnancy to prevent risk of kidney problems in unborn babies. Due to linkage with Reye syndrome, aspirin should not be used in children under the age of 16 showing signs of recovering from infection. Those who are allergic to, or intolerant of NSAIDs such as ibuprofen and naproxen should not use lysine acetylsalicylate. Lysine acetylsalicylate is avoided in patients with Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency due to the risk of hemolytic anemia.
Gastrointestinal
Non-selective blockade of COX by NSAIDs such as lysine acetylsalicylate results in the attenuation of gastric defense, resulting in an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. As such, lysine acetylsalicylate should be used with caution in patients with peptic ulcer or gastritis. Combining aspirin with other NSAIDs has been shown to drastically increase the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and should be done with caution.
Asthma and NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease
Blockade of COX-1 increases activation of the leukotriene pathway, resulting in the release of cysteinyl leukotrienes which are potent bronchoconstrictors. Leukotriene is also a major factor in the pathogenesis of asthma. As such, caution should be applied in the use of lysine acetylsalicylate in patients with asthma.
Similarly, the increase in cysteinyl leukotrienes can also cause hyperreactivity in healthy patients, leading to NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease. Lysine acetylsalicylate should be used with caution in patients diagnosed with NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease.
Bleeding
Owing to its antiplatelet properties, use of oral aspirin and lysine acetylsalicylate will increase the risk of bleeding. As such, patients with hemophilia or other bleeding tendencies should not use oral aspirin nor lysine acetylsalicylate. The risk of bleeding is increased for those using warfarin and alcohol.
References
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
Ammonium compounds
Acetylsalicylic acids
Salicylates | Lysine acetylsalicylate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 2,469 | [
"Ammonium compounds",
"Salts"
] |
72,800,746 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C14H14O4 | {{DISPLAYTITLE:C14H14O4}}
The molecular formula C14H14O4 (molar mass: 246.262 g/mol) may refer to:
Marmesin (nodakenetin)
Tenual | C14H14O4 | [
"Chemistry"
] | 53 | [
"Isomerism",
"Set index articles on molecular formulas"
] |
77,223,995 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKS%200805-07 | PKS 0805-07 also known as PMN J0808-0751 and 4FGL J0808.2-0751, is a quasar located in the constellation of Monoceros. With a redshift of 1.83, light has taken at least 10 billion light-years to reach Earth.
Characteristics
Classified a high redshift blazar, a type of powerful radio-loud active galactic nuclei containing a relativistic jet, pointing towards the direction of Earth, PKS 0805-07 shows emitted radiation, mainly detected in gamma-rays (E>~100 MeV) as detected by Large Area Telescope. The quasar is known to have an extreme variability across its entire electromagnetic spectrum. Based on the strength of optical spectral lines, which the equivalent width (EW) of the spectral line is found greater or less than 5 Å, PKS 0805-07 is further classified a flat-spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) containing strong emission-lines.
Like many other FSRQs, PKS 0805-07 contains characteristics like a high bolometric luminosity, and thermal activity that is related to an accretion disk in the quasar's optical and ultraviolet (UV) spectra. It is also known to have characteristic radio polarization at 1.4 GHz, P1.4 > 1% and a spinning black hole.
As studied by researchers for its emission properties, PKS 0805-07 exhibits lower electron energy (γ p ≲ 1.6 × 103) compared to BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) with a separation of Γ = -0.127 log ly + 8.18 in γ-ray luminosity versus photon index plane with a success rate of 88.6\%. It also has a stronger magnetic field (B) with smaller electron-to-magnetic energy ratio (U e/U B) than BL Lacs. Moreover, PKS 0805-07 shows a core-jet morphology with at least five observing epochs at 15 GHz between January 1996, and August 2019, observed by Very Long Baseline Array. The quasar also has a core-dominated source, showing asymmetric features than lobe-dominated sources, which is caused by modest relativistic motion (β ≡ 0.20) within its radio lobes.
Observations
Since April 2009, PKS 0805-07 was shown to have high levels of gamma-ray activity when detected by Large Area Telescope. Amongst other quasars, PKS 0805-07 has one of the fastest superluminal motions at that time.
Between 17 and 19, November 2022, an ongoing bright gamma-ray from PKS 0805-07 was observed by AGILE satellite. This source had a flux measured of F( > 100 MeV) = (2.7 +/- 0.8) x 10−6 photons/cm2/s and around 6 sigma.
References
Quasars
Blazars
Monoceros
2825379
Active galaxies
Astronomical radio sources
2MASS objects | PKS 0805-07 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 652 | [
"Astronomical radio sources",
"Monoceros",
"Astronomical events",
"Constellations",
"Astronomical objects"
] |
77,224,234 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grob-Werke | The Grob-Werke GmbH & Co. KG (stylized as GROB-WERKE) is the parent company of the Grob Group. The family-owned business operates in the field of universal machines, assembly lines, system solutions, electromobility, additive manufacturing, automation, and digitalization. Grob-Werke is headquartered in Mindelheim, located in Upper Swabia in the Unterallgäu district.
History
Grob-Werke was founded in 1926 by Ernst Grob in Munich. Initially, the company focused on producing machine tools. From 1935 onwards, it shifted its attention to internal combustion engines, which made the operation "crucial" during World War II. Between 50 and 100 prisoners of war were employed as forced labourers, housed in a separate camp on the company premises at Hofmannstraße 50. In 1944, the factory was extensively destroyed during Allied air raids on Munich, but it was rebuilt in 1945. Grob-Werke is one of the contributors to the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future, which compensates forced labourers.
Burkhart Grob (* 26 March 1926; † 20 May 2016) led the company from 1952. In 1956, the first overseas plant was established in São Paulo, Brazil.
The main factory was established in Mindelheim in 1968, where production of transfer lines began. By 1976, the Munich facility had been shut down, and the company headquarters were relocated to Mindelheim. In 1971, Burkhart Grob Luft- und Raumfahrt GmbH & Co. KG was founded, and Grob began manufacturing gliders. Grob received its largest order to date in 1998 from the Royal Air Force to deliver a total of 85 G-115 D training sports planes within two years. That same year, Grob also secured a major contract from General Motors and BMV Rover. Grob was awarded contracts worth DM 320 million for the machining and assembly of cylinder heads and engine blocks.
In subsequent years, Grob invested in new facilities and its own branches in Brazil and the United States. In 2003, Grob began establishing service and sales branches in Beijing and Shanghai. Until 2006, Grob-Werke consisted of independent business units of machine tools and aerospace. The aerospace division was sold in 2006 and operated as Grob Aerospace AG afterwards. In 2009, it was renamed Grob Aircraft. Burghardt Grob passed away in 2016, and Christian Grob took leadership of the group in the third generation as the new chairman of the supervisory board. In 2017, Grob acquired the Italian electromotor machine and equipment manufacturer DMG meccanica in Turin, marking its entry into electromobility.
In 2021, Grob entered into a strategic partnership with Manz AG in the field of lithium-ion battery systems. Due to the shift towards electromobility, there was an increased demand for battery production technology, and the collaboration enabled Grob to offer the entire production process of lithium-ion battery cells and modules. In 2022, Dürr AG joined the partnership.
Grob also initiated an expansion at its headquarters in Mindelheim. With an investment of €19 million, construction of a new hall began, while existing roofs have been increasingly reinforced and equipped with photovoltaic modules since 2023. Grob cites the focus on renewable energies as one of the reasons for these expansions at the headquarters, for which a third energy center based on heat pumps and biomass for sustainable heat supply was also planned in 2023. Internationally, Grob expanded its presence with new locations in Bangalore, India, and Bluffton, Ohio.
Company structure
The Grob-Werke GmbH & Co. KG is the parent company of the Grob Group. In the fiscal year 2022/23, Grob employed 8,085 people and generated a revenue of over €1.37 billion. Nearly half of the turnover is generated by machinery for electric drives and battery storage technologies. The Mindelheim site has been the main plant of Grob-Werke since 1976 and serves as its headquarters. The Mindelheim facility has a production area of more than 199,000 square meters. In addition to the main plant in Mindelheim, the company has production facilities in Bluffton (Ohio), Dalian (China), São Paulo (Brazil), Pianezza (Italy), and Bangalore (India).
Locations and shareholdings
Grob-Werke GmbH & Co. KG, Mindelheim
B. Grob do Brasil S.A. (since 1956), São Paulo, Brazil
Grob Systems, Inc. (since 1983), Bluffton (Ohio), United States
Grob Machine Tools U.K. Ltd. (since 1990), Birmingham, England
Grob Mexico S.A. de C.V. (since 2000), Querétaro, Mexico
Grob Machine Tools (China) Co., Ltd. Beijing Branch (since 2003), Beijing, China
Grob Korea Co., Ltd. (since 2005), Suwon, South Korea
Grob Machine Tools (China) Co., Ltd. Shanghai Branch (since 2005), Shanghai, China
Grob Machine Tools India Pvt. Ltd. (since 2009), Hyderabad, Indien
Grob Machine Tools (China) Co., Ltd. (since 2011), Dalian, China
Grob Hungaria Kft. (since 2012), Győr, Hungary
Grob Italy S.r.l. (since 2015), Pianezza, Italy
Grob Polska Sp. z o.o. (since 2015), Poznań, Poland
Grob Systems, Inc. (since 2016), Detroit (Michigan), United States
Grob Benelux BV (since 2018), SH Hengelo, Netherlands
Grob Schweiz AG (since 2018), Baar, Switzerland
Grob France S.A.R.L., Senlis, France
Grob Vietnam Co., Ltd., Haiphong, Vietnam
Grob Japan K.K., Yokohama, Japan
Grob Machine Tools (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (since 2022), Bangkok, Thailand.
Products
Grob-Werke operates in the field of universal machines, assembly lines, system applications, electromobility, additive manufacturing, automation, and digitalization. The group primarily supplies its machine tools to the automotive industry, which is why Grob's products and services are aligned with developments in the automotive sector.
Universal machines, assembly systems and automation
Grob-Werke designs and manufactures machining centers and assembly facilities, digitalization and automation applications, as well as linking systems for production and assembly lines. Here, Grob is particularly active in the planning and construction of complete manufacturing systems for engines, vehicle transmissions, injection pumps, and similar components. The universal machines are used in various sectors, including the automotive industry, energy and medical technology, aerospace, as well as machinery, tooling, and mould making. The 4- and 5-axis universal machines, for example, can machine or manufacture delicate components. Another mainstay is the construction of special machines for transfer lines. Among the assembly systems distributed by Grob-Werke are systems for stator production using hairpin technology, rotor production, and battery module assembly, which enable fully automated manufacturing for vehicle drives.
Machining technology
Grob-Werke offers various machining concepts used by the automotive industry. These systems consist of individually modular machining centers as well as custom machines and are customisable. For example, the G520F of the F-Series, introduced in 2023, is designed for the machining of battery housings and lightweight components such as frame structures and chassis parts.
Electromobility and industrial electric motors
Grob entered into the development of electromobility and adapted the company structure accordingly. This division primarily develops and produces products for battery technology and electric drive trains, including battery pack systems, battery module systems and large-scale systems for battery cell production. Other areas include the complete assembly of electric motors as well as stator and rotor assembly with permanent magnet technology. The company also develops individual processes and systems, for example for processing structural and chassis parts or coating engine components.
The electric mobility sector accounts for over 60% of Grob's business. Customers include European, American, and Asian car manufacturers, with a predominant presence of emerging Chinese manufacturers in the Asian market.
Additive manufacturing
In the field of additive manufacturing, Grob developed the liquid metal printing (LMP) manufacturing process, which can be used to produce customised near-net-shape aluminium components. This is intended to compensate for the disadvantages of powder-based additive manufacturing, which was often used previously.
Digitalization
The digitalization area includes software developed by Grob-Werke that digitally links all areas of Grob machine tool production and allows the individual modules to be organised.
References
External links
Grob product range
Machine tool builders
Engineering companies
German companies established in 1926
Manufacturing companies established in 1926 | Grob-Werke | [
"Engineering"
] | 1,841 | [
"Engineering companies"
] |
77,227,525 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban%20scaling | Urban scaling is an area of research within the study of cities as complex systems. It examines how various urban indicators change systematically with city size.
The literature on urban scaling was motivated by the success of scaling theory in biology, itself motivated in turn by the success of scaling in physics. Crucial insights from scaling analysis applied to a system can emerge from finding power-law function relationships between variables of interest and the size of the system (as opposed to finding power-law probability distributions). Power-laws have an implicit self-similarity which suggests universal mechanisms at work, which in turn support the search for fundamental laws. The study of power-laws is closely linked to the study of critical phenomena in physics, in which emergent properties and scale invariance are central and organizing concepts. These concepts resurface in the study of complex systems, and are of particular importance in the urban scaling framework.
The phenomenon of scaling in biology is often referred to as allometric scaling. Some of these relationships were studied by Galileo (e.g., in terms of the area width of animals' legs as a function of their mass) and then studied a century ago by Max Kleiber (see Kleiber's law) in terms of the relationship between basal metabolic rate and mass. A theoretical explanation of allometric scaling laws in biology was provided by the Metabolic Scaling Theory.
The application of scaling in the context of cities is inspired by the idea that, in cities, urban activities are emergent phenomena arising from the interactions of many individuals in close physical proximity. This is in contrast to applying scaling to countries or other social group delineations, which are more ad-hoc sociological constructions. The expectation is that collective effects in cities should result in the form of large-scale quantitative urban regularities that ought to hold across cultures, countries and history. If such regularities are observed, then it would support the search for a general mathematical theory of cities.
Indeed, Luis Bettencourt, Geoffrey West, and Jose Lobo's seminal work demonstrated that many urban indicators are associated with population size through a power-law relationship, in which socio-economic quantities tend to scale superlinearly, while measures of infrastructure (such as the number of gas stations) scale sublinearly with population size. They argue for a quantitative, predictive framework to understand cities as collective wholes, guiding urban policy, improving sustainability, and managing urban growth.
The literature has grown, with many theoretical explanations for these emergent power-laws. Ribeiro and Rybski summarized these in their paper "Mathematical models to explain the origin of urban scaling laws". Examples include Arbesman et al.'s 2009 model, Bettencourt's 2013 model, Gomez-Lievano et al.'s 2017 model, and Yang et al.'s 2019 model, among others (see for a more thorough review of the models ). The ultimate explanation of scaling laws observed in cities is still debated.
Key Concepts in Urban Scaling
Power Laws and Scaling Exponents
Urban scaling often follows power-law relationships, where the form of the scaling can be expressed as
,
where is the urban indicator, is a constant, is the population size, and is the scaling exponent.
The exponent indicates whether the relationship is superlinear (), sublinear (), or linear ().
The key focus of Urban Scaling as a field (in contrast with other fields [see "Economics" and "Sociology" sections below]) is the emphasis on studying the origin and explanation of particular values of the scaling exponents. While other fields have recognized a relationship between size and urban metrics, it is mainly researchers in the field of Urban Scaling who have been interested in the fact that, from all the possible relationships two variables can be related, and all the coefficients that can mediate the strength of the relationship, urban metrics and population size are related through power-laws and the exponents can be slightly below 1 or slightly above 1.
Cross-sectional versus Longitudinal Scaling
The urban scaling framework mostly focuses on cross-sectional relationships. That is, it describes the power-law relationship between urban metrics across many cities for a particular point in time.
The framework can be extended to understand whether a given city will follow or will deviate from the power-law relationship describing the whole urban system.
Assume cities in an urban system, and assume their populations grow exponentially with a fixed and constant rate , . Assume cities generate some type of output , which also grows exponentially, but with another rate , such that . Here, and represent the population and the output at time , respectively. Together, these two assumptions imply that
In turn, this yields the following implicit power-law relationship between output and population:
where .
That is, if population size and output grow exponentially at different rates, they will be longitudinally related through a power-law for any single city . Furthermore, if the ratio between the initial output and population size is a constant independent of the city, , then the same power-law will describe the cross-sectional data, since the proportionality factor and the exponent in the power-law will not depend on the subscript . This is a very simple example in which urban scaling would arise both in time and in space,
with a scaling exponent equal to the ratio of the growth rates. The relationship between temporal and cross-sectional scaling can be made more general.
The question of whether there is a relationship between temporal scaling and cross-sectional scaling is addressed by noting that the outcome variable is a function of population size and time (with perhaps some random noise), . There is a certain debate in the published literature on this topic, due to a lack of explicit definitions about what scaling means in time and in space.
Here, the following three relationships and definitions are assumed:
Total derivative of a multivariate function with respect to time (denoted by upper dot)
Longitudinal (temporal) urban scaling exponent
Cross-sectional (spatial) urban scaling exponent
Note that the longitudinal scaling exponent is the ratio of two partial derivatives with respect to time (i.e., holding size constant for ), while the cross-sectional scaling exponent is the ratio of two partial derivatives with respect to size (i.e., holding time constant).
For clarity and convenience, let and , and drop the city-specific subscript . Using the above conventions, the total derivative of with respect to time is
.
Since is a function of time only, then . Hence, dividing on both sides by , we conclude that
.
Based on this, one can interpret to be a "total" urban scaling exponent, and thus
.
However, since is a function of time only (), both and change simultaneously over time. This interdependence makes it impossible to hold constant while observing changes in , which is necessary to directly estimate the longitudinal exponent from empirical data. Consequently, only the total scaling exponent and the cross-sectional exponent can be empirically estimated, while the longitudinal exponent remains unobservable in practice due to the confounding effect of 's dependency on time.
Pioneering Work
Santa Fe Institute's cities group
Luis Bettencourt, Geoffrey West, Jose Lobo, and their colleagues at the Santa Fe Institute, conducted seminal work on urban scaling. They identified consistent scaling laws across cities worldwide, showing that larger cities tend to be more innovative and productive but also face challenges such as increased crime rates and disease spread.
Their research demonstrated that many urban characteristics, from GDP to infrastructure, follow predictable scaling patterns. For example, they found that economic indicators typically have a superlinear scaling exponent (), while infrastructure shows sublinear scaling ().
They started the research field of urban scaling with the explicit goal of understanding the power-law relationship between aggregate urban metrics and population size.
Economics
Some early studies in economics can be seen to have contributed to early stages of the urban scaling literature (unintendedly) by their analyses of how economic outcomes change with population size. One such study is Sveikauskas' 1975 "The productivity of cities", in which he reports a positive association between the average productivity or workers and city population size.
Today, the field of urban economics is focused on understanding the causal underpinnings of the benefits that accrue when people come together in physical space. Hence, a big body of literature has been focused on understanding the so-called "urban wage premium", which is the fact that nominal wages tend to be larger in larger cities.
Sociology
The field of sociology has also investigated the relationship between socioeconomic variables and the size and density of populations.
For example, Émile Durkheim, a French sociologist, highlighted the sociological impacts of population density and growth in his 1893 dissertation, "The Division of Labour in Society." In his work, Durkheim emphasized the collective social effects of population. He proposed that an increase in population leads to more social interactions, resulting in competition, specialization, and eventually conflict, which then necessitates the development of social norms and integration. This concept, known as "dynamic density," was later expanded by American sociologist Louis Wirth, particularly in the context of urban settings. However, it wasn't until the 1970s that these ideas were translated into (sociological) mathematical models, sparking debates among sociologists about the complexities of urban agglomeration.
Critics like Claude S. Fischer argued that mathematical models oversimplified the reality of social interactions in cities. Fischer contended that these models assumed urbanites interact randomly, akin to marbles in a jar, which fails to capture the nuanced and localized nature of city life. He pointed out that most city dwellers have limited interactions within their neighborhoods and rarely venture into other parts of the city, contradicting the notion that social interactions scale uniformly with population size. Fischer’s criticism emphasized the need for a deeper understanding of social systems, beyond mere quantitative models.
Implications of Urban Scaling
Urban Planning and Policy
Understanding urban scaling helps policymakers and planners make more informed decisions. For example, recognizing the efficiencies of larger cities can guide infrastructure investments and resource allocation.
Scaling laws can also inform strategies to manage the challenges associated with urban growth, such as congestion, pollution, and social inequality.
Economic Development
The superlinear scaling of economic activity suggests that larger cities are engines of economic growth. Policies that support urbanization and the development of large metropolitan areas can potentially boost national and regional economies.
Sustainability and Resilience
Sublinear scaling of infrastructure highlights the potential for larger cities to be more sustainable by using resources more efficiently. However, this also requires careful management to avoid negative externalities like pollution and overconsumption.
Understanding the scaling properties of cities can also help in designing more resilient urban systems that can better withstand shocks such as natural disasters or economic downturns.
Criticisms of Urban Scaling Theory
Since the formulation of the urban scaling hypothesis, several researchers from the complexity field have criticized the framework and its approach. These criticisms often target the statistical methods used, suggesting that the relationship between economic output and city size may not be a power law. For instance, Shalizi (2011) argues that other functions could fit the relationship between urban characteristics and population equally well, challenging the notion of scale invariance. Bettencourt et al. (2013) responded that while other models might fit the data, the power-law hypothesis remains robust without a better theoretical alternative.
Other critiques by Leitão et al. (2016) and Altmann (2020) pointed out potential misspecifications in the statistical analysis, such as incorrect distribution assumptions and the independence of observations. These concerns highlight the need for theory to guide the choice of statistical methods. Additionally, the issue of defining city boundaries raises conceptual challenges. Arcaute et al. (2015) and subsequent studies showed that different boundary definitions yield different scaling exponents, questioning the premise of agglomeration economies. They suggest that models should consider the intra-city composition of economic and social activities rather than relying solely on aggregate measures.
Another criticism of the urban scaling approach relates to the over-reliance on averages in measuring individual-level quantities such as average wages, or average number of patents produced. Complex systems, such as cities, exhibit distributions of their individual components that are often heavy-tailed. Heavy-tailed distributions are very different from normal distributions, and tend to generate extremely large values. The presence of extreme outliers can invalidate the Law of Large Numbers, making averages unreliable. Gomez-Lievano et al. (2021) showed that in log-normally distributed urban quantities (such as wages), averages only make sense for sufficiently large cities. Otherwise, artificial correlations between city size and productivity can emerge, misleadingly suggesting the appearance of urban scaling.
Further Materials
Bettencourt, L. M. A., Lobo, J., Helbing, D., Kühnert, C., & West, G. B. (2007). Growth, innovation, scaling, and the pace of life in cities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(17), 7301-7306.
Bettencourt, L. M. A. (2013). The origins of scaling in cities. Science, 340(6139), 1438-1441.
Bettencourt, L. M. A., & West, G. B. (2010). A unified theory of urban living. Nature, 467(7318), 912-913.
The surprising math of cities and corporations – TED Talk
"Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies", by Geoffrey B. West
See also
Urban economics
Regional science
Power law
Complex system
Santa Fe Institute
References
Urban planning | Urban scaling | [
"Engineering"
] | 2,833 | [
"Urban planning",
"Architecture"
] |
77,228,312 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew%20B.%20Raupp | Andrew B. Raupp (born in Detroit, Michigan) is an American entrepreneur, educator, and leading advocate for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. He is the founder and executive director of STEM.org Educational Research, a pioneering organization at the forefront of STEM research and quality assurance. Raupp is known for his groundbreaking work in establishing a decentralized framework for validating STEM credentials, leveraging blockchain technology's immutable and transparent characteristics. This initiative underscores his dedication to enhancing accountability and democratizing access to STEM education standards, aligning with the broader decentralization principles central to blockchain and Web3 innovations.
Raupp's scholarly contributions extend to the comprehensive documentation and analysis of the STEM education movement's evolution. His research is considered one of the most authoritative and comprehensive chronologies in the field. It has been cited by institutions, including the Smithsonian Science Education Center, which reinforces his status as a significant contributor to 21st-century STEM education.
Early life and career
Raupp was born and raised in the United States and holds dual citizenship with the Republic of Malta. He attended Divine Child High School from 1994 to 1998, where he earned his high school diploma. Raupp began his higher education at Wayne State University, studying Microbiology from 1998 to 2000. He subsequently enrolled at Henry Ford College, where he obtained an Associate of Science and an Associate of Arts degree in 2002. Raupp completed his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Michigan–Dearborn in 2006. In 2013, he participated in the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) as a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. In 2017 and 2018, he was a Fellow in the Education Policy Fellowship Program at Michigan State University.
In 2001, Raupp initiated a community outreach project in southwest Detroit known as "Initiative Science" which later developed into STEM.org, achieving a global presence in over 80 countries. Additionally, he contributed to the framework for the 2005 STEM Congressional Caucus at the request of Congressman Vern Ehlers.
In 2017, Raupp was appointed as the first Chairman of the Edtech and Fintech subcommittees at the Forbes Technology Council and co-founded the Newsweek Expert Forum. Additionally, he was featured in a cover story in Newsweek and in a widely read Forbes article in 2017 that focused on blockchain technology, highlighting his contributions to innovation and guidance in these fields.
Selected articles
A STEM state of mind: No magic kit or subscription required
Competition versus collaboration in STEM education
How Advancements In AI Could Radically Change The Way Children Learn In The Classroom
Insights Into Early STEM Learning
The Rise Of The STEM Toy
Ethics in STEM Education: Going Beyond the Classroom
"Know Thyself": A Socratic Approach to Modern STEM Education
Safeguarding Ideas In The Age Of Digital Censorship: Lessons From The Gutenberg Revolution
Beyond the "Fourth Industrial Revolution": Why We Must Invest in STEM Education
Awards and recognition
Service to Education Award by the Qatari Supreme Education Council
Emerging Leader by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
References
American educators
Living people
American businesspeople
21st-century American businesspeople
Lists of people in STEM fields
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
Year of birth missing (living people) | Andrew B. Raupp | [
"Technology"
] | 660 | [
"Lists of people in STEM fields"
] |
77,229,532 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug%20Butterworth | Douglas Stuart Butterworth is a retired South African fisheries scientist and applied mathematician. He is professor emeritus of applied mathematics at the University of Cape Town, where he is the director of the Marine Resource Assessment and Management (MARAM) research group.
Early life and education
Butterworth attended the Western Province Preparatory School in Cape Town, and he matriculated from nearby Bishops Diocesan College in 1963. Trained as a physicist, he holds an MSc from the University of Cape Town and a PhD in fundamental particle physics from University College London.
After his doctoral degree, he spent four months as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Natal. He returned to Cape Town in 1977 to work in applied mathematics for the Sea Fisheries Branch, unable to find a job in physics. He became involved in fisheries research in 1979, when he advised a co-worker – marine biologist Peter Best – about techniques for survey-based marine mammal abundance estimation. With Best's support, he became increasingly engaged in the research that Best was engaged in for the International Whaling Commission.
University of Cape Town
After two years at the Sea Fisheries Branch, Butterworth joined the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town. His focus was applied mathematics and he primarily taught biomathematics and environmental modelling. His most important research concerned fisheries assessment, fisheries management, and related modelling.
In particular, Butterworth is known for developing the so-called management procedure approach to fisheries regulation in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The procedure originated in an informal competition undertaken by Butterworth and Andre Punt, a PhD student, against foreign research groups; in the course of the competition, Butterworth and Punt devised the procedure by using feedback control to refine computer simulations for whaling quotas. The management procedure approach is extremely compatible with the precautionary principle advocated by the Earth Summit. The approach was subsequently applied to calculate annual catch targets for South African hake, sardine, anchovy, and rock lobster, and it spread beyond South Africa: Butterworth has advised at least 12 other countries, as well as fishing industry associations and international bodies (among them the scientific committees of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). In total, he has written over 1,500 technical reports, in addition to some 250 academic publications.
After he retired from teaching, Butterworth remained the director of the university's Marine Resource Assessment and Management (MARAM) research group.
Honours and awards
Butterworth is a fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa. In October 2008, President Kgalema Motlanthe admitted him to the Order of Mapungubwe, granting him the award in silver for, "His excellent contribution to the betterment of the environment and sustainability of fisheries."
In September 2019, the Emperor of Japan admitted Butterworth to the Order of the Rising Sun, Third Class. Having served on the Japanese delegation to the scientific committee of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna, he received the award for his contribution to the sustainable management of Japan's marine resources, particularly southern bluefin tuna.
References
External links
Professor Emeritus Doug Butterworth at University of Cape Town
Professor Emeritus Doug Butterworth at MARAM
2019 interview with Boating South Africa
2019 interview with Fishing Industry News
20th-century South African scientists
21st-century South African scientists
Academic staff of the University of Cape Town
Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town
Alumni of University College London
Applied mathematicians
Fisheries scientists
University of Cape Town alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people | Doug Butterworth | [
"Mathematics"
] | 719 | [
"Applied mathematics",
"Applied mathematicians"
] |
77,229,938 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg%20Emergency%20Water%20Supply |
Water security in Johannesburg
A reliable water supply system should provide a designed region with sufficient quantity and acceptable levels of quality drinking water. In 1903 the Water Works Commission established the Rand Water Board to accomplish the above. Those responsible for the management water systems were expected to address the following. To
source water
treat and purify the water,
distribute the potable water in the region via a water network,
store water in reservoirs and towers and
make drinking water available to residents via their taps.
A household is deemed to have a reliable water service when they have access to clean drinking water for 365 days a year, and if there is a water interruption, this lasts only two days That’s according to the South African Department of Human Settlements.
Engineering a stable water supply in Jo’burg
When the gold reef was discovered in 1886, the thousands of prospectors drew their water from spruit on the perimeter of the mining camps. Industry, a growing population, and increased pollution created a need for alternate water sources. In 1899, a pumphouse established by the Zuurbekom Water Supply Company ensured that potable water was supplied to Johannesburg. At this time, Sammy Marx had also proposed the Vaal river as a water source, but these plans could not be financed.
By 1923, Marx’s plans were realized and the Vaal River Barrage Reservoir was completed This provided the Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand with essential water.
In 1938, the Vaal Dam Project has a catchment area that covers 38 505 square kilometers. This was the largest irrigation scheme in the southern hemisphere at that time, the project also created another key source of water for the Rand Water Board. This dam became a part of the Vaal River Catchment System. Which is made up of four subcatchment regions ( Grootdraai, Waterval, Wilge and the Vaal Dam reservoir). Alternately known as the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS).
In 1974, the Thukela Vaal River water transfer scheme pumped water up from kwa Zulu Natal to the Sterkfontein Dam near Phuthaditjaba. This served as an additional water storage facility and fed the Wilge river in the Vaal catchment area.
In 1986, a treaty initiated the Lesotho Highlands Water project, initiated another water transfer scheme. This time between Lesotho and South Africa. This binational scheme was broken up into multiple phases and involved building of dams and tunnels, to supply both water and hydro powered electricity for both countries. In 2023, phase two of this project was launched, nine years behind schedule, by President Cyril Ramaphosa
Water Interruptions
The quality of drinking water in Johannesburg is a lauded feature of the city, and city residents once saw not buying bottled water as a political statement.
However, the unreliability of the water supply network in the rural areas has started to become a feature of large cities. Recently Johannesburg citizens have experienced erratic water supply. These interruptions are due to corruption and infrastructure failures. This article seeks to construct a general impression of the management of public water infrastructure networks in the city, during water emergencies.
Johannesburg, much like the rest of the country, needs to address the complex developmental challenges associated with improving the water network. Below are accounts of COJ and Rand Water Board’s performance when the city’s water systems are interrupted.
December 2024
Rand Water announced that a water shut down would begin on Friday, 13 December 2024 until the evening of Monday, 16 December. Water supply would be disrupted because of work being done the operations areas that is fed from the Eikenhof Pump Station. The disruption will affect 60% of the city. Although the scheduled time is 86 hours, residents have expressed concerns about the knock on effect of 1–2 weeks after the shutdown is completed and an extended periods of low pressure during the recovery phase.
June 2024
On the 3 June 2024, Rand Water announced a proactive and planned infrastructure and asset maintenance initiative to run later that month, from 22 June to 29 July—the intent to upgrade pipes and improve water supply. Rand Water's media release explained that water availability in the wider Johannesburg Metropolitan Region would be impacted as the pumping from Eikenhof, Zwartkopjes Palmiet and Mapleton systems would be reduced to effect repairs to infrastructure.
On the 13 of June 2024, at the 27th Extra-Ordinary Council Meeting, the MMC for Finance (Counsellor Dada Morero) requested that the council to approve a R2.5 billion loan from Agence Française de Développement (FDA) to finance the repairs. This would be repaid over 15 years. Total repayment costs of R5.7 billion.
Johannesburg Water claimed it was prepared for Rand Water's "Winter Water Shutdown". Residents were notified about five weeks of water interruptions beforehand. As the water throttling proceeded, The Daily Maverick reported that many suburbs (Observatory, Kensington, Greenside, Emmarentia, Melville, North Riding, Crown Mines, Bergbron, Killarney, Witpoortjie and parts of Randburg), were unable to access water and their taps run dry. Joburg Water, (an independent company with the City of Johannesburg its only shareholder), reassured residents that the reduced "flow pressure" is not a crisis. Interruptions to supply during the 37 day planned maintenance period would occur. Four service providers would dispatch eighty-five roaming water trucks to relieve those with empty taps in the affected regions. 250 JoJo tanks will also be stationed at specific locations (hospitals, clinics, senior homes, schools, police stations, direct feed areas) to assist residents. Confidence, from the northern suburbs, in water providers capacity to manage supply, had been shaken by a nine-day water shutdown, caused by a closed valve. Allegations of nepotism around the appointment of a chief operations officer, have contributed to an erosion of trust.
Water Sector Infrastructure
Johannesburg's water grid faces multiple challenges. Immediate issues are leaking pipes, faulty or broken water meters, illegal connections and poor billing and revenue collection. Poor operation and infrastructure maintenance have led to unnecessary vulnerabilities in the system.
For example, non-revenue water (NRW) sat at 44.8% in 2023. COJ Water pays Rand Water (the supplier) for bulk water but does not collect revenue for half of it, as it is lost. Longer term issues are the erosion of trust and a deterioration in municipal drinking water quality, according to the "Blue Drop, Green Drop and No Drop" reports.
That indicates that 50% of drinking water systems are not drinkable.
Water Stress in South Africa
Water Supply in South Africa is a critical matter since the country is a water-scarce country The debate among experts was, at one time, whether this scarcity could be attributed to physical or economic factors. As of 2009, the consensus was that South Africa was not facing a water crisis. These opinions may need to be revised.
This "instability of supply" can be attributed to poor governance. Corruption in the South African water sector has become systemic. The Department of Water and Sanitation are expected to act as the custodian of South Africa's water resources. They have not been able to fulfill their mandate.
A report by Corruption Watch and the Water Integrity Network in 2020 noted that corruption in the Department of Water and Sanitation exacerbates water shortages in South Africa.
Although South Africa may be a water-scarce country, drought is not the only cause of water insecurity. The corruption that extends from "taps in rural villages to the systems that supply South Africa's economic heartland" has exacerbated the situation.
The more significant issue is about the just allocation of water resources and the effects of state capture on water supply across the country. South Africa is one of the few countries worldwide that has enshrined the fundamental right to sufficient water in its Constitution. "Everyone has the right to have access to [...] sufficient food and water." Despite the Mazibuko vs COJ judgement, where the constitutional court addressed the fundamental constitutional right of access to water. Water-related rights and the allocation of water resources should address poverty, equity and create jobs, and economic growth.
Across South Africa, water-stressed places get by. Water-shedding is common in many towns and villages across the country. Water scarcity only enters the news headlines, when a water supply crisis affects a major economic centre, such as the Cape Town water crisis or what is well known in Johannesburg, where there's another example of infrastructure and maintenance that is no longer adequately controlled and managed.
Constitutionally Informed Action is Required
Water allocation remains an ongoing challenge for the whole of South Africa, with numerous calls for action for the private sector to address the water issue. Water allocation at present is focused primarily on either big business or middle class communities at the expense of vulnerable communities located in remote regions.
Water instability in Johannesburg is a blow to the city's reputation as a "World Class African City", but challenges in water management also have to be seen as part of the greater climate change crisis. Johannesburg has yet just begun to reckon with water scarcity, let alone the warmer and drier conditions that climate change models predict or the drier and warmer conditions which have implications for livelihoods. If water scarcity is to be addressed, then immediate and decisive constitutionally informed action is necessary. Perhaps the city and the country need a Water Indaba
External links
Joburg Water Media Statements (latest update 14 Dec 2024)
References
Water management
Water resource management in South Africa
South Africa | Johannesburg Emergency Water Supply | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering",
"Environmental_science"
] | 1,962 | [
"Hydrology",
"Water supply",
"Environmental engineering"
] |
77,230,506 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vojin%20G.%20Oklobdzija | Vojin G. Oklobdzija (Cyrillic: Војин Г. Оклобџија) is a computer and electronics engineer, scientist, author, and academic. He is professor emeritus of the University of California, Life Fellow of IEEE and past President of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society.
Education
Oklobdzija obtained his Dipl. Ing. in electronics and telecommunications from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1971, and subsequently worked as a research physicist in plasma physics pursuing his graduate degree. He became a Faculty Member in the Electrical Engineering Department there in 1974 serving until 1976. Later, he earned his MSc in 1978 and PhD in Computer Science in 1982 from the University of California Los Angeles. While pursuing his doctorate, he worked at the Microelectronics Division of Xerox Corporation until 1982, where he was involved in chip development for the early Alto workstation. He holds the highest USA Ham-Radio category, Extra, and call sign WF1A.
Career
From 1982 to 1991 Oklobdzija was a research staff member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, where he contributed to the development of RISC processors, super-scalar, and supercomputer designs. He obtained several patents on early RISC machine organization, including one on register-renaming, which he co-holds with John Cocke and Greg Grohoski. This patent described a key feature of the IBM RS/6000.
In 1988 Oklobdzija started his academic career as a Visiting Faculty Member at the University of California, Berkeley, transitioning from his role at IBM. He later served as a Chair Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Sydney University in Australia. Receiving Fulbright Professorships twice, in Peru in 1990 and Argentina in 2012, he helped establish internet connectivity in Peru in 1991 and developed academic courses in Computer Engineering. He has provided expert witness services, testifying at the International Trade Commission Court and in civil court.
At Siemens, which later became Infineon, he served as a Principal Architect and patent holder for the Infineon TriCore processor, an automotive control processor used in vehicles. He also contributed to the original conceptual development of the PlayStation at Sony.
Research
Oklobdzija's work focuses on VLSI chip engineering: low-power digital circuits optimizing the energy-speed relationship, machine learning, computer arithmetic, media signal processing, and system architecture; he has obtained 25 U.S. patents throughout his career.
Personal life
His son is social scientist Stan N. Oklobdzija.
Awards and honors
1971–1973 – National Science Fellowship on Plasma Physics, National Science Foundation
1976 – Fulbright Scholarship to USA, Fulbright Program
1985 – Patent Award, IBM
1985 – Invention Plateau Award, IBM
1991 – Fulbright Professorship to Peru, Fulbright Program
1995 – Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
2000–2003 – Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Circuits and Systems Society
2000–2007 – Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society
2002 – Outstanding Academic Title for The Computer Engineering Handbook, Choice Magazine
2012 – Fulbright Professorship to Argentina, Fulbright Program
2014 – Life Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Bibliography
Selected books
Computer Engineering: Digital Systems and Applications 1st Edition (1997) ISBN 978-0849386190
Computer Engineering: Digital Design and Fabrication 1st Edition (1997) ISBN 978-0849386022
High-Performance System Design: Circuits and Logic 1st Edition (1999) ISBN 978-0780347168
The Computer Engineering Handbook 1st Edition (2001) ISBN 978-0849308857
Digital System Clocking: High-Performance and Low-Power Aspects 1st Edition (2003) ISBN 978-0471274476
High-Performance Energy-Efficient Microprocessor Design 1st Edition (2006) ISBN 978-3540679097
The Computer Engineering Handbook 2nd Edition (2008) ISBN 978-0849386008
Selected articles
Oklobdzija, V. G. (1994). An algorithmic and novel design of a leading zero detector circuit: Comparison with logic synthesis. IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems, 2(1), 124–128.
Oklobdzija, V. G., Maksimovic, D., & Lin, F. (1997). Pass-transistor adiabatic logic using single power-clock supply. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Analog and Digital Signal Processing, 44(10), 842–846.
Oklobdzija, V. G., Villeger, D., & Liu, S. S. (1996). A method for speed optimized partial product reduction and generation of fast parallel multipliers using an algorithmic approach. IEEE Transactions on computers, 45(3), 294–306.
Stojanovic, V., & Oklobdzija, V. G. (1999). Comparative analysis of master-slave latches and flip-flops for high-performance and low-power systems. IEEE Journal of solid-state circuits, 34(4), 536–548.
Nikolic, B., Oklobdzija, V. G., Stojanovic, V., Jia, W., Chiu, J. K. S., & Leung, M. M. T. (2000). Improved sense-amplifier-based flip-flop: Design and measurements. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 35(6), 876–884.
References
Computer scientists
Electronics engineers
Yugoslav academics
University of California, Berkeley faculty
University of California, Davis faculty
Academic staff of the University of Sydney
Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
University of Belgrade alumni
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Yugoslav writers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people) | Vojin G. Oklobdzija | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 1,211 | [
"Electronic engineering",
"Electronics engineers",
"Computer science",
"Computer scientists"
] |
77,230,607 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanes%20Canyon | The Blanes canyon is an underwater canyon that forms the underwater valley located off the coast of Blanes, in the province of Girona, Catalonia. This underwater canyon is a significant geological feature of the Balearic Sea and plays an important role in the region's marine biodiversity.
Geography
The canyon extends from the continental shelf to depths exceeding . Its formation is due to erosive and tectonic processes that have shaped the seabed over millions of years. Its head is about from the coast, it is a valley at the bottom of the sea about long and wide, with vertical walls that go down to a depth of about . The mouth of the canyon is located near the mouth of the Tordera River, which contributes to the mixing of fresh and salt water in the area.
Biodiversity
The Blanes canyon is home to a great diversity of marine species. Among the benthic organisms that inhabit the canyon are corals, sponges, and a variety of invertebrates. In addition, it is a passage area for several species of pelagic fish and marine mammals, including dolphins. Dense cold-water corals have recently been discovered on its walls, living at temperatures around . It is like an oasis of biodiversity, for many crustaceans and fish, with numerous species of coral and other associated species. It forms an area very rich in biodiversity, since its rocky walls are the shelter of an immense variety of organisms, some of which, like corals, sponges and gorgonians, are protected and in danger of extinction.
Ecological importance
This underwater canyon is crucial for the conservation of marine biodiversity in the Balearic Sea. The upward currents that are generated in the canyon bring nutrients from the depths to the surface, which favors biological productivity and the presence of a rich marine fauna.
Scientific research
The Blanes canyon has been the subject of numerous oceanographic studies. Researchers from several institutions have explored the canyon to better understand the geological and ecological processes that take place in these depths. These studies are essential for the conservation and sustainable management of marine resources. In 2017, as part of an ICM-CSIC project aimed at studying the effect of trawling on deep marine sediments, Pere Puig's team found a large number of colonies of coral in the Blanes canyon. He did it with the help of other international researchers together with scientists from the Institute of Marine Sciences, who collaborated in the exploration of the canyon aboard the oceanographic ship of the CSIC, Sarmiento de Gamboa.
Threats and conservation
Despite its ecological importance, the Blanes Canyon faces threats such as trawling and marine pollution. It is essential to implement conservation measures to protect this valuable underwater ecosystem and ensure its preservation for future generations.
See also
Palamós Canyon
Catalan Sea
Submarine canyon
References
Submarine canyons
Oceanography | Blanes Canyon | [
"Physics",
"Environmental_science"
] | 575 | [
"Oceanography",
"Hydrology",
"Applied and interdisciplinary physics"
] |
77,231,892 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carel%20Industries | Carel Industries is an Italian multinational company that designs, manufactures, and markets hardware and software for managing air conditioning, refrigeration, humidification, and evaporative cooling systems. Founded in 1973 in Brugine, Padua, Italy, as of 2023 it operates 15 production sites and employs over 2,500 people. In 2018, it was listed on the Milan Stock Exchange in the FTSE Italia STAR and FTSE Italia Small Cap indices.
History
The firm was founded in 1973 in the province of Padua as a business-to-business company, as C.AR.EL., Costruzioni ARmadi ELettrici. Carel began operating as a supplier for a manufacturer of air conditioning units for computing centres (Hiross), producing its electrotechnical component. In 1981, the company designed one of the first microprocessor-based controllers in Europe for the air-conditioning sector, which was launched on the market the following year under the name Miprosent. This was a parametric model, already pre-programmed in the factory and suitable for mass production and large volumes.
Subsequently, a programmable control was developed based on a new software programming language.
In the late 1990s, the refrigeration district, which would later become one of the largest in the world, began to develop around Carel.
International expansion
Within few years, the company expanded first on the domestic market and then on the European market, initially in the air conditioning and humidification sectors and soon afterwards in the refrigeration sector. The production of humidification systems with a significant electromechanical component continued, but investment was mainly concentrated on electronics. International expansion began in the 1990s with the opening of sales branches in France, Great Britain, South America and Germany.
During the 2000s, branches were opened in: China, Australia, USA, Asia, Spain, India, South Africa, Russia and Korea. This period also saw the opening of production sites in the United States, China, Brazil and, in 2015, Croatia, as well as sales offices in Northern Europe, Mexico, the Middle East, Thailand, Poland, Ukraine and Japan. In late 2018, CAREL also began to grow externally and acquired the companies Recuperator, HygroMatik and Enginia.
In 2021, it continued its international expansion with the acquisition of CFM Soğutma ve Otomasyon A.Ş, a long-standing distributor and partner in Turkey. The company growth also continued in 2022 through the acquisitions of the Italian companies Arion S.r.l. and Sauber, Germany's Klingenburg and the American Senva. Two more acquisitions were completed in 2023 with the entry of New Zealand's Eurotec and Norway's Kiona into the group.
Operations
Carel specializes in the production of hardware and software components for improving energy efficiency in HVAC and refrigeration systems. The company's products are used across commercial, industrial, and residential applications.
In the HVAC market, the company offers hardware to be integrated in individual units, such as heat pumps, shelters, rooftops, Computer Room Air Conditioners (CRACs), chillers and air handling units. CAREL also delivers products for the industrial and commercial fields, for example, entire plants/systems for shopping malls, supermarkets, museums and data centers.
In the refrigeration market, the firm is active in the design, manufacture and marketing of control and humidification systems within the food retail and food service application segments. Just like for the HVAC market, the company solutions can be integrated both in single units, such as bottle cooler, plug-in refrigerator, multiplexed refrigerator, compressor rack and condensing unit, and in complex systems, such as plants or systems for supermarkets and restaurants.
In addition to its products, Carel also provides services such as commissioning, remote operation, and monitoring of the group's HVAC/R systems through IoT solutions.
Research and development
The group has research laboratories in HVACR applications in Italy, China and the United States. A laboratory dedicated to air humidification systems and evaporative coolers exists in Padua. In April 2024, the company opened a new research center at its headquarters. The space covers 4500 square meters and includes climate chambers certified for the use of flammable refrigerants, testing booths, and a training center.
References
Electronics companies
1973 establishments in Italy | Carel Industries | [
"Engineering"
] | 910 | [
"Electronics companies",
"Engineering companies"
] |
77,232,876 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counting%20hierarchy | In complexity theory, the counting hierarchy is a hierarchy of complexity classes. It is analogous to the polynomial hierarchy, but with NP replaced with PP. It was defined in 1986 by Klaus Wagner.
More precisely, the zero-th level is C0P = P, and the (n+1)-th level is Cn+1P = PPCnP (i.e., PP with oracle Cn). Thus:
C0P = P
C1P = PP
C2P = PPPP
C3P = PPPPPP
...
The counting hierarchy is contained within PSPACE. By Toda's theorem, the polynomial hierarchy PH is entirely contained in PPP, and therefore in C2P = PPPP.
References
Further reading
Complexity classes
Hierarchy | Counting hierarchy | [
"Technology"
] | 154 | [
"Computing stubs",
"Computer science",
"Computer science stubs"
] |
77,233,557 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragasen%20Pillay | Pragasen Pillay (born 1958) is a South African electrical engineer known for his research in power engineering and renewable energy technology. He has been a professor at Concordia University since 2008. Before that, he was a professor at Clarkson University from 1995 to 2007. He was appointed as an honorary professor at the University of Cape Town in 2017.
Education
Pillay was born in 1958. From 1978 to 1983, he studied electrical engineering at present-day University of KwaZulu-Natal. He completed a B.Eng. in 1981 at the University of Durban–Westville, supported by a scholarship from Anglo American, and then completed an M.S. in 1983 at the University of Natal, supported by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. While a student, he was a trainee engineer at Mondi SA in 1980 and an electrical engineer at the Electricity Supply Commission of South Africa in 1984.
Later in 1984, he moved to Blacksburg, Virginia to pursue his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His research was supported by a Fulbright Scholarship and was completed in 1987. He was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi in Virginia. In later years he was certified as a chartered electrical engineer in the United Kingdom and a registered professional engineer in Ontario, Canada.
Academic career
Between 1988 and 1990, he was a lecturer at Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. In August 1990, he returned to the United States as a lecturer at the University of New Orleans, a position he held for the next five years. During that time he was associate director of the university's Center for the Application of Power and Instrumentation from 1990 to 1993 and then the director of the centre's Industry Applications and Energy Conversion programme from 1993 to 1995. On the side he did consulting work: while in Newcastle he consulted for British Gas, Sevcon, and Pakcenter, and in the United States he consulted for the Kollmorgen Corporation, Certek Corporation, Entergy Enterprises, and Powertronics. He also visited the Oak Ridge National Laboratory as research faculty in the summer of 1994.
Between August 1995 and August 2007, he was the Jean Newell Distinguished Professor in Engineering at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York; he was tenured as a professor of electrical and chemical engineering in 1997. During that time he was the Danfoss Visiting Professor at Aalborg University in Denmark in 2001.
In January 2008, Pillay joined Concordia University in Montréal, Canada as a professor. From 2009 to 2020, he held a Senior Industrial Research Chair co-sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Hydro-Québec. At Concordia, he is a member of the Power Engineering and Energy Research Group. He is particularly well known for his research on power engineering and renewable energy technologies.
Alongside his appointment in Canada, in January 2017 he was appointed as an honorary professor in electrical engineering at the University of Cape Town, where he had served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering since January 1999.
Honours and awards
Pillay has served in various positions in committees of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and he won prize paper awards from the association in 1987 and 2003. In 2005 the IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS) named him as an IEEE IAS Fellow for his contributions to switched reluctance and permanent magnet motor drives. In later years he was named as an IEEE IAS Distinguished Lecturer in 2012 to 2013 and as IEE IAS Prominent Lecturer in 2014 to 2015. In 2015 he won the IAS Outstanding Achievement Award.
In South Africa, he won the 2006 T. W. Kambule Award for Senior Black Researchers, presented by the South African National Science and Technology Forum and sponsored by the National Research Foundation. On 28 October 2008, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe inducted him into the Order of Mapungubwe, awarding him the prize in silver "For his excellent achievement in and contribution to the field of energy conservation." He is also a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, as well as a fellow of the United Kingdom's Institution of Engineering and Technology.
References
External links
Pragasen Pillay at Clarkson University
Pragasen Pillay at Concordia University
1958 births
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
Date of birth missing (living people)
20th-century South African engineers
21st-century South African engineers
Academic staff of Concordia University
Academics of Newcastle University
Academic staff of the University of Cape Town
Clarkson University faculty
Electrical engineering academics
Energy engineers
Fellows of the IEEE
Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology
IEEE award recipients
Members of the Academy of Science of South Africa
Members of Phi Kappa Phi
South African electrical engineers
South African expatriates in the United States
South African expatriates in Canada
University of Durban-Westville alumni
University of Natal alumni
University of New Orleans faculty
Virginia Tech alumni | Pragasen Pillay | [
"Engineering"
] | 983 | [
"Institution of Engineering and Technology",
"Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology",
"Energy engineering",
"Energy engineers"
] |
77,234,009 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George%20Ekama | George Adriaan Ekama (17 June 1949 – 19 February 2023) was a Dutch–South African civil engineer who was an expert on wastewater treatment. Throughout his career he worked at the University of Cape Town, where he was professor of water quality engineering. He was a distinguished fellow of the International Water Association.
Life and career
Ekama was born on 17 June 1949 in Hilversum in the Netherlands. His family emigrated to South Africa during the 1950s, and he studied civil engineering at the University of Cape Town. His grandfather, father, and elder brother were also engineers. After completing his bachelor's degree, he repaid his bursary by working for several years; he was employed by the contractor that was building the container quay at the Cape Town Harbour.
At the same time, he took evening classes, and in that context he met Gerrit Marais, a professor at the University of Cape Town who became his mentor. Upon the completion of his work contract, Ekama returned to the University of Cape Town full-time as a master's student. He worked in Marais's research group, which was working on biological nutrient removal as an alternative to chemical nutrient removal in wastewater treatment processes. His master's was upgraded to a Ph.D. in engineering, awarded in 1978.
After his graduation, he remained at the university, initially as a soft-funded research officer. He was promoted to Professor of Water Quality Engineering in 1991 and retained that position for the rest of his career. In addition, he was head of the Department of Civil Engineering between 2003 and 2007. He was also a regular visitor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, taught regular specialist courses at the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, and spent sabbaticals at Virginia Tech and the University of Padua.
Scholarship
At the University of Cape Town, Ekama joined and later led the Department of Civil Engineering's highly acclaimed Water Research Group. Although he was never formally trained in chemical engineering, his work was heavily dependent on biochemical engineering. The Water Research Group continued his and Marais's research into the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater, with particular focus on extending their work on biological nutrient removal and related modelling. This work was incorporated into international activated sludge models. Ekama himself published over 100 journal articles, and in 2006 he received an A1-rating from the National Research Foundation. Thomson Reuters identified him as a Highly Cited Researcher.
Honours and awards
A member of the International Water Association (IWA) since 1984, Ekama was a member of several specialist IWA groups. He received the IWA Project Innovation Award in 2012 and he was named as an IWA Distinguished Fellow in 2017. The Academy of Science of South Africa named him as a 'Legend of South African Science' in 2017, and the Water Research Commission likewise honoured him as a 'Legend' in 2021. In January 2023 in Stellenbosch, the 8th IWA Water Resource Recovery Modelling Seminar featured a gala dinner in his honour.
On Freedom Day in 2013, President Jacob Zuma admitted Ekama to the Order of Mapungubwe, granting him the award in silver for:His excellent research that has provided innovative solutions to enhancing and improving wastewater treatment. His important work is helping the country to find solutions to water scarcity.He was also a fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, a fellow of the South African Academy of Engineers, a fellow of the University of Cape Town, and a senior fellow of the Water Institute of Southern Africa.
Personal life and retirement
Ekama retired in 2017 and became an emeritus professor, though he continued his research until he suffered a severe stroke in 2020. He died on 19 February 2023, aged 73.
He was Christian, and he was also an avid marathon runner; he completed one Comrades Marathon and several Two Oceans Marathons. He was married to Janet Ekama and had one child, a daughter named Kate. Kate is an economist at the University of Stellenbosch.
See also
Wastewater treatment in South Africa
References
External links
George Ekama at International Water Association
1949 births
2023 deaths
20th-century South African engineers
21st-century South African engineers
Academic staff of the University of Cape Town
Dutch expatriates in South Africa
Environmental engineers
Fellows of the Royal Society of South Africa
People from Hilversum
South African civil engineers
University of Cape Town alumni | George Ekama | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering"
] | 889 | [
"Environmental engineers",
"Environmental engineering"
] |
77,234,483 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monique%20Zaahl | Monique Glenda Zaahl (born 4 November 1975) is a South African geneticist. She was formerly a professor of genetics at Stellenbosch University, where she conducted influential research into iron overload. She is now the managing director of Gene Diagnostics, a private genetic testing company.
Education
Zaahl completed her undergraduate degree at Stellenbosch University, where she became interested in human genetics as a result of the influence of Professor Louise Warnich. She obtained her PhD at Stellenboch in 2003; she received the 2001 Commonwealth Split-Site Scholarship to complete part of her doctoral research at Oxford University under the supervision of Kathryn Robson.
Career
In 2004, she joined the Stellenbosch faculty as a lecturer. She was promoted to senior lecturer in 2006, associate professor in 2010, and head of the Department of Genetics in 2011; she was tenured as a full professor shortly afterwards. Her research at Stellenbosch focused on iron-related causes of disease, particularly via investigation of the genetic mechanisms of iron metabolism and iron overload.
In 2009, while still at Stellenbosch, she founded Gene Diagnostics, a private genetic testing company. The Star said it was the first such company owned by a black woman. She ultimately left academia to run the company full time. It received support from the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation's Black Umbrellas business incubation programme, and in 2021 it moved its headquarters from Somerset West to Woodstock, Cape Town.
Honours and awards
At the 2006 National Women in Science Awards, Zaahl was named the Best Emerging Young Scientist. In 2009, the National Science and Technology Forum awarded her the National Research Foundation-sponsored T. W. Kambule Award for young black researchers. In April 2010, President Jacob Zuma admitted her to the Order of Mapungubwe, granting her the award in Bronze "For her outstanding contribution to the field of genetics and research into disorders resulting from iron overload."
References
External links
Audio interview with Heart FM
1975 births
Place of birth missing (living people)
21st-century South African scientists
21st-century South African women scientists
Academic staff of Stellenbosch University
South African geneticists
Stellenbosch University alumni
Women biotechnologists
Biotechnologists
Living people | Monique Zaahl | [
"Biology"
] | 458 | [
"Biotechnologists",
"Women biotechnologists"
] |
77,234,835 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color%20transparency | Color transparency
is a phenomenon observed in high-energy particle physics, where hadrons (particles made of quarks such as a proton or mesons) created in a nucleus propagate through that nucleus with less interaction than expected. It suggests that hadrons are first created with a small size in the nucleus, and then grow to their nominal size. Here, color refers to the color charge, the property of quarks and gluons that determines how strongly they interact through the nuclear strong force.
Color transparency is also known as "color screening", "color coherence" or "color neutrality".
Description
Color transparency arises from the behavior of quarks inside hadrons. These quarks are held together by the strong interaction, mediated by gluons. At high energies, when a high-energy hadron -or more generally a color singlet object interacts with a nucleus, it can propagate in the nucleus with less scattering than expected.
This reduced scattering, or transparency, is attributed to the fact soon after the hadron is created, the gluon cloud surrounding the quarks is more compact, viz the effective size of the singlet object is small, leading to reduced interaction. This effect is observed in experiments involving high-energy electron scattering off nuclei, where the transparency increases with increasing energy of the incoming particles, or more precisely with the 4-momentum transfer between the accelerated particle beam and target nucleus.
Interpretation
Color transparency is interpreted as the creation of point-like configurations (PLC), also called small-size configurations (SSC) or ejectile, that are color singlet and of radius , where is the reduced Planck constant. The radius is small because the quarks are close to each other, making their external color fields to cancel, much like the electric field of an electric dipole vanishes at distances much larger than the dipole size.
If the energy-momentum of the PLC/SSC/ejectile is high enough, it does not have time to expand to its nominal size (e.g., about 0.8 fm if the PLC/SSC becomes a proton) while propagating in the target nucleus, resulting in it going through the nucleus unimpeded.
The above interpretation is in the partonic language, which uses quarks and gluons as the degrees of freedom. Due to the quark-hadron duality, or parton-hadron duality, meaning that all QCD predictions can be expressed using a hadronic basis, color transparency can also be described using hadronic degrees of freedom. In that case, the ejectile, although not a hadron (i.e., not an eigenstate of the QCD Hamiltonian despite being color singlet), can be represented as a superposition of hadrons. Such a superposition state has a smaller size than each individual hadron. As the ejectile propagates in the nucleus, all but one of the hadron states constituting the ejectile state are filtered out by the interaction of the ejectile with the nucleons in the nucleus. The remaining hadronic state corresponds to the hadron eventually produced in the reaction. The filtering out of the other states occurs after a typical formation time . If the distance is larger than the nucleus size, then no filtering happens in the nucleus, the ejectile keeps its small size, and propagates largely unhindered. This is color transparency described with hadronic degrees of freedom.
Experimental observations
The phenomenon has been observed in several experiments, including experiment E791 at Fermilab. The experiment ran from June 1988 to January 1992 and collided high-energy (500 GeV) pions onto carbon and platinum nuclei. The experiment observed evidence of color transparency in the production of vector mesons, such as and mesons.
Other experiments that observed evidence for color transparency include the E665 experiment, also at Fermilab, the HERMES experiment at DESY, the E01-107 and the E02-110 experiments at Jefferson Lab.
The experimental signal for color transparency is the "nuclear transparency", defined as the ratio between the nuclear cross section per nucleon over that on a free nucleon. Color transparency then predicts an increase of nuclear transparency with .
Importance
Color transparency is important because it provides valuable insights into the strong interaction. In fact, color transparency is a prediction of the quantum field theory of the strong force, quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Additionally, color transparency has implications for nuclear physics and the structure of atomic nuclei. By studying how particles interact with nuclei at high energies, one learns more about the distributions of quarks and gluons within nucleons and how they are affected by the surrounding nuclear environment. The noticeable modification of these distributions by the nuclear environment is known as the EMC effect and is, as of 2024, a vibrant field of research in particle and nuclear physics.
References
External links
A 1-page pedagogical description of color transparency
On color transparency, B.K. Jennings and G.A. Miller, Phys.Lett.B 236 (1990) 209-213
Color transparency: The Wherefore and the why, B.K. Jennings, G.A. Miller, Phys.Rev.D 44 (1991) 692-703, Phys. Rev. D44 (1991) 692-703
[https://arxiv.org/abs/1211.2826 Color transparency: past, present and future, D. Dutta, K. Hafidi and M. Strikman, Prog. Part. Nucl.
Phys. 69, 1 (2013) [arXiv:1211.2826 [nucl-th]].]
Quantum chromodynamics
Nuclear physics | Color transparency | [
"Physics"
] | 1,214 | [
"Hadrons",
"Subatomic particles",
"Matter",
"Nuclear physics"
] |
75,605,878 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desir%C3%A9e%20Plata | Desirée Plata is an American environmental engineer known for her work in the fields of sustainability and energy in both research and industrial settings. Currently an associate professor at MIT, she is also the co-founder of methane conversion startup Nth-Cycle, in addition to informally advising other sustainability related companies.
Early life and education
As a child, while spending time at her grandmother's house in Gray, Maine, Plata noticed that in numerous neighborhood households, people were sick with neurological disorders and cancer. She later discovered that her intuition was correct: A waste disposal facility nearby had contaminated the drinking water in the area, leading to a cancer cluster. The situation affected Plata's grandmother and aunt, who was diagnosed with cancer while Plata was a PhD student at MIT. This event instilled in Plata the dedication to her work of developing ways to use science and engineering to prevent environmental and safety issues.
Desiree attended Gould Academy for high school, graduating in 1999, and then got her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry at Union College, New York in 2003. After college, Plata enrolled in doctoral studies as a part of the joint MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution program. As a part of this program, Plata studied oil spills, co-authoring a paper that helped spur a law changing the way that oil is transported off the coast of Massachusetts. She also researched how industrial emissions created during the production of carbon nanotubes could give insights into how those materials form. This work led to a much more sustainable way to create these carbon nanotubes, which are used in many sustainability applications.
Career
After getting her PhD, Plata worked as a visiting professor for MIT for two years, and then joined the faculty of Duke University and Yale University. While working at Yale, Plata co-founded a company called Nth Cycle with Megan O'Connor, a PhD student whom she worked with at Duke. The purpose of this company is to use electric currents to extract cobalt and nickel from lithium-ion batteries and other electronic waste. This method of metal extraction is much less energy intensive and safer than traditional methods, cutting energy emissions by more than 92% compared to traditional energy-intensive smelting operations. This is very much aligned with Plata's belief in considering sustainability in the design of every process. Her company was started in 2017 and began commercial operations in September 2022.
Plata eventually returned to MIT to work as an associate professor in civil and environmental engineering in 2018. Plata's research at MIT now focuses primarily on methane, and specifically exploring ways to convert methane into the less harmful greenhouse gas of carbon dioxide and other fuels in places like dairy farms and coal plants. Plata and her team at MIT recently discovered a way to use zeolite, a type of clay commonly used in cat litter, to absorb methane and turn it into carbon dioxide. The idea is that if we could take all of the methane out of the air produced from coal globally, this has the equivalent effect of taking all of the combustion engine vehicles off of the road, even after accounting for the small amount of CO2 that would be produced during Plata's process of methane conversion. Plata is also the co-director of the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium
Awards and honors
National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow (2011, 2013)
Odebrecht-Braskem Sustainable Innovation Award (2015)
NSF CAREER Award (2016)
Caltech Resnick Sustainability Fellow (2017)
Department of Energy Innovation Crossroads (2018)
MIT's Junior Bose Teaching Award (2019)
National Academy of Engineers Frontiers of Engineering Fellow (2012, 2020)
MIT's Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award
References
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Environmental engineers
American engineers
American women engineers
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty
Union College (New York) alumni
Duke University faculty
Yale University faculty | Desirée Plata | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering"
] | 787 | [
"Environmental engineers",
"Environmental engineering"
] |
75,606,566 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farez | Farez or Forez (فارز named for file forensics) is a content moderation software program made by Iranian FATA cyber law enforcement command in 2023. It was proposed to be mandatorily installed on citizens' phones, it is advertised as Iranian Anti Virus.
References
Content moderation
Censorship in Iran
Mobile applications | Farez | [
"Technology"
] | 70 | [
"Computing stubs",
"Software stubs"
] |
75,608,576 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto%20calculus | The Otto calculus (also known as Otto's calculus) is a mathematical system for studying diffusion equations that views the space of probability measures as an infinite dimensional Riemannian manifold by interpreting the Wasserstein distance as if it was a Riemannian metric.
It is named after Felix Otto, who developed it in the late 1990s and published it in a 2001 paper on the geometry of dissipative evolution equations. Otto acknowledges inspiration from earlier work by David Kinderlehrer and conversations with Robert McCann and Cédric Villani.
See also
Itô calculus
References
Diffusion
Partial differential equations
Riemannian manifolds | Otto calculus | [
"Physics",
"Chemistry",
"Mathematics"
] | 122 | [
"Transport phenomena",
"Physical phenomena",
"Diffusion",
"Space (mathematics)",
"Metric spaces",
"Riemannian manifolds"
] |
75,608,730 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat%20Flow%20Experiment | The Heat Flow Experiment was a United States NASA lunar science experiment that aimed to measure the rate of heat loss from the surface of the Moon. Four experiments were carried out on board Apollo missions. Two experiments were successfully deployed as part of Apollo 15 and Apollo 17. The instrument on Apollo 16 was deployed but the cable from it to the ALSEP central station was broken and the experiment was rendered inoperable. A heat flow experiment was carried onboard Apollo 13 but the mission was aborted in-flight and the instrument never reached the surface.
Background
Establishing some of the thermal properties of the Moon's surface was already feasible by the time of the Apollo missions. Measuring infrared emissions via telescope and the measuring of microwave emission spectra from the Moon was already possible from the surface of the Earth. These techniques had already established some of the characteristics of the Moon's surface including temperature, thermal conductivity and heat capacity. The degree to which these properties were limited by the low levels of IR emission, long wavelengths limiting data resolution, and how the Moon's thermal properties vary with depth.
No one person can be attributed with the proposal to measure heat flow from the Moon given the large number of proposals NASA sought from academia, industry and science groups at NASA itself. Several of these proposed such an experiment. The result though was that a small committee was formed to explore how thermal measurements of the Moon could be taken. The committee decided that the focus of any thermal experiment should be focused on heat flow from the Moon's interior.
The committee considered several approaches that included multiple probes and another that included "blankets". The blanket technique was initially ruled out due to the complexity of matching the thermal albedo of the blanket probes with that of the Moon's surface. The method that became the basis for the instrument was a cylindrical heater paired with a temperature sensor a set distance away. Further work by this group established that the probe would need to be inserted into the subsurface to avoid large temperature fluctuations caused by the day-night cycle at the surface. Bendix Corporation was selected as the principal contractor for the instrument and Arthur D. Little was the sub-contractor. Gulton Industries Inc. was selected to develop the electronic circuitry.
Due to the need for the probe to be placed at a depth below the regolith surface, it was known that a drill to penetrate the lunar surface would be required. Development of the drill was led by Martin Marietta, who had previous experience developing tools for NASA.
Instrument
The instrument package consists of two probes, each consisting of two long sections. Each section end has a gradient thermometer that can measure at two points from each end. Each section can therefore measure temperatures along four points. The cables that connect the probe to the experiment's electronics housing also have 4 thermocouples at from the topmost gradient sensor. Each section end also contains a heater to enable the measurement of material conductivity. Each heater had two power settings, 0.002 W and 0.5 W that would allow an exploration across a range of possible material conductivities. Readings from the experiment were taken either every 7.1 minutes or every 54 seconds depending on the heater mode. The probe sections were placed through the use of the Lunar Surface drill, ideally to a depth of below the surface.
Missions
Apollo 13
The heat flow experiment was originally planned to be carried out on Apollo 13, but due to the aborting of that mission, this did not occur. This instrument burnt up in Earth's atmosphere while still on board the Lunar Module. There was not sufficient time to add the HFE to Apollo 14.
The failure of Apollo 13 was perceived by its principal investigator to have had an impact on the collection of science. The planned landing site for Apollo was found to have a substantial presence of long-lived radioisotope. The project's principal investigator believed that if the Apollo 13 instrument deployment had been attempted, it would have led to better mitigations on later missions for the problems experienced with the drill and the compact regolith.
Apollo 15
Drilling of the holes on Apollo 15 was undertaken by David Scott, the mission's commander. After drilling down , the drill started to become ineffective but despite a number of challenges Scott managed to drill down to a depth of . By this point Scott was having to apply his full weight and the decision was made to insert the first probe to prove out functionality. A second drill hole was started but difficulties with drilling were experienced immediately and finishing of the second drill hole was delayed for the second mission EVA. The second drill hole only managed to make a depth of 100 cm and the probe was not fully below the lunar surface. Despite these difficulties, the probes were able to take readings.
The cause of the challenges was due to the deeper levels of the lunar soil not having been disturbed for at least half a billion years. This resulted in extreme compaction that meant further compression of the material could not occur without large amounts of force.
Apollo 16
On Apollo 16 the holes for the probes were dug by Charles Duke who managed to drill down to below the surface. The drill on Apollo 16 had been modified to rectify the issues experienced on the prior mission, Apollo 15. The experiment came to an end before it started when John Young tripped over the cable connecting the experiment to the ALSEP central station. The cabling was designed to resist tensile strains from being tugged, but it was not designed to resist tearing motions. Repairing was considered but rejected due to it needing several hours of surface time.
Apollo 17
Both of the Apollo 17 boreholes were drilled without problem and both probes were installed without issue, continuing to operate for several years.
Science
The experiment found that the very near surface of the lunar regolith, consisting of a few centimeters, was dominated by the radiative transfer of heat. This is primarily because the material is fairly loose, with limited soil particle contact reducing conductive transfer. During the lunar noon, 70% of all heat transfer was radiative. After the first , the soil compaction increases and the subsequent density increases from 1.1–1.2 g/cc to 1.75–2.1 g/cc. The result is a substantially increased conductivity.
The HFE found a thermal gradient of between 1.5–2.0 K/m with a heat flow of around 17 mW/m2. When accounting for measurement uncertainty, this aligned well with seismic and magnetic data. This would imply temperatures that would be relatively close to melting at depths of around .
See also
Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package
References
Lunar science
Physics experiments
Apollo 13
Apollo 15
Apollo 16
Apollo 17
Apollo program hardware | Heat Flow Experiment | [
"Physics"
] | 1,358 | [
"Experimental physics",
"Physics experiments"
] |
75,609,296 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD%20170773 | HD 170773 (HR 6948; 14 G. Coronae Australis) is a solitary star located in the southern constellation Corona Australis. It has an apparent magnitude of 6.22, placing it near the limit for naked eye visibility, even under ideal conditions. The object is located relatively close at a distance of 120 light-years based on Gaia DR3 parallax measurements and it is drifting closer with a heliocentric radial velocity of . At its current distance, HD 170773's brightness is diminished by an interstellar extinction of 0.19 magnitudes and it has an absolute magnitude of +3.38.
HD 170773 has a stellar classification of F5 V, indicating that it is an ordinary F-type main-sequence star that is generating energy via hydrogen fusion at its core. It has also been given a classification of F5 IV, indicating that it is a slightly evolved subgiant that is ceasing hydrogen fusion at its core. It has 1.30 times the mass of the Sun and 1.43 times the radius of the Sun. It radiates 3.62 times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of , giving it the typical yellowish-white hue of a F-type star. HD 170773 has a near solar metallicity of [Fe/H] = −0.02 and it is estimated to be 1.5 billion years old. It spins fairly quickly with a projected rotational velocity of .
The star has a debris disk located away and it has a temperature of 43 K. It was first observed in 1986 by astronomers K. Sakadane and M. Nishida in their survey of Vega-like stars due to the star displaying an infrared excess that could suggest the presence of a circumstellar disk. However, the actual disk was not discovered until 2004 using the Spitzer Space Telescope. There might be a second cooler disk surrounding the star, but subsequent observations have not confirmed this.
References
F-type main-sequence stars
Circumstellar disks
Corona Australis
Coronae Australis, 14
CD-39 12704
170773
090936
6948
00313723578 | HD 170773 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 460 | [
"Corona Australis",
"Constellations"
] |
75,609,499 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrapin%20attack | The Terrapin attack is a cryptographic attack on the commonly used SSH protocol that is used for secure command-and-control throughout the Internet. The Terrapin attack can reduce the security of SSH by using a downgrade attack via man-in-the-middle interception. The attack works by prefix truncation; the injection and deletion of messages during feature negotiation, manipulating sequence numbers in a way that causes other messages to be ignored without an error being detected by either client or server.
According to the attack's discoverers, the majority of SSH implementations were vulnerable at the time of the discovery of the attack (2023). As of January 3, 2024, an estimated 11 million publicly accessible SSH servers are still vulnerable. However, the risk is mitigated by the requirement to intercept a genuine SSH session, and that the attack can only delete messages at the start of a negotiation, fortuitously resulting mostly in failed connections. Additionally the attack requires the use of either ChaCha20-Poly1305 or a CBC cipher in combination with Encrypt-then-MAC modes of encryption. The SSH developers have stated that the major impact of the attack is the capability to degrade the keystroke timing obfuscation features of SSH.
The designers of SSH have implemented a fix for the Terrapin attack, but the fix is only fully effective when both client and server implementations have been upgraded to support it. The researchers who discovered the attack have also created a vulnerability scanner to determine whether an SSH server or client is vulnerable.
The attack has been given the CVE ID CVE-2023-48795. In addition to the main attack, two other vulnerabilities were found in AsyncSSH, and assigned the CVE IDs CVE-2023-46445 and CVE-2023-46446.
References
External links
Classic mitm on ssh vs. Terrapin-Attack: packet handling comparison
Computer network security
Computer security exploits | Terrapin attack | [
"Technology",
"Engineering"
] | 419 | [
"Cybersecurity engineering",
"Computer networks engineering",
"Computer network security",
"Computer security exploits"
] |
75,611,665 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremella%20yokohamensis | Tremella yokohamensis is a species of fungus in the family Tremellaceae. It produces white, foliaceous, gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) and is parasitic on other fungi on dead wood of broad-leaved trees. It was originally described from Japan.
Taxonomy
Tremella yokohamensis was first published in 2011 as a yeast, Cryptococcus yokohamensis, isolated from Eucalyptus bark (and a koala) in a Japanese zoo. Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, showed that the yeast was closely related to the type species of Tremella and in 2015 the species was accordingly recombined as Tremella yokohamensis. Subsequently, a fruit body collected in the Russian Far East was found to have identical DNA, enabling a more complete description of the fungus.
Description
Fruit bodies are gelatinous, white, up to 40 mmm across, and foliaceous. Microscopically, the basidia are tremelloid (ellipsoid, with oblique to vertical septa), 4-celled, stalked, 18 to 21 by 9.5 to 10.5 μm. The basidiospores are ellipsoid, smooth, 8 to 10.5 by 5.5 to 7 μm.
Similar species
Fruit bodies of Tremella fuciformis are of similar shape and colour, but can be distinguished microscopically by having basidia that are unstalked and slightly smaller, producing smaller basidiospores (5 to 8 μm by 4 to 6 μm).
Habitat and distribution
Tremella yokohamensis is a parasite on lignicolous fungi, but its host is unknown. It was originally isolated from the trunk of a Eucalyptus tree and subsequently found on decaying wood of a deciduous tree.
The species was originally isolated as a yeast in Japan and as a basidiocarp in the Russian Far East (Primorye Territory).
References
yokohamensis
Fungi described in 2011
Fungi of Asia
Yeasts
Fungus species | Tremella yokohamensis | [
"Biology"
] | 422 | [
"Yeasts",
"Fungi",
"Fungus species"
] |
75,612,982 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial%20Planning%20Act%202023 | The Spatial Planning Act 2023 (SPA), now repealed, was one of three laws introduced by the Sixth Labour Government in order to replace New Zealand's Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). Its purpose was to provide for regional spatial strategies that assisted the purpose of the Natural and Built Environment Act 2023 (NBA) and promote integration in the performance of functions under the NBA, the Land Transport Management Act 2003, the Local Government Act 2002, and the Water Services Entities Act 2022.
The Bill passed its third reading on 15 August 2023, and received royal assent on 23 August 2023. On 23 December 2023, the SPA and NBA were both repealed by the National-led coalition government.
Key provisions
The Spatial Planning Act 2023 requires all regions to have a regional spatial strategy that must align with the geographical boundaries of the region. The Chatham Islands' regional planning committee and offshore islands administered by the Minister of Conservation were excluded from this requirement.
The Spatial Planning Act also outlined the scope, contents, preparation and implementation of the regional spatial strategies including matters of national and regional importance. The Act also entrenched Te Ture Whaimana as the primary direction-setting document for the Waikato and Waipā Rivers, along with activities within their catchments affecting the rivers.
The Spatial Planning Act also required regional spatial strategies to take into account customary marine title areas and identified Māori land. Regional planning committees were also required to comply with Māori consultation arrangements. The Act also outlined the process for consulting with Māori groups.
The Act also contained provisions for cross-regional planning committees to develop plans affecting two or more regions. The Act also outlined the responsibilities and process for the Minister responsible for managing the RMA process.
The Spatial Planning Act also amended several existing laws including the Conservation Act 1987, Environment Act 1986, the Land Transport Management Act 2003, the Local Government Act 2002 and the Water Services Entities Act 2022.
Legislative history
Introduction
In 2020, a review of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) identified various problems with the existing resource management system, and concluded that it could not cope with modern environmental pressures. In January 2021, the Sixth Labour Government announced that the RMA will be replaced by three acts: the core Natural and Built Environment Act, focusing land use and environmental regulation; the Strategic Planning Act, focusing on development laws; and the Climate Change Adaptation Act, focusing on managed retreat and climate change funding.
On 14 November 2022, the Labour Government introduced the Spatial Planning Act into the New Zealand House of Representatives alongside the companion Natural and Built Environment Act (NBA) as part of its RMA reform efforts. The opposition National and ACT parties opposed the two replacement bills, claiming that they created more centralisation, bureaucracy and did little to address the problems with the RMA process. The Green Party expressed concerns about the perceived lack of environment protection in the proposed legislation.
First reading
On 22 November 2022, Environment Minister David Parker introduced the Strategic Planning Act during its first reading. Several Labour and Green MPs including Parker, Rachel Brooking, Tāmati Coffey, Eugenie Sage, Anahila Kanongata'a-Suisuiki, Duncan Webb, Lemauga Lydia Sosene and Angie Warren-Clark argued that the SPA would help simplify the resource consent process for housing, infrastructural development, and spatial planning. By contrast, National and ACT MPs including Scott Simpson, Stuart Smith, Simon Court, Sam Uffindell, and David Bennett expressed concerns about red tape and centralisation, and claimed that the bill would do little to address the housing shortage. The SPA passed its first reading by a margin of 74 (Labour and the Greens) to 45 votes (National, ACT, and Te Pāti Māori), and was referred to the Environment select committee.
Select committee stage
On 27 June 2023, the Environment Committee voted by a majority to progress the SPA to its second reading. These amendments included promoting integration in the functions of the regional spatial strategies (RSS) with the NBA, upholding te Oranga o te Taiao, promoting integration between the RSS and proposed water services entities, clarifying the role of Māori iwi (tribes) and hapū (sub-groups) in the bill, and clarifying the wording around the regional spatial planning process and the transitional process from the RMA framework. The ACT and National parties also published their minority reports. ACT claimed that the SPA would frustrate development by creating more red tape and duplication. National's minority report claimed that the SPA created legal uncertainty, increased bureaucracy, complicated decarbonisation efforts, and undermined property rights.
Second reading
During its second reading on 18 July 2023, Parliament voted by a margin of 71 (Labour, Greens) to 48 (National, ACT, Te Paati Māori, independent Members of Parliament Elizabeth Kerekere and Meka Whaitiri) to endorse the Environment Committee's amendments. The SPA passed its second reading by a margin of 72 (Labour, Greens, Kerekere) to 47 (National, ACT, Te Paati Māori, and Whaitiri). Labour MPs Parker, Brooking, Phil Twyford, Warren-Clark, Arena Williams, Tracey McLellan, and Sosene, and Green MP Sage gave speeches defending the Bill. National MPs Chris Bishop, Simpson, Barbara Kuriger, and Tama Potaka, and ACT MP Court spoke against the Bill.
Third reading
The Bill passed its third reading on 15 August 2023 by a margin of 72 (Labour, Greens, and Kerekere) to 47 (National, ACT, Te Paati Māori, and Whaitiri). Labour MPs Parker, Brooking, Twyford, Warren-Clark, Sarah Pallett, Dan Rosewarne, and Sosene and Green MP Sage spoke in favour of the Bill. National MPs Bishop, Simpson, Kuriger, Potaka, Smith and ACT MP Court opposed the Bill. The Bill received royal assent on 23 August 2023.
Repeal
Following the 2023 New Zealand general election, the National-led coalition government repealed the Spatial Planning Act and Natural and Built Environment Act on 23 December 2023. The country reverted back to the Resource Management Act 1991 while the Government worked on introducing new replacement legislation.
Notes and references
External links
2022 in New Zealand law
2023 in New Zealand law
2022 in the environment
2023 in the environment
Environmental law in New Zealand
Environmental mitigation
Natural resource management
Repealed New Zealand legislation
Urban planning in New Zealand | Spatial Planning Act 2023 | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering"
] | 1,325 | [
"Environmental mitigation",
"Environmental engineering"
] |
75,613,957 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai%20Micro%20Electronics%20Equipment | Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (Group) Co., Ltd. (SMEE), is a semiconductor manufacturing equipment company based in Shanghai, China. The company is involved in the research, development, manufacture and sale of lithography scanners and inspection tools to the semiconductor manufacturing industry; it also provides support services to its customers.
Company history
SMEE was established in 2002 by He Rongming, a former vice president at Shanghai Electric. It was originally a lithography machine technology research project under the 863 Program. After a few years of research, SMEE rolled out the first domestically made lithography machine for commercial use.
In December 2017, SMEE signed a contract with CSC Financial to prepare it to become a public company. During the process, SMEE acquired funding from investors such as China Everbright Limited. There was a change in the management team afterwards leading He to leave SMEE in early 2018.
Product history
Prior to 2023, SMEE's most advanced product for manufacturing front-end semiconductor chips was the SSA600, which has a scanning resolution that is capable of fabricating 90 nm-class integrated circuit silicon chips. The SSA600 series machines has been described by observers as an immersion deep ultraviolet lithography tool which features an argon fluoride (ArF) excimer laser emitting coherent ultraviolet light at a wavelength of 193 nm.
SSA800x (December 2023)
In December 2023, western media reported that SMEE has completed the initial development of its new SSA800-10W immersion lithography machine which has a scanning resolution capable of fabricating 28 nm-process class chips. Instances of the new machine may have been delivered to manufacturers such as SMIC and to research institutes. SSA800 continues to use ArF laser as its light source but also includes better tools and components which enable manufacturers to fashion circuit features associated with 28 nm-process technology. Western media reported that SSA800 is designed so that none of its components include intellectual properties that originate in the United States . Some analysts suggest that it is likely the Chinese government had asked SMEE to benchmark its new 28 nm-capable DUV immersion system against the similar ASML NXT:2000i system and that SSA800 is part of a fully domestic production line which is currently undergoing test production and certification. As of early 2024, SMEE's website does not yet include the new SSA800 lithography machine in its product list section.
In the future, a version of the SSA800 may be employed on processes below the 28 nm node via multi-patterning; generally, photolithography techniques developed in the field of multiple patterning allow immersion lithography machines using an ArF laser light source to fashion integrated circuits features associated with technologies as advanced as 7 nm or even 5 nm processes. For example, in 2016, media reports implied that Intel's then new 10 nm-process employed immersion DUV machines in combination with self-aligned double patterning techniques to achieve the desired circuit feature size, rather than using the latest EUV photolithography technology.
SMEE's SSA800 machine lags photolithography industry leader ASML Holding in time: ASML first delivered 28 nm-capable machines to TSMC in 2011.
Pre-2023 product mix
Prior to the introduction of the SSA800 scanner series in 2023, SMEE had developed a range of lithography, metrology, and derivative equipment, including four series of machines for the manufacture of front-end integrated circuits (such as the SSA600 series scanners), back-end IC packaging, LEDs, MEMS, IC power devices, and TFTs.
EUV lithography
In 2024, SMEE filed a patent for an EUV lithography scanner to manufacture advanced chips, which is currently only produced by Netherland's ASML; some observers suggest that there may be up to three separate current efforts within China, involving private, state, and educational institutions other than SMEE, to develop and deliver a prototype Chinese EUV lithography scanner in the next few years. The key driver in the development of advanced Chinese lithography equipment appears to be a government-backed effort to stengthen public-private collaboration in order to enhance innovation; in particular, the state seeks to overcome developmental bottlenecks by easing the transfer of advanced state-backed R&D to designated private-sector companies such as SMEE.
United States sanctions
In December 2022, as part of the United States' effort to impede Chinese development of advanced semiconductor equipment, the United States Department of Commerce added SMEE to the Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List.
See also
ASML Holding
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation
References
External links
Semiconductor companies of China
Companies based in Shanghai
Electronics companies established in 2002
Equipment semiconductor companies
2002 establishments in Shanghai
Manufacturing companies established in 2002 | Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment | [
"Engineering"
] | 1,016 | [
"Equipment semiconductor companies",
"Semiconductor fabrication equipment"
] |
75,615,253 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood%20Material%20Science%20and%20Engineering | Wood Material Science and Engineering is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of wood science, engineering, and technology. It is published by Taylor & Francis and the editor-in-chief is Dick Sandberg of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The journal was established in 2006.
Abstracting and indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in:
According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2023 impact factor of 2.2.
References
External links
English-language journals
Taylor & Francis academic journals
Wood science journals | Wood Material Science and Engineering | [
"Materials_science"
] | 116 | [
"Wood science journals",
"Materials science journals"
] |
75,615,478 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa%20Major%20III | Ursa Major III (UMa III) is a dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, the smallest and faintest ever discovered. It was found by the deep, wide field Ultraviolet Near Infrared Optical Northern Survey (UNIONS), a collaboration between the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope and Pan-STARRS (two observatories in Hawaii), with additional data provided by the Keck Observatory's Deep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (DEIMOS), which has 64 megapixels of resolution.
Ursa Major III's discovery was announced in November 2023, with a paper appearing in The Astrophysical Journal in January 2024. It contains a metal-poor stellar population, indicating an extreme age of 11 billion years. Located about 32,600 light years away, it has a diameter of just 19.6 light years and is thought to contain only about 60 stars. Combined with its absolute magnitude of only +2.2, this makes it by far the Milky Way's dimmest satellite, and only about as bright as Altair. This absolute magnitude corresponds to a total luminosity of .
Ursa Major III is predicted to have a mass-to-light ratio of about 6,500. However, this becomes only 1,900 with the removal of one of the stars suspected to be part of the galaxy. This very high value may indicate the presence of a massive dark matter halo, suggesting that Ursa Major III could indeed be a true dwarf galaxy, albeit one with an extremely low stellar mass. Ursa Major III's total stellar mass is only about , making it the least massive Milky Way satellite known and by far the least massive galaxy known, if it is proven to truly be a galaxy in future research.
References
Astronomical objects discovered in 2023
Dwarf galaxies
Local Group
Milky Way Subgroup
Ursa Major | Ursa Major III | [
"Astronomy"
] | 375 | [
"Galaxy stubs",
"Ursa Major",
"Astronomy stubs",
"Constellations"
] |
75,615,555 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish%20School%20of%20Watchmaking | The Finnish School of Watchmaking () is a watchmaking school based in Espoo, Finland. The school was founded in Lahti in 1944, and moved to Espoo in 1957.
The school offers two three-year degree programmes, Watchmaking and Micro-Mechanics. The school is overseen by the Kellosepäntaidon Edistämissäätiö (Finland's Foundation for the Advancement of Watchmaking Skills).
The alumni of the school include watchmakers Kari Voutilainen and Stepan Sarpaneva.
References
External links
Horological organizations
Horology
Education in Espoo
Vocational education in Finland | Finnish School of Watchmaking | [
"Physics"
] | 128 | [
"Spacetime",
"Horology",
"Physical quantities",
"Time"
] |
75,616,036 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium%28III%29%20bromide | Uranium(III) bromide is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula UBr3. It is radioactive.
Preparation
Uranium(III) bromide can be obtained by the reaction of uranium metal or uranium(III) hydride and hydrogen bromide, or it can also be prepared by the thermal decomposition of NH4UBr4·1.5CH3CN·6H2O. It is difficult to synthesize due to its rapid oxidation in both water and air.
References
Bromides
Uranium(III) compounds
Actinide halides | Uranium(III) bromide | [
"Chemistry"
] | 115 | [
"Bromides",
"Salts"
] |
75,617,303 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetaNetX | MetaNetX is a database maintained by the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics for the automated model construction, and the genome annotation for large-scale metabolic networks. MetaNetX provides a number of tools to access, analyse and manipulate metabolic networks.
MetaNetX provides a bunch of pre-mapped metabolic models.
To ease model comparison, MetaNetX has developed a resource to unify metabolites and biochemical reactions in the context of metabolic models. This unified namespace is called MetaNetX/MNXref.
MNXref reconciles chemical compounds by structural similarity and biochemical reaction context. Then reconciles biochemical reactions on the basis of the chemical compound reconciliation in an iterative way. Each reconciled group of chemical compounds, biochemical reactions and cellular compartments is a bag of similar items. MNXref sets a referent for each group.
MetaNetX allows search in MNXref by chemical compounds, biochemical reactions and cellular compartments.
Currently, MetaNetX/MNXref reconciles those resources:
BiGG
ChEBI
enviPath
HMDB
GO
KEGG
LipidMaps
MetaCyc
Reactome
Rhea
SABIO-RK
SwissLipids
The SEED
References
Chemical databases
Biomolecules
Biochemistry
Open science
Science and technology in Switzerland | MetaNetX | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 267 | [
"Natural products",
"Biochemistry",
"Chemical databases",
"Organic compounds",
"Structural biology",
"Biomolecules",
"nan",
"Molecular biology"
] |
75,617,927 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust%20in%20Numbers | Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life is a book by Theodore Porter, published in 1995 by Princeton University Press, that proposes that quantification in public life is driven by bureaucratic necessities to obtain legitimacy through objectivity.
Synopsis
In Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life, Theodore Porter reverses the classic notion that quantification descends from the successes of natural sciences being adopted by other disciplines, to investigate instead the opposite movement, whereby quantification is driven by political, administrative and bureaucratic necessities to standardize, communicate, and obtain legitimacy through objectivity.The appeal of numbers is especially compelling to bureaucratic officials who lack the mandate of a popular election, or divine right, p. 8.After noting how officials fear being criticized for arbitrariness and bias, he concludes:A decision made by the numbers (or by explicit rules of some other sort) has at least the appearance of being fair and impersonal, p. 8.Thus, "trust may sometimes be based less on the solidity of the numbers themselves than on the needs of expert and client communities".
Analysis
Defined as the book that comes closest to establishing a common theoretical language for sociology of quantification, the work of Porter adopts a historical and sociological style of analysis that is indebted to Bruno Latour and Steven Shapin. An important element of Porter's analysis concerns the meaning of objectivity and how it has arisen historically, and what role numbers have played in its construction. For Porter, 'mechanical objectivity' is sought and obtained via quantitative methods that ensure a procedural forms of accountability. He calls these procedures 'technologies of distance' that ensure compliance with impersonal rules excluding bias and personal preferences.
Based on a number of case studies in different countries — actuaries in the UK and US, engineers in France and in the US — Porter demonstrates that the allure of quantitative and standardized measures does not derive from their success in the natural sciences, but arise from the need of professional groups to "respond to external social and political pressures demanding accountability".
The author traces the history of cost-benefit analysis in a way that make evident the bureaucratic and political conflicts whereby actuaries and experts of different disciplines fought to maintain structures of power and privilege within national styles and contexts. In the US, tensions existed between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers. Each institution produced cost-benefit analyses that were designed to favor the respective interests of the two institutions and their respective stakeholders. In Victorian England actuaries and the accountants fought to thwart attempts by the authorities to introduce standards of accounting, as to defend the nuanced expertise of the respective crafts. In a sense, the work of Porter makes clear how objectivity is an alternative to personal trust. He illustrates the point by comparing the practices and contexts of the Army Corps of Engineers in the US versus those of Les Ingénieurs des Ponts et Chaussées in France (pp. 114–190).
The very last chapter of Trust in Numbers shows — following a critical path opened by Sharon Traweek, p. 222 — that in the most highly developed and leading research communities, for example among high-energy physicists, numbers and quantification are not center stage — a place that is taken by a community of trust, where a "personal knowledge" is at play, that ensures the creativity and vitality of the discipline, a point made by other STS scholars. As noted by the author, the quantitative element of 'mechanical objectivity' is more present in academic fields like economics,
sociology and psychology than they are in physics. This chapter has been suggested as the most relevant for practicing research scientists.
For sociologist Trevor Pinch the most important aspect of this book is to demystify the concept that the more mathematical the science, the higher its prestige, and to achieve this through a comparative investigation of how different sciences make use of mathematics in different contexts".
Trust in Numbers has been suggested as of particular relevance to the field of Digital Humanities.
Reception
In 1997, Porter was awarded the Ludwik Fleck Prize for Trust in Numbers. More than 40 reviews have been written about the book, including from Michel Callon, Philip Mirowski, Sheila Jasanoff, Roy MacLeod, Mary S. Morgan, Trevor Pinch, Jerry Ravetz, Jessica Riskin, E. Roy Weintraub, and many others.
Related readings
Desrosières, Alain, 1998, The Politics of Large Numbers, a history of statistical reasoning, Harvard University Press.
Mennicken, A., & Espeland, W. N. (2019). What's New with Numbers? Sociological Approaches to the Study of Quantification. Annual Review of Sociology, 45(1), 223–245.
Mennicken, A., & Salais, R. (Eds.). (2022). : The New Politics of Numbers: Utopia, Evidence and Democracy, Palgrave Macmillan
Links
Sociology of quantification
Ethics of quantification
References
Quantification (science)
Science and technology studies
Sociology books | Trust in Numbers | [
"Mathematics",
"Technology"
] | 1,049 | [
"Quantity",
"Science and technology studies",
"Quantification (science)"
] |
74,259,198 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhao%20Mao | Professor Guangzhao Mao is an American chemical engineer and an academic. She is professor and Head of the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. From 2020 to 2024 she served as the Head of the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales. She has held positions as chief investigator at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation, the ARC Research Hub for Resilient Intelligent Infrastructure Systems, and the ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health.
Mao is most known for her work on nanotechnology, primarily focusing on targeted drug delivery and electrochemistry for sensors.
Education
Mao completed her BSc in chemistry from Nanjing University in 1988 and obtained her PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1994. She then completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the same institution in 1995.
Career
Mao began her academic career in 1995 by joining Wayne State University as an assistant professor, promoted to full professor, and served until 2020. Since 2020, she has been serving as a professor at the school of chemical engineering at the University of New South Wales.
Mao served as the director of the material science graduate program at Wayne State University from 2011 to 2015 and as the Chair of the Chemical Engineering and Material Science Department at Wayne State University from 2015 to 2020. From 2020 to 2024, she held the position of the Head of the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales. She joined the University of Edinburgh as Head of the School of Engineering in September 2024.
Mao has been the chief investigator of the ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health and the ARC Research Hub for Resilient Intelligent Infrastructure Systems, and as of 2023, she has also been serving as the chief investigator of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation.
Research
Mao has authored numerous publications spanning the areas of nanomanufacturing, nanofabrication, and nanochemistry, including articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Targeted drug delivery
Centered on localized gene delivery, Mao's research proposed biodegradable polymer coatings for sequential DNA release from implantable devices. This was built on her PhD research on the multilayer films. In 2016, she and her team pioneered the idea of using retrograde transport proteins to specifically deliver drugs for treating respiratory issues linked to spinal cord injury. In related research, she collaborated with Harry Goshgarian and Abdulghani Sankari to advance nanotherapeutics by integrating retrograde transport proteins, adenosine receptor antagonists, and nanoparticle carriers. Furthermore, she proposed a new technique for delivering drugs specifically to the central nervous system (CNS) using nanoparticles that are chemically attached to neural tract tracer proteins and can be transported along specific neural pathways, allowing them to bypass the blood–brain barrier and target the CNS directly. Mao used human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) for assessing nanotoxicology, specifically, the effect of nanoparticle size on the viability, pluripotency, neuronal differentiation, and DNA methylation of hESCs. Her work revealed a type of gold nanoparticles to be highly toxic and demonstrated the potential of hESCs in predicting nanotoxicity.
Nanotechnology and nanosensor manufacturing
Mao's other nanotechnology research has focused on seed-mediated crystallization for nanosensor scale up. Her early research examined the potential of designing nucleation seeds to induce shape change in molecular crystals. In her investigation of the impact of seed size and surface chemistry, her study illustrated the capability of nanoparticles to effectively change the ordering pattern of molecular crystals nucleated on the nanoparticle. Moreover, she examined the use of electrochemistry to deposit both the nanoparticle seeds and the molecular crystals on the seed to form a hybrid nanostructure. In 2020, her research group introduced a method for manufacturing nanowire sensors by electrochemically depositing charge-transfer salt nanowire crystals on sensor substrates, demonstrating their gas sensing capabilities for detecting ammonia concentrations in the range of 1–100 ppm through electrical impedance measurements. In 2023, Mao demonstrated the potential of electrochemistry for precise deposition and scale up of nanosensors. She applied atomic force microscopy and surface forces measurement techniques for the study of colloidal and biomolecular interfaces including liposomes, DNA nanoparticles, and viral particles.
Awards and honors
1997 – Faculty Career Award, National Science Foundation
2002 – Fulbright Senior Scholar
2022 – Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Selected articles
Mao, G., Tsao, Y., Tirrell, M., Davis, H. T., Hessel, V., & Ringsdorf, H. (1993). Self-assembly of photopolymerizable bolaform amphiphile mono-and multilayers. Langmuir, 9(12), 3461–3470.
D Chen, R Wang, I Arachchige, G Mao, SL Brock (2004), Particle− Rod Hybrids: Growth of Arachidic Acid Molecular Rods from Capped Cadmium Selenide Nanoparticles, Journal of the American Chemical Society 126 (50), 16290–16291.
MC Senut, Y Zhang, F Liu, A Sen, DM Ruden, G Mao (2016), Size‐dependent toxicity of gold nanoparticles on human embryonic stem cells and their neural derivatives, Small 12 (5), 631–646.
Y Zhang, JB Walker, Z Minic, F Liu, H Goshgarian, G Mao (2016), Transporter protein and drug-conjugated gold nanoparticles capable of bypassing the blood-brain barrier, Scientific reports 6 (1), 1–8.
MM Hassan, M Hettiarachchi, M Kilani, X Gao, A Sankari, C Boyer, G Mao (2021), Sustained A1 adenosine receptor antagonist drug release from nanoparticles functionalized by a neural tracing protein, ACS Chemical Neuroscience 12 (23), 4438–4448.
M Kilani, M Ahmed, M Mayyas, Y Wang, K Kalantar‐Zadeh, G Mao (2023), Toward Precision Deposition of Conductive Charge‐Transfer Complex Crystals Using Nanoelectrochemistry, Small Methods 7 (4), 2201198.
References
Chemical engineers
Nanjing University alumni
University of Minnesota alumni
Faculties of the University of New South Wales
American chemical engineers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Academics of the University of Edinburgh
Fellows of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers | Guangzhao Mao | [
"Chemistry",
"Engineering"
] | 1,366 | [
"Chemical engineering",
"Chemical engineers"
] |
74,259,791 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmium%20tellurite | Cadmium tellurite is the tellurite salt of cadmium, with the chemical formula CdTeO3.
Preparation
Cadmium tellurite can be prepared by the reaction of cadmium sulfate and sodium tellurite in ammonia.
Properties
Cadmium tellurite is a colourless solid that is insoluble in water. It is a semiconductor. It is part of the monoclinic crystal system, with space group P21/c (No. 14). It can also crystallize in the cubic crystal system and hexagonal crystal system at temperatures above 540 °C.
References
Cadmium compounds
Tellurites | Cadmium tellurite | [
"Chemistry"
] | 130 | [
"Inorganic compounds",
"Inorganic compound stubs"
] |
74,259,977 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey%20Brooks | Geoffrey Brooks (born 9 November 1962) is a Professor of Engineering at the Swinburne University of Technology, Known for fundamentals of steelmaking and non-ferrous metallurgy. His Research in these fields has earned him awards from organizations such as Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST), the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) as well as winning several best paper awards with his co-workers in the field of pyrometallurgy.
Research
Brooks’ key work includes modelling of steelmaking,leading teams on interaction of jets and liquids in steelmaking, heat transfer in steelmaking and reaction kinetics of steelmaking process. Collaborating with researchers at McMaster University and Swinburne University of Technology, he developed the Bloated Droplet Theory in Oxygen Steelmaking, correlating the steelmaking kinetics with iron droplets bloating and reacting with FeO rich slag.
Media recognition
Brooks has been interviewed on several occasions in the Australian media on matters relating to the Australian Steel industry but also on his research into processing minerals on the moon. He has been a regular contributor to The Conversation commenting on a range of issues relating to the metallurgical industry.
References
External links
Steelmaking
Swinburne University of Technology
Australian scientists
1962 births
Living people | Geoffrey Brooks | [
"Chemistry"
] | 280 | [
"Metallurgical processes",
"Steelmaking"
] |
74,260,069 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimicotinib | Pimicotinib (ABSK021), an oral, highly potent and selective small molecule blocker of the colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF-1R) independently discovered by Abbisko Therapeutics. A number of studies have shown that blocking the CSF-1R signaling pathway could effectively modulate and change macrophage functions, and potentially treat many macrophage-dependent human diseases.
History
In December 2023, Abbisko Therapeutics entered into a licensing agreement for pimicotinib in all indications for China rights with Merck KGaA.
In April 2023, a global phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of pimicotinib in patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumor was started (NCT05804045).
Following with pimicotinib for tenosynovial giant cell tumor treatment in phase III, pimicotinib has also entered into a phase II trial in June 2023 for cGVHD treatment in China.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of NMPA granted pimicotinib breakthrough therapy designation (BTD) for the treatment of tenosynovial giant cell tumor patients that are not amenable to surgery in January 2023 and July 2022, respectively.
Research
Pimicotinib is being investigated as a treatment for tenosynovial giant cell tumor, chronic graft-versus-host-disease (cGVHD), and pancreatic cancer.
References
External links
Kinase inhibitors
Pyridines
Pyrazoles
Ureas
Gamma-lactams
Anilides | Pimicotinib | [
"Chemistry"
] | 370 | [
"Organic compounds",
"Ureas"
] |
74,260,542 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samarium%28III%29%20perchlorate | Samarium(III) perchlorate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Sm(ClO4)3.
Preparation
Samarium(III) perchlorate can be obtained by the reaction of perchloric acid and samarium(III) oxide. The hydrate precipitated from the solution can be dehydrated with dichlorine hexoxide to obtain the anhydrous form.
Properties
Anhydrous samarium(III) perchlorate forms hexagonal crystals, space group P63/m, unit cell parameters a=9.259 Å, c=5.746 Å, Z=2. It reacts with ammonium thiocyanate and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate ([BMIM]SCN) in absolute ethanol to obtain the ionic liquid [BMIM]4[Sm(NCS)7(H2O)].
References
Perchlorates
Samarium(III) compounds | Samarium(III) perchlorate | [
"Chemistry"
] | 211 | [
"Perchlorates",
"Salts"
] |
74,262,417 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber-reinforced%20cementitious%20matrix | A fiber-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) is a reinforcement system composed by fibers (such as steel, aramid, basalt, plant fibers, carbon, polyparaphenylenebenzobisoxazole, and glass) embedded in an inorganic-based matrix, usually made by cement or lime mortar. Plant fibers are a promising area but they are subjected to degradation in the alkaline environment and elevated temperatures during cement hydration.
In international literature, FRCMs are also called textile-reinforced concrete (TRC), textile reinforced mortars (TRM), fabric-reinforced mortar (FRM), or inorganic matrix-grid composites (IMG).
Starting from the second decade of the 21st century they are used for the structural rehabilitation of existing buildings, in particular made by masonry (existing and historical) or by reinforced concrete, to increase their load-bearing capacity under both vertical and horizontal loads (including seismic ones).
History
FRCM efficacy stands in the association of more materials together to give better mechanical properties to the structural systems. An historical example that shares some features with FRCM is the association of sun-dried clay and straw for the production of bricks in Mesopotamia, or the Roman cocciopesto. The first FRP composite materials appeared in the 1940s in aeronautical engineering. FRCM composite materials, on the other hand, have seen their first applications in the early years of the 21th century. Indeed, in the second decade of the same century, FRCMs have joined the now classic FRPs in terms of importance for structural rehabilitation. This is due to the fact that the inorganic matrix has shown numerous advantages, compared with the organic counterpart (FRP), including a better response when applied to fragile substrates such as masonry and reinforced concrete, thanks to the greater compatibility of the mortar layer when applied on such substrates.
Properties
FRCM composites constitute systems or kits according to the definition set out in point 2 of the art. 2 of EU Regulation 305/2011. They are composed of two fundamental components: an inorganic matrix and a reinforcement. Sometimes, to improve their mechanical characteristics and adherence, connectors, anchoring devices or additives can also be introduced.
An FRCM package is created in situ and applied to the structure that needs to be consolidated. An FRCM system can be constituted by a single textile or by several textiles embedded in a single thickness of mortar.
The matrix (or mortar), cementitious, airborne, hydraulic, bastard or based on natural lime, is reinforced with fibers made by:
high tensile steel (UHTSS – Ultra High Tensile Strength Steel);
basalt;
natural (plant) fibers
polyparaphenylenebenzobisoxazole (PBO);
glass;
carbon;
aramid.
The fibers constitute the textile. The textile is grouped into yarns and can be dry or impregnated with organic resins. Yarns are grouped into nets and spaced according to a measure to be defined appropriately in accordance with the CNR DT 215.
The main net characteristics to be defined are:
the distance between yarns in both directions of the textile (respectively called "warp" and "weft");
weights;
warping methods.
Mechanical characteristics
The constitutive stress-strain relationship of an FRCM reinforcement system in a coupon test is characterised by three Stages. Stage A corresponds to the uncracked sample. Stage B corresponds to the sample undergoing cracking. Finally Stage C corresponds to the cracked one. In Stage C the tension is expressed making reference to the area of fibers without considering inorganic matrix. However, the mechanical behavior of FRCMs is very complex, therefore the constitutive relationship is not sufficient to characterise their mechanical behavior. This is due to the fact that FRCM is placed on a substrate. In fact, it is necessary to take into account multiple failure mechanisms that can occur as a result of the interaction between support and reinforcement. Such mechanisms include:
the detachment with cohesive failure of the support from the reinforcement system;
the detachment at the matrix-support interface;
the detachment at the matrix-fiber interface;
the sliding of the fiber in the matrix;
the sliding of the fiber and the cracking of the outer layer of mortar;
the tensile failure of the fiber.
See also
Reinforced concrete
Kevlar
References
Further reading
External links
CNR DT 215
Linea Guida per la identificazione, la qualificazione ed il controllo di accettazione di compositi fibrorinforzati a matrice inorganica (FRCM) da utilizzarsi per il consolidamento strutturale di costruzioni esistenti
Textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) versus FRP as strengthening material of URM walls: in-plane cyclic loading
Composite materials
Plastics
Structural engineering
Fibre-reinforced polymers
Polymers
Materials science | Fiber-reinforced cementitious matrix | [
"Physics",
"Materials_science",
"Engineering"
] | 998 | [
"Structural engineering",
"Applied and interdisciplinary physics",
"Composite materials",
"Materials science",
"Unsolved problems in physics",
"Construction",
"Materials",
"Civil engineering",
"nan",
"Amorphous solids",
"Matter",
"Plastics"
] |
74,262,573 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD%2023523 | HD 23523 (HR 1158) is a binary star located in the northern circumpolar constellation Camelopardalis. It has a combined apparent magnitude of 5.82, making it faintly visible to the naked eye under ideal conditions. When resolved, the primary has an apparent magnitude of 6.31 while the secondary has a magntiude of 7.11. The system is located relatively close at a distance of about 234 light-years based on Gaia DR3 parallax measurements and it currently drifting closer with a somewhat heliocentric radial velocity of . At its current distance, HD 23523's combined brightness is diminished by 0.16 magnitudes due to interstellar extinction and it has a combined absolute magnitude of +1.55.
The system was first discovered to be a double star in 1996 by Marcel Carbillet and colleagues after speckle interferometry observations. The stars are only about a tenth of an arcsecond apart, making observing their individual properties difficult. The discovery paper suggested that the two components might be equal based on the dynamical mass. Overall, HD 23523 has a stellar classification of A5 Vn, indicating that it is an A-type main-sequence star with broad or nebulous absorption lines due to rapid rotation. The primary has a mass either 1.75 or 1.81 times the mass of the Sun while the companion has a mass 1.64 or 1.51 times that of the Sun, depending on the approach.
References
A-type main-sequence stars
Binary stars
Camelopardalis
BD+62 00612
023523
017891
1158 | HD 23523 | [
"Astronomy"
] | 336 | [
"Camelopardalis",
"Constellations"
] |
74,264,402 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRNA-4157/V940 | mRNA-4157/V940 is an mRNA based cancer vaccine encapsulated in solid lipid nanoparticles. The 34 mRNA sequences in mRNA-4157/V940 vaccine were generated by an automated algorithm integrated with workflow based on massive parallel sequencing of tissue generated from cancer patients. As adjuvant therapy, mRNA-4157 monotherapy and in combination with pembrolizumab have been investigated in patients with resected solid tumors (melanoma, bladder carcinoma, HPV negative HNSCC, NSCLC, SCLC, MSI-High, or TMB High cancers). It was also investigated in patients with HNSCC and MSS-CRC.
Clinical development history
mRNA-4157/V940 was initially developed by Moderna starting in 2017. In May 2018, Moderna and MSD (Merck in US) announced collaboration on further development of the investigational agent. In 2019 Moderna and Merck jointly put mRNA-4157/V940 into clinical trials in combination with Merck's cancer immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab in resected stage IIIB-IV melanoma. In December 2022, Moderna and MSD announced that the study met its endpoint and demonstrated superiority. In February 2023, the Food and Drug Administration granted mRNA-4157/V940 breakthrough status. In April 2023, mRNA-4157 in combination with pembrolizumab received Prime Scheme Designation from the European Medicines Agency.
In the 2023 AACR meeting, Professor Jeffrey S. Weber, the deputy director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center, presented the primary analysis outcome from the open-label, 2:1 randomization phase 2b study. At the pre-specified analysis point when 42 Recurrence-free survival (RFS) events occurred among 157 participants with resected stage IIIC-IV melanoma, 22.4% (24/107) in the mRNA-4157 plus pembrolizumab arm had recurrent disease, and 40% (20/50) in the pembrolizumab arm had recurrent disease, which lead to the well-known saying: mRNA-4157 in combination with pembrolizumab reduced risk by 44% in surgical resected melanoma.
In July 2023, MSD and Moderna initiated the phase III study (study V940-001) evaluating mRNA-4157 in combination with pembrolizumab for adjuvant treatment of patients with resected high-risk stage IIB-stage IV melanoma.
In the meantime, a phase III study of V940 plus Pembrolizumab versus placebo plus pembrolizumab as adjuvant therapy in non-small cell lung cancer patient with resected stage II, IIIA, IIIB (N2) is registered and expected to start at November 2023. Of note, patients received prior neoadjuvant therapy for their current NSCLC diagnosis, or has been treated with any agent directed to stimulatory or coinhibitory T-cell receptor (e.g. PD-1, PD-L1, CTLA-4, et al.) are not allowed to enrolled in the study.
Mechanism of action
mRNA-4157/V940 is an mRNA based cancer vaccine. When administered, it will produce one of several dozen possible abnormal proteins commonly found in cancerous tissues. The production of those proteins is intended to invoke an immune response.
mRNA-4157/V940 is given to patients after their tumors have been sequenced and abnormal proteins identified. The drug is then customized to match a patient's tumor, which makes it an example of personalized medicine.
References
Tumor markers
Cancer vaccines
Personalized medicine
Biotechnology
RNA vaccines | MRNA-4157/V940 | [
"Chemistry",
"Biology"
] | 806 | [
"Biomarkers",
"Tumor markers",
"Biotechnology",
"nan",
"Chemical pathology"
] |
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