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Initial diagnosis of PSS is through laboratory bloodwork showing either elevated serum bile acids after eating or elevation of fasting blood ammonia levels, which has been shown to have a higher sensitivity and specificity than the bile acids test. Various diagnostic imaging techniques are used to demonstrate PSS. Ultrasonography is a rapid, convenient, non-invasive, and accurate method for diagnosis of PSS. Ultrasonographic diagnosis of congenital PSS depends on finding an anomalous vessel either in the liver or just caudal to the liver in the dorsal abdomen, usually draining into the caudal vena cava. Ultrasonography can also be used to estimate hepatic volume and vascularity, and to identify related lesions affecting other abdominal structures, such as urinary calculi. Computed tomography (CT) may be considered when ultrasound expertise is lacking or ultrasonography is considered sub-optimal (e.g. because of the conformation of the patient). Control of respiration and careful timing of CT acquisition after contrast injection is necessary for optimal depiction of PSS. Rectal portal scintigraphy using technetium pertechnetate, a technique of imaging involving detection of gamma rays emitted by radionuclides absorbed through the rectum and into the bloodstream, demonstrates the blood vessel bypassing the liver. In certain institutions, scintigraphy is the preferred diagnostic technique, but this leaves the patient radioactive for 24h, which may be inconvenient depending on nursing needs. Portal venography is the definitive method for demonstrating PSS, but is invasive, hence it is best reserved for animals with a known shunt or those considered highly likely to have a shunt that was not detectable by ultrasonography.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68595657
| 1,950,128 |
1,574,897 |
Research into both the azobenzene and norbonadiene-quadricyclane systems was abandoned in the 1980s as unpractical due to problems with degradation, instability, low energy density, and cost. With recent advances in computing power though, there has been renewed interest in finding materials for solar thermal fuels. In 2011, researchers at MIT used time-dependent density functional theory, which models systems at an atomic level, to design a system composed of azobenzene molecules bonded to carbon nanotube (CNT) templates. The CNT substrates will allow customizable interactions between neighboring molecules which greatly helps in fine tuning the properties of the fuel, for example an increase in the amount of energy stored. Through experimental procedures, researchers were able to get the first proof of principle that the hybrid nanostructure works as a functional thermal fuel. Azobenzenes have the advantage of absorbing wavelengths that are very abundant in sunlight, when this happens the molecule transforms from a trans-isomer to a cis-isomer which has a higher energy state of about 0.6 eV. To bring the molecule back down to its original state, i.e. release the energy it had collected, there are a few options. The first is to apply heat but that is associated with a cost which, relative to the amount of heat that will be produced from the release, is not cost efficient. The second, more effective option is to use a catalyst that lowers the thermal barrier and allows the heat to be released, almost like a switch. The transition back from cis to trans can also be triggered by blue visible light.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3267910
| 1,574,008 |
1,973,551 |
An alternative theoretical tool to cope with strong fluctuations problems occurring in field theories has been provided in the late 1940s by the concept of renormalization, which has originally been devised to calculate functional integrals arising in quantum field theories (QFT's). In QFT's a standard approximation strategy is to expand the functional integrals in a power series in the coupling constant using perturbation theory. Unfortunately, generally most of the expansion terms turn out to be infinite, rendering such calculations impracticable (Shirkov 2001). A way to remove the infinities from QFT's is to make use of the concept of renormalization (Baeurle 2007). It mainly consists in replacing the bare values of the coupling parameters, like e.g. electric charges or masses, by renormalized coupling parameters and requiring that the physical quantities do not change under this transformation, thereby leading to finite terms in the perturbation expansion. A simple physical picture of the procedure of renormalization can be drawn from the example of a classical electrical charge, formula_35, inserted into a polarizable medium, such as in an electrolyte solution. At a distance formula_36 from the charge due to polarization of the medium, its Coulomb field will effectively depend on a function formula_37, i.e. the effective (renormalized) charge, instead of the bare electrical charge, formula_35. At the beginning of the 1970s, K.G. Wilson further pioneered the power of renormalization concepts by developing the formalism of renormalization group (RG) theory, to investigate critical phenomena of statistical systems (Wilson 1971).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19668009
| 1,972,416 |
1,084,151 |
Space syntax originated as a programme research in the early 1970s when Bill Hillier, Adrian Leaman and Alan Beattie came together at the School of Environmental Studies at University College London (now part of the Bartlett School of Architecture). Bill Hillier had been appointed Director of the Unit for Architectural Studies (UAS) as successor to John Musgrove. They established a new MSc programme in Advanced Architectural Studies and embarked on a programme of research aimed at developing a theoretical basis for architecture. Previously Bill Hillier had written papers with others as secretary to the RIBA, notably 'Knowledge and Design' and 'How is Design Possible'. These laid the theoretical foundation for a series of studies that sought to clarify how the built environment relates to society. One of the first cohort of students on the MScAAS was Julienne Hanson who went on to co-author The Social Logic of Space (SLS) with Bill Hillier (CUP, 1984). This brought together in one place a comprehensive review of the programme of research up to that point, but also developed a full theoretical account for how the buildings and settlements we construct an not merely the product of social processes, but also play a role in producing social forms. SLS also developed an analytic approach to representation and quantification of spatial configuration at the building and the settlement scale, making possible both comparative studies as well as analysis of the relationship between spatial configuration and aspect of social function in the built environment. These methods coupled to the social theories have turned out to have a good deal of explanatory power. Space syntax has grown to become a tool used around the world in a variety of research areas and design applications in architecture, urban design, urban planning, transport and interior design. Many prominent design applications have been made by the architectural and urban planning practice Space Syntax Limited, which was founded at The Bartlett, University College London in 1989. These include the redesign of Trafalgar Square with Foster and Partners and the Pedestrian Movement Model for the City of London.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=174704
| 1,083,594 |
1,779,797 |
The contention surrounding the methodology that Saruhashi's team used was settled two years after the publication of her research concerning the artificial radioisotopes in seawater. The US Atomic Energy Commission funded a six-month long lab swap in which Saruhashi met with fellow oceanographer Ted Folsom at the Scripps institution of Oceanography at the University of San Diego. Saruhashi's team used absolute standards for Cs, different from those accepted by the scientific community in the United States. This largely attributed to the skepticism of American scientists regarding Saruhashi's work, as well as the political climate at the time. The United States was likely against the ban on above-ground nuclear testing, as this would make it more difficult for them to develop nuclear weapons. In order to compare the two scientists' respective methods for the analysis of Cs in seawater, Saruhashi and Folsom were both tasked with analyzing the values of Cs present in identical samples of seawater. Despite the independent absolute standards of Cs, and use of different reagents and gamma analytical techniques, there was less than 10% discrepancy between the results of the two laboratories. Some discrepancy can be attributed to inconsistent settling of the sediment during the specimen's travel by boat. Although efforts were made to ensure that the samples being compared were as similar as possible, this experiment relied on the assumption that the samples compared were identical, which is unlikely since the precise location and time of collection varied. However, the results of the two laboratories were extremely similar. After the six-month lab-exchange ended, it was clear that Saruhashi's method provided incredibly accurate and consistent results; and therefore, the two distinct analytical techniques were both appropriate scientific approaches for measuring the quantity of artificial radioisotopes in seawater. As a result, given they were no longer subject to dispute, Saruhashi's findings could serve as justification for the prohibition of above-ground nuclear testing.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3998007
| 1,778,794 |
792,862 |
The last major improvement to the steam engine was the Corliss engine. Named after its inventor, George Henry Corliss, this stationary steam engine was introduced to the world in 1849. The engine boasted a number of desired features, including fuel efficiency (lowering cost of fuel by a third or more), low maintenance costs, 30% higher rate of power production, high thermal efficiency, and the ability to operate under light, heavy, or varying loads while maintaining high velocity and constant speed. While the engine was loosely based on existing steam engines, keeping the simple piston-flywheel design, the majority of these features were brought about by the engine's unique valves and valve gears. Unlike most engines employed during the era that used mainly slide-valve gears, Corliss created his own system that used a wrist plate to control a number of different valves. Each cylinder was equipped with four valves, with exhaust and inlet valves at both ends of the cylinder. Through a precisely tuned series of events opening and closing these valves, steam is admitted and released at a precise rate, allowing for linear piston motion. This provided the engine's most notable feature, the automatic variable cut-off mechanism. This mechanism is what allowed the engine to maintain a set speed in response to varying loads without losing efficiency, stalling, or being damaged. Using a series of cam gears, which could adjust valve timing (essentially acting as a throttle), the engine's speed and horsepower was adjusted. This proved extremely useful for most of the engine's applications. In the textile industry, it allowed for production at much higher speeds while lowering the likelihood that threads would break. In metallurgy, the extreme and abrupt variations of load experienced in rolling mills were also countered by the technology. These examples demonstrate that the Corliss engine was able to lead to much higher rates of production, while preventing costly damages to machinery and materials. It was referred to as “the most perfect regulation of speed.”
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1424698
| 792,437 |
1,443,077 |
Finland is the country in which women were first permitted to undertake architectural studies and receive academic qualifications even if they were initially given the status of special students. The earliest record belongs to Signe Hornborg (1862–1916) who attended the Helsinki Polytechnic Institute from the spring of 1888, graduating as an architect in 1890 "by special permission". She does not, however, appear to have acted as an independent architect. Other graduates in architecture at the Polytechnic Institute in the 1880s include Inez Holming, Signe Lagerborg, Bertha Enwald, Stina Östman and Wivi Lönn. Lönn (1872–1966), who attended the institute from 1893 to 1896, has the honour of being the first woman to work independently as an architect in Finland. On graduating, she immediately established her own architectural firm by receiving a commission to design the building of a Finnish-language girls' school in Tampere. She designed several significant public buildings, including more than thirty school buildings. Lönn won five architectural competitions alone, including the municipal fire-station in Tampere in 1906, an unusual design for a woman at that time. Lönn won two competitions with Armas Lindgren with him she designed the New Student House in Helsinki (1910) and the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn (1913). One of her last was the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, completed in 1945. Hilda Hongell (1867–1952), from Finland's Åland, became a special student at Helsinki Industrial School in 1891 at a time when only men could attend the institution. Following excellent results, she was accepted as a regular student the following year and graduated as a "master builder" in 1894. She went on to design 98 buildings in the Mariehamn district of the Åland Islands, mostly town houses and farm houses in the ornamental Swiss style. However, she did not qualify as an architect.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=35552352
| 1,442,264 |
1,651,119 |
Though the scope and dimensions of globalization as most people currently construe it are of fairly recent origin, the broader phenomenon of global interconnections through cultural diffusion and trade is several centuries old. Starting in the late Fifteenth century, European powers expanded beyond the European sub-continent to found colonies in the Americas, East Asia, South Asia, Australia and Oceania. This expansion has had a profound impact in terms of wealth creation in Europe and extraction elsewhere, cultural changes in most of the world's societies, and biological phenomena such as the introduction of several infectious diseases into the Western Hemisphere, which caused tremendous disruption and population reduction for indigenous societies there. These events, far from occurring coincidentally, have had synergistic relationships, in one vivid example, the decimation of Amerindian populations through infectious disease often preceding and facilitating subsequent conquest by European powers. Such conquests in turn have often had significantly negative impacts on internal cohesion, ability of populations to attain adequate resources for their own subsistence and traditional social obligations, and local environments for colonized societies. In order to understand the effects of globalization on nutritional status and food security, it is important to understand the historical circumstances that have led to contemporary globalization, and that still manifest themselves in political, social, material, and physical/health differentials between (and within) the different peoples of the world today.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17200325
| 1,650,187 |
1,275,663 |
Transmission-based precautions remain in effect for limited periods of time (i.e., while the risk for transmission of the infectious agent persists or for the duration of the illness (Appendix A). For most infectious diseases, this duration reflects known patterns of persistence and shedding of infectious agents associated with the natural history of the infectious process and its treatment. For some diseases (e.g., pharyngeal or cutaneous diphtheria, RSV), transmission-based precautions remain in effect until culture or antigen-detection test results document eradication of the pathogen and, for RSV, symptomatic disease is resolved. For other diseases, (e.g., "M. tuberculosis") state laws and regulations, and healthcare facility policies, may dictate the duration of precautions 12). In immunocompromised patients, viral shedding can persist for prolonged periods of time (many weeks to months) and transmission to others may occur during that time; therefore, the duration of contact and/or droplet precautions may be prolonged for many weeks. The duration of contact precautions for patients who are colonized or infected with MDROs remains undefined. MRSA is the only MDRO for which effective decolonization regimens are available. However, carriers of MRSA who have negative nasal cultures after a course of systemic or topical therapy may resume shedding MRSA in the weeks that follow therapy. Although early guidelines for VRE suggested discontinuation of contact precautions after three stool cultures obtained at weekly intervals proved negative, subsequent experiences have indicated that such screening may fail to detect colonization that can persist for >1 year. Likewise, available data indicate that colonization with VRE, MRSA, and possibly MDR-GNB, can persist for many months, especially in the presence of severe underlying disease, invasive devices, and recurrent courses of antimicrobial agents. It may be prudent to assume that MDRO carriers are colonized permanently and manage them accordingly. Alternatively, an interval free of hospitalizations, antimicrobial therapy, and invasive devices (e.g., 6 or 12 months) before reculturing patients to document clearance of carriage may be used. Determination of the best strategy awaits the results of additional studies. See the 2006 HICPAC/CDC MDRO guideline for discussion of possible criteria to discontinue contact precautions for patients colonized or infected with MDROs.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30321101
| 1,274,970 |
293,004 |
Solar insolation is made up of direct, diffuse, and reflected radiation. The absorption factor of a PV cell is defined as the fraction of incident solar irradiance that is absorbed by the cell. At high noon on a cloudless day at the equator, the power of the sun is about 1 kW/m, on the Earth's surface, to a plane that is perpendicular to the sun's rays. As such, PV arrays can track the sun through each day to greatly enhance energy collection. However, tracking devices add cost, and require maintenance, so it is more common for PV arrays to have fixed mounts that tilt the array and face solar noon (approximately due south in the Northern Hemisphere or due north in the Southern Hemisphere). The tilt angle, from horizontal, can be varied for season, but if fixed, should be set to give optimal array output during the peak electrical demand portion of a typical year for a stand-alone system. This optimal module tilt angle is not necessarily identical to the tilt angle for maximum annual array energy output. The optimization of the photovoltaic system for a specific environment can be complicated as issues of solar flux, soiling, and snow losses should be taken into effect. In addition, later work has shown that spectral effects can play a role in optimal photovoltaic material selection. For example, the spectral albedo can play a significant role in output depending on the surface around the photovoltaic system and the type of solar cell material. For the weather and latitudes of the United States and Europe, typical insolation ranges from 4 kWh/m/day in northern climes to 6.5 kWh/m/day in the sunniest regions. A photovoltaic installation in the northern latitudes of Europe or the United States may expect to produce 1 kWh/m/day. A typical 1 kW photovoltaic installation in Australia or the southern latitudes of Europe or United States, may produce 3.5–5 kWh per day, dependent on location, orientation, tilt, insolation and other factors. In the Sahara desert, with less cloud cover and a better solar angle, one could ideally obtain closer to 8.3 kWh/m/day provided the nearly ever present wind would not blow sand onto the units. The area of the Sahara desert is over 9 million km. 90,600 km, or about 1%, could generate as much electricity as all of the world's power plants combined.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15677755
| 292,846 |
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The epoxyeicosatrienoic acids or EETs are signaling molecules formed within various types of cells by the metabolism of arachidonic acid by a specific subset of Cytochrome P450 enzymes termed cytochrome P450 epoxygenases. These nonclassic eicosanoids are generally short-lived, being rapidly converted from epoxides to less active or inactive dihydroxy-eicosatrienoic acids (diHETrEs) by a widely distributed cellular enzyme, Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH), also termed Epoxide hydrolase 2. The EETs consequently function as transiently acting, short-range hormones; that is, they work locally to regulate the function of the cells that produce them (i.e. they are autocrine agents) or of nearby cells (i.e. they are paracrine agents). The EETs have been most studied in animal models where they show the ability to lower blood pressure possibly by a) stimulating arterial vasorelaxation and b) inhibiting the kidney's retention of salts and water to decrease intravascular blood volume. In these models, EETs prevent arterial occlusive diseases such as heart attacks and brain strokes not only by their anti-hypertension action but possibly also by their anti-inflammatory effects on blood vessels, their inhibition of platelet activation and thereby blood clotting, and/or their promotion of pro-fibrinolytic removal of blood clots. With respect to their effects on the heart, the EETs are often termed cardio-protective. Beyond these cardiovascular actions that may prevent various cardiovascular diseases, studies have implicated the EETs in the pathological growth of certain types of cancer and in the physiological and possibly pathological perception of neuropathic pain. While studies to date imply that the EETs, EET-forming epoxygenases, and EET-inactivating sEH can be manipulated to control a wide range of human diseases, clinical studies have yet to prove this. Determination of the role of the EETS in human diseases is made particularly difficult because of the large number of EET-forming epoxygenases, large number of epoxygenase substrates other than arachidonic acid, and the large number of activities, some of which may be pathological or injurious, that the EETs possess.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4367754
| 1,239,961 |
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The two main watercourses of Mesopotamia, which give the region its name, are the Euphrates and the Tigris, which flow from Anatolia to the Persian Gulf. The Euphrates is around 2,800 km long and the Tigris is about 1,900 km. Their regime is of the pluvial-naval type, with high flow in spring as a result of melting snow and when rains fall in Upper Mesopotamia. This is more accentuated with the Tigris, which receives several tributaries from the Zagros during the second part of its course, while the Euphrates has only a minor tributary in Upper Mesopotamia. Thus its output is weaker, especially since it crosses flatter areas and has a wide bend in Syria which slows its flow. Floods of the rivers thus take place in spring - in April for the Tigris and in May for the Euphrates (shortly after or during the harvest). Their baseflow occurs in summer at the time of greatest heat, when evapotranspiration is very high, especially in the south. The variability of flow rate over the year is very great - up to 4:1. The discharge of the Euphrates and its floods were weaker than those of the Tigris, so it was on particularly on its banks that agricultural communities of southern Mesopotamia focused. In this region, the ground is very flat, leading to bifurcation, which results in islands and marshes, as well as sudden changes of course, which occurred several times in antiquity. Both rivers carry silt which raised them above the level of the surrounding plain, making it easy to irrigate the land surrounding them. However, it also meant that their floods had the potential to cause serious damage and could cover a vast area. The flatness of the region also meant that the phreatic zone and the stream bed were very close, causing them to rise in periods of flooding. In modern times, the Tigris and the Euphrates join to form the Shatt al-Arab which then debouches in the Persian Gulf, but in antiquity, their delta did not reach so far south, because it was created slowly by the deposition of alluvium.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59427724
| 596,279 |
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Some properties of Kottler-Møller or Rindler coordinates were anticipated by Albert Einstein (1907) when he discussed the uniformly accelerated reference frame. While introducing the concept of Born rigidity, Max Born (1909) recognized that the formulas for the worldline of hyperbolic motion can be reinterpreted as transformations into a "hyperbolically accelerated reference system". Born himself, as well as Arnold Sommerfeld (1910) and Max von Laue (1911) used this frame to compute the properties of charged particles and their fields (see Acceleration (special relativity)#History and Rindler coordinates#History). In addition, Gustav Herglotz (1909) gave a classification of all Born rigid motions, including uniform rotation and the worldlines of constant curvatures. Friedrich Kottler (1912, 1914) introduced the "generalized Lorentz transformation" for proper reference frames or proper coordinates () by using comoving Frenet–Serret tetrads, and applied this formalism to Herglotz' worldlines of constant curvatures, particularly to hyperbolic motion and uniform circular motion. Herglotz' formulas were also simplified and extended by Georges Lemaître (1924). The worldlines of constant curvatures were rediscovered by several author, for instance, by Vladimír Petrův (1964), as "timelike helices" by John Lighton Synge (1967) or as "stationary worldlines" by Letaw (1981). The concept of proper reference frame was later reintroduced and further developed in connection with Fermi–Walker transport in the textbooks by Christian Møller (1952) or Synge (1960). An overview of proper time transformations and alternatives was given by Romain (1963), who cited the contributions of Kottler. In particular, Misner & Thorne & Wheeler (1973) combined Fermi–Walker transport with rotation, which influenced many subsequent authors. Bahram Mashhoon (1990, 2003) analyzed the hypothesis of locality and accelerated motion. The relations between the spacetime Frenet–Serret formulas and Fermi–Walker transport was discussed by Iyer & C. V. Vishveshwara (1993), Johns (2005) or Bini et al. (2008) and others. A detailed representation of "special relativity in general frames" was given by Gourgoulhon (2013).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54334250
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In 2004, professional horticulturist Robert Sacilotto wrote a summary of measured tolerances of highland "Nepenthes" species, based on experiments conducted between 1996 and 2001. Out of all of the studied species, "N. edwardsiana" proved to be the most challenging. Cotyledon-stage seedlings showed a 100% mortality rate when exposed to the following conditions: relative humidity constantly over 90%, water droplets present on the leaves, soil conductivity over 45 microsiemens, and soil pH above 6. However, several plants grew well in a substrate consisting of 50% perlite, 30% "Sphagnum" moss, 10% peat moss chunks, and 10% fir bark. A top dressing of live "Sphagnum" was found to provide a good anchoring point for developing roots. Humidity levels of 65 to 85% appeared to be optimal, although more mature plants over 1 year old were able to tolerate exposure to relative humidity in the range of 90 to 99% for up to three days. The highest growth rate was exhibited by plants that experienced warm days, with temperatures of , and cool nights, with temperatures of . The seedlings grew very slowly during the first 8 months, but their growth rate increased significantly after they reached approximately 2 cm in diameter. The plants were grown under High Pressure Sodium lamps. Optimal light intensity seemed to be in the region of 7500-9100 lx (700-850 fc). Soil with a pH of 4.8 to 5.4 and conductivity of less than 24 microsiemens produced the best results. Dried fruit fly larvae of the species "Drosophila melanogaster" were fed to the plants once their pitchers reached around 3 mm in height. As the pitchers increased in size, they were fed with ants ("Acanthomyops" sp.).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3834632
| 1,620,681 |
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Like most other large, ground-dwelling sloths, "Paramylodon" disappeared toward the end of the Pleistocene in the wake of the Quaternary extinction event. Unlike many other genera, however, there is little radiometric data available from "Paramylodon" measured directly from fossil material. Data. Among the most recent is a value from Rancho La Brea, which is 20,450 BP. However, clearly more recent finds are known, few of which came to light from archaeological sites associated with early human settlement on the North American continent. One of the rare evidence comes from El Fin del Mundo ("The End of the World") in Sonora. Discovered in 2007, the station was dated to 13,390 years BP by the radiocarbon method using charcoal. Based on the presence of six Clovis Points, it belongs to a very early section of the Clovis Culture, which represents one of the earliest archaeological groups of the first settlers of North America. In addition to two skeletons of proboscideans, one of which clearly represents "Cuvieronius" and had apparently been dissected by the hunter-gatherers of the time, remains of "Paramylodon" also came to light. In addition, more than 130 osteoderms have been documented from the Aubrey Clovis site in north-central Texas. The soil substrate surrounding the finds has been radiometrically dated to an age of 12,860 years BP. Stone artifacts also documented there, comprising about 9800 pieces, can also be referred to the Clovis Group on the basis of a Clovis point. The remains of "Paramylodon", however, have no direct relation to the early settlers, having been found in a nearby waterhole with the exception of a single bone platelet. It is unclear from the few common finds to date whether direct hunting led to their extinction.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16886646
| 1,348,234 |
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It is becoming common in hemorrhaging patients "without" traumatic brain injury. Due to the lack of controlled clinical trials in this field, the growing evidence that hypotensive resuscitation results in improved long-term survival mainly stems from experimental studies in animals. Numerous animal models of uncontrolled hemorrhagic shock have demonstrated improved outcomes when a lower than normal blood pressure (mean arterial pressure of 60 to 70 mmHg) is taken as the target for fluid administration during active hemorrhage. The first published study in humans, in people with penetrating torso trauma, has demonstrated a significant reduction in mortality when fluid resuscitation was restricted in the prehospital period. However, it is important to note that the objective of that study was the comparison between standard prehospital and trauma center fluid resuscitation versus delayed onset of fluid resuscitation (fluid not administered until patients reached the operating room). A more recent study (2011) performed by the Baylor group on patients who required emergency surgery secondary to hemorrhagic shock was randomized to a mean arterial pressure (MAP) of 50mmHg versus 65mm Hg. The lower MAP group was found to need less total IV fluids, used less blood products, had lower early mortality (within the first 24 hours - which accounts for a large portion of mortality in trauma patients) and trend towards lower 30-day mortality and less postoperative coagulation, concluding that permissive hypotension is safe. Two large human trials of this technique have been conducted, which demonstrated the safety of this approach relative to the conventional target (greater than 100 mmHg), and suggested various benefits, including shorter duration of hemorrhage and reduced mortality. Johns Hopkins group performed a retrospective cohort review from National Trauma Data Bank that found a statistically significant difference in mortality for patients treated with pre-hospital intravenous fluids. Clinical data from well controlled, prospective trials applying the concept of permissive hypotension in trauma patients are still missing.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30775715
| 1,328,524 |
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After receiving his M.D., Dr. Yan became the Chief Examiner at Coroner office of the Institute of Forensic Science of Liaoning Province, Shenyang, China. While he enjoyed his work as an Examiner and developed better techniques for DNA extraction from crime scene samples, but he soon became fascinated with the research aspect and began to pursue a career in research. He enrolled in the Graduate program in the Department of Forensic Medicine at China Medical University while still working at the coroner's office. The next year he took the opportunity to leave China and work as a visiting scholar in the Department of Medical Genetics, at the University of Turku, Finland. He would stay at the University of Turku to finish in Ph.D. in March of 2000 under the supervision of Drs. Jorma Toppari, Ilpo Hutaniemi and Martti Parvinen. After a short stint as a Postdoctoral Associate at University of Turku, he would travel to the United States to work with Dr. Martin M. Matzuk in the Department of Pathology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. It would be here at Baylor College of Medicine that we would get his first professional appointment as an Instructor in the Department of Pathology in 2003. One year later, Dr. Yan would get his first tenure-track Assistant Professorship in the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Reno Nevada. At UNR, Dr. Yan would go on to be an extremely productive researcher received multiple awards and would climb the ranks to obtain the highest honor bestowed upon Professors; The University of Nevada, Reno Foundation Professor in 2020. During this time he also served as the Editor-in-Chief of Biology or Reproduction, which is the official journal of the Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR). Having achieved the highest honor at UNR, Dr. Yan would still go on to seek more challenges and moved to Los Angeles to take a Professor of Medicine appointment at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA as well as a Senior Investigator position at The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56107542
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An older but still useful and practical method of determining accurate time at sea before the advent of precise timekeeping and satellite-based time systems is called "lunar distances", or "lunars", which was used extensively for a short period and refined for daily use on board ships in the 18th century. Use declined through the middle of the 19th century, as better and better timepieces (chronometers) became available to the average vessel at sea. Although most recently only used by sextant hobbyists and historians, it is now becoming more common in celestial navigation courses to reduce total dependence on GNSS systems as potentially the only accurate time source aboard a vessel. Destined for use when an accurate timepiece is not available or timepiece accuracy is suspect during a long sea voyage, the navigator precisely measures the angle between the Moon and the Sun, or between the Moon and one of several stars near the ecliptic. The observed angle must be corrected for the effects of refraction and parallax, like any celestial sight. To make this correction, the navigator measures the altitudes of the Moon and Sun (or star) at about the same time as the lunar distance angle. Only rough values for the altitudes are required. A calculation with suitable published tables (or longhand with logarithms and graphical tables) requires about 10 to 15 minutes' work converting the observed angle(s) to a geocentric lunar distance. The navigator then compares the corrected angle against those listed against the appropriate almanac pages for every three hours of Greenwich time, using interpolation tables to derive intermediate values. The result is a difference time between the time source (it being of unknown time) used for the observations, and the actual prime meridian time (that of the "Zero Meridian" at Greenwich also known as UTC or GMT). Now knowing UTC/GMT, a further set of sights can be taken and reduced by the navigator to calculate their exact position on the Earth as a local latitude and longitude.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=143335
| 189,092 |
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Acoustic information describing the environment is the primary data required in soundscape ecology studies. Technological advances have provided improved methods for the collection of such data. Automated recording systems allow for temporally replicated samples of soundscapes to be gathered with relative ease. Data collected from such equipment can be extracted to generate a visual representation of the soundscape in the form of a spectrogram. Spectrograms provide information on a number of sound properties that may be subject to quantitative analysis. The vertical axis of a spectrogram indicates the frequency of a sound while the horizontal axis displays the time scale over which sounds were recorded. In addition, spectrograms display the amplitude of sound, a measure of sound intensity. Ecological indices traditionally used with species-level data, such as diversity and evenness, have been adapted for use with acoustic metrics. These measures provide a method of comparing soundscapes across time or space. For example, automated recording devices have been used to gather acoustic data in different landscapes across yearlong time scales, and diversity metrics were employed to evaluate daily and seasonal fluctuations in soundscapes across sites. The demise of a habitat can be seen by measuring before and after "logging" for example. Spatial patterns of sound may also be studied using tools familiar to landscape ecologists such as geographic information systems (GIS). Finally, recorded samples of the soundscape can provide proxy measures for biodiversity inventories in cases where other sampling methods are impractical or inefficient. These techniques may be especially important for the study of rare or elusive species that are especially difficult to monitor in other ways.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31352483
| 1,398,026 |
204,849 |
In "Why Most Public Research Findings are False" (2005), Ioannidis focused on why most published research findings cannot be validated. In a later paper on PLOS Medicine (2014), he discusses what can be done to improve this situation and make more published research findings to be true and in a third paper (2016) he showed why clinical research in particular is usually not useful and how this can be amended. In the first of the three PLOS papers he stated that "a research finding is less likely to be true when the studies conducted in a field are smaller; when effect sizes are smaller; when there is a greater number and lesser preselection of tested relationships; where there is greater flexibility in designs, definitions, outcomes, and analytical modes; when there is greater financial and other interest and prejudice; and when more teams are involved in a scientific field in chase of statistical significance". In the second paper, he discussed solutions: "adoption of large-scale collaborative research; replication culture; registration; sharing; reproducibility practices; better statistical methods; standardization of definitions and analyses; more appropriate (usually more stringent) statistical thresholds; and improvement in study design standards, peer review, reporting and dissemination of research, and training of the scientific workforce". In the third paper, he proposed eight features that are important for useful clinical research: problem base, context placement, information gain, pragmatism, patient-centeredness, value for money, feasibility, and transparency. Ioannidis was invited to present his findings as a keynote speaker at the "Evidence Live 2016" conference, hosted jointly by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford and the BMJ.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20900378
| 204,743 |
830,793 |
Genome-wide association studies are general applications to find specific gene targets and polymorphisms within the human race. In fact, the International HapMap project was created through a partnership of scientists and agencies from several countries to catalog and utilize this data. The goal of this project is to compare genetic sequences of different individuals to elucidate similarities and differences within chromosomal regions. Scientists from all of the participating nations are cataloging these attributes with data from populations of African, Asian, and European ancestry. Such genome-wide assessments may lead to further diagnostic and drug therapies while also helping future teams focus on orchestrating therapeutics with genetic features in mind. These concepts are already being exploited in genetic engineering. For example, a research team has actually constructed a PAC shuttle vector that creates a library representing two-fold coverage of the human genome. This could serve as an incredible resource to identify genes, or sets of genes, causing disease. Moreover, these studies can serve as a powerful way to investigate transcriptional regulation as it has been seen in the study of baculoviruses. Overall, advances in genome library construction and DNA sequencing has allowed for efficient discovery of different molecular targets. Assimilation of these features through such efficient methods can hasten the employment of novel drug candidates.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4995479
| 830,345 |
886,102 |
The institute has six centres of excellence (CoE), focusing on research and providing consultancy in particular technical fields. The CoE in Corrosion and Surface Engineering specializes in the field of corrosion and surface engineering. The centre offers MS and PhD programmes and has signed MoUs with government agencies, public and private companies. The CoE in Transportation Engineering focuses on research in the areas of Transportation Planning, Intelligent Transportation Systems and Pavement Engineering. The CoE in Manufacturing provides consulting services to businesses in the areas of automation, product development, process improvement, shop floor design, etc. as well as training current employees in cutting-edge technology. The Space Technology Incubation Centre (S-TIC), established by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at the campus, fosters startups to develop products and applications alongside industry that will be used for future space missions. It is the first facility of its kind in south India. The S-TIC unites business, academia, and ISRO under one roof, enabling them to support projects related to research and development for the Indian Space Program. The CoE in Artificial Intelligence is focused on interdisciplinary research in Al and attempts to create solutions for crisis management, healthcare, decision support systems, and other areas which have an impact on society. The Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Automation (CAMA) is a cutting-edge centre in the institute that offers significant technology support to numerous businesses. The center's unique systems include a 3D metal additive manufacturing facility, a Femto laser micro-machining system, a laser shock peening setup, and a high temperature indentation tester.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62648373
| 885,638 |
349,386 |
In the United States, Minoru Yamasaki found major independent success in implementing unique engineering solutions to then-complicated problems, including the space that elevator shafts took up on each floor, and dealing with his personal fear of heights. During this period, he created a number of office buildings which led to his innovative design of the towers of the World Trade Center in 1964, which began construction 21 March 1966. The first of the towers was finished in 1970. Many of his buildings feature superficial details inspired by the pointed arches of Gothic architecture, and make use of extremely narrow vertical windows. This narrow-windowed style arose from his own personal fear of heights. One particular design challenge of the World Trade Center's design related to the efficacy of the elevator system, which was unique in the world. Yamasaki integrated the fastest elevators at the time, running at 1,700 feet per minute. Instead of placing a large traditional elevator shaft in the core of each tower, Yamasaki created the Twin Towers' "Skylobby" system. The Skylobby design created three separate, connected elevator systems which would serve different segments of the building, depending on which floor was chosen, saving approximately 70% of the space used for a traditional shaft. The space saved was then used for office space. In addition to these accomplishments, he had also designed the Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project, the largest ever housing project built in the United States, which was fully torn down in 1976 due to bad market conditions and the decrepit state of the buildings themselves. Separately, he had also designed the Century Plaza Towers and One Woodward Avenue, among 63 other projects he had developed during his career.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=315927
| 349,203 |
356,050 |
In 1975, the Maharishi met with Pierre Trudeau to discuss "the possibility of structuring an ideal society" through TM. In 1977 a U.S. district court in New Jersey held that a curriculum comprising the Science of Creative Intelligence and TM was religious in nature ("Malnak v Yogi"). The decision was appealed and in 1979 the 3rd Circuit opinion affirmed the decision and held that although SCI/TM is not a theistic religion, it deals with issues of ultimate concern, truth, and other ideas analogous to those of well-recognized religions and it therefore violated the Establishment Clause. Beginning in 1979 the German government released a number of booklets about problems arising for seven new religious movements in Germany, with the German term for these organisations variously translated as "psychogroups" and "psychotheraphy groups". These organisations, including TM, filed lawsuits trying to block the reports. The courts ruled that the booklets must only include factual information and exclude speculation, rumours, and matters that are unclear, and the booklets were re-released primarily containing quotations from materials of the organisations themselves. In 1996 a commission appointed by the German government concluded that new religious movements and "psychotherapy groups" did not present any danger to the state or to society. In 1987, an Israeli government report defined TM as a "cult group ... targeted by anti-cult activists". The 1995 report of the Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France included Transcendental Meditation in its list of cults. The U.S. government has characterised the Transcendental Meditation technique as worthy of research and has awarded more than $25 million in funding from different branches of the National Institutes of Health for scientific analysis of the effects of TM on high blood pressure. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs sees it as a potential tool for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and commenced research on the technique (and two other meditation systems) in 2012. According to Patrick Gresham Williams, "the government will pay" for any U.S. veteran to learn TM if it is prescribed by a Veterans Administration medical doctor.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28677895
| 355,867 |
1,385,391 |
There was growing interest in cultures and peoples in distant regions of the globe and photography was a way to place them under study especially when combined with influences from the study of phrenology and Darwin's work on natural selection. In 1850, Joseph T. Zealy (1812–93) was commissioned by Louis Agassiz to make daguerreotypes of plantation workers of African origin in the southern United States of America. The pictures were intended as scientific documentation to support theories of ethnology. Carl Damman published a collection of photographs of different ethnic groups in "Anthropologisch-ethnographisches Album in Photographien". and in the same year William Marshall published "A phrenologist amongst the Todas, or the Study of a Primitive Tribe in South India. History, Character, Customs, Religion, Infanticide, Polyandry, Language". Thomas Huxley established a system of photographing the human body with fixed views which included a rod of known dimension to make measurements. Francis Galton believed it was possible to systematically organize traits of inheritable attributes, intellectual, moral and physical with respect to families, groups, classes and racial types. He believed that mental attributes could be measured by studying physical attributes. In an effort to identify and group characteristics, he made composites of up to two hundred photographs to create a universal physiognomy example of a group or type.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33735616
| 1,384,624 |
526,059 |
Monopulse radar was extremely "high tech" when it was first introduced by Robert M. Page in 1943 in a Naval Research Laboratory experiment. As a result, it was very expensive, labor-intensive due to complexity, and less reliable. It was only used when extreme accuracy was needed that justified the cost. Early uses included the Nike Ajax missile, which demanded very high accuracy, or for tracking radars used for measuring various rocket launches. The world's first airborne monopulse radar system was the British Ferranti-designed AIRPASS system which went into service in 1960 on the RAF's English Electric Lightning interceptor aircraft. An early monopulse radar development, in 1958, was the AN/FPS-16, on which NRL and RCA collaborated. The earliest version, XN-1, utilised a metal plate lens. The second version XN-2 used a conventional 3.65 meter [12 ft] parabolic antenna, and was the version which went to production. These radars played an important part in the Mercury, Gemini, and early Apollo missions, being deployed in Bermuda, Tannarive, and Australia, among other places for that purpose. The IRACQ [Increased Range ACQuisition] modification was installed on certain of these installations; certainly the one located at Woomera, Australia was so modified. One of the larger installations first appeared in the 1970s as the US Navy's AN/SPY-1 radar used on the Aegis Combat System, and MK-74 radar used on Tartar Guided Missile Fire Control System and research. The cost and complexity of implementing monopulse tracking was reduced and reliability increased when digital signal processing became available after the 1970s. The technology is found in most modern tracking radars and many types of disposable ordnance like missiles.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3924685
| 525,786 |
833,164 |
Historian Immanuel C. Y. Hsu argues the movement was a superficial attempt to modernize limited areas of Chinese society. In striking contrast to the much more thorough modernization program at the same time in Japan, in China he says that there were no attempts to study or assimilate western institutions, philosophy or culture. There was a superficial emphasis on western military technology that proved a failure in actual warfare against France in 1884 and Japan in 1894. Hsu identifies six major weaknesses. First lack of coordination, in which provincial authorities went their own way with little cooperation with the national government. After the Taiping Rebellion the central government was too weak to coordinate the provinces. Second the limited vision of key leaders such as Li Hong-zhang and Zeng Guofang. They did not attempt to make China into a modern state, but rather tried to strengthen the old order militarily. Thirdly there was a shortage of capital. What profits enterprises created were redistributed to shareholders and not reinvested, so there was little economic growth. Fourth, the Western powers and Imperial Japan maintained heavy pressure on China that prevented a concentration on internal enemies. However they did support modernizing developments in the Treaty Ports. Fifthly there was a moral sense of Chinese traditional superiority over modern Western values, This produced on the one hand excessive caution, and an overabundance of incompetence, and continued corruption. Finally the great majority of the gentry and Mandarins regarded foreign affairs and the Western general as vulgar and hostile to the glories of Chinese civilization.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=407942
| 832,715 |
536,294 |
In 1931, IBM produces the IBM 601 Multiplying Punch; it is an electromechanical machine that could read two numbers, up to 8 digits long, from a card and punch their product onto the same card. In 1934, Wallace Eckert used a rigged IBM 601 Multiplying Punch to automate the integration of differential equations. In 1936, Alan Turing publishes "On Computable Numbers, With an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem". John von Neumann, pioneer of the digital computer and of computer science, in 1945, writes the incomplete "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC". In 1962, Kenneth E. Iverson developed an integral part notation, which became APL, for manipulating arrays that he taught to his students, and described in his book "A Programming Language". In 1970, Edgar F. Codd proposed relational algebra as a relational model of data for database query languages. In 1971, Stephen Cook publishes "The complexity of theorem proving procedures" In the 1970s within computer architecture, Quote notation was developed for a representing number system of rational numbers. Also in this decade, the Z notation (just like the APL language, long before it) uses many non-ASCII symbols, the specification includes suggestions for rendering the Z notation symbols in ASCII and in LaTeX. There are presently various C mathematical functions (Math.h) and numerical libraries. They are libraries used in software development for performing numerical calculations. These calculations can be handled by symbolic executions; analyzing a program to determine what inputs cause each part of a program to execute. Mathematica and SymPy are examples of computational software programs based on symbolic mathematics.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6134187
| 536,015 |
1,145,594 |
The MBL's contributions to neuroscience and sensory physiology are significant, fostered today by more than 65 visiting investigators and resident researchers in these fields, as well as five graduate- and post-graduate level Advanced Research Training courses. The MBL has been a magnet for the discipline since L.W. Williams in 1910 discovered, and John Zachary Young in 1936 rediscovered, the squid giant axon, a nerve fiber that is 20 times larger in diameter than the largest human axon. Young brought this locally abundant, ideal experimental system to the attention of his MBL colleague KS Cole, who in 1938 used it to record the resistance changes underlying the action potential, which provided evidence that ions flowing across the axonal membrane generate this electrical impulse. In 1938, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin came to the MBL to learn about the squid giant axon from Cole. After World War II, Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley, working in Plymouth, England and using the voltage clamp technique developed by Cole, laid the basis for the modern understanding of electrical activity in the nervous system by measuring quantitatively the flow of ions across the axonal membrane. Hodgkin and Huxley received the Nobel Prize in 1963 for their description of the ionic basis of nerve conduction (Barlow et al., 1993: 151-172). Following on Hodgkin and Huxley's work, in the 1960s and 1970s Clay Armstrong and other MBL researchers described a number of the properties of the ion channels that allow sodium and potassium ions to carry electric current across the cell membrane and Rodolfo Llinas described the transmission properties at the squid giant synapse (Llinas 1999). The "scientific career" of the "Woods Hole squid", "Doryteuthis (formerly Loligo) pealeii", continues today, with studies on axonal transport, the squid giant synapse, squid genomics, and the molecular mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=391313
| 1,144,993 |
1,793,214 |
More significant than sheer numbers of scientific personnel were their quality and distribution. The total numbers masked wide variations in educational background and quality, lumping together graduates of two-year institutions or those who had attended secondary or post secondary schools during periods of low standards with those who had graduated from major institutions in the early 1960s or the 1980s, that is, before or after the period of the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution had removed an entire generation from access to university and professional training, creating a gap in the age distribution of the scientific work force. The scientific community included a small number of elderly senior scientists, often trained abroad before 1949, a relatively small group of middle-aged personnel, and a large number of junior scientists who had graduated from Chinese universities after 1980 or returned from study abroad. In the mid-1980s many of the middle-aged, middle-rank scientists had low educational and professional attainments, but generally they could be neither dismissed nor retired (because of China's practice of secure lifetime employment); nor could they be retrained, as colleges and universities allocated scarce places to younger people with much better qualifications. Scientists and engineers were concentrated in specialized research institutes, in heavy industry, and in the state's military research and military industrial facilities, which had the highest standards and the best-trained people. A very small proportion of scientists and engineers worked in light industry, consumer industry, small-scale collective enterprises, and small towns and rural areas.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14246598
| 1,792,205 |
1,120,860 |
Scholars do not agree that the Fremont culture represents a single, cohesive group with a common language, ancestry, or way of life, but several aspects of their material culture provides evidence for this concept. First, Fremont culture people foraged wild food sources and grew corn. The culture participated in a continuum of fairly reliable subsistence strategies that no doubt varied by place and time. This shows up in the archaeological record at most village sites and long-term camps as a collection of butchered, cooked and then discarded bone from mostly deer and rabbits, charred corn cobs with the kernels removed, and wild edible plant remains. Other unifying characteristics include the manufacture of relatively expedient gray ware pottery and a signature style of basketry and rock art. Most of the Fremont lived in small single and extended family units comprising villages ranging from two to a dozen pithouse structures, with only a few having been occupied at any one time. Still, exceptions to this rule exist (partly why the Fremont have earned a reputation for being so hard to define), including an unusually large village in the Parowan Valley of southwestern Utah, the large and extensively excavated village of Five Finger Ridge at the above mentioned Fremont Indian State Park, and others, all appearing to be anomalous in that they were either occupied for a long period of time, were simultaneously occupied by a large number of people, 60 or more at any given moment, or both. The Fremont are sometimes thought to have begun as a splinter group of the Ancestral Pueblo people, although archaeologists do not agree on this theory.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1002184
| 1,120,286 |
1,808,730 |
Beerling is interested in the history of science and publishes occasional scholarly articles on this theme. These have included an invited commentary entitled 'Gas valves, forests and global change: a commentary on Paul Gordon Jarvis classic 1976 paper written to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the journal "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society", and the discovery that Isaac Newton's interest in botany extended to thinking about how water moves from roots to leaves and into the atmosphere over 200 years before botanists got round to explaining it. His discovery was widely reported including in "Scientific American" and "Science" which coined the memorable 'Newton was no sap' strap line. In 2010, he wrote a piece for "Nature" discussing theoretical analyses revealing how plant investment in the architecture of leaf veins can be shuffled for different conditions, minimising the construction costs associated with supplying water to leaves. He placed these findings in the context of the pioneering English plant physiologist Stephen Hales's book "Vegetable Staticks" published in 1727. Hales observed that plants lose water by "perspiration" and then went one better by conducting experiments to quantify the process.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43094065
| 1,807,709 |
2,153,584 |
Leaf Huang, Ph.D. is the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor, in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Huang’s research has been in the area of gene therapy and targeted drug delivery. He has pioneered the liposome non-viral vector and has designed and manufactured the cationic lipid vector for the first non-viral clinical trial in 1992. He was also the first to publish the activity of polyethylene glycol (PEG) in prolonging the circulation time of liposomes. His current work centers on nanoparticle vectors for gene transfer in tumor and liver. He also continues research in establishing a ligand targeted delivery system for cDNA, mRNA, siRNA, proteins and peptides for tumor growth inhibition and for vaccines in treating cancer and infected diseases. He has authored or co-authored more than 600 papers with an H-index of 137. He is also the inventor or co-inventor of 22 US and foreign patents. In 2004, he received the Alec D. Bangham MD FRS Achievement Award, which is the highest honor in liposome research. He was the recipient of the 2013 Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award which is the highest scientific recognition of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. He was named a Highly Cited Researcher in “Pharmacology & Toxicology” and then in “Cross Field” each year since 2016. Dr. Huang has also co-founded 6 biotech start-ups in the past.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41428949
| 2,152,353 |
313,152 |
In the United Kingdom another line of ceramic armour development had been started in the early 1960s, meant to improve the existing cast turret configuration of the Chieftain that already offered excellent heavy penetrator protection; the research by a team headed by Gilbert Harvey of the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (FVRDE), therefore was strongly oriented at optimising the ceramic composite system for defeating shaped charge attack. The British system consisted of a honeycomb matrix with ceramic tiles backed by ballistic nylon, placed on top of the cast main armour. In July 1973 an American delegation, in search of a new armour type for the XM815 tank prototype, now that the MBT-70 project had failed, visited Chobham Common to be informed about the British system, the development of which had then cost about £6,000,000; earlier information had already been divulged to the US in 1965 and 1968. It was very impressed by the excellent shaped-charge protection combined with the penetrator impact damage limitation, inherent to the principle of using tiles. The Ballistic Research Laboratory at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, which later became a part of the Army Research Laboratory, initiated the development of a version that year named "Burlington", adapted to the specific American situation, characterised by a much higher projected tank production run and the use of a thinner rolled steel main armour. The increased threat posed by a new generation of Soviet guided missiles armed with a shaped charge warhead, as demonstrated in the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, when even older-generation missiles caused considerable tank losses on the Israeli side, made Burlington the preferred choice for the armour configuration of the XM1 (the renamed XM815) prototype.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=200127
| 312,984 |
1,754,479 |
The museum's Great Hall had the fossil reconstructions of various dinosaurs, including that of an Apatosaurus with an incorrect skull. However, the wall looked too empty for oceanographer and director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History (1938–1942), Albert Eide Parr. He wanted to make a series of small paintings on the East wall, depicting what those skeletons would have looked like. In 1941, Parr decided to put the task to Zallinger, a student at Yale University at the time who had been painting marine algae for him. Lewis York, an art professor at the School of Fine Arts, also suggested that Zallinger would be up to the task. Along with this, his wife is quoted as saying:"We were in the art school, and he'd done some drawings of seaweed for Albert Parr, head of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. When Parr was looking for a design to put on the wall, an art professor told him to use the guy who did his seaweed."In 1942, Zallinger was hired to do this work, but he proposed to do a large-scale mural, rather than small individual painting, yielding a panoramic timeline. He spent 6 months doing research, then created a sketch nearly 7 feet long (2.1 meters), quite similar to the finished result. He then coloured it and added details, which took him nearly a year, and used egg tempera. In 1943, he began his drawing of the mural, using charcoal. He painted it using the "fresco-secco" technique, most often used in the 15th century. The underpainting was finished in 1944, and the mural finally completed in June 1947. A portion of the mural appeared on a United States postage stamp in 1970.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8990816
| 1,753,489 |
452,204 |
C measurements, even with low time resolution, can indicate the state of solar activity over the last 11,000 years until about 1900. Although radiocarbon dating has been applied as far back as 50,000 years, during the deglaciations at the start of the Holocene the biosphere and its carbon uptake changed dramatically making estimation before this impractical; after about 1900 the Suess effect and nuclear bomb-tests makes interpretation difficult. Be concentrations in stratified polar ice cores provide an independent measure of activity. Both measures agree reasonably with each other and with the Zurich sunspot number of the last two centuries. As an additional check, it is possible to recover the isotope Titanium-44 (Ti, half-life 60 years) from meteorites; this provides a measurement of activity that is not affected by changes in transport process or the geomagnetic field. Although it is limited to about the last two centuries, it is consistent with all but one of the C and Be reconstructions and confirms their validity. The energetic flare events discussed above are rare; on long time scales (significantly more than a year), the radiogenic particle flux is dominated by cosmic rays. The inner solar system is shielded by the general magnetic field of the sun, which is strongly dependent on the time within a cycle and the strength of the cycle. The result is that times of powerful activity show up as "decreases" in the concentrations of all these isotopes. Because cosmic rays are also influenced by the geomagnetic field, difficulties in reconstructing this field set a limit to the accuracy of the reconstructions.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24728109
| 451,985 |
1,015,647 |
In July 2015, Lockheed Martin confirmed the authenticity of a leaked report showing the F-35 to be less maneuverable than an older F-16D with wing tanks. The pilot who flew the mission reported inferior energy maneuverability, a limited pitch rate and flying qualities that were "not intuitive or favorable" in a major part of the air-combat regime gave the F-16 the tactical advantage. In general the high AoA capabilities of the jet could not be used in an effective way without significantly reducing follow-on maneuvering potential. In an interview with CBC Radio broadcast 2 July 2015, military journalist David Axe claimed to have read the leaked report and stated: "Against a determined foe, the F-35 is in very big trouble". However, the F-35 used was a flight test aircraft with a restricted flight envelope and lacked some features present on the operational aircraft. The Pentagon, JPO, and defense analysts have defended the F-35's utility in spite of the report's assertion that it lacks maneuverability by saying it was designed primarily to disrupt the kill chain of advanced air defenses while the F-22 would handle close-in dogfighting, it has advanced sensor and information fusion capabilities to detect and engage enemy aircraft at long ranges before it can be seen and merged with, and that most air combat in recent decades has focused on sensors and weapons that achieved long-range kills rather than close combat.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54719700
| 1,015,124 |
1,466,280 |
"The Merck Manual" is organized, like many internal medicine textbooks, into organ systems (see List of Medical Topics below) which discuss each major diseases of that system, covering diagnosis (signs, symptoms, tests), prognosis and treatment. It provides a comprehensive yet concise compendium of medical knowledge into about 3500 pages, by emphasizing practical information of use to a practicing physician. In addition to 24 sections covering medical topics, it includes a pharmacology section listing drugs by generic and brand name, a list of drug interactions and a pill identifier, a News and Commentary section, videos on procedures and examination techniques, quizzes and case histories, clinical calculators, conversion tables and other resources. The text is characterized by the combination of conciseness, completeness, and being up-to-date. It is updated continuously by an independent editorial board and over 300 peer reviewers that contribute to the textbook, which goes through an average of 10 revisions by both internal and external reviewers before publication. The internal editorial staff consists of 4 physician reviews, one executive editor and four non-medical lay editors. The latest version has been translated into 17 languages. In addition to the online version, "The Merck Manual Professional Edition" is also available as a mobile app in both iOS and Android platforms, produced by Unbound Medicine, Inc.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1136647
| 1,465,457 |
1,299,760 |
The purpose of this paper is to provide standardized definitions and a roadmap of test processes for the Environmental Stress Screening (ESS) of replacement and repaired components used on Air Force systems. The term “component” is used interchangeably with the term “unit” and includes Line-replaceable unit (LRU) and sub-units (SRU). A component selected for testing is a Unit Under Test (UUT). Operational Safety, Suitability, and Effectiveness (OSS&E) policy and instructions require consistency in the disciplined engineering process used to ensure that activities such as maintenance repairs and part substitutions do not degrade system or end-item baselined characteristics over their operational life. Baselined characteristics are highly dependent on reliability, which is verified and maintained by ESS testing. OSS&E policy and instructions also require consistent engineering processes to ensure manufacturing and repair entities are accountable for delivering quality products, and to provide selection and qualification criteria for new sources of supply. Determinations of product quality and source capabilities usually require ESS testing. While considerable information concerning ESS methods and procedures is available including United States Military Standards, handbooks, guides, and the original equipment manufacturer's test plans, often these publications use differing and confusing definitions for the testing phases where ESS is applied. Lengthy explanations were needed to clarify contract clauses citing these publications. This paper ensures testing requirements are uniformly applied and clearly understood in writing source qualification requirements and contracts.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3115993
| 1,299,046 |
1,436,979 |
A country’s innovative performance largely depends on how these actors relate to each other as elements of a collective system of knowledge creation and use as well as the technologies they use. For example, public research institutes, academia and industry serve as research producers carrying out research and development (R&D) activities. On the other hand, governments either central or regional play the role of coordinator among research producers in terms of their policy instruments, visions and perspectives for the future. Furthermore, in order to promote innovation the different innovative actors must have strong links with each other based on a strong level of trust and governments should promote and activate trust among the different innovation actors. The links can take the form of joint research, personnel exchanges, crosspatenting, and purchase of equipment. Finally, NSI are shaped by distinct socio-cultural qualities of national communities. Therefore, there are national trajectories of innovativeness, technology orientation and learning, which results in each nation, either highly developed or not, having some kind of NSI, no matter if working well or not. Furthermore, the success factors of NSI have been seen by many scholars in the creation of supportive institutions and organizations (with a key role of education) and collaboration links Bridging Scales in Innovation Policies throughout the various elements that constitute a NSI. Examples include public R&D and companies, as well as common objectives and innovative cultures of agents, altogether entailing self/reinforcing progress and synergies. Differences in the structures and strategies of NSI among various economically successful countries indicate, however, that there is no universal best practise recipe.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=817238
| 1,436,170 |
905,364 |
Treatment has historically centered on removing mechanical pressure from the joint until the disease has run its course. Options include traction (to separate the femur from the pelvis and reduce wear), braces (often for several months, with an average of 18 months) to restore range of motion, physiotherapy, and surgical intervention when necessary because of permanent joint damage. To maintain activities of daily living, custom orthotics may be used. Overnight traction may be used in lieu of walking devices or in combination. These devices internally rotate the femoral head and abduct the leg(s) at 45°. Orthoses can start as proximal as the lumbar spine, and extend the length of the limbs to the floor. Most functional bracing is achieved using a waist belt and thigh cuffs derived from the Scottish-Rite orthosis. These devices are typically prescribed by a physician and implemented by an orthotist. Clinical results of the Scottish Rite orthosis have not been good according to some studies, and its use has gone out of favor. Many children, especially those with the onset of the disease before age 6, need no intervention at all and are simply asked to refrain from contact sports or games which impact the hip. For older children (onset of Perthes after age 6), the best treatment option remains unclear. Current treatment options for older children over age 8 include prolonged periods without weight bearing, osteotomy (femoral, pelvic, or shelf), and the hip distraction method using an external fixator which relieves the hip from carrying the body's weight. This allows room for the top of the femur to regrow.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=295047
| 904,888 |
305,185 |
After 1929, with the Left Opposition legally banned and Trotsky exiled, Stalin led the Soviet Union into a what he termed a "higher stage of socialism." Agriculture was forcibly collectivised, at the cost of a massive famine and millions of deaths among the resistant peasantry. The surplus squeezed from the peasants was spent on a program of crash industrialisation, guided by the Communist Party through the Five-Year Plan. This program produced some impressive results, though at enormous human costs. Russia raised itself from an economically backward country to that of a superpower. Later Soviet development, however, particularly after the Second World War, was no faster than it was in Japan or the United States under capitalism. The use of resources, material and human, in the Soviet Union became very wasteful. Stalin's industrialisation policy was geared towards the development of heavy industry, an emphasis that facilitated Soviet military action in its defence against Hitler's invasion during the Second World War in which the USSR stood on the side of the Allies of World War II. For "many Marxian libertarian socialists, the political bankruptcy of socialist orthodoxy necessitated a theoretical break. This break took a number of forms. The Bordigists and the SPGB championed a super-Marxian intransigence in theoretical matters. Other socialists made a return "behind Marx" to the anti-positivist programme of German idealism. Libertarian socialism has frequently linked its anti-authoritarian political aspirations with this theoretical differentiation from orthodoxy... Karl Korsch... remained a libertarian socialist for a large part of his life and because of the persistent urge towards theoretical openness in his work. Korsch rejected the eternal and static, and he was obsessed by the essential role of practice in a theory's truth. For Korsch, no theory could escape history, not even Marxism. In this vein, Korsch even credited the stimulus for Marx's Capital to the movement of the oppressed classes. "
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47246185
| 305,023 |
1,259,897 |
On 25 May 2012 The North American Lake Management Society (NALMS), representing nearly 1,000 members-researchers, scientists, administrators, and citizens-wrote a letter of concern the imminent closure of ELA, arguing that NALMS' work "depends on findings from the ELA." NALMS asked the federal government to reconsider. "The Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) is a rare resource not only in Canada but throughout the world, as a dedicated research facility for ecosystem-scale experimental investigations and long-term monitoring of ecosystem processes. Operating for more than 40 years, it continues to study physical, chemical and biological processes and interactions operating on an ecosystem spatial scale and a multi-year time frame. These have led to extremely important discoveries. As an example, the world’s fertilizer industry now recognizes the importance of phosphorus in lakes and reservoirs, 40 years after its importance was demonstrated at ELA. Regulatory actions have been supported by ELA research, and now there is action by the industry as a result of research and activities at ELA over several decades. The experience gained at ELA by many scientists has resulted in the dissemination of environmental expertise and problem solving throughout the world, improving human conditions, protecting the environment, and saving millions of dollars for citizens and government agencies. Furthermore, we consider the work now in progress at ELA very important to the future of lake and reservoir management."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28815488
| 1,259,210 |
533,807 |
Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) was first introduced by Harris and his colleagues at Stanford University in 1990. The work showed that when a laser beam causes a quantum interference between the excitation paths, the optical response of the atomic medium is modified to eliminate absorption and refraction at the resonant frequencies of atomic transitions. Slow light, optical storage, and quantum memories can be achieved based on EIT. In contrast to other approaches, EIT has a long storage time and is a relatively easy and inexpensive solution to implement. For example, electromagnetically induced transparency does not require the very high power control beams usually needed for Raman quantum memories, nor does it require the use of liquid helium temperatures. In addition, photon echo can read EIT while the spin coherence survives due to the time delay of readout pulse caused by a spin recovery in non-uniformly broadened media. Although there are some limitations on operating wavelength, bandwidth, and mode capacity, techniques have been developed to make EIT-based quantum memories a valuable tool in the development of quantum telecommunication systems. In 2018, a highly efficient EIT-based optical memory in cold atom demonstrated a 92% storage-and-retrieval efficiency in the classical regime with coherent beams and a 70% storage-and-retrieval efficiency was demonstrated for polarization qubits encoded in weak coherent states, beating any classical benchmark. Following these demonstrations, single-photon polarization qubits were then stored via EIT in a Rb cold atomic ensemble and retrieved with an 85% efficiency and entanglement between two cesium-based quantum memories was also achieved with an overall transfer efficiency close to 90%.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60448457
| 533,528 |
537 |
As artificial intelligence grows and the overwhelming amount of news portrayed through cyberspace expands, it is becoming extremely overwhelming for a voter to know what to believe. There are many intelligent codes, referred to as bots, written to portray people on social media with the goal of spreading misinformation. The 2016 US election is a victim of such actions. During the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump campaign, artificial intelligent bots from Russia were spreading misinformation about the candidates in order to help the Trump campaign. Analysts concluded that approximately 19% of Twitter tweets centered around the 2016 election were detected to come from bots. YouTube in recent years has been used to spread political information as well. Although there is no proof that the platform attempts to manipulate its viewers opinions, Youtubes AI algorithm recommends videos of similar variety. If a person begins to research right wing political podcasts, then YouTube's algorithm will recommend more right wing videos. The uprising in a program called Deepfake, a software used to replicate someone's face and words, has also shown its potential threat. In 2018 a Deepfake video of Barack Obama was released saying words he claims to have never said. While in a national election a Deepfake will quickly be debunked, the software has the capability to heavily sway a smaller local election. This tool holds a lot of potential for spreading misinformation and is monitored with great attention. Although it may be seen as a tool used for harm, AI can help enhance election campaigns as well. AI bots can be programed to target articles with known misinformation. The bots can then indicate what is being misinformed to help shine light on the truth. AI can also be used to inform a person where each parts stands on a certain topic such as healthcare or climate change. The political leaders of a nation have heavy sway on international affairs. Thus, a political leader with a lack of interest for international collaborative scientific advancement can have a negative impact in the scientific diplomacy of that nation
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1164
| 537 |
596,794 |
Computation-aided design has also been used to engineer complex properties of a highly ordered nano-protein assembly. A protein cage, E. coli bacterioferritin (EcBfr), which naturally shows structural instability and an incomplete self-assembly behavior by populating two oligomerization states, is the model protein in this study. Through computational analysis and comparison to its homologs, it has been found that this protein has a smaller-than-average dimeric interface on its two-fold symmetry axis due mainly to the existence of an interfacial water pocket centered on two water-bridged asparagine residues. To investigate the possibility of engineering EcBfr for modified structural stability, a semi-empirical computational method is used to virtually explore the energy differences of the 480 possible mutants at the dimeric interface relative to the wild type EcBfr. This computational study also converges on the water-bridged asparagines. Replacing these two asparagines with hydrophobic amino acids results in proteins that fold into alpha-helical monomers and assemble into cages as evidenced by circular dichroism and transmission electron microscopy. Both thermal and chemical denaturation confirm that, all redesigned proteins, in agreement with the calculations, possess increased stability. One of the three mutations shifts the population in favor of the higher order oligomerization state in solution as shown by both size exclusion chromatography and native gel electrophoresis.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=216104
| 596,489 |
91,332 |
In 212 BC, the Emperor Qin Shi Huang commanded all books in the Qin Empire other than officially sanctioned ones be burned. This decree was not universally obeyed, but as a consequence of this order little is known about ancient Chinese mathematics before this date. After the book burning of 212 BC, the Han dynasty (202 BC–220 AD) produced works of mathematics which presumably expanded on works that are now lost. The most important of these is "The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art", the full title of which appeared by AD 179, but existed in part under other titles beforehand. It consists of 246 word problems involving agriculture, business, employment of geometry to figure height spans and dimension ratios for Chinese pagoda towers, engineering, surveying, and includes material on right triangles. It created mathematical proof for the Pythagorean theorem, and a mathematical formula for Gaussian elimination. The treatise also provides values of π, which Chinese mathematicians originally approximated as 3 until Liu Xin (d. 23 AD) provided a figure of 3.1457 and subsequently Zhang Heng (78–139) approximated pi as 3.1724, as well as 3.162 by taking the square root of 10. Liu Hui commented on the "Nine Chapters" in the 3rd century AD and gave a value of π accurate to 5 decimal places (i.e. 3.14159). Though more of a matter of computational stamina than theoretical insight, in the 5th century AD Zu Chongzhi computed the value of π to seven decimal places (between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927), which remained the most accurate value of π for almost the next 1000 years. He also established a method which would later be called Cavalieri's principle to find the volume of a sphere.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14220
| 91,292 |
1,269,401 |
Char syndrome is an autosomal dominant congenital disease caused by mutations in TFAP2B gene which affects the development of the bones of the face as well as the heart and limbs. During embryo development, TFAP2B regulates the production of the protein AP-2β, a transcription factor that is active in the neural crest and helps regulate genes that control cell division and apoptosis. There are at least 10 mutations of this gene that have been identified in people presenting Char syndrome, which alters specific regions of the gene preventing production of the transcription factor and disrupting normal development of embryo structures. People with this condition present a very distinct facial appearance with flattened cheek bones, flat and broad tip nose, shortened distance between the nose and upper lip, triangular-shaped mouth with tick lips and strabismus. It is also characterized by a patent ductus arteriosus, which is the failure to close the ductus that connects the aorta and pulmonary artery during pre-birth life and may cause many symptoms including breathing issues and heart failure. Abnormalities of hand and finger development have also been reported in people with this condition, including short or absent fifth finger. Other abnormal findings include supernumerary nipples. These conditions often affect multiple members of a family and there are no reports of non-genetic factors that might be related with incidence of this syndrome. It was first described by Florence Char in 1978.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60494555
| 1,268,710 |
1,169,800 |
At the beginning of the 19th century Scottish universities had no entrance exam, students typically entered at ages of 15 or 16, attended for as little as two years, chose which lectures to attend and left without qualifications. After two commissions of enquiry in 1826 and 1876 and reforming acts of parliament in 1858 and 1889, the curriculum and system of graduation were reformed to meet the needs of the emerging middle classes and the professions. Entrance examinations equivalent to the School Leaving Certificate were introduced and average ages of entry had risen to 17 or 18. Standard patterns of graduation in the arts curriculum offered 3-year ordinary and 4-year honours degrees and separate science faculties were able to move away from the compulsory Latin, Greek and philosophy of the old MA curriculum. The historic University of Glasgow became a leader in British higher education by providing the educational needs of youth from the urban and commercial classes, as well as the upper class. It prepared students for non-commercial careers in government, the law, medicine, education, and the ministry and a smaller group for careers in science and engineering. St Andrews pioneered the admission of women to Scottish universities, creating the Lady Licentiate in Arts (LLA), which proved highly popular. From 1892 Scottish universities could admit and graduate women and the numbers of women at Scottish universities steadily increased until the early 20th century.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18943753
| 1,169,181 |
434,061 |
However, exogenous irisin may aid in heightening energy expenditure, and thus in reducing obesity. Boström et al. reported on December 14, 2012: "Since the conservation of calories would likely provide an overall survival advantage for mammals, it appears paradoxical that exercise would stimulate the secretion of a polypeptide hormone that increases thermogenesis and energy expenditure. One explanation for the increased irisin expression with exercise in mouse and man may have evolved as a consequence of muscle contraction during shivering. Muscle secretion of a hormone that activates adipose thermogenesis during this process might provide a broader, more robust defense against hypothermia. The therapeutic potential of irisin is obvious. Exogenously administered irisin induces the browning of subcutaneous fat and thermogenesis, and it presumably could be prepared and delivered as an injectable polypeptide. Increased formation of brown or beige/brite fat has been shown to have anti-obesity, anti-diabetic effects in multiple murine models, and adult humans have significant deposits of UCP1-positive brown fat. (Our data show) that even relatively short treatments of obese mice with irisin improves glucose homeostasis and causes a small weight loss. Whether longer treatments with irisin and/or higher doses would cause more weight loss remains to be determined. The worldwide, explosive increase in obesity and diabetes strongly suggests exploring the clinical utility of irisin in these and related disorders. Another potentially important aspect of this work relates to other beneficial effects of exercise, especially in some diseases for which no effective treatments exist. The clinical data linking exercise with health benefits in many other diseases suggests that irisin could also have significant effects in these disorders."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34368888
| 433,847 |
371,046 |
Kh-101/102 is the latest development of the Kh-55, incorporating a low radar cross-section of about 0.01 square meters. The Kh-101/102 is specifically designed for air-launch, abandoning the circular fuselage cross-section of the Kh-55 for a nose and forward fuselage section aerodynamically shaped to produce lift. It is long with a launch weight of , and is equipped with a high-explosive, penetrating, or cluster warhead, or a 250 kt nuclear warhead for the Kh-102. The missile is powered by a TRDD-50A turbojet producing 450 kgf of thrust to cruise at with a maximum speed of while flying 30–70 m above the ground, and hit fixed targets using a pre-downloaded digital map for terrain following and GLONASS/INS for trajectory correction to achieve accuracy of 6–10 meters; it is claimed to be able to hit small moving targets such as vehicles using a terminal electro-optical sensor or imaging infrared system. Range estimates vary from , to . With a flight endurance of 10 hours; long range is essential since Russia has few bases abroad and cannot provide distant fighter escorts. The Tu-95MS can carry eight of the weapons on four under-wing pylons, and the Tu-160 can be outfitted with two drum launchers each loaded with six missiles, but the smaller Tu-22M3 will continue to carry the Kh-55, although it can also carry the Kh-101/Kh-102. The missiles are equipped with an onboard EW defence system as of late 2018. The first tests were conducted in 1995 and the missile was accepted for service in 2012.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1109032
| 370,852 |
807,348 |
The ethics behind Mass Surveillance has become a highly discussed ethical topic in the twenty-first century, especially in the United States due to the tragedy of 9/11. Some areas of ethical concern involve privacy, discrimination, trust in government, infringement of government-granted rights/basic human rights, conflict of interest, stigmatization, and obtrusiveness. Many of these ethical topics in the timeframe between 2001 and 2021 have become the main topic of discussion in many recent laws all throughout the world. Shortly after 9/11 when the United States began to fear the idea that more terrorist attacks could occur on American soil. A law passed on October 26, 2001, known as the Patriot Act was one of the first larger Mass Surveillance laws passed in the United States. Years later Europe would begin to follow suit with their own set of mass surveillance laws after a string of terrorist attacks. After the 2015 terrorist attacks in France, the French government would move forward with passing the International Electronic Communications Law. The IEC would recognize the power of the French Directorate-General for External Security allowing them to collect, monitor, and intercept all communications sent or received on French territory. In 2016, the United Kingdom would pass the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, a law allowing the GCHQ to engage in acquisition, interception, and equipment interference of communications/systems sent by anyone on British territory. Finally, in 2016, another law like the Investigatory Powers Act was passed in Germany that was named the Communications Intelligence Gathering Act. This act allowed the German intelligence community to gather foreign nationals communications while they were in German territory. In 2021, Australia passed a law known as the Surveillance Legislation Amendment, which granted the Australian Federal Police and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission the right to modify or delete data of suspected offenders, Collect intelligence on criminal networks, and finally, forcefully break into a suspected offender's online account. After these laws were passed all throughout Europe, and later on in Australia, a string of protests would begin to arise involving the laws, as citizens from each country would feel it infringed their privacy rights.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=699052
| 806,918 |
694,075 |
The inside/outside discontinuity at the cell surface enabled by a lipid bilayer membrane (capacitor) is at the core of bioelectricity. The plasma membrane was an indispensable structure for the origin and evolution of life itself. It provided compartmentalization permitting the setting of a differential voltage/potential gradient (battery or voltage source) across the membrane, probably allowing early and rudimentary bioenergetics that fueled cell mechanisms. During evolution, the initially purely passive diffusion of ions (charge carriers), become gradually controlled by the acquisition of ion channels, pumps, exchangers, and transporters. These energetically free (resistors or conductors, passive transport) or expensive (current sources, active transport) translocators set and fine tune voltage gradients – resting potentials – that are ubiquitous and essential to life's physiology, ranging from bioenergetics, motion, sensing, nutrient transport, toxins clearance, and signaling in homeostatic and disease/injury conditions. Upon stimuli or barrier breaking (short-circuit) of the membrane, ions powered by the voltage gradient (electromotive force) diffuse or leak, respectively, through the cytoplasm and interstitial fluids (conductors), generating measurable electric currents – net ion fluxes – and fields. Some ions (such as calcium) and molecules (such as hydrogen peroxide) modulate targeted translocators to produce a current or to enhance, mitigate or even reverse an initial current, being switchers.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55498066
| 693,712 |
1,909,031 |
Beginning in 1999 the Max Planck Society initiated the implementation of International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS) as a new way to cooperate with partner universities in Germany. The intention of this ambitious plan is twofold. On the one hand, the Max Planck Society tries to intensify the collaboration with university affiliated research groups and faculty at home. On the other hand, due to the great demand of junior scientists, one was trying to attract qualified students from Germany and abroad to help train a new generation of scientists. It seemed reasonable to combine scientific leadership and technical expertise on a local scale by jointly offering this new way to train promising scientists from around the world. The Ph.D. program provides a true interdisciplinary approach for highly motivated students to receive a Ph.D. degree and to participate in cutting edge research. Major changes and adjustments were necessary to put this idea into reality. First, because of the international character, teaching and practical training had to be offered in English to make the program attractive for foreign students. Second, the training should target a very specific area of research for which the existing faculty is internationally known. Third, the research schools are intended to represent centres of excellence. The IMPRS at the Max Planck Institute of Plant Breeding Research together with the University of Cologne represent such a centre of excellence in the area of molecular plant science, and was formed in 2001. Currently, this IMPRS has about 40 Ph.D. students, where half come from countries outside of Germany. Admission is entirely linked to scientific merit and achievement.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6746982
| 1,907,933 |
776,836 |
Located at 600 S. Michigan Avenue, Columbia College's Main Building was built in 1906–07 by Christian A. Eckstorm, an architect popular for his industrial and warehouse designs, to serve as the headquarters of the International Harvester Company. 600 S. Michigan was a modern skyscraper of its era, built with a steel skeleton, high-speed elevators, electric light, the most advanced mechanical systems available and a floor plan designed to maximize natural light for all of its interior office spaces. The 15-story brick-clad building with classical stone detailing has an Art Deco lobby that retains much of its original marble. In 1937 the building was purchased by the Fairbanks-Morse Company, makers of railroad locomotives, farm equipment and hydraulic systems. It was acquired by Columbia College in 1975. In its early years as the home of Columbia, it was adaptively reused to house classrooms, the library, darkrooms, studios, and an auditorium. When the campus expanded through the acquisition of other buildings, especially after 1990, some of these functions, such as the greatly expanded library, were moved to other locations, and the spaces were again adapted for new uses. The building continues to serve as the administrative center of the college, and houses the Museum of Contemporary Photography on its first two floors, along with the 180-seat Ferguson Memorial Theater, photography darkrooms, three professional television studios, film/video editing facilities, and classrooms.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1914203
| 776,420 |
1,533,891 |
Like related telescopes on Tenerife, it is a Cassegrain device with a thin primary mirror, around 2/3 thinner than in other contemporary devices and weighing only 6.5 tonnes. When trying to view distant objects in infra-red local sources of heat must be minimised, to this end a lighter mirror requires lower power motors and control systems creating less heat. The mirror is held in a massive steel 'cell' of 20 tonnes which is linked to the supports by Serrurier trusses. The mirror's accuracy despite its very low weight and thickness was partly achieved by sitting it on concentric circles of aluminum pistons/air cells, 80 in all. Computer control of these pneumatic pistons enabled stresses in the glass to be canceled out effectively modeling the behavior of a much thicker mirror. This novel technique resulted in optical performance considerably better than the procurement specification. The instrument was mounted on an 'English Equatorial mounting' or yoke which sits on ball-bearings on steel piers, swinging east–west and rotating around north–south. The geometry of the mount limits the telescopes access to objects between +60 and −40 degrees of declination but it is extremely sturdy and free from deformation and so allows very accurate pointing. The entire structure was built on massive ball bearings held rigid by shear pins to afford earthquake protection.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=188198
| 1,533,023 |
799,364 |
From a 2020 study published in Cell: "Understanding the nature of this movement was the primary motivation behind this study. Here, we present a large-scale analysis of genome-wide data from key sites of prehistoric Anatolia, the Northern Levant, and the Southern Caucasian lowlands ... In the Northern Levant, we identified a major genetic shift between the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age periods. During this transition, Northern Levantine populations experienced gene flow from new groups harboring ancestries related to both Zagros/Caucasus and the Southern Levant. This suggests a shift in social orientation, perhaps in response to the rise of urban centers in Mesopotamia, which to date remain genetically unsampled." They further add: "This expansion is recorded in the region of the Northern Levant ca. 2800 BCE and could be associated with the movement/ migration of people from Eastern Anatolia and the Southern Caucasian highlands. However, our results do not support this scenario for a number of reasons". "There are extensive textual references from the end of the EBA through the LBA referring to groups of people arriving into the area of the Amuq Valley. Although these groups were named, likely based on designations (e.g., Amorites, Hurrians), the formative context of their (cultural) identity and their geographic origins remain debated. One recent hypothesis (Weiss, 2014, 2017; Akar and Kara, 2020) associates the arrival of these groups with climate-forced population movement during the ‘‘4.2k BP event,’’ a Mega Drought that led to the abandonment of the entire Khabur river valley in Northern Mesopotamia and the search of nearby habitable areas." The study has also shown that the Canaanite population contributed to most present-day Jewish groups and Levantine Arabic-speaking groups. These present-day groups also show ancestries that cannot be modeled by the available ancient DNA data, highlighting the importance of additional major genetic effects on the region since the Bronze Age.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16696142
| 798,939 |
485,131 |
Earth's rate of rotation must be integrated to obtain time, which is Earth's angular position (specifically, the orientation of the meridian of Greenwich relative to the fictitious mean sun). Integrating +1.7 ms/d/cy and centering the resulting parabola on the year 1820 yields (to a first approximation) seconds for Δ"T". Smoothed historical measurements of Δ"T" using total solar eclipses are about +17190 s in the year −500 (501 BC), +10580 s in 0 (1 BC), +5710 s in 500, +1570 s in 1000, and +200 s in 1500. After the invention of the telescope, measurements were made by observing occultations of stars by the Moon, which allowed the derivation of more closely spaced and more accurate values for Δ"T". Δ"T" continued to decrease until it reached a plateau of +11 ± 6 s between 1680 and 1866. For about three decades immediately before 1902 it was negative, reaching −6.64 s. Then it increased to +63.83 s in January 2000 and +68.97 s in January 2018 and +69.361 s in January 2020, after even a slight decrease from 69.358 s in July 2019 to 69.338 s in September and October 2019 and a new increase in November and December 2019. This will require the addition of an ever-greater number of leap seconds to UTC as long as UTC tracks UT1 with one-second adjustments. (The SI second as now used for UTC, when adopted, was already a little shorter than the current value of the second of mean solar time.) Physically, the meridian of Greenwich in Universal Time is almost always to the east of the meridian in Terrestrial Time, both in the past and in the future. +17190 s or about h corresponds to 71.625°E. This means that in the year −500 (501 BC), Earth's faster rotation would cause a total solar eclipse to occur 71.625° to the east of the location calculated using the uniform TT.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8727
| 484,882 |
987,480 |
The airship's skeleton was built of the new lightweight alloy duralumin 17-SRT. The frame introduced several novel features compared with traditional Zeppelin designs. Rather than being single-girder diamond trusses with radial wire bracing, the main rings of "Akron" were self-supporting deep frames: triangular Warren trusses 'curled' round to form a ring. Though much heavier than conventional rings, the deep rings promised to be much stronger, a significant attraction to the navy after the in-flight break up of the earlier conventional airships R38/ZR-2 and ZR-1 "Shenandoah". The inherent strength of these frames allowed the chief designer, Karl Arnstein, to dispense with the internal cruciform structure used by Zeppelin to support the fins of their ships. Instead, the fins of "Akron" were cantilevered: mounted entirely externally to the main structure. "Graf Zeppelin", "Graf Zeppelin II", and "Hindenburg" used a supplementary axial keel along the hull centerline. However, the "Akron" used three keels, one running along the top of the hull and one each side, 45 degrees up from the lower centreline. Each keel provided a walkway running almost the entire length of the ship. The electric and telephone wiring, control cables, 110 fuel tanks, 44 water ballast bags, 8 engine rooms, engines, transmissions, and water-recovery devices were placed along the lower keels. The inert gas helium was used instead of flammable hydrogen, which improved streamlining by allowing the engines to be safely placed inside the hull. A generator room, with 2 Westinghouse d.c. generators powered by a 30-h.p. internal combustion engine, was forward of the No. 7 engine room.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60944
| 986,964 |
719,972 |
During most of the 20th century, obstetric fistulae were largely missing from the international global health agenda. This is reflected by the fact that the condition was not included as a topic at the landmark United Nations 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The 194-page report from the ICPD does not include any reference to obstetric fistulae. In 2000, eight Millennium Development Goals were adopted after the United Nations Millennium Summit to be achieved by 2015. The fifth goal of improving maternal health is directly related to obstetric fistula. Since 2003, obstetric fistula has been gaining awareness amongst the general public and has received critical attention from UNFPA, who has organized a global "Campaign to End Fistula". "New York Times" columnist Nicholas Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, wrote several columns in 2003, 2005, and 2006 focusing on fistula and particularly treatment provided by Catherine Hamlin at the Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. In 2007, Fistula Foundation, Engel Entertainment, and a number of other organizations including PBS NOVA released the documentary film, "A Walk to Beautiful", which traced the journey of five women from Ethiopia who sought treatment for their obstetric fistulae at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. The film still airs frequently on PBS in the U.S. and is credited with increasing awareness of obstetric fistulae greatly. Increased public awareness and corresponding political pressure have helped fund the UNFPA's Campaign to End Fistula, and helped motivate the United States Agency for International Development to dramatically increase funding for the prevention and treatment of obstetric fistulae.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=231286
| 719,592 |
927,658 |
Thomas Oatley has criticized OEP for an overemphasis on domestic political processes and for failing to consider the interplay between processes at the domestic level and macro processes at the global level: in essence, OEP scholarship suffers from omitted variable bias. According to Peter Katzenstein, Robert Keohane and Stephen Krasner, scholarship in this vein assumes that actors' preferences and behavior are derived from their material position, which leads to a neglect of the ways in which variation in information may shape actor preferences and behaviors. Mark Blyth and Matthias Matthijs argue that OEP scholarship essentially black boxes the global economy. Stephanie Rickard has defended the OEP approach, writing in 2021:OEP has matured and developed over the past decade. As a framework, it has proven to be enormously productive and adaptable—integrating diverse economic phenomena under a common theoretical umbrella and providing a framework flexible enough to react to significant events in the global economy... The accumulating body of scholarship in the OEP tradition has moved our understanding of world politics decisively forward. Critics of OEP have yet to offer an alternative, more empirically powerful theory and as a result, OEP continues to progress as the dominant paradigm in IPE research.Scholars have questioned the empirical validity of the models derived from OEP scholarship on money and trade, as well as questioned the ability of OEP scholarship to explain momentous events in global political economy. Challengers to the OEP framework include behavioral approaches (which do not necessarily accept that individual interests stem from material incentives), and economic geography approaches. According to Stephanie Rickard, OEP scholars have modified their models to incorporate incomplete information (which affects how individual preferences are formed) and economies of scale (which affects the distribution of gains and losses). Erica Owen and Stephanie Walter similarly argue that "second-generation" OEP frameworks incorporate both material and ideational preferences.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=630327
| 927,170 |
1,398,128 |
From the moment of its discovery, the cutaneous rabbit illusion piqued the curiosity of researchers, and many experiments investigating the effect have been conducted, most of them on the forearm. Studies have consistently shown that the rabbit illusion occurs only when successive taps are closely spaced in time; the illusion disappears if the temporal separation between taps exceeds about 0.3 seconds (300 milliseconds). A study showed that attention directed to one skin location reduces the perceptual migration of a tap placed at the attended location. Another study showed that the illusory taps are associated with neural activity in the same area of the brain's sensory map that is activated by real taps to the skin. Nevertheless, the specific neural mechanisms that underlie the rabbit illusion are unknown. Many interesting instantiations of the cutaneous rabbit illusion have been observed. The illusion is not just confined to the "body". When subjects supported a stick across their index fingertips and received the taps via the stick, they reported sensing the illusory taps along the stick. This suggests that the cutaneous rabbit effect involves not only the intrinsic somatotopic representation but also the representation of the extended body schema that results from body-object interactions. Research has shown that the illusion can occur across non-contiguous body regions such as the fingers. However, a subpopulation of participants apparently does not experience the effect on the fingertips. The illusion has also been shown to occur both within and across the arms, suggesting that the illusion occurs after perceptual stages in the brain. Visual cues—light flashes placed at particular locations along the arm—can influence the cutaneous rabbit illusion. In addition, auditory and tactile stimuli can interact in the rabbit illusion. In 2009, researchers of Philips Electronics demonstrated a jacket lined with actuator motors and designed to evoke various tactile sensations while watching a movie. The device takes advantage of the cutaneous rabbit illusion to reduce the number of actuators needed. In keeping with the prediction of a Bayesian model, the perceptual attraction between the stimulus points is enhanced when the stimuli are made weaker.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9274813
| 1,397,355 |
1,570,340 |
Brinster then collaborated with Richard Palmiter, a prominent molecular biologist at the University of Washington, to pioneer and develop the transfer of foreign genes into mammals, and they utilized these methods to elucidate the activity and function of many genes. Their seminal experiments catalyzed a worldwide revolution in genetic engineering in the 1980s. Transgenic mice are now used every day in thousands of laboratories around the world to investigate everything from cancer biology and cardiovascular disease to hair loss and abnormal behavior. Their experiments, for the first time, showed that new genes could be introduced into the mammalian germline with the potential to increase disease resistance, enhance growth, and produce vital proteins like blood-clotting factors needed by hemophiliacs. Perhaps their best known experiment was in generating the “Giant/Super Mouse”, which catalyzed interest within the scientific community and in the general public about the enormous potential of the transgenic technology being developed and is credited with the initiation of the genetic revolution in biology, medicine and agriculture (Fig. 4). In addition, they provided the first proof of expression of transgenes, the first example of cancer arising from a transgene and the first proof of the targeted integration of DNA by egg injection. Together, Brinster and Palmiter developed many of the first animal models of human disease throughout the 1980s. Their partnership also yielded the first transgenic rabbits, sheep, and pigs.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13365910
| 1,569,452 |
292,457 |
1. (or retroductive) phase. Guessing, inference to explanatory hypotheses for selection of those best worth trying. From abduction, Peirce distinguishes induction as inferring, on the basis of tests, the proportion of truth in the hypothesis. Every inquiry, whether into ideas, brute facts, or norms and laws, arises from surprising observations in one or more of those realms (and for example at any stage of an inquiry already underway). All explanatory content of theories comes from abduction, which guesses a new or outside idea so as to account in a simple, economical way for a surprising or complicated phenomenon. The modicum of success in our guesses far exceeds that of random luck, and seems born of attunement to nature by developed or inherent instincts, especially insofar as best guesses are optimally plausible and simple in the sense of the "facile and natural", as by Galileo's natural light of reason and as distinct from "logical simplicity". Abduction is the most fertile but least secure mode of inference. Its general rationale is inductive: it succeeds often enough and it has no substitute in expediting us toward new truths. In 1903, Peirce called pragmatism "the logic of abduction". Coordinative method leads from abducting a plausible hypothesis to judging it for its testability and for how its trial would economize inquiry itself. The hypothesis, being insecure, needs to have practical implications leading at least to mental tests and, in science, lending themselves to scientific tests. A simple but unlikely guess, if not costly to test for falsity, may belong first in line for testing. A guess is intrinsically worth testing if it has plausibility or reasoned objective probability, while subjective likelihood, though reasoned, can be misleadingly seductive. Guesses can be selected for trial strategically, for their caution (for which Peirce gave as example the game of Twenty Questions), breadth, or incomplexity. One can discover only that which would be revealed through their sufficient experience anyway, and so the point is to expedite it; economy of research demands the leap, so to speak, of abduction and governs its art.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6117
| 292,299 |
786,863 |
It was reported that 28 Iraqi Army Abrams had been damaged in fighting with militants, five of them suffering full armor penetration when hit by ATGMs, in the period between 1 January and the end of May 2014; some were destroyed or damaged by militants placing explosive charges on or in the vehicles, highlighting the lack of adequate infantry support provided by Iraqi soldiers. In mid-2014, Iraqi Army Abrams tanks saw action when the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant launched the June 2014 Northern Iraq offensive. Some Iraqi Army M1A1M tanks were destroyed in fighting against ISIL forces while an unknown number were captured intact. At least one ISIL-controlled M1A1M Abrams was reportedly used in the capture of the Mosul Dam in early August 2014. The Abrams suffered its first heavy losses at the hands of ISIL fighters against Iraqi-operated tanks through planted explosives, anti-tank missiles like the Kornet, and captured tanks later being destroyed by American airstrikes. The chief cause of these losses was the poor training of Iraqi tank operators and lack of infantry coordination. About one-third of the 140 Abrams tanks delivered to the Iraqi Army had been captured or destroyed by ISIL. By December 2014, the Iraqi Army only had about 40 operational Abrams left. That month, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of another 175 Abrams to Iraq. The tanks may be fitted with additional protection features to defend against ISIL mine, roadside bomb, and other attacks including belly armor, reactive armor, 360-degree night vision sensors, mine-clearing blades and rollers, and a wide-area spotlight-equipped remotely operated gun mount. If approved by Congress and funded by the Iraqi government, the improvements could be made within 18 months. By late 2015, some Iraqi Abrams tanks that had been dropped off at repair facilities were re-equipped with Russian heavy machine guns firing Iranian-manufactured ammunition, which may violate sales agreements prohibiting material usage by Shiite militias and the unsanctioned addition of foreign weapons.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25079265
| 786,440 |
235,520 |
The intertidal zone and the photic zone in the oceans are relatively familiar habitat types. However the vast bulk of the ocean is inhospitable to air-breathing humans, with scuba divers limited to the upper or so. The lower limit for photosynthesis is and below that depth the prevailing conditions include total darkness, high pressure, little oxygen (in some places), scarce food resources and extreme cold. This habitat is very challenging to research, and as well as being little-studied, it is vast, with 79% of the Earth's biosphere being at depths greater than . With no plant life, the animals in this zone are either detritivores, reliant on food drifting down from surface layers, or they are predators, feeding on each other. Some organisms are pelagic, swimming or drifting in mid-ocean, while others are benthic, living on or near the seabed. Their growth rates and metabolisms tend to be slow, their eyes may be very large to detect what little illumination there is, or they may be blind and rely on other sensory inputs. A number of deep sea creatures are bioluminescent; this serves a variety of functions including predation, protection and social recognition. In general, the bodies of animals living at great depths are adapted to high pressure environments by having pressure-resistant biomolecules and small organic molecules present in their cells known as piezolytes, which give the proteins the flexibility they need. There are also unsaturated fats in their membranes which prevent them from solidifying at low temperatures.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1596317
| 235,401 |
2,005,754 |
The 'crucifix-fights' were about whether crucifixes could remain in state educational institutions after the separation of church and state at the end of the 19th century, and a provocative action in 1900 (a plaster crucifix was knocked down from a Holy Crown relief at the University of Budapest by unknown perpetrators) led to a "war of cultures" in the public life of the universities in Budapest. If we simplify what happened, the members of the Catholic St Imre Circle, founded in 1900, repeatedly placed crucifixes in demonstrative places during their 'crucifix actions', which were taken down by secularisationists; the former were mocked as 'the clericals', the latter were often mocked simply as 'the Jews', - because of their ethnic background -, and the opposing parties often hit each other, causing grievous bodily harms. Campus violence reached its peak in the autumn of 1907, during the 'Pikler riots'. Gyula Pikler, a professor of philosophy of law at the university and president of the by then purely radical Social Science Society, was attacked for his 'insightful' theory. On an evolutionary-historical materialist basis, Pikler went against the prevailing ideas of natural law of the time and taught that nation, state and laws were not derived from a divine truth, but were created to satisfy human needs, and therefore the form of government and laws should be shaped according to the economic and societal needs and interests of the time rather than traditions. Pikler's statements about the nation caused the greatest outcry. According to him, the nation, including the Hungarian nation, is not eternal. They came into being in response to the needs of a particular age, when human needs demanded forms of organisation and association higher than the tribe or clan. In accordance with this - and evolutionary logic - the time will come in the future when the nation will be replaced by units and organisational forms larger than the nation, and ultimately by the global state, that will create the long-awaited eternal peace.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59180536
| 2,004,605 |
1,896,513 |
Perhaps Prain's most difficult time as Director of the Kew gardens was in the years 1904-1908 when he was one of the lead players in an industrial dispute which pitted him against his garden staff and the Kew Garden trade union. Surprisingly his chief adversary was his sub-foreman, William Purdom, representing a band of young gardener trainees. The dispute arose because a cohort of these trainees were not fully informed that their positions were only temporary. In addition to that the gardens industrial conditions were onerous, with a salary for someone such as Purdom well below the usual rates. William Purdom was ferocious as the union representative, bringing the newspapers of the time, the Kew Guild and leading politicians into the fray. Strikes and go-slows became a heated occurrence with Prain perhaps unfortunately blamed for an error made by his predecessor. Prain, who came from a humble background himself, was aware that his workers' grievances were well justified and went out of his way to find alternative positions in private employ for all those affected. Purdom appears to have continued the fight on principle and on a personal basis for another year until Prain finally made it a case that his combative gardener Purdom had to go, or he himself would. The establishment had no option but to back the Kew Director. The bizarre and unexpected twist however came in the final days just before Christmas 1908. Despite being a bane to the Kew Director, the latter clearly recognized the talents of William Purdom and recommended his employee as a plant collector for a joint venture by Harry Veitch and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University to the northern provinces of China in 1909. No sooner had Purdom's dismissal been finalized, than that same establishment arranged for the British administration, including the Legation in Beijing, to give him all assistance. David Prain was evidently a very fair and honourable man.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6197607
| 1,895,429 |
270,899 |
Ancient Greek philosophers, from Thales (fl. 550 BC) through even to the Roman period, developed an elaborate theory of what they termed the "psuchẽ" (psyche) (from which the first half of "psychology" is derived), as well as other "psychological" terms – "nous", "thumos", "logistikon", etc. Classical Greece (fifth century BCE), philosophers taught “naturalism,” the belief that laws of nature shape our world, as opposed to gods and demons determining human fate. Alcmaeon, for example, believed the brain, not the heart, was the “organ of thought.”He tracked the ascending sensory nerves from the body to the brain, theorizing that mental activity originated in the CNS and that the cause of mental illness resided within the brain. He applied this understanding to classify mental diseases and treatments.The most influential of these psychologists are the accounts of Plato (especially in the "Republic"), Pythagoras and of Aristotle (esp. "Peri Psyches", better known under its Latin title, "De Anima"). Plato's tripartite theory of the soul, Chariot Allegory and concepts such as "eros" defined the subsequent Western Philosophy views of the psyche and anticipated modern psychological proposals, such as Freud's id, ego and super-ego and libido; to the point that "in 1920, Freud decided to present Plato as the precursor of his own theory, as part of a strategy directed to define the scientific and cultural collocation of psychoanalysis". Hellenistic philosophers (viz., the Stoics and Epicurians) diverged from the Classical Greek tradition in several important ways, especially in their concern with questions of the physiological basis of the mind. The Roman physician Galen addressed these issues most elaborately and influentially of all. The Greek tradition influenced some Christian and Islamic thought on the topic.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1573230
| 270,752 |
1,154,456 |
CAL invented the first crash test dummy in 1948, the automotive seat belt in 1951, the first mobile field unit with Doppler weather radar for weather-tracking in 1956, the first accurate airborne simulation of another aircraft (the North American X-15) in 1960, the first successful demonstration of an automatic terrain-following radar system in 1964, the first use of a laser beam to successfully measure gas density in 1966, the first independent HYGE sled test facility to evaluate automotive restraint systems in 1967, the "mytron", an instrument for research on neuromuscular behavior and disorders in 1969, and the prototype for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's fingerprint reading system in 1972. CAL served as an "honest broker" making objective comparisons of competing plans to build military hardware. It also conducted classified counter-insurgency research in Thailand for the Defense Department. By the time of its divestiture, CAL had 1,600 employees. CAL conducted wind tunnel test on models of a number of skyscraper buildings, including most notably the John Hancock Tower in Boston, Massachusetts and the 40-story Commerce House in Seattle, Washington.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3601339
| 1,153,846 |
661,036 |
""It is perfect from the terminus of the Great Western as far as" "Slough – that is, eighteen miles; the wires being in some places" "underground in tubes, and in others high up in the air, which last," "he says, is by far the best plan. We asked if the weather did not" "affect the wires, but he said not; a violent thunderstorm might" "ring a bell, but no more. We were taken into a small room (we" "being Mrs Drummond, Miss Philips, Harry Codrington and" "myself – and afterwards the Milmans and Mr Rich) where were" "several wooden cases containing different sorts of telegraphs. In one sort every word was spelt, and as each letter was placed in turn" "in a particular position, the machinery caused the electric fluid to run" "down the line, where it made the letter show itself at Slough, by what" "machinery he could not undertake to explain. After each word came a sign from Slough, signifying "I understand", coming certainly in less than one second from the end of the word...Another prints the messages it brings, so that if no-one attended to the bell...the message would not be lost. This is effected by the electrical fluid causing a little hammer to strike the letter which presents itself, the letter which is raised hits some manifold writing paper (a new invention, black paper which, if pressed, leaves an indelible black mark), by which means the impression is left on white paper" "beneath. This was the most ingenious of all, and apparently Mr. Wheatstone's" "favourite; he was very good-natured in explaining but" "understands it so well himself that he cannot feel how little we" "know about it, and goes too fast for such ignorant folk to follow" "him in everything. Mrs Drummond told me he is wonderful for" "the rapidity with which he thinks and his power of invention; he" "invents so many things that he cannot put half his ideas into" "execution, but leaves them to be picked up and used by others," "who get the credit of them.""
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=79836
| 660,691 |
2,637 |
The APG-77 radar has a low-observable, active-aperture, electronically scanned antenna with multiple target track-while-scan in all weather conditions; radar emissions can also be focused to overload enemy sensors as an electronic-attack capability. The radar changes frequencies more than 1,000 times per second to lower interception probability and has an estimated range of against an target and or more in narrow beams. The upgraded APG-77(V)1 provides air-to-ground functionality through synthetic aperture radar mapping and strike modes. Alongside the radar is the ALR-94 electronic warfare system, among the most technically complex equipment on the F-22, that integrates more than 30 antennas blended into the wings and fuselage for all-round radar warning receiver (RWR) coverage and threat geolocation. It can be used as a passive detector capable of searching targets, with range (250+ nmi) exceeding the radar's, and can provide enough information for a radar lock and cue emissions to a narrow beam (down to 2° by 2° in azimuth and elevation). Depending on the detected threat, the defensive systems can prompt the pilot to release countermeasures such as flares or chaff. The MLD uses six sensors to provide full spherical infrared coverage while the advanced IRST, housed in a stealthy pod on the wing, is a narrow field-of-view sensor for long-range passive identification and targeting. To ensure stealth in the radio frequency spectrum, CNI emissions are strictly controlled and confined to specific sectors, with tactical communication between F-22s performed using the directional Inter/Intra-Flight Data Link (IFDL). Radar and CNI information are processed by two Hughes Common Integrated Processor (CIP)s, each capable of processing up to 10.5 billion instructions per second. The aircraft has also been upgraded to incorporate an automatic ground collision avoidance system (GCAS).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66299
| 2,637 |
837,478 |
Early methods of secondary structure prediction, introduced in the 1960s and early 1970s, focused on identifying likely alpha helices and were based mainly on helix-coil transition models. Significantly more accurate predictions that included beta sheets were introduced in the 1970s and relied on statistical assessments based on probability parameters derived from known solved structures. These methods, applied to a single sequence, are typically at most about 60-65% accurate, and often underpredict beta sheets. The evolutionary conservation of secondary structures can be exploited by simultaneously assessing many homologous sequences in a multiple sequence alignment, by calculating the net secondary structure propensity of an aligned column of amino acids. In concert with larger databases of known protein structures and modern machine learning methods such as neural nets and support vector machines, these methods can achieve up to 80% overall accuracy in globular proteins. The theoretical upper limit of accuracy is around 90%, partly due to idiosyncrasies in DSSP assignment near the ends of secondary structures, where local conformations vary under native conditions but may be forced to assume a single conformation in crystals due to packing constraints. Moreover, the typical secondary structure prediction methods do not account for the influence of tertiary structure on formation of secondary structure; for example, a sequence predicted as a likely helix may still be able to adopt a beta-strand conformation if it is located within a beta-sheet region of the protein and its side chains pack well with their neighbors. Dramatic conformational changes related to the protein's function or environment can also alter local secondary structure.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=306769
| 837,029 |
132,890 |
The Airacobra was one of the first production fighters to be conceived as a "weapons system"; in this case the aircraft (known originally as the Bell Model 4) was designed to provide a platform for the 37 mm T9 cannon. This weapon, which was designed in 1934 by the American Armament Corporation, a division of Oldsmobile, fired a projectile capable of piercing of armor at with armor-piercing rounds. The 90-inch-long (2.3 m), 200 lb (90 kg) weapon had to be rigidly mounted and fire parallel to and close to the centerline of the new fighter. It would have been impossible to mount the weapon in the fuselage, firing through the cylinder banks of the Vee-configured engine and the propeller hub as could be done with smaller 20 mm cannon. Weight, balance and visibility considerations meant that the cockpit could not be placed farther back in the fuselage, behind the engine and cannon. The solution adopted was to mount the cannon in the forward fuselage and the engine in the center fuselage, directly behind the pilot's seat. The tractor propeller was driven with a drive shaft made in two sections, incorporating a self-aligning bearing to accommodate fuselage deflection during violent maneuvers. This shaft ran through a tunnel in the cockpit floor and was connected to a gearbox in the nose of the fuselage which, in turn, drove the three- or (later) four-bladed propeller by way of a short central shaft. The gearbox was provided with its own lubrication system, separate from the engine; in later versions of the Airacobra the gearbox was provided with some armor protection. The glycol-cooled radiator was fitted in the wing center section, immediately beneath the engine; this was flanked on either side by a single drum-shaped oil cooler. Air for the radiator and oil coolers was drawn in through intakes in both wing-root leading edges and was directed via four ducts to the radiator faces. The air was then exhausted through three controllable hinged flaps near the trailing edge of the center section. Air for the carburetor was drawn in through a raised oval intake immediately aft of the rear canopy.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=458867
| 132,837 |
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This third-class method is drastically different from the previous two algorithms listed. The most striking aspect is that it requires a different definition of what it means to be a void. Instead of the general notion that a void is a region of space with a low cosmic mean density; a hole in the distribution of galaxies, it defines voids to be regions in which matter is escaping; which corresponds to the dark energy equation of state, "w". Void centers are then considered to be the maximal source of the displacement field denoted as "S". The purpose for this change in definitions was presented by Lavaux and Wandelt in 2009 as a way to yield cosmic voids such that exact analytical calculations can be made on their dynamical and geometrical properties. This allows DIVA to heavily explore the ellipticity of voids and how they evolve in the large-scale structure, subsequently leading to the classification of three distinct types of voids. These three morphological classes are True voids, Pancake voids, and Filament voids. Another notable quality is that even though DIVA also contains selection function bias just as first-class methods do, DIVA is devised such that this bias can be precisely calibrated, leading to much more reliable results. Multiple shortfalls of this Lagrangian-Eulerian hybrid approach exist. One example is that the resulting voids from this method are intrinsically different than those found by other methods, which makes an all-data points inclusive comparison between results of differing algorithms very difficult.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42644968
| 318,431 |
1,065,290 |
Work on a long range 152 mm gun for Reserve of the Main Command units started in 1929, when the Bolshevik Plant in Saint Petersburg received from the Artillery Directorate requirements specifications for such a piece. The project received a factory index B-10. First barrel was manufactured in April 1932; it was sent for trials even before the carriage, which had an unusual tracked construction, was ready. Development and testing of the B-10 continued until 1935; a number of problems were revealed, including slow elevation, low rate of fire and short service life. As a result, the gun was not adopted. The two produced barrels were experimentally modified for firing pre-rifled projectiles and polygonal projectiles respectively. The experiments didn't produce practical results. An attempt to improve elevation speed by use of an electric motor failed to provide smooth elevation. The Soviet Navy briefly considered adopting a derived weapon as a coastal gun, in towed or self-propelled variant, the latter based on T-28 medium tank chassis. Only the towed variant, B-25, reached factory trials; eventually it was canceled because of shortcomings of the design and decision of the Army not to adopt the B-10.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12364478
| 1,064,736 |
1,793,796 |
The theory states that concentrating industries in specific regions creates several advantages. For one, greater economic activity occurs when many firms cluster in one area. In turn, this creates agglomeration spillovers which increases the total factor productivity of firms in the same county since they are all competing for the top spot. In most cities/countries economic activity is spatially spread out which can lead to low cost of labor due to low levels of competition. In clusters, areas of high economic activity, labor and land are valued very high as there are superior worker-firm matches in denser labor markets. Clusters produce economies of agglomeration which benefit companies due to the transport cost saving (Glaeser); the closer you are to your neighboring firm the easier it is to exchange goods and ideas. Moreover, the steady presence of an unchanging customer base guarantees their business and steady income. The steady presence of suppliers means low costs for the firms as well as an advantage to agglomeration includes cheaper and more rapid supply of intermediate goods.Clusters promote both competition and cooperation. Clusters create the notion of rivals through numerous firms competing for resources and for customers in a close proximity. Nevertheless, clusters are more efficient in promoting cooperation which typically involves companies in related or supporting industries. The theory states that concentrating industries in specific regions creates several advantages. Due to high volumes of firms in a vicinity, companies are forced to further innovate and produce advancements in their respected industries. These innovations increase the levels of knowledge in the region. Higher production levels arise from increased density as well as increasing levels of the interconnection of businesses. Geographic concentration also creates more personable relations that yield better business in all manners. Often times, city officials will incentivize high-tech companies to set up shop in close relation of each other to induce the cluster effect. In urban studies, the term agglomeration is used.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24693249
| 1,792,787 |
457,323 |
Some researchers have suggested that dopamine systems in the mesolimbic pathway may contribute to the 'positive symptoms' of schizophrenia, whereas problems concerning dopamine function within the mesocortical pathway may be responsible for the 'negative symptoms', such as avolition and alogia. Abnormal expression, thus distribution of the D receptor between these areas and the rest of the brain may also be implicated in schizophrenia, specifically in the acute phase. A relative excess of these receptors within the limbic system means Broca's area, which can produce illogical language, has an abnormal connection to Wernicke's area, which comprehends language but does not create it. Note that variation in distribution is observed within individuals, so abnormalities of this characteristic likely play a significant role in all psychological illnesses. Individual alterations are produced by differences within glutamatergic pathways within the limbic system, which are also implicated in other psychotic syndromes. Among the alterations of both synaptic and global structure, the most significant abnormalities are observed in the uncinate fasciculus and the cingulate cortex. The combination of these creates a profound dissymmetry of prefrontal inhibitory signaling, shifted positively towards the dominant side. Eventually, the cingulate gyrus becomes atrophied towards the anterior, due to long-term depression (LTD) and long-term potentiation (LTP) from the abnormally strong signals transversely across the brain. This, combined with a relative deficit in GABAergic input to Wernicke's area, shifts the balance of bilateral communication across the corpus callosum posteriorly. Through this mechanism, hemispherical communication becomes highly shifted towards the left/dominant posterior. As such, spontaneous language from Broca's can propagate through the limbic system to the tertiary auditory cortex. This retrograde signaling to the temporal lobes that results in the parietal lobes not recognizing it as internal results in the auditory hallucinations typical of chronic schizophrenia.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=599614
| 457,100 |
702,184 |
In 1995, Square's "Chrono Trigger" raised the standards for the genre, with certain aspects that were considered revolutionary in its time, including its nonlinear gameplay, branching plot, the "Active Time Event Logic" system, more than a dozen different endings, plot-related sidequests, a unique battle system with innovations such as combo attacks, and lack of random encounters. It also popularized the concept of New Game+. "Chrono Trigger" is frequently listed as one of the greatest video games of all time. That same year, Square's "Romancing Saga 3" featured a storyline that could be told differently from the perspectives of up to eight different characters and introduced a level-scaling system where the enemies get stronger as the characters do, a mechanic that was later used in "Final Fantasy VIII". Enix's "Dragon Quest VI" introduced an innovative scenario with a unique real world and dream world setting, which seems to have had an influence on the later Square role-playing games "Chrono Cross" and "Final Fantasy X". "Dragon Quest VI" also improved on the inventory management of its predecessors with the addition of a bag to store extra items. Meanwhile, Quintet's "Terranigma" allowed players to shape the game world through town-building simulation elements, expanding on its 1992 predecessor "Soul Blazer", while Square's "Seiken Densetsu 3" allowed a number of different possible storyline paths and endings depending on which combination of characters the player selected. "Beyond the Beyond" introduced a turn-based battle system dubbed the "Active Playing System," which allows the player to increase the chances of landing an improved attack or defending from an attack by pressing the X button at the correct time during battle, similar to the timing-based attacks in the later game "Final Fantasy VIII".
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32408675
| 701,817 |
1,258,801 |
The mathematical notions of trusted systems for the protection of classified information derive from two independent but interrelated corpora of work. In 1974, David Bell and Leonard LaPadula of MITRE, under the technical guidance and financial sponsorship of Maj. Roger Schell, Ph.D., of the U.S. Army Electronic Systems Command (Fort Hanscom, MA), devised the Bell-LaPadula model, in which a trustworthy computer system is modeled in terms of objects (passive repositories or destinations for data such as files, disks, or printers) and subjects (active entities that cause information to flow among objects "e.g." users, or system processes or threads operating on behalf of users). The entire operation of a computer system can indeed be regarded as a "history" (in the serializability-theoretic sense) of pieces of information flowing from object to object in response to subjects' requests for such flows. At the same time, Dorothy Denning at Purdue University was publishing her Ph.D. dissertation, which dealt with "lattice-based information flows" in computer systems. (A mathematical "lattice" is a partially ordered set, characterizable as a directed acyclic graph, in which the relationship between any two vertices either "dominates", "is dominated by," or neither.) She defined a generalized notion of "labels" that are attached to entities—corresponding more or less to the full security markings one encounters on classified military documents, "e.g." TOP SECRET WNINTEL TK DUMBO. Bell and LaPadula integrated Denning's concept into their landmark MITRE technical report—entitled, "Secure Computer System: Unified Exposition and Multics Interpretation". They stated that labels attached to objects represent the sensitivity of data contained within the object, while those attached to subjects represent the trustworthiness of the user executing the subject. (However, there can be a subtle semantic difference between the sensitivity of the data within the object and the sensitivity of the object itself.)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55888
| 1,258,114 |
1,516,799 |
Fancisco J. Duarte (Maracaibo 1883 – Caracas 1972) Engineer and mathematician. He obtained in 1900, the title of bachelor and surveyor in Puerto Cabello. In 1902 with only 19 old he dedicated to study of mathematics, doing a work on the sign π up to 200 decimal digits, presented to the Academy of Sciences of Paris in 1907. Graduated in 1908 in the Central University of Venezuela as civil engineer, later served as professor of geometry (1909–1911) and infinitesimal calculus (1936–1939). He studied mathematics at the University of Paris (1920). He was the consul of Venezuela in Geneva (1924–1929), director of the Astronomical and Meteorological Observatory Juan Manuel Cajigal (1936–1941). He also served for many years as border director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1941–1968), a position that allowed him to participate in the delimitation of Venezuelan borders with neighboring countries, particularly Brazil. He chaired the College of Engineers (1937–1939) and the Academy of Physical, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (1941–1945 and 1954–1957) of which he had been a founding member (1933). Throughout his life he maintained a permanent correspondence with scientists from around the world on problems inherent to his specialty and has been considered as one of the most outstanding mathematicians of his time. The National Astronomical Observatory of Llano del Hato are named after him.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29302481
| 1,515,947 |
446,357 |
In 1972 Alvin Weinberg, co-inventor of the light water reactor design (the most common nuclear reactors today) was fired from his job at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the Nixon administration, "at least in part" over his raising of concerns about the safety and wisdom of ever larger scaling-up of his design, especially above a power rating of ~500 MW, as in a loss of coolant accident scenario, the decay heat generated from such large compact solid-fuel cores was thought to be beyond the capabilities of passive/natural convection cooling to prevent a rapid fuel rod melt-down and resulting in then, potential far reaching fission product pluming. While considering the LWR, well suited at sea for the submarine and naval fleet, Weinberg did not show complete support for its use by utilities on land at the power output that they were interested in for supply scale reasons, and would request for a greater share of AEC research funding to evolve his team's demonstrated, Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment, a design with greater inherent safety in this scenario and with that an envisioned greater economic growth potential in the market of large-scale civilian electricity generation.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36030827
| 446,141 |
551,228 |
Individuals can develop short-term tolerance with careful physical preparation and systematic monitoring of movements, but the biological changes are quite temporary and reversible when they return to lowlands. Moreover, unlike lowland people who only experience increased breathing for a few days after entering high altitudes, Tibetans retain this rapid breathing and elevated lung-capacity throughout their lifetime. This enables them to inhale larger amounts of air per unit of time to compensate for low oxygen levels. In addition, they have high levels (mostly double) of nitric oxide in their blood, when compared to lowlanders, and this probably helps their blood vessels dilate for enhanced blood circulation. Further, their haemoglobin level is not significantly different (average 15.6 g/dl in males and 14.2 g/dl in females), from those of people living at low altitude. (Normally, mountaineers experience >2 g/dl increase in Hb level at Mt. Everest base camp in two weeks.) In this way they are able to evade both the effects of hypoxia and mountain sickness throughout life. Even when they climbed the highest summits like Mt. Everest, they showed regular oxygen uptake, greater ventilation, more brisk hypoxic ventilatory responses, larger lung volumes, greater diffusing capacities, constant body weight and a better quality of sleep, compared to people from the lowland.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39127332
| 550,940 |
84,506 |
The Office of Security used LSD in interrogations, but Sidney Gottlieb, the chemist who directed MKUltra, had other ideas: he thought it could be used in covert operations. Since its effects were temporary, he believed it could be given to high-ranking officials and in this way affect the course of important meetings, speeches, etc. Since he realized there was a difference in testing the drug in a laboratory and using it in clandestine operations, he initiated a series of experiments where LSD was given to people in "normal" settings without warning. At first, everyone in Technical Services tried it; a typical experiment involved two people in a room where they observed each other for hours and took notes. As the experimentation progressed, a point arrived where outsiders were drugged with no explanation whatsoever and surprise acid trips became something of an occupational hazard among CIA operatives. Adverse reactions often occurred, such as an operative who received the drug in his morning coffee, became psychotic and ran across Washington, seeing a monster in every car passing him. The experiments continued even after Frank Olson, an army chemist who had never taken LSD, was covertly dosed by his CIA supervisor and nine days later plunged to his death from the window of a 13th-story New York City hotel room, supposedly as a result of deep depression induced by the drug. According to Stephen Kinzer, Olson had approached his superiors some time earlier, doubting the morality of the project, and asked to resign from the CIA.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42043
| 84,472 |
1,020,767 |
Alpha synuclein, having no single, well-defined tertiary structure, is an intrinsically disordered protein, with a pI value of 4.7, which, under certain pathological conditions, can misfold in a way that exposes its core hydrophobic residues to the intracellular milieu, thus providing the opportunity for hydrophobic interactions to occur with a similar, equally exposed protein. This could lead to self assembly and subsequent aggregation into large, insoluble fibrils known as amyloids. The conversion of soluble alpha synuclein into highly ordered, cross-β sheet, fibrillar structures does not, as previously thought, follow a two-step mechanism, rather, occurs through a series of transient, soluble oligomeric intermediates. In 2011, two groups published their findings that unmutated α-synuclein forms a stably folded tetramer that resists aggregation, asserting that this folded tetramer represented the relevant in vivo structure in cells, thereby relieving alpha synuclein of its disordered status. Proponents of the tetramer hypothesis argued that in vivo cross-linking in bacteria, primary neurons and human erythroleukemia cells confirmed the presence of labile, tetrameric species. However, despite numerous in-cell NMR reports demonstrating that alpha synuclein is indeed monomeric and disordered in intact E. coli cells, it is still a matter of debate in the field despite an ever growing mountain of conflicting reports. Nevertheless, alpha-synuclein aggregates to form insoluble fibrils in pathological conditions characterized by Lewy bodies, such as Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and multiple system atrophy. These disorders are known as synucleinopathies. In vitro models of synucleinopathies revealed that aggregation of alpha-synuclein may lead to various cellular disorders including microtubule impairment, synaptic and mitochondrial dysfunctions, oxidative stress as well as dysregulation of Calcium signaling, proteasomal and lysosomal pathway. Alpha-synuclein is the primary structural component of Lewy body fibrils. Occasionally, Lewy bodies contain tau protein; however, alpha-synuclein and tau constitute two distinctive subsets of filaments in the same inclusion bodies. Alpha-synuclein pathology is also found in both sporadic and familial cases with Alzheimer's disease.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=507325
| 1,020,238 |
527,333 |
The second phase involves improved nutrition as a result of stable food production along with advances in medicine and the development of health care systems. Mortality in Western Europe and North America was halved during the 19th century due to closed sewage systems and clean water provided by public utilities, with a particular benefit for children of both sexes and to females in the adolescent and reproductive age periods, probably because the susceptibility of these groups to infectious and deficiency diseases is relatively high. An overall reduction in malnutrition enabled populations to better resist infectious disease. Treatment breakthroughs of importance included the initiation of vaccination during the early nineteenth century, and the discovery of penicillin in the mid 20th century, which led respectively to a widespread and dramatic decline in death rates from previously serious diseases such as smallpox and sepsis. Population growth rates surged in the 1950s, 1960's and 1970's to 1.8% per year and higher, with the world gaining 2 billion people between 1950 and the 1980s. A decline in mortality without a corresponding decline in fertility leads to a population pyramid assuming the shape of a bullet or a barrel, as young and middle-age groups comprise equivalent percentages of the population.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4639874
| 527,060 |
450,226 |
X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is a rare genetic disorder discovered in 1952 that affects the body's ability to fight infection. As the form of agammaglobulinemia that is X-linked, it is much more common in males. In people with XLA, the white blood cell formation process does not generate mature B cells, which manifests as a complete or near-complete lack of proteins called gamma globulins, including antibodies, in their bloodstream. B cells are part of the immune system and normally manufacture antibodies (also called immunoglobulins), which defend the body from infections by sustaining a humoral immunity response. Patients with untreated XLA are prone to develop serious and even fatal infections. A mutation occurs at the Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) gene that leads to a severe block in B cell development (at the pre-B cell to immature B cell stage) and a reduced immunoglobulin production in the serum. Btk is particularly responsible for mediating B cell development and maturation through a signaling effect on the B cell receptor BCR. Patients typically present in early childhood with recurrent infections, in particular with extracellular, encapsulated bacteria. XLA is deemed to have a relatively low incidence of disease, with an occurrence rate of approximately 1 in 200,000 live births and a frequency of about 1 in 100,000 male newborns. It has no ethnic predisposition. XLA is treated by infusion of human antibody. Treatment with pooled gamma globulin cannot restore a functional population of B cells, but it is sufficient to reduce the severity and number of infections due to the passive immunity granted by the exogenous antibodies.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2507689
| 450,007 |
836,971 |
After studying photos for NASA's Apollo program that contained greater detail than any ground-based telescope, Gerard Kuiper began seeking an arid site for infrared studies. While he first began looking in Chile, he also made the decision to perform tests in the Hawaiian Islands. Tests on Maui's Haleakalā were promising, but the mountain was too low in the inversion layer and often covered by clouds. On the "Big Island" of Hawaiʻi, Mauna Kea is considered the highest island mountain in the world. While the summit is often covered with snow, the air is extremely dry. Kuiper began looking into the possibility of an observatory on Mauna Kea. After testing, he discovered the low humidity was perfect for infrared signals. He persuaded Hawaiʻi Governor John A. Burns to bulldoze a dirt road to the summit where he built a small telescope on Puu Poliahu, a cinder cone peak. The peak was the second highest on the mountain with the highest peak being holy ground, so Kuiper avoided it. Next, Kuiper tried enlisting NASA to fund a larger facility with a large telescope, housing and other needed structures. NASA, in turn, decided to make the project open to competition. Professor of physics, John Jefferies of the University of Hawaii placed a bid on behalf of the university. Jefferies had gained his reputation through observations at Sacramento Peak Observatory. The proposal was for a two-meter telescope to serve both the needs of NASA and the university. While large telescopes are not ordinarily awarded to universities without well-established astronomers, Jefferies and UH were awarded the NASA contract, infuriating Kuiper, who felt that "his mountain" had been "stolen" from "him". Kuiper would abandon his site (the very first telescope on Mauna Kea) over the competition and begin work in Arizona on a different NASA project. After considerable testing by Jefferies' team, the best locations were determined to be near the summit at the top of the cinder cones. Testing also determined Mauna Kea to be superb for nighttime viewing due to many factors, including the thin air, constant trade winds and being surrounded by sea. Jefferies would build a 2.24 meter telescope with the State of Hawaiʻi agreeing to build a reliable, all weather roadway to the summit. Building began in 1967 and first light was seen in 1970.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=267376
| 836,522 |
877,723 |
In September 2011, 19 soldiers participated in a two-week assessment of the LSAT light machine gun at Fort Benning, Georgia to demonstrate its capabilities against the M249 SAW. In one test the soldiers, half armed with SAWs and half with LSATs, marched six miles in full combat gear then fired at targets to measure stress and muscle fatigue. Another test had the soldiers sprint 200 yards wearing body armor and a basic load of ammunition, then rapidly engage close-range targets. A third week involved soldiers of the 75th Ranger Regiment performing a squad maneuver live-fire exercise in an urban setting. Feedback from participants favored the LSAT for its lighter weight and decreased recoil. Soldiers remarked the LSAT had better accuracy than the M249. The semi-automatic option made it more viable for room clearing. One Ranger even said the LSAT performed better than the Mk 46 machine gun used by special operations forces. 15 out of 19 soldiers that participated in the assessment said they would prefer using the LSAT in combat rather than the SAW. The LSAT LMG is 41 percent lighter than the SAW and its ammunition volume is 12 percent less, enabling all the soldiers that maneuvered the woodland obstacle course to complete it faster when carrying it. Participants also took less time to zero their machine guns when using the LSAT; one soldier failed repeatedly to accurately zero the SAW but successfully zeroed the LSAT on the first try. The LMG users completed the course, on average, one minute and 11 seconds faster than SAW users due to increased mobility given by its shorter length, adjustable stock, and lighter ammo. When firing, gunners felt virtually no recoil from the LSAT LMG. The eight prototype weapons fired a combined 25,000 rounds, moving its cased telescoped ammunition to technology readiness level 7.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18864541
| 877,261 |
1,603,662 |
Siddiqi was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and is a direct descendant of the well-known leader of the Khilafat Movement, Muslim activist, journalist and poet, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar (Urdu: مَولانا مُحمّد علی جَوہر) Siddiqi moved to New York City at an early age. He attended the Bronx High School of Science, Bronx, NY, where he developed a strong interest in physics, chemistry, and mathematics. His aptitude in physics and mathematics led him to the Columbia University Science Honors Program. He went on to Harvard University to complete his undergraduate education, earning an A.B. with distinguished honors (cum laude) in Chemistry and Physics in 1997. Inspired by superconductivity and superconducting digital circuits during a summer internship at HYPRES, Inc., he enrolled at Yale University for his doctoral studies. His graduate work focused mainly on aluminum hot-electron bolometers for microwave astronomy. Upon receiving his Ph.D. in 2002, he remained as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale to research high frequency measurement techniques for superconducting qubits. His post-doctoral work resulted in the development of the Josephson Bifurcation Amplifier, which makes use of the non-dissipative, non-linear nature of the Josephson junction to realize high gain and minimal back action measurements of quantum systems. He joined the University of California, Berkeley as a faculty member in the summer of 2005, and is currently a full professor in the Physics Department. In 2015, his laboratory was awarded the UC Berkeley Award for Excellence in Laboratory Safety, awarded by the Berkeley Office of Environment, Health and Safety.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=52731536
| 1,602,761 |
1,091,028 |
Geography can also affect economic development in a number of ways. Analysis of current data sets show three significant implications of geography on developing nations. First, access to sea routes is important; this has been noted as far back as Adam Smith. Sea travel is much cheaper and faster than that of land, leading to a wider and quicker dissemination of both resources and ideas, both of which are integral to economic stimulus. Geography also dictates the prevalence of disease: for example, the World Health Organization estimates roughly 300–500 million new cases of malaria every year. Malaria is largely associated with nations that have struggled to achieve sound economic development. Not only does disease decrease labor productivity, but it changes the age structure of the country, forcing the population to lean heavily toward children as adults die from disease and the population sees an increase of fertility to keep up with the high death rates. High fertility both lowers the quality of life for each child due to a decrease in resources allocated to each of them, and also decreases labor productivity for women. The third way geography affects development is through agricultural productivity. Temperate regions have shown the highest output of major grains; regions such as the African savanna relatively yield much less value for the labor cost. Low agricultural output means that a larger portion of the population must spend their efforts in agriculture, leading to a slower urban development. This, in turn, discourages technological advance: an essential source of development for the twenty-first century.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2149045
| 1,090,468 |
1,700,844 |
Prior to the late 1800s treatments consisted of reconstruction and repair by craftsmen, familiar with the object materials and corrosion was thought to be a type of bacteria. In the late 1800s, scientists began looking into understanding the causes of deterioration and corrosion. In 1888: Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) published an article on the excavation and conservation of small objects and German chemist, Friedrich Rathgen, (1862-1942), became not only the first director of the Chemical Laboratory of the Royal Museums of Berlin but the first scientist employed in a museum laboratory. Rathgen utilized electrolytic reduction to remove the corrosive patina on the Egyptian bronze Collection at the Royal Museum to eliminate chloride salts. At the turn of the century French chemist, Marcellin Berthelot(1827-1907), presented several papers before the French Academy of Sciences stating the deterioration of bronze and silver artifacts were due to a cyclic process of corrosive chloride salts. Rathgen continued scientific research on Bronze disease to understand the chemical conversion of the metal due to the presence of moisture. Rathgen applied a scientific method to museum artifact preservation and by continuing to research, develop, apply and publish his findings on his physical and chemical methods and formulating guidelines for application, he became a principle force in the standard's acceptance. He is considered the founder of modern chemical conservation science, writing the first fully comprehensive treatment handbook of conservation to be published. Die Konservierung von Altertumsfun- den [The Conservation of Antiquities] was first published in 1898, translated to English in 1905, and is still in print.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31121305
| 1,699,890 |
1,385,389 |
The scientists were quick to realize the merits of photography because of its perceived ability to present an objective image of what was seen. This solved a problem of representation by artists who were asked to produce illustrations only from description or highly influenced by the interpretation of physicians and surgeons. The first application of photography in medicine appears in 1840 when Alfred François Donné of the Charité Hospital in Paris photographed sections of bones and teeth. He began making daguerreotypes through a microscope. Donné published engravings made from photographs by his student Léon Foucault. Hugh Welch Diamond, a physician and founding member of the Royal Photographic Society, used photography as a tool in medicine, particularly in the field of mental illness. He was working in the women's section of the Surrey County Asylum in Twickenham in 1852, where he attempted to create a catalog of visual signs of insanity by photographing the patients and organizing the photographs by symptom. Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne de Boulogne began photographing inmates in the Salpêtrière mental hospital in Paris in 1856. He devised a method for activating individual muscles of the face through electronic stimulation. With the assistance of Adrien Tournachon, brother of Felix Nadar, he photographed facial expressions and at one point listed 53 emotions that could be identified based on the muscular action. His work was published in 1862 in "Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine" in what was the most remarkable of all photographically illustrated books in medical science prior to 1900.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33735616
| 1,384,622 |
942,406 |
Thalamotomy can be performed in an invasive or noninvasive manner. If performed invasively, then prior to the operation, a neurosurgeon uses stereotactic technology to identify the exact part of the brain that needs treatment by putting in place a frame on the patient’s head with four pins to keep it still. The doctor then takes a detailed brain scan using computed tomography (CT scan) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify the precise location for operation, as well as a path through the brain to get to that specific spot. During the surgery, the patient is awake, but the area on the scalp where the surgical tools are inserted is numbed with an anesthetic. The surgeon makes a scalp incision (about 2 inches long), then inserts a hollow probe through a small hole drilled in the skull to the specific location. Different methods can be used to kill the brain cells, including circulating liquid nitrogen inside the probe, destroying the targeted brain tissue, or by inserting an electrode heated to near to denature the cells. Although the surgery usually requires only about a two-day hospital stay, full recovery generally takes about six weeks. Thalamotomy can be performed without incisions using ultrasound waves. The ultrasound waves are focused to the thalamus, thus cause thalamotomy through an intact skull. This procedure uses MRI guidance to localize the thalamus. The ultrasound waves cause gradual warming of the tissue until ablation occurs, seen clinically as resolution of tremor. During the procedure, the patient is awake. Thus, if any adverse effects are noted, the area of the thalamus that is treated can be adjusted before ablation. Favorable responses have so far been reported in PD patients and essential tremor patients.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1874888
| 941,904 |
2,075,022 |
"Mycoplasma alligatoris" was first isolated in a study led by D. R. Brown of six captive alligators showing signs of pneumonia, polyserositis (inflammation of serous membranes), and multifocal arthritis. The isolates were obtained from various organs, blood, synovial fluid, and cerebrospinal fluid and subject to various experimental tests for identification purposes. Primary isolates were cultured in ATCC medium 98 agar containing 10 U penicillin G 1, 10 U polymyin B 1 , 65 mg cefoperazone 1 and 20% (v/v) fetal bovine serum in 5% CO atmosphere or in ambient air. Isolates were then grown at seven different temperatures in an anaerobic environment, reaching optimum growth at 30 to 34 °C. Cultures were diluted in broth medium then passed through membrane filters of various pore diameters, yielding similar results for all nine isolates. Diluted isolates were then tested for reversion, a method of genetic stabilization unique to some bacteria, in both broth and agar medium. No reversion was observed. Isolates were grown in broth medium with large (20%) and minute (0.2%) amounts of fetal bovine serum as a sterol source. Growth was inhibited in the latter, indicating dependence on an outside sterol source for growth. The 16S rRNA gene was sequenced, yielding a unique sequence, suggesting the discovery of a previously unidentified organism. The Brown study in 2001 further investigated the pathogenicity of the newly discovered "M. alligatoris" by inoculation of four healthy alligators with the bacteria and one control alligator inoculated with sterile broth. Three of the experimental alligators died within three weeks of inoculation. The surviving alligator tested free of "M. alligatoris" after 14 weeks, further supporting the researchers suspicions of the new isolate as the cause of the investigated symptoms.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=46500140
| 2,073,825 |
495,253 |
Understanding the importance of getting runners on base, Beane focussed on acquiring players with a high on base percentage with the logic that teams with a higher on base percentage are more likely to score runs. He was also able to achieve success on a shoestring budget by acquiring overlooked starting pitchers, often getting them for a fraction of the price that a big name pitcher may require. When Beane's Athletics began to achieve success, other major league teams took notice. The second team to adopt a similar approach was the Boston Red Sox, who in 2003 made Theo Epstein the interim general manager. Epstein, who remains the youngest general manager to ever be hired in the MLB, came into the position with zero professional playing experience, highly irregular at the time. Using a similar approach to that of Billy Beane, Epstein was able to form a Boston Red Sox team that in 2004, won the organization's first World Series in 86 years, breaking the alleged Curse of the Bambino. Many experts attribute some of Epstein's success to Boston Red Sox owner, John W. Henry, who achieved significant success in the investments industry by using data-based decision making. As owner, Henry provided Epstein with significant leeway when it came to data-based decision making and the use of sabermetrics, as he knew the impact that such tools can have in achieving success in both sports and business. Since his success in Boston, Epstein had moved on to Chicago, where in 2016 he led the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series title in 108 years. More recently, teams like the Houston Rockets of the NBA have put a heavy focus on analytics to dictate front office and on-court decisions. Daryl Morey, the General Manager of the Rockets decided to emphasize three point shots and used analytics to support his argument. As a result, the Rockets began shooting many more three-point shots and even traded their budding big man, Clint Capela.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51589225
| 494,997 |
1,489,479 |
In August 2005, the San Jose Water Company submitted a proposal to log a 1000-acre swathe of redwood trees in the Los Gatos Mountains, and sent copies to Moore and her neighbors. Moore started a subgroup of her civic association, Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging, to oppose the project, and used the Google Earth application to create a detailed map, including a 3-D "flyover" movie, displaying the area that would be logged in relationship to the mountains and the local watershed. It demonstrated that logging trucks would be taking winding roads used by children to walk to school, and that helicopters would be carrying large tree trunks over homes, schools, and playgrounds. It was referenced in local and national newspapers, shown on local television news, to Ira Ruskin, the district representative in the California State Legislature, and to former vice president Al Gore, who issued a statement opposing the proposed logging. The debate went on for years; in 2006, Moore got Kenneth Adelman of the California Coastal Records Project to fly her in a helicopter over the SJWC land to take photographs to prove the water company owned more timberland than would qualify it for the open-ended logging permit that it was applying for. After a September 2007 California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection hearing, the proposal was defeated. Equally important, the publicity Moore's work had gathered by using Google Earth to save a redwood forest led to contacts by many nonprofits interested in working with Google Earth Outreach.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=50587818
| 1,488,640 |
660,352 |
The position of the Roman Catholic Church on the theory of evolution has changed over the last two centuries from a large period of no official mention, to a statement of neutrality in the early-1950s, to limited guarded acceptance in recent years, rejecting the materialistic and reductionist philosophies behind it, and insisting that the human soul was immediately infused by God, and the reality of a common descent for all humanity (commonly called monogenism). The Church does not argue with scientists on matters such as the age of the earth and the authenticity of the fossil record, seeing such matters as outside its area of expertise. Papal pronouncements, along with commentaries by cardinals, indicate that the Church is aware of the general findings of scientists on the gradual appearance of life. Indeed, Belgian priest Georges Lemaître, astronomer and physics professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, was the first to propose the theory of expansion of the universe, often incorrectly credited to Edwin Hubble. In the 1950 encyclical "Humani generis", Pope Pius XII confirmed that there is no intrinsic conflict between Christianity and the theory of evolution, provided that Christians believe that the individual soul is a direct creation by God and not the product of purely material forces. , many members of the Church support theistic evolution, also known as "evolutionary creation". Under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the International Theological Commission published a paper accepting the big bang of 15 billion years ago and the evolution of all life including humans from the microorganisms that formed approximately 4 billion years ago. The Vatican has no official teaching on this matter except for the special creation of the human soul. The Pontifical Biblical Commission issued a decree ratified by Pope Pius X on June 30, 1909, stating that special creation applies to humans and not other species.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39709452
| 660,007 |
59,530 |
Coelacanths are a part of the clade Sarcopterygii, or the lobe-finned fishes. Externally, several characteristics distinguish coelacanths from other lobe-finned fish. They possess a three-lobed caudal fin, also called a trilobate fin or a diphycercal tail. A secondary tail extending past the primary tail separates the upper and lower halves of the coelacanth. ctenoid elasmoid scales act as thick armor to protect the coelacanth's exterior. Several internal traits also aid in differentiating coelacanths from other lobe-finned fish. At the back of the skull, the coelacanth possesses a hinge, the intracranial joint, which allows it to open its mouth extremely wide. Coelacanths also retain an oil-filled notochord, a hollow, pressurized tube which is replaced by a vertebral column early in embryonic development in most other vertebrates. The coelacanth's heart is shaped differently from that of most modern fish, with its chambers arranged in a straight tube. The coelacanth's braincase is 98.5% filled with fat; only 1.5% of the braincase contains brain tissue. The cheeks of the coelacanth are unique because the opercular bone is very small and holds a large soft-tissue opercular flap. A spiracular chamber is present, but the spiracle is closed and never opens during development. Also unique to extant coelacanths is the presence of a "fatty lung" or a fat-filled single-lobed vestigial lung, homologous to other fishes' swim bladders. The parallel development of a fatty organ for buoyancy control suggests a unique specialization for deep-water habitats. There are small and hard—but-flexible—plates around the vestigial lung in adult specimens, though not around the fatty organ. The plates most likely had a regulation function for the volume of the lung. Due to the size of the fatty organ, researchers assume that it is responsible for the kidney's unusual relocation. The two kidneys, which are fused into one, are located ventrally within the abdominal cavity, posterior to the cloaca.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=45503
| 59,505 |
2,130,549 |
HAK5 is linked to disease prevention because if there is a lack of K or nutrients within a plant or cell, bacterial growth is promoted. K is important for the generation of PAMPs (pathogen-associated molecular patterns) recognition, which is involved in the innate immune system for living cells. PAMPs are the main molecules that run the innate immune system. They consist of either glycans or gylcoconjugates, and they pair with pattern recognition receptors (PRR) to initiate an immune response. They send signals to the host cells to show there is a pathogen present. One of the best PRR is FLS2; it binds to flg22 (flagellin), and after just minutes, signaling responses such as kinase cascades, production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and extracellular alkalization are stimulated. During PAMPs, ion transport across the plasma membrane is important. One particular important ion is K. The loss of K promotes the activation of PAMPs. The loss of anions help the growth of bacteria and the PAMPs system works to fight against foreign pathogens such as bacteria. PRRs recognize PAMPs when there is an infection within the cell. During extreme limitations to K, HAK5 is the only transporter. When PAMPs are triggered a large number of K are introduced to the cell, which signals a downstream immune response. In animal cells the toll-like receptor TLR4 binds the bacterial PAMP LPS (lipopolysaccharide) and induces K+ efflux through the MaxiK K+ channel, activating signal cascades and release of the pro-inflammatory tumor necrosis factor-α HAK5 works alongside other kinase's to help with the immune response within a cell. The main kinase that works with this transporter is Intergrin- Linked Kinase 1 (ILK1). ILK1 works to increase the amount of HAK5 transporters on the plasma membrane during abiotic stress which increases the influx of K. ILK1 has also been shown to phosphorylate the N-terminal of HAK5, which contributes to plant growth. The phosphorylation helps to aid in the regulation of the HAK5, as well as other complexes such as CBL1 and CIPK23. Those complexes help to enhance HAK5 transport of K, although the true mechanism is currently unknown.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54988028
| 2,129,325 |
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