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"Blastocystis" is one of the most common human parasites in the world and has a global distribution. It is the most common parasitic infection in the United States, where it infected approximately 23% of the total population during year 2000. In less developed areas, infection rates as high as 100% have been observed. High rates of infection are found in individuals in developed countries who work with animals. Although the role of "Blastocystis hominis" in human disease is often referred to as controversial, a systematic survey of research studies conducted by 11 infectious disease specialists from nine countries, found that over 95% of papers published in the 10 years prior identified it as causing illness in immunocompetent individuals. The paper attributed confusion over pathogenicity to the existence of asymptomatic carriers, a phenomenon the study noted is common to all gastrointestinal protozoa. However, "Blastocystis" has never fulfilled Koch's postulate that infection of a healthy individual with "Blastocystis" leads to disease. The fact that "Blastocystis"' infection route is oral-anal indicates that carriers have been in contact with faecal contaminated matter which might have included other intestinal pathogens that explain the observed symptoms. A more likely explanation is the presence of virulent and non-virulent strains since there exists an enormous genetic variation between different strains (or genotypes). See the genotype paper by Rune Stensvold and the recent "Blastocystis" genome paper expanding on this diversity. An alternative theory that "Blastocystis" is not a pathogen at all has recently been strengthened based on its biochemistry.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12791192
| 723,309 |
17,087 |
In 1823, James Carnahan became president, arriving as an unprepared and timid leader. With the college riven by conflicting views between students, faculty, and trustees, and enrollment hitting its lowest in years, Carnahan considered closing the university. Carnahan's successor, John Maclean Jr., who was only a professor at the time, recommended saving the university with the help of alumni; as a result, Princeton's alumni association, led by James Madison, was created and began raising funds. With Carnahan and Maclean, now vice-president, working as partners, enrollment and faculty increased, tensions decreased, and the college campus expanded. Maclean took over the presidency in 1854 and led the university through the American Civil War. When Nassau Hall burned down again in 1855, Maclean raised funds and used the money to rebuild Nassau Hall and run the university on an austerity budget during the war years. With a third of students from the college being from the South, enrollment fell. Once many of the Southerners left, the campus became a sharp proponent for the Union, even bestowing an honorary degree to President Lincoln.James McCosh became the college's president in 1868 and lifted the institution out of a low period that had been brought about by the war. During his two decades of service, he overhauled the curriculum, oversaw an expansion of inquiry into the sciences, recruited distinguished faculty, and supervised the addition of a number of buildings in the High Victorian Gothic style to the campus. McCosh's tenure also saw the creation and rise of many extracurricular activities, like the Princeton Glee Club, the Triangle Club, the first intercollegiate football team, and the first permanent eating club, as well as the elimination of fraternities and sororities. In 1879, Princeton conferred its first doctorates on James F. Williamson and William Libby, both members of the Class of 1877.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23922
| 17,082 |
551,229 |
In contrast to the Tibetans who have been living at high altitudes for no more than 11,000 years, the Andean highlanders show different pattern of haemoglobin adaptation. Their haemoglobin concentration is higher compared to those of lowlander population, which also happens to lowlanders moving to high altitude. When they spend some weeks in the lowland their haemoglobin drops to average of other people. This shows only temporary and reversible acclimatisation. However, in contrast to lowland people, they do have increased oxygen level in their haemoglobin, that is, more oxygen per blood volume than other people. This confers an ability to carry more oxygen in each red blood cell, making a more effective transport of oxygen in their body, while their breathing is essentially at the same rate. This enables them to overcome hypoxia and normally reproduce without risk of death for the mother or baby. The Andean highlanders are known from the 16th-century missionaries that their reproduction had always been normal, without any effect in the giving birth or the risk for early pregnancy loss, which are common to hypoxic stress. They have developmentally acquired enlarged residual lung volume and its associated increase in alveolar area, which are supplemented with increased tissue thickness and moderate increase in red blood cells. Though the physical growth in body size is delayed, growth in lung volumes is accelerated. An incomplete adaptation such as elevated haemoglobin levels still leaves them at risk for mountain sickness with old age.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39127332
| 550,941 |
268,122 |
The study and practice of physics is based on an intellectual ladder of discoveries and insights from ancient times to the present. Many mathematical and physical ideas used today found their earliest expression in the work of ancient civilizations, such as the Babylonian astronomers and Egyptian engineers, the Greek philosophers of science and mathematicians such as Thales of Miletus, Euclid in Ptolemaic Egypt, Archimedes of Syracuse and Aristarchus of Samos. Roots also emerged in ancient Asian cultures such as India and China, and particularly the Islamic medieval period, which saw the development of scientific methodology emphasising experimentation, such as the work of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) in the 11th century. The modern scientific worldview and the bulk of physics education can be said to flow from the scientific revolution in Europe, starting with the work of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus leading to the physics of Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler in the early 1600s. The work on mechanics, along with a mathematical treatment of physical systems, was further developed by Christiaan Huygens and culminated in Newton's laws of motion and Newton's law of universal gravitation by the end of the 17th century. The experimental discoveries of Faraday and the theory of Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism were developmental high points during the 19th century. Many physicists contributed to the development of quantum mechanics in the early-to-mid 20th century. New knowledge in the early 21st century includes a large increase in understanding physical cosmology.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23269
| 267,978 |
1,843,611 |
Professor Voth is interested in the development and application of theoretical and computational methods to study problems involving the structure and dynamics of complex condensed phase systems, including proteins, membranes, liquids, and materials. He has developed a method known as “multiscale coarse-graining” in which the resolution of the molecular-scale entities is reduced into simpler structures, but key information on their interactions is accurately retained (or renormalized) so the resulting computer simulation can accurately and efficiently predict the properties of large assemblies of complex molecules such as lipids and proteins. This method is multiscale, meaning it describes complex condensed phase and biomolecular systems from the molecular scale to the mesoscale and ultimately to the macroscopic scale. Professor Voth’s other research interests include the study of charge transport (protons and electrons) in aqueous systems and biomolecules – a fundamental process in living organisms and other systems that have been poorly understood because of its complexity. He also studies the exotic behavior of room-temperature ionic liquids and other complex materials such nanoparticle self-assembly, polymer electrolyte membranes, and electrode-electrolyte interfaces in energy storage devices. In the earlier part of his career, Professor Voth extensively developed and applied new methods to study quantum and electron transfer dynamics in condensed phase systems-much of this work was based on the Feynman path integral description of quantum mechanics.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=57613611
| 1,842,557 |
2,241,632 |
Anticipated CGSM stakeholders met in Edmonton in June 2002 to initiate planning for the program. An ambitious plan was settled on, requiring numerous new instruments of various types to be deployed in challenging remote environments. The instruments would need to operate autonomously for long periods, and suffer few breakdowns. Much of the data would need to be recovered in real-time in order for CGSM to develop into an important space weather program, in addition to its space science objectives. New instruments would need to be acquired, outfitted and fielded at existing and new sites. To accomplish this, the team settled on using Telesat Canada's HSi High Speed Satellite Internet system, in conjunction with an information technology infrastructure (basically a glorified local area network with additional capabilities including UPS, GPS, and attached hard-disk storage). Further, members of the team applied to the Canada Foundation for Innovation for funds for new instruments, and were successful on all fronts. The resulting funding enabled the deployment (which is still ongoing) of an additional 8 All-Sky Imagers, 14 fluxgate magnetometers, 8 induction coil magnetometers, and two additional SuperDARN radars (the new "PolarDARN" radars). In addition to facilities that were already in place in 2002 (from the Canadian Space Agency's CANOPUS program, the Natural Resources Canada CANMOS magnetometer array, and the NSERC supported NORSTAR, SuperDARN, and CADI programs), the final array will certainly meet the scientific requirements.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8746365
| 2,240,361 |
985,677 |
Medical linear accelerators accelerate electrons using a tuned-cavity waveguide, in which the RF power creates a standing wave. Some linacs have short, vertically mounted waveguides, while higher energy machines tend to have a horizontal, longer waveguide and a bending magnet to turn the beam vertically towards the patient. Medical linacs use monoenergetic electron beams between 4 and 25 MeV, giving an X-ray output with a spectrum of energies up to and including the electron energy when the electrons are directed at a high-density (such as tungsten) target. The electrons or X-rays can be used to treat both benign and malignant disease. The LINAC produces a reliable, flexible and accurate radiation beam. The versatility of LINAC is a potential advantage over cobalt therapy as a treatment tool. In addition, the device can simply be powered off when not in use; there is no source requiring heavy shielding – although the treatment room itself requires considerable shielding of the walls, doors, ceiling etc. to prevent escape of scattered radiation. Prolonged use of high powered (>18 MeV) machines can induce a significant amount of radiation within the metal parts of the head of the machine after power to the machine has been removed (i.e. they become an active source and the necessary precautions must be observed).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=273524
| 985,162 |
1,184,577 |
On December 31, 1819, the expedition reached Bristol Island, and survived the heaviest squall, followed with wet snow that decreased the visibility to 50 fathoms. At 10 pm the expedition ran into an impassable ice field and changed its course. Only the topsail was to be remained, even though it was also covered in snow that the crew had to put the sloops directly under the wind and calm sails. Watch guards had to put snow out of decks constantly. Officers celebrated the new year of 1820 at 6 am, and Bellingshausen wished everyone in the mess get out of a dangerous situation and safely return to the fatherland. It was an organized celebration for sailors – morning formation was in uniform; for breakfast, they received a rum for tea, after lunch, they got pork cabbage with sour cabbage, a glass of hot punch; for dinner – rice porridge and grog. The same day "Vostok" lost "Mirny" out of sight, and cannon signals were not heard due to the direction of the winds. By noon, the ships reunited. On January 2, 1820, the expedition passed Thule Island at 59° south latitude. The name was given by James Cook in 1775 because of the abundance of ice heading more to the south did not seem possible. Between January 5 and 7, the vessels slowly moved to the south between ice fields and dry cold weather allowed to vent and dry the clothes and beds. On January 7 the crew hunted penguins which were later cooked for both privates and the officers; more than 50 harvested carcasses were transferred to "Mirny". Penguin meat was usually soaked in vinegar and added to corned beef when cooking porridge or cabbage. According to Bellingshausen, sailors willingly ate penguin meat seeing that "officers also praised the food." On January 8, the vessels reached iceberg where they caught with seine fishing around 38 penguins and cut some ice. Alive penguins were locked in a chicken coop. Besides, lieutenant Ignatieff and Demidov got the first seal on the expedition, that they found looking like ringed seal living in Arkhangelsk Governorate.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40880361
| 1,183,950 |
1,774,256 |
Fraser was succeeded by Thomas H. Burrowes, who felt that the intentions of the Morrill Act would be best served by the original setup of the farmers’ high school. Burrowes reinstated manual labor and offered a single course of study. Under the Burrowes system, the Agricultural Course was mandatory, and students were awarded a Bachelor of Scientific Agriculture degree after three years of study. The (optional) fourth year was the Scientific Course, intended for “civil engineers, general mechanics etc.” and leading to a Bachelor of Science degree; despite its name, the Scientific Course included little formal instruction in engineering, and no engineering faculty were hired. A fifth year (also optional) was known as the Literary Course, which closely mirrored the traditional format of a classics education, and culminated in a Bachelor of Arts degree. The agriculture-intensive curriculum had minimal impact on enrollment: the 1870-71 academic year saw 59 enrolled students, 52 of which were in their first or second year of study. The fact that agriculture was insufficient to support an entire college was experienced by many land-grant institutions, and the challenge of incorporating a non-agriculture curriculum reform was exacerbated by the general indifference of the Pennsylvania legislature toward land-grant institutions as a whole. It was felt that, as the school was an instrument of the commonwealth, it should be supported via regular state appropriations; however, critique for curriculum reform was often received from Harrisburg, but not the money necessary to enact it. The financial burden from Allen's administration continued, and Burrowes died of exposure (as a consequence of a mountain outing with students) in February 1871 without seeing his three-course format implemented.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31430357
| 1,773,259 |
1,621,106 |
In 1853, the trustees elected Clark T. Hinman as the first president of the university and committed to raising $200,000. Hinman insisted that a university, rather than a preparatory school, be constructed first and that it should be built outside of Chicago. Following Hinman's recommendation, Lunt began to survey for land that was both north of the city and abutting railways for a new university in the areas of Jefferson Park and Ridgeville. Unable to find available land on the north shore up to Lake Forest, the committee was ready to purchase farmland to the west of the city when Orrington Lunt insisted on one final visit to the present location. A parcel of dry, wooded bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan belonging to a Dr. John Foster (unrelated to Randolph S. Foster) was purchased by Evans for $25,000 in August 1853 as a site for the new campus. In 1855, the university charter was amended to declare that university property "shall be forever free from taxation for any kind and all purposes". The trustees aggressively used the property-tax-exempt status to purchase more of the surrounding farms and Northwestern land holdings grew as large as . In 1854, Philo Judson, Northwestern's business manager charged with surveying and plotting this real estate nicknamed the land "Evanston" in honor of founder John Evans. In 1857, the Illinois legislature changed the name of the village from Ridgeville to Evanston and it became an incorporated city in 1863. The university undertook a major development effort to drain the swamps, clear and grade the land, and donated or sold land to permit the construction of streets, parks, schools, waterworks, and churches. Between 1860 and 1870, Evanston's population had grown from 831 to 3,062.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10414221
| 1,620,191 |
691,893 |
Solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) are defined as a solvent-free salt solution in a polymer host material that conducts ions through the polymer chains. Compared to ISEs, SPEs are much easier to process, generally by solution casting, making them greatly compatible with large-scale manufacturing processes. Moreover, they possess higher elasticity and plasticity giving stability at the interface, flexibility and improved resistance to volume changes during operation. A good dissolution of Li salts, low glass transition temperature (T), electrochemical compatibility with most common electrode materials, a low degree of crystallinity, mechanical stability, low temperature sensitivity are all characteristics for the ideal SPE candidate. In general though the ionic conductivity is lower than the ISEs and their rate capability is restricted, limiting fast charging. PEO-based SPE is the first solid-state polymer in which ionic conductivity was demonstrated both through inter and intra molecular through ion hopping, thanks to the segmental motion of the polymeric chains because of the great ion complexation capability of the ether groups, but they suffer from the low room-temperature ionic conductivity (10 S cm) due to the high degree of crystallinity. The main alternatives to polyether-based SPEs are polycarbonates, polyesters, polynitriles (e.g. PAN), polyalcohols (e.g. PVA), polyamines (e.g. PEI), polysiloxane (e.g. PDMS) and fluoropolymers (e.g. PVDF, PVDF-HFP). Bio-polymers like lignin, chitosan and cellulose are also gaining a lot of interest as standalone SPEs or blended with other polymers, on one side for their environmentally friendliness and on the other for their high complexation capability on the salts. Furthermore, different strategies are considered to increase the ionic conductivity of SPEs and the amorphous-to-crystalline ratio.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64345812
| 691,530 |
1,785,515 |
The "El-Sayed group" studied AuNP effects in vitro and in vivo. They determined that the NIR wavelengths were converted into heat on the picosecond timescale, allowing for short exposure of CW to minimize possible exposure to healthy cells. In vitro, photothermal therapy was used in oral epithelial cell lines, (HSC 313 and HOC 3 Clone 8) and one benign epithelial cell line (HaCaT). El-Sayed "et al" found that the malignant cells that had undergone incubation in AuNPs conjugated with anti-epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) required half the energy to destroy a cell than a benign cell. Their material included gold coated silica nanoshells that could selectively absorb NIR waves. The particles were tuned by varying the thickness of the Au shell and changing the size of the silica core. In exposing these particles to NIR, the efficacy of Au was measured through the decrease of EFGR in oral squamous carcinoma cells. There are various biotechnological advances for in vivo delivery of drugs. To effectively target the malignant cells, the AuNPs were conjugated by polyethylene glycol, a process known as PEGylation. This masks the foreign particles from the immune system such that it arrives at its destination and increases circulation time in the system. Antibody conjugation lines the surface of the nanoparticle with cell markers to limit spread only to malignant cells. In vivo testing of mice that developed murine colon carcinoma tumour cells. They were injected with the solution of AuNPs that were allowed to spread after 6 hours. Surrounding cells were swabbed with PEG and exposed to laser treatment for detection of abnormal heating indicating areas where Au nanoshells may have gathered. The injected area was also swabbed with PEG to maximize light penetration.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=46188763
| 1,784,511 |
1,341,882 |
"Mymoorapelta" is one of the basalmost known genera of Nodosauridae an extinct family of medium to large, heavily built, quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosaurs, possessing small, leaf-shaped teeth which first evolved in the Late Jurassic (ca. 155 mya) and went extinct in the Late Cretaceous (ca. 66 mya) during the famous Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Nodosaurids were in the group Euankylosauria with the similar family Ankylosauridae, although ankylosaurids evolved more recently in the Early Cretaceous and several distinct anatomical characteristics; nodosaurids lacked mace-like tail clubs and had flexible tips instead, many nodosaurids had spikes projecting outward from their shoulders, and two armored neck half-rings, among other traits. Many nodosaurids had spikes projecting outward from their shoulders. A third proposed family, Polacanthidae, was erected for several genera that were similar to nodosaurids but had more fragile armor and a different distribution, though it has seen little support from phylogenetic analyses in recent years and is in a state of flux. Euankylosauria encompassed all members of Ankylosauria except for the clade Parankylosauria, which is a smaller group known exclusively from a few taxa that lived in the Cretaceous of Gondwana, rather than Laurasia where Euankylosaurs were endemic to. Ankylosauria and Stegosauria are now grouped together within the clade Thyreophora. This whole group first appeared in the Sinemurian age, and survived for 135 million years until disappearing in the Maastrichtian. They were widespread and inhabited a broad range of environments. The suborder name Ankylosauria was first erected by American paleontologist and fossil hunter Barnum Brown in 1923 for his genus "Ankylosaurus" and several other ankylosaurs that had been named earlier, though fossils of ankylosaurs have been known since the early 19th century with genera like "Palaeoscincus, Polacanthus," and "Hylaeosaurus". Nodosauridae was named in 1890 by Othniel Charles who designated the Cretaceous genus "Nodosaurus" as the type genus based on the heavy dermal armor, solid bones, large forelimbs, and ungulate feet preserved it preserves.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4347315
| 1,341,148 |
14,121 |
Because Feynman was no longer working at the Los Alamos Laboratory, he was no longer exempt from the draft. At his induction physical, Army psychiatrists diagnosed Feynman as suffering from a mental illness and the Army gave him a 4-F exemption on mental grounds. His father died suddenly on October 8, 1946, and Feynman suffered from depression. On October 17, 1946, he wrote a letter to Arline, expressing his deep love and heartbreak. The letter was sealed and only opened after his death. "Please excuse my not mailing this," the letter concluded, "but I don't know your new address." Unable to focus on research problems, Feynman began tackling physics problems, not for utility, but for self-satisfaction. One of these involved analyzing the physics of a twirling, nutating disk as it is moving through the air, inspired by an incident in the cafeteria at Cornell when someone tossed a dinner plate in the air. He read the work of Sir William Rowan Hamilton on quaternions, and tried unsuccessfully to use them to formulate a relativistic theory of electrons. His work during this period, which used equations of rotation to express various spinning speeds, ultimately proved important to his Nobel Prize–winning work, yet because he felt burned out and had turned his attention to less immediately practical problems, he was surprised by the offers of professorships from other renowned universities, including the Institute for Advanced Study, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, Berkeley.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25523
| 14,116 |
1,479,358 |
In 2007, Germany's Institute for Quality and Cost Effectiveness in the Health Care Sector (IQWiG) report, concluded that there is currently "no evidence" available of the superiority of rapid-acting insulin analogs over synthetic human insulins in the treatment of adult patients with type 1 diabetes. Many of the studies reviewed by IQWiG were either too small to be considered statistically reliable and, perhaps most significantly, none of the studies included in their widespread review were blinded, the gold-standard methodology for conducting clinical research. However, IQWiG's terms of reference explicitly disregard any issues which cannot be tested in double-blind studies, for example a comparison of radically different treatment regimes. IQWiG is regarded with skepticism by some doctors in Germany, being seen merely as a mechanism to reduce costs. But the lack of study blinding does increase the risk of bias in these studies. The reason this is important is because patients, if they know they are using a different type of insulin, might behave differently (such as testing blood glucose levels more frequently, for example), which leads to bias in the study results, rendering the results inapplicable to the diabetes population at large. Numerous studies have concluded that any increase in testing of blood glucose levels is likely to yield improvements in glycemic control, which raises questions as to whether any improvements observed in the clinical trials for insulin analogues were the result of more frequent testing or due to the drug undergoing trials.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3005304
| 1,478,525 |
594,417 |
In his Conway Memorial Lecture in 1922, Bertrand Russell used the example of Albert Einstein to explain the meaning of scientific temper:We have had in recent years a brilliant example of the scientific temper of mind in the theory of relativity and its reception by the world. Einstein, a German-Swiss-Jew pacifist, was appointed to a research professorship by the German Government in the early days of the War; his predictions were verified by an English expedition which observed the eclipse of 1919, very soon after the Armistice. His theory upsets the whole theoretical framework of traditional physics; it is almost as damaging to orthodox dynamics as Darwin was to "Genesis". Yet physicists everywhere have shown complete readiness to accept his theory as soon as it appeared that the evidence was in its favour. But none of them, least of all Einstein himself, would claim that he has said the last word. He has not built a monument of infallible dogma to stand for all time. There are difficulties he cannot solve; his doctrines will have to be modified in their turn as they have modified Newton’s. This critical undogmatic receptiveness is the true attitude of science.Beginning in 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, popularized the use of the phrase "scientific temper" to further propagate the notion. He gave a descriptive explanation in "The Discovery of India":The scientific temper points out the way along which man should travel. It is the temper of a free man. We live in a scientific age, so we are told, but there is little evidence of this temper in the people anywhere or even their leaders.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13433031
| 594,112 |
337,086 |
Claiming that the strength of the pound was affecting his company's profits on exports to France and Germany, in February 2000 Dyson threatened to shift focus from his Malmesbury plant to a new plant set up in Malaysia because the government would not join the euro. He said: "We would expect to double in size in the next two years. We are talking about a £100 million investment and up to 2,000 jobs. I would like to make that investment in the UK. But it seems that is not going to be possible. The value of sterling means we are struggling to compete at home with cheap imports from Europe and the Far East. We do around £40 million worth of export business with France and Germany each year but we aren't making any money. If we joined the euro we would be on an even footing with our biggest trading partners." An editorial published in "The Times" responded: "Mr Dyson, a manufacturing version of Sir Richard Branson, likes complaining. Yesterday he was complaining that Britain's failure to join the euro and the resultant strong pound will force him to move abroad. Last week he blamed the price of land and planning delays in Wiltshire, but never mind. So where will he go? To Portugal, Italy or to an EU candidate such as Poland? No, Mr Dyson threatens to go to the Far East. Like so many entrepreneurs, he wants a cheap currency and low interest rates, but also low inflation, low wages, a flexible labour market and low regulation. He will not find them in the eurozone."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=369661
| 336,907 |
1,181,596 |
In 1920, Genzo Shimadzu invents "reactive lead oxides production method". Genzo's invention of the reactive lead powder manufacturing method in 1920 revolutionized the quality and cost of lead powder used in storage batteries. The manufactured lead powder was also used in anti-rust paints, which was even used on the Tokyo Skytree tower completed in 2012. For that invention, Genzo Jr. was selected as one of Japan's ten greatest inventors. He directed the company’s efforts toward the development, independently, of a lead-powder production method, which was subsequently named the 'Production Method for Positive Response Lead Powder.' This was a simple and inexpensive method of industrial production, whereby a lump of lead was placed in a revolving iron drum while air was blown in. The ensuing oxidation of the lump of lead, and its breakdown into lead particles by the friction of the revolving drum, produced the positively charged lead powder. In addition to patenting various processes in Japan, Shimadzu registered patents in the major foreign countries. There were enquiries also concerning the implementation of patents for the Shimadzu production method in the US, Britain, Italy, Belgium, Sweden,Canada Australia and France, attesting to the strong international interest in this technology. At this point, however, Shimadzu became entangled in a patent dispute in the USA. In June 1932, the US Supreme Court pronounced its final verdict and established the patent rights for the Shimadzu technology. Following this victory, implementation of patent rights were finalized in the US, Britain, and France; that is, contracts were concluded successively in these countries. A contract for the acquisition by Ost Lurgi of the Shimadzu technology option was signed in Frankfurt am Main on 1 June 1926. Fritz Haber was also present at this meeting. The company, Ost Lurgi located in Berlin , was established in March 1926 as a joint venture of Mitsubishi, Metallgesellschaft and . The initiator of the establishing Ost Lurgi was Fritz Haber, inventor of the Haber Bosch process, who visited Japan in 1924, he thought highly of the standard of Japanese technology and originated a number of proposals for technico-industrial cooperation between Germany and Japan. One of his idealistic proposals gave rise to the establishment contract of Ost Lurgi. The purpose of Ost Lurgi was to transfer Japanese technology to Germany, but negotiations were drawn out, since the parties could not agree on conditions.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54109056
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The physical and moral destruction caused by the Second World War was soon overcome and the University of Pisa, whose matriculated students passed from 768 in 1945 to 1,292 in 1950, was able to lead the field in many areas of knowledge, adapting to the new demands of social, civil and economic life. The faculties of Economics and Business Studies (1948), and later Foreign Languages and Literature (1969) and Political Science (1970) joined the faculties present before the conflict - Engineering and Pharmacy - and accompanied the arrival of the university for the masses (between 1961 and 1972 student numbers in Pisa went from around 9,000 to 27,000). At the start of the sixties, the University of Pisa established the first Italian Chair of Film History and Criticism. In 1969, the degree course in Computer Science (Informatics) was set up. It was the first in Italy and followed the creation of the Pisan Electronic Calculator (CEP), designed in the mid-1950s and sponsored by Nobel Prize winner and graduate of the University of Pisa, Enrico Fermi, which was the basis for other firsts in Italy in its field. In 1986, for example, the first Italian link to the Internet originated in Pisa.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=453158
| 889,437 |
1,004,044 |
On 6 January 2011, Gates made a speech on the U.S. defense budget for FY 2012, which announced major investment in developing a long-range, nuclear-capable bomber, also to be optionally remotely piloted. He also said the aircraft "will be designed and developed using proven technologies, an approach that should make it possible to deliver this capability on schedule and in quantity. It is important that we begin this project now to ensure that a new bomber can be ready before the current aging fleet goes out of service. The follow on bomber represents a key component of a joint portfolio of conventional deep-strike capabilities—an area that should be a high priority for future defense investment given the anti-access challenges our military faces." In July 2011, Joint Chief Vice Chairman James Cartwright called for a large UAV instead of a manned aircraft, including for the nuclear mission. Retired Air Force colonel and Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments analyst Mark Gunzinger has called for an optionally manned bomber, stating that purely unmanned bombers would be at a disadvantage without direct human pilot awareness and vulnerable to communication disruption.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34042348
| 1,003,526 |
973,452 |
In 1985, Seymour Papert, Mitchel Resnick and Stephen Ocko created a company called Microworlds with the intent of developing a construction kit that could be animated by computers for educational purposes. Papert had previously created the Logo programming language as a tool to "support the development of new ways of thinking and learning", and employed "Turtle" robots to physically act out the programs in the real world. As the types of programs created were limited by the shape of the Turtle, the idea came up to make a construction kit that could use Logo commands to animate a creation of the learner's own design. Similar to the "floor turtle" robots used to demonstrate Logo commands in the real world, a construction system that ran Logo commands would also demonstrate them in the real world, but allowing the child to construct their own creations benefitted the learning experience by putting them in control In considering which construction system to partner with, they wanted a "low floor high ceiling" approach, something that was easy to pick up but very powerful. To this end, they decided to use LEGO bricks due to the system and diversity of pieces, and the Logo language due to the groups familiarity with the software and its ease of use. LEGO was receptive to collaboration, particularly because its educational division had founding goals very similar to those of the Microworlds company. The collaboration very quickly moved to the newly minted MIT Media lab, where there was an open sharing of ideas. As a sponsor of the entire lab, LEGO was allowed royalty free rights to mass-produce any technology produced by Papert, Resnick and Ocko's group; and was also allowed to send an employee over to assist with research, so they sent engineer Alan Tofte (also spelled Toft) who helped with the design of the programmable brick. As another part of the MIT Media Lab was community outreach, so the bricks would be used working with children in schools for both research and educational purposes.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=198856
| 972,942 |
94,939 |
The MH-60R is designed to combine the features of the SH-60B and SH-60F. Its avionics includes dual controls and instead of the complex array of dials and gauges in Bravo and Foxtrot aircraft, 4 fully integrated 8" x 10" night vision goggle-compatible and sunlight-readable color multi-function displays, all part of glass cockpit produced by Owego Helo Systems division of Lockheed Martin. Onboard sensors include: AN/AAR-47 Missile Approach Warning System by ATK,Raytheon AN/AAS-44 electro-optical system that integrates FLIR and laser rangefinder, AN/ALE-39 decoy dispenser and AN/ALQ-144 infrared jammer by BAE Systems, AN/ALQ-210 electronic support measures system by Lockheed Martin,AN/APS-147 multi-mode radar/IFF interrogator, which during a mid-life technology insertion project is subsequently replaced by AN/APS-153 Multi-Mode Radar with Automatic Radar Periscope Detection and Discrimination (ARPDD) capability, and both radars were developed by Telephonics, a more advanced AN/AQS-22 advanced airborne low-frequency sonar (ALFS) jointly developed by Raytheon & Thales, AN/ARC-210 voice radio by Rockwell Collins, an advanced airborne fleet data link AN/SRQ-4 Hawklink with radio terminal set AN/ARQ-59 radio terminal, both by L3Harris, and LN-100G dual-embedded global positioning system and inertial navigation system by Northrop Grumman Litton division. Beginning in 2020, CAE's MAD-XR has been fielded on MH-60Rs, providing it with a magnetic anomaly detector.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=202031
| 94,898 |
510,116 |
Sylvester began his study of mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge in 1831, where his tutor was John Hymers. Although his studies were interrupted for almost two years due to a prolonged illness, he nevertheless ranked second in Cambridge's famous mathematical examination, the tripos, for which he sat in 1837. However, Sylvester was not issued a degree, because graduates at that time were required to state their acceptance of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, and Sylvester could not do so because he was Jewish. For the same reason, he was unable to compete for a Fellowship or obtain a Smith's prize. In 1838, Sylvester became professor of natural philosophy at University College London and in 1839 a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. In 1841, he was awarded a BA and an MA by Trinity College Dublin. In the same year he moved to the United States to become a professor of mathematics at the University of Virginia, but left after less than four months. A student who had been reading a newspaper in one of Sylvester's lectures insulted him and Sylvester struck him with a sword stick. The student collapsed in shock and Sylvester believed (wrongly) that he had killed him. Sylvester resigned when he felt that the university authorities had not sufficiently disciplined the student. He moved to New York City and began friendships with the Harvard mathematician Benjamin Peirce (father of Charles Sanders Peirce) and the Princeton physicist Joseph Henry. However, he left in November 1843 after being denied appointment as Professor of Mathematics at Columbia College (now University), again for his Judaism, and returned to England.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=234861
| 509,852 |
1,805,669 |
In contrast to the contractile apparatus, studies on various rodent skeletal muscle metabolic enzymes have revealed a variety of responses with no clear-cut adaptive changes in oxidative enzyme expression. These observations are consistent with the results of studies focusing on mitochondrial function after 9 days of spaceflight in which no reduction in the capacity of skeletal muscle mitochondria to metabolize pyruvate (a carbohydrate derivative) was observed. These analyses were carried out under state 3 metabolic conditions, that is, non-limiting amounts of substrate and cofactors to simulate an energy turnover demand similar to that of high-intensity exercise. However, when a fatty acid substrate was tested, a reduction in the capacity of different muscle types to oxidize the long-chain fatty acid, palmitate, was observed. This latter finding is in agreement with the observation that muscles exposed to spaceflight increase the level of stored lipid within their myofibers. Additionally, use of the metabolic pathway for glucose uptake is increased in muscles undergoing HS. Thus, while the enzyme data are equivocal, it appears that in response to states of unloading, some shift in substrate preference may occur whereby carbohydrates are preferentially utilized based on utilization capability. If this is indeed the case, it could result in a greater tendency for muscle fatigue, should the carbohydrate stores become limited during prolonged bouts of EVA activity.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39377992
| 1,804,653 |
2,243,519 |
These are complex and specialized cells. However, the improved understanding of cellular evolution achieved over the last several years has revealed that even the most sophisticated and unique properties of nerve cells represent an adaptation of basic functions observed in all eukaryotic cells, including unicellular organisms. Thus, cellular neurobiology has become an important chapter of cell biology. Studies of neurons greatly capitalize on progress in fundamental cell biology. Conversely, research on specialized features of neurons is producing major fall-outs in other areas of biology. Projects of cellular neurobiology in the department focus on mechanisms in membrane traffic at the synapse, on the development and maintenance of cell polarity and on the mechanisms responsible for the heterogeneous distribution of organelles and macromolecules within the neuronal cytoplasm. Formation and plasticity of synapses are also investigated. In the tradition of the department, questions in these fields are approached in a multidisciplinary fashion using genetics, protein and lipid biochemistry, molecular biology and state of the art light and electron microscopy imaging techniques. Experimental systems include mouse models, cultured neurons, large model synapses, isolated synaptic preparations and cell free systems. Special emphasis is placed on interfaces between this basic research and disease.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5463771
| 2,242,248 |
1,062,929 |
The Soviet Union conducted studies of human exploration of Mars and came up with slightly less epic mission designs (though not short on exotic technologies) in 1960 and 1969. The first of which used electric propulsion for interplanetary transit and nuclear reactors as the power plants. On spacecraft that combine human crew and nuclear reactors, the reactor is usually placed at a maximum distance from the crew quarters, often at the end of a long pole, for radiation safety. An interesting component of the 1960 mission was the surface architecture. A "train" with wheels for rough terrain was to be assembled of landed research modules, one of which was a crew cabin. The train was to traverse the surface of Mars from south pole to north pole, an extremely ambitious goal even by today's standards. Other Soviet plans such as the TMK eschewed the large costs associated with landing on the Martian surface and advocated piloted (crewed) flybys of Mars. Flyby missions, like the lunar Apollo 8, extend the human presence to other worlds with less risk than landings. Most early Soviet proposals called for launches using the ill-fated N1 rocket. They also usually involved fewer crew than their American counterparts. Early Martian architecture concepts generally featured assembly in low Earth orbit, bringing all needed consumables from Earth, and designated work vs. living areas. The modern outlook on Mars exploration is not the same.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23516569
| 1,062,375 |
622,519 |
There was a particularly unusual case that came out of the Boy Scouts of America in this decade. Back in 1994, in Commerce Township, Michigan, a member by the name of David Hahn had constructed a homemade neutron source from scratch. Hahn was an Eagle Scout who was deeply interested in chemistry as a child. He would conduct amateur experiments and he attempted to collect a sample of every element on the periodic table of elements. This includes radioactive ones. After a certain duration of time, Hahn managed to receive a merit badge in Atomic Energy. Earning that merit badge led him into becoming very fascinated with the possibility of creating a breeder reactor. Hahn started to diligently collect radioactive materials and substances from household items and products. His initial sources were everyday objects which happened to be radioactive in part. This included americium from smoke detectors, thorium from the mantles of gas lanterns, radium from antique clocks, and tritium from the sights of guns. Hahn's "reactor" was a bored-out block of lead that was mixed with lithium from roughly $1,000 worth of batteries to purify the thorium. However, he began to obtain radioactive items by asking to get them while posing as a scientist or a teacher through letters and phone calls. The neutron source that Hahn had built was capable of emitting radioactivity well over 1,000 times greater than that which tends to permeate through the environment as background radiation to conceal the evidence of his makeshift neutron source by disposing of the materials that made it. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) promptly and subsequently issued a Federal Radiological Emergency Response and the house where Hahn lived was quarantined. The site of his family's property was declared as a Superfund for cleanup and his neutron source, the shed where he made it, and the contents were buried in Utah as low-level radioactive waste. Even though the incident was not widely publicized at the time, it became better known over time and it is often remembered as one of the most bizarre events in the history of the Boy Scouts.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6125637
| 622,187 |
1,695,082 |
KAND is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by one or more variations (mutations) in the KIF1A gene that can lead to a spectrum of symptoms, such as neurodevelopmental delay, intellectual disability, autism, microcephaly, progressive spastic paraplegia, periphery neuropathy, optic nerve atrophy, cerebral and cerebellar atrophy, and seizures. KAND has been diagnosed in over 200 patients throughout the world with the large majority being children due to the likely reason that advancements in genetic testing were only recently made more accessible. As of current, there are 119 different variants identified, but it is likely that there are many variants to be discovered. Depending on the type of variation that occurs and where it is in the gene, KAND patients experience a spectrum of symptoms, progression, and severity of disease. KAND can be inherited in an autosomal recessive or dominant pattern and is characterized as a spectrum disorder with a range of symptoms from mild to life-threatening. Because there are many KAND-causing mutations, predominantly heterozygous missense mutations in the KIF1A motor domain, diagnosis for this disease is complicated. In efforts to expand the understanding of the phenotypic spectrum of KIF1A variants, researchers discovered novel de novo KIF1A variants in patients with Rett syndrome (RTT) and severe neurodevelopmental disorder that share clinical features that overlap with KAND. From their microtubule gliding assays and neurite tip accumulation assays, they showed that these novel KIF1A variants reduced KIF1A velocity and microtubule binding and lessened the ability of KIF1A's motor domain to accumulate along neurites. The results from this study expanded the phenotypic characteristics seen in KAND individuals with KIF1A variants in the motor domain, as common clinical features were also observed in RTT individuals. Additionally, the first disease severity score for KAND was recently developed, with disease severity strongly associated with variants that occurs in protein regions involved with ATP and microtubule binding, more specifically the P-Loop, switch I, and switch II. The most severe KAND presentations are observed with mutations in KIF1A's motor domain, generally arising de novo, and the less severe variations are observed in KIF1A's stalk region and are usually inherited.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31656267
| 1,694,131 |
1,968,850 |
At the beginning of the War, Fripp was employed by the War Office at Rosyth as Consulting Surgeon to the Navy. Later he described what he had seen. After one year, the Government decided that employing civilian experts was an unnecessary expense, so Fripp returned to voluntary surgical and advisory work in London hospitals set up by his wealthy friends in their palatial houses. For example, he helped George Holford to turn his Dorchester House in Park Lane into a hospital for officers, and then worked there. A few months before the War ended, Fripp became embroiled in the Pemberton Billing affair. Billing published an article saying that the dancing of Maud Allan as Salome was part of a plot to enable Germany to blackmail all those (47,000, according to Billing) Establishment and Society people who enjoyed watching lesbian dancing from a homosexual's play - or other such deviant pleasures. She sued him for libel in May, 1918, and a bizarre court case ensued during which - among other things - Billing implied that Margot Asquith, who employed a German governess and was a devotee of Allan's provocative act, was a danger to the security of the State. Fripp, for patriotic or personal reasons, agreed to attest that he knew of people at Court who might be a danger to security - but, in the event, Judge Darling refused to allow Fripp to answer any of the questions put to him. Billing won his case, and then the War ended - but not before Fripp had invited Lord Rhondda and Dr. Perry to his house to discuss the setting-up of a Ministry of Health. Lord Rhondda's death a few months later meant that this meeting lost its significance.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3581938
| 1,967,716 |
2,181,434 |
5-HEDH functions as a highly specific oxidizer of 5("S")-HETE to 5-oxo-ETE; no functional importance has yet been ascribed to its ability in similarly oxidizing other 5("S")-hydroxyl fatty acids. 5-Oxo-ETE stimulates a wide range of biological activities far more potently and powerfully than 5("S")-HETE (see 5-oxo-eicosatetraenoic acid and 5-HETE). For example, it is 30-100-fold more potent in stimulating cells that promote inflammation and allergy reactions such as neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, eosinophils, and basophils and is more potent than 5-HETE in stimulating various types of cancer cells to grow. Furthermore, 5-oxo-ETE appears to be involved in various animal and human reactions: injected into the skin of rabbits, it causes a severe edema with an inflammatory cell infiltrate resembling an urticaria-like lesion; it is present in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from cats undergoing experimentally induced asthma; it stimulates the local accumulation of eosinophils, neutrophils, and monocytes when injected into the skin of humans; and it has been extracted from scales of psoriatic patients. Most if not all of these allergic and inflammatory conditions as well as rapidly growing cancerous lesions are associated with oxidative stress. Studies therefore suggest that 5-HEDH contributes to the development and progression of these reactions and diseases by being responsible for generating 5-oxo-ETE. It also possible that the cells involved in these pathological states favor the reversed action of 5-HEDH, conversion of 5-oxo-ETE to 5("S")-HETE, as a consequence of reductions in oxidative stress and thereby NADP/NADPH ratios; such cells might then actually "detoxify" 5-oxo-ETE and contribute to resolving the pathological states.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48470949
| 2,180,188 |
1,624,004 |
The US Navy initiated the Military Manpower versus Hardware (HARDMAN) Methodology in 1977 to address problems with manpower, personnel and training in the service. In 1980, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine established the Committee on Human Factors, which was later renamed the Committee on Human Systems Integration. The modern concept of Human Systems Integration in the United States originated in 1986 as a US Army program called the Manpower and Personnel Integration (MANPRINT) program. With ties to the academic fields of industrial engineering and experimental psychology, MANPRINT incorporated human factors engineering with manpower, personnel and training domains into an integrated discipline. MANPRINT focused on the needs and capabilities of the soldier during the development of military systems, and MANPRINT framed a human-centered focus in six domains: human factors engineering, manpower, personnel, training, health hazards and system safety. The US Marine Corps, a component of the Navy, implemented aspects of both HARDMAN and MANPRINT programs to achieve HSI objectives, issuing a formal HSI policy in Marine Corps Order 5000.22 in 1994. The US Air Force began an HSI program in 1982 as "IMPACTS". Modern HSI programs abandoned early acronyms such as HARDMAN, MANPRINT and IMPACTS over the course of the development of their HSI programs. For example, the Air Force currently manages HSI through the Air Force Office of Human Systems Integration (AFHSIO). The US Coast Guard implemented an HSI program in 2000 in the strategy and HR capability division (CG-1B) of the human resources directorate. The US Department of Homeland Security initiated an HSI program under the Science and Technology Directorate in 2007, and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) initiated a focused HSI effort under the umbrella of DHS S&T in 2018. The Federal Rail Administration (under the National Transportation Safety Board) and NASA Ames Research Center also address HSI. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have HSI programs similarly rooted in human factors and modeled after the Army MANPRINT program. In Europe HSI is known as Human Factors Integration.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=67470005
| 1,623,088 |
1,035,927 |
"Scipionyx" was discovered in the spring of 1981 by Giovanni Todesco, an amateur paleontologist, in the small "Le Cavere" quarry at the edge of the village of Pietraroja, approximately seventy kilometers northeast of Naples. The specimen was preserved in the marine Pietraroja Formation, well known for unusually well-conserved fossils. Todesco thought the remains belonged to an extinct bird. He prepared the strange discovery in the basement of his house in San Giovanni Ilarione near Verona, removing, without the use of any optical instrument, part of the chalk matrix from the top of the bones and covering them with vinyl glue. He strengthened the stone plate by adding pieces to its rim and on one of these he added a fake tail made from polyester resin as that of the fossil was largely lacking because he had failed to recover it completely. In early 1993 Todesco, who had nicknamed the animal "cagnolino", "little doggie", after its toothy jaws, brought the specimen to the attention of paleontologist Giorgio Teruzzi of the "Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano", who identified it as the juvenile of a theropod dinosaur and nicknamed it "Ambrogio" after the patron saint of Milan, Ambrose. Not being an expert in the field of dinosaur studies himself, he called in the help of colleague Father Giuseppe Leonardi. In Italy such finds are by law State property and Todesco was convinced by science reporter Franco Capone to report the discovery to the authorities: on 15 October 1993 Todesco personally delivered the fossil to the Archaeological Directorship at Naples. The specimen was added to the collection of the regional "Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici di Salerno, Avellino, Benevento e Caserta" in Salerno, to which it officially still belongs; on 19 April 2002 it was given its own display at the "Museo Archeologico di Benevento".
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3558454
| 1,035,387 |
1,207,229 |
RNA-Binding Proteins (RBPs) are dynamic assemblages between mRNAs and different proteins that form messenger ribonucleoprotein complexes (mRNPs). These complexes are essential for the regulation of gene expression to ensure that all the steps are performed correctly throughout the whole process. Therefore, they are important control factors for protein levels and cell phenotypes. Moreover, they affect mRNA stability by regulating its conformation due to the environment, stress or extracellular signals. However, their ability to bind and control such a wide variety of RNA targets allows them to form complex regulatory networks (PTRNs).These networks represent a challenge to study each RNA-binding protein individually. Thankfully, due to new methodological advances, the identification of RBPs is slowly expanding, which demonstrates that they are contained in broad families of proteins. RBPs can significantly impact multiple biological processes, and have to be very accurately expressed. Overexpression can change the mRNA target rate, binding to low-affinity RNA sites and causing deleterious results on cellular fitness. Not being able to synthesize at the right level is also problematic because it can lead to cell death. Therefore, RBPs are regulated via auto-regulation, so they are in control of their own actions. Furthermore, they use both negative feedback, to maintain homeostasis, and positive feedback, to create binary genetic changes in the cell.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16908428
| 1,206,583 |
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The Geological Survey has continued its research during this period. In 1986, the Survey merged with the Earth Physics Branch of the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources and acquired the national seismology and geomagnetic observatory networks of that organization. In the nineties, this new organization took the lead in the development of the National Geoscience Mapping Program (NATMAP) with other governments, universities and industries to optimize the use of funding for the new mapping of bedrock and surface geology of Canada. Activity in environmental studies has involved establishing norms for the geochemical profiles of naturally occurring substances and work with respect to climate change as well as hydrogeology and natural radioactivity and the risks associated with natural dangers, including earthquakes and tsunamis. The Intergovernmental Geoscience Accord, signed in 1996, clarified the role of the Survey with respect to relations with provincial and territorial governments. As the result of a reorganization, the Survey became part of the Earth Sciences division of Natural Resources Canada in the mid-nineties. In recent years, the evolution of digital electronics and the Internet has seen the Survey undertake the development of the Geoscience Knowledge Network with the aim of making geological information available online. The budget of the Survey is now about $60 million a year, and the staff of 550 are located at headquarters in Ottawa and regional offices in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, St. Foy, Quebec, Calgary, Alberta and Sidney and Vancouver, British Columbia. Present fields of study include geological hazards and environmental geoscience, marine geoscience, minerals, hydrocarbons and bedrock and surficial geoscience.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18401364
| 2,060,937 |
413,982 |
Modern satellite communications systems (SATCOM) are often large and complex with many interacting parts and elements. In addition, the need for broadband connectivity on a moving vehicle has increased dramatically in the past few years for both commercial and military applications. To accurately predict and deliver high quality of service, SATCOM system designers have to factor in terrain as well as atmospheric and meteorological conditions in their planning. To deal with such complexity, system designers and operators increasingly turn towards computer models of their systems to simulate real-world operating conditions and gain insights into usability and requirements prior to final product sign-off. Modeling improves the understanding of the system by enabling the SATCOM system designer or planner to simulate real-world performance by injecting the models with multiple hypothetical atmospheric and environmental conditions. Simulation is often used in the training of civilian and military personnel. This usually occurs when it is prohibitively expensive or simply too dangerous to allow trainees to use the real equipment in the real world. In such situations, they will spend time learning valuable lessons in a "safe" virtual environment yet living a lifelike experience (or at least it is the goal). Often the convenience is to permit mistakes during training for a safety-critical system.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43444
| 413,779 |
155,670 |
The units have different equipment that varies according to battle needs. The basic one is called type B (Basic), consisting only of a cutter-like weapon named Progressive Knife. Other assets are type D (Dive), specifically for diving; and type F (Fly) for flight. The Evangelion's piloting system synchronizes it with the pilot and via neural connection, such that the two subjects act in sync. The pilot of an Evangelion unit, designated by the English term Child, is housed in a cylindrical capsule named Entry Plug, which is inserted into the area corresponding to the humanoid's spine, at the cervical vertebrae. The cockpit of the Entry Plug is filled with a special liquid called LCL, which promotes the neural connection between the Evangelion and its pilot. The main nerve responsible for synchronizing the two entities is called the A10 nerve. It seems that the subjects suitable to pilot an Evangelion are limited to 14-year-old children orphaned by their mother, and that in Evangelions, originally devoid of a soul, have souls of people. It is also believed that the souls of the mothers of their respective pilots are housed in the mechas. Once the neural connection has been successfully established, the Children can command the humanoid at will, thinking that they are acting with their own body, through a system known as neural interface. However, its maintenance can be jeopardized by the damage suffered by the Evangelion during an operation and the corresponding psychological disorders of the pilot. Moreover, a state commonly referred to as berserk is theorized, during which the humanoid begins to act out in uncontrollable and seemingly instinctual destructive rage. Their height is never specified in the series, though "Newtype" magazine provided an estimate of forty meters. According to Hiroyuki Yamaga, a member of Gainax, it was decided to make the units taller than Ultraman, who is forty-five meters tall. In the "Proposal" their height is also determined forty meters, while in the "Rebuild of Evangelion" saga their height is explicitly around seventy meters, eighty with vertical supports.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=577372
| 155,599 |
146,392 |
Modern advances in genetics have allowed humans to more directly alter plants genetics. In 1970 Hamilton Smith's lab discovered restriction enzymes that allowed DNA to be cut at specific places, enabling scientists to isolate genes from an organism's genome. DNA ligases that join broken DNA together had been discovered earlier in 1967, and by combining the two technologies, it was possible to "cut and paste" DNA sequences and create recombinant DNA. Plasmids, discovered in 1952, became important tools for transferring information between cells and replicating DNA sequences. In 1907 a bacterium that caused plant tumors, "Agrobacterium tumefaciens", was discovered and in the early 1970s the tumor inducing agent was found to be a DNA plasmid called the Ti plasmid. By removing the genes in the plasmid that caused the tumor and adding in novel genes researchers were able to infect plants with "A. tumefaciens" and let the bacteria insert their chosen DNA sequence into the genomes of the plants. As not all plant cells were susceptible to infection by "A. tumefaciens" other methods were developed, including electroporation, micro-injection and particle bombardment with a gene gun (invented in 1987). In the 1980s techniques were developed to introduce isolated chloroplasts back into a plant cell that had its cell wall removed. With the introduction of the gene gun in 1987 it became possible to integrate foreign genes into a chloroplast. Genetic transformation has become very efficient in some model organisms. In 2008 genetically modified seeds were produced in "Arabidopsis thaliana" by dipping the flowers in an "Agrobacterium" solution. In 2013 CRISPR was first used to target modification of plant genomes.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2291204
| 146,334 |
1,700,602 |
It is usually considered a rare mineral, but this is likely due to difficulty in preserving samples. It was first discovered in nature by the Danish mineralogist Pauly in the Ikka (then spelt Ika) fjord in southwest Greenland, close to Ivittuut, the locality of the famous cryolite deposit. Here ikaite occurs in truly spectacular towers or columns (up to tall) growing out of the fjord floor towards the surface water, where they are naturally truncated by waves, or unnaturally by the occasional boat. At the Ikka Fjord, it is believed that the ikaite towers are created as the result of a groundwater seep, rich in carbonate and bicarbonate ions, entering the fjord bottom in the form of springs, where it hits the marine fjord waters rich in calcium. Ikaite has also been reported as occurring in high-latitude marine sediments at Bransfield Strait, Antarctica; Sea of Okhotsk, Eastern Siberia, off Sakhalin; and Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, Canada. In addition it has been reported in a deep sea fan off the Congo, and therefore probably has worldwide occurrence. The most recent occurrence has been reported by Dieckmann et al. (2008). They found the mineral ikaite directly precipitated in grain sizes of hundreds of micrometers in sea ice in the Weddell Sea and throughout fast ice off Adélie Land, Antarctica. In addition, ikaite can also form large crystals within sediment that grow to macroscopic size, occasionally with good crystal form. There is strong evidence that some of these marine deposits are associated with cold seeps. Ikaite has also been reported as a cryogenic deposit in caves where it precipitates from freezing carbonate-rich water.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8813912
| 1,699,648 |
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Response to this criticism came both from the physics community as well as from philosophers and historians of science who emphasized the exploratory potential of any future large-scale collider. A detailed physics discussion is included in the first volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report. Gian Giudice, Head of CERN's Physics Department wrote a paper on the "Future of High-Energy Colliders" while other commentary came from Jeremy Bernstein, Lisa Randall, James Beacham, Harry Cliff and Tommaso Dorigo among others. In a recent interview theorist for the CERN Courier, Nima Arkani-Hamed described the concrete experimental goal for a post-LHC collider: "While there is absolutely no guarantee we will produce new particles, we will definitely stress test our existing laws in the most extreme environments we have ever probed. Measuring the properties of the Higgs, however, is guaranteed to answer some burning questions. [...] A Higgs factory will decisively answer this question via precision measurements of the coupling of the Higgs to a slew of other particles in a very clean experimental environment." Moreover there has been some philosophical responses to this debate, most notably one from Michela Massimi who emphasised the exploratory potential of future colliders: "High-energy physics beautifully exemplifies a different way of thinking about progress, where progress is measured by ruling out live possibilities, by excluding with high confidence level (95%) certain physically conceivable scenarios and mapping in this way the space of what might be objectively possible in nature. 99.9% of the time this is how physics progresses and in the remaining time someone gets a Nobel Prize for discovering a new particle."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47278268
| 670,291 |
1,030,392 |
Bloomsbury (1823–46). This is Smirke's largest and best-known building. Having previously designed a temporary gallery for the Parthenon sculptures following their acquisition by the British Museum in 1816, his role as architect to the Office of Works also led Smirke to be invited to redesign the museum in 1821. The core design dates from 1823, and stipulated a building surrounding a large central courtyard (or quadrangle) with a grand south front. Given the limited funds—which were granted by parliament on an annual basis—and the need to retain the Museum throughout the rebuilding programme, the work was divided into phases, and was subject to various changes before its completion over 25 years later. In particular, Smirke was forced to abandon plans for a much grander quadrangle with interior porticoes, while from the early 1840s modified the severity of the original design (such as sculpture deiagned by Richard Westmacott). The building is constructed of brick with the visible facades cased in massive slabs of Portland stone, which is also used for architectural elements and string courses along the sides of the building. The first part to be constructed was the "King's Library" of 1823–1828, which forms the east wing. The north section of the west wing, the "Egyptian Galleries" followed 1825–1834. The north wing, housing the library and reading rooms, was built in 1833–1838. The souther part of the west wing and south front were built in 1842–1846 following the demolition of the Townley Gallery and then of Montague House itself. Following Smirke's retirement in 1846, his brother Sydney Smirke continued to work on the building, adding galleries in the style of the original building, while also building the Round Reading Room in the centre of the quadrangle whose original purpose was superseded. Sydney Smirke also added polychromatic decoration in Greek Revival style to replace the plainer interiors designed by his brother, especially in the entrance hall and sculpture galleries.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1484094
| 1,029,858 |
2,062,146 |
There have been significant developments in stem cell research activity during this period. In 1997, Dr. John Dick, a molecular biologist at the University of Toronto, was the first to discover the existence of cancer stem cells. The Stem Cell Network was established in 2001 with headquarters at the University of Ottawa, and brings together more than 80 leading scientists, clinicians and engineers from Canadian universities and hospitals. Researchers study cellular therapeutics and their pharmacological applications as well as related technologies, public policy, ethical, legal and social issues with the goal of effectively treating cancer, heart and lung disease, macular degeneration, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's disease, muscle degeneration, hemophilia and type 1 diabetes. It is hoped that research will lead to clinical applications for these afflictions by 2015. Stem cell research is also undertaken at the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine established in 2003 in Toronto as part of the University Health Network in 2003. In 2010, the McMaster University Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute announced that it had developed a technique for transforming skin cells into multiple blood cell types. This discovery may have applications for the treatment of leukemia, for it is anticipated that a patient with the disease may be able to receive therapeutic blood transfusions derived from his or her own skin cells, thus eliminating problems related to compatibility that are associated with treatment that involves biological material from others.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18401364
| 2,060,956 |
1,516,777 |
(Mijagual, 1784 – Angostura, 1819). Venezuelan lawyer, physician, chemist, diplomatic and politician. Graduated at the University of Santa Fe (Vice royalty of New Granada) when the independence movement exploded in 1810, was practicing its profession as physician in Guanare. The province of Barinas elected him as his deputy to the first Constituent Congress of Venezuela, and as such signed on July 5, 1811, the absolute independence from Spanish rule. In 1812, after the fall of First Republic, he was exiled to United Provinces of the New Granada. The patriotic government of Cartagena de Indias commissioned him with Pedro Gual as diplomats to seek foreign support for the Spanish-American independence cause. They arrived in Washington in December 1812 and although they meet with the president James Madison this indicated that the United States could not take part in the war by the No Aggression Agreement signed with Spain under Neutrality Act (1794). During his stay in Europe he studied chemistry and perfected his medical knowledge. Back in Venezuela was elected deputy is witness of exception of the installation of the Congress of Angostura the February 15, 1819. A few days later the Liberator Simon Bolivar appointed him as Secretary of State of Colombia but he is seriously ill and does not assume the charge because he died on May 8, 1819. In London he published several articles on natural sciences. Three are known: On the exploitation of carbonates of sodium in the Urao lagoon of Mérida province (1816), Notes on the main circumstances of the earthquake of Caracas (1817) and a Geographic description of Valley of Cúcuta (1817). His remains were buried in the National Pantheon on August 21, 1876.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29302481
| 1,515,925 |
1,264,341 |
Isfahan University of Technology, started its academic activities in 1977. It is located in the central part of the country with the total area of 2300 hectares. Of this, 400 ha area has been dedicated to the main campus. The main campus resembling a small town, includes all the educational or research building as well as modern dormitories to house more than 5000 students and the residential quarters which provide the academic staff with semi-detached houses. To facilitate for students and staff, IUT also offers the health service center, shopping, sports and recreation centers inside the campus. IUT comprises a College of Agriculture (with ten departments), nine Engineering departments, three basic science departments, one department of natural resources with three divisions, seven research centers, and many research groups. Since it is located at the heart of industrial complexes, it has provided an opportunity to strengthen industrial enhancement of the city of Isfahan and Iran. The university has been successful enough to make strong ties with industries and carried out about 2000 research projects with different national industrial bodies. In terms of technology we have the honor to be the initiator of Isfahan Science and Technology Town (ISTT) which is one of the top in the Middle East. The connection between IUT and ISTT is leading to the enhancement of the cooperation between IUT and Industrial bodies in the region for more research projects, defining curriculum based on the industrial needs, providing the opportunities for students to get experienced about solving real problems based on the needs of society, such as training programs for educating our students and graduates to become entrepreneurs.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3581057
| 1,263,653 |
905,629 |
According to a September 2016 report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the simplicity and low cost of tools to edit the genetic code will allow amateursor "biohackers"to perform their own experiments, posing a potential risk from the release of genetically modified bugs. The review also found that the risks and benefits of modifying a person's genomeand having those changes pass on to future generationsare so complex that they demand urgent ethical scrutiny. Such modifications might have unintended consequences which could harm not only the child, but also their future children, as the altered gene would be in their sperm or eggs. In 2001 Australian researchers Ronald Jackson and Ian Ramshaw were criticized for publishing a paper in the Journal of Virology that explored the potential control of mice, a major pest in Australia, by infecting them with an altered mousepox virus that would cause infertility as the provided sensitive information could lead to the manufacture of biological weapons by potential bioterrorists who might use the knowledge to create vaccine resistant strains of other pox viruses, such as smallpox, that could affect humans. Furthermore, there are additional concerns about the ecological risks of releasing gene drives into wild populations.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34930586
| 905,153 |
12,363 |
One of its major features is Nanite, an engine that allows for high-detailed photographic source material to be imported into games. The Nanite virtualized geometry technology allows Epic to take advantage of its past acquisition of Quixel, the world's largest photogrammetry library as of 2019. The goal of Unreal Engine 5 was to make it as easy as possible for developers to create detailed game worlds without having to spend excessive time on creating new detailed assets. Nanite can import nearly any other pre-existing three-dimension representation of objects and environments, including ZBrush and CAD models, enabling the use of film-quality assets. Nanite automatically handles the levels of detail (LODs) of these imported objects appropriate to the target platform and draw distance, a task that an artist would have had to perform otherwise. Lumen is another component described as a "fully dynamic global illumination solution that immediately reacts to scene and light changes". Lumen eliminates the need for artists and developers to craft a lightmap for a given scene, but instead calculates light reflections and shadows on the fly, thus allowing for real-time behavior of light sources. Virtual Shadow Maps is another component added in Unreal Engine 5 described as "a new shadow mapping method used to deliver consistent, high-resolution shadowing that works with film-quality assets and large, dynamically lit open worlds". Virtual Shadow Maps differs from the common shadow map implementation in its extremely high resolution, more detailed shadows, and the lack of shadows popping in and out which can be found in the more common shadow maps technique due to shadow cascades. Additional components include Niagara for fluid and particle dynamics and Chaos for a physics engine.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=417152
| 12,358 |
1,096,694 |
The larger polyploid macronucleus is transcriptionally active, meaning its genes are actively expressed, and so it controls somatic cell functions during vegetative growth. The polyploid nature of the macronucleus refers to the fact that it contains approximately 200–300 autonomously replicating linear DNA mini-chromosomes. These minichromosomes have their own telomeres and are derived via site-specific fragmentation of the five original micronuclear chromosomes during sexual development. In T. thermophila each of these minichromosomes encodes multiple genes and exists at a copy number of approximately 45-50 within the macronucleus. The exception to this is the minichromosome encoding the rDNA, which is massively upregulated, existing at a copy number of approximately 10,000 within the macronucleus. Because the macronucleus divides amitotically during binary fission, these minichromosomes are un-equally divided between the clonal daughter cells. Through natural or artificial selection, this method of DNA partitioning in the somatic genome can lead to clonal cell lines with different macronuclear phenotypes fixed for a particular trait, in a process called phenotypic assortment. In this way, the polyploid genome can fine-tune its adaptation to environmental conditions through gain of beneficial mutations on any given mini-chromosome whose replication is then selected for, or conversely, loss of a minichromosome which accrues a negative mutation. However, the macronucleus is only propagated from one cell to the next during the asexual, vegetative stage of the life cycle, and so it is never directly inherited by sexual progeny. Only beneficial mutations that occur in the germline micronucleus of "T. thermophila" are passed down between generations, but these mutations would never be selected for environmentally in the parental cells because they are not expressed.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66793
| 1,096,134 |
1,142,578 |
The Stentrode technology has been tested on sheep and humans, with human trials being approved by the St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee, Australia in November 2018. Oxley originally expressed that he expected human clinical trials to help paralyzed people regain movement to operate a motorized wheelchair or even a powered exoskeleton. However, he switched focus before beginning clinical trials. Oxley and colleagues began evaluating the Stentrode for its ability to restore functional independence in patients with paralysis, by enabling them to engage in activities of daily living. Clinical study results demonstrated the capability of two ALS patients, surgically fitted with a Stentrode, to learn to control texting and typing, through direct thought and the assistance of eye-tracking technology for cursor navigation. They achieved this with at least 92% accuracy within 3 months of use, and continued to maintain that ability up to 9 months (as of November 2020). This study helped to dispel some criticism that data rates may not be as high as systems requiring open brain surgery, and also pointed out the benefits of using well-established neuro-interventional techniques which do not require any automated assistance, dedicated surgical space or expensive machinery.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49375299
| 1,141,983 |
276,452 |
The programme had its beginnings in an American television quiz show called "College Bowl". Cecil Bernstein, brother of Sidney Bernstein who founded Granada Television in 1954, had seen the programme in the United States and liked the format. It was decided that Granada would produce a similar programme with competing teams from universities across the United Kingdom. From its inception in 1962, "University Challenge" was hosted by Bamber Gascoigne, who died in 2022. The show was a cult favourite with a small but loyal core audience, and was one of a select few ITV programmes that was transmitted without any advertising breaks. Originally, the series started off in many areas, being broadcast at peak times or just after the nightly news around 22:30; by the early 1970s, the series was relegated to irregular timeslots by the various ITV regional companies, with some broadcasting the show during daytime, at weekends or late at night. In the absence of a regular networked slot, audience figures would often fall, leading the producers to make changes to the long-standing format of the programme. LWT stopped broadcasting the show in October 1983, with Thames following suit shortly afterwards. The programme was not broadcast in 1985 and returned in April 1986, when it was finally networked by ITV and broadcast at 15:00 on weekdays. The gameplay was revised, initial games were staged over two legs; the first in the classic format and the second played as a relay, where contestants selected questions from specific categories such as sport, literature and science, passing a baton between players whenever a "lap" of two correct answers was scored. The final series was also networked, but broadcast around 11:00 during the summer holiday period. Even so, the new networked time did little to save the series from the axe. The last ITV series was broadcast in 1987.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=180499
| 276,302 |
168,974 |
The process of RNAi was referred to as "co-suppression" and "quelling" when observed prior to the knowledge of an RNA-related mechanism. The discovery of RNAi was preceded first by observations of transcriptional inhibition by antisense RNA expressed in transgenic plants, and more directly by reports of unexpected outcomes in experiments performed by plant scientists in the United States and the Netherlands in the early 1990s. In an attempt to alter flower colors in petunias, researchers introduced additional copies of a gene encoding chalcone synthase, a key enzyme for flower pigmentation into petunia plants of normally pink or violet flower color. The overexpressed gene was expected to result in darker flowers, but instead caused some flowers to have less visible purple pigment, sometimes in variegated patterns, indicating that the activity of chalcone synthase had been substantially decreased or became suppressed in a context-specific manner. This would later be explained as the result of the transgene being inserted adjacent to promoters in the opposite direction in various positions throughout the genomes of some transformants, thus leading to expression of antisense transcripts and gene silencing when these promoters are active. Another early observation of RNAi came from a study of the fungus "Neurospora crassa", although it was not immediately recognized as related. Further investigation of the phenomenon in plants indicated that the downregulation was due to post-transcriptional inhibition of gene expression via an increased rate of mRNA degradation. This phenomenon was called "co-suppression of gene expression", but the molecular mechanism remained unknown.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29188721
| 168,884 |
520,030 |
Patil Systems, Inc., was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1981 by Suhas Patil, and in 1983 the company was reorganized by Patil, Kamran Elahian, and venture capitalist Fred Nazem, whose firm, Nazem and Company provided the company's first/start-up round of financing. Later the company was renamed as Cirrus Logic when it moved to Silicon Valley in 1984 to focus on solutions for the growing PC components market. Michael Hackworth was named president and chief executive officer in January 1985, and served as CEO until February 1999. It joined the Nasdaq market listing in 1989 (symbol: CRUS). Cirrus Logic acquired Crystal Semiconductor, a supplier of analog and mixed-signal converter ICs, in 1991. In the early 1990s, Cirrus Logic became a supplier of PC graphics chips, audio converters and chips for magnetic storage products. David D. French joined Cirrus Logic, Inc. as president and chief operating officer in June 1998 and was named chief executive officer in February 1999. Soon after joining the company, through an acquisition strategy French repositioned the company into a premier supplier of high-performance analog and digital processing chip solutions for consumer entertainment electronics, and soon afterwards, M. Yousuf Palla joined as Vice President of Operations and Manufacturing, contributing further to its success. The company announced in April 2000 that it had completed moving its headquarters to Austin, Texas. In June 2005, Cirrus Logic sold its video products operation to an investment firm, creating privately owned Magnum Semiconductor. After French resigned in March 2007, Jason Rhode, formerly the vice president and general manager of Cirrus Logic's Mixed Signal Audio Division, was named president and CEO in May 2007. In 2014 Cirrus Logic bought Wolfson Microelectronics for approximately $467 million.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1687828
| 519,759 |
393,790 |
During the 2011 winter-over season, station manager Renee-Nicole Douceur experienced a stroke on August 27, resulting in loss of vision and cognitive function. Because the Amundsen–Scott base lacks diagnostic medical equipment such as an MRI or CT scan machine, station doctors were unable to fully evaluate the damage done by the stroke or the chance of recurrence. Physicians on site recommended a medevac flight as soon as possible for Douceur, but offsite doctors hired by Raytheon Polar Services (the company contracted to run the base) and the National Science Foundation disagreed with the severity of the situation. The National Science Foundation, which is the final authority on all flights and assumes all financial responsibility for the flights, denied the request for medevac, saying the weather was still too hazardous. Plans were made to evacuate Douceur on the first flight available. Douceur and her niece, believing Douceur's condition to be grave and believing an earlier medevac flight possible, contacted Senator Jeanne Shaheen for assistance; as the NSF continued to state Douceur's condition did not qualify for a medevac attempt and conditions at the base would not permit an earlier flight, Douceur and her supporters brought the situation to media attention. Douceur was evacuated, along with a doctor and an escort, on an October 17 cargo flight. This was the first flight available when the weather window opened up on October 16. This first flight is usually solely for supply and refueling of the station, and does not customarily accept passengers, as the plane's cabin is unpressurized. The evacuation was successful, and Douceur arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand, at 10:55 p.m. She ultimately made a full recovery.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=221644
| 393,595 |
2,016,771 |
She has spent her career researching magma and volcanoes. One specific area of her research is how the chemical composition of magma and crystals that form during eruption can provide information about the amount of water present during the eruption and explain how explosive it was. She uses microanalysis and modeling of volatile diffusion along small melt tubes and embayments, found in olivine crystals. She has done field work around the ring of fire, Philippines, Nicaragua, Iceland, and across the southwest United States as well as the Aleutian Islands. Plank serves on the executive committee of the Deep Carbon Observatory.Two of her other main research contributions have been to the understanding of magma generation and crustal recycling at subduction zones. This is accomplished by geochemical observation of olivine minerals present in lavas. Her research focuses on magmas that evolve due to the plate tectonic cycle, namely subduction zones. More specifically, Plank has published notable papers tracing sediments from sea floors to their ultimate end as lava from arc volcanoes. This 'creation' of magma from sediments, how sediments decompress and at what temperature and water content, has remained the research in which she is most invested and interested.One of Planks most notable works came from a collaboration with Langmuir in 1998. Not only did The chemical composition and its consequences for the crust and mantle provided a linkage in chemical composition between subducting ocean sediment and the composition of lava from arc volcanoes, but also it called for a development of a global subducting sediment (GLOSS) composition and flux similar to upper continental crust (UCC). Plank has since updated GLOSS to GLOSS-II in her 2014 publication, "Chemical composition of subducting sediments."In one of her most recent papers, "Thermal structure and melting conditions in the mantle beneath the Basin and Range province from seismology and petrology," a collaboration with D.W. Forsyth, Plank revised a mantle-melt thermobarometer. They did this revision to show more precise pressure and temperature equilibrium estimates of mantle melt in the Basin and Range region of the United States.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37199545
| 2,015,609 |
728,206 |
PAR emerged in the postwar years as an important contribution to intervention and self-transformation within groups, organizations and communities. It has left a singular mark on the field of rural and community development, especially in the Global South. Tools and concepts for doing research with people, including "barefoot scientists" and grassroots "organic intellectuals" (see Gramsci), are now promoted and implemented by many international development agencies, researchers, consultants, civil society and local community organizations around the world. This has resulted in countless experiments in diagnostic assessment, scenario planning and project evaluation in areas ranging from fisheries and mining to forestry, plant breeding, agriculture, farming systems research and extension, watershed management, resource mapping, environmental conflict and natural resource management, land rights, appropriate technology, local economic development, communication, tourism, leadership for sustainability, biodiversity and climate change. This prolific literature includes the many insights and methodological creativity of participatory monitoring, participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and participatory learning and action (PLA) and all action-oriented studies of local, indigenous or traditional knowledge.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2819542
| 727,822 |
346,599 |
In 1847, Scottish obstetrician James Young Simpson was the first to demonstrate the anesthetic properties of chloroform on humans and helped to popularize the drug for use in medicine. This first supply came from local pharmacists, James Duncan and William Flockhart, and its use spread quickly, with 750,000 doses weekly in Britain by 1895. Simpson arranged for Flockhart to supply Florence Nightingale. Chloroform gained royal approval in 1853 when John Snow administered it to Queen Victoria when she was in labor with Prince Leopold. For the experience of child birth itself, chloroform met all the Queen's expectations; she stated it was "delightful beyond measure". Chloroform was not without fault though. The first fatality directly attributed to chloroform administration was recorded on 28 January 1848 after the death of Hannah Greener. This was the first of many deaths to follow from the untrained handling of chloroform. Surgeons began to appreciate the need for a trained anesthetist. The need, as Thatcher writes, was for an anesthetist to "(1)Be satisfied with the subordinate role that the work would require, (2) Make anesthesia their one absorbing interest, (3) not look at the situation of anesthetist as one that put them in a position to watch and learn from the surgeons technique (4) accept the comparatively low pay and (5) have the natural aptitude and intelligence to develop a high level of skill in providing the smooth anesthesia and relaxation that the surgeon demanded" These qualities of an anesthetist were often found in submissive medical students and even members of the public. More often, surgeons sought out nurses to provide anesthesia. By the time of the Civil War, many nurses had been professionally trained with the support of surgeons.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56561
| 346,418 |
1,220,406 |
A third effort is to boost support for local supply-chain by promoting and developing domestic substitutions of imported products or components. In April 2020, the MND invested $37 million to establish a "defense industry innovation cluster" in the city of Changwon; with the goal to launch several more "clusters" within the next few years. The purpose of these "clusters" is to support small enterprises in replacing imported components and systems; funding of which is directed to industry and research institutes to support regional research, development and production. Another program involves funding small to medium size enterprises to develop prototype components and/or subsystems to replace imported versions of the same parts. The funding program is to last for five years with a maximum funding of $8 million per project. Military products and/or programs supported by the import substitution include the KF-X fighter, KAI Light Armed Helicopter (LAH), active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, guided air-to-surface missiles, future surface combatants, and local transmissions for the third phase production of the K2 Black Panther. A further boost to the import substitution program came on 15 September 2020, when DAPA and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) signed an agreement to collaborate on producing indigenous components for military platforms. Under the agreement the MOTIE allows greater access for local industries to participate in defense projects managed by DAPA. One such project is to develop locally built engines for K9 Thunders in replacement of German MTU engines.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66301957
| 1,219,752 |
446,914 |
The job security granted by tenure is necessary to recruit talented individuals into university professorships, because in many fields private industry jobs pay significantly more; as Schrecker puts it, providing professors "the kind of job security that most other workers can only dream of" counterbalances universities' inability to compete with the private sector: "Universities, after all, are not corporations and cannot provide the kinds of financial remuneration that similarly educated individuals in other fields expect.". Furthermore, Schrecker continues, because research positions require extreme specialization, they must consolidate the frequency and intensity of performance evaluations across a given career, and they cannot have the same flexibility or turnover rates as other jobs, making the tenure process a practical necessity: "A mathematician cannot teach a class on medieval Islam, nor can an art historian run an organic chemistry lab. Moreover, there is no way that the employing institution can provide the kind of retraining that would facilitate such a transformation... even the largest and most well-endowed institution lacks the resources to reevaluate and replace its medieval Islamicists and algebraic topologists every year. Tenure thus lets the academic community avoid excessive turnover while still ensuring the quality of the institution's faculty. It is structured around two assessments -- one at hiring, the other some six years later -- that are far more rigorous than those elsewhere in society and give the institution enough confidence in the ability of the successful candidates to retain them on a permanent basis."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=314951
| 446,698 |
252,896 |
The job security granted by tenure is necessary to recruit talented individuals into university professorships, because in many fields private industry jobs pay significantly more; as Schrecker puts it, providing professors "the kind of job security that most other workers can only dream of" counterbalances universities' inability to compete with the private sector: "Universities, after all, are not corporations and cannot provide the kinds of financial remuneration that similarly educated individuals in other fields expect." Furthermore, Schrecker continues, because research positions require extreme specialization, they must consolidate the frequency and intensity of performance evaluations across a given career, and they cannot have the same flexibility or turnover rates as other jobs, making the tenure process a practical necessity: "A mathematician cannot teach a class on medieval Islam, nor can an art historian run an organic chemistry lab. Moreover, there is no way that the employing institution can provide the kind of retraining that would facilitate such a transformation... even the largest and most well-endowed institution lacks the resources to reevaluate and replace its medieval Islamicists and algebraic topologists every year. Tenure thus lets the academic community avoid excessive turnover while still ensuring the quality of the institution's faculty. It is structured around two assessments -- one at hiring, the other some six years later -- that are far more rigorous than those elsewhere in society and give the institution enough confidence in the ability of the successful candidates to retain them on a permanent basis."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3153225
| 252,763 |
1,050,074 |
The crew of STS-120 worked through the rendezvous procedures in the morning leading to the rendezvous pitch maneuver which began at 11:34 UTC. Following the RPM, the crew was given the "Go" to dock with the station, and successful docking to the International Space Station occurred at 12:40 UTC. Following docking, the joint crews conducted a station safety review, and Tani's custom Soyuz seatliner was transferred from "Discovery" to the Soyuz TMA-11, with Anderson's seat liner taken into "Discovery". This marked the official end of Expedition 16 for Anderson, and the start of Tani's increment. Just before the two crews signed off to sleep, they were informed that after preliminary review of the RPM photography, focused inspection of the orbiter's heat shield would not be required. During the MMT briefing, Shannon confirmed that initial evaluation of the available data showed "Discovery" to be a "pretty clean vehicle". He also confirmed they were not working any issues or items of interest. Shannon said the piece of ice that was looked at prior to launch dislodged during main engine ignition, and as it fell, the ice appeared to graze the underside of the orbiter at the beginning of ascent, but the area around the impact site was in good condition, and the ice did not appear to have caused any damage. Shannon said the teams would continue to evaluate the imagery and data, but the shuttle was in a good configuration.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2445038
| 1,049,528 |
1,416,139 |
An alternative approach called analyzer-based imaging was first explored in 1995 by Viktor Ingal and Elena Beliaevskaya at the X-ray laboratory in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and by Tim Davis and colleagues at the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Division of Material Science and Technology in Clayton, Australia. This method uses a Bragg crystal as angular filter to reflect only a small part of the beam fulfilling the Bragg condition onto a detector. Important contributions to the progress of this method have been made by a US collaboration of the research teams of Dean Chapman, Zhong Zhong and William Thomlinson, for example the extracting of an additional signal caused by ultra-small angle scattering and the first CT image made with analyzer-based imaging. An alternative to analyzer-based imaging, which provides equivalent results without requiring the use of a crystal, was developed by Alessandro Olivo and co-workers at the Elettra synchrotron in Trieste, Italy. This method, called “edge-illumination”, operates a fine selection on the X-ray direction by using the physical edge of the detector pixels themselves, hence the name. Later on Olivo, in collaboration with Robert Speller at University College London, adapted the method for use with conventional X-ray sources, opening the way to translation into clinical and other applications. Peter Munro (also from UCL) substantially contributed to the development of the lab-based approach, by demonstrating that it imposes practically no coherence requirements and that, this notwithstanding, it still is fully quantitative.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=35154335
| 1,415,342 |
1,738,963 |
In 1863 a German anatomist Otto Friedrich Karl Deiters described the existence of an unbranched tubular process (the axon) extending from some cells in the central nervous system, specifically from the lateral vestibular nucleus. In 1871 Gerlach proposed that the brain is composed of "protoplasmic network", hence the basis of reticular theory. According to Gerlach, the nervous system simply consisted of a single continuous network called the reticulum. In 1873 Golgi invented a revolutionary method for microscopic research based on a specific technique for staining nerve cells, which he called ""la reazione nera"" (the "black reaction"). He was able to provide an intricate description of nerve cells in various regions of the cerebro-spinal axis, clearly distinguishing the axon from the dendrites. He drew up a new classification of cells on the basis of the structure of their nervous prolongation, and he criticized Gerlach's theory of the "protoplasmic network". Golgi claimed to observe in the gray matter an extremely dense and intricate network, composed of a web of intertwined branches of axons coming from different cell layers ("diffuse nervous network"). This structure, which emerges from the axons and is therefore essentially different from that hypothesized by Gerlach, appeared in his view to be the main organ of the nervous system, the organ that connected different cerebral areas both anatomically and functionally by means of the transmission of an electric nervous impulse. Although Golgi's earlier works between 1873 and 1885 clearly depicted the axonal connections of cerebellar cortex and olfactory bulb as independent of one another, his later works including the Nobel Lecture showed the entire granular layer of the cerebellar cortex occupied by a network of branching and anastomosing nerve processes. This was due to his strong conviction in the reticular theory.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40329294
| 1,737,986 |
1,986,343 |
In humans, the spinal cord comprises a major part of the central nervous system (CNS). Along with the brain, it develops from the dorsal nerve cord in the embryonic stage. The spinal cord consists of such segmental enlargements called ganglia. These ganglia form the basis for the peripheral nervous system’s (PNS) sensory and motor neurons that innervate various parts of the body. The vertebral segmentation is a process that forms a distinctive feature of the group. At first, somites form as a spherical epithelial structure with a central lumen lined by radially arranged cells. Structures such as mesenchymal sclerotome which later develop as the vertebral column along with notochord, and dermomyotome which further divides to form two types of cells, develop from these somites. The sequential epithelialization of the mesodermal mesenchymal rods lead to the formation of somites and the vertebrae originate from these structures. In higher vertebrates such as humans, the segmental plates are laid down during the process of gastrulation and the segmental plates appear on both sides of the mid-line neural epithelium. Later, the process of neurulation occurs in the mid-line and the segmental plates proceed to the side of the neural tube and notochord. Even though mitotic cell divisions create more cells within these plates, the length of the plates is maintained constant. Although intercellular connections mechanisms such as gap junctions and tight junctions are formed in the cells of the segmental plates, tight junctions are not involved in large network of cells as observed commonly in mature epithelium. A cell-cell adhesion chemical, namely calcium dependent N-cadherin, is present at varying concentrations in the anterior and posterior parts as it is expressed at a higher concentration in the anterior portion of the segmental plate and at lower concentration at the posterior part. During segmentation, the concentration of N-cadherin increases at the apical portion of the cell surface. Later, the ventromedial part of the somite is dis-aggregated from the sclerotome after a measurable loss of immunoreactivity of N-cadherin in this region. The observed change in the concentration of this chemical exemplifies the role of the mediatory molecular mechanism in the cell-cell adhesion during the formation of somites.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=46273402
| 1,985,202 |
968,051 |
Essentially an OM616 with an extra cylinder, it debuted in 1974 with the W115(240 3.0d) chassis. Bore and stroke was . It was originally . Bosch MW inline injection pumps were used, which had flyweight governors and vacuum shutoff. Previous engines had used pneumatic governors, and "gorilla knob" to start and shut off the engine. The North American engines had ADA device equipped pumps which limited fuel at high altitudes to prevent smoking with less dense air. New engine blocks after the .910 had rear mounted oil filter housings, with a combined full flow and bypass filter element. In August 1978 the precombustion chamber was updated to be similar to the new OM617A design for more swirl and more efficient combustion. The engine capacity was lowered to to satisfy engine displacement tax laws in Europe by changing the bore to . September 1979 saw a new camshaft with greater valve lift let air and exhaust gases have less resistance. Power output rose to . Torque remained at @ 2400 rpm. In November 1980 the MW style injection pump was replaced with the M type for non-North American engines. Engines were equipped with series wired loop type glow plugs up until 1980 when replaced by the much more reliable pencil type plugs (these had been already used in the OM617A since 1978). Vehicles sold to the North American market had exhaust gas recirculation equipment fitted.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1801741
| 967,541 |
2,050,921 |
Wonderly was born on April 21, 1922 in Mountain Lake Park, Maryland, to Earl and Gustava Wonderly. After graduating from Oakland High School in Oakland, Maryland in 1940, he attended the Southeastern Bible College for two years. He was then drafted into the United States Army, in which capacity he served in both Japan and Europe during World War II. After the war, he returned to the United States to attend Wheaton College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology in 1949. He then enrolled at Central Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas, from which he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree and a Master of Theology degree in 1952 and 1955, respectively. In 1961, he earned a Master of Science degree in zoology from Ohio University; he began teaching at Wingate College the same year. He joined the faculty of Grace College in 1966 and continued to teach there until 1973. From 1974 to 1977, he wrote the book "God's Time-Records in Ancient Sediments" with the aim of educating his fellow Christians about the geology of sedimentary rocks. He followed this with a second book, "Neglect of Geologic Data: Sedimentary Strata Compared with Young-Earth Creationist Writings", which was published in 1987. He died on December 3, 2004 at Garrett County Memorial Hospital in Oakland.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59096281
| 2,049,740 |
696,881 |
In a show of strength and confidence by a company that rejected positions of weakness, an intense direct campaign ensued by a dedicated 12-person "Nintendo SWAT team" who relocated from Nintendo of America's headquarters in Redmond. The team included Nintendo of America's president Minoru Arakawa, Tukwila warehouse manager and game tester Howard Phillips, Redmond warehouse manager and product designer Don James, product designer Lance Barr, marketer Gail Tilden, her boss Ron Judy, and salesperson Bruce Lowry. Having failed to secure a retail distributor in the last year, the team would deliver the NES debut itself. This began a series of limited test market launches at various metropolitan American cities prior to nationwide release. Instead of the traditional business of test launching at a cheaper mid-sized city, Arakawa boldly chose the nation's largest market, New York City as its initial test market with a $50 million budget. Only with R.O.B's reclassification of the NES as a toy, telemarketing and shopping mall demonstrations, and a risk-free proposition to retailers, did Nintendo secure enough retailer support there of about 500 retailers in New York and New Jersey. As the bellwether and key toy retailer of New York City, the grandest and most important site was a 15 square foot area at FAO Schwarz. This had a dozen playable NES displays surrounding another giant television, featuring "Baseball" being played by real Major League Baseball players who also signed autographs in order to anchor the curious audiences to a familiar American pastime among all the surreal fantasy games.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1571248
| 696,517 |
1,521,833 |
The hemispherical lens (also known as a fisheye or whole-sky lens) was originally designed by Robin Hill (1924) to view the entire sky for meteorological studies of cloud formation. Foresters and ecologists conceived of using photographic techniques to study the light environment in forests by examining the canopy geometry. In particular, Evans and Coombe (1959) estimated sunlight penetration through forest canopy openings by overlaying diagrams of the sun track on hemispherical photographs. Later, Margaret Anderson (1964, 1971) provided a thorough theoretical treatment for calculating the transmission of direct and diffuse components of solar radiation through canopy openings using hemispherical photographs. At that time hemispherical photograph analysis required tedious manual scoring of overlays of sky quadrants and the track of the sun. With the advent of personal computers, researchers developed digital techniques for rapid analysis of hemispherical photographs (Chazdon and Field 1987, Rich 1988, 1989, 1990, Becker et al. 1989). In recent years, researchers have started using digital cameras in favor of film cameras, and algorithms are being developed for automated image classification and analysis. Various commercial software programs have become available for hemispherical photograph analysis, and the technique has been applied for diverse uses in ecology, meteorology, forestry, and agriculture.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11453612
| 1,520,972 |
105,384 |
Gygax immediately discarded his movie ambitions—his "D&D" movie would never be made—and flew back to Lake Geneva. There, he discovered to his shock that although industry leader TSR was grossing , it was barely breaking even; it was in fact in debt and teetering on the edge of insolvency. After investigating the reasons why, Gygax brought his findings to the five other company directors. (Since 1982, TSR, Inc. had conformed to the recommendations of the American Management Association by adding three "outside" directors to the board, increasing its size to six.) Gygax charged that the financial crisis was due to mismanagement by Kevin Blume: excess inventory, overstaffing, too many company cars, and some questionable (and expensive) projects such as dredging up a 19th century shipwreck. Gygax demanded that Kevin Blume be removed as company president, and the three outside directors agreed with him. However, the board still believed the financial problems were terminal and the company needed to be sold. In an effort to stay in control, in March 1985, Gygax exercised his 700-share stock option, giving him just over 50% control. He appointed himself president and CEO, and rather than selling the company, he took steps to produce new revenue-generating products. To that end, he contacted Dave Arneson with a view to produce some Blackmoor material. He also bet heavily on a new AD&D book, "Unearthed Arcana", a compilation of material culled from "Dragon" magazine articles. And he quickly wrote a novel set in his Greyhawk setting, "Saga of Old City", featuring a protagonist called Gord the Rogue. In order to bring some financial stability to TSR, he hired a company manager, Lorraine Williams.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12848
| 105,339 |
1,019,552 |
Industrial brownfield sites can be valuable ecosystems, supporting rare species of plants, animals and invertebrates. Increasingly in demand for redevelopment, these habitats are under threat. "Brown roofs", also known as "biodiverse roofs", can partly mitigate this loss of habitat by covering the flat roofs of new developments with a layer of locally sourced material. Construction techniques for brown roofs are typically similar to those used to create flat green roofs, the main difference being the choice of growing medium (usually locally sourced rubble, gravel, soil, etc...) to meet a specific biodiversity objective. In Switzerland, it is common to use alluvial gravels from the foundations; in London, a mix of brick rubble and some concrete has been used. The original idea was to allow the roofs to self-colonise with plants, but they are sometimes seeded to increase their biodiversity potential in the short term. Such practices are derided by purists. The roofs are colonised by spiders and insects (many of which are becoming extremely rare in the UK as such sites are developed) and provide a feeding site for insectivorous birds. Laban, a centre for contemporary dance in London, has a brown roof specifically designed to encourage the nationally rare black redstart. A green roof, above ground level, and claimed to be the highest in the UK and Europe "and probably in the world" to act as nature reserve, is on the Barclays Bank HQ in Canary Wharf. Designed combining the principles of green and brown roofs, it is already home to a range of rare invertebrates.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=192025
| 1,019,025 |
12,340 |
At first, the engine relied completely on software rendering, meaning the graphics calculations were handled by the CPU. However, over time, it was able to take advantage of the capabilities provided by dedicated graphics cards, focusing on the Glide API, specially designed for 3dfx accelerators. While OpenGL and Direct3D were supported, they reported a slower performance compared to Glide due to their deficiency in texture management at the time. Sweeney particularly criticized the quality of OpenGL drivers for consumer hardware, describing them as "extremely problematic, buggy, and untested", and labeled the code in the implementation as "scary" as opposed to the simpler and cleaner support for Direct3D. With regard to audio, Epic employed the Galaxy Sound System, a software created in assembly language that integrated both EAX and Aureal technologies, and allowed the use of tracker music, which gave level designers flexibility in how a game soundtrack was played at a specific point in maps. Steve Polge, the author of the Reaper Bots plugin for "Quake", programmed the artificial intelligence system, based on knowledge he had gained at his previous employer IBM designing router protocols.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=417152
| 12,335 |
2,144,465 |
Cline received her bachelor's degree in biology from Bryn Mawr College in 1977. While an undergraduate she worked at Rockefeller University in Christian de Duve’s lab. Cline earned her doctoral degree in neurobiology in 1985 from the University of California, Berkeley, studying nervous system development under the supervision of Gunther Stent. She then joined Martha Constantine-Paton’s lab at Yale University in 1985 for postdoctoral studies, where she began her research on the role of sensory experience in shaping brain development. In 1989, Cline joined Richard W. Tsien’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University Medical Center. Shortly thereafter she was appointed to the faculty in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Iowa Medical School. She moved to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 1994, where she was promoted to Professor in 1998. While at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cline was the Marie Robertson Professor of Neurobiology, and served as the Director of Research from 2002-2006. During that period, Cline received the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award. She moved to The Scripps Research Institute in 2008, where she is Chair of the Department Neuroscience. Cline was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012, "for seminal studies of how sensory experience affects the development of brain structures and function and for generous national and international advisory service to neuroscience". She was awarded the Society for Neuroscience Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Cline served as the Secretary of the Society for Neuroscience in 2012 and then President of the Society for Neuroscience in 2016. She is a recent member of the Advisory Council for the National Eye Institute and is a current member of the Advisory Council for the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke and the NIH BRAIN Multi-Council Working Group.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62135161
| 2,143,234 |
1,068,958 |
Commercial LD PSAs have gained popularity due to their broad dynamic range, rapid measurement, high reproducibility and the capability to perform online measurements. However, these devices are generally large in size (~700 × 300 × 450 mm), heavy (~30 kg) and expensive (in the 50–200 K€ range). On the one hand, the large size of common devices is due to the large distance needed between the sample and the detectors to provide the desired angular resolution. Furthermore, their high price is mainly due to the use of expensive laser sources and a large number of detectors, i.e., one sensor for each scattering angle to be monitored. Some commercial devices contain up to twenty sensors. This complexity of commercial LD PSAs, together with the fact that they often require maintenance and highly trained personnel, make them impractical in the majority of online industrial applications, which require the installation of probes in processing environments, often at multiple locations. An alternative method for PSD is cuvette-based SPR technique, that simultaneously measures the particle size ranging 10 nm-10 µm and concentration in a standard spectrophotometer. The optical filter inserted in the cuvette consists of nano-photonic crystals with very high angular resolution, which enables the analysis of PSD by automatically quantifying Mie scattering and Rayleigh scattering.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16521792
| 1,068,404 |
1,106,680 |
In some complex perceptual tasks, all humans are experts. We are all very sophisticated, but not infallible at scene identification, face identification and speech perception. Traditional explanations attribute this expertise to some holistic, somewhat specialized, mechanisms. Perhaps such quick identifications are achieved by more specific and complex perceptual detectors which gradually "chunk" (i.e., unitize) features that tend to concur, making it easier to pull a whole set of information. Whether any concurrence of features can gradually be chunked with practice or chunking can only be obtained with some pre-disposition (e.g. faces, phonological categories) is an open question. Current findings suggest that such expertise is correlated with a significant increase in the cortical volume involved in these processes. Thus, we all have somewhat specialized face areas, which may reveal an innate property, but we also develop somewhat specialized areas for written words as opposed to single letters or strings of letter-like symbols. Moreover, special experts in a given domain have larger cortical areas involved in that domain. Thus, expert musicians have larger auditory areas. These observations are in line with traditional theories of enrichment proposing that improved performance involves an increase in cortical representation. For this expertise, basic categorical identification may be based on enriched and detailed representations, located to some extent in specialized brain areas. Physiological evidence suggests that training for refined discrimination along basic dimensions (e.g. frequency in the auditory modality) also increases the representation of the trained parameters, though in these cases the increase may mainly involve lower-level sensory areas.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25335695
| 1,106,116 |
2,151,943 |
The University of Alaska currently maintains its land-grant endowment as a trust fund that collects various forms of income from its federal land grants. The UAF Cooperative Extension Service resides within the UAF Office of the Provost. UAF's public service and community engagement role is filled in part by Extension educators, faculty and staff located across the state of Alaska. The mission to bring research to the public is pursued in a collaborative fashion, with Extension working to connect Alaskans to the university as well as bringing the issues and challenges of the public to the university. Projects are often client-driven with Extension faculty responding to community needs. In particular, Alaska requires unique attention for its specific cultural, geographic and climatological differences from the rest of the United States. Alaska is known for its mineral deposits and shorelines, and renewable resources like fish and wood, as well as nonrenewable resources like petroleum. Alaska still imports the majority of the food consumed in the state. These are all issues that UAF Cooperative Extension works to examine and address. In a 2012 Plan of Work, UAF Extension describes its commitment to using nonformal education services to build Alaskan communities through programming in agriculture and horticulture, sustainability, natural resources, community development, youth development, global food security, food safety, childhood obesity, climate change, ecosystem management, and sustainable energy. UAF Extension also maintains its commitment to engagement by consulting with multiple advisory councils that include community members from a variety of backgrounds. Farmers, gardeners, miners, foresters, village leaders, parents, teachers and youth representatives meet regularly with Extension leadership to help inform decision making.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36201569
| 2,150,712 |
1,578,443 |
In the discussion for a future design of the WTS, the necessary infrastructure, a sufficient personnel framework and the economic efficiency in operation play a role above all. For a long time, the relocation of the WTS with all its functions to the former Fritsch barracks in front of Ehrenbreitstein fortress was discussed in Koblenz. This was prepared in 2005. It was intended to be implemented by the time of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Garden Show) in 2011. The project was ready for decision around 2008, but was not realized. The Federal Minister of Defense Jung visited the WTS on July 1, 2008, and announced that the collection would remain in Koblenz. In 2016, a transfer to the southern part of the Deines-Bruchmüller-Barracks in Lahnstein was discussed. This approach, which aimed to involve the city of Lahnstein in a private-law operator model, failed. An integration into the Military History Museum of the German Armed Forces in Dresden was not pursued. Instead, this museum institution of the Bundeswehr took over numerous exhibits to Dresden and affiliated sites. A temporarily favoured option was the consolidation of the WTS and its satellite camps on the grounds of the Metternich field office (Wasserplatz) of Wehrtechnische Dienststelle 41 in Koblenz-Metternich. This project option was tied to the termination of the interim use with office containers by the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support. Alternatively, the redevelopment of the site in the former Langemarck-Barracks was up for debate. A decision and resulting infrastructure measures were not announced until the end of 2021.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69306757
| 1,577,553 |
201,008 |
Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), began his academic career in Lund by studying medicine and botany for a year before moving to Uppsala. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology. Pehr Henrik Ling (1776–1839) is considered the prime developer of natural gymnastics, the father of Swedish massage, and one of the most important contributors to the development and spread of modern physical therapy. Carl Adolph Agardh (1787–1859) made important contributions to the study of algae and played an important role as a politician in raising educational standards in Sweden. Elias Magnus Fries (1794–1878) was a notable botanist who played a prominent role in the creation of the modern taxonomy of mushrooms. Nils Alwall (1904–1986) was a pioneer in hemodialysis who constructed the first practical dialysis machine, commercialized by The Gambro Company. Rune Elmqvist (1906–1996) was a physician and medical engineer who developed the first implantable pacemaker as well as the first inkjet ECG printer. Lars Leksell (1907–1986) was a notable neurosurgeon who was the father of radiosurgery and later the inventor of the Gamma Knife. Inge Edler (1911–2001) developed the medical ultrasonography in 1953, commonly known as echocardiography, together with Hellmuth Hertz, and was awarded the Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award in 1977. Sune Bergström (1916–2004) and Bengt Samuelsson (1934–) were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1982 for "discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related biologically active substances". Arvid Carlsson (1923–) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000 for "discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system" and is noted for having discovered the role of dopamine as an independent neurotransmitter.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17843
| 200,905 |
139,802 |
It was further stipulated that candidates should be between 25 and 40 years old, no taller than , and hold a college degree in a STEM subject. The college degree requirement excluded the USAF's X-1 pilot, then-Lt Col (later Brig Gen) Chuck Yeager, the first person to exceed the speed of sound. He later became a critic of the project, ridiculing the civilian space program, labeling astronauts as "spam in a can." John Glenn did not have a college degree either, but used influential friends to make the selection committee accept him. USAF Capt. (later Col.) Joseph Kittinger, a USAF fighter pilot and stratosphere balloonist, met all the requirements but preferred to stay in his contemporary project. Other potential candidates declined because they did not believe that human spaceflight had a future beyond Project Mercury. From the original 508, 110 candidates were selected for an interview, and from the interviews, 32 were selected for further physical and mental testing. Their health, vision, and hearing were examined, together with their tolerance to noise, vibrations, g-forces, personal isolation, and heat. In a special chamber, they were tested to see if they could perform their tasks under confusing conditions. The candidates had to answer more than 500 questions about themselves and describe what they saw in different images. Navy Lt (later Capt) Jim Lovell, who was later an astronaut in the Gemini and Apollo programs, did not pass the physical tests. After these tests it was intended to narrow the group down to six astronauts, but in the end it was decided to keep seven.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19812
| 139,745 |
2,057,468 |
When leaving Millennium, Dr. Elliott was Senior Vice President of Pharmacology & Drug Development. Following the launch of Velcade, Dr. Elliott joined a new biotechnology company, CombinatoRx (CRx) as Executive Vice President of Product Development (2001-2005). Here he launched numerous combination products into various inflammatory areas (asthma, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis) and oncology. During his time at CRx, Dr. Elliott was part of the management team that completed a successful $42 MM IPO as well as gaining $20 MM support from the Singaporean government to start up a new company in Singapore to mimic the CRx model in the USA. In 2005, Peter was recruited to another biotechnology company, Sirtris (2005-2009). The company focused on diseases of ageing including diabetes, oncology and inflammatory conditions. Dr. Elliott was again part of the management team that completed a successful $60 MM IPO, and additional rounds of funding. He completed clinical trials in diabetics before the company was acquired by GSK in 2008 for $720 MM. Dr. Elliott remained for the transition period, and then left in 2009, at this time he was Head of Research and Development. Subsequently Dr. Elliott set up his own consulting company, Wapiti Pharmaceutical Consulting, Marlboro, MA, USA. Since then, Peter has been in demand from both large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to help develop compounds in multiple therapeutic areas, undertake in-licensing/due diligence, and help in mergers/acquisitions. During his professional career, Dr. Elliott has also presented preclinical and clinical data, at both National and International meetings, focused on numerous therapeutic areas. He has been an active member of multiple societies throughout his career, and has been invited to give seminars at many Universities and Business schools around the world. He has participated on multiple scientific advisory boards, and advises on drug development pathways and regulatory issues. Dr. Elliott is also the co-author of numerous patents relating to procedures and drugs worked on during his time in academia and within the industrial setting.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66911197
| 2,056,283 |
12,934 |
By the early morning of October 7, all attempts to patch the breach in the main defensive line of the southern sector became futile because also the center and right flank of the 188th AB had started to collapse. During the night, it had largely managed to hold its ground against continuous attacks, inflicting severe losses on the Syrians with accurate cannon fire, hoping to buy time for reserve forces to reach the front lines. Some tank crews sacrificed themselves rather than voluntarily give ground. Gradually, the fighting subsided. Dawn revealed that the Syrian 5th Infantry Division under the cover of darkness had at numerous points bridged the tank ditch and cleared corridors through the minefield belt. The situation of 188th AB was rendered even more hazardous by the presence in its rear of the Syrian 9th Infantry Division. It was decided to abandon the southern Golan. In the night, many artillery and logistic units had already withdrawn, some slipping through the columns of 9th ID, others being destroyed by them. Civilian Jewish settlements had been evacuated. The same now happened with most fortifications, except bunker complex 116. Ben-Shoham with his staff outflanked the Syrian penetration via a western route and reached the north. The 82nd TB company that had reinforced the center, commanded by Eli Geva, had the previous evening destroyed about thirty Syrian tanks. It now successfully crossed the axis of 9th ID to the north. Of the originally thirty-six tanks of 53rd TB, twelve remained. Eres hid them in the crater of Tel Faris, where a surveillance base was located. During the late evening of October 7, he would successfully break out to the west.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34276
| 12,929 |
1,975,427 |
The Airplane Engineering Department, precursor of ASC, was first established under the U.S. Army's Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps in late 1917 at McCook Field. Early on the department's focus was flight testing and training. The department was renamed the Airplane Engineering Division following World War I, it continued its mission of flight testing and training, but also began development and engineering. One early native model, the VCP-1 was designed by resident engineers, Alfred V. Verville and Virginius E. Clark. Another aircraft tested was the MB-1, eventually used as the standard mail plane. The division also expanded operations to Wilbur Wright Field. The division also pioneered aviation safety with the use of free-fall parachutes and the development of protective clothing, closed cockpits, heated and pressurized cabins, and oxygen systems. As the stockpile of aircraft and parts grew the division was able to spend more time finding ways to enhance tools and procedures for pilots. Advancements include things like an electric ignition system, anti-knock fuels, navigational aids, improved weather forecasting techniques, stronger propellers, advancements in aerial photography, and the design of landing and wing lights for night flying.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14559659
| 1,974,290 |
1,898,522 |
Classification of cancers has been dominated by the fields of histology and histopathology which aim to leverage morphological markers for accurate identification of a tumor type. Histological methods rely on chemical staining of tissues with pigments such as haematoxylin and eosin and microscopy-based visualization by a pathologist. The identification of tumor subtypes is based on established classification schemes such as the International Classification of Diseases published by the World Health Organization which provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases. For some types of cancer, these methods are unable to distinguish between subclasses; for example, defining subgroups of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) have largely failed due to discrepancies between inter- and intra-observer reproducibility. Furthermore, the clinical outcomes of tumors classified as DLBCLs is highly variable suggesting that there are multiple subtypes of DLBCL that cannot be distinguished based on these histological markers. Breast tumor classification too has largely failed based on these predictors. Development of effective therapies depends on accurate diagnosis; additionally, poor diagnosis can lead to patient suffering due to needless side-effects from non-targeted treatments and to increased health care expenditure. Most telling perhaps is that 70-80% of breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy based on traditional predictors would have survived without it.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25304632
| 1,897,438 |
1,975,796 |
Tikvah Alper was born in South Africa, the youngest of four daughters in a family of Jewish refugees from Russia. As a schoolgirl at Durban Girls' High School, she was described as "the most intellectually distinguished girl ever to attend the school", and matriculated with distinction a year early. She graduated with distinction in physics from University of Cape Town in 1929, and then studied in Berlin with the nuclear physicist Lise Meitner in 1930–32, publishing a prize-winning paper on delta rays produced by alpha particles in 1933. In 1932, she returned to South Africa to marry the (later) renowned bacteriologist Max Sterne, the inventor of the most effective livestock vaccine for anthrax. Because married women were not then permitted to work at University, Tikvah and Max established a home laboratory where they worked together. Their sons, Jonathan and Michael, were born in 1935 and 1936. From then on, Tikvah Alper combined demands of motherhood (Jonathan was born profoundly deaf), marriage and career. These included pre- and post-war spells in England, where she worked with the pioneer radiobiologist, Douglas Lea. Over ten years from 1937, Tikvah retrained and then also worked as a teacher of the deaf. Her physics training and technical skills were evident in her published research on making speech articulation visible, for use in speech training for deaf children She became head of the Biophysics section of the South African National Physics Laboratory in 1948.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37887218
| 1,974,659 |
1,923,518 |
Host-associated microbiomes also influence biogeochemical cycling within ecosystems with cascading effects on biodiversity and ecosystem processes. For example, microbial symbionts comprise up to 40% of the biomass of their sponge hosts. Through a process termed the “sponge-loop,” they convert dissolved organic carbon released by reef organisms into particulate organic carbon that can be consumed by heterotrophic organisms. Along with the coral–Symbiodiniaceae mutualism, this sponge-bacterial symbiosis helps explain Darwin’s paradox, i.e., how highly productive coral reef ecosystems exist within otherwise oligotrophic tropical seas. Some sponge symbionts play a significant role in the marine phosphorus cycle by sequestering nutrients in the form of polyphosphate granules in the tissue of their host and nitrogen cycling, e.g., through nitrification, denitrification, and ammonia oxidation.]. Many macroalgal-associated bacteria are specifically adapted to degrade complex algal polysaccharides (e.g., fucoidan, porphyran, and laminarin) and modify both the quality and quantity of organic carbon supplied to the ecosystem. The sulfur-oxidizing gill endosymbionts of lucinid clams contribute to primary productivity through chemosynthesis and facilitate the growth of seagrasses (important foundation species) by lowering sulfide concentrations in tropical sediments. Gammaproteobacterial symbionts of lucinid clams and stilbonematid nematodes were also recently shown to be capable of nitrogen fixation (bacterial symbiont genomes encode and express nitrogenase genes, highlighting the role of symbiotic microbes in nutrient cycling in shallow marine systems.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62893752
| 1,922,415 |
2,171,776 |
James E. Faller (born January 17, 1934) is an American physicist and inventor who specializes in the field of gravity. He conceived the Lunar Laser Ranging Program, the goal of which, was to fire high powered laser beams at special retroreflectors placed on the Moon by Apollo program Astronauts. He invented a gravity motion sensor, called the Absolute Gravimeter, which is sensitive enough to detect changes in the local gravitational field due to a person's mass. His work has been featured in many books and magazines, such as National Geographic. In 2001, his gravity detection device was featured on the Science Channel in the show Head Rush and was used to debunk anti-gravity devices that were for sale on the market. All devices tested on the show did not produce any kinds of gravitational anomalies. In that same year, he received the Joseph F. Keithley Award for Advances in Measurement Science. His research interests include geophysics, experimental relativity, fundamental constants, and precision measurement experiments designed to look for possible invalidations of accepted physical laws at extreme magnitudes. He currently works for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and is working on a new measurement of "G", the Newtonian constant of gravitation.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12932718
| 2,170,537 |
211,624 |
Obesity is a major risk factor for a wide variety of conditions including cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, certain cancers, and type 2 diabetes. In order to prevent obesity, it is recommended that individuals adhere to a consistent exercise regimen as well as a nutritious and balanced diet. A healthy individual should aim for acquiring 10% of their energy from proteins, 15-20% from fat, and over 50% from complex carbohydrates, while avoiding alcohol as well as foods high in fat, salt, and sugar. Sedentary adults should aim for at least half an hour of moderate-level daily physical activity and eventually increase to include at least 20 minutes of intense exercise, three times a week. Preventive health care offers many benefits to those that chose to participate in taking an active role in the culture. The medical system in our society is geared toward curing acute symptoms of disease after the fact that they have brought us into the emergency room. An ongoing epidemic within American culture is the prevalence of obesity. Healthy eating and regular exercise play a significant role in reducing an individual's risk for type 2 diabetes. A 2008 study concluded that about 23.6 million people in the United States had diabetes, including 5.7 million that had not been diagnosed. 90 to 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is the main cause of kidney failure, limb amputation, and new-onset blindness in American adults.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1032780
| 211,516 |
1,730,029 |
In 1998, Dr. Roberto Bolli led a U of L team that identified an intracellular molecule that could protect the heart from ischemic myocardial damage. This group presented its findings to 40,000 cardiologists at the 1998 American Heart Association (AHA) conference. Dr. Bolli also headed a U of L team that was awarded an $11.7 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute—part of the National Institutes of Health—to continue to build on this research in 2005, marking the largest nationally competitive NIH grant awarded to the university. NIH reviewers rated the proposed research program as exceedingly innovative and potentially high-impact, noting that it addresses an extremely important clinical problem in a way that will move treatments from the laboratory to the patient as quickly as possible. Using highly unusual language, the reviewers called the proposal "a paradigm of what a program project grant should be." Dr Bolli was the lead author on the SCIPIO trial testing the effects of stem cells in heart failure. The resulting paper was retracted by "The Lancet" for data falsification, He is or has been on the editorial board of all major cardiovascular journals and was the Editor in Chief of "Circulation Research", a post from which he was dismissed for making homophobic comments He has been a member of numerous NIH study sections and committees and is a member of the NHLBI Advisory Council. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Heart Association.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36648613
| 1,729,054 |
1,435,165 |
The concept of islet transplantation is not new.<ref name="www.cellr4.org/article/128"></ref> Investigators as early as the English surgeon Charles Pybus (1882–1975) attempted to graft pancreatic tissue to cure diabetes. Most, however, credit the recent era of islet transplantation research to Paul Lacy's studies dating back more than three decades. In 1967, Lacy's group described a novel collagenase-based method (later modified by Dr. Camillo Ricordi, then working with Dr. Lacy) to isolate islets, paving the way for future in vitro and in vivo islet experiments. Subsequent studies showed that transplanted islets could reverse diabetes in both rodents and non-human primates. In a summary of the 1977 Workshop on Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplantation in Diabetes, Lacy commented on the feasibility of "islet cell transplantation as a therapeutic approach [for] the possible prevention of the complications of diabetes in man". Improvements in isolation techniques and immunosuppressive regimens ushered in the first human islet transplantation clinical trials in the mid-1980s. The first successful trial of human islet allotransplantation resulting in long-term reversal of diabetes was performed at the University of Pittsburgh in 1990. Yet despite continued procedural improvements, only about 10% of islet recipients in the late 1990s achieved euglycemia (normal blood glucose). In 2000, Dr. James Shapiro and colleagues published a report describing seven consecutive people who achieved euglycemia following islet transplantation using a steroid-free protocol and large numbers of donor islets, since referred to as the Edmonton protocol. This protocol has been adapted by islet transplant centers around the world and has greatly increased islet transplant success.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6580862
| 1,434,359 |
800,096 |
One practical application of conjoint analysis in business analysis is given by the following example: A real estate developer is interested in building a high rise apartment complex near an urban Ivy League university. To ensure the success of the project, a market research firm is hired to conduct focus groups with current students. Students are segmented by academic year (freshman, upper classmen, graduate studies) and amount of financial aid received. Study participants are shown a series of choice scenarios, involving different apartment living options specified on 6 attributes (proximity to campus, cost, telecommunication packages, laundry options, floor plans, and security features offered). The estimated cost to construct the building associated with each apartment option is equivalent. Participants are asked to choose their preferred apartment option within each choice scenario. This forced choice exercise reveals the participants' priorities and preferences. Multinomial logistic regression may be used to estimate the utility scores for each attribute level of the 6 attributes involved in the conjoint experiment. Using these utility scores, market preference for any combination of the attribute levels describing potential apartment living options may be predicted.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=296457
| 799,670 |
1,384,806 |
Prosser arrived at the University of Cincinnati as a candidate for a PhD in Educational Psychology in 1931. She arrived at a time when there was a research program that "focused on African Americans in different school environments". The general consensus in the department at this time was that "all-black schools with black teachers could best provide the skills black students needed to survive in a society where most faced limited opportunities…segregated schools, by insulating black students from white abuse, were crucial to the formation of black identity and could become unifying community centers." Prosser's dissertation, "The Non-Academic Development of Negro Children in Mixed and Segregated Schools", became an important text for issues relating to education, reform, social development, racial identity, and other prominent topics related to segregation. It was a "companion study" to Mary Crowley's 1931 dissertation, "A Comparison of the Academic Achievement of Cincinnati Negroes in Segregated and Mixed Schools" When Prosser began collecting data for her study in November 1931, Crowley was able to aid Prosser in getting the same institutions to co-operate in her research. Prosser's interest in the topic "grew out of a desire to determine objectively, so far as possible, the degree of truth in the often repeated statement that the Negro child develops superior character traits, more racial self-respect, and a greater concomitants of a well-rounded education when he is placed under the direction of Negro teachers during his formative years". She took Crowley's research a step further by considering the demographics of the student body in the schools as well. The purpose was:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13646566
| 1,384,039 |
23,136 |
There are few studies of the health effects of long-term continuous CO exposure on humans and animals at levels below 1%. Occupational CO exposure limits have been set in the United States at 0.5% (5000 ppm) for an eight-hour period. At this CO concentration, International Space Station crew experienced headaches, lethargy, mental slowness, emotional irritation, and sleep disruption. Studies in animals at 0.5% CO have demonstrated kidney calcification and bone loss after eight weeks of exposure. A study of humans exposed in 2.5 hour sessions demonstrated significant negative effects on cognitive abilities at concentrations as low as 0.1% (1000ppm) CO likely due to CO induced increases in cerebral blood flow. Another study observed a decline in basic activity level and information usage at 1000 ppm, when compared to 500 ppm. However a review of the literature found that most studies on the phenomenon of carbon dioxide induced cognitive impairment to have a small effect on high-level decision making and most of the studies were confounded by inadequate study designs, environmental comfort, uncertainties in exposure doses and differing cognitive assessments used. Similarly a study on the effects of the concentration of CO in motorcycle helmets has been criticized for having dubious methodology in not noting the self-reports of motorcycle riders and taking measurements using mannequins. Further when normal motorcycle conditions were achieved (such as highway or city speeds) or the visor was raised the concentration of CO declined to safe levels (0.2%).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5906
| 23,127 |
247,179 |
This line of experiments were developed by several groups, including DT Marsh and colleagues, who in February 1948 showed that a series of compounds structurally related to adrenaline could also show either contracting or relaxing effects, depending on whether or not other toxins were present. This again supported the argument that the muscles had two different mechanisms by which they could respond to the same compound. In June of that year, Raymond Ahlquist, Professor of Pharmacology at Medical College of Georgia, published a paper concerning adrenergic nervous transmission. In it, he explicitly named the different responses as due to what he called α receptors and β receptors, and that the only sympathetic transmitter was adrenaline. While the latter conclusion was subsequently shown to be incorrect (it is now known to be noradrenaline), his receptor nomenclature and concept of "two different types of detector mechanisms for a single neurotransmitter", remains. In 1954, he was able to incorporate his findings in a textbook, "Drill's Pharmacology in Medicine", and thereby promulgate the role played by α and β receptor sites in the adrenaline/noradrenaline cellular mechanism. These concepts would revolutionise advances in pharmacotherapeutic research, allowing the selective design of specific molecules to target medical ailments rather than rely upon traditional research into the efficacy of pre-existing herbal medicines.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=241017
| 247,051 |
1,606,045 |
Ecometrics is the quantitative analysis of economic, environmental, and societal systems based on the concurrent development of empirical theory, related by appropriate methods of inference in attempts to create more sustainable systems. Broadly defined, Ecometrics is a way to evaluate if an activity is contributing to more sustainable systems of production and consumption. Ecometrics is a system of statistical extrapolation and interpolation that uses principles of resource management in economic and environmental studies to analyze trends in consumption. With a comprehensive understanding of ecometrics, and thereby an understanding of the impacts of specific conscious or conventional opportunity costs, agents within economic systems can cause measurable change for the triple bottom line. The term was originally trademarked by Interface Global, a corporation founded by Ray Anderson. The parameters that cause change are often population, technology, transportation, consumption, public conscious, non-renewable or renewable resources, location, labor conditions, transportation and wealth. Ecometrics is used in labeling programs such as the US EPA Fuel Economy and Environment Label to determine the environmental and financial advantages of purchasing one car over another. There are many applications of Ecometrics for Environmental Impact Calculators infographics, and for political analysis. Because the parameters of ecometrics vary drastically for any activity, the applications of its resulting measurements are sometimes unilateral. Applied ecometrics exposes the complexity of making sustainable decisions, especially given other humanitarian goals such as third world economic development. In this way ecometrics shows any choice within consumption and production systems as wicked problems.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34022580
| 1,605,141 |
1,907,767 |
George Kollias is placed amongst the top cited European scientists in Rheumatology research for the period 1997 to 2008. He has published over 170 primary research articles in peer-reviewed journals and more than 40 reviews and commentaries. His work has received over 29.000 citations and an h-index of 76 (data from Google Scholar). His laboratory is supported by several competitive grants from European Commission and National sources, as well as by the international biopharmaceutical industry. From 2005 - 2009 Dr. Kollias coordinated a consortium of 24 EU organizations constituting the FP6 Network of Excellence MUGEN ("Functional Genomics in mutant mouse models as tools to investigate the complexity of human immunological disease", 11M€). He is currently a core member of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) project BeTheCure (Total budget: 38 M€, 2011–2016) and has recently been awarded a 2013 Advanced ERC grant to study the role of mesenchymal cells in intestinal tissue homeostasis and pathophysiology.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13272704
| 1,906,671 |
691,895 |
Quasi solid-state electrolytes (QSSEs) are a wide class of composite compounds consisting of a liquid electrolyte and a solid matrix. This liquid electrolyte serves as a percolating pathway of ion conduction while the solid matrix adds mechanical stability to the material as a whole. As the name suggests, QSSEs can have a range of mechanical properties from strong solid-like materials to those in a paste form. QSSEs can be subdivided into a number of categories including gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs), Ionogel electrolytes, and gel electrolytes (also known as "soggy sand" electrolytes). The most common QSSE, GPEs have a substantially different ionic conduction mechanism than SPEs, which conduct ions through the interaction with the substitutional groups of the polymer chains. Meanwhile, GPEs conduct ions mainly in the solvent, which acts as plasticizer. The solvent acts to increase the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte as well as soften the electrolyte for improved interfacial contact. The matrix of GPEs consist of a polymer network swollen in a solvent that contains the active ions (e.g., Li, Na, Mg, etc.). This allows for the composite to contain both the mechanical properties of solids and the high transport properties of liquids. A number of polymer hosts have been used in GPEs, including PEO, PAN, PMMA, PVDF-HFP, etc. The polymers are synthesized with increased porosity to incorporate solvents such as ethylene carbonate (EC), propylene carbonate (PC), diethyl carbonate (DEC), and dimethyl carbonate (DMC). Low molecular weight poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) or other ethers or aprotic organic solvents with high dielectric constant like dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) can also be mixed the SPE matrix. UV and thermal cross-linking are useful ways to polymerize in-situ the GPE directly in contact with the electrodes for a perfectly adherent interface. Values of ionic conductivity on the order of 1 mS cm can be easily achieved with GPEs, as demonstrate the numerous research articles published.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64345812
| 691,532 |
593,076 |
Spearman had an unusual background for a psychologist. In his childhood he was ambitious to follow an academic career. He first joined the army as a regular officer of engineers in August 1883, and was promoted to captain on 8 July 1893, serving in the Munster Fusiliers. After 15 years he resigned in 1897 to study for a PhD in experimental psychology. In Britain, psychology was generally seen as a branch of philosophy and Spearman chose to study in Leipzig under Wilhelm Wundt, because it was a center of the "new psychology"—one that used the scientific method instead of metaphysical speculation. As Wundt was often absent due to his multiple duties and popularity, Spearman largely worked with Felix Krueger and Wilhelm Wirth, both of whom he admired. He started in 1897, and after some interruption (he was recalled to the army during the Second Boer war, and served as a Deputy Assistant Adjutant General from February 1900) he obtained his degree in 1906. He had already published his seminal paper on the factor analysis of intelligence (1904). Spearman met and impressed the psychologist William McDougall who arranged for Spearman to replace him when he left his position at University College London. Spearman stayed at University College until he retired in 1931. Initially he was Reader and head of the small psychological laboratory. In 1911 he was promoted to the Grote professorship of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic. His title changed to Professor of Psychology in 1928 when a separate Department of Psychology was created.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1290799
| 592,772 |
920,290 |
In 1934, Meccano began to be used in the construction of differential analysers, a type of analogue computer used to solve differential equations using methods which have since been superseded by the digital computer. Though invented on paper in the 19th century, the first such machine had only been built in 1931, and normally they would be built by specialist manufacturers, at great cost. For example, in 1947, UCLA in the US installed a differential analyser built for them by General Electric at a cost of $125,000. However, a "proof of concept" model of a differential analyser which made extensive use of Meccano parts was built at Manchester University, UK, in 1934, by Douglas Hartree and Arthur Porter: use of Meccano meant that the machine was cheap to build, and it proved "accurate enough for the solution of many scientific problems". This machine is now in the Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London, England. A similar machine built by J.B. Bratt at Cambridge University in 1935 is now in the Museum of Transport & Technology collection in Auckland, New Zealand. A memorandum written for the British military's Armament Research Department in 1944 describes how this same machine was modified during World War II for improved reliability and enhanced capability, and identifies its wartime applications as including research on the flow of heat, explosive detonations, and simulations of transmission lines. After a lengthy period of neglect, a restoration effort began in 2003, and a successful "full run through" of this machine was completed on 16 December 2008.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=147874
| 919,804 |
1,841,466 |
Unfortunately, there are many analytical and practical problems to consider using approaches involving genome-wide sequencing. Availability of samples is a major limiting factor: sampling procedures may disturb an already fragile population or may have a big impact in individual animals itself putting limitations to samples' collection. For these reasons several alternative strategies where developed: constant monitoring, for example with radio collars, allow us to understand the behaviour and develop strategies to obtain genetic samples and management of the endangered populations. The samples taken from those species are then used to produce primary cell culture from biopsies. Indeed, this kind of material allow us to grow in vitro cells, and allow us to extract and study genetic material without constantly sampling the endangered populations. Despite a faster and easier data production and a continuous improvement of sequencing technologies, there is still a marked delay of data analysis and processing techniques. Genome-wide analysis and big genomes studies require advances in bioinformatics and computational biology. At the same time improvements in the statistical programs and in the population genetics are required to make better conservation strategies. This last aspect work in parallel with prediction strategies which should take in consideration all features that determine fitness of a species.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62084317
| 1,840,414 |
167,659 |
After the banning of turbocharged engines in 1989, V10 became the most popular engine configuration in Formula One, because it offered the best compromise between power and fuel consumption. From the 1998 season onwards, all competing teams had V10 engines in their cars. V12s were powerful but thirsty, while V8s were more fuel-efficient but lacked power. saw the grids of Formula One start to revert to normal, as Jordan rapidly faded out of sight, and Williams, looking forward to a new partnership with BMW started to reassert itself. The fight at the front, however, was very much between Häkkinen and Schumacher, each two-time champion, driving cars closely matched in performance. Ferrari had been steadily improving since their low point in the early 1990s and in 2000 Schumacher prevailed, becoming the first three-time Champion since Senna, and bringing the World Drivers' title to Ferrari for the first time since Jody Scheckter in 1979. The season saw Ferrari start to leave the rest of the grid behind, and Schumacher won the championship by the Hungarian Grand Prix, which tied him as second quickest championship winner with Nigel Mansell. 2001 also saw the reintroduction of electronic driver aids after a seven-year absence, starting at the Spanish Grand Prix, which included fully-automatic gearboxes, launch control, and traction control, marking the first time since the season that these systems were allowed to be used. For , the season was a red-wash. Ferrari finished every race and won 15 of 17. Michael Schumacher scored more points than the second and third-placed drivers combined, after gaining a podium in all of the races (Schumacher had only a single third place, in Malaysia). In this season, he wrapped up the championship at the French Grand Prix (Round 11 of 17), becoming the earliest ever championship winner.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=640098
| 167,572 |
390,602 |
Since the 1960s, over three hundred rocket launch sites have been built globally. Among these launch sites, 17 hosted 90 launches in 2017 alone. Rocket launches affect local and global environments through the construction of necessary infrastructure, exposure of local environments to toxic residue and the dispersal of pollutants. Rockets are the only source of direct anthropogenic emissions into the stratosphere and emit ozone depleting substances such as nitrous oxide, hydrogen chloride and aluminium oxide; these substances can destroy 105 ozone molecules before depleting. Each launch showers an area concentrated within a kilometre with toxins, heavy metals, and acids. This results in localised regional acid rain, plant death, fish kills, and failed seed germination. Furthermore, studies on trace elements concentration in alligators, near NASA launch activities in Florida (USA), showed that over 50% of alligators had "greater than toxic levels" of trace elements in their liver. Similarly, research in Kazakhstan, Russia and China has found that unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) has carcinogenic, mutagenic, convulsant, teratogenic, embryotoxic and DNA damaging effects on rodents living near the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. It is unknown, however, at what trace concentrations these toxic effects manifest in humans or how it may bioaccumulate up the food chain. A lack of adequate resourcing to maintain safe, non-toxic environments makes these areas sacrifice zones and spaces of waste. The relative remoteness of these spaces makes them attractive launch sites, yet this "periphery" remain central to both their human and non-human inhabitants, who become "sacrificial".
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=266344
| 390,407 |
1,403,202 |
Some cancer studies with non-rodent animals have been performed with the unmodified Sendai virus. Thus, after intratumoral injections of the virus, complete or partial remission of mast cell tumors (mastocytomas) was observed in dogs affected by this disease. Short-term remission after an intravenous injection of SeV was described in a patient with acute leukemia treated in the Clinical Research Center of University Hospitals of Cleveland (USA) by multiple viruses in 1964. It is also reported that the Moscow strain of SeV was tested by Dr. V. Senin and his team as an anticancer agent in a few dozen patients affected by various malignancies with metastatic growth in Russia in the 1990s. The virus was injected intradermally or intratumorally and it caused fever in less than half of the treated patients, which usually disappeared within 24 hours. Occasionally, the virus administration caused inflammation of the primary tumor and metastases. Clinical outcomes were variable. A small proportion of treated patients experienced pronounced long-term remission with the disappearance of primary tumors and metastases. Sometimes the remission lasted 5–10 years or more after virotherapy. Brief descriptions of the medical records of the patients that experiences long-term remission are presented in the patent. Intratumoral injection of UV irradiated and inactivated SeV resulted in an antitumor effect in a few melanoma patients with stage IIIC or IV progressive disease with skin or lymph metastasis. Complete or partial responses were observed in approximately half of injected and noninjected target lesions.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6070061
| 1,402,414 |
1,844,499 |
It is a two-dimensional graphical representation in the Segrè-arrangement with the neutron number "N" on the abscissa and the proton number "Z" on the ordinate. Each nuclide is represented at the intersection of its respective neutron and proton number by a small square box with the chemical symbol and the nucleon number "A". By columnar subdivision of such a field, in addition to ground states also nuclear isomers can be shown. The coloring of a field (segmented if necessary) shows in addition to the existing text entries the observed types of radioactive decay of the nuclide and a rough classification of their relative shares: stable, nonradioactive nuclides completely black, primordial radionuclides partially black, proton emission orange, alpha decay yellow, beta plus decay/electron capture red, isomeric transition (gamma decay, internal conversion) white, beta minus decay blue, spontaneous fission green, cluster emission violet, neutron emission light blue. For each radionuclide its field includes (if known) information about its half-life and essential energies of the emitted radiation, for stable nuclides and primordial radionuclides there are data on mole fraction abundances in the natural isotope mixture of the corresponding chemical element. Furthermore, for many nuclides cross sections for nuclear reactions with thermal neutrons are quoted, usually for the (n, γ)-reaction (neutron capture), partly fission cross sections for the induced nuclear fission and cross sections for the (n, α)-reaction or (n, p)-reaction. For the chemical elements cross sections and standard atomic weights (both averaged over natural isotopic composition) are specified (the relative atomic masses partially as an interval to reflect the variability of the composition of the element's natural isotope mixture). For the nuclear fission of U and Pu with thermal neutrons, percentage isobaric chain yields of fission products are listed.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21685565
| 1,843,445 |
1,630,414 |
In 1953, after a year of research, meetings and reports alike, the design of "the Synchro-Cyclotron" started. The construction of the machine began in 1954 on the site at Meyrin with the parts coming from all over Western Europe. In late 1955, Wolfgang Gentner became the director of the Synchro-Cyclotron Study Group, as former director Cornelis Bakker became the Director-General of CERN. The research program for the Synchrocyclotron started to be planned to be able to start experiments as soon as possible. The SC was ready to produce its first beam in August 1957, practically on the date foreseen. A press release by CERN on 16 August 1957, stated that the SC, as the third-largest accelerator of its type in the world, had started to work at its full energy. In late 1958, the Synchrocyclotron made its first important contribution to nuclear physics by the discovery of the rare electron decay of the pion particle. This discovery helped theorists a lot by proving that this decay really occurs. The Synchrocyclotron was used for an average of 135 hours per week during 1961; it ran continuously every day of the week except Mondays which were reserved for maintenance. The Synchrocyclotron was accelerating a jet of protons 54 times a second, up to a speed of approximately 240,000 kilometers per second (80% percent of the speed of light).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47506008
| 1,629,494 |
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