A recent project discovered nearly 1500 new RNA viruses by sampling over 200 invertebrate species. "The research team... extracted their RNA and, using next-generation sequencing, deciphered the sequence of a staggering 6 trillion letters present in the invertebrate RNA libraries". The research showed that viruses changed bits and pieces of their RNA by a variety of genetic mechanisms. "The invertebrate virome [shows] remarkable genomic flexibility that includes frequent recombination, lateral gene transfer among viruses and hosts, gene gain and loss, and complex genomic rearrangements".
A group of large viruses infect amoebae. The largest is "Pithovirus". Others in order of size are "Pandoravirus", then "Megavirus", then "Mimivirus". They are bigger than some bacteria, and visible under a light microscope.
Viruses are used widely in cell biology. Geneticists often use viruses as vectors to introduce genes into cells that they are studying. This is useful for making the cell produce a foreign substance, or to study the effect of introducing a new gene into the genome. Eastern European scientists have used phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics for some time, and interest in this approach is increasing, because of the high level of antibiotic resistance now found in some pathogenic bacteria.
Microprocessor
A microprocessor is an electronic component that is used by a computer to do its work. It is a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit chip containing millions of very small components including transistors, resistors, and diodes that work together. Some microprocessors in the 20th century required several chips. Microprocessors help to do everything from controlling elevators to searching the Web. Everything a computer does is described by instructions of computer programs, and microprocessors carry out these instructions many millions of times a second.
Microprocessors were invented in the 1970s for use in embedded systems. The majority are still used that way, in such things as mobile phones, cars, military weapons, and home appliances. Some microprocessors are microcontrollers, so small and inexpensive that they are used to control very simple products like flashlights and greeting cards that play music when opened. A few especially powerful microprocessors are used in personal computers.
Like other central processing units, microprocessors use three steps commonly called Fetch, Decode, and Execute. In the Fetch step, an instruction is copied from the computer memory into the microprocessor. In the Decode step, the microprocessor figures out what operation the instruction is meant to do. In the Execute step, this operation is performed. Different computers can have different instruction sets.
Heat
Heat, or thermal energy is the sum of the kinetic energy of atoms or molecules. In thermodynamics, heat means energy which is moved between two things, when one of them has a higher temperature than the other thing.
Adding heat to something increases its temperature, but heat is not the same as temperature. The temperature of an object is the measure of the average speed of the moving particles in it. The energy of the particles is called the internal energy. When an object is heated, its internal energy can increase to make the object hotter. The first law of thermodynamics says that the increase in internal energy is equal to the heat added minus the work done on the surroundings.
Heat can also be defined as the amount of thermal energy in a system. Thermal energy is the type of energy that a thing has because of its temperature. In thermodynamics, thermal energy is the internal energy present in a system in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium because of its temperature. That is, heat is defined as a spontaneous "flow of energy" (energy in transit) from one object to another, caused by a difference in temperature between two objects; therefore, objects do not possess heat.
Heat is a form of energy and not a physical substance. Heat has no mass.
Heat can move from one place to another in different ways:
The measure of how much heat is needed to cause a change in temperature for a material is the specific heat capacity of the material. If the particles in the material are hard to move, then more energy is needed to make them move quickly, so a lot of heat will cause a small change in temperature. A different particle that is easier to move will need less heat for the same change in temperature.
Specific heat capacities can be looked up in a table, like this one.
Unless some work is done, heat moves only from hot things to cold things.
Heat can be measured. That is, the amount of heat given out or taken in can be given a value. The calorie is one of the units of measurement for heat but the joule is also used for all kinds of energy including heat.
Heat is usually measured with a calorimeter, where the energy in a material is allowed to flow into nearby water, which has a known specific heat capacity. The temperature of the water is then measured before and after, and heat can be found using a formula.
Shogun
In the earlier times, Shogun were simply generals for emperors. The emperor had power over the shogun, choosing each shogun. Later however, the Shogun held much of the actual power. In 1192 a samurai, military leader Minamoto no Yoritomo got the title of Shogun from the last Emperor Go-Shirakawa. Excluding the later middle of the 16th century, Shogun was the real ruler of Japan.
The office of the Shogun is called the shogunate ("bakufu", meaning "office in a tent").- This is because Shogun had originally been military leaders and he had his office in a tent on a battle field.
There were three shogunates in Japan.
In 1868 the 15th Shogun of Tokugawa Shogunate, Tokugawa Yosinobu gave up his office. Then the time of Shogun rule ended. It was the end of the feudal time of Japan.
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital city of Slovakia. About 450,000 people live there. It used to be called Pressburg (German) or Pozsony (Hungarian) and by some other names. Bratislava is the seat of national government, the presidency, and the parliament. It has several museums, galleries and of other educational, cultural and economic institutions.
There is a small Old Town, and a castle called Bratislavský Hrad. The Danube river goes through Bratislava.
Bratislava had many names through its history. Here are some of them:
and many others.
Bratislava is in the extreme southwest of Slovakia, on the borders with Austria and Hungary, and not far from the Czech Republic border. It is on the Morava and Danube rivers.
People have lived here since the Neolithic age. The Celts inhabited this area from 400 BC-50 BC. The Roman Empire set up border military camps near Bratislava from the 1st century until the 5th century, for example ""Gerulata"". The Slavs started moving here from the 6th century. Bratislava was part of the Slavic empire called Great Moravia in the 9th century. From the second half of the 10th century until 1918, it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, with some exceptions. It was even capital of the Kingdom between 1524 and 1830/1848. After the World War I ended in 1918, it was part of newly founded Czechoslovakia until 1939, when it became capital of World War II Slovak Republic until 1945. After 1945, it was part of Czechoslovakia again, becoming capital of Slovak Socialist Republic (which was still part of Czechoslovakia) in 1968. After the event called Velvet Divorce, when the Czechoslovakia broke up, Bratislava became capital of Slovakia.
List of notable structures:
Economy of Bratislava is prosperous and based on automobile industry, chemical industry and services. The unemployment (people without work) is lowest in Slovakia (around 2%, compared to the national average 7%). Approximately 250,000 people from all over the Slovakia travel to Bratislava for work.