Your browser does not fully support modern features. Please upgrade for a smoother experience.
Subject:
All Disciplines Arts & Humanities Biology & Life Sciences Business & Economics Chemistry & Materials Science Computer Science & Mathematics Engineering Environmental & Earth Sciences Medicine & Pharmacology Physical Sciences Public Health & Healthcare Social Sciences
Sort by:
Most Viewed Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Filter:
All Topic Review Biography Peer Reviewed Entry Video Entry
Topic Review
Soil Washing
Soil contamination with heavy metals and organic pollutants poses an environmental problem due to their persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity. Soil washing is one of the most common remediation technologies for permanent removal of undesirable pollutants. The effectiveness of soil washing is affected by many factors such as soil geochemistry, pollutant characteristics, type and chemistry of washing agents, and processing conditions. A variety of washing agents have been tested in soil washing with their different effect on pollutant removal and on the overall quality of treated soil. Development of soil washing is based on searching for an inexpensive, readily-available and environmentally-friendly agents to remediate polluted soils. Despite the unquestionable effectiveness of soil washing, spent washing solutions are generated that need further treatment. This entry presents the principles and application of soil washing technology, as well as the examples of washing agents and methods for liquid waste treatment.  Soil washing is an ex-situ technology, including physical and/or chemical processes that aim to effectively remove pollutants from soil.
  • 5.2K
  • 08 Sep 2020
Topic Review
Jaguar S-Type
The Jaguar S-Type was an executive car that debuted at the 1998 Birmingham Motor Show and was marketed by Jaguar for model years 1999-2008, reviving the nameplate of the company's 1963-68 S-Type as a four-door notchback saloon. The S-Type received a mild facelift for model year 2005. The 2002 S-Type 4.2 Supercharged V8 at the time, was the fastest road production saloon car in the world. The S-Type was discontinued in late 2007 and replaced by the XF.
  • 5.2K
  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Left-Brain Interpreter
The left-brain interpreter is a neuropsychological concept developed by the psychologist Michael S. Gazzaniga and the neuroscientist Joseph E. LeDoux. It refers to the construction of explanations by the left brain hemisphere in order to make sense of the world by reconciling new information with what was known before. The left-brain interpreter attempts to rationalize, reason and generalize new information it receives in order to relate the past to the present. Left-brain interpretation is a case of the lateralization of brain function that applies to "explanation generation" rather than other lateralized activities. Although the concept of the left-brain interpreter was initially based on experiments on patients with split-brains, it has since been shown to apply to the everyday behavior of people at large.
  • 5.2K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Deepfake Detection Datasets
Deepfakes are notorious for their unethical and malicious applications to achieve economic, political, and social reputation goals. Although deepfakes were initially associated with entertainment such as movie visual effects, camera filters, and digital avatars, they are defined as “believable generated media by Deep Neural Network” and have evolved into a mainstream tool for facial forgery. With the development of multiple forgery methods, deepfake data are increasing at a annual rate of ~300%. However, the data published online have different forgery qualities. 
  • 5.2K
  • 28 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Polycrystalline Materials
Polycrystalline materials can be defined as the counterpart of single crystals. These latter  arise from solution crystallization by transfer of a solute from the liquid phase to the crystalline phase. Crystallization from melt originates instead crystallites or grains, that is regular crystalline regions  randomly oriented and separated one anoher by borders with geometric shapes, Polycrystalline materials are the result of a multiple nucleation process, whereas monocrystals are ideally obtainable by dipping a seed crystal into a supercooled melt.  Polycrystalline materials often consist of spherulites, i.e. crystalline aggregates growing with a rounded shape up to impingment with adjacent spherulites. The borders amongst spherulites and the size and the final shape of spherulites affect considerably the properties of polycrystalline materials.
  • 5.2K
  • 12 May 2021
Topic Review
N-Acetylcysteine
Exercise frequently alters the metabolic processes of oxidative metabolism in athletes, including exposure to extreme reactive oxygen species impairing exercise performance. Therefore, both researchers and athletes have been consistently investigating the possible strategies to improve metabolic adaptations to exercise-induced oxidative stress. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has been applied as a therapeutic agent in treating many diseases in humans due to its precursory role in the production of hepatic glutathione, a natural antioxidant.
  • 5.2K
  • 03 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Ottoman Decline Thesis
The Ottoman decline thesis or Ottoman decline paradigm (Turkish: Osmanlı Gerileme Tezi) is an obsolete historical narrative which once played a dominant role in the study of the history of the Ottoman Empire. According to the decline thesis, following a golden age associated with the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566), the empire gradually entered into a period of all-encompassing stagnation and decline from which it was never able to recover, lasting until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1923. This thesis was used throughout most of the twentieth century as the basis of both Western and Republican Turkish understanding of Ottoman history. However, by 1978, historians had begun to reexamine the fundamental assumptions of the decline thesis. After the publication of numerous new studies throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, and the reexamination of Ottoman history through the use of previously untapped sources and methodologies, academic historians of the Ottoman Empire achieved a consensus that the entire notion of Ottoman decline was a myth – that in fact, the Ottoman Empire did not stagnate or decline at all, but rather continued to be a vigorous and dynamic state long after the death of Suleiman the Magnificent. The decline thesis has been criticized as "teleological", "regressive", "Orientalist", "simplistic", and "one-dimensional", and described as "a concept which has no place in historical analysis". Scholars have thus "learned better than to discuss [it]." Despite this dramatic paradigm shift among professional historians, the decline thesis continues to maintain a strong presence in popular history, as well as academic history written by scholars who are not specialists on the Ottoman Empire. In some cases this is due to the continued reliance by non-specialists on outdated and debunked works, and in others to certain political interests benefiting from the continued perpetuation of the decline narrative.
  • 5.2K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Chlorine Dioxide
Chlorine dioxide was discovered in 1811 by Sir Humphry Davy and since the mid-20th century, it has been widely used in the paper industry as a bleach and for the treatment of drinking water. 
  • 5.2K
  • 21 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Christian
A Christian (/ˈkrɪstʃən, -tiən/ (listen)) is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. "Christian" derives from the Koine Greek word Christós (Χριστός), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach (Biblical Hebrew: מָשִׁיחַ). While there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance. The term "Christian" is also used as an adjective to describe anything associated with Christianity, or in a proverbial sense "all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like." According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, up from about 600 million in 1910. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey Christianity will remain the world's largest religion in 2050, if current trends continue. Today, about 37% of all Christians live in the Americas, about 26% live in Europe, 24% live in sub-Saharan Africa, about 13% live in Asia and the Pacific, and 1% live in the Middle East and North Africa. About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic, while more than a third are Protestant (37%). Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the world's Christians. Other Christian groups make up the remainder. Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories. 280 million Christians live as a minority. Christians have significantly influenced and contributed to human progress in many fields including philanthropy, philosophy,:15 ethics, literature, business and economics, fine arts and architecture, music, theatre and medicine, as well as science and technology, both historically and in modern times.
  • 5.2K
  • 27 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Hybrid Plant
In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents (such as in blending inheritance), but can show hybrid vigor, sometimes growing larger or taller than either parent. The concept of a hybrid is interpreted differently in animal and plant breeding, where there is interest in the individual parentage. In genetics, attention is focused on the numbers of chromosomes. In taxonomy, a key question is how closely related the parent species are. Species are reproductively isolated by strong barriers to hybridisation, which include genetic and morphological differences, differing times of fertility, mating behaviors and cues, and physiological rejection of sperm cells or the developing embryo. Some act before fertilization and others after it. Similar barriers exist in plants, with differences in flowering times, pollen vectors, inhibition of pollen tube growth, somatoplastic sterility, cytoplasmic-genic male sterility and the structure of the chromosomes. A few animal species and many plant species, however, are the result of hybrid speciation, including important crop plants such as wheat, where the number of chromosomes has been doubled. Human impact on the environment has resulted in an increase in the interbreeding between regional species, and the proliferation of introduced species worldwide has also resulted in an increase in hybridisation. This genetic mixing may threaten many species with extinction, while genetic erosion from monoculture in crop plants may be damaging the gene pools of many species for future breeding. A form of often intentional human-mediated hybridisation is the crossing of wild and domesticated species. This is common in both traditional horticulture and modern agriculture; many commercially useful fruits, flowers, garden herbs, and trees have been produced by hybridisation. One such flower, Oenothera lamarckiana, was central to early genetics research into mutationism and polyploidy. It is also more occasionally done in the livestock and pet trades; some well-known wild × domestic hybrids are beefalo and wolfdogs. Human selective breeding of domesticated animals and plants has resulted in the development of distinct breeds (usually called cultivars in reference to plants); crossbreeds between them (without any wild stock) are sometimes also imprecisely referred to as "hybrids". Hybrid humans existed in prehistory. For example, Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans are thought to have interbred as recently as 40,000 years ago. Mythological hybrids appear in human culture in forms as diverse as the Minotaur, blends of animals, humans and mythical beasts such as centaurs and sphinxes, and the Nephilim of the Biblical apocrypha described as the wicked sons of fallen angels and attractive women.
  • 5.2K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Supergiant Star
Supergiants are among the most massive and most luminous stars. Supergiant stars occupy the top region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram with absolute visual magnitudes between about −3 and −8. The temperature range of supergiant stars spans from about 3,400 K to over 20,000 K.
  • 5.2K
  • 12 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Secularity
Secularity (from Latin saeculum, "worldly" or "of a generation") is the state of being separate from religion, or of not being exclusively allied with or against any particular religion. Historically, the word secular was not related or linked to religion, but was a freestanding term in Latin which would relate to any mundane endeavour. However, the term, saecula saeculorum (saeculōrum being the genitive plural of saeculum) as found in the New Testament in the Vulgate translation (circa 410) of the original Koine Greek phrase εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων (eis toùs aionas ton aiṓnōn), e.g. at Galatians 1:5, was used in the early Christian church (and is still used today), in the doxologies, to denote the coming and going of the ages, the grant of eternal life, and the long duration of created things from their beginning to forever and ever. The idea of a dichotomy between religion and the secular originated in the European Enlightenment. Furthermore, since religion and secular are both Western concepts that were formed under the influence of Christian theology, other cultures do not necessarily have words or concepts that resemble or are equivalent to them. In many cultures, "little conceptual or practical distinction is made between 'natural' and 'supernatural' phenomena" and the very notions of religious and nonreligious dissolve into unimportance, nonexistence, or unawareness, especially since people have beliefs in other supernatural or spiritual things irrespective of belief in God or gods. Conceptions of what is and what is not religion vary in contemporary East Asia as well. The shared term for "irreligion" or "no religion" (無宗教, Chinese pron. wú zōngjiào, Japanese pron. mu shūkyō) with which the majority of East Asian populations identify themselves implies non-membership in one of the institutional religions (such as Buddhism and Christianity) but not necessarily non-belief in traditional folk religions collectively represented by Chinese Shendao (shén dào) and Japanese Shinto (both meaning "ways of gods").[lower-alpha 1] In modern Japan, religion has negative connotation since it is associated with foreign belief systems so many identify as "nonreligious" (mushukyo), but this does not mean they have a complete rejection or absence of beliefs and rituals relating to supernatural, metaphysical, or spiritual things. In the Meiji era, the Japanese government consciously excluded Shinto from the category of religion in order to enforce State Shinto while asserting their state followed American-mandated requirements for freedom of religion; this has fed into the contemporary Japanese experience of "secularity" as well as the government's regulation of religious beliefs and institutions from the Meiji era into the present day. One can regard eating and bathing as examples of secular activities, because there may not be anything inherently religious about them. Nevertheless, some religious traditions see both eating and bathing as sacraments, therefore making them religious activities within those world views. Saying a prayer derived from religious text or doctrine, worshipping through the context of a religion, performing corporal and spiritual works of mercy, and attending a religious seminary school or monastery are examples of religious (non-secular) activities. The "secular" is experienced in diverse ways ranging from separation of religion and state to being anti-religion or even pro-religion, depending on the culture. For example, the United States has both separation of church and state and pro-religiosity in various forms such as protection of religious freedoms; France has separation of church and state (and French Revolution was strongly anti-religious); the Soviet Union was anti-religion; in India, people feel comfortable identifying as secular while participating in religion; and in Japan, since the concept of "religion" is not indigenous to Japan, people state they have no religion while doing what appears to be religion to Western eyes. A related term, secularism, involves the principle that government institutions and their representatives should remain separate from religious institutions, their beliefs, and their dignitaries. Many businesses and corporations, and some governments operate on secular lines. This stands in contrast to theocracy, government with deity as its highest authority.
  • 5.2K
  • 27 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Statistical Correlations of Criminal Behaviour
The statistical correlations of criminal behavior explore the associations of specific non-criminal factors with specific crimes. The field of criminology studies the dynamics of crime. Most of these studies use correlational data; that is, they attempt to identify various factors are associated with specific categories of criminal behavior. Such correlational studies led to hypotheses about the causes of these crimes. The Handbook of Crime Correlates (2009) is a systematic review of 5200 empirical studies on crime that have been published worldwide. A crime consistency score represents the strength of relationships. The scoring depends on how consistently a statistically significant relationship was identified across multiple studies. The authors claim that the review summarizes most of what is currently known about the variables associated with criminality. Writing in 2019, criminologist Greg Ridgeway argued that criminology was still trying to conclusively determine what causes crime.
  • 5.2K
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Photonic Laser Thruster
A photonic laser thruster (PLT) is an amplified photonic propulsion thruster for space propulsion that works on the principle of a photon-pushed sail, generating thrust directly from the momentum of a photon from a laser reflected from a mirror. The thruster, invented by Young K. Bae differs from other solar sail and laser propulsion thrusters in that an amplification process is used, in which the incident beam is re-used by being reflected by a stationary mirror, with an amplification stage at each reflection. Because of the recycling of energy, the photonic laser thruster has been demonstrated to be more energy efficient than other laser-pushed sail concepts. The near-term usage of the photonic laser thruster the earth-orbit applications include propellant-free and thrust-plume-contamination-free spacecraft maneuvering for precision formation flying, large optical and RF synthetic aperture construction, and stationkeeping. The usage of the photonic laser thruster for main space propulsion would require scaling-up of the laser power and controlling laser diffraction over interplanetary and interstellar distances. Photonic laser thrusters have a very high specific impulse, and can permit spacecraft to reach much higher speeds that approach a fraction of the light speed, unlike conventional rockets, which are limited by the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation.
  • 5.2K
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Sustainability and Sharing Economy
The sharing economy is usually related to sustainability, and it is framed as: (a) an economic opportunity, (b) a more sustainable form of consumption and (c) a pathway to an equitable and sustainable economy. 
  • 5.2K
  • 30 Oct 2024
Topic Review
Concession (Territory)
In international law, a concession is a territory within a country that is administered by an entity other than the state which holds sovereignty over it.This is usually a colonizing power, or at least mandated by one, as in the case of colonial chartered companies. Usually, it is conceded, that is, allowed or even surrendered by a weaker state to a stronger power. For example, the politically weak and militarily helpless Qing China in the 19th century signed several so-called unequal treaties by which it gave, among other rights, territorial concessions to numerous colonial powers, European as well as Japan , creating a whole host of territorial concessions in China in addition to even more numerous treaty ports where China retained territorial control. However, just as with permanent sales of territory, there are cases when concession has been entered upon voluntarily by a power which could have resisted the demand, believing the arrangement to their mutual interest, or as part of a more complexly balanced deal. Some examples of voluntary concessions are the cemeteries (and monuments) administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission containing United States military dead in Belgium, Cuba, France, Gibraltar, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Panama, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom. In the many cases where the terms of the contract (be it in the form of a treaty between states) provides for similar terms as an ordinary property lease, notably a term limited in time and usually an indemnity sum, the territory can be called more precisely a lease territory or leased territory. The term is not to be confused with 'territorial concession', which applies to any clause in a treaty whereby a power renounces control over any territory, usually in the form of a full and indefinite transfer, often without any indemnity.
  • 5.2K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Kitakyushu (Japan) of Industrial Heritage Tourism
Japan, Asia’s earliest industrialized country, has been transforming into a post-industrialized society. A large number of former industrial heritages in Japan have been well protected. Three industrial heritages have been listed in World Heritage by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Moreover, Japan has the largest number of centennial enterprises in the world, reaching 25,321, much more than that of North America and Europe. Compared with other industrialized countries, Japan’s industrial heritages are generally owned by long-lived enterprises, some of these spaces are still in service. Therefore, centennial enterprises often become the most direct stakeholders in the protection of industrial heritages, and play a key role in the transformation into new industrial space for cultural and touristic activities. In other words, under the influence of centennial enterprises, the development of industrial heritage tourism in Japan generally has strong path dependence.
  • 5.2K
  • 13 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the African American Male was a clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the United States Public Health Service. The purpose of this study was to observe the natural history of untreated syphilis; the African-American men in the study were only told they were receiving free health care from the Federal government of the United States. The Public Health Service started the study in 1932 in collaboration with Tuskegee University (then the Tuskegee Institute), a historically black college in Alabama. Investigators enrolled in the study a total of 600 impoverished, African-American sharecroppers from Macon County, Alabama. Of these men, 399 had latent syphilis, with a control group of 201 men who were not infected. As an incentive for participation in the study, the men were promised free medical care, but were deceived by the PHS, who disguised placebos, ineffective methods, and diagnostic procedures as treatment. The men who had syphilis were never informed of their diagnosis, despite the risk of infecting others, and the fact that the disease could lead to blindness, deafness, mental illness, heart disease, bone deterioration, collapse of the central nervous system, and death.. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the men were told that they were being treated for "bad blood,” a colloquialism that described various conditions such as syphilis, anemia and fatigue. "Bad blood"—specifically the collection of illnesses the term included—was a leading cause of death within the southern African-American community. The men were initially told that the study was only going to last six months, but it was extended to 40 years. After funding for treatment was lost, the study was continued without informing the men that they would never be treated. None of the infected men were treated with penicillin despite the fact that by 1947, the antibiotic had become the standard treatment for syphilis. Study clinicians could have chosen to treat all syphilitic subjects and close the study, or split off a control group for testing with penicillin. Instead, they continued the study without treating any participants; they withheld treatment and information about it from the subjects. In addition, scientists prevented participants from accessing syphilis treatment programs available to other residents in the area. The study continued, under numerous Public Health Service supervisors, until 1972, when a leak to the press resulted in its termination on November 16 of that year. The victims of the study, all African-American, included numerous men who died of syphilis, 40 wives who contracted the disease and 19 children born with congenital syphilis. The 40-year Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the African American Male study was a major violation of ethical standards. Researchers knowingly failed to treat participants appropriately after penicillin was proven to be an effective treatment for syphilis and became widely available. Moreover, participants remained ignorant of the study clinicians’ true purpose, which was to observe the natural course of untreated syphilis. The revelation in 1972 of study failures by a whistleblower, Peter Buxtun, led to major changes in U.S. law and regulation concerning the protection of participants in clinical studies. Now studies require informed consent, communication of diagnosis and accurate reporting of test results. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, cited as "arguably the most infamous biomedical research study in U.S. history," led to the 1979 Belmont Report and to the establishment of the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). It also led to federal laws and regulations requiring institutional review boards for the protection of human subjects in studies involving them. The OHRP manages this responsibility within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). On May 16, 1997, President Bill Clinton formally apologized on behalf of the United States to victims of the study.
  • 5.2K
  • 07 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Dairy Spoilage and Pseudomonas spp.
The refrigerated fresh foods tend to quickly deteriorate along its production and marketing, mainly due to the action of psychrotrophic spoilage microorganisms such as pseudomonads. These bacteria cause discolouration, texture loss and unpleasant flavours, with fatal implications for the quality and shelf life of products. Refirgerated fresh dairy products as well as fresh foods are steadly threatened by these microorganisms against which most control strategies are uneffective.
  • 5.2K
  • 19 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Charlotte's Web (Cannabis)
Charlotte's Web is a high-cannabidiol (CBD), low-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) Cannabis strain marketed as a dietary supplement under federal law of the United States. It is produced by the Stanley brothers in Colorado. It does not induce the psychoactive "high" typically associated with recreational marijuana strains that are high in THC. In September 2014, the Stanleys announced that they would ensure that the product consistently contained less than 0.3% THC. Charlotte's Web is named after Charlotte Figi, born (2006-10-18) October 18, 2006 (age 16), whose story has led to her being described as "the girl who is changing medical marijuana laws across America." Her parents and physicians say she experienced a reduction of her epileptic seizures brought on by Dravet syndrome after her first dose of medical marijuana at five years of age. Her usage of Charlotte's Web was first featured in the 2013 CNN documentary "Weed". Media coverage increased demand for Charlotte's Web and similar products high in CBD, which has been used to treat epilepsy in toddlers and children. It was originally called "Hippie's Disappointment" as it was a strain that had high CBD and could not induce a "high". While anecdotal reports have sparked interest in treatment with cannabinoids, there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions with certainty about their safety or efficacy. Physicians worry that some parents are willing to try treatments before proper research has been conducted, and that they may be disappointed. They are "alarmed by parallels to past miracle-cure manias later proved false..." and "...wary of the heightened placebo effect in treatments involving children, when reports of progress depend on the view of parents."
  • 5.2K
  • 02 Nov 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 2729
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Reprints

>>
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Encyclopedia of Engineering
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of Medieval Royal Iconography
Academic Video Service
Feedback