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Topic Review
Panopticon
The Panopticon is a type of institutional building and a system of control designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century. The scheme of the design is to allow all (pan-) inmates of an institution to be observed (-opticon) by a single watchman without the inmates being able to tell whether or not they are being watched. Although it is physically impossible for the single watchman to observe all the inmates' cells at once, the fact that the inmates cannot know when they are being watched means that they are motivated to act as though they are being watched at all times. Thus, they are effectively compelled to regulate their own behaviour. The name may also allude to the many-eyed giant Panoptes in Greek mythology, some of whose eyes were always awake, making him a highly effective watchman. The design consists of a circular structure with an "inspection house" at its centre, from which the manager or staff of the institution is able to watch the inmates. The inmates, who are stationed around the perimeter of the structure, are unable to see into the inspection house. Bentham conceived the basic plan as being equally applicable to hospitals, schools, sanatoriums, and asylums, but he devoted most of his efforts to developing a design for a Panopticon prison. It is his prison that is now most widely meant by the term "panopticon". Bentham described the Panopticon as "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example". Elsewhere, in a letter, he described the Panopticon prison as "a mill for grinding rogues honest".
  • 5.1K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Production Methods of Peptides
Peptides are organic polymers composed of 2–50 amino acids linked to each other by means of covalent amide (=peptide) bonds. The composition, length and sequence of the amino acid chain have a dramatic influence on the activity of the peptide itself, for example in the human body. Peptides are called bioactive if they have a beneficial impact on body functions, on biological processes and, as a consequence, on health. The main production methods to obtain peptides are enzymatic hydrolysis, microbial fermentation, recombinant approach and, especially, chemical synthesis. 
  • 5.1K
  • 01 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Interaction
When people communicate, information is sent, received, and interpreted between the sender  and the receiver. The information exchange often results in a closed loop, where a back and forth information transfer happens between sender and receiver . This, we refer to as an “interaction”. Rather than over a single, sequential channel, this information is often transmitted using multiple channels at once. The multiplicity of channels reduces the risk of interruptions, more so since the information channels are used in parallel, thereby increasing the seamlessness of the process. The redundancy afforded by multichannel communication increases the overall reliability of the communication, and because the decoding is distributed over a larger number of modalities and decoding modules such as sight, sound, and touch, the overall effort is reduced, even though in physical interaction there is a greater number of channels to decode.
  • 5.1K
  • 06 Feb 2022
Topic Review
A2 Milk and CMPA
 Cows’ milk generally contains two major types of beta-casein as A1 and A2 types, although there are 13 genetic variants of β-casein: A1, A2, A3, A4, B, C, D, E, F, H1, H2, I and G. Studies have shown that A1 β-casein may be harmful, and A2 β-casein is a safer choice for human health especially in infant nutrition and health. The A2 cow milk is reportedly easier to digest and better absorb than A1 or other types of milk. The structure of A2 cow’s milk protein is more comparable to human breast milk, as well as milk from goats, sheep and buffalo. Cow milk protein allergy (CMPA) is considered a common milk digestive and metabolic disorder or allergic disease with various levels of prevalence from 2.5% in children during the first 3 years of life to 12–30% in infants less than 3 months old, and it can go up to even as high as 20% in some countries. CMPA is an IgE-mediated allergy where the body starts to produce IgE antibodies against certain protein (allergens) such as A1 milk and αs1-casein in bovine milk. Studies have shown that ingestion of β-casein A1 milk can cause ischemic heart disease, type-1 diabetes, arteriosclerosis, sudden infant death syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, etc. The knowledge of bovine A2 milk and caprine αs2-casein has been utilized to rescue CMPA patients and other potential disease problems. 
  • 5.1K
  • 05 May 2021
Topic Review
Biodiesel from Castor Oil
An attractive alternative to the use of fossil fuels is biodiesel, which can be obtained from a variety of feedstock through different transesterification systems such as ultrasound, microwave, biological, chemical, among others. The efficient and cost-effective biodiesel production depends on several parameters such as free fatty acid content in the feedstock, transesterification reaction efficiency, alcohol: oil ratio, catalysts type, and several parameters during the production process. However, biodiesel production from vegetable oils is under development, causing the final price of biodiesel to be higher than diesel derived from petroleum. An alternative to decrease the production costs will be the use of economical feedstocks and simple production processes. Castor oil is an excellent raw material in terms of price and quality, but especially this non-edible vegetable oil does not have any issues or compromise food security. Recently, the use of castor oil has attracted attention for producing and optimizing biodiesel production, due to the high content of ricinoleic fatty acid and the possibility to esterify with only methanol, which assures low production costs. Additionally, biodiesel from castor oil has different advantages over conventional diesel. Some of them are biodegradable, non-toxic, renewable, they can be used alone, low greenhouse gas emission, among others. This review discusses and analyzes different transesterification processes, technologies, as well as different technical aspects during biodiesel production using castor oil as a feedstock.
  • 5.1K
  • 28 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Continuous Casting Practices for Steel
Continuous casting practices for steelmaking have been constantly evolving ever since the early 1930s, when Junghans was first researching ways to pour liquid steel into an open-bottomed, water-cooled mold, to withdraw the partially solidified steel out of it, continuously, in the form of a round or square billet or slab. He envisioned that once these continuously cast shapes had become fully frozen, their solidified ends could be cut off for further processing. In this way, they could be transformed into “rebar” to reinforce concrete, or into bars from which nails, bolts, tire cord wire, etc., could be fashioned, etc. However, long before that, Sir Henry Bessemer had proposed a far more elegant approach, involving two, contra-rotating rolls, into which liquid steel is poured, to produce a thin solidified sheet of steel directly, within a few milliseconds. This is referred to as a Near Net Shape Casting Process. After 150 years of trying, CASTRIP, a subsidiary of NUCOR, BHP, and IHI, made this process a commercial success, where many previous attempts had failed. However, there is an even better NNSC process, referred to as HSBC, or "Horizontal Single Belt Casting", that has also been commercially successful. The HSBC process is capable of casting many different grades of steel, unlike the Bessemer CASTRIP process, by casting ~10 - 15mm thick strips, that can then be rolled down to a final sheet ~1.5 - 0.5mm. thickness, in a one-step continuous process.  
  • 5.1K
  • 06 Jun 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.
  • 5.1K
  • 13 Dec 2021
Topic Review
IoT-Enabled Smart Cities
Smart cities have been significantly developed and have greatly expanded their potential. In fact, novel advancements to the Internet of things (IoT) have paved the way for new possibilities, representing a set of key enabling technologies for smart cities and allowing the production and automation of innovative services and advanced applications for the different city stakeholders. 
  • 5.1K
  • 21 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Cervical Imaging in the Low Resource Setting
Cervical cancer is one of the most significant global health inequities of our time and is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide, disproportionally affecting developing countries where the disease burden is 84%. Sometimes referred to as a preventable cancer, it progresses slowly, providing a window of time for routine screening in which pre-cancerous lesions can be identified and treated.
  • 5.1K
  • 08 Nov 2022
Topic Review
British Sheep Breed Diversity
The UK can be proud of the fact that numerous native breeds of sheep have been developed here that possess unique phenotypic features and excellent productivity and are utilized throughout the world. Their remarkable popularity and further sustainable breeding on grass pastures of British Isles and elsewhere can benefit from genomic applications. At present, there is a rich arsenal of genetic and genomic resources, tools and applications used for livestock assessment, breeding and production including, first of all, genetic profiling of diverse breeds, and search for quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and candidate genes in farm animals. These genomic advances facilitate breed improvement and understanding of the genetic processes in the course of domestication and breed evolution.
  • 5.1K
  • 27 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Impact of the Internet on Hip Hop
The World Wide Web has changed the genre of hip hop. It has given hip-hop artists the ability to create and share music at incredible rates. Through the constant influx of new music being posted online by artists, new styles and genres of hip hop have been created.
  • 5.1K
  • 30 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Production and Use of Typical Rubber Antioxidants
Antioxidants are prevalently used during rubber production to improve rubber performance, delay aging, and extend service life. Studies have revealed that their transformation products (TPs) could adversely affect environmental organisms and even lead to environmental events, which led to great public concern about environmental occurrence and potential impacts of rubber antioxidants and their TPs.
  • 5.1K
  • 22 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Blood Typing
Blood typing is a medical laboratory test used to identify the antigens on a person's red blood cells, which determine their blood type. Routine blood typing involves determining the ABO and RhD (Rh factor) type, and is performed before blood transfusions to ensure that the donor blood is compatible. It is also used to help diagnose hemolytic disease of the newborn, a condition caused by incompatibility between the blood types of a mother and her baby. ABO typing involves both identification of ABO antigens on red blood cells (forward grouping) and identification of ABO antibodies in the plasma (reverse grouping). Other blood group antigens, such as RhC/c and E/e or Kell, may be tested for in special situations. Blood typing is usually performed using serologic methods, which use reagents containing antibodies, called antisera, to identify blood group antigens. Serologic methods rely on the ability of antibodies to cause red blood cells to clump together when they bind to antigens on the cell surface, a phenomenon called agglutination. A number of serologic methods are available, ranging from manual blood typing using test tubes or slides to fully automated systems. Blood types can also be determined through genetic testing, which is used when conditions that interfere with serologic testing are present or when a high degree of accuracy in antigen identification is required. A number of conditions can cause false or inconclusive results in blood typing. When these issues affect ABO typing, they are called ABO discrepancies. ABO discrepancies must be investigated and resolved before the person's blood type is reported. There are different procedures for resolving ABO discrepancies depending on the underlying causes. Other sources of error in blood typing include the "weak D" phenomenon, in which people who are positive for the RhD antigen show weak or negative reactions when tested for RhD, and the presence of Immunoglobulin G antibodies on red blood cells, which interferes with typing for some blood group antigens.
  • 5.1K
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Faster-Than-Light Communication
Superluminal communication is a hypothetical process in which information is sent at faster-than-light (FTL) speeds. The current scientific consensus is that faster-than-light communication is not possible, and to date it has not been achieved in any experiment. Under present knowledge superluminal communication is impossible because, in a Lorentz-invariant theory, it could be used to transmit information into the past. This contradicts causality and leads to logical paradoxes. A number of theories and phenomena related to superluminal communication have been proposed or studied, including tachyons, quantum nonlocality, and wormholes.
  • 5.1K
  • 19 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Yandex Self-Driving Car
Yandex self-driving car (Yandex Self-Driving Group) is a robotaxi project of the Russian-based internet corporation Yandex. The first driverless prototype launched in May 2017. As of 2018, functional service was launched in Russia with prototypes also being tested in Israel and the US. In 2019, Yandex revealed autonomous delivery robots based on the same technology stack as the company's self-driving cars. Since 2020, autonomous robots have been delivering food, groceries and parcels in Russia and the USA. In 2020, the self-driving project was spun-off into a standalone company under the name of Yandex Self-Driving Group (Yandex SDG).
  • 5.1K
  • 27 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Georg Cantor's First Set Theory Article
Georg Cantor published his first set theory article in 1874, and it contains the first theorems of transfinite set theory, which studies infinite sets and their properties. One of these theorems is "Cantor's revolutionary discovery" that the set of all real numbers is uncountably, rather than countably, infinite. This theorem is proved using Cantor's first uncountability proof, which differs from the more familiar proof using his diagonal argument. The title of the article, "On a Property of the Collection of All Real Algebraic Numbers" ("Ueber eine Eigenschaft des Inbegriffes aller reellen algebraischen Zahlen"), refers to its first theorem: the set of real algebraic numbers is countable. Cantor's article also contains a proof of the existence of transcendental numbers. As early as 1930, mathematicians have disagreed on whether this proof is constructive or non-constructive. Books as recent as 2014 and 2015 indicate that this disagreement has not been resolved. Since Cantor's proof either constructs transcendental numbers or does not, an analysis of his article can determine whether his proof is constructive or non-constructive. Cantor's correspondence with Richard Dedekind shows the development of his ideas and reveals that he had a choice between two proofs, one that uses the uncountability of the real numbers and one that does not. Historians of mathematics have examined Cantor's article and the circumstances in which it was written. For example, they have discovered that Cantor was advised to leave out his uncountability theorem in the article he submitted; he added it during proofreading. They have traced this and other facts about the article to the influence of Karl Weierstrass and Leopold Kronecker. Historians have also studied Dedekind's contributions to the article, including his contributions to the theorem on the countability of the real algebraic numbers. In addition, they have looked at the article's legacy, which includes the impact that the uncountability theorem and the concept of countability have had on mathematics.
  • 5.1K
  • 02 Nov 2022
Topic Review
IoT-Enabled Smart Agriculture
The growth of the global population coupled with a decline in natural resources, farmland, and the increase in unpredictable environmental conditions leads to food security is becoming a major concern for all nations worldwide. These problems are motivators that are driving the agricultural industry to transition to smart agriculture with the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data solutions to improve operational efficiency and productivity. The IoT integrates a series of existing state-of-the-art solutions and technologies, such as wireless sensor networks, cognitive radio ad hoc networks, cloud computing, big data, and end-user applications. IoT is defined as the network of all objects that are embedded within devices, sensors, machines, software and people through the Internet environment to communicate, exchange information and interact in order to provide a comprehensive solution between the real world and the virtual world.
  • 5.1K
  • 01 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Species Problem
The species problem is the set of questions that arises when biologists attempt to define what a species is. Such a definition is called a species concept; there are at least 26 recognized species concepts. A species concept that works well for sexually reproducing organisms such as birds is useless for species that reproduce asexually, such as bacteria. The scientific study of the species problem has been called microtaxonomy. One common, but sometimes difficult, question is how best to decide which species an organism belongs to, because reproductively isolated groups may not be readily recognizable, and cryptic species may be present. There is a continuum from reproductive isolation with no interbreeding, to panmixis, unlimited interbreeding. Populations can move forward or backwards along this continuum, at any point meeting the criteria for one or another species concept, and failing others. Many of the debates on species touch on philosophical issues, such as nominalism and realism, and on issues of language and cognition. The current meaning of the phrase "species problem" is quite different from what Charles Darwin and others meant by it during the 19th and early 20th centuries. For Darwin, the species problem was the question of how new species arose. Darwin was however one of the first people to question how well-defined species are, given that they constantly change.
  • 5.1K
  • 02 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Textile Production
The textile production is constantly increasing by offering products to fashion, style and marketing needs, or even to progressively competitive technical challenges. The perspective of innovation and development is in contrast with the highly polluting impact on the surroundings of this industrial activity.
  • 5.1K
  • 09 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Majlis
Majlis, Mejlis (Arabic: مجلس, pl. مجالس Majālis), or Majles (Persian: مجلس‎) is an Arabic and Persian term meaning "council", used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups be it administrative, social or religious in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to Islamic countries. The Majlis can refer to a legislature as well and is used in the name of legislative councils or assemblies in some of the states where Islamic culture dominates. The term Majlis is also used to refer to a private place (a lounge, or 'salon' in British English and French, or 'saloon' on a ship) where guests are received and entertained.
  • 5.1K
  • 25 Oct 2022
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