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Topic Review
You're Either with Us, or Against Us
In political communication, the phrase "you're either with us, or against us" and similar variations are used to depict situations as being polarized and to force witnesses, bystanders, or others unaligned with some form of pre-existing conflict to either become allies of the speaking party or lose favor. The implied consequence of not joining the team effort is to be deemed an enemy. An example is the statement of the former US President George W. Bush, who said after 9/11 at the launch of his anti-terrorism campaign in the form "Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."
  • 4.8K
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
GC-IMS
Gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) is a powerful technique for the separation and sensitive detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It is a rapid, robust and easy-to-handle technique, which has recently gained attention for targeted as well as non-targeted screening (NTS) approaches. In this article, the general working principles of GC-IMS are presented.
  • 4.8K
  • 03 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis: Thermochemical decomposition of organic materials in the absence of oxygen. Polymer-derived carbon: Carbon obtained by heat-treatment (pyrolysis followed by carbon-carbon bond formation and rearrangement) of natural or synthetic polymers. In addition to the supplied heat, surrounding gaseous environment, presence of magnetic field and applied pressure influence pyrolysis.
  • 4.8K
  • 01 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Konqi
Konqi is the mascot of KDE. He is a cheerful green cartoon dragon. He was first introduced In April 1999, as the new animated assistant of KDE Help Center and later became KDE's mascot in version 3.x. Recognized as part of the KDE community's identity, he appears in KDE software's about dialogue, printed materials, conference presentations, as well as on many of KDE's websites. His former version was designed by Stefan Spatz and the current version was designed by Tyson Tan.
  • 4.8K
  • 30 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Applications of Nanocellulose/Nanocarbon Composites: Focus on Biotechnology and Medicine
Nanocellulose/nanocarbon composites are newly-emerging smart hybrid materials containing cellulose nanoparticles, such as nanofibrils and nanocrystals, and carbon nanoparticles, such as “classical” carbon allotropes (fullerenes, graphene, nanotubes and nanodiamonds), or other carbon nanostructures (carbon nanofibers, carbon quantum dots, activated carbon and carbon black). The nanocellulose component acts as a dispersing agent and homogeneously distribute the carbon nanoparticles in aqueous environment. Nanocellulose/nanocarbon composites can be prepared with many advantageous properties, such as high mechanical strength, flexibility, stretchability, tunable thermal and electrical conductivity, tunable optical transparency, photodynamic and photothermal activity, nanoporous character and high adsorption capacity. They are therefore promising for a wide range of industrial applications, such as energy generation, storage and conversion, water purification, food packaging, construction of fire retardants and shape memory devices. They also hold great promise for biomedical applications, such as radical scavenging, photodynamic and photothermal therapy of tumors and microbial infections, drug delivery, biosensorics, isolation of various biomolecules, electrical stimulation of damaged tissues (e.g. cardiac, neural), neural and bone tissue engineering, engineering of blood vessels and advanced wound dressing, e.g. with antimicrobial and antitumor activity. However, the potential cytotoxicity and immunogenicity of the composites and their components must also be taken into account.
  • 4.8K
  • 01 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Intelligent Road Defects Detection Technology
Road defects are important factors affecting traffic safety. In order to improve the identification efficiency of road diseases and the pertinence of maintenance and management, intelligent detection technologies of road diseases have been developed. The problems of high cost and low efficiency of artificial inspection of road diseases are solved efficiently, and the quality of road construction is improved availably. This is not only the guarantee of highway quality but also the guarantee of people’s lives and safety.
  • 4.8K
  • 15 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Modernity
Modernity is a complex socio-cultural and historical concept that signifies a departure from traditional ways of life towards contemporary, industrialized societies characterized by technological advancements, urbanization, and changing social structures. Emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, modernity encompasses a broad spectrum of transformations, including shifts in economic systems, political ideologies, and cultural expressions, shaping the modern world as we know it today.
  • 4.8K
  • 25 Jan 2024
Topic Review
1,2,4-Triazoles
Compounds containing the 1,2,4-triazole ring in their structure are characterised by multidirectional biological activity.
  • 4.8K
  • 23 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), legally S.W.I.F.T. SCRL, provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized and reliable environment. SWIFT also sells software and services to financial institutions, much of it for use on the SWIFTNet network, and ISO 9362 Business Identifier Codes (BICs, previously Bank Identifier Codes), popularly known as "SWIFT codes". As of 2018, around half of all high-value cross-border payments worldwide used the SWIFT network. (As of 2015), SWIFT linked more than 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries and territories, who were exchanging an average of over 32 million messages per day (compared to an average of 2.4 million daily messages in 1995). SWIFT transports financial messages in a highly secure way but does not hold accounts for its members and does not perform any form of clearing or settlement. SWIFT does not facilitate funds transfer: rather, it sends payment orders, which must be settled by correspondent accounts that the institutions have with each other. Each financial institution, to exchange banking transactions, must have a banking relationship by either being a bank or affiliating itself with one (or more) so as to enjoy those particular business features. SWIFT has been criticized for its inefficiency, with the Financial Times observing in 2018 that transfers frequently "pass through multiple banks before reaching their final destination, making them time-consuming, costly and lacking transparency on how much money will arrive at the other end". SWIFT has introduced its own improved service, called "Global Payments Innovation" (GPI), stating that as of 2018 it had been adopted by 165 banks, and was completing half of its payments in under 30 minutes. SWIFT is a cooperative society under Belgian law owned by its member financial institutions with offices around the world. SWIFT's headquarters are in La Hulpe, Belgium, near Brussels. The main building was designed by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura and completed in 1989. The chairman of SWIFT is Yawar Shah, originally from Pakistan , and its CEO, since July 2019, is Javier Pérez-Tasso, originally from Spain. SWIFT hosts an annual conference, called Sibos, specifically aimed at the financial services industry. SWIFT has at various times attracted controversy for enabling the US government to monitor and in some cases interfere with intra-European transactions. (See: U.S. government involvement.)
  • 4.8K
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
James I of Aragon (1213–1276)
James I, King of Aragon (1213–1276). He was the third king of the Crown of Aragon, which had come into existence through the union between Queen Petronila of Aragon (1157-1164) and the Count of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer IV (1137–1162). James I represents a milestone in the iconography of the Kings of Aragon, although this is due more to his successors’ promotion of him rather than to his own efforts. In order to organise and unify his dominions after the conquests of Mallorca and Valencia, he immersed himself in legal work that consolidated his legislative power whilst still allowing his territories to retain a certain degree of autonomy. He carried out an essential monetary reorganisation in which his coinage retained its obverse but altered its reverse according to the place of issue. He never succeeded in being crowned, although he featured the crown prominently in his stamps and seals and, on some coins, he added the term rex gratia Dei. In addition, he revived the sword as a royal insignia, having proclaimed the right of conquest as the basis of his sovereignty.
  • 4.8K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Climate Change and Potatoes
Climate change is predicted to have significant effects on global potato production. Like many crops, potatoes are likely to be affected by changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide, temperature and precipitation, as well as interactions between these factors. As well as affecting potatoes directly, climate change will also affect the distributions and populations of many potato diseases and pests. Potato is one of the world's most important food crops. Potato production must be adapted to climate change to avoid reductions in crop yields.
  • 4.8K
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Sinhapura
Sinhapura (Sanskrit, "Lion City"; IAST: Siṃhapura) was the capital of the legendary Indian king Sinhabahu. It has been mentioned in the Buddhist legends about Prince Vijaya. The name is also transliterated as Sihapura or Singhapura. The location of Sinhapura is disputed with some scholars claiming the city was located in eastern India and others claiming it was located in present-day Malaysia or Thailand. The city is linked to the origin of the Sinhalese people and Sinhalese Buddhist mythology.
  • 4.8K
  • 27 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Skeptical Movement
The skeptical movement (British spelling: sceptical movement) is a modern social movement based on the idea of scientific skepticism (also called rational skepticism). The movement has the goal of investigating claims made on fringe topics and determining whether they are supported by empirical research and are reproducible, as part of a methodological norm pursuing "the extension of certified knowledge". The process followed is sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry. Roots of the movement date at least from the 19th century, when people started publicly raising questions regarding the unquestioned acceptance of claims about spiritism, of various widely-held superstitions, and of pseudoscience. Publications such as those of the Dutch Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij (1881) also targeted medical quackery. Using as a template the Belgian organization founded in 1949, Comité Para, Americans Paul Kurtz and Marcello Truzzi founded the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), in Amherst, New York, in 1976. Now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), this organization has inspired others to form similar groups worldwide.
  • 4.8K
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Solar Still
Solar stills are considered an essential component of solar energy utilization for converting sea, brackish, or wastewater to fresh water.
  • 4.8K
  • 30 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Industry 4.0 Technologies in Supply Chain Management
The supply chain ecosystem is becoming fragile and difficult to manage due to the complexities in its interlinked functions such as planning, procurement, production, logistics, distribution, and sales. Organizations have started embarking on “Industry 4.0 technologies”, a name used to denote transformative modern-day technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, automation and robotics, Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, Blockchain, and so on to make faster decisions, optimize current practices, provide end-to-end transparency, increased collaboration, and superior warehouse management, which can collectively make it an “Intelligent supply chain”. 
  • 4.8K
  • 21 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Foods with Function Claims (FFC)
A new type of foods with function claims, called Foods with Function Claims (FFC) in Japan, was introduced in April 2015. The FFC allows manufactures to submit labeling to the Secretary-General of the Consumer Affairs Agency in Japan that indicates the food is expected to have a specific effect on health.
  • 4.8K
  • 10 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Soft Gelatin Capsules
The development of soft gelatin capsules (SGCs) dosage forms has attracted a great deal of interest in the oral delivery of poorly water-soluble drugs. This is attributed to the increased number of poorly soluble drugs in the pipeline, and hence the challenges of finding innovative ways of developing bioavailable and stable dosage forms. Encapsulation of these drugs into SGCs is one of the approaches that is utilized to deliver the active ingredients to the systemic circulation to overcome certain formulation hurdles. Once formulated, encapsulated drugs in the form of SGCs require suitable in vitro dissolution test methods to ensure drug product quality and performance.
  • 4.8K
  • 04 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
Solution-focused (brief) therapy (SFBT) is a goal-directed collaborative approach to psychotherapeutic change that is conducted through direct observation of clients' responses to a series of precisely constructed questions. Based upon social constructionist thinking and Wittgensteinian philosophy, SFBT focuses on addressing what clients want to achieve without exploring the history and provenance of problem(s). SF therapy sessions typically focus on the present and future, focusing on the past only to the degree necessary for communicating empathy and accurate understanding of the client's concerns. SFBT is future-oriented and goal-oriented interviewing technique that helps clients "build solutions." Elliot Connie defines solution building as "a collaborative language process between the client(s) and the therapist that develops a detailed description of the client(s)' preferred future/goals and identifies exceptions and past successes". By doing so, SFBT focuses on clients' strengths and resilience.
  • 4.8K
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Resistance of PVD Coatings
Due to the increasing maintenance costs of hydraulic machines related to the damages caused by cavitation erosion and/or erosion of solid particles, as well as in tribological connections, surface protection of these components is very important. Up to now, numerous investigations of resistance of coatings, mainly nitride coatings, such as CrN, TiN, TiCN, (Ti,Cr)N coatings and multilayer TiN/Ti, ZrN/CrN and TN/(Ti,Al)N coatings, produced by physical vapor deposition (PVD) method using different techniques of deposition, such as magnetron sputtering, arc evaporation or ion plating, to cavitation erosion, solid particle erosion and wear have been made. The results of these investigations, degradation processes and main test devices used are presented in this paper. An effect of deposition of mono- and multi-layer PVD coatings on duration of incubation period, cumulative weight loss and erosion rate, as well as on wear rate and coefficient of friction in tribological tests is discussed. It is shown that PVD coating does not always provide extended incubation time and/or improved resistance to mentioned types of damage. The influence of structure, hardness, residence to plastic deformation and stresses in the coatings on erosion and wear resistance is discussed. In the case of cavitation erosion and solid particle erosion, a limit value of the ratio of hardness (H) to Young’s modulus (E) exists at which the best resistance is gained. In the case of tribological tests, the higher the H/E ratio and the lower the coefficient of friction, the lower the wear rate, but there are also many exceptions
  • 4.8K
  • 13 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Perceived Green Value (PGV)
Perceived Green Value (PGV) is defined as consumers’ overall evaluation and appraisal of products in regards to their perceived environmental and sustainable advantages. This concept derives from consumer perceived value (CPV) theory, which mainly considers two dimensions, which are the functional value (quality, services, price, and convenience values) and the symbolic value (aesthetic, emotional, social, and reputational values) .
  • 4.8K
  • 26 Jul 2021
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