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Topic Review
Transfer of Natural Radionuclides in Terrestrial Food Chains
From the radiation protection point of view, less important natural radionuclides are 238U, 226Ra, 40K, and Th isotopes. However, 238U is a long-lived (t½ = 4.5 × 109 a) alpha emitter whose chemical toxicity exceeds its radiological toxicity. Although isotope 238U is not considered to cause significant radiation exposure, it is still the mother nuclide of a whole uranium decay series, producing isotopes of astatine, bismuth, lead, polonium, protactinium, radium, radon, thallium, and thorium while decaying. 40K also has a very long half-life (t½ = 1.28 × 109 a).
  • 816
  • 14 Feb 2023
Topic Review
The Development Process of DAUE
Driving analysis of urban expansion (DAUE) is usually implemented to identify the driving factors and their corresponding driving effects/mechanisms for the expansion processes of urban land, aiming to provide scientific guidance for urban planning and management. DAUE is defined to cover all related driving effect/relationship/mechanism research on urban expansion and includes the employed analysis methods within them, i.e., correlation analysis, regression analysis, causal analysis, and so on.   
  • 808
  • 04 May 2023
Topic Review
Effects of Animal Venoms on Human Innate Immunity
Venoms are products of specialized glands and serve many living organisms to immobilize and kill prey, start digestive processes and act as a defense mechanism. Venoms affect different cells, cellular structures and tissues, such as skin, nervous, hematological, digestive, excretory and immune systems, as well as the heart, among other structures. Components of both the innate and adaptive immune systems can be stimulated or suppressed. Innate immunity is the first line of defense against microorganisms and external stimuli; it is nonspecific and is composed of physical barriers, soluble antimicrobial peptides and molecules, effector cells and phagocytes. Studying the effects on the cells and molecules produced by the immune system has been useful in many biomedical fields. The effects of venoms can be the basis for research and development of therapeutic protocols useful in the modulation of the immunological system, including different autoimmune diseases. 
  • 799
  • 10 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Group on Earth Observations
The Group on Earth Observations (or GEO) coordinates international efforts to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). It links existing and planned Earth observation systems and supports the development of new ones in cases of perceived gaps in the supply of environment-related information. It aims to construct a global public infrastructure for Earth observations consisting in a flexible and distributed network of systems and content providers.
  • 795
  • 27 Oct 2022
Topic Review
1968 Burma Cyclone
The 1968 Burma cyclone was regarded as the worst to strike the country during the 20th century before it was surpassed by another unnamed cyclone in 2004 and further, Cyclone Nargis in 2008, respectively. The first tropical cyclone of the 1968 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, it started as a depression on May 7 on the northern Andaman Sea. With low wind shear and warm sea surface temperatures, the storm intensified in the waters near Burma before heading northwestwards. It then started to rapidly intensify, with an eye becoming apparent on satellite imagery on May 9. Also that day, it reached its peak intensity, with 3-minute maximum sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph) by the Indian Meteorological Department, which is equivalent to a super cyclonic storm; however, the agency treated the system as a severe cyclonic storm. Little to no changes happened on the cyclone as it turned northeastwards, making landfall near Akyab (now Sittwe) between 18:00 and 21:00 UTC on that day. Land interaction rapidly weakened the storm, dissipating on May 10 as an area of low-pressure in south Chin State. The predecessor to the cyclone caused light to moderate downpour to the Andaman Islands; however, no deaths were reported. Winds reported from the cyclone inland Burma reached an estimate of 60–100 mph, altogether with heavy rainfall and large storm surges. The former flooded the crops, submerging them in floodwaters in the process while the latter washed out villages near the path of the storm. Schools and hospitals throughout Akyab were destroyed by high winds and large waves, while the port suffered major damages. The town was almost destroyed due to the storm. In addition, some ships in the said harbor, including the Greek freighter Geros Michalos were reportedly sunk in the Bay of Bengal. Houses were destroyed during the storm and many livestock died, mainly due to drowning. The death toll from the cyclone was finalized on May 1968 at 1,307 individuals, while 2,000 more were reportedly missing. The property damages were estimated at K15 million kyat ($3.248 million United States dollar ). After the cyclone, the Government of Burma started to release aid to the victims, altogether with food supplies and cotton blankets. The Red Cross Society of the country donated cases of medicines to the country, while the United States Government released over 25,000 blankets to be transferred to the area. In addition, many countries and organizations including the UNICEF contributed over $121,291 (1968 USD) to Myanmar, following the disaster.
  • 791
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Impact of Particles on Pulmonary Endothelial Cells
Due to particle sizes ranging from the nanometre to the millimetre scale, these particles can be easily inhaled or absorbed by the skin, reaching the cells of the pulmonary alveoli and finally entering the bloodstream, which can lead to health adverse effects. Endothelial cells (ECs) guarantee permeability for the passage of blood, hormone fluids, macromolecules and platelets through arteries, veins, arterioles and venules and controls blood flow and vascular relaxation and constriction. The function of pulmonary endothelial cells (PECs) is not very different from vascular endothelial cells; they regulate blood flow but also control the passage of liquid and macromolecules between the interstitial space, the vessels and the smooth muscle cells.
  • 776
  • 15 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Coverage Data
A coverage is the digital representation of some spatio-temporal phenomenon. ISO 19123 provides the definition: Coverages play an important role in geographic information systems (GIS), geospatial content and services, GIS data processing, and data sharing. A coverage is represented by its "domain" (the universe of extent) and a collection representing the coverage's values at each defined location within its range. For example, a satellite image derived from remote sensing might record varying degrees of light pollution. Aerial photography, land cover data, and digital elevation models all provide coverage data. Generally, a coverage can be multi-dimensional, such as 1-D sensor timeseries, 2-D satellite images, 3-D x/y/t image time series or x/y/z geo tomograms, or 4-D x/y/z/t climate and ocean data. However, coverages are more general than just regularly gridded imagery. The corresponding standards (see below) address regular and irregular grids, point clouds, and general meshes. An interoperable service definition for navigating, accessing, processing, and aggregation of coverages is provided by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Coverage Service (WCS) suite and Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS), a spatio-temporal coverage query language.
  • 766
  • 03 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Oregon Badlands Wilderness
The Oregon Badlands Wilderness is a 29,301-acre (11,858 ha) wilderness area located east of Bend in Deschutes and Crook counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. The wilderness is managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Landscape Conservation System and was created by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on 30 March 2009. The area is known for igneous castle-like rock formations, harsh terrain, ancient Juniper trees, sagebrush, and extensive arid land. Desert wildflowers, dry river canyons, and Native American pictographs can be found. The blind iditarod racer Rachel Scdoris trained in the area, and the wilderness is home to the western terminus of the Oregon Desert Trail.
  • 760
  • 08 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Crary Mountains
Crary Mountains (76°48′S 117°40′W) are a group of ice-covered volcanoes in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. They consist of two or three shield volcanoes, named Mount Rees, Mount Steere and Mount Frakes, which developed during the course of the Miocene and Pliocene and last erupted about 30,000-40,000 years ago. The first two volcanoes are both heavily incised by cirques, while Mount Frakes is better preserved and has a 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) wide caldera at its summit. Boyd Ridge is another part of the mountain range and lies southeast of Mount Frakes; it might be the emergent part of a platform that underlies the mountain range. The volcanoes consist mainly of basalt, trachyte and phonolite in the form of lava flows, scoria and hydrovolcanic formations. Volcanic activity here is linked to the West Antarctic Rift system, which is responsible for the formation of a number of volcanoes in the region. During their existence, the range was affected by glaciation and glacial-volcanic interactions.
  • 758
  • 10 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Sediment Quality Triad (SQT)
In aquatic toxicology, the sediment quality triad (SQT) approach has been used as an assessment tool to evaluate the extent of sediment degradation resulting from contaminants released due to human activity present in aquatic environments (Chapman, 1990). This evaluation focuses on three main components: 1.) sediment chemistry, 2.) sediment toxicity tests using aquatic organisms, and 3.) the field effects on the benthic organisms (Chapman, 1990). Often used in risk assessment, the combination of three lines of evidence can lead to a comprehensive understanding of the possible effects to the aquatic community (Chapman, 1997). Although the SQT approach does not provide a cause-and-effect relationship linking concentrations of individual chemicals to adverse biological effects, it does provide an assessment of sediment quality commonly used to explain sediment characteristics quantitatively. The information provided by each portion of the SQT is unique and complementary, and the combination of these portions is necessary because no single characteristic provides comprehensive information regarding a specific site (Chapman, 1997)
  • 756
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Short-Term Forecasting of Electric Vehicle Load
Electric vehicles (EVs) are inducing revolutionary developments to the transportation and power sectors. Their innumerable benefits are forcing nations to adopt this sustainable mode of transport. Governments are framing and implementing various green energy policies. Nonetheless, there exist several critical challenges and concerns to be resolved in order to reap the complete benefits of E-mobility. The impacts of unplanned EV charging are a major concern. 
  • 752
  • 27 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Nanofarming
The agricultural sector is a vital source of human well-being that provides the necessities of daily life. A variety of farming systems are utilized in agriculture, such as a wide range of tillage options, no-till, agroforestry, precision farming, organic farming, cover cropping, crop rotations, etc. Each of these farming systems has unique challenges, and nanotechnology has successfully improved on many of them. Agricultural applications of nanotechnology include nanofertilizers, nanopesticides, nanosensors, nanobiotechnology, and nanoremediation. 
  • 747
  • 28 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Global Earth Observation System of Systems
The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) is being built by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) on the basis of a 10-Year Implementation Plan running from 2005 to 2015. GEOSS seeks to connect the producers of environmental data and decision-support tools with the end users of these products, with the aim of enhancing the relevance of Earth observations to global issues. GEOSS aims to produce a global public infrastructure that generates comprehensive, near-real-time environmental data, information and analyses for a wide range of users. The Secretariat Director of Geoss is Barbara Ryan.
  • 731
  • 17 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Caja Del Rio
Template:Geobox Caja del Rio (Spanish: "box of the river") is a dissected plateau, of volcanic origin, which covers approximately 84,000 acres of land in northern Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States. The region is also known as the Caja, Caja del Rio Plateau, and Cerros del Rio. The center of the area is approximately 15 miles (23 km) west of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Most of the Caja is owned by the United States Forest Service and managed by the Santa Fe National Forest. Access is through New Mexico Highway 599, Santa Fe County Road 62, and Forest Service Road 24.
  • 727
  • 11 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Mobile Local Search
Mobile local search is a technology that lets people search for local things using mobile equipment such as mobile phones, PDAs, and other mobile devices. Mobile local search satisfies the need to offer a mobile subscriber spontaneous access to near-position services and information such as businesses, products, events, restaurant, movie theatre or other local information. Mobile local search is the search and discovery of persons, places, and things within an identifiable space defined by distinct parameters. These parameters are evolving. Today they include social networks, individuals, cities, neighborhoods, landmarks, and actions that are relevant to the searcher's past, current, and future location. These parameters provide structure to vertically deep and horizontally broad data categories that can stand-alone or are combined to comprise searchable directories. Mobile local search is usually based on organized directories accessed through specialized search tools, rather than the web, although mobile local search often provides links to mobile (WAP) web sites. It is also an application of a location-based service.
  • 715
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Grongar Hill
Grongar Hill is located in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire and was the subject of a loco-descriptive poem by John Dyer. Published in two versions in 1726, during the Augustan period, its celebration of the individual experience of the landscape makes it a precursor of Romanticism. As a prospect poem, it has been the subject of continuing debate over how far it meets artistic canons.
  • 714
  • 27 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Antiviral and Antimicrobial Peptides
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a ubiquitous class of secretable molecules involved in innate immunity via direct interaction with pathogens. AMP research has sought to describe the highly conserved cysteine rich C-domains of peptides, which determine molecular function; however, investigations into such molecular functions have generally been limited to antibacterial and antifungal defence in both vertebrates and invertebrates, with little research focusing on mollusc antiviral AMPs. Mollusc AMPs can be broadly divided into the following five groups: defensins, big defensins, mytilins, myticins, mytimacins, and mytimycins. All groups possess antibacterial activity, though few have been tested for antiviral activity, and thus the mollusc antiviral AMP mode of action is poorly understood. However, proposed modes of action of antiviral AMPs include targeting viral entry, viral uncoating, and inhibition of viral replication and endosomal escape.
  • 704
  • 07 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Kaunos
Kaunos (Carian: Kbid; Lycian: Khbide; Ancient Greek: Καῦνος; Latin: Caunus) was a city of ancient Caria and in Anatolia, a few km west of the modern town of Dalyan, Muğla Province, Turkey. The Calbys river (now known as the Dalyan river) was the border between Caria and Lycia. Initially Kaunos was a separate state; then it became a part of Caria and later still of Lycia. Kaunos was an important sea port, the history of which is supposed to date back till the 10th century BC. Because of the formation of İztuzu Beach and the silting of the former Bay of Dalyan (from approx. 200 BC onwards), Kaunos is now located about 8 km from the coast. The city had two ports, the southern port at the southeast of Küçük Kale and the inner port at its northwest (the present Sülüklü Göl, Lake of the Leeches). The southern port was used from the foundation of the city till roughly the end of the Hellenistic era, after which it became inaccessible due to its drying out. The inner or trade port could be closed by chains. The latter was used till the late days of Kaunos, but due to the silting of the delta and the ports, Kaunos had by then long lost its important function as a trade port. After Caria had been captured by Turkish tribes and the serious malaria epidemic of the 15th century AD, Kaunos was completely abandoned. In 1966 Prof. Baki Öğün started the excavations of ancient Kaunos. These have been continued up to the present day, and are now supervised by Prof. Cengiz Işık. The archeological research is not limited to Kaunos itself, but is also carried out in locations nearby e.g. near the Sultaniye Spa where there used to be a sanctuary devoted to the goddess Leto.
  • 680
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Vilabouly Complex, Laos
The Vilabouly Complex is an archaeological site that is located in the Savannakhet Province in Laos which holds copper smelting and copper mining during the Iron Age. The Vilabouly Complex is significant since it puts archaeologists in a predicament of when did the origin of bronze metallurgy begin in Southeast Asia. It was estimated that the site was around 400BC - AD 500 as well as 1000 - 400BC reaching both the Iron Age and Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. The site contained a lead signature that followed copper, bronze alloys, and bronze which signifies a massive source of material that can benefit metallurgy in the region. By this, the Vilabouly Complex will hold all the power of the region since it has all the resources to advance their technology during the Bronze and Iron Ages. The Vilabouly Complex and the region contained such mining sites such as Dragon Field, Peun Balo, Tengkham South D, Khanong A2, and the Malachite Cave. These sites all refer to the Iron Age but Peun Balo revealed mining in the Bronze Age continuing the predicament for Archaeologists. Research like this is vital for the Vilabouly Complex to find and understand the exact date to when the people of Southeast Asia are trading metals, and sharing mining techniques. There are also other sites in region such as the Prachan Valley that shared a lot of similarities to that of the Vilabouly Complex revealing continuities for the Southeast Asian people.
  • 675
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
First Grinnell Expedition
The First Grinnell Expedition of 1850 was the first American effort, financed by Henry Grinnell, to determine the fate of the lost Franklin Polar Expedition. Led by Lieutenant Edwin De Haven, the team explored the accessible areas along Franklin's proposed route. In coordination with British expeditions, they identified the remains of Franklin's Beechy Island winter camp, providing the first solid clues to Franklin's activities during the winter of 1845 before becoming icebound themselves.
  • 659
  • 02 Dec 2022
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