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Topic Review
Social Sciences and COVID-19
This entry seeks to provide an answer to the question of what is the relevance of Social Sciences for understanding the multiple implications and challenges posed by the COVID-19 contagion pandemic.
  • 16.2K
  • 16 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Social Integration
Social integration is the process during which newcomers or minorities are incorporated into the social structure of the host society. Social integration, together with economic integration and identity integration, are three main dimensions of a newcomers' experiences in the society that is receiving them. A higher extent of social integration contributes to a closer social distance between groups and more consistent values and practices. Bringing together various ethnic groups irrespective of language, caste, creed, etc., without losing one's identity. It gives access to all areas of community life and eliminates segregation. In a broader view, social integration is a dynamic and structured process in which all members participate in dialogue to achieve and maintain peaceful social relations. Social integration does not mean forced assimilation. Social integration is focused on the need to move toward a safe, stable and just society by mending conditions of social conflict, social disintegration, social exclusion, social fragmentation, exclusion and polarization, and by expanding and strengthening conditions of social integration towards peaceful social relations of coexistence, collaboration and cohesion.
  • 16.2K
  • 08 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Social Evolution
Social evolution refers to the gradual and continuous change in social structures, behaviors, and institutions over time. It encompasses the development and transformation of societies, including advancements in technology, shifts in cultural norms, and alterations in political and economic systems, often driven by factors such as innovation, conflict, and interaction with the environment. This concept underpins various theories in sociology and anthropology, offering insights into how societies adapt and evolve in response to internal and external pressures.
  • 16.2K
  • 26 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Fine-tuned Universe
The fine-tuned universe is the proposition that the conditions that allow life in the universe can occur only when certain universal dimensionless physical constants lie within a very narrow range of values, so that if any of several fundamental constants were only slightly different, the universe would be unlikely to be conducive to the establishment and development of matter, astronomical structures, elemental diversity, or life as it is understood. Various possible explanations of ostensible fine-tuning are discussed among philosophers, scientists, theologians, and proponents and detractors of creationism. The fine-tuned universe observation is closely related to, but is not exactly synonymous with, the anthropic principle, which is often used as an explanation of apparent fine-tuning.
  • 16.2K
  • 28 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Focal Point (Game Theory)
In game theory, a focal point (or Schelling point) is a solution that people tend to choose by default in the absence of communication. The concept was introduced by the American economist Thomas Schelling in his book The Strategy of Conflict (1960). Schelling states that "(p)eople can often concert their intentions or expectations with others if each knows that the other is trying to do the same" in a cooperative situation (at page 57), so their action would converge on a focal point which has some kind of prominence compared with the environment. However, the conspicuousness of the focal point depends on time, place and people themselves. It may not be a definite solution.
  • 16.1K
  • 14 Nov 2022
Topic Review
List of Devices with LTE Advanced
List of devices with LTE Advanced support. LTE is a standard for wireless communication and LTE Advanced (Cat 6 and above) is a high speed version of LTE, sometimes marketed as LTE+, 4G+, 4GX, 4.5G or 4G LTE Ultra. LTE support varies from country to country, and the speed may vary depending on user location and how fast they're travelling. The list below shows the devices that should support LTE Cat 6 and above.
  • 16.1K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Ionic Liquid
Ionic Liquids (ILs) are organic salts that melt commonly below 100 °C, constituted entirely by charged species. The tunability and versatility of ILs have given rise to several applications at the academic and industrial levels. Here the following topics are highlighted: chemical structure; ILs classification according to the possibility of proton transfer, and the historical generations of ILs.
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  • 01 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Catholic Church and Evolution
Early contributions to biology were made by Catholic scientists such as Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and the Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel. Since the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1859, the attitude of the Catholic Church on the theory of evolution has slowly been refined. For nearly a century, the papacy offered no authoritative pronouncement on Darwin's theories. In the 1950 encyclical Humani generis, Pope Pius XII confirmed that there is no intrinsic conflict between Christianity and the theory of evolution, provided that Christians believe that God created all things and that the individual soul is a direct creation by God and not the product of purely material forces. (As of 2013), the Church supports theistic evolution(ism), also known as evolutionary creation, although Catholics are free not to believe in any part of evolutionary theory. The Catholic Church holds no official position on the theory of creation or evolution, leaving the specifics of either theistic evolution or literal creationism to the individual within certain parameters established by the Church. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, any believer may accept either literal or special creation within the period of an actual six-day, twenty-four-hour period, or they may accept the belief that the earth evolved over time under the guidance of God. Catholicism holds that God initiated and continued the process of his evolutionary creation, that Adam and Eve were real people, and affirms that all humans, whether specially created or evolved, have and have always had specially created souls for each individual. Catholic schools in the United States and other countries teach evolution as part of their science curriculum. They teach the fact that evolution occurs and the modern evolutionary synthesis, which is the scientific theory that explains how evolution proceeds.
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  • 31 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Renewable Energy Supply Chain
The renewable energy supply chain (RESC) is defined as “the transformation of raw energy into usable energy and involves an effective set of management principles from the point of acquisition of energy resources to the point of consumption of usable energy”.
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  • 16 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Kangiten
Kangi-ten (Japanese: 歓喜天, "God of Bliss") is a god (deva or ten) in Shingon and Tendai schools of Japanese Buddhism. He is generally considered the Japanese Buddhist form of the Hindu god of wisdom, Ganesha and is sometimes also identified with the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. He is also known as Kanki-ten, Shō-ten (聖天, "sacred god" or "noble god"), Daishō-ten ("great noble god"), Daishō Kangi-ten (大聖歓喜天), Tenson (天尊, "venerable god"), Kangi Jizai-ten (歓喜自在天), Shōden-sama, Vinayaka-ten, Binayaka-ten (毘那夜迦天), Ganapatei (誐那缽底) and Zōbi-ten (象鼻天). Kangiten has many aspects and names, associated with Vajrayana (Esoteric Buddhist, Tantric, mantrayana) schools, Shingon being one of them. Although Kangiten is depicted with an elephant's head like Ganesha as a single male deity, his most popular aspect is the Dual(-bodied) Kangiten or the Embracing Kangiten depicted as an elephant-headed male-female human couple standing in an embrace.
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  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Mukhannathun
Mukhannathun (مخنثون "effeminate ones", "men who resemble women", singular mukhannath) was a term used in Classical Arabic to refer to men who were perceived as effeminate. Mukhannathun, especially those in the city of Medina, are mentioned throughout the ahadith and in the works of many early Arabic and Islamic writers. During the Rashidun era and first half of the Umayyad era, they were strongly associated with music and entertainment. During the Abbasid caliphate, the word itself was used as a descriptor for men employed as dancers, musicians, or comedians. In later eras, the term mukhannath was associated with the receptive partner in gay sexual practices, an association that has persisted into the modern day. Khanith is a vernacular Arabic term used in some parts of the Arabian Peninsula to denote the gender role ascribed to males who function sexually, and in some ways socially, as women. The term is closely related to the word mukhannath.
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  • 10 Nov 2022
Topic Review
List of Oxidation States of the Elements
This is a list of known oxidation states of the chemical elements, excluding nonintegral values. The most common states appear in bold. The table is based on that of Greenwood and Earnshaw, with additions noted. Oxidation state 0, which occurs for all elements, is implied by the column with the symbol of the element. The format of the table, which was devised by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1889, shows the periodicity of the oxidation states of the elements.
  • 16.0K
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Stonefish: venom components, pathology, distribution
There are five species of stonefish within the genus Synanceia: Synanceia horrida (previously referred to as S. trachynis), S. verrucosa, S. alula, S. nana and S. platyrhyncha. Synanceia spp. can grow 35–50 cm in length and have evolved grey and mottled skin to camouflage themselves amongst encrusted rocks and coral for predation and defense. Synanceia species have up to 15 dorsal fin spines that are erected when the fish is disturbed. Stings from this medically important group of fish are known to cause painful and lethal human envenomations. Stonefish are regarded as one of the most venomous fish in the world. Research on stonefish venom has chiefly focused on the in vitro and in vivo neurological, cardiovascular, cytotoxic and nociceptive effects of the venom.
  • 16.0K
  • 17 Jun 2021
Topic Review
List of Space Shuttle Landing Sites
Three locations in the United States were used as landing sites for the Space Shuttle system. Each site included runways of sufficient length to provide adequate distance for the slowing-down of a returning spacecraft. The prime landing site was the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a purpose-built landing strip. Landings also occurred at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and one took place at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. No space shuttle landed on a dry lakebed runway after 1991. The first international site was Cartago, Valle in Colombia (CTA). Various international landing sites were also available in the event of a Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) scenario, as well as other sites in the United States and Canada in case of an East Coast Abort Landing (ECAL) situation. Space shuttle landings were intended to regularly take place at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for Department of Defense missions launched from the site, but none occurred due to the cancellation of all launches from Vandenberg.
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  • 02 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Tangible Cultural Heritage and Historical Monuments of Morocco
Morocco is impacted by indigenous Berber, Arab, African, and European influences , and is often referred to as Al Maghreb (Arabic meaning "West"). The kingdom, which is the region's only monarchy and is located on North Africa's western edge, has managed to transform its rich cultural heritage into a tolerant state.
  • 15.9K
  • 13 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Surname
A surname, family name, or last name is the portion (in some cultures) of a personal name that indicates a person's family (or tribe or community, depending on the culture). Depending on the culture, all members of a family unit may have identical surnames or there may be variations based on the cultural rules. In the English-speaking world, a surname is commonly referred to as a last name because it is usually placed at the end of a person's full name, after any given names. In many parts of Asia, as well as some parts of Europe and Africa, the family name is placed before a person's given name. In most Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries, two surnames are commonly used and in some families that claim a connection to nobility even three are used. Surnames have not always existed and today are not universal in all cultures. This tradition has arisen separately in different cultures around the world. In Europe, the concept of surnames became popular in the Roman Empire and expanded throughout the Mediterranean and Western Europe as a result. During the Middle Ages this practice died out as Germanic, Persian, and other influences took hold. During the late Middle Ages surnames gradually re-emerged, first in the form of bynames (typically indicating individual's occupation or area of residence), which gradually evolved into modern surnames. In China surnames have been the norm since at least the 2nd century BC. A family name is typically a part of a person's personal name which, according to law or custom, is passed or given to children from one or both of their parents' family names. The use of family names is common in most cultures around the world, with each culture having its own rules as to how these names are formed, passed and used. However, the style of having both a family name (surname) and a given name (forename) is far from universal. In many cultures, it is common for people to have one name or mononym, with some cultures not using family names. In most Slavic countries, as well as other countries including Greece and Iceland, for example, there are different family name forms for male and female members of the family. Issues of family name arise especially on the passing of a name to a new-born child, on the adoption of a common family name on marriage, on renouncing of a family name and on changing of a family name. Surname laws vary around the world. Traditionally in many European countries for the past few hundred years, it was the custom or law that a woman would on marriage use the surname of her husband and that children of a man would have the father's surname. If a child's paternity was not known, or if the putative father denied paternity, the new-born child would have the surname of the mother. That is still the custom or law in many countries. The surname for children of married parents is usually inherited from the father. In recent years there has been a trend towards equality of treatment in relation to family names, with women being not automatically required or expected, or in some places even forbidden, to take the husband's surname on marriage, and children not automatically being given the father's surname. In this article, family name and surname both mean the patrilineal surname, handed down from or inherited from the father's, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Thus, the term "maternal surname" means the patrilineal surname which one's mother inherited from either or both of her parents. For a discussion of matrilineal ('mother-line') surnames, passing from mothers to daughters, see matrilineal surname. In English-speaking cultures, family names are often used by children when referring to adults, but are also used to refer to someone in authority, the elderly, or in a formal setting, and are often used with a title or honorific such as Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss, Doctor, and so on. It is also common in English-speaking cultures for individuals to be referred to by their surname instead of their given name by their friends. Generally the given name, first name, forename, or personal name is the one used by friends, family, and other intimates to address an individual. It may also be used by someone who is in some way senior to the person being addressed. This practice also differs between cultures; see T–V distinction. The study of proper names (in family names, personal names, or places) is called onomastics. A one-name study is a collection of vital and other biographical data about all persons worldwide sharing a particular surname.
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  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Eastern Orthodox Church Organization
The Eastern Orthodox Church is a communion comprising the fourteen or sixteen separate autocephalous (self-governing) hierarchical churches that recognize each other as "canonical" Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. Each constituent church is self-governing; its highest-ranking bishop called the primate (a patriarch, a metropolitan or an archbishop) reports to no higher earthly authority. Each regional church is composed of constituent eparchies (or dioceses) ruled by bishops. Some autocephalous churches have given an eparchy or group of eparchies varying degrees of autonomy (limited self-government). Such autonomous churches maintain varying levels of dependence on their mother church, usually defined in a tomos or other document of autonomy. In many cases, autonomous churches are almost completely self-governing, with the mother church retaining only the right to appoint the highest-ranking bishop (often an archbishop or metropolitan) of the autonomous church. Normal governance is enacted through a synod of bishops within each church. In case of issues that go beyond the scope of a single church, multiple self-governing churches send representatives to a wider synod, sometimes wide enough to be called an Eastern Orthodox "ecumenical council". Such councils are deemed to have authority superior to that of any autocephalous church or its ranking bishop.
  • 15.9K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Vichy France
Vichy France (French: Régime de Vichy) is the common name of the French State (État français) headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Evacuated from Paris to Vichy in the unoccupied "Free Zone" (zone libre) in the southern part of metropolitan France which included French Algeria, it remained responsible for the civil administration of all France as well as the French colonial empire. From 1940 to 1942, while the Vichy regime was the nominal government of all of France except for Alsace-Lorraine, the Germans militarily occupied northern France. While Paris remained the de jure capital of France, the government chose to relocate to the town of Vichy, 360 km (220 mi) to the south in the zone libre, which thus became the de facto capital of the French State. Following the Allied landings in French North Africa in November 1942, southern France was also militarily occupied by Germany and Italy to protect the Mediterranean coastline. Petain's government remained in Vichy as the nominal government of France, albeit one that was obliged by circumstances to collaborate with Germany from November 1942 onwards. The government at Vichy remained there until late 1944, when it lost its authority due to the Allied invasion of France. After being appointed Premier by President Albert Lebrun, Marshal Pétain's cabinet agreed to end the war and signed an Armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940. On 10 July, the French Third Republic was dissolved, and Pétain established an authoritarian regime when the National Assembly granted him full powers. The Vichy government reversed many liberal policies and began tight supervision of the economy, calling for "National Regeneration", with central planning a key feature. Labour unions came under tight government control. Conservative Catholics became prominent and clerical input in schools resumed. Paris lost its avant-garde status in European art and culture. The media were tightly controlled and stressed virulent anti-Semitism, and, after June 1941, anti-Bolshevism. The French State maintained nominal sovereignty over the whole of French territory, but had effective full sovereignty only in the unoccupied southern zone libre ("free zone"). It had limited and only civil authority in the northern zones under military occupation. The occupation was to be a provisional state of affairs, pending the conclusion of the war, which at the time (1940) appeared imminent. The occupation also presented certain advantages, such as keeping the French Navy and French colonial empire under French control, and avoiding full occupation of the country by Germany, thus maintaining a degree of French independence and neutrality. The French government at Vichy never joined the Axis alliance. Germany kept two million French soldiers prisoner, carrying out forced labour. They were hostages to ensure that Vichy would reduce its military forces and pay a heavy tribute in gold, food, and supplies to Germany. French police were ordered to round up Jews and other "undesirables" such as communists and political refugees. Much of the French public initially supported the government, despite its undemocratic nature and its difficult position vis-à-vis the Germans, often seeing it as necessary to maintain a degree of French autonomy and territorial integrity. In November 1942, however, the zone libre was also occupied by Axis forces, leading to the disbandment of the remaining army and the sinking of France's remaining fleet and ending any semblance of independence, with Germany now closely supervising all French officials. Most of the overseas French colonies were originally under Vichy control, but with the Allied invasion of North Africa it lost one colony after another to Charles de Gaulle's Allied-oriented Free France. Public opinion in some quarters turned against the French government and the occupying German forces over time, when it became clear that Germany was losing the war, and resistance to them increased. Following the Allied invasion of France in June 1944 and the liberation of France later that year, the Free French Provisional government of the French Republic (GPRF) was installed by the Allies as France's government, led by de Gaulle. Under a "national unanimity" cabinet uniting the many factions of the French Resistance, the GPRF re-established a provisional French Republic, thus apparently restoring continuity with the Third Republic. Most of the legal French government's leaders at Vichy fled or were subject to show trials by the GPRF, and a number were quickly executed for "treason" in a series of purges (épuration légale). Thousands of collaborators were summarily executed by local communists and the Resistance in so-called "savage purges" (épuration sauvage). The last of the French state exiles were captured in the Sigmaringen enclave by de Gaulle's French 1st Armoured Division in April 1945. Pétain, who had voluntarily made his way back to France via Switzerland, was also put on trial for treason by the new Provisional government, and received a death sentence, but this was commuted to life imprisonment by de Gaulle. Only four senior Vichy officials were tried for crimes against humanity, although many more had participated in the deportation of Jews for extermination in Nazi concentration camps, abuses of prisoners, and severe acts against members of the Resistance.
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  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Datasheet
A datasheet, data sheet, or spec sheet is a document that summarizes the performance and other characteristics of a product, machine, component (e.g., an electronic component), material, subsystem (e.g., a power supply), or software in sufficient detail that allows a buyer to understand what the product is and a design engineer to understand the role of the component in the overall system. Typically, a datasheet is created by the manufacturer and begins with an introductory page describing the rest of the document, followed by listings of specific characteristics, with further information on the connectivity of the devices. In cases where there is relevant source code to include, it is usually attached near the end of the document or separated into another file. Datasheets are created, stored, and distributed via product information management or product data management systems. Depending on the specific purpose, a datasheet may offer an average value, a typical value, a typical range, engineering tolerances, or a nominal value. The type and source of data are usually stated on the datasheet. A datasheet is usually used for commercial or technical communication to describe the characteristics of an item or product. It can be published by the manufacturer to help people choose products or to help use the products. By contrast, a technical specification is an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, or service. The ideal datasheet specifies characteristics in a formal structure, according to a strict taxonomy, that allows the information to be processed by a machine. Such machine readable descriptions can facilitate information retrieval, display, design, testing, interfacing, verification, system discovery, and e-commerce. Examples include Open Icecat data-sheets, transducer electronic data sheets for describing sensor characteristics, and Electronic device descriptions in CANopen or descriptions in markup languages, such as SensorML.
  • 15.9K
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Cocoyam [Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott]
Cocoyam [Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott] also known as taro is regarded as an important staple crop in the Pacific Islands, Asia and Africa.
  • 15.9K
  • 22 Apr 2021
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