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Topic Review
Impact of Self-Driving Cars
The impact of self-driving cars is anticipated to be wide-ranging on many areas of daily life. Self-driving cars have been the subject of significant research on their environmental, practical, and lifesyle consequences. One significant predicted impact of self-driving cars is a substantial reduction in traffic collisions and resulting severe injuries or deaths. United States government estimates suggest 94% of traffic collisions are caused by human error, with a 2020 study estimating that making 90% of cars on US roads self-driving would save 25,000 lives per year. While this has significant benefits, other health downsides of self-driving cars are predicted; self-driving cars are suggested to worsen air pollution, noise pollution, and sedentary lifestyles, and may contribute to shortages of donor organs. Self-driving cars are anticipated to increase productivity and housing affordability, as well as reclaim land used for parking. However, they are also predicted to cause greater energy use, traffic congestion and sprawl. The impact of self-driving cars on absolute levels of individual car use is not yet clear, with commentators alternatively predicting increases and decreases. Self-driving cars are one of several potential autonomous vehicles, and other forms of self-driving vehicles, such as self-driving buses, may decrease car use and congestion in ways self-driving cars are unlikely to. The effect of self-driving cars on various employment fields is predicted to be wide-ranging. Impacts are anticipated on the healthcare, insurance, travel, and logistics fields. Auto insurance costs are expected to decrease, and the burden of cars on the healthcare system to reduce. Self-driving cars are predicted to have substantial and wide-ranging effects on transportation industries, with significant job losses in these fields.
  • 4.3K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Solar Power
Solar power is the conversion of renewable energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), indirectly using concentrated solar power, or a combination. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and solar tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight to a hot spot, often to drive a steam turbine. Photovoltaics were initially solely used as a source of electricity for small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to remote homes powered by an off-grid rooftop PV system. Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. Since then, as the cost of solar electricity has fallen, grid-connected solar PV systems have grown more or less exponentially. Millions of installations and gigawatt-scale photovoltaic power stations have been and are being built. Solar PV has rapidly become a viable low-carbon technology, and as of 2020, provides the cheapest source of electricity in history. As of 2021, solar generates 4% of the world's electricity, compared to 1% in 2015 when the Paris Agreement to limit climate change was signed. Along with onshore wind, the cheapest levelised cost of electricity is utility-scale solar. The International Energy Agency said in 2021 that under its "Net Zero by 2050" scenario solar power would contribute about 20% of worldwide energy consumption, and solar would be the world's largest source of electricity.
  • 4.3K
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Skin Lesion Datasets and Image Preprocessing
Skin lesions affect millions of people worldwide. They can be easily recognized based on their typically abnormal texture and color but are difficult to diagnose due to similar symptoms among certain types of lesions.
  • 4.3K
  • 18 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Ring Expansion and Ring Contraction
Ring expansion and ring contraction reactions in the course of organic synthesis refer to a set of reactions which can lead to the expansion or contraction of an existing ring. This often makes it possible to access structures that would be difficult if not impossible to synthesise with single cyclization reactions. Ring expansions are valuable because they allow access to larger systems that are difficult to synthesize through a single cyclization due to the slow rate of formation. Ring contractions are useful for making smaller, more strained rings from larger rings. Expansions are classified by the mechanism of expansion and the atom(s) added; contractions are characterized simply by the reactive intermediate which performs the contraction.
  • 4.3K
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Personnel Psychology
Personnel Psychology is a subfield of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Personnel psychology is the area of industrial/organizational psychology that primarily deals with the recruitment, selection and evaluation of personnel, and other job aspects such as morale, job satisfaction, and relationships between managers and workers in the workplace. It is the field of study that concentrates on the selection and evaluation of employees; this area of psychology deals with job analysis and defines and measures job performance, performance appraisal, employment testing, employment interviews, personnel selection and employee training, and human factors and ergonomics.
  • 4.3K
  • 02 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Main Cable's Construction Control Technology of Suspension Bridge
The main cable shape control confronts new challenges when a suspension bridge’s span exceeds two kilometers. As a suspension bridge’s primary load-bearing component, it is difficult to alter the alignment once the erection is completed. Hence, the accurate calculation and control of the main cable shape has significant scientific research value from various aspects. The erection error of the free cable shape will have a substantial impact on subsequent construction stages. Therefore, when erecting the main cable, it is essential to guarantee the shape’s precision to the greatest extent possible.
  • 4.3K
  • 06 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Copper-Based Conductive Inks
Silver (Ag), gold (Au), and copper (Cu) have been utilized as metals for fabricating metal-based inks/pastes for printed/flexible electronics. Among them, Cu is the most promising candidate for metal-based inks/pastes. Cu has high intrinsic electrical/thermal conductivity, which is more cost-effective and abundant, as compared to Ag. Moreover, the migration tendency of Cu is less than that of Ag. Thus, recently, Cu-based inks/pastes have gained increasing attention as conductive inks/pastes for printed/flexible electronics. We can divide Cu-based inks/pastes into four categories from the viewpoints of Cu sources: (i) traditional micron-sized flake/powder type, (ii) nanoparticle type, (iii) nanowire type, and (iv) precursor ion type. However, the disadvantages of Cu-based inks/pastes are their instability against oxidation under an ambient condition and tendency to form insulating layers of Cu oxide, such as cuprous oxide (Cu2O) and cupric oxide (CuO). The formation of the Cu oxidation causes a low conductivity in sintered Cu films and interferes with the sintering of Cu particles. The surface and interface designs for Cu-based conductive inks/pastes are important strategies for the oxidation resistance of Cu and low-temperature sintering to produce highly conductive Cu patterns/electrodes on flexible substrates. The surface control approaches include surface designs by polymers, small ligands, core-shell structures, and surface activation. The Cu-based mixed inks/pastes offer improved performances compared with the single use of each component.
  • 4.3K
  • 07 Sep 2020
Topic Review
Antimicrobial Peptides for Wound Infections
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), also called host defense peptides (HDPs), are found in bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. They typically consist of 10–50 amino acid residues (very rarely up to 100 amino acids) and generally possess cationic (net charge ranging from −4 to +20) and amphipathic structures. 
  • 4.3K
  • 09 Dec 2020
Topic Review
MMP-13 in Osteoarthritis Treatment
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative disease characterized by the destruction of articular cartilage and chronic inflammation of surrounding tissues. Matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13) is the primary MMP involved in cartilage degradation through its particular ability to cleave type II collagen. Hence, it is an attractive target for the treatment of OA.
  • 4.3K
  • 07 May 2021
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Robert of Anjou (1309–1343)
Robert of Anjou King of Sicily (1309–1343). Robert of Anjou was the third king of the Angevin dynasty on the throne of Sicily. He ruled from 1309 to 1343, but, in these years, Sicily was under the domain of the Aragonese dynasty and, hence, his authority was limited to the continental land of the Kingdom and his court was mainly focused in the city of Naples. From an iconographic point of view, he is particularly interesting because, between his official representations (namely, commissioned directly by him or his entourage), he was the first king of Sicily who made use not only of stereotyped images of himself, but also of physiognomic portraits. In particular, this entry focuses on these latter items, comprising the following four artworks: Simone Martini’s altarpiece, the Master of Giovanni Barrile’s panel, the Master of the Franciscan tempera’s canvas, and the so-called Lello da Orvieto’s fresco.
  • 4.3K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Gendered Citizenship, Inequality, and Well-Being in Qatar
The impact of gendered citizenship on the well-being of cross-national families following the political blockade imposed on Qatar in 2017. More specifically, it examines how these families, women, and children face challenges related to their lives, well-being, and rights. Twenty-three face-to-face interviews were conducted with Qatari and non-Qatari women and men married to non-Qatari spouses residing in Qatar. 
  • 4.3K
  • 15 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Sourdough Bread Fermentation and Probiotics
Sourdough fermentation is an ancient technique to ferment cereal flour that improves bread quality, bringing nutritional and health benefits. The fermented dough has a complex microbiome composed mainly of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. During fermentation, the production of metabolites and chemical reactions occurs, giving the product unique characteristics and high sensory quality. Mastery of fermentation allows gluten levels to adjust, delay starch digestibility, and increase the bio-accessibility of vitamins and minerals. 
  • 4.3K
  • 27 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Plant Stinging Hairs
True stinging hairs are highly specialized plant structures that are able to inject a physiologically active liquid into the skin. They can be classified into two basic types: Urtica-type stinging hairs with the classical “hypodermic syringe” mechanism expelling only liquid, and Tragia-type stinging hairs expelling a liquid together with a sharp crystal. Since the middle of the 20th century, neurotransmitters(acetylcholine, histamine, serotonin) have been repeatedly detected in stinging hairs of Urticaceae; these substances can explain some of the physiological effects of stinging hairs, but fail to completely explain neuropathic effects, pointing to some yet unidentified neurotoxins. 
  • 4.3K
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Immigrant Paradox
The immigrant paradox is that recent immigrants often outperform more established immigrants and non-immigrants on a number of health-, education-, and conduct- or crime-related outcomes, despite the numerous barriers they face to successful social integration. According to the UN, the number of first-generation immigrants worldwide is 244 million. These large-scale population changes worldwide have led many scholars, across fields, to study the acculturation and adjustment of immigrants to their new homes. Specifically, researchers have examined immigrant experiences as they pertain to educational attainment, mental and physical health, and conduct/crime. Researchers have tried to understand why later generations seem to perform less well than their forebears. They have found that it can be explained by non-optimal methodology and differences in the way generations are modified by the host culture.
  • 4.3K
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Platinum Group Minerals
Russia and South Africa are the world’s leading producers of platinum group elements (PGEs). This places them in a unique position regarding the supply of these two key industrial commodities. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative high-level overview of aspects of the geological occurrence, mineralogy, and processing by flotation of the platinum group minerals (PGMs) found in each country. A summary of some of the major challenges faced in each country in terms of the concentration of the ores by flotation is presented alongside the opportunities that exist to increase the production of the respective metals. These include the more efficient recovery of minerals such as arsenides and tellurides, the management of siliceous gangue and chromite in the processing of these ores, and, especially in Russia, the development of novel processing routes to recover PGEs from relatively low grade ores occurring in dunites, black shale ores and in vanadium-iron-titanium-sulphide oxide formations.
  • 4.3K
  • 26 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Wage Growth
Wage growth (real wage growth) is a rise of wage adjusted for inflations, often expressed in percentage. In macroeconomics, wage growth is one of the main indications to measure economic growth for a long-term since it reflects the consumer's purchasing power in the economy as well as the level of living standards. An increase in wage growth implies price inflation in the economy while a low wage growth indicates deflation that needs artificial interferences such as through fiscal policies by federal/state government. Minimum wage law is often introduced to increase wage growth by stimulating price inflations from corresponding purchasing powers in the economy. Wage growth can also be maximised through the development of industry factors by investing skilled workers in which decision made by businesses. More financial compensation for skilled workers not only lifts wage growth but stimulates higher market prices in the economy. While a weak productivity influences a low wage growth, identified a long-term factor, a short-term problem for low wage growth is often identified as the spare capacity in the labour market. By the lower unemployment rate given by the more opportunities from the spare capacity in the labour market creates less competitiveness amongst the labours, which reduces wage growth. In order to achieve consistent strong wage growth and sustainable economic growth, high productivity is the key determinant. Higher labour productivity (measured by GDP per worker) stimulates price inflations in resulting in a rise in real wage growth. One of the major factors for the recent sluggish wage growth in advanced countries is caused by their lower labour productivities.
  • 4.3K
  • 17 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Essential Oil Standards for Lavandula angustifolia
Lavender is in the research spotlight due to its increasing economic importance, while market demand is expected to continue to grow. Among the hundreds of essential-oil-bearing plants, Lavandula angustifolia Mill. remains one of the most valuable. Due to the increasing market demand as well as the expanding use of essential oils, the development of regulations, guidelines and standards aiming to maintain a high level of quality and safety remains a priority. Exigence is necessary for ensuring that buyers are receiving what they paid for, and in addition, depending on the destination of use and industry, for ensuring the derived product quality is not adversely affected.
  • 4.3K
  • 13 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Juan Manuel de Rosas
Template:Infobox governor Juan Manuel de Rosas (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was a politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confederation. Although born into a wealthy family, Rosas independently amassed a personal fortune, acquiring large tracts of land in the process. Rosas enlisted his workers in a private militia, as was common for rural proprietors, and took part in the disputes that led to numerous civil wars in his country. Victorious in warfare, personally influential, and with vast landholdings and a loyal private army, Rosas became a caudillo, as provincial warlords in the region were known. He eventually reached the rank of brigadier general, the highest in the Argentine Army, and became the undisputed leader of the Federalist Party. In December 1829, Rosas became governor of the province of Buenos Aires and established a dictatorship backed by state terrorism. In 1831, he signed the Federal Pact, recognising provincial autonomy and creating the Argentine Confederation. When his term of office ended in 1832, Rosas departed to the frontier to wage war on the indigenous peoples. After his supporters launched a coup in Buenos Aires, Rosas was asked to return and once again took office as governor. Rosas reestablished his dictatorship and formed the repressive Mazorca, an armed parapolice that killed thousands of citizens. Elections became a farce, and the legislature and judiciary became docile instruments of his will. Rosas created a cult of personality and his regime became totalitarian in nature, with all aspects of society rigidly controlled. Rosas faced many threats to his power during the late 1830s and early 1840s. He fought a war against the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, endured a blockade by France, faced a revolt in his own province and battled a major rebellion that lasted for years and spread to several Argentine provinces. Rosas persevered and extended his influence in the provinces, exercising effective control over them through direct and indirect means. By 1848, he had extended his power beyond the borders of Buenos Aires and was ruler of all of Argentina. Rosas also attempted to annex the neighbouring nations of Uruguay and Paraguay. France and Great Britain jointly retaliated against Argentine expansionism, blockading Buenos Aires for most of the late 1840s, but were unable to halt Rosas, whose prestige was greatly enhanced by his string of successes. When the Empire of Brazil began aiding Uruguay in its struggle against Argentina, Rosas declared war in August 1851, starting the Platine War. This short conflict ended with Rosas being defeated and absconding to Britain. His last years were spent in exile living as a tenant farmer until his death in 1877. Rosas garnered an enduring public perception among Argentines as a brutal tyrant. Since the 1930s, an authoritarian, anti-Semitic, and racist political movement in Argentina called Revisionism has tried to improve Rosas's reputation and establish a new dictatorship in the model of his regime. In 1989, his remains were repatriated by the government in an attempt to promote national unity, seeking forgiveness for him and especially for the 1970s military dictatorship. Rosas remains a controversial figure in Argentina in the 21st century.
  • 4.3K
  • 13 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Euronext
Euronext is a European stock exchange seated in Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Lisbon, Dublin and Paris. In addition to cash and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides listing market data, market solutions, custody and settlement services. Its total product offering includes equities, exchange-traded funds, warrants and certificates, bonds, derivatives, commodities and indices as well as FX platform. In 2018, Euronext is the largest in continental Europe with 1,300 issuers representing a €3.8 trillion market capitalization. Euronext merged with NYSE Group, Inc. on April 4, 2007 to form NYSE Euronext (NYX). On November 13, 2013 Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), completed acquisition of NYSE Euronext. In June 2014 Euronext completed an initial public offering making it a standalone company again.
  • 4.3K
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Decarbonization in Shipping Industry
Decarbonization in Shipping Industry might be achieved through alternative fuels (nuclear, hydrogen, ammonia, methanol), renewable energy sources (biofuels, wind, solar), the maturity of technologies (fuel cells, internal combustion engines) as well as technical and operational strategies to reduce fuel consumption for new and existing ships (slow steaming, cleaning and coating, waste heat recovery, hull and propeller design).
  • 4.3K
  • 29 Jul 2021
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