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Topic Review
The Perry High/Scope Preschool Program: A Critique
Early Childhood Education programs aim at preventing educational delays associated with socio-ethnic disadvantage in the home environment of young children. Advocates claim that such programs can be effective, provided they are of high quality. Despite the investment of enormous budgets, the educational gap between socio-economically deprived families and their wealthier counterparts is still widening. The question therefore is justified whether these claims are warranted. This article focuses on the internal and external validity of the most cited preschool program, the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project, which was carried out between 1962 and 1967 in one school in Ypsilant, MI. Are the program's effects as reported by, e.g. Lawrence Schweinhart and James Heckman, reliable and valid? And is it really possible to generalize the findings of this so-called model program to other programs, target groups, settings and conditions, as is being claimed?
  • 4.3K
  • 21 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Ascribed Status
Ascribed status refers to the social position or rank assigned to an individual at birth or through inherent characteristics beyond their control, such as gender, race, or family background. Unlike achieved status, which is earned through individual effort or accomplishments, ascribed status shapes one's identity and societal roles independent of personal merit or achievement. These predetermined attributes often influence an individual's opportunities, privileges, and interactions within society.
  • 4.3K
  • 02 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Medicinal Value of Dandelion
The genus Taraxacum is part of the Asteraceae family of the Cichorioideae subfamily, Lactuceae tribe. This plant's geographical distribution is usually around the warm areas of the Northern Hemisphere and its users have been cherishing it for its curative properties since ancient times. Reports show that traditional medicine practitioners used Taraxacum officinale L. for treating dyspepsia, spleen, liver disorders, hepatitis, and anorexia. Aqueous extracts of dandelion were also used traditionally through Asia, Europe, and North America for treating different types of cancer like leukemia and breast cancer, even if their working mechanisms were unknown. The main reported components of dandelions consist of phenolic acids (chicoric, caffeic, and chlorogenic acids), terpenes (taraxacoside, ainslioside, taraxinic acid), and storage carbohydrates (inulin), which are thought to be accountable for the plant’s health-related properties. This entry is based on a literature review and highlights the beneficial and therapeutic action of dandelion extracts and their confirmed or hypothesized mechanism of action in diabetes, hepatic disorders, and cardiovascular disease, as indicated by the results of in vivo an in vitro studies, on cell lines, human and animal models.
  • 4.3K
  • 10 May 2021
Topic Review
Fat-tailed Gerbil
The fat-tailed gerbil (Pachyuromys duprasi), also called the duprasi gerbil, is a rodent belonging to subfamily Gerbillinae. It is the only member of the genus Pachyuromys. These rodents are the most docile species of the gerbil subfamily. They have fluffy and soft fur. Fat-tailed gerbils have been available on the pet market for decades, but in the 21st century breeders can be hard to find. They are sometimes considered as pocket pets. Other common English names are: fat-tailed jird, fat-tailed rat, and beer mat gerbil. Names in other languages are: abu lya (أبو ليه) in Egyptian Arabic, and adhal alyan (عضل أليان) in Standard Arabic, souris à grosse queue (French), Fettschwanzrennmaus (German), fedthale mus (Danish), rasvahäntägerbiili (Finnish), and dikstaartgerbil (Dutch).
  • 4.3K
  • 08 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Pranami Sampraday
Pranami Sampradaya is a community that believes in the Supreme Truth God "Rajji".
  • 4.3K
  • 11 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Biological Melatonin versus Synthetic Melatonin
Melatonin dietary supplements are widely consumed worldwide, with developed countries as the largest consumers, with an estimated annual growth rate of approximately 10% until 2027, mainly in developing countries. The wide use of melatonin against sleep disorders and particular problems, such as jet lag, has been added to other applications, such as anti-aging, anti-stress, immune system activation, anticancer, and others, which have triggered its use, normally without a prescription. The chemical industry currently covers 100% of the needs of the melatonin market.
  • 4.3K
  • 18 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Eclipta prostrata (L.)L.(Asteraceae): Ethnomedicinal Uses and Chemical Constituents
Eclipta prostrata (L.) L. (Syn.: Eclipta alba (L.) Hassak, Family: Asteraceae) is an important medicinal plant in the tropical and subtropical regions. It is widely used in treating various diseases of skin, liver and stomach in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and other countries.
  • 4.3K
  • 09 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Relational Theory
In physics and philosophy, a relational theory (or relationism) is a framework to understand reality or a physical system in such a way that the positions and other properties of objects are only meaningful relative to other objects. In a relational spacetime theory, space does not exist unless there are objects in it; nor does time exist without events. The relational view proposes that space is contained in objects and that an object represents within itself relationships to other objects. Space can be defined through the relations among the objects that it contains considering their variations through time. The alternative spatial theory is an absolute theory in which the space exists independently of any objects that can be immersed in it. The relational point of view was advocated in physics by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Ernst Mach (in his Mach's principle). It was rejected by Isaac Newton in his successful description of classical physics. Although Albert Einstein was impressed by Mach's principle, he did not fully incorporate it into his general theory of relativity. Several attempts have been made to formulate a full Machian theory, but most physicists think that none have so far succeeded. For example, see Brans–Dicke theory. Relational quantum mechanics and a relational approach to quantum physics have been independently developed, in analogy with Einstein's special relativity of space and time. Relationist physicists such as John Baez and Carlo Rovelli have criticised the leading unified theory of gravity and quantum mechanics, string theory, as retaining absolute space. Some prefer a developing theory of gravity, loop quantum gravity for its 'backgroundlessness'. A recent synthesis of relational theory, called R-theory, continuing the work of the mathematical biologist Robert Rosen (who developed "relational biology" and "relational complexity" as theories of life) takes a position between the above views. Rosen's theory differed from other relational views in defining fundamental relations in nature (as opposed to merely epistemic relations we might discuss) as information transfers between natural systems and their organization (as expressed in models). R-theory extends the idea of organizational models to nature generally. As interpreted by R-theory, such "modeling relations" describe reality in terms of information relations (encoding and decoding) between measurable existence (expressed as material states and established by efficient behavior) and implicate organization or identity (expressed as formal potential and established by final exemplar), thus capturing all four of Aristotle's causalities within nature (Aristotle defined final cause as immanent from outside of nature). Applied to space-time physics, it claims that space-time is real but established only in relation to existing events, as a formal cause or model for the location of events relative to each other; and in reverse a system of space-time events establishes a template for space-time. R-theory is thus a form of model-dependent realism. It claims to more closely follow the views of Mach, Leibniz, Wheeler and Bohm, suggesting that natural law itself is system-dependent.
  • 4.3K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Gamification as a Learning Strategy
The use of games for purposes other than mere entertainment dates back to very ancient stages of humanity itself. In the context of education and learning, the interest of researchers for their uses and effects is a more recent character, around the 1970s when Clark Abt coined the term serious game. He defined serious games as “those that have an explicit and carefully thought-out educational purpose and are not intended to be played primarily for amusement. This does not mean that serious games are not, or should not be, entertaining”(p. 27). This means that “the ‘seriousness’ of these games refers to a content that may well be used as teaching material by teachers” (p. 27). However, the interest in the educational use of games grew especially since the early 2000s when some game designers began looking for strategies to transfer the excitement and joy of playing to the real world. In its origin, this process adopted different names as playful or gameful design, but in 2002 Nick Pelling coined the term gamification to refer to the use of the game in contexts other than the game. Thus, a term that originated in the digital media industry was largely adopted in all potential application areas, including education.
  • 4.2K
  • 06 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Polyphenol Analysis
The analysis of polyphenols can be approached from two main perspectives: by liquid chromatography, which provides the polyphenolic profile, but also allows the quantification of target individual polyphenols, or by spectrophotometric or electrochemical assays, which provide an estimation of the total polyphenol content or the antioxidant capacity.
  • 4.2K
  • 11 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Applications of Substrate-Integrated Waveguide
Substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) is a modern day (21st century) transmission line that has recently been developed. This technology has introduced new possibilities to the design of efficient circuits and components operating in the radio frequency (RF) and microwave frequency spectrum. Microstrip components are very good for low frequency applications but are ineffective at extreme frequencies, and involve rigorous fabrication concessions in the implementation of RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave components. This is due to wavelengths being short at higher frequencies. Waveguide devices, on the other hand, are ideal for higher frequency systems, but are very costly, hard to fabricate, and challenging to integrate with planar components in the neighborhood. SIW connects the gap that existed between conventional air-filled rectangular waveguide and planar transmission line technologies including the microstrip.
  • 4.2K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
The Alveolar Epithelium at Homeostasis
The alveolar epithelium serves as a barrier between the body and the external environment. To maintain efficient gas exchange, the alveolar epithelium has evolved to withstand and rapidly respond to an assortment of inhaled, injury-inducing stimuli. Alveolar damage can lead to loss of alveolar fluid barrier function and exuberant, non-resolving inflammation that manifests clinically as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
  • 4.2K
  • 21 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Fallout Shelter (Video Game)
Fallout Shelter is a free-to-play simulation video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios, with assistance by Behaviour Interactive, and published by Bethesda Softworks. Part of the Fallout series, it was released worldwide for iOS devices in June 2015, for Android devices in August 2015, for Microsoft Windows in July 2016, Xbox One in February 2017, and PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in June 2018. The game is also available on Tesla vehicles. The game tasks the player with building and effectively managing their own Vault, a fallout shelter. Upon release, Fallout Shelter received mostly positive reviews. Critics enjoyed the game's extension of the Fallout universe, the core gameplay, and its visual style. Common criticisms included the game's lack of depth, its use of unnecessary microtransactions, and its lack of an ending. The game grossed US$5.1 million (equivalent to about $5.5M in 2019) in microtransaction sales in the first two weeks after its release. While Fallout Shelter is a single-player experience, a multiplayer board game adaptation of the game was released about five years after its original release.
  • 4.2K
  • 30 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Types of Bacterial Movement
Skin and wound infections are serious medical problems, and the diversity of bacteria makes such infections difficult to treat. Bacteria possess many virulence factors, among which motility plays a key role in skin infections. This feature allows for movement over the skin surface and relocation into the wound. The aim is to review the type of bacterial movement and to indicate the underlying mechanisms than can serve as a target for developing or modifying antibacterial therapies applied in wound infection treatment. Five types of bacterial movement are distinguished: appendage-dependent (swimming, swarming, and twitching) and appendage-independent (gliding and sliding). All of them allow bacteria to relocate and aid bacteria during infection. Swimming motility allows bacteria to spread from ‘persister cells’ in biofilm microcolonies and colonise other tissues. Twitching motility enables bacteria to press through the tissues during infection, whereas sliding motility allows cocci (defined as non-motile) to migrate over surfaces. Bacteria during swarming display greater resistance to antimicrobials. Molecular motors generating the focal adhesion complexes in the bacterial cell leaflet generate a ‘wave’, which pushes bacterial cells lacking appendages, thereby enabling movement.
  • 4.2K
  • 06 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Bone Tissues
Osseous tissue is a kind of hard connective tissue, which is also composed of cells, fibers and matrix. The fibers are bone glue fibers (the same as collagen fibers), and the matrix contains a large amount of solid inorganic salts.
  • 4.2K
  • 13 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Bismuth Ferrite
Bismuth ferrite was first discovered to harness its ferroelectric and magnetoelectric properties; the bulk BFO prepared in the 1960s–1970s were marred with high conductivity and secondary phases, which resulted in the loss of motivation over the years. It was not until the early 2000s that the research in single crystals, high-quality BFO thin films, and ceramics brought back researchers into BFO. It is an ABO3 type perovskite compound that crystalizes into the rhombohedral R3c group, hence possessing multiferroic properties due to its noncentrosymmetric nature. In ABO3, perovskite A is Bismuth (Bi) and occupies the corner of the perovskite unit cell, B is iron (Fe), the central atom with an oxygen octahedral arrangement. There is a tilting of oxygen octahedral, which doubles the pseudocubic unit cell giving rhombohedral unit cell. There is an equivalence between pseudocubic unit cell, rhombohedral and hexagonal unit cell representation and hence Figure 2 gives the hexagonal representation. The ferroelectric Curie temperature (TC) of BFO is as high as ~1103 K and antiferromagnetic Neel temperature (TN) is ~643 K. It exhibits a weak net magnetization as the G- type magnetic ordering with an incommensurate cycloidal spin structure having a periodicity of 62 nm. The chemical substitution of A and B sites are considered as one of the alternatives for enhancing the net magnetization via disruption of the cycloidal chain
  • 4.2K
  • 04 Feb 2023
Topic Review
YOLOv5-AC
Attention Mechanism-Based Lightweight YOLOv5 for Track Pedestrian Detection. In response to the dangerous behavior of pedestrians roaming freely on unsupervised train tracks, the real-time detection of pedestrians is urgently required to ensure the safety of trains and people. Aiming to improve the low accuracy of railway pedestrian detection, the high missed-detection rate of target pedestrians, and the poor retention of non-redundant boxes, YOLOv5 is adopted as the baseline to improve the effectiveness of pedestrian detection by model pruning, improving attention mechanism, etc.
  • 4.2K
  • 15 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Coypu
The coypu (from spa coipú, from arn koypu; Myocastor coypus), also known as the nutria, is a large, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent. Classified for a long time as the only member of the family Myocastoridae, Myocastor is now included within Echimyidae, the family of the spiny rats. The coypu lives in burrows alongside stretches of water, and feeds on river plant stems. Originally native to subtropical and temperate South America, it has since been introduced to North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, primarily by fur farmers. Although it is still hunted and trapped for its fur in some regions, its destructive burrowing and feeding habits often bring it into conflict with humans, and it is considered an invasive species.
  • 4.2K
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Digital Literacy and Electronic Business
Digital literacy is a term that traditionally describes the extent to which a person is able to use interactive digital devices for living and working, such as computers and smartphones, as well as services delivered through these devices. The advent of the digital society at large and electronic business, specifically in the past decades, has broadened the use of digital devices beyond the isolated uses of working and simple communication; this advent has created digital ecosystems in which workers and consumers are embedded to various degrees, such as social media platforms or integrated shopping and media platforms. This embedding implies that a traditional, narrow notion of digital literacy needs to be extended and made more precise. For this purpose, we use the related notions of digital dexterity, digital proficiency and digital awareness. The term digital dexterity describes the extent to which an individual can handle or operate digital devices or services from a physical perspective. The term digital proficiency describes the extent to which an individual can use digital means to effectively and efficiently facilitate their living and working. The term digital awareness describes the extent to which individuals can understand what their position in digital ecosystems is, including the opportunities and threats of participating in these ecosystems. Digital literacy in the modern, broad interpretation is then the combination of digital dexterity, digital proficiency and digital awareness.
  • 4.2K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Depersonalization Disorder
Depersonalization disorder (DPD), also known as depersonalization/derealization disorder (DPDR), is a mental disorder in which the person has persistent or recurrent feelings of depersonalization or derealization. Depersonalization is described as feeling disconnected or detached from one's self. Individuals experiencing depersonalization may report feeling as if they are an outside observer of their own thoughts or body, and often report feeling a loss of control over their thoughts or actions. In some cases, individuals may be unable to accept their reflection as their own, or they may have out-of-body experiences. Derealization is described as detachment from one's surroundings. Individuals experiencing derealization may report perceiving the world around them as foggy, dreamlike/surreal, or visually distorted. In addition to these depersonalization-derealization disorder symptoms, the inner turmoil created by the disorder can result in depression, self-harm, low self-esteem, phobias, panic attacks, and suicide. It can also cause a variety of physical symptoms, including chest pain, blurry vision, visual snow, nausea, and the sensation of pins and needles in one's arms or legs. Depersonalization-derealization disorder is thought to be caused largely by interpersonal trauma such as childhood abuse. Triggers may include significant stress, panic attacks, and drug use. Studies suggest a uniform syndrome for chronic depersonalization/derealization regardless of whether drugs or an anxiety disorder is the precipitant. It is unclear whether genetics plays a role; however, there are many neurochemical and hormonal changes in individuals with depersonalization disorder. The disorder is typically associated with cognitive disruptions in early perceptual and attentional processes. Diagnostic criteria for depersonalization-derealization disorder include persistent or recurrent feelings of detachment from one's mental or bodily processes or from one's surroundings. A diagnosis is made when the dissociation is persistent and interferes with the social or occupational functions of daily life. However, accurate descriptions of the symptoms are hard to provide due to the subjective nature of depersonalization and derealization and persons' ambiguous use of language when describing these episodes. In the DSM-5, it was combined with derealization disorder and renamed "depersonalization/derealization disorder" ("DDPD"). In the DSM-5, it remains classified as a dissociative disorder, while the ICD-10 calls it "depersonalization-derealization syndrome" and classifies it as a neurotic disorder. Although the disorder is an alteration in the subjective experience of reality, it is not a form of psychosis, as the person is able to distinguish between their own internal experiences and the objective reality of the outside world. During episodic and continuous depersonalization, the person can distinguish between reality and fantasy and the grasp on reality remains stable at all times. While depersonalization-derealization disorder was once considered rare, lifetime experiences with it occur in about 1–2% of the general population. The chronic form of the disorder has a reported prevalence of 0.8 to 1.9%. While brief episodes of depersonalization or derealization can be common in the general population, the disorder is only diagnosed when these symptoms cause substantial distress or impair social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
  • 4.2K
  • 23 Nov 2022
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