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Topic Review
Singlet Fission
Singlet fission is a process that occurs in organic molecules upon the absorption of light. It produces a singlet excited state (S1) in one molecule that is shared with a neighbouring one in the ground state (S0), thus splitting into two triplet excited states (T1).
  • 3.7K
  • 01 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Impacts of Agroforestry on Rural Communities
Agroforestry can be used as an alternative way to tackle ecological crisis, while at the same time, sustaining crop production. This system integrates tree growing and crop cultivation and/or animal production on the same land management, based on spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. With such tree integration, agroforestry can preserve natural ecosystems through sustainable land management (including reforestation) and optimal resource utilization. Moreover, agroforestry can potentially mitigate climate change, as several practices within the system are found to improve carbon sequestration and therefore reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Moreover, the system can promote biodiversity through the incorporation of different species of plants/crops which may provide homes for various wildlife. Apart from its positive impact on the environment, several studies have also highlighted the socio-economic benefits of agroforestry for rural communities. The implementation of a diverse agroecosystem including trees (timbers, fruits) and livestock might provide alternative incomes for the community promoting economic resilience. Furthermore, the system might improve household food security through diversified food sources. Thus, agroforestry might also become a solution for the existing socio-economic issues.
  • 3.7K
  • 14 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Gastrointestinal Disorders and Metabolic Syndrome
Abstract Gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, which include gastrointestinal reflux disease, gastric ulceration, inflammatory bowel disease, and other functional GI disorders, have become prevalent in a large part of the world population. Metabolic syndrome (MS) is cluster of disorders including obesity, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension, and is associated with high rate of morbidity and mortality. Gut dysbiosis is one of the contributing factors to the pathogenesis of both GI disorder and MS, and restoration of normal flora can provide a potential protective approach in both these conditions. Bioactive dietary components are known to play a significant role in the maintenance of health and wellness, as they have the potential to modify risk factors for a large number of serious disorders. Different classes of functional dietary components, such as dietary fibers, probiotics, prebiotics, polyunsaturated fatty acids, polyphenols, and spices, possess positive impacts on human health and can be useful as alternative treatments for GI disorders and metabolic dysregulation, as they can modify the risk factors associated with these pathologies. Their regular intake in sufficient amounts also aids in the restoration of normal intestinal flora, resulting in positive regulation of insulin signaling, metabolic pathways and immune responses, and reduction of low-grade chronic inflammation. This review is designed to focus on the health benefits of bioactive dietary components, with the aim of preventing the development or halting the progression of GI disorders and MS through an improvement of the most important risk factors including gut dysbiosis.
  • 3.7K
  • 22 Jul 2020
Topic Review
Critical Heat Flux Amelioration
Critical heat flux (CHF) is the thermal limit of a phase change phenomenon where boiling occurs during heating, which suddenly decreases the efficiency of heat transfer. Ameliorating CHF by altering the boiling surface characteristics can lead to more efficiency, safety, and reliability of the system.
  • 3.7K
  • 11 Aug 2020
Topic Review
Green Intellectual Capital
Green intellectual capital (GIC) is a distinctive intangible asset that may assist organizations in pursuing sustainable development strategies.
  • 3.7K
  • 05 May 2022
Topic Review
I and Thou
Ich und Du, usually translated as I and Thou (You), is a book by Martin Buber, published in 1923, and first translated from German to English in 1937.
  • 3.7K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Integrative Body Psychotherapy
Integrative body psychotherapy (IBP) is a psychotherapy that recognizes and treats the somatic (physical), psychological/emotional, and spiritual nature of a human being. It is based on the premise that the body, mind, and spirit are not separate, but rather integrated parts of a whole person. Every experience has a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspect, which manifests internally within the body and externally in relationship to others. IBP was first developed by Jack Lee Rosenberg starting in the late 1970s (see § History, below).
  • 3.7K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Transformation of Natural Philosophy
Is there any reason, to believe a modern natural philosophy makes sense? The history of natural philosophy is marked by the search for principles that determine all beings independently whether they are abiotic matter or living organisms. Empirical data on the key features of life contradict even the possibility to find such principles because life in contrast to abiotic matter offers some main characteristics that are completely absent on abiotic planets. This means, if a modern natural philosophy should have any benefit it must be divided into a natural philosophy of physics or cosmology and a natural philosophy of life. If it is possible to give an updated definition of life, empirically based, non-reductive, non-mechanistic and without metaphysical assumptions, this would be an appropriate basis for a global consensus how future of humans may be generated in symbiosis with global biosphere. If we think on billions invested in health and drug research a new natural philosophy of life could orientate future of research on health and new drugs and avoid misinvestments.
  • 3.7K
  • 09 Nov 2020
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Adverse Events Profile of COVID-19 Preventative Strategies
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of deaths and has affected most people across the world, either directly or indirectly. Many preventative and therapeutic strategies have been employed since the beginning of the pandemic. With the development of the mRNA vaccine within a year of the start of the pandemic, we are entering a new era of vaccinology, and the adverse event profile of the COVID-19 vaccine is also becoming more apparent with time. While the benefits of the vaccines and other preventative strategies certainly outweigh the risk of adverse events, prospective clinical trials are urgently needed to determine whether specific populations, including those with a personal or family history of autoimmune disease, are at higher risk of developing certain adverse events, in order to minimize risk further.
  • 3.7K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Wicked Problems
Wicked problem thinking is regaining interest in different disciplines, mostly because of the complex and interdependent contemporary issues that are particularly challenging for policy makers. This type of problems is difficult, even impossible to tackle by defining optimal solutions because of both deep uncertainty and high complexity. The causes and effects of wicked problems are cross-scale and multi-level; they are extremely difficult to identify due to the system dynamics and non-linear interactions. Thus, most of these problems are symptoms of or related to other problems. Moreover, wicked problems are poorly formulated and boundary-spanning issues where involved stakeholders bring different perspectives to the definitions and potential resolution of the issue. Indeed, the wicked nature stems from biophysical and social complexity, where divergent values related to multi-stakeholders’ perceptions and interests influence largely the problem-solving and determining desirable outcomes.
  • 3.7K
  • 28 Sep 2021
Topic Review
KPI Selection for Tooling and Die Industry
In the last few decades, the fast technological development has caused high competitiveness among companies, encouraging a pursuit for strategies that allow them to gain competitive advantage, such as the monitoring of performance by using key performance indicators (KPIs).
  • 3.7K
  • 17 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Private Equity Secondary Market
In finance, the private equity secondary market (also often called private equity secondaries or secondaries) refers to the buying and selling of pre-existing investor commitments to private equity and other alternative investment funds. Given the absence of established trading markets for these interests, the transfer of interests in private equity funds as well as hedge funds can be more complex and labor-intensive. Sellers of private equity investments sell not only the investments in the fund but also their remaining unfunded commitments to the funds. By its nature, the private equity asset class is illiquid, intended to be a long-term investment for buy-and-hold investors, including "pension funds, endowments and wealthy families selling off their private equity funds before the pools have sold off all their assets". For the vast majority of private equity investments, there is no listed public market; however, there is a robust and maturing secondary market available for sellers of private equity assets. Buyers seek to acquire private equity interests in the secondary market for multiple reasons. For example, the duration of the investment may be much shorter than an investment in the private equity fund initially. Likewise, the buyer may be able to acquire these interests at an attractive price. Finally, the buyer can evaluate the fund's holdings before deciding to purchase an interest in the fund. Conversely, sellers may seek to sell interest for various reasons, including the need to raise capital, the desire to avoid future capital calls, the need to reduce an over-allocation to the asset class or for regulatory reasons. Driven by strong demand for private equity exposure over the past decade, a vast amount of capital has been committed to secondary market funds from investors looking to increase and diversify their private equity exposure.
  • 3.7K
  • 28 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Gravity Concentration Techniques in Urban Mining Applications
Urban mining has emerged as a concept that goes beyond conventional recycling, as it aims to tackle both the challenges of solid waste generation and management, as well as the scarcity of primary resources. Gravity concentration has gained increasing attention as a promising method for addressing crucial challenges in urban mining applications. Gravity concentration has a long history, dating back to ancient times. During this time, numerous methods have been developed, and for each method, various equipment has been manufactured and commercialized. Therefore, categorizing gravity concentration techniques is not an easy task, and it ultimately depends on the criteria that one relies upon. Such criteria may include whether the operation is dry or wet, the capacity of the equipment, the typical efficiency (the efficiency of gravity concentration equipment can be evaluated using the partition or Tromp curve method. In this, the separation is assessed by examining the fraction of material in each density fraction that ends up in the product, and how this relates to the original fraction present in the feed. More details can be found in mineral processing textbooks), the process target (yield or content), the costs involved, and others. Of these criteria, the operating size range is the most critical factor that should be considered when selecting appropriate gravity concentration techniques for a given application.
  • 3.7K
  • 08 Nov 2023
Topic Review
The Dog–Owner Relationship
The Cat/Dog–Owner Relationship Scale (C/DORS) is a questionnaire aimed to assess specific aspects of the pet–owner relationship. While the entire scale can be administered to both dog and cat owners, its validity and reliability have never been tested on dogs. Furthermore, validity and reliability of a scale may change depending on the respondents’ language and cultural background. Since the C/DORS was developed in English, we aimed to translate it into Italian and assess its validity and reliability on a sample of Italian dog owners. The response scale was modified to improve the variability of the owners’ responses. Overall, validity and reliability were good. The scale had the same three-factor structure (Perceived Emotional Closeness = PEC, Pet–Owner Interactions = POI, Perceived Costs = PC) reported for the original English version, although some items were removed because they did not fit the statistical model. The PEC subscale had the highest correlations with the subscales of the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale. Finally, being a student owner was associated with higher PEC and POI scores. Conversely, owning a dog with behavioural problems was associated with lower PEC and higher PC. Owners whose dogs lived outdoors reported lower POI. Pet dog owners reported higher PEC than AAI dog owners.
  • 3.7K
  • 17 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Bacteriophage Tail Fiber Interaction with Host Surface Receptor
Bacteriophages (phages), as natural antibacterial agents, are being rediscovered because of the growing threat of multi- and pan-drug-resistant bacterial pathogens globally. Most phages package their genome in the proteinaceous capsid (or head) and have a tail attached to the capsid. Tailed double-stranded DNA bacteriophages belonging to the class Caudoviricetes (Cauda means “tail” in Latin) are the most prevalent (~96% of all known phages). Based on tail morphology, they are further classified into three morphotypes: myovirus, siphovirus, and podovirus. Myophages (e.g., T4, T2, Mu, S16, and φKZ) have long, rigid, contractile tails with a sheath around a central tube; siphophages (e.g., λ, T5, HK97, and SPP1) possess long, flexible, non-contractile tails; and podophages (e.g., T7, T3, P22, and φ29) have short, non-contractile tails. Of these, myophages possess the most complex tail architectures with the greatest number of proteins involved in tail assembly and function.
  • 3.7K
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Kellogg–Briand Pact
The Kellogg–Briand Pact or Pact of Paris – officially the General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy – is a 1928 international agreement on peace in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve "disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them". The pact was signed by Germany, France, and the United States on 27 August 1928, and by most other states soon after. Sponsored by France and the U.S., the Pact is named after its authors, United States Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French foreign minister Aristide Briand. The pact was concluded outside the League of Nations and remains in effect. A common criticism is that the Kellogg–Briand Pact did not live up to all of its aims, but it has arguably had some success. It was unable to prevent the Second World War, but it was the base for trial and execution of Nazi leaders in 1946. Furthermore declared wars became very rare after 1945. However, it has also been ridiculed for its moralism, legalism and lack of influence on foreign policy. The pact had no mechanism for enforcement, and many historians and political scientists see it as mostly irrelevant and ineffective. However, the pact did serve as the legal basis for the concept of a crime against peace, for which the Nuremberg Tribunal and Tokyo Tribunal tried and executed the top leaders responsible for starting World War II. With the signing of the Litvinov Protocol in Moscow on February 9, 1929, the Soviet Union and its western neighbors, including Romania, agreed to put the Kellogg–Briand Pact in effect without waiting for other western signatories to ratify. The Bessarabian Question had made agreement between Romania and the Soviet Union challenging and dispute between the nations over Bessarabia continued. Similar provisions to those in the Kellogg-Briand Pact were later incorporated into the Charter of the United Nations and other treaties, which gave rise to a more activist American foreign policy which began with the signing of the pact.
  • 3.7K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Mitteleuropa
Mitteleuropa (pronounced [ˈmɪtl̩ʔɔʏˌroːpa]), meaning Middle Europe, is one of the German terms for Central Europe. The term has acquired diverse cultural, political and historical connotations. The Prussian vision of Mitteleuropa was a pan-Germanist state-centric imperium, an idea that was later adopted in a modified form by National Socialist geopoliticians.
  • 3.7K
  • 10 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Occupational Burnout
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), occupational burnout is a syndrome resulting from chronic work-related stress, with symptoms characterized by "feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and reduced professional efficacy". While burnout may influence health and can be a reason for people contacting health services, it is not itself classified by the WHO as a medical condition or mental disorder. WHO additional states that "Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life."
  • 3.7K
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Bifidobacteria
Bifidobacteria are high G+C Gram positive bacteria belonging to the Actinobacteria phylum isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of different mammals, birds and social insects.
  • 3.7K
  • 11 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Reproductive Anatomy of Chondrichthyans
Sperm extraction and artificial insemination may serve ex situ conservation initiatives for threatened sharks and related species. A comparison of the reproductive anatomy of eight chondrichthyans is presented in this study, emphasizing the important differences when performing these reproductive techniques. Additionally, we show how to obtain sperm samples from both living and dead specimens using cannulation, abdominal massage, or oviducal gland extraction. These tools can improve the success of breeding programs developed in aquaria and research facilities.
  • 3.7K
  • 29 Jul 2021
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