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Topic Review
LIGO
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Two large observatories were built in the United States with the aim of detecting gravitational waves by laser interferometry. These can detect a change in the 4 km mirror spacing of less than a ten-thousandth the charge diameter of a proton, equivalent to measuring the distance from Earth to Proxima Centauri (4.0208x1013km) with an accuracy smaller than the width of a human hair. The initial LIGO observatories were funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and were conceived, built, and are operated by Caltech and MIT. They collected data from 2002 to 2010 but no gravitational waves were detected. The Advanced LIGO Project to enhance the original LIGO detectors began in 2008 and continues to be supported by the NSF, with important contributions from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Max Planck Society of Germany, and the Australian Research Council. The improved detectors began operation in 2015. The detection of gravitational waves was reported in 2016 by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and the Virgo Collaboration with the international participation of scientists from several universities and research institutions. Scientists involved in the project and the analysis of the data for gravitational-wave astronomy are organized by the LSC, which includes more than 1000 scientists worldwide, as well as 440,000 active Einstein@Home users (As of December 2016). LIGO is the largest and most ambitious project ever funded by the NSF. In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry C. Barish "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves." "The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017". Nobel Foundation. https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2017/press.html.  As of March 2018, LIGO has made six detections of gravitational waves, of which the first five were colliding black-hole pairs. The sixth detected event, on August 17, 2017, was the first detection of a collision of two neutron stars, which simultaneously produced optical signals detectable by conventional telescopes.
  • 3.4K
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Clustal
Clustal is a series of widely used computer programs used in bioinformatics for multiple sequence alignment. There have been many versions of Clustal over the development of the algorithm that are listed below. The analysis of each tool and its algorithm are also detailed in their respective categories. Available operating systems listed in the sidebar are a combination of the software availability and may not be supported for every current version of the Clustal tools. Clustal Omega has the widest variety of operating systems out of all the Clustal tools.
  • 3.4K
  • 06 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Ken Cuccinelli
Kenneth Thomas Cuccinelli II (/ˈkuːtʃɪˈnɛli/ KOO-chi-NEL-ee; born July 30, 1968) is an American politician and lawyer currently serving as Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency and Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. He previously served as the 46th attorney general of Virginia from 2010 until 2014, and acting Director of USCIS agency. Before this, he was in the Virginia Senate, representing the 37th district in Fairfax County from 2002 until he took office as attorney general in 2010. On May 18, 2013, Cuccinelli won the Republican Party's gubernatorial nomination at the state party convention. Cuccinelli was the Republican nominee for Governor of Virginia in the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election, losing to the Democratic nominee, Terry McAuliffe, by 56,435 votes or 2.5% of the total votes cast. A self-described opponent of homosexuality, Cuccinelli in his position as Virginia Attorney General defended anti-sodomy laws and prohibitions on same-sex marriage. Cuccinelli rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, and in his position as Attorney General investigated climate scientists whom he accused of fraud. He filed lawsuits against the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency. Characterized as an immigration hard-liner, Cuccinelli sought to prohibit undocumented immigrants from attending universities, repeal birthright citizenship, and force employees to speak English in the workplace. As CIS Director, he implemented and defended policies that would reject applications for visas or permanent residency for immigrants considered likely to utilize publicly funded benefits programs.
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  • 12 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Cassava Value Chain in Thailand
Population growth and urbanization in Thailand has generated negative environmental externalities and the underuse of agricultural materials. Plastics from cassava present an alternative that helps reduce the use of non-biodegradable petroleum-based plastics and can reshape a sustainable cassava value chain. The development of cassava-based bioplastic not only positively contributes to economic aspects but also generates beneficial long-term impacts on social and environmental aspects. Considering cassava supply, bioplastic production, and potential consumer acceptance, the development of bioplastics from cassava in Thailand faces several barriers and is growing slowly, but is needed to drive the sustainable cassava value chain.
  • 3.4K
  • 26 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Energy Crops
Energy crops are dedicated cultures directed for biofuels, electricity, and heat production. Due to their tolerance to contaminated lands, they can alleviate and remediate land pollution by the disposal of toxic elements and polymetallic agents. Moreover, these crops are suitable to be exploited in marginal soils (e.g., saline), and, therefore, the risk of land-use conflicts due to competition for food, feed, and fuel is reduced, contributing positively to economic growth, and bringing additional revenue to landowners.
  • 3.4K
  • 29 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Terpenes and Terpenoids for Bioplastics
This entry describes the most common types of bioplastics and biopolymers, and focuses specifically on the polymerization of terpenes and terpenoids, which represent a source of promising monomers to create bio-based polymers and copolymers.
  • 3.4K
  • 25 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Agriculture in Marginal Lands
The term ‘marginal’ was originally used under the umbrella of economic theorizing to describe an area under given conditions where cost-effective production is not remunerated. Since then, different definitions describing the concept of marginality and marginal environments have emerged, highlighting the complex nature of marginality and how various unfavorable conditions disadvantage individuals and communities living in these areas. In the context of the agricultural economy, the term “margins of cultivation” is used to describe economically marginal agricultural lands where revenue from optimal production just equals (or is lower than, in some instances) the costs of production, leading to zero (negative) profit or economic loss. To capture this specific economic context, FAO and UNEP have classified land supporting a yield of only up to 40 percent of its productivity potential as marginal. Marginal lands are also identified as areas where “cost-effective production is not possible under given conditions, cultivation techniques, agriculture policies, and macro-economic and legal settings”. In this context, economically marginal land can be thought of as land that would not be cultivated at current output and input prices without the availability of government support programs. Marginal lands are mostly abandoned, as they are disadvantaged due to factors such as changing commodity markets, international competition, or the demographics of land owners and farm operators.
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  • 07 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Wireless Sensor Network Technology
Wireless sensor network technology enables distributed sensing through efficient data communication between a multitude of environmental sensors. WSN is still a relatively new area of research, but the communication technology used for low-cost, low-power wireless networks has advanced greatly in recent decades.
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  • 10 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Transducer Technologies for Biosensors and Their Wearable Applications
Biosensors refer to the collaboration of receptors that recognize target analytes and transducers that translate this recognition into a detectable signal. Biological molecules such as enzymes, nucleic acids, antibodies, or their synthetic analogues can serve as bio-receptors to bind the analyte of interest. To form a biosensor device that detects or measures the biological events or changes, the targeted matching of the bio-receptor and the analyte should be evaluated quantitatively, making the transducers indispensable components of a biosensor. Availability of various bio-receptors, transducers, and possible combinations of both components constitute various ways to classify biosensors. Compared to conventional sensors based on rigid semiconductors, metals, and ceramics, elastomers are advantageous since they exhibit the highest level of strain behavior for wearable applications. 
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  • 09 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Extraction Methods of Major Phytochemicals
Scientific studies have established a relationship between the consumption of phytochemicals such as carotenoids, polyphenols, isoprenoids, phytosterols, saponins, dietary fibers, polysaccharides, etc., with health benefits such as prevention of diabetes, obesity, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, etc. This has led to the popularization of phytochemicals. Foods containing phytochemicals as a constituent (functional foods) and the concentrated form of phytochemicals (nutraceuticals) are used as a preventive measure or cure for many diseases. The health benefits of these phytochemicals depend on their purity and structural stability. The yield, purity, and structural stability of extracted phytochemicals depend on the matrix in which the phytochemical is present, the method of extraction, the solvent used, the temperature, and the time of extraction.
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  • 23 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Hydrogen Storage in Activated Carbons
With the rising demand for H2 in the past decades and its favorable characteristics as an energy carrier, the escalating USA consumption of pure H2 can be projected to reach 63 million tons by 2050. Despite the tremendous potential of H2 generation and its widespread application, transportation and storage of H2 have remained the major challenges of a sustainable H2 economy. Recently, the literature has been stressing the need to develop biomass-based activated carbons as an effective H2 storage material, as these are inexpensive adsorbents with tunable chemical, mechanical, and morphological properties.  This article reviews the current research trends and perspectives on the role of various properties of biomass-based activated carbons on its H2 uptake capacity. The critical aspects of the governing factors of H2 storage, namely, the surface morphology (specific surface area, pore volume, and pore size distribution), surface functionality (heteroatom and functional groups), physical condition of H2 storage (temperature and pressure), and thermodynamic properties (heat of adsorption and desorption), are discussed. A comprehensive survey of the literature showed that an “ideal” biomass-based activated carbon sorbent with a micropore size typically below 10 Å, micropore volume greater than 1.5 cm3/g, and high surface area of 4000 m2/g or more may help in substantial gravimetric H2 uptake of >10 wt% at cryogenic conditions (−196 °C), as smaller pores benefit by stronger physisorption due to the high heat of adsorption.
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  • 01 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Nonaqueous Titration
Nonaqueous titration is the titration of substances dissolved in solvents other than water. It is the most common titrimetric procedure used in pharmacopoeial assays and serves a double purpose: it is suitable for the titration of very weak acids and very weak bases, and it provides a solvent in which organic compounds are soluble. The most commonly used procedure is the titration of organic bases with perchloric acid in anhydrous acetic acid. These assays sometimes take some perfecting in terms of being able to judge the endpoint precisely. The Karl Fischer titration for water content is another nonaqueous titration, usually done in methanol or sometimes in ethanol. Since water is the analyte in this method, it cannot also be used as the solvent.
  • 3.4K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Australian Modernism
Australian Modernism, similar to European and American Modernism was a social, political and cultural movement that was a reaction to rampant Industrialisation, associated moral panic of modernity and the death and trauma of the World Wars. This movement was predominately a reaction of female artists towards the male dominated art style of naturalism. It is also important to note the presence of Indigenous Art during this time of modernity. Indigenous Modernism refers to the unique experience of modernity of Aboriginal people that is vastly different to the White Australians experience of Modernity. The mainstream movement began in Australia approximately in 1914 and continued until 1948. Throughout these years tensions continued between the conservative and the Avant-garde schools of thought. The years following the Second World War is when Australian Modernism gained notability in the art world of Australia. Nationalistic pastoral painting of the Australian landscape were superseded by abstracted, colourful distorted images of Modernist works. After the World Wars the dynamics of society in Australia and overseas changed dramatically causing increased acceptance and attraction towards Modernism. Social and political unrest continued due to the devastation of war and increased immigration occurred. This caused a subsequent amount of European artists to travel to Australia to live. This contributed to the introduction of further art styles to Australia such as Surrealism, social realism and expressionism. Additionally, continued technological progress in the later 20th century contributed to an increase in cubism and print making. The first Indigenous Modernist or Modern Artist is said to be the Artists Albert Namatjira. He created art that aligned with the styles and techniques of western Modernism in Australia and Europe. It was not until the 1960s and 1970s that scholars began to call Indigenous Art Modern as there was a distinction made between Modern and Contemporary art to traditional Indigenous art. However, it is argued that all types of Indigenous Art is Modernist as it is all an aesthetic expression of Indigenous experiences of modernity.
  • 3.4K
  • 28 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Multiracial
Multiracial is defined as made up of or relating to people of many races. Many terms exist for people of various multiracial backgrounds. Preferred terms include multiracial, biracial, multiethnic, polyethnic, Métis, Creole, Coloured, Dougla, mestizo, Melungeon, quadroon, Chindian, zambo, Eurasian, hapa, hāfu, Garifuna and pardo. There are various other terms used that are sometimes considered insulting and offensive, such as "half," "half-and-half," mulatto, and "Biracial" Individuals of multiracial backgrounds make up a significant portion of the population in many parts of the world. In North America, studies have found that the multiracial population is continuing to grow. In many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, people with multiracial backgrounds make up the majority of the population. Other countries where multiracial people make up a sizable portion of the population are Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Africa , Botswana, Namibia, the United States , New Zealand, Mauritius, the Philippines , Fiji , Vietnam and Thailand.
  • 3.4K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Zero-Waste Manufacturing
At first glance, zero waste (ZW) means complete and total elimination or absence of waste. However, much more than that, ZW entails waste prevention and where all materials are reused. It is a philosophy that forbids sending any unused material to landfills, dumpsites, or incinerators.
  • 3.4K
  • 16 May 2022
Topic Review
Grandiosity
In the field of psychology, the term grandiosity refers to an unrealistic sense of superiority, characterized by a sustained view of one's self as better than others, which is expressed by disdainfully criticising them, overinflating one's own capability and belittling them as inferior; and refers to a sense of personal uniqueness, the belief that few other people have anything in common with oneself, and that one can only be understood by a few, very special people. The personality trait of grandiosity is principally associated with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), but also is a feature in the occurrence and expression of antisocial personality disorder, and the manic and hypomanic episodes of bipolar disorder.
  • 3.4K
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Environmental Aspects of Rail Transport
The development of railways stands as a pivotal milestone in the history of transportation, transforming the world and revolutionising the movement of people and goods. From their humble beginnings as rudimentary track systems to the sophisticated and interconnected networks we witness today, railways have played a crucial role in fostering economic growth, promoting globalisation, and shaping modern societies. Railways have long been recognised as one of the most environmentally friendly means of mass transit, offering lower carbon emissions, energy efficiency, and reduced congestion compared to other transportation modes. However, there are still many challenges to overcome to provide continuous sustainability in the context of environmental impacts, especially related to wildlife and habitat protection. 
  • 3.4K
  • 19 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Yarrowia lipolytica
After having drawn some industrialists’ attention as early as the 1950s, the non-conventional oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica has been recognized since several decades, as a powerful host for heterologous protein expression, secretion and surface display. The development of sequencing and genetic engineering tools, combined with an increasing knowledge of its metabolism, have then facilitated the complex engineering of the metabolic pathways of this yeast for various applications. Since nearly two decades, numerous laboratories throughout the world have chosen Y. lipolytica as a chassis for designing microbial cell factories. White biotechnology applications of this yeast include notably single cell oil production, whole cell bioconversion and upgrading of industrial wastes. 
  • 3.4K
  • 19 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Tonsillolith
Tonsilloliths, also known as tonsil stones, are soft aggregates of bacterial and cellular debris that form in the tonsillar crypts, the crevices of the tonsils. While they occur most commonly in the palatine tonsils, they may also occur in the lingual tonsils. Tonsil stones are common. Tonsilloliths have been recorded weighing from 0.3 g to 42 g. Protruding tonsilloliths may feel like foreign objects lodged in the tonsil crypt. They may be a nuisance and difficult to remove, but are usually not harmful. They are one of the causes of bad breath and always give off a putrid smell.
  • 3.4K
  • 11 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Electromyography in Sports
Muscular alterations as a consequence of hypoxic situations contribute not only to a decrease in life expectancy but also to a lower quality of life and health status. Our perspective, based on the results of this systematic review, is that Electromyography (EMG) is a suitable tool for monitoring the different skeletal muscle responses and has sufficient sensitivity to detect the muscle changes produced by hypoxic stimuli. Therefore, surface EMG (sEMG) maybe provide a practical point-of-care diagnostic test for medical diagnoses as well as a tool to improve sports performance. integrated EMG (iEMG) studies the physiology and pathology of denervation, re-innervation, and various myopathies. It also analyzes deep musculature such as muscular behavior, temporal activity patterns, fatigue, and muscular activation. sEMG is suitable for providing information about global muscle behavior, temporal activity patterns, muscle fatigue, and the activation level of the superficial musculature.
  • 3.4K
  • 15 Jan 2021
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