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Topic Review
Criticisms of Neoclassical Economics
Neo-classical economics has come under critique on the basis of its core ideologies, assumptions, and other matters.
  • 11.9K
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Testing Effect
The testing effect is the finding that long-term memory is often increased when some of the learning period is devoted to retrieving the to-be-remembered information. The effect is also sometimes referred to as retrieval practice, practice testing, or test-enhanced learning. Retrieval practice may be the best way to refer to the testing effect because the benefits of retrieval-related testing are not limited to tests. It can be more broad, including tools like flash cards and quizzes. The testing effect on memory should be distinguished from more general practice effects, defined in the APA Dictionary of Psychology (2007) as "any change or improvement that results from practice or repetition of task items or activities." The term testing effect is also sometimes used in a more general sense; The Oxford Dictionary of Psychology (2003) defines a testing effect as "any effect of taking tests on the respondents, a typical example being test sophistication." Whereas psychologists who develop tests for personality and intelligence want to avoid practice effects, cognitive psychologists working with educators have begun to understand how to take advantage of tests—not as an assessment tool, but as a teaching/learning tool. It is useful for people to test their knowledge of the to-be-remembered material during the learning process, instead of only reading or otherwise passively studying the material. For example, a student can use flashcards to self-test and receive feedback as they study. The testing effect provides a larger benefit to long-term memory when the tested material is difficult enough to require effort, the rate of retrieval success is high, and feedback with correct answers is given after testing. The testing effect is activated by active recall.
  • 11.9K
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Media Ecology
Media ecology theory is the study of media, technology, and communication and how they affect human environments. The theoretical concepts were proposed by Marshall McLuhan in 1964, while the term media ecology was first formally introduced by Neil Postman in 1968. Ecology in this context refers to the environment in which the medium is used – what they are and how they affect society. Neil Postman states, "if in biology a 'medium' is something in which a bacterial culture grows (as in a Petri dish), in media ecology, the medium is 'a technology within which a [human] culture grows.'" In other words, "Media ecology looks into the matter of how media of communication affect human perception, understanding, feeling, and value; and how our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our chances of survival. The word ecology implies the study of environments: their structure, content, and impact on people. An environment is, after all, a complex message system which imposes on human beings certain ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving." Media ecology argues that media act as extensions of the human senses in each era, and communication technology is the primary cause of social change. McLuhan is famous for coining the phrase, "the medium is the message", which is an often-debated phrase believed to mean that the medium chosen to relay a message is just as important (if not more so) than the message itself. McLuhan proposed that media influence the progression of society, and that significant periods of time and growth can be categorized by the rise of a specific technology during that period. Additionally, scholars have compared media broadly to a system of infrastructure that connect the nature and culture of a society with media ecology being the study of "traffic" between the two.
  • 11.8K
  • 23 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Recovery of Banana Waste-Loss
Banana is a tropical fruit grown in more than 130 countries. It is the second most produced fruit after citrus, contributing around 16% of world fruit production and the fourth most important food crop after rice, wheat and corn. Banana is very nutritious and digests better than many other fruits. After harvest, almost 60% of banana biomass is left as waste. Worldwide, about 114.08 million metric tons of banana waste-loss are produced, leading to environmental problems such as the excessive emission of greenhouse gases. These wastes contain a high content of paramount industrial importance, such as cellulose, hemicellulose and natural fibers that various processes can modify, such as bacterial fermentation and anaerobic degradation, to obtain bioplastics, organic fertilizers and biofuels such as ethanol, biogas, hydrogen and biodiesel. In addition, they can be used in wastewater treatment methods by producing low-cost biofilters and obtaining activated carbon from rachis and banana peel. Furthermore, nanometric fibers commonly used in nanotechnology applications and silver nanoparticles useful in therapeutic cancer treatments, can be produced from banana pseudostems. 
  • 11.8K
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Clay Bricks
Clay bricks are extensively used as building material worldwide. Natural soil deposits are in constant reduction due to the frequent use of clay to manufacture bricks. About 1600 billion bricks are produced annually by the consumption of millions of tons of natural resources.
  • 11.8K
  • 18 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Eyelash Curler
An eyelash curler is a hand-operated mechanical device for curling eyelashes for cosmetic purposes. Usually only the upper eyelashes are curled.
  • 11.8K
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Polanyi’s Paradox
Polanyi's paradox, named in honour of the British-Hungarian philosopher Michael Polanyi, is the theory that human knowledge of how the world functions and capability are, to a large extent, beyond our explicit understanding. The theory was articulated by Michael Polanyi in his book The Tacit Dimension in 1966, but it was economist David Autor that named it as Polanyi's paradox in his 2014 research paper on “Polanyi's Paradox and the Shape of Employment Growth”. Summarised in the slogan "We can know more than we can tell", Polanyi's paradox is mainly to explain the cognitive phenomenon that there exist many tasks which we, human beings, understand intuitively how to perform but cannot verbalize the rules or procedures behind it. This "self-ignorance" is common to many human activities, from driving a car in traffic to face recognition. As Polanyi argues, humans are relying on their tacit knowledge, which is difficult to adequately express by verbal means, when engaging these tasks. Polanyi's paradox has been widely considered a major obstacle in the fields of AI and automation, since the absence of consciously accessible knowledge creates tremendous difficulty in programming.
  • 11.8K
  • 02 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Ingredients of Moisturizers
Moisturizers are one of the most widely used preparations in cosmetics and have been extensively used to soften the skin for consumers. Moisturizers work effectively in combating dry skin which may cause pain, tightness, itch, stinging, and/or tingling. Knowing the characteristics and interactions of active ingredients with the skin will allow for better utilization of available moisturizers.
  • 11.7K
  • 11 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Partition (Number Theory)
In number theory and combinatorics, a partition of a positive integer n, also called an integer partition, is a way of writing n as a sum of positive integers. Two sums that differ only in the order of their summands are considered the same partition. (If order matters, the sum becomes a composition.) For example, 4 can be partitioned in five distinct ways: 4 3 + 1 2 + 2 2 + 1 + 1 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 The order-dependent composition 1 + 3 is the same partition as 3 + 1, and the two distinct compositions 1 + 2 + 1 and 1 + 1 + 2 represent the same partition 2 + 1 + 1. A summand in a partition is also called a part. The number of partitions of n is given by the partition function p(n). So p(4) = 5. The notation λ ⊢ n means that λ is a partition of n. Partitions can be graphically visualized with Young diagrams or Ferrers diagrams. They occur in a number of branches of mathematics and physics, including the study of symmetric polynomials and of the symmetric group and in group representation theory in general.
  • 11.7K
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Humid Continental Climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold in the northern areas) winters. Precipitation is usually distributed throughout the year. The definition of this climate regarding temperature is as follows: the mean temperature of the coldest month must be below −3 °C (26.6 °F) and there must be at least four months whose mean temperatures are at or above 10 °C (50 °F). In addition, the location in question must not be semi-arid or arid. The Dfb, Dwb and Dsb subtypes are also known as hemiboreal. Humid continental climates are generally found roughly between latitudes 40° N and 60° N, within the central and northeastern portions of North America, Europe, and Asia. They are much less commonly found in the Southern Hemisphere due to the larger ocean area at that latitude and the consequent greater maritime moderation. In the Northern Hemisphere some of the humid continental climates, typically in Hokkaido, Northern Honshu, Sakhalin island, Scandinavia, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland are heavily maritime-influenced, with relatively cool summers and winters being just below the freezing mark. More extreme humid continental climates found in northeast China , southern Siberia, the Canadian Prairies, and the Great Lakes region of the American Midwest and Central Canada combine hotter summer maxima and colder winters than the marine-based variety.
  • 11.7K
  • 29 Sep 2022
Topic Review
List of ASTM International Standards (F)
This is a list of ASTM International standards for "Materials for Specific Applications".
  • 11.7K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Types of Electrochemical Sensors
The world of sensors is diverse and is advancing at a rapid pace due to the fact of its high demand and constant technological improvements. Electrochemical sensors provide a low-cost and convenient solution for the detection of variable analytes and are widely utilized in agriculture, food, and oil industries as well as in environmental and biomedical applications. The popularity of electrochemical sensing stems from two main advantages: the variability of the reporting signals, such as the voltage, current, overall power output, or electrochemical impedance, and the low theoretical detection limits that originate from the differences in the Faradaic and nonFaradaic currents.
  • 11.7K
  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED)
Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) has 3 meanings : The first is “education for understanding AI,” which aims to develop the ability to understand and handle AI. The second is “education using AI,” which applies AI to effective teaching and learning in each subject. The third is “AI expert training,” which cultivates experts who develop AI and teachers who teach AI.
  • 11.7K
  • 27 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Water Literacy
Water literacy may be considered generally as the culmination of water-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors.  It holds growing importance for sustainable water resource use and management.  While use and definitions of the concept of water literacy vary broadly in the literature, the synthesis of these identifies common elements and themes in a holistic framework.
  • 11.7K
  • 03 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Bryophyllum Pinnatum
Bryophyllum pinnatum, also known as the air plant, cathedral bells, life plant, miracle leaf, and Goethe plant is a succulent plant native to Madagascar , which is a popular houseplant and has become naturalized in tropical and subtropical areas. It is distinctive for the profusion of miniature plantlets that form on the margins of its phylloclades, a trait it has in common with some other members of its genus. Many people also currently call this plant Kalanchoe pinnata. It is a succulent, perennial plant, about 1 m (39 in) tall, with a fleshy cylindrical stem and a reddish color for the youngest and it flowers most of the year. The specific epithet "pinnata" is the feminine form of the Latin adjective pinnatus, meaning "winged, pinnate".
  • 11.7K
  • 30 Nov 2022
Topic Review
The Process of Wound Healing
Wound healing is a recovering process of damaged tissues by replacing dysfunctional injured cellular structures. Wounds occur as a result of accidental or surgical trauma and from a variety of medical conditions. This wound often causes pain, inflammation, and loss of function, which affects a patient’s life and financial costs.
  • 11.7K
  • 06 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Peculiarities of Tumor Cell Metabolism for Cancer Treatment
In tumor cells, ketolysis “via” succinyl-CoA: 3-oxoacid-CoAtransferase (SCOT) and acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase 1 (ACAT1) is a major source of mitochondrial acetyl-CoA. Active ACAT1 tetramers stabilize by tyrosine phosphorylation, which facilitates the SCOT reaction and ketolysis. Tyrosine phosphorylation of pyruvate kinase PK M2 has the opposite effect, stabilizing inactive dimers, while pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), which is already inhibited by phosphorylation, is acetylated by ACAT1 and is doubly locked. This closes the glycolytic supply of acetyl-CoA. In addition, since tumor cells must synthesize fatty acids to create new membranes, they automatically turn off the degradation of fatty acids into acetyl-CoA (“via” the malonyl-CoA brake for the fatty acid carnityl transporter). Thus, inhibiting SCOT the specific ketolytic enzyme and ACAT1 should hold back tumor progression. However, tumor cells are still able to take up external acetate and convert it into acetyl-CoA in their cytosol “via” an acetyl-CoA synthetase, which feeds the lipogenic pathway; additionally, inhibiting this enzyme would make it difficult for tumor cells to form new lipid membrane and survive.
  • 11.7K
  • 21 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Bearing (Navigation)
In navigation, bearing is the horizontal angle between the direction of an object and another object, or between it and that of true north.
  • 11.7K
  • 05 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Rainfall Data
As is widely recognized, rainfall data is necessary for the mathematical modelling of extreme hydrological events, such as droughts or floods, as well as for evaluating surface and subsurface water resources and their quality. The phase, quantity, and elevation of generic hydrometeors in the atmosphere can be estimated by ground-based radars. Satellites can provide images with visible and infrared radiation, and they can also serve as platforms for radiometers to derive the quantity and phase of hydrometeors. Radars and satellites provide spatial information on precipitation at wide scales, avoiding many problems connected to local ground measurements, including those for the areal inhomogeneity of a network. However, direct rainfall observations at point scale can be obtained only by rain gauges installed at the soil surface.
  • 11.7K
  • 29 Jan 2022
Topic Review
The Hook
The Hook, or The Hookman, is an urban legend about a killer with a pirate-like hook for a hand attacking a couple in a parked car. The story is thought to date from at least the mid-1950s, and gained significant attention when it was reprinted in the advice column Dear Abby in 1960. It has since become a morality archetype in popular culture, and has been referenced in various horror films.
  • 11.6K
  • 03 Mar 2023
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