Your browser does not fully support modern features. Please upgrade for a smoother experience.
Subject:
All Disciplines Arts & Humanities Biology & Life Sciences Business & Economics Chemistry & Materials Science Computer Science & Mathematics Engineering Environmental & Earth Sciences Medicine & Pharmacology Physical Sciences Public Health & Healthcare Social Sciences
Sort by:
Most Viewed Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Filter:
All Topic Review Biography Peer Reviewed Entry Video Entry
Topic Review
Assessment of Bio-Based Polyurethanes
Among numerous synthetic macromolecules, polyurethane in its different forms has proven its sheer dominance and established a reputation as a reliable and trusted material due to its proficiency in terms of superior properties, which include: high mechanical strength and abrasion resistance, good durability, good adhesion, good thermal stability, excellent chemical and weathering resistance. Synthetic polyurethane materials are non-biodegradable, poisonous, and use petrochemical-based raw materials, which are now depleting, leading to a surge in polyurethane production costs. Enormous kinds of available bio-renewable sources as predecessors for the production of polyols and isocyanates have been explored for the development of “greener” PU materials; these bio-based polyurethanes have significant potential to be used as future PU products, with a partial or total replacement of petroleum-based polyurethanes, due to increasing concern about the environment, their relatively low cost and biodegradability.
  • 2.9K
  • 12 Aug 2022
Topic Review
History of Biotechnology
Biotechnology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and services. From its inception, biotechnology has maintained a close relationship with society. Although now most often associated with the development of drugs, historically biotechnology has been principally associated with food, addressing such issues as malnutrition and famine. The history of biotechnology begins with zymotechnology, which commenced with a focus on brewing techniques for beer. By World War I, however, zymotechnology would expand to tackle larger industrial issues, and the potential of industrial fermentation gave rise to biotechnology. However, both the single-cell protein and gasohol projects failed to progress due to varying issues including public resistance, a changing economic scene, and shifts in political power. Yet the formation of a new field, genetic engineering, would soon bring biotechnology to the forefront of science in society, and the intimate relationship between the scientific community, the public, and the government would ensue. These debates gained exposure in 1975 at the Asilomar Conference, where Joshua Lederberg was the most outspoken supporter for this emerging field in biotechnology. By as early as 1978, with the development of synthetic human insulin, Lederberg's claims would prove valid, and the biotechnology industry grew rapidly. Each new scientific advance became a media event designed to capture public support, and by the 1980s, biotechnology grew into a promising real industry. In 1988, only five proteins from genetically engineered cells had been approved as drugs by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but this number would skyrocket to over 125 by the end of the 1990s. The field of genetic engineering remains a heated topic of discussion in today's society with the advent of gene therapy, stem cell research, cloning, and genetically modified food. While it seems only natural nowadays to link pharmaceutical drugs as solutions to health and societal problems, this relationship of biotechnology serving social needs began centuries ago.
  • 2.9K
  • 21 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Federated Learning and Blockchain
The Internet of Things (IoT) compromises multiple devices connected via a network to perform numerous activities. The large amounts of raw user data handled by IoT operations have driven researchers and developers to provide guards against any malicious threats. Blockchain is a technology that can give connected nodes means of security, transparency, and distribution. IoT devices could guarantee data centralization and availability with shared ledger technology. Federated learning (FL) is a new type of decentralized machine learning (DML) where clients collaborate to train a model and share it privately with an aggregator node.
  • 2.9K
  • 30 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Engineering Dry Electrode Manufacturing for Sustainable Lithium-Ion Batteries
The pursuit of industrializing lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with exceptional energy density and top-tier safety features presents a substantial growth opportunity. The demand for energy storage is steadily rising, driven primarily by the growth in electric vehicles and the need for stationary energy storage systems. However, the manufacturing process of LIBs, which is crucial for these applications, still faces significant challenges in terms of both financial and environmental impacts. The dry process procedure aims to reduce the risk of solvent emissions, waste generation, and potential safety hazards by eliminating the need for solvents. This aligns with a growing emphasis on sustainable and environmentally friendly manufacturing practices.
  • 2.9K
  • 08 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Natural Compounds and Autophagy Modulation
Autophagy is a vacuolar, lysosomal degradation pathway for injured and damaged protein molecules and organelles in eukaryotic cells, which is controlled by nutrients and stress responses. Dysregulation of cellular autophagy may lead to various diseases such as neurodegenerative disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and malignancies. Recently, natural compounds have come to attention for being able to modulate the autophagy pathway in cancer prevention, although the prospective role of autophagy in cancer treatment is very complex and not yet clearly elucidated. Numerous synthetic chemicals have been identified that modulate autophagy and are favorable candidates for cancer treatment, but they have adverse side effects. Therefore, different phytochemicals, which include natural compounds and their derivatives, have attracted significant attention for use as autophagy modulators in cancer treatment with minimal side effects.
  • 2.9K
  • 30 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Endophytic Fungi
An extensive literature search was performed to review current knowledge about endophytic fungi isolated from plants included in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) dossier. The selected genera of plants were Acacia, Albizia, Bauhinia, Berberis, Caesalpinia, Cassia, Cornus, Hamamelis, Jasminus, Ligustrum, Lonicera, Nerium, and Robinia. A total of 120 fungal genera have been found in plant tissues originating from several countries. Bauhinia and Cornus showed the highest diversity of endophytes, whereas Hamamelis, Jasminus, Lonicera, and Robinia exhibited the lowest. The most frequently detected fungi were Aspergillus, Colletotrichum, Fusarium, Penicillium, Phyllosticta, and Alternaria. Plants and plant products represent an inoculum source of several mutualistic or pathogenic fungi, including quarantine pathogens. Thus, the movement of living organisms across continents during international trade represents a serious threat to ecosystems and biosecurity measures should be taken at a global level.
  • 2.9K
  • 19 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Goal Orientation
Goal orientation is an "individual disposition towards developing or validating one's ability in achievement settings". Research has examined goal orientation as a motivation variable that is useful for recruitment, climate and culture, performance appraisal, and choice. It has also been used to predict sales performance, adaptive performance, goal setting, learning and adaptive behaviors in training, and leadership.
  • 2.9K
  • 04 Nov 2022
Biography
Claire Wineland
Claire Lucia Wineland (April 10, 1997 – September 2, 2018) was an American activist and author. Through her non-profit organization "Claire's Place Foundation," she supported people with terminal and chronic illnesses, as well as their families.[1][2] She died from a stroke one week after a lung transplant, at the age of 21. Wineland wrote the book Every Breath I Take, Surviving and Thriving
  • 2.9K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Applications of Saponins
Saponins are a diverse group of naturally occurring plant secondary metabolites present in a wide range of foods ranging from grains, pulses, and green leaves to sea creatures. They consist of a hydrophilic sugar moiety linked to a lipophilic aglycone, resulting in an amphiphilic nature and unique functional properties. Their amphiphilic structures enable saponins to exhibit surface-active properties, resulting in stable foams and complexes with various molecules. In the context of food applications, saponins are utilized as natural emulsifiers, foaming agents, and stabilizers. They contribute to texture and stability in food products and have potential health benefits, including cholesterol-lowering and anticancer effects. Saponins possess additional bioactivities that make them valuable in the pharmaceutical industry as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, and antiparasitic agents to name a few. Saponins can demonstrate cytotoxic activity against cancer cell lines and can also act as adjuvants, enhancing the immune response to vaccines. 
  • 2.9K
  • 11 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Ajativada
Ajātivāda is the fundamental philosophical doctrine of the Advaita Vedanta philosopher Gaudapada. According to Gaudapada, the Absolute is not subject to birth, change and death. The Absolute is aja, the unborn eternal. The empirical world of appearances is considered unreal, and not absolutely existent. Gaudapada's perspective is based on the Mandukya Upanishad, applying the philosophical concept of "ajāta" to the inquiry of Brahman, showing that Brahman wholly transcends the conventional understanding of being and becoming. The concept is also found in Madhyamaka Buddhism, as the theory of nonorigination.
  • 2.9K
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Principles of Prototropic Equilibria
Prototropic tautomers always differ by the positions of labile proton(s) and π-electrons. The number of possible tautomeric forms is an internal property of the tautomeric molecule. It is a consequence of the number of labile protons and the number of conjugated tautomeric sites.
  • 2.9K
  • 01 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Self-Driving Cars
Self-driving cars are a hot research topic in science and technology, which has a great influence on social and economic development. Deep learning is one of the current key areas in the field of artificial intelligence research. It has been widely applied in image processing, natural language understanding, and so on. In recent years, more and more deep learning-based solutions have been presented in the field of self-driving cars and have achieved outstanding results. This paper presents a review of recent research on theories and applications of deep learning for self-driving cars. This survey provides a detailed explanation of the developments of self-driving cars and summarizes the applications of deep learning methods in the field of self-driving cars. Then the main problems in self-driving cars and their solutions based on deep learning methods are analyzed, such as obstacle detection, scene recognition, lane detection, navigation and path planning. In addition, the details of some representative approaches for self-driving cars using deep learning methods are summarized. Finally, the future challenges in the applications of deep learning for self-driving cars are given out.
  • 2.9K
  • 29 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Murano Glass
Murano glass is made on the Venetian island of Murano, which has been a glassmaking center for over 700 years. It is also sometimes referred to as Venetian glass. Today Murano is known for its art glass, but it has a long history of innovations in glassmaking in addition to its artistic fame—and was Europe's first major glassmaking center. During the 1400s, Murano glassmakers created cristallo—which was almost transparent and considered the finest glass in the world. Murano glassmakers also developed a white-colored glass (milk glass called lattimo) that looked like porcelain. They later became Europe's finest makers of mirrors. Originally, Venice was controlled by the Eastern Roman Empire, but it eventually became an independent city state. It flourished as a trading center and seaport. Its connections with the Middle East helped its glassmakers gain additional skills, as glassmaking was more advanced in countries such as Syria and Egypt. Although Venetian glassmaking existed as far back as the 8th Century, it became concentrated in Murano by law beginning 1291. Since glass factories often caught fire, this removed much of the possibility of a major fire disaster for the city. Murano glassmakers developed secret recipes and methods for making glass, and the concentration of Venice's glassmaking on the island of Murano enabled better control of those secrets. Murano became Europe's elite glassmaking center, peaking in popularity in the 15th and 16th centuries. Venice's dominance in trade along the Mediterranean Sea created a wealthy merchant class that was a strong connoisseur of the arts. This helped establish demand for art glass and more innovations. The spread of glassmaking talent in Europe eventually diminished the importance of Venice and its Murano glassmakers. A defeat by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797, and occupation, caused more hardship for Murano's glassmaking industry. Murano glassmaking began a revival in the 1920s. Today, Murano and Venice are tourist attractions, and Murano is home to numerous glass factories and a few individual artists' studios. Its Museo del Vetro (Glass Museum) in the Palazzo Giustinian contains displays on the history of glassmaking as well as glass samples ranging from Egyptian times through the present day.
  • 2.9K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Underwater Connectors
Underwater connectors are very essential and complex components of deep-sea engineering equipment and their design and manufacture have apparent multidisciplinary characteristics. Wet-mateable connectors (WMCs) represent the highest level of technology in this field, and only a very few countries in the world can produce WMCs. So, WMCs are likely to be a constraining factor to some maritime powers that might try to achieve breakthroughs in this field, constraining the innovation-driven development of deep-sea equipment.
  • 2.9K
  • 19 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Cyber–Physical System
Seeking to meet the need for the integration of new sources of energy, the entry and integration of new technologies into the grid, global concerns about the environment, diversification of the energy matrix, and the growing consumption of energy, the electrical system is in the process of modernizing its operation, planning, maintenance, communication, management, and control. Therefore, the power system is gradually transforming into SGs, and consequently, the vulnerabilities of this new system become the target of cyberattacks.
  • 2.9K
  • 21 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Obesity
Personalized cognitive-behavioural therapy for obesity (CBT-OB) CBT-OB is an innovative treatment designed to help patients maintain long-term weight loss by addressing some limitations of traditional behavioural treatment of obesity (BT-OB), namely the poor personalization of the intervention and the prevalent focus on helping the patients to reach behavioural change (i.e., eating and exercise habits) rather than a cognitive change oriented to long-term weight control. As such, CBT-OB includes the main procedures of traditional BT-OB, but includes new strategies and procedures, introduced according to the individual patient’s needs, to address specific cognitive processes that previous research has found be associated with treatment discontinuation, weight loss and weight maintenance. Moreover, it can be delivered in a stepped-care approach, including three levels of care (i.e., outpatient, day-hospital, and residential) to treat patients with severe and disabling obesity.
  • 2.9K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Machine Learning and Student Performance Prediction
Improving the quality, developing and implementing systems that can provide advantages to students, and predicting students’ success during the term, at the end of the term, or in the future are some of the primary aims of education. Due to its unique ability to create relationships and obtain accurate results, artificial intelligence and machine learning are tools used in this field to achieve the expected goals.
  • 2.9K
  • 08 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Honey for Antimicrobial and Wound Healing Applications
Honey was used in traditional medicine to treat wounds until the advent of modern medicine. The rising global antibiotic resistance has forced the development of novel therapies as alternatives to combat infections. Consequently, honey is experiencing a resurgence in evaluation for antimicrobial and wound healing applications. A range of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains and biofilms, are inhibited by honey. Furthermore, susceptibility to antibiotics can be restored when used synergistically with honey. Honey’s antimicrobial activity also includes antifungal and antiviral properties, and in most varieties of honey, its activity is attributed to the enzymatic generation of hydrogen peroxide, a reactive oxygen species. Non-peroxide factors include low water activity, acidity, phenolic content, defensin-1, and methylglyoxal (Leptospermum honeys). Honey has also been widely explored as a tissue-regenerative agent. It can contribute to all stages of wound healing, and thus has been used in direct application and in dressings. The difficulty of the sustained delivery of honey’s active ingredients to the wound site has driven the development of tissue engineering approaches (e.g., electrospinning and hydrogels). 
  • 2.9K
  • 29 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Communication Costs in Federated Learning
Federated learning (FL) is an emerging distributed machine learning technique that allows for the distributed training of a single machine learning model across multiple geographically distributed clients.
  • 2.9K
  • 31 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Trique Language
The Triqui (/ˈtriːki/), or Trique, languages are Oto-Manguean languages of Mexico spoken by the Trique people of the state of Oaxaca and the state of Baja California (due to recent population movements). They belong to the Mixtecan branch together with the Mixtec languages and Cuicatec.
  • 2.9K
  • 21 Oct 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 2799
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Reprints

>>
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Encyclopedia of Engineering
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of Medieval Royal Iconography
Academic Video Service
Feedback