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Topic Review
Flexible sensors, fabrication and materials
The use of flexible sensors has tripled over the last decade due to the increased demand in various fields including health monitoring, food packaging, electronic skins and soft robotics. Flexible sensors have the ability to be bent and stretched during use and can still maintain their electrical and mechanical properties. Additionally, flexible sensors can be packaged conformally with the device in order to enable the miniaturization of products. These advantages promote the used of flexible sensors over rigid sensors, the latter which can also often lose their sensitivity when subject to bending.
  • 2.4K
  • 27 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Design Thinking
Design thinking is a term used to represent a set of cognitive, strategic and practical processes by which design concepts (proposals for products, buildings, machines, communications, etc.) are developed. Many of the key concepts and aspects of design thinking have been identified through studies, across different design domains, of design cognition and design activity in both laboratory and natural contexts. Design thinking is also associated with prescriptions for the innovation of products and services within business and social contexts. Some of these prescriptions have been criticized for oversimplifying the design process and trivializing the role of technical knowledge and skills.
  • 2.4K
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Environmental Challenges Facing Martian Colonisation
Mars is a focus of New Space Age exploration and colonisation, but there are significant challenges to successful colonisation by humankind. Environmental microbes play a key role in supporting the ecosystems of Earth, especially within the biodegradation and bioremediation sectors.
  • 2.4K
  • 16 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Sodium
Sodium overload is common in end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality that is traditionally considered a result of extracellular volume expansion.
  • 2.4K
  • 07 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Guṇa
Guṇa (Sanskrit: गुण) is a concept in Hinduism and Sikhism, which can be translated as "quality, peculiarity, attribute, property". The concept is originally notable as a feature of Samkhya philosophy. The gunas are now a key concept in nearly all schools of Hindu philosophy. There are three gunas, according to this worldview, that have always been and continue to be present in all things and beings in the world. These three gunas are called: sattva (goodness, constructive, harmonious), rajas (passion, active, confused), and tamas (darkness, destructive, chaotic). All of these three gunas are present in everyone and everything, it is the proportion that is different, according to Hindu worldview. The interplay of these gunas defines the character of someone or something, of nature and determines the progress of life. In some contexts, it may mean "a subdivision, species, kind, quality", or an operational principle or tendency of something or someone. In human behavior studies, Guna means personality, innate nature and psychological attributes of an individual. Like all Sanskrit technical terms, guṇa can be difficult to summarize in a single word. Its original and common meaning is a thread, implying the original materials that weave together to make up reality. The usual, but approximate translation in common usage is "quality".
  • 2.4K
  • 02 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Forward Osmosis
Forward osmosis (FO), the most common osmotically driven membrane process, stands out as the most promising alternative for RO processes due to its inherently low fouling tendency, easier fouling removal, and energy efficiency when compared to pressure-driven–type membrane processes.
  • 2.4K
  • 21 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Modification of Clay Minerals for Carbon Capture
Carbon capture is among the most sustainable strategies to limit carbon dioxide emissions, which account for a large share of human impact on climate change and ecosystem destruction. This growing threat calls for novel solutions to reduce emissions on an industrial level. Carbon capture by amorphous solids is among the most reasonable options as it requires less energy when compared to other techniques and has comparatively lower development and maintenance costs. In this respect, the method of carbon dioxide adsorption by solids can be used in the long-term and on an industrial scale. Furthermore, certain sorbents are reusable, which makes their use for carbon capture economically justified and acquisition of natural resources full and sustainable. Clay minerals, which are a universally available and versatile material, are amidst such sorbents. These materials are capable of interlayer and surface adsorption of carbon dioxide. In addition, their modification allows to improve carbon dioxide adsorption capabilities even more. 
  • 2.4K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Lignocellulosic Biofuels: A Renewable Bioenergy
Biofuel consists of non-fossil fuel derived from the organic biomass of renewable resources, including plants, animals, microorganisms, and waste. Energy derived from biofuel is known as bioenergy. The reserve of fossil fuels is now limited and continuing to decrease, while at the same time demand for energy is increasing. In order to overcome this scarcity, it is vital for human beings to transfer their dependency on fossil fuels to alternative types of fuel, including biofuels, which are effective methods of fulfilling present and future demands. The conversion of lignocellulosic feedstock is an important step during biofuel production. It is, however, important to note that, as a result of various technical restrictions, biofuel production is not presently cost efficient, thus leading to the need for improvement in the methods employed. 
  • 2.4K
  • 26 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Single-Element 2D Materials beyond Graphene
Thanks to their remarkable mechanical, thermal, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties, 2D materials promise to revolutionize electronics. The unique properties of graphene-like 2D materials give them the potential to create completely new types of devices for functional electronics, nanophotonics, and quantum technologies. 
  • 2.4K
  • 05 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Pathophysiology of Diabetic Foot Ulcers
One of the most significant challenges of diabetes health care is diabetic foot ulcers (DFU). DFUs are more challenging to cure, and this is particularly true for people who already have a compromised immune system. Pathogenic bacteria and fungi are becoming more resistant to antibiotics, so they may be unable to fight microbial infections at the wound site with the antibiotics.
  • 2.4K
  • 28 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Electrolyte Imbalance
Electrolyte imbalance, or water-electrolyte imbalance, is an abnormality in the concentration of electrolytes in the body. Electrolytes play a vital role in maintaining homeostasis in the body. They help to regulate heart and neurological function, fluid balance, oxygen delivery, acid–base balance and much more. Electrolyte imbalances can develop by consuming too little or too much electrolyte as well as excreting too little or too much electrolyte. Examples of electrolytes include: calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphate, potassium, and sodium. Electrolyte disturbances are involved in many disease processes, and are an important part of patient management in medicine. The causes, severity, treatment, and outcomes of these disturbances can differ greatly depending on the implicated electrolyte. The most serious electrolyte disturbances involve abnormalities in the levels of sodium, potassium or calcium. Other electrolyte imbalances are less common and often occur in conjunction with major electrolyte changes. The kidney is the most important organ in maintaining appropriate fluid and electrolyte balance, but other factors such as hormonal changes and physiological stress play a role.
  • 2.4K
  • 02 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype
The Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype (SASP), also known as Senescence-Messaging Secretome (SMS), is one of the fundamental characteristics of the senescent cell, consisting in the abundant secretion of generally proinflammatory compounds in the tissue microenvironment.
  • 2.4K
  • 16 Apr 2021
Topic Review
HCN-Derived Polymers
HCN-derived polymers are a heterogeneous group of complex substances synthesized from pure HCN; from its salts; from its oligomers, specifically its trimer and tetramer, aminomalononitrile (AMN) and diaminomaleonitrile (DAMN), respectively; or from its hydrolysis products, such as formamide, under a wide range of experimental conditions. The characteristics and properties of HCN-derived polymers depend directly on the synthetic conditions used for their production and, by extension, their potential applications. These puzzling systems have been known mainly in the fields of prebiotic chemistry and in studies on the origins of life and astrobiology since the first prebiotic production of adenine by Oró in the early years of the 1960s. However, the first reference regarding their possible role in prebiotic chemistry was mentioned in the 19th century by Pflüger. Currently, HCN-derived polymers are considered keys in the formation of the first and primeval protometabolic and informational systems, and they may be among the most readily formed organic macromolecules in the solar system. In addition, HCN-derived polymers have attracted a growing interest in materials science due to their potential biomedical applications as coatings and adhesives; they have also been proposed as valuable models for multifunctional materials with emergent properties such as semiconductivity, ferroelectricity, catalysis and photocatalysis, and heterogeneous organo-synthesis. However, the real structures and the formation pathways of these fascinating substances have not yet been fully elucidated. Several models based on either computational approaches or spectroscopic and analytical techniques have endeavored to shed light on their complete nature.
  • 2.4K
  • 29 Apr 2021
Topic Review
China’s Macro Control Policy
Macro control refers to the adjustment and control of the whole social economy in order to promote the development of the market and standardize the operation of the market. Output growth and technological progress show the performance of economic growth in gross and efficiency, respectively, which is the external performance and internal driving force of economic growth. To achieve long-term sustainable economic development, it is necessary to consider both the aggregate problem and technological progress. In this context, we attempts to explore the effectiveness of China’s macroeconomic regulation and control policy on output growth and technological progress under the economic policy uncertainty. Specifically, this paper analyzes the effectiveness of macroeconomic regulation and control policy on China’s output growth and technological progress in an uncertain environment, and then makes an empirical study by constructing a time-varying parameter vector autoregression model (TVP-VAR). Furthermore, the simulation test of the relevant results is carried out using the counter-fact analysis method.
  • 2.4K
  • 01 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Status and Challenges of Low Carbon Building Design
Excessive carbon emissions are causing the problems of global warming and the greenhouse effect, which urgently need to be controlled worldwide. It is crucial to reduce the carbon emissions of the construction industry as it is one of the main sources. Carbon is generated at all phases of the building life cycle, including in material production, building design, and building operation and maintenance. Notably, building design has various extents of influence on carbon emissions at each phase, for which a low carbon method urgently needs to be explored. The challenges of building design are as follows: lack of (1) a comprehensive standard system considering different factors, (2) lack of a carbon emission calculation method for the design phase, and a (3) no real-time optimization model aiming at carbon reduction. The path of “standard-calculation-prediction-optimization”(SCPO) for future building design is proposed to address these challenges. It takes standard system as the framework, the carbon calculation method as the foundation, the prediction model as the theory, and the low carbon building as the objective.
  • 2.4K
  • 28 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Dingbat
In typography, a dingbat (sometimes more formally known as a printer's ornament or printer's character) is an ornament, specifically, a glyph used in typesetting, often employed to create box frames, (similar to box-drawing characters) or as a dinkus (section divider). Some of the dingbat symbols have been used as signature marks, used in bookbinding to order sections. In the computer industry, a Dingbat font was a computer font that has symbols and shapes that reused the code points designated for alphabetical or numeric characters. This practice was necessitated by the limited number of code points available in 20th century operating systems. Most modern fonts are based on Unicode, which has unique code points for dingbat glyphs.
  • 2.4K
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Structural and Physiochemical Characteristics of Chitosan
Chitosan is a fibrous compound derived from chitin, which is the second most abundant natural polysaccharide and is produced by crustaceans, including crabs, shrimps, and lobsters. Chitosan has all of the important medicinal properties, including biocompatibility, biodegradability, and hydrophilicity, and it is relatively nontoxic and cationic in nature. 
  • 2.4K
  • 04 May 2023
Topic Review
Education for Sustainable Development
Education can serve the purpose of trying to mitigate catastrophes, from the climate change education perspective. Therefore, understanding how teachers are engaging with sustainability issues can help to reveal how they cope with it. In a school context, teachers can have a role in enacting an interconnection between critical thinking (CT) as a potentially useful tool and education for sustainable development (ESD), in terms of educating and communicating the importance of sustainability to future generations.
  • 2.4K
  • 14 Nov 2022
Topic Review
WirelessHART
The industrialization has led to a huge demand for a network control system to monitor and control multi-loop processes with high effectiveness. WirelessHART is a wireless sensor networking technology based on the existing conventional wired Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (HART) protocol. The protocol utilizes a time-synchronized, self-organizing, and self-healing mesh architecture. This is the first wireless communication protocol that adopts over 2.4 GHz radio-frequency channel in the IEEE 802.15.4 for industrial process control applications.
  • 2.4K
  • 26 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Bongkrekic Acid as a Threat to Food Safety
Bongkrekic acid (BKA) poisoning, induced by the contamination of Burkholderia gladioli pathovar cocovenenans, has a long-standing history of causing severe outbreaks of foodborne illness. It has emerged as a lethal food safety concern, presenting significant challenges to public health. 
  • 2.4K
  • 08 Nov 2023
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