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Topic Review
Graphene as Reinforcing Filler
Graphene represents an innovative material, which possesses a unique combination of properties. The remarkable features of this material allow it to be often used as a reinforcing filler in organic based coatings. The excellent conductivity and mechanical strength properties of graphene produce a significant increase in the performance of the polymer matrix. Recently, however, scholars have focused on the barrier effect properties that can be provided by graphene flakes to obtain high corrosion resistance coatings. If well distributed in the polymeric matrix, in fact, the graphene-based sheets are able to provide a high resistance to the passage of aggressive ions, fundamental for the development of corrosion processes on the metal substrate. The distribution of graphene-based fillers, however, is a critical aspect, which can be improved by means of certain oxidation and functionalization processes of graphene flakes. Recent studies have shown the possibility of combining the excellent features of cataphoretic processes with the remarkable protective properties of graphene-based fillers in the creation of high-performance multifunctional composite coatings. The functionalized graphene oxide flakes, in the correct amount, can in fact increase the protective performance of cataphoretic coatings, as well as providing additional features such as mechanical strength and high conductivity.
  • 2.4K
  • 01 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Antimicrobial Polymers
Antibiotic resistance has increased markedly in Gram-negative bacteria, causing severe infections intractable with traditional drugs and amplifying mortality and healthcare costs. Consequently, to find novel antimicrobial compounds, active on multidrug resistant bacteria, is mandatory. In this regard, cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs)—able to kill pathogens on contact—could represent an appealing solution. However, low selectivity, hemolytic toxicity and cost of manufacturing, hamper their massive clinical application. In the recent years—starting from CAMPs as template molecules—less toxic and lower-cost synthetic mimics of CAMPs, including cationic peptides, polymers and dendrimers, have been developed. Although the pending issue of hemolytic toxicity and biodegradability is still left not completely solved, cationic antimicrobial polymers (CAPs), compared to small drug molecules, thanks to their high molecular weight, own appreciable selectivity, reduced toxicity toward eukaryotic cells, more long-term activity, stability and non-volatility. With this background, an updated overview concerning the state of the art of the main manufactured types of CAPs, active on Gram-negative bacteria, is herein reported, including synthetic procedure and action’s mechanism. Information about the antibacterial activity, advantages and drawbacks of the most appealing compounds was also provided.
  • 2.4K
  • 12 Jan 2021
Topic Review
History of Fibre Reinforced Polymer Bridges
Fibre-reinforced polymer composites (FRPs) offer various benefits for bridge construction. Lightweight, durability, design flexibility and fast erection in inaccessible areas are their unique selling points for bridge engineering. History of all-FRP and hybrid FRP bridges is presented here.
  • 2.4K
  • 18 May 2023
Topic Review
Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience that persists or recurs more than three months and may extend beyond the expected time of healing. Chronic pain occurs as a part of symptoms due to an underlying medical condition or remains despite successful treatment of the condition that originally caused it.
  • 2.4K
  • 11 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Bee Products in Dermatology and Skin Care
Honey, propolis, bee pollen, bee bread, royal jelly, beeswax and bee venom are natural products which have been used in medicine since ancient times. Studies indicate that natural bee products can be used for skin treatment and care. Biological properties of these products are related to flavonoids they contain like: chrysin, apigenin, kaempferol, quercetin, galangin, pinocembrin or naringenin. Several pharmacological activities of phenolic acids and flavonoids, and also 10-hydroxy-trans-2-decenoic acid, which is present in royal jelly, have been reported. Royal jelly has multitude of pharmacological activities: antibiotic, antiinflammatory, antiallergenic, tonic and antiaging. Honey, propolis and pollen are used to heal burn wounds, and they possess numerous functional properties such as: antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, disinfectant, antifungal and antiviral. 
  • 2.4K
  • 22 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Iron-Based Shape Memory Alloys in Construction
As a promising candidate in the construction industry, iron-based shape memory alloy (Fe-SMA) has attracted lots of attention in the engineering and metallography communities because of its foreseeable benefits including corrosion resistance, shape recovery capability, excellent plastic deformability, and outstanding fatigue resistance. Pilot applications have proved the feasibility of Fe-SMA as a highly efficient functional material in the construction sector.
  • 2.4K
  • 11 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Current Technologies and Target Crops in Australia
Indoor farm facilities are broadly categorised into the following three levels of technological advancement: low-, medium- and high-tech with corresponding challenges that require innovative solutions. Furthermore, limitations on indoor plant growth and protected cropping systems (e.g., high energy costs) have restricted the use of indoor agriculture to relatively few, high value crops. Hence, there is a need to develop new crop cultivars suitable for indoor agriculture that may differ from those required for open field production. In addition, protected cropping requires high start-up costs, expensive skilled labour, high energy consumption, and significant pest and disease management and quality control. Overall, protected cropping offers promising solutions for food security, while reducing the carbon footprint of food production. However, for indoor cropping production to have a substantial positive impact on global food security and nutritional security, the economical production of diverse crops will be essential. 
  • 2.4K
  • 24 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Mitigating the Mistletoe Menace
There are nearly 5000 parasitic plant species belonging to 20 families of angiosperms, and many of them cause significant losses in crops used for food and industrial purposes. Alongside the world’s major plant pests, and mistletoes are more pronounced. Striga, Orobanche, and Cuscuta have been reviewed extensively, but attention could be called to mistletoe, which has emerged as a growing global problem and requires better management and control. The mistletoe is a hemiparasitic plant that clings to trees and depletes them of nutrients and materials, and, in many cases, heightened infection can result in tree death. Efficient seed-dispersing mechanisms and/or frugivorous avians, as well as highly diversified haustorial structures, contribute to their enhanced tropism. These pests severely affect tree plantations across the globe. In addition to being a keystone resource of biodiversity and, to a somewhat minimal extent, their medicinal assets, they have also raised serious concerns regarding the commercial fruit and timber farming communities. In spite of the efforts of these and some research communities, conventional mistletoe management approaches have not succeeded in mitigating the mistletoe problem. On the contrary, most of these approaches, such as deliberate fires, herbicide use, pruning, pollarding, plastic wrapping and so on, overlook damages caused to the environment and public health. To counter this, newer approaches followed, exploring hyperparasitism from biological entities that thrive on the mistletoes and testing their worth as mistletoe biocontrol agents (MBCAs). However, no MBCA formulation has yet been translated to the market. Despite some silvicultural trials in small-scale settings, other biotechnological interventions were limited to time-consuming and laborious tree-breeding strategies. Beyond these, transgenic approaches and smart solutions have not yet been explored in the 21st century. In the face of emerging new host records and enhanced tropism, mistletoe seems to be outperforming management initiatives and losing the necessary pace of development and advancement.
  • 2.4K
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Hydrogen Permeation Test Methods of Polymer Liner Material
Type IV hydrogen storage cylinders comprise a polymer liner and offer advantages such as lightweight construction, high hydrogen storage density, and good fatigue performance. However, they are also characterized by higher hydrogen permeability. Consequently, it is crucial for the polymer liner material to exhibit excellent resistance to hydrogen permeation. International organizations have established relevant standards mandating hydrogen permeation tests for the liner material of type IV on-board hydrogen storage cylinders. 
  • 2.4K
  • 14 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Biorefinery of agroindustrial banana waste
Life cycle system of second-generation ethanol production from rachis of banana.
  • 2.4K
  • 27 Aug 2020
Topic Review
Indoor Air Quality Management
The existence of indoor air pollutants—such as ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and total volatile organic compounds—is evidently a critical issue for human health. Over the past decade, various international agencies have continually refined and updated the quantitative air quality guidelines and standards in order to meet the requirements for indoor air quality management. This entry first provides a systematic review of the existing air quality guidelines and standards implemented by different agencies, which include the Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS); the World Health Organization (WHO); the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH); the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE); the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH); and the California ambient air quality standards (CAAQS). It then adds to this by providing a state-of-art review of the existing low-cost air quality sensor (LCAQS) technologies, and analyzes the corresponding specifications, such as the typical detection range, measurement tolerance or repeatability, data resolution, response time, supply current, and market price. Finally, it briefly reviews a sequence (array) of field measurement studies, which focuses on the technical measurement characteristics and their data analysis approaches.
  • 2.4K
  • 18 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Food Literacy
Food literacy is the scaffolding that empowers individuals, households, communities or nations to protect diet quality through change and strengthen dietary resilience over time. It is composed of a collection of inter-related knowledge, skills and behaviours required to plan, manage, select, prepare and eat food to meet needs and determine intake. The term ‘food literacy’ has gained momentum globally; however, a lack of clarity around its definition has resulted in inconsistencies in use of the term. Therefore, the objective was to conduct a systematic scoping review to describe the use, reach, application and definitions of the term ‘food literacy’ over time. (2) Methods: A search was conducted using the PRISMA-ScR guidelines in seven research databases without any date limitations up to 31 December2019, searching simply for use of the term ‘food literacy’. (3) Results: Five hundred and forty-nine studies were included. The term ‘food literacy’ was used once in 243 articles (44%) and mentioned by researchers working in 41 countries. Original research was the most common article type (n= 429,78%). Food literacy was published across 72 In Cites disciplines, with 456 (83%) articles from the last5 years. In articles about food literacy (n= 82, 15%), review articles were twice as prevalent compared to the total number of articles (n= 10, 12% vs.n= 32, 6%). Fifty-one different definitions of food literacy were cited. (4) Conclusions: ‘Food literacy’ has been used frequently and broadly across differing article types and disciplines in academic literature internationally. However, agreement on a standardised definition of food literacy endorsed by a peak international agency is needed in order to progress the field.
  • 2.4K
  • 30 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Mechanism of Antibiotics Resistance
Bacterial drug resistance is rapidly developing as one of the greatest threats to human health. Bacteria will adopt corresponding strategies to crack the inhibitory effect of antibiotics according to the antibacterial mechanism of antibiotics, involving the mutation of drug target, secreting hydrolase, and discharging antibiotics out of cells through an efflux pump, etc. Bacteria are found to constantly evolve new resistance mechanisms to antibiotics, including target protective protein, changes in cell morphology, and so on, endowing them with multiple defense systems against antibiotics, leading to the emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria and the unavailability of drugs in clinics. 
  • 2.4K
  • 28 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Coquina
Coquina (/koʊˈkiːnə/) is a sedimentary rock that is composed either wholly or almost entirely of the transported, abraded, and mechanically-sorted fragments of the shells of mollusks, trilobites, brachiopods, or other invertebrates. For a sediment to be considered to be a coquina, the particles composing it should average 2 mm (0.079 in) or greater in size. Coquina can vary in hardness from poorly to moderately cemented. Incompletely consolidated and poorly-cemented coquinas are considered grainstones in the Dunham classification system for carbonate sedimentary rocks. A well-cemented coquina is classified as a biosparite (fossiliferous limestone) according to the Folk classification of sedimentary rocks. Coquinas accumulate in high-energy marine and lacustrine environments where currents and waves result in the vigorous winnowing, abrasion, fracturing, and sorting of the shells that compose them. As a result, they typically exhibit well-developed bedding or cross-bedding, close packing, and good orientation of the shell fragments. The high-energy marine or lacustrine environments associated with coquinas include beaches, shallow submarine raised banks, swift tidal channels, and barrier bars.
  • 2.4K
  • 10 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Clover–Turfgrass Lawns, Nitrogen Fertilization, and Pollinator Conservation
The runoff or leaching of nitrogen fertilizers from monoculture turfgrass lawns contributes to water pollution, and such lawns are susceptible to insect pests and provide few resources for pollinators. One approach to creating more sustainable lawns is to incorporate white clover (Trifolium repens L.), a nitrogen-fixing legume, into grass seed mixtures or existing turfgrass swards.  Besides augmenting nitrogen in lawns, clover also supports bees and other pollinators.
  • 2.4K
  • 01 Nov 2021
Topic Review
The Pipeline Finite Element Analysis Model
Pipelines are widely used to transport oil and gas products over long distances. Corrosion and crack defects often exist at the same time in pipelines. The interaction impact between these defects could potentially affect the growth of the fatigue crack. Ensuring pipeline safety is a prerequisite for the transportation of fuels such as oil and natural gas. The finite element models are built to obtain the Stress Intensity Factors (SIFs) for fatigue crack. SIF interaction impact ratio is introduced to describe the interaction effect of corrosion on fatigue crack.
  • 2.4K
  • 17 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Proto-Berber
Proto-Berber or Proto-Libyan is the reconstructed proto-language from which the modern Berber languages stem. Proto-Berber was an Afroasiatic language, and as such, its descendant Berber languages are cousins to the Egyptian language, Cushitic languages, Semitic languages, Chadic languages, and the Omotic languages.
  • 2.4K
  • 07 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Fe-Mn-Si-Based Shape Memory Alloys
In civil engineering, beam structures such as bridges require reinforcement to increase load-bearing capacity and extend service life due to damage, aging, and capacity degradation under long-time services and disasters. The utilization of Fe-based shape memory alloys (Fe-SMA) to reinforce structures has been proven efficient and reliable, and the recovery stress of activated Fe-SMA can satisfy the reinforcement requirements.
  • 2.4K
  • 09 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Intelligent Battery Systems
Intelligent Battery Systems (IBSs) represent a promising but also a challenging approach to significantly improve the reliability, safety, and efficiency of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). The essential features of Intelligent Battery Systems are the accurate and robust determination of cell individual states and the ability to control the current of each cell by reconfiguration. They enable high-level functions like fault diagnostics, multi-objective balancing strategies, multilevel inverters, and hybrid energy storage systems. 
  • 2.4K
  • 15 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Orion Service Module
The Orion service module is the service module component of the Orion spacecraft, serving as its primary power and propulsion component until it is discarded at the end of each mission. In January 2013, NASA announced that the European Space Agency (ESA) will contribute the service module for Artemis 1, replacing the previous design. Based on ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), the new design is also known as the European service module (ESM). The service module supports the crew module from launch through separation prior to reentry. It provides in-space propulsion capability for orbital transfer, attitude control, and high altitude ascent aborts. It provides the water and oxygen needed for a habitable environment, generates and stores electrical power, and maintains the temperature of the vehicle's systems and components. This module can also transport unpressurized cargo and scientific payloads.
  • 2.4K
  • 28 Nov 2022
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