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Topic Review
Enzyme Based Biosensors
Enzyme-based biosensors were the earliest biosensors. In 1962, Clark proposed the idea of enzyme electrodes for a glucose sensor. Subsequently, enzyme-based biosensors have been experimenting a massive growth in several applications.
  • 9.8K
  • 29 Oct 2021
Topic Review
AI Control Problem
In artificial intelligence (AI) and philosophy, the AI control problem is the issue of how to build AI systems such that they will aid their creators, and avoid inadvertently building systems that will harm their creators. One particular concern is that humanity will have to solve the control problem before a superintelligent AI system is created, as a poorly designed superintelligence might rationally decide to seize control over its environment and refuse to permit its creators to modify it after launch. In addition, some scholars argue that solutions to the control problem, alongside other advances in AI safety engineering, might also find applications in existing non-superintelligent AI. Major approaches to the control problem include alignment, which aims to align AI goal systems with human values, and capability control, which aims to reduce an AI system's capacity to harm humans or gain control. Capability control proposals are generally not considered reliable or sufficient to solve the control problem, but rather as potentially valuable supplements to alignment efforts.
  • 9.8K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Secular Humanism
Secular humanism, often simply called humanism, is a philosophy or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision making. Secular humanism posits that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or belief in a deity. It does not, however, assume that humans are either inherently good or evil, nor does it present humans as being superior to nature. Rather, the humanist life stance emphasizes the unique responsibility facing humanity and the ethical consequences of human decisions. Fundamental to the concept of secular humanism is the strongly held viewpoint that ideology—be it religious or political—must be thoroughly examined by each individual and not simply accepted or rejected on faith. Along with this, an essential part of secular humanism is a continually adapting search for truth, primarily through science and philosophy. Many secular humanists derive their moral codes from a philosophy of utilitarianism, ethical naturalism, or evolutionary ethics, and some advocate a science of morality. Humanists International is the world union of more than one hundred humanist, rationalist, irreligious, atheist, Bright, secular, Ethical Culture, and freethought organizations in more than 40 countries. The "Happy Human" is recognized as the official symbol of humanism internationally, used by secular humanist organizations in every part of the world. Those who call themselves humanists are estimated to number between four and five million people worldwide.
  • 9.8K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Biography
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (French: [dɔnasjɛ̃ alfɔ̃z fʁɑ̃swa maʁki də sad]; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine sexuality. His works include novels, short stories, plays, dialogues, and political tracts. In his lifetime some of these were published
  • 9.8K
  • 30 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Environmental Impacts of Livestock Production
Livestock production, as one of the oldest and most significant human activities, plays a vital role in fulfilling the global demand for human nutrition and other animal-related products while contributing to poverty reduction. However, it is also important to address the environmental impact of livestock animals.
  • 9.8K
  • 22 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Kubota Engines
Kubota engines are diesel and spark ignition engines manufactured by Kubota Corporation. Besides gasoline-fueled for spark ignition engines, the company produces dual fuel, LPG-fueled, and natural-gas-fueled engines as well. The engines are widely used in various forms, such as: agricultural equipments, construction equipments, gensets, tractors, and marine propulsion. Beta Marine, an international company providing marine propulsion engines, uses various Kubota engines for fresh water and sea-going boats of various sizes.
  • 9.8K
  • 03 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Dinosaur Behavior
Dinosaur behavior is difficult for paleontologists to study since much of paleontology is dependent solely on the physical remains of ancient life. However, trace fossils and paleopathology can give insight into dinosaur behavior. Interpretations of dinosaur behavior are generally based on the pose of body fossils and their habitat, computer simulations of their biomechanics, and comparisons with modern animals in similar ecological niches. As such, the current understanding of dinosaur behavior relies on speculation, and will likely remain controversial for the foreseeable future. However, there is general agreement that some behaviors which are common in crocodiles and birds, dinosaurs' closest living relatives, were also common among dinosaurs. Gregarious behavior was common in many dinosaur species. Dinosaurs may have congregated in herds for defense, for migratory purposes, or to provide protection for their young. There is evidence that many types of dinosaurs, including various theropods, sauropods, ankylosaurians, ornithopods, and ceratopsians, formed aggregations of immature individuals. Nests and eggs have been found for most major groups of dinosaurs, and it appears likely that dinosaurs communicated with their young, in a manner similar to modern birds and crocodiles. The crests and frills of some dinosaurs, like the marginocephalians, theropods and lambeosaurines, may have been too fragile to be used for active defense, and so they were likely used for sexual or aggressive displays, though little is known about dinosaur mating and territorialism. Most dinosaurs seem to have relied on land-based locomotion. A good understanding of how dinosaurs moved on the ground is key to models of dinosaur behavior; the science of biomechanics, in particular, has provided significant insight in this area. For example, studies of the forces exerted by muscles and gravity on dinosaurs' skeletal structure have investigated how fast dinosaurs could run, whether diplodocids could create sonic booms via whip-like tail snapping, and whether sauropods could float.
  • 9.8K
  • 31 Oct 2022
Biography
Jack Parsons
John Whiteside Parsons (born Marvel Whiteside Parsons;[1] October 2, 1914 – June 17, 1952) was an American rocket engineer, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Associated with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Parsons was one of the principal founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. He invented the first rocket engine to use a
  • 9.7K
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Sweet Corn
Sweet corn (Zea mays convar. saccharata var. rugosa; also called sweetcorn, sugar corn and pole corn) is a cereal with a high sugar content. Sweet corn is the result of a naturally occurring recessive mutation in the genes which control conversion of sugar to starch inside the ENO of the corn kernel. Unlike field corn varieties, which are harvested when the kernels are dry and mature (dent stage), sweet corn is picked when immature (milk stage) and prepared and eaten as a vegetable, rather than a grain. Since the process of maturation involves converting sugar to starch, sweet corn stores poorly and must be eaten fresh, canned, or frozen, before the kernels become tough and starchy. It is one of the six major types of corn, the others being dent corn, flint corn, pod corn, popcorn, and flour corn.
  • 9.7K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
School Strike for the Climate
The school strike for the climate (Swedish: Skolstrejk för klimatet), also known variously as Fridays for Future (FFF), Youth for Climate, Climate Strike or Youth Strike for Climate, is an international movement of school students who take time off from class on Fridays to participate in demonstrations to demand action from political leaders to take action to prevent climate change and for the fossil fuel industry to transition to renewable energy. Publicity and widespread organising began after Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg staged a protest in August 2018 outside the Swedish Riksdag (parliament), holding a sign that read "Skolstrejk för klimatet" ("School strike for the climate"). A global strike on 15 March 2019 gathered more than one million strikers. Around 2200 strikes were organised in 125 countries. On 24 May 2019, the second global strike took place, in which 1600 events across 150 countries drew hundreds of thousands of protesters. The events were timed to coincide with the 2019 European Parliament election. The 2019 Global Week for Future was a series of 4500 strikes across over 150 countries, focused around Friday 20 September and Friday 27 September. Likely the largest climate strikes in world history, 20 September strikes gathered roughly 4 million protesters, many of them schoolchildren, including 1.4 million people on strike in Germany. On 27 September, an estimated 2 million people participated in demonstrations worldwide, including over 1 million protesters in Italy and several hundred thousand protesters in Canada.
  • 9.7K
  • 06 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Rice Bran
Rice (Oryza sativa) bran is the main commercial by-product of rice grain milling. It is a multilayer fraction composed by the most external tissues of the rice caryopsis. It is produced in large quantities worldwide and its composition is mainly related to insoluble dietary fibres, lipids and other nutrients and bioactive compounds with significant health-related properties.
  • 9.7K
  • 09 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Eosinophil Structure and Biology
Eosinophils are granulocytes with unique biology. The fact that these cells have been largely preserved during evolution strongly suggests that they play relevant physiological functions. Eosinophils have traditionally been classified as effector cells with prevalent cytotoxic activity, although recent evidence indicates that these cells may play a role in a wide range of homeostatic and regulatory functions.
  • 9.7K
  • 09 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Slavic Native Faith's Theology and Cosmology
Slavic Native Faith (Rodnovery) has a theology that is generally monistic, consisting in the vision of an absolute, supreme God (Rod) who begets the universe and lives as the universe (pantheism and panentheism), present in all its phenomena. Polytheism, that is the worship of the gods or spirits, and ancestors, the facets of the supreme Rod generating all phenomena, is an integral part of Rodnovers' beliefs and practices. The swastika-like kolovrat is the symbol of Rodnovery. According to the studies of Boris Rybakov, whirl and wheel symbols, which also include patterns like the "six-petaled rose inside a circle" (e.g. ) and the "thunder mark" (gromovoi znak), represent the supreme Rod and its various manifestations (whether Triglav, Svetovid, Perun or other gods).
  • 9.7K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Inocybe Mushrooms Poisoning
Mushroom poisoning has always been a threat to human health. There are a large number of reports about ingestion of poisonous mushrooms every year around the world. It attracts the attention of researchers, especially in the aspects of toxin composition, toxic mechanism and toxin application in poisonous mushroom. Inocybe is a large genus of mushrooms and contains toxic substances including muscarine, psilocybin, psilocin, aeruginascin, lectins and baeocystin. In order to prevent and remedy mushroom poisoning, it is significant to clarify the toxic effects and mechanisms of these bioactive substances. 
  • 9.7K
  • 10 Mar 2021
Topic Review
COVID-19
COVID-19 is a disease infected by SARS-CoV-2 virus, a mutation nearly a decade apart from SARS-CoV virus. Its symptom onset is no different from the original virus, including fever (83–98%), cough (59–82%), shortness of breath (19–55%), and muscle ache (11–44%). It was suspected to be a paramyxovirus with evidence on its Spike 2 (S2) protein being homogeneous to the gp41 subunit of HIV. The World Health Organization (WHO) at the final stage ruled SARS to be coronaviruses, and the categorical rationale remained to the protocols in COVID-19 handling. While no patient zero has been formally traced, Dr. Carlo Urbani, the WHO physician closed it in in the first outbreak in Vietnam French Hospital of Hanoi in Vietnam, and later died from the virus in Bangkok. In addition to an overview of the epidemiological, clinical, and radiological features of SARS-CoV-2, researchers also summarize possible therapeutic options currently under investigation and the future outlook for the disease. Whereas the trials on SARS-CoV-2 genome-based specific vaccines and therapeutic antibodies are currently being tested, this solution is more long-term, as they require thorough testing of their safety. On the other hand, the repurposing of the existing therapeutic agents previously designed for other virus infections and pathologies happens to be the only practical approach as a rapid response measure to the emergent pandemic. The current pandemic emergency will be a trigger for more systematic drug repurposing design approaches based on big data analysis. Further on, regression analytical review is presented on the virological and evolutionary history of SARS-CoV viruses, indicating to the autoimmune pathogen.
  • 9.7K
  • 30 Jun 2025
Topic Review
Adsorbent Technologies for Wastewater Treatment
Wastewater generation and treatment is an ever-increasing concern in the current century due to increased urbanization and industrialization. To tackle the situation of increasing environmental hazards, numerous wastewater treatment approaches are used—i.e., physical, chemical, and biological (primary to tertiary treatment) methods. Various treatment techniques being used have the risks of producing secondary pollutants. The most promising technique is the use of different materials as adsorbents that have a higher efficacy in treating wastewater, with a minimal production of secondary pollutants. Biosorption is a key process that is highly efficient and cost-effective. This method majorly uses the adsorption process/mechanism for toxicant removal from wastewater. 
  • 9.7K
  • 04 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Meaning and Determination of Electrode Surface Area
The interfacial contact area between an electronically conducting and an ionically conducting phase is the area where an electrode meets an electrolyte or an electrolyte solution. This area may differ significantly from the geometric, microscopic, real, or true surface area of the electronically conducting solid (the electrode) determined with a variety of experimental methods. This contact area may also differ from the electrochemically active surface area. These different surface or interface areas are relevant in electrochemical energy conversion and storage. They are not necessarily identical; there are even no simple relationships between them. This entry provides an overview of the various terms, briefly describes experimental methods for their determination and puts the data in perspective with respect to electrochemical energy conversion and storage.
  • 9.7K
  • 24 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence (also called domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. Domestic violence is often used as a synonym for intimate partner violence, which is committed by one of the people in an intimate relationship against the other person, and can take place in relationships or between former spouses or partners. In its broadest sense, domestic violence also involves violence against children, parents, or the elderly. It can assume multiple forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, religious, reproductive, or sexual abuse. It can range from subtle, coercive forms to marital rape and other violent physical abuse, such as choking, beating, female genital mutilation, and acid throwing that may result in disfigurement or death, and includes the use of technology to harass, control, monitor, stalk or hack. Domestic murder includes stoning, bride burning, honor killing, and dowry death, which sometimes involves non-cohabitating family members. Globally, the victims of domestic violence are overwhelmingly women, and women tend to experience more severe forms of violence. They are also likelier than men to use intimate partner violence in self-defense. In some countries, domestic violence may be seen as justified or legally permitted, particularly in cases of actual or suspected infidelity on the part of the woman. Research has established that there exists a direct and significant correlation between a country's level of gender equality and rates of domestic violence, where countries with less gender equality experience higher rates of domestic violence. Domestic violence is among the most underreported crimes worldwide for both men and women. In addition, due to social stigmas regarding male victimization, men who are victims of domestic violence face an increased likelihood of being overlooked by healthcare providers. Domestic violence often occurs when the abuser believes that they are entitled to it, or that it is acceptable, justified, or unlikely to be reported. It may produce an intergenerational cycle of violence in children and other family members, who may feel that such violence is acceptable or condoned. Many people do not recognize themselves as abusers or victims, because they may consider their experiences as family conflicts that had gotten out of control. Awareness, perception, definition and documentation of domestic violence differs widely from country to country. Additionally, domestic violence often happens in the context of forced or child marriages. In abusive relationships, there may be a cycle of abuse during which tensions rise and an act of violence is committed, followed by a period of reconciliation and calm. The victims may be trapped in domestically violent situations through isolation, power and control, traumatic bonding to the abuser, cultural acceptance, lack of financial resources, fear, and shame, or to protect children. As a result of abuse, victims may experience physical disabilities, dysregulated aggression, chronic health problems, mental illness, limited finances, and a poor ability to create healthy relationships. Victims may experience severe psychological disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Children who live in a household with violence often show psychological problems from an early age, such as avoidance, hypervigilance to threats and dysregulated aggression, which may contribute to vicarious traumatization.
  • 9.7K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Gaulish Language
Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language that was spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language spoken by the Celtic inhabitants of Gaul (modern-day France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerland, Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine). In a wider sense, it also comprises varieties of Celtic that were spoken across much of central Europe ("Noric"), parts of the Balkans, and Anatolia ("Galatian"), which are thought to have been closely related. The more divergent Lepontic of Northern Italy has also sometimes been subsumed under Gaulish. Together with Lepontic and the Celtiberian language spoken in the Iberian Peninsula, Gaulish helps form the geographic group of Continental Celtic languages. The precise linguistic relationships among them, as well as between them and the modern Insular Celtic languages, are uncertain and a matter of ongoing debate because of their sparse attestation. Gaulish is found in some 800 (often fragmentary) inscriptions including calendars, pottery accounts, funeral monuments, short dedications to gods, coin inscriptions, statements of ownership, and other texts, possibly curse tablets. Gaulish texts were first written in the Greek alphabet in southern France and in a variety of the Old Italic script in northern Italy. After the Roman conquest of those regions, writing shifted to the use of the Latin alphabet. During his conquest of Gaul, Caesar reported that the Helvetii were in possession of documents in the Greek script, and all Gaulish coins used the Greek script until about 50 BC. Gaulish in Western Europe was supplanted by Vulgar Latin and various Germanic languages from around the 5th century AD onwards. It is thought to have gone extinct some time around the late 6th century.
  • 9.7K
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Spirit Spouse
The spirit spouse is one of the most widespread elements of shamanism, distributed through all continents and at all cultural levels. Often, these spirit husbands/wives are seen as the primary helping spirits of the shaman, who assist them in their work, and help them gain power in the world of spirit. The relationships shamans have with their spirit spouses may be expressed in romantic, sexual, or purely symbolic ways, and may include gender transformation as a part of correctly pairing with their "spouse". Shamans report engaging with their spirit spouses through dreams, trance, and other ritual elements. In some cultures, gaining a spirit spouse is a necessary and expected part of initiation into becoming a shaman. Evidence of spirit spouses may be seen in non-shamanic cultures as well, including dreams about Christ by nuns, who are considered to be "brides of Christ".
  • 9.7K
  • 16 Nov 2022
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