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
January 1938 Geomagnetic Storm
Infobox storm The 25–26 January 1938 geomagnetic storm (also titled the Fátima Storm) was a massive solar storm which occurred 16–26 January with peak activity on 22, 25, and 26 January and was part of the 17th solar cycle. The electrification of Europe and North America was still in its infancy, therefore the light storm could be seen brilliantly. The intensely bright arches of crimson light with shifting spectrum of green, blue-white, and red radiated from a brilliant Auroral Crown near the Zenith instead of appearing as usual in parallel lines. This Aurora is believed by many people, especially those of the Catholic faith, to be related to the Fátima Prophecies (explained below). On January 25–26th, 1938, the sky was lit up with an Aurora Borealis light storm, seen all across the world. The storm was identical to other storm induced, low-latitude aurora borealis. The great Aurora that was witnessed across Europe, the Americas, and Oceania had not been seen/documented in Europe since 1709, and in the Americas since 1888. The storm was remarkable primarily because of how far and wide it was observed, and for the brightness of its green strip lights and red glow, which led many to believe the cause was a fire. Reports collected at the time show that the Aurora was witnessed in the far north of Canada, and spread as far south as Southern California and on Bermuda in the North Atlantic off of the Carolinas. In Europe, the aurora was seen in Northern Scotland, East Austria, in southern Sicily, Gibraltar, and Portugal. This magnificent display of lights was experienced across the world, as reported in different news archives. The lights sent some into panic, as many were awestruck, astonished by the rarity of the experience. Canada experienced the most vivid auroral displays on the nights of January 24–26. In the Netherlands people were awaiting the imminent birth of Princess Juliana's baby Princess Beatrix who was eventually born on 31 January 1938: the Dutch considered the aurora as a lucky omen. In Salzburg, Austria, some residents called on the fire department as they believed something was on fire. Alarm bells were rung into a frenzy that night and the fire departments were constantly sounding new alarms trying to calm the citizens. The loud multitude of ringing further caused panic, causing some residents to flee to more rural areas. The same fright was seen in London where many also believed whole streets were on fire, even the guards of Windsor Castle summoned the fire brigade to put out the said "fire". In Switzerland, the snow-covered peaks of the Swiss Alps were glowing bright and reflecting some of the Auroral rays causing a reflective disco effect. In Descanso, San Diego, the National Forest Service was alerted on the night of January 22nd to respond to a "great fire in the backcountry"; after they checked out the back roads they discovered it was the crimson Aurora Borealis in the northern sky, which had not been seen in that region since February 1888. In Bermuda, many people believed that a massive freight ship was on fire at sea. Steamship captains were calling the wireless stations to learn if there were any S.O.S calls and if they could help. In Scotland, religious individuals living in the lowlands believed the Aurora to be an ill-omen for Scotland. The electrical side effects of the light storm were limited because, at that time, electricity had not been advanced to our modern technological standards. Short-wave radio transmissions were shut down for almost 12 hours in Canada. In England, the signaling equipment line on the Manchester-Sheffield express trains was inoperable due to electrical disturbances. These coal trains were halted in their movement and waited at these junctions for safety reasons. Teletype systems at the New York Western Union offices began to spew out garbage data, suffering electrical shortages.  
  • 2.0K
  • 25 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Aquaculture Development in Nigeria
Aquaculture or fish cultivation offers a major source of animal protein and contributes heavily to household diets, livelihood, and economic development in many countries and regions of the world. Nigeria is not left out. In the agricultural sector of the Nigerian economy, aquaculture has been recorded as having the fastest growth rate.
  • 2.0K
  • 11 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Ship Handling in Unprotected Waters
In order to implement a new type of escort towing, specially designed to be employed in very adverse weather conditions, considerable changes in the hull form of escort tugs had to be made to improve their stability and performance. Since traditional winch and ropes technologies were only effective in calm waters, tugs had to be fitted with new devices. These improvements allowed the remodeled tugs to counterbalance the strong forces generated by the maneuvers in open waters. This entry presents a review of the new high-performance automatic dynamic winches.
  • 2.0K
  • 26 Mar 2021
Topic Review
CWMFC
CWMFC is a novel technology that has been used for almost a decade for concurrent wastewater treatment and electricity generation in varying scopes of domestic, municipal, and industrial applications since its implementation in 2012. Its advantage of low-cost enhanced wastewater treatment and sustainable bioelectricity generation has gained considerable attention. Nevertheless, the overall efficiency of this novel technology is inclined by several operating factors and configuration strands, such as pH, sewage composition, organic loading, electrode material, filter media, electrogens, hydraulic retention time, and macrophytes. Here, we investigate the effect of the wetland plant component on the overall performance of CWMFCs. The macrophyte’s involvement in the oxygen input, nutrient uptake, and direct degradation of pollutants for the required treatment effect and bioelectricity production are discussed in more detail. The review identifies and compares planted and unplanted CWMFC with their efficiency on COD removal and electricity generation based on previous and recent studies.
  • 2.0K
  • 17 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Hyperacusis in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Decreased Sound Tolerance Disorders (DSTD) are routinely observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The most common types of DSTD are hyperacusis and misophonia. Hyperacusis is a class of decreased sound tolerance disorders in which a negative or incongruous reaction is triggered from exposure to sounds that are not described as threatening or uncomfortable by a neurotypical individual. These reactions are in response to general sounds, rather than specific sounds (such as chewing and sniffling), as would be the case with misophonia. Hyperacusis can affect an individual at various degrees depending on the severity. It can impact one’s emotional wellbeing, sleep, concentration, and can cause anxiety.
  • 2.0K
  • 11 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Shea Butter Tree for Nutritional Value
Vitellaria paradoxa (C.F.Gaertn.) is a multi-purpose tree species distributed in a narrow band across sub-Saharan Africa. The species is integrated into cropping and agroforestry systems as a nutritional and economic resource, which provides a range of environmental services. Integration of the species into land-use systems provides an essential source of livelihoods and income for local populations. The economic potential of the shea butter tree derives from its edible products, which also serve cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications.
  • 2.0K
  • 20 Dec 2021
Topic Review
SMPTE 292M
SMPTE 292 is a digital video transmission standard published by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) which expands upon SMPTE 259 and SMPTE 344 allowing for bit-rates of 1.485 Gbit/s, and 1.485/1.001 Gbit/s. These bit-rates are sufficient for and often used to transfer uncompressed high-definition video. This standard is usually referred to as HD-SDI; it is part of a family of standards that define a Serial Digital Interface based on a coaxial cable, intended to be used for transport of uncompressed digital video and audio in a television studio environment. The “M” designator was originally introduced to signify metric dimensions. It is no longer used in listings or filenames. Units of the International System of Units (SI) are the preferred units of measurement in all SMPTE Engineering Documents.
  • 2.0K
  • 10 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Secrets of the Astute Red Fox
An ecosystem’s health is based on a delicate balance between human, nonhuman animal, and environmental health. Any factor that leads to an imbalance in one of the components results in disease. There are several bioindicators that allow people to evaluate the status of ecosystems. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes, Linnaeus, 1758) has the widest world distribution among mammals. It is highly adaptable, lives in rural and urban areas, and has a greatly diverse diet. Being susceptible to environmental pollution and zoonotic agents, red foxes may act as sentinels to detect environmental contaminants, and climatic changes and to prevent and control outbreaks of emerging or re-emerging zoonosis. This entry present the information that is related to the red fox as a sentinel of human, animal, and environmental health.
  • 2.0K
  • 13 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Virtual Coupling in Railways
The mobility situation is constantly changing as people are increasingly moving to urban areas. Therefore, a flexible mode of transport with high-capacity passenger trains and a high degree of modularity in the trains’ composition is necessary. Virtual coupling (VC) is a promising solution to this problem because it significantly increases the capacity of a line and provides a more flexible mode of operation than conventional signaling systems.
  • 2.0K
  • 29 May 2023
Topic Review
PH-Sensitive Cubosome Liquid Crystalline Nanocarriers
Cubosomes are soft biocontinuous nanoparticles whose 3D geometry can be engineered to render the structures responsive to pH variations, which is of large interest to the production of efficient drug delivery materials. We have reviewed the literature to provide a state of the art in this regard and shed lights on prominent perspectives and strategies for pH-sensitive cubosomes development, taking advantage of the pH changes of the biological media at targeted application sites.
  • 2.0K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
PCSK9 Inhibitors
Proprotein convertase subtilisin-kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors are a novel group of hypolipidemic drugs that are recommended particularly for high-risk hypercholesterolemia patients, including those with primary hypercholesterolemia (PH), where lifelong exposure to high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels results in an elevated risk of atherosclerosis at an early age. The onset and progression of atherosclerosis is significantly influenced by activated platelets. Oxidized LDL influences platelet activation by interacting with their surface receptors and remodeling the composition of their cell membrane. This results in platelet aggregation, endothelial cell activation, promotion of inflammation and oxidative stress, and acceleration of lipid accumulation in atherosclerotic plaques. PCSK9 inhibitors reduce platelet activation by both significantly lowering LDL levels and reducing the LDL receptor-mediated activation of platelets by PCSK9. They also work synergistically with other hypolipidemic and antithrombotic drugs, including statins, ezetimibe, acetylsalicylic acid, clopidogrel, and ticagrelor, which enhances their antiplatelet and LDL-lowering effects. 
  • 2.0K
  • 28 May 2021
Topic Review
Bacteremia
Bacteremia (also bacteraemia) is the presence of bacteria in the blood. Blood is normally a sterile environment, so the detection of bacteria in the blood (most commonly accomplished by blood cultures) is always abnormal. It is distinct from sepsis, which is the host response to the bacteria. Bacteria can enter the bloodstream as a severe complication of infections (like pneumonia or meningitis), during surgery (especially when involving mucous membranes such as the gastrointestinal tract), or due to catheters and other foreign bodies entering the arteries or veins (including during intravenous drug abuse). Transient bacteremia can result after dental procedures or brushing of teeth. Bacteremia can have several important health consequences. The immune response to the bacteria can cause sepsis and septic shock, which has a high mortality rate. Bacteria can also spread via the blood to other parts of the body (which is called hematogenous spread), causing infections away from the original site of infection, such as endocarditis or osteomyelitis. Treatment for bacteremia is with antibiotics, and prevention with antibiotic prophylaxis can be given in high risk situations.
  • 2.0K
  • 10 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Cytophagales
Cytophagales is an order of non-spore forming, rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria that move through a gliding or flexing motion. These chemoorganotrophs are important remineralizers of organic materials into micronutrients. They are widely dispersed in the environment, found in ecosystems including soil, freshwater, seawater and sea ice. Cytophagales is included in the Bacteroidetes phylum.
  • 2.0K
  • 31 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Very-High-Temperature Reactor
The very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR), or high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR), is a Generation IV reactor concept that uses a graphite-moderated nuclear reactor with a once-through uranium fuel cycle. The VHTR is a type of high-temperature reactor (HTR) that can conceptually have an outlet temperature of 1000 °C. The reactor core can be either a "prismatic block" (reminiscent of a conventional reactor core) or a "pebble-bed" core. The high temperatures enable applications such as process heat or hydrogen production via the thermochemical sulfur–iodine cycle.
  • 2.0K
  • 16 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Significance of Anthocyanins
Anthocyanins are widespread and biologically active water-soluble phenolic pigments responsible for a wide range of vivid colours, from red (acidic conditions) to purplish blue (basic conditions), present in fruits, vegetables, and coloured grains. 
  • 2.0K
  • 12 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Organization
In a social context, an organization refers to a structured entity composed of individuals or groups with defined roles, responsibilities, and goals, working together to achieve specific objectives. Organizations can vary widely in purpose, size, and complexity, ranging from small community groups to multinational corporations, each characterized by formalized structures, processes, and systems of authority.
  • 2.0K
  • 02 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Surface Acoustic Wave Sensors Materials
Since their development, surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices have attracted much research attention due to their unique functional characteristics, which make them appropriate for the detection of chemical species. The scientific community has directed its efforts toward the development and integration of new materials as sensing elements in SAW sensor technology with a large area of applications.
  • 2.0K
  • 28 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Buddhism in Buryatia
Buddhism in Buryatia—a regional form of Buddhism.
  • 2.0K
  • 28 Sep 2022
Topic Review
WASF3
WASF3 (WAVE3), a Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein family member, appears to play a major role not only in the regulation of actin cytoskeleton dynamics but also in cancer cell invasion/metastasis. Blocking the WASF3-dependent metastatic signaling network remains an attractive and promising therapeutic option for the treatment of advanced tumors. 
  • 2.0K
  • 02 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Froth Nesting
This entry provides information regarding the proposed functions of the anuran froth nest as a mucous-based solution to the environmental challenges offspring face during development, with consideration of the functions of froth nest breakdown and communal froth nesting, as well. The adults of several anuran amphibian species deposit their eggs externally in mucus secretions that are purposely aerated to produce a froth nest. This type of clutch structure has evolved independently several times in this group and has been proposed to serve a variety and often simultaneous adaptive functions associated with protecting offspring from sub-optimal conditions during embryogenesis and later stages after hatching has occurred. These functions range from buffering offspring from sub-optimal temperatures and desiccation, to defending against predation and improving oxygenation. This versatility has likely helped facilitate the reduced reliance of egg development on water and thus the penetration of anurans into environments where permanent aquatic systems are not always available.
  • 2.0K
  • 03 Mar 2021
  • Page
  • of
  • 2728
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