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Topic Review
Nutritional Value of Wheat
Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in the world as it is used in the production of a diverse range of traditional and modern processed foods. The ancient varieties einkorn, emmer and spelt not only played an important role as a source of food but became the ancestors of the modern varieties currently grown worldwide. Hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and tetraploid wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) now account for around 95% and 5% of the world production, respectively. The success of this cereal is inextricably associated with the capacity of its grain proteins, the gluten, to form a viscoelastic dough that allows the transformation of wheat flour into a wide variety of staple forms of food in the human diet. This review aims to give a holistic view of the temporal and proteogenomic evolution of wheat from its domestication to the massively produced, high yield crop of our day.
  • 7.1K
  • 05 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Crosslinking Agent for on Cellulose-Based Hydrogels
Hydrogels are interlinked hydrophilic polymers that are insoluble in water but are capable of absorbing large amounts of water through the swelling process. During the swelling process, the polar groups in the polymer chain swiftly draw the first water molecules into the hydrogel network (bound water). The hydrogel network absorbs more water molecules due to the osmotic pressure of the interstitial water and free water. Both synthetic and natural polymers can be used to create hydrogels. Natural polymer-based hydrogels are typically chosen because of their excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability. In addition, natural polymers are less expensive than synthetic ones.  A crosslinking agent is used to strengthen the properties of the hydrogel. A chemical crosslinking agent is used more often than a physical crosslinking agent. In a chemical crosslinking agent, there are two types of crosslinking agents, which is synthetic and natural crosslinking agents. Hydrogels that utilize synthetic crosslinking agents have advantages, such as adjustable mechanical properties and easy control of the chemical composition. However, hydrogels that use natural crosslinking agents have better biocompatibility and less latent toxic effect.
  • 7.1K
  • 28 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Deep Cryogenic Treatment
Deep cryogenic treatment (DCT) is a type of cryogenic treatment, where a metallic material is subjected to temperatures below -150°C, normally to temperatures of liquid nitrogen (-196 °C). When a material is exposed to DCT as a part of heat treatment, changes in microstructure are induced due to new grain formation, changes in grain size, change in the solubility of atoms, movement of dislocations, alteration of crystal structure, and finally new phase formation. The metallic material's performance and later performance of manufactured components and tools from this specific material are dependent on the selection of proper design, proper material, accuracy with which the tool is made and application of proper heat treatment, including any eventual DCT. Metallic materials are ferrous and non-ferrous metals. In the last years ferrous metals (different grades of steel) and non-ferrous alloys (aluminum, magnesium, titanium, nickel etc.) have been increasingly treated with DCT to alter their properties. DCT treatment has shown to reduce density of defects in crystal structure, increase wear resistance of material, increase hardness, improve toughness, and reduce tensile strength and corrosion resistance. However, some researchers also reported results showing no change in properties (toughness, hardness, corrosion resistance, etc.) or even deterioration when subjected to DCT treatment. This leads to a lack of consistency and reliability of the treatment process, which is needed for successful application in industry. This review provides a synopsis of DCT usage and resulting effects on treated materials used in automotive industry.
  • 7.1K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
History of the Euro
The euro came into existence on 1 January 1999, although it had been a goal of the European Union (EU) and its predecessors since the 1960s. After tough negotiations, particularly due to opposition from the United Kingdom, the Maastricht Treaty entered into force in 1993 with the goal of creating an economic and monetary union by 1999 for all EU states except the UK and Denmark (even though Denmark has a fixed exchange rate policy with the euro). In 1999 the currency was born virtually and in 2002 notes and coins began to circulate. It rapidly took over from the former national currencies and slowly expanded behind the rest of the EU. In 2009 the Lisbon Treaty finalised its political authority, the Eurogroup, alongside the European Central Bank.
  • 7.1K
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Molecular Mechanisms of Homologous Recombination
Homologous recombination (HR) is a fundamental evolutionarily conserved process that plays prime role(s) in genome stability maintenance through DNA repair and through the protection and resumption of arrested replication forks. HR promotes the exchange between homologous DNA sequences resulting in a novel combination of the genetic material. Therefore, HR is essential in genome stability maintenance but also plays an important role in genome diversity; such as in the case of meiosis. Many HR genes are deregulated in cancer cells. Notably, the breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, two important HR players, are the most frequently mutated genes in familial breast and ovarian cancer. 
  • 7.1K
  • 28 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Deep Reinforcement Learning Applications
Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) combines Reinforcement Learning and Deep Learning. It is more capable of learning from raw sensors or images as input, enabling end-to-end learning, which opens up more applications in robotics, video games, NLP, computer vision, healthcare, and more. A milestone in value-based DRL is employing Deep Q-Networks (DQN) to play Atari games by Google DeepMindin 2013.
  • 7.1K
  • 02 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Secretory IgA
Secretory IgA (SIgA) is the dominant antibody class in mucosal secretions, it is also present in saliva and breast milk. The majority of plasma cells producing SIgA are located within mucosal membranes lining the intestines, airway and reproductive tracts, as well as mammary gland. SIgA protects against the adhesion of pathogens and their penetration into the mucosal barriers. Moreover, SIgA regulates microbiota composition at mucosa sites and provides local homeostasis.
  • 7.1K
  • 17 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Courtship
Courtship is the period of development towards an intimate relationship wherein a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement, followed by a marriage. A courtship may be an informal and private matter between two people or may be a public affair, or a formal arrangement with family approval. Traditionally, in the case of a formal engagement, it is the role of a male to actively "court" or "woo" a female, thus encouraging her to understand him and her receptiveness to a marriage proposal.
  • 7.1K
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Relative Humidity
Relative humidity (RH) is the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor to the equilibrium vapor pressure of water at a given temperature. Relative humidity depends on temperature and the pressure of the system of interest. The same amount of water vapor results in higher relative humidity in cool air than warm air. A related parameter is the dew point.
  • 7.1K
  • 29 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Taxonomy
In biology, taxonomy (from grc τάξις (taxis) 'arrangement', and -νομία (-nomia) 'method') is the scientific study of naming, defining (circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given a taxonomic rank; groups of a given rank can be aggregated to form a more inclusive group of higher rank, thus creating a taxonomic hierarchy. The principal ranks in modern use are domain, kingdom, phylum (division is sometimes used in botany in place of phylum), class, order, family, genus, and species. The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus is regarded as the founder of the current system of taxonomy, as he developed a ranked system known as Linnaean taxonomy for categorizing organisms and binomial nomenclature for naming organisms. With advances in the theory, data and analytical technology of biological systematics, the Linnaean system has transformed into a system of modern biological classification intended to reflect the evolutionary relationships among organisms, both living and extinct.
  • 7.1K
  • 05 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Food Marketing
It would seem important to analyse the relationships between food marketing and consumer choice, highlighting the role of brands in these frameworks. For this purpose, a literature review was carried out considering 147 documents from Scopus database for the topics of search “food marketing” and“choices” (search performed on 16 October 2020). As main insights, it is worth highlighting that the main issues addressed by the literature, concerning food marketing and consumer choices, are the following: economic theory; label and packaging; marketing strategies; agriculture and food industry; market segments; social dimensions; brand and branding. In turn, food marketing heavily conditions consumer choices; however, these related instruments are better manipulated by larger companies. In addition, this entry highlights that bigger companies have dominant positions in these markets which are not always beneficial to the consumers’ objectives.
  • 7.1K
  • 07 May 2021
Topic Review
Liquid Hydrogen
Decarbonization plays an important role in future energy systems for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and establishing a zero-carbon society. Hydrogen is believed to be a promising secondary energy source (energy carrier) that can be converted, stored, and utilized efficiently, leading to a broad range of possibilities for future applications. 
  • 7.1K
  • 27 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)
Disposal of palm oil mill effluent (POME), which is highly polluting from the palm oil industry, needs to be handled properly to minimize the harmful impact on the surrounding environment.
  • 7.1K
  • 01 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Geodetic Datum
A geodetic datum or geodetic system (also: geodetic reference datum or geodetic reference system) is a coordinate system, and a set of reference points, used for locating places on the Earth (or similar objects). An approximate definition of sea level is the datum WGS 84, an ellipsoid, whereas a more accurate definition is Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM2008), using at least 2,159 spherical harmonics. Other datums are defined for other areas or at other times; ED50 was defined in 1950 over Europe and differs from WGS 84 by a few hundred meters depending on where in Europe you look. Mars has no oceans and so no sea level, but at least two martian datums have been used to locate places there. Datums are used in geodesy, navigation, and surveying by cartographers and satellite navigation systems to translate positions indicated on maps (paper or digital) to their real position on Earth. Each starts with an ellipsoid (stretched sphere), and then defines latitude, longitude and altitude coordinates. One or more locations on the Earth's surface are chosen as anchor "base-points". The difference in co-ordinates between datums is commonly referred to as datum shift. The datum shift between two particular datums can vary from one place to another within one country or region, and can be anything from zero to hundreds of meters (or several kilometers for some remote islands). The North Pole, South Pole and Equator will be in different positions on different datums, so True North will be slightly different. Different datums use different interpolations for the precise shape and size of the Earth (reference ellipsoids). Because the Earth is an imperfect ellipsoid, localised datums can give a more accurate representation of the area of coverage than WGS 84. OSGB36, for example, is a better approximation to the geoid covering the British Isles than the global WGS 84 ellipsoid. However, as the benefits of a global system outweigh the greater accuracy, the global WGS 84 datum is becoming increasingly adopted. Horizontal datums are used for describing a point on the Earth's surface, in latitude and longitude or another coordinate system. Vertical datums measure elevations or depths.
  • 7.1K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Smart Grid Management, Control, and Operation
Smart grid management, control and operation (SGMCO) are key tasks for maintaining their proper functioning as well as for their extension and expansion. The current challenges of power generation, distribution, transmission, and consumption, as well as growing energy demand, facilitate the integration of a large number of smart grids with renewable energy generators and physical information systems, while smart grids are moving toward distribution and decentralization in response to the evolving application of the Internet of Energy (IoE). SGMCO handles not only traditional management, control, and operations, but also the future challenges for smart grids: Collaboration between stakeholders, control of network imbalances (e.g. frequency and voltage regulation), data analysis and management, decentralized network management and operation, and security and privacy.
  • 7.1K
  • 10 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing of Turbine Blades
Additive manufacturing is a technology of transforming a 3D prototype to a physical one directly by successive addition of the required material in a layer-by-layer manner. This technique helps to manufacture the turbine blade which is the revolution of green technology for high temperature engine parts.
  • 7.1K
  • 11 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Polish Pension System
Polish’s Pension System was reformed in 1999. The new system is built from three parts. It comprises a public pension and an earnings-related system with notional accounts.  There are also voluntary employer sponsored pension plans.
  • 7.1K
  • 02 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Sensor-Based Solid Waste Handling Systems
As a consequence of swiftly growing populations in the urban areas, larger quantities of solid waste also form rapidly. Since urban local bodies are found to be unable to manage this perilous situation effectively, there is a high probability of risks relative to the environment and public health. A sudden change is indispensable in the existing systems that are developed for the collection, transportation, and disposal of solid waste, which are entangled in turmoil. However, Smart sensors and wireless technology enable cyber-physical systems to automate solid waste management, which will revolutionize the industry. 
  • 7.1K
  • 01 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Monogamy
Monogamy (/məˈnɒɡəmi/ mə-NOG-ə-mee) is a form of dyadic relationship in which an individual has only one partner during their lifetime—alternately, only one partner at any one time (serial monogamy)—as compared to non-monogamy (e.g., polygamy or polyamory). The term is also applied to the social behavior of some animals, referring to the state of having only one mate at any one time.
  • 7.1K
  • 02 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Soaps and Syndets in Skin Cleansing
Skin cleansers generally come in one of two types: soap-based and synthetic detergents, or syndets. While the latter can effectively maintain the native skin structure, function and integrity, the former tends to negatively affect the skin by causing barrier disruption, lipid dissolution and pH alteration. Despite this, soap is still often preferred, possibly due to the negative connotations around anything that is not perceived as ‘natural’. 
  • 7.1K
  • 21 Apr 2022
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