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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
Production of Electrolytic Manganese Dioxide
The ferromanganese (FeMn) alloy is produced through the smelting-reduction of manganese ores in submerged arc furnaces. This process generates large amounts of furnace dust that is environmentally problematic for storage. Due to its fineness and high volatile content, this furnace dust cannot be recirculated through the process, either. Conventional MnO2 production requires the pre-reduction of low-grade ores at around 900 °C to convert the manganese oxides present in the ore into their respective acid-soluble forms; however, the furnace dust is a partly reduced by-product. A hydrometallurgical route is proposed to valorize the waste dust for the production of battery-grade MnO2. By using dextrin, a cheap organic reductant, the direct and complete dissolution of the manganese in the furnace dust is possible without any need for high-temperature pre-reduction. The leachate is then purified through pH adjustment followed by direct electrowinning for electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) production. An overall manganese recovery rate of >90% is achieved. 
  • 7.1K
  • 08 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Bitching Betty
Bitching Betty is a slang term used by some pilots and aircrew (mainly North American), when referring to the voices used by some aircraft warning systems. The enunciating voice, in at least some aircraft systems, may be either male or female and in some cases this may be selected according to pilot preference. If the voice is female, it may be referred to as Bitching Betty; if the voice is male, it may be referred to as Barking Bob. A female voice is heard on military aircraft such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Mikoyan MiG-29. A male voice is heard on Boeing commercial airliners and is also used in the BAE Hawk. In the United Kingdom the term Nagging Nora is sometimes used, and in New Zealand the term used for Boeing aircraft is Hank the Yank. The voice warning system used on London Underground trains, which also uses a female voice, is known to some staff as Sonya, as it "gets on ya nerves".
  • 7.1K
  • 11 Oct 2022
Topic Review
African Golden Wolf
The African golden wolf (Canis lupaster) or African wolf is a canine native to North Africa, West Africa, the Sahel, northern East Africa, and the Horn of Africa. It is the descendant of a genetically admixed canid of 72% gray wolf (Canis lupus) and 28% Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) ancestry. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List. In the Atlas Mountains, it was sighted in elevations as high as 1,800 m (5,900 ft). It is primarily a predator, targeting invertebrates and mammals as large as gazelle fawns, though larger animals are sometimes taken. Its diet also includes animal carcasses, human refuse, and fruit. The African golden wolf is a monogamous and territorial species; offspring remain with the family to assist in raising their parents' younger pups. It was previously classified as an African variant of the golden jackal (Canis aureus), with at that time at least one subspecies (C. a. lupaster) having been classified as a wolf. In 2015, a series of analyses on the species' mitochondrial DNA and nuclear genome demonstrated that it was, in fact, distinct from the golden jackal, and more closely related to the gray wolf and the coyote (Canis latrans). It is nonetheless still close enough to the golden jackal to produce hybrid offspring, as indicated through genetic tests on jackals in Israel, and a 19th-century captive crossbreeding experiment. It plays a prominent role in some African cultures; in North African folklore, it is viewed as an untrustworthy animal whose body parts can be used for medicinal or ritualistic purposes, while it is held in high esteem in Senegal's Serer religion as being the first creature to be created by the god Roog.
  • 7.1K
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Bush Encroachment
Bush encroachment (also shrub encroachment, woody encroachment, bush thickening, woody plant proliferation) is a natural phenomenon characterised by the increase in density of woody plants, bushes and shrubs, at the expense of the herbaceous layer, grasses and forbs. It predominantly occurs in grasslands, savannas and woodlands and can cause biome shifts from open grasslands and savannas to closed woodlands. The term bush encroachment refers to the expansion of native plants and not the spread of alien invasive species. It is thus defined by plant density, not species. Bush encroachment is often considered an ecological regime shift and can be a symptom of land degradation. Its causes include land use intensification, such as high grazing pressure and the suppression of wildfires. Climate change is found to be an accelerating factor for woody encroachment. The impact of bush encroachment is highly context specific. It is often found to have severe negative consequences on key ecosystem services, especially biodiversity, animal habitat, land productivity and groundwater recharge. Across rangelands, woody encroachment has led to significant declines of productivity, threatening the livelihoods of affected land users. The phenomenon is observed across different ecosystems and with different characteristics and intensities globally. Various countries actively counter woody encroachment, through adapted grassland management practices and targeted bush thinning. In some cases, areas affected by woody encroachment are classified as carbon sinks and form part of national greenhouse gas inventories. However, carbon sequestration effects of woody encroachment are highly context specific and still insufficiently researched.
  • 7.1K
  • 08 Nov 2022
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
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
Community Counseling
Guidance and counseling is a process of helping an individual become fully aware of his/ herself and the ways in which he is responding to the influence of his/her environment. Counseling is a generic term for any of professional counseling that treats dysfunction occurring within a group of related people. This term describes a preventive system of counseling that works to combat psychological impairment through the improvement and development of community support. A community is defined as a group of interacting individuals who share a commonality. This commonality can be anything from location of residence to career interest, but a community counselor will use this common characteristic to council groups of people.
  • 7.1K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Atropa Belladonna
Atropa belladonna, commonly known as belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a toxic perennial herbaceous plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae, which also includes tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant (aubergine). It is native to Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. Its distribution extends from Great Britain in the west to western Ukraine and the Iranian province of Gilan in the east. It is also naturalised or introduced in some parts of Canada and the United States. The foliage and berries are extremely toxic when ingested, containing tropane alkaloids. These toxins include atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine, which cause delirium and hallucinations, and are also used as pharmaceutical anticholinergics. Tropane alkaloids are of common occurrence not only in the Old World tribes Hyoscyameae (to which the genus Atropa belongs) and Mandragoreae, but also in the New World tribe Datureae - all of which belong to the subfamily Solanoideae of the plant family Solanaceae. Atropa belladonna has unpredictable effects. The antidote for belladonna poisoning is physostigmine or pilocarpine, the same as for atropine.
  • 7.1K
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Sanism
Mentalism or sanism describes discrimination and oppression against a mental trait or condition a person has, or is judged to have. This discrimination may or may not be characterized in terms of mental disorder or cognitive impairment. The discrimination is based on numerous factors such as stereotypes about neurodivergence, for example autism, learning disorders, ADHD, bipolar, schizophrenia, and personality disorders, specific behavioral phenomena such as stuttering and tics, or intellectual disability. Like other forms of discrimination such as sexism and racism, mentalism involves multiple intersecting forms of oppression, complex social inequalities and imbalances of power. It can result in covert discrimination by multiple, small insults and indignities. It is characterized by judgments of another person's perceived mental health status. These judgments are followed by actions such as blatant, overt discrimination which may include refusal of service, or the denial of human rights. Mentalism impacts how individuals are treated by the general public, by mental health professionals, and by institutions, including the legal system. The negative attitudes involved may also be internalized. The terms mentalism, from "mental", and sanism, from "sane", have become established in some contexts, though concepts such as social stigma, and in some cases ableism, may be used in similar but not identical ways. While mentalism and sanism are used interchangeably, sanism is becoming predominant in certain circles, such as academics, those who identify as mad and mad advocates and in a socio-political context where sanism is gaining ground as a movement. The movement of sanism is an act of resistance among those who identify as mad, consumer survivors, and mental health advocates. In academia evidence of this movement can be found in the number of recent publications about sanism and social work practice. Mentalism tends to be referred as mental disability, distinguishing itself from ableism, which refers to physical disability.
  • 7.1K
  • 02 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Glossary of Bird Terms
The following is a glossary of common English language terms used in the description of birds—warm-blooded vertebrates of the class Aves and the only living dinosaurs, characterized by feathers, the ability to fly in all but the approximately 60 extant species of flightless birds, toothless, beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Among other details such as size, proportions and shape, terms defining bird features developed and are used to describe features unique to the class—especially evolutionary adaptations that developed to aid flight. There are, for example, numerous terms describing the complex structural makeup of feathers (e.g., barbules, rachides and vanes); types of feathers (e.g., filoplume, pennaceous and plumulaceous feathers); and their growth and loss (e.g., colour morph, nuptial plumage and pterylosis). There are thousands of terms that are unique to the study of birds. This glossary makes no attempt to cover them all, concentrating on terms that might be found across descriptions of multiple bird species by bird enthusiasts and ornithologists. Though words that are not unique to birds are also covered, such as "back" or "belly", they are defined in relation to other unique features of external bird anatomy, sometimes called "topography". As a rule, this glossary does not contain individual entries on any of the approximately 9,700 recognized living individual bird species of the world.
  • 7.1K
  • 09 Nov 2022
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
Transgender Hormone Therapy (Male-to-female)
Transgender hormone therapy of the male-to-female (MTF) type, also known as transfeminine hormone therapy, is hormone therapy and sex reassignment therapy to change the secondary sexual characteristics of transgender people from masculine or androgynous to feminine. It is one of two types of transgender hormone therapy (the other being female-to-male) and is predominantly used to treat transgender women and other transfeminine individuals. Some intersex people also take this form of therapy, according to their personal needs and preferences. The purpose of the therapy is to cause the development of the secondary sex characteristics of the desired sex, such as breasts and a feminine pattern of hair, fat, and muscle distribution. It cannot undo many of the changes produced by naturally occurring puberty, which may necessitate surgery and other treatments to reverse (see below). The medications used for the MTF therapy include estrogens, antiandrogens, progestogens, and gonadotropin-releasing hormone modulators (GnRH modulators). While the therapy cannot undo the effects of a person's first puberty, developing secondary sex characteristics associated with a different gender has been shown to relieve some or all of the distress and discomfort associated with gender dysphoria, and can help the person to "pass" or be seen as the gender they identify with. Introducing exogenous hormones into the body impacts it at every level and many patients report changes in energy levels, mood, appetite, etc. The goal of the therapy is to provide patients with a more satisfying body that is more congruent with their gender identity.
  • 7.1K
  • 06 Oct 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
Gastropoda
The gastropods (/ˈɡæstrəpɒdz/), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (/ɡæsˈtrɒpədə/). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from the land. There are many thousands of species of sea snails and slugs, as well as freshwater snails, freshwater limpets, and land snails and slugs. The class Gastropoda contains a vast total of named species, second only to the insects in overall number. The fossil history of this class goes back to the Late Cambrian. (As of 2017), 721 families of gastropods are known, of which 245 are extinct and appear only in the fossil record, while 476 are currently extant with or without a fossil record. Gastropoda (previously known as univalves and sometimes spelled "Gasteropoda") are a major part of the phylum Mollusca, and are the most highly diversified class in the phylum, with 65,000 to 80,000 living snail and slug species. The anatomy, behavior, feeding, and reproductive adaptations of gastropods vary significantly from one clade or group to another, so stating many generalities for all gastropods is difficult. The class Gastropoda has an extraordinary diversification of habitats. Representatives live in gardens, woodland, deserts, and on mountains; in small ditches, great rivers, and lakes; in estuaries, mudflats, the rocky intertidal, the sandy subtidal, the abyssal depths of the oceans, including the hydrothermal vents, and numerous other ecological niches, including parasitic ones. Although the name "snail" can be, and often is, applied to all the members of this class, commonly this word means only those species with an external shell big enough that the soft parts can withdraw completely into it. Those gastropods without a shell, and those with only a very reduced or internal shell, are usually known as slugs; those with a shell into which they can partly but not completely withdraw are termed semislugs. The marine shelled species of gastropods include species such as abalone, conches, periwinkles, whelks, and numerous other sea snails that produce seashells that are coiled in the adult stage—though in some, the coiling may not be very visible, for example in cowries. In a number of families of species, such as all the various limpets, the shell is coiled only in the larval stage, and is a simple conical structure after that.
  • 7.1K
  • 08 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Identification and Extraction of Microplastics
Microplastics (MPs) are plastic wastes with particulates less than 5 mm in size that are absorbed by sediment, water, the atmosphere, and living beings before affecting health.
  • 7.1K
  • 12 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Hallmarks and Significance of Apoptosis
Apoptosis is the elimination of functionally non-essential, neoplastic, and infected cells via the mitochondrial pathway or death receptor pathway. The process of apoptosis is highly regulated through membrane channels and apoptogenic proteins. Apoptosis maintains cellular balance within the human body through cell cycle progression. Loss of apoptosis control prolongs cancer cell survival and allows the accumulation of mutations that can promote angiogenesis, promote cell proliferation, disrupt differentiation, and increase invasiveness during tumor progression. The apoptotic pathway has been extensively studied as a potential drug target in cancer treatment. 
  • 7.1K
  • 14 Feb 2023
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
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
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