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Topic Review
The Technology of Blockchain
Blockchain is a system of records created using cryptography to link and secure blocks (of records) and is stored on a peer-to-peer network that adheres to a “consensus protocol” which enables it to work without centralized management. It is a revolutionary technology that has immense potential to create a long-lasting impact. It is speculated to be a key technology that shall be part of the Industry 4.0 revolution.
  • 1.7K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Isotopic Imprints of Pyrite Leaching
Definition  Acid rock drainage (ARD) is one of the major environmental problems at active and closed coal and metalliferous mining sites. ARD forms naturally when sulfidic material comes in contact with atmospheric oxygen and the oxidation of sulfide minerals releases acid, sulfate and metal contaminants. The large-scale ARD that is generated within the mining area is called acid mine drainage (AMD).
  • 1.7K
  • 15 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Sulfur in Seeds
Sulfur is a growth-limiting and secondary macronutrient as well as an indispensable component for several cellular components of crop plants. 
  • 1.7K
  • 09 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Dairy and Non-Dairy Based Probiotic Drinks
‘Probiotics’ is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) as “live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host”. Two of the most widely used probiotics are from the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, as both constitute most of the normal intestinal microbiota in various mammalian species. Right after birth, maternal microbiota will colonize the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) in which the first colonizers are facultative anaerobes such as Lactobaciili, Enterococci, and Enterobacterium. Anaerobic bacteria such as Bifidobacterium, Bacteroides, and Clostridium will colonize the GIT with an increase in age and compete with the facultative anaerobes, setting the colon environment to favor anaerobe growth over time.
  • 1.7K
  • 13 Sep 2022
Topic Review
The Low-Tech Perspective on Energy Flexibility
Energy flexibility, one of the key pillars of the energy transition, is an umbrella term that covers multiple innovative solutions implemented at all levels of the electric grid to ensure power quality standards, amongst other objectives. Low-tech, on the other hand, emphasizes designing, producing, and sustainably implementing solutions that address the core needs of individuals and organisations.  
  • 1.7K
  • 27 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Effectiveness of Driving Simulators for Drivers’ Training
Although driving simulators could be commonly assumed as very useful technological resources for both novel and experienced drivers’ instruction under risk control settings, the evidence addressing their actual effectiveness seems substantially limited. Therefore, researchers aimed to analyze the existing original literature on driving simulators as a tool for driver training/instruction, considering study features, their quality, and the established degree of effectiveness of simulators for these purposes. Among a considerably reduced set of original research studies assessing the effectiveness of driving simulators for training purposes, most sources assessing the issue provided reasonably good insights into their value for improving human-based road safety under risk control settings. On the other hand, there are common limitations which stand out, such as the use of very limited research samples, infrequent follow-up of the training outcomes, and reduced information about the limitations targeted during the simulator-based training processes. Despite the key shortcomings highlighted here, studies have commonly provided empirical support on the training value of simulators, as well as endorsed the need for further evaluations of their effectiveness.
  • 1.7K
  • 28 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Applications of Polyvinyl Alcohol-Chitosan Hydrogel
Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM) holds great promise for addressing the growing need for innovative therapies to treat disease conditions. To achieve this, TERM relies on various strategies and techniques. The most prominent strategy is the development of a scaffold. Polyvinyl alcohol-chitosan (PVA-CS) scaffold emerged as a promising material in this field due to its biocompatibility, versatility, and ability to support cell growth and tissue regeneration. 
  • 1.7K
  • 07 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Application of Through Glass Via Technology
Glass has emerged as a highly versatile substrate for various sensor and MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) packaging applications, including electromechanical, thermal, optical, biomedical, and RF devices, due to its exceptional properties such as high geometrical tolerances, outstanding heat and chemical resistance, excellent high-frequency electrical properties, and the ability to be hermetically sealed. In these applications, Through Glass Via (TGV) technology plays a vital role in manufacturing and packaging by creating electrical interconnections through glass substrates.
  • 1.7K
  • 18 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Ara
Ara is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. The name "Ara" originates from Greek mythology, where it represents the altar used by the gods in their divine ceremonies.
  • 1.7K
  • 29 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Platelets, Depression and its Co-Morbidities
Alongside their function in primary haemostasis and thrombo-inflammation, platelets are increasingly considered a bridge between mental, immunological and coagulation-related disorders. This review focuses on the link between platelets and the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) and its most frequent comorbidities. Platelet- and neuron-shared proteins involved in MDD are functionally described. Platelet-related studies performed in the context of MDD, cardiovascular disease, and major neurodegenerative, neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders are transversally presented from an epidemiological, genetic and functional point of view. To provide a complete scenario, we report the analysis of original data on the epidemiological link between platelets and depression symptoms suggesting moderating and interactive effects of sex on this association. Epidemiological and genetic studies discussed suggest that blood platelets might be relevant biomarkers of MDD prediction and occurrence also in the context of MDD comorbidities. Finally, this review has the ambition to formulate some directives and perspectives for future research on this topic.
  • 1.7K
  • 02 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Phenothiazines Modified with Pyridine Ring
Azaphenothiazines are the largest and most perspective group of modified phenothiazines, and they exhibit variety of biological activities. The review sums up the current knowledge on the anticancer activity of isomeric pyridobenzothiazines and dipyridothiazines, which are modified azaphenothiazines with one and two pyridine rings, respectively, against 10 types of cancer cell lines. Some 10-substituted dipyridothiazines and even 10-unsubstituted parent compounds, such as 10H-1,9-diazaphenothiazine and 10H-3,6-diazaphenothiazine, exhibited very potent action with the IC50 values less than 1 µg/mL and 1 µM against selected cancer cell lines. The strength of the anticancer action depends both on the tricyclic ring scaffolds and the substituents at the thiazine nitrogen atom.
  • 1.7K
  • 18 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Net Zero Energy Buildings
Buildings contribute to greenhouse gas emissions that cause environmental impacts on climate change. Net Zero Energy (NZ) buildings would reduce greenhouse gases. The current definition of NZ lacks consensus and has created uncertainties, which cause delays in the adoption of NZ. There is a need to re-evaluate the existing definitions, standards, and requirements to advance the use of renewable technologies, improved energy efficiency, and electrification. This approach will help to speed up achieving the NZ targets.
  • 1.7K
  • 06 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Migrants during the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown in France
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to governments in 157 countries introducing lockdowns or re-strictions to people’s movement and access to health and welfare support services as well as other rules including social distancing, use of masks, and quarantine. The French government introduced its first mandatory national lockdown on 17 March 2020 due to elevated cases and death rates of COVID-19 in the country. This public health measure required the general population to stay at home except those carrying out an essential job (referred to as a ‘key worker’ in the domains of transportation, education, food, and health), to buy necessary items, or to engage in physical activity. Evidence demonstrates that the pandemic disproportionately affected socially vulnerable populations, including migrants. The pandemic exposed and exacerbated health and social inequities among migrant and ethnic/racial groups. Less is known about the firsthand impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns, specifically on migrant populations in France.
  • 1.7K
  • 31 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Atmospheric Carbon Cycle
The atmosphere is one of the Earth's major carbon reservoirs and an important component of the global carbon cycle, holding approximately 720 gigatons of carbon. Atmospheric carbon plays an important role in the greenhouse effect. The most important carbon compound in this respect is the gas carbon dioxide (CO2). Although it is a small percentage of the atmosphere (approximately 0.04% on a molar basis), it plays a vital role in retaining heat in the atmosphere and thus in the greenhouse effect. Other gases with effects on the climate containing carbon in the atmosphere are methane and chlorofluorocarbons (the latter is entirely anthropogenic). Emissions by humans in the past 200 years have almost doubled the amount carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
  • 1.7K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Histological Healing in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) comprises two types of chronic intestinal disorders: Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. In long-standing ulcerative colitis disease activity, histological persistent inflammation has been linked to an increased risk of relapse, and long-term corticosteroid use, even when endoscopic remission is reached. In Crohn’s disease, the discontinuous nature of lesions and transmural inflammation have limited the standardized histological assessment. The current evidence from research proposes that besides clinical and endoscopic healing, the achievement of histological healing constitutes an endpoint to assess disease activity and remission in IBD patients concerning better long-term disease outcomes. Histological alterations may persist even in the absence of endoscopic lesions. For these reasons, new advanced techniques promise to revolutionize the field of IBD by improving the endoscopic and histologic assessment, disease characterization, and ultimately patient care, with an established role in daily practice for objective assessment of lesions. 
  • 1.7K
  • 01 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Anomaly Detection in Autonomous Robotic Missions
An anomaly in autonomous robotic missions (ARM) is a deviation from the expected behaviour, performance, or state of the robotic system and its environment, which may impact the mission’s objectives, safety, or efficiency; and this anomaly can be caused either by system faults or the change in the environmental dynamics of interaction. The nuanced understanding of anomaly categories facilitates a more strategic approach, ensuring that detection methods are more effective in addressing the specific nature of the anomaly.
  • 1.7K
  • 11 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Facial Expression Recognition
Facial expression recognition (FER) is a challenging problem in the fields of pattern recognition and computer vision. The recent success of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in object detection and object segmentation tasks has shown promise in building an automatic deep CNN-based FER model. However, in real-world scenarios, performance degrades dramatically owing to the great diversity of factors unrelated to facial expressions, and due to a lack of training data plus an intrinsic imbalance in the existing facial emotion datasets. To tackle these problems, this paper not only applies deep transfer learning techniques but also proposes a novel loss function called weighted-cluster loss, which is used during the fine-tuning phase. Specifically, the weighted-cluster loss function simultaneously improves the intra-class compactness and the inter-class separability by learning a class center for each emotion class. It also takes the imbalance in a facial expression dataset into account by giving each emotion class a weight based on its proportion of the total number of images. In addition, a recent, successful deep CNN architecture, pre-trained in the task of face identification with the VGGFace2 database from the Visual Geometry Group at Oxford University, is employed and fine-tuned using the proposed loss function to recognize eight basic facial emotions from the AffectNet database of facial expression, valence, and arousal computing in the wild. Experiments on an AffectNet real-world facial dataset demonstrate that our method outperforms the baseline CNN models that use either weighted-softmax loss or center loss.
  • 1.7K
  • 09 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Magnetic Materials for Electrical Machines
Additive manufacturing has many advantages over traditional manufacturing methods and has been increasingly used in medical, aerospace, and automotive applications. The flexibility of additive manufacturing technologies to fabricate complex geometries from copper, polymer, and ferrous materials presents unique opportunities for new design concepts and improved machine power density without significantly increasing production and prototyping cost. Topology optimization investigates the optimal distribution of single or multiple materials within a defined design space, and can lead to unique geometries not realizable with conventional optimization techniques. As an enabling technology, additive manufacturing provides an opportunity for machine designers to overcome the current manufacturing limitation that inhibit adoption of topology optimization. Successful integration of additive manufacturing and topology optimization for fabricating magnetic components for electrical machines can enable new tools for electrical machine designers. This article presents a comprehensive review of the latest achievements in the application of additive manufacturing, topology optimization, and their integration for electrical machines and their magnetic components.
  • 1.7K
  • 25 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Arachidonic Acid and Its Metabolites
Studies concerning the role of arachidonic acid (AA) and its metabolites in kidney disease are scarce, and this applies in particular to idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS). INS is one of the most frequent glomerular diseases in childhood; it is characterized by T-lymphocyte dysfunction, alterations of pro- and anti-coagulant factor levels, and increased platelet count and aggregation, leading to thrombophilia. AA and its metabolites are involved in several biological processes. Herein, we describe the main fields where they may play a significant role, particularly as it pertains to their effects on the kidney and the mechanisms underlying INS. AA and its metabolites influence cell membrane fluidity and permeability, modulate platelet activity and coagulation, regulate lymphocyte activity and inflammation, preserve the permeability of the glomerular barrier, influence podocyte physiology, and play a role in renal fibrosis. 
  • 1.7K
  • 08 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Penicillium digitatum
Penicillium digitatum is a widespread pathogen responsible for the postharvest decay of citrus, one of the most economically important crops worldwide. Currently, chemical fungicides are still the main strategy to control the green mould disease caused by the fungus. In this scenario, understanding the molecular determinants underlying P. digitatum’s response to biological and chemical antifungals may help in the development of safer and more effective non-chemical control methods.
  • 1.7K
  • 20 Mar 2022
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