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Topic Review
Quantum Biology and Non-Targeted Effects
Non-targeted effects (NTE) are an intriguing phenomenon where the biological responses observed in cells or tissues are not directly exposed to a stressor (e.g., ionizing radiation or chemical agents). onventional radiation biology approaches have predominantly focused on the macroscopic effects of ionizing radiation, overlooking the quantum-scale interactions that may play a crucial role in NTE. Quantum biology (QB) offers a unique perspective to explore and understand the intricate and subtle processes underlying NTE.
  • 6.4K
  • 04 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Bodhi
The English term enlightenment is the western translation of the abstract noun bodhi, (/ˈboʊdi/; Sanskrit: बोधि; Pali: bodhi), the knowledge or wisdom, or awakened intellect, of a Buddha. The verbal root budh- means "to awaken," and its literal meaning is closer to "awakening." Although the term buddhi is also used in other Indian philosophies and traditions, its most common usage is in the context of Buddhism. The term "enlightenment" was popularised in the Western world through the 19th century translations of Max Müller. It has the western connotation of general insight into transcendental truth or reality. The term is also being used to translate several other Buddhist terms and concepts, which are used to denote (initial) insight (prajna (Sanskrit), wu (Chinese), kensho and satori(Japanese)); knowledge (vidhya); the "blowing out" (Nirvana) of disturbing emotions and desires and the subsequent freedom or release (vimukti); and the attainment of supreme Buddhahood (samyak sam bodhi), as exemplified by Gautama Buddha. What exactly constituted the Buddha's awakening is unknown. It may probably have involved the knowledge that liberation was attained by the combination of mindfulness and dhyāna, applied to the understanding of the arising and ceasing of craving. The relation between dhyana and insight is a core problem in the study of Buddhism, and is one of the fundamentals of Buddhist practice. In the western world the concept of (spiritual) enlightenment has taken on a romantic meaning. It has become synonymous with self-realization and the true self and false self, being regarded as a substantial essence being covered over by social conditioning.
  • 6.4K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
The Diachronic Heritage Management and Development of At-Turaif
The At-Turaif District in ad-Dir’iyah (often known and referred to as ‘Historic Diriyah’) has always been the heart and symbol of Saudi Arabian cultural heritage due to its historic values and significance that date back to earlier Saudi states. Historic Diriyah is a World Heritage Site (WHS), and it can still project a successful massive makeover development if a sustainable development approach is used, and visual integrity and site authenticity are preserved. The site of Historic Diriyah and its surroundings were critical in promoting the site as a national identity, an international destination, and presenting a new development agenda for the entire kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It has a significant impact on policymakers who are interested in how heritage sites can be integrated into a larger vision.
  • 6.4K
  • 13 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Nanolubricants
Nanolubricants are the name given to the dispersion of nanoparticles in a base oil, and has attracted researchers due to its potential application. In addition to being used in the tribology field, nanoparticles are also used for medical, space, and composites purposes. The addition of nanoparticles in base oils is promising because it enhances specific tribological characteristics including wear-resistance and friction, and the most important reason is that the majority of them are environmentally friendly. 
  • 6.4K
  • 17 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Vectors in Gene Therapy for Pulmonary Diseases
Over the past decades, a better understanding of the genetic and molecular alterations underlying several respiratory diseases has encouraged the development of new therapeutic strategies. Gene therapy offers new therapeutic alternatives for inherited and acquired diseases by delivering exogenous genetic materials into cells or tissues to restore physiological protein expression and/or activity.
  • 6.4K
  • 16 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Verb–Subject–Object
In linguistic typology, a verb–subject–object (VSO) language is one in which the most typical sentences arrange their elements in that order, as in Ate Sam oranges (Sam ate oranges). VSO is the third-most common word order among the world's languages, after SOV (as in Hindi and Japanese) and SVO (as in English and Mandarin). Families where all or many of the languages are VSO include the following: Spanish resembles Semitic languages such as Arabic in allowing for both VSO and SVO structures: "Jesús vino el jueves"/"Vino Jesús el jueves, "Tu madre dice que no vayas"/"Dice tu madre que no vayas". Many languages, such as Greek, have relatively free word order, where VSO is one of many possible orders. Low level programming languages such as assembly tend to follow VSO order in how they assign bits in a memory word. Although the bit sizes vary between architectures, the general form consists of an opcode (verb) followed by a combination of memory or register addresses (subjects) and/or values (objects).
  • 6.4K
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy is a concept that refers to a formal organizational structure characterized by a hierarchical arrangement of tasks, authority, and responsibilities. Rooted in the principles of efficiency, rationality, and specialization, bureaucracy represents a system of administration designed to streamline decision-making processes, facilitate coordination, and ensure the efficient functioning of complex organizations. The term is often associated with administrative entities, government agencies, and large corporations, where intricate tasks require systematic management.
  • 6.4K
  • 25 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Music Psychology
Music psychology, or the psychology of music, may be regarded as a branch of both psychology and musicology. It aims to explain and understand musical behaviour and experience, including the processes through which music is perceived, created, responded to, and incorporated into everyday life. Modern music psychology is primarily empirical; its knowledge tends to advance on the basis of interpretations of data collected by systematic observation of and interaction with human participants. Music psychology is a field of research with practical relevance for many areas, including music performance, composition, education, criticism, and therapy, as well as investigations of human attitude, skill, performance, intelligence, creativity, and social behavior. Music psychology can shed light on non-psychological aspects of musicology and musical practice. For example, it contributes to music theory through investigations of the perception and computational modelling of musical structures such as melody, harmony, tonality, rhythm, meter, and form. Research in music history can benefit from systematic study of the history of musical syntax, or from psychological analyses of composers and compositions in relation to perceptual, affective, and social responses to their music.
  • 6.4K
  • 03 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Buddhist Ethics
Buddhist ethics are traditionally based on what Buddhists view as the enlightened perspective of the Buddha, or other enlightened beings such as Bodhisattvas. The Indian term for ethics or morality used in Buddhism is Śīla or sīla (Pāli). Śīla in Buddhism is one of three sections of the Noble Eightfold Path, and is a code of conduct that embraces a commitment to harmony and self-restraint with the principal motivation being nonviolence, or freedom from causing harm. It has been variously described as virtue, moral discipline and precept. Sīla is an internal, aware, and intentional ethical behavior, according to one's commitment to the path of liberation. It is an ethical compass within self and relationships, rather than what is associated with the English word "morality" (i.e., obedience, a sense of obligation, and external constraint). Sīla is one of the three practices foundational to Buddhism and the non-sectarian Vipassana movement — sīla, samādhi, and paññā as well as the Theravadin foundations of sīla, Dāna, and Bhavana. It is also the second pāramitā. Sīla is also wholehearted commitment to what is wholesome. Two aspects of sīla are essential to the training: right "performance" (caritta), and right "avoidance" (varitta). Honoring the precepts of sīla is considered a "great gift" (mahadana) to others, because it creates an atmosphere of trust, respect, and security. It means the practitioner poses no threat to another person's life, property, family, rights, or well-being. Moral instructions are included in Buddhist scriptures or handed down through tradition. Most scholars of Buddhist ethics thus rely on the examination of Buddhist scriptures, and the use of anthropological evidence from traditional Buddhist societies, to justify claims about the nature of Buddhist ethics.
  • 6.4K
  • 27 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Tomato Fruit and its Colors
Fruit colour represents a genetic trait with ecological and nutritional value. Plants mainly use colour to attract animals and favour seed dispersion. Thus, in many species, fruit colour coevolved with frugivories and their preferences. Environmental factors, however, represented other adaptive forces and further diversification was driven by domestication. All these factors cooperated in the evolution of tomato fruit, one of the most important in human nutrition. Tomato phylogenetic history showed two main steps in colour evolution: the change from green-chlorophyll to red-carotenoid pericarp, and the loss of the anthocyanic pigmentation. These events likely occurred with the onset of domestication. Then spontaneous mutations repeatedly occurred in carotenoid and phenylpropanoid pathways, leading to colour variants which often were propagated. Introgression breeding further enriched the panel of pigmentation patterns.
  • 6.4K
  • 30 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Fake News and Potentially Manipulative Content
At the core of numerous definitions of fake news lies a statement that it contains information that does not correlate with facts and that it is directed towards disinforming the public in a conscious manner, which implies that the major features of fake news are untruthfulness/incorrectness and intended deception. For this reason, Jaster and Lanuis attribute the lack of truth and lack of truthfulness to the notion of fake news and, using this as a starting point, they claim that fake news is “wrong or deceptive (lack of truth) and that it is released with the intention of deceiving or, eventually, discrediting or neglecting the truth (lack of truthfulness)”. In her efforts to draw a line between fake news and the contents similar to it, Milica Kulić defines the former as “incorrect information containing unprovable, mostly completely fabricated data or claims, as well as quotations, released with a view to deceiving audiences”.
  • 6.4K
  • 26 Jan 2022
Topic Review
16S rRNA Next-Generation Sequencing
The 16S rRNA gene is highly conserved in all bacteria (and also archaea). Nonetheless, it contains nine hypervariable regions (V1 - V9), where sequences of these regions can be used to identify and discriminate bacterial genus, sometimes until the species level. This makes the gene a useful tool for phylogenetic studies. With the introduction of next-generation sequencing technologies, 16S rRNA next-generation sequencing (16SNGS) has allowed profiling of bacterial communities found in organisms and the environment, and lead to the discovery of many previously unculturable members of the bacteria kingdom.
  • 6.4K
  • 18 May 2021
Topic Review
Pelagic Zone
The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word pelagic is derived from grc πέλαγος (pélagos) 'open sea'. The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the surface of the sea and the bottom. Conditions in the water column change with depth: pressure increases; temperature and light decrease; salinity, oxygen, micronutrients (such as iron, magnesium and calcium) all change. Marine life is affected by bathymetry (underwater topography) such as the seafloor, shoreline, or a submarine seamount, as well as by proximity to the boundary between the ocean and the atmosphere at the ocean surface, which brings light for photosynthesis, predation from above, and wind stirring up waves and setting currents in motion. The pelagic zone refers to the open, free waters away from the shore, where marine life can swim freely in any direction unhindered by topographical constraints. The oceanic zone is the deep open ocean beyond the continental shelf, which contrasts with the inshore waters near the coast, such as in estuaries or on the continental shelf. Waters in the oceanic zone plunge to the depths of the abyssopelagic and further to the hadopelagic. Coastal waters are generally the relatively shallow epipelagic. Altogether, the pelagic zone occupies 1,330 million km3 (320 million mi3) with a mean depth of 3.68 km (2.29 mi) and maximum depth of 11 km (6.8 mi). Pelagic life decreases as depth increases. The pelagic zone contrasts with the benthic and demersal zones at the bottom of the sea. The benthic zone is the ecological region at the very bottom, including the sediment surface and some subsurface layers. Marine organisms such as clams and crabs living in this zone are called benthos. Just above the benthic zone is the demersal zone. Demersal fish can be divided into benthic fish, which are denser than water and rest on the bottom, and benthopelagic fish, which swim just above the bottom. Demersal fish are also known as bottom feeders and groundfish.
  • 6.4K
  • 14 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Transcription
Transcription is the process of copying a segment of DNA into RNA. The segments of DNA transcribed into RNA molecules that can encode proteins are said to produce messenger RNA (mRNA). Other segments of DNA are copied into RNA molecules called non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Averaged over multiple cell types in a given tissue, the quantity of mRNA is more than 10 times the quantity of ncRNA (though in particular single cell types ncRNAs may exceed mRNAs). The general preponderance of mRNA in cells is valid even though less than 2% of the human genome can be transcribed into mRNA (Human genome), while at least 80% of mammalian genomic DNA can be actively transcribed (in one or more types of cells), with the majority of this 80% considered to be ncRNA. Both DNA and RNA are nucleic acids, which use base pairs of nucleotides as a complementary language. During transcription, a DNA sequence is read by an RNA polymerase, which produces a complementary, antiparallel RNA strand called a primary transcript. Transcription proceeds in the following general steps: If the stretch of DNA is transcribed into an RNA molecule that encodes a protein, the RNA is termed messenger RNA (mRNA); the mRNA, in turn, serves as a template for the protein's synthesis through translation. Other stretches of DNA may be transcribed into small non-coding RNAs such as microRNA, transfer RNA (tRNA), small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA), small nuclear RNA (snRNA), or enzymatic RNA molecules called ribozymes as well as larger non-coding RNAs such as ribosomal RNA (rRNA), and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA). Overall, RNA helps synthesize, regulate, and process proteins; it therefore plays a fundamental role in performing functions within a cell. In virology, the term transcription may also be used when referring to mRNA synthesis from an RNA molecule (i.e., equivalent to RNA replication). For instance, the genome of a negative-sense single-stranded RNA (ssRNA -) virus may be a template for a positive-sense single-stranded RNA (ssRNA +)[clarification needed]. This is because the positive-sense strand contains the sequence information needed to translate the viral proteins needed for viral replication. This process is catalyzed by a viral RNA replicase.[clarification needed]
  • 6.4K
  • 14 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Design Challenges and Limitations of Injectable Hydrogels
Injectable hydrogels (IHs) are smart biomaterials and are the most widely investigated and versatile technologies, which can be either implanted or inserted into living bodies with minimal invasion. Their unique features, tunable structure and stimuli-responsive biodegradation properties make these IHs promising in many biomedical applications, including tissue engineering, regenerative medicines, implants, drug/protein/gene delivery, cancer treatment, aesthetic corrections and spinal fusions. Regarding their current prospective and ongoing research, hydrogel formulations have some limitations in their applications, clinical practices and sustainability. Many hydrogel systems (natural/synthetic), such as thermosensitive hydrogels, are free-flowing sols at a low temperature, while upon raising to body temperature (physiological temperature), they are converted to a stable visco-elastic gel phase, such as poly (phosphazene), pluronic and poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide). 
  • 6.4K
  • 08 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing of Metal
Material extrusion additive manufacturing of metal (metal MEX), which is one of the 3D printing processes, has gained more interests because of its simplicity and economics. Metal MEX process is similar to the conventional metal injection moulding (MIM) process, consisting of feedstock preparation of metal powder and polymer binders, layer-by-layer 3D printing (metal MEX) or injection (MIM) to create green parts, debinding to remove the binders and sintering to create the consolidated metallic parts.
  • 6.4K
  • 02 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Marine Algae and Plants
Marine algae and plants are a diverse collection of marine life that, together with cyanobacteria, form the main primary producers at base of the ocean food chain. Marine primary producers are important because they underpin almost all marine animal life by generating most of the oxygen and food that animals need to exist. Some algae and plants are also ecosystem engineers which change the environment and provide habitats for other marine life. Marine algae includes the largely invisible and often unicellular microalgae, which together with cyanobacteria form the ocean phytoplankton, as well as the larger, more visible and complex multicellular macroalgae commonly called seaweed. Seaweeds are found along coastal areas, living on the floor of continental shelves and washed up in intertidal zones. Some seaweeds drift with plankton in the sunlit surface waters (epipelagic zone) of the open ocean. Back in the Silurian, some phytoplankton evolved into red, brown and green algae. These algae then invaded the land and started evolving into the land plants we know today. Later in the Cretaceous some of these land plants returned to the sea as mangroves and seagrasses. These are found along coasts in intertidal regions and in the brackish water of estuaries. In addition, some seagrasses, like seaweeds, can be found at depths up to 50 metres on both soft and hard bottoms of the continental shelf.
  • 6.4K
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Human Genetic Clustering
Human genetic clustering is the degree to which human genetic variation can be partitioned into a small number of groups or clusters. A leading method of analysis uses mathematical cluster analysis of the degree of similarity of genetic data between individuals and groups in order to infer population structures and assign individuals to hypothesized ancestral groups. A similar analysis can be done using principal component analysis, and several recent studies deploy both methods. Analysis of genetic clustering examines the degree to which regional groups differ genetically, the categorization of individuals into clusters, and what can be learned about human ancestry from this data. There is broad scientific agreement that a relatively small fraction of human genetic variation occurs between populations, continents, or clusters. Researchers of genetic clustering differ, however, on whether genetic variation is principally clinal or whether clusters inferred mathematically are important and scientifically useful.
  • 6.3K
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Digital Literacy
Digital literacy refers to an individual's ability to find, evaluate, and compose clear information through writing and other media on various digital platforms. Digital literacy is evaluated by an individual's grammar, composition, typing skills and ability to produce text, images, audio and designs using technology. While digital literacy initially focused on digital skills and stand-alone computers, the advent of the internet and use of social media, has caused some of its focus to shift to mobile devices. Similar to other expanding definitions of literacy that recognize cultural and historical ways of making meaning, digital literacy does not replace traditional forms of literacy, and instead builds upon and expands the skills that form the foundation of traditional forms of literacy. Digital literacy should be considered to be a part of the path to knowledge. Digital literacy is built on the expanding role of social science research in the field of literacy as well as on concepts of visual literacy, computer literacy, and information literacy. Overall, digital literacy shares many defining principles with other fields that use modifiers in front of literacy to define ways of being and domain specific knowledge or competence. The term has grown in popularity in education and higher education settings and is used in both international and national standards.
  • 6.3K
  • 31 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Moral Insanity
Moral insanity referred to a type of mental disorder consisting of abnormal emotions and behaviours in the apparent absence of intellectual impairments, delusions, or hallucinations. It was an accepted diagnosis in Europe and America through the second half of the 19th century. The physician James Cowles Prichard first used the phrase to describe a mental disorder in 1835 in his Treatise on insanity and other disorders affecting the mind. He defined moral insanity as: "madness consisting in a morbid perversion of the natural feelings, affections, inclinations, temper, habits, moral dispositions, and natural impulses, without any remarkable disorder or defect of the interest or knowing and reasoning faculties, and particularly without any insane illusion or hallucinations." The concept of moral insanity was indebted to the work of physician Philippe Pinel, which was acknowledged by Prichard. Pinel had described mental diseases of only partial, affective, insanity. His concept Manie sans délire (Latin – mania sine delirio; French – folie raisonnante or folie lucide raisonnante, monomanie affective; German – Moralisches Irresein) referred to insanity without delusion. That is, the sufferer was thought to be mad in one area only and thus the personality of the individual might be distorted but his or her intellectual faculties were unimpaired. The term 'moral', at that time and taken originally from French, could mean emotional rather than necessarily referring to ethics.
  • 6.3K
  • 28 Oct 2022
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