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Topic Review
Perception of Artificial Intelligence by Students
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of people's daily lives and is available on all platforms, from smart homes to smartphones and autonomous cars. Students of economics and business studies at different levels of study have the differences in various aspects of the perception of artificial intelligence. Current college students will soon join a job market where proficiency in working with, developing, and managing AI will be necessary for many positions. Studying AI-related courses has become a necessary trend that offers significant benefits for students’ future career development 
  • 6.4K
  • 16 Jun 2023
Biography
Thomas Townsend Brown
Thomas Townsend Brown (March 18, 1905 – October 27, 1985)[1] was an United States inventor whose research into odd electrical effects led him to believe he had discovered a connection between strong electric fields and gravity, a type of antigravity effect. Instead of being an antigravity force, what Brown observed has generally been attributed to electrohydrodynamics, the movement of charged
  • 6.4K
  • 19 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Climate Change and Russian Agriculture
Russian weather trends such as winter softening and increase in summer heat have a significant but opposite effect on yields. An interesting finding is a significant and mostly positive influence of global climatic variables, such as the CO2 concentration, El Niño and La Niña events on both harvests and yields. Although technological factors are the main drivers of growth in Russian agricultural performance over the past 20 years, we found a strong positive effect on yield and gross harvest only for mineral fertilizers. The influence of the other variables is mixed, which is mainly due to data quality and aggregation errors.
  • 6.4K
  • 24 Jan 2022
Topic Review
BMW 7 Series (E65)
The BMW E65 is the fourth generation of the BMW 7 Series range of full-size luxury sedans, and was produced from 2001 to 2008. The variants of the range are: The E65 was the first BMW vehicle to include the iDrive infotainment system, the new brand design language, active anti-roll bars, a 6-speed automatic transmission, an electronic smart Key (dispensing with the traditional metallic key), and night vision. The 760i model also utilised the world's first production V12 engine to use direct injection. In late 2008, the E65 7 Series was replaced by the 7 Series (F01).
  • 6.4K
  • 11 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Comparison of Chernobyl and Other Radioactivity Releases
This article compares the radioactivity release and decay from the Chernobyl disaster with various other events which involved a release of uncontrolled radioactivity.
  • 6.3K
  • 07 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Binary Fission
Fission, in biology, is the division of a single entity into two or more parts and the regeneration of those parts to separate entities resembling the original. The object experiencing fission is usually a cell, but the term may also refer to how organisms, bodies, populations, or species split into discrete parts. The fission may be binary fission, in which a single organism produces two parts, or multiple fission, in which a single entity produces multiple parts.
  • 6.3K
  • 31 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Phosphate-Solubilizing Microorganisms in Agriculture
Phosphates are known to be essential for plant growth and development, with phosphorus compounds being involved in various physiological and biochemical reactions. Phosphates are known as one of the most important factors limiting crop yields.
  • 6.3K
  • 24 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Independent Legal Reasoning in Islamic Law
Ijtihad (Arabic: اجتهاد ijtihād, [ʔidʒ.tihaːd]; lit. physical or mental effort) is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a legal question. It is contrasted with taqlid (imitation, conformity to legal precedent). According to classical Sunni theory, ijtihad requires expertise in the Arabic language, theology, revealed texts, and principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh), and is not employed where authentic and authoritative texts (Qur'an and Hadith) are considered unambiguous with regard to the question, or where there is an existing scholarly consensus (ijma). Ijtihad is considered to be a religious duty for those qualified to perform it. An Islamic scholar who is qualified to perform ijtihad is called a mujtahid. Throughout the first five Islamic centuries, the practice of ijtihad continued both theoretically and practically amongst Sunni Muslims. The controversy surrounding ijtihad and the existence of mujtahids started, in its primitive form, around the beginning of the sixth/twelfth century. By the 14th century, development of Sunni jurisprudence prompted leading Sunni jurists to state that the main legal questions had been addressed and the scope of ijtihad was gradually restricted. In the modern era, this gave rise to a perception among Western scholars and lay Muslim public that the so-called "gate of ijtihad" was closed at the start of the classical era. While recent scholarship established that the practice of Ijtihad had never ceased in Islamic history, the extent and mechanisms of legal change in the post-formative period remain a subject of debate. Differences amongst the jurists prevented Muslims from reaching any consensus(Ijma) on the issues of continuity of Ijtihad and existence of Mujtahids. Thus, Ijtihad remained a key aspect of Islamic jurisprudence throughout the centuries. Ijtihad was practiced throughout the Early modern period and claims for ijtihad and its superiority over taqlid were voiced unremittingly. Starting from the 18th century, Islamic reformers began calling for abandonment of taqlid and emphasis on ijtihad, which they saw as a return to Islamic origins. Public debates in the Muslim world surrounding ijtihad continue to the present day. The advocacy of ijtihad has been particularly associated with Islamic modernist and Salafiyya movements. Among contemporary Muslims in the West there have emerged new visions of ijtihad which emphasize substantive moral values over traditional juridical methodology. Shia jurists did not use the term ijtihad until the 12th century. With the exception of Zaydi jurisprudence, the early Imami Shia were unanimous in censuring Ijtihad in the field of law (Ahkam). After the Shiite embracal of various doctrines of Mu'tazila and classical Sunnite Fiqh (jurisprudence), this led to a change. After the victory of the Usulis who based law on principles (usul) over the Akhbaris ("traditionalists") who emphasized on reports or traditions (khabar) by the 19th century, Ijtihad would become a mainstream Shia practice.
  • 6.3K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
West African Lungfish (Protopterus spp.)
The west african lungfish refers to species of freshwater fishes in the genus Protopterus, belonging to the subclass Dipnoi. These fishes are notable for their unique ability to respire using both gills and lungs, a feature that has attracted considerable scientific attention due to its evolutionary significance. Native to various freshwater habitats across Africa, African lungfishes represent a lineage of sarcopterygian fishes with deep evolutionary connections to the origins of tetrapods.
  • 6.3K
  • 15 Sep 2025
Topic Review
Solar Photovoltaic Systems Faults
This entry provides an overview of common Solar PV system faults.
  • 6.3K
  • 17 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Combinatorial Peptide Library
Completely randomizing even relatively short peptides would require a library size surpassing the capacities of most platforms. Sampling the complete mutational space for peptides exceeding 8–9 residues is therefore practically impossible, and gene diversification strategies only allow for generation and subsequent interrogation of a limited subset of the entire theoretical peptide population. Directed evolution of peptides therefore strives to ascend towards peak activity through mutational steps, accumulating beneficial mutational over several generations, resulting in improved phenotype. We briefly discuss combinatorial library platforms and take an in-depth look at diversification techniques for random and focused mutagenesis. 
  • 6.3K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
48,XXXY Syndrome
48,XXXY syndrome is a chromosomal condition in boys and men that causes intellectual disability, developmental delays, physical differences, and an inability to father biological children (infertility). Its signs and symptoms vary among affected individuals.
  • 6.3K
  • 23 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Electrocommunication
Electrocommunication is the communication method used by weakly-electric fish. Weakly-electric fish are a group of animals that utilize a communicating channel that is "invisible" to most other animals: electric signaling. Electric fish communicate by generating an electric field that a second individual receives with its electroreceptors. The fish interprets the message using the signal's frequencies, waveforms, delay, etc. The best studied species are two freshwater lineages- the African Mormyridae and the South American Gymnotiformes. While weakly-electric fish are the only group that have been identified to carry out both generation and reception of electric fields, other species either generate signals or receive them, but not both. Animals that either generate or receive electric fields are found only in wet or aquatic environments due to water's relatively low electrical resistance, compared to other substances (e.g. air). So far, communication between electric fish has been identified mainly to serve the purpose of conveying information such as: species courtship and biological sex motivational status (e.g. attack warning, submission, etc.) environmental conditions
  • 6.3K
  • 31 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Blended Learning
Blended learning is an approach to education that combines online educational materials and opportunities for interaction online with traditional place-based classroom methods. It requires the physical presence of both teacher and student, with some elements of student control over time, place, path, or pace. While students still attend "brick-and-mortar" schools with a teacher present, face-to-face classroom practices are combined with computer-mediated activities regarding content and delivery. Blended learning is also used in professional development and training settings. Since blended learning is highly context-dependent, a universal conception of it is difficult. Some reports have claimed that a lack of consensus on a hard definition of blended learning has led to difficulties in research on its effectiveness. A well-cited 2013 study broadly defined blended learning as a mixture of online and in-person delivery where the online portion effectively replaces some of the face-to-face contact time rather than supplementing it. Additionally, a 2015 meta-analysis that historically looked back at a comprehensive review of evidence-based research studies around blended learning, found commonalities in defining that blended learning was "considered a combination of traditional f2f [face to face] modes of instruction with online modes of learning, drawing on technology-mediated instruction, where all participants in the learning process are separated by distance some of the time." This report also found that all of these evidence-based studies concluded that student achievement was higher in blended learning experiences when compared to either fully online or fully face-to-face learning experiences. "Blended learning" is sometimes used in the same breath as "personalized learning" and differentiated instruction.
  • 6.3K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Persuasive Technology
Persuasive technology is broadly defined as technology that is designed to change attitudes or behaviors of the users through persuasion and social influence, but not necessarily through coercion. Such technologies are regularly used in sales, diplomacy, politics, religion, military training, public health, and management, and may potentially be used in any area of human-human or human-computer interaction. Most self-identified persuasive technology research focuses on interactive, computational technologies, including desktop computers, Internet services, video games, and mobile devices, but this incorporates and builds on the results, theories, and methods of experimental psychology, rhetoric, and human-computer interaction. The design of persuasive technologies can be seen as a particular case of design with intent.
  • 6.3K
  • 28 Sep 2022
Topic Review
The White Sea
The White Sea is a small shallow semi-closed sea in the North-West of Russia. It is strongly affected by induced tides, so the tidal motion dominates in the sea. Sea ice is seasonal and the water salinity is less than in the neighbouring Barents sea due to strong river discharge. In this entry, we focus on the sources of data on the Sea.
  • 6.3K
  • 21 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Corynebacterium
Corynebacterium species are frequent constituents of the normal bacterial flora of the conjunctival sac and are common as well on human skin and mucous membranes and in the intestines.
  • 6.3K
  • 18 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Hydrometallurgy of Lithium Batteries
Spent lithium batteries can cause pollution to the soil and seriously threaten the safety and property of people. They contain valuable metals, such as cobalt and lithium, which are nonrenewable resources, and their recycling and treatment have important economic, strategic, and environmental benefits. The hydrometallurgy process uses reagents such as hydrochloric acid (HCl), nitric acid (HNO3), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), phosphoric acid (H3PO4), organic acids, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to extract and separate the cathode metals, usually operating below 100 °C, and can recover lithium in addition to the other transition metals.
  • 6.3K
  • 15 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Iranian Subsidy Reform Plan
The economy of Iran includes a lot of subsidies. The Iranian targeted subsidy plan (Persian: طرح هدفمندسازی یارانه‌ها‎), also known as the subsidy reform plan, was passed by the Iranian Parliament in 2010. The government described the subsidy plan as the "biggest surgery" to the nation's economy in half a century and "one of the most important undertakings in Iran's recent economic history". The goal of the subsidy reform plan is to replace subsidies on food and energy (80% of total) with targeted social assistance, in accordance with a Five Year Economic Development Plan and a move towards free market prices in a 5-year period. The subsidy reform plan is the most important part of a broader Iranian economic reform plan. According to the government, approximately $100 billion per year is spent on subsidizing energy prices ($45 billion for the prices of fuel alone) and many consumable goods including bread, sugar, rice, cooking oil and medicine. However, some experts believe direct subsidies are about $30 billion, depending on oil prices. The subsidy system has been inherited from the Iran–Iraq War era but was never abolished. Iran is one of the largest gasoline consumers in the world, ranking second behind the United States in consumption per car. The government subsidy reform has been years in the making, for reasons which are unclear. Iran's Supreme Leader has backed the government’s subsidy reform plan.
  • 6.3K
  • 13 Oct 2022
Topic Review
BeiDou Navigation Satellite System
The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) is a Chinese satellite navigation system. It consists of two separate satellite constellations. The first BeiDou system, officially called the BeiDou Satellite Navigation Experimental System and also known as BeiDou-1, consists of three satellites which since 2000 has offered limited coverage and navigation services, mainly for users in China and neighboring regions. Beidou-1 was decommissioned at the end of 2012. The second generation of the system, officially called the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and also known as COMPASS or BeiDou-2, became operational in China in December 2011 with a partial constellation of 10 satellites in orbit. Since December 2012, it has been offering services to customers in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2015, China started the build-up of the third generation BeiDou system (BeiDou-3) in the global coverage constellation. The first BDS-3 satellite was launched on 30 March 2015. As of January 2018, nine BeiDou-3 satellites have been launched. BeiDou-3 will eventually consist of 35 satellites and is expected to provide global services upon completion in 2020. When fully completed, BeiDou will provide an alternative global navigation satellite system to the United States owned Global Positioning System (GPS), and is expected to be more accurate than the GPS. It was claimed in 2016 that BeiDou-3 will reach millimeter-level accuracy (with post-processing), which is ten times more accurate than the finest level of GPS. According to China Daily, in 2015, fifteen years after the satellite system was launched, it was generating a turnover of $31.5 billion per annum for major companies such as China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, AutoNavi Holdings Ltd, and China North Industries Group Corp.
  • 6.3K
  • 29 Nov 2022
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