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Topic Review
Foams and Emulsions
Foams and emulsions are collections of different kinds of bubbles or drops with particular properties. They provide exceptional sensitive bases for measuring low concentrations of molecules down to the level of traces using spectroscopy techniques, thus opening new horizons in microfluidics. The optical and spectral properties of foams and emulsions provide information about their micro-/nanostructures, chemical and time stability, and molecular data of their components. 
  • 6.1K
  • 19 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Shape of Dog's Nasal Cavity and Smell
Modern dogs are the most morphologically diverse group of mammals. Numerous studies have shown that dogs and their olfactory abilities are of great importance to humans. It was found that the changes within the skull have had a significant impact on the structure of the initial sections of the respiratory system, including the turbinates of the nasal passages. Congenital defects, defined as brachycephalic syndrome, are currently a significant problem in dog breeding as they can affect animal welfare and even lead to death.
  • 6.1K
  • 19 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Deforestation and Global Warming
Deforestation is a primary contributor to climate change. Land use changes, especially in the form of deforestation, are the second largest anthropogenic source of atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions, after fossil fuel combustion. Greenhouse gases are emitted during combustion of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon. Global models and national greenhouse gas inventories give similar results for deforestation emissions. Although deforestation and peatland degradation are only about 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions (As of 2019), growing forests are also a carbon sink with additional potential to mitigate the effects of climate change. Some of the effects of climate change, such as more wildfires, may increase deforestation. Deforestation comes in many forms: wildfire, agricultural clearcutting, livestock ranching, and logging for timber, among others. The vast majority of agricultural activity resulting in deforestation is subsidized by government tax revenue. Forests cover 31% of the land area on Earth and annually 75,700 square kilometers (18.7 million acres) of the forest is lost. Mass deforestation continues to threaten tropical forests, their biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. The main area of concern of deforestation is in tropical rain forests since they are home to the majority of the planet's biodiversity.
  • 6.1K
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Insulated Cross-Arm Technology
High-voltage transmission technology has advanced quickly with the overall development and increased use of renewable energy. More demands on the insulating system are made when high-voltage power systems evolve. One of the significant factors is the sharp rise in population density, which led to the high demand for electricity. Right-of-way infringement is a problem that frequently occurs these days. Transmission is done over a rated capacity; as a result, the transmission line heats up, the insulation ages, and the electric field becomes distorted. The insulating system is prone to fail too soon when the operating voltage inverses or when there is a significant temperature differential.
  • 6.1K
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Starch-Based Biodegradable Films for Food Packaging
The use of biodegradable packaging material as an alternative to conventional petrochemical-based polymers is based on the environmental issues associated with conventional materials. Starch-based biodegradable films can be applied in food packaging. It was evident that starch stands out among biopolymers due to its abundance and cost effectiveness.
  • 6.1K
  • 07 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Structure-Based Approach in Drug Design
Structure-based drug design (SBDD) is the computational approach that relies on knowledge of 3D structures of the biological targets to identify or design the potential chemical structure suitable for clinical tests. With the explosion of genomic, functional, and structural information in recent decades, the majority of biological targets with 3D structure have been identified and stimulated the applications of structure-based approaches in the current design pipeline. SBDD is popular for virtual screening to filter the drug-like compounds from a large library of small molecules, including widely applied approaches, such as docking and structure-based pharmacophore design. 
  • 6.1K
  • 24 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychology is an integration of science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment, clinical formulation, and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. In many countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession. The field is generally considered to have begun in 1896 with the opening of the first psychological clinic at the University of Pennsylvania by Lightner Witmer. In the first half of the 20th century, clinical psychology was focused on psychological assessment, with little attention given to treatment. This changed after the 1940s when World War II resulted in the need for a large increase in the number of trained clinicians. Since that time, three main educational models have developed in the USA—the Ph.D. Clinical Science model (heavily focused on research), the Ph.D. science-practitioner model (integrating scientific research and practice), and the Psy.D. practitioner-scholar model (focusing on clinical theory and practice). In the UK and the Republic of Ireland, the Clinical Psychology Doctorate falls between the latter two of these models, whilst in much of mainland Europe, the training is at the masters level and predominantly psychotherapeutic. Clinical psychologists are expert in providing psychotherapy, and generally train within four primary theoretical orientations—psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and systems or family therapy. Clinical psychology is distinguished from psychiatry. Although practitioners in both fields are mental health professionals, clinical psychologists treat mental disorders through talk therapy and have a doctorate in Psychology or a Doctor of Psychology degree but cannot prescribe medicine. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who treat mental disorders through medication and have a medical degree. Five states, Louisiana, New Mexico, Illinois, Iowa, and Idaho, allow clinical psychologists to prescribe certain medications with completion of medical training, whereas most states only allow psychiatrists to prescribe medicine.
  • 6.1K
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt
Fear, uncertainty and doubt (often shortened to FUD) is a disinformation strategy used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics, cults, and propaganda. FUD is generally a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or false information and a manifestation of the appeal to fear. While the phrase dates to at least the early 20th century, the present common usage of disinformation related to software, hardware and technology industries generally appeared in the 1970s to describe disinformation in the computer hardware industry, and has since been used more broadly.
  • 6.1K
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Isosceles Triangle
In geometry, an isosceles triangle (/aɪˈsɒsəliːz/) is a triangle that has at least two sides of equal length. Sometimes it is specified as having exactly two sides of equal length, and sometimes as having at least two sides of equal length, the latter version thus including the equilateral triangle as a special case. Examples of isosceles triangles include the isosceles right triangle, the golden triangle, and the faces of bipyramids and certain Catalan solids. The mathematical study of isosceles triangles dates back to ancient Egyptian mathematics and Babylonian mathematics. Isosceles triangles have been used as decoration from even earlier times, and appear frequently in architecture and design, for instance in the pediments and gables of buildings. The two equal sides are called the legs and the third side is called the base of the triangle. The other dimensions of the triangle, such as its height, area, and perimeter, can be calculated by simple formulas from the lengths of the legs and base. Every isosceles triangle has an axis of symmetry along the perpendicular bisector of its base. The two angles opposite the legs are equal and are always acute, so the classification of the triangle as acute, right, or obtuse depends only on the angle between its two legs.
  • 6.1K
  • 07 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Disinformation
Disinformation is false or misleading information that is spread deliberately to deceive. This is a subset of misinformation, which may also be unintentional. The English word disinformation is a loan translation of the Russian dezinformatsiya, derived from the title of a KGB black propaganda department. Joseph Stalin coined the term, giving it a French-sounding name to claim it had a Western origin. Russian use began with a "special disinformation office" in 1923. Disinformation was defined in Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1952) as "false information with the intention to deceive public opinion". Operation INFEKTION was a Soviet disinformation campaign to influence opinion that the U.S. invented AIDS. The U.S. did not actively counter disinformation until 1980, when a fake document reported that the U.S. supported apartheid. The word disinformation did not appear in English dictionaries until the late-1980s. English use increased in 1986, after revelations that the Reagan Administration engaged in disinformation against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. By 1990, it was pervasive in U.S. politics; and by 2001 referred generally to lying and propaganda.
  • 6.1K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Adhan
The adhan, athan, or azaan (Arabic: أَذَان [ʔaˈðaːn]) (also called in Turkish: Ezan) is the Islamic call to worship, recited by the muezzin at prescribed times of the day. The root of the word is ʾadhina أَذِنَ meaning "to listen, to hear, be informed about". Another derivative of this word is ʾudhun (أُذُن), meaning "ear". Adhan is called out by a muezzin from the mosque five times a day, traditionally from the minaret, summoning Muslims for mandatory (fard) worship (salat). A second call, known as iqama, (set up) then summons Muslims to line up for the beginning of the prayers. The main purpose behind the multiple loud pronouncements of adhan in every mosque is to make available to everyone an easily intelligible summary of Islamic belief. In modern times, loudspeakers have been installed on minarets for this purpose. The adhan recites the Takbir (God is great) followed by the Shahada (There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God). This statement of faith, called the Kalimah, is the first of the Five Pillars of Islam.
  • 6.1K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Premature Termination Codons
Premature termination codons (PTCs) are stop codons arising from nonsense variants converting a sense codon into a termination signal, i.e. UAA, UAG or UGA. PTCs arising from mutations may, at low frequency, be misrecognized and result in PTC suppression, named ribosome readthrough, with production of full-length proteins through the insertion of a subset of amino acids. Since some drugs have been identified as readthrough inducers, this fidelity drawback has been explored as a therapeutic approach in several models of human diseases caused by nonsense mutations.
  • 6.1K
  • 23 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Chinese Alchemy
Chinese alchemy is an ancient Chinese scientific and technological approach to alchemy, a part of the larger tradition of Taoist body-spirit cultivation developed from the traditional Chinese understanding of medicine and the body. According to original texts such as the Cantong qi, the body is understood as the focus of cosmological processes summarized in the five agents, or wu xing, the observation and cultivation of which leads the practitioner into greater alignment with the operation of the Tao, the great cosmological principle of everything. Therefore, the traditional view in China is that alchemy focuses mainly on the purification of one's spirit and body in the hopes of gaining immortality through the practice of Qigong and/or consumption and use of various concoctions known as alchemical medicines or elixirs, each of which having different purposes. Pao zhi (Pao chi) cites the pharmacological processing (of Chinese materia medica) as used in the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine, such as honey or wine frying and roasting with toxic metals such as mercury, lead, and arsenic. According to J.C. Cooper's Chinese Alchemy: The Taoist Quest for Immortality, Taoism had two distinct parts, the classical Tao Chia, which was mystical and stemmed primarily from Laozi and Zhuangzi, and the more popular Tao Chiao, which was the popular, magical and alchemical side of Taoism. Cooper states that a common viewpoint is that "classical Taoism [Daoism] was the original but was too austere and rarefied for the general populace ... [but] Tao Chiao fulfilled the day-to-day needs of the people."
  • 6.1K
  • 16 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Polycaprolactone-Based Biocomposites
The developments within the topic of biomaterials has taken hold of researchers due to the mounting concern of current environmental pollution as well as scarcity resources. Amongst all compatible biomaterials, polycaprolactone (PCL) is deemed to be a great potential biomaterial, especially to the tissue engineering sector, due to its advantages, including its biocompatibility and low bioactivity exhibition. The commercialization of PCL is deemed as infant technology despite of all its advantages. This contributed to the disadvantages of PCL, including expensive, toxic, and complex.
  • 6.1K
  • 10 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Style (Sociolinguistics)
In sociolinguistics, a style is a set of linguistic variants with specific social meanings. In this context, social meanings can include group membership, personal attributes, or beliefs. Linguistic variation is at the heart of the concept of linguistic style—without variation there is no basis for distinguishing social meanings. Variation can occur syntactically, lexically, and phonologically. Many approaches to interpreting and defining style incorporate the concepts of indexicality, indexical order, stance-taking, and linguistic ideology. Note that a style is not a fixed attribute of a speaker. Rather, a speaker may use different styles depending on context. Additionally, speakers often incorporate elements of multiple styles into their speech, either consciously or subconsciously, thereby creating a new style.
  • 6.1K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Thorium-Based Nuclear Power
Thorium-based nuclear power generation is fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium. A thorium fuel cycle can offer several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle [Note 1] —including much greater abundance of thorium found on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced nuclear waste production. One advantage of thorium fuel is its low weaponization potential; it is difficult to weaponize the uranium-233/232 and plutonium-238 isotopes largely consumed in thorium reactors. Between 1999 and , the number of operational thorium reactors in the world has risen from zero, to a handful of research reactors, to commercial plans for producing full-scale thorium-based reactors for use as power plants on a national scale. Some believe thorium is key to developing a new generation of cleaner, safer nuclear power. In 2011 a group of scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology assessed thorium-based power as "a 1000+ year solution or a quality low-carbon bridge to truly sustainable energy sources solving a huge portion of mankind’s negative environmental impact." However, development of thorium power has significant start-up costs. Development of breeder reactors in general (including thorium reactors, which are breeders by nature) will increase proliferation concerns. After studying the feasibility of using thorium, nuclear scientists Ralph W. Moir and Edward Teller suggested that thorium nuclear research should be restarted after a three-decade shutdown and that a small prototype plant should be built.
  • 6.1K
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
BMW 6 Series (E24)
The BMW E24 is the first generation of BMW 6 Series grand tourer coupes and was produced from January 1976 to April 1989. It replaced the E9 coupes and was, after a 16-year hiatus, succeeded by the E63 6 Series in 2004. The E24 was produced solely in a 2-door coupe body style. Aside from the M635CSi/M6 models, the E24 was powered by a range of M30 straight-6 engines. The M635CSi is the first of the BMW M6 model line and is the second true "M car" produced after the BMW M1. The M635CSi is powered by the M88/3 straight-6 engine. In North America, the vehicle is badged simply as "M6" and is powered by the detuned S38 straight-6 engine, which has a lower compression ratio and uses a catalytic converter. Although the 8 Series was released as production of the E24 was ending, the 8 Series is considered a separate model line and therefore not a true successor to the E24.
  • 6.1K
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Maitum Anthropomorphic Pottery
In 1991, the National Museum archaeological team discovered anthropomorphic secondary burial jars in Ayub Cave, Barangay Pinol, Maitum, Sarangani Province, Mindanao, Philippines. The jars are commonly known today as Maitum jars. They are made of earthenware, and are characterized by their design that suggests human figures with complete or partial facial features of the first inhabitants in Mindanao. Furthermore, they give emphasis to the Filipinos’ popular belief of life after death. According to Dr. Eusebio Dizon, head of the archaeological team, this type of burial jars are “remarkably unique and intriguing” because they have not been found elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Thus, many archaeologists from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Indonesia gained interest on this initial find and a number of archaeological - either government or privately sponsored - excavations have been conducted to recover these artifacts. These jars have characteristics that belong to the Developed Metal Age Period in the Philippines [calibrated date of 190 BC to 500 AD]. According to the laboratory results determined through radiocarbon dating, these secondary burial jars date back to the Metal Age. Two conventional dates were 1830 +/-60 B.P. [calibrated date of AD 70 to 370] and 1920 +/- 50 B.P. [calibrated date of 5 BC to 225 AD]. Experts used soot samples taken from the walls of a small earthenware vessel found inside one of the larger burial jars.
  • 6.1K
  • 12 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Roadside Unit Deployment in Internet of Vehicles Systems
The network technology known as Internet of Vehicles (IoV) has been developed to improve road safety and vehicle security, with the goal of servicing the digital demands of car drivers and passengers. The highly dynamical network topology that characterizes these networks, and which often leads to discontinuous transmissions, is one of the most significant challenges of IoV. To address this issue, IoV infrastructure-based components known as roadside units (RSU) are designed to play a critical role by providing continuous transmission coverage and permanent connectivity. The main challenges that arise when deploying RSUs are balancing IoVs’ performances and total cost so that optimal vehicle service coverage is provided with respect to some target Quality of Service (QoS) such as: service coverage, throughput, low latency, or energy consumption.
  • 6.1K
  • 05 May 2022
Topic Review
Angry Black Woman
The angry black woman stereotype is a trope in American society that portrays African-American women as sassy, ill-mannered, and ill-tempered by nature. Related concepts are the "sapphire" or "sassy black woman". Scholars Dionne Bennett and Marcyliena Morgan suggest that the stereotype is less studied than the mammy and Jezebel archetypes because researchers accept it as true. Carolyn West defines the Angry Black Woman as one variety of a Sapphire stereotype (another category listed is "Sistas with Attitude"). West defines the pervasive "Sapphire/ABW image" as "a template for portraying almost all Black women" and as serving several purposes. West sees it as "passion and righteous indignation... often misread as irrational anger... used to silence and shame Black women who dare to challenge social inequalities, complain about their circumstances, or demand fair treatment (Harris-Perry, 2011). Defined by Pilgrim (2015), "it is a social control mechanism that is employed to punish black women who violate the societal norms that encourage them to be passive, servile, nonthreatening, and unseen" (p. 121). It has been characterized as leading to a form of double bind.
  • 6.1K
  • 11 Nov 2022
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