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Topic Review
NS320xx
The NS32000, sometimes known as the 32k, is a series of microprocessors produced by National Semiconductor. The first member of the family, the 32016, came to market in 1982, making it the first 32-bit general-purpose microprocessor on the market. However, the 32016 contained a large number of bugs and often could not be run at its rated speed. These problems, and the presence of the similar Motorola 68000, led to almost no use in the market. Several improved versions followed, including 1985's 32032 which was essentially a bug-fixed 32016 with an external 32-bit data bus possible due to improvements in chip carriers that were becoming common in the market. However, it offered only about 50% better speed than the 32016, and was outperformed by the 32-bit Motorola 68020, released a year prior. The 32532, released in 1987, outperformed the competing Motorola 68030 by almost two times, but by this time most interest in microprocessors had turned to RISC platforms and this otherwise excellent design saw almost no use as well. National was working on further improvements in the 32732, but eventually gave up attempting to compete in the central processing unit (CPU) space. Instead, the basic 32000 architecture was combined with several support systems and relaunched as the Swordfish microcontroller. This had some success in the market before it was replaced by the CompactRISC architecture in mid-1990s.
  • 1.4K
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Global Research Trends in Odonata during 2012-2021
Among the aquatic insect orders, Odonata have stood out because of their high habitat specificity and well-resolved taxonomy. The increase in ecological studies on Odonata may reflect the dynamic characteristics of this order, and its relatively well-defined systematics, especially in the case of adults. Despite the increased number of publications in the the Web of Science (WoS) database, there are still many spatial gaps (e.g., poorly studied regions/countries), and gaps in study focus, such as basic biology (e.g., life cycle, anatomy, physiology, habitat), biogeography, parasitism, competition within and between species, evolutionary and phylogenetic relationships, and Odonata eggs. This demonstrates that some areas are seriously neglected.
  • 1.4K
  • 16 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Oxidative Stress and Minimal and Mild Endometriosis-Related Infertility
Oxidative stress (OS) plays an important role in a variety of physiological and pathological processes of the female reproductive system.The relationship between OS and endometriosis has been of particular interest, and a theory has been suggested that OS may be a cause of endometriosis development. 
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  • 06 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Digital Escape Rooms in STEM Education
The traditional lecture-based model of teaching and learning has led to the exploration of innovative approaches including digital escape rooms. Digital escape rooms offer an immersive and engaging experience that promotes critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork, making them a unique opportunity to address the challenges of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, which is often perceived as difficult, boring, and intimidating.
  • 1.4K
  • 26 May 2023
Topic Review
Carbon Sequestration as a Climate Change Mitigation Strategy
Agriculture is the second-highest, after energy use, source of greenhouse gas emissions, which are released from soils and animal digestion processes and as a result of energy consumption at various stages of agricultural production. However, changes in the management of agricultural systems may mitigate the negative impact of this sector on the atmosphere and climate. Carbon farming, which focuses on carbon sequestration, is closely linked to soil quality. Carbon converted to organic form in the soil stimulates the activity of soil enzymes, promotes the growth of beneficial microorganisms and improves chemical and physicochemical properties, including pH, sorption capacity and water retention.
  • 1.4K
  • 13 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Fucoidan-Derived Functional Oligosaccharides
Oligosaccharides derived from natural resources are attracting increasing attention as both food and nutraceutical products because of their beneficial health effects and lack of toxicity. New interest has emerged in fucoidan, partially hydrolysed into fuco-oligosaccharides (FOSs) or low-molecular weight fucoidan, owing to their superior solubility and biological activities compared with fucoidan. There is considerable interest in their development for use in the functional food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. 
  • 1.4K
  • 21 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Cognitive Diagnosis Models
In the field of education, cognitive diagnosis is crucial for achieving personalized learning. The widely adopted DINA (Deterministic Inputs, Noisy And gate) model uncovers students’ mastery of essential skills necessary to answer questions correctly. However, existing DINA-based approaches overlook the dependency between knowledge points, and their model training process is computationally inefficient for large datasets.
  • 1.4K
  • 12 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Surface Defect Detection and Identification Methods on Leather
Genuine leather manufacturing is a multibillion-dollar industry that processes animal hides from varying types of animals such as sheep, alligator, goat, ostrich, crocodile, and cow. Due to the industry’s immense scale, there may be numerous unavoidable causes of damages, leading to surface defects that occur during both the manufacturing process and the bovine’s own lifespan. Owing to the heterogenous and manifold nature of leather surface characteristics, great difficulties can arise during the visual inspection of raw materials by human inspectors. To mitigate the industry’s challenges in the quality control process, there is a growing interest in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision techniques for automated and accurate leather surface defect detection.
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  • 21 Aug 2023
Topic Review
PET Radiotracers for CNS-Adrenergic Receptors
Epinephrine (E) and norepinephrine (NE) play diverse roles in our body’s physiology. In addition to their role in the peripheral nervous system (PNS), E/NE systems including their receptors are critical to the central nervous system (CNS) and to mental health.
  • 1.4K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Dendrimers in Biomedicine
Biomedicine represents one of the main study areas for dendrimers, which have proven to be valuable both in diagnostics and therapy, due to their capacity for improving solubility, absorption, bioavailability and targeted distribution. Molecular cytotoxicity constitutes a limiting characteristic, especially for cationic and higher-generation dendrimers. Antineoplastic research of dendrimers has been widely developed, and several types of poly(amidoamine) and poly(propylene imine) dendrimer complexes with doxorubicin, paclitaxel, imatinib, sunitinib, cisplatin, melphalan and methotrexate have shown an improvement in comparison with the drug molecule alone. The anti-inflammatory therapy focused on dendrimer complexes of ibuprofen, indomethacin, piroxicam, ketoprofen and diflunisal. In the context of the development of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, dendrimer complexes of fluoroquinolones, macrolides, beta-lactamines and aminoglycosides have shown promising effects. Regarding antiviral therapy, studies have been performed to develop dendrimer conjugates with tenofovir, maraviroc, zidovudine, oseltamivir and acyclovir, among others. Furthermore, cardiovascular therapy has strongly addressed dendrimers. Employed in imaging diagnostics, dendrimers reduce the dosage required to obtain images, thus improving the efficiency of radioisotopes. Dendrimers are macromolecular structures with multiple advantages that can suffer modifications depending on the chemical nature of the drug that has to be transported. The results obtained so far encourage the pursuit of new studies.
  • 1.4K
  • 11 Sep 2020
Topic Review
Plant Mitochondria: Fusion and Fission
Plant mitochondria have large genomes to house a small number of key genes. Most mitochondria do not contain a whole genome. To maintain the mitochondrial genes, so important for energy production, the fusion and fission of mitochondria is critical. The dynamin related proteins DRP 3A and 3B drive the fission process. Fusion is less well understood but the MIRO2 gene appears to have a significant role. Massive mitochondrial fusion and subsequent fission prior to flowering, in the enlarging zygote and at germination aids genome repair, conservation of critical genes and may give an energy boost to key stages of the life cycle.
  • 1.4K
  • 31 May 2021
Topic Review
Mitochondrial Metal Ion Transport
The homeostasis of mitochondrial metal ions plays an important role in maintaining mitochondria and cell functions and regulating multiple diseases. In particular, channels and transporters for transporting mitochondrial metal ions are very critical, which can be used as potential targets to treat neurodegeneration, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and other metabolic diseases. This review summarizes the current research on several types of mitochondrial metal ion channels/transporters and their functions in cell metabolism and diseases, providing strong evidence and therapeutic strategies for further insights into related diseases.
  • 1.4K
  • 23 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Fully Implanted Hearing Systems
The ear and brain work together in the hearing process. Sound energy in the audible frequency range (20 Hz–20 kHz) propagates through air medium as an acoustical mechanical wave which enters from the outer ear towards the middle ear to vibrate the eardrum. 
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  • 02 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Ceratozamia aurantiaca (Zamiaceae)
Ceratozamia aurantiaca, a new cycad species from Oaxaca, Mexico, is endemic to lowland karst tropical rainforests of the northern mountains (Sierra Norte region).
  • 1.4K
  • 28 Sep 2021
Topic Review
A Complex Disease: Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a complex disease often driven by activating mutations or amplification of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene, which expresses a transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinase. Targeted anti-EGFR treatments include small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), among which gefitinib and erlotinib are the best studied, and their function more often imaged. TKIs block EGFR activation, inducing apoptosis in cancer cells addicted to EGFR signals. 
  • 1.4K
  • 28 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Extraction of Tea Polysaccharides
Tea polysaccharide (TPS) is the second most abundant ingredient in tea following tea polyphenols. As a complex polysaccharide, TPS has a complex chemical structure and a variety of bioactivities, such as anti-oxidation, hypoglycemia, hypolipidemic, immune regulation, and anti-tumor. Additionally, it shows excellent development and application prospects in food, cosmetics, and medical and health care products. 
  • 1.4K
  • 21 Jul 2022
Topic Review
FreeTrack
FreeTrack is a general-purpose optical motion tracking application for Microsoft Windows, released under the GNU General Public License, that can be used with common inexpensive cameras. Its primary focus is head tracking with uses in virtual reality, simulation, video games, 3D modeling, computer aided design and general hands-free computing to improve computer accessibility. Tracking can be made sensitive enough that only small head movements are required so that the user's eyes never leave the screen. A camera is positioned to observe a rigid point model worn by the user, the points of which need to be isolated from background light by means of physical and software filtering. Motion is tracked with up to six degrees of freedom (6DOF): yaw, pitch, roll, left/right, up/down and forward/back. Windows-compatible video devices like webcams are supported, as well as special Nintendo Wii Remote camera, iPhone Truedepth camera with Eyeware Beam, and NaturalPoint cameras (TrackIR, SmartNav and OptiTrack). FreeTrack can output head-tracking data to programs directly using its own open interface, as well as TrackIR, SimConnect and FSUIPC interfaces. Programs that support these interfaces are regarded as being FreeTrack-compatible. FreeTrack can also emulate mouse, keyboard, and joystick (via PPJoy) if a program does not support a direct interface. FreeTrack is coded in Delphi 7 and uses DirectShow and DirectX. Head tracking is achieved using implementations of DeMenthon's four-point iterative pose estimation algorithm (POSIT) and Alter's three point geometric algorithm.
  • 1.4K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Payment Protection Insurance in the United Kingdom
Payment protection insurance (PPI), also known as credit insurance, credit protection insurance, or loan repayment insurance, is an insurance product that enables consumers to ensure repayment of credit if the borrower dies, becomes ill or disabled, loses a job, or faces other circumstances that may prevent them from earning income to service the debt. It is not to be confused with income protection insurance, which is not specific to a debt but covers any income. PPI was widely sold by banks and other credit providers as an add-on to the loan or overdraft product. PPI usually covers payments for a finite period (typically 12 months). For loans or mortgages this may be the entire monthly payment, for credit cards it is typically the minimum monthly payment. After this point the borrower must find other means to repay the debt, although some policies repay the debt in full if you are unable to return to work or are diagnosed with a critical illness. The period covered by insurance is typically long enough for most people to start working again and earn enough to service their debt. PPI is different from other types of insurance such as home insurance, in that it can be quite difficult to determine if it is right for a person or not. Careful assessment of what would happen if a person became unemployed would need to be considered, as payments in lieu of notice (for example) may render a claim ineligible despite the insured person being genuinely unemployed. In this case, the approach taken by PPI insurers is consistent with that taken by the Benefits Agency in respect of unemployment benefits. Most PPI policies are not sought out by consumers. In some cases, consumers claim to be unaware that they even have the insurance. In sales connected to loans, products were often promoted by commission based telesales departments. Fear of losing the loan was exploited, as the product was effectively cited as an element of underwriting. Any attention to suitability was likely to be minimal, if it existed at all. In all types of insurance some claims are accepted and some are rejected. Notably, in the case of PPI, the number of rejected claims is high compared to other types of insurance. In the rare cases where the customer is not prompted or pushed towards a policy, but seek it out, may have little recourse if and when a policy does not benefit them. As PPI is designed to cover repayments on loans and credit cards, most loan and credit card companies sell the product at the same time as they sell the credit product. By May 2008, 20 million PPI policies existed in the UK with a further increase of 7 million policies a year being purchased thereafter. Surveys show that 40% of policyholders claim to be unaware that they had a policy.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010} "PPI was mis-sold and complaints about it mishandled on an industrial scale for well over a decade." with this mis-selling being carried out by not only the banks or providers, but also by third party brokers. The sale of such policies was typically encouraged by large commissions, as the insurance would commonly make the bank/provider more money than the interest on the original loan, such that many mainstream personal loan providers made little or no profit on the loans themselves; all or almost all profit was derived from PPI commission and profit share. Certain companies developed sales scripts which guided salespeople to say only that the loan was “protected” without mentioning the nature or cost of the insurance. When challenged by the customer, they sometimes incorrectly stated that this insurance improved the borrower's chances of getting the loan or that it was mandatory. A consumer in financial difficulty is unlikely to further question the policy and risk the loan being refused. Several high-profile companies have now been fined by the Financial Conduct Authority for the widespread mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Clydesdale Bank Plc (Clydesdale) £20,678,300 for serious failings in its Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) complaint handling processes between May 2011 and July 2013. This is the largest ever fine imposed by the FCA for failings relating to PPI. Clydesdale agreed to settle at an early stage of the FCA’s investigation and therefore qualified for at 30% stage 1 discount. Were it not for this the FCA would have imposed a financial penalty of £29,540,500.Alliance and Leicester were fined £7m for their part in the mis-selling controversy, several others including Capital One, HFC and Egg were fined up to £1.1m. Claims against mis-sold PPI have been slowly increasing, and may approach the levels seen during the 2006-07 period, when thousands of bank customers made claims relating to allegedly unfair bank charges. In their 2009/2010 annual report, the Financial Ombudsman Service stated that 30% of new cases referred to payment protection insurance. A customer who purchases a PPI policy may initiate a claim for mis-sold PPI by complaining to the bank, lender, or broker who sold the policy. Slightly before that, on 6 April 2011, the Competition Commission released their investigation order designed to prevent mis-selling in the future. Key rules in the order, designed to enable the customer to shop around and make an informed decision, include: provision of adequate information when selling payment protection and providing a personal quote; obligation to provide an annual review; prohibition of selling payment protection at the same time the credit agreement is entered into. Most rules came into force in October 2011, with some following in April 2012. The Central Bank of Ireland in April 2014 was described as having "arbitrarily excluded the majority of consumers" from getting compensation for mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance, by setting a cutoff date of 2007 when it introduced its Consumer Protection Code. UK banks provided over £22bn for PPI misselling costs – which, if scaled on a pro-rata basis, is many multiples of the compensation the Irish banks were asked to repay. The offending banks were also not fined which was in sharp contrast to the regime imposed on UK banks. Lawyers were appalled at the "reckless" advice the Irish Central Bank gave consumers who were missold PPI policies, which "will play into the hands of the financial institution."
  • 1.4K
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Petya (Malware)
Petya is a family of encrypting malware that was first discovered in 2016. The malware targets Microsoft Windows–based systems, infecting the master boot record to execute a payload that encrypts a hard drive's file system table and prevents Windows from booting. It subsequently demands that the user make a payment in Bitcoin in order to regain access to the system. The Petya malware had infected millions of people during its first year of its release. The maker of the Petya malware was arrested and fined.[citation needed] Variants of Petya were first seen in March 2016, which propagated via infected e-mail attachments. In June 2017, a new variant of Petya was used for a global cyberattack, primarily targeting Ukraine . The new variant propagates via the EternalBlue exploit, which is generally believed to have been developed by the United States . National Security Agency (NSA), and was used earlier in the year by the WannaCry ransomware. Kaspersky Lab referred to this new version as NotPetya to distinguish it from the 2016 variants, due to these differences in operation. In addition, although it purports to be ransomware, this variant was modified so that it is unable to actually revert its own changes. The NotPetya attacks have been blamed on the Russian government, specifically the Sandworm hacking group within the GRU Russian military intelligence organization, by security researchers, Google, and several governments.
  • 1.4K
  • 17 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Cough Medicine
Cough medicines are medications used in those with coughing and related conditions. There is, however, no good evidence that over-the-counter cough medications reduce coughing. While they are used by 10% of American children in any given week, they are not recommended in Canada and the United States in children 6 years or younger because of lack of evidence showing effect and concerns of harm.
  • 1.4K
  • 21 Nov 2022
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