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Topic Review
Life Cycle Assessment of State-of-the-Art Steel Production Routes
Using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, the impacts of the primary steel production via the blast furnace route and the scrap-based secondary steel production via the electric arc furance (EAF) route are assessed. Methodological as well as technical differences are analysed and their impacts on the results.
  • 1.5K
  • 08 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Potential Challenges to Agronomic Biofortification
Agronomic biofortification is the strategy to enhance the micronutrient contents in the edible parts of food crops through the application of mineral fertilizers. Agronomic biofortification can enrich crops with multiple elements, but the most common ones are Fe, Se, Zn, and I. It may be a suitable approach to reach resource-poor rural populations, provided they have access to chemical fertilizers. Soil-to-plant transfer and the accumulation of minerals in the edible portion of food crops determine the success of biofortification. In addition, the bioavailability of minerals from biofortified crops in the body influences the effectiveness of biofortification programs.
  • 1.5K
  • 07 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Portable Analytical Instruments in Mineral Exploration Studies
The classic approach to mineral exploration studies was to bring the field samples/drill cores collected during field studies to the laboratory, followed by laborious analysis procedures to generate the analytical data. This is very expensive, time-consuming, and difficult for exploring vast areas. However, rapid technological advances in field-portable analytical instruments, such as portable visible and near-infrared spectrophotometers, gamma-ray spectrometer, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometers (pXRF), portable X-ray diffractometers (pXRD), portable laser-induced breakdown spectrometers (pLIBS), and µRaman spectrometer, have changed this scenario completely and increased their on-site applications in mineral exploration studies. LED fluorimeter is a potential portable tool in the hydrogeochemical prospecting studies of uranium. These instruments are currently providing direct, rapid, on-site, real-time, non-destructive, cost-effective identification, and determination of target elements, indicator minerals and pathfinder elements in rock, ore, soil, sediment, and water samples. These portable analytical instruments are currently helping to obtain accurate chemical and mineralogical information directly in the field with minimal or no sample preparation and providing decision-making support during fieldwork, as well as during drilling operations in several successful mineral exploration programs. 
  • 1.5K
  • 08 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Green Taxes in Africa
Environmental or green taxation has been increasingly seen as a productive economic instrument to generate incentives to stimulate more environmentally friendly consumption and production choices and trends. Growing attention to environmental challenges such as the lack of optimum, effective, and responsible usage of natural resources, health concerns from the use of some energy resources, environmental degradation, and climate change have driven the implementation of green taxes. These taxes have been used by various countries, regions and continents on variegated areas and driven by an array of motives. The African continent has also put in place environmental taxes as evidenced in various countries.
  • 1.5K
  • 28 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Rodrigues
Rodrigues (French: Île Rodrigues [il ʁɔdʁiɡ]; Creole: Rodrig) is a 108 km2 (42 sq mi) autonomous outer island of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, about 560 km (350 mi) east of Mauritius. It is part of the Mascarene Islands, which include Mauritius and Réunion. Rodrigues is of volcanic origin and is surrounded by coral reef, and some tiny uninhabited islands lie just off its coast. The island used to be the tenth District of Mauritius; it gained autonomous status on 10 December 2002, and it is governed by the Rodrigues Regional Assembly. The capital of the island is Port Mathurin. Its inhabitants are Mauritian citizens. (As of 2014), the island's population was about 41,669, according to Statistics Mauritius. Most of the inhabitants are of African descent. Its economy is based mainly on fishing, farming, handicraft and a developing tourism sector. The island (together with Agaléga and Saint Brandon) forms part of the larger territory of the Republic of Mauritius with the President as head of state and the Chief Commissioner as head of government.
  • 1.5K
  • 11 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Varangian Guard
The Varangian Guard (Greek: Τάγμα τῶν Βαράγγων, Tágma tōn Varángōn) was an elite unit of the Byzantine Army, from the 10th to the 14th centuries, whose members served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine Emperors. They are known for being primarily composed of Germanic peoples, specifically Norsemen from modern day Sweden (the Guard was formed approximately 200 years into the Viking Age) and Anglo-Saxons (after the Norman Conquest of England created an Anglo-Saxon diaspora, part of which found employment in Constantinople). The Rus' provided the earliest members of the Varangian Guard. They were in Byzantine service from as early as 874. The Guard was first formally constituted under Emperor Basil II in 988, following the Christianization of Kievan Rus' by Vladimir I of Kiev. Vladimir, who had recently usurped power in Kiev with an army of Varangian warriors, sent 6,000 men to Basil as part of a military assistance agreement. Basil's distrust of the native Byzantine guardsmen, whose loyalties often shifted, with fatal consequences, as well as the proven loyalty of the Varangians, many of whom had previously served in Byzantium, led the Emperor to employ them as his personal guardsmen. Immigrants from Sweden, Denmark , Norway and Iceland kept a predominantly Norse cast to the organization until the late 11th century. According to the late Swedish historian Alf Henrikson in his book Svensk Historia (History of Sweden), the Scandinavian Varangian guardsmen were recognized by long hair, a red ruby set in the left ear and ornamented dragons sewn on their chainmail shirts. In these years, Scandinavian men left to enlist in the Byzantine Varangian Guard in such numbers that a medieval Swedish law, Västergötlagen, from Västergötland declared no one could inherit while staying in "Greece"—the then Scandinavian term for the Byzantine Empire—to stop the emigration, especially as two other European courts simultaneously also recruited Scandinavians: Kievan Rus' c. 980–1060 and London 1018–1066 (the Þingalið). Composed primarily of Norsemen and Rus for the first 100 years, the Guard began to see increased numbers of Anglo-Saxons after the Norman conquest of England. By the time of the Emperor Alexios Komnenos in the late 11th century, the Varangian Guard was largely recruited from Anglo-Saxons and "others who had suffered at the hands of the Vikings and their cousins the Normans". The Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic peoples shared with the Vikings a tradition of faithful (to death if necessary) oath-bound service, and the Norman invasion of England resulted in many fighting men who had lost their lands and former masters and were looking for positions elsewhere. The Varangian Guard not only provided security for the Byzantine emperors, but also participated in many wars, often playing a decisive role, since they were usually deployed at critical moments of a battle. By the late 13th century, Varangians were mostly ethnically assimilated by the Byzantine Greeks, though the Guard remained in existence until at least mid-14th century. In 1400, there were still some people identifying themselves as "Varangians" in Constantinople.
  • 1.5K
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Hunga Tonga
Template:Infobox Island Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai is a volcanic island located about 30 kilometres (19 miles) south-southeast of Fonuafoʻou island in Tonga. The volcano is part of the highly active Tonga-Kermadec Islands volcanic arc, a subduction zone extending from New Zealand north-northeast to Fiji. It lies about 100 kilometres (62 mi) above a very active seismic zone. The island arc is formed at the convergent boundary where the Pacific Plate subducts under the Indo-Australian Plate.
  • 1.5K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Thallium
Thallium, as a pharmaceutical cosmetic product, is applied for facial hair removal and fungal infections of the scalp. Thallium acetate is currently used as a catalyst in organic synthesis in the oxidation of olefins and hydrocarbons, and in epoxidation and polymerization reactions. Detection of Tl is a challenging task because its concentration in environmental samples may be at a nanogram per gram level or lower.
  • 1.5K
  • 23 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Application of GIS in Agriculture
GIS technology application in agriculture has gained prominence. The main GIS application areas identified included: crop yield estimation, soil fertility assessment, cropping patterns monitoring, drought assessment, pest and crop disease detection and management, precision agriculture, and fertilizer and weed management. GIS technology has the potential to enhance agriculture sustainability by integrating the spatial dimension of agriculture into agriculture policies. In addition, GIS's potential in promoting evidence-informed decision-making is growing. There is, however, a big gap in GIS application in sub-Saharan Africa. With the growing threat of climate change to agriculture and food security, there is an increased need for the integration of GIS in policy and decision-making in improving agriculture sustainability.
  • 1.5K
  • 09 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Prosopis Species in South Africa
The infestation of invasive plants such as Prosopis species does not only affect the groundwater levels but also threatens the grazing capacity and species richness of most of the semi-arid areas around South Africa. Though Prosopis is invasive, it is however of good nutritive value and can serve as an alternative source of protein and minerals for livestock during the dry season. Bush encroachment by browsable invasive species can be controlled through biological methods by using organisms such as livestock. 
  • 1.5K
  • 30 Jul 2021
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