Subject:
All Disciplines Arts & Humanities Biology & Life Sciences Business & Economics Chemistry & Materials Science Computer Science & Mathematics Engineering Environmental & Earth Sciences Medicine & Pharmacology Physical Sciences Public Health & Healthcare Social Sciences
Sort:
Hottest Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Type:
All Topic Review Biography
Topic Review
‘Cow Signs’ in Assessing the Quality of Nutrition
Cow signs are behavioral, physiological, and management parameters that can be observed and measured. Cow signs can be used as a field approach to evaluate the composition of the ration, the quality of rumen fermentation, the quality of digestion, and the general herd health of cattle of interest. This research of cow signs associated with nutrition provides farm advisors, consultants, nutritionists, practitioners, and dairy farmers with an additional toolkit that can be used to improve the assessment of the quality of dairy cattle nutrition. ‘Cow signs’ are not to be used alone as a sole tool for assessment of the quality or nutrition of dairy cows. Some of the ‘cow signs’ are incorporated in precision technologies on many dairy farms and are extensively used in the assessment of dairy cow welfare, health, and nutrition. 
  • 966
  • 08 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Pulse Root Ideotype
Pulses root ideotype is a conceptual root system architecture for pulse plants. This ideotype is derived from root traits that have been documented to be beneficial under soil and climate constraints, in particular, the temperate dryland cropping systems. 
  • 966
  • 19 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Beta2-Microglobulin
Beta2-microglobulin (B2M) is a key component of major histocompatibility complex class I molecules, which aid cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) immune response. B2M also plays an important role in innate defense and does not only function as an adjuvant for CTL response. 
  • 966
  • 26 Jul 2021
Biography
Robert Pohl
Robert Wichard Pohl (10 August 1884 – 5 June 1976) was a German physicist at the University of Göttingen. Nevill Francis Mott described him as the "father of solid state physics". Göttingen, City Cemetery: The gravestone of Prof. Robert Wichard Pohl and his father-in-law, Prof. Otto Wilhelm Madelung, as well as their wives, Tussa Madelung Pohl and Ottilie Franziska Madelung, and t
  • 966
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Mediterranean Diet, a Sustainable Cultural Asset
The Mediterranean diet is a dietary pattern and associated lifestyle that adopts mainly plant foods. The Mediterranean diet (MD) has been acknowledged by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity since 2013, a candidacy involving seven countries in the area, including Portugal, aiming to safeguard the MD in its multiple dimensions. The corresponding food system is recognized as healthy and sustainable by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and by the World Health Organization (WHO), inspiring dietary guidelines around the world. The current entry examines the sustainability and resilience of the Mediterranean dietary food pattern, using the Portuguese as a case study to examine the feasibility of prospective composite indicators in assessing the sustainability of diets and food systems. Information extracted from reports and official statistics was used to assess a set of proposed metrics. Although information to fulfil most metrics was found, some data gaps were identified, highlighting the need to improve existing metrics. The current work highlights the role of science and policy in transforming four key areas of human–nature interaction: use of natural resources, food systems, production and consumption, and cities’ sustainability. Since sustainable production and consumption (SGD 12) is key to the UN’s 2030 agenda, it is important to analyze to what extent the dissemination of the Mediterranean diet among the population can be a way to achieve this goal.
  • 966
  • 14 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Plant Biosensors
This entry provides an overview of the available biosensors for following plant immune response, reported uses of more than one biosensor in the same chassis, biosensors applied to crops, and challenges of their use in plants.
  • 965
  • 29 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Fibroblast Growth Factor-23
Fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23) appears to be one of the most promising biomarkers and predictors of cardiovascular risk in patients with heart disease and normal kidney function, but moreover in those with chronic kidney disease (CKD).
  • 965
  • 31 May 2021
Topic Review
Domestication in the Neotropics
Charles Darwin used domestication as a metaphor for natural selection because everyone is familiar with the term. Since Darwin, domestication has become a major topic of research, both to help understand evolution, as Darwin did, and to understand how human societies came to dominate the world, which also interested Darwin. However, Darwin did not define the term, which has allowed students of domestication, such as geneticists, archaeologists and others, to tailor their definitions to their own objectives. Even our grammar influences the way we interpret simple phrases about domestication ( p. xiv), as we tend to put ourselves, as individuals or the human collective, in charge. As Darwin pointed out, however, the long history of human interaction with plants and animals that resulted in the domestication of some of them was influenced more by unconscious selection than conscious selection. Only when considering the latter type of selection, which Darwin called methodical selection, can we affirm that humans are in charge, and even then unintended consequences are common. Nonetheless, especially when used in studies to understand how humans came to dominate the world, definitions often assume that humans are in control, which is unlikely at the beginning of human interactions with plants and animals. As pointed out by Dolores Piperno and Deborah Pearsall ( p. 6), clear definitions of concepts are extremely important when discussing domestication and the food production systems in which many domesticates are grown or raised. Melinda Zeder reviewed a set of definitions to highlight their differences and theoretical frameworks, and emphasized that definitions for plants and animals are often quite different. Clement et al. prepared a short list of definitions for plant domestication since Zeder. Full definitions can help identify nuances that place human culture within Nature, as occurs in most Neotropical ontologies, rather than outside, which is typical of ideas of being in charge. We think that returning to a dictionary is also an appropriate exercise to explore definitions, especially as the definitions in Zeder and Clement et al. were designed by their authors to meet their own objectives, the majority of which are associated with identifying changes in morphology or genetics that prove that human selection resulted in a response. We will use the 1989 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), whose first edition was being researched and published at the same time that Darwin was writing. The verb domesticate comes from the Latin domesticäre – to dwell in a house, to accustom. The house is the center of the domus, the Latin root of domesticäre. The OED definitions include: “1.a. To make, or settle as, a member of a household; to cause to be at home; to naturalize. 1.b. To make to be or to feel ‘at home’; to familiarize. 2. To make domestic; to attach to home and its duties. 3. To accustom (an animal) to live under the care and near the habitations of man; to tame or bring under control; to civilize. 4. To live familiarly or at home (with); to take up one's abode.” It follows that the noun domestication is “the action of domesticating, or the condition of being domesticated” (OED), i.e., both the process itself and the results of the process. These definitions are about humans, who domesticate each other in their houses, with their associated gardens, orchards, pastures, woodlots, agroforests, and adjacent managed forests. Hence, the house and the surrounding landscape comprise the domus , until humans started living in cities or more recently in apartments. Animals are recognized in one of the definitions as being domesticated in the domus also, and it was Darwin who included plants. From these definitions, domestication is clearly anthropocentric, i.e., it is about us humans. Note that only one definition mentions control.  What are the human behaviors involved? Two are explicit in the definitions: care (of the occupants of the domus) and duty (the tasks of caring for the domus and its occupants). Two are implicit. Selection – since humans are selective about what is brought into the domus. The fact that selection is implicit, rather than explicit, may be why Darwin adopted domestication as his metaphor for natural selection. Accumulation – as people and animals are brought into the domus, both from nearby (familiarize) and far away (naturalize). As Darwin recognized, humans like variety, which can be seen in most gardens and even more clearly in swiddens. The definitions above are about both organisms (humans, animals, plants) and the domus. Most current definitions of domestication concentrate one behavior (selection), but care and accumulation are just as important.
  • 965
  • 04 Mar 2021
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Pandemic Prevention: Lessons from COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which appeared in late 2019, generating a pandemic crisis with high numbers of COVID-19-related infected individuals and deaths in manifold countries worldwide. Lessons learned from COVID-19 can be used to prevent pandemic threats by designing strategies to support different policy responses, not limited to the health system, directed to reduce the risks of the emergence of novel viral agents, the diffusion of infectious diseases and negative impact in society.
  • 922
  • 18 Apr 2022
Biography
Mildred Dresselhaus
Mildred Dresselhaus[1] (née Spiewak; November 11, 1930 – February 20, 2017),[2] known as the "queen of carbon science",[3] was the first female Institute Professor and professor emerita of physics and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[4] Dresselhaus won numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, the Enrico Fer
  • 965
  • 29 Nov 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 1814
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Books

>>
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of COVID-19
Encyclopedia of Fungi
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Video Production Service
Feedback