Topic Review
The Swampland Distance Conjecture
The Swampland Distance Conjecture (SDC) is one of the most studied and well-established Swampland Conjetures, and it introduces an omnipresent feature in effective field theories (EFTs) of quantum gravity, namely the appearance of infinite towers of states that become light an imply a breakdown of the EFT in the infinite distance limits in moduli space. In this entry we present the conjecture, a simple example and some comments on relations to other conjectures.
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  • 18 Aug 2021
Topic Review
The Structure and Evolution of Stars
Generally speaking, stars consist of three regimes: a core, an envelope, and an atmosphere from which the light emerges. Depending on the stellar mass and the evolutionary stage, cores and envelopes can be either radiative or convective. These regions define the (dominant) form of energy transport, but their physical definition and the interface between them represent a large source of uncertainty in stellar structure theory. Whilst stellar atmospheres are key messengers of astronomical information, they are also physical laboratories of radiation pressure leading to radiation-driven winds for high-mass stars and chemical mixing and transport phenomena such as radiative levitation in hot low-mass stars, which is where heavy elements with large cross-sections can gain momentum by absorbing photons from outflowing radiation.
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  • 25 Oct 2023
Topic Review
The Structural and Optical Properties of Carotenoid Compounds
Carotenoid compounds are ubiquitous in nature, providing the characteristic colouring of many algae, bacteria, fruits and vegetables. They are a critical component of the human diet and play a key role in human nutrition, health and disease. 
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  • 09 Jan 2023
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
The Second Quantum Revolution: Unexplored Facts and Latest News
The Second Quantum Revolution refers to a contemporary wave of advancements and breakthroughs in the field of quantum physics that extends beyond the early developments of Quantum Mechanics that occurred in the 20th century. One crucial aspect of this revolution is the deeper exploration and practical application of quantum entanglement. Entanglement serves as a cornerstone in the ongoing revolution, contributing to quantum computing, communication, fundamental physics experiments, and advanced sensing technologies. Here, we present and discuss some of the recent applications of entanglement, exploring its philosophical implications and non-locality beyond Bell’s theorem, thereby critically examining the foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Additionally, we propose educational activities that introduce high school students to Quantum Mechanics by emphasizing entanglement as an essential concept to understand in order to become informed participants in the Second Quantum Revolution. Furthermore, we present the state-of-art developments of a largely unexplored and promising realization of real qubits, namely the molecular spin qubits. We review the available and suggested device architectures to host and use molecular spins. Moreover, we summarize the experimental findings on solid-state spin qubit devices based on magnetic molecules. Finally, we discuss how the Second Quantum Revolution might significantly transform law enforcement by offering specific examples and methodologies to address the evolving challenges in public safety and security.
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  • 02 Apr 2024
Topic Review
The Role of Probiotics in Skin Health
By regulating skin health and gut–skin axis interactions, probiotics can be used as potential management tools to suppress and improve skin diseases in multiple ways, including decreasing oxidative stress, suppressing inflammatory responses, and keeping immune effects.
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  • 24 Jul 2023
Topic Review
The Resistive Barrier Discharge
Plasma generated by the resistive barrier discharge has been used to efficiently inactivate pathogenic microorganisms and to destroy cancer cells. These biomedical applications of low temperature plasma are of great interest because in recent times bacteria developed increased resistance to antibiotics and because present cancer therapies often are accompanied by serious side effects. Low temperature plasma, such the one generated by the resistive barrier discharge, is a technology that can help overcome these healthcare challenges.
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  • 08 Feb 2021
Topic Review
The PRESAGE Radiochromic Polymer Dosimeter
Advances in radiotherapy technology and techniques have allowed a highly conformal radiation to be delivered to the tumor target inside the body for cancer treatment. A three-dimensional (3D) dosimetry system is required to verify the accuracy of the complex treatment delivery. A 3D dosimeter based on the radiochromic response of a polymer towards ionising radiation has been introduced as the PRESAGE dosimeter. The polyurethane dosimeter matrix is combined with a leuco-dye and a free radical initiator, whose colour changes in proportion to the radiation dose. PRESAGE overcomes the limitations of its predecessors, the Fricke gel and the polymer gel dosimeters, which are challenging to fabricate and read out, sensitive to oxygen, and sensitive to diffusion. The formulation of PRESAGE shows a delicate balance between the number of radical initiators, metal compounds, and catalysts to achieve stability, optimal sensitivity, and water equivalency. 
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  • 22 Jul 2022
Topic Review
The Physics of Flows in a Curved Channel
Microchannels with curved geometries have been employed for many applications in microfluidic devices in the past decades. The Dean vortices generated in such geometries have been manipulated using different methods to enhance the performance of devices in applications such as mixing, droplet sorting, and particle/cell separation. Understanding the effect of the manipulation method on the Dean vortices in different geometries can provide crucial information to be employed in designing high-efficiency microfluidic devices.
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  • 25 Dec 2023
Topic Review
The Phase Field Approach
The phase field approach was developed in the last 20 years to handle radiation damage in materials. This approach bridges the gap between atomistic simulations extensively used to model first step of radiation damage at short time and continuum approach at large time. The main advantage of such an approach lies in its ability to compute not only the microstructure at the nanometric scale but also to calculate generalized susceptibilities such as elastic constants under irradiation.
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  • 05 May 2022
Topic Review
The Nitrogen Bond
The nitrogen bond in chemical systems occurs when there is evidence of a net attractive interaction between the electrophilic region associated with a covalently or coordinately bound nitrogen atom in a molecular entity and a nucleophile in another, or the same molecular entity. It is the first member of the family of pnictogen bonds formed by the first atom of the pnictogen family, Group 15, of the periodic table, and is an inter- or intra-molecular non-covalent interaction.
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  • 25 Mar 2022
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