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Topic Review
Backbone Chain
In polymer science, the backbone chain of a polymer is the longest series of covalently bonded atoms that together create the continuous chain of the molecule. This science is subdivided into the study of organic polymers, which consist of a carbon backbone, and inorganic polymers which have backbones containing only main group elements. In biochemistry, organic backbone chains make up the primary structure of macromolecules. The backbones of these biological macromolecules consist of central chains of covalently bonded atoms. The characteristics and order of the monomer residues in the backbone make a map for the complex structure of biological polymers (see Biomolecular structure). The backbone is, therefore, directly related to biological molecules’ function. The macromolecules within the body can be divided into four main subcategories, each of which are involved in very different and important biological processes: proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. Each of these molecules has a different backbone and consists of different monomers each with distinctive residues and functionalities. This is the driving factor of their different structures and functions in the body. Although lipids have a "backbone," they are not true biological polymers as their backbone is a three carbon molecule, glycerol, with longer substituent "side chains." For this reason, only proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids should be considered as biological macromolecules with polymeric backbones.
  • 2.4K
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Characteristics, Impacts and Trends of Urban Transportation
Economic growth, urban development and the prosperity of the automobile industry have driven a huge shift in global urban transportation from walking to public transportation and then to automobiles. Private mobility has become an important part of residents’ daily trips. Cities, especially automobile-dependent cities, face a variety of negative impacts such as increased commuting distances, higher congestion costs, traffic accidents, traffic pollution including climate change, etc. Therefore, how to balance the relationship between people’s growing demand for private motorization with the development of urbanization, modernization and motorization and the huge economic, social and environmental costs brought about by them, so as to realize the sustainable development of cities and transportation, is the main problem facing cities around the world. The entry focuses on trends in the sustainable development of urban transportation such as restrictions in private car ownership and use, electrification of urban transportation, intelligent transportation systems (including shared mobility, customized buses and Mobility as a Service/MaaS) and transit-oriented development (TOD). China, as the largest global automobile producer and consumer, represents and leads the growth and evolution of other emerging countries.
  • 2.4K
  • 15 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Cultural Divide
A cultural divide is "a boundary in society that separates communities whose social economic structures, opportunities for success, conventions, styles, are so different that they have substantially different psychologies". A cultural divide is the virtual barrier caused by cultural differences, that hinder interactions, and harmonious exchange between people of different cultures. For example, avoiding eye contact with a superior shows deference and respect in East Asian cultures, but can be interpreted as suspicious behavior in Western cultures. Studies on cultural divide usually focus on identifying and bridging the cultural divide at different levels of society.
  • 2.4K
  • 13 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Corporate Social Responsibility and Football Clubs
On October 2020, Real Betis Balompié, a football club located in Seville (Andalucia), presented the Forever Green programme, a global programme of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that, through the club’s foundation, enables the entity to position itself in areas of sustainable development and environment at a global level. This project was preceded by a sponsorship initiative with the Green Earth project, as well as having been the first football club to sign the United Nations’ Climate Change Now initiative. 
  • 2.4K
  • 13 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Biomass Wastes Produce Carbon Dots
The fluorescent carbon dot is a novel type of carbon nanomaterial. In comparison with semiconductor quantum dots and fluorescence organic agents, it possesses significant advantages such as excellent photostability and biocompatibility, low cytotoxicity and easy surface functionalization, which endow it a wide application prospect in fields of bioimaging, chemical sensing, environmental monitoring, disease diagnosis and photocatalysis as well. Biomass waste is a good choice for the production of carbon dots owing to its abundance, wide availability, eco-friendly nature and a source of low cost renewable raw materials such as cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, carbohydrates and proteins, etc.
  • 2.4K
  • 18 Feb 2021
Topic Review
The Use of “Lifestyle” in Health Psychology
Lifestyle is a complex and often generic concept that has been used and defined in different ways in scientific research. There is no single definition of lifestyle, and various fields of knowledge have developed theories and research variables that are also distant from each other. In health psychology, the use of this concept has spread widely, especially in the preventive medicine sector, despite a definition that is not always precise and unambiguous. Indeed, it is often confused and assimilated to the health behaviours that have been defined as behavioural patterns, actions, and habits that relate to health maintenance, to health restoration and health improvement. There are two main definitions of lifestyles. The first one was formulated by the WHO, for which lifestyle is defined as “patterns of (behavioural) choices from the alternatives that are available to people according to their socio-economic circumstances and the ease with which they are able to choose certain ones over others”. The second major definition of lifestyle formulated by Cockerham is “collective patterns of health-related behaviour based on choices from options available to people according to their life chances”.
  • 2.4K
  • 09 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Ural–Altaic Languages
Ural–Altaic, Uralo-Altaic or Uraltaic is a linguistic convergence zone and former language-family proposal uniting the Uralic and the Altaic (in the narrow sense) languages. It is generally now agreed that even the Altaic languages most likely do not share a common descent: the similarities among Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic are better explained by diffusion and borrowing. The term continues to be used for the central Eurasian typological, grammatical and lexical convergence zone. Indeed, "Ural-Altaic" may be preferable to "Altaic" in this sense. For example, J. Janhunen states that "speaking of 'Altaic' instead of 'Ural-Altaic' is a misconception, for there are no areal or typological features that are specific to 'Altaic' without Uralic." Originally suggested in the 18th century, the genealogical and racial hypotheses remained debated into the mid-20th century, often with disagreements exacerbated by pan-nationalist agendas. It had many proponents in Britain. Since the 1960s, the proposed language family has been widely rejected. A relationship between the Altaic, Indo-European and Uralic families was revived in the context of the Nostratic hypothesis, which was popular for a time, with for example Allan Bomhard treating Uralic, Altaic and Indo-European as coordinate branches. However, Nostratic too is now mostly rejected.
  • 2.4K
  • 31 Oct 2022
Topic Review
SpaceX Rocket Engines
Since the founding of SpaceX in 2002, the company has developed four families of rocket engines — Merlin, Kestrel, Draco and SuperDraco — and is currently developing another rocket engine: Raptor.
  • 2.4K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Malayan Languages
The Malay or Malayan languages are a group of closely related languages spoken by Malays and related peoples across Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Southern Thailand and the far southern parts of the Philippines. They have traditionally been classified as Malay, Para-Malay, and Aboriginal Malay, but this reflects geography and ethnicity rather than a proper linguistic classification. The Malayan languages are mutually intelligible to varying extents, though the distinction between language and dialect is unclear in many cases. Para-Malay includes the Malayan languages of Sumatra. They are: Minangkabau, Central Malay (Bengkulu), Pekal, Musi (Palembang), Negeri Sembilan (Malaysia), and Duano’. Aboriginal Malay are the Malayan languages spoken by the Orang Asli (Proto-Malay) in Malaya. They are Jakun, Orang Kanaq, Orang Seletar, and Temuan. The other Malayan languages, included in neither of these groups, are associated with the expansion of the Malays across the archipelago. They include Malaccan Malay (Malaysian and Indonesian), Kedah Malay, Kedayan/Brunei Malay, Berau Malay, Bangka Malay, Jambi Malay, Kutai Malay, Loncong, Pattani Malay, and Banjarese. There are also several Malay-based creole languages, such as Betawi, Cocos Malay, Manado Malay and Sabah Malay, which may be more or less distinct from standard (Malaccan) Malay.
  • 2.4K
  • 13 Oct 2022
Topic Review
PIP2 Regulation in Cell
Phosphoinositides play a crucial role in regulating many cellular functions, such as actin dynamics, signaling, intracellular trafficking, membrane dynamics, and cell–matrix adhesion. Central to this process is phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate (PIP2). The levels of PIP2 in the membrane are rapidly altered by the activity of phosphoinositide-directed kinases and phosphatases, and it binds to dozens of different intracellular proteins. Despite the vast literature dedicated to understanding the regulation of PIP2 in cells over past 30 years, much remains to be learned about its cellular functions. Here, we focus on past and recent exciting results on different molecular mechanisms that regulate cellular functions by binding of specific proteins to PIP2 or by stabilizing phosphoinositide pools in different cellular compartments. Moreover, this review summarizes recent findings that implicate dysregulation of PIP2 in many diseases.
  • 2.4K
  • 19 Nov 2020
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