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Topic Review
Islam in Albania (1913–1944)
Islam in Albania (1913–1944) was characterised by an increasing secularisation of Albanian society which had begun with Albanian Independence in 1912 carrying on influences from the Albanian National Awakening. During the interwar period, new local Muslim institutions such as the Muslim Community of Albania arose that severed ties with the Ottoman Caliphate and placed a focus on localising Islam in Albania. The Albanian state also played a significant role in that process through state interference and pressuring the uptake of reforms by those institutions and wider Muslim society. Measures that were adopted were banning the veil and others which were interpreted as modernising Albania. These events caused tensions within parts of Muslim society between conservatives and those who viewed themselves as progressives which caused discussions and reflections about the future role of Islam in Albania and Albanian identity. The interwar era also saw Sufi Islam expand in Albania with various orders gaining new adherents with the largest, the Bektashi Order moving its world headquarters to Albania.
  • 5.1K
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Xenobiotic Pollution and Its Impact on the Environment
In the industrial revolution and urbanization era, the global environment’s poisoning by a complex mixture of xenobiotics has become a major environmental threat worldwide. Xenobiotic contaminants such as azodyes, phenolics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), halogenated compounds, personal care products (PCPs), pharmaceuticals’ active compounds (PhACs), pesticides, nitroaromatic compounds, triazines, and chlorinated compounds adversely affect the environment by their long-term persistence and slow or no biodegradation in the ecosystems. Xenobiotic pollution of the environment is a global concern caused by anthropogenic activities such as urbanization and population expansion. The enormous amounts of harmful compounds released into the environment result in widespread ecosystem contamination. Prominent substances such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metal ions, pesticides, fertilizers, and oil derivatives are found in soil, sediment, and water. 
  • 5.1K
  • 07 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Ivermectin during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Ivermectin (IVM) is a broad-spectrum antiparasitic agent, developed and funded by Merck & Co. in 1974 to control and eradicate onchocerciasis caused by the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus in West Africa, which in the 1980s infected approximately 340,000 people. At the time, Africa did not have the resources necessary to seek treatments for this condition. The avermectins, of which IVM is a member, were discovered by Professor Satoshi Ōmura as fermentation products of the bacterium Streptomyces avermitilis at the Kitasato Institute in Tokyo. For this discovery, he received the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, which he shared with William Campbell. IVM is used to treat onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, strongyloidiasis and scabies, and, very recently, has been used to combat lice. The drug’s low cost, high efficacy, safety, and marked tropism for helminths, as well as the fact that it has almost no impact on human biochemistry, have led to the inclusion of IVM in the twentieth list of essential medicines and sixth list of vital medicines in children, a recommendation made by the expert committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019. The safety profile is attributed to its selective affinity for ion channels.
  • 5.1K
  • 22 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Dot-Com Bubble
The dot-com bubble (also known as the dot-com boom, the tech bubble, and the Internet bubble) was a historic economic bubble and period of excessive speculation that occurred roughly from 1995 to 2000, a period of extreme growth in the usage and adaptation of the Internet. The Nasdaq Composite stock market index, which included many Internet-based companies, peaked in value on March 10, 2000 before crashing. The burst of the bubble, known as the dot-com crash, lasted from March 11, 2000 to October 9, 2002. During the crash, many online shopping companies, such as Pets.com, Webvan, and Boo.com, as well as communication companies, such as Worldcom, NorthPoint Communications and Global Crossing failed and shut down. Others, such as Cisco, whose stock declined by 86%, and Qualcomm, lost a large portion of their market capitalization but survived, and some companies, such as eBay and Amazon.com, declined in value but recovered quickly.
  • 5.1K
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Product Distribution
A product distribution is a probability distribution constructed as the distribution of the product of random variables having two other known distributions. Given two statistically independent random variables X and Y, the distribution of the random variable Z that is formed as the product is a product distribution.
  • 5.1K
  • 11 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Dinosaur Behavior
Dinosaur behavior is difficult for paleontologists to study since much of paleontology is dependent solely on the physical remains of ancient life. However, trace fossils and paleopathology can give insight into dinosaur behavior. Interpretations of dinosaur behavior are generally based on the pose of body fossils and their habitat, computer simulations of their biomechanics, and comparisons with modern animals in similar ecological niches. As such, the current understanding of dinosaur behavior relies on speculation, and will likely remain controversial for the foreseeable future. However, there is general agreement that some behaviors which are common in crocodiles and birds, dinosaurs' closest living relatives, were also common among dinosaurs. Gregarious behavior was common in many dinosaur species. Dinosaurs may have congregated in herds for defense, for migratory purposes, or to provide protection for their young. There is evidence that many types of dinosaurs, including various theropods, sauropods, ankylosaurians, ornithopods, and ceratopsians, formed aggregations of immature individuals. Nests and eggs have been found for most major groups of dinosaurs, and it appears likely that dinosaurs communicated with their young, in a manner similar to modern birds and crocodiles. The crests and frills of some dinosaurs, like the marginocephalians, theropods and lambeosaurines, may have been too fragile to be used for active defense, and so they were likely used for sexual or aggressive displays, though little is known about dinosaur mating and territorialism. Most dinosaurs seem to have relied on land-based locomotion. A good understanding of how dinosaurs moved on the ground is key to models of dinosaur behavior; the science of biomechanics, in particular, has provided significant insight in this area. For example, studies of the forces exerted by muscles and gravity on dinosaurs' skeletal structure have investigated how fast dinosaurs could run, whether diplodocids could create sonic booms via whip-like tail snapping, and whether sauropods could float.
  • 5.1K
  • 31 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Anthropomorphism on Dog Emotions and Behavior
Anthropomorphism is defined as the tendency to attribute human forms, behaviors, and emotions to non-human animals or objects. Anthropomorphism is particularly relevant for companion animals. Some anthropomorphic practices can be beneficial to them, whilst others can be very detrimental. Some anthropomorphic behaviors compromise the welfare and physiology of animals by interfering with thermoregulation, while others can produce dehydration due to the loss of body water, a condition that brings undesirable consequences such as high compensatory blood pressure and heat shock, even death, depending on the intensity and frequency of an animal’s exposure to these stressors.
  • 5.1K
  • 05 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Building Restoration
Building Restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation and historic preservation. It emphasizes the preservation of structures such as historic sites, houses, monuments, and other significant properties through careful maintenance and upkeep. Restoration aims to create accurate depictions of these locations and protect them against deterioration that could make them inaccessible or unrecognizable in the future.
  • 5.1K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
FN Baby Browning
The 1931 Fabrique Nationale ("FN") Baby Browning Pistol is a small blowback-operated semi-automatic pistol designed by Belgium-born Dieudonné Saive chambered in .25 ACP (6,35mm). The pistol features a six-round magazine capacity and is a striker-fired, single action, blow back mechanism. The manual thumb operated safety locks the slide in the closed position when engaged using side thumb pressure.
  • 5.1K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Limit Point
In mathematics, a limit point (or cluster point or accumulation point) of a set [math]\displaystyle{ S }[/math] in a topological space [math]\displaystyle{ X }[/math] is a point [math]\displaystyle{ x }[/math] that can be "approximated" by points of [math]\displaystyle{ S }[/math] in the sense that every neighbourhood of [math]\displaystyle{ x }[/math] with respect to the topology on [math]\displaystyle{ X }[/math] also contains a point of [math]\displaystyle{ S }[/math] other than [math]\displaystyle{ x }[/math] itself. A limit point of a set [math]\displaystyle{ S }[/math] does not itself have to be an element of [math]\displaystyle{ S. }[/math] There is also a closely related concept for sequences. A cluster point or accumulation point of a sequence [math]\displaystyle{ (x_n)_{n \in \mathbb{N}} }[/math] in a topological space [math]\displaystyle{ X }[/math] is a point [math]\displaystyle{ x }[/math] such that, for every neighbourhood [math]\displaystyle{ V }[/math] of [math]\displaystyle{ x, }[/math] there are infinitely many natural numbers [math]\displaystyle{ n }[/math] such that [math]\displaystyle{ x_n \in V. }[/math] This definition of a cluster or accumulation point of a sequence generalizes to nets and filters. In contrast to sets, for a sequence, net, or filter, the term "limit point" is not synonymous with a "cluster/accumulation point"; by definition, the similarly named notion of a limit point of a filter (respectively, a limit point of a sequence, a limit point of a net) refers to a point that the filter converges to (respectively, the sequence converges to, the net converges to). The limit points of a set should not be confused with adherent points for which every neighbourhood of [math]\displaystyle{ x }[/math] contains a point of [math]\displaystyle{ S }[/math]. Unlike for limit points, this point of [math]\displaystyle{ S }[/math] may be [math]\displaystyle{ x }[/math] itself. A limit point can be characterized as an adherent point that is not an isolated point. Limit points of a set should also not be confused with boundary points. For example, [math]\displaystyle{ 0 }[/math] is a boundary point (but not a limit point) of set [math]\displaystyle{ \{ 0 \} }[/math] in [math]\displaystyle{ \R }[/math] with standard topology. However, [math]\displaystyle{ 0.5 }[/math] is a limit point (though not a boundary point) of interval [math]\displaystyle{ [0, 1] }[/math] in [math]\displaystyle{ \R }[/math] with standard topology (for a less trivial example of a limit point, see the first caption). This concept profitably generalizes the notion of a limit and is the underpinning of concepts such as closed set and topological closure. Indeed, a set is closed if and only if it contains all of its limit points, and the topological closure operation can be thought of as an operation that enriches a set by uniting it with its limit points.
  • 5.1K
  • 25 Oct 2022
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