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List of Island Countries
This is a list of island countries. An island is a landmass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water. Many island countries are spread over an archipelago, as is the case with the Federated States of Micronesia and Indonesia (both of which consist of thousands of islands). Others consist of a single island, such as Barbados or Nauru, or part of an island, such as the Dominican Republic or Brunei. Australia is a continent, although it has historically been referred to as an island, due to it having no land borders. The list also includes states with limited diplomatic recognition which have de facto control over territories entirely on the islands, such as Taiwan.[n 1] Indonesia is the world's largest island country by area (1,904,569 km2), and by total number of islands (more than 18,307), and is also the world's most populous island country, with a population of over 270 million (the fourth-largest population in the world, after China , India , and the United States ).
  • 7.6K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Neutral Country
A neutral country is a state that is neutral towards belligerents in a specific war or holds itself as permanently neutral in all future conflicts (including avoiding entering into military alliances such as NATO or CSTO). As a type of non-combatant status, nationals of neutral countries enjoy protection under the law of war from belligerent actions to a greater extent than other non-combatants such as enemy civilians and prisoners of war. Different countries interpret their neutrality differently: some, such as Costa Rica, have demilitarized, while Switzerland holds to "armed neutrality", to deter aggression with a sizeable military, while barring itself from foreign deployment. Not all neutral countries avoid any foreign deployment or alliances, as Austria, Ireland, Finland and Sweden have active UN peacekeeping forces and a political alliance within the European Union. Sweden's traditional policy is not to participate in military alliances, with the intention of staying neutral in the case of war. Immediately before World War II, the Nordic countries stated their neutrality, but Sweden changed its position to that of non-belligerent at the start of the Winter War. There have been considerable changes to the interpretation of neutral conduct over the past centuries. During the Cold War, Yugoslavia claimed military and ideological neutrality, and that is continued by its successor, Serbia.
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  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Free-Space Optical Communication
Fast communication is of high importance. Recently, increased data demand and crowded radio frequency spectrum have become crucial issues. Free-Space Optical Communication (FSOC) has diametrically changed the way people exchange information. As an alternative to wire communication systems, it allows efficient voice, video, and data transmission using a medium like air. Due to its large bandwidth, FSOC can be used in various applications and has therefore become an important part of our everyday life. The main advantages of FSOC are a high speed, cost savings, compact structures, low power, energy efficiency, a maximal transfer capacity, and applicability. The rapid development of the high-speed connection technology allows one to reduce the repair downtime and gives the ability to quickly establish a backup network in an emergency. Unfortunately, FSOC is susceptible to disruption due to atmospheric conditions or direct sunlight. Here, we briefly discuss Free-Space Optical Communication from mirrors and optical telegraphs to modern wireless systems and outline the future development directions of optical communication.
  • 7.6K
  • 11 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Clouding of Consciousness
Clouding of consciousness (also known as brain fog or mental fog) is when a person is slightly less wakeful or aware than normal. They are not as aware of time or their surroundings and find it difficult to pay attention. People describe this subjective sensation as their mind being "foggy".
  • 7.6K
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
History of Wind Power
Wind power has been used as long as humans have put sails into the wind. For more than two millennia wind-powered machines have ground grain and pumped water. Wind power was widely available and not confined to the banks of fast-flowing streams, or later, requiring sources of fuel. Wind-powered pumps drained the polders of the Netherlands, and in arid regions such as the American mid-west or the Australian outback, wind pumps provided water for livestock and steam engines. With the development of electric power, wind power found new applications in lighting buildings remote from centrally-generated power. Throughout the 20th century parallel paths developed small wind plants suitable for farms or residences, and larger utility-scale wind generators that could be connected to electricity grids for remote use of power. Today wind-powered generators operate in every size range between tiny plants for battery charging at isolated residences, up to near-gigawatt sized offshore wind farms that provide electricity to national electrical networks. By 2014, over 240,000 commercial-sized wind turbines were operating in the world, producing 4% of the world's electricity.
  • 7.6K
  • 02 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Lignosulfonates
Lignosulfonates are biobased surfactants and specialty chemicals, which are usually produced as a byproduct during sulfite pulping of wood. They are the technical lignin that is, by far, the most commercially traded and are hence vital for replacing non‑renewable and fossil‑based chemicals. Due to their prominent use as plasticizers, dispersants, and stabilizers, the physicochemical properties of lignosulfonates play a key role in determining their end‑use and performance. Their chemical composition and structure are inherently linked to the characteristic behavior of lignosulfonates. This entry hence outlines the fundamental chemistry of lignosulfonates, while discussing the following physicochemical properties: · Solubility in different solvents · Conformation and shape in aqueous solution · Self-association and agglomeration in aqueous solution · Precipitation · Adsorption at surfaces and interfaces
  • 7.6K
  • 05 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Microalgae Cell Disruption Methods
Microalgae are unicellular or simple multicellular photosynthetic microorganisms, which can normally be found in aquatic environments such as freshwater, seawater, or hypersaline lakes. These organisms can be eukaryotic or prokaryotic, the latter being the cyanobacteria, which are commonly referred to as microalgae.  The nature of the cell wall of a given microalgae species can vary, making it easier or harder to access its valuable contents. The rigidity of the cell wall can be provided, for example, by high levels of polysaccharides in the cell wall structure, such as glucose and mannose, present in Chlorella zofingiensis, or by complex sugars composition such as arabinose, galactose, rhamnose, mannose and xylose, as found in Tetraselmis suecia and T. striata. Algaenan or sporopollein is another extremely resistant biopolymer, a non-hydrolyzable biopolymer, composed of long ω-hydroxy fatty acids chains linked by several types of chemical bond, which confer its rigid properties, and that can be found in some species such as Chlorella spp., Nannochloropsis galditana and Scenedesmus spp. Arthorspira spp. cell wals contain peptidoglycan, being less rigid and, consequently, more susceptible to degradation. Thus, several methods can be applied to breakdown such molecules that, being part of the cell wall, present different level of rigidity and confer them protection against environment factors. The cell wall disruption methods include physical, chemical, enzymatic approaches. In this entry, it will be presented a brief description of these methods.
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  • 29 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Fungal Metabolism
Fungi metabolism consists on a series of reactions that results in the biosynthesis of a huge number of compounds. These compounds area usually divided into primary and secondary metabolites. Primary metabolism is common to several species and usually produces compounds with the function of assuring fungi growth and development. Secondary metabolism refers to the production of compounds that are not indispensable during fungi development. Secondary metabolites are commonly referred as "natural products"  and have been extensively utilized in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industry. Fungal metabolism is an excellent source of compounds related to the improvement of human health, and a discussion on this application is presented below.
  • 7.6K
  • 18 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Shooting-Brake
Shooting-brake is a car body style which originated in the 1890s as a horse-drawn wagon used to transport shooting parties with their equipment and game. The first automotive shooting brakes were manufactured in the early 1900s in the United Kingdom. The vehicle style became popular in England during the 1920s and 1930s, and was produced by vehicle manufacturers or as conversions by coachbuilders. The term was used in Britain interchangeably with estate car from the 1930s but has not been in general use for many years and has been more or less superseded by the latter term. Since the 1960s, the term has evolved, describing cars combining elements of both station wagon and coupé body styles, with or without reference to the historical usage for shooting parties. During the 1960s and early 1970s, several high-end European manufacturers produced two-door shooting brake versions of their sports cars. Following a hiatus from the mid 1970s until the early 2010s, the shooting-brake body style entered a resurgence.
  • 7.6K
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Protein dynamics
Protein dynamics is a highly complex phenomenon comprising numerous contributions from motions with different mechanisms of action and happening with diverse timescales and amplitudes that highly depend on the system and the local environment.
  • 7.6K
  • 01 Nov 2020
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