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HandWiki is the world's largest wiki-style encyclopedia dedicated to science, technology and computing. It allows you to create and edit articles as long as you have external citations and login account. In addition, this is a content management environment that can be used for collaborative editing of original scholarly content, such as books, manuals, monographs and tutorials.

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Collectivism
Collectivism is a cultural value that is characterized by emphasis on cohesiveness among individuals and prioritization of the group over self. Individuals or groups that subscribe to a collectivistic worldview tend to find common values and goals as particularly salient and demonstrate greater orientation toward in-group than toward out-group. The term “in-group” is thought to be more diffusely defined for collectivistic individuals to include societal units ranging from the nuclear family to a religious or racial/ethnic group. Meta-analytic findings support that collectivism shows a consistent association with discrete values, interpersonal patterns of interaction, cognition, perception and self-construal. Collectivism is often discussed alongside the cultural value of individualism, but these are two distinct concepts and are not considered to be opposites.
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  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
AI Control Problem
In artificial intelligence (AI) and philosophy, the AI control problem is the issue of how to build AI systems such that they will aid their creators, and avoid inadvertently building systems that will harm their creators. One particular concern is that humanity will have to solve the control problem before a superintelligent AI system is created, as a poorly designed superintelligence might rationally decide to seize control over its environment and refuse to permit its creators to modify it after launch. In addition, some scholars argue that solutions to the control problem, alongside other advances in AI safety engineering, might also find applications in existing non-superintelligent AI. Major approaches to the control problem include alignment, which aims to align AI goal systems with human values, and capability control, which aims to reduce an AI system's capacity to harm humans or gain control. Capability control proposals are generally not considered reliable or sufficient to solve the control problem, but rather as potentially valuable supplements to alignment efforts.
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  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Democracy and the Common Wealth
Democracy and the Common Wealth: Breaking the Stranglehold of the Special Interests is a 2010 book by urban designer, policy analyst and artist Michael E. Arth. Arth attempts to expose what he calls the "dirty secrets" of America's electoral system, and provides a list of solutions that he believes will result in a "truly representative democracy." This democracy would be led by effective, trustworthy leaders, who would be elected by a majority, and who would not have to spend their time raising campaign funds, or catering to paid lobbyists. It also tells the story of the first year of Florida's 2010 gubernatorial race, from his point of view as an outsider, lacking in personal wealth or party backing. In the main text, and in the postscript, Arth writes about how he became an independent candidate for governor after being "frozen out" of the "undemocratic" Florida Democratic Party for not having millions of dollars, and for suggesting that campaigns be about issues instead of money. The first edition of the book has 480 pages including 72 illustrations and charts and was first published in both e-book and print in May 2010. The e-book version also includes a postscript about the BP Oil Spill and energy policy, and a section on Arth’s switch to No Party Affiliation.
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  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Spontaneous Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak
A spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leak (sCSF leak) is a cerebrospinal fluid leak – a leak of cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord from the protective dural sac for no apparent reason. The dura mater is the tough, outermost of layer of the meninges, the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. A spontaneous CSF leak, arises idiopathically, and is opposed to traumatically caused CSF leaks. It is one of several types of cerebrospinal fluid leaks caused by one or more holes in the dura. A loss of CSF greater than its rate of production leads to a decreased volume inside the skull known as intracranial hypotension. Any CSF leak is most often characterized by orthostatic headaches, which worsen when standing, and improve when lying down. Other symptoms can include neck pain or stiffness, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, fatigue, and a metallic taste in the mouth. A CT scan can identify the site of a cerebrospinal fluid leakage. Once identified, the leak can often be repaired by an epidural blood patch, an injection of the patient's own blood at the site of the leak, a fibrin glue injection, or surgery. The set of symptoms associated with a sCSF leak is referred to as a spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leak syndrome (SCSFLS). A sCSF leak is rare, affecting five out of every 100,000 people. On average, the condition develops at age 42, and women are twice as likely to be affected. Some people with a sCSF leak have a chronic leak of cerebrospinal fluid despite repeated patching attempts, leading to long-term disability due to pain. SCSFLS was first described by German neurologist Georg Schaltenbrand in 1938 and by American neurologist Henry Woltman of the Mayo Clinic in the 1950s.
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  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
(ε, δ)-Definition of Limit
In calculus, the (ε, δ)-definition of limit ("epsilon–delta definition of limit") is a formalization of the notion of limit. The concept is due to Augustin-Louis Cauchy, who never gave a formal (ε, δ) definition of limit in his Cours d'Analyse, but occasionally used ε, δ arguments in proofs. It was first given as a formal definition by Bernard Bolzano in 1817, and the definitive modern statement was ultimately provided by Karl Weierstrass. It provides rigor to the following informal notion: the dependent expression f(x) approaches the value L as the variable x approaches the value c if f(x) can be made as close as desired to L by taking x sufficiently close to c.
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  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
WISDOM Project
The WISDOM Project is a bilateral research project between Germany and Vietnam, focusing on the creation of a Water related Information System for the Mekong Delta. Initiated by the Vietnamese and the German Government it was started in the year 2007, and is planned to continue until the year 2013. Water-related Information System for the sustainable Development of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam
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  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Space Shuttle Launch Countdown
The launch of Space Shuttle missions was governed by a countdown. Two clocks were maintained, the unofficial, but sometimes mentioned, L (launch) clock represented the time remaining before the scheduled launch in real time, and the more often referred to T (test) clock included several built-in holds where additional verifications were made. Built-in holds were extended if mission parameters allowed for additional checks or to correct issues. Launches of the Space Shuttle to the International Space Station did not allow for holds to be extended due to the launch window which was limited to no more than 10 minutes due to the 90 minute orbit period of the station and speed of Earth's rotation (913.6 miles per hour (1,470.3 km/h) at the Kennedy Space Center), which puts the launch pads 1,000 miles (1,600 km) east of the station on its next orbit.
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  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Levitated Dipole Experiment
The Levitated Dipole Experiment (LDX) was an experiment investigating the generation of fusion power using the concept of a levitated dipole. The device was the first of its kind to test the levitated dipole concept and was funded by the US Department of Energy. The machine was also part of a collaboration between the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center and Columbia University, where another levitated dipole experiment, the Collisionless Terrella Experiment (CTX), was located. LDX ceased operations in November 2011 when its funding from the Department of Energy ended as resources were being diverted to tokamak research.
  • 1.6K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Usury
Usury (/ˈjuːʒəri/) is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning, taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is charged in excess of the maximum rate that is allowed by law. A loan may be considered usurious because of excessive or abusive interest rates or other factors defined by a nation's laws. Someone who practices usury can be called a usurer, but in contemporary English may be called a loan shark. In many historical societies including ancient Christian, Jewish, and many modern Islamic societies, usury meant the charging of interest of any kind and was considered wrong, or was made illegal. During the Sutra period in India (7th to 2nd centuries BC) there were laws prohibiting the highest castes from practicing usury. Similar condemnations are found in religious texts from Buddhism, Judaism (ribbit in Hebrew), Christianity, and Islam (riba in Arabic). At times, many nations from ancient Greece to ancient Rome have outlawed loans with any interest. Though the Roman Empire eventually allowed loans with carefully restricted interest rates, the Catholic Church in medieval Europe, as well as the Reformed Churches, regarded the charging of interest at any rate as sinful (as well as charging a fee for the use of money, such as at a bureau de change). Religious prohibitions on usury are predicated upon the belief that charging interest on a loan is a sin.
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  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Cooperative Federalism (Economics)
Cooperative federalism is a school of thought in the field of cooperative economics. Historically, its proponents have included J.T.W. Mitchell, Charles Gide, Paul Lambert, and Beatrice Webb (who coined the term in her book The Co-operative Movement in Great Britain).
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