Summary

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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Flying Disc Games
Flying disc games are games played with discs, often called by the trademarked name Frisbees. Ultimate and disc golf are sports with substantial international followings.
  • 1.6K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone Language Learning is proprietary, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) software published by Rosetta Stone Inc, part of the IXL Learning family of products. The software uses images, text, and sound to teach words and grammar by spaced repetition, without translation. Rosetta Stone calls its approach Dynamic Immersion. The software's name and logo allude to the ancient stone slab of the same name on which the Decree of Memphis is inscribed in three writing systems. IXL Learning acquired Rosetta Stone in March 2021.
  • 2.3K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Hormonal Breast Enhancement
Hormonal breast enhancement or augmentation is a highly experimental potential medical treatment for the breasts in which hormones or hormonal agents such as estrogen, progesterone, growth hormone (GH), and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) are utilized or manipulated to produce breast enlargement in women. It is a possible alternative or supplement to surgical breast augmentation with breast implants or fat transfer and other means of medical breast enlargement. In addition to pharmaceuticals, some herbal breast enlargement supplements contain phytoestrogens such as 8-prenylnaringenin (found in hops) and miroestrol (a constituent of Pueraria mirifica) and thus may be regarded as a form of hormonal breast enhancement. However, evidence of their effectiveness, as well as safety data, are lacking.
  • 20.3K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
DiamondTouch
The DiamondTouch table is a multi-touch, interactive PC interface product from Circle Twelve Inc. It is a human interface device that has the capability of allowing multiple people to interact simultaneously while identifying which person is touching where. The technology was originally developed at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) in 2001 and later licensed to Circle Twelve Inc in 2008. The DiamondTouch table is used to facilitate face-to-face collaboration, brainstorming, and decision-making, and users include construction management company Parsons Brinckerhoff, the Methodist Hospital, and the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
  • 1.5K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Cigarette Lighter Receptacle
The cigarette lighter receptacle (also called a cigar lighter receptacle or cigar lighter socket) in an automobile was initially designed to power an electrically heated cigarette lighter, but became a de facto standard DC connector to supply electrical power for portable accessories used in or near an automobile. While the cigarette lighter receptacle is a common feature of automobiles and trucks, as a DC power connector it has the disadvantages of bulkiness, relatively low current rating, and poor contact reliability. Examples of devices that can be operated from a cigarette lighter receptacle include lights, fans, beverage heating devices, and small motorized tools such as air compressors for inflating tires. Many portable electronic devices such as music players or mobile telephones use a cigarette lighter receptacle to recharge their internal batteries or to directly operate from the vehicle electrical system. Adapters for electronic devices may change voltage to be compatible with the supplied device. Devices that require alternating-current mains electricity can be operated with a plug-in inverter. Automobiles may provide several 12 V receptacles that are intended only to operate electrical accessories, and which cannot be used with a cigarette lighter. Car manufacturers may offer a cigarette lighter only as an optional extra-cost accessory. Usually, only one 12 V receptacle near the driver will be able to accommodate an actual cigarette lighter, with other receptacles designated as "12 V auxiliary power outlets" which are not physically able to power a lighter.
  • 13.2K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Rejuvenation (Aging)
Rejuvenation is the procedure of reversing the aging process, thus regaining youth. As people get older, their health worsens, strength and intelligence are thought to diminish, beauty is thought by many to go away. Historically, people in all societies have looked for a way to regain the qualities of youth. In the future however, rejuvenation may become reality through stem cells, biochemical repair or nanotechnology.
  • 815
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
False Vacuum
In quantum field theory, a false vacuum is a hypothetical vacuum that is somewhat, but not entirely, stable. It may last for a very long time in that state, and might eventually move to a more stable state. The most common suggestion of how such a change might happen is called bubble nucleation – if a small region of the universe by chance reached a more stable vacuum, this "bubble" (also called "bounce") would spread. A false vacuum exists at a local minimum of energy and is therefore not stable, in contrast to a true vacuum, which exists at a global minimum and is stable. It may be very long-lived, or metastable.
  • 4.8K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a chronic disorder of the nervous system which is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked focal seizures that originate in the temporal lobe of the brain and last about one or two minutes. TLE is the most common form of epilepsy with focal seizures. A focal seizure in the temporal lobe may spread to other areas in the brain when it may become a focal to bilateral seizure. TLE is diagnosed by taking a medical history, blood tests, and brain imaging. It can have a number of causes such as head injury, stroke, brain infections, structural lesions in the brain, or brain tumors, or it can be of unknown onset. The first line of treatment is through anticonvulsants. Surgery may be an option, especially when there is an observable abnormality in the brain. Another treatment option is electrical stimulation of the brain through an implanted device called the vagus nerve stimulator (VNS).
  • 1.5K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Cranio–lenticulo–sutural Dysplasia
Cranio–lenticulo–sutural dysplasia (CLSD, or Boyadjiev-Jabs syndrome) is a neonatal/infancy disease caused by a disorder in the 14th chromosome. It is an autosomal recessive disorder, meaning that both recessive genes must be inherited from each parent in order for the disease to manifest itself. The disease causes a significant dilation of the endoplasmic reticulum in fibroblasts of the host with CLSD. Due to the distension of the endoplasmic reticulum, export of proteins (such as collagen) from the cell is disrupted. The production of SEC23A protein is involved in the pathway of exporting collagen (the COPII pathway), but a missense mutation causes and underproduction of SEC23A which inhibits the pathway, affecting collagen secretion. This decrease in collagen secretion can lead to the bone defects that are also characteristic of the disease, such as skeletal dysplasia and under-ossification. Decreased collagen in CLSD-affected individuals contributes to improper bone formation, because collagen is a major protein in the extracellular matrix and contributes to its proper mineralization in bones. It has also been hypothesized that there are other defects in the genetic code besides SEC23A that contribute to the disorder.
  • 655
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Socialist State
A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The term communist state is often used synonymously in the West specifically when referring to one-party socialist states governed by Marxist–Leninist communist parties, despite these countries being officially socialist states in the process of building socialism. These countries never describe themselves as communist nor as having implemented a communist society. Additionally, a number of countries that are multi-party capitalist states make references to socialism in their constitutions, in most cases alluding to the building of a socialist society, naming socialism, claiming to be a socialist state, or including the term people's republic or socialist republic in their country's full name, although this does not necessarily reflect the structure and development paths of these countries' political and economic systems. Currently, these countries include Algeria, Bangladesh, Guyana, India, Nepal, Nicaragua, Portugal, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. The idea of a socialist state stems from the broader notion of state socialism, the political perspective that the working class needs to use state power and government policy to establish a socialised economic system. This may either mean a system where the means of production, distribution and exchange are nationalised or under state ownership, or simply a system in which social values or workers' interests have economic priority. However, the concept of a socialist state is mainly advocated by Marxist–Leninists and most socialist states have been established by political parties adhering to Marxism–Leninism or some national variation thereof such as Maoism, Stalinism or Titoism. A state, whether socialist or not, is opposed the most by anarchists, who reject the idea that the state can be used to establish a socialist society due to its hierarchical and arguably coercive nature, considering a socialist state or state socialism as an oxymoron. The concept of a socialist state is also considered unnecessary or counterproductive and rejected by some classical, libertarian and orthodox Marxists, libertarian socialists and other socialist political thinkers who view the modern state as a byproduct of capitalism which would have no function in a socialist system. A socialist state is to be distinguished from a multi-party liberal democracy governed by a self-described socialist party, where the state is not constitutionally bound to the construction of socialism. In such cases, the political system and machinery of government is not specifically structured to pursue the development of socialism. Socialist states in the Marxist–Leninist sense are sovereign states under the control of a vanguard party which is organizing the country's economic, political and social development toward the realization of socialism. Economically, this involves the development of a state capitalist economy with state-directed capital accumulation with the long-term goal of building up the country's productive forces while simultaneously promoting world communism. Academics, political commentators and other scholars tend to distinguish between authoritarian socialist and democratic socialist states, with the first representing the Soviet Bloc and the latter representing Western Bloc countries which have been democratically governed by socialist parties such as Britain, France, Sweden and Western social-democracies in general, among others.
  • 7.9K
  • 24 Oct 2022
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