Encyclopedia

On 1 January 2001, the IEC 61000-3-2 regulation became effective. Since then, mitigating current harmonics has been essential to ensure that electronic equipment connected to single-phase power distribution lines conforms to electromagnetic compatibility directives. Today, high-quality rectification, commonly known as power factor correction (PFC), is a well-established technique widely adopted by the industry for powering various devices from the ac line. The topic has been studied by academia and industry since the mid-1980s; thus, an enormous amount of research has been published and countless solutions have been proposed since then. However, only a few of those solutions have encountered wide industrial usage. So, it is not the authors’ intention to provide a comprehensive review, but to take stock of the most used PFC techniques from an industry perspective. This paper will review the power factor theory with non-sinusoidal currents, the practical and regulatory aspects of using PFC, and the most common industry solutions for power factor correction in equipment operated from the single-phase, public, low-voltage supply system, with a special focus on boost PFC pre-regulators, their control methods, design procedures, and issues. Full article

Eye-tracking is a biometrics technique that has started to find applications in research related to our interaction with the built environment. Depending on the focus of a given study, the collection of valence and arousal measurements can also be conducted to acquire emotional, cognitive, and behavioral insights and correlate them with eye-tracking data. These measurements can give architects and designers a basis for data-driven decision-making throughout the design process. In instances involving existing structures, biometric data can also be utilized for post-occupancy analysis. This entry will discuss eye-tracking and eye-tracking simulation in the context of our current understanding of the importance of our interaction with the built environment for both physical and mental well-being. Full article

“Brand” is a term relating to organizational activities designed to synthesize and manage various complementary elements, such as visual identity, online presence, and reputation, in order to create a tangible sense of value to which people can make emotional attachments. “Higher education” refers to universities and other similar organizations that offer qualifications at degree level and above, and it represents the upper-most level of formal education in most countries. “Students” in this context are individuals attending university to study degree-level qualifications at bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate levels. Full article

The “Pink Tax” refers to charging higher prices for products and services marketed primarily to women compared to similar or identical items targeted at men, despite comparable production costs. This research uses Unilever as a case study to focus on the impact of the Pink Tax on women’s purchasing power, particularly within the personal care industry. The study provides a comprehensive overview of the Pink Tax’s evolution, key research findings, public responses, and regulatory measures to address this issue. By synthesising existing research and case studies, this paper highlights the economic burden imposed on women and the reinforcement of gender stereotypes through market practices. The study underscores the need for equitable pricing mechanisms and informed consumer advocacy to rectify the economic disparities exacerbated by the Pink Tax. Full article

In recent years, the concept of the prosumer has garnered extensive attention across various fields, including marketing, energy consumption, and innovation research. This attention is driven by the significant role prosumers play in developing more efficient, sustainable, and health-conscious market systems, propelled by advancements in social and technological domains. Broadly defined, a prosumer is an individual who acts as both a producer and a consumer. Originally coined by Toffler in the 1980s, the term describes individuals who blur the lines between producers and consumers by engaging in the creation of value for their own use or for others. Prosumers are seen as external partners who participate in co-creation processes with organizations, contributing to innovative outcomes and the production of the products and services they consume. The concept of the prosumer, individuals who simultaneously act as producers and consumers, has gained significant attention across various sectors. This entry explores the evolving role and impact of prosumers on sustainability, innovation, and market dynamics. A comprehensive literature review and empirical analysis were conducted to understand prosumer behavior and contributions. The findings reveal that the prosumers’ roles range from significantly enhancing sustainability by generating renewable energy to promoting personalized education via teacher–prosumer models. They also drive technological advancements in fields such as 3D printing and cryptocurrency. The study concludes that prosumers have the potential to foster a more resilient and inclusive economy, although challenges such as regulatory barriers and technological dependencies must be addressed to fully leverage their contributions. Full article

Using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), this rapid review coded the barriers and facilitators to binge-watching and identified corresponding behaviour change techniques (BCTs) for intervention purposes. Twenty-nine studies reporting influences on binge-watching fulfilled the inclusion criteria and passed quality appraisal checks. Data were extracted and coded accordingly, as informed by the TDF. Findings indicate that most facilitators focused on the goals of binge-watching, such as escapism, and the social influences, such as companionship, while most barriers related to behavioural regulation, such as self-control and self-regulation. BCTs included ‘Goal setting (outcome)’, ‘Social comparison’, and ‘Self-monitoring of behaviour’. Results suggest intervention strategies targeting facilitators to binge-watching by incorporating the identified BCTs may succeed in inhibiting binge-watching behaviours. However, accounting for the intensity of binge-watching was not an objective of the present review; therefore, future research should take into account the varying levels of engagement in binge-watching when developing interventions. Full article

High-power lasers play an important role in modern science, industry, and medicine. A significant milestone was reached on 5 December 2022, when Inertial Confinement Nuclear Fusion (ICF) achieved scientific breakeven, releasing more energy than the input laser energy. Additionally, Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) has enabled the development of microchips with 3 nm process nodes, marking a leap in semiconductor technology. These examples, together with the recent achievement of 10 PW (10¹⁵ W) laser output, herald remarkable advancements in technology and science. Laser systems are broadly classified based on their operating regimes into two main categories: Continuous Wave (CW) operation, where the laser is continuously pumped and emits a steady beam of light, and the pulsed regime, in which the laser produces single or multiple pulses at various repetition rates. This review will primarily focus on pulsed laser systems, exploring their various types and recent technological advancements. Full article

The aim of the entry was to write a substantial contribution that analyses and compares the biological pollution of indoor air, the possibilities of its assessment and the control methods. In addition, the aim of our entry was to review journals covering both commercial and residential buildings. By analysing the above topics from the existing articles, one can have the impression that air pollution is one of the most important problems that need to be solved in the modern world. Adequate air quality is important for maintaining human health, affects the health of ecosystems, including animals, and determines crop production. With the development of civilisation, the quality of air in the atmosphere and indoors is constantly deteriorating. Indoor air pollution can be divided into physical (e.g., noise, inadequate lighting, ionising radiation), chemical (e.g., tobacco smoke, household products) and microbiological (bacteria, viruses, fungi and products of their metabolism) factors. Each of these factors can have a negative impact on a person’s health or cause premature death. The entry deals with indoor air pollution, focussing on biological pollutants. It compares different methods available and describes the method of sampling to analyse indoor air pollution and ways to reduce it. Full article

One can argue that one of the main roles of the subject of statistics is to characterize what the evidence in the collected data says about questions of scientific interest. There are two broad questions that we will refer to as the estimation question and the hypothesis assessment question. For estimation, the evidence in the data should determine a particular value of an object of interest together with a measure of the accuracy of the estimate, while for the hypothesis assessment, the evidence in the data should provide evidence in favor of or against some hypothesized value of the object of interest together with a measure of the strength of the evidence. This will be referred to as the evidential approach to statistical reasoning, which can be contrasted with the behavioristic or decision-theoretic approach where the notion of loss is introduced, and the goal is to minimize expected losses. While the two approaches often lead to similar outcomes, this is not always the case, and it is commonly argued that the evidential approach is more suited to scientific applications. This paper traces the history of the evidential approach and summarizes current developments. Full article

This review illuminates established knowledge of root–arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)–plant mutualism to study the uptake of phosphorus (P) as a critical element for plant nutrition. We focus on P cycling, underscoring the role of AMF in enhancing P acquisition and plant resilience in the rhizosphere. The role(s) of plant roots, root exudates, and biomolecules in relevant soil processes is emphasized in this manuscript. Enhancing P uptake efficiency through AMF interaction presents a promising avenue for sustainable agriculture, with future research opportunities focusing on understanding underlying mechanisms and developing innovative technologies as a need to transition from the use of AMF as a biofertilizer or as an inoculation alternative for seeds to being an inspiration for the development of technology adapted to different crops. This is important to promote responsible agricultural practices and improve crop yields. We provide definitions of key terms and concepts for one of the best-known natural sustainable phosphorus systems. This manuscript illuminates and aims to inspire technology development to overcome the challenge of plant nutrition under P scarcity conditions. Full article

This entry provides a review of economic models of professional sports leagues with and without revenue sharing. These include models that assume profit-maximizing and win-maximizing (sportsmen) club owners. Both approaches predict that revenue sharing will reduce the demand for player talent, depress player salaries, and transfer revenue from large-market to small-market clubs, but they differ on league parity effects. Empirical work has been sparse due to financial data limitations and has not yielded definitive results on the parity issue. Despite the growing awareness of sports economics in the sports industry, the lack of consensus from theoretical models has resulted in sports leagues searching for an optimal revenue sharing policy. The difficulty in providing consistent policy prescriptions in models that incorporate revenue sharing, salary caps, and other league policies has made economic modeling of sports leagues very difficult and complex. While revenue sharing remains an interesting theoretical modeling issue, it has not bridged the gap to real-world league policies. Full article

Soil is an environment for huge diversity of fungi, which fulfill various tasks and support the maintaining of soil health. At the same time, varieties of soil fungal species, which produce numerous airborne spores and a range of mycotoxins, are known to be pathogenic for human health. The present review aims to summarize the current knowledge on soil fungi causing public health problems, including dermatoses, allergies, pulmonary diseases, wound infections, infections of the central nervous system, etc. Full article

Higher education here is taken to be education beyond school level: often at an institution (a university) that has degree-awarding powers, though some programmes may lead to a diploma, certificate or other award or qualification. Nomenclature around “research” in the associated teaching and learning is contested: professional enquiry, scholarship of teaching and learning, pedagogical research… are some of the terms used. Authors discuss and distinguish such terms. An ethical issue is a circumstance in which a moral conflict arises or is implicit and should be resolved in a morally acceptable way. These include privacy, informed consent, insider research and power relationships within higher education research; there are also fluid challenges around the use of digital contributions. Authors present a narrative exegesis of work in the associated areas, which authors argue will be of use to universities promoting such research, and of particular interest to two groups of academics wishing to systematically develop their practice in ways that contribute to the field: those on teaching-only contracts, who would also demonstrate their research credentials; and researchers from non-education-cognate fields. Authors identify directions for further work. Full article

This entry examines Lorenz’s error growth models with quadratic and cubic hypotheses, highlighting their mathematical connections to the non-dissipative Lorenz 1963 model. The quadratic error growth model is the logistic ordinary differential equation (ODE) with a quadratic nonlinear term, while the cubic model is derived by replacing the quadratic term with a cubic one. A variable transformation shows that the cubic model can be converted to the same form as the logistic ODE. The relationship between the continuous logistic ODE and its discrete version, the logistic map, illustrates chaotic behaviors, demonstrating computational chaos with large time steps. A variant of the logistic ODE is proposed to show how finite predictability horizons can be determined, emphasizing the continuous dependence on initial conditions (CDIC) related to stable and unstable asymptotic values. This review also presents the mathematical relationship between the logistic ODE and the non-dissipative Lorenz 1963 model. Full article

This Process Synthesis and Intensification (PS+I) framework uses a low-aggregation superstructure to solve the synthesis problem, and its solution is interpreted and translated into a task-integrated intensified process. Then, the process is post-optimized to find a better balance between operation and equipment costs. The solution leads to novel and counterintuitive intensified processes with low cost and energy requirements. Full article

“The Emergence of Neuroleadership in the Knowledge Economy” explores the field of neuroleadership in today’s constantly changing economy, highlighting the transition from traditional leadership to neuroleadership. Neuroleadership renders itself as a novel approach to the leadership theory, which brings together insights from neuroscience, psychology, and leadership studies. It emphasizes understanding the workings of the brain and human behavior in order to drive leadership effectiveness, at individual, team, and organizational levels. Additionally, the knowledge economy is characterized by the significant role of knowledge and intellectual capital when it comes to driving economic growth and organizational development. It highlights the creation, dissemination, and sharing of knowledge as important pillars for productivity and competitive advantage, shaping industries and transforming leadership traditional models. Through an extensive literature review and by employing the Dulewicz and Higgs leadership model, the authors showcase what are the intellectual, managerial, and emotional competencies that make neuroleadership the next natural step in leading teams and organizations. This article proposes a comparative matrix between traditional leaders and neuroleaders, and highlights a novel framework for better understanding neuroleadership. Full article

Public company audits are not homogenous. Varying audit partner attributes, including gender, age, location, and expertise, play important roles in explaining audit outcome disparities. The extant literature underscores the influence of firm-level and office-level differences, in areas such as size, culture, and industry expertise, in shaping audit outcomes. Commonwealth countries, such as the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Continental European countries, along with Asian economic entities, mandate the disclosure of audit partner names. Consequently, significant research efforts have been devoted to investigating the impact of audit partner characteristics on audit outcomes in these jurisdictions. With the adoption of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Rule 3211, mandating disclosure of audit engagement partner details for U.S.-registered public accounting firms on Form AP, there has been a surge in U.S. firm research exploring the significance of audit partner characteristics on audit outcomes in recent years. This paper outlines research that considers audit partner attributes’ influence on audit partner selection and audit quality across different economic entities. This entry contributes by synthesizing findings from recent research across diverse economic contexts, including the recently available insights from U.S.-based audits. The analysis of this entry not only provides insights into the current state of audit partner research but also delineates avenues for future research on this topic. Full article

Japanese prefabricated housing manufacturers have gained international recognition for their innovative approaches to the whole design process, ranging from initial design to innovative cutting-edge technologies, state-of-the-art automated production lines, meticulous workmanship, and mass customisation. In this entry, three manufacturers (Daiwa House, Sekisui House, and Misawa Homes) were selected as case studies for close examination. By studying these leading companies, researchers and industry professionals can gain valuable insights into best practices, challenges, and innovations within the Japanese prefabricated housing sector. The research methods involved a desktop study of available information on websites, articles, and reports, as well as undertaking two study tours on residential sustainable design in Japan in 2022 and 2023. These three manufacturers were discussed and compared with respect to their development trajectories, design customisation, research capabilities and technological advancements, sustainable initiatives and procurement, as well as their after-sale services. They have demonstrated their adaptability and flexibility in response to natural disasters and the transformation of the needs in society. They are all keen on reducing the environmental impacts of their work towards zero carbon emissions and a sustainable future. Full article