Glossary: Glossary

Abiotic oil

the hypothesis of abiogenic petroleum origin posits that most petroleum was formed from deep carbon deposits, perhaps deposits dating to the formation of the Earth. The ubiquity of hydrocarbons in the solar system is taken as evidence that there may be a great deal more petroleum on Earth than commonly thought.

Contrary to the orthodox view in the West which suggests that crude oil and natural gas are the product of compression and heating of ancient organic materials over geological time, the abiogenic hypothesis argues that pertoleum, instead of being formed from the preserved remains of prehistoric zooplankton and algae which have been settled to the sea bottom in large quantities under anoxic conditions, in fact originates from carbon-bearing fluids which migrate upward from the mantle.

Abiogenic petroleum origin. (2007, April 30). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:29, May 8, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abiogenic_petroleum_origin&oldid=127059386

Action T4

(German: Aktion T4) also called T4 Euthanasia Program. Nazi German effort——framed as a euthanasia program——to kill incurably ill, physically or mentally disabled, emotionally distraught, and elderly people.

Adolf Hitler initiated this program in 1939, and, while it was officially discontinued in 1941, (during which the reigme of Adolf Hitler systematically killed between 75,000 to 250,000 people with intellectual or physical disabilities.) Unofficially performed after 1941, the killing became less systematic and continued covertly until the military defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

The codename T4 was an abbreviation of “Tiergartenstraße 4”, the address of a villa in the Berlin borough of Tiergarten which was the headquarters of the General Foundation for Welfare and Institutional Care (Gemeinnnützige Stiftung für Heil und Anstaltspflege).

Action T4. (2007, April 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:34, April 24, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Action_T4&oldid=124964531

Adult stem cells

Some tissues in the adult body, such as the epidermis of the skin, the lining of the small intestine, and bone marrow, undergo continuous cellular turnover. They contain stem cells, which persist indefinitely, and a much larger number of “transit amplifying cells,” which arise from the stem cells and divide a finite number of times until they become differentiated. The stem cells exist in niches formed by other cells, which secrete substances that keep the stem cells alive and active. Some types of tissue, such as liver tissue, show minimal cell division or undergo cell division only when injured. In such tissues there is probably no special stem-cell population, and any cell can participate in tissue regeneration when required.

stem cell. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-236919

AIDS

byname of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome transmissible disease of the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV slowly attacks and destroys the immune system, the body's defense against infection, leaving an individual vulnerable to a variety of other infections and certain malignancies that eventually cause death. AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection, during which time fatal infections and cancers frequently arise.

AIDS. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9004173

Antibody

also called immunoglobulin a protective protein produced by the immune system in response to the presence of a foreign substance, called an antigen. Antibodies recognize and latch onto antigens in order to remove them from the body. A wide range of substances are regarded by the body as antigens, including disease-causing organisms and toxic materials such as insect venom.

When an alien substance enters the body, the immune system is able to recognize it as foreign because molecules on the surface of the antigen differ from those found in the body. To eliminate the invader, the immune system calls on a number of mechanisms, including one of the most important—antibody production. Antibodies are produced by specialized white blood cells called B lymphocytes or B cells. When an antigen binds to the B-cell surface, it stimulates the B cell to divide and mature into a group of identical cells called a clone. The mature B cells, called plasma cells, secrete millions of antibodies into the bloodstream and lymphatic system.

antibody. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 24, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9007812

Automation

the application of machines to tasks once performed by human beings or, increasingly, to tasks that would otherwise be impossible. Although the term mechanization is often used to refer to the simple replacement of human labour by machines, automation generally implies the integration of machines into a self-governing system.

automation. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 24, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9109393

CD4+ T

helper T cells. They are called CD4+ T cells because they have on their surfaces a protein called CD4.

Helper T cells play a central role in normal immune responses by producing factors that activate virtually all the other immune system cells. These include B lymphocytes, which produce antibodies needed to fight infection; cytotoxic T lymphocytes, which kill cells infected with a virus; and macrophages and other effector cells, which attack invading pathogens.

AIDS results from the loss of most of the helper T cells in the body.

AIDS. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 20, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-225031

Censorship

is the removal or withholding of information from the public by a controlling group or body. Typically censorship is done by governments, religious groups, or the mass media, although other forms of censorship exist. The withholding of official secrets, commercial secrets, intellectual property, and privileged lawyer-client communication is not usually described as censorship when it remains within reasonable bounds. Because of this, the term "censorship" often carries with it a sense of untoward, inappropriate or repressive secrecy.

Censorship is closely related to the concepts of freedom of speech and freedom of expression. When overused, it is often associated with human rights abuse, dictatorship and repression.

The term "censorship" is often used as a pejorative term to signify a belief that a group controlling certain information is using this control improperly or for its own benefit, or preventing others from accessing information that should be made readily accessible (often so that conclusions drawn can be verified).

Censorship. (2007, April 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 04:50, April 19, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Censorship&oldid=123764542

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

is a concept that organizations, especially (but not only) corporations, have an obligation to consider the interests of customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and ecological considerations in all aspects of their operations. This obligation is seen to extend beyond their statutory obligation to comply with legislation.

CSR is closely linked with the principles of Sustainable Development, which argues that enterprises should make decisions based not only on financial factors such as profits or dividends, but also based on the immediate and long-term social and environmental consequences of their activities.

Corporate social responsibility. (2007, April 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 04:54, April 19, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Corporate_social_responsibility&oldid=123805457

Durban Declaration

In July 2000 more than 12,000 attendees gathered in Durban, South Africa, for the 13th International AIDS Conference.

Prior to the start of the conference, 5,228 physicians and scientists from 84 countries (including 11 Nobel prize winners) signed a manifesto called the Durban Declaration. Its message was that “the evidence that AIDS is caused by HIV-1 or HIV-2 is clear-cut, exhaustive and unambiguous.”

The declaration was drafted in response to statements by South Africa president Thabo Mbeki, who questioned the link between HIV and AIDS.

"Durban Declaration", Nature. vol. 406 (6 July, 2006). http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v406/n6791/pdf/406015a0.pdf

Embryonic stem cells

(often referred to as ES cells) are stem cells that are derived from the inner cell mass of a mammalian embryo at a very early stage of development, when it is composed of a hollow sphere of dividing cells (a blastocyst). Embryonic stem cells from human embryos and from embryos of certain other mammalian species can be grown in tissue culture.

The use of human embryonic stem cells evokes ethical concerns, because the blastocyst-stage embryos are destroyed in the process of obtaining the stem cells. The embryos from which stem cells have been obtained are produced through in vitro fertilization, and people who consider preimplantation human embryos to be human beings generally believe that such work is morally wrong. Others accept it because they regard the blastocysts to be simply balls of cells, and human cells used in laboratories have not previously been accorded any special moral or legal status. Moreover, it is known that none of the cells of the inner cell mass are exclusively destined to become part of the embryo itself—all of the cells contribute some or all of their cell offspring to the placenta, which also has not been accorded any special legal status. The divergence of views on this issue is illustrated by the fact that the use of human embryonic stem cells is allowed in some countries and prohibited in others.

stem cell. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-236918

Euthanasia

(from Greek: ευθανασία -ευ, eu, "good", θάνατος, thanatos, "death") also called mercy killing, is the practice of terminating the life of a person or animal in a presumably painless or minimally painful way (usually persons suffering from painful and incurable disease or incapacitating physical disorder).

Fischer-Tropsch process

named after the German chemists Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, is a catalyzed chemical reaction in which carbon monoxide and hydrogen are converted into liquid hydrocarbons of various forms through the influence of elevated temperatures and normal or elevated pressures in the presence of a catalyst of magnetic iron oxide.

The principal purpose of this process is to produce a synthetic petroleum substitute for use as synthetic lubrication oil or as synthetic fuel. However, large scale development of synthetic fuels may lead to primary energy consumption problem, assuming the energy used to drive the process comes from burning coal or hydrocarbon fuels.

Moreover, full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions for coal-based synfuels are nearly twice as high as their petroleum-based equivalent. Emissions of other pollutants are vastly increased as well.

Fischer-Tropsch process. (2007, April 29). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:45, May 8, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fischer-Tropsch_process&oldid=126762718

Fossil fuel

any of a class of materials of biological origin occurring within the Earth's crust that can be used as a source of energy.

Fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, natural gas, oil shales, bitumens, tar sands, and heavy oils. All contain carbon and were formed as a result of geologic processes acting on the remains of organic matter produced by photosynthesis, a process that began in the Archean Eon more than 3 billion years ago. Most carbonaceous material occurring before the Devonian Period (approximately 415 million years ago) was derived from algae and bacteria.

Since the late 18th century, fossil fuels have been consumed at an ever-increasing rate. Today they supply nearly 90 percent of all the energy consumed by the industrially developed countries of the world. Although new deposits continue to be discovered, the reserves of the principal fossil fuels remaining in the Earth are limited.

fossil fuel. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 20, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9035002

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

total market value of the goods and services produced by a nation's economy during a specific period of time. It includes all final goods and services—that is, those that are produced by the economic resources located in that nation regardless of their ownership and that are not resold in any form.

gross domestic product. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 20, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9389903

HIV

HIV ( Human immunodeficiency virus ) is a retrovirus that causes AIDS. Previous names for the virus include human T-lymphotropic virus-III (HTLV-III), lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV), and AIDS-associated retrovirus (ARV). Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells. The three major routes of transmission are unprotected sexual intercourse, contaminated needles, and transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth, or through breast milk.

HIV. (2007, April 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 04:18, April 19, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HIV&oldid=123777109

Hyrdoponics

from Greek hydro, “water,” and ponos, “labour”, also called Aquaculture, Nutriculture, Soilless Culture, or Tank Farming, the cultivation of plants in nutrient-enriched water, with or without the mechanical support of an inert medium such as sand or gravel.

hydroponics. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 24, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9041749

Kennewick Man

is the name for the remains of a prehistoric man found on a bank of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington, on July 28, 1996.

It was determined that the remains were of a man who lived between 5,000 and 9,500 years ago. He was in his 30s or 40s, had a healed broken arm and a healed broken rib, and a 2.2-inch spear point was lodged in his hip (which did not kill him but probably was the source of recurring infection that could have ultimately killed him). Research also suggests he most closely resembles South-East Asian, Polynesian or Ainu peoples. If confirmed, this would lend support to the theory that an important migration route lay along the North Pacific shoreline from Asia to America during a time when inland routes were blocked by ice.

The remains led also to debates about the relationship between Native American religious rights and archaeology.

Kennewick Man. (2007, April 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 04:28, April 24, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kennewick_Man&oldid=124465540

Koch's postulates

or Henle-Koch postulates, are four criteria designed to establish a causal relationship between a causative microbe and a disease. The postulates were formulated by Robert Koch and Friedrich Loeffler in 1884 and refined and published by Koch in 1890. Koch applied the postulates to establish the etiology of anthrax and tuberculosis, but they have been generalized to other diseases.

Koch's postulates are:

1. The microorganism must be found in all organisms suffering from the disease, but not in healthy organisms. (Koch abandoned the second part of the first postulate altogether when he discovered asymptomatic carriers of cholera and later, Typhoid Mary.)


2. The microorganism must be isolated from a diseased organism and grown in pure culture.


3. The cultured microorganism should cause disease when introduced into a healthy organism. (this does not necessarily hold true, as Koch himself discovered and stated in regard to both tuberculosis and cholera. Indeed, we see this today with diseases such as HIV, where CCR5 Δ32 deletion individuals seem to be resistant to infection with HIV.)


4. The microorganism must be reisolated from the experimentally infected organism.

Koch's postulates. (2007, April 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:37, April 24, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Koch%27s_postulates&oldid=125311382

Lentivirus

Lentivirus (lenti-, Latin for "slow") is a genus of slow viruses of the Retroviridae family, characterized by a long incubation period. Lentiviruses can deliver a significant amount of genetic information into the DNA of the host cell, so they are one of the most efficient methods of a gene delivery vector. HIV, SIV, and FIV are all examples of lentiviruses.

Lentivirus. (2007, April 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:57, April 24, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lentivirus&oldid=122941793

Malthus's postulata

predictions of human population growth published in 1798 by Thomas Malthus in An Essay on the Principle of Population

The two postulata are:

1. food is necessary to the existence of man
2. the passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state

Beside, Malthus argued that infinite human hopes for social happiness must be vain, for population will always tend to outrun the growth of production. Population would outrun food supply, leading to a decrease in food per person. The increase of population will take place, if unchecked, in a geometric progression, while the means of subsistence will increase in only an arithmetic progression.

Malthus, Thomas. (1992) An Essay on the Principle of Population (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought). Ed. Donald Winch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mobocracy

Mob rule, government by mob or a mass of people, or the intimidation of constitutional authorities.

"mobocracy" The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 4 Apr. 2000 http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00312910 .

Monopsony

in economic theory, a monopsony (from Ancient Greek μόνος (monos), "single" + ὀψωνία (opsōnia), "purchase") is a market situation in which there is only one buyer. It is an instance of imperfect competition, symmetrical to the case of a monopoly, in which there is only one seller facing many buyers. An example of pure monopsony is a firm that is the only buyer of labour in an isolated town. Such a firm is able to pay lower wages than it would under competition.

Although cases of pure monopsony are rare, monopsonistic elements are found wherever there are many sellers and few purchasers.

monopsony. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 20, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9053415

Neolithic Revolution

the term for the first agricultural revolution, describing the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, as first adopted by various independent prehistoric human societies, in various locations.

Toward the end of the last ice age, some 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, a few of the human communities that were most favoured by geography and climate began to make the transition from the long period of Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, savagery to a more settled way of life depending on animal husbandry and agriculture. This period of transition, the Neolithic Period, or New Stone Age, led eventually to a marked rise in population, to a growth in the size of communities, the beginnings of town life, as well as a corresponding increase in complexity of social and political organization of human groups.

technology, history of. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 24, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-10392

Outsourcing

work arrangement made by an employer who hires an outside contractor to perform work that could be done by company personnel. It often refers to the delegation of non-core operations from internal production to an external entity specializing in the management of that operation

The decision to outsource is often made in the interest of lowering firm costs, redirecting or conserving energy directed at the competencies of a particular business, or to make more efficient use of worldwide labor, capital, technology and resources.

Outsourcing. (2007, April 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:40, April 20, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Outsourcing&oldid=124301160

Palliative care

(from Latin palliare, to cloak) is any form of medical care or treatment that relieves the symptoms of a disease or condition without dealing with the underlying cause.

The goal is to prevent and relieve suffering and to improve quality of life for people facing serious, complex illness.

Peak oil

also known as Hubbert peak theory, (named after American geophysicist Marion King Hubbert) is an argument concerning the long-term rate of conventional oil and other fossil fuels production and depletion.

The theory posits that for any given geographical area, from an individual oil field to the planet as a whole, the rate of petroleum production tends to follow a bell-shaped curve——the fundamental conviction of the theory is that the amount of oil under the ground is finite——the production rate increases due to the discovery rate and the addition of infrastructure early in the curve (pre-peak), and due to resource depletion, production declines late in the curve (post-peak).

The theory also shows how to calculate the point of maximum production in advance based on discovery rates, production rates and cumulative production.

Hubbert peak theory. (2007, May 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:11, May 8, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hubbert_peak_theory&oldid=129115600

Plutocracy

government by the wealthy.

Plutocracy is a form of oligarchy where the state's power is centralized in an affluent social class. Under such a government, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low.

Oligarchy denotes the form of government by the few, especially despotic power exercised by a small and privileged group for corrupt or selfish purposes. In the Aristotlean scheme, the term oligarchia designates the rule of the few when it was exercised not by the best but by bad men unjustly. In this sense, oligarchy is a debased form of aristocracy, which denotes government by the few in which power is vested in the best individuals.

The word plutocracy itself is derived from the ancient Greek root ploutos (πλοῦτος), meaning wealth and kratein (κρατέω), meaning to rule or to govern.

"plutocracy" The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 4 Apr. 2000 http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50182100 .

Price Discrimination

practice of selling a commodity at different prices to different buyers, even though sales costs are the same in all of the transactions. Discrimination among buyers may be based on personal characteristics such as income, race, or age or on geographic location. For price discrimination to succeed, other entrepreneurs must be unable to purchase goods at the lower price and resell them at a higher one.

APA style: price discrimination. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 20, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9061344

Retrovirus

any of a group of viruses that, unlike most other viruses and all cellular organisms, carry their genetic blueprint in the form of ribonucleic acid (RNA). Retroviruses are responsible for certain cancers and slow virus infections of animals and cause at least one type of human cancer. They have also been identified as the cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in humans, and they have been linked to one form of human hepatitis.

Retroviruses are so named because, by means of a special enzyme called reverse transcriptase, discovered independently by Howard Temin and David Baltimore in 1971, they transcribe RNA into deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This constitutes a reversal of the usual cellular processes of transcription of DNA into RNA. The action of reverse transcriptase makes it possible for genetic material from a retrovirus to become permanently incorporated into the DNA genome of an infected cell and is widely used in biotechnology to synthesize genes.

retrovirus. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9063323

Seronegative

a general term that means 'absent from the blood'.

More specifically, it almost always is used to refer to antibodies being absent from the blood. It is most commonly used to refer to the absence of antibodies to Rheumatoid factor or to HIV.

Seronegative. (2007, January 5). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:48, April 24, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seronegative&oldid=98637149

Stem cell

an undifferentiated cell that can divide to produce some offspring cells that continue as stem cells and some cells that are destined to differentiate (become specialized). Stem cells are an ongoing source of the differentiated cells that make up the tissues and organs of animals and plants. There is great interest in stem cells because they have potential in the development of therapies for replacing defective or damaged cells resulting from a variety of disorders and injuries, such as Parkinson disease, severe burns, and damage to the spinal cord. There are two major types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells, which are also called tissue stem cells.

stem cell. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9398729

Tar sand

also referred to as oil sands or bituminous sands, are a combination of clay, sand, water, and bitumen.

Technically speaking, tar sand is deposit of loose sand or partially consolidated sandstone that is saturated with highly viscous bitumen.

Oil recovered from tar sands is commonly referred to as synthetic crude and is a potentially significant form of fossil fuel.

tar sand. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 8, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9071257