text
stringlengths 24
5.93k
|
|---|
Regent. In a monarchy, a regent (from Latin regens[1] ruling, governing)[2][3] is a person appointed to execute the office of the monarch temporarily. Regencies may arise for a number of reasons, including the monarch being a minor, ill, absent from the country, or otherwise unavailable. A regent may also be appointed in cases where the throne is vacant, or the identity of the legitimate monarch is disputed.[2][4] The rule of a regent or regents is called a regency. A regent or regency council may be formed as an ad hoc measure, or there may be a formal and regular appointment process. Regent in some countries has also been used as a formal title granted to a monarchs most trusted advisor or personal assistant. If the regent is holding the position due to their being in the line of succession, the compound term prince regent is often used; if the regent of a minor is their mother, and she is wife or widow of a king, she would be referred to as queen regent. If the formally appointed regent is unavailable or cannot serve on a temporary basis, a regent ad interim may be appointed to fill the gap. A regent may also be appointed to govern, sometimes for an extended period of time, when there is no established ruling house. This was the case in the Kingdom of Hungary in the aftermath of World War I, where the royal line was considered extinct. The reverse situation, where a regent is appointed because a newly formed state has not yet chosen a monarch, has occurred many times, notably in Finland in 1918 and Belgium in 1830. In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795), the royal office was elective, which often led to a fairly long interregnum. During this period, the Roman Catholic primate (the Archbishop of Gniezno) served as the regent, and was called interrex (Latin: ruler between kings as in Ancient Rome). In the small republic of San Marino, the two Captains Regent (Capitani Reggenti) are both elected for a six-month term as joint heads of state.
|
Afro-Eurasia. Afro-Eurasia (also Afroeurasia and Eurafrasia) is a landmass comprising the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe.[1][2] The terms are compound words of the names of its constituent parts. Afro-Eurasia has also been called the Old World, in contrast to the New World referring to the Americas. Afro-Eurasia encompasses 85,135,000 km2 (32,871,000 sq mi), 57% of the worlds land area, and has a population of approximately 6.7 billion people, roughly 86% of the world population. Together with mainland Australia, they comprise the vast majority of the land in the worlds Eastern Hemisphere. The Afro-Eurasian mainland is the largest and most populous contiguous landmass on Earth. The following terms are used for similar concepts: Although Afro-Eurasia is typically considered to comprise two or three separate continents, it is not a proper supercontinent. Instead, it is the largest present part of the supercontinent cycle.[5] The oldest part of Afro-Eurasia is probably the Kaapvaal craton, which together with Madagascar and parts of the Indian subcontinent and western Australian continent formed part of the first supercontinent Vaalbara or Ur around 3 billion years ago. It has made up parts of every supercontinent since. At the breakup of Pangaea around 200 million years ago, the North American and Eurasian plates together formed Laurasia while the African plate remained in Gondwana, from which the Indian plate split off. Upon impact with the Eurasian plate, the Indian plate created southern Asia around 50 million years ago and began the formation of the Himalayas. Around the same time, the Indian plate also fused with the Australian plate.
|
Landmass (album). Landmass (2008) is an album by the American ambient musician Steve Roach. The tracks on Landmass were recorded on May 20, 2007,[5] live on the Stars End radio program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Only a few hours after Steve Roach had given a concert at the Episcopal Church at Penn, his equipment was moved to the WXPN studio where, beginning a little after two in the morning, Roach performed and created each track. The sounds, themes, and sonic sub-structures were prepared ahead of time, and the tracks were later edited for length prior to their release.[6] Landmass was chosen to be the 20th release on Steve Roachs Timeroom Editions label, which also celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2008.[4]
|
Shikken. The shikken (執権; Japanese pronunciation: [ɕi̥k.keɴ][1]) was a senior government post held by members of the Hōjō clan, officially a regent of the shogunate. From 1199 to 1333, during the Kamakura period, the shikken served as the head of the bakufu (shoguns government). This era was referred to as Regent Rule (執権政治, Shikken Seiji).[2] During roughly the first half of that period, the shikken was the de facto military dictator of Japan (excluding the independent Northern Fujiwara).[2] In 1256 the title of shikken was relegated to the second in command of the Tokusō (a separate rank also monopolized by the Hojō clan). By the Muromachi period (1333–1573) the position, though not abolished, had lost much of its power and was no longer considered as one of the top ranks. The position was abolished after the Muromachi period. The word shikken is the onyomi reading of the combination of the two kanji characters 執 and 権, meaning to hold (something in the hand, or a service or ceremony); to administer and power, authority respectively. Therefore, the word literally means to hold power/authority.[citation needed] Though officially a regent for the shōgun in the Kamakura shogunate in Japan, on paper a shikken derived power from the shōgun, in reality the shōgun had been reduced to a figurehead in a similar marginalizing manner to how the emperor and imperial court had been reduced to figureheads by the first shōgun Minamoto no Yoritomo.[2][3] Both the posts of shikken and tokusō were monopolized by the Hōjō clan.[3] Hōjō Tokimasa, was the father-in-law of Yoritomo through his wife Hōjō Masako, and became the first shikken in 1203, after Yoritomos death. The shikken was the chief of the mandokoro at that time. Tokimasa became the de facto ruler of the shōgunate by monopolizing decisions for the young shōguns Yoriie and Sanetomo who were the sons of Yoritomo and Masako and thus Tokimasas maternal grandchildren, executing whoever got in his way, family or not.[citation needed] Tokimasas grandson Yoriie and great-grandson were murdered on Tokimasas orders, a year after he replaced the more independent Yoriie with his younger brother Sanetomo as shōgun.[2]
|
Empress Michiko. The EmperorThe Empress The Emperor EmeritusThe Empress Emerita Empress Michiko (美智子; born Michiko Shōda [正田 美智子 Shōda Michiko], 20 October 1934) is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who has been the empress emerita of Japan since 1 May 2019. She was the empress of Japan as the wife of Akihito, the 125th emperor of Japan reigning from 7 January 1989 to 30 April 2019. Michiko married Crown Prince Akihito and became Crown Princess of Japan in 1959. She was the first commoner[1] to marry into the Japanese imperial family. She has three children with her husband: Naruhito, Fumihito, and Sayako. Her elder son, Naruhito, is the current emperor. As crown princess and later as empress consort, she has become the most visible and widely travelled imperial consort in Japanese history. Upon Akihitos abdication, Michiko received the new title of Jōkōgō (上皇后), or Empress Emerita.[2]
|
Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu. Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu (宣仁親王妃喜久子, Nobuhito Shinnōhi Kikuko), born Tokugawa Kikuko (徳川喜久子; 26 December 1911 – 18 December 2004), was a member of the Japanese imperial family. The Princess was married to Nobuhito, Prince Takamatsu, the third son of Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei. She was, therefore, a sister-in-law of Emperor Shōwa and an aunt by marriage of the following emperor, Akihito. She was mainly known for philanthropic activities, particularly her patronage of cancer research organizations. At the time of her death, Princess Takamatsu was the oldest member of the Imperial Family. Born in Tokyo on 26 December 1911, she was the second daughter of Yoshihisa Tokugawa (2 September 1884 – 22 January 1922), a peer, and his wife Princess Mieko of Arisugawa (14 February 1891 – 25 April 1933). Her paternal grandfather was Yoshinobu Tokugawa, Japans last shōgun.[1][2] Her maternal grandfather, Prince Takehito Arisugawa, was the seventh head of the Arisugawa-no-miya, one of the four shinnōke or collateral branches of the Imperial Family during the Edo period entitled to provide a successor to the throne in default of a direct heir. Lady Kikuko Tokugawa received her primary and secondary education at the then-girls department of the Gakushuin. At age eighteen, she became engaged to Prince Takamatsu, who was then third-in-line to the Chrysanthemum Throne. By virtue of her descent from the Arisugawa-no-miya, Lady Kikuko and Prince Takamatsu were related. Both were direct descendants of Emperor Reigen, making them sixth cousins twice removed. Prince Takamatsu was a seven-times great-grandchild of the Reigen Emperor, while Lady Kikuko was a five-times great-grandchild of Reigen. On 4 February 1930, she married Prince Takamatsu at the Tokyo Imperial Palace. The couple had no children. Shortly after the wedding, Prince and Princess Takamatsu embarked upon a world tour, partly to return the courtesies shown to them by King George V of the United Kingdom in sending a mission to Tokyo to present Emperor Shōwa with the Order of the Garter. During their journey, they travelled across the United States so as to strengthen the goodwill and understanding between their nations. The 1930 photo illustration comes from the illustrated biography on Prince Iesato Tokugawa titled The Art of Peace. The photo presents Princess and Prince Takamatsu during their reception by U.S. President Herbert Hoover.[3][4] The Prince and Princess returned to Japan in June 1931 and took up residence in Takanawa in Minato, Tokyo. Following her mothers death from bowel cancer in 1933, Princess Takamatsu became a champion of cancer research. Using money donated by the public, she established the Princess Takamatsu Cancer Research Fund in 1968, organizing symposia and awarding scientists for groundbreaking work.[1][2] She also served as president of an organization extending relief to leprosy patients.[1][2] The Princess also served as the honorary president of the Saiseikai Imperial Gift Foundation Inc., Tofu Kyokai Foundation, Shadan Houjin Tokyo Jikeikai, Nichifutsu Kyokai, and Nichifutsu Kaikan, and as an honorary vice-president of the Japanese Red Cross Society.
|
Coming of age. Coming of age is a young persons transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual or spiritual event. In the past, and in some societies today, such a change is often associated with the age of sexual maturity (puberty), especially menarche and spermarche.[1] In others, it is associated with an age of religious responsibility. Particularly in Western societies, modern legal conventions stipulate points around the end of adolescence and the beginning of early adulthood (most commonly 16 and 18 though ranging from 14 to 21) when adolescents are generally no longer considered minors and are granted the full rights and responsibilities of an adult. Some cultures and countries have multiple coming of age ceremonies for multiple ages. Many cultures retain ceremonies to confirm the coming of age, and coming-of-age stories are a well-established sub-genre in literature, the film industry, and other forms of media. These ceremonies can represent acceptance into a larger culture, feelings of importance, legal rights and permissions, or entrance into the marriage landscape, depending on the culture.
|
First minister. A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as prime minister but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of first minister is used to refer to the political leader of a devolved national government, such as the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, or of a dependent territory. In Canada, a first minister is any of the Canadian first ministers of the Crown, otherwise known as heads of government, including the Prime Minister of Canada and the provincial and territorial premiers. The title is used in such formulae as first ministers meetings. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the Inuit self-governing region of Nunatsiavut provides for a first minister responsible to the Nunatsiavut Assembly. The head of government of Norway was called first minister (Norwegian: førstestatsråd) between 1814 and 1873, while it was in personal union with Sweden. In 1893, 12 years prior to the dissolution of the union, it was changed to prime minister (statsminister). In the United Kingdom, the term first minister was once used interchangeably with prime minister, such as when Winston Churchill stated: I did not become His Majestys First Minister so that I might oversee the liquidation of the British Empire!
|
List of countries and dependencies by area. This is a list of the worlds countries and their dependencies, ranked by total area, including land and water. This list includes entries that are not limited to those in the ISO 3166-1 standard, which covers sovereign states and dependent territories. All 193 member states of the United Nations plus the two observer states are given a rank number. Largely unrecognised states not in ISO 3166-1 are included in the list in ranked order. The areas of such largely unrecognised states are in most cases also included in the areas of the more widely recognised states that claim the same territory; see the notes in the Notes column for each country for clarification. Not included in the list are individual country claims to parts of the continent of Antarctica or entities such as the European Union[a] that have some degree of sovereignty but do not consider themselves to be sovereign countries or dependent territories.
|
Edo language. Edo (Ẹ̀dó; English: /ˈɛdoʊ/,[2] West African English: /ˈedo/[3]), also known as Bini, is the language spoken by the Edo people in Edo State, Nigeria. It was the primary language of the Benin Empire and its predecessor, Igodomigodo. It is the majority language spoken in Edo State, particularly in Benin City, and the surrounding local governments and senatorial districts in the Southern parts of the State. Most of the Edo language-speakers live in the Southern parts of Edo State, Nigeria. The current state: Edo State derives its name from the Edo speaking people of the state. A smaller number of Edo speakers are also found in Delta State and Ondo State and in other parts of Nigeria. Edo is an Edoid language. These languages are also spoken in Rivers State and Bayelsa State, Nigeria. There are seven vowels, /i e ɛ a ɔ o u/, all of which may be long or nasal.
|
Edo. Edo (Japanese: 江戸, lit. bay-entrance or estuary), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo.[2] Edo, formerly a jōkamachi (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the de facto capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate. Edo grew to become one of the largest cities in the world under the Tokugawa. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the Meiji government renamed Edo to Tokyo (東京, Eastern Capital) and relocated the Emperor from the historic capital of Kyoto to the city. The era of Tokugawa rule in Japan from 1603 to 1868 is known as the Edo period. Before the 10th century, there is no mention of Edo in historical records, but for a few settlements in the area. That name for the area first appears in the Azuma Kagami chronicles, which have probably been used since the second half of the Heian period. Edos development started in the late 11th century with a branch of the Kanmu-Taira clan (桓武平氏) called the Chichibu clan (秩父氏) coming from the banks of the then-Iruma River, present-day upstream of the Arakawa river. A descendant of the head of the Chichibu clan settled in the area and took the name Edo Shigetsugu (江戸重継), likely based on the name used for the place, and founded the Edo clan. Shigetsugu built a fortified residence, probably around the edge of the Musashino Terrace, that would become Edo castle. Shigetsugus son, Edo Shigenaga (江戸重長), took the Tairas side against Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1180 but eventually surrendered to Minamoto and became a gokenin for the Kamakura shogunate. At the fall of the shogunate in the 14th century, the Edo clan took the side of the Southern Court, and its influence declined during the Muromachi period. In 1456, a vassal of the Ōgigayatsu branch of the Uesugi clan started to build a castle on the former fortified residence of the Edo clan and took the name Ōta Dōkan. Dōkan lived in the castle until his assassination in 1486. Under Dōkan, with good water connections to Kamakura, Odawara and other parts of Kanto and the country, Edo expanded as a jōkamachi, with the castle bordering a cove (now Hibiya Park) opening into Edo Bay, and the town developing along the Hirakawa River running into the cove, and on Edomaeto (江戸前島), the stretch of land on the eastern side of the cove (now roughly where Tokyo Station is). Some priests and scholars fleeing Kyoto after the Ōnin War came to Edo during that period.
|
Edo people. The Edo people, also referred to as the Benin people,[3] are an Edoid-speaking ethnic group.[4] They are prominently native to seven southern local government areas of Edo State, Nigeria. They are speakers of the Edo language and are the descendants of the founders of the Benin Kingdom, Ogiso Igodo.[5] They are closely related to other Edoid ethnic groups, such as the Esan, the Etsakọ, the Isoko and Urhobo as well as other southern ethnic groups. The names Benin and Bini are Portuguese corruptions, ultimately from the word Ubini, which came into use during the reign of Oba (ruler) Ewuare, c. 1440. Ubini is an Edo word meaning livable, used by Pa Idu, the progenitor of the Edo state people, to describe the area found as a livable locale during their sojourn from lower Egypt. Ubini was later corrupted to Bini by the mixed ethnicities living together at the centre; and further corrupted to Benin around 1485, when the Portuguese began trade relations with Oba Ewuare giving them coral beads,[6] which the Edo people call Ivie.[7] in Nigeria (green) Edo people can be found in Nigerias Edo State, which got its name from the primary inhabitants of the regions most notable historical conglomeration, Benin City, which is also the central capital homeland of the Edo people. Edo people also have many related groups in their immediate surroundings also encompassed by the political and administrative borders of Edo state.[8] Most of these groups have traced their history back to the historical city center of the Benin people, Benin City. Examples of such adjacent groups include various Afemai sub-groups, the Esan people of Edo state and the Akoko Edo people situated on the states northern borders.[9]
|
Danish overseas colonies. Danish overseas colonies and Dano-Norwegian colonies (Danish: De danske kolonier) were the colonies that Denmark–Norway (Denmark after 1814) possessed from 1537 until 1953. At its apex, the colonies spanned four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.[1] The period of colonial expansion marked a rise in the status and power of Danes and Norwegians in the Kalmar Union. Danes and Norwegians during this time increasingly saw themselves as citizens of the same State Fatherland (Statsfædrelandet), the realm of the Oldenburg monarchs. In the 17th century, following territorial losses on the Scandinavian Peninsula, Denmark–Norway began to develop forts with trading posts in West Africa, and colonies in the Caribbean, and the Indian subcontinent. Christian IV first initiated the policy of expanding Denmark–Norways overseas trade, as part of the mercantilist wave that was sweeping Europe. Denmark–Norways first colony was established at Tranquebar (Trankebar) on Indias southern coast in 1620. Admiral Ove Gjedde led the expedition that established the colony. After 1814, when Norway was ceded to Sweden following the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark retained what remained of Norways great medieval colonial holdings. Today, the only remaining vestiges are two originally Norwegian dependencies that are currently within the Danish Realm, the Faroe Islands and Greenland; the Faroes were a Danish county until 1948, while Greenlands colonial status ceased in 1953. They are now autonomous territories[2] within the Kingdom of Denmark with home rule, in a relationship referred to as the Unity of the Realm.
|
Edo State. Edo is a state in southern Nigeria. Located in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria, the state was ranked as the 20th most populous state (5,250,000) in Nigeria, in 2024. The estimated state population is around 4,777,000 in 2021.[4] Edo State is the 21st largest state by landmass in Nigeria.[5] The states capital and largest city, Benin City, is the fourth largest city in Nigeria and the centre of the countrys rubber industry.[6][7] Created in 1991 from the former Bendel State, it is also known as the heartbeat of the nation.[8] Edo State borders Kogi State to the north for 133 km and across the Niger River for 81 km to the northeast, Anambra State to the east for about four km across the Niger River, Delta State to the southeast and south for 350 km (218 miles), and Ondo State to the west.[9] The modern borders of Edo State[10] encompass regions that were formerly the site of various empires and kingdoms of the second dynasty formed in the 11th century AD, the Benin Empire.[11] The ancient city of Edo, the site of modern-day Benin City,[10] was home to some of the largest earthworks in the world.[12] In 1897, the British Empire conducted a punitive expedition of the region, destroying most of the ancient city of Edo and incorporating the territory into what would become the Southern Nigeria Protectorate.[13][14] Edo State is a diverse state that is predominantly inhabited by the Edoid people, including the Edo (or Bini),[15] Esan, Ora, Akoko-Edo, Ijaw Owan and Afemai people and Igala people among others.[16] The most common Edoid language spoken is the Edo language, which is commonly spoken in Benin City.[17] Christianity is the dominant religion in Edo State.[10] It was first introduced to the region by Portuguese missionaries during the 15th century. Islam and traditional religions are also practised.[18] The Mid-Western Region was a division of Nigeria that came into being in 1963. It was formed in June 1963 from Benin and Delta provinces of the Western Region, and its capital was Benin City.[19] In 1967 when a new 12-state structure was introduced, the region transmuted into Midwest State, remaining territorially intact. This nomenclature lasted until the territory was renamed Bendel state in 1976.[20][21]
|
Yedda Romualdez. Yedda Marie Mendoza Kittilsvedt-Romualdez (Tagalog pronunciation: [ɾoˈmwɐldɛs], born October 22, 1973) is a Filipina politician, beauty queen, and nurse. She is currently serving as the representative of Tingog Party List from 2019 to 2025, and since 2025. She had previously represented Leytes 1st district from 2016 to 2019. Her four consecutive terms in Congress have been criticized as a potential violation of the Constitution.[2][3][4] She is the wife of Martin Romualdez, the Speaker of the House. She represented the Philippines at the Miss International 1996 pageant where she placed in the Top 15. Romualdez first competed in the Supermodel of the World-Philippines pageant in 1991 where she was first runner-up to Lorena Pangan.[5] She competed in the Binibining Pilipinas pageant in 1996 but lost to Aileen Damiles. Instead, she became the countrys representative in that years Miss International competition in Japan, where she placed in the Top 15.[6] Romualdez was the representative of the first district of Leyte in the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 2016 to 2019.[7][8] She is also the first nominee of Tingog Sinirangan (now Tingog) partylist and has served as its representative in Congress beginning in 2019.[9] She was re-elected in 2022 but opted to become the sixth nominee in 2025 with her son Andrew Julian Romualdez as the first nominee.[1] The partylist gained only three seats, effectively ending her term in 2025.[10] However, following the resignation of Tingogs third to fifth nominees (Marie Josephine Diana Calatrava, Alexis Yu, and Paul Richard Muncada), Romualdez was elevated to third nominee and reassumed her seat on July 18, 2025, eighteen days after the end of her previous term.[11] Romualdez father is from Norway and her mother is from Cebu. She is a niece of actress Pilar Pilapil who was crowned as Binibining Pilipinas-Universe in 1967.[12] She graduated in nursing from the Cebu Doctors College in Cebu City[5] and is a registered nurse.[6]
|
Yahoo Answers. Yahoo! Answers was a community-driven question-and-answer (Q&A) website or knowledge market owned by Yahoo! where users would ask questions and answer those submitted by others, and upvote them to increase their visibility. Questions were organised into categories with multiple sub-categories under each to cover every topic users may ask questions on, such as beauty, business, finance, cars, electronics, entertainment, games, gardening, science, news, politics, parenting, pregnancy, and travel. The number of poorly formed questions and inaccurate answers made the site a target of ridicule.[2][3] On April 5, 2021, Yahoo! announced that Yahoo! Answers would be shutting down.[4][5][6] On April 20, 2021, the website switched to read-only and users were no longer able to ask or answer questions.[4][5][6] The site ceased operations on May 4, 2021. The URL now redirects to the Yahoo! homepage. An unaffiliated Japanese version remains online.[4][5][6][1] The website Yahoo! was officially incorporated on March 2, 1995, and was created by Jerry Yang and David Filo. The website began as a search directory for various websites, and soon grew into an established Internet resource that featured the Yahoo! Answers platform.[7] Yahoo! Answers was launched in mid-2005 for internal alpha testing by Director of Engineering Ofer Shaked.[8][9][10] The beta version Yahoo! Answers was launched to the general public on December 8, 2005[11][12] and was available until May 14, 2006. Yahoo! Answers was finally made available for general availability on May 15, 2006.[13] Yahoo! Answers was created to replace Ask Yahoo!, Yahoo!s former Q&A platform which was discontinued in March 2006.[14] The site gave members the chance to earn points as a way to encourage participation and was based on Navers Knowledge iN. Yahoo! Answers was available in 12 languages, with several Asian language versions operating a different platform which allows for non-Latin characters. An Arabic language Q&A platform called Seen Jeem was available through the Yahoo! subsidiary Maktoob until 2010, and the Chinese language version Yahoo! Knowledge was available until 2021.[15] The platform is known as Yahoo! Chiebukuro (Yahoo!知恵袋) in Japan.[16]
|
Unincorporated area. An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation.[1] They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as the military). There are many unincorporated communities and areas in the United States and Canada, but many countries do not use the concept of an unincorporated area. In Argentina, the provinces of Chubut, Córdoba, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Neuquén, Río Negro, San Luis, Santa Cruz, Santiago del Estero, Tierra del Fuego, and Tucumán have areas that are outside any municipality or commune. Unlike many other countries, Australia has only one level of local government immediately beneath state and territorial governments. A local government area (LGA) often contains several towns and even entire metropolitan areas. Thus, aside from very sparsely populated areas and a few other unique cases, almost all of Australia is part of an LGA. Unincorporated areas are often in remote locations, cover vast areas, or have very small populations. Postal addresses in unincorporated areas, as in other parts of Australia, normally use the suburb or locality names gazetted by the relevant state or territorial government. Thus, any ambiguity regarding addresses rarely exists in unincorporated areas.
|
Denmark (disambiguation). Denmark is a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark, located in Northern Europe. Denmark may also refer to:
|
List of cities in Benin. The following is a list of cities in Benin according to the 2013 census:[1] Media related to Cities in Benin at Wikimedia Commons
|
AOL. AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online)[1] is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online service known as PlayNET. PlayNET licensed its software to Quantum Link (Q-Link), which went online in November 1985. A new IBM PC client was launched in 1988, and eventually renamed as America Online in 1989. AOL grew to become the largest online service, displacing established players like CompuServe and The Source. By 1995, AOL had about three million active users.[2] AOL was at one point the most recognized brand on the Web in the United States. AOL once provided a dial-up Internet service to millions of Americans and pioneered instant messaging and chat rooms with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). In 1998, AOL purchased Netscape for US$4.2 billion. By 2000, AOL was providing internet service to over 20 million consumers, dominating the market of Internet service providers (ISPs).[3] In 2001, at the height of its popularity, it purchased the media conglomerate Time Warner in the largest merger in US history. AOL shrank rapidly thereafter, partly due to the decline of dial-up and rise of broadband.[4] AOL was spun off from Time Warner in 2009, with Tim Armstrong appointed the new CEO. Under his leadership, the company invested in media brands and advertising technologies. In 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications for $4.4 billion,[5][6] and was merged with Yahoo! the following year after the latter was also acquired by Verizon. In 2021, Verizon announced it would sell Yahoo and thus AOL to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion.[7]
|
List of counties in Indiana. There are 92 counties in the U.S. state of Indiana. Each county serves as the local level of government within its borders. Although Indiana was organized into the United States since the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, its land was not always available for settlement. The Vincennes Tract, Clarks Grant and an area known as The Gore in southeastern Indiana (resulting from the Treaty of Greenville 1795) existed during the Northwest Territory. The remainder of Indiana land was acquired by Indian Removal Act and purchases by treaty between 1804 and 1840. The largest purchase (called Delaware New Purchase or just New Purchase) resulted from the Treaty of St. Marys (1818) which acquired about 1/3 of the state in the central portion. All or most of 35 counties were eventually carved from the area. The oldest counties are generally in the south near the Ohio River, whereas newer ones were in the north in territory acquired later. Many of the final counties were formed subsequent to the acquisition and break up of the Big Miami Reserve (encompassing present day Howard County and parts of surrounding counties) between 1834 and 1840. The oldest and newest counties in Indiana are Knox County, created in 1790, and Newton County, created in 1859.[1] As of the 2024 Census estimates, the population of Indiana was 6,924,275, the average population of Indianas 92 counties is 75,264, with Marion County as the most populous (981,628), and Ohio County (5,996) the least. 54 counties have 30,000 or more people; 17 counties have populations exceeding 100,000, five of which exceed 250,000; and only six counties have fewer than 10,000 people. The average land area is 396 square miles (1,030 km2).[2] The largest county is Allen (657 sq. mi., 1,702 km2) and the smallest is Ohio (86 sq. mi., 223 km2).[3] According to the Constitution of Indiana, no county may be created of less than 400 square miles (1,000 km2), nor may any county smaller than this be further reduced in size, which precludes any new counties.[4] County government in Indiana consists of two bodies, the county council and the commissioners. Many Indiana counties are named for United States Founding Fathers and personalities of the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and Battle of Tippecanoe; early leaders of Indiana Territory and Indiana, as well as surrounding states like Michigan and Kentucky; plus Native American tribes and geographical features.
|
Danish language. Nordic Council Danish (endonym: dansk pronounced [ˈtænˀsk] ⓘ, dansk sprog [ˈtænˀsk ˈspʁɔwˀ])[1] is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark. Communities of Danish speakers are also found in Greenland,[5] the Faroe Islands, and the northern German region of Southern Schleswig, where it has minority language status.[6][7] Minor Danish-speaking communities are also found in Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina.[8] Along with the other North Germanic languages, Danish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples who lived in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. Danish, together with Swedish, derives from the East Norse dialect group, while the Middle Norwegian language (before the influence of Danish) and Norwegian Nynorsk are classified as West Norse along with Faroese and Icelandic (Norwegian Bokmål may be thought of as mixed Danish-Norwegian, therefore mixed East-West Norse). A more recent classification[which?] based on mutual intelligibility separates modern spoken Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish as mainland (or continental) Scandinavian, while Icelandic and Faroese are classified as insular Scandinavian. Although the written languages are compatible, spoken Danish is distinctly different from Norwegian and Swedish and thus the degree of mutual intelligibility with either is variable between regions and speakers. Until the 16th century, Danish was a continuum of dialects spoken from Southern Jutland and Schleswig to Scania with no standard variety or spelling conventions. With the Protestant Reformation and the introduction of the printing press, a standard language was developed which was based on the educated dialect of Copenhagen and Malmö.[9] It spread through use in the education system and administration, though German and Latin continued to be the most important written languages well into the 17th century. Following the loss of territory to Germany and Sweden, a nationalist movement adopted the language as a token of Danish identity, and the language experienced a strong surge in use and popularity, with major works of literature produced in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, traditional Danish dialects have all but disappeared, though regional variants of the standard language exist. The main differences in language are between generations, with youth language being particularly innovative.
|
States of Nigeria. Nigeria is a federation of 36 states, each of which is a semi-autonomous political unit that shares power with the federal government as enumerated under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In addition to the states, there is the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in which the capital city of Abuja is located.[1] The FCT is not a state, but a territory of the federal government, governed by an administration headed by a minister. Each state is subdivided into local government areas (LGAs). There are 774 local governments in Nigeria.[2] Under the Nigerian Constitution, the 36 states enjoy substantial autonomy but are not sovereign entities, as ultimate authority lies with the federal government. Amendments to the constitution can be proposed by the National Assembly, but for an amendment to be valid, it must be approved by a two-third majority of the 36 state legislatures, as required under Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.[3] States of Nigeria have the right to organize and structure their individual governments in any way within the parameters set by the Constitution of Nigeria. At the state level, the legislature is unicameral, with the number of its members equal to three times the number of legislators it has in the Federal House of Representatives. It has the power to legislate on matters on the concurrent list. At the state level, the head of the executive is the governor, who has the power to appoint people to the state executive council, subject to the advice and consent of the state house of assembly (legislature). The head of a ministry at the state level is the commissioner, who is assisted by a permanent secretary, who is also a senior civil servant of the state.
|
History of Denmark. The history of Denmark as a unified kingdom began in the 8th century, but historic documents describe the geographic area and the people living there—the Danes—as early as 500 AD. These early documents include the writings of Jordanes and Procopius. With the Christianization of the Danes c. 960 AD, it is clear that there existed a kingship. King Frederik X can trace his lineage back to the Viking kings Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth from this time, thus making the Monarchy of Denmark the oldest in Europe.[1] The area now known as Denmark has a rich prehistory, having been populated by several prehistoric cultures and people for about 12,000 years, since the end of the last ice age. Denmarks history has particularly been influenced by its geographical location between the North and Baltic seas, a strategically and economically important placement between Sweden and Germany, at the center of mutual struggles for control of the Baltic Sea (dominium maris baltici). Denmark was long in disputes with Sweden over control of Skånelandene and with Germany over control of Schleswig (a Danish fief) and Holstein (a German fief). Eventually, Denmark lost these conflicts and ended up ceding first Skåneland to Sweden and later Schleswig-Holstein to the German Empire. After the eventual cession of Norway in 1814, Denmark retained control of the old Norwegian colonies of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland. During the 20th century, Iceland gained independence, Greenland and the Faroes became integral parts of the Kingdom of Denmark and North Schleswig reunited with Denmark in 1920 after a referendum. During World War II, Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany, but was eventually liberated by British forces of the Allies in 1945,[2] after which it joined the United Nations. In the aftermath of World War II, and with the emergence of the subsequent Cold War, Denmark was quick to join the military alliance of NATO as a founding member in 1949. The Scandinavian region has a rich prehistory, having been populated by several prehistoric cultures and people for about 12,000 years, since the end of the last ice age. During the ice age, all of Scandinavia was covered by glaciers most of the time, except for the southwestern parts of what we now know as Denmark. When the ice began retreating, the barren tundras were soon inhabited by reindeer and elk, and Ahrenburg and Swiderian hunters from the south followed them here to hunt occasionally. The geography then was very different from what we know today. Sea levels were much lower; the island of Great Britain was connected by a land bridge to mainland Europe and the large area between Great Britain and the Jutlandic peninsula – now beneath the North Sea and known as Doggerland – was inhabited by tribes of hunter-gatherers. As the climate warmed up, forceful rivers of meltwater started to flow and shape the virgin lands, and more stable flora and fauna gradually began emerging in Scandinavia, and Denmark in particular. The first human settlers to inhabit Denmark and Scandinavia permanently were the Maglemosian people, residing in seasonal camps and exploiting the land, sea, rivers and lakes. It was not until around 6,000 BC that the approximate geography of Denmark as we know it today had been shaped.
|
List of Nigerian cities by population. The following are lists of the most populous fully defined incorporated settlements in Nigeria by population. This page consists of three different tables, with different kinds of settlements; a list for defined cities, listing the population, strictly within the defined city limits, a list for urban area population, and another list for the population within metropolitan areas. Nigerian cities are categorized into three types; there is the Metropolis, which is characterized by having more than one Local Government Areas (LGAs). These types of cities are usually formed when large municipalities are split into smaller LGAs, to aid efficient administration and management, when small towns grow and merge into existing large cities, or both; some are also formed when urban areas of multiple LGAs merge as a result of growth and are now fully defined as a single settlement, Another type of settlement is the Municipality, which is basically an LGA that is fully defined as its own city or town. These types of cities are usually mid-sized, although some large cities also exist as a single LGA. The third type of settlement is the village, which is basically grouped together with several other villages into one sizeable LGA. The following table lists fully defined incorporated cities in Nigeria, with a population of at least 100,000, as declared by the Nigerian National Population Commission after the 2006 National census.[1] This list refers only to the population of individual cities within their defined limits, which does not include other distinct communities or extended suburban areas within urban agglomerations. A city is displayed in bold if it is a state or federal capital, and in italics if it is the most populous city in the state. An urban area is a continuously built-up land mass of urban development that is within a labor market, without regard for administrative or city boundaries. An urban area is a human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of a built environment.
|
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. The Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (経済産業大臣, Keizai-Sangyou Daijin) is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The minister is also a statutory member of the National Security Council, and is nominated by the Prime Minister of Japan and is appointed by the Emperor of Japan. The current minister is Yoji Muto, who took office on 1 October 2024. Liberal Democratic Democratic
|
Motoo Hayashi. Motoo Hayashi (林 幹雄, Hayashi Motoo; born January 3, 1947) is a former Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He served as a member of the House of Representatives in the national Diet from 1993 until 2024, representing the Chiba 10th district; he has previously represented the Southern Kanto proportional representation block and the pre-1996 Chiba 2nd district. A native of Katori District, Chiba, Hayashi graduated the Nihon Universitys College of Arts in 1970. Hayashi began his political career as a secretary to his late father, Taikan Hayashi, who served as chief of the former Environment Agency in the early 1990s. Motoo Hayashi was elected to the assembly of Chiba Prefecture for the first time in 1983 and served for three times. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1993. An expert on issues related to Narita International Airport, he was appointed Senior Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Koizumi Cabinet) in 2003. He has pledged to improve Japans transport network.[1] On August 1, 2008 Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda appointed him to the cabinet position of National Public Chairman, State Minister in Charge of Okinawa and Affairs Related to the Northern Territories.[1] Hayashi is currently serving in the Lower House representing Chibas Tenth District and is a member of Shinzo Abes cabinet with many responsibilities: Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Minister in charge of Industrial Competitiveness, Minister in charge of the Response to the Economic Impact caused by the Nuclear Accident, Minister of State for the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation.
|
Isshu Sugawara. Isshu Sugawara (菅原 一秀, Sugawara Isshū; born 7 January 1962) is a former Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a former member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). Sugawara is a native of Nerima, Tokyo, and a graduate of Waseda University. After an unsuccessful contest in 1990, he was elected to the assembly of Nerima, Tokyo, for the first time in 1991 serving for two terms. Having served in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly since 1997, he ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives in 2000. He ran again three years later and was elected for the first time in Tokyo 9th district. In Sugawara’s time as Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, he vowed to decommission the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant as part of his goal to end all nuclear power plants in Japan by 2030. Sugawara was only Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry for a month and a half as he resigned from his position. Sugawara became involved in a gift scandal. Sugawara made illegal donations of 802,200 yen to 33 groups and 26 individuals in Tokyo District 9 from 2018-2019. Sugawara’s aide used a portion of the money to buy melons, oranges, roe, royal jelly, flowers, and signed cards as condolence money for families in his district dealing with a death. According to the prosecutors, the rest of the money was used for celebrations. Japan’s Public Offices Election Laws prohibit politicians from giving gifts or money to constitutions. Sugawara’s gift scandal first came to light when the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun reported that Sugawara’s secretary gave 20,000 yen as condolences to the family of a deceased constituent. After the scandal leaked, Sugawara left the Liberal Democratic Party on June 2. This put the Liberal Democratic Party in a tricky situation, as they were already involved in similar scandals with former ministers. The day after Sugawara removed himself from the Liberal Democratic Party, he was pushed to resign from Minister of Economy Trade and Industry to allow Parliament discussions to continue. At first, the prosecutors at the Tokyo Summary Court did not indict Sugawara because he stepped down as Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry and apologized. But this was changed as a civil inquest believed Sugawara’s actions warranted indictment. The Tokyo Summary Court made an indictment against him. Sugawara was fined 400,000 yen and was given a civil rights suspension. Under the suspension, Sugawara was not allowed to vote or run for office for three years. His profile on the LPD website:[1] Affiliated to the openly revisionist and monarchist lobby Nippon Kaigi,[2] Sugawara supports the amendment of the Constitution of Japan, and a revision of the Constitution to allow the right of collective self-defense. He is opposed to the project that would allow women in the Imperial family to retain their Imperial status even after marriage, and to the plan to end all nuclear power plants by the end of the 2030s.[3]
|
List of sovereign states. The following is a list providing an overview of sovereign states around the world with information on their status and recognition of their sovereignty. The 205 listed states can be divided into three categories based on membership within the United Nations System: 193 UN member states,[1] two UN General Assembly non-member observer states, and ten other states. The sovereignty dispute column indicates states having undisputed sovereignty (189 states, of which there are 188 UN member states and one UN General Assembly non-member observer state), states having disputed sovereignty (14 states, of which there are five UN member states, one UN General Assembly non-member observer state, and eight de facto states), and states having a special political status (two states, both in free association with New Zealand). Compiling a list such as this can be complicated and controversial, as there is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations concerning the criteria for statehood. For more information on the criteria used to determine the contents of this list, please see the criteria for inclusion section below. The list is intended to include entities that have been recognised as having de facto status as sovereign states, and inclusion should not be seen as an endorsement of any specific claim to statehood in legal terms.
|
Foldable smartphone. A foldable smartphone (also called a foldable phone or simply foldable) is a smartphone with a folding form factor. While folding designs have been used previously in clamshell or flip phone models, the term foldable now generally refers to a newer style featuring flexible displays. Some variants of the concept instead use multiple touchscreen panels connected by a hinge.[1][2] Concepts for such devices date back as early as Nokias Morph concept in 2008 and a concept presented by Samsung Electronics in 2013, which was part of a broader set of ideas using flexible OLED displays. The first commercially available folding smartphones with OLED displays began to appear in 2018. Some devices fold on a vertical axis into a wider, tablet-like form while remaining usable in a smaller, folded state. The display may either wrap around to the back of the device when folded, as seen with the Royole FlexPai and Huawei Mate X, or use a booklet-style design, where the larger, folded screen is located inside and a smaller screen on the cover allows interaction without opening the device, as with the Samsung Galaxy Fold series. Horizontally folding smartphones have also been produced, typically using a clamshell form factor. The first generation of commercially released foldable smartphones faced concerns over durability and their high prices, and they are largely regarded as a gimmick.[3][4][5][6] In 2023, only around 1% of worldwide smartphone ownership were foldable smartphones.[7] In 2006, Polymer Vision showed a roll-able concept and a foldable smartphone, the Readius (zh), at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) which also serves as a reader.[8][9][10] In 2008, Nokia presented animated concepts of a flexible device it dubbed Morph, which had a tri-fold design that could be bended into various forms, such as a large unfolded device, a feature phone-sized unit, and a smart wristband. In a 2019 retrospective on the concept, CNET noted that Morph could be considered a forerunner to the first wave of commercially produced folding phones, as well as a showcase of future possibilities.[11]
|
Albania (disambiguation). Albania is a country on the Balkan Peninsula in south-eastern Europe. Albania may also refer to:
|
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary. The Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary (内閣官房副長官, Naikaku-kanbō-fuku-chōkan) is an official in the Japanese government who assists the Chief Cabinet Secretary. Since July 1998 there have always been three Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretaries at any given time. The Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretaries are customarily divided into two types: those responsible for political affairs (政務担当) and those responsible for administrative affairs (事務担当). Since the Obuchi Cabinet, there have been two Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretaries for political affairs and one for administrative affairs. Prior to that, there were one for each.[1] The Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretaries for political affairs are members of the National Diet, one from the House of Representatives and one from the House of Councillors. The position is often given to a protégé or close aide to the Prime Minister. It is considered a gateway to success for mid-career Diet members, as those who serve in it have often been given important cabinet positions afterwards. There are five instances of former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretaries becoming Prime Minister: Noboru Takeshita, Toshiki Kaifu, Yoshirō Mori, Shinzo Abe and Yukio Hatoyama.[1][2][3] The Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for administrative affairs is the senior bureaucrat in the government. The position is typically filled by someone who has previously served as administrative vice-minister or in a equivalent role. The main function of this position is to coordinate the bureaucracy. They preside over the administrative vice-ministers liaison conference, a sub-cabinet meeting of the senior bureaucrats of each ministry.[1][2][3]
|
Imperial Furniture Collection. The Imperial Furniture Collection (German: Hofmobiliendepot) in Vienna is a furniture museum that houses one of the most important collections of furniture in the world.[1] Today, the museum mainly contains furniture of the Habsburg monarchs. In addition the museum offers an overview of the history of Viennese cabinet making and interior decoration, from purveyors to the Imperial Household to well-known artists of the early 20th century, Adolf Loos, Josef Hoffmann and Otto Wagner, who characterized the domestic architecture of Vienna. The main building is located in Andreasgasse 7 in the 7th Vienna district of Neubau. In 1747, the first Court Furniture Inspector (Hofmobilieninspektor) was entrusted with the inventory control, care and transportation of the furniture belonging to the imperial court of Empress Maria Theresa. In 1809 this court service was designated as the Court Furniture Directorate (Hofmobiliendirektion) and was responsible for the purchase of new furniture for the imperial household. In 1901 the present building of the Imperial-Royal Court Furniture Depository (k. k. Hofmobiliendepot) on Mariahilfer Straße 88, together with attached workshops and coach houses, was built as a central storage facility for furniture not actually being used. Because the Habsburgs furnished their residences and palaces in accordance with the style of the period and their own aesthetic taste, 160,000 items ended up in the exhibition. Anything that was no longer used, just made its way to the depot. After the end of the Danube monarchy in 1919 the entire imperial furniture collection was transferred to the Republic of Austria. Part of it was, and is, used for representative purposes, for example for the official residences of the federal presidents.
|
Ti Shqipëri, më jep nder, më jep emrin Shqipëtar. Ti Shqipëri, më jep nder, më jep emrin Shqipëtar (You Albania, you give me honour, you give me the name Albanian) is the national motto of Albania. The phrase was used in the poem O malet e Shqipërisë (O mountains of Albania), written by Naim Frashëri, proclaimed national poet.[1][2] This Albania-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
|
Indiana. Indiana (/ˌɪndiˈænə/ ⓘ IN-dee-AN-ə)[15] is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the south and southeast, and the Wabash River and Illinois to the west. Nicknamed the Hoosier State,[16] Indiana is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the Union as the 19th state on December 11, 1816. Indigenous resistance to American settlement was broken with defeat of the Tecumsehs confederacy in 1813. The new settlers were primarily Americans of British ancestry from the eastern seaboard and the Upland South, and Germans. After the Civil War, in which the state fought for the Union, natural gas attracted heavy industry and new European immigrants to its northern counties. In the first half of the 20th century, northern and central sections experienced a boom in goods manufacture and automobile production. Southern Indiana remained largely rural. After the rise and fall of the Klan in the 1920s, the state swung politically from the Republican to Democratic Party in the New Deal 1930s. Today, with a decades-long record of returning Republican majorities, Indiana is counted a Red state. Indiana has a diverse economy with a gross state product in 2023 of 404.3 billion.[17] Indianapolis is at the center of the states largest metropolitan area, with a population of over two million.[18] The Fort Wayne metro area follows with a population of 645,000.[19] Indiana is home to professional sports teams, including the NFLs Indianapolis Colts, the NBAs Indiana Pacers, and the WNBAs Indiana Fever. The state also hosts several notable competitive events, such as the Indianapolis 500, held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
|
Coat of arms of Albania. The coat of arms of Albania (Albanian: Stema e Republikës së Shqipërisë) is an adaptation of the flag of Albania and is based on the symbols of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg. It features the black double-headed eagle, documented in official use since 1458, as evidenced from a sealed document uncovered in the Vatican Secret Archive (fund: Miscellanea, vol. XXXIX, doc. 2398), addressed to Pope Pius II and co-sealed by notary Johannes Borcius de Grillis.[1] The stylized gold helmet is partially based on the model of crown-like rank that once belonged to Skanderbeg, currently on display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, first mentioned in 1593 in the Ambras armory inventory and depicted in 1601/03 in the Armamentarium Heroicum of Jakob Schrenck von Notzing. The ruler of Austria, Ferdinand II, acquired the helmet from the Duke of Urbino, so mentioned in a letter sent to him from the duke, dated 15 October 1578.[2] The helmet as an integral component in the coat of arms was instituted for the first time by the president of the republic Ahmet Zogu on 12 July 1926.[citation needed] The coat of arms of the Republic is described in Article 14 of the Constitution of Albania: The coat of arms of the Republic of Albania represents a shield with a red field and a black two-headed eagle at the center. On top of the shield, in golden color, is placed the helmet of Skanderbeg.[3]
|
Flag of Albania. The flag of Albania (Albanian: Flamuri i Shqipërisë) depicts a silhouetted black double-headed eagle in the center of a red background. The red stands for bravery, strength, valour and bloodshed, while the Eagle – traditionally the symbol of Albanians[4] – represents the sovereign state of Albania. The flag was established as the national flag of Albania when the country gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912. During John Hunyadis campaign in Niš in 1443, Skanderbeg and a few hundred Albanians defected from the Turkish ranks; for twenty-five years he scored remarkable victories against the Ottomans. He adopted the similar Eastern Roman imperial flag, with the double-headed eagle and the red background, and his victories brought him the papal title Athleta Christi.[6] The eagle was used for heraldic purposes in the Middle Ages by a number of noble families in Albania and became the symbol of the Albanians.[4] The Kastriotis coat of arms, depicting a black double-headed eagle on a red field, became famous when he led a revolt against the Ottoman Empire resulting in the independence of Albania from 1443 to 1479. This was the flag of the League of Lezhë, which was the first unified Albanian state in the Middle Ages and the oldest representative political body in the country with extant records.[7][8][9][10] The symbol of the double-headed black eagle on a red background was re-used by Albanian nationalists during the 19th and early 20th centuries as a symbol of their campaign for their countrys independence from the Ottoman Empire.[11][4][12] In Ottoman territory, the first time it was raised in possibly over 400 years is the Battle of Deçiq (6 April) in the Albanian revolt of 1911. It was raised by the rebellion leader Ded Gjo Luli on the peak of Bratila (present-day Tuzi Municipality) after victory was secured. The phrase Tash o vllazën do t’ju takojë të shihni atë që për 450 vjet se ka pa kush (Now brothers you have earned the right to see that which has been unseen for 450 years) has been attributed to Ded Gjo Luli by later memoirs of those who were present when he raised the flag.[13] It was one of three banners brought to Malësia by Palokë Traboini, student in Austria. The other two banners were used by Ujka of Gruda and Prelë Luca of Triepshi.[14]
|
Denmark. – in Europe (light green & dark grey)– in the European Union (light green) Denmark[b] is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,[N 5] also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland in the north Atlantic Ocean.[11] Metropolitan Denmark,[N 6] also called continental Denmark or Denmark proper,[12] consists of the northern Jutland peninsula and an archipelago of 406 islands.[13] It is the southernmost of the Scandinavian countries, lying southwest of Sweden, south of Norway, and north of Germany, with which it shares a short border. Denmark proper is situated between the North Sea to the west and the Baltic Sea to the east.[N 7] The Kingdom of Denmark, including the Faroe Islands and Greenland, has roughly 1,400 islands greater than 100 square metres (1,100 sq ft) in area; 443 have been named and 78 are inhabited.[14] Denmarks population is over 6 million (1 May 2025),[7] of which roughly 40% live in Zealand, (Sjælland) the largest and most populated island in Denmark proper; Copenhagen, (København) the capital and largest city of the Danish Realm, is situated on Zealand and Amager and Slotsholmen.[15] Composed mostly of flat, arable land, Denmark is characterised by sandy coasts, low elevation, and a temperate climate. Denmark exercises hegemonic influence in the Danish Realm, devolving powers to the other constituent entities to handle their internal affairs. Home rule was established in the Faroe Islands in 1948; Greenland achieved home rule in 1979 and further autonomy in 2009.[16] The unified Kingdom of Denmark emerged in the eighth century AD as a maritime power amid the struggle for control of the Baltic Sea.[2] In 1397, it formed the Kalmar Union with Norway and Sweden. This union persisted until Swedens secession in 1523. The remaining Kingdom of Denmark–Norway endured a series of wars in the 17th century that resulted in further territorial cessions. A surge of nationalist movements in the 19th century were defeated in the First Schleswig War of 1848. The adoption of the Constitution of Denmark on 5 June 1849 ended the absolute monarchy. In the Second Schleswig War Denmark lost Schleswig-Holstein, which led to changes in Danish politics henceforth emphasising social cohesion in the diminished realm, as well as the clearing of the vast moors of Jutland for agriculture, new Christian movements split between Indre Mission and Grundtvig, but generally a stronger self-perception among the people of belonging to a unified country and state. In 1920 North Schleswig became Danish.
|
Arbërisht (disambiguation). Arbërisht (definite form Arbërishtja) in Tosk Albanian and its unrhotacized variant Arbënisht (definite form Arbënishtja) in Gheg Albanian is the Old Albanian endonym used by the Albanians for their language. It has been gradually replaced by the Albanian endonym shqip since the late medieval times, but still retained by some Albanian varieties to refer to their own speech, in particular by:
|
Languages of Greece. The official language of Greece is Greek, spoken by 99% of the population. In addition, a number of non-official, minority languages and some Greek dialects are spoken as well. The most common foreign languages learned by Greeks are English, German, French and Italian. Modern Greek language (Νεοελληνική γλώσσα) is the only official language of the Hellenic Republic, and is spoken by some 99.5% of the population — about 11,100,000 people[3] (though not necessarily as a first language). Standard Modern Greek is the officially used standard, but there are several non-official dialects and distinct Hellenic languages spoken as well. Regional spoken dialects exist side by side with learned, archaic written forms. All surviving forms of modern Greek, except the Tsakonian language, are descendants of the common supra-regional (koiné) as it was spoken in late antiquity. As such, they can ultimately be classified as descendants of Attic Greek, the dialect spoken in and around Athens in the classical era. Tsakonian, an isolated dialect spoken today by a dwindling community in the Peloponnese, is a descendant of the ancient Doric dialect. Some other dialects have preserved elements of various ancient non-Attic dialects, but Attic Koine is nevertheless regarded by most scholars as the principal source of all of them. Cappadocian Greek (Καππαδοκικά) is a Hellenic language originally spoken in Cappadocia and since the 1920s spoken in Greece. It has very few speakers and was previously thought to be extinct. The Cappadocians rapidly shifted to Standard Modern Greek and their language was thought to be extinct since the 1960s. Cretan Greek is spoken by more than 500,000 people on the island of Crete, as well as in the Greek Diaspora. It is rarely used in written language, and differs much less from Standard Greek than other varieties. The Cretan dialect is spoken by the majority of the Cretan Greeks on the island of Crete, as well as by several thousand Cretans who have settled in major Greek cities, notably in Athens, and in areas settled by Ottoman-era Cretan Greek Muslims (the so-called Cretan Turks), such as the town of Al-Hamidiyah in Syria.
|
Himni i Flamurit. Himni i Flamurit (Hymn to the Flag) is the national anthem of Albania, adopted in 1912. Its music is derived from the Romanian patriotic song Pe-al nostru steag e scris Unire, composed by Ciprian Porumbescu.[1] The lyrics were written by Albanian poet Asdreni. The anthem was originally titled Betimi mbi Flamur (The Pledge on the Flag).[2] On 21 April 1912, Betimi mbi Flamur was first published as a poem in Liri e Shqipërisë (Freedom of Albania), an Albanian newspaper in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was later printed in a volume of poems by Drenova titled Ëndra e lotë (Dreams and Tears) which was published in Bucharest. According to Lasgush Poradecis memoirs, the anthem, created by the adaptation of the text to the music, was not originally intended to be a national anthem, but it was so well liked by the people that it was proclaimed as the national anthem in 1912, and it was with its music that the Albanian flag was raised during the Albanian Proclamation of Independence in Vlore.[2] A Hungarian composer, György Ligeti, opined that the music composed by Porumbescu is rooted in Germanic and Austrian musical traditions, though this is not a definitive groundbreaking explanation of its influence and later creation. It is a view based on Porumbescus musical education, since he had studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. The view has been shared by Albanian musicologist, Ramadan Sokoli.[2] The second half of each verse is considered refrain and is repeated. Usually only the first stanza of the anthem is performed, such as during sporting events. Rreth flamurit të përbashkuar Me një dëshir e një qëllim, Të gjith atij duke u betuar[a] Të lidhim besën për shpëtim. 𝄆 Prej lufte veç ai largohet Që është lindur tradhëtor, Kush është burrë nuk frikohet, Po vdes, po vdes si një dëshmor! 𝄇[b] Në dorë armët do ti mbajmë, Të mbrojmë atdheun në çdo kënd, Të drejtat tona ne si ndajmë; Këtu armiqtë skanë vend![c] 𝄆 Se Zoti vetë e tha me gojë Që kombe shuhen përmbi dhe, Po Shqipëria do të rrojë;[b] Për të, për të luftojmë ne! 𝄇 O Flamur, flamur, shenj e shenjtë Tek ti betohemi këtu Për Shqipërin atdheun e shtrenjtë,[d] Për nder edhe lavdimn e tu. 𝄆 Trim burrë quhet dhe nderohet Atdheut kush iu bë therror. Përjetë ai do të kujtohet Mbi dhe, nën dhe si një shenjtor! 𝄇[e]
|
Languages of Italy. The languages of Italy include Italian, which serves as the countrys national language, in its standard and regional forms, as well as numerous local and regional languages, most of which, like Italian, belong to the broader Romance group. The majority of languages often labeled as regional are distributed in a continuum across the regions administrative boundaries, with speakers from one locale within a single region being typically aware of the features distinguishing their own variety from others spoken nearby.[6] The official and most widely spoken language across the country is Italian, which started off based on the medieval Tuscan of Florence. In parallel, many Italians also communicate in one of the local languages, most of which, like Tuscan, are indigenous evolutions of Vulgar Latin. Some local languages do not stem from Latin, however, but belong to other Indo-European branches, such as Cimbrian (Germanic), Arbëresh (Albanian), Slavomolisano (Slavic) and Griko (Greek). Other non-indigenous languages are spoken by a substantial percentage of the population due to immigration. Of the indigenous languages, twelve are officially recognized as spoken by linguistic minorities:[7] Albanian,[8][9] Catalan, German, Greek, Slovene, Croatian, French, Franco-Provençal, Friulian, Ladin, Occitan and Sardinian;[7] at the present moment, Sardinian is regarded as the largest of such groups, with approximately one million speakers, even though the Sardophone community is overall declining.[10][11][12][13][14][15] However, full bilingualism (bilinguismo perfetto) is legally granted only to the three national minorities whose mother tongue is German, Slovene or French, and enacted in the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and the Aosta Valley, respectively.
|
Evolutionary biology. Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biology emerged through what Julian Huxley called the modern synthesis of understanding, from previously unrelated fields of biological research, such as genetics and ecology, systematics, and paleontology. The investigational range of current research has widened to encompass the genetic architecture of adaptation, molecular evolution, and the different forces that contribute to evolution, such as sexual selection, genetic drift, and biogeography. The newer field of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) investigates how embryogenesis is controlled, thus yielding a wider synthesis that integrates developmental biology with the fields of study covered by the earlier evolutionary synthesis. Evolution is the central unifying concept in biology. Biology can be divided into various ways. One way is by the level of biological organization, from molecular to cell, organism to population. Another way is by perceived taxonomic group, with fields such as zoology, botany, and microbiology, reflecting what was once seen as the major divisions of life. A third way is by approaches, such as field biology, theoretical biology, experimental evolution, and paleontology. These alternative ways of dividing up the subject have been combined with evolutionary biology to create subfields like evolutionary ecology and evolutionary developmental biology. More recently, the merge between biological science and applied sciences gave birth to new fields that are extensions of evolutionary biology, including evolutionary robotics, engineering,[1] algorithms,[2] economics,[3] and architecture.[4] The basic mechanisms of evolution are applied directly or indirectly to come up with novel designs or solve problems that are difficult to solve otherwise. The research generated in these applied fields, contribute towards progress, especially from work on evolution in computer science and engineering fields such as mechanical engineering.[5]
|
Utagawa school. The Utagawa school (歌川派) was one of the main schools of ukiyo-e, founded by Utagawa Toyoharu. It was the largest ukiyo-e school of its period. The main styles were bijin-ga (beautiful women) and uki-e (perspective picture). His pupil, Toyokuni I, took over after Toyoharus death and led the group to become the most famous and powerful woodblock print school for the remainder of the 19th century. Hiroshige,[1] Kunisada, Kuniyoshi and Yoshitoshi were Utagawa students. The school became so successful and well known that today more than half of all surviving ukiyo-e prints are from it. Founder Toyoharu adopted Western-style deep perspective, an innovation in Japanese art. His immediate followers, Utagawa Toyohiro and Toyokuni adopted bolder, more sensuous styles than Toyoharu and specialized in different genres — Toyohiro in landscapes and Toyokuni in kabuki actor prints. Later artists in the school specialized in other genres, such as warrior prints and mythic parodies.[2] It was a Japanese custom for successful apprentices to take the names of their masters.[2] In the main Utagawa school, there was a hierarchy of gō (art-names), from the most senior to junior. As each senior person died, the others would move up a step. The head of the school generally used the gō (and signed his prints) as Toyokuni. When Kunisada I proclaimed himself head of the school (c. 1842), he started signing as Toyokuni, and the next most senior member, Kochoro (a name also previously used by Kunisada I, but not as his chief gō), started signing as Kunisada (Kunisada II, in this case).
|
Darwins finches. Darwins finches (also known as the Galápagos finches) are a group of about 18 species of passerine birds.[1][2][3][4] They are well known for being a classic example of adaptive radiation and for their remarkable diversity in beak form and function.[5] They are often classified as the subfamily Geospizinae or tribe Geospizini. They belong to the tanager family and are not closely related to the true finches. The closest known relative of the Galápagos finches is the South American dull-coloured grassquit (Asemospiza obscura).[6] They were first collected when the second voyage of the Beagle visited the Galápagos Islands, with Charles Darwin on board as a gentleman naturalist. Apart from the Cocos finch, which is from Cocos Island, the others are found only on the Galápagos Islands. The term Darwins finches was first applied by Percy Lowe in 1936, and popularised in 1947 by David Lack in his book Darwins Finches.[7][8] Lack based his analysis on the large collection of museum specimens collected by the 1905–06 Galápagos expedition of the California Academy of Sciences, to whom Lack dedicated his 1947 book. The birds vary in size from 10 to 20 cm (4 to 8 in) and weigh between 8 and 38 grams (0.3 and 1.3 oz). The smallest are the warbler-finches and the largest is the vegetarian finch. The most important differences between species are in the size and shape of their beaks, which are highly adapted to different food sources. Food availability was different among the islands of the Galapagos and could also change dramatically due to natural events such as droughts. The birds are all dull-coloured. They are thought to have evolved from a single finch species that came to the islands more than a million years ago.[9] During the survey voyage of HMS Beagle, Darwin was unaware of the significance of the birds of the Galápagos. He had learned how to preserve bird specimens from John Edmonstone while at the University of Edinburgh and had been keen on shooting, but he had no expertise in ornithology and by this stage of the voyage concentrated mainly on geology.[10] In Galápagos he mostly left bird shooting to his servant Syms Covington.[11] Nonetheless, these birds were to play an important part in the inception of Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection. On the Galápagos Islands and afterward, Darwin thought in terms of centres of creation and rejected ideas concerning the transmutation of species.[12] From Henslows teaching, he was interested in the geographical distribution of species, particularly links between species on oceanic islands and on nearby continents. On Chatham Island, he recorded that a mockingbird was similar to those he had seen in Chile, and after finding a different one on Charles Island he carefully noted where mockingbirds had been caught.[10] In contrast, he paid little attention to the finches. When examining his specimens on the way to Tahiti, Darwin noted that all of the mockingbirds on Charles Island were of one species, those from Albemarle of another, and those from James and Chatham Islands of a third. As they sailed home about nine months later, this, together with other facts, including what he had heard about Galápagos tortoises, made him wonder about the stability of species.[13][14]
|
Index of evolutionary biology articles. This is a list of topics in evolutionary biology. abiogenesis – adaptation – adaptive mutation – adaptive radiation – allele – allele frequency – allochronic speciation – allopatric speciation – altruism – anagenesis – anti-predator adaptation – applications of evolution – apomorphy – aposematism – Archaeopteryx – aquatic adaptation – artificial selection – atavism Henry Walter Bates – biological organisation – Black Queen hypothesis – Brassica oleracea – breed Cambrian explosion – camouflage – Sean B. Carroll – catagenesis – gene-centered view of evolution – cephalization – Sergei Chetverikov – chronobiology – chronospecies – clade – cladistics – climatic adaptation – coalescent theory – co-evolution – co-operation – coefficient of relationship – common descent – convergent evolution – creation–evolution controversy – cultivar – conspecific song preference
|
Languages of Albania. Albania is an ethnically homogeneous country, where the overwhelming majority of the population speaks Albanian, which is also the official language. It has two distinct dialects: Tosk, spoken in the south, and Gheg, spoken in the north. However, many Albanians can also speak foreign languages as Italian, Greek, French, German, and English, amongst others, due to the high numbers of Albanian diaspora and Albanian communities throughout the Balkans. Although many ethnic Albanians (from within Albania and the wider Balkans and diaspora) around the world speak more than two languages and have been recognised as polyglots, Albania is the fourth highest nation in Europe in terms of the percentage of monolingual inhabitants, with 59.9% speaking only one language.[1] Italian is widely spoken throughout Albania. Greek, the language of the Greek national minority, is focused in southern Albania; however, many Albanian nationals speak the Greek language due to immigration. Nowadays, knowledge of English is growing very rapidly, especially among the youth. Various languages are spoken by ethnic minorities: Greek, Bulgarian, Aromanian, Macedonian, etc. The Article 14 of the Albanian Constitution states that The official language in the Republic of Albania is Albanian.[2] In the 2023 population census, 91.07% reported Albanian as the language spoken at home. 1.54% declared to speak at home another language, 0.57% multiple languages, 1.21% gave no answer and 5.59% were unavailable.[3] Standard Albanian is based in the Tosk dialect, spoken in the south. Gheg is spoken in the north and also by Kosovo Albanians and in Croatia Arbanasi, Upper Reka dialect, Istrian. The traditional border between the two dialects is the Shkumbin River. Although they are somewhat different, they are mutually intelligible.[4][5] Other notable varieties, all of which are sub-dialects of Tosk, include Lab, Cham, Arbëresh spoken in Italy and Arvanitika, Arvanitic in Southern Greece.
|
Ipomoea nil. Ipomoea nil is a species of Ipomoea morning glory known by several common names, including picotee morning glory, ivy morning glory, ivy-leaf morning glory, and Japanese morning glory (although it is not native to Japan).[1] It is native to the tropical Americas, and has been introduced widely across the world.[1] Native to Central America and Mexico, the plant is a climber with twining stems up to 5 m long and is dense to scattered with long hairy trichomes. The finely hairy, emerald green leaves are ovate to almost circular, 5 to 14 cm long. The base is heart-shaped, the edge is entire or lobed three to five times, the leaf lobes are pointed or tapering. The species, especially its wild form, is extremely similar to Ipomoea hederacea. The funnel-shaped, colorful flowers (blue to reddish-purple, with whitish tube) are quite showy and are individually up to five in often dense cymose groups, in which fully developed flowers and developing buds stand together. The wild forms are smaller than cultivated forms, and are almost always blue; the cultivated forms come in a wide variety of colors.[1] They open in the morning and close by the afternoon. The long, thorny hairy sepals have a length of 15 to 25 mm, they are long, lanceolate, and have a linear-lanceolate tip. The crown is blue, purple, or almost scarlet red. The throat is often colored white. The crown tube has a length of 3 to 5 cm, the crown hem has a width of 4 to 5 cm. The fruits are almost spherical to spherical capsule fruits with a diameter of 8 to 12 mm. The seeds are pear-shaped and densely covered with short trichomes.
|
Glossary of ukiyo-e. This is a list of terms frequently encountered in the description of ukiyo-e (浮世絵)-style Japanese woodblock prints and paintings. For a list of print sizes, see below. The Japanese terms for vertical (portrait) and horizontal (landscape) formats for images are tate-e (縦絵) and yoko-e (横絵), respectively. Below is a table of common Tokugawa-period print sizes. Sizes varied depending on the period, and those given are approximate they are based on the pre-printing paper sizes, and paper was often trimmed after printing. Citations Sources
|
Schools of ukiyo-e artists. Ukiyo-e artists may be organized into schools, which consist of a founding artist and those artists who were taught by or strongly influenced by him. Artists of the Osaka school are united both stylistically and geographically.[1] Not all of these artists designed woodblock prints, and some ukiyo-e artists had more than one teacher, and others are not known to be associated with any particular school.
|
John Gould. John Gould FRS (/ɡuːld/; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881[1]) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart. Because of his 1840s seven-volume series The Birds of Australia and its updates he has been considered the father of bird study in Australia, and the Gould League in Australia is named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed Darwins finches played a role in the inception of Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection. Goulds work is referenced in Charles Darwins book, On the Origin of Species. John Gould was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, the first son of a gardener.[2] Both father and son probably had little education.[2] After working on Dowager Lady Pouletts glass house, his father obtained a position on an estate near Guildford, Surrey. In 1818, Gould Snr became foreman in the Royal Gardens of Windsor. Gould became an apprentice for 6 years under the care of J. T. Aiton, of the Royal Gardens of Windsor from the age of 14 to 20 years old.[3] The young Gould started training as a gardener. Employed under his father at Windsor from 1818 to 1824, he was then a gardener at Ripley Castle in Yorkshire. He became an expert in the art of taxidermy. In 1824 he set himself up in business in London as a taxidermist. His skill helped him to become the first curator and preserver at the museum of the Zoological Society of London in 1827.[4][5] Goulds position brought him into contact with the countrys leading naturalists. This meant that he was often the first to see new collections of birds given to the Zoological Society of London. In 1830 a collection of birds arrived from the Himalayas, many not previously described. Gould published these birds in A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains (1830–1832). The text was by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and the illustrations were drawn and lithographed by Goulds wife Elizabeth Coxen Gould. Most of Goulds work were rough sketches on paper from which other artists created the lithographic plates.[6][7] This work was followed by four more in the next seven years, including Birds of Europe in five volumes.[8] It was completed in 1837; Gould wrote the text, and his clerk, Edwin Prince, did the editing. The plates were drawn and lithographed by Elizabeth Coxen Gould. A few of the illustrations were made by Edward Lear as part of his Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae in 1832. Lear, however, was in financial difficulty, and he sold the entire set of lithographs to Gould. The books were published in a very large size, imperial folio, with magnificent coloured plates. Eventually 41 of these volumes were published, with about 3000 plates. They appeared in parts at £3 3s. a number, subscribed for in advance, and in spite of the heavy expense of preparing the plates, Gould succeeded in making his ventures pay, realising a fortune.[4][9] This was a busy period for Gould who also published Icones Avium in two parts containing 18 leaves of bird studies on 54 cm plates as a supplement to his previous works.[10] No further monographs were published as in 1838 he and his wife moved to Australia to work on the Birds of Australia. Shortly after their return to England, his wife died in 1841. Elizabeth Gould completed 84 plates for Birds of Australia before her death.[11]
|
Nigeria. Nigeria,[b] officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa.[10] It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of 923,769 square kilometres (356,669 sq mi). With a population of more than 230 million, it is the most populous country in Africa, and the worlds sixth-most populous country. Nigeria borders Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west. Nigeria is a federal republic comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where its capital, Abuja, is located. The largest city in Nigeria by population is Lagos, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and the largest in Africa. Nigeria has been home to several indigenous material cultures, pre-colonial states and kingdoms since the second millennium BC. The Nok culture, c. 1500 BC, marks one of the earliest known civilizations in the region.[11] The Hausa Kingdoms inhabited the north, with the Edo Kingdom of Benin in the south and Igbo Kingdom of Nri in the southeast. In the southwest, the Yoruba Ife Empire was succeeded by the Oyo Empire. The present day territory of Nigeria was home to a vast array of city-states.[12]: 136 In the early 19th century the Fula jihads culminated in the Sokoto Caliphate. The modern state originated with British colonialization in the 19th century, taking its present territorial shape with the merging of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and the Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914. The British set up administrative and legal structures and incorporated traditional monarchs as a form of indirect rule.[13] Nigeria became a formally independent federation on 1 October 1960. It experienced a civil war from 1967 to 1970, followed by a succession of military dictatorships and democratically elected civilian governments until achieving a stable government in the 1999 Nigerian presidential election. Nigeria is a multinational state inhabited by more than 250 ethnic groups speaking 500 distinct languages, all identifying with a wide variety of cultures.[14][15][16] The three largest ethnic groups are the Hausa in the north, Yoruba in the west, and Igbo in the east, together constituting over 60% of the total population.[17] The official language is English, chosen to facilitate linguistic unity at the national level.[18] Nigerias constitution ensures de jure freedom of religion,[19] and it is home to some of the worlds largest Muslim and Christian populations.[20] Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Muslims, who live mostly in the north part of the country, and Christians, who live mostly in the south; indigenous religions, such as those native to the Igbo and Yoruba ethnicities, are in the minority.[21] Nigeria is a regional power in Africa and a middle power in international affairs. Nigerias economy is the fourth-largest in Africa, the 53rd-largest in the world by nominal GDP, and 27th-largest by PPP. Nigeria is often referred to as the Giant of Africa by its citizens due to its large population and economy,[22] and is considered to be an emerging market by the World Bank. Nigeria is a founding member of the African Union and a member of many international organizations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, NAM,[23] the Economic Community of West African States, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and OPEC. It is also a member of the informal MINT group of countries and is one of the Next Eleven economies.
|
List of Utagawa school members. This article contains a list of the members of the Utagawa school of Japanese artists, whose members designed paintings and woodblock prints in the ukiyo-e style from the late Edo period to the end of the Meiji period. The art-names of the artists were not produced through a consistent scheme. The artists of the second generation generally formed their art-names by taking the first kanji of their teachers name, and adding a different second kanji (e.g. Toyoharu, whose student was Toyohiro). Beginning with the third generation, the names were mainly created by starting with the second kanji of the teachers name, and adding another one to it (e.g. Toyokuni and his student Kunisada). However, in some cases during this stage the first kanji of the teachers name was still used for the creation of name (e.g. Toyokuni and Toyoshige). Another, rare, variant was the use of the second kanji of the teachers name as the second kanji of the pupils name (e.g. Toyohiro and Naohiro). Occasionally the same art-name would be re-used by different, un-related artists at different times (e.g. Kunichika or Kunihisa). Equally possible was the use of homonymic names – ones which sound the same, but are written with different kanji (e.g. Hiromasa (広昌) and Hiromasa (広政)). After an event which left a teachers name unused, such as their death, retreat from artistic life, or a change in the art-name they used, the former name was often given to a preferred student. Therefore, some names continued to be used, with numbering to distinguish the various holders (e.g. Kuniteru I, II and III). Sometimes these numbers were used by the artists themselves, and sometimes they have been added much later, by people studying the field.
|
Introduction to evolution. In biology, evolution is the process of change in all forms of life over generations, and evolutionary biology is the study of how evolution occurs. Biological populations evolve through genetic changes that correspond to changes in the organisms observable traits. Genetic changes include mutations, which are caused by damage or replication errors in organisms DNA. As the genetic variation of a population drifts randomly over generations, natural selection gradually leads traits to become more or less common based on the relative reproductive success of organisms with those traits. The age of the Earth is about 4.5 billion years.[1][2][3] The earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth dates from at least 3.5 billion years ago.[4][5][6] Evolution does not attempt to explain the origin of life (covered instead by abiogenesis), but it does explain how early lifeforms evolved into the complex ecosystem that we see today.[7] Based on the similarities between all present-day organisms, all life on Earth is assumed to have originated through common descent from a last universal ancestor from which all known species have diverged through the process of evolution.[8] All individuals have hereditary material in the form of genes received from their parents, which they pass on to any offspring. Among offspring there are variations of genes due to the introduction of new genes via random changes called mutations or via reshuffling of existing genes during sexual reproduction.[9][10] The offspring differs from the parent in minor random ways. If those differences are helpful, the offspring is more likely to survive and reproduce. This means that more offspring in the next generation will have that helpful difference and individuals will not have equal chances of reproductive success. In this way, traits that result in organisms being better adapted to their living conditions become more common in descendant populations.[9][10] These differences accumulate resulting in changes within the population. This process is responsible for the many diverse life forms in the world. The modern understanding of evolution began with the 1859 publication of Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species. In addition, Gregor Mendels work with plants, between 1856 and 1863, helped to explain the hereditary patterns of genetics.[11] Fossil discoveries in palaeontology, advances in population genetics and a global network of scientific research have provided further details into the mechanisms of evolution. Scientists now have a good understanding of the origin of new species (speciation) and have observed the speciation process in the laboratory and in the wild. Evolution is the principal scientific theory that biologists use to understand life and is used in many disciplines, including medicine, psychology, conservation biology, anthropology, forensics, agriculture and other social-cultural applications.
|
Parasenecio. Parasenecio is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Senecioneae within the family Asteraceae.[3][4][5][6][7] Most of the species are Asian, but one (P. auriculatus) occurs in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.[8] This Senecioneae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
|
Woodblock printing in Japan. Woodblock printing in Japan (木版画, mokuhanga) is a technique best known for its use in the ukiyo-e[1] artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Invented in China during the Tang dynasty, woodblock printing was widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period (1603–1868). It is similar to woodcut in Western printmaking in some regards, but was widely used for text as well as images. The Japanese mokuhanga technique differs in that it uses water-based inks—as opposed to Western woodcut, which typically uses oil-based inks. The Japanese water-based inks provide a wide range of vivid colors, glazes, and transparency. Woodblock printing was invented in China under the Tang dynasty, and eventually migrated to Japan in the late 700s, where it was first used to reproduce foreign literature.[2] In 764 the Empress Kōken commissioned one million small wooden pagodas, each containing a small woodblock scroll printed with a Buddhist text (Hyakumantō Darani). These were distributed to temples around the country as thanks for the suppression of the Emi Rebellion of 764. These are the earliest examples of woodblock printing known, or documented, from Japan.[3] By the eleventh century, Buddhist temples in Japan produced printed books of sutras, mandalas, and other Buddhist texts and images. For centuries, printing was mainly restricted to the Buddhist sphere, as it was too expensive for mass production, and did not have a receptive, literate public as a market. However, an important set of fans of the late Heian period (12th century), containing painted images and Buddhist sutras, reveal from loss of paint that the underdrawing for the paintings was printed from blocks.[4] In the Kamakura period from the 12th century to the 13th century, many books were printed and published by woodblock printing at Buddhist temples in Kyoto and Kamakura.[3] A Western-style movable type printing-press was brought to Japan by the Tenshō embassy in 1590, and was first used for printing in Kazusa, Nagasaki in 1591. However, the use of the western printing press was discontinued after the ban on Christianity in 1614.[3][5] The printing press seized from Korea by Toyotomi Hideyoshis forces in 1593 was also in use at the same time as the printing press from Europe. An edition of the Confucian Analects was printed in 1598, using a Korean moveable type printing press, at the order of Emperor Go-Yōzei.[3][6] Tokugawa Ieyasu established a printing school at Enko-ji in Kyoto and started publishing books using a domestic wooden movable type printing press instead of metal from 1599. Ieyasu supervised the production of 100,000 types, which were used to print many political and historical books. In 1605, books using a domestic copper movable type printing press began to be published, but copper type did not become mainstream after Ieyasu died in 1616.[3]
|
Shinzo Abe. Shinzo Abe[a] (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history, serving for nearly nine years in total. Born in Tokyo, Abe was a member of the Satō–Kishi–Abe family as the son of LDP politician Shintaro Abe and grandson of prime minister Nobusuke Kishi. He graduated from Seikei University and briefly attended the University of Southern California before working in industry and party posts, and was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1993. Abe was LDP secretary-general from 2003 to 2004 and Chief Cabinet Secretary under Junichiro Koizumi from 2005 to 2006, when he replaced Koizumi as prime minister. Abe became Japans youngest post-war premier, and the first born after World War II. A staunch conservative and member of the Nippon Kaigi organization, which holds negationist views on Japanese history, Abe took strong right-wing stances including downplaying atrocities in textbooks, denying government coercion in the recruitment of comfort women during the war, and seeking revision of Article 9 of the Constitution. In 2007, he initiated the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with the US, Australia, and India, aimed at resisting Chinas rise as a superpower. He resigned as premier that year due to his governments unpopularity and illness. After recovering from the illness, Abe staged an unexpected political comeback in 2012, when he was again elected LDP president and led it to a landslide victory in that years election. He became the first former prime minister to return to office since Shigeru Yoshida in 1948. Abe attempted to counter Japans economic stagnation with Abenomics, with mixed results. He was also credited with reinstating the Trans-Pacific Partnership with a new agreement in 2018. In 2015, he passed military reforms which allowed deployment of the Japan Self-Defense Forces overseas, which was highly controversial and met with protests. Abe led the LDP to further victories in the 2014 and 2017 elections, becoming Japans longest-serving prime minister. In 2020, he again resigned as prime minister, citing a relapse of his illness, and was succeeded by Yoshihide Suga. In 2022, Abe was assassinated in Nara while delivering a campaign speech for the upper house elections. The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, confessed that the assassination was motivated by Abes ties with the Unification Church. This was the first assassination of a former Japanese prime minister since 1936. A polarizing figure in Japanese politics, Abe was praised by his supporters for strengthening Japans security and international stature, while opponents criticized him for his nationalistic policies and historical revisionism, which they view as threatening Japanese pacifism and damaging relations with China and South Korea.
|
Genus. Genus (/ˈdʒiːnəs/; pl.: genera /ˈdʒɛnərə/) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses.[1] In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however,[2][3] including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: Moreover, genera should be composed of phylogenetic units of the same kind as other (analogous) genera.[4] The term genus comes from Latin genus, a noun form cognate with gignere (to bear; to give birth to). The Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus popularized its use in his 1753 Species Plantarum, but the French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656–1708) is considered the founder of the modern concept of genera.[5] The scientific name (or the scientific epithet) of a genus is also called the generic name; in modern style guides and science, it is always capitalized. It plays a fundamental role in binomial nomenclature, the system of naming organisms, where it is combined with the scientific name of a species: see Botanical name and Specific name (zoology).[6][7]
|
Asteraceae. Asteraceae (/ˌæstəˈreɪsi.iː, -ˌaɪ/ ⓘ) is a large family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger family is unclear as the quantity of extant species in each family is unknown. The Asteraceae were first described in the year 1740 and given the original name Compositae.[6] The family is commonly known as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family. Most species of Asteraceae are herbaceous plants, and may be annual, biennial, or perennial, but there are also shrubs, vines, and trees. The family has a widespread distribution, from subpolar to tropical regions, in a wide variety of habitats. Most occur in hot desert and cold or hot semi-desert climates, and they are found on every continent but Antarctica. Their common primary characteristic is compound flower heads, technically known as capitula, consisting of sometimes hundreds of tiny individual florets enclosed by a whorl of protective involucral bracts. The oldest known fossils are pollen grains from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian to Maastrichtian) of Antarctica, dated to c. 76–66 million years ago (mya). It is estimated that the crown group of Asteraceae evolved at least 85.9 mya (Late Cretaceous, Santonian) with a stem node age of 88–89 mya (Late Cretaceous, Coniacian). Asteraceae is an economically important family, providing food staples, garden plants, and herbal medicines. Species outside of their native ranges can become weedy or invasive.
|
Demographics of Kosovo. The Kosovo Agency of Statistics monitors various demographic features of the population of Kosovo, such as population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Censuses, normally conducted at ten-year intervals, record the demographic characteristics of the population. According to the last census of the April 2024 by the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, there were 1,588,566 inhabitants, of which 795,552 are men (50.08%) and 790,014 are women (49.92%).[8] The same year, US CIA World Factbook estimate put the countrys population at 1,977,093.[2] According to the first census conducted after the 2008 declaration of independence in 2011, the permanent population of Kosovo was 1,739,825.[9][3]: 12 Kosovo is a fairly ethnically and linguistically homogeneous country. The 2024 census shows that ethnic Albanians make the overwhelming majority of Kosovo, with 91.8% of the population, while minorities include Serbs (2.3%)[a], Bosniaks (1.7%), Turks (1.2%), Ashkali (1%) and other ethnicities all less than 1%.[10] The official languages of Kosovo are Albanian and Serbian. Albanian is the native language for 93.67% of the population, while minority languages are also officially recognized in certain municipalities, depending on their ethnic makeup. The main religions of Kosovo are Islam (93.49%), Eastern Orthodoxy (2.31%) and Roman Catholic (1.75%). The average urbanization of Kosovo is at 50.18% with a growing trend.[10]
|
Higashiōsaka. Higashiōsaka (東大阪市, Higashiōsaka-shi; literally East Osaka City) is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 July 2023[update], the city had an estimated population of 486,464 in 233,124 households and a population density of 7,874 persons per km2.[1] The total area of the city is 61.78 square kilometres (23.85 sq mi). The city is known as one of the industrial cities of Japan and the rugby football town. Higashiōsaka is located in the eastern part of the Osaka Plain, bordered by the Osaka metropolis to the west. Most of the city area is flat lowlands laced with rivers and has been subject to periodic flooding. The main rivers include the Nagase River, Onji River, Tamagushi River, and Daini Neya River. The eastern part of the city rises to the Ikoma Mountains, forming the border with Nara Prefecture. The city measures approximately 11.2 kilometers from east-to-west by 7.9 kilometers from north-to-south.[1] Higashiōsaka has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Higashiōsaka is 15.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1475 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.7 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.2 °C.[2] Per Japanese census data,[3] the population of Higashiōsaka increased rapidly from the 1950s through 1970s, and has leveled off since. The location of Higashiōsaka corresponds to the central part of Kawachi Province. In ancient times, this area was an extension of Osaka Bay called Kawachi Bay, which gradually became separated from the sea and became a lake. The lake gradually became land due to the accumulation of sediment by the Yamato River. During the Kofun and Asuka periods, this was the homeland of the Mononobe clan, and was on the main road between the Yamato Basin and the port at Naniwa, with sea connections to the Asian continent. During the Heian period, the area was largely controlled by Hiraoka Shrine. From the Muromachi period, it was the base of the Hatakeyama clan to control Kawachi Province, but due to internal conflicts it can under the control of the Miyoshi clan. Later it was the site of battles during the 1615 Siege of Osaka. In the Edo Period, flood control projects on the Yamato River created a large amount of reclaimed land, which was developed by wealthy Osaka merchants for rice and cotton production.
|
Defender (association football). In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers, and wing-backs. The centre-back and full-back positions are most common in modern formations. The sweeper and wing-back roles are more specialised, often limited to certain formations dependent on the managers style of play and tactics. The centre-back (also known as a central defender or centre-half, as the modern role of the centre-back arose from the centre-half position) defends in the area directly in front of the goal and tries to prevent opposing players, particularly centre-forwards, from scoring. Centre-backs accomplish this by blocking shots, tackling, intercepting passes, contesting headers and marking forwards to discourage the opposing team from passing to them. Centre-backs are often tall and positioned for their ability to win duels in the air. In the modern game, most teams employ two or three centre-backs in front of the goalkeeper. The 4–2–3–1, 4–3–3, and 4–4–2 formations all use two centre-backs. In possession of the ball, centre-backs are generally expected to make long and pinpoint passes to their teammates, or to kick unaimed long balls down the field. For example, a clearance is a long unaimed kick intended to move the ball as far as possible from the defenders goal. Due to the many skills centre-backs are required to possess in the modern game, many successful contemporary central-defensive partnerships have involved pairing a more physical defender with a defender who is quicker, more comfortable in possession and capable of playing the ball out from the back; examples of such pairings have included Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique for Barcelona and Spain, David Luiz, Gary Cahill, John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho with Chelsea, Sergio Ramos, Raphaël Varane or Pepe with Real Madrid, Diego Godín and José María Giménez with Atlético Madrid and Uruguay, Virgil van Dijk with Liverpool, Nemanja Vidić and Rio Ferdinand with Manchester United, or Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, and Andrea Barzagli with Juventus.[1][2]
|
Comune. A comune (pronounced [koˈmuːne]; pl.: comuni, pronounced [koˈmuːni]) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality.[1] It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions (regioni) and provinces (province). The comune can also have the title of città (lit. city).[2] Formed praeter legem according to the principles consolidated in medieval municipalities,[3] the comune is provided for by article 114 of the Constitution of Italy.[4] It can be divided into frazioni, which in turn may have limited power due to special elective assemblies.[5] In the autonomous region of the Aosta Valley, a comune is officially called a commune in French. The comune provides essential public services: registry of births and deaths, registry of deeds, and maintenance of local roads and public works.[6][7][8] Many comuni have a Polizia Comunale (lit. Communal Police), which is responsible for public order duties.[9] The comune also deal with the definition and compliance with the piano regolatore generale (lit. general regulator plan), a document that regulates the building activity within the communal area.[10]
|
Animal (disambiguation). An animal is a multicellular, eukaryotic organism of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Animal, Animals, or The Animal may also refer to:
|
Cerezo Osaka. Cerezo Osaka (セレッソ大阪, Seresso Ōsaka) is a Japanese professional football club based in Osaka. The club currently plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The clubs name (Spanish: Cerezo, lit. cherry blossom) also represents the flower of the city of Osaka.[2] The official hometowns of the club are Osaka and Sakai. There exists a local rivalry with Suita-based Gamba Osaka. The club, originally called Yanmar Diesel, started in 1957 as the company team of Yanmar and was an original founder (Original Eight[a]) of the now-disbanded Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965. With four Japanese league titles to its credit, it was a mainstay of the JSL Division 1 until 1990 when it was first relegated, and joined the former Japan Football League (JFL) in 1992. In 1993, the club incorporated as Osaka Football Club Co., Ltd. and adopted the name Cerezo Osaka after a public contest.[3] In 1994, they won the Japan Football League championship and was promoted to the J1 League in 1995. This also coincided with a run to the finals of the Emperors Cup, which they lost to Bellmare Hiratsuka.
|
Animalia (disambiguation). Animalia is the taxonomic kingdom comprising all animals. Animalia may also refer to:
|
Provinces of Italy. The provinces (Italian: province [proˈvintʃe]; sing. provincia [proˈvintʃa] ⓘ) are the second-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, on an intermediate level between a municipality (comune) and a region (regione). Since 2015, provinces have been classified as institutional bodies of second level.[1] There are currently 110 institutional bodies of second level in Italy, including 82 ordinary provinces, 2 autonomous provinces, 4 regional decentralization entities, 6 free municipal consortia, and 15 metropolitan cities, as well as the Aosta Valley region (which also exercises the powers of a province). Italian provinces (with the exception of the current Sardinian provinces) correspond to the NUTS 3 regions.[2] A province of the Italian Republic is composed of many municipalities (comune). Usually several provinces together form a region; the region of Aosta Valley is the sole exception—it is not subdivided into provinces, and provincial functions are exercised by the region.
|
Hidden sector. In particle physics, the hidden sector, also known as the dark sector, is a hypothetical collection of yet to be observed quantum fields and their corresponding hypothetical particles. The interactions between the hidden sector particles and the Standard Model particles are weak, indirect, and typically mediated through gravity or other new particles. Examples of new hypothetical mediating particles in this class of theories include the dark photon, sterile neutrino, and axion. In many cases, hidden sectors include a new gauge group that is independent from the Standard Model gauge group. The hidden sectors are commonly predicted by the models from string theory. They may be relevant as a source of dark matter[1] and supersymmetry breaking, solving the Muon g-2 anomaly and beryllium-8 decay anomaly.[2] This particle physics–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
|
Minamiakita District, Akita. Minamiakita District (南秋田郡, Minamiakita-gun) is a rural district located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. As of April 2022, the district has an estimated population of 21,449 and an area of 449.94 km2.[1] All of the cities of Oga and Katagami and part of the city of Akita were formerly part of Minamiakita District. The area of Minamiakita District was formerly part of Akita District [ja], Dewa Province, and came under the new province of Ugo Province on January 19, 1869 following the Meiji restoration. At the time, the area consisted of 2 towns and 166 villages formerly under the control of Kubota Domain, based at Akita. The area became part of Akita Prefecture in 1871, and was organized as Minamiakita District in 1878. With the establishment of the municipality system on April 1, 1889, one town (Tsuchizaki Minato) and 35 villages were established. Funakawa Minato was raised to town status on October 24, 1894, followed by Gojōme on January 19, 1896 and Kitaura on June 4, 1902. Funakoshi became a town on December 20, 1904, followed by Okubo on April 1, 1924 and Hitoichi on December 1, 1925 and Terauchi on August 1, 1933, Iitagawa on November 30, 1935. Tsuchizaki Minato and Terauchi were annexed by Akita City on April 1, 1941 and the towns of Iitagawa and Okubo joined to form the town of Showa on March 24, 1942. However, on September 28, 1950 a portion of the town of Showa split away to re-create the town of Iitagawa. The town of Funakawa merged with four neighboring villages to create the city of Oga on March 31, 1954, which subsequently annexed the towns of Funakoshi and Kitaura on March 1, 1955. On September 30, 1956, Hitoichi was renamed Hachirōgata. Tenno was raised to town status on November 3, 1961, followed by Wakami on November 1, 1970 and Iikawa on August 1, 1974.
|
Botany. Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially their anatomy, taxonomy, and ecology.[1] A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who specialises in this field. Plant and botany may be defined more narrowly to include only land plants and their study, which is also known as phytology. Phytologists or botanists (in the strict sense) study approximately 410,000 species of land plants, including some 391,000 species of vascular plants (of which approximately 369,000 are flowering plants)[2] and approximately 20,000 bryophytes.[3] Botany originated as prehistoric herbalism to identify and later cultivate plants that were edible, poisonous, and medicinal, making it one of the first endeavours of human investigation.[citation needed] Medieval physic gardens, often attached to monasteries, contained plants possibly having medicinal benefit. They were forerunners of the first botanical gardens attached to universities, founded from the 1540s onwards. One of the earliest was the Padua botanical garden. These gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of plant taxonomy and led in 1753 to the binomial system of nomenclature of Carl Linnaeus that remains in use to this day for the naming of all biological species. In the 19th and 20th centuries, new techniques were developed for the study of plants, including methods of optical microscopy and live cell imaging, electron microscopy, analysis of chromosome number, plant chemistry and the structure and function of enzymes and other proteins. In the last two decades of the 20th century, botanists exploited the techniques of molecular genetic analysis, including genomics and proteomics and DNA sequences to classify plants more accurately. Modern botany is a broad subject with contributions and insights from most other areas of science and technology. Research topics include the study of plant structure, growth and differentiation, reproduction, biochemistry and primary metabolism, chemical products, development, diseases, evolutionary relationships, systematics, and plant taxonomy. Dominant themes in 21st-century plant science are molecular genetics and epigenetics, which study the mechanisms and control of gene expression during differentiation of plant cells and tissues. Botanical research has diverse applications in providing staple foods, materials such as timber, oil, rubber, fibre and drugs, in modern horticulture, agriculture and forestry, plant propagation, breeding and genetic modification, in the synthesis of chemicals and raw materials for construction and energy production, in environmental management, and the maintenance of biodiversity.
|
Cryogenian. The Cryogenian (from Ancient Greek: κρύος, romanized: krýos, meaning cold and γένεσις, romanized: génesis, meaning birth) is a geologic period that lasted from 720 to 635 million years ago.[6] It is the second of the three periods of the Neoproterozoic era, preceded by the Tonian and followed by the Ediacaran. The Cryogenian was a time of drastic climate changes. After the long environmental stability/stagnation during the Boring Billion, the Sturtian glaciation began at the beginning of Cryogenian, freezing the entire planet in a state of severe icehouse climate known as a snowball Earth. After 70 million years it ended, but was quickly followed by another global ice age, the Marinoan glaciation. There is controversy over whether these glaciations indeed covered the entire planet, or whether a band of open sea survived near the equator (i.e. slushball Earth), but the extreme climates with massive expanse of ice sheets blocking off sunlight would nevertheless have significantly hindered primary production in the shallow seas and caused major mass extinctions and biosphere turnovers.[citation needed] The Cryogenian Period was ratified in 1990 by the International Commission on Stratigraphy.[7] In contrast to most other time periods, the beginning of the Cryogenian is not linked to a globally observable and documented event. Instead, the base of the period is defined by a fixed rock age, that was originally set at 850 million years,[8] but changed in 2015 to 720 million years.[6] This could cause ambiguity because estimates of rock age are subject to variable interpretation and laboratory error. For instance, the time scale of the Cambrian Period is not reckoned by rock younger than a given age (538.8 million years), but by the appearance of the worldwide Treptichnus pedum diagnostic trace fossil assemblages, which can be recognized in the field without extensive lab testing.[9]
|
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol[6] (Italian: Trentino-Alto Adige [trenˈtiːno ˈalto ˈaːdidʒe]; Austrian German: Trentino-Südtirol;[7] Ladin: Trentin-Südtirol[8]), often known in English as Trentino-South Tyrol[9] or by its shorter Italian name Trentino-Alto Adige,[10][a] is an autonomous region of Italy, located in the northern part of the country. The region has a population of nearly 1.1 million, of whom 62% speak Italian as their mother tongue (in areas where the local languages are transition dialects between Eastern Lombard and Venetian), 30% speak German (around 93% of whom are fluent in the local South Tyrolean dialect of Bavarian), and the remaining are minority speakers of Ladin, Mòcheno or Cimbrian and immigrant communities speaking several foreign languages.[14][15] Since the 1970s, most legislative and administrative powers have been transferred to the two self-governing provinces that make up the region: the province of Trento, commonly known as Trentino, and the province of Bolzano, commonly known as South Tyrol (Italian: Alto Adige; German: Südtirol). In South Tyrol, German remains the sizeable majority language. From the 9th century until 1801, the region was part of the Holy Roman Empire. After being part of the short-lived Napoleonic Republic of Italy and Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, the region was part of the Austrian Empire and its successor Austria-Hungary from 1815 until its 1919 transfer to Italy in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye at the end of World War I. Together with the Austrian state of Tyrol, it is part of the Euroregion of Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino. The Romans conquered the region in 15 BC. After the end of the Western Roman Empire, it was divided between the invading Germanic tribes in the Lombard Duchy of Tridentum (todays Trentino), the Alamannic Vinschgau, and the Bavarians (who took the remaining part). After the creation of the Kingdom of Italy under Charlemagne, the Marquisate of Verona included the areas south of Bolzano, while the Duchy of Bavaria received the remaining part.[16] From the 11th century onwards, part of the region was governed by the prince-bishops of Trent and Brixen, to whom the Holy Roman Emperors had given extensive temporal powers over their bishoprics. Soon, they were overruled by the Counts of Tyrol and Counts of Görz, who also controlled the Puster Valley: in 1363 its last titular, Margarete, Countess of Tyrol ceded the region to the House of Habsburg. The regions north of Salorno were largely Germanized in the early Middle Ages, and important German poets like Arbeo of Freising and Oswald von Wolkenstein were born and lived in the southern part of Tyrol.[17]
|
Aspyr. Aspyr Media, Inc. (pronounced aspire) is an American video game developer and publisher founded by Michael Rogers and Ted Staloch in Austin, Texas. Originally founded to port gaming titles to macOS,[1] the company, since 2005, has become a publisher and developer of entertainment for multiple gaming platforms.[2] Aspyr was acquired by Embracer Group in February 2021. Initially placed within Embracers Saber Interactive division, Aspyr later became a direct subsidiary of Embracer after Saber was divested in March 2024.[3][4] In 1996, Aspyr Media, Inc., was established by Michael Rogers and Ted Staloch[5] in Austin, Texas. Staloch, who had a background in sales and marketing and Rogers, who worked with TechWorks, noticed that there was a lack of gaming titles available to Mac owners and set out to change it.[1] According to Rogers, when naming the company, they “wanted something meaning ‘to aspire and be great’” and also “memorable and unique.” Aspyr made its name specializing in porting video games from Microsoft Windows to macOS.[6] By 2003, they owned 60 percent of the Mac entertainment market.[7] In 2005, Aspyr partnered with Alex Seropian of Wideload Games and released their first originally-published AAA game, Stubbs The Zombie, to Mac OS, Windows and Xbox.[8] In 2014 they started porting titles to Linux,[9][10] releasing titles such as Civilization V and Civilization VI as well as Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 2. They dropped support for the Linux version of Borderlands 2 in September 2020 and have not released subsequent Linux ports. They also published Layers of Fear, Observer and InnerSpace for that platform by other developers.
|
Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Sanfrecce Hiroshima (Japanese: サンフレッチェ広島, romanized: Sanfuretche Hiroshima) is a Japanese professional football club based in Hiroshima. The club competes in the J1 League, top flight of the Japanese football league system. Sanfrecce is one of the most successful clubs in Japan. The club is the joint fourth in most J1 League titles with three, the joint first in most top-flight titles (which includes the defunct Japan Soccer League), with eight, and the club with the most participations in Emperors Cup finals, with 15. Sanfrecce have won three J1 League, three Emperors Cup, one J.League Cup and four Japanese Super Cup titles. Internationally, the club has made two appearances in the FIFA Club World Cup, with their most recent appearance being in the 2015 edition. The club was a former company team of Toyo Kogyo Soccer Club (東洋工業サッカー部) in 1938 and played in the semi-professional Japan Soccer League. The club was an original founder (Original Eight[a]) of the now-disbanded Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965. They dominated the JSLs early years, winning the title 4 times in a row – a feat that was later equaled by Yomiuri SC/Verdy Kawasaki. The name change was made at Mazda SC (マツダSC) in 1981.
|
Digital Extremes. Digital Extremes Ltd. is a Canadian video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz. They are best known for creating Warframe, a free-to-play cooperative online action game, and co-creating Epic Games Unreal series of games. Digital Extremes is headquartered in London, Ontario. In 2014, 61% of the company was sold to Chinese holding company Multi Dynamic, now Leyou, for $73 million.[3] In May 2016 Leyou exercised a call option and increased their stake to 97% of Digital Extremes for a total consideration of $138.2 million US.[4] In December 2020, Tencent bought Leyou for 1.3 billion dollars, which included the majority stake in Digital Extremes that Leyou held. Founder James Schmalz created Epic Pinball, published by then shareware publisher Epic MegaGames. Bolstered from the success of Epic Pinball[5] and the rising technology movement in the mid-90s toward realistic 3D graphics, Schmalz founded Digital Extremes in 1993 and the company began co-development with Epic on what would become Epics Unreal franchise.[6] Unreal is a first-person shooter, released in 1998, and was followed up with Unreal Tournament in 1999, which received numerous industry awards.[7] Subsequent sequels in the Unreal franchise include Unreal Championship, Unreal Tournament 2003, and Unreal Tournament 2004. The Unreal series has sold more than 15 million units worldwide across Windows, Mac, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and other platforms. According to Scott Miller, the co-founder of the video game company 3D Realms, Digital Extremes was willing to take over development of their much-delayed game Duke Nukem Forever in 2004, but the proposal was rejected by others at 3D Realms, which Miller described as a fatal suicide shot for the project.[8] Digital Extremes released the original third-person shooter, Dark Sector, in 2008 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows. It uses the proprietary Evolution Engine.
|
Regions of Italy. The regions (Italian: regioni; sing. regione) are the first-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, constituting its second NUTS administrative level.[1] There are twenty regions, five of which are autonomous regions with special status. Under the Constitution of Italy, each region is an autonomous entity with defined powers. With the exception of the Aosta Valley (since 1945), each region is divided into a number of provinces. During the Kingdom of Italy, regions were mere statistical districts of the central state. Under the Republic, they were granted a measure of political autonomy by the 1948 Italian Constitution. The original draft list comprised the Salento region (which was eventually included in Apulia); Friuli and Venezia Giulia were separate regions, and Basilicata was named Lucania. Abruzzo and Molise were identified as separate regions in the first draft, but were later merged into Abruzzi e Molise in the final constitution of 1948, before being separated in 1963. Implementation of regional autonomy was postponed until the first Regional elections of 1970. The ruling Christian Democracy party did not want the opposition Italian Communist Party to gain power in the regions where it was historically rooted (the red belt of Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria and the Marches). Regions acquired a significant level of autonomy following a constitutional reform in 2001 (brought about by a centre-left government and confirmed by popular referendum), which granted them residual policy competence. A further federalist reform was proposed by the regionalist party Lega Nord and in 2005, the centre-right government led by Silvio Berlusconi proposed a new reform that would have greatly increased the power of regions.[2]
|
Early Jurassic. The Early Jurassic Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, 201.3 Ma (million years ago), and ends at the start of the Middle Jurassic 174.7 ±0.8 Ma. Certain rocks of marine origin of this age in Europe are called Lias and that name was used for the period, as well, in 19th-century geology.[4] In southern Germany rocks of this age are called Black Jurassic. There are two possible origins for the name Lias: the first reason is it was taken by a geologist from an English quarrymans dialect pronunciation of the word layers;[5] secondly, sloops from north Cornish ports such as Bude would sail across the Bristol Channel to the Vale of Glamorgan to load up with rock from coastal limestone quarries (lias and Carboniferous limestone from South Wales was used throughout North Devon/North Cornwall as it contains calcium carbonate to sweeten (i.e.neutralise) the acidic Devonian and Carboniferous soils of the West Country); the Cornish would pronounce the layers of limestone as laiyers or lias; leac is Gaelic for flat stone.[5] There has been some debate[6] over the actual base of the Hettangian Stage, and so of the Jurassic System itself. Biostratigraphically, the first appearance of psiloceratid ammonites has been used; but this depends on relatively complete ammonite faunas being present, a problem that makes correlation between sections in different parts of the world difficult. If this biostratigraphical indicator is used, then technically the Lias Group—a lithostratigraphical division—spans the Jurassic / Triassic boundary. There are extensive Liassic outcrops around the coast of the United Kingdom, in particular in Glamorgan, North Yorkshire and Dorset. The Jurassic Coast of Dorset is often associated with the pioneering work of Mary Anning of Lyme Regis. The facies of the Lower Jurassic in this area are predominantly of clays, thin limestones and siltstones, deposited under fully marine conditions.
|
D3 Publisher. D3 Publisher Inc.[a] is a Japanese video game developer and publisher founded on February 5, 1992.[1] The company is known for the Simple series of budget-priced video games. Their games have been released for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, GameCube, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii U, Android, and iOS. In September 2002, D3 Published formed a new joint-venture development/publishing subsidiary with Sega called 3D Ages with D3 Publisher holding a 49% stake in the new joint-venture unit.[2] Between 2007 and 2014, D3 Publisher owned a North Carolina–based game development studio Vicious Cycle Software.[3][4] In 2009, Bandai Namco Holdings gained a controlling share of D3 and currently owns 95% of its stock.[5][6] After the bankruptcy of Midway Games, the company became the publisher of Cartoon Network games from 2009 until 2014, when American publisher Little Orbit took control. Both D3Publisher and Cartoon Network worked on games based on licenses such as Ben 10 and Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi before that.[7] In 2015, D3 Publisher announced that D3 Publisher of America Inc. would rebrand as D3 Go! and that it would no longer publish video games but focus on publishing mobile games, but D3 Publisher Inc. in Japan would remain the same.[8] D3 Go! is also expected to release some games from D3 Publisher Inc.[9] On June 27, 2022, 505 Games announced that they have acquired the assets of D3 Go![10]
|
Proterozoic. The Proterozoic (IPA: /ˌproʊtərəˈzoʊɪk, ˌprɒt-, -əroʊ-, -trə-, -troʊ-/ PROH-tər-ə-ZOH-ik, PROT-, -ər-oh-, -trə-, -troh-)[3][4][5] is the third of the four geologic eons of Earths history, spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8 Ma,[6] and is the longest eon of Earths geologic time scale. It is preceded by the Archean and followed by the Phanerozoic, and is the most recent part of the Precambrian supereon. The Proterozoic is subdivided into three geologic eras (from oldest to youngest): the Paleoproterozoic, Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic.[7] It covers the time from the appearance of free oxygen in Earths atmosphere to just before the proliferation of complex life on the Earth during the Cambrian Explosion. The name Proterozoic combines two words of Greek origin: protero- meaning former, earlier, and -zoic, meaning of life.[8] Well-identified events of this eon were the transition to an oxygenated atmosphere during the Paleoproterozoic; the evolution of eukaryotes via symbiogenesis; several global glaciations, which produced the 300 million years-long Huronian glaciation (during the Siderian and Rhyacian periods of the Paleoproterozoic) and the hypothesized Snowball Earth (during the Cryogenian period in the late Neoproterozoic); and the Ediacaran period (635–538.8 Ma), which was characterized by the evolution of abundant soft-bodied multicellular organisms such as sponges, algae, cnidarians, bilaterians and the sessile Ediacaran biota (some of which had evolved sexual reproduction) and provides the first obvious fossil evidence of life on Earth. The geologic record of the Proterozoic Eon is more complete than that for the preceding Archean Eon. In contrast to the deep-water deposits of the Archean, the Proterozoic features many strata that were laid down in extensive shallow epicontinental seas; furthermore, many of those rocks are less metamorphosed than Archean rocks, and many are unaltered.[9]: 315 Studies of these rocks have shown that the eon continued the massive continental accretion that had begun late in the Archean Eon. The Proterozoic Eon also featured the first definitive supercontinent cycles and wholly modern[clarify] mountain building activity (orogeny).[9]: 315–318, 329–332
|
Phanerozoic. The Phanerozoic[5] is the current and the latest of the four geologic eons in the Earths geologic time scale, covering the time period from 538.8 million years ago to the present.[1] It is the eon during which abundant animal and plant life has proliferated, diversified and colonized various niches on the Earths surface, beginning with the Cambrian period when animals first developed hard shells that can be clearly preserved in the fossil record. The time before the Phanerozoic, collectively called the Precambrian, is now divided into the Hadean, Archaean and Proterozoic eons. The time span of the Phanerozoic starts with the sudden appearance of fossilised evidence of a number of animal phyla; the evolution of those phyla into diverse forms; the evolution of plants; the evolution of fish, arthropods and molluscs; the terrestrial colonization and evolution of insects, chelicerates, myriapods and tetrapods; and the development of modern flora dominated by vascular plants. During this time span, tectonic forces which move the continents had collected them into a single landmass known as Pangaea (the most recent supercontinent), which then separated into the current continental landmasses. The term Phanerozoic was coined in 1930 by the American geologist George Halcott Chadwick (1876–1953),[6][7] deriving from the Ancient Greek words φανερός (phanerós), meaning visible; and ζωή (zōḗ), meaning life. This is because it was once believed that life began in the Cambrian, the first period of this eon, due to the lack of Precambrian fossil record back then. However, trace fossils of booming complex life from the Ediacaran period (Avalon explosion) of the preceding Proterozoic eon have since been discovered, and the modern scientific consensus now agrees that complex life (in the form of placozoans and primitive sponges such as Otavia) has existed at least since the Tonian period and the earliest known life forms (in the form of simple prokaryotic microbial mats) started in the ocean floor during the earlier Archean eon. The Proterozoic–Phanerozoic boundary is at 538.8 million years ago.[1] In the 19th century, the boundary was set at time of appearance of the first abundant animal (metazoan) fossils, but trace fossils of several hundred groups (taxa) of complex soft-bodied metazoa from the preceding Ediacaran period of the Proterozoic eon, known as the Avalon Explosion, have been identified since the systematic study of those forms started in the 1950s.[8][9] The transition from the largely sessile Precambrian biota to the active mobile Cambrian biota occurred early in the Phanerozoic.
|
Gamba Osaka. Gamba Osaka (ガンバ大阪, Ganba Ōsaka) is a Japanese professional football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The clubs home stadium is Panasonic Stadium Suita. They form a local rivalry with Osaka city-based Cerezo Osaka. Gamba is among the most accomplished Japanese clubs, having won 2 J1 League titles, 1 J2 League title, 2 J.League Cup and 2 Japanese Super Cup titles. Continentally, they have won the 2008 AFC Champions League. Internationally, the club has made a single appearance in the FIFA Club World Cup with their most recent appearance being in the 2008 edition finishing in third place. The clubs name Gamba comes from the Japanese ganbaru (頑張る), meaning to do your best or to stand firm. It was founded in 1980 as Matsushita Electric SC by the mononymous company, which is now known as Panasonic, in Nara Prefecture and became a member of the Japan Soccer League.[1] It was mostly made of remaining players and staff of the defunct Yanmar Club, the former B-team of Yanmar Diesel SC, later to be known as Cerezo Osaka. Gamba Osaka was an original member (Original Ten[a]) of the first J.League season.[1] Due to participation in the J League, the club name was changed to Panasonic Gamba Osaka in 1992.
|
Agricultural hydrology. Agricultural hydrology is the study of water balance components intervening in agricultural water management, especially in irrigation and drainage.[1] The water balance components can be grouped into components corresponding to zones in a vertical cross-section in the soil forming reservoirs with inflow, outflow and storage of water:[2] The general water balance reads: and it is applicable to each of the reservoirs or a combination thereof.
|
Recoil (band). Recoil is a musical project created by English musician and former Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder. Essentially a solo venture, Recoil began whilst Wilder was still in Depeche Mode as an outlet for his experimental, less pop-oriented compositions. Once he announced his departure from the group in 1995, Recoil became Wilders primary musical enterprise. Recoil began in 1986, when Daniel Miller (record producer and founder of Mute Records) heard some of Alan Wilders demo recordings, which he had made on a 4-track cassette Portastudio. These recordings were substantially different from anything Depeche Mode had released—whilst they were still created using synthesizers and sampling, they featured little of Depeche Modes catchy pop songwriting, instead opting for an experimental, John Cage-esque style. Due to the primitive and decidedly uncommercial nature of these pieces, Wilder and the record label decided to release the album inconspicuously, naming it 1 + 2. It eventually came out in mid-1986, not long after the release of Depeche Modes well-received Black Celebration. In January 1988, during the middle of Depeche Modes hugely successful Music for the Masses tour, Mute released the second Recoil album, Hydrology. This followed in a similar vein to the previous Recoil record, consisting of entirely instrumental, synthesized landscapes. Unfortunately, due to Wilders busy touring schedule, he was unable to effectively promote the record. Recoils first single was from its third album Bloodline, a cover of the Sensational Alex Harvey Bands Faith Healer, with Douglas McCarthy from Nitzer Ebb on vocals. McCarthy would later reappear for two songs on the next album, Unsound Methods, including the single Stalker. 1997s Unsound Methods was the first release after Wilders decision to leave Depeche Mode. The fifth album, Liquid, was released in 2000.
|
Holocene. The Holocene (/ˈhɒl.əsiːn, -oʊ-, ˈhoʊ.lə-, -loʊ-/)[2][3] is the current geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago.[4] It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat.[4] The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene[5] together form the Quaternary period. The Holocene is an interglacial period within the ongoing glacial cycles of the Quaternary, and is equivalent to Marine Isotope Stage 1. The Holocene correlates with the last maximum axial tilt towards the Sun of the Earths obliquity. The Holocene corresponds with the rapid proliferation, growth, and impacts of the human species worldwide, including all of its written history, technological revolutions, development of major civilizations, and overall significant transition towards urban living in the present. The human impact on modern-era Earth and its ecosystems may be considered of global significance for the future evolution of living species, including approximately synchronous lithospheric evidence, or more recently hydrospheric and atmospheric evidence of the human impact. Following the extinction of most large terrestrial mammals outside of Africa during the preceding Late Pleistocene, the ecosystems of the Holocene continued to be impacted by extinctions (the ongoing Holocene extinction), largely of human causation. In July 2018, the International Union of Geological Sciences split the Holocene Epoch into three distinct ages based on the climate, Greenlandian (11,700 years ago to 8,200 years ago), Northgrippian (8,200 years ago to 4,200 years ago) and Meghalayan (4,200 years ago to the present), as proposed by the International Commission on Stratigraphy.[6] The oldest age, the Greenlandian, was characterized by a warming following the preceding ice age. The Northgrippian Age is known for vast cooling due to a disruption in ocean circulations that was caused by the melting of glaciers. The most recent age of the Holocene is the present Meghalayan, which began with extreme drought that lasted around 200 years.[6] The word Holocene was formed from two Ancient Greek words. Hólos (ὅλος) is the Greek word for whole. Cene comes from the Greek word kainós (καινός), meaning new. The concept is that this epoch is entirely new.[7][8][9] The suffix -cene is used for all the seven epochs of the Cenozoic Era.
|
Anthropod. Anthropod may refer to:
|
Insect (disambiguation). Insects are six-legged arthropods of the class Insecta. Insect or Insects may also refer to:
|
Suffix. In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry grammatical information (inflectional endings) or lexical information (derivational/lexical suffixes).[1] Inflection changes the grammatical properties of a word within its syntactic category. Derivational suffixes fall into two categories: class-changing derivation and class-maintaining derivation. Particularly in the study of Semitic languages, suffixes are called affirmatives, as they can alter the form of the words. In Indo-European studies, a distinction is made between suffixes and endings (see Proto-Indo-European root). A word-final segment that is somewhere between a free morpheme and a bound morpheme is known as a suffixoid[2] or a semi-suffix[3] (e.g., English -like or German -freundlich friendly). Inflection changes the grammatical properties of a word within its syntactic category. In several languages, this is realized by an inflectional suffix, also known as desinence. In the example:
|
Ology. An ology or -logy is a scientific discipline. Ology or Ologies may also refer to:
|
Science Publishing Group. Science Publishing Group (SPG), also known as SciencePG, is a predatory publisher of open-access academic journals and books established in 2012.[1] It has an address in New York City[2] and many of its journals are named American Journal of..., but the company is actually based in Pakistan.[3] The company has been criticized for predatory publishing practices.[4][5][6] As of 2019,[update] it publishes 430 journals in various fields.[7] SPG uses a gold open-access model of publishing which charges the authors. The company claims that articles are peer reviewed by scientific experts before publication.[8] In October 2022, most to all of its journals did not have a scientific editor-in-chief. The company has been criticized for predatory open-access publishing.[4][5][6] In an experiment, university business professor Fiona McQuarrie submitted an article to International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science from Science Publishing Group, using pseudonyms Maggie Simpson and Edna Krabappel (characters from the cartoon series The Simpsons). Although the article had been generated by the SCIgen computer program and was nonsense, it was accepted for publication.[9] Librarian Jeffrey Beall, creator of a list of predatory open-access publishers, cites a nonsensical article in American Journal of Applied Mathematics, containing an alleged proof of Buddhist karma.[1] Science Publishing Group has also been cited more directly as a predatory journal and a scam, using more than 200 pseudo-publications like American Journal of Applied Mathematics or International Journal of Transportation Engineering and Technology.[1][10] The publisher uses techniques related to scams like aggressive emailing (spamming campaigns) with replaced characters (α for a, for example) or invitations to publish in exchange for a payment in order to fool unsuspecting scholars.[4][11]
|
Logy (disambiguation). -logy is an English suffix derived from the Greek word logía. Logy may also refer to:
|
List of MDPI academic journals. This is a list of academic journals published by MDPI. As of September 2022, MDPI publishes 399 peer-reviewed academic journals and nine conference journals.[1] (formerly Pneumonologia i Alergologia Polska)
|
Hydrology (album). Hydrology is the second album by Recoil, released January 25, 1988. It was Alan Wilders second Recoil release. The CD and cassette version included the first release, 1 + 2. Wilder was unable to promote his new album because of the onset of Depeche Modes Music for the Masses tour. Wilder described the project at this stage as an antidote to Depeche Mode in some ways; a way to alleviate the frustrations of always working within a pop format.[2] The CD of Hydrology Plus 1 + 2 was re-released in 2007, again on Mute Records. The track listing and artwork remain the same. All music written by Alan Wilder
|
Video game programmer. A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall under the umbrella term of game programmer.[1][2] A game programmer should not be confused with a game designer, who works on game design.[3] In the early days of video games (from the early 1970s to mid-1980s), a game programmer also took on the job of a designer and artist. This was generally because the abilities of early computers were so limited that having specialized personnel for each function was unnecessary. Game concepts were generally light and games were only meant to be played for a few minutes at a time, but more importantly, art content and variations in gameplay were constrained by computers limited power. Later, as specialized arcade hardware and home systems became more powerful, game developers could develop deeper storylines and could include such features as high-resolution and full color graphics, physics, advanced artificial intelligence and digital sound. Technology has advanced to such a great degree that contemporary games usually boast 3D graphics and full motion video using assets developed by professional graphic artists. Nowadays, the derogatory term programmer art has come to imply the kind of bright colors and blocky design that were typical of early video games. The desire for adding more depth and assets to games necessitated a division of labor. Initially, art production was relegated to full-time artists. Next game programming became a separate discipline from game design. Now, only some games, such as the puzzle game Bejeweled, are simple enough to require just one full-time programmer. Despite this division, however, most game developers (artists, programmers and even producers) have some say in the final design of contemporary games. A contemporary video game may include advanced physics, artificial intelligence, 3D graphics, digitised sound, an original musical score, complex strategy and may use several input devices (such as mice, keyboards, gamepads and joysticks) and may be playable against other people via the Internet or over a LAN. Each aspect of the game can consume all of one programmers time and, in many cases, several programmers. Some programmers may specialize in one area of game programming, but many are familiar with several aspects. The number of programmers needed for each feature depends somewhat on programmers skills, but mostly are dictated by the type of game being developed.
|
Anthropoid. Anthropoid means ape/human feature and may refer to:
|
Game art design. Game art design is a subset of game development involving the process of creating the artistic aspects of video games. Video game art design begins in the pre-production phase of creating a video game. Video game artists are visual artists involved from the conception of the game who make rough sketches of the characters, setting, objects, etc.[1][2][3][4] These starting concept designs can also be created by the game designers before the game is moved into actualization. Sometimes, these concept designs are called programmer art.[5] After the rough sketches are completed and the game is ready to be moved forward, those artists or more artists are brought in to develop graphic designs based on the sketches. The art design of a game can involve anywhere from two people and up. Small gaming companies tend to not have as many artists on the team, meaning that their artist must be skilled in several types of art development, whereas the larger the company, although an artist can be skilled in several types of development, the roles each artist plays becomes more specialized.[6] A games artwork included in media, such as demos and screenshots, has a significant impact on customers, because artwork can be judged from previews, while gameplay cannot.[1][7] Artists work closely with designers on what is needed for the game.[8] Tools used for art design and production are known as art tools. These can range from pen and paper to full software packages for both 2D and 3D digital art.[9] A developer may employ a tools team responsible for art production applications. This includes using existing software packages and creating custom exporters and plug-ins for them.[10]
|
Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura. Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (義経千本桜; Japanese pronunciation: [jo.ɕi̥.tsɯꜜ.ne | sem.bon.dzaꜜ.kɯ.ɾa][1]), or Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees, is a Japanese play, one of the three most popular and famous in the kabuki repertoire.[a] Originally written in 1747 for the jōruri puppet theater by Takeda Izumo II, Miyoshi Shōraku and Namiki Senryū I, it was adapted to kabuki the following year. Adapted to kabuki, the play was premièred in that mode in January 1748, in the city of Ise, in Mie Prefecture. Kataoka Nizaemon IV and Yamamoto Koheiji were two of the actors in this performance, playing Ginpei and Tadanobu/Genkurō respectively. The premiere in Edo was held at the Nakamura-za in May the same year, and in Osaka at the Naka no Shibai just a few months later in August. The play is derived from the world of the Heike Monogatari, a classical epic which details the rise and fall of the Taira clan of samurai. The latter portions describe the eventual defeat of the Taira in the Genpei War (1180–85), at the hands of the Minamoto clan, led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the title character of this play. Yoshitsune takes place a few years after the end of the Genpei War. Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the famous general, is being pursued by agents of his brother, Minamoto no Yoritomo, who has recently established himself as shōgun. Yoshitsune travels with his mistress Shizuka and loyal retainer Benkei in search of three Taira generals who escaped justice at the end of the war, and who he believes may pose a threat to the shogunate. This aspect of the plot is the primary departure from both history and from the epic. In reality, the three generals Taira no Koremori, Taira no Tomomori, and Taira no Noritsune, along with the young Emperor Antoku and his nursemaid who feature in the play, all perished in the war, most of them sacrificing themselves in the Battle of Dan-no-ura. The fullest version of Yoshitsune consists of fifteen scenes in five acts. Though this was originally intended to be performed across the better part of a day, modes of performance have changed, and the full version would today take twice that long, due to the style and speed of current forms of acting.
|
Photographic mosaic. A photographic mosaic or photomosaic is a picture (usually a photograph) that has been divided into tiled sections, usually equal sized, each of which is replaced with another photograph that matches the target photo.[1] When viewed at low magnifications, the individual pixels appear as the primary image, while close examination reveals that the image is in fact made up of many hundreds or thousands of smaller images.[1] Most of the time they are a computer-created type of montage. There are two kinds of mosaic, depending on how the matching is done. In the simpler kind, each part of the target image is averaged down to a single color. Each of the library images is also reduced to a single color. Each part of the target image is then replaced with one from the library where these colors are as similar as possible. In effect, the target image is reduced in resolution (by downsampling), and then each of the resulting pixels is replaced with an image whose average color matches that pixel. In the more advanced kind of photographic mosaic, the target image is not downsampled, and the matching is done by comparing each pixel in the rectangle to the corresponding pixel from each library image. The rectangle in the target is then replaced with the library image that minimizes the total difference. This requires much more computation than the simple kind, but the results can be much better since the pixel-by-pixel matching can preserve the resolution of the target image. There is debate over whether Photomosaics are an art or mere technique.[4] The making of a photomosaic is sometimes parallelled and compared to forms of artistic appropriation, like literary assemblage.[5] Artists such as David Hockney, Christopher Kates and Pep Ventosa have pioneered their own photographic mosaic techniques where multiple photographs are taken of a scene and then pieced together again to create a cohesive image.
|
Minamoto no Yoshitsune. Minamoto no Yoshitsune (源 義経; Japanese pronunciation: [mʲi.na.mo.to no (|) jo.ɕi̥.tsɯꜜ.ne],[1][2] c. 1159 – June 15, 1189) was a commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles that toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-brother Yoritomo consolidate power. He is considered one of the greatest and the most popular warriors of his era, and one of the most famous samurai in the history of Japan.[3] Yoshitsune perished after being betrayed by the son of a trusted ally and was labelled as a tragic hero. Yoshitsune was the ninth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, and the third and final son and child that Yoshitomo would father with Tokiwa Gozen.[4] Yoshitsunes older half-brother Minamoto no Yoritomo (the third son of Yoshitomo) would go on to establish the Kamakura shogunate. Yoshitsunes name in childhood was Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸; Japanese pronunciation: [ɯ.ɕi.wa.kaꜜ.ma.ɾɯ][5]) or young bull (牛若丸). He was born just before the Heiji Rebellion in 1160 in which his father and two oldest brothers were killed.[6] He survived this incident by fleeing the capital with his mother, while his half-brother Yoritomo was banished to Izu Province. When he was 10, Yoshitsune was placed in the care of the monks of Kurama temple (鞍馬寺),[7]: 61 nestled in the Hiei Mountains near the capital of Kyoto. There he was taught swordsmanship and strategy, according to some legends by Sōjōbō, to others by Kiichi Hōgen (whose book, Six Secret Teachings, Ushiwakamaru stole). Not wanting to become a monk, Yoshitsune eventually left and followed a gold merchant who knew his father well, and in 1174 relocated to Hiraizumi, Mutsu Province, where he was put under the protection of Fujiwara no Hidehira, head of the powerful regional Northern Fujiwara clan.[6]: 325 A skillful swordsman, Yoshitsune defeated the legendary warrior monk Benkei in a duel. From then on, Benkei became Yoshitsunes retainer, eventually dying with him at the Siege of Koromogawa.[7] In 1180, Yoshitsune heard that Yoritomo, now head of the Minamoto clan, had raised an army at the request of Prince Mochihito to fight against the Taira clan (also known as the Heike) which had usurped the power of the emperor. In the ensuing war between the rival Minamoto and Taira samurai clans, known as the Genpei War, Yoshitsune joined Yoritomo, along with Minamoto no Noriyori, all brothers who had not previously met. Yoshitsune, together with his brother Noriyori, defeated the Taira in several key battles. He also attacked and killed his cousin Minamoto no Yoshinaka, a rival for control of the Minamoto clan, at the Battle of Awazu[8] in Ōmi Province in early 1184 on the orders of Yoritomo.
|
Utagawa Toyokuni. Utagawa Toyokuni[a] (歌川 豊国; 1769 – 24 February 1825), also often referred to as Toyokuni I, to distinguish him from the members of his school who took over his gō (art-name) after he died, was a great master of ukiyo-e, known in particular for his kabuki actor prints. He was the second head of the renowned Utagawa school of Japanese woodblock artists, and was the artist who elevated it to the position of great fame and power it occupied for the rest of the nineteenth century. Toyokuni was born in 1769, the son of Kurahashi Gorobei, a carver of dolls and puppets, including replicas of kabuki actors.[2] At around 14, Toyokuni was apprenticed to the first head of the Utagawa house, Utagawa Toyoharu, whom his father knew well and who lived nearby.[3] One of his fellow pupils under Toyoharu was Toyohiro, whose pupil was the great landscape artist Hiroshige. In recognition of his artistic ability, Toyokuni later took the name Utagawa Toyokuni, following the common practice of using one syllable of his masters name.[4] Toyokuni seems not to have been an intuitive genius[5] determined to forge a new path; rather, he seems to have studied intently those who came before him, particularly Utamaro, Chōbunsai Eishi and Eishōsai Chōki.[6] and through a great deal of hard work produced first a mastery, and then a synthesis of their styles, to create a style of his own.[7] He was known mostly for his prints related to the kabuki theatre, in particular his yakusha-e actor portraits, a field which he took to new heights. He also, however, produced other genres such as musha-e warrior prints, shunga erotica, and most notably bijin-ga.[8] In his actor prints, like Sharaku, one sees the real subject; but his prints merely portrayed what he saw, unlike Sharaku who exaggerated those aspects he saw as the most key. It is said of Toyokunis prints that they recreate exactly what one would see on stage; they show actors acting, not merely just pictures of actors.[9] Together, these characteristics made Toyokunis prints far more popular among theatre-goers than Sharakus,[10] although history has come to judge Sharaku the keener observer and greater artist.[11]
|
Benkei. Saitō Musashibō Benkei (西塔 武蔵坊 弁慶; Japanese pronunciation: [mɯ.sa.ɕiꜜ.boː | beꜜŋ.kei, -keː][1] 1155–1189), popularly known by the mononym Benkei ([beꜜŋ.kei, -keː][1][2]), was a Japanese warrior monk (sōhei) who lived in the latter years of the Heian Period (794–1185). Benkei led a varied life, first becoming a monk, then a mountain ascetic, and then a rogue warrior. He later came to respect and serve the famous warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune, also known as Ushiwakamaru. He is commonly depicted as a man of great strength and loyalty, and a popular subject of Japanese folklore showcased in many ancient and modern literature and productions. The earliest records of Benkei are in the Azuma Kagami, The Tale of the Heike, and the Genpei Jōsuiki—all sources from around a century or more after Benkeis life. These sources generally only indicate Benkei was one of Yoshitsunes retainers and was a thin monk, although they do indicate Yoshitsune was aided and protected by a band of rogueish sōhei (warrior-monks) near Mount Hiei after he fled the capital—perhaps the historical core of the Benkei legend. Many of the detailed anecdotes and stories of Benkei are from the Gikeiki, an even later 14th-century work. As no contemporary records of Benkei are extant, it is difficult to know which elements of the stories are historical and which are embellished. Stories about Benkeis birth vary considerably. Most stories describe that he was the son of a priest, and some describe that he was the son of a god. Many give him the attributes of a demon, a monster child with wild hair and long teeth. In his youth, Benkei was purportedly nicknamed Oniwakamaru (鬼若丸)—demon/ogre child. Benkei chose to join the monastic establishment at an early age and traveled widely among the Buddhist monasteries of Japan. During this period, monasteries were not only important centers of administration and culture, but also military powers in their own right.[3] Like many other monks, Benkei was likely[citation needed] trained in the use of the naginata, the half-moon spear. At the age of seventeen, Benkei was said to have been 2 metres (6.6 ft) tall. At this point, he left the monasteries, and became a yamabushi, a member of a sect of mountain ascetics. Benkei was commonly depicted wearing a black cap that was a signature theme of such mountain ascetics.[4]
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.