synth_record_id stringlengths 15 19 | outcome_type stringclasses 3
values | category stringclasses 39
values | type stringclasses 17
values | function_structure stringclasses 2
values | seed_url stringlengths 31 120 | seed_section_id int32 1 120 | seed_text stringlengths 13 28k |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
synth_fc_1833_rep5 | Positive | History | Feature search | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat | 7 | Site and plan
Angkor Wat is a unique combination of the temple mountain (the standard design for the empire's state temples) and the later plan of concentric galleries, most of which were originally derived from religious beliefs of Hinduism. The construction of Angkor Wat suggests that there was a celestial significance with certain features of the temple. This is observed in the temple's east–west orientation, and lines of sight from terraces within the temple that show specific towers to be at the precise location of the solstice at sunrise. The Angkor Wat temple's main tower aligns with the morning sun of the spring equinox. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods according to Hindu mythology: the central quincunx of towers symbolise the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat symbolise the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean. Access to the upper areas of the temple was progressively more exclusive, with the laity being admitted only to the lowest level.
Unlike most Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west rather than the east. This has led scholars including Maurice Glaize and George Coedès to hypothesize that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his funerary temple. Further evidence for this view is provided by the bas-reliefs, which proceed in a counter-clockwise direction— prasavya in Hindu terminology—as this is the reverse of the normal order. Rituals take place in reverse order during Brahminic funeral services. Archaeologist Charles Higham also describes a container that may have been a funerary jar that was recovered from the central tower. It has been nominated by some as the greatest expenditure of energy on the disposal of a corpse. Freeman and Jacques, however, note that several other temples of Angkor depart from the typical eastern orientation, and suggest that Angkor Wat's alignment was due to its dedication to Vishnu, who was associated with the west.
Drawing on the temple's alignment and dimensions, and on the content and arrangement of the bas-reliefs, researcher Eleanor Mannikka argues that the structure represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II: "as the measurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built into the sacred space of Angkor Wat, this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers and corridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and to honour and placate the deities manifest in the heavens above." Mannikka's suggestions have been received with a mixture of interest and scepticism in academic circles. She distances herself from the speculations of others, such as Graham Hancock, that Angkor Wat is part of a representation of the constellation Draco. The oldest surviving plan of Angkor Wat dates to 1715 and is credited to Fujiwara Tadayoshi. The plan is stored in the Suifu Meitoku-kai Shokokan Museum in Mito, Japan. |
synth_fc_2389_rep21 | Negative | Media | Analysis | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_De_Niro | 1 | Robert Anthony De Niro (/ d ə ˈ n ɪər oʊ / də NEER -roh, Italian:; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor and film producer. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Barack Obama in 2016.
De Niro studied acting at HB Studio, Stella Adler Conservatory, and Lee Strasberg 's Actors Studio. His first credit screen role was in Brian de Palma 's Greetings (1968). De Niro's first collaboration with Scorsese was with the crime drama film Mean Streets (1973). De Niro earned two Academy Awards, one for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola 's The Godfather Part II (1974) and the other for Best Actor portraying Jake LaMotta in Scorsese's drama Raging Bull (1980). De Niro was Oscar-nominated for his performances in Taxi Driver (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978), Awakenings (1990), Cape Fear (1991), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).
He is also known for his film roles in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), 1900 (1976), The King of Comedy (1982), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Brazil (1985), The Mission (1986), Angel Heart (1987), The Untouchables (1987), Goodfellas (1990), This Boy's Life (1993), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), Heat (1995), Casino (1995), Jackie Brown (1997), Joker (2019), and The Irishman (2019). He directed and acted in both A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006). His comedic roles include Hi, Mom! (1970), Midnight Run (1988), Wag the Dog (1997), Analyze This (1999) and its sequel, Analyze That (2002), the Meet the Parents films (2000–2010), and The Intern (2015).
Also known for his television roles, De Niro portrayed Bernie Madoff in the HBO film The Wizard of Lies (2017), earning a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He received further Emmy Award nominations for producing the Netflix limited series When They See Us (2019), and for portraying Robert Mueller on Saturday Night Live.
De Niro and producer Jane Rosenthal founded the film and television production company TriBeCa Productions in 1989, which has produced several films alongside his own. Also with Rosenthal, he founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002. Many of De Niro's films are considered classics of American cinema. Six of De Niro's films have been inducted into the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" as of 2023. Five films are featured on the American Film Institute 's (AFI) list of the 100 greatest American films of all time. Timeout magazine's list of 100 best movies included seven of De Niro's films, as chosen by actors in the industry. |
synth_fc_3138_rep1 | Negative | Sport | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball | 11 | Managers and coaches
The manager, or head coach, oversees the team's major strategic decisions, such as establishing the starting rotation, setting the lineup, or batting order, before each game, and making substitutions during games—in particular, bringing in relief pitchers. Managers are typically assisted by two or more coaches; they may have specialized responsibilities, such as working with players on hitting, fielding, pitching, or strength and conditioning. At most levels of organized play, two coaches are stationed on the field when the team is at bat: the first base coach and third base coach, who occupy designated coaches' boxes, just outside the foul lines. These coaches assist in the direction of baserunners, when the ball is in play, and relay tactical signals from the manager to batters and runners, during pauses in play. In contrast to many other team sports, baseball managers and coaches generally wear their team's uniforms; coaches must be in uniform to be allowed on the field to confer with players during a game. |
synth_fc_2444_rep24 | Positive | Movie | Database search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Bu%C3%B1uel | 22 | Technique and influences
Buñuel's technique of filmmaking was strongly influenced by mise-en-scène, sound editing and use of music. The influences on his filmmaking have included a positive relationship to surrealism and a critical approach to atheism and religion. Buñuel's style of directing was extremely economical; he shot films in a few weeks, rarely deviating from his script (the scene in Tristana where Catherine Deneuve exposes her breasts to Saturno – but not the audience – being a noted exception) and shooting as much as possible in order to minimize editing time. He remained true throughout his working life to an operating philosophy that he articulated at the beginning of his career in 1928: "The guiding idea, the silent procession of images that are concrete, decisive, measured in space and time—in a word, the film—was first projected inside the brain of the filmmaker". In this, Buñuel has been compared with Alfred Hitchcock, another director famous for precision, efficiency and preplanning, for whom actually shooting the film was an anticlimax, because each man knew, in Buñuel's words, "exactly how each scene will be shot and what the final montage will be". According to actress Jeanne Moreau: "He was the only director I know who never threw away a shot. He had the film in his mind. When he said 'action' and 'cut,' you knew that what was in between the two would be printed."
Buñuel's obituary in The New York Times called him "an iconoclast, moralist, and revolutionary who was a leader of avant-garde surrealism in his youth and a dominant international movie director half a century later". Ingmar Bergman once wrote "Buñuel nearly always made Buñuel films". Writer Octavio Paz called Buñuel's work "the marriage of the film image to the poetic image, creating a new reality...scandalous and subversive". Despite his variety, filmmaker John Huston believed that, regardless of genre, a Buñuel film is so distinctive as to be instantly recognizable, David Thomson names him as one of the greatest directors, adding "He is as intent on comedy as Kafka was, as little intent on showing off style, and as much a victim as the joke he tells." |
synth_fc_1188_rep18 | Positive | Finance | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indira_Gandhi | 17 | Inflation and unemployment
During Lal Bahadur Shastri's last full year in office (1965), inflation averaged 7.7%, compared to 5.2% at the end of Gandhi's first term in office (1977). On average, inflation in India had remained below 7% through the 1950s and 1960s. It then accelerated sharply in the 1970s, from 5.5% in 1970–71 to over 20% by 1973–74, due to the international oil crisis. Gandhi declared inflation the gravest of problems in 1974 (at 25.2%) and devised a severe anti-inflation program. The government was successful in bringing down inflation during the emergency; achieving negative figures of −1.1% by the end of 1975–76.
Gandhi inherited a tattered economy in her second term; harvest failures and a second oil shock in the late 1970s had caused inflation to rise again. During Charan Singh's short time in office in the second half of 1979, inflation averaged 18.2%, compared to 6.5% during Gandhi's last year in office (1984). General economic recovery under Gandhi led to an average inflation rate of 6.5% from 1981–82 to 1985–86—the lowest since the beginning of India's inflation problems in the 1960s.
The unemployment rate remained constant at 9% over a nine-year period (1971–80) before declining to 8.3% in 1983. |
synth_fc_401_rep25 | Positive | Carbon footprint | Calculation | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power | 26 | Power plants
Nuclear power plants are thermal power stations that generate electricity by harnessing the thermal energy released from nuclear fission. A fission nuclear power plant is generally composed of: a nuclear reactor, in which the nuclear reactions generating heat take place; a cooling system, which removes the heat from inside the reactor; a steam turbine, which transforms the heat into mechanical energy; an electric generator, which transforms the mechanical energy into electrical energy.
When a neutron hits the nucleus of a uranium-235 or plutonium atom, it can split the nucleus into two smaller nuclei, which is a nuclear fission reaction. The reaction releases energy and neutrons. The released neutrons can hit other uranium or plutonium nuclei, causing new fission reactions, which release more energy and more neutrons. This is called a chain reaction. In most commercial reactors, the reaction rate is contained by control rods that absorb excess neutrons. The controllability of nuclear reactors depends on the fact that a small fraction of neutrons resulting from fission are delayed. The time delay between the fission and the release of the neutrons slows changes in reaction rates and gives time for moving the control rods to adjust the reaction rate. |
synth_fc_874_rep29 | Positive | Finance | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puyi | 20 | Residence in Tianjin (1925–1931)
In February 1925, Puyi moved to the Japanese concession of Tianjin, first into the Zhang Garden, and in 1929 into the former residence of Lu Zongyu known as the Garden of Serenity. A British journalist, Henry Woodhead, called Puyi's court a "doggy paradise" as both Puyi and Wanrong were dog lovers who owned several very spoiled dogs while Puyi's courtiers spent an inordinate amount of time feuding with one another. Woodhead stated that the only people who seemed to get along at Puyi's court were Wanrong and Wenxiu, who were "like sisters". Tianjin was, after Shanghai, the most cosmopolitan Chinese city, with large British, French, German, Russian and Japanese communities. As an emperor, Puyi was allowed to join several social clubs that normally only admitted whites. During this period, Puyi and his advisers Chen Baochen, Zheng Xiaoxu, and Luo Zhenyu discussed plans to restore Puyi as Emperor. Zheng and Luo favoured enlisting assistance from external parties, while Chen opposed the idea. In June 1925, the warlord Zhang Zuolin visited Tianjin to meet Puyi. "Old Marshal" Zhang, an illiterate former bandit, ruled Manchuria, a region equal in size to Germany and France combined, which had a population of 30 million and was the most industrialised region in China. Zhang kowtowed to Puyi at their meeting and promised to restore the House of Qing if Puyi made a large financial donation to his army. Zhang warned Puyi in a "roundabout way" not to trust his Japanese friends. Zhang fought in the pay of the Japanese, but by this time his relations with the Kwantung Army were becoming strained. In June 1927, Zhang captured Beijing and Behr observed that if Puyi had had more courage and returned to Beijing, he might have been restored to the Dragon Throne. Puyi was noted to have said in a 1927 article in The Illustrated London News, that "I never wish to be Emperor again".
Puyi's court was prone to factionalism and his advisers were urging him to back different warlords, which gave him a reputation for duplicity as he negotiated with various warlords, which strained his relations with Marshal Zhang. At various times, Puyi met Zhang Zongchang, the "Dogmeat General", and the Russian émigré general Grigory Semyonov at his Tianjin house; both of them promised to restore him to the Dragon Throne if he gave them enough money, and both of them kept all the money he gave them for themselves. Puyi remembered Zhang as "a universally detested monster" with a face bloated and "tinged with the livid hue induced by opium smoking". Semyonov in particular proved himself to be a talented con man, claiming as an ataman to have several Cossack Hosts under his command, to have 300 million roubles in the bank, and to be supported by American, British, and Japanese banks in his plans to restore both the House of Qing in China and the House of Romanov in Russia. Puyi gave Semyonov a loan of 5,000 British pounds, which Semyonov never repaid. Another visitor to the Garden of Serenity was General Kenji Doihara, a Japanese Army officer who was fluent in Mandarin and a man of great charm who manipulated Puyi via flattery, telling him that a great man such as himself should go conquer Manchuria and then, just as his Qing ancestors did in the 17th century, use Manchuria as a base for conquering China.
In 1928, during the Northern Expedition to reunify China, troops sacked the Qing tombs outside Beijing after the Kuomintang and its allies took Beijing from Zhang's army who retreated back to Manchuria. The news that the Qing tombs had been plundered and the corpse of the Dowager Empress Cixi had been desecrated greatly offended Puyi, who never forgave the Kuomintang and held Chiang Kai-shek personally responsible; the sacking also showed his powerlessness. During his time in Tianjin, Puyi was besieged with visitors asking him for money, including various members of the vast Qing family, old Manchu bannermen, journalists prepared to write articles calling for a Qing restoration for the right price, and eunuchs who had once lived in the Forbidden City and were now living in poverty. Puyi was often bored with his life, and engaged in maniacal shopping to compensate, recalling that he was addicted to "buying pianos, watches, clocks, radios, Western clothes, leather shoes, and spectacles".
Puyi's first wife, Wanrong, continued to smoke opium recreationally during this period. Their marriage began to fall apart as they spent more and more time apart, meeting only at mealtimes. Puyi wrote in his memoir:
Even if I had had only one wife she would not have found life with me interesting since my preoccupation was my restoration. Frankly, I did not know anything about love. In other marriages husband and wife were equal, but to me wife and consort were both the slaves and tools of their master."
Wanrong complained that her life as an "empress" was extremely dull as the rules for an empress forbade her from going out dancing as she wanted, instead forcing her to spend her days in traditional rituals that she found to be meaningless, all the more so as China was a republic and her title of empress was symbolic only. The westernised Wanrong loved to go out dancing, play tennis, wear western clothes and make-up, listen to jazz music, and to socialize with her friends, which the more conservative courtiers all objected to. She resented having to play the traditional role of a Chinese empress, but was unwilling to break with Puyi. Puyi's butler was secretly a Japanese spy, and in a report to his masters, he described Puyi and Wanrong one day spending hours screaming at one another in the gardens with Wanrong repeatedly calling Puyi a "eunuch"; whether she meant that as a reference to sexual inadequacy is unclear. Puyi's sister Yunhe noted in her diary in September 1930, that Puyi had told her that "yesterday the Empress flew into rage saying that she had been bullied by me and she poured out terrible and absurd words". In 1931, Puyi's concubine Wenxiu declared that she had had enough of him and his court and simply walked out, filing for divorce. |
synth_fc_2414_rep14 | Negative | Movie | Recommendation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia_Gay_Harden | 1 | Marcia Gay Harden is an American actress. Her breakthrough came in the 1990 Coen brothers' film Miller's Crossing. For her portrayal of artist Lee Krasner in the 2000 biographical film Pollock, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She received a second Academy Award nomination for her performance as a troubled wife in the drama film Mystic River (2003). Her other notable film credits include The First Wives Club (1996), Flubber (1997), Space Cowboys (2000), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), and the Fifty Shades film series (2015–2018). Harden made her Broadway debut in 1993, starring in Tony Kushner's epic play Angels in America: Millennium Approaches/Angels in America: Perestroika for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She returned to Broadway in 2009 in Yazmina Reza's comedic play God of Carnage, with her performance earning her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Harden's television credits include guest roles in the HBO series The Newsroom (2013–2014), the ABC series How to Get Away with Murder (2015–2020) and the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show (2019–present), as well as main roles in the CBS series Code Black (2015–2018) and So Help Me Todd (2022–2024). She received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her guest role in the crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and her supporting role in the television film The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009). |
synth_fc_1759_rep20 | Positive | Health | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_tumor | 42 | Other
A shunt may be used to relieve symptoms caused by intracranial pressure, by reducing the build-up of fluid (hydrocephalus) caused by the blockage of the free flow of cerebrospinal fluid. |
synth_fc_1572_rep18 | Positive | Geography | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_spectroscopy | 10 | Remote sensing
One of the unique advantages of spectroscopy as an analytical technique is that measurements can be made without bringing the instrument and sample into contact. Radiation that travels between a sample and an instrument will contain the spectral information, so the measurement can be made remotely. Remote spectral sensing is valuable in many situations. For example, measurements can be made in toxic or hazardous environments without placing an operator or instrument at risk. Also, sample material does not have to be brought into contact with the instrument—preventing possible cross contamination.
Remote spectral measurements present several challenges compared to laboratory measurements. The space in between the sample of interest and the instrument may also have spectral absorptions. These absorptions can mask or confound the absorption spectrum of the sample. These background interferences may also vary over time. The source of radiation in remote measurements is often an environmental source, such as sunlight or the thermal radiation from a warm object, and this makes it necessary to distinguish spectral absorption from changes in the source spectrum.
To simplify these challenges, differential optical absorption spectroscopy has gained some popularity, as it focusses on differential absorption features and omits broad-band absorption such as aerosol extinction and extinction due to rayleigh scattering. This method is applied to ground-based, airborne, and satellite-based measurements. Some ground-based methods provide the possibility to retrieve tropospheric and stratospheric trace gas profiles. |
synth_fc_2978_rep8 | Positive | School | Database update | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism | 11 | Plagiarism education
Though widely employed in high schools and universities, plagiarism detection tools create a delicate environment in the classroom, as they place instructors in the role of guardians of ethical principles, establishing an adversarial relationship between teachers and students. These tools presuppose that students are prone to plagiarizing and that instructors should use advanced techniques to uncover it. Such scrutiny can cause students to feel afraid and disempowered, as they may consider these tools as omnipotent monitors. The WriteCheck reviews demonstrate that students may be afraid of being caught, leading to writing with pressure and anxiety. These reviews highlight the power dynamics and the culture of fear around plagiarism in the classroom. Additionally, inherent power imbalances between instructors and students exist since students may feel obligated to submit their work to Turnitin for evaluation Furthermore, Turnitin endeavors to promote Western writing values globally. It inherently promotes standardized writing around the world, advancing Western ideas of authorship and EAE, which reinforce harmful ideologies that impact writing instructors.
In general, plagiarism detection systems deter rather than detect plagiarism, but they do not reflect the ultimate educational objectives. Given the serious consequences that plagiarism has for students, there has been a call for a greater emphasis on learning in order to help students avoid committing plagiarism. This is especially important when students move to a new institution that may have a different view of the concept when compared with the view previously developed by the student. Indeed, given the seriousness of plagiarism accusations for a student's future, the pedagogy of plagiarism education may need to be considered ahead of the pedagogy of the discipline being studied. The need for plagiarism education extends to academic staff, who may not completely understand what is expected of their students or the consequences of misconduct. Actions to reduce plagiarism include coordinating teaching activities to decrease student load, reducing memorization, increasing individual practical activities, and promoting positive reinforcement over punishment. A student may opt to plagiarize due to a lack of research methods, knowledge of citation practices, or an excessive workload. To eventually reduce plagiarism, students should be educated about the ethical and legal concerns surrounding these tools, and teachers should devise suitable and innovative assignments that require more independent thinking.
Many scholars and members of academia have taken a negative position on the use of plagiarism detection technologies arguing that its use promotes a culture of surveillance and conformity in higher education. Many have called for a reevaluation of higher learning away from a focus on grades and credentials towards a more holistic approach. One such recommendation outlined by scholars is to turn students towards revision as opposed to plagiarism detection. This updated focus has culminated in the creation of sites such as Eli Review which is intended to facilitate improved writing through peer review. Educators have recognized the need for careful consideration when implementing plagiarism detection software in order to balance the promotion of academic integrity with maintaining a positive learning environment. This balancing act has been at the center of the pushback against traditional plagiarism detection systems, as educators have become increasingly aware of the potential negative impact of such technology on trust and privacy. This emphasis on striking a balance between these competing interests highlights the importance of thoughtful and nuanced approaches to addressing plagiarism in the academic context.
A study showed that students warned about plagiarism and its penalties were less likely to plagiarize. Also, in that study, students who were intentionally avoiding plagiarism wrote less on average, which was suspected to lead to reduced quality of work.
To minimize plagiarism in the digital era, it is crucial that students understand the definition of plagiarism and how important intellectual property rights are. Students should be aware that correct attribution is required to prevent the accusation of plagiarism and that the ethical and legal rules that apply to printed materials also apply to electronic information. |
synth_fc_2204_rep12 | Positive | Law | Document search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coin | 25 | Currency
Most coins presently are made of a base metal, and their value comes from their status as fiat money. This means that the value of the coin is established by law, and thus is determined by the free market only in as much as national currencies are used in domestic trade and also traded in the international market. Thus, these coins are monetary tokens, just as paper currency is: their value is usually not backed by metal, but rather by some form of government guarantee. Thus, there is very little economic difference between notes and coins of equivalent face value.
Coins may be in circulation with face values lower than the value of their component metals, but they are never initially issued with such value, and the shortfall only arises over time due to inflation, as market values for the metal overtake the face value of the coin. Examples are the pre-1965 US dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar (containing slightly less than a tenth, quarter, half, and full ounce of silver, respectively), US nickel, and pre-1982 US penny. As a result of the increase in the value of copper, the United States greatly reduced the amount of copper in each penny. Since mid-1982, United States pennies are made of 97.5% zinc, with the remaining 2.5% being a coating of copper. Extreme differences between face values and metal values of coins cause coins to be hoarded or removed from circulation by illicit smelters in order to realize the value of their metal content. This is an example of Gresham's law. The United States Mint, in an attempt to avoid this, implemented new interim rules on December 14, 2006, subject to public comment for 30 days, which criminalized the melting and export of pennies and nickels. Violators can be fined up to $10,000 and/or imprisoned for up to five years. |
synth_fc_1271_rep13 | Positive | Finance | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittany | 18 | Economy
Brittany, apart from some areas such as Lorient, Nantes and Saint-Nazaire, has never been heavily industrialised. Today, fishing and agriculture remain important activities. Brittany has more than 40,000 farms, mostly oriented towards cattle, pig and poultry breeding, as well as cereal and vegetable production. The number of farms tends to diminish, but as a result, they are merged into very large estates. Brittany is the first producer in France for vegetables (green beans, onions, artichokes, potatoes, tomatoes...). Cereals are mostly grown for cattle feeding. Wine, especially muscadet, is made in a small region south of Nantes. Brittany is the first region in France for fishing. The activity employs around 15,000 people, and more than 2500 firms work in fish and seafood processing.
Although relatively new, the Breton industry has been constantly growing since 1980. Food processing (meat, vegetables...) represents a third of the industrial jobs, but other activities are also important for the local economy. Shipbuilding, both commercial and military, is implanted in Saint-Nazaire (Chantiers de l'Atlantique), Lorient and Brest; Airbus has plants in Saint-Nazaire and Nantes; and Peugeot has a large factory in Rennes. Brittany is the second French region for telecommunication and the fifth for electronics, two activities mainly developed in Rennes, Lannion and Brest.
The unemployment rate in Brittany is lower than in other French regions and it is usually around 6 or 7% of the active population. Because of the global financial crisis started in 2007, unemployment rose to 8.7% in the Region Brittany and 8.4% in Loire-Atlantique in late 2012. However, these figures remain under the French national rate (9.9% at the same period). Some industries, such as construction, industry, catering or transport, usually have difficulties finding employees.
In 2018, Region Brittany 's gross domestic product reached 99 billion euros. It was the ninth richest region in France and it produced 4% of the national GDP. The Breton GDP per capita was around 29,694 euros in 2018. It was lower than the French result, 30,266 euros, below the European one, 30,900 euros. The GDP of the Loire-Atlantique département is around 26 billion euros, and the GDP of the five historical Breton départements would be at around 108 billion euros. |
synth_fc_3863_rep9 | Positive | Weather & Air quality | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj | 33 | Sustainability
Hajj has a considerable environmental impact, with the average pilgrim contributing about 60.5 kg CO per day. Transport, lodging, food, and waste generated an estimated 3.0 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent during the 2011 Hajj season. Most pilgrims travel to Mecca by air and long-haul air travel accounts for 60% of greenhouse gas emissions created by Hajj.
Rising global temperatures mean that in the future, people undertaking Hajj could face "extreme danger" due to heat and humidity. Projected temperature rises of 1.5° to 2° could have significant impacts on the health of participants, many of whom are elderly. In 2021 Ummah for Earth and Greenpeace Middle East published research which suggested climate actions which included adapting the Great Mosque for solar power. In the Summer of 2024, Saudi officials reported treating more than 2,000 people for heat stress. As of June 21 550 people had died from heat stroke. At least 320 of the dead were from Egypt. As of June 23 2024, more than 1000 people had died, more than half of them were from Egypt. The government revoked the licenses of 16 travel agencies that helped unauthorized pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia. As of July 2 the Saudi government said that 1301 people had died doing the Hajj. |
synth_fc_2662_rep4 | Negative | Music | Recommendation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lea_Salonga | 1 | Maria Lea Carmen Imutan Salonga, is a Filipino singer and actress. Known primarily for her work in theatre, she has starred in musicals on Broadway and in the West End. Her accolades include a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for two Grammy Awards. She was conferred with the Presidential Medal of Merit in 1990 and the Order of Lakandula in 2007, and she was honored as a Disney Legend in 2011. Salonga began her career as a child in Philippine musical theatre productions and rose to international recognition in 1989 for playing the lead role of Kim in the original West End and Broadway productions of Miss Saigon. For her performance, she gained five awards—the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Theatre World Award, and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her further roles include Éponine in the Broadway and West End productions of Les Misérables, Wu Mei-Li in the 2002 Broadway revival of Flower Drum Song, Fantine in the 2006 Broadway revival of Les Misérables, Kei Kimura in the original Broadway production of Allegiance, Erzulie in the 2017 Broadway revival of Once on This Island, and Aurora Aquino in the original Broadway production of Here Lies Love. In 2023 and 2024, she starred in the West End production of the musical revue Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends. As a recording artist, Salonga began her music career at age ten. Her first album, Small Voice, was launched in 1981 and received a gold certification. She later signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records, releasing her platinum-certified self-titled album in 1993. Her subsequent releases include I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (1997), Lea... In Love (1998), By Heart (1999), and Inspired (2007). On film, she portrayed Lisa in the Filipino comedy Tropang Bulilit (1981), and her performances as Sandy and Agnes in the romantic dramas Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal (1992) and Sana Maulit Muli (1995), respectively, were widely acclaimed. Additionally, Salonga provided the singing voice for the characters of Jasmine in Aladdin (1992) and the titular character in Mulan (1998) and Mulan II (2004). As a teenager, she hosted the variety show Love, Lea and later appeared on That's Entertainment. Her television acting credits include Lien Hughes on As the World Turns, Aunt Myrna on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Elodie Honrada on Pretty Little Liars. Furthermore, Salonga has expanded her career to include reality television as a coach on The Voice of the Philippines and its spin-off series, The Voice Kids and The Voice Teens. |
synth_fc_1392_rep20 | Positive | Food | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantaloupe | 1 | The cantaloupe is a type of food; a true melon from the family Cucurbitaceae. Originally, cantaloupe referred only to the non-netted, orange-fleshed melons of Europe, but today may refer to any orange-fleshed melon of the C. melo species, including the netted muskmelon which is called cantaloupe in North America, rockmelon in Australia and New Zealand, and spanspek in Southern Africa. Cantaloupes range in mass from 0.5 to 5 kilograms. |
synth_fc_1359_rep3 | Positive | Food | Order | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado | 31 | Nutrition
Raw avocado flesh is 73% water, 15% fat, 9% carbohydrates, and 2% protein (table). In a 100-gram reference amount, avocado supplies 670 kilojoules (160 kilocalories), and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of several B vitamins (such as 28% DV in pantothenic acid) and vitamin K (20% DV), with moderate contents (10–19% DV) of vitamin C, vitamin E, and potassium. Avocados also contain phytosterols and carotenoids, such as lutein and zeaxanthin. |
synth_fc_3684_rep14 | Positive | Video game | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roulette | 18 | Orphelins (orphans)
These numbers make up the two slices of the wheel outside the tiers and voisins. They contain a total of 8 numbers, comprising 17-34-6 and 1-20-14-31-9.
Five chips or multiples thereof are bet on four splits and a straight-up: one chip is placed straight-up on 1 and one chip on each of the splits: 6–9, 14–17, 17–20, and 31–34. |
synth_fc_2063_rep9 | Positive | Hotel | Order | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel) | 31 | Episode 11, "Sirens"
In this episode, dominated by motifs of music, Bloom has dinner with Stephen's uncle at the Ormond hotel, while Molly's lover, Blazes Boylan, proceeds to his rendezvous with her. While dining, Bloom listens to the singing of Stephen's father and others, watches the seductive barmaids, and composes a reply to Martha Clifford's letter. |
synth_fc_303_rep15 | Positive | Board game | Order | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot | 8 | Playing cards and early tarot-like games
Playing cards first entered Europe in the late 14th century, but the origin is unknown. The first records date to 1367 in Bern and they appear to have spread very rapidly across the whole of Europe, as may be seen from the records, mainly of card games being banned. Little is known about the appearance and number of these cards, the only significant information being provided by a text by John of Rheinfelden in 1377 from Freiburg im Breisgau, who, in addition to other versions, describes the basic pack as containing the still-current 4 suits of 13 cards, the courts usually being the King, Ober and Unter ("marshals"), although Dames and Queens were already known by then.
An early pattern of playing cards used the suits of batons or clubs, coins, swords, and cups. These suits are still used in traditional Italian, Spanish and Portuguese playing card decks, and are also used in modern (occult) tarot divination cards that first appeared in the late 18th century.
Like the common playing cards, tarot has four suits that vary by region: French suits are used in western, central and eastern Europe, and Latin suits in southern Europe. Each suit has 14 cards: ten pip cards numbering from one (or Ace) to ten; and four face cards: King, Queen, Knight, and Jack/Knave/Page. In addition, and unlike standard packs, the tarot also has a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit. These tarot cards are still used throughout much of Europe to play conventional card games.
A lost tarot-like pack was commissioned by Duke Filippo Maria Visconti and described by Martiano da Tortona, probably between 1418 and 1425 since the painter he mentions, Michelino da Besozzo, returned to Milan in 1418, while Martiano himself died in 1425. He described a 60-card deck with 16 cards having images of the Roman gods and suits depicting four kinds of birds. The 16 cards were regarded as "trumps" since, in 1449, Jacopo Antonio Marcello recalled that the now deceased duke had invented a novum quoddam et exquisitum triumphorum genus, or "a new and exquisite kind of triumphs." Other early decks that also showcased classical motifs include the Sola-Busca and Boiardo-Viti decks of the 1490s. |
synth_fc_899_rep13 | Positive | Finance | Calculation | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_exploration | 14 | Rationales
The research that is conducted by national space exploration agencies, such as NASA and Roscosmos, is one of the reasons supporters cite to justify government expenses. Economic analyses of the NASA programs often showed ongoing economic benefits (such as NASA spin-offs), generating many times the revenue of the cost of the program. It is also argued that space exploration would lead to the extraction of resources on other planets and especially asteroids, which contain billions of dollars worth of minerals and metals. Such expeditions could generate a lot of revenue. In addition, it has been argued that space exploration programs help inspire youth to study in science and engineering. Space exploration also gives scientists the ability to perform experiments in other settings and expand humanity's knowledge.
Another claim is that space exploration is a necessity to humankind and that staying on Earth will lead to extinction. Some of the reasons are lack of natural resources, comets, nuclear war, and worldwide epidemic. Stephen Hawking, renowned British theoretical physicist, said that "I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I'm an optimist. We will reach out to the stars." Arthur C. Clarke (1950) presented a summary of motivations for the human exploration of space in his non-fiction semi-technical monograph Interplanetary Flight. He argued that humanity's choice is essentially between expansion off Earth into space, versus cultural (and eventually biological) stagnation and death.These motivations could be attributed to one of the first rocket scientists in NASA, Wernher von Braun, and his vision of humans moving beyond Earth. The basis of this plan was to:
Develop multi-stage rockets capable of placing satellites, animals, and humans in space.
Development of large, winged reusable spacecraft capable of carrying humans and equipment into Earth orbit in a way that made space access routine and cost-effective.
Construction of a large, permanently occupied space station to be used as a platform both to observe Earth and from which to launch deep space expeditions.
Launching the first human flights around the Moon, leading to the first landings of humans on the Moon, with the intent of exploring that body and establishing permanent lunar bases.
Assembly and fueling of spaceships in Earth orbit for the purpose of sending humans to Mars with the intent of eventually colonizing that planet.
Known as the Von Braun Paradigm, the plan was formulated to lead humans in the exploration of space. Von Braun's vision of human space exploration served as the model for efforts in space exploration well into the twenty-first century, with NASA incorporating this approach into the majority of their projects. The steps were followed out of order, as seen by the Apollo program reaching the moon before the space shuttle program was started, which in turn was used to complete the International Space Station. Von Braun's Paradigm formed NASA's drive for human exploration, in the hopes that humans discover the far reaches of the universe.
NASA has produced a series of public service announcement videos supporting the concept of space exploration.
Overall, the public remains largely supportive of both crewed and uncrewed space exploration. According to an Associated Press Poll conducted in July 2003, 71% of U.S. citizens agreed with the statement that the space program is "a good investment", compared to 21% who did not. |
synth_fc_1506_rep9 | Positive | Geography | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_I_of_England | 4 | Childhood
Richard was born on 8 September 1157, probably at Beaumont Palace, in Oxford, England, son of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was the younger brother of William, Henry the Young King, and Matilda; William died before Richard's birth. As a younger son of King Henry II, Richard was not expected to ascend the throne. Four more children were born to King Henry and Queen Eleanor: Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan, and John. Richard also had two half-sisters from his mother's first marriage to Louis VII of France: Marie and Alix.
Richard is often depicted as having been the favourite son of his mother. His father was Angevin-Norman and great-grandson of William the Conqueror. Contemporary historian Ralph de Diceto traced his family's lineage through Matilda of Scotland to the Anglo-Saxon kings of England and Alfred the Great, and from there legend linked them to Noah and Woden. According to Angevin family tradition, there was even 'infernal blood' in their ancestry, with a claimed descent from the fairy, or female demon, Melusine.
While his father visited his lands from Scotland to France, Richard probably spent his childhood in England. His first recorded visit to the European continent was in May 1165, when his mother took him to Normandy. His wet nurse was Hodierna of St Albans, whom he gave a generous pension after he became king. Little is known about Richard's education. Although he was born in Oxford and brought up in England up to his eighth year, it is not known to what extent he used or understood English; he was an educated man who composed poetry and wrote in Limousin (lenga d'òc) and also in French.
During his captivity, English prejudice against foreigners was used in a calculated way by his brother John to help destroy the authority of Richard's chancellor, William Longchamp, who was a Norman. One of the specific charges laid against Longchamp, by John's supporter Hugh Nonant, was that he could not speak English. This indicates that by the late 12th century a knowledge of English was expected of those in positions of authority in England.
Richard was said to be very attractive; his hair was between red and blond, and he was light-eyed with a pale complexion. According to Clifford Brewer, he was 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m), although that is unverifiable since his remains have been lost since at least the French Revolution. John, his youngest brother, was known to be 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m).
The Itinerarium peregrinorum et gesta regis Ricardi, a Latin prose narrative of the Third Crusade, states that: "He was tall, of elegant build; the colour of his hair was between red and gold; his limbs were supple and straight. He had long arms suited to wielding a sword. His long legs matched the rest of his body".
Marriage alliances were common among medieval royalty: they led to political alliances and peace treaties and allowed families to stake claims of succession on each other's lands. In March 1159, it was arranged that Richard would marry one of the daughters of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona; however, these arrangements failed, and the marriage never took place. Henry the Young King was married to Margaret, daughter of Louis VII of France, on 2 November 1160. Despite this alliance between the Plantagenets and the Capetians, the dynasty on the French throne, the two houses were sometimes in conflict. In 1168, the intercession of Pope Alexander III was necessary to secure a truce between them. Henry II had conquered Brittany and taken control of Gisors and the Vexin, which had been part of Margaret's dowry.
Early in the 1160s there had been suggestions Richard should marry Alys, Countess of the Vexin, fourth daughter of Louis VII; because of the rivalry between the kings of England and France, Louis obstructed the marriage. A peace treaty was secured in January 1169 and Richard's betrothal to Alys was confirmed. Henry II planned to divide his and Eleanor's territories among their three eldest surviving sons: Henry would become King of England and have control of Anjou, Maine, and Normandy; Richard would inherit Aquitaine and Poitiers from his mother; and Geoffrey would become Duke of Brittany through marriage with Constance, heir presumptive of Conan IV. At the ceremony where Richard's betrothal was confirmed, he paid homage to the king of France for Aquitaine, thus securing ties of vassalage between the two.
After Henry II fell seriously ill in 1170, he enacted his plan to divide his territories, although he would retain overall authority over his sons and their territories. His son Henry was crowned as heir apparent in June 1170, and in 1171 Richard left for Aquitaine with his mother, and Henry II gave him the duchy of Aquitaine at the request of Eleanor. Richard and his mother embarked on a tour of Aquitaine in 1171 in an attempt to pacify the locals. Together, they laid the foundation stone of St Augustine's Monastery in Limoges. In June 1172, at age 14, Richard was formally recognised as duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitou when he was granted the lance and banner emblems of his office; the ceremony took place in Poitiers and was repeated in Limoges, where he wore the ring of St Valerie, who was the personification of Aquitaine. |
synth_fc_1884_rep3 | Positive | History | Ranking | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope | 16 | Longest-reigning popes
The longest papal reigns of those whose reign lengths can be determined from contemporary historical data are the following:
During the Western Schism, Avignon Pope Benedict XIII (1394–1423) ruled for 28 years, 7 months and 12 days, which would place him third in the above list. Since he is regarded as an anti-pope, he is not included there. |
synth_fc_3417_rep10 | Positive | Time | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Graves_Simcoe | 1 | John Graves Simcoe was a British Army general and the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 until 1796 in southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. He founded York, which is now known as Toronto, and was instrumental in introducing institutions such as courts of law, trial by jury, English common law, freehold land tenure, and also in the abolition of slavery in Upper Canada. His long-term goal was the development of Upper Canada (Ontario) as a model community built on aristocratic and conservative principles, designed to demonstrate the superiority of those principles to the republicanism of the United States. His energetic efforts were only partially successful in establishing a local gentry, a thriving Church of England, and an anti-American coalition with select indigenous nations. He is seen by many Canadians as a founding figure in Canadian history, especially by those in Southern Ontario. He is commemorated in Toronto with Simcoe Day. |
synth_fc_2581_rep3 | Positive | Music | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestra | 12 | Selection and appointment of members
In the 2000s, all tenured members of a professional orchestra normally audition for positions in the ensemble. Performers typically play one or more solo pieces of the auditionee's choice, such as a movement of a concerto, a solo Bach movement, and a variety of excerpts from the orchestral literature that are advertised in the audition poster (so the auditionees can prepare). The excerpts are typically the most technically challenging parts and solos from the orchestral literature. Orchestral auditions are typically held in front of a panel that includes the conductor, the concertmaster, the principal player of the section for which the auditionee is applying, and possibly other principal players.
The most promising candidates from the first round of auditions are invited to return for a second or third round of auditions, which allows the conductor and the panel to compare the best candidates. Performers may be asked to sight read orchestral music. The final stage of the audition process in some orchestras is a test week, in which the performer plays with the orchestra for a week or two, which allows the conductor and principal players to see if the individual can function well in an actual rehearsal and performance setting.
There are a range of different employment arrangements. The most sought-after positions are permanent, tenured positions in the orchestra. Orchestras also hire musicians on contracts, ranging in length from a single concert to a full season or more. Contract performers may be hired for individual concerts when the orchestra is doing an exceptionally large late-Romantic era orchestral work, or to substitute for a permanent member who is sick. A professional musician who is hired to perform for a single concert is sometimes called a "sub". Some contract musicians may be hired to replace permanent members for the period that the permanent member is on parental leave or disability leave. |
synth_fc_239_rep23 | Positive | Biomass | Feature search | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamus | 5 | Social life
It is challenging to study the interaction of bulls and cows because hippos are not sexually dimorphic, so cows and young bulls are almost indistinguishable in the field. Hippo pods fluctuate but can contain over 100 hippos. Although they lie close together, adults develop almost no social bonds. Males establish territories in water but not land, and these may range 250–500 m (820–1,640 ft) in lakes and 50–100 m (160–330 ft) in rivers. Territories are abandoned when the water dries up. The bull has breeding access to all the cows in his territory. Younger bachelors are allowed to stay as long as they defer to him. A younger male may challenge the old bull for control of the territory. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by sex and status. Bachelor males lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the territorial male is on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.
Hippos engage in "muck-spreading" which involves defecating while spinning their tails to distribute the faeces over a greater area. Muck-spreading occurs both on land and in water and its function is not well understood. It is unlikely to serve a territorial function, as the animals only establish territories in the water. They may be used as trails between the water and grazing areas. "Yawning" serves as a threat display. When fighting, bulls use their incisors to block each other's attacks and their large canines as offensive weapons. When hippos become over-populated or a habitat shrinks, bulls sometimes attempt infanticide, but this behaviour is not common under normal conditions.
The most common hippo vocalisation is the "wheeze honk", which can travel over long distances in air. This call starts as a high-pitched squeal followed by a deeper, resonant call. The animals can recognise the calls of other individuals. Hippos are more likely to react to the wheeze honks of strangers than to those they are more familiar with. When threatened or alarmed, they produce exhalations, and fighting bulls will bellow loudly. Hippos are recorded to produce clicks underwater which may have echolocative properties. They have the unique ability to hold their heads partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; individuals respond both above and below water. |
synth_fc_1974_rep9 | Positive | History | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Abduh | 1 | Muḥammad ʿAbduh was an Egyptian Islamic scholar, judge, and Grand Mufti of Egypt. He was a central figure of the Arab Nahḍa and Islamic Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He began teaching advanced students esoteric Islamic texts at Al-Azhar University while he was still studying there. From 1877, with the status of ʿālim, he taught logic, theology, ethics, and politics. He was also made a professor of history at Dar al-ʿUlūm the following year, and of Arabic language and literature at Madrasat al-Alsun. ʿAbduh was a champion of the press and wrote prolifically in Al-Manār and Al-Ahram. He was made editor of Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya in 1880. He also authored Risālat at-Tawḥīd and a commentary on the Quran. He briefly published the pan-Islamist anti-colonial newspaper al-ʿUrwa al-Wuthqā alongside his mentor Jamāl ad-Dīn al-Afghānī. ʿAbduh joined Freemasonry and subscribed to various Masonic lodges alongside his mentor al-Afghānī and his other pupils, but eventually left the secret society in his later years. He was appointed as a judge in the Courts of First Instance of the Native Tribunals in 1888, a consultative member of the Court of Appeal in 1899, and he was appointed muftī l-diyār al-miṣriyya in 1899. |
synth_fc_3719_rep28 | Negative | Weather & Air quality | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Stream | 7 | Localized effects
The Gulf Stream is influential on the climate of the Florida peninsula. The portion off the Florida coast, referred to as the Florida Current, maintains an average water temperature of at least 24 °C (75 °F) during the winter, and often 29 °C (84 °F) in summer and fall. East winds moving over this warm water move warm air from over the Gulf Stream inland, helping to keep temperatures milder across the state than elsewhere across the Southeastern United States during the winter.
The Gulf Stream carries a wide variety of tropical fish and organisms northward along the East Coast from Florida to extreme southeast Massachusetts in spring and summer. Following the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, tropical fish are often encountered off the East Coast as they search for food, including several species of Batoidea, Dolphin, Barracuda, and Triggerfish. The Gulf Stream's proximity to Nantucket, Massachusetts, adds to its biodiversity, because it is the northern limit for southern varieties of plant life, and the southern limit for northern plant species, Nantucket being warmer during winter than the mainland in winter just 30 miles to the north. North of Nantucket Island along the New England coast northward to the eastern Canadian coast the cold Labrador Current is found.
The North Atlantic Current of the Gulf Stream, along with similar warm air currents, helps keep Ireland and the western coast of Great Britain a few degrees warmer than the east. However, the difference is most dramatic in the western coastal islands of Scotland. A noticeable effect of the Gulf Stream and the strong westerly winds on Europe occurs along the Norwegian coast. Northern parts of Norway lie close to the Arctic zone, most of which is covered with ice and snow in winter. However, almost all of Norway's coast remains free of ice and snow throughout the year. The warming effect provided by the Gulf Stream has allowed fairly large settlements to be developed and maintained on the coast of Northern Norway, including Tromsø, the third-largest city north of the Arctic Circle. Weather systems warmed by the Gulf Stream drift into Northern Europe, also warming the climate behind the Scandinavian Mountains. |
synth_fc_3805_rep9 | Positive | Weather & Air quality | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm | 23 | Climate
Stockholm has a humid continental climate in the 0 °C isotherm (Köppen: Dfb) bordering on an oceanic climate (Cfb) in the -3 °C isotherm. Although winters are cold, average temperatures generally remain above 0 °C for much of the year. Summers are pleasantly warm, and precipitation occurs throughout the year.
Due to the city's high northerly latitude, the length of the day varies widely from more than 18 hours around midsummer to only around 6 hours in late December. The nights from late May until mid-July are not completely dark even when cloudy. Stockholm has relatively mild weather compared to other locations at a similar latitude, or even farther south. With an average of 1900 hours of sunshine per year, it is also one of the sunniest cities in Northern Europe, receiving more sunshine than Paris, London and a few other major European cities of a more southerly latitude. Because of the urban heat island effect and the prevailing wind travelling overland rather than sea during summer months, Stockholm has the warmest July months of the Nordic capitals. Stockholm has an annual average snow cover between 75 and 100 days.
Despite its mild climate, Stockholm is located further north than parts of Canada that are above the Arctic tree line at sea level.
Summers average daytime high temperatures of 20–25 °C (68–77 °F) and lows of around 13 °C (55 °F), but temperatures can reach 30 °C (86 °F) on some days. Days above 30 °C (86 °F) occur on average 1.55 days per year (1992–2011). Days between 25 °C (77 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F) are relatively common especially in July and August. Night-time lows of above 20 °C (68 °F) are rare, and hot summer nights vary from 17 to 18 °C (63 to 64 °F). Winters generally bring cloudy weather with the most precipitation falling in December and January (as either rain or snow). The average winter temperatures range from −3 to −1 °C (27 to 30 °F), and occasionally drop below −20 °C (−4 °F) in the outskirts of the city. Spring and autumn are generally cool to mild.
The climate table below presents weather data from the years 1991–2020. According to ongoing measurements, the temperature has increased during the years 1991–2020 as compared with the last series, from 1961 to 1990. This increase averages about 1.0 °C (1.8 °F) over all months. Warming is most pronounced during the winter months, with an increase of more than 2.0 °C (3.6 °F) in January. For the 2002–2014 measurements some further increases have been found, although some months such as June have been relatively flat.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Stockholm was 36 °C (97 °F) on 3 July 1811; the lowest was −32 °C (−26 °F) on 20 January 1814. The temperature has not dropped to below −25.1 °C (−13.2 °F) since 10 January 1987.
The warmest month ever recorded was July 2018 with a mean temperature of 22.5 °C (72.5 °F) which is also the nationwide record.
Annual precipitation is 546.4 mm (21.51 in) with around 170 wet days and light to moderate rainfall throughout the year. The precipitation is not uniformly distributed throughout the year. The second half of the year receives 50% more than the first half. Snowfall occurs mainly from December through March. Snowfall may occasionally occur in late October as well as in April.
In Stockholm, the aurora borealis can occasionally be observed. |
synth_fc_2556_rep13 | Positive | Museum | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome | 15 | Religion
Much like the rest of Italy, Rome is predominantly Christian, and the city has been an important centre of religion and pilgrimage for centuries, the base of the ancient Roman religion with the pontifex maximus and later the seat of the Vatican and the pope. Before the arrival of the Christians in Rome, the Religio Romana (literally, the "Roman Religion") was the major religion of the city in classical antiquity. The first gods held sacred by the Romans were Jupiter, the Most High, and Mars, the god of war, and father of Rome's twin founders, Romulus and Remus, according to tradition. Other deities such as Vesta and Minerva were honoured. Rome was also the base of several mystery cults, such as Mithraism. Later, after St Peter and St Paul were martyred in the city, and the first Christians began to arrive, Rome became Christian, and the Old St. Peter's Basilica was constructed in 313 AD. Despite some interruptions (such as the Avignon papacy), Rome has for centuries been the home of the Roman Catholic Church and the Bishop of Rome, otherwise known as the Pope.
Despite the fact that Rome is home to the Vatican City and St. Peter's Basilica, Rome's cathedral is the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, in the south-east of the city centre. There are around 900 churches in Rome in total. Aside from the cathedral itself, some others of note include the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, the Basilica di San Clemente, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and the Church of the Gesù. There are also the ancient Catacombs of Rome underneath the city. Numerous highly important religious educational institutions are also in Rome, such as the Pontifical Lateran University, Pontifical Biblical Institute, Pontifical Gregorian University, and Pontifical Oriental Institute.
Since the end of the Roman Republic, Rome is also the centre of an important Jewish community, which was once based in Trastevere, and later in the Roman Ghetto. There lies also the major synagogue in Rome, the Tempio Maggiore.
The territory of Vatican City is part of the Mons Vaticanus (Vatican Hill), and of the adjacent former Vatican Fields, where St. Peter's Basilica, the Apostolic Palace, the Sistine Chapel, and museums were built, along with various other buildings. The area was part of the Roman rione of Borgo until 1929. Being separated from the city on the west bank of the Tiber, the area was a suburb that was protected by being included within the walls of Leo IV, later expanded by the current fortification walls of Paul III, Pius IV, and Urban VIII. When the Lateran Treaty of 1929 that created the Vatican state was being prepared, the boundaries of the proposed territory were influenced by the fact that much of it was all but enclosed by this loop.
Rome has been a major Christian pilgrimage site since the Middle Ages. People from all over the Christian world visit Vatican City, within the city of Rome, the seat of the papacy. The city became a major pilgrimage site during the Middle Ages. Apart from brief periods as an independent city during the Middle Ages, Rome kept its status as Papal capital and holy city for centuries, even when the Papacy briefly relocated to Avignon (1309–1377). Catholics believe that the Vatican is the last resting place of St. Peter. Pilgrimages to Rome can involve visits to many sites, both within Vatican City and in Italian territory. A popular stopping point is the Pilate's stairs: these are, according to the Christian tradition, the steps that led up to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem, which Jesus Christ stood on during his Passion on his way to trial. |
synth_fc_162_rep15 | Positive | Biology | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berry_(botany) | 12 | Modified berries
"True berries", or "baccae", may also be required to have a thin outer skin, not self-supporting when removed from the berry. This distinguishes, for example, a Vaccinium or Solanum berry from an Adansonia (baobab) amphisarca, which has a dry, more rigid and self-supporting skin. The fruit of citrus, such as the orange, kumquat and lemon, is a berry with a thick rind and a very juicy interior divided into segments by septa, that is given the special name " hesperidium ". A specialized term, pepo, is also used for fruits of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, which are modified to have a hard outer rind, but are not internally divided by septa. The fruits of Passiflora (passion fruit) and Carica (papaya) are sometimes also considered pepos.
Berries that develop from an inferior ovary are sometimes termed epigynous berries or false berries, as opposed to true berries, which develop from a superior ovary. In epigynous berries, the berry includes tissue derived from parts of the flower other than the ovary. The floral tube, formed from the basal part of the sepals, petals and stamens, can become fleshy at maturity and is united with the ovary to form the fruit. Common fruits that are sometimes classified as epigynous berries include bananas, coffee, members of the genus Vaccinium (e.g., cranberries and blueberries), and members of the family Cucurbitaceae (gourds, cucumbers, melons and squash). |
synth_fc_2038_rep13 | Negative | Hotel | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding | 17 | Destination wedding
Not to be confused with an elopement, a destination wedding is one in which a wedding is hosted, often in a vacation-like setting, at a location to which most of the invited guests must travel and often stay for several days. This type of ceremony could be held on a beach, in a metropolitan resort, a hotel, a banquet hall, a mountain, or at the home of a geographically distant friend or relative. During the recession of 2009, destination weddings continued to see growth compared to traditional weddings, as the typically smaller size results in lower costs.
Destination weddings are prohibited in certain denominations of Christianity, such as the Catholic Church, which teach that Christian marriages should take place in the presence of God at church, where Christians began their journey of faith in the sacrament of baptism. |
synth_fc_2227_rep1 | Positive | Law | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War | 17 | Surrender of Metz
Bazaine, a well-known Bonapartist, at this time allowed himself to be carried away by illusory plans for a political role in France. Unconventional military plans were put forth, by which the Germans would allow the army under Bazaine's command to withdraw from the fortress of Metz to retreat to the south of France, where it would remain until the German armies captured Paris, eliminated the political usurpers and made room for the legitimate imperial authorities with the support of Bazaine's army. Even ignoring moral issues and potential public outcry, this plan seems completely unrealistic. Bismarck and Moltke answered Bazaine's offer of "cooperation" against the "republican menace" with an indifferent shrug. The German press, undoubtedly at the instigation of Bismarck, widely covered this topic, and reported the details of Bazaine's negotiations. The French press could only remain completely silent on this issue. With whom Bazaine negotiated still raises questions among historians. "For a decade, the French were considered him (M. Edmond Regnier) a sinister figure, almost certainly an agent of Bismarck. They would have been more justified in thinking him a buffoon". Undoubtedly, the politically motivated actions of Commander Bazaine led to the passivity of the encircled army at Metz and contributed to the defeat of not only this army, but the country as a whole. Bazaine's army surrendered on 26 October. 173,000 people surrendered, with the Prussians capturing the huge amount of military equipment located in Metz. After the war, Marshal Bazaine was convicted by a French military court. |
synth_fc_2790_rep20 | Positive | Physics & Chemistry | Database update | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_and_pinion | 1 | A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a circular gear engaging a linear gear. Together, they convert between rotational motion and linear motion: rotating the pinion causes the rack to be driven in a line. Conversely, moving the rack linearly will cause the pinion to rotate. The rack and pinion mechanism is used in rack railways, where the pinion mounted on a locomotive or a railroad car engages a rack usually placed between the rails, and helps to move the train up a steep gradient. It is also used in arbor presses and drill presses, where the pinion is connected to a lever and displaces a vertical rack. In pipelines and other industrial piping systems, a rack displaced by a linar actuator turns a pinion to open or close a valve. Stairlifts, lock gates, electric gates, and the mechanical steering mechanism of cars are other notable applications. The term "rack and pinion" may be used also when the rack is not straight but arcuate (bent), namely just a section of a large gear. A single pinion can simultaneously drive two racks, parallel but opposite; which will always be displaced by the same distance, only in opposite directions. Conversely, by applying opposite forces to the two racks one can obtain pure torque on the pinion, without any force component. This double rack and pinion mechanism can be used, for example, with a pair of pneumatic actuators to operate a valve with minimum stress. |
synth_fc_1076_rep18 | Negative | Finance | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Chadwick | 7 | Liverpool
With the onset of the Great Depression in the United Kingdom, the government became more parsimonious with funding for science. At the same time, Lawrence's recent invention, the cyclotron, promised to revolutionise experimental nuclear physics, and Chadwick felt that the Cavendish laboratory would fall behind unless it also acquired one. He therefore chafed under Rutherford, who clung to the belief that good nuclear physics could still be done without large, expensive equipment, and turned down the request for a cyclotron.
Chadwick was himself a critic of Big Science in general, and Lawrence in particular, whose approach he considered careless and focused on technology at the expense of science. When Lawrence postulated the existence of a new and hitherto unknown particle that he claimed was a possible source of limitless energy at the Solvay Conference in 1933, Chadwick responded that the results were more likely attributable to contamination of the equipment. While Lawrence rechecked his results at Berkeley only to find that Chadwick was correct, Rutherford and Oliphant conducted an investigation at the Cavendish that found that deuterium fuses to form helium-3, thereby causing the effect that Lawrence had observed. This was another major discovery, but the Oliphant-Rutherford particle accelerator was an expensive state-of-the-art piece of equipment.
In March 1935, Chadwick received an offer of the Lyon Jones Chair of physics at the University of Liverpool, in his wife's home town, to succeed Lionel Wilberforce. The laboratory was so antiquated that it still ran on direct current electricity, but Chadwick seized the opportunity, assuming the chair on 1 October 1935. The university's prestige was soon bolstered by Chadwick's Nobel Prize, which was announced in November 1935. His medal was sold at auction in 2014 for $329,000.
Chadwick set about acquiring a cyclotron for Liverpool. He started by spending £700 to refurbish the antiquated laboratories at Liverpool, so some components could be made in-house. He was able to persuade the university to provide £2,000 and obtained a grant for another £2,000 from the Royal Society. To build his cyclotron, Chadwick brought in two young experts, Bernard Kinsey and Harold Walke, who had worked with Lawrence at the University of California. A local cable manufacturer donated the copper conductor for the coils. The cyclotron's 50-ton magnet was manufactured in Trafford Park by Metropolitan-Vickers, which also made the vacuum chamber. The cyclotron was completely installed and running in July 1939. The total cost of £5,184 was more than Chadwick had received from the university and the Royal Society, so Chadwick paid the rest from his 159,917 kr (£8,243) Nobel Prize money.
At Liverpool the Medicine and Science faculties worked together closely. Chadwick was automatically a committee member of both faculties, and in 1938 he was appointed to a commission headed by Lord Derby to investigate the arrangements for cancer treatment in Liverpool. Chadwick anticipated that neutrons and radioactive isotopes produced with the 37-inch cyclotron could be used to study biochemical processes, and might become a weapon in the fight against cancer. |
synth_fc_1659_rep9 | Positive | Geography | Database search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport | 25 | Vietnam
All Vietnamese passports are issued by the Department of Immigration (Cục Quản lý Xuất nhập cảnh) on behalf of the Ministry of Public Security. Only Vietnamese citizens are eligible for this passport. The passport is valid for ten years. By law, a valid unexpired Vietnamese passport is conclusive proof of Vietnamese citizenship, and therefore can be used in lieu of a National ID card for identification (such as flying within Vietnam) domestically.
Vietnamese passport booklets conform with the recommended standards (i.e. size, composition, layout, technology) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). There are three types of passport booklets. Vietnamese passports are property of the government of Vietnam and must be returned to the Vietnamese government upon demand. Vietnam started issuing electronic passports to citizens in March 2023.
As of 29 July 2022, Vietnamese citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 55 countries and territories, ranking the Vietnamese passport 92nd in the world according to the Visa Restrictions Index. As of 2022, the cost for a first-time passport or renewal (if applicant's most recent passport is undamaged and can be submitted with the application) is 200,000 Vietnamese đồng (VND); approximately US$7, and 400,000 Vietnamese đồng (VND) if applicant's most recent passport is damaged or stolen. |
synth_fc_2043_rep13 | Positive | Hotel | Feature search | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funchal | 1 | Funchal is the capital, largest city and the municipal seat of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high cultural and historical value, Funchal is one of Portugal's main tourist attractions; it is also popular as a destination for New Year's Eve, and it is the leading Portuguese port on cruise liner dockings. |
synth_fc_2589_rep6 | Positive | Music | Order | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaliyah | 1 | Aaliyah Dana Haughton, known as Aaliyah, was an American singer and actress. She has been credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop, and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop". Born in Brooklyn and raised in Detroit, she first gained recognition at the age of 10, when she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At the age of 12, Aaliyah signed with Jive Records and her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records. Hankerson introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number (1994). The album sold three million copies in the United States and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After allegations of an illegal marriage with Kelly, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive and signed with Atlantic Records. Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, One in a Million (1996), which sold three million copies in the United States and more than eight million copies worldwide. In 2000, Aaliyah made her acting debut in the film Romeo Must Die, alongside Jet Li. She contributed to the film's soundtrack, which was supported by her single "Try Again". The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 solely through airplay, becoming the first in the chart's history to do so. After completing the film, Aaliyah subsequently filmed her starring role in Queen of the Damned, and in July 2001, released her eponymous third album, which topped the Billboard 200. The album spawned the singles "We Need a Resolution", "Rock the Boat" and "More Than a Woman". On August 25, 2001, at the age of 22, Aaliyah was killed in an airplane accident in the Bahamas along with eight other people on board, when the overloaded aircraft she was traveling in crashed shortly after takeoff. The pilot was later found to have traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body and was not qualified to fly the aircraft designated for the flight. Aaliyah's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the aircraft's operator, which was settled out of court. In the decades following her death, Aaliyah's music has continued to achieve commercial success, aided by several posthumous releases. She has sold 8.1 million albums in the US and an estimated 24 to 32 million albums worldwide. Billboard lists her as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years, and the 27th most successful in history. Her accolades include three American Music Awards and two MTV VMAs, along with five Grammy Award nominations. |
synth_fc_3889_rep15 | Negative | Writing, Editing & Translation | Document search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Zemeckis | 1 | Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American filmmaker. He first came to public attention as the director of the action-adventure romantic comedy Romancing the Stone (1984), the science-fiction comedy Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990), and the live-action/animated comedy Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). He subsequently directed the satirical black comedy Death Becomes Her (1992) and then diversified into more dramatic fare, including the Best Picture winning film, Forrest Gump (1994), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director. Zemeckis is regarded as an innovator in visual effects. His exploration of state-of-the-art special effects includes the early use of computer graphics inserted into live-action footage
in Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Forrest Gump, the insertion of hand-drawn animation into live-action footage in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and the performance capture techniques seen in The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007), A Christmas Carol (2009), and Welcome to Marwen (2018). He is known for his collaboration with composer Alan Silvestri, with whom he has worked since Romancing the Stone. David Thomson, a prominent film critic, wrote that "no other contemporary director has used special effects to more dramatic and narrative purpose." |
synth_fc_189_rep13 | Positive | Biology | Analysis | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon | 10 | Physical and atomic
A silicon atom has fourteen electrons. In the ground state, they are arranged in the electron configuration 3s 3p. Of these, four are valence electrons, occupying the 3s orbital and two of the 3p orbitals. Like the other members of its group, the lighter carbon and the heavier germanium, tin, and lead, it has the same number of valence electrons as valence orbitals: hence, it can complete its octet and obtain the stable noble gas configuration of argon by forming sp hybrid orbitals, forming tetrahedral SiX derivatives where the central silicon atom shares an electron pair with each of the four atoms it is bonded to. The first four ionisation energies of silicon are 786.3, 1576.5, 3228.3, and 4354.4 kJ/mol respectively; these figures are high enough to preclude the possibility of simple cationic chemistry for the element. Following periodic trends, its single-bond covalent radius of 117.6 pm is intermediate between those of carbon (77.2 pm) and germanium (122.3 pm). The hexacoordinate ionic radius of silicon may be considered to be 40 pm, although this must be taken as a purely notional figure given the lack of a simple Si cation in reality. |
synth_fc_6_rep9 | Positive | Acoustics | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code | 33 | Transmission
Morse code can be transmitted in a number of ways: Originally as electrical pulses along a telegraph wire, but later extended to an audio tone, a radio signal with short and long tones, or high and low tones, or as a mechanical, audible, or visual signal (e.g. a flashing light) using devices like an Aldis lamp or a heliograph, a common flashlight, or even a car horn. Some mine rescues have used pulling on a rope - a short pull for a dot and a long pull for a dah. Ground forces send messages to aircraft with panel signalling, where a horizontal panel is a dah and a vertical panel a dit.
Morse messages are generally transmitted by a hand-operated device such as a telegraph key, so there are variations introduced by the skill of the sender and receiver — more experienced operators can send and receive at faster speeds. In addition, individual operators differ slightly, for example, using slightly longer or shorter dahs or gaps, perhaps only for particular characters. This is called their "fist", and experienced operators can recognize specific individuals by it alone. A good operator who sends clearly and is easy to copy is said to have a "good fist". A "poor fist" is a characteristic of sloppy or hard to copy Morse code. |
synth_fc_2842_rep22 | Positive | Real estate | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea | 13 | Geography
Covering an area of 27,000 km (10,425 sq mi), Crimea is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea and on the western coast of the Sea of Azov; the only land border is shared with Ukraine's Kherson Oblast on the north. Crimea is almost an island and only connected to the continent by the Isthmus of Perekop, a strip of land about 5–7 kilometres (3.1–4.3 mi) wide.
Much of the natural border between the Crimean Peninsula and the Ukrainian mainland comprises the Syvash or "Rotten Sea", a large system of shallow lagoons stretching along the western shore of the Sea of Azov. Besides the isthmus of Perekop, the peninsula is connected to the Kherson Oblast's Henichesk Raion by bridges over the narrow Chonhar and Henichesk straits and over Kerch Strait to the Krasnodar Krai. The northern part of Arabat Spit is administratively part of Henichesk Raion in Kherson Oblast, including its two rural communities of Shchaslyvtseve and Strilkove. The eastern tip of the Crimean peninsula comprises the Kerch Peninsula, separated from Taman Peninsula on the Russian mainland by the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov, at a width of between 3–13 kilometres (1.9–8.1 mi).
Geographers generally divide the peninsula into three zones: the steppe, the Crimean Mountains, and the Southern Coast. |
synth_fc_3460_rep17 | Negative | Time | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Game | 28 | Second Anglo-Afghan War
In 1878, Russia sent troops on an uninvited diplomatic mission to Kabul. Sher Ali Khan, the Amir of Afghanistan, tried unsuccessfully to keep them from entering Afghanistan, the Russians arrived in Kabul on 22 July 1878. As a reaction, on 14 August the British demanded that Sher Ali also accept a British mission. The Amir not only refused to receive a British mission under Neville Bowles Chamberlain but also threatened to stop it if it attempted to enter his country. Lord Lytton, the Viceroy of British India, ordered an envoy to set out on a diplomatic mission for Kabul in September 1878. The mission was turned back as it approached the eastern entrance of the Khyber Pass, triggering the Second Anglo–Afghan War. In November 1878, 40,000 men led by the British Raj, invaded Afghanistan from British India. Warfare had been settled for a while through diplomatic negotiations in 1879, in 1880 however the fighting was reignited after a British envoy on a mission to Kabul was massacred. |
synth_fc_2557_rep2 | Positive | Museum | Feature search | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandala | 1 | A mandala is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. In the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Shinto it is used as a map representing deities, or especially in the case of Shinto, paradises, kami or actual shrines. |
synth_fc_2545_rep16 | Positive | Museum | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism | 2 | Devotion
Most forms of Buddhism "consider saddhā (Sanskrit: śraddhā), 'trustful confidence' or 'faith', as a quality which must be balanced by wisdom, and as a preparation for, or accompaniment of, meditation." Because of this devotion (Sanskrit: bhakti; Pali: bhatti) is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists. Devotional practices include ritual prayer, prostration, offerings, pilgrimage, and chanting. Buddhist devotion is usually focused on some object, image or location that is seen as holy or spiritually influential. Examples of objects of devotion include paintings or statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, stupas, and bodhi trees. Public group chanting for devotional and ceremonial is common to all Buddhist traditions and goes back to ancient India where chanting aided in the memorization of the orally transmitted teachings. Rosaries called malas are used in all Buddhist traditions to count repeated chanting of common formulas or mantras. Chanting is thus a type of devotional group meditation which leads to tranquility and communicates the Buddhist teachings. |
synth_fc_3750_rep12 | Positive | Weather & Air quality | Document search | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phnom_Penh | 17 | Climate
Phnom Penh has a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen climate classification Aw). The climate is hot year-round with only minor variations. Temperatures typically range from 22 to 35 °C (72 to 95 °F) and weather is subject to the tropical monsoons. The southwest monsoon blows inland bringing moisture-laden winds from the Gulf of Thailand and Indian Ocean from May to November, sees high temperatures accompanied by high humidity. The dry season lasts from December to April; when overnight temperatures can drop to 22 °C (72 °F). |
synth_fc_1653_rep27 | Negative | Geography | Ranking | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagos | 64 | City buses
There are two city bus companies in Lagos: BRT (Lagos Bus Rapid Transit System) and LBSL (Lagos Bus Services). The city buses are air-conditioned. (However, during the Covid epidemic, the AC had to be switched off at all times.)
BRT was inaugurated in 2008. BRT offers e-payment with bank cards. On two arterial roads (Ikorodu Road and Funsho Williams Avenue), a dedicated bus lane has been established for BRT buses. BRT uses diverse brands of buses, like Ashok Leyland and Yutong. Primero Transport Services (PTS) Ltd. is the sole operator of the BRT buses.
LBSL was inaugurated in 2019. LBSL uses Brazilian-built Marcopolo buses.
The central hub for city buses and long-distance buses is the Oshodi Bus Terminal, which is visible from afar. It is the largest bus station in West Africa and commenced operation in 2019.
The Lagos Transportation department, LAMATA, introduced electric busses in Lagos in May 2023. |
synth_fc_1474_rep5 | Positive | Geography | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane | 37 | Name
Brisbane is named after the Brisbane River, which in turn was named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, the governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825. The name is derived from the Scottish Gaelic bris, meaning ' to break or smash ' and the Old English word ban meaning ' bone '.
Popular nicknames for the city include Brissie, Brisvegas, and the River City.
Brisbane sits on land known also as Meanjin, the name used in the Turrbal language of one group of traditional owners. Meanjin means ' place shaped as a spike ', referencing the shape of the Brisbane River along the area that Brisbane CBD now straddles. A contemporary Turrbal organisation has also suggested it means ' the place of the blue water lilies '. Local Elder Gaja Kerry Charlton posits that Meanjin is based on a European understanding of ' spike ', and that the phonetically similar Yagara name Magandjin — after the native tulipwood trees (magan) at Gardens Point — is a more accurate and appropriate Aboriginal name for Brisbane.
Aboriginal groups claiming traditional ownership of the area include the Yagara, Turrbal and Quandamooka peoples. Brisbane is home to the land of a number of Aboriginal language groups, primarily the Yagara language group which includes the Turrbal language. The city is also known as Meanjin, a Turrbal word that originally referred to land on which parts of the city are built, or as Magandjin, a Yagara word referring to the tulipwood tree. |
synth_fc_394_rep1 | No function call | Carbon footprint | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect | 13 | Greenhouse gases and the lapse rate
Earth's surface radiates longwave radiation with wavelengths in the range of 4–100 microns. Greenhouse gases that were largely transparent to incoming solar radiation are more absorbent for some wavelengths in this range.
The atmosphere near the Earth's surface is largely opaque to longwave radiation and most heat loss from the surface is by evaporation and convection. However radiative energy losses become increasingly important higher in the atmosphere, largely because of the decreasing concentration of water vapor, an important greenhouse gas.
Rather than thinking of longwave radiation headed to space as coming from the surface itself, it is more realistic to think of this outgoing radiation as being emitted by a layer in the mid- troposphere, which is effectively coupled to the surface by a lapse rate. The difference in temperature between these two locations explains the difference between surface emissions and emissions to space, i.e., it explains the greenhouse effect. |
synth_fc_1807_rep30 | No function call | Health | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_skiing | 11 | Health
According to a 2004 Harvard Medical School study, alpine skiing burns between 360 and 532 calories per hour. |
synth_fc_370_rep21 | Negative | Book | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedanta | 47 | Scripture
The main Upanishads, the Bhagavadgītā and the Brahma Sūtras are the foundational scriptures in Vedanta. All traditions of Vedanta give a specific exegesis of these texts, collectively called the Prasthānatrayī, literally, three sources.
All prominent Vedantic teachers, including Shankara, Bhaskara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, and Vallabha wrote commentaries on these three sources. The Brahma Sūtras of Badarayana serve as a bhedabheda -based synthesis of the teachings found in the diverse Upanishads, and while there may have been other similar syntheses in the past, only the Brahma Sūtras have survived to the present day. The Bhagavadgītā, with its syncretism of Samkhya, Yoga, and Upanishadic thought, has also been a significant influence on Vedantic thought.
All Vedāntins agree that scripture (śruti) is the only means of knowing (pramāṇa) regarding spiritual matters (which are beyond perception and inference). This is explained by Rāmānuja as follows:
A theory that rests exclusively on human concepts may at some other time or place be refuted by arguments devised by cleverer people.... The conclusion is that with regard to supernatural matters, Scripture alone is the epistemic authority and that reasoning is to be used only in support of Scripture’.
For specific sub-traditions of Vedanta, other texts may be equally important. For example, for Advaita Vedanta, the works of Adi Shankara are nominally central, though other teachers were equally, or even more, influential. For the theistic Vaishnava schools of Vedanta, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa is particularly important. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the most widely commented upon works in Vedanta. This text is so central to the Krishna-centered Vedanta schools that the Vedantin theologian Vallabha added the Bhāgavata Purāṇa as a fourth text to the Prasthānatrayī (three classic scriptures of Vedanta). |
synth_fc_2438_rep24 | Positive | Movie | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshin | 1 | Oshin Oshin (おしん) is a Japanese serialized morning television drama (asadora), which originally aired on NHK from 4 marzo 1983 to 31 March 1984; it is the 31st asadora overall to be produced. The 297 15-minute episodes follow the life of Shin Tanokura during the Meiji period up to the early 1980s. In the work, Shin is called Oshin, the O- forming an archaic cognomen. It was one of the country's most watched serials of all time and has aired in 68 other countries, with subtitles ranging from English to Arabic. In 1984, the earlier episodes of the drama were made into an animated movie by Sanrio. The movie reused Sugako Hashida's scripts, and Ayako Kobayashi, who played young Oshin, did Oshin's voiceover. |
synth_fc_1151_rep12 | Positive | Finance | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw | 2 | Beliefs and opinions
Shaw was a poseur and a puritan; he was similarly a bourgeois and an antibourgeois writer, working for Hearst and posterity; his didacticism is entertaining and his pranks are purposeful; he supports socialism and is tempted by fascism.
—Leonard Feinberg, The Satirist (2006)
Throughout his lifetime Shaw professed many beliefs, often contradictory. This inconsistency was partly an intentional provocation—the Spanish scholar-statesman Salvador de Madariaga describes Shaw as "a pole of negative electricity set in a people of positive electricity". In one area at least Shaw was constant: in his lifelong refusal to follow normal English forms of spelling and punctuation. He favoured archaic spellings such as "shew" for "show"; he dropped the "u" in words like "honour" and "favour"; and wherever possible he rejected the apostrophe in contractions such as "won't" or "that's". In his will, Shaw ordered that, after some specified legacies, his remaining assets were to form a trust to pay for fundamental reform of the English alphabet into a phonetic version of forty letters. Though Shaw's intentions were clear, his drafting was flawed, and the courts initially ruled the intended trust void. A later out-of-court agreement provided a sum of £8,300 for spelling reform; the bulk of his fortune went to the residuary legatees—the British Museum, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the National Gallery of Ireland. Most of the £8,300 went on a special phonetic edition of Androcles and the Lion in the Shavian alphabet, published in 1962 to a largely indifferent reception.
Shaw's views on religion and Christianity were less consistent. Having in his youth proclaimed himself an atheist, in middle age he explained this as a reaction against the Old Testament image of a vengeful Jehovah. By the early twentieth century, he termed himself a "mystic", although Gary Sloan, in an essay on Shaw's beliefs, disputes his credentials as such. In 1913 Shaw declared that he was not religious "in the sectarian sense", aligning himself with Jesus as "a person of no religion". In the preface (1915) to Androcles and the Lion, Shaw asks "Why not give Christianity a chance?" contending that Britain's social order resulted from the continuing choice of Barabbas over Christ. In a broadcast just before the Second World War, Shaw invoked the Sermon on the Mount, "a very moving exhortation, and it gives you one first-rate tip, which is to do good to those who despitefully use you and persecute you". In his will, Shaw stated that his "religious convictions and scientific views cannot at present be more specifically defined than as those of a believer in creative revolution". He requested that no one should imply that he accepted the beliefs of any specific religious organisation, and that no memorial to him should "take the form of a cross or any other instrument of torture or symbol of blood sacrifice".
Shaw espoused racial equality, and inter-marriage between people of different races. Despite his expressed wish to be fair to Hitler, he called anti-Semitism "the hatred of the lazy, ignorant fat-headed Gentile for the pertinacious Jew who, schooled by adversity to use his brains to the utmost, outdoes him in business". In The Jewish Chronicle he wrote in 1932, "In every country you can find rabid people who have a phobia against Jews, Jesuits, Armenians, Negroes, Freemasons, Irishmen, or simply foreigners as such. Political parties are not above exploiting these fears and jealousies."
In 1903 Shaw joined in a controversy about vaccination against smallpox. He called vaccination "a peculiarly filthy piece of witchcraft"; in his view immunisation campaigns were a cheap and inadequate substitute for a decent programme of housing for the poor, which would, he declared, be the means of eradicating smallpox and other infectious diseases. Less contentiously, Shaw was keenly interested in transport; Laurence observed in 1992 a need for a published study of Shaw's interest in "bicycling, motorbikes, automobiles, and planes, climaxing in his joining the Interplanetary Society in his nineties". Shaw published articles on travel, took photographs of his journeys, and submitted notes to the Royal Automobile Club.
Shaw strove throughout his adult life to be referred to as "Bernard Shaw" rather than "George Bernard Shaw", but confused matters by continuing to use his full initials—G.B.S.—as a by-line, and often signed himself "G. Bernard Shaw". He left instructions in his will that his executor (the Public Trustee) was to license publication of his works only under the name Bernard Shaw. Shaw scholars including Ervine, Judith Evans, Holroyd, Laurence and Weintraub, and many publishers have respected Shaw's preference, although the Cambridge University Press was among the exceptions with its 1988 Cambridge Companion to George Bernard Shaw. |
synth_fc_714_rep26 | Positive | DNA sequence | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type | 8 | Blood typing
Typically, blood type tests are performed through addition of a blood sample to a solution containing antibodies corresponding to each antigen. The presence of an antigen on the surface of the blood cells is indicated by agglutination. |
synth_fc_430_rep23 | Negative | Color | Recommendation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_printing | 1 | Textile printing is the process of applying color to fabric in definite patterns or designs. In properly printed fabrics the colour is bonded with the fibre, so as to resist washing and friction. Textile printing is related to dyeing but in dyeing properly the whole fabric is uniformly covered with one colour, whereas in printing one or more colours are applied to it in certain parts only, and in sharply defined patterns. In printing, wooden blocks, stencils, engraved plates, rollers, or silkscreens can be used to place colours on the fabric. Colourants used in printing contain dyes thickened to prevent the colour from spreading by capillary attraction beyond the limits of a pattern or design. |
synth_fc_2091_rep1 | Positive | Hotel | Order | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel | 35 | Railway hotels
The first recorded purpose-built railway hotel was the Great Western Hotel, which opened adjacent to Reading railway station in 1844, shortly after the Great Western Railway opened its line from London. The building still exists, and although it has been used for other purposes over the years, it is now again a hotel and a member of the Malmaison hotel chain.
Frequently, expanding railway companies built grand hotels at their termini, such as the Midland Hotel, Manchester next to the former Manchester Central Station, and in London the ones above St Pancras railway station and Charing Cross railway station. London also has the Chiltern Court Hotel above Baker Street tube station, there are also Canada's grand railway hotels. They are or were mostly, but not exclusively, used by those traveling by rail. |
synth_fc_1246_rep16 | Positive | Finance | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Stock_Exchange | 9 | Coffee House
The Royal Exchange had been founded by English financier Thomas Gresham and Sir Richard Clough on the model of the Antwerp Bourse. It was opened by Elizabeth I of England in 1571.
During the 17th century, stockbrokers were not allowed in the Royal Exchange due to their perceived rude manners. They had to operate from other establishments in the vicinity, notably Jonathan's Coffee-House. At that coffee house, a broker named John Castaing started listing the prices of a few commodities including salt, coal, paper, and exchange rates in 1698. Originally, this was not a daily list and was only published a few days of the week.
This list and activity was later moved to Garraway's coffee house. Public auctions during this period were conducted for the duration that a length of tallow candle could burn; these were known as "by inch of candle" auctions. As stocks grew, with new companies joining to raise capital, the royal court also raised some monies. These are the earliest evidence of organised trading in marketable securities in London. |
synth_fc_1122_rep1 | Positive | Finance | Calculation | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution | 28 | Independence debt
The nascent state's future was hobbled in 1825 when France under Charles X forced it (with French warships anchored off the coast during the negotiations) to pay 150 million gold francs in reparations to French ex-slaveholders—as a condition of French political recognition and to end the newly formed state's political and economic isolation. By an order of 17 April 1825, the King of France renounced his rights of sovereignty over Santo Domingo, and recognized the independence of Haiti. President Jean-Pierre Boyer believed that the constant threat of a French invasion was stymieing the Haitian economy and thus felt the need to settle the matter once and for all.
Though the amount of the reparations was reduced to 90 million francs in 1838, Haiti was unable to finish paying off its debt until 1947. The indemnity bankrupted the Haitian treasury and left the country's government deeply impoverished, causing long-term instability. Haiti was therefore forced to take out a loan from French banks, who provided the funds for the large first installment, severely affecting Haiti's ability to prosper. |
synth_fc_1645_rep17 | Positive | Geography | Database search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands | 35 | Burgundian, Habsburg and Spanish Habsburg Netherlands (1384–1581)
Most of the Imperial and French fiefs in what is now the Netherlands and Belgium were united in a personal union by Philip the Good in 1433. The House of Valois-Burgundy and their Habsburg heirs would rule the Low Countries from 1384 to 1581. The new rulers defended Dutch trading interests. The fleets of the County of Holland defeated the fleets of the Hanseatic League several times. Amsterdam grew and in the 15th century became the primary trading port in Europe for grain from the Baltic region. Amsterdam distributed grain to the major cities of Belgium, Northern France and England. This trade was vital because Holland could no longer produce enough grain to feed itself. Land drainage had caused the peat of the former wetlands to reduce to a level that was too low for drainage to be maintained.
Under Habsburg Charles V, all fiefs in the current Netherlands region were united into the Seventeen Provinces, which included most of present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of France and Germany. In 1568, under Phillip II, the Eighty Years' War between the Provinces and their Spanish ruler began. The level of ferocity exhibited by both sides can be gleaned from a Dutch chronicler's report:
On more than one occasion men were seen hanging their own brothers, who had been taken prisoners in the enemy's ranks... A Spaniard had ceased to be human in their eyes. On one occasion, a surgeon at Veer cut the heart from a Spanish prisoner, nailed it on a vessel's prow, and invited the townsmen to come and fasten their teeth in it, which many did with savage satisfaction.
The Duke of Alba attempted to suppress the Protestant movement in the Netherlands. Netherlanders were "burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive" by his " Blood Council " and Spanish soldiers. Bodies were displayed along roads to terrorise the population into submission. Alba boasted of having executed 18,600; this figure does not include those who perished by war and famine.
The first great siege was Alba's effort to capture Haarlem and thereby cut Holland in half. It dragged on from December 1572 to the next summer, when Haarlemers finally surrendered on 13 July upon the promise that the city would be spared from being sacked. It was a stipulation Don Fadrique was unable to honour, when his soldiers mutinied, angered over pay owed and the miserable conditions of the campaign. On 4 November 1576, Spanish tercios seized Antwerp and subjected it to the worst pillage in the Netherlands' history. The citizens resisted but were overcome; seven thousand were killed and a thousand buildings were torched.
Following the sack of Antwerp, delegates from Catholic Brabant, Protestant Holland and Zeeland agreed to join Utrecht and William the Silent in driving out Spanish troops and forming a new government for the Netherlands. Don Juan of Austria, the new Spanish governor, was forced to concede initially, but within months returned to active hostilities. The Dutch looked for help from the Protestant Elizabeth I of England, but she initially stood by her commitments to the Spanish in the Treaty of Bristol of 1574. When the next large-scale battle occurred at Gembloux in 1578, the Spanish forces won easily. In light of the defeat at Gembloux, the southern states of the Seventeen Provinces distanced themselves from the rebels in the north with the 1579 Union of Arras. Opposing them, the northern half of the Seventeen Provinces forged the Union of Utrecht in which they committed to support each other against the Spanish. The Union of Utrecht is seen as the foundation of the modern Netherlands.
Spanish troops sacked Maastricht in 1579, killing over 10,000 civilians. In 1581, the northern provinces adopted the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence in which the provinces officially deposed Philip II. Against the rebels Philip could draw on the resources of the Spanish Empire. Elizabeth I sympathised with the Dutch struggle and sent an army of 7,600 soldiers to aid them. English forces faced the Spanish in the Netherlands under the Duke of Parma in a series of largely indecisive actions that tied down significant numbers of Spanish troops and bought time for the Dutch to reorganise their defences. The war continued until 1648, when Spain under King Philip IV recognised the independence of the seven north-western provinces in the Peace of Münster. Parts of the southern provinces became de facto colonies of the new republican-mercantile empire. |
synth_fc_2906_rep18 | Positive | Restaurant | Recommendation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage | 40 | Tiki bar
A tiki bar is a themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially rum -based mixed drinks such as the Mai Tai and Zombie cocktails. Tiki bars are aesthetically defined by their tiki culture décor which is based upon a romanticized conception of tropical cultures, most commonly Polynesian. |
synth_fc_1995_rep26 | Positive | History | Feature search | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire | 20 | Continued conquest in India
The East India Company fought a series of Anglo-Mysore wars in Southern India with the Sultanate of Mysore under Hyder Ali and then Tipu Sultan. Defeats in the First Anglo-Mysore war and stalemate in the Second were followed by victories in the Third and the Fourth. Following Tipu Sultan's death in the fourth war in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799), the kingdom became a protectorate of the company.
The East India Company fought three Anglo-Maratha Wars with the Maratha Confederacy. The First Anglo-Maratha War ended in 1782 with a restoration of the pre-war status quo. The Second and Third Anglo-Maratha wars resulted in British victories. After the surrender of Peshwa Bajirao II on 1818, the East India Company acquired control of a large majority of the Indian subcontinent. |
synth_fc_2436_rep22 | Positive | Movie | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Kane | 20 | Colorization controversy
In the 1980s, Citizen Kane became a catalyst in the controversy over the colorization of black-and-white films. One proponent of film colorization was Ted Turner, whose Turner Entertainment Company owned the RKO library. A Turner Entertainment spokesperson initially stated that Citizen Kane would not be colorized, but in July 1988 Turner said, " Citizen Kane? I'm thinking of colorizing it." In early 1989 it was reported that two companies were producing color tests for Turner Entertainment. Criticism increased when filmmaker Henry Jaglom stated that shortly before his death Welles had implored him "don't let Ted Turner deface my movie with his crayons."
In February 1989, Turner Entertainment President Roger Mayer announced that work to colorize the film had been stopped due to provisions in Welles's 1939 contract with RKO that "could be read to prohibit colorization without permission of the Welles estate." Mayer added that Welles's contract was "quite unusual" and "other contracts we have checked out are not like this at all." Turner had only colorized the final reel of the film before abandoning the project. In 1991 one minute of the colorized test footage was included in the BBC Arena documentary The Complete Citizen Kane.
The colorization controversy was a factor in the passage of the National Film Preservation Act in 1988 which created the National Film Registry the following year. ABC News anchor Peter Jennings reported that "one major reason for doing this is to require people like the broadcaster Ted Turner, who's been adding color to some movies and re-editing others for television, to put notices on those versions saying that the movies have been altered". |
synth_fc_2734_rep13 | Negative | Physics & Chemistry | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_cartridge | 1 | A shotgun cartridge, shotshell, or shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) ammunition used specifically in shotguns. It is typically loaded with numerous small, spherical sub-projectiles called shot. Shotguns typically use a smoothbore barrel with a tapered constriction at the muzzle to regulate the extent of scattering. Some cartridges contain a single solid projectile known as a slug. The casing usually consists of a paper or plastic tube with a metallic base containing the primer. The shot charge is typically contained by wadding inside the case. The caliber of the cartridge is known as its gauge. The projectiles are traditionally made of lead, but other metals such as steel, tungsten and bismuth are also used due to restrictions on lead, or for performance reasons such as achieving higher shot velocities by reducing the mass of the shot charge. Other unusual projectiles such as saboted flechettes, rubber balls, rock salt and magnesium shards also exist. Cartridges can also be made with specialty non-lethal projectiles such as rubber and bean bag rounds. Shotguns have an effective range of about 35 m (38 yd) with buckshot, 45 m (49 yd) with birdshot, 100 m (110 yd) with slugs, and well over 150 m (160 yd) with saboted slugs in rifled barrels. Most shotgun cartridges are designed to be fired from a smoothbore barrel, as "shot" would be spread too wide by rifling. A rifled barrel will increase the accuracy of sabot slugs, but makes it unsuitable for firing shot, as it imparts a spin to the shot cup, causing the shot cluster to disperse. A rifled slug uses rifling on the slug itself so it can be used in a smoothbore shotgun. |
synth_fc_1229_rep16 | Positive | Finance | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty | 28 | Obstacles
Economist William Easterly diagnoses a problem with the traditional approach to poverty reduction, whose advocates he calls "Planners." He notes that $2.3 trillion were spent on foreign aid in five decades, yet twelve-cent medicines were not able to be given to children to prevent malaria -related deaths and three dollars were not given to new mothers to help prevent millions of child deaths. He argues that even though the aid was well-meaning, it failed to bring results because "Planners," and not "Searchers," are supplying it. In short, Planners are not able to motivate people to carry out their good intentions, whereas Searchers, like book retailers, find ways to make things work. |
synth_fc_1066_rep19 | Positive | Finance | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro | 36 | Optimal currency area
In economics, an optimum currency area, or region (OCA or OCR), is a geographical region in which it would maximise economic efficiency to have the entire region share a single currency. There are two models, both proposed by Robert Mundell: the stationary expectations model and the international risk sharing model. Mundell himself advocates the international risk sharing model and thus concludes in favour of the euro. However, even before the creation of the single currency, there were concerns over diverging economies. Before the late-2000s recession it was considered unlikely that a state would leave the euro or the whole zone would collapse. However the Greek government-debt crisis led to former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw claiming the eurozone could not last in its current form. Part of the problem seems to be the rules that were created when the euro was set up. John Lanchester, writing for The New Yorker, explains it:
The guiding principle of the currency, which opened for business in 1999, were supposed to be a set of rules to limit a country's annual deficit to three per cent of gross domestic product, and the total accumulated debt to sixty per cent of G.D.P. It was a nice idea, but by 2004 the two biggest economies in the euro zone, Germany and France, had broken the rules for three years in a row.
Increasing business cycle divergence across the Eurozone over the last decades implies a decreasing Optimum Currency Area. |
synth_fc_619_rep17 | Positive | Currency | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution | 17 | Founding
In many ways, the origin of the Smithsonian Institution can be traced to a group of Washington citizens who, being "impressed with the importance of forming an association for promoting useful knowledge," met on June 28, 1816, to establish the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences. Officers were elected in October 1816, and the organization was granted a charter by Congress on April 20, 1818 (this charter expired in 1838). Benjamin Latrobe, who was architect for the US Capitol after the War of 1812, and William Thornton, the architect who designed the Octagon House and Tudor Place, would serve as officers. Other prominent members, who numbered from 30 to 70 during the institute's existence, included John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Judge William Cranch, and James Hoban. Honorary members included James Madison, James Monroe, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the Marquis de Lafayette. Operating expenses were covered from the $5 yearly dues collected from each member.
The institute proposed a number of undertakings. These included the study of plant life and the creation of a botanical garden on the Capitol Mall, an examination of the country's mineral production, improvement in the management and care of livestock, and the writing of a topographical and statistical history of the United States. Reports were to be published periodically to share this knowledge with the greater public, but due to a lack of funds, this initially did not occur. The institute first met in Blodget's Hotel, later in the Treasury Department and City Hall, before being assigned a permanent home in 1824 in the Capitol building.
Beginning in 1825, weekly sittings were arranged during sessions of Congress for the reading of scientific and literary productions, but this was continued for only a short time, as the number attending declined rapidly. Eighty-five communications by 26 people were made to Congress during the entire life of the society, with more than a half relating to astronomy or mathematics. Among all the activities planned by the institute, only a few were actually implemented. Two were the establishment of a botanical garden, and a museum that was designed to have a national and permanent status. The former occupied space where the present Botanic Garden sits.
The museum contained specimens of zoology, botany, archeology, fossils, etc., some of which were passed on to the Smithsonian Institution after its formation. The institute's charter expired in 1838, but its spirit lived on in the National Institution, founded in 1840. With the mission to "promote science and the useful arts, and to establish a national museum of natural history," this organization continued to press Congress to establish a museum that would be structured in terms that were very similar to those finally incorporated into the founding of the Smithsonian Institution. Its work helped to develop an underlying philosophy that pushed for the pursuit and development of scientific knowledge that would benefit the nation, and edify its citizens at the same time.
The British scientist James Smithson (1765–1829) left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford. When Hungerford died childless in 1835, the estate passed "to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men", in accordance with Smithson's will. Congress officially accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1, 1836. The American diplomat Richard Rush was dispatched to England by President Andrew Jackson to collect the bequest. Rush returned in August 1838 with 105 sacks containing 104,960 gold sovereigns. This is approximately $500,000 at the time, which is equivalent to $14,000,000 in 2023 or equivalent to £12,000,000 in 2023. However, when considering the GDP at the time it may be more comparable to $220 million in the year 2007.
Once the money was in hand, eight years of congressional haggling ensued over how to interpret Smithson's rather vague mandate "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." The money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas, which soon defaulted. After heated debate, Massachusetts representative (and former president) John Quincy Adams persuaded Congress to restore the lost funds with interest and, despite designs on the money for other purposes, convinced his colleagues to preserve it for an institution of science and learning. Finally, on August 10, 1846, President James K. Polk signed the legislation that established the Smithsonian Institution as a trust instrumentality of the United States, to be administered by a Board of Regents and a secretary of the Smithsonian. |
synth_fc_165_rep10 | Positive | Biology | Database search | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_method | 20 | Hirano's modified Newton method
Hirano's modified Newton method is a modification conserving the convergence of Newton method and avoiding unstableness. It is developed to solve complex polynomials. |
synth_fc_870_rep14 | Positive | Finance | Database search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beirut | 11 | Economy
Beirut's economy is service-oriented with the main growth sectors being banking and tourism.
In an area dominated by authoritarian or militarist regimes, the Lebanese capital was generally regarded as a haven of libertarianism, though a precarious one. With its seaport and airport—coupled with Lebanon's free economic and foreign exchange system, solid gold-backed currency, banking-secrecy law, and favorable interest rates—Beirut became an established banking center for Arab wealth, much of which was invested in construction, commercial enterprise, and industry (mostly the manufacture of textiles and shoes, food processing, and printing). The economy of Beirut is diverse, including publishing, banking, trade and various industries. During that period, Beirut was the region's financial services center. At the onset of the oil boom starting in the 1960s, Lebanon-based banks were the main recipients of the region's petrodollars.
Beirut is the focal point of the Economy of Lebanon. The capital hosts the headquarters of Banque du Liban (Lebanon's central bank), the Beirut Stock Exchange, the head office of Lebanon's flag-carrier Middle East Airlines, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, the Union of Arab Banks, and the Union of Arab Stock Exchanges. |
synth_fc_2268_rep19 | Negative | Law | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_association | 14 | Differences by jurisdictions
In many jurisdictions no formalities are necessary to start an association. In some jurisdictions, there is a minimum for the number of persons starting an association.
Some jurisdictions require that the association register with the police or other official body to inform the public of the association's existence. This could be a tool of political control or intimidation, and also a way of protecting the economy from fraud.
In many such jurisdictions, only a registered association (an incorporated body) is a juristic person whose members are not responsible for the financial acts of the association. Any group of persons may, of course, work as an informal association, but in such cases, each person making a transaction in the name of the association takes responsibility for that transaction, just as if it were that individual's personal transaction.
There are many countries where the formation of truly independent voluntary associations is effectively proscribed by law or where they are theoretically legally permitted, but in practice are persecuted; for example, where membership brings unwelcome attention from police or other state agencies. |
synth_fc_2440_rep30 | Positive | Movie | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_film | 12 | Silent film era
The art of motion pictures grew into full maturity in the "silent era" (1894 in film – 1929 in film). The height of the silent era (from the early 1910s in film to the late 1920s) was a particularly fruitful period, full of artistic innovation. The film movements of Classical Hollywood as well as French Impressionism, German Expressionism, and Soviet Montage began in this period. Silent filmmakers pioneered the art form to the extent that virtually every style and genre of film-making of the 20th and 21st centuries has its artistic roots in the silent era. The silent era was also a pioneering one from a technical point of view. Three-point lighting, the close-up, long shot, panning, and continuity editing all became prevalent long before silent films were replaced by " talking pictures " or "talkies" in the late 1920s. Some scholars claim that the artistic quality of cinema decreased for several years, during the early 1930s, until film directors, actors, and production staff adapted fully to the new "talkies" around the mid-1930s.
The visual quality of silent movies—especially those produced in the 1920s—was often high, but there remains a widely held misconception that these films were primitive, or are barely watchable by modern standards. This misconception comes from the general public's unfamiliarity with the medium, as well as from carelessness on the part of the industry. Most silent films are poorly preserved, leading to their deterioration, and well-preserved films are often played back at the wrong speed or suffer from censorship cuts and missing frames and scenes, giving the appearance of poor editing. Many silent films exist only in second- or third-generation copies, often made from already damaged and neglected film stock.
Many early screening were plagued by flicker on the screen, when the stroboscopic interruptions between frames lay below the critical flicker frequency. This was solved with the introduction of a three-bladed shutter (since 1902), causing two more interruptions per frame.
Another widely held misconception is that silent films lacked color. In fact, color was far more prevalent in silent films than in the first few decades of sound films. By the early 1920s, 80 percent of movies could be seen in some sort of color, usually in the form of film tinting or toning or even hand coloring, but also with fairly natural two-color processes such as Kinemacolor and Technicolor. Traditional colorization processes ceased with the adoption of sound-on-film technology. Traditional film colorization, all of which involved the use of dyes in some form, interfered with the high resolution required for built-in recorded sound, and were therefore abandoned. The innovative three-strip technicolor process introduced in the mid-1930s was costly and fraught with limitations, and color would not have the same prevalence in film as it did in the silents for nearly four decades. |
synth_fc_1278_rep3 | Positive | Finance | Calculation | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonga | 30 | Foreign relations
Tonga's foreign policy as of January 2009 was described by Matangi Tonga as "Look East" – specifically, as establishing closer diplomatic and economic relations with Asia (which actually lies to the north-west of the Pacific kingdom). As of 2021, China has attained great influence in Tonga, financing infrastructure projects, including a new royal palace and holding two thirds of the country's foreign debt.
Tonga retains cordial relations with the United States. Although it remains on good terms with the United Kingdom, the two countries do not maintain particularly close relations. The United Kingdom closed its High Commission in Tonga in 2006, although it was re-established in January 2020 after a 14-year absence. Tonga's relations with Oceania's regional powers, Australia and New Zealand, are good.
Tonga maintains strong regional ties in the Pacific. It is a full member of the Pacific Islands Forum, the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission, the South Pacific Tourism Organisation, the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
In 2023, the governments of Tonga and other islands vulnerable to climate change (Fiji, Niue, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu) launched the "Port Vila Call for a Just Transition to a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific", calling for the phase out fossil fuels and the "rapid and just transition " to renewable energy and strengthening environmental law, including introducing the crime of ecocide. |
synth_fc_1046_rep5 | No function call | Finance | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Warburg | 1 | Paul Moritz Warburg was a German-born American investment banker who served as the second vice chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1916 to 1918. Prior to his term as vice chairman, Warburg served as one of the original members of the Federal Reserve Board, taking office in 1914. He was an early advocate for the establishment of the US central bank system. |
synth_fc_1806_rep20 | No function call | Health | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Watson | 7 | Early life
He was born on January 9, 1878. His father, Pickens Butler Watson, was an alcoholic and left the family to live with two Indian women when John was 13 years old—a transgression which he never forgave. His mother, Emma Kesiah Watson (née Roe), was a very religious woman who adhered to prohibitions against drinking, smoking, and dancing, naming her son John after a prominent Baptist minister in hopes that it would help him receive the call to preach the Gospel. In bringing him up, she subjected Watson to harsh religious training that later led him to develop a lifelong antipathy toward all forms of religion and to become an atheist.
In an attempt to escape poverty, Watson's mother sold their farm and brought Watson to Greenville, South Carolina, to provide him a better opportunity for success. Moving from an isolated, rural location to the large urbanity of Greenville proved to be important for Watson, providing him the opportunity to experience a variety of different types of people, which he used to cultivate his theories on psychology. However, the initial transition would be a struggle for Watson, due to his limited social skills. |
synth_fc_553_rep4 | Positive | Corporate Management | Database search | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan | 3 | Communications
According to the official source report, as of 10 March 2008, the number of cellular phone users in Uzbekistan reached 7 million, up from 3.7 million on 1 July 2007. Mobile users in 2017 were more than 24 million. The largest mobile operator in terms of number of subscribers is MTS-Uzbekistan (former Uzdunrobita and part of Russian Mobile TeleSystems) and it is followed by Beeline (part of Russia's Beeline) and UCell (ex Coscom) (originally part of the U.S. MCT Corp., now a subsidiary of the Nordic/Baltic telecommunication company TeliaSonera AB).
As of 2019, the estimated number of internet users was more than 22 million or about 52% of the population.
Internet Censorship exists in Uzbekistan and in October 2012 the government toughened internet censorship by blocking access to proxy servers. Reporters Without Borders has named Uzbekistan's government an "Enemy of the Internet" and government control over the internet has increased dramatically since the start of the Arab Spring.
The press in Uzbekistan practices self-censorship and foreign journalists have been gradually expelled from the country since the Andijan massacre of 2005 when government troops fired into crowds of protesters killing 187 according to official reports and estimates of several hundred by unofficial and witness accounts. |
synth_fc_1206_rep18 | Positive | Finance | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Taylor | 5 | 1956–1960: Critical acclaim
By the mid-1950s, the American film industry was beginning to face serious competition from television, which resulted in studios producing fewer films, and focusing instead on their quality. The change benefited Taylor, who finally found more challenging roles after several years of career disappointments. After lobbying director George Stevens, she won the female lead role in Giant (1956), an epic drama about a ranching dynasty, which co-starred Rock Hudson and James Dean. Its filming in Marfa, Texas, was a difficult experience for Taylor, as she clashed with Stevens, who wanted to break her will to make her easier to direct, and was often ill, resulting in delays. To further complicate the production, Dean died in a car accident only days after completing filming; the grieving Taylor still had to film reaction shots to their joint scenes. When Giant was released a year later, it became a box-office success, and was widely praised by critics. Although not nominated for an Academy Award like her co-stars, Taylor garnered positive reviews for her performance, with Variety calling it "surprisingly clever", and The Manchester Guardian lauding her acting as "an astonishing revelation of unsuspected gifts." It named her one of the film's strongest assets.
MGM re-united Taylor with Montgomery Clift in Raintree County (1957), a Civil War drama which it hoped would replicate the success of Gone with the Wind (1939). Taylor found her role as a mentally disturbed Southern belle fascinating, but overall disliked the film. Although the film failed to become the type of success MGM had planned, Taylor was nominated for the first time for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.
Taylor considered her next performance as Maggie the Cat in the screen adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) a career "high point." But it coincided with one of the most difficult periods in her personal life. After completing Raintree Country, she had divorced Wilding and married producer Mike Todd. She had completed only two weeks of filming in March 1958, when Todd was killed in a plane crash. Although she was devastated, pressure from the studio and the knowledge that Todd had large debts led Taylor to return to work only three weeks later. She later said that "in a way... became Maggie", and that acting "was the only time I could function" in the weeks after Todd's death.
During the production, Taylor's personal life drew more attention when she began an affair with singer Eddie Fisher, whose marriage to actress Debbie Reynolds had been idealized by the media as the union of "America's sweethearts." The affair – and Fisher's subsequent divorce – changed Taylor's public image from a grieving widow to a "homewrecker". MGM used the scandal to its advantage by featuring an image of Taylor posing on a bed in a slip in the film's promotional posters. Cat grossed $10 million in American cinemas alone, and made Taylor the year's second-most profitable star. She received positive reviews for her performance, with Bosley Crowther of The New York Times calling her "terrific", and Variety praising her for "a well-accented, perceptive interpretation." Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA.
Taylor's next film, Joseph L. Mankiewicz 's Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), was another Tennessee Williams adaptation, with a screenplay by Gore Vidal and also starring Montgomery Clift and Katharine Hepburn. The independent production earned Taylor $500,000 for playing the role of a severely traumatized patient in a mental institution. Although the film was a drama about mental illness, childhood traumas, and homosexuality, it was again promoted with Taylor's sex appeal; both its trailer and poster featured her in a white swimsuit. The strategy worked, as the film was a financial success. Taylor received her third Academy Award nomination and her first Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performance.
By 1959, Taylor owed one more film for MGM, which it decided should be BUtterfield 8 (1960), a drama about a high-class call girl, in an adaptation of a John O'Hara 1935 novel of the same name. The studio correctly calculated that Taylor's public image would make it easy for audiences to associate her with the role. She hated the film for the same reason, but had no choice in the matter, although the studio agreed to her demands of filming in New York and casting Eddie Fisher in a sympathetic role. As predicted, BUtterfield 8 was a major commercial success, grossing $18 million in world rentals. Crowther wrote that Taylor "looks like a million dollars, in mink or in negligée", while Variety stated that she gives "a torrid, stinging portrayal with one or two brilliantly executed passages within." Taylor won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. |
synth_fc_1604_rep24 | Positive | Geography | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_Arab_Emirates | 1 | The United Arab Emirates is a country in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula located on the southeastern coast of the Persian Gulf and the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Oman. The UAE consists of seven emirates and was founded on 2 December 1971 as a federation, after UK armed forces left the region. Six of the seven emirates declared their union on 2 December 1971. The seventh, Ras al Khaimah, joined the federation on 10 February 1972. The seven sheikdoms were formerly known as the Trucial States, in reference to the truce treaties established with the British in the 19th century. Artifacts uncovered in the UAE show a history of human habitation, transmigration and trade spanning over 125,000 years. The area was previously home to the Magan people known to the Sumerians, who traded with both coastal towns and bronze miners and smelters from the interior. A rich history of trade with the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley is also evidenced by finds of jewelry and other items and there is also extensive early evidence of trade with Afghanistan and Bactria as well as the Levant. Through the three defined Iron Ages and the subsequent Hellenistic period, the area remained an important coastal trading entrepôt. As a result of the response of Al Azd tribe to the message of Muhammed, the area became Islamised in the 7th century, a position consolidated by the Ridda Wars and the bloody and definitive Battle of Dibba. The Islamic era saw the area emerge once again as an important centre for trade, centred particularly around the ports of Julfar, Dibba and Khor Fakkan. These, linked to the vast Eastern Arab trading network that centred around the Kingdom of Hormuz, formed an important link in the Arab monopoly of trade between the East and Europe. In the late Islamic era, a number of small trading ports developed alongside the development of bustan agriculture in inland oases such as Liwa, Al Ain and Dhaid and tribal bedouin society co-existed with settled populations in the coastal areas. A number of incursions and battles took place along the coast when the Portuguese, under Afonso de Albuquerque, invaded the area and disrupted the Arab trade networks, triggering a decline in trade and a rise in regional conflict following the fragmentation of Hormuzi authority. Subsequent conflicts between the maritime communities of the Trucial Coast and the British led to the sacking of Ras Al Khaimah by British forces in 1809 and again in 1819, which resulted in the first of a number of British treaties with the Trucial Rulers in 1820. These treaties, starting with the General Maritime Treaty of 1820, led to peace and prosperity along the coast and supported a lively trade in high quality natural pearls as well as a resurgence in other regional trade. A further treaty of 1892 devolved external relations to the British in return for protectorate status. A British decision, taken in early 1968, to withdraw from its involvement in the Trucial States, led to the decision to found a Federation. This was agreed between two of the most influential Trucial Rulers, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi and Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum of Dubai. The two invited other Trucial Rulers to join the Federation. At one stage it seemed likely Bahrain and Qatar would also join the Union of Arab Emirates, but both eventually decided on independence. Today, the UAE is a modern, oil exporting country with a highly diversified economy, with Dubai in particular developing into a global city and a hub for tourism, retail, and finance, home to the world's tallest building, and largest man-made seaport. |
synth_fc_808_rep12 | Negative | Finance | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden | 23 | Waste management
Sweden is known for its efficient waste management system. Only 0.7% of the total household waste is disposed, and the rest is reused. Around 52% of its waste is used for energy production (that is burnt) and 47% recycled. About two million tonnes of waste are imported from neighbouring countries to make profitable recycling products. As of 2023 report, Sweden generated 1.7 billion euros in 2020 (the highest so far was 1.98 billion euros in 2016) from recycling waste. The works are mostly executed through the public organisation, Swedish Waste Management (Avfall Sverige). |
synth_fc_102_rep11 | Negative | Biology | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus | 15 | Integral calculus
Integral calculus is the study of the definitions, properties, and applications of two related concepts, the indefinite integral and the definite integral. The process of finding the value of an integral is called integration. The indefinite integral, also known as the antiderivative, is the inverse operation to the derivative. F is an indefinite integral of f when f is a derivative of F. (This use of lower- and upper-case letters for a function and its indefinite integral is common in calculus.) The definite integral inputs a function and outputs a number, which gives the algebraic sum of areas between the graph of the input and the x-axis. The technical definition of the definite integral involves the limit of a sum of areas of rectangles, called a Riemann sum.
A motivating example is the distance traveled in a given time. If the speed is constant, only multiplication is needed:
But if the speed changes, a more powerful method of finding the distance is necessary. One such method is to approximate the distance traveled by breaking up the time into many short intervals of time, then multiplying the time elapsed in each interval by one of the speeds in that interval, and then taking the sum (a Riemann sum) of the approximate distance traveled in each interval. The basic idea is that if only a short time elapses, then the speed will stay more or less the same. However, a Riemann sum only gives an approximation of the distance traveled. We must take the limit of all such Riemann sums to find the exact distance traveled.
When velocity is constant, the total distance traveled over the given time interval can be computed by multiplying velocity and time. For example, traveling a steady 50 mph for 3 hours results in a total distance of 150 miles. Plotting the velocity as a function of time yields a rectangle with a height equal to the velocity and a width equal to the time elapsed. Therefore, the product of velocity and time also calculates the rectangular area under the (constant) velocity curve. This connection between the area under a curve and the distance traveled can be extended to any irregularly shaped region exhibiting a fluctuating velocity over a given period. If f (x) represents speed as it varies over time, the distance traveled between the times represented by a and b is the area of the region between f (x) and the x -axis, between x = a and x = b.
To approximate that area, an intuitive method would be to divide up the distance between a and b into several equal segments, the length of each segment represented by the symbol Δ x. For each small segment, we can choose one value of the function f (x). Call that value h. Then the area of the rectangle with base Δ x and height h gives the distance (time Δ x multiplied by speed h) traveled in that segment. Associated with each segment is the average value of the function above it, f (x) = h. The sum of all such rectangles gives an approximation of the area between the axis and the curve, which is an approximation of the total distance traveled. A smaller value for Δ x will give more rectangles and in most cases a better approximation, but for an exact answer, we need to take a limit as Δ x approaches zero.
The symbol of integration is ∫ {\displaystyle \int }, an elongated S chosen to suggest summation. The definite integral is written as:
and is read "the integral from a to b of f -of- x with respect to x." The Leibniz notation dx is intended to suggest dividing the area under the curve into an infinite number of rectangles so that their width Δ x becomes the infinitesimally small dx.
The indefinite integral, or antiderivative, is written:
Functions differing by only a constant have the same derivative, and it can be shown that the antiderivative of a given function is a family of functions differing only by a constant. Since the derivative of the function y = x + C, where C is any constant, is y′ = 2 x, the antiderivative of the latter is given by:
The unspecified constant C present in the indefinite integral or antiderivative is known as the constant of integration. |
synth_fc_3655_rep24 | Positive | Video game | Ranking | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(character) | 1 | Sonic the Hedgehog Sonic the Hedgehog is a character created by the Japanese game developers Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima. He is the star of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and the mascot of the Japanese video game company Sega. Sonic is an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speed. He races through levels, collecting rings and avoiding obstacles, as he seeks to defeat his archenemy, Doctor Eggman. He is accompanied by supporting characters, such as his sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower, self-proclaimed girlfriend Amy Rose, and friendly rival Knuckles the Echidna. Sonic made a cameo appearance in the arcade game Rad Mobile (1990) before starring in Sonic the Hedgehog, a platform game for the Sega Genesis, in 1991. Sega sought a mascot to compete with Nintendo's Mario, and Ohshima designed Sonic based on a prototype programmed by Naka. Sonic's design was influenced by a variety of sources, including Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse, Michael Jackson, and Santa Claus; his pigmentation was chosen to match Sega's cobalt blue logo. Yuji Uekawa redesigned Sonic for Sonic Adventure (1998) to suit the franchise's transition to 3D computer graphics, with a more mature look designed to appeal to older players. Sonic media characterizes Sonic as an impatient, snarky drifter and daredevil who despises injustice. He battles Eggman, a mad scientist who seeks to steal the mystical Chaos Emeralds and take over the world. Sonic can curl into a ball to attack enemies and use the Chaos Emeralds to become invulnerable. He has appeared in over 100 video games, in addition to guest appearances in other Sega franchises and in crossover games such as Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series. Jun'ichi Kanemaru voices Sonic in Japan, while his English voice has been provided by Ryan Drummond, Jason Griffith, and Roger Craig Smith. Sonic is one of the most famous video game characters in history and an established pop culture icon. He is widely considered one of the greatest video game characters and his popularity inspired a wave of imitators. His likeness has been featured in merchandise and Sega sponsorships. The Sonic series is one of the bestselling video game franchises and was one of the key reasons for Sega's success during the 16-bit era in the 1990s. Sonic has been adapted in comics, animations, and films, including a live-action film franchise distributed by Paramount Pictures in which he is voiced by Ben Schwartz. |
synth_fc_2186_rep21 | Positive | Law | Generation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformity | 7 | Sherif's experiment (1935)
Muzafer Sherif was interested in knowing how many people would change their opinions to bring them in line with the opinion of a group. In his experiment, participants were placed in a dark room and asked to stare at a small dot of light 15 feet away. They were then asked to estimate the amount it moved. The trick was, there was no movement, it was caused by a visual illusion known as the autokinetic effect. The participants stated estimates ranging from 1–10 inches. On the first day, each person perceived different amounts of movement, but from the second to the fourth day, the same estimate was agreed on and others conformed to it. Over time, the personal estimates converged with the other group members' estimates once discussing their judgments aloud. Sherif suggested this was a simulation for how social norms develop in a society, providing a common frame of reference for people. His findings emphasize that people rely on others to interpret ambiguous stimuli and new situations.
Subsequent experiments were based on more realistic situations. In an eyewitness identification task, participants were shown a suspect individually and then in a lineup of other suspects. They were given one second to identify him, making it a difficult task. One group was told that their input was very important and would be used by the legal community. To the other it was simply a trial. Being more motivated to get the right answer increased the tendency to conform. Those who wanted to be more accurate conformed 51% of the time as opposed to 35% in the other group. Sherif's study provided a framework for subsequent studies of influence such as Solomon Asch's 1955 study. |
synth_fc_3299_rep22 | Positive | Sport | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordie_Howe | 7 | Popular culture
In the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the character Cameron Frye wears Howe's Red Wings jersey throughout most of the film, even though it is set in Chicago. Howe had provided one to the filmmakers personally.
Howe was featured in The Simpsons episode " Bart the Lover ". In it, a photograph of Howe is used by Bart Simpson to fool his teacher into thinking he is a grown man who has answered her personal ad. At the end of the episode, Howe's career statistics are shown.
In Season 3 of the NBC television crime drama series Good Girls, in an episode entitled "The Eye in Survivor", the character of Ruby (Retta) steals an autographed Stanley Cup Finals game-worn Gordie Howe jersey from a sports bar only to have it appraised and learn that it is counterfeit.
In 2023, a children's book called Gordie's Skate, written by Saskatchewan historian Bill Waiser, was published. The book shares the story of Howe's family acquiring a pair of skates during the Great Depression in Saskatchewan, and how Howe had to share the pair with his sister. |
synth_fc_1324_rep15 | Negative | Food | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A9nie_Brazier | 1 | Eugénie Brazier, known as "la Mère Brazier", was a French chef who, in 1933, became the first person awarded six Michelin stars, three each at two restaurants: La Mère Brazier in the rue Royale, one of the main streets of Lyon, and a second, also called La Mère Brazier, outside the city. This achievement was unmatched until Alain Ducasse was awarded six stars with the publication of the 1998 Michelin Guide. Born in La Tranclière in the French departement of Ain, near Lyon, Brazier was raised on a small farm, and entered domestic service in her teens. She learned to cook for her employers, and was taken on as a junior cook by the proprietor of a leading restaurant in Lyon. In 1921 she opened her own restaurant there, and having built the establishment into a nationally famous restaurant by the end of the decade, she opened a second in a converted chalet at the Col de la Luère in the foothills of the Massif Central above the city. Brazier followed the traditions of Lyon's famous female cooks – the Mères lyonnaises – in avoiding over-elaborate dishes, preferring to offer fairly simple food of the highest quality. She influenced subsequent generations of French cooks, including Paul Bocuse and Bernard Pacaud, whom she trained at her restaurant. She is commemorated in scholarships and annual prizes for cookery writing awarded in her name. Her own recipes were collected and published in 1977 and an English translation was issued in 2014. She was offered but declined the Légion d'honneur, the highest French order of merit. Her original restaurant in Lyon, run by her family for many years after her death, was bought by the Michelin-starred chef Mathieu Viannay in 2007, who retains her classics on the menu. |
synth_fc_3849_rep11 | Positive | Weather & Air quality | Feature search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanuatu | 16 | Tropical cyclones
In March 2015, Cyclone Pam impacted much of Vanuatu as a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone, causing deaths and extensive damage to all the islands. As of 17 March 2015 the United Nations said the official death toll was 11 (six from Efate and five from Tanna), and 30 were reported injured; these numbers were expected to rise as more remote islands reported back. Vanuatu lands minister, Ralph Regenvanu said, "This is the worst disaster to affect Vanuatu ever as far as we know."
In April 2020, Cyclone Harold travelled through the Espiritu Santo town of Luganville, causing great material damage there and on at least four islands. |
synth_fc_2425_rep6 | Positive | Movie | Entity search | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bette_Davis | 2 | Academy Awards
Davis established several Oscar milestones. Among them, she became the first person to earn five consecutive Academy Award nominations for acting, all in the Best Actress category (1938–1942). Her record has only been matched by one other performer, Greer Garson, who also earned five consecutive nominations in the Best Actress category (1941–1945), including three years when both these actresses were nominated.
In 1962, Bette Davis became the first person to secure 10 Academy Award nominations for acting—though one could argue her 10th nomination was in 1952, and her 11th in 1962, as her write-in nomination for "Of Human Bondage" remains a source of contention (she came in 3rd in the voting, ahead of official nominee Grace Moore). Since then only three people have surpassed this figure— Meryl Streep (with 21 nominations and three wins), Katharine Hepburn (12 nominations and 4 wins), and Jack Nicholson (12 nominations and 3 wins)—while Laurence Olivier matched her (10 nominations and 1 win).
Steven Spielberg purchased Davis's Oscars for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938), when they were offered for auction for $207,500 and $578,000, respectively, and returned them to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. |
synth_fc_476_rep27 | Positive | Corporate Management | Database update | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson | 26 | Reforms and rotation in office
Jackson believed that Adams's administration had been corrupt and he initiated investigations into all executive departments. These investigations revealed that $280,000 (equivalent to $8,000,000 in 2023) was stolen from the Treasury. They also resulted in a reduction in costs to the Department of the Navy, saving $1 million (equivalent to $28,600,000 in 2023). Jackson asked Congress to tighten laws on embezzlement and tax evasion, and he pushed for an improved government accounting system.
Jackson implemented a principle he called " rotation in office ". The previous custom had been for the president to leave the existing appointees in office, replacing them through attrition. Jackson enforced the Tenure of Office Act, an 1820 law that limited office tenure, authorized the president to remove current office holders, and appoint new ones. During his first year in office, he removed about 10% of all federal employees and replaced them with loyal Democrats. Jackson argued that rotation in office reduced corruption by making officeholders responsible to the popular will, but it functioned as political patronage and became known as the spoils system. |
synth_fc_1416_rep2 | Positive | Food | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckwheat | 16 | Aromatic compounds
Salicylaldehyde (2-hydroxybenzaldehyde) was identified as a characteristic component of buckwheat aroma. 2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanone, (E,E)-2,4-decadienal, phenylacetaldehyde, 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, (E)-2-nonenal, decanal and hexanal also contribute to its aroma. They all have odour activity value of more than 50, but the aroma of these substances in an isolated state does not resemble buckwheat. |
synth_fc_1916_rep10 | Positive | History | Ranking | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanesque_architecture | 36 | Politics
Charlemagne was crowned by Pope Leo III in Old St. Peter's Basilica on Christmas Day of 800, with an aim to re-establishing the old Roman Empire. Charlemagne's political successors continued to rule much of Europe, with a gradual emergence of the separate political states that were eventually to become welded into nations, either by allegiance or defeat, into the Kingdom of Germany giving rise to the Holy Roman Empire. The invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy, in 1066, saw the building of both castles and churches that reinforced the Norman presence. Several significant churches that were built at this time were founded by rulers as seats of temporal and religious power, or places of coronation and burial. These include the Abbaye-Saint-Denis, Speyer Cathedral and Westminster Abbey (where little of the Pre-Conquest church now remains).
At a time when the remaining architectural structures of the Roman Empire were falling into decay and much of its learning and technology lost, the building of masonry domes and the carving of decorative architectural details continued unabated, though greatly evolved in style since the fall of Rome, in the enduring Byzantine Empire. The domed churches of Constantinople and Eastern Europe were to greatly affect the architecture of certain towns, particularly through trade and through the Crusades. The most notable single building that demonstrates this is St Mark's Basilica, Venice, but there are many lesser-known examples, particularly in France, such as the church of Saint-Front, Périgueux and Angoulême Cathedral.
Much of Europe was affected by feudalism in which peasants held tenure from local rulers over the land that they farmed in exchange for military service. The result of this was that they could be called upon, not only for local and regional spats, but to follow their lord to travel across Europe to the Crusades, if they were required to do so. The Crusades, 1095–1270, brought about a very large movement of people and, with them, ideas and trade skills, particularly those involved in the building of fortifications and the metal working needed for the provision of arms, which was also applied to the fitting and decoration of buildings. The continual movement of people, rulers, nobles, bishops, abbots, craftsmen and peasants, was an important factor in creating a homogeneity in building methods and a recognizable Romanesque style, despite regional differences.
Life became generally less secure after the Carolingian period. This resulted in the building of castles at strategic points, many of them being constructed as strongholds of the Normans, descendants of the Vikings who invaded northern France under Rollo in 911. Political struggles also resulted in the fortification of many towns, or the rebuilding and strengthening of walls that remained from the Roman period. One of the most notable surviving fortifications is that of the city of Carcassonne. The enclosure of towns brought about a lack of living space within the walls, and resulted in a style of town house that was tall and narrow, often surrounding communal courtyards, as at San Gimignano in Tuscany and Bologna and Pavia in Lombardy.
In Germany, the Holy Roman Emperors built a number of residences, fortified, but essentially palaces rather than castles, at strategic points and on trade routes. The Imperial Palace of Goslar (heavily restored in the 19th century) was built in the early 11th century by Otto III and Henry III, while the ruined Palace at Gelnhausen was received by Frederick Barbarossa prior to 1170. The movement of people and armies also brought about the building of bridges, some of which have survived, including the 12th-century bridge at Besalú, Catalonia, the 11th-century Puente de la Reina, Navarre and the Pont-Saint-Bénézet, Avignon. |
synth_fc_521_rep26 | Positive | Corporate Management | Database search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglicanism | 10 | Priesthood
Bishops are assisted by priests and deacons. Most ordained ministers in the Anglican Communion are priests, who usually work in parishes within a diocese. Priests are in charge of the spiritual life of parishes and are usually called the rector or vicar. A curate (or, more correctly, an "assistant curate") is a priest or deacon who assists the parish priest. Non-parochial priests may earn their living by any vocation, although employment by educational institutions or charitable organisations is most common. Priests also serve as chaplains of hospitals, schools, prisons, and in the armed forces.
An archdeacon is a priest or deacon responsible for administration of an archdeaconry, which is often the name given to the principal subdivisions of a diocese. An archdeacon represents the diocesan bishop in his or her archdeaconry. In the Church of England, the position of archdeacon can only be held by someone in priestly orders who has been ordained for at least six years. In some other parts of the Anglican Communion, the position can also be held by deacons. In parts of the Anglican Communion where women cannot be ordained as priests or bishops but can be ordained as deacons, the position of archdeacon is effectively the most senior office to which an ordained woman can be appointed.
A dean is a priest who is the principal cleric of a cathedral or other collegiate church and the head of the chapter of canons. If the cathedral or collegiate church has its own parish, the dean is usually also rector of the parish. However, in the Church of Ireland, the roles are often separated, and most cathedrals in the Church of England do not have associated parishes. In the Church in Wales, however, most cathedrals are parish churches and their deans are now also vicars of their parishes.
The Anglican Communion recognises Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox ordinations as valid. Outside the Anglican Communion, Anglican ordinations (at least of male priests) are recognised by the Old Catholic Church, Porvoo Communion Lutherans, and various Independent Catholic churches. |
synth_fc_1277_rep24 | No function call | Finance | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Stock_Exchange | 3 | Alternative Investment Market
The Alternative Investment Market is LSE's international market for smaller companies. A wide range of businesses including early-stage, venture capital -backed, as well as more-established companies join AIM seeking access to growth capital. The AIM is classified as a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) under the 2004 MiFID directive, and as such it is a flexible market with a simpler admission process for companies wanting to be publicly listed. |
synth_fc_1619_rep15 | Positive | Geography | Ranking | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayinnaung | 28 | Lan Na and Lan Xang (1579)
No troubles arose when Queen Visuddhadevi of Lan Na, who had successfully kept the middle Tai country quiet for over 13 years, died on 2 January 1579. Bayinnaung's choice Nawrahta Minsaw, one of his sons, faced no problems taking over the Lan Na throne. When instabilities arose in Lan Xang, he took no chances. On 17 October 1579, he sent a sizable army (22,000 men, 1200 horses, 120 elephants), which faced no opposition. According to Laotian history, the vassal king of Lan Xang Maha Ouparat died in 1580, and Bayinnaung installed Sen Soulintha, the usurper whom he had kept in Pegu since 1574, as the successor. The Burmese chronicles make no mention of any change for the rest of the king's reign. The Chronicles' lone post-1579 entry on Lan Xang during his reign simply states that on 2 September 1581, the king commissioned a Buddhist pagoda in Lan Xang. The Chronicles say that the vassal king died in September/October 1588. |
synth_fc_2513_rep7 | Negative | Movie | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie | 12 | Global film revival (2001–2008)
The zombie revival, which began in the Far East, eventually went global, following the worldwide success of the Japanese zombie games Resident Evil and The House of the Dead. Resident Evil in particular sparked a revival of the zombie genre in popular culture, leading to a renewed global interest in zombie films during the early 2000s. In addition to being adapted into the Resident Evil and House of the Dead films from 2002 onwards, the original video games themselves also inspired zombie films such as 28 Days Later (2002) and Shaun of the Dead (2004). This led to the revival of zombie films in global popular culture.
The turn of the millennium coincided with a decade of box office successes in which the zombie subgenre experienced a resurgence: the Resident Evil movies (2002–2016), the British films 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later (2007), the Dawn of the Dead remake (2004), and the comedies Shaun of the Dead and Dance of the Dead (2008). The new interest allowed Romero to create the fourth entry in his zombie series: Land of the Dead, released in the summer of 2005. Romero returned to the series with the films Diary of the Dead (2008) and Survival of the Dead (2010). Generally, the zombies in these shows are the slow, lumbering and unintelligent kind, first made popular in Night of the Living Dead. The Resident Evil films, 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead remake all set box office records for the zombie genre, reaching levels of commercial success not seen since the original Dawn of the Dead in 1978.
Motion pictures created in the 2000s, like 28 Days Later, the House of the Dead and Resident Evil films, and the Dawn of the Dead remake, have featured zombies that are more agile, vicious, intelligent, and stronger than the traditional zombie. These new type of zombies, the fast zombie or running zombie, have origins in video games, with Resident Evil ' s running zombie dogs and especially The House of the Dead game's running human zombies. |
synth_fc_2995_rep21 | Positive | School | Database update | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment | 18 | Training and development
Training and development refers to the employer's effort to equip a newly hired employee with the necessary skills to perform at the job, and to help the employee grow within the organization. An appropriate level of training and development helps to improve employee's job satisfaction. |
synth_fc_2779_rep26 | Positive | Physics & Chemistry | Database creation | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalloid | 15 | Judgment-based
A metalloid is an element that possesses a preponderance of properties in between, or that are a mixture of, those of metals and nonmetals, and which is therefore hard to classify as either a metal or a nonmetal. This is a generic definition that draws on metalloid attributes consistently cited in the literature. Difficulty of categorisation is a key attribute. Most elements have a mixture of metallic and nonmetallic properties, and can be classified according to which set of properties is more pronounced. Only the elements at or near the margins, lacking a sufficiently clear preponderance of either metallic or nonmetallic properties, are classified as metalloids.
Boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony, and tellurium are commonly recognised as metalloids. Depending on the author, one or more from selenium, polonium, or astatine are sometimes added to the list. Boron sometimes is excluded, by itself, or with silicon. Sometimes tellurium is not regarded as a metalloid. The inclusion of antimony, polonium, and astatine as metalloids has been questioned.
Other elements are occasionally classified as metalloids. These elements include hydrogen, beryllium, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, zinc, gallium, tin, iodine, lead, bismuth, and radon. The term metalloid has also been used for elements that exhibit metallic lustre and electrical conductivity, and that are amphoteric, such as arsenic, antimony, vanadium, chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, tin, lead, and aluminium. The p-block metals, and nonmetals (such as carbon or nitrogen) that can form alloys with metals or modify their properties have also occasionally been considered as metalloids. |
synth_fc_19_rep15 | Positive | Acoustics | Calculation | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet | 17 | Communication through toilets
In prisons, inmates may utilize toilets and the associated plumbing to communicate messages and pass products. The acoustic properties of communicating through the toilet bowl, known as toilet talk, potty talk, toilet telephone is influenced by flush patterns and bowl water volumes. Prisoners may also send binary signals by ringing the sewage or water pipes. Toilet talk enables communication for those in solitary confinement. Toilets have been subject to wiretaps. |
synth_fc_1917_rep13 | Positive | History | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoyah | 7 | International influence
Sequoyah's work has had international influence, encouraging the development of syllabaries for other, previously unwritten languages. The news that an illiterate Cherokee had created a syllabary spread throughout the United States and its territories. A missionary working in northern Alaska read about it and created a syllabary, what has become known as Cree syllabics. This syllabic writing inspired other indigenous groups across Canada to adapt the syllabics to create writing for their languages.
A literate Cherokee emigrated to Liberia, where he discussed his people's syllabary. A Bassa language speaker of Liberia was inspired to create his own syllabary, and other indigenous groups in West Africa followed suit, creating their own syllabaries.
A missionary in China read about the Cree syllabary and was inspired to follow that example in writing a local language in China. The result of the diffusion of Sequoyah's work has been the development of a total of 21 known scripts, which have been used to write more than 65 languages. |
synth_fc_2859_rep30 | Positive | Restaurant | Proximal search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi | 19 | Presentation
Traditionally, sushi is served on minimalist Japanese-style, geometric, mono- or duo-tone wood or lacquer plates, keeping with this cuisine's aesthetic qualities.
Many sushi restaurants offer fixed-price sets selected by the chef from the catch of the day. These are often graded as shō-chiku-bai (松竹梅), shō/matsu (松, pine), chiku/take (竹, bamboo), and bai/ume (梅, plum), with matsu the most expensive and ume the cheapest. Sushi restaurants will often have private booth dining, where guests are asked to remove their shoes, leaving them outside the room; However, most sushi bars offer diners a casual experience with an open dining room concept.
Sushi may be served kaiten zushi (sushi train) style: color-coded plates of sushi are placed on a conveyor belt from which diners pick as they please. After finishing, the bill is tallied by counting how many plates of each color have been taken. Newer kaiten zushi restaurants use barcodes or RFID tags embedded in the dishes to manage elapsed time after the item was prepared.
There is a practice called nyotaimori which entails serving sushi on the naked body of a woman. |
synth_fc_1367_rep22 | Positive | Food | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay | 3 | Food
Uruguayan food culture comes mostly from the European cuisine culture. Most of the Uruguayan dishes are from Spain, France, Italy and Brazil, the result of immigration caused by past wars in Europe. Daily meals vary between meats, pasta of all types, rice, sweet desserts and others, with meat being the principal dish, due to Uruguay being one of the world's largest producers of quality meat.
Typical dishes include: " Asado uruguayo" (big grill or barbecue of all types of meat), roasted lamb, Chivito (sandwich containing thin grilled beef, lettuce, tomatoes, fried egg, ham, olives and others, and served with French fries), Milanesa (a kind of fried breaded beef), tortellini, spaghetti, gnocchi, ravioli, rice and vegetables.
One of the most consumed spreads in Uruguay is Dulce de leche (a caramel confection from Latin America prepared by slowly heating sugar and milk). The most typical sweet is Alfajor, which is a small cake, filled with Dulce de leche and covered with chocolate or meringue. It comes in various types, fillings, sizes and brands. Other typical desserts include the Pastafrola (a type of cake filled with quince jelly), Chajá (meringue, sponge cake, whipped cream and fruits, typically peaches and strawberries are added).
Mate (drink) is the most typical beverage in Uruguay, being a portable beverage that Uruguayans take to all manner of places. |
synth_fc_2643_rep16 | Positive | Music | Order | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Diamond | 1 | Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts: "Cracklin' Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "Longfellow Serenade", "I've Been This Way Before", "If You Know What I Mean", "Desirée", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "America", "Yesterday's Songs", and "Heartlight". Thirty-eight songs by Diamond have reached the top 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts, including "Sweet Caroline". He has also acted in films, making his screen debut in the 1980 musical drama film The Jazz Singer. Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, and he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. In 2011, he was an honoree at the Kennedy Center Honors, and he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. |
synth_fc_2214_rep4 | Positive | Law | Entity search | Single | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzan | 13 | Unauthorized works
After Burroughs's death, a number of writers produced new Tarzan stories. In some instances, the estate managed to prevent publication of such works. The most notable example in the United States was a series of five novels by the pseudonymous "Barton Werper" that appeared 1964–65 by Gold Star Books (part of Charlton Comics). As a result of legal action by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., they were taken off the market. Similar series appeared in other countries, notably Argentina, Israel, and some Arab countries. |
synth_fc_2953_rep20 | Positive | School | Database search | Multi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optometry | 42 | Training
In the United Kingdom, optometrists have to complete a 4 year undergraduate honours degree followed by a minimum of a one-year "pre-registration period", (internship), where they complete clinical practice under the supervision of a qualified and experienced practitioner. During this year the pre-registration candidate is given a number of quarterly assessments, often including temporary posting at a hospital, and on successfully passing all of these assessments, a final one-day set of examinations (details correct for candidates from 2006 onwards). Following successful completion of these assessments and having completed one year's supervised practice, the candidate is eligible to register as an optometrist with the General Optical Council (GOC) and, should they so wish, are entitled to membership of the College of Optometrists. Twelve universities offer Optometry in the UK: Anglia Ruskin, Aston, Bradford, Cardiff, City, Glasgow Caledonian, Hertfordshire, Manchester, University of Plymouth, Ulster University at Coleraine, University of Portsmouth and University of the West of England.
In 2008 the UK moved forward to offer the Doctor of Optometry postgraduate program. This became available at the Institute of Optometry in London in partnership with London South Bank University. The Doctor of Optometry postgraduate degree is also offered at one other UK institution. Aston University |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.