title: Enoshima content: Enoshima Benzaiten, the goddess of music and entertainment, is enshrined on the island. The island in its entirety is dedicated to the goddess, who is said to have caused it to rise from the bottom of the sea in the sixth century. The island is the scene of the "Enoshima Engi", a history of shrines on Enoshima written by the Japanese Buddhist monk Kōkei in 1047 AD. In 1880, after the Shinto and Buddhism separation order of the new Meiji government had made the land available, much of the uplands was purchased by Samuel Cocking, a British merchant, in his


title: "Nonlinear dimensionality reduction" content: on a manifold in high-dimensional space, and the intrinsic variables of that manifold will represent the robot's position and orientation. This utility is not limited to robots. Dynamical systems, a more general class of systems, which includes robots, are defined in terms of a manifold. Active research in NLDR seeks to unfold the observation manifolds associated with dynamical systems to develop techniques for modeling such systems and enable them to operate autonomously. Some of the more prominent manifold learning algorithms are listed below. An algorithm may learn an "internal model" of the data, which can be used to map points


title: "Bambi, a Life in the Woods" content: twin fawns who are calling for their mother and he scolds them for not being able to stay alone. After leaving them, he thinks to himself that the girl fawn reminded him of Faline, and that the male was promising and that Bambi hoped to meet him again when he was grown. Salten, himself an avid hunter, penned "Bambi: Eine Lebensgeschichte aus dem Walde" after World War I, targeting an adult audience. The novel was first published in Vienna in serialized form in the "Neue Freie Presse" newspaper from 15 August to 21 October 1922, and as a book in


title: Macadamia content: Macadamia Macadamia is a genus of four species of trees indigenous to Australia, and constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. They are native to north eastern New South Wales and central and south eastern Queensland. Three species of the genus are commercially important for their fruit, the macadamia nut (or simply "macadamia"), with a total global production of in 2015. Other names include Queensland nut, bush nut, maroochi nut, bauple nut, and Hawaii nut. In Australian Aboriginal languages, the fruit is known by names such as "bauple", "gyndl", "jindilli", and "boombera". The German-Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller gave the


title: Macadamia content: genus the name "Macadamia" in 1857 in honour of the Scottish-Australian chemist, medical teacher, and politician John Macadam. "Macadamia" is an evergreen genus that grows tall. The leaves are arranged in whorls of three to six, lanceolate to obovate or elliptic in shape, long and broad, with an entire or spiny-serrated margin. The flowers are produced in a long, slender, simple raceme long, the individual flowers long, white to pink or purple, with four tepals. The fruit is a hard, woody, globose follicle with a pointed apex, containing one or two seeds. Nuts from "M. jansenii" contain toxic amounts of


title: Macadamia content: cyanogenic glycosides, The other three species are cultivated in the commercial production of macadamia nuts for human consumption. Previously, more species with disjunct distributions were named as members of this genus "Macadamia". Genetics and morphological studies published in 2008 show they have separated from the genus "Macadamia", correlating less closely than thought from earlier morphological studies. The species previously named in the genus "Macadamia" may still be referred to overall by the descriptive, non-scientific name of macadamia. Three of the four species—"Macadamia integrifolia", "Macadamia ternifolia", and "Macadamia tetraphylla"—are of commercial importance. The other species, "M. jansenii", produces poisonous nuts resulting


title: Macadamia content: from toxic amounts of cyanogenic glycosides. The macadamia tree is usually propagated by grafting, and does not begin to produce commercial quantities of seeds until it is 7–10 years old, but once established, may continue bearing for over 100 years. Macadamias prefer fertile, well-drained soils, a rainfall of , and temperatures not falling below (although once established, they can withstand light frosts), with an optimum temperature of . The roots are shallow and trees can be blown down in storms; they are also susceptible to "Phytophthora" root disease. A "Macadamia integrifolia" / "M. tetraphylla" hybrid commercial variety is widely planted


title: Macadamia content: in Australia and New Zealand; it was discovered by Dr. J. H. Beaumont. It is high in oil, but is not sweet. New leaves are reddish, and flowers are bright pink, borne on long racemes. It is one of the quickest varieties to come into bearing once planted in the garden, usually carrying a useful crop by the fourth year, and improving from then on. It crops prodigiously when well pollinated. The impressive, grape-like clusters are sometimes so heavy, they break the branchlets to which they are attached. In commercial orchards, it has reached per tree by eight years old.


title: Macadamia content: On the downside, the macadamias do not drop from the tree when ripe, and the leaves are a bit prickly when one reaches into the interior of the tree during harvest. Its shell is easier to open than that of most commercial varieties. A pure "M. tetraphylla" variety from Australia, this strain is cultivated for its productive crop yield, flavor, and suitability for pollinating 'Beaumont'. A South African "M. integrifolia" / "M. tetraphylla" hybrid cultivar, it has a sweet seed, which means it has to be cooked carefully so that the sugars do not caramelise. The sweet seed is usually


title: Macadamia content: not fully processed, as it generally does not taste as good, but many people enjoy eating it uncooked. It has an open micropyle (hole in the shell) which may let in mould. The crack-out percentage (ratio of nut meat to whole nut, by weight) is high. Ten-year-old trees average per tree. It is a popular variety because of its pollination of 'Beaumont', and the yields are almost comparable. A "M. integrifolia" / "M. tetraphylla" hybrid, this is a rather spreading tree. On the plus side, it is high yielding commercially, from a 9-year-old tree has been recorded, and the nuts


title: Macadamia content: drop to the ground. However, they are thick-shelled, with not much flavor. In 2015, South Africa was the world's leading producer of macadamia nuts with compared to Australia's 40,000 tonnes and the total global production of . Macadamia is also commercially produced in Brazil, California, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Israel, Kenya, Bolivia, New Zealand, Colombia, Guatemala and Malawi. The first commercial orchard of macadamia trees was planted in the early 1880s by Rous Mill, southeast of Lismore, New South Wales, consisting of "M. tetraphylla". Besides the development of a small boutique industry in Australia during the late 19th and early 20th


title: Macadamia content: centuries, macadamia was extensively planted as a commercial crop in Hawaii from the 1920s. Macadamia seeds were first imported into Hawaii in 1882 by William H. Purvis, who planted seeds that year at Kapulena. The Hawaiian-produced macadamia established the well-known seed internationally. However, in 2006, macadamia production began to fall in Hawaii, due to lower prices from an over-supply. The seeds (nuts) are a valuable food crop. In a 100-gram amount, macadamia nuts provide 740 Calories and are a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of numerous essential nutrients, including thiamin (104% DV), vitamin B (21%


title: Macadamia content: DV), manganese (195% DV), iron (28% DV), magnesium (37% DV), and phosphorus (27% DV) (table). Macadamia nuts are 76% fat, 14% carbohydrates, including 9% dietary fiber, and 8% protein (table). Compared with other common edible nuts, such as almonds and cashews, macadamias are high in total fat and relatively low in protein (table). They have a high amount of monounsaturated fats (59% of total content, table) and contain, as 17% of total fat, the monounsaturated fat, omega-7 palmitoleic acid. Macadamias are toxic to dogs. Ingestion may result in macadamia toxicity marked by weakness and hind limb paralysis with the inability


title: Macadamia content: to stand, occurring within 12 hours of ingestion. Depending on the quantity ingested and size of the dog, symptoms may also include muscle tremors, joint pain, and severe abdominal pain. In high doses of toxin, opiate medication may be required for symptom relief until the toxic effects diminish, with full recovery usually within 24 to 48 hours. The trees are also grown as ornamental plants in subtropical regions for their glossy foliage and attractive flowers. "Macadamia" species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including "Batrachedra arenosella". Macadamia seeds are often fed to hyacinth macaws


title: Macadamia content: in captivity. These large parrots are one of the few animals, aside from humans, capable of cracking the shell and removing the seed. Macadamia Macadamia is a genus of four species of trees indigenous to Australia, and constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. They are native to north eastern New South Wales and central and south eastern Queensland. Three species of the genus are commercially important for their fruit, the macadamia nut (or simply "macadamia"), with a total global production of in 2015. Other names include Queensland nut, bush nut, maroochi nut, bauple nut, and Hawaii nut. In Australian


title: "Foundation (Asimov novel)" content: terms of fictional chronology, was added for the 1951 Gnome Press edition. The original four stories also appeared in 1955 as part of Ace Double's novel series as D-110 under the title The 1,000-Year Plan. Two further books, each consisting of two novellas, were published shortly after and the three are considered a trilogy. Asimov would write two further sequel novels and two prequels. Later writers have written new additions authorized by Asimov's estate. The "Foundation" Series is often regarded as one of Isaac Asimov's best works, alongside his "Robot" series. On 1 August 1941 Isaac Asimov proposed to John


title: "AMC Pacer" content: speaker, electric analog clock, heater with windshield defroster, lighter, dashboard ashtray, locking glove box, tinted windshield, plastic door panels with cloth insert and pull strap, dual rear ashtrays, folding down rear bench seat, trunk carpet, sound-insulating cardboard-type headliner (U.S. base model type), and round dome light. The external appearance and equipment of the VAM Pacer consisted of a full bright molding package (wheel lips, top edges of the hood and fenders, window surrounds, rocker panels), bright rear panel between the taillights and the rear licence plate housing, protective side moldings, front and rear bumper guards, bumper nerfing strips, five-mile-per-hour bumpers


title: Cryptosporidiosis content: epithelial cells of the small intestine. From there they become trophozoites that reproduce asexually by multiple fission, a process known as schizogony. The trophozoites develop into Type 1 meronts [1] that contain 8 daughter cells. These daughter cells are Type 1 merozoites, which get released by the meronts. Some of these merozoites can cause autoinfection by attaching to epithelial cells. Others of these merozoites become Type II meronts, which contain 4 Type II merozoites. These merozoites get released and they attach to the epithelial cells. From there they become either macrogamonts or microgamonts. These are the female and male sexual


title: "Blond Ambition World Tour" content: BBC had to issue an apology. Highlights of the show were later aired after the 1992 interview with Madonna and Simon Bates. The second show in Dallas was recorded for radio broadcast in the USA with the in-between song chatter removed. 'Express Yourself' and 'Open Your Heart' are recorded from the first Dallas show, whereas the remainder of the recording is from the second Dallas show. Radio NRG broadcast highlights from the first European show in Sweden on June 30. Extensive media attention surrounding the clash between Toronto police and Madonna at the final Toronto date is often cited as


title: "Chelsea, London" content: subscribing for an annual fee – and optionally the tennis courts where applicable). The area is home to several open spaces including Albert Bridge Gardens, Battersea Bridge Gardens, Chelsea Embankment Gardens, Royal Hospital Chelsea: the grounds of which are used by the annual Chelsea Flower Show and Chelsea Physic Garden. London Buses serving Chelsea are: Chelsea town centre does not currently have its own Underground station, although two stations close to the area are Sloane Square (District and Circle lines) on the northeastern edge of the district and South Kensington (District, Circle and Piccadilly lines). Imperial Wharf railway station at


title: Dingle content: aisles separated by arcades, supported on columns capped by octagonal tops. The arcades were demolished in one of the most radical reordering schemes to have been executed in Ireland. The project also saw the demolition of the exterior walls to below the original clerestory level, and, most notably, of the attic and upper ranges of the west elevation. There are many opportunities to hear traditional Irish music in the town, particularly during the summer tourist season. Dingle has a number of pubs as well as restaurants and cafes. There is also an aquarium, "Oceanworld Aquarium", in the town, which is


title: Dingle content: sign-posts, and that there could also be confusion with a similarly named town (Daingean) in County Offaly. Supporters rejected this argument, pointing out that there are numerous towns in Ireland with similar names. The minister added to the controversy by suggesting that a name change to English could be brought about by removing the town's "Gaeltacht" status, thereby losing its entitlement to government grants for Irish-speaking areas. In late 2005, Kerry County council approved the holding of a plebiscite for the change of name to the bilingual "Dingle/"Daingean Uí Chúis"" which took place in October 2006. The result was announced


title: "Paolo Sarpi" content: mortalist, who, although critical of the Church of Rome, admired the purity of the early church. Sarpi wrote notes on François Viète which established his proficiency in mathematics, and a metaphysical treatise now lost, which is said to have anticipated the ideas of John Locke. His anatomical pursuits probably date from an earlier period. They illustrate his versatility and thirst for knowledge, but are otherwise not significant. His claim to have anticipated William Harvey's discovery rests on no better authority than a memorandum, probably copied from Andreas Caesalpinus or Harvey himself, with whom, as well as with Francis Bacon and


title: "Carrot Top" content: Thompson appeared in his first standup comedy routine. Carrot Top has appeared in "Larry the Cable Guy's Christmas Spectacular", "Gene Simmons Family Jewels", "Space Ghost Coast to Coast", "Criss Angel Mindfreak", "Scrubs" (2001), "George Lopez", and "Tugger: The Jeep 4x4 Who Wanted to Fly" (2005). His film roles include "Chairman of the Board", and he also served as a spokesman in commercials for 1-800-CALL-ATT. In 2002, he recorded a commentary track for "The Rules of Attraction." In 2006, Carrot Top appeared in the "Reno 911!" episode "Weigel's Pregnant" as an enraged version of himself who trashes his hotel room and


title: "Air North" content: regularly offers employees a profit sharing, and also recently offered each and every Yukoner a $50 travel voucher as a thank you for supporting Air North. As of June 2018, Air North provides scheduled service to the following destinations. In addition to scheduled flights, Air North offers passenger, freight and combi charter services throughout Yukon and across North America. Both the HS-748s and 737s are regularly chartered for mining, forestry, sports teams, fishing lodges, cruise tours, and a variety of other customers. Air North provides seasonal vacation flights to: Air North provides Seasonal Fishing Charters from Vancouver International Airport to:


title: Bialgebra content: Bialgebra In mathematics, a bialgebra over a field "K" is a vector space over "K" which is both a unital associative algebra and a coalgebra. The algebraic and coalgebraic structures are made compatible with a few more axioms. Specifically, the comultiplication and the counit are both unital algebra homomorphisms, or equivalently, the multiplication and the unit of the algebra both are coalgebra morphisms. (These statements are equivalent since they are expressed by the same commutative diagrams.) Similar bialgebras are related by bialgebra homomorphisms. A bialgebra homomorphism is a linear map that is both an algebra and a coalgebra homomorphism. As


title: "North Atlantic right whale" content: potential feeding area, and this idea corresponds with behaviors of the below mentioned vagrant individual "Porter" recorded in 1999 when he stayed in the fjord for several weeks, indicating the area provided to him a feasible condition for summering. Historical records suggest that summering grounds could have reached further north to northern coasts of Scandinavian Peninsula, and some might have turned up at the mouth of Hudson Bay. Predicted summering range models suggest that small numbers of right whales could have been present year-round in the Mediterranean Sea although it is unclear whether whales ever penetrated Turkish Straits to Marmara,


title: "Cluster headache" content: two or more cluster periods, lasting from 7 to 365 days with a pain-free remission of one month or longer between the headache attacks, may be classified as episodic. If headache attacks occur for more than a year without pain-free remission of at least one month, the condition is classified as chronic. Chronic CH both occurs and recurs without any remission periods between cycles; there may be variation in cycles, meaning the frequency and severity of attacks may change without predictability for a period of time. The frequency, severity and duration of headache attacks experienced by people during these cycles


title: "Virginia rail" content: Virginia rail The Virginia rail ("Rallus limicola") is a small waterbird, of the family Rallidae. These birds remain fairly common despite continuing loss of habitat, but are secretive by nature and more often heard than seen. They are also considered a game species in some provinces and states, though rarely hunted. The Ecuadorian rail is often considered a subspecies, but some taxonomic authorities consider it distinct. Adults are mainly brown, darker on the back and crown, with orange-brown legs. To walk through dense vegetation, they have evolved a laterally compressed body and strong forehead feathers adapted to withstand wear from


title: "Virginia rail" content: pushing through vegetation. Virginia rails have the highest ratio of leg-muscle to flight-muscle of all birds (25% - 15% of body weight respectively). They have long toes used to walk on floating vegetation. Their tail is short and they have a long slim reddish bill. Their cheeks are grey, with a light stripe over the eye and a whitish throat. Chicks are black. Juveniles are blackish brown on upperparts with rufous on the edge of feathers and brownish bill and legs. Their underparts are dark brown to black, while the face is grayish brown. Both sexes are very similar, with


title: "Virginia rail" content: females being slightly smaller. Adults measure 20–27 cm, with a wingspan of 32–38 cm, and usually weigh 65-95 g. The Virginia rail is in the genus Rallus, a genus of other long-billed rails. It is thought to be closely related to "R. semiplumbeus" and "R. antarcticus". There currently two recognized species of Rallus limicola: The Virginia rail lives in freshwater and brackish marshes, sometimes salt marshes in winter. Northern populations migrate to the southern United States and Central America. On the Pacific coast, some are permanent residents. Its breeding habitat is marshes from Nova Scotia to Southern British Columbia, California


title: "Virginia rail" content: and North Carolina, and in Central America. It often coexists with Soras. The Virginia rail often runs to escape predators, instead of flying. When it does fly, it is usually short distances or for migration. It can also swim and dive using its wings to propel itself. This bird has a number of calls, including a harsh "kuk kuk kuk", usually heard at night. It also makes grunting noises. In spring, it will make "tick-it" or "kid-ick" calls. The Virginia rail probe with its bill in mud or shallow water, also picking up food by sight. It mainly eat insects


title: "Virginia rail" content: and other aquatic invertebrates, like beetles, flies, dragonflies, crayfish, snails and earthworms. It can also eat aquatic animals like frogs, fish and some small snakes, as well as seeds. Animal preys constitute the biggest part of this bird's diet, but vegetation contributes to its diet in the fall and winter. Courtship starts around May. The male will raise his wings and run back and forth next to the female. Both sexes bow, and the male feeds the female. Before copulation, the male approaches the female while grunting. Virginia rails are monogamous. Both parents build the nest and care for the


title: "Virginia rail" content: young, whereas only the male defend the territory. The nest is built as the first egg is laid and consists of a basket of woven vegetation. The nest is made using plants like cattails, reeds and grasses. They also build dummy nests around the marsh. They nest near the base of emergent vegetation in areas with vegetation creating a canopy above the nest. This birds lays a clutch of 4 to 13 white or buff eggs with sparse gray or brown spotting. The eggs generally measure . They are incubated by both parents for a period of 20 to 22


title: "Virginia rail" content: days, in which the parents continue to add nesting material to conceal the nest. When the eggs hatch, the parents feed the young for two to three weeks, when the chicks become independent. The young can fly in less than a month. The pair bond between the parents breaks after the young become independent. Virginia rail The Virginia rail ("Rallus limicola") is a small waterbird, of the family Rallidae. These birds remain fairly common despite continuing loss of habitat, but are secretive by nature and more often heard than seen. They are also considered a game species in some provinces


title: "Venus flytrap" content: Venus flytrap The Venus flytrap (also referred to as Venus's flytrap or Venus' flytrap), Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping structure formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves, which is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap prepares to close, snapping shut only if another contact occurs within approximately twenty seconds of the first


title: "Venus flytrap" content: strike. Triggers may occur if one-tenth of the insect is within contact. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against wasting energy by trapping objects with no nutritional value, and the plant will only begin digestion after five more stimuli to ensure it has caught a live bug worthy of consumption. "Dionaea" is a monotypic genus closely related to the waterwheel plant ("Aldrovanda vesiculosa") and sundews ("Drosera"), all of which belong to the family Droseraceae. In 1760, the North Carolina colonial governor, Arthur Dobbs, penned the first written description of the plant in a letter


title: "Venus flytrap" content: to English botanist Peter Collinson. It was dated Brunswick, Jan. 24, 1760. This seems to be the earliest notice of the plant and is before the letters of John Ellis on the subject. The Venus flytrap is a small plant whose structure can be described as a rosette of four to seven leaves, which arise from a short subterranean stem that is actually a bulb-like object. Each stem reaches a maximum size of about three to ten centimeters, depending on the time of year; longer leaves with robust traps are usually formed after flowering. Flytraps that have more than seven


title: "Venus flytrap" content: leaves are colonies formed by rosettes that have divided beneath the ground. The leaf blade is divided into two regions: a flat, heart-shaped photosynthesis-capable petiole, and a pair of terminal lobes hinged at the midrib, forming the trap which is the true leaf. The upper surface of these lobes contains red anthocyanin pigments and its edges secrete mucilage. The lobes exhibit rapid plant movements, snapping shut when stimulated by prey. The trapping mechanism is tripped when prey contacts one of the three hair-like trichomes that are found on the upper surface of each of the lobes. The mechanism is so


title: "Venus flytrap" content: highly specialized that it can distinguish between living prey and non-prey stimuli, such as falling raindrops; two trigger hairs must be touched in succession within 20 seconds of each other or one hair touched twice in rapid succession, whereupon the lobes of the trap will snap shut, typically in about one-tenth of a second. The edges of the lobes are fringed by stiff hair-like protrusions or cilia, which mesh together and prevent large prey from escaping. These protrusions, and the trigger hairs (also known as sensitive hairs) are likely homologous with the tentacles found in this plant's close relatives, the


title: "Venus flytrap" content: sundews. Scientists have concluded that the snap trap evolved from a fly-paper trap similar to that of "Drosera". The holes in the meshwork allow small prey to escape, presumably because the benefit that would be obtained from them would be less than the cost of digesting them. If the prey is too small and escapes, the trap will usually reopen within 12 hours. If the prey moves around in the trap, it tightens and digestion begins more quickly. Speed of closing can vary depending on the amount of humidity, light, size of prey, and general growing conditions. The speed with


title: "Venus flytrap" content: which traps close can be used as an indicator of a plant's general health. Venus flytraps are not as humidity-dependent as are some other carnivorous plants, such as "Nepenthes", "Cephalotus", most "Heliamphora", and some "Drosera". The Venus flytrap exhibits variations in petiole shape and length and whether the leaf lies flat on the ground or extends up at an angle of about 40–60 degrees. The four major forms are: 'typica', the most common, with broad decumbent petioles; 'erecta', with leaves at a 45-degree angle; 'linearis', with narrow petioles and leaves at 45 degrees; and 'filiformis', with extremely narrow or linear


title: "Venus flytrap" content: petioles. Except for 'filiformis', all of these can be stages in leaf production of any plant depending on season (decumbent in summer versus short versus semi-erect in spring), length of photoperiod (long petioles in spring versus short in summer), and intensity of light (wide petioles in low light intensity versus narrow in brighter light). The plant's common name refers to Venus, the Roman goddess of love. The genus name, "Dionaea" ("daughter of Dione"), refers to the Greek goddess Aphrodite, while the species name, "muscipula", is Latin for "mousetrap". Historically, the plant was also known by the slang term "tipitiwitchet" or


title: "Venus flytrap" content: "tippity twitchet", possibly an oblique reference to the plant's resemblance to human female genitalia. Most carnivorous plants selectively feed on specific prey. This selection is due to the available prey and the type of trap used by the organism. With the Venus flytrap, prey is limited to beetles, spiders and other crawling arthropods. In fact, the "Dionaea" diet is 33% ants, 30% spiders, 10% beetles, and 10% grasshoppers, with fewer than 5% flying insects. Given that "Dionaea" evolved from an ancestral form of "Drosera" (carnivorous plants that use a sticky trap instead of a snap trap) the reason for this


title: "Venus flytrap" content: evolutionary branching becomes clear. "Drosera" consume smaller, aerial insects, whereas "Dionaea" consume larger terrestrial bugs. "Dionaea" are able to extract more nutrients from these larger bugs. This gives "Dionaea" an evolutionary advantage over their ancestral sticky trap form. The Venus flytrap is one of a very small group of plants capable of rapid movement, such as "Mimosa pudica", the Telegraph plant, sundews and bladderworts. The mechanism by which the trap snaps shut involves a complex interaction between elasticity, turgor and growth. The trap only shuts when there have been two stimulations of the trigger hairs; this is to avoid inadvertent


title: "Venus flytrap" content: triggering of the mechanism by dust and other wind-borne debris. In the open, untripped state, the lobes are convex (bent outwards), but in the closed state, the lobes are concave (forming a cavity). It is the rapid flipping of this bistable state that closes the trap, but the mechanism by which this occurs is still poorly understood. When the trigger hairs are stimulated, an action potential (mostly involving calcium ions—see calcium in biology) is generated, which propagates across the lobes and stimulates cells in the lobes and in the midrib between them. It is hypothesized that there is a threshold


title: "Venus flytrap" content: of ion buildup for the Venus flytrap to react to stimulation. After closing, the flytrap counts additional stimulations of the trigger hairs, to five total, to start the production of digesting enzymes. The acid growth theory states that individual cells in the outer layers of the lobes and midrib rapidly move H (hydrogen ions) into their cell walls, lowering the pH and loosening the extracellular components, which allows them to swell rapidly by osmosis, thus elongating and changing the shape of the trap lobe. Alternatively, cells in the inner layers of the lobes and midrib may rapidly secrete other ions,


title: "Venus flytrap" content: allowing water to follow by osmosis, and the cells to collapse. Both of these mechanisms may play a role and have some experimental evidence to support them. Flytraps show a clear example of memory in plants, the plant knows if its hair has been touched, and remembers that for a few seconds. The plant then recalls that accident if a second touch happens during that time frame, and closes. If the prey is unable to escape, it will continue to stimulate the inner surface of the lobes, and this causes a further growth response that forces the edges of the


title: "Venus flytrap" content: lobes together, eventually sealing the trap hermetically and forming a "stomach" in which digestion occurs. Release of the digestive enzymes is controlled by the hormone jasmonic acid, the same hormone that triggers the release of toxins as an anti-herbivore defense mechanism in non-carnivorous plants. (See Evolution below) Once the digestive glands in the leaf lobes have been activated, digestion is catalysed by hydrolase enzymes secreted by the glands. Oxidative protein modification is likely to be a pre-digestive mechanism used by "Dionaea muscipula". Aqueous leaf extracts have been found to contain quinones such as the naphthoquinone plumbagin that couples to different


title: "Venus flytrap" content: NADH-dependent diaphorases to produce superoxide and hydrogen peroxide upon autoxidation. Such oxidative modification could rupture animal cell membranes. Plumbagin is known to induce apoptosis, associated with the regulation of the Bcl-2 family of proteins. When the "Dionaea" extracts were pre-incubated with diaphorases and NADH in the presence of serum albumin (SA), subsequent tryptic digestion of SA was facilitated. Since the secretory glands of Droseraceae contain proteases and possibly other degradative enzymes, it may be that the presence of oxygen-activating redox cofactors function as extracellular pre-digestive oxidants to render membrane-bound proteins of the prey (insects) more susceptible to proteolytic attacks. Digestion


title: "Venus flytrap" content: takes about ten days, after which the prey is reduced to a husk of chitin. The trap then reopens, and is ready for reuse. Carnivory in plants is a very specialized form of foliar feeding, and is an adaptation found in several plants that grow in nutrient-poor soil. Carnivorous traps were naturally selected to allow these organisms to compensate for the nutrient deficiencies of their harsh environments and compensate for the reduced photosynthetic benefit. The "snap trap" mechanism characteristic of "Dionaea" is shared with only one other carnivorous plant genus, "Aldrovanda". For most of the 20th century, this relationship was


title: "Venus flytrap" content: thought to be coincidental, more precisely an example of convergent evolution. Some phylogenetic studies even suggested that the closest living relatives of "Aldrovanda" were the sundews. It was not until 2002 that a molecular evolutionary study, by analyzing combined nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences, indicated that "Dionaea" and "Aldrovanda" were closely related and that the snap trap mechanism evolved only once in a common ancestor of the two genera. A 2009 study presented evidence for the evolution of snap traps of "Dionaea" and "Aldrovanda" from a flypaper trap like "Drosera regia", based on molecular data. The molecular and physiological data


title: "Venus flytrap" content: imply that "Dionaea" and "Aldrovanda" snap traps evolved from the flypaper traps of a common ancestor with "Drosera". Pre-adaptations to the evolution of snap traps were identified in several species of "Drosera", such as rapid leaf and tentacle movement. The model proposes that plant carnivory by snap trap evolved from the flypaper traps, driven by increasing prey size. Bigger prey provides greater nutritional value, but large insects can easily escape the sticky mucilage of flypaper traps; the evolution of snap traps would therefore prevent escape and kleptoparasitism (theft of prey captured by the plant before it can derive benefit from


title: "Venus flytrap" content: it), and would also permit a more complete digestion. In 2016, a study of the expression of genes in the plant's leaves as they captured and digested prey was published in the journal, "Genome Research". The gene activation observed in the leaves of the plants gives support to the hypothesis that the carnivorous mechanisms present in the flytrap are a specially adapted version of mechanisms used by non-carnivorous plants to defend against herbivorous insects. In many non-carnivorous plants, jasmonic acid serves as a signaling molecule for the activation of defense mechanisms, such as the production of hydrolases, which can destroy


title: "Venus flytrap" content: chitin and other molecular components of insect and microbial pests. In the Venus flytrap, this same molecule has been found to be responsible for the activation of the plant's digestive glands. A few hours after the capture of prey, another set of genes is activated inside the glands, the same set of genes that is active in the roots of other plants, allowing them to absorb nutrients. The use of similar biological pathways in the traps as non-carnivorous plants use for other purposes indicates that somewhere in its evolutionary history, the Venus flytrap repurposed these genes for the purpose of


title: "Venus flytrap" content: carnivory. Carnivorous plants are generally herbs, and their traps the result of primary growth. They generally do not form readily fossilizable structures such as thick bark or wood. As a result, there is no fossil evidence of the steps that might link "Dionaea" and "Aldrovanda", or either genus with their common ancestor, "Drosera". Nevertheless, it is possible to infer an evolutionary history based on phylogenetic studies of both genera. Researchers have proposed a series of steps that would ultimately result in the complex snap-trap mechanism: The Venus flytrap is found in nitrogen- and phosphorus-poor environments, such as bogs and wet


title: "Venus flytrap" content: savannahs. Small in stature and slow-growing, the Venus flytrap tolerates fire well, and depends on periodic burning to suppress its competition. Fire suppression threatens its future in the wild. It survives in wet sandy and peaty soils. Although it has been successfully transplanted and grown in many locales around the world, it is native only to the coastal bogs of North and South Carolina in the United States, specifically within a 100-kilometer (60 mi) radius of Wilmington, North Carolina. One such place is North Carolina's Green Swamp. There also appears to be a naturalized population of Venus flytraps in northern


title: "Venus flytrap" content: Florida as well as an introduced population in western Washington. The nutritional poverty of the soil is the reason that the plant relies on such elaborate traps: insect prey provide the nitrogen for protein formation that the soil cannot. The Venus flytrap is not a tropical plant and can tolerate mild winters. In fact, Venus flytraps that do not go through a period of winter dormancy will weaken and die after a period of time. Plants can be propagated by seed, taking around four to five years to reach maturity. More commonly, they are propagated by clonal division in spring


title: "Venus flytrap" content: or summer. Venus flytraps can also be propagated "in vitro" using plant tissue culture. Most Venus flytraps found for sale in nurseries garden centers have been produced using this method, as this is the most cost-effective way to propagate them on a large scale. Regardless of the propagation method used, the plants will live for 20 to 30 years if cultivated in the right conditions. Venus flytraps are by far the most commonly recognized and cultivated carnivorous plant, and they are frequently sold as houseplants. Various cultivars (cultivated varieties) have come into the market through tissue culture of selected genetic


title: "Venus flytrap" content: mutations, and these plants are raised in large quantities for commercial markets. The species is classified as "vulnerable" by the National Wildlife Federation. In 2015, there were estimated to be fewer than 33,000 plants in the wild, all within of the city of Wilmington, North Carolina, and all on sites owned by The Nature Conservancy, the North Carolina state government, or the US military. In 2014, the state of North Carolina passed Senate Bill 734 which classifies the theft of naturally growing Venus flytraps in the state as a felony. Tougher sanctions and penalties for the theft were also enacted


title: "Venus flytrap" content: in December 1, 2014 in accordance with legislation. Venus flytrap extract is available on the market as an herbal remedy, sometimes as the prime ingredient of a patent medicine named "Carnivora". According to the American Cancer Society, these products are promoted in alternative medicine as a treatment for a variety of human ailments including HIV, Crohn's disease and skin cancer, but "available scientific evidence does not support the health claims made for Venus flytrap extract". Venus flytrap The Venus flytrap (also referred to as Venus's flytrap or Venus' flytrap), Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on


title: "Košice" content: Czechoslovakia. As a consequence of the First and Second Vienna Awards, Košice was ceded to Hungary. During the German occupation of Hungary towards the end of World War II, approximately 10,000 Jews were deported by the Arrow Cross Party and the Nazis, and killed in Auschwitz. The ethnic makeup of the town was dramatically changed by persecution of the town's large Hungarian majority (population exchanges between Hungary and Slovakia and slovakization) and by mass immigration of Slovaks into newly built communist-block-microdistricts, which increased the population of Košice four-times by 1989 and made it the fastest growing city in Czechoslovakia. There


title: "Eurasian spoonbill" content: Eurasian spoonbill The Eurasian spoonbill or common spoonbill ("Platalea leucorodia") is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The genus name "Platalea" is from Latin and means "broad", referring to the distinctive shape of the bill, and "leucorodia" is from Ancient Greek "leukerodios" "spoonbill", itself derived from "leukos", "white" and "erodios" "heron". In England it was traditionally known as the "shovelard", a name later used for the Northern Shoveller. This is a Palearctic species, breeding from the United Kingdom and Spain in the west through to Japan, and also in North Africa. In Europe, only the Netherlands,


title: "Eurasian spoonbill" content: Spain, Austria, Hungary and Greece have sizeable populations. Most birds migrate to the tropics in winter, with European breeders mainly going to Africa, but a few remaining in mild winter areas of western Europe south to the United Kingdom. It was extirpated from the United Kingdom in the later part of the seventeenth century, although in the previous century it had been a widespread breeding species in the south-east, even near London. Sporadic breeding attempts in the early 21st century culminated with the formation of a colony at Holkham in Norfolk in 2010. In 2011, 8 breeding pairs nested, successfully


title: "Eurasian spoonbill" content: fledging 14 young. This species is almost unmistakable in most of its range. The breeding bird is all white except for its dark legs, black bill with a yellow tip, and a yellow breast patch like a pelican. It has a crest in the breeding season. Non-breeders lack the crest and breast patch, and immature birds have a pale bill and black tips to the primary flight feathers. Unlike herons, spoonbills fly with their necks outstretched. The Eurasian spoonbill differs from the African spoonbill with which in overlaps in winter, in that the latter species has a red face and


title: "Eurasian spoonbill" content: legs, and no crest. They are mostly silent. Even at their breeding colonies the main sounds are bill snapping, occasional deep grunting and occasional trumpeting noises. A study of mitochondrial DNA of the spoonbills found that the Eurasian spoonbill is sister taxon to a clade containing the royal and black-faced spoonbills. The Eurasian spoonbill has three subspecies: Birds in Asia are sometimes separated as "P. l. major". Eurasian spoonbills show a preference for extensive shallow, wetlands with muddy, clay or fine sandy beds. They may inhabit any type of marsh, river, lake, flooded area and mangrove swamp, whether fresh, brackish


title: "Eurasian spoonbill" content: or saline, but especially those with islands for nesting or dense emergent vegetation (e.g. reedbeds) and scattered trees or srubs (especially willow Salix spp., oak Quercus spp. or poplar Populus spp.). Eurasian spoonbills may also frequent sheltered marine habitats during the winter such as deltas, estuaries, tidal creeks and coastal lagoons. The diet consists of aquatic insects, mollusks, newts, crustaceans, worms, leeches, frogs, tadpoles and small fish up to long. It may also take algae or small fragments of aquatic plants (although these are possibly ingested accidentally with animal matter). More northerly breeding populations are fully migratory but may only


title: "Eurasian spoonbill" content: migrate short distances while other, more southerly populations are resident and nomadic or partially migratory. In the Palearctic, the species breeds in spring (e.g. from April) but in tropical parts of its range it times breeding to coincide with rainfall. Breeding is normally in single species colonies or in small single species groups amidst mixed-species colonies of other waterbirds such as herons, egrets and cormorants. Outside the breeding season Eurasian spoonbills forage singly or in small flocks of up to 100 individuals. Migration is usually conducted in flocks of up to 100 individuals. Most activity takes place during the morning


title: "Eurasian spoonbill" content: and evening (although in coastal areas it foraging is governed by tidal rhythms), they often roost communally in roosts which are up to away from the feeding areas. The nest is a platform of sticks and vegetation which is either constructed on the ground on islands in lakes and rivers or in dense stands of reeds, bushes, mangroves or deciduous trees up to above the ground. Within colonies neighbouring nests are usually quite close together, no more than apart. Breeding colonies are normally sited within of feeding areas, often much less (although the species may also feed up to away).


title: "Eurasian spoonbill" content: Threats to the Eurasian spoonbill include habitat destruction by drainage and degradation by pollution, It is especially adversely affected by the disappearance of reed swamps. In Greece, over-fishing and disturbance have caused the population to decline, and human exploitation of eggs and nestlings for food has threatened the species in the past. As stated above it has recently started to breed in the United Kingdom from where it was extirpated in the 17th century. The Eurasian spoonbill international expert group (ESIEG) is one of the first research network created on a waterbird species. It was formed in 1991 and then


title: "Eurasian spoonbill" content: linked to Eurosite until 2013 when the group became an International Species Expert Groups. An international action plan for the Eurasian Spoonbill was adopted in 2008. ESIEG is in charge of its implementation. Eurasian spoonbill The Eurasian spoonbill or common spoonbill ("Platalea leucorodia") is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The genus name "Platalea" is from Latin and means "broad", referring to the distinctive shape of the bill, and "leucorodia" is from Ancient Greek "leukerodios" "spoonbill", itself derived from "leukos", "white" and "erodios" "heron". In England it was traditionally known as the "shovelard", a name later


title: "Chris Cross" content: also used a Rickenbacker 4003 Fireglo finish bass and a standby black Fender Telecaster Bass. Chris Cross Chris Cross (born Christopher Thomas Allen, 14 July 1952, Tottenham, London, England) is an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist in the new wave band Ultravox. Cross went to Belmont Secondary Modern School, William Forster Comprehensive. He began his music career playing in different bands, in Tottenham, North London, with his major early influences being Small Faces, Desmond Dekker, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Later he joined Stoned Rose, in Preston, Lancashire, alongside Pete Hughes and Mick Carroll, who later


title: Bryophyte content: Bryophyte Bryophytes are an informal group consisting of three divisions of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. They are characteristically limited in size and prefer moist habitats although they can survive in drier environments. The bryophytes consist of about 20,000 plant species. Bryophytes produce enclosed reproductive structures (gametangia and sporangia), but they do not produce flowers or seeds. They reproduce via spores. Bryophytes are usually considered to be a paraphyletic group and not a monophyletic group, although some studies have produced contrary results. Regardless of their status, the name is convenient and remains in use as an


title: Bryophyte content: informal collective term. The term "bryophyte" comes from Greek βρύον, "bryon" "tree-moss, oyster-green" and φυτόν, "phyton" "plant". The defining features of bryophytes are: Bryophytes exist in a wide variety of habitats. They can be found growing in a range of temperatures (cold arctics and in hot deserts), elevations (sea-level to alpine), and moisture (dry deserts to wet rainforests). Bryophytes can grow where vascularized plants cannot because they do not depend on roots for an uptake of nutrients from soil. Bryophytes can survive on rocks and bare soil. Like all land plants (embryophytes), bryophytes have life cycles with alternation of generations.


title: Bryophyte content: In each cycle, a haploid gametophyte, each of whose cells contains a fixed number of unpaired chromosomes, alternates with a diploid sporophyte, whose cell contain two sets of paired chromosomes. Gametophytes produce haploid sperm and eggs which fuse to form diploid zygotes that grow into sporophytes. Sporophytes produce haploid spores by meiosis, that grow into gametophytes. Bryophytes are gametophyte dominant, meaning that the more prominent, longer-lived plant is the haploid gametophyte. The diploid sporophytes appear only occasionally and remain attached to and nutritionally dependent on the gametophyte. In bryophytes, the sporophytes are always unbranched and produce a single sporangium (spore


title: Bryophyte content: producing capsule). Liverworts, mosses and hornworts spend most of their lives as gametophytes. Gametangia (gamete-producing organs), archegonia and antheridia, are produced on the gametophytes, sometimes at the tips of shoots, in the axils of leaves or hidden under thalli. Some bryophytes, such as the liverwort "Marchantia", create elaborate structures to bear the gametangia that are called gametangiophores. Sperm are flagellated and must swim from the antheridia that produce them to archegonia which may be on a different plant. Arthropods can assist in transfer of sperm. Fertilized eggs become zygotes, which develop into sporophyte embryos inside the archegonia. Mature sporophytes remain


title: Bryophyte content: attached to the gametophyte. They consist of a stalk called a seta and a single sporangium or capsule. Inside the sporangium, haploid spores are produced by meiosis. These are dispersed, most commonly by wind, and if they land in a suitable environment can develop into a new gametophyte. Thus bryophytes disperse by a combination of swimming sperm and spores, in a manner similar to lycophytes, ferns and other cryptogams. The arrangement of antheridia and archegonia on an individual bryophyte plant is usually constant within a species, although in some species it may depend on environmental conditions. The main division is


title: Bryophyte content: between species in which the antheridia and archegonia occur on the same plant and those in which they occur on different plants. The term monoicous may be used where antheridia and archegonia occur on the same gametophyte and the term dioicous where they occur on different gametophytes. In seed plants, "monoecious" is used where flowers with anthers (microsporangia) and flowers with ovules (megasporangia) occur on the same sporophyte and "dioecious" where they occur on different sporophytes. These terms occasionally may be used instead of "monoicous" and "dioicous" to describe bryophyte gametophytes. "Monoecious" and "monoicous" are both derived from the Greek


title: Bryophyte content: for "one house", "dioecious" and "dioicous" from the Greek for two houses. The use of the "oicy" terminology is said to have the advantage of emphasizing the difference between the gametophyte sexuality of bryophytes and the sporophyte sexuality of seed plants. Monoicous plants are necessarily bisexual (or hermaphroditic), meaning that the same plant has both sexes. The exact arrangement of the antheridia and archegonia in monoicous plants varies. They may be borne on different shoots (autoicous or autoecious), on the same shoot but not together in a common structure (paroicous or paroecious), or together in a common "inflorescence" (synoicous or


title: Bryophyte content: synoecious). Dioicous plants are unisexual, meaning that the same plant has only one sex. All four patterns (autoicous, paroicous, synoicous and dioicous) occur in species of the moss genus "Bryum". Traditionally, all living land plants without vascular tissues were classified in a single taxonomic group, often a division (or phylum). More recently, phylogenetic research has questioned whether the bryophytes form a monophyletic group and thus whether they should form a single taxon. Although a 2005 study supported the traditional view that the bryophytes form a monophyletic group, by 2010 a broad consensus had emerged among systematists that bryophytes as a


title: Bryophyte content: whole are not a natural group (i.e., are paraphyletic), although each of the three extant (living) groups is monophyletic. The three bryophyte clades (which may be treated as divisions) are the Marchantiophyta (liverworts), Bryophyta (mosses) and Anthocerotophyta (hornworts). The vascular plants or tracheophytes form a fourth, unranked clade of land plants called the "Polysporangiophyta". In this analysis, hornworts are sister to vascular plants and liverworts are sister to all other land plants, including the hornworts and mosses. Phylogenetic studies continue to produce conflicting results. In particular those based on gene sequences suggest the bryophytes are paraphyletic, whereas those based on


title: Bryophyte content: the amino acid translations of the same genes suggest they are monophyletic. A 2014 study concluded that composition biases were responsible for these differences and that the bryophytes are monophyletic. The issue remains unresolved. When extinct plants are taken into account, the picture is slightly altered. Some extinct land plants, such as the horneophytes, are not bryophytes, but also are not vascular plants because, like bryophytes, they do not have true vascular tissue. A different distinction is needed. In bryophytes, the sporophyte is a simple unbranched structure with a single spore-forming organ (sporangium). In all other land plants, the polysporangiophytes,


title: Bryophyte content: the sporophyte is branched and carries many sporangia. It has been argued that this contrast between bryophytes and other land plants is less misleading than the traditional one of non-vascular versus vascular plant, since many mosses have well-developed water-conducting vessels. The contrast is shown in a slightly different cladogram: The term "bryophyte" thus refers to a grade of lineages defined primarily by what they lack. Compared to other living land plants, they lack vascular tissue containing lignin and branched sporophytes bearing multiple sporangia. The prominence of the gametophyte in the life cycle is also a shared feature of the three


title: Bryophyte content: bryophyte lineages (extant vascular plants are all sporophyte dominant). An alternative phylogeny, based on amino acids rather than genes, shows bryophytes as a monophyletic group: If this phylogeny proves correct, then the complex sporophyte of living vascular plants might have evolved independently of the simpler unbranched sporophyte present in bryophytes. Other studies suggest a monophyletic group comprising liverworts and mosses, with hornworts being sister to vascular plants. Between 510 - 630 million years ago, land plants evolved from aquatic plants, specifically green algae. Molecular phylogenetic studies conclude that bryophytes are the earliest diverging lineages of the extant land plants. They


title: Bryophyte content: provide insights into the migration of plants from aquatic environments to land. A number of physical features link bryophytes to both land plants and aquatic plants. Distinct adaptations observed in bryophytes have allowed plants to colonize Earth's terrestrial environments. To prevent desiccation of plant tissues in a terrestrial environment, a waxy cuticle covering the soft tissue of the plant provides protection. The development of gametangia provided further protection specifically for gametes. They also have embryonic development which is a significant adaptation seen in land plants and not green algae. While bryophytes have no truly vascularized tissue, they do have organs


title: Bryophyte content: that have specific functions, similar to those functions of leaves and stems in higher level land plants. Bryophytes also exhibit connections to their aquatic ancestry. They share various features with their green algae ancestors. Both green algae and bryophytes have chlorophyll a and b, and the chloroplast structures are similar. Like algae and land plants, bryophytes also produce starch and contain cellulose in their walls. Bryophytes depend on water for reproduction and survival. A thin layer of water is required on the surface of the plant to enable the movement of sperm between gametophytes and the fertilization of an egg.


title: Bryophyte content: Summary of the morphological characteristics of the gametophytes of the three groups of bryophytes: Summary of the morphological characteristics of the sporophytes of the three groups of bryophytes: Environmental Characteristics of bryophytes make them useful to the environment. Depending on the specific plant texture, bryophytes have been shown to help improve the water retention and air space within soil. Bryophytes are used in pollution studies to indicate soil pollution (such as the presence of heavy metals), air pollution, and UV-B radiation. Gardens in Japan are designed with moss to create peacful sanctuaries. Some bryophytes have been found to produce natural


title: Bryophyte content: pesticides. The liverwort, "Plagiochila," produces a chemical that is poisonous to mice. Other bryophytes produce chemicals that are antifeedants which protect them from being eaten by slugs. When "Phythium sphagnum" is sprinkled on the soil of germinating seeds, it inhibits growth of "damping off fungus" which would otherwise kill young seedlings. Commercial Peat is a fuel that is produced from dried bryophytes, typically "sphagnum." Bryophytes antibiotic properties and ability to retain water make them a useful packaging material for vegetables, flowers, and bulbs. Also, because of the antibiotic properties, "sphagnum" was used as a surgical dressing in World War I.


title: Pome content: Pome In botany, a pome (derived from Latin "pōmum", meaning "fruit") is a type of fruit produced by flowering plants in the subtribe Malinae of the family Rosaceae. The word "pome" entered English in the late 14th century, and referred to an apple or an apple-shaped object. It derived from the Old French word "pome" "apple" (12th century; modern French is "pomme"), which in turn derived from the Late Latin or Vulgar Latin word "poma" "apple", originally the plural of Latin "pomum" "fruit", later "apple". A pome is an accessory fruit composed of one or more carpels surrounded by accessory


title: Pome content: tissue. The accessory tissue is interpreted by some specialists as an extension of the receptacle and is then referred to as "fruit cortex", and by others as a fused hypanthium. It is the most edible part of this fruit. The carpels of a pome are fused within the "core". Although the epicarp, mesocarp, and endocarp of some other fruit types look very much like the skin, flesh, and core respectively of a pome, they are parts of the carpel (see diagram). The epicarp and mesocarp of a pome may be fleshy and difficult to distinguish from one another and from


title: Pome content: the hypanthial tissue. The endocarp forms a leathery or stony case around the seed, and corresponds to what is commonly called the core. Pome-type fruit with stony rather than leathery endocarp may be called a polypyrenous drupe. The shriveled remains of the sepals, style and stamens can sometimes be seen at the end of a pome opposite the stem, and the ovary is therefore often described as inferior in these flowers. The best-known example of a pome is the apple. Other examples of plants that produce fruit classified as a pome are "Cotoneaster", "Crataegus" (hawthorn and mayhaw), loquat, medlar, pear,


title: Pome content: "Pyracantha", quince, rowan, toyon, and whitebeam. Some pomes may have a mealy texture (e.g., some apples); others (e.g., "Amelanchier", "Aronia") are berry-like with juicy flesh and a core that is not very noticeable. Pome In botany, a pome (derived from Latin "pōmum", meaning "fruit") is a type of fruit produced by flowering plants in the subtribe Malinae of the family Rosaceae. The word "pome" entered English in the late 14th century, and referred to an apple or an apple-shaped object. It derived from the Old French word "pome" "apple" (12th century; modern French is "pomme"), which in turn derived from


title: "Stargate Project" content: was overseen until 1987 by Lt. Frederick Holmes "Skip" Atwater, an aide and "psychic headhunter" to Maj. Gen. Albert Stubblebine, and later president of the Monroe Institute. The unit was small-scale, comprising about 15 to 20 individuals, and was run out of "an old, leaky wooden barracks". The Stargate Project was terminated and declassified in 1995 after a CIA report concluded that it was never useful in any intelligence operation. Information provided by the program was vague and included irrelevant and erroneous data, and there was reason to suspect that its project managers had changed the reports so they would


title: Nure content: Nure The Nure (Latin "Nura") is a small river in northern Italy (province of Piacenza). It has its source on the northern slopes of Mt. Nero, elevation above sea level, and after a course of about —the second longest of the province—flows into the Po River east of Piacenza, in the vicinity of Roncarolo, a "frazione" of the commune of Caorso, on the border with the Lombard commune of Caselle Landi. The upper valley is somewhat influenced by the sea air, keeping it free of fog and strong winds, and therefore relatively pleasant even during the winter months. In this


title: "Hosokawa clan" content: main family line, Morihiro Hosokawa, former Prime Minister of Japan, is a descendant of the Hosokawa of Kumamoto. Kumamoto (Become Main Branch) Kumamoto-Shinden (Takase) Udo Hitachi-Yatabe Hosokawa clan The was a Japanese samurai kin group or clan. The clan was descended from the Seiwa Genji, a branch of the Minamoto clan, and ultimately from Emperor Seiwa himself, through the Ashikaga clan. It produced many prominent officials in the Ashikaga shogunate's administration. In the Edo period, the Hosokawa clan was one of the largest landholding "daimyō" families in Japan. In the present day, the current clan head Morihiro Hosokawa, has served


title: "Jordan normal form" content: Jordan normal form In linear algebra, a Jordan normal form (often called Jordan canonical form) of a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space is an upper triangular matrix of a particular form called a Jordan matrix, representing the operator with respect to some basis. Such a matrix has each non-zero off-diagonal entry equal to 1, immediately above the main diagonal (on the superdiagonal), and with identical diagonal entries to the left and below them. Let "V" be a vector space over a field "K". Then a basis with respect to which the matrix has the required form exists if


title: "Bettino Craxi" content: his public commitment as assessor for Charity and Assistance in the council of Pietro Bucalossi. In 1966, with the formation of the Unified Socialist Party, a political alliance between the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party, Craxi became provincial secretary of the PSU in Milan, along with by the social democrat Enrico Rizzi and Renzo Peruzzotti. In 1968 general election Craxi was elected for the first time at the Chamber of Deputies with 23,788 votes, in the constituency of Milan–Pavia. Nel 1970 after the end of the PSU alliance, Craxi became Vice Secretary of the PSI, as proposed by


title: "Bettino Craxi" content: Giacomo Mancini. During this period he was a strong supporters of the Organic Centre-left coalition, between the Christian Democrats of Aldo Moro and Amintore Fanfani, the Socialists of Pietro Nenni, the Social Democrats of Giuseppe Saragat and the Republicans of Ugo La Malfa. In 1972 with the re-election of Francesco De Martino as National Secretary of the Socialist Party during the Genoa Congress, Craxi was confirmed with Giovanni Mosca in the role of Deputy Secretary, receiving the commission to treat the international relations of the party. As representative of PSI at the Socialist International, Craxi formed ties with some of


title: "Background (astronomy)" content: sky background is called confusion noise. In astronomical CCD technology, background is usually referred to the overall optical "noise" of the system, that is, the incoming light on the CCD sensor in absence of light sources. This background can originate from electronic noise in the CCD, from not-well-masked lights nearby the telescope, and so on. An exposure on an empty patch of the sky is also called a background, and is the sum of the system background level plus the sky's one. A background frame is often the first exposure in an astronomical observation with a CCD: the frame will


title: "Government budget balance" content: primary balance has federal revenues equaling spending but with a remaining budget deficit as a result of interest payments on past debt. The Center for American Progress recommended on December 14, 2009 that the United States set as a goal achieving primary balance by 2014. The meaning of "deficit" differs from that of "debt", which is an accumulation of yearly deficits. Deficits occur when a government's expenditures exceed the revenue that it generates. The deficit can be measured with or without including the interest payments on the debt as expenditures. The "primary deficit" is defined as the difference between current


title: "High Court of Australia" content: constructed building is largely identical to the 1973 competition design. Construction began in April 1975 on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin, in the Parliamentary Triangle. The site is just to the east of the axis running between Capital Hill and the Australian War Memorial. The High Court building houses three courtrooms, Justices' chambers, and the Court's main registry, library, and corporate services facilities. It is an unusual and distinctive structure, built in the brutalist style, and features an immense public atrium with a 24-metre-high roof. The neighbouring National Gallery was also designed by the firm of Edwards Madigan Torzillo


title: "Epping to Chatswood rail link" content: this section was justified on the grounds that the expected daily patronage of 15,000 passenger trips did not justify the project's $1.2 billion cost. The government feared that the line would be under-utilised, much as the Airport Link (a public-private project) has been. There also had been community protest against the routing of the line through Parramatta Park (one of three possible routes supplied by the government). The government later announced the construction of a passing loop as part of the Rail Clearways Program on the Carlingford line, which would have allowed a half-hourly frequency all day, however this project


title: "Epping to Chatswood rail link" content: longer journeys out of the Sydney basin, but were used on the ECRL due to the steepness and noisiness of the tunnel. Other types maintained at Hornsby Maintenance Depot were not used during the shuttle phase, though tests with K sets proved successful. Trains operated at 15 minute intervals, with the last service departing Epping at 9.31pm The line was coloured black on CityRail maps and publicity materials during the shuttle period, which ended on 11 October 2009 when a new timetable was introduced. Once integrated services commenced, the link became part of the Northern Line. Most Northern Line trains


title: "West Java" content: language in the province is Sundanese. In some areas near the southern borders with Central Java, Javanese is also spoken. The main language spoken in Cirebon and nearby areas (Majalengka, Indramayu, Sumber) is Cirebonese, a dialect of Javanese with Sundanese influence. Indonesian is widely spoken as a second language. The Sundanese share Java island with the Javanese people and primarily live in West Java. Although the Sundanese live in the same island as the Javanese, their culture is distinct and they likewise consider themselves to live in a separate cultural area called "Pasundan" or "Tatar Sunda". Someone moving from West


title: "Pierre François le Courayer" content: and wrote several theological works. He died in London, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. In his will, dated two years before his death, he declared himself still a member of the Roman Catholic Church, although dissenting from many of its opinions. Pierre François le Courayer Pierre François le Courayer (17 November 1681 – 17 October 1776) was a French Catholic theological writer, for many years an expatriate in England. Pierre François le Courayer was born at Rouen. While canon regular and librarian of the abbey of St Genevieve at Paris, he conducted a correspondence with Archbishop


title: "Rotes Rathaus" content: Rotes Rathaus The Rotes Rathaus (, "Red City Hall") is the town hall of Berlin, located in the Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the governing mayor and the government (the Senate of Berlin) of the Federal state of Berlin. The name of the landmark building dates from the facade design with red clinker bricks. The Rathaus was built between 1861 and 1869 in the style of the Northern Italy High Renaissance by Hermann Friedrich Waesemann. It was modelled on the Old Town Hall of Thorn (today Toruń, Poland), while the architecture of the tower


title: "Rotes Rathaus" content: is reminiscent of the cathedral tower of Notre-Dame de Laon in France. It replaced several individual buildings dating from the Middle Ages and now occupies an entire city block. The building was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in World War II and rebuilt to the original plans between 1951 and 1956. The "Neues Stadthaus", which survived the bombing and had formerly been the head office of Berlin's municipal fire insurance "Feuersozietät" in Parochialstraße served as the temporary city hall for the post-war city government for all the sectors of Berlin until September 1948. Following that time, it housed only those


title: "Rotes Rathaus" content: of the Soviet sector. The reconstructed Rotes Rathaus, then located in the Soviet sector, served as the town hall of East Berlin, while the Rathaus Schöneberg was the town hall of West Berlin. After German reunification, the administration of reunified Berlin officially moved into the Rotes Rathaus on 1 October 1991. Rotes Rathaus The Rotes Rathaus (, "Red City Hall") is the town hall of Berlin, located in the Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the governing mayor and the government (the Senate of Berlin) of the Federal state of Berlin. The name of the


title: Cockatiel content: Cockatiel The cockatiel ("Nymphicus hollandicus"), is a bird that is a member of the cockatoo family endemic to Australia. They are prized as household pets and companion parrots throughout the world and are relatively easy to breed. As a caged bird, cockatiels are second in popularity only to the budgerigar. The cockatiel is the only member of the genus Nymphicus. It was previously considered a crested parrot or small cockatoo; however, more recent molecular studies have assigned it to its own subfamily, "Nymphicinae". It is, therefore, now classified as the smallest of the Cacatuidae (cockatoo family). Cockatiels are native to


title: Cockatiel content: Australia, and favour the Australian wetlands, scrublands, and bush lands. Originally described by Scottish writer and naturalist Robert Kerr in 1793 as "Psittacus hollandicus", the cockatiel (or cockateel) was moved to its own genus, "Nymphicus", by Wagler in 1832. Its genus name reflects the experience of one of the earliest groups of Europeans to see the birds in their native habitat; the travellers thought the birds were so beautiful that they named them after mythical nymphs. The specific name "hollandicus" refers to New Holland, a historic name for Australia. Its biological relationship had long been argued; it is now classified


title: Cockatiel content: into a monotypic subfamily Nymphicinae but had sometimes in the past been misclassified among the Platycercinae, the broad-tailed parrots. This issue has now been settled with molecular studies. A 1984 study of protein allozymes signalled its closer relationship to cockatoos than to parrots, and Mitochondrial 12S rRNA sequence data places it amongst the Calyptorhynchinae (dark cockatoos) subfamily. The unique, parakeet (meaning long-tailed parrot) morphological feature is a consequence of the decrease in size and accompanying change of ecological niche. Sequence analysis of intron 7 of the nuclear "?"-fibrinogen gene, on the other hand, indicates that it may yet be distinct


title: Cockatiel content: enough as to warrant recognition of the Nymphicinae rather than inclusion of the genus in the Calyptorhynchinae. The cockatiel is now biologically classified as a genuine member of Cacatuidae on account of sharing all of the cockatoo family's biological features, namely, the erectile crest, a gallbladder, powder down, suppressed cloudy-layer (which precludes the display of blue and green structural colours), and facial feathers covering the sides of the beak, all of which are rarely found outside the family Cacatuidae. The cockatiel's distinctive erectile crest expresses the animal's emotional state. The crest is dramatically vertical when the cockatiel is startled or


title: Cockatiel content: excited, gently oblique in its neutral or relaxed state, and flattened close to the head when the animal is angry or defensive. The crest is also held flat but protrudes outward in the back when the cockatiel is trying to appear alluring or flirtatious. In contrast to most cockatoos, the cockatiel has long tail feathers roughly making up half of its total length. At , the cockatiel is the smallest of the cockatoos which are generally larger at between . The "normal grey" or "wild-type" cockatiel's plumage is primarily grey with prominent white flashes on the outer edges of each


title: Cockatiel content: wing. The face of the male is yellow or white, while the face of the female is primarily grey or light grey, and both sexes feature a round orange area on both ears, often referred to as "cheddar cheeks". This orange colouration is generally vibrant in adult males, and often quite muted in females. Visual sexing is often possible with this variant of the bird. Cockatiels are relatively vocal birds, the calls of the male being more varied than that of the female. Cockatiels can be taught to sing specific melodies and speak many words and phrases. All wild cockatiel


title: Cockatiel content: chicks and juveniles look female, and are virtually indistinguishable from the time of hatching until their first moulting. They display horizontal yellow stripes or bars on the ventral surface of their tail feathers, yellow spots on the ventral surface of the primary flight feathers of their wings, a grey coloured crest and face, and a dull orange patch on each of their cheeks. Adult cockatiels are sexually dimorphic, though to a lesser degree than many other avian species. This is only evident after the first moulting, typically occurring about six to nine months after hatching: the male loses the white


title: Cockatiel content: or yellow barring and spots on the underside of his tail feathers and wings. The grey feathers on his cheeks and crest are replaced by bright yellow feathers, while the orange cheek patch becomes brighter and more distinct. The face and crest of the female will typically remain mostly grey, though also with an orange cheek patch. Additionally, the female commonly retains the horizontal barring on the underside of her tail feathers. The colour in cockatiels is derived from two pigments: melanin (which provides the grey colour in the feathers, eyes, beak, and feet), and lipochromes (which provide the yellow


title: Cockatiel content: colour on the face and tail and the orange colour of the cheek patch). The grey colour of the melanin overrides the yellow and orange of the lipochromes when both are present. The melanin content decreases in the face of the males as they mature, allowing the yellow and orange lipochromes to be more visible, while an increase in melanin content in the tail causes the disappearance of the horizontal yellow tail bars. In addition to these visible characteristics, the vocalisation of adult males is typically louder and more complex than that of females. Worldwide there are currently twenty two


title: Cockatiel content: (22) cockatiel colour mutations established in aviculture with eight being exclusive to Australia. Mutations in captivity have emerged in various colours, some quite different from those observed in nature. Wild cockatiels are grey with visible differences between males and females. Male grey cockatiels typically have yellow heads while the female has a grey head. Juveniles tend to look like females with pinker beaks. The pied mutation first appeared in California in 1949. This mutation is a blotch of colour on an otherwise solid-coloured bird. For example, this may appear as a grey blotch on a yellow cockatiel. Lutino coloration was


title: Cockatiel content: first seen in 1958. These birds lack the grey of their wild counterparts and are white to soft yellow. This is a popular colour; due to inbreeding, these cockatiels often have a small bald patch behind their crests. The cinnamon mutation, first seen in the 1950s, is very similar in appearance to the grey; however, these birds have a warmer, browner colouring. Pearling was first seen in 1967. This is seen as a feather of one colour with a different coloured edge, such as grey feathers with yellow tips. This distinctive pattern is on a bird's wings or back. The


title: Cockatiel content: albino colour mutation is a lack of pigment. These birds are white with red eyes. Fallow cockatiels first appeared sometime in the 1970s. This mutation shows as a bird with cinnamon colouring with yellow sections. Other mutations include: emerald/olive, dominant and recessive silver as well as mutations exclusive to Australia. These are: Australian fallow, faded (west coast silver), dilute/pastel silver (east coast silver) silver spangle (edged dilute), platinum, suffused (Australian olive) and pewter. Other mutations such as face altering mutations include; whiteface, pastelface, dominant yellow cheek, sex-linked yellow cheek, gold cheek, creamface and the Australian yellow cheek. Cockatiel colour mutations


title: Cockatiel content: can become even more complex as one bird can have multiple colour mutations. For example, a yellow lutino cockatiel may have pearling – white spots on its back and wings. This is a double mutation. An example of a quadruple mutation would be cinnamon cockatiel with yellowface colouring with pearling and pied markings. Cockatiels are native to Australia, where they are found largely in arid or semi-arid country, but always close to water. Largely nomadic, the species will move to where food and water is available. They are typically seen in pairs or small flocks. Sometimes, hundreds will flock around


title: Cockatiel content: a single body of water. To many farmers' dismay, they often eat cultivated crops. They are absent from the most fertile south west and south east corners of the country, the deepest Western Australian deserts, and Cape York Peninsula. They are the only cockatoo species which can sometimes reproduce in the end of their first year. The cockatiel's lifespan in captivity is generally given as 16 to 25 years, though it is sometimes given as short as 10 to 15 years, and there are reports of cockatiels living as long as 32 years, the oldest confirmed specimen reported being 36


title: Cockatiel content: years old. Diet and exercise are major determining factors. Cockatiel The cockatiel ("Nymphicus hollandicus"), is a bird that is a member of the cockatoo family endemic to Australia. They are prized as household pets and companion parrots throughout the world and are relatively easy to breed. As a caged bird, cockatiels are second in popularity only to the budgerigar. The cockatiel is the only member of the genus Nymphicus. It was previously considered a crested parrot or small cockatoo; however, more recent molecular studies have assigned it to its own subfamily, "Nymphicinae". It is, therefore, now classified as the smallest


title: "Anthony Kiedis" content: fronted by Chuck Mosley) and The Red Hot Chili Peppers prior to the feud had toured together in support of their 1987 funk metal albums "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan" and "Introduce Yourself". However, things turned ugly between the two in 1989 when Kiedis accused Mosley's replacement Patton of imitating his style on stage and in their music video for their biggest hit "Epic" (from 1989's follow up to "Introduce Yourself", "The Real Thing)". Kiedis stated "I watched [their] "Epic" video, and I see him jumping up and down, rapping, and it looked like I was looking in a mirror.


title: "Modern architecture" content: branches of a tree. Wright originally planned the structure for an apartment building in New York City. That project was cancelled because of the Great Depression, and he adapted the design for an oil pipeline and equipment company in Oklahoma. He wrote that in New York City his building would have been lost in a forest of tall buildings, but that in Oklahoma it stood alone. The design is asymmetrical; each side is different. In 1943 he was commissioned by the art collector Solomon R. Guggenheim to design a museum for his collection of modern art. His design was entirely


title: "Jimmy Cauty" content: Later that year Cauty and Drummond went to the isle of Jura, Scotland to record a techno record called Gate. Instead they created a long form ambient film called Waiting (1990). During the same year Cauty and Drummond went into the studio and made the ambient LP "Chill Out". The "Grove Dictionary" suggests "Chill Out" to be the first ambient house album. When offered an album deal by Big Life, The Orb found themselves at a crossroads. Cauty preferred that albums by The Orb were released on his KLF Communications label, whereas Paterson wanted to ensure The Orb did not


title: "Spotted sandpiper" content: Spotted sandpiper The spotted sandpiper ("Actitis macularius") is a small shorebird, long. The genus name "Actitis" is from Ancient Greek "aktites", "coast-dweller", derived from "akte", "coast", and "macularius" is Latin from "macula", "spot". Together with its sister species the common sandpiper ("A. hypoleucos"), it makes up the genus "Actitis". They replace each other geographically; stray birds may settle down with breeders of the other species and hybridize. Their breeding habitat is near fresh water across most of Canada and the United States. They migrate to the southern United States and South America, and are very rare vagrants to western Europe.


title: "Spotted sandpiper" content: These are not gregarious birds and are seldom seen in flocks. Adults have short yellowish legs and an orange bill with a dark tip. The body is brown on top and white underneath with black spots. Non-breeding birds, depicted below, do not have the spotted underparts, and are very similar to the common sandpiper of Eurasia; the main difference is the more washed-out wing pattern visible in flight and the normally light yellow legs and feet of the spotted sandpiper. The "Actitis" species have a distinctive stiff-winged flight low over the water. Spotted sandpipers nest on the ground. During each


title: "Spotted sandpiper" content: summer breeding season, females may mate with and lay clutches for more than one male, leaving incubation to them. This is called polyandry. Male parents of first clutches may father chicks in later male's clutches, probably due to sperm storage within female reproductive tracts, which is common in birds. Females that fail to find additional mates usually help incubate and rear chicks. "Prior to incubation, blood plasma concentrations of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone are substantially higher in males than in females" and these levels plummet 25-fold in males as incubation proceeds. Additionally, mated females have testosterone concentrations that are 7 times


title: "Spotted sandpiper" content: higher than those of unmated females. These birds forage on ground or water, picking up food by sight. They may also catch insects in flight. They eat insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates. As they forage, they can be recognized by their constant nodding and teetering. Spotted sandpiper The spotted sandpiper ("Actitis macularius") is a small shorebird, long. The genus name "Actitis" is from Ancient Greek "aktites", "coast-dweller", derived from "akte", "coast", and "macularius" is Latin from "macula", "spot". Together with its sister species the common sandpiper ("A. hypoleucos"), it makes up the genus "Actitis". They replace each other geographically; stray


title: Octagon content: Octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον "oktágōnon", "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A "regular octagon" has Schläfli symbol {8} and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t{4}, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t{8} is a hexadecagon, t{16}. The sum of all the internal angles of any octagon is 1080°. As with all polygons, the external angles total 360°. If squares are constructed all internally or all externally on the sides of an octagon, then the midpoints of the segments connecting the centers of opposite squares form a


title: Octagon content: quadrilateral that is both equidiagonal and orthodiagonal (that is, whose diagonals are equal in length and at right angles to each other). The midpoint octagon of a reference octagon has its eight vertices at the midpoints of the sides of the reference octagon. If squares are constructed all internally or all externally on the sides of the midpoint octagon, then the midpoints of the segments connecting the centers of opposite squares themselves form the vertices of a square. A regular octagon is a closed figure with sides of the same length and internal angles of the same size. It has


title: Octagon content: eight lines of reflective symmetry and rotational symmetry of order 8. A regular octagon is represented by the Schläfli symbol {8}. The internal angle at each vertex of a regular octagon is 135° (formula_1 radians). The central angle is 45° (formula_2 radians). The area of a regular octagon of side length "a" is given by In terms of the circumradius "R", the area is In terms of the apothem "r" (see also inscribed figure), the area is These last two coefficients bracket the value of pi, the area of the unit circle. The area can also be expressed as where


title: Octagon content: "S" is the span of the octagon, or the second-shortest diagonal; and "a" is the length of one of the sides, or bases. This is easily proven if one takes an octagon, draws a square around the outside (making sure that four of the eight sides overlap with the four sides of the square) and then takes the corner triangles (these are 45–45–90 triangles) and places them with right angles pointed inward, forming a square. The edges of this square are each the length of the base. Given the length of a side "a", the span "S" is The area


title: Octagon content: is then as above: Expressed in terms of the span, the area is Another simple formula for the area is More often the span "S" is known, and the length of the sides, "a", is to be determined, as when cutting a square piece of material into a regular octagon. From the above, The two end lengths "e" on each side (the leg lengths of the triangles (green in the image) truncated from the square), as well as being formula_12 may be calculated as The circumradius of the regular octagon in terms of the side length "a" is and the


title: Octagon content: inradius is The regular octagon, in terms of the side length "a", has three different types of diagonals: The formula for each of them follows from the basic principles of geometry. Here are the formulas for their length: A regular octagon at a given circumcircle may be constructed as follows: A regular octagon can be constructed using a straightedge and a compass, as 8 = 2, a power of two: Each side of a regular octagon subtends half a right angle at the centre of the circle which connects its vertices. Its area can thus be computed as the sum


title: Octagon content: of 8 isosceles triangles, leading to the result: for an octagon of side "a". The coordinates for the vertices of a regular octagon centered at the origin and with side length 2 are: Coxeter states that every zonogon (a 2"m"-gon whose opposite sides are parallel and of equal length) can be dissected into "m"("m"-1)/2 parallelograms. In particular this is true for regular polygons with evenly many sides, in which case the parallelograms are all rhombi. For the "regular octagon", "m"=4, and it can be divided into 6 rhombs, with one example shown below. This decomposition can be seen as 6


title: Octagon content: of 24 faces in a Petrie polygon projection plane of the tesseract. The list defines the number of solutions as 8, by the 8 orientations of this one dissection. These squares and rhombs are used in the Ammann–Beenker tilings. A skew octagon is a skew polygon with 8 vertices and edges but not existing on the same plane. The interior of such an octagon is not generally defined. A "skew zig-zag octagon" has vertices alternating between two parallel planes. A regular skew octagon is vertex-transitive with equal edge lengths. In 3-dimensions it will be a zig-zag skew octagon and can


title: Octagon content: be seen in the vertices and side edges of a square antiprism with the same D, [2,8] symmetry, order 16. The regular skew octagon is the Petrie polygon for these higher-dimensional regular and uniform polytopes, shown in these skew orthogonal projections of in A, B, and D Coxeter planes. The "regular octagon" has Dih symmetry, order 16. There are 3 dihedral subgroups: Dih, Dih, and Dih, and 4 cyclic subgroups: Z, Z, Z, and Z, the last implying no symmetry. On the regular octagon, there are 11 distinct symmetries. John Conway labels full symmetry as r16. The dihedral symmetries are


title: Octagon content: divided depending on whether they pass through vertices (d for diagonal) or edges (p for perpendiculars) Cyclic symmetries in the middle column are labeled as g for their central gyration orders. Full symmetry of the regular form is r16 and no symmetry is labeled a1. The most common high symmetry octagons are p8, a isogonal octagon constructed by four mirrors can alternate long and short edges, and d8, an isotoxal octagon constructed with equal edge lengths, but vertices alternating two different internal angles. These two forms are duals of each other and have half the symmetry order of the regular


title: Octagon content: octagon. Each subgroup symmetry allows one or more degrees of freedom for irregular forms. Only the g8 subgroup has no degrees of freedom but can seen as directed edges. The octagonal shape is used as a design element in architecture. The Dome of the Rock has a characteristic octagonal plan. The Tower of the Winds in Athens is another example of an octagonal structure. The octagonal plan has also been in church architecture such as St. George's Cathedral, Addis Ababa, Basilica of San Vitale (in Ravenna, Italia), Castel del Monte (Apulia, Italia), Florence Baptistery, Zum Friedefürsten church (Germany) and a


title: Octagon content: number of octagonal churches in Norway. The central space in the Aachen Cathedral, the Carolingian Palatine Chapel, has a regular octagonal floorplan. Uses of octagons in churches also include lesser design elements, such as the octagonal apse of Nidaros Cathedral. Architects such as John Andrews have used octagonal floor layouts in buildings for functionally separating office areas from building services, notably the Intelsat Headquarters in Washington D.C., Callam Offices in Canberra, and Octagon Offices in Parramatta, Australia. The "octagon", as a truncated square, is first in a sequence of truncated hypercubes: As an expanded square, it is also first in


title: Octagon content: a sequence of expanded hypercubes: Octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον "oktágōnon", "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A "regular octagon" has Schläfli symbol {8} and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t{4}, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t{8} is a hexadecagon, t{16}. The sum of all the internal angles of any octagon is 1080°. As with all polygons, the external angles total 360°. If squares are constructed all internally or all externally on the sides of an octagon, then the midpoints of the segments connecting the centers


title: "Baird's sandpiper" content: Baird's sandpiper The Baird's sandpiper ("Calidris bairdii") is a small shorebird. It is among those calidrids which were formerly included in the genus "Erolia", which was subsumed into the genus "Calidris" in 1973. The genus name is from Ancient Greek "kalidris" or "skalidris", a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The English name and specific "bairdii" commemorate Spencer Fullerton Baird, 19th-century naturalist and assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Adults have black legs and a short, straight, thin dark bill. They are dark brown on top and mainly white underneath with a black patch on the rump.


title: "Baird's sandpiper" content: The head and breast are light brown with dark streaks. In winter plumage, this species is paler brownish gray above. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints". One of the best identification features is the long wings, which extend beyond the tail when the bird is on the ground. Only the white-rumped sandpiper also shows this, and that bird can be distinguished by its namesake feature. Baird's sandpipers breed in the northern tundra from eastern Siberia to western Greenland. They nest on the ground, usually in dry


title: "Baird's sandpiper" content: locations with low vegetation. They are a long distance migrant, wintering in South America. This species is a rare vagrant to western Europe. Baird's sandpiper might have hybridized with the buff-breasted sandpiper. These birds forage by moving about mudflats, picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insects, also some small crustaceans. Baird's sandpiper The Baird's sandpiper ("Calidris bairdii") is a small shorebird. It is among those calidrids which were formerly included in the genus "Erolia", which was subsumed into the genus "Calidris" in 1973. The genus name is from Ancient Greek "kalidris" or "skalidris", a term used by Aristotle


title: "Bataan Death March" content: the intransigence of the American commanders who did not surrender until the men were on the verge of death. In September 1945, General Masaharu Homma was arrested by Allied troops and indicted for war crimes. Homma was charged with 43 different counts of crimes against humanity. Homma was found guilty of permitting members of his command to commit "brutal atrocities and other high crimes". The general, who had been absorbed in his efforts to capture Corregidor after the fall of Bataan, claimed in his defense that he remained ignorant of the high death toll of the death march until two


title: "Apostolic Palace" content: Apostolic Palace The Apostolic Palace (; ) is the official residence of the Roman Catholic Pope and "Bishop of Rome", which is located in Vatican City. It is also known as the Papal Palace, Palace of the Vatican and Vatican Palace. The Vatican itself refers to the building as the Palace of Sixtus V in honor of Pope Sixtus V. The building contains the Papal Apartments, various offices of the Catholic Church and the Holy See, private and public chapels, Vatican Museums, and the Vatican Library, including the Sistine Chapel, Raphael Rooms, and Borgia Apartment. The modern tourist can see


title: "Apostolic Palace" content: these last and other parts of the palace, but other parts, such as the Sala Regia and Cappella Paolina, are closed to tourists. The Scala Regia can be seen into from one end but not entered. In the fifth century, Pope Symmachus built a papal palace close to the Old St. Peter's Basilica which served an alternative residence to the Lateran Palace. The construction of a second fortified palace was sponsored by Pope Eugene III and extensively modified under Pope Innocent III in the twelfth century. Upon returning to Rome in 1377 after the interlude of the Avignon Papacy, which


title: "Apostolic Palace" content: saw Rome subject to civil unrest and the abandonment of several Christian monuments, the popes chose to reside first at Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere and then at Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. The Vatican Palace had fallen into disrepair from lack of upkeep and the Lateran Palace underwent two destructive fires, in 1307 and 1361, which did irreparable harm. In 1447, Pope Nicholas V razed the ancient fortified palace of Eugene III to erect a new building, the current Apostolic Palace. In the 15th century, the Palace was placed under the authority of a prefect. This position of


title: "Apostolic Palace" content: Apostolic Prefect lasted from the 15th century till the 1800s, when the Papal States fell into economic difficulties. In 1884, when this post was reviewed in light of saving money, Pope Leo XIII created a committee to administer the palace. The major additions and decorations of the palace are the work of the following popes for 150 years. Construction of the current version of the palace began on 30 April 1589 under Pope Sixtus V and its various intrinsic parts were completed by later successors, Pope Urban VII, Pope Innocent XI and Pope Clement VIII. In the 20th century, Pope