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Fresnel lens. A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships."The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required by a lens of conventional design. A Fresnel lens can be made much thinner than a comparable conventional lens, in some cases taking the form of a flat sheet. The simpler dioptric (purely refractive) form of the lens.

Fresnel lens. was first proposed by Count Buffon and independently reinvented by Fresnel. The "catadioptric" form of the lens, entirely invented by Fresnel, has outer elements that use total internal reflection as well as refraction; it can capture more oblique light from a light source and add it to the beam of a lighthouse, making the light visible from greater distances.## Description.The Fresnel lens reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. An ideal Fresnel lens would have an infinite number of sections. In each section, the overall.

Fresnel lens. thickness is decreased compared to an equivalent simple lens. This effectively divides the continuous surface of a standard lens into a set of surfaces of the same curvature, with stepwise discontinuities between them.In some lenses, the curved surfaces are replaced with flat surfaces, with a different angle in each section. Such a lens can be regarded as an array of prisms arranged in a circular fashion with steeper prisms on the edges and a flat or slightly convex center. In the first (and largest) Fresnel lenses, each section was actually a separate prism. 'Single-piece' Fresnel lenses were later produced, being.

Fresnel lens. used for automobile headlamps, brake, parking, and turn signal lenses, and so on. In modern times, computer-controlled milling equipment (CNC) or 3-D printers might be used to manufacture more complex lenses.Fresnel lens design allows a substantial reduction in thickness (and thus mass and volume of material) at the expense of reducing the imaging quality of the lens, which is why precise imaging applications such as photography usually still use larger conventional lenses.Fresnel lenses are usually made of glass or plastic; their size varies from large (old historical lighthouses, meter size) to medium (book-reading aids, OHP viewgraph projectors) to small (TLR/SLR.

Fresnel lens. camera screens, micro-optics). In many cases they are very thin and flat, almost flexible, with thicknesses in the 1 to 5 (mm) range.Most modern Fresnel lenses consist only of refractive elements. Lighthouse lenses, however, tend to include both refracting and reflecting elements, the latter being "outside" the metal rings seen in the photographs. While the inner elements are sections of refractive lenses, the outer elements are reflecting prisms, each of which performs two refractions and one total internal reflection, avoiding the light loss that occurs in reflection from a silvered mirror.## Lighthouse lens sizes.Fresnel designed six sizes of lighthouse lenses,.

Fresnel lens. divided into four "orders" based on their size and focal length. In modern use, these are classified as first through sixth order. An intermediate size between third and fourth order was added later, as well as sizes above first order and below sixth.A first-order lens has a focal length of 920 (mm) and stands about 2.59 (m) high, and 1.8 (m) wide. The smallest (sixth) order has a focal length of 150 (mm) and a height of 433 (mm).The largest Fresnel lenses are called hyperradiant (or hyper-radial). One such lens was on hand when it was decided to build and.

Fresnel lens. outfit the Makapuu Point Light in Hawaii. Rather than order a new lens, the huge optic construction, 12 (ft) tall and with over a thousand prisms, was used there.## Types.There are two main types of Fresnel lens: "imaging" and "non-imaging". Imaging Fresnel lenses use segments with curved cross-sections and produce sharp images, while non-imaging lenses have segments with flat cross-sections, and do not produce sharp images. As the number of segments increases, the two types of lens become more similar to each other. In the abstract case of an infinite number of segments, the difference between curved and flat segments.

Fresnel lens. disappears.Spherical: A spherical Fresnel lens is equivalent to a simple spherical lens, using ring-shaped segments that are each a portion of a sphere, that all focus light on a single point. This type of lens produces a sharp image, although not quite as clear as the equivalent simple spherical lens due to diffraction at the edges of the ridges.Cylindrical: A cylindrical Fresnel lens is equivalent to a simple cylindrical lens, using straight segments with circular cross-section, focusing light on a single line. This type produces a sharp image, although not quite as clear as the equivalent simple cylindrical lens due.

Fresnel lens. to diffraction at the edges of the ridges.Spot: A non-imaging spot Fresnel lens uses ring-shaped segments with cross sections that are straight lines rather than circular arcs. Such a lens can focus light on a small spot, but does not produce a sharp image. These lenses have application in solar power, such as focusing sunlight on a solar panel. Fresnel lenses may be used as components of Köhler illumination optics resulting in very effective nonimaging optics Fresnel-Köhler (FK) solar concentrators.Linear: A non-imaging linear Fresnel lens uses straight segments whose cross sections are straight lines rather than arcs. These lenses focus.

Fresnel lens. light into a narrow band. They do not produce a sharp image, but can be used in solar power, such as for focusing sunlight on a pipe, to heat the water within.## Uses.## Imaging.Fresnel lenses are used as simple hand-held magnifiers. They are also used to correct several visual disorders, including ocular-motility disorders such as strabismus. Fresnel lenses have been used to increase the visual size of CRT displays in pocket televisions, notably the Sinclair TV80. They are also used in traffic lights.Fresnel lenses are used in left-hand-drive European lorries entering the UK and Republic of Ireland (and vice versa,.

Fresnel lens. right-hand-drive Irish and British trucks entering mainland Europe) to overcome the blind spots caused by the driver operating the lorry while sitting on the wrong side of the cab relative to the side of the road the car is on. They attach to the passenger-side window.Another automobile application of a Fresnel lens is a rear view enhancer, as the wide view angle of a lens attached to the rear window permits examining the scene behind a vehicle, particularly a tall or bluff-tailed one, more effectively than a rear-view mirror alone.Multi-focal Fresnel lenses are also used as a part of retina.

Fresnel lens. identification cameras, where they provide multiple in- and out-of-focus images of a fixation target inside the camera. For virtually all users, at least one of the images will be in focus, thus allowing correct eye alignment.Fresnel lenses have also been used in the field of popular entertainment. The British rock artist Peter Gabriel made use of them in his early solo live performances to magnify the size of his head, in contrast to the rest of his body, for dramatic and comic effect. In the Terry Gilliam film "Brazil", plastic Fresnel screens appear ostensibly as magnifiers for the small CRT.

Fresnel lens. monitors used throughout the offices of the Ministry of Information. However, they occasionally appear between the actors and the camera, distorting the scale and composition of the scene to humorous effect. The Pixar movie Wall-E features a Fresnel lens in the scenes where the protagonist watches the musical Hello, Dolly! magnified on an iPod.## Photography.Canon and Nikon have used Fresnel lenses to reduce the size of telephoto lenses. Photographic lenses that include Fresnel elements can be much shorter than corresponding conventional lens design. Nikon calls the technology "Phase Fresnel".The Polaroid SX-70 camera used a Fresnel reflector as part of its.

Fresnel lens. viewing system.View and large format cameras can utilize a Fresnel lens in conjunction with the ground glass, to increase the perceived brightness of the image projected by a lens onto the ground glass, thus aiding in adjusting focus and composition.## Illumination.High-quality glass Fresnel lenses were used in lighthouses, where they were considered state of the art in the late 19th and through the middle of the 20th centuries; most lighthouses have now retired glass Fresnel lenses from service and replaced them with much less expensive and more durable aerobeacons, which themselves often contain plastic Fresnel lenses. Lighthouse Fresnel lens systems.

Fresnel lens. typically include extra annular prismatic elements, arrayed in faceted domes above and below the central planar Fresnel, in order to catch all light emitted from the light source. The light path through these elements can include an internal reflection, rather than the simple refraction in the planar Fresnel element. These lenses conferred many practical benefits upon the designers, builders, and users of lighthouses and their illumination. Among other things, smaller lenses could fit into more compact spaces. Greater light transmission over longer distances, and varied patterns, made it possible to triangulate a position.Perhaps the most widespread use of Fresnel lenses,.

Fresnel lens. for a time, occurred in automobile headlamps, where they can shape the roughly parallel beam from the parabolic reflector to meet requirements for dipped and main-beam patterns, often both in the same headlamp unit (such as the European H4 design). For reasons of economy, weight, and impact resistance, newer cars have dispensed with glass Fresnel lenses, using multifaceted reflectors with plain polycarbonate lenses. However, Fresnel lenses continue in wide use in automobile tail, marker, and reversing lights.Glass Fresnel lenses also are used in lighting instruments for theatre and motion pictures (see Fresnel lantern); such instruments are often called simply "Fresnels".

Fresnel lens. The entire instrument consists of a metal housing, a reflector, a lamp assembly, and a Fresnel lens. Many Fresnel instruments allow the lamp to be moved relative to the lens' focal point, to increase or decrease the size of the light beam. As a result, they are very flexible, and can often produce a beam as narrow as 7° or as wide as 70°. The Fresnel lens produces a very soft-edged beam, so is often used as a wash light. A holder in front of the lens can hold a colored plastic film ("gel") to tint the light or wire.

Fresnel lens. screens or frosted plastic to diffuse it. The Fresnel lens is useful in the making of motion pictures not only because of its ability to focus the beam brighter than a typical lens, but also because the light is a relatively consistent intensity across the entire width of the beam of light.Aircraft carriers and naval air stations typically use Fresnel lenses in their optical landing systems. The "meatball" light aids the pilot in maintaining proper glide slope for the landing. In the center are amber and red lights composed of Fresnel lenses. Although the lights are always on, the angle.

Fresnel lens. of the lens from the pilot's point of view determines the color and position of the visible light. If the lights appear above the green horizontal bar, the pilot is too high. If it is below, the pilot is too low, and if the lights are red, the pilot is very low.Fresnel lenses are also commonly used in searchlights, spotlights, and flashlights.## Projection.The use of Fresnel lenses for image projection reduces image quality, so they tend to occur only where quality is not critical or where the bulk of a solid lens would be prohibitive. Cheap Fresnel lenses can be.

Fresnel lens. stamped or molded of transparent plastic and are used in overhead projectors and projection televisions.Fresnel lenses of different focal lengths (one collimator, and one collector) are used in commercial and DIY projection. The collimator lens has the lower focal length and is placed closer to the light source, and the collector lens, which focuses the light into the triplet lens, is placed after the projection image (an active matrix LCD panel in LCD projectors). Fresnel lenses are also used as collimators in overhead projectors.## Solar power.Since plastic Fresnel lenses can be made larger than glass lenses, as well as being.

Fresnel lens. much cheaper and lighter, they are used to concentrate sunlight for heating in solar cookers, in solar forges, and in solar collectors used to heat water for domestic use. They can also be used to generate steam or to power a Stirling engine.Fresnel lenses can concentrate sunlight onto solar cells with a ratio of almost 500:1. This allows the active solar-cell surface to be reduced, lowering cost and allowing the use of more efficient cells that would otherwise be too expensive. In the early 21st century, Fresnel reflectors began to be used in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants to concentrate.

Fresnel lens. solar energy. One application was to preheat water at the coal-fired Liddell Power Station, in Hunter Valley Australia.Fresnel lenses can be used to sinter sand, allowing 3D printing in glass.## History.## Forerunners.Augustin-Jean Fresnel was not the first person to focus a lighthouse beam using a lens. That distinction apparently belongs to the London glass-cutter Thomas Rogers, who proposed the idea to Trinity House in 1788. The first Rogers lenses, 53cm in diameter and 14cm thick at the center, were installed at the Old Lower Lighthouse at Portland Bill in 1789. Behind each lamp was a back-coated spherical glass mirror, which.

Fresnel lens. reflected rear radiation back through the lamp and into the lens. Further samples were installed at Howth Baily, North Foreland, and at least four other locations by 1804. But much of the light was wasted by absorption in the glass.Nor was Fresnel the first to suggest replacing a convex lens with a series of concentric annular prisms, to reduce weight and absorption. In 1748, Count Buffon proposed grinding such prisms as steps in a single piece of glass. In 1790 (although secondary sources give the date as 1773 or 1788), the Marquis de Condorcet suggested that it would be easier.

Fresnel lens. to make the annular sections separately and assemble them on a frame; but even that was impractical at the time. These designs were intended not for lighthouses, but for burning glasses. David Brewster, however, proposed a system similar to Condorcet's in 1811, and by 1820 was advocating its use in British lighthouses.## Fresnel's contributions.The French (Commission of Lighthouses) was established by Napoleon in 1811, and placed under the authority of Fresnel's employer, the Corps of Bridges and Roads. As the members of the commission were otherwise occupied, it achieved little in its early years. But on 21 June 1819—three months.

Fresnel lens. after winning the physics of the Academy of Sciences for his celebrated memoir on diffraction—Fresnel was "temporarily" seconded to the commission on the recommendation of François Arago (a member since 1813), to review possible improvements in lighthouse illumination.By the end of August 1819, unaware of the Buffon-Condorcet-Brewster proposal, Fresnel made his first presentation to the commission, recommending what he called ('lenses by steps') to replace the reflectors then in use, which reflected only about half of the incident light. Much to Fresnel's embarrassment, one of the assembled commissioners, Jacques Charles, recalled Buffon's suggestion. However, whereas Buffon's version was biconvex and.

Fresnel lens. in one piece, Fresnel's was plano-convex and made of multiple prisms for easier construction. With an official budget of 500 francs, Fresnel approached three manufacturers. The third, François Soleil, found a way to remove defects by reheating and remolding the glass. Arago assisted Fresnel with the design of a modified Argand lamp with concentric wicks (a concept that Fresnel attributed to Count Rumford), and accidentally discovered that fish glue was heat-resistant, making it suitable for use in the lens. The prototype, finished in March 1820, had a square lens panel 55cm on a side, containing 97 polygonal (not annular) prisms—and.

Fresnel lens. so impressed the Commission that Fresnel was asked for a full eight-panel version. This model, completed a year later in spite of insufficient funding, had panels 76cm square. In a public spectacle on the evening of 13 April 1821, it was demonstrated by comparison with the most recent reflectors, which it suddenly rendered obsolete.Soon after this demonstration, Fresnel published the idea that light, including apparently unpolarized light, consists exclusively of transverse waves, and went on to consider the implications for double refraction and partial reflection.Fresnel acknowledged the British lenses and Buffon's invention in a memoir read on 29 July 1822.

Fresnel lens. and printed in the same year. The date of that memoir may be the source of the claim that Fresnel's lighthouse advocacy began two years later than Brewster's; but the text makes it clear that Fresnel's involvement began no later than 1819.Fresnel's next lens was a rotating apparatus with eight "bull's-eye" panels, made in annular arcs by Saint-Gobain, giving eight rotating beams—to be seen by mariners as a periodic flash. Above and behind each main panel was a smaller, sloping bull's-eye panel of trapezoidal outline with trapezoidal elements. This refracted the light to a sloping plane mirror, which then reflected.

Fresnel lens. it horizontally, 7 degrees ahead of the main beam, increasing the duration of the flash. Below the main panels were 128 small mirrors arranged in four rings, stacked like the slats of a louver or Venetian blind. Each ring, shaped like a frustum of a cone, reflected the light to the horizon, giving a fainter steady light between the flashes. The official test, conducted on the unfinished on 20 August 1822, was witnessed by the Commission—and by Louis XVIII and his entourage—from 20 (mi) away. The apparatus was stored at Bordeaux for the winter, and then reassembled at Cordouan Lighthouse.

Fresnel lens. under Fresnel's supervision—in part by Fresnel's own hands. On 25 July 1823, the world's first lighthouse Fresnel lens was lit. As expected, the light was visible to the horizon, more than 20 (mi) out.The day before the test of the Cordouan lens in Paris, a committee of the Academy of Sciences reported on Fresnel's memoir and supplements on double refraction—which, although less well known to modern readers than his earlier work on diffraction, struck a more decisive blow for the wave theory of light. Between the test and the reassembly at Cordouan, Fresnel submitted his papers on photoelasticity (16 September.

Fresnel lens. 1822), elliptical and circular polarization and optical rotation (9 December), and partial reflection and total internal reflection (7 January 1823), essentially completing his reconstruction of physical optics on the transverse wave hypothesis. Shortly after the Cordouan lens was lit, Fresnel started coughing up blood.In May 1824, Fresnel was promoted to Secretary of the , becoming the first member of that body to draw a salary, albeit in the concurrent role of Engineer-in-Chief. Late that year, being increasingly ill, he curtailed his fundamental research and resigned his seasonal job as an examiner at the , in order to save his remaining.

Fresnel lens. time and energy for his lighthouse work.In the same year he designed the first "fixed" lens—for spreading light evenly around the horizon while minimizing waste above or below. Ideally the curved refracting surfaces would be segments of toroids about a common vertical axis, so that the dioptric panel would look like a cylindrical drum. If this was supplemented by reflecting (catoptric) rings above and below the refracting (dioptric) parts, the entire apparatus would look like a beehive. The second Fresnel lens to enter service was indeed a fixed lens, of third order, installed at Dunkirk by 1 February 1825. However,.

Fresnel lens. due to the difficulty of fabricating large toroidal prisms, this apparatus had a 16-sided polygonal plan.In 1825 Fresnel extended his fixed-lens design by adding a rotating array outside the fixed array. Each panel of the rotating array was to refract part of the fixed light from a horizontal fan into a narrow beam.Also in 1825, Fresnel unveiled the ('lighthouse map'), calling for a system of 51 lighthouses plus smaller harbor lights, in a hierarchy of lens sizes called "orders" (the first being the largest), with different characteristics to facilitate recognition: a constant light (from a fixed lens), one flash per.

Fresnel lens. minute (from a rotating lens with eight panels), and two per minute (16 panels).In late 1825, to reduce the loss of light in the reflecting elements, Fresnel proposed to replace each mirror with a catadioptric prism, through which the light would travel by refraction through the first surface, then total internal reflection off the second surface, then refraction through the third surface. The result was the lighthouse lens as we now know it. In 1826 he assembled a small model for use on the , but he did not live to see a full-sized version: he died on 14 July.

Fresnel lens. 1827, at the age of 39.## After Fresnel.The first stage of the development of lighthouse lenses after the death of Augustin Fresnel consisted in the implementation of his designs. This was driven in part by his younger brother Léonor—who, like Augustin, was trained as a civil engineer but, unlike Augustin, had a strong aptitude for management. Léonor entered the service of the Lighthouse Commission in 1825, and went on to succeed Augustin as Secretary.The first fixed lens to be constructed with toroidal prisms was a first-order apparatus designed by the Scottish engineer Alan Stevenson under the guidance of Léonor Fresnel,.

Fresnel lens. and fabricated by Isaac Cookson & Co. using French glass; it entered service at the Isle of May, Scotland, on 22 September 1836. The first large catadioptric lenses were made in 1842 for the lighthouses at Gravelines and Île Vierge, France; these were fixed third-order lenses whose catadioptric rings (made in segments) were one metre in diameter. Stevenson's first-order Skerryvore lens, lit in 1844, was only partly catadioptric; it was similar to the Cordouan lens except that the lower slats were replaced by French-made catadioptric prisms, while mirrors were retained at the top. The first "fully" catadioptric first-order lens, installed.

Fresnel lens. at Pointe d'Ailly in 1852, also gave eight rotating beams plus a fixed light at the bottom; but its top section had eight catadioptric panels focusing the light about 4 degrees ahead of the main beams, in order to lengthen the flashes. The first fully catadioptric lens with "purely revolving" beams—also of first order—was installed at Saint-Clément-des-Baleines in 1854, and marked the completion of Augustin Fresnel's original "Carte des Phares".Thomas Stevenson (younger brother of Alan) went a step beyond Fresnel with his "holophotal" lens, which focused the light radiated by the lamp in nearly all directions, forward or backward, into.

Fresnel lens. a single beam. The first version, described in 1849, consisted of a standard Fresnel bull's-eye lens, a paraboloidal reflector, and a rear hemispherical reflector (functionally equivalent to the Rogers mirror of 60 years earlier, except that it subtended a whole hemisphere). Light radiated into the forward hemisphere but missing the bull's-eye lens was deflected by the paraboloid into a parallel beam surrounding the bull's-eye lens, while light radiated into the backward hemisphere was reflected back through the lamp by the spherical reflector (as in Rogers' arrangement), to be collected by the forward components. The first unit was installed at North.

Fresnel lens. Harbour, Peterhead, in August 1849. Stevenson called this version a "catadioptric holophote", although each of its elements was either purely reflective or purely refractive. In the second version of the holophote concept, the bull's-eye lens and paraboloidal reflector were replaced by a catadioptric Fresnel lens—as conceived by Fresnel, but expanded to cover the whole forward hemisphere. The third version, which Stevenson confusingly called a "dioptric holophote", was more innovative: it retained the catadioptric Fresnel lens for the front hemisphere, but replaced the rear hemispherical reflector with a hemispherical array of annular prisms, each of which used "two" total internal reflections.

Fresnel lens. to turn light diverging from the center of the hemisphere back toward the center. The result was an all-glass holophote, with no losses from metallic reflections.James Timmins Chance modified Thomas Stevenson's all-glass holophotal design by arranging the double-reflecting prisms about a vertical axis. The prototype was shown at the 1862 International Exhibition in London. Later, to ease manufacturing, Chance divided the prisms into segments, and arranged them in a cylindrical form while retaining the property of reflecting light from a single point back to that point. Reflectors of this form, paradoxically called "dioptric mirrors", proved particularly useful for returning light.

Fresnel lens. from the landward side of the lamp to the seaward side.As lighthouses proliferated, they became harder to distinguish from each other, leading to the use of colored filters, which wasted light. In 1884, John Hopkinson eliminated the need for filters by inventing the "group-flashing" lens, in which the dioptric and/or the catadioptric panels were split so as to give multiple flashes—allowing lighthouses to be identified not only by frequency of flashes, but also by multiplicity of flashes. Double-flashing lenses were installed at Tampico (Mexico) and Little Basses (Sri Lanka) in 1875, and a triple-flashing lens at Casquets Lighthouse (Channel Islands).

Fresnel lens. in 1876. The example shown (right) is the double-flashing lens of the Point Arena Light, which was in service from 1908 to 1977.The development of hyper-radial lenses was driven in part by the need for larger light sources, such as gas lights with multiple jets, which required a longer focal length for a given beam-width, hence a larger lens to collect a given fraction of the generated light. The first hyper-radial lens was built for the Stevensons in 1885 by F. Barbier & Cie of France, and tested at South Foreland Lighthouse with various light sources. Chance Brothers (Hopkinson's employers).

Fresnel lens. then began constructing hyper-radials, installing their first at Bishop Rock Lighthouse in 1887. In the same year, Barbier installed a hyper-radial at Tory Island. But only about 30 hyper-radials went into service before the development of more compact bright lamps rendered such large optics unnecessary (see "Hyperradiant Fresnel lens").Production of one-piece stepped dioptric lenses—roughly as envisaged by Buffon—became feasible in 1852, when John L. Gilliland of the Brooklyn Flint-Glass Company patented a method of making lenses from pressed and molded glass. The company made small bull's-eye lenses for use on railroads, steamboats, and docks; such lenses were common in the.

Fresnel lens. United States by the 1870s. In 1858 the company produced "a very small number of pressed flint-glass sixth-order lenses" for use in lighthouses—the first Fresnel lighthouse lenses made in America. By the 1950s, the substitution of plastic for glass made it economic to use Fresnel lenses as condensers in overhead projectors. Fresnel imager Fresnel zone plate Lenticular lens Linear Fresnel reflector Prism lighting − Fresnel anidolic optics M. Born and E. Wolf, "Principles of Optics", 7th Ed., Cambridge, 1999. G.-A. Boutry, 1948, "Augustin Fresnel: His time, life and work, 1788–1827", "Science Progress", vol. 36, no. 144 (October 1948), pp. 587–604;.

Fresnel lens. jstor.org/stable/43413515. J.Z. Buchwald, 1989, "The Rise of the Wave Theory of Light: Optical Theory and Experiment in the Early Nineteenth Century", University of Chicago Press, . J. Elton, 2009, "A Light to Lighten our Darkness: Lighthouse Optics and the Later Development of Fresnel's Revolutionary Refracting Lens 1780–1900", "International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology", vol. 79, no. 2 (July 2009), pp. 183–244; . A. Fresnel, 1822, "Mémoire sur un nouveau système d'éclairage des phares", read 29 July 1822; reprinted in Fresnel, 1866–70, vol. 3, pp. 97–126; translated by T. Tag as "Memoir upon a new system of lighthouse.

Fresnel lens. illumination", U.S. Lighthouse Society, accessed 26 August 2017; archived 19 August 2016. (Cited page numbers refer to the translation.) A. Fresnel (ed. H. de Sénarmont, E. Verdet, and L. Fresnel), 1866–70, "Oeuvres complètes d'Augustin Fresnel" (3 vols.), Paris: Imprimerie Impériale; vol. 1 (1866), vol. 2 (1868), vol. 3 (1870). T.H. Levitt, 2013, "A Short Bright Flash: Augustin Fresnel and the Birth of the Modern Lighthouse", New York: W.W. Norton, . T. Young (ed. G. Peacock), 1855, "Miscellaneous Works of the late Thomas Young", London: J. Murray, vol. 1. "The Fresnel Lens", "The Keeper's Log", Winter 1985, pp. 12–14. U.S. Coast.

Fresnel lens. Guard, "Aids to Navigation", Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1945. U.S. Coast Guard, "Lighthouses, Lenses, Illuminants, Engineering, & Augustin Fresnel: A Historical Bibliography on Works Published Through 2007". United States Lighthouse Society, especially "Fresnel Lenses". W.A. Britten, "The Fresnel lens" (with photographs). J. Francis, "Fresnel Lens - Maxwell Simulation", 13 April 2009. J. Hare, "How the Fresnel lens works" (5-minute video), Vega Science Trust, 2008.


Question: What are the locomotion methods of this animal?

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Hedgehog. belly, which are not quilled. Since the effectiveness of this strategy depends on the number of spines, some desert hedgehogs that evolved to carry less weight are more likely to flee or attack, ramming an intruder with the spines; rolling into a spiny ball for those species is a last resort. Hedgehogs are primarily nocturnal, though some species can also be active during the day. Hedgehogs sleep for a large portion of the day under bushes, grasses, rocks, or most commonly in dens dug in the ground, with varying habits among the species. All wild hedgehogs can hibernate, though not.


Question: What is the basionym of this plant?

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Phalaenopsis amabilis. on distribution but occurs from April to December in New Guinea.## Taxonomy and naming.In 1750, before the system of binomial nomenclature had been formalised by Carl Linnaeus, Georg Eberhard Rumphius had collected the species on Ambon Island and described it as "Angraecum albus majus" in his book "Herbarium Amboinense". Linnaeus described it in "Species Plantarum" giving it the binomial "Epidendrum amabile" and in 1825, Carl Ludwig Blume changed the name to "Phalaenopsis amabilis". The specific epithet ("amabilis") is a Latin word meaning "lovely".SubspeciesThere are three subspecies of "P. amabilis" recognised by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: "Phalaenopsis amabilis.


Question: In which country can you commonly find this animal?

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Duttaphrynus melanostictus. Duttaphrynus melanostictus is commonly called Asian common toad, Asian black-spined toad, Asian toad, black-spectacled toad, common Sunda toad, and Javanese toad. It is probably a complex of more than one true toad species that is widely distributed in South and Southeast Asia.The species grows to about 20 (cm) long. Asian common toads breed during the monsoon, and their tadpoles are black. Young toads may be seen in large numbers after monsoon rains finish.## Characteristics.The top of the head has several bony ridges, along the edge of the snout (canthal ridge), in front of the eye (preorbital), above the eye (supraorbital),.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus. behind the eye (postorbital), and a short one between the eye and ear (orbitotympanic). The snout is short and blunt, and the space between the eyes is broader than the upper eyelid width. The ear drum or tympanum is very distinct and is at least as wide as two-thirds the diameter of the eye. The first finger is often longer than the second and the toes are at least half webbed. A warty tubercle is found just before the junction of the thigh and shank (subarticular tubercle) and two moderate ones are on the shank (metatarsus). No skin fold occurs.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus. along the tarsus. The “knee” (tarsometatarsal articulation) reaches the tympanum or the eye when the hind leg is held parallel along the side of the body. The dorsal side is covered with spiny warts. The parotoids are prominent, kidney-shaped, or elliptical and elongated, and secrete milky white Bufotoxin. The dorsal side is yellowish or brownish and the spines and ridges are black. The underside is unmarked or spotted. Males have a subgular vocal sac and black pads on the inner fingers that help in holding the female during copulation.## Ecology and behaviour.Asian common toads breed in still and slow-flowing rivers.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus. and temporary and permanent ponds and pools. Adults are terrestrial and may be found under ground cover such as rocks, leaf litter, and logs, and are also associated with human habitations. The larvae are found in still and slow-moving waterbodies.They are often seen at night under street lamps, especially when winged termites swarm. They have been noted to feed on a wide range of invertebrates, including scorpions. Tadpoles grown in sibling groups metamorphosed faster than those that were kept in mixed groups. Tadpoles have been shown to be able to recognize kin. The 96h LC50 of commercial grade malathion for.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus. the tadpoles is 7.5 mg/L and sublethal levels of exposure can impair swimming. ## Distribution and habitat.Asian common toads occur widely from northern Pakistan through Nepal, Bangladesh, India including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, southern China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau to Malaysia, Singapore, and the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Anambas and Natuna Islands. They have been recorded from sea level up to 1800 (m) altitude, and live mostly in disturbed lowland habitats, from upper beaches and riverbanks to human-dominated agricultural and urban areas. They are uncommon in closed forests.## Introductions.##.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus. Madagascar."D. melanostictus" arrived in Madagascar in 2011 at the port of Toamasina, and by 2014, was found in a 100 (sqkm) zone around that city.Since its discovery on the east coast, a grave fear has developed that if the Asian toad is not eradicated from Madagascar and stronger quarantines are not developed to prevent reinvasion, it could have comparable impacts to those of cane toads in Australia. Because – like Australia's – Madagascar's native predators have been isolated from bufonids since the Jurassic, they are thought to lack resistance to toad toxins as found in natural varanid and snake predators.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus. of "D. melanostictus" in its native range.One study analyzed the sequences of the Na+/K+-ATPase gene (sodium-potassium pump) in dozens of Malagasy species that may be feeding on "D. melanostictus." It was found that all but one out of 77 species failed to show evidence of resistance to the toad toxin, which strongly suggests that these alien toads can significantly impact the native Malagasy animal life and contribute to the worsening biodiversity crisis in the region.Nevertheless, evidence from one Australian species, the bluetongue lizard, "Tiliqua scincoides", produces the possibility that some Malagasy animals do possess resistance to bufotenin because almost identical.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus. cardiac glycosides are produced by native plants of the genus "Bryophyllum".## Wallacea and West Papua."D. melanostictus" was introduced to the Indonesian island of Bali in 1958, Sulawesi in 1974, then subsequently to Ambon, Lombok, Sumba, Sumbawa, Timor and Indonesian New Guinea at Manokwari on the Vogelkop Peninsula. The species is now common at Sentani in far eastern Papua Province. The absence of resistance to toad toxins in native snake and varanid predators means that these species could suffer severe declines from the inadvertent spread of the Asian common toad via human traffic, and the currently near threatened New Guinea quoll.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus. is also almost certain to be further affected in the lower-altitude portion of its range.## An unwanted species in Australia.The Asian common toad has been detected in Australia at least four times since 2000. The most recent incursion, in 2015, was in suburban Sydney.The Asian common toad has been described as one of Australia's “10 most unwanted” species, and “potentially more damaging than the cane toad”.It may cause serious ecological problems due to “competition with native species, its potential to spread exotic parasites and pathogens and its toxicity”. Like cane toads, the Asian common toad secretes toxins from glands in.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus. their backs to deter predators. These toxins would beyond reasonable doubt severely affect native predators, such as snakes, goannas and quolls.The recent rate of incursions suggests a high likelihood of establishment in Australia. So, experts are calling for the Australian government to develop a “high-priority contingency plan” that includes stronger environmental quarantine and surveillance strategies. See also "Oligodon fasciolatus" for:* H. Bringsøe "et al.": Eviscerated alive: Novel and macabre feeding strategy in "Oligodon fasciolatus" (Günther, 1864) eating organs of "Duttaphrynus melanostictus" (Schneider, 1799) in Thailand. In: "Herpetozoa". Published online September 11, 2020. . * Erin Garcia de Jesus: This snake.

Duttaphrynus melanostictus. rips a hole in living toads’ stomachs to feast on their organs, on: ScienceNews, October 2, 2020.


Question: Who is the manufacturer of this equipment?

Instruction: I want to find a paragraph from Wikipedia that answers my question about this image.

Cue stick. of the shaft. While there are many custom cuemakers, a very large number of quality pool cues are manufactured in bulk. In recent years, modern materials such as fiberglass, carbon fiber, aluminum, etc., have been used more and more for shafts and butts. A trend toward experimentation has also developed with rubber, memory foam and other soft .## Carom.Carom billiards cues tend to be shorter and lighter than pool cues, with a shorter ferrule, a thicker and joint, a wooden joint pin (ideally) and collarless wood-to-wood joint, a conical taper, and a smaller tip diameter. Typical dimensions are 54 -.

Cue stick. weight be 16 oz. or 22 oz., the weight change is mainly in the butt (usually in the core, under the wrap). Butts have varying constructions, from three-piece to one-piece, as well as other custom versions that people have developed. These translate into different "feels" because of the distribution of weight as well as the balance point of the cue. Traditionally, players want the balance point of a cue near the top end of the wrap or around 7 inches from where they grip the butt. Some brands and most custom cuemakers offer weights, usually metal discs of 1 to.


Question: What is the closest upper taxonomy of this bird?

Instruction: I want to find a paragraph from Wikipedia that answers my question about this image.

Golden pheasant. The golden pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus), also known as the Chinese pheasant, and rainbow pheasant, is a gamebird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). The genus name is from Ancient Greek "khrusolophos", "with golden crest", and "pictus" is Latin for "painted" from "pingere", "to paint".## Description.It is native to forests in mountainous areas of western China, but feral populations have been established in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. In England they may be found.


Question: Which country does this object come from?

Instruction: Retrieve a Wikipedia paragraph that provides an answer to the given query about the image.

Welsh Corgi. the Pembroke has been attributed to the influx of dogs alongside Flemish weavers from around the 10th century, while the Cardigan is attributed to the dogs brought with Norse settlers, in particular a common ancestor of the Swedish Vallhund. The Pembroke is the more popular of the two, yet still appears on The Kennel Club's vulnerable dog breeds of the United Kingdom list. The Pembroke Welsh Corgi gained in popularity because the Queen has personally owned more than 30 Pembrokes or Corgi-Dachshund crosses, known as dorgis. == History == Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire are adjoining historical agricultural counties in South West.

Welsh Corgi. to choose whichever they felt was the most appropriate. The first dog to be named Best in Show at an open conformation show was Ch. Bowhit Pivot.Cardigan Welsh Corgis continued to be rarer than Pembrokes, with only 11 registrations made in 1940. Both breeds survived the Second World War, although the Cardigans registered with the Kennel Club numbered only 61 by the end of the war. Pembrokes became very popular during the post war years in the United Kingdom; in 1953 it was ranked as the fourth most popular breed by the Kennel Club, behind the English Cocker Spaniel, the.

Welsh Corgi. Welsh Corgi club was formed in 1937, and the first show was held at Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge's Giralda Farms in New Jersey. Following the Second World War, there were imports from the United Kingdom, including Rozavel Uncle Sam which dominated the show circuit for Corgis. In 1949, he became the first Pembroke winner of Best in Show at an open conformation show in the United States. By 1998, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi had become the 37th most popular breed of dog in the United States. A pair of Cardigan Welsh Corgis were imported to the US in 1931, but the.

Welsh Corgi. led to an increase in popularity for the breed within the United States. A theatrical adaptation took place of Welsh author Roald Dahl's The BFG which toured the UK in 1991 required several different Corgis to perform on stage as those of Queen Elizabeth. The Queen's Corgi is a Belgian animated film depicting the Queen's Corgis. In the anime Cowboy Bebop, the crew has a super-intelligent Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Ein, on their ship.The Top Shelf graphic novel Korgi plays on the folklore tradition of the Corgi as a faerie draft animal. It features the "Mollies" (fairy-like beings) who live in.


Question: What product does this object produce?

Instruction: Determine the Wikipedia snippet that matches the question of this image.

Laser printing. Laser printing is an electrostatic digital printing process. It produces high-quality text and graphics (and moderate-quality photographs) by repeatedly passing a laser beam back and forth over a negatively-charged cylinder called a "drum" to define a differentially-charged image. The drum then selectively collects electrically-charged powdered ink (toner), and transfers the image to paper, which is then heated to permanently fuse the text, imagery, or both, to the paper. As with digital photocopiers, laser printers employ a xerographic printing process. Laser printing differs from traditional xerography as implemented in analog photocopiers in that in the latter, the image is formed by.

Laser printing. reflecting light off an existing document onto the exposed drum.Invented at Xerox PARC in the 1970s, laser printers were introduced for the office and then home markets in subsequent years by IBM, Canon, Xerox, Apple, Hewlett-Packard and many others. Over the decades, quality and speed have increased as prices have decreased, and the once cutting-edge printing devices are now ubiquitous.## History.In the 1960s, the Xerox Corporation held a dominant position in the photocopier market. In 1969, Gary Starkweather, who worked in Xerox's product development department, had the idea of using a laser beam to "draw" an image of what was.

Laser printing. to be copied directly onto the copier drum. After transferring to the recently formed Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC) in 1971, Starkweather adapted a Xerox 7000 copier to make SLOT (Scanned Laser Output Terminal). In 1972, Starkweather worked with Butler Lampson and Ronald Rider to add a control system and character generator, resulting in a printer called EARS (Ethernet, Alto Research character generator, Scanned laser output terminal)—which later became the Xerox 9700 laser printer. 1976: The first commercial implementation of a laser printer, the IBM 3800, was released. It was designed for data centers, where it replaced line printers.

Laser printing. Japanese camera and optics company Canon developed the Canon LBP-10, a low-cost desktop laser printer. Canon then began work on a much-improved print engine, the Canon CX, resulting in the LBP-CX printer. Having no experience in selling to computer users, Canon sought partnerships with three Silicon Valley companies: Diablo Data Systems (who rejected the offer), Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Apple Computer. 1981: The first small personal computer designed for office use, the Xerox Star 8010, reached market. The system used a desktop metaphor that was unsurpassed in commercial sales, until the Apple Macintosh. Although it was innovative, the Star workstation was.

Laser printing. a prohibitively-expensive () system, affordable only to a fraction of the businesses and institutions at which it was targeted. 1984: The first laser printer intended for mass-market sales, the HP LaserJet, was released; it used the Canon CX engine, controlled by HP software. The LaserJet was quickly followed by printers from Brother Industries, IBM, and others. First-generation machines had large photosensitive drums, of circumference greater than the loaded paper's length. Once faster-recovery coatings were developed, the drums could touch the paper multiple times in a pass, and therefore be smaller in diameter. 1985: Apple introduced the LaserWriter (also based on.

Laser printing. page is known as a raster line or scan line.Laser printing differs from other printing technologies in that each page is always rendered in a single continuous process without any pausing in the middle, while other technologies like inkjet can pause every few lines. To avoid a buffer underrun (where the laser reaches a point on the page before it has the dots to draw there), a laser printer typically needs enough raster memory to hold the bitmap image of an entire page.Memory requirements increase with the square of the dots per inch, so 600 dpi requires a minimum of.

Laser printing. or 8,388,608 bits, which is just large enough to hold the entire page at 300 dpi, leaving about 100 kilobytes to spare for use by the raster image processor.In a color printer, each of the four CMYK toner layers is stored as a separate bitmap, and all four layers are typically preprocessed before printing begins, so a minimum of 4 megabytes is needed for a full-color letter-size or A4-size page at 300 dpi.During the 1980s, memory chips were still very expensive, which is why entry-level laser printers in that era always came with four-digit suggested retail prices in US dollars.

Laser printing. Memory prices later decreased significantly, while rapid improvements in the performance of personal computers and peripheral cables enabled the development of low-end laser printers which offload rasterization to the sending PC. For such printers, the operating system's print spooler renders the raw bitmap of each page into the PC's system memory at the target resolution, then sends that bitmap directly to the laser (at the expense of slowing down all other programs on the sending PC). The appearance of so-called "dumb" or "host-based" laser printers from NEC made it possible for the retail cost of low-end 600-dpi laser printers to.

Laser printing. decrease to as low as US$700 by early 1994 and US$600 by early 1995.1200 dpi printers have been widely available in the home market since 2008. 2400 dpi electrophotographic printing plate makers, essentially laser printers that print on plastic sheets, are also available.## Charging.In older printers, a corona wire positioned parallel to the drum or, in more recent printers, a primary charge roller, projects an electrostatic charge onto the photoreceptor (otherwise named the photoconductor unit), a revolving photosensitive drum or belt, which is capable of holding an electrostatic charge on its surface while it is in the dark.An AC bias.

Laser printing. silicon nitride.## Exposing.A laser printer uses a laser because lasers are able to form highly-focused, precise, and intense beams of light, especially over the short distances inside of a printer. The laser is aimed at a rotating polygonal mirror which directs the light beam through a system of lenses and mirrors onto the photoreceptor drum, writing pixels at rates up to sixty-five million times per second. The drum continues to rotate during the sweep, and the angle of sweep is canted very slightly to compensate for this motion. The stream of rasterized data held in the printer's memory rapidly turns.

Laser printing. the laser on and off as it sweeps.The laser beam neutralizes (or reverses) the charge on the surface of the drum, leaving a static electric negative image on the drum's surface which will repel the negatively-charged toner particles. The areas on the drum which were struck by the laser, however, momentarily have no charge, and the toner being pressed against the drum by the toner-coated developer roll in the next step moves from the roll's rubber surface to the charged portions of the surface of the drum.Some non-laser printers (LED printers) use an array of light-emitting diodes spanning the width.

Laser printing. uniformly heats the roller from the inside. For proper bonding of the toner, the fuser roller must be uniformly hot.Some printers use a very thin flexible metal foil roller, so there is less thermal mass to be heated and the fuser can more quickly reach operating temperature. If paper moves through the fuser more slowly, there is more roller contact time for the toner to melt, and the fuser can operate at a lower temperature. Smaller, inexpensive laser printers typically print slowly, due to this energy-saving design, compared to large high-speed printers where paper moves more rapidly through a high-temperature.

Laser printing. (on some very fast, expensive printers) a xenon flash lamp. The warmup process that a laser printer goes through when power is initially applied to the printer consists mainly of heating the fuser element.## Malfunctions.The mechanism inside a laser printer is somewhat delicate and, once damaged, often impossible to repair. The drum, in particular, is a critical component: it must not be left exposed to ambient light for more than a few hours, as light is what causes it to lose its charge and will eventually wear it out. Anything that interferes with the operation of the laser such as.

Laser printing. formulations may not match the original specifications in terms of either tendency to accept a negative charge, to move to the discharged areas of the photoreceptor drum from the developer roll, to fuse appropriately to the paper, or to come off the drum cleanly in each revolution.## Performance.As with most electronic devices, the cost of laser printers has decreased significantly over the years. In 1984, the HP LaserJet sold for $3500, had trouble with even small, low-resolution graphics, and weighed 32 (kg). By the late 1990s, monochrome laser printers had become inexpensive enough for home-office use, having displaced other printing.

Laser printing. technologies, although color inkjet printers (see below) still had advantages in photo quality reproduction. , low-end monochrome laser printers can sell for less than $75, and while these printers tend to lack onboard processing and rely on the host computer to generate a raster image, they nonetheless outperform the 1984 LaserJet in nearly all situations.Laser printer speed can vary widely, and depends on many factors, including the graphic intensity of the job being processed. The fastest models can print over 200 monochrome pages per minute (12,000 pages per hour). The fastest color laser printers can print over 100 pages per.

Laser printing. minute (6000 pages per hour). Very high-speed laser printers are used for mass mailings of personalized documents, such as credit card or utility bills, and are competing with lithography in some commercial applications.The cost of this technology depends on a combination of factors, including the cost of paper, toner, drum replacement, as well as the replacement of other items such as the fuser assembly and transfer assembly. Often printers with soft plastic drums can have a very high cost of ownership that does not become apparent until the drum requires replacement.Duplex printing (printing on both sides of the paper) can.

Laser printing. halve paper costs and reduce filing volumes, albeit at a slower page-printing speed because of the longer paper path. Formerly only available on high-end printers, duplexers are now common on mid-range office printers, though not all printers can accommodate a duplexing unit.In a commercial environment such as an office, it is becoming increasingly common for businesses to use external software that increases the performance and efficiency of laser printers in the workplace. The software can be used to set rules dictating how employees interact with printers, such as setting limits on how many pages can be printed per day, limiting.

Laser printing. usage of color ink, and flagging jobs that appear to be wasteful.## Color laser printers.Color laser printers use colored toner (dry ink), typically cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK). While monochrome printers only use one laser scanner assembly, color printers often have two or more, often one for each of the four colors.Color printing adds complexity to the printing process because very slight misalignments known as registration errors can occur between printing each color, causing unintended color fringing, blurring, or light/dark streaking along the edges of colored regions. To permit a high registration accuracy, some color laser printers use a.

Laser printing. Color laser transfer printers.Color laser transfer printers are designed to produce transfer media which are transfer sheets designed to be applied by means of a heat press. These transfers are typically used to make custom T-shirts or custom logo products with corporate or team logos on them.2-part Color laser transfers are part of a two-step process whereby the color laser printers use colored toner (dry ink), typically cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK); however, newer printers designed to print on dark T-shirts utilize a special white toner allowing them to make transfers for dark garments or dark business products.The CMYK.

Laser printing. color printing process allows for millions of colors to be faithfully represented by the unique imaging process.## Business-model comparison with inkjet printers.Manufacturers use a similar business model for both low-cost color laser printers and inkjet printers: the printers are sold cheaply while replacement toners and inks are relatively expensive. A color laser printer's average running cost per page is usually slightly less, even though both the laser printer and laser toner cartridge have higher upfront prices, as laser toner cartridges print many more sheets relative to their cost than inkjet cartridges. Inkjet printers are better at printing photographs and color.

Laser printing. records, and keeping in mind that there are color laser printers, they're more costly.The print quality of color lasers is limited by their resolution (typically 600–1200 dpi) and their use of just four color toners. They often have trouble printing large areas of the same or subtle gradations of color. Inkjet printers designed for printing photos can produce much higher quality color images. An in-depth comparison of inkjet and laser printers suggest that laser printers are the ideal choice for a high quality, volume printer, while inkjet printers tend to focus on large-format printers and household units. Laser printers offer.

Laser printing. more precise edging and in-depth monochromatic color. In addition, color laser printers are much faster than inkjet printers, although being generally larger and bulkier.## Anti-counterfeiting marks.Many modern color laser printers mark printouts by a nearly invisible dot raster, for the purpose of traceability. The dots are yellow and about 0.1 (mm) in size, with a raster of about 1 (mm). This is purportedly the result of a deal between the US government and printer manufacturers to help track counterfeiters. The dots encode data such as printing date, time, and printer serial number in binary-coded decimal on every sheet of paper.

Laser printing. printer users, this technique also increases waste, and thus increases pressure on the environment. For these toner cartridges (as with inkjet cartridges), reset devices can be used to override the limitation set by the smart chip. Also, for some printers, online walk-throughs have been posted to demonstrate how to use up all the ink in the cartridge. These chips offer no benefit to the end-user—some laser printers used an optical mechanism to assess the amount of remaining toner in the cartridge rather than using a chip to electrically count the number of printed pages, and the chip's only function was.

Laser printing. toner spills into the laser printer, a special type of vacuum cleaner with an electrically conductive hose and a high-efficiency (HEPA) filter may be needed for effective cleaning. These specialized tools are called "ESD-safe" (Electrostatic Discharge-safe) or "toner vacuums".## Ozone hazards.As a normal part of the printing process, the high voltages inside the printer can produce a corona discharge that generates a small amount of ionized oxygen and nitrogen, which react to form ozone and nitrogen oxides. In larger commercial printers and copiers, an activated carbon filter in the air exhaust stream breaks down these noxious gases to prevent pollution.

Laser printing. of the office environment.However, some ozone escapes the filtering process in commercial printers, and ozone filters are not used at all in most smaller home printers. When a laser printer or copier is operated for a long period of time in a small, poorly-ventilated space, these gases can build up to levels at which the odor of ozone or irritation may be noticed. A potential health hazard is theoretically possible in extreme cases.## Respiratory health risks.According to a 2012 study conducted in Queensland, Australia, some printers emit sub-micrometer particles which some suspect may be associated with respiratory diseases. Of 63.

Laser printing. printer emissions with adverse health outcomes were located" and that several assessments conclude that "risk of direct toxicity and health effects from exposure to laser printer emissions is negligible". The review also observes that, because the emissions have been shown to be volatile or semi-volatile organic compounds, "it would be logical to expect possible health effects to be more related to the chemical nature of the aerosol rather than the physical character of the ‘particulate’ since such emissions are unlikely to be or remain as ‘particulates’ after they come into contact with respiratory tissue".The German Social Accident Insurance has commissioned.

Laser printing. a human study project to examine the effects on health resulting from exposure to toner dusts and from photocopying and printing cycles. Volunteers (23 control persons, 15 exposed persons and 14 asthmatics) were exposed to laser printer emissions under defined conditions in an exposure chamber. The findings from the study based on a broad spectrum of processes and subjects fail to confirm that exposure to high laser printer emissions initiates a verifiable pathological process resulting in the reported illnesses.A much-discussed proposal for reducing emissions from laser printers is to retrofit them with filters. These are fixed with adhesive tape to.

Laser printing. the printer's fan vents to reduce particle emissions. However, all printers have a paper output tray, which is an outlet for particle emissions. Paper output trays cannot be provided with filters, so it is impossible to reduce their contribution to overall emissions with retrofit filters.## Air-transport ban.After the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot, in which shipments of laser printers with explosive-filled toner cartridges were discovered on separate cargo airplanes, the US Transportation Security Administration prohibited pass-through passengers from carrying toner or ink cartridges weighing over 1 (lb) on inbound flights, in both carry-on and checked luggage. "PC Magazine" noted that.


Question: What is the closest parent taxonomy of this plant?

Instruction: I want to find a paragraph from Wikipedia that answers my question about this image.

Ambrosia artemisiifolia. Ambrosia artemisiifolia, with the common names common ragweed, annual ragweed, and low ragweed, is a species of the genus "Ambrosia" native to regions of the Americas.## Taxonomy.The species name, "artemisiifolia", is given because the leaves were thought to bear a resemblance to the leaves of Artemisia, the true wormwoods.It has also been called the common names: American wormwood, bitterweed, blackweed, carrot weed, hay fever weed, Roman wormwood, short ragweed, stammerwort, stickweed, tassel weed.## Distribution.The plant is native to: North America across Canada, the eastern and central United States, the Great Plains, and in Alaska; the Caribbean on Cuba, Hispaniola, and.

Ambrosia artemisiifolia. Jamaica; and South America in the southern bioregion (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay), the western bioregion (Bolivia, Peru), and Brazil. The distribution of common ragweed in Europe is expected to expand northwards in the future due to climate change.It is the most widespread species of the genus in North America, to which most of the other species of "Ambrosia" are endemic. During the summer it causes allergic reaction in those that are susceptible.## Description."Ambrosia artemisiifolia" is an annual plant that emerges in late spring. It propagates mainly by rhizomes, but also by seed.It is much-branched, and grows up to 70 (cm).

Ambrosia artemisiifolia. in height. The pinnately divided soft and hairy leaves are 3 - 12 (cm) long.Its bloom period is July to October in North America. Its pollen is wind-dispersed, and can be a strong allergen to people with hay fever.It produces 2–4 mm obconic green to brown fruit. It sets seed in later summer or autumn. Since the seeds persist into winter and are numerous and rich in oil, they are relished by songbirds and upland game birds.## Invasive species.Common ragweed, "Ambrosia artemisiifolia", is a widespread invasive species, and can become a noxious weed, that has naturalized in: Europe; temperate Asia.

Ambrosia artemisiifolia. and the Indian subcontinent; temperate northern and southern Africa and Macaronesia; Oceania in Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii; and Southwestern North America in California and the Southwestern United States. A scientific study investigated the genomic basis of invasiveness in "Ambrosia artemisiifolia", introduced to Europe in the late 19th century, by resequencing 655 ragweed genomes, including 308 herbarium specimens collected up to 190 years ago. In invasive European populations, the study found selection signatures in defense genes and lower prevalence of disease-inducing plant pathogens. Together with temporal changes in population structure associated with introgression from closely related Ambrosia species, escape from.

Ambrosia artemisiifolia. specific microbial enemies likely favored the remarkable success of common ragweed as an invasive species.Common ragweed is a very competitive weed and can produce yield losses in soybeans as high as 30 percent. Control with night tillage reduces emergence by around 45 percent. Small grains in rotation will also suppress common ragweed if they are overseeded with clover. Otherwise, the ragweed will grow and mature and produce seeds in the small grain stubble.Its wind-blown pollen is highly allergenic.## Ragweed control. several herbicides were effective against common ragweed, although resistant populations were known to exist. In 2007 several "Ambrosia artemisiifolia" populations.

Ambrosia artemisiifolia. were glyphosate resistant, exclusively in the USA. the ragweed leaf beetle, "Ophraella communa", has been found south of the Alps in southern Switzerland and northern Italy. Many of the attacked plants were completely defoliated. Zygogramma suturalis was introduced to Russia, and then China, for ragweed control, with very positive initial results.SMARTER is a European interdisciplinary network of experts involved in the control of ragweed, health care professionals, aerobiologists, ecologists, economists, and atmospheric and agricultural modellers.## Chemical composition, and uses.## Sesquiterpene lactones and molluscicide.Three sesquiterpene lactones isolated from the aerial parts of "Ambrosia artemisiifolia" were identified as psilostachyin A, psilostachyin B.

Ambrosia artemisiifolia. and psilostachyin C. All of them have some molluscicidal activity against the small tropical freshwater snail "Oncomelania hupensis".## Medicinal."Ambrosia artemisiifolia" has been a traditional medicinal plant for Native American tribes, including the Cherokee, Lakota, Iroquois, Dakota, and Delaware.## Phytoremediation."Ambrosia artemisiifolia" is used in phytoremediation projects remediating soil pollution, for removing heavy metals such as lead from contaminated soil. Calflora Database: "Ambrosia artemisiifolia" (Annual ragweed, Common ragweed, Low ragweed)—non-native/naturalized species in California Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of "Ambrosia artemisiifolia"—non-native/naturalized species in California UC CalPhotos gallery: "Ambrosia artemisiifolia.


Question: Which significant event was held in this place?

Instruction: You have to find a Wikipedia segment that answers the question about the displayed image.

Blenheim Palace. 1720s. It is unique in its combined use as a family home, mausoleum and national monument. The palace is notable as the birthplace and ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill.Following the palace's completion, it became the home of the Churchill (later Spencer-Churchill) family for the next 300 years, and various members of the family have wrought changes to the interiors, park and gardens. At the end of the 19th century, the palace was saved from ruin by funds gained from the 9th Duke of Marlborough's marriage to American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt.## Churchills.John Churchill was born in Devon. Although his.

Blenheim Palace. left (east) side of the plan on either side of the bow room "(marked "O")" can be seen a smaller but nearly identical layout of rooms, which were the suites of the Duke and Duchess themselves. Thus, the bow room corresponds exactly to the saloon in terms of its importance to the two smaller suites.Blenheim Palace was the birthplace of the 1st Duke's famous descendant, Winston Churchill, whose life and times are commemorated by a permanent exhibition in the suite of rooms in which he was born "(marked "K" on the plan)". Blenheim Palace was designed with all its principal.


Question: What is this animal named after?

Instruction: You have to find a Wikipedia segment that answers the question about the displayed image.

Catfish. Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia, the wels catfish of Eurasia, and the piraíba of South America, to detritivores (species that eat dead material on the bottom), and even to a tiny parasitic species commonly called the candiru, "Vandellia cirrhosa". Neither the armour-plated types nor the naked types have scales. Despite their name, not all catfish have prominent barbels or "whiskers". Members of.

Catfish. spines. Due to these constraints, some fish may not even be able to produce a specific sound. In several different species of catfish, aggressive sound production occurs during cover site defense or during threats from other fish. More specifically, in long-whiskered catfish, drumming sounds are used as a threatening signal and stridulations are used as a defense signal. Kaatz investigated 83 species from 14 families of catfish, and determined that catfish produce more stridulatory sounds in disturbance situations and more swimbladder sounds in intraspecific conflicts.## Economic importance.## Aquaculture.Catfish are easy to farm in warm climates, leading to inexpensive and safe.

Catfish. found in the aquarium trade are banjo catfish, talking catfish, and long-whiskered catfish.## Catfish as food.Catfish have widely been caught and farmed for food for hundreds of years in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Judgments as to the quality and flavor vary, with some food critics considering catfish excellent to eat, while others dismiss them as watery and lacking in flavor. Catfish is high in vitamin D. Farm-raised catfish contains low levels of omega-3 fatty acids and a much higher proportion of omega-6 fatty acids.In Central Europe, catfish were often viewed as a delicacy to be enjoyed on feast.


Question: What is the mohs' hardness of this material?

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Water. (1.473), benzene (1.501), carbon disulfide (1.627), and common types of glass (1.4 to 1.6). The refraction index of ice (1.31) is lower than that of liquid water.## Polar molecule.In a water molecule, the hydrogen atoms form a 104.5° angle with the oxygen atom. The hydrogen atoms are close to two corners of a tetrahedron centered on the oxygen. At the other two corners are "lone pairs" of valence electrons that do not participate in the bonding. In a perfect tetrahedron, the atoms would form a 109.5° angle, but the repulsion between the lone pairs is greater than the repulsion between.


Question: Which historic county does this building belong to?

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Brooklands. Brooklands was a 2.767 (mi) motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, which also became Britain's largest aircraft manufacturing centre by 1918, producing military aircraft such as the Wellington and civil airliners like the Viscount and VC-10.The circuit hosted its last race in August 1939 and today part of it forms the Brooklands Museum, a major aviation and motoring museum, as well as a venue for vintage car, motorcycle and other transport-related.

Brooklands. Heritage and increased by the DCMS in 2002). A draft Brooklands Conservation Plan was instigated by English Heritage and prepared in 2003 for DaimlerChrysler by DCUK consultants Terence O'Rourke. A Brooklands Heritage Partnership (BHP) was formed in 2010 as an informal partnership of Brooklands Museum, Elmbridge Borough Council, English Heritage and Surrey County Council, to address increasing conservation issues and concerns. In April 2013, a £32,540 grant was secured from English Heritage (now Historic England) to enable the BHP to appoint professional consultants to research and compile a comprehensive reference document on all aspects of Brooklands’ heritage. A draft version.


Question: What is the closest parent taxonomy of this bird?

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Roseate spoonbill. The roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) is a gregarious wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, Threskiornithidae. It is a resident breeder in both South and North America. ## Taxonomy.The roseate spoonbill is sometimes placed in its own genus - "Ajaia". A 2010 study of mitochondrial DNA of the spoonbills by Chesser and colleagues found that the roseate and yellow-billed spoonbills were each other's closest relatives, and the two were descended from an early offshoot from the ancestors of the other four spoonbill species. They felt the genetic evidence meant it was equally valid to consider all six to be.

Roseate spoonbill. classified within the genus "Platalea" or alternatively the two placed in the monotypic genera "Platibis" and "Ajaia", respectively. However, as the six species were so similar morphologically, keeping them within the one genus made more sense.## Description.The roseate spoonbill is 71 - 86 (cm) long, with a 120 – 133 (cm) wingspan and a body mass of 1.2 - 1.8 (kg). The tarsus measures 9.7 - 12.4 (cm), the culmen measures 14.5 - 18 (cm) and the wing measures 32.3 - 37.5 (cm) and thus the legs, bill, neck and spatulate bill all appear elongated. Adults have a bare greenish.


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Lookout. A lookout or look-out is a person in charge of the observation of hazards. The term originally comes from a naval background, where lookouts would watch for other ships, land, and various dangers. The term has now passed into wider parlance.## Naval application.Lookouts have been traditionally placed in high on masts, in crow's nests and tops.The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (1972) says in part: Every vessel must at all times keep a proper look-out by sight (day shape or lights by eyes or visual aids), hearing (sound signal or Marine VHF radio) and all available means (e.g.


Question: What is the closest parent taxonomy of this insect?

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Eastern amberwing. The eastern amberwing ("Perithemis tenera") is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is very small, reaching a total length of no more than 25 mm.The males have orange or amber wings. Both sexes have a red pterostigma. The eastern amberwing dragonfly is one of the only types of dragonfly that actively mimics a wasp. The yellow and brown stripes on its abdomen encourage predators to stay away. When perched, they will wiggle their abdomen and wings in a wasp-like fashion to deter other animals from eating it. Males have an elaborate courtship ritual. When a female approaches.

Eastern amberwing. his territory, the male will lead her to his selected egg-laying site and hover above it with wings whirring and abdomen raised.The common name refers to its eastern range, although this dragonfly does extend westward well into the central part of the United States. The scientific name, "tenera", means delicate and alludes to its small size. "Perithemis tenera" on BugGuide.Net.


Question: What is the objective of this object?

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Heat engine. expressed in absolute temperature.The efficiency of various heat engines proposed or used today has a large range:3% (97 percent waste heat using low quality heat) for the ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) ocean power proposal25% for most automotive gasoline engines49% for a supercritical coal-fired power station such as the Avedøre Power Station60% for a combined cycle gas turbineThe efficiency of these processes is roughly proportional to the temperature drop across them. Significant energy may be consumed by auxiliary equipment, such as pumps, which effectively reduces efficiency.## Examples.It is important to note that although some cycles have a typical combustion location.

Heat engine. the simple conversion of work into heat (either through friction or electrical resistance). Refrigerators remove heat from within a thermally sealed chamber at low temperature and vent waste heat at a higher temperature to the environment and heat pumps take heat from the low temperature environment and 'vent' it into a thermally sealed chamber (a house) at higher temperature.In general heat engines exploit the thermal properties associated with the expansion and compression of gases according to the gas laws or the properties associated with phase changes between gas and liquid states.## Earth's heat engine.Earth's atmosphere and hydrosphere—Earth's heat engine—are coupled.


Question: Who designed this facility?

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Battersea Power Station. Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned Grade II* listed coal-fired power station, located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Nine Elms, Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It was built by the London Power Company (LPC) to the design of Leonard Pearce, Engineer in Chief to the LPC, and CS Allott & Son Engineers. The architects were J. Theo Halliday and Giles Gilbert Scott. The station is one of the world's largest brick buildings and notable for its original, Art Deco interior fittings and decor.The building comprises two power stations, built in two stages, in a.

Battersea Power Station. day at 11 am.## Design and specification.Both of the stations were designed by a team of architects and engineers. The team was headed by Dr. Leonard Pearce, the chief engineer of the London Power Company, but a number of other notable engineers were also involved, including Henry Newmarch Allott, and T. P. O'Sullivan who was later responsible for the Assembly Hall at Filton. J. Theo Halliday was employed as architect, with Halliday & Agate Co. employed as a sub-consultant. Halliday was responsible for the supervision and execution of the appearance of the exterior and interior of the building. Architect Sir.


Question: What is the closest upper taxonomy of this insect?

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Dythemis nigrescens. Dythemis nigrescens, the black setwing, is a species of skimmer in the dragonfly family Libellulidae. It is found in Central America and North America.The IUCN conservation status of "Dythemis nigrescens" is "LC", least concern, with no immediate threat to the species' survival. The population is stable. The IUCN status was reviewed in 2017.


Question: What is the closest parent taxonomy of this bird?

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Purple finch. The purple finch (Haemorhous purpureus) is a bird in the finch family, Fringillidae.## Taxonomy.This species and the other "American rosefinches" were formerly included with the rosefinches of Eurasia in the genus "Carpodacus"; however, the three North American species are not closely related to the rosefinches of the Old World, and have thus been moved to the genus "Haemorhous" by most taxonomic authorities.It is included in the finch family, Fringillidae, which is made up of passerine birds found in the northern hemisphere, Africa, and South America. The purple finch was originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789.There are two subspecies.


Question: What is the height of this place in metre?

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Fürstenzug. of Saxony (1547–1553)Augustus, Elector of Saxony (1553–1586)Christian I, Elector of Saxony (1586–1591)Christian II, Elector of Saxony (1591–1611)John George I, Elector of Saxony (1611–1656)John George II, Elector of Saxony (1656–1680)John George III, Elector of Saxony (1680–1691)John George IV, Elector of Saxony (1691–1694)Augustus II the Strong (1694–1733)Augustus III of Poland (1733–1763)Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony (1763)Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (1763–1827)Anthony of Saxony (1827–1836)Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (1836–1854)John of Saxony (1854–1873)Albert of Saxony (1873–1902)George of Saxony (1902–1904)## Dimensions.The Fürstenzug is 101.9 (m) long and 10.5 (m) high. Due to 18 windows in the upper part, the tile area comprises only 968.


Question: What is the closest upper taxonomy of this insect?

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Clepsis peritana. Clepsis peritana, the garden tortrix or strawberry garden tortrix, is a species of moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found in Spain, Cuba, as well as North America, where it has been recorded from southern Canada throughout the United States.The wingspan is 10–15 mm for males and 12–15 mm for females. The forewings are tan to brown. Males have a brown to dark-brown median fascia and a dark-brown costal spot. Females have similar markings but the median fascia and costal spot are less distinct. Adults have been recorded on wing from March to September, in several generations per year.The.

Clepsis peritana. larvae feed on "Chrysanthemum", "Cynara cardunculus", "Senecio jacobaea", "Stachys", "Fragaria", "Citrus", "Scrophularia californica" and "Solanum torvum". They live in silk tubes on the leaf surface. They feed on dead or decaying leaf litter, but will occasionally feed in the buds or fruits of living plants. Full-grown larvae reach a length of 13–14 mm. They have a light green abdomen, but the body colour can vary depending on the host plant. The head is yellowish brown.


Question: What is this plant named after?

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Lilium humboldtii. Lilium humboldtii, or Humboldt's lily, is a species of lily native to the US state of California and the Mexican state of Baja California. It is named after naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. It is native to the South High Cascade Range, High Sierra Nevada, south Outer South Coast Ranges, and the Santa Monica Mountains and others in Southern California, growing at elevations from 600 (m) to 1200 (m).## Description."Lilium humboldtii" grows up to 6 (ft) tall, with flowers that are maroon-spotted, golden-orange with dark red splotches, with orange to brown stamens. The plant flowers in June, with flowers.


Question: What country does this facility belong to?

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La Recoleta Cemetery. La Recoleta Cemetery () is a cemetery located in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize winners, the founder of the Argentine Navy, and military commanders like Julio Argentino Roca. In 2011, the BBC hailed it as one of the world's best cemeteries, and in 2013, CNN listed it among the 10 most beautiful cemeteries in the world.## History.Franciscan Recollect monks () arrived in this area, then the outskirts of Buenos Aires, in the early eighteenth century. The cemetery is built around the Recollect Convent.

La Recoleta Cemetery. imported from Paris and Milan. The entire cemetery is laid out in sections like city blocks, with wide tree-lined main walkways branching into sidewalks filled with mausoleums. These mausoleums are still being used by rich families in Argentina that have their own vault and keep their deceased there.While many of the mausoleums are in fine shape and well-maintained, others have fallen into disrepair. Several can be found with broken glass and littered with rubbish. Among many memorials are works by notable Argentine sculptors, Lola Mora and Luis Perlotti for instance. The tomb of Liliana Crociati de Szaszak, due to its.


Question: Who occupies this building?

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Liquor store. (and any shops that sells alcohol) from its effects. The mandatory closing time for any licensed liquor stores are regulated by Licensing Act 2003 instead.During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, all pubs closed during the lockdown from 20 March 2020. However, on 25 March, off-licences were added to the list of essential businesses allowed to stay open, also enabling pubs and brewery taprooms with licences to sell beer for home consumption to offer takeaway sales and home deliveries.In the Republic of Ireland, there are five kinds of off-licence: Wine Retailer’s Off LicenceBeer Retailer’s Off LicenceSpirit Retailer’s Off LicenceCider.


Question: What is the street address of this building?

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30 St Mary Axe. 30 St Mary Axe (previously known as the Swiss Re Building and informally known as the Gherkin) is a commercial skyscraper in London's primary financial district, the City of London. It was completed in December 2003 and opened in April 2004. With 41 floors, it is 180 (m) tall and stands on the sites of the former Baltic Exchange and Chamber of Shipping, which were extensively damaged in 1992 in the Baltic Exchange bombing by a device placed by the Provisional IRA in St Mary Axe, a narrow street leading north from Leadenhall Street.After plans to build the 92-storey Millennium.

30 St Mary Axe. Tower were dropped, 30 St Mary Axe was designed by Norman Foster and the Arup Group. It was erected by Skanska; construction started in 2001.The building has become a recognisable landmark of London, and it is one of the city's most widely recognised examples of contemporary architecture. It won the 2003 Emporis Skyscraper Award.## Site and early plans.The building stands on the site of the former Baltic Exchange (24–28 St Mary Axe), which was the headquarters of a global marketplace for shipping freight contracts and soft commodities, and the Chamber of Shipping (30–32 St Mary Axe). The tower's topmost panoramic.

30 St Mary Axe. dome, known as the "lens", recalls the iconic glass dome that covered part of the ground floor of the Baltic Exchange and much of which is now displayed at the National Maritime Museum. "The Gherkin" nickname was applied to the current building at least as early as 1999, referring to the plan's highly unorthodox layout and appearance.On 10 April 1992, the Provisional IRA detonated a bomb close to the Baltic Exchange, causing extensive damage to the historic building and neighbouring structures. The United Kingdom government's statutory adviser on the historic environment, English Heritage, and the City of London's governing body,.

30 St Mary Axe. the City of London Corporation, were keen that any redevelopment must restore the Baltic Exchange's old façade onto St Mary Axe. The Exchange Hall was a celebrated fixture of the shipping market.English Heritage then discovered that the damage was far more severe than initially thought, and they stopped insisting on full restoration, albeit over the objections of architectural conservationists. The Baltic Exchange and the Chamber of Shipping sold the land to Trafalgar House in 1995. Most of the remaining structures on the Baltic Exchange site were then carefully dismantled, and the interior of Exchange Hall and the façade were preserved,.

30 St Mary Axe. hoping for a reconstruction of the building in the future. The salvaged material was eventually sold for £800,000 and moved to Tallinn, Estonia, where it awaits reconstruction as the centrepiece of the city's commercial sector.In 1996, Trafalgar House submitted plans for the London Millennium Tower, a 386 (m) building with more than 140000 (sqm) of office space, apartments, shops, restaurants and gardens. This plan was dropped after objections that it was totally out-of-scale in the City of London, and anticipated disruption to flight paths for both London City and London Heathrow airports; the revised plan for a lower tower was.

30 St Mary Axe. accepted.## Planning process.John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, granted planning permission on 23 August 2000 to construct a building on the site, which would be much larger than the old Exchange. The site needed development, was not on any of the "sight lines" (planning guidance requires that new buildings do not obstruct or detract from the view of St Paul's Cathedral dome when viewed from a number of locations around London), and had housed the Baltic Exchange.The plan for the site was to reconstruct the Baltic Exchange. GMW Architects proposed a new rectangular building surrounding a restored exchange: it would.

30 St Mary Axe. have the type of large floor plan that banks liked. Eventually, the planners realised that the exchange was not recoverable, forcing them to relax their building constraints; they hinted that an "architecturally significant" building might obtain a favourable reception from City authorities. This gave the architect a free hand in the design. The building was designed according to the client's needs, rather than for the needs of a large, capital-efficient, money-making building.The new building's low-level plan satisfied the planning authority's desire to maintain London's traditional streetscape, with its narrow streets. The massing of the tower was not too imposing. Like.

30 St Mary Axe. Barclays' former city headquarters in Lombard Street, the idea was that the passer-by in neighbouring streets would be nearly oblivious to the tower's existence until directly underneath it.## Design and construction.The building was constructed by Skanska, completed in December 2003 and opened on 28 April 2004. The primary occupant of the building is Swiss Re, a global reinsurance company, which had the building commissioned as the head office for its UK operation. The tower is thus sometimes known as the Swiss Re Building, although this name has never been official and was never in popular usage anyway, unlike the Gherkin.

30 St Mary Axe. moniker.The building uses energy-saving methods which allow it to use only half the power that a similar tower would typically consume. Gaps in each floor create six shafts that serve as a natural ventilation system for the entire building, even though required firebreaks on every sixth floor interrupt the "chimney". The shafts create a giant double glazing effect; air is sandwiched between two layers of glazing and insulates the office space inside.Architects promote double glazing in residential houses, which avoids the inefficient convection of heat across the relatively narrow gap between the panes, but the tower exploits this effect. The.

30 St Mary Axe. shafts pull warm air out of the building during the summer and warm the building in the winter using passive solar heating. The shafts also allow sunlight to pass through the building, making the work environment more pleasing, and keeping the lighting costs down.The primary methods for controlling wind-excited sways are to increase the stiffness, or increase damping with tuned/active mass dampers. To a design by Arup, its fully triangulated perimeter structure makes the building rigid enough without any extra reinforcements. Despite its overall curved glass shape, there is only one piece of curved glass on the building, the lens-shaped.

30 St Mary Axe. cap at the apex.On the building's top level (the 40th floor), there is a bar for tenants and their guests, with a panoramic view of London. A restaurant operates on the 39th floor, and private dining rooms on the 38th. Most buildings have extensive lift equipment on the roof of the building, but this was not possible for the Gherkin, since a bar had been planned for the 40th floor. The architects dealt with this by having the main lift only reach the 34th floor, with a separate push-from-below lift to the 39th floor. There is a marble stairwell and.

30 St Mary Axe. a disabled persons' lift, which leads the visitor up to the bar in the dome.The building is visible over long distances: From the north, for instance, it can be seen from the M11 motorway, some 32 (km) away, while to the west it can be seen from the statue of George III in Windsor Great Park.## After completion.In April 2005, a glass panel two thirds up the tower fell to the plaza beneath. The plaza was sealed off, but the building remained open. A temporary covered walkway, extending across the plaza to the building's reception, was erected to protect visitors.

30 St Mary Axe. Engineers examined the other 744 glass panels on the building. The cost of repair was covered by main contractor Skanska and curtain-wall supplier Schmidlin (now called Schmidlin-TSK AG). The open-floor ventilation system did not operate as designed due to tenants adding glass partitions to increase security.Since its completion, the building has won a number of awards for architecture. In October 2004, the architect was awarded the 2004 Stirling Prize. For the first time in the prize's history, the judges were unanimous. In December 2005, a survey of the world's largest firms of architects published in "2006 BD World Architecture 200.

30 St Mary Axe. voted the tower as the most admired new building in the world. However, Ken Shuttleworth, who worked for Foster + Partners on the design of the building, said in 2011 that he believed the style was now out-moded: "I was looking at the glass all around and [thought], 'Why on earth did we do that?' Now we would do things differently". The building appeared in recent films such as "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince", "A Good Year", "Basic Instinct 2", and "Match Point" and, rechristened the "Spirit of London", became the spaceship centrepiece of Keith Mansfield's 2008 novel.

30 St Mary Axe. "Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London".In September 2006, the building was put up for sale with a price tag of £600 million. Potential buyers included British Land, Land Securities, Prudential, ING, and the Abu Dhabi royal family. On 21 February 2007, IVG Immobilien AG and UK investment firm Evans Randall completed their joint purchase of the building for £630 million, making it Britain's most expensive office building. Swiss Re made a gain of more than £300 million from the sale. The new owners are seeking compensation from four of their former managers on the deal, in which about £620.

30 St Mary Axe. million was paid for a building with a build cost of about £200 million, giving the previous owners a clear £300 million profit.Since February 2010, Sky News has broadcast its flagship business programme, "Jeff Randall Live", from a studio in the building. The top two floors of the tower have been available since at least 2015 for private hire for events.Deloitte announced in April 2014 that the building was again being put up for sale, with an expected price of £550 million. The current owners could not afford to make loan repayments, citing differences in the value of the multi-currency.

30 St Mary Axe. loan and the British pound, high interest rates and general financing structure. In November 2014, the Gherkin was purchased for £700 million by the Safra Group, controlled by the Brazilian billionaire Joseph Safra. Landmarks of London Diagrid List of tallest buildings and structures in London Mathematics and architecture Phallic architecture, a list of similarly shaped buildings that includes 30 St Mary Axe Norman Foster's site about the project.