title: Minor league baseball

paragraphs: Minor league baseball is a level of professional baseball in North America. It is made up a many different teams which play in many leagues and levels of ability. Minor league teams are used by Major League Baseball teams to have a place to put their players who they do not feel are good enough to play in the major league yet.

paragraphs: There are several different levels of ability in the minor leagues, these levels are (in order from lowest to highest):

paragraphs: When a normal player is first drafted or signed by a major league team, he is usually placed in "Rookie" League or short season A, however top prospects often start higher. If a player plays good in his league he can be "called up" to the next league. If a player does not play well he may be sent back down or cut from the team. This continues until a player gets to the major leagues, although most players never make it that far. This way, players are able to get better at baseball before having to play against tougher opponents. Almost all players in the major leagues had to play in the minor leagues first in order to become good enough to play in the major leagues. Most players spend between 4-5 years before being called up. However, really good players can be called up in less than a year, while some may take more than 10 years to reach the majors.

paragraphs: Sometimes, major league players who are have been hurt will play a few games in the minor leagues before playing in the major leagues again, in order to see if they feel good enough to start playing again.

paragraphs: There are also other professional baseball leagues that major league teams do not use to as a place put their players. These are known as "Independent Leagues". In these leagues players do not go to higher or lower levels of ability. Major league teams may hire these independent players to play for their major league team.

paragraphs: Minor league teams generally play in cities that are too small for major league teams. City size usually increases with league level.


title: American League

paragraphs: The American League (or AL) is one of the two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB). The other is the National League (or NL). The American League is made up of 15 teams. At the end of each season, five of these teams go to the "post-season" where one will win the American League championship. The champions of the American League plays against the champions of the National League in the World Series. The team that wins the World Series is the champion of Major League Baseball. Teams in the American league usually play against other teams in the American league, except for a few games a year when they play National league teams. There are 3 Divisions of the American League: AL East, AL Central, and AL West.

paragraphs: The only big difference between the American League and the National League is that the AL uses the "Designated Hitter" (or DH). The Designated Hitter is a player who does not play in the field, but is used to bat for the worst hitter in his team's "lineup" (usually the pitcher). The NL does not use the Designated Hitter, and all players in the "lineup" must bat and field for themselves. If the DH plays a NL game in a NL park, he often plays First Base if at all. If they play in an AL park, the NL can use a DH.


title: National League

paragraphs: The National League (or NL) is one of the two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB). As of 2016, the NL has 15 teams. At the end of each season, five of these teams go to the "post-season" where one will win the National League championship. The champions of the National League plays against the champions of the American League in the World Series. The team that wins the World Series is the champion of Major League Baseball.

paragraphs: The only big difference between the National League and the American League (AL) is that the AL uses the "Designated Hitter" (or DH). The Designated Hitter is a player who does not play in the field, but is used to bat for the pitcher. The NL does not use the Designated Hitter, and all players on the team must bat and field for themselves.


title: Statistical survey

paragraphs: Statistical surveys are collections of information about items in a population.

paragraphs: Surveys can be grouped into numerical and categorical types. A numerical survey is to get numbers as replies. For example:

paragraphs: How many minutes, on average, do you spend eating breakfast?

paragraphs: This survey question is used to generate numbers in minutes. An example of a categorical question is:

paragraphs: The categories for this would be yellow, green, purple, etc... which are not numbers.

paragraphs: Surveys of human populations and institutions are common in political polling and government, health, social science and marketing research. A survey may concentrate on opinions or factual information depending on its purpose.


title: Social sciences

paragraphs: The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects of the world. Social Sciences includes anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, political science, psychology, and sociology. They are different from the arts and humanities, and application of the scientific method is important. Most of the social sciences require doing a lot of research, such as making surveys. Such research is called "social research". Some subjects, such as history, are sometimes social sciences and sometimes humanities.

paragraphs: The term "social sciences" has been used for over 200 years and mostly originates from a thinker named Auguste Comte. Many of the fields of social science have come about since then. In America, much of the thought and practice of social science came from the University of Chicago and other universities.


title: Arts

paragraphs: The arts are a large part of culture, and the word means much more than ""art"". The arts include visual arts, literary arts (i.e. books and other writings) and performing arts (i.e. music, dance, drama).

paragraphs: Sometimes, in universities, it is shorthand for a wider group of subjects which are properly called the humanities. These include philosophy, theology, literature, languages, and history as well.

paragraphs: "The arts" are usually contrasted with "The sciences".

paragraphs: Visual arts consist of any art that can be seen. This form of art doesn't change once it has been made.

paragraphs: Architecture is the art and science behind building and sculpture design. Architecture as an art involves making something look beautiful and appealing to others.

paragraphs: Conceptual Art is art in which the idea is more important than the actual beauty of the object.


title: Nuclear proliferation

paragraphs: Nuclear proliferation is when a country starts making nuclear objects. On the right is a map showing who has nuclear reactors and weapons, and who could have them. When a country starts making nuclear weapons, they become a nuclear power.

paragraphs: Dual use technology means to the possibility of military use of civilian nuclear technology for generating electricity. Many technologies and materials associated with the creation of a nuclear electricity program have a dual-use capability. These items can be used to make nuclear weapons if a country chooses to do so. When this happens a nuclear electricity program can lead to making atomic bombs. The crisis over Iran’s nuclear activities is an example.


title: François Bourdoncle

paragraphs: François Bourdoncle (born April 20, 1964) is founder and CEO of the search engine company Exalead.


title: Chief executive officer

paragraphs: A Chief Executive Officer (CEO), or Chief Executive, is the highest ranking corporate officer, administrator, corporate administrator, executive, or executive officer, in charge of total management of a corporation, company, organization or agency.

paragraphs: In closely held corporations, it is general business culture that the office of Chief Executive Officer, CEO, is also the chairman of the board. Specifically, one person often shares the chairman and CEO titles while another person takes the presidency or may become chief operating officer (COO). However, the term president is from the U.S. and in the UK COO is favored. Underneath that comes the Executive Vice President (U.S.) or Executive Director (UK). In publicly held corporations, the CEO and chairman positions can be separated but there are implications in corporate governance by doing so.

paragraphs: In some European Union countries, there are two separate boards, one executive board for the day-to-day business and one supervisory board for control purposes (elected by the shareholders). In these countries, the chief executive officer presides over the executive board and the chairman presides over the supervisory board and these two roles will always be held by different people. This ensures a distinction between management by the executive board and governance by the supervisory board. This allows for clear lines of authority. The aim is to prevent a conflict of interest and too much power being concentrated in the hands of one person. There is a strong parallel here with the structure of governments, which tend to separate the political cabinet from the management civil service.

paragraphs: In rare circumstances an Executive Chairperson can be appointed but this is either illegal in many jurisdictions or frowned upon by Regulators.

paragraphs: In the United Kingdom many Charities and Government Agencies are headed by a Chief Executive who is answerable to a Board of Trustees or Board of Directors. In the UK, the Chairman (of the Board) in public companies is more senior than the Chief Executive. Most public companies now split the role of Chairman and Chief Executive.

paragraphs: Typically, a CEO has a cadre of subordinate executives, each of which has specific functional responsibilities. These direct reporting relationships most often include: Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, and Chief Information Officer. Although not an Executive, the Director of Human Resources plays a vital role within any corporation.

paragraphs: However, depending on the industry in which the company operates and/or the organizational structure the company has employed, various other functional areas may be highlighted through the CEO's direct span of control. Some of these less common monikers include: Chief (Business) Development Officer, Chief Knowledge Officer/Chief Learning Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Risk Officer, and Chief Credit Officer.

paragraphs: According to Don Schmincke, to be a strong executive, "one cannot act in business differently from how he acts in family life or society". Meaning being a successful executive requires a man’s conduct to be “correct in all points”, his actions must follow his words at all times.


title: Exalead

paragraphs: Exalead [eg'zæli:d] is a French search engine involved in the Apple Inc. project, introducing new search techniques.

paragraphs: Exalead provides thumbnails previews of the target pages along with results, and allows usual advanced refining on the results page (language, geographic location, file type, categories) but also innovative refining such as rich content (audio, video, RSS) and related terms, allowing users to browse the web by serendipity.

paragraphs: The company is a société anonyme based in Paris and founded in 2000 by Francois Bourdoncle. Its name comes from the association between

paragraphs: Exalead tries to integrate research functions in one piece of software, combining Internet, desktop and enterprise functionality.

paragraphs: Exalead employs approximately 60 people in 3 countries (Paris in France, Milano in Italy and New York and San Francisco in the United States of America).

paragraphs: Exalead attempts to add value to search results by displaying statistics and information about the results along the left-hand side of the page. This includes categorical and geographical information. Exalead's features include:

paragraphs: Exalead allows search with regular expressions, which can be used to solve crosswords and used in IR algorithms.

paragraphs: On 2 March 2006, exalead.com indexed more than 4 billion pages. The interface is available in four languages (English, French, German and Chinese).

paragraphs: On 2 August 2006, Exalead launched the beta of its new interface, which is the default interface since the middle of October. The Chinese language has been removed again, Spanish and Italian were added instead - more languages will come soon.

paragraphs: The index size is 8 billion pages (8,079,622,557 pages at 10 October 2006, 15:54 GMT).


title: Amateur radio

paragraphs: Amateur radio is a hobby for people who like to talk using radio transmitters. Many people enjoy using amateur radio to talk to other amateur radio hobbyists in other countries. Amateur radio hobbyists also use their radio transmitters to get help in emergencies. Amateur radio is often called "Ham Radio". Many people use their amateur radios for fun. People who use Amateur radio are often called "amateur radio operators", "hams" or "amateurs".

paragraphs: During a disaster or emergency, amateur radio can be used to get help. When telephones do not work, it may be the only way to communicate. Some radio hobbyists volunteer to listen to emergency band frequencies in case there are distress calls. If the volunteers hear a distress call, they notify the appropriate authorities (for example the police or the Coast Guard).

paragraphs: People must have a license to use Amateur radio. In most countries users must pass a test to get a license. In some countries there is more than one license grade. In some countries, people can use Amateur radio if they have a license from their home country.

paragraphs: There are many clubs for Amateur radio in many countries. These clubs do many things as a group and help people get their Amateur radio license.

paragraphs: Amateur radio operators talk to each other in many ways. Some people talk with their voice, others use computers, television, or Morse code. They use many ways to get their signals to others. Most use shortwave radio signals that bounce off the sky. Some bounce off the moon or a satellite. Amateur radio operators have many ways to talk using the radio. Amateur radio satellites are called OSCAR's - Orbital Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio. Hams can also talk to astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

paragraphs: There are many ways to have fun with amateur radio. There are many games and contests. Amateur radio operators try to talk with as many others as possible. They then mail each other postcards called "QSL cards" to confirm the contact. Contesters may try to see how far they can talk, or to how many different people they can talk.

paragraphs: Some hide a transmitter which sends out a signal and others try to find it using receivers. This is called "Radio direction finding", "fox hunting" or "Radio sport". Sometimes the event is done with cars, or as a foot race.

paragraphs: Amateur radio is practised by over 15,000 licensed users in India. The first amateur radio operator was licensed in 1921. By the mid 1930s, there were around 20 amateur radio operators in India. Amateur radio operators have played an important part in the Indian independence movement with the setting up of pro-independence radio stations in the 1940s.


title: Humanities

paragraphs: The humanities include languages, literature, music, philosophy, politics, history, media, the classics, religion, and the visual and performing arts. Additional subjects sometimes included in the humanities are anthropology, area studies, communications and cultural studies, although these are often regarded as social sciences. It was popular in the Renaissance ages.

paragraphs: The arts are usually considered as part of the humanities. These include visual arts such as painting and sculpture, as well as performing arts such as theatre and dance, and literature. Other humanities such as language are sometimes considered to be part of the arts, for example as the "language arts".

paragraphs: The humanities study the human condition and mostly use methods that are analytic, critical, or speculative and not as empirical as natural and social sciences.


title: John Hawkins

paragraphs: Sir John Hawkins (also spelled as John Hawkyns) (Plymouth 1532–12 November 1595) was an English shipbuilder, merchant, navigator, and slave trader. In 1571 he helped uncover a plot against Queen Elizabeth I of England.


title: Coconut palm

paragraphs: The coconut palm is a palm tree in the family Arecaceae (palm family). It is a large palm, growing to 30 m tall. It has leaves that are 4–6 m long. The term "coconut" refers to the fruit of the coconut palm. The coconut tree is a monocot.

paragraphs: There are many coconut palms on the coasts of Indonesia, India, America, South Sudan, Bangladesh and Tanzania. People of this area use coconut milk in cooking. Women use coconut oil as oil for their hair. The coconut's shell is relatively hard, but can be broken. Because its shell is hard, it can be used as an ingredient to make craftworks.

paragraphs: Coconut milk is also used in many drinks. Coconut oil is often in food and soaps. People in Sri Lanka use coconut flowers for wedding celebrations. In the Maldives it is the National tree.

paragraphs: The coconut is not actually a nut, but is in fact a drupe. Coconuts grow in tropical countries. The flesh of a coconut is white and can be eaten raw or used in cooking. It is used in many of the foods we eat for flavour. It is native to tropical areas.

paragraphs: Coconuts floats on water and can float to another island and germinate there. It has often been noted that coconuts can travel 110 days, or 3000 miles, by sea and still be able to germinate.


title: Shawarma

paragraphs: Shawarma (; in ) is a meat sandwich eaten by people in the Middle East. It is served in round Arabic bread with meat and vegetables, with some spice or sauce of choice, in it. Normally, the meat can either be lamb, beef, turkey, or chicken. Shawarma can also be spelled chawarma, shwarma, shawerma, or shoarmais.

paragraphs: It was first introduced by people from Turkey. They call it "çevirme", which means "turning", because the meat can be turned around in the oven, but the Arabs changed its recipe from the Turkish Doner kebab.


title: Merchant

paragraphs: Merchants deal with trade. That means they deal goods that they do not produce themselves, in order to get profit.

paragraphs: In the US, "merchant" is any person while engaged in a business or profession or a seller who deals regularly in the type of goods sold. Under the common law in the United States, merchants are held to a higher standard in the selling of products than those who are not engaged in the sale of goods as a profession. For example, when a merchant sells something, he or she is expected to give a warranty, guaranteeing that the product is fit to be sold, even if there is nothing in writing to this effect.


title: Warranty

paragraphs: In commercial and consumer transactions, a warranty is an obligation that an article or service that is sold has the quality the buyer can reasonably expect from the seller.

paragraphs: That often means that there must be a remedy. That means repair or replacement if the article or service is not as good as the warranty says. It is a breach of the warranty when the promise is broken, i.e., a product is defective or not as good as should be expected by a reasonable buyer.

paragraphs: In business and legal transactions, a warranty is an assurance by one party to the other party that certain facts or conditions are true or will happen. The other party is allowed to rely on that assurance and seek some type of remedy if it is not true or followed.

paragraphs: An express warranty is typically a guarantee from the seller of a product that specifies the extent to which the quality or performance of the product is assured and states the conditions under which the product can be returned, replaced, or changed.

paragraphs: An implied warranty is one that arises from the nature of the transaction, and the understanding by the buyer.

paragraphs: To be "merchantable", the goods must reasonably conform to an ordinary buyer's expectations, i.e., they are what they say they are. For example, a fruit that looks and smells good but has hidden defects would violate the implied warranty of merchantability if its quality does not meet the standards for such fruit "as passes ordinarily in the trade".

paragraphs: A warranty is violated when the promise is broken; when goods are not as should be expected, at the time the sale occurs, whether or not the defect is apparent. Most warranties exclude parts that normally wear out, and supplies that must be periodically replaced as they are normally used up (e.g., tires and lubrication on a vehicle).

paragraphs: Many people do not realize that extended warranties are not always provided through the manufacturer, but in some circumstances it may work to the consumer's benefit. For instance, when an auto warranty is provided through a dealership from the manufacturer, repairs on the vehicle are reimbursed at a lower negotiated rate.

paragraphs: In the United States, the rights and remedies of buyers and sellers of goods are governed by the Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) as it has been adopted with variations from state to state.

paragraphs: A car warranty is at least one year. Three years is more common. Five years is an extended warranty.

paragraphs: A home warranty protects against the high costs of home and appliance repair by offering insurance coverage for appliances and equipment in the house.


title: Giuseppe Verdi

paragraphs: Giuseppe Verdi (born Roncole near Busseto, 9 or 10 October 1813; died Milan 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer of operas.

paragraphs: Verdi and Richard Wagner were the greatest composers of opera in the 19th century although they were completely different from one another. When Verdi was a young man the most famous opera composers in Italy were Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini who wrote in the bel canto tradition. This meant that their operas had beautiful tunes which were written for singers to show off their voices, even if what they sang did not suit the story. During his long life Verdi changed opera so that it did not have to obey old-fashioned rules.

paragraphs: The small village where Verdi was born lies in the valley of the Po River in the north of Italy. It was a poor district. His father was an innkeeper who had a small farm. The young boy must have been very talented. He was given a small harpsichord which he kept all his life. At the age of 9 he often played the organ for church services in the village when the organist was away.

paragraphs: A few years later he composed music for the amateur orchestra in Busseto. A man called Antonio Barezzi knew many important people and he helped Verdi a lot. Later Verdi married a daughter of a friend. Barezzi sent him to Milan so that he could study, but Verdi had not been taught the piano properly and he did not get a place in the music conservatory. He had some private lessons and learned a lot about opera as well as about literature and politics. In 1839 he composed an opera: "Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio", which was performed in La Scala, the world-famous opera house in Milan. It is not one of his greatest operas, but it helped him to become well-known and he was asked to write three more operas for La Scala. When his next opera was produced it was not a success: the audience did not like it and they hissed and booed. There was also tragedy in his personal life at this time: his two children and his wife all died.

paragraphs: Verdi managed to overcome his unhappiness in 1842 when he produced his opera "Nabucco". This was a great success and made him world-famous. He started to work very hard, composing two operas a year. He not only had to write the music but organize all the people to perform it. It was a huge workload. His opera "Ernani" (1844) was one of the best from this period. In 1847 he had another big success with "Macbeth". This opera, based on Shakespeare’s famous play, is still one of the best-loved of all operas. He was becoming a success.

paragraphs: For centuries Italy had been a collection of several countries, each with their own ruler. In the 1850s there was a lot of political unrest in the country. Verdi often wrote music for large choruses in his operas. The words of these choruses were often about fighting for freedom, and it was often thought that the songs were encouraging people to revolt. The song "Va pensiero" from his opera "Nabucco" was about the Hebrew slaves who were captive in Babylon. People chanted it in the streets with the words suitably changed. Verdi became a great national hero. Italy eventually became one country in 1861.

paragraphs: Giuseppina Strepponi was the soprano who sang the part of Abigaille in "Nabucco". Verdi fell in love with her. She had lived with another man and had three children so she felt that she was not good enough for Verdi. They eventually married in 1859. She was a great support to him until her death in 1897 although Verdi was not an easy husband to live with. He moved back to Busseto with her. He continued to travel a lot but did not let his wife come with him, leaving her behind in Busseto where she was not happy because many people there did not like her.

paragraphs: Three more famous operas were written at this time: "Rigoletto" in 1851 and "Il trovatore" ("The Troubadour") and "La traviata", both in 1853. These operas have many tunes which became famous. They are full of exciting drama in which the characters are very skilfully described by the music. The music is not divided so clearly into recitative and aria like it had been for two centuries. Instead, the music is developing all the time, the arias run straight into the following music. He had a brilliant sense of drama, but he often had to fight hard to stop producers making changes to what he had written.

paragraphs: Verdi often had trouble with the censors (the officials who decide whether the opera should be allowed to be performed). His opera "Rigoletto" was based on a story called "Le roi s’amuse" by Victor Hugo. The attempted murder of a king was not thought to be a suitable subject. Verdi had to change the king into a duke in his story and make some other changes before the opera could be performed. The story of his opera "Traviata", based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas fils, was also thought to be immoral. At the first performance the audience laughed because the heroine, who is supposed to be dying of tuberculosis, then called "consumption", was very fat. However, the opera soon became enormously popular.

paragraphs: Verdi had become very famous by now, and was asked to compose for the Opéra in Paris. He had to write operas in the French style: operas with five acts and a ballet based on a serious story. None of the operas he wrote at this time for Paris belong to his best works. He was more inspired when writing for the Italian theatres. "Simon Boccanegra" has a complicated plot, but the characters are described beautifully by the music. "Un ballo in maschera" (The masked ball) was about the murder of King Gustav III of Sweden. Again the censors did not like it and he had to change the story to a setting in Boston which rather spoiled the story. In the 1860s his best works were "La forza del destino" ("The Force of Destiny"), written for St Petersburg, "Don Carlos" written for the Paris Opéra, and "Aida" for the new opera house in Cairo in Egypt. "Aida" is considered one of his most perfect works. The first performance was not without difficulties: Verdi was having a long argument with the conductor Mariani who refused to go to Cairo to conduct it. The argument was made worse by the newspapers who accused Verdi of taking Mariani’s girlfriend. This caused a great scandal.

paragraphs: Verdi retired in the 1870s. He was a rich man who owned a lot of land. He gave a lot of money to charities, particularly to one charity for elderly musicians. Even in retirement he was persuaded by his publishers to write two more operas. He became fascinated by Shakespeare and he wrote "Otello" to a libretto by Arrigo Boito. This was a brilliant libretto and it helped him to write a great masterpiece in which every little detail of the story is beautifully described by the music. His very last opera, "Falstaff" (1893) is based on Shakespeare’s "Merry Wives of Windsor". Verdi continued to write a few religious pieces in his old age. He died of a stroke in Milan in 1901.


title: Blue box

paragraphs: A blue box is a device that someone could use to make free telephone calls. It worked by playing back the same sounds that the telephone company employees used to program their equipment.

paragraphs: The most famous person to use a blue box was John Draper, who went by the name Captain Crunch. Draper taught Steve Wozniak how to build them. Wozniak and Steve Jobs sold blue boxes to fellow students at the University of California, Berkeley. One time, Wozniak used a blue box to call the Pope.


title: Red box

paragraphs: A red box is a device that people used illegally in the 20th century to make free telephone calls at a payphone. It worked by playing back the same sounds that the payphone sends to the phone company when coins are put into it.


title: Silicon Graphics

paragraphs: Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) is a company that makes high-end computers. The company was founded by Jim Clark and Abbey Silverstone in 1982 to make graphics display terminals. SGI was famous for making very good computers for 3D animation working on video and pictures. They invented many things that other companies still use today.


Constituent


title: Constituency

paragraphs: A constituent is a voting member of a community or organization and has the power to appoint or elect. A constituency is all of the constituents of a representative. Constituents also have the power to remove their representative from the position to which they have appointed him or her. All of the constituents who are registered to vote are called the "electorate".

paragraphs: In the United Kingdom, a parliamentary constituency is a district that elects a member of parliament. It is sometimes called a "Parliamentary seat" or a "Division". Constituencies for local government elections are called either "Wards" or "electoral divisions".

paragraphs: As of 2020, there are 650 House of Commons constituencies in the UK:

paragraphs: Northern Ireland has 18 constituencies, each of which elect six MLAs to the Northern Ireland Assembly under the Single Transferable Vote system.

paragraphs: The Scottish Parliament has 73 single-member constituencies elected on a first past the post basis, with the remaining 56 seats in the parliament being selected by the Additional Member System (AMS). Since the passage of the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004, the constituencies of the Scottish Parliament are no longer identical to those of the House of Commons.

paragraphs: The National Assembly for Wales has 40 constituencies elected by first past the post which are identical to the Welsh constituencies of the House of Commons. Its remaining 20 seats are selected by AMS.

paragraphs: The London Assembly has 14 constituencies elected by First-past-the-post voting. Its remaining 11 seats are selected by AMS.

paragraphs: The United States House of Representatives has 435 constituencies each electing one member.

paragraphs: The term "constituency" is usual in many countries, especially in members of the Commonwealth of Nations.


title: Local government

paragraphs: Local governments are administrative offices that are smaller than a state or province. The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or (where appropriate) federal government.

paragraphs: What a local government does changes depending on what country it is in, and even when they are similar what it is called often varies. Common names for local governments include state, province, région, départment, county, prefecture, district, city, township, town, borough, parish, municipality, shire and village. However all these names are often used informally in countries where they do not describe a legal local government.


title: Stain

paragraphs: A stain is a spot that has another color than the material on which it is found. It can be occur without intention in the case of domestic stains on fabric, cloth, or other material, or it can be intentional. Stains are used intentionally in a variety of fields, including research (biochemical staining), technology (metal staining), and art (wood staining, stained glass.)

paragraphs: Different types of material can be stained by different substances, and stain resistance is an important characteristic in modern textile engineering. Various laundry techniques exist to attempt to remove or minimize existing stains, and stain removers are an important type of chemical in laundry detergents. Some stand-alone stain removers also exist.


title: Stainless steel

paragraphs: Stainless steel, also known as inox steel, is a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass.

paragraphs: Stainless steel does not stain, corrode, or rust as easily as ordinary steel, but it is not stain-proof.

paragraphs: The term 'corrosion resistant steel' is used when the alloy has less than the 12% minimum of chromium, for example in the aviation industry. There are different grades and surface finishes of stainless steel, depending on where it will be used. Stainless steels have a higher resistance to oxidation (rust) and corrosion in many natural and man-made environments, Different stainless steels have different amounts of different metals in them, and they are good for different purposes. There are over 150 grades of stainless steel, of which fifteen are the most used.

paragraphs: The idea behind stainless steel was discovered in the first part of the 19th century, but it took about 80 years to develop a reliable industrial method. French, British and American inventors worked on this until a genuine stainless steel was produced. The invention of modern stainless steel can be dated to 1913, and it was done by Harry Brearley in Sheffield, Yorkshire. A common use for stainless steel is cutlery (knives, forks, and spoons). Stainless steel cutlery was a big industry in the mid-20th century Sheffield.


title: Ferrous

paragraphs: Ferrous is an adjective coming from the Latin "ferrum" (iron). One uses this word to indicate the presence of iron, mostly in metallurgy or related industries.

paragraphs: There are also non-ferrous metals, which are metals that have no iron in them at all.

paragraphs: Ferrous can also refer to iron in its +2 oxidation state.

paragraphs: ""Ferrous"" is also the name of a song by Peter Gabriel.


title: Carbon steel

paragraphs: Carbon steel or plain-carbon steel, is a metal alloy. It is a combination of two elements, iron and carbon. Other elements are present in quantities too small to affect its properties. The only other elements allowed in plain-carbon steel are: manganese (1.65% max), silicon (0.60% max), and copper (0.60% max). Steel with a low carbon content has the same properties as iron, soft but easily formed. With more carbon the metal gains hardness and strength but becomes less ductile and more difficult to weld. Higher carbon content lowers steel's melting point and its temperature resistance in general.

paragraphs: Steel can be heat-treated which allows parts to be fabricated in an easily fordable soft state. If enough carbon is present, the alloy can be hardened to increase strength, wear, and impact resistance. Steels are often wrought by cold-working methods, which is the shaping of metal through deformation at a low equilibrium or meta stable temperature.

paragraphs: Mild steel is the most common form of steel as its price is relatively low while it provides material properties that are acceptable for many applications. Mild steel has a low carbon content (up to 0.3%) and is therefore neither extremely brittle nor ductile. It becomes malleable when heated, and so can be forged. It is also often used where large amounts of steel need to be formed, for example as structural steel. Density of this metal is 7861.093 kg/m³ (0.284 lb/in³) and the tensile strength is a maximum of 500 MPa (72500 psi)

paragraphs: Carbon steels which can successfully undergo heat-treatment have a carbon content in the range of 0.30% to 1.70% by weight. Trace impurities of various other elements can have a significant effect on the quality of the resulting steel. Trace amounts of sulfur make the steel "red-short", which is a fault: the steel is brittle and crumbly. Low alloy carbon steel, such as A36 grade, contains about 0.05% sulfur and melts around 1426–1538 °C (2600–2800 °F). Manganese is often added to improve the hardenability of low carbon steels. These additions turn the material into a low alloy steel by some definitions, but AISI's definition of carbon steel allows up to 1.65% manganese by weight.

paragraphs: Hardened steel usually refers to quenched or quenched and tempered steel.

paragraphs: Silver Steel or high-carbon bright steel, gets its name from its appearance, due to the high carbon content. It is a very-high carbon steel, or can be thought of as some of the best high-carbon steel. It is defined under the steel specification standards BS-1407. It is a 1% carbon tool steel which can be ground to close tolerances. Usually the range of carbon is minimum 1.10% but as high as 1.20%. It also contains trace elements of 0.35% Mn (range 0.30%-0.40%), 0.40% Cr (range 0.4%-0.5%), 0.30% Si (range 0.1%-0.3%), and also sometimes sulfur (max 0.035%) and phosphorus (max 0.035%). Silver steel is sometimes used for making straight razors, due to its ability to produce and hold a micro-fine edge.

paragraphs: The purpose of heat treating plain-carbon steel is to change the mechanical properties of steel, usually ductility, hardness, yield strength, and impact resistance.


title: Yellowcake

paragraphs: Yellowcake is a type of uranium powder. Yellowcake is made from rocks and minerals with uranium inside, like "uraninite", after they are changed in a factory. Yellowcake can be made into fuel for nuclear reactors, or it can be used in making atomic bombs.


title: Ductility

paragraphs: Ductility is when a solid material stretches under tensile strain. If ductile, a material may be stretched into a wire. Malleability, a similar property, is a material's ability to deform under pressure (compressive stress). If malleable, a material may be flattened by hammering or rolling.

paragraphs: Both of these properties are aspects of plasticity. Plasticity is how far a solid material can be deformed without fracture. These properties are commonplace in metals, and are dependent on temperature and pressure. This was investigated by Percy Williams Bridgman as part of his 1946 Nobel Prize–winning work on high pressures.

paragraphs: Ductility and malleability do not always go together. Gold has high ductility and malleability, but lead has low ductility and high malleability. The word "ductility" is sometimes used to embrace both types of plasticity.

paragraphs: Gold, copper, aluminium, and steel have high ductility.


title: Defibrillation

paragraphs: Defibrillation is the act of defibrillating the heart to treat the heart when it is not pushing blood because the heart muscle is not working in any pattern. Electricity causes a muscle to contract, this is how nerves cause muscles to work. The heart is a large muscle, and certain parts need to contract before other parts in order to push blood through the heart and out to the rest of body correctly. Sometimes the heart muscle doesn't contract in the correct way or at the correct speed, this is called an "arrhythmia" (out of rhythm). Fibrillation is a type of arrhythmia when the whole heart is quivering, not organized to make heart beats of any kind. CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) can get blood to the body when the heart is fibrillating, but the heart still needs to be restarted. Sometimes CPR will do that as well, but often a defibrillator is needed. Defibrillation is done with a defibrillator.

paragraphs: Defibrillation works by carefully sending a strong electric current to the heart, which "resets" the heart, and hopefully returns a normal, coordinated heart rhythm. It needs to depolarise (take away the existing electric charge) from a large part of the heart muscle, which stops the arrhythmia and allows the normal heartbeat to return. Defibrillators can work outside the body with the use of an external defibrillator or an automated external defibrillator, or inside the body with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.

paragraphs: The first use of the technique on a human was in 1947 by Claude Beck, a professor of surgery at Case Western Reserve University. The patient was a 14-year-old boy named Mickey.

paragraphs: Defibrillation is now used during open heart surgery, when the heart is stopped on purpose. In1980 the first implanted defibrillator was put into a patient. Implanted defibrillators are put into the chests of people at risk of going into fibrillation.

paragraphs: Not all arrhythmias need defibrillation. Some arrhythmias still push blood to the body, not well, but still enough to keep a person alive. Other types, like ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia, will cause a person to die within minutes unless treated. These are what need to be treated by defibrillation.

paragraphs: Fibrillation is when the heart muscle is contracting, but not in any organized way, and blood is not pumped. Pulseless tachycardia is when the heart is beating too fast to collect any blood to push.

paragraphs: Asystole is when the heart is not working at all (flat-line). Defibrillation does not work on asystole, but CPR might help.

paragraphs: Defibrillation is most successful when done right when the problem starts. Success in the first minute is about 90% and drops by 10% every minute after that. This time can be made longer by giving the person CPR, but having a defibrillator close by is very important.


title: Defibrillator

paragraphs: A defibrillator is a machine that can help when ventricular fibrillation happens in the heart of a human. A defibrillator is a life saving device.

paragraphs: Fibrillation happens when many different cells in the heart begin to act as pacemaker cells. This means that many thousands of cells tell the heart to beat, all at different times and with no rhythm. This confusion causes the heart to become unable to move blood around the body. This causes cardiac arrest and death.

paragraphs: A defibrillator sends a high energy pulse from the top-right of the heart to the bottom-middle of the heart. This causes the whole heart to stop all activity. The heart's normal pacemaker then can try and restart normal beating. Defibrillation does not always work.

paragraphs: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) are defibrillators that are designed to help patients from inside their body. They are put inside people that are at high-risk of going into cardiac arrest and monitor a person's heart rate, rhythm, and waveform. By comparing the activity in the different chambers of the heart, an icd can detect cardiac arrhythmias and treat them quickly.

paragraphs: External defibrillators are often used in hospitals and ambulances. They are now also being used outside of medical environments more as automated external defibrillators (see below) become safer and cheaper. There are many different types of external defibrillators, and progress in cardiac research has led to big improvements in the underlying technology.

paragraphs: Until the 1990s, external defibrillators relied on monophasic ("one phase") shock waves. Electrical pulses are quickly sent from one electrode to the other in one direction.

paragraphs: Biphasic ("two phases") defibrillation, however, changes the direction of the pulses. It completes one cycle in approximately 10 milliseconds. This means less energy is needed for successful defibrillation. That means less risk of burns and other damage. The small capacitor ("battery") size required for the defibrillator can result in large cost and size savings.

paragraphs: An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a self-contained defibrillator device designed to be movable, and easy and simple to use. They are often shaped like briefcases so that they can be carried by a handle. An AED contains a battery, a control computer, and electrodes. When the electrodes are stuck onto the patient, the control computer will assess the patient, checking the rhythm of their heart. It will then charge itself to an appropriate power level and tell users that the person needs to be shocked. If the patient does not need to be defibrillated, the automated external defibrillator will not allow a shock to be administered. A button must still be pushed manually to trigger the shock, as the operator beforehand must be certain that nobody is touching the patient. Often, automated external defibrillators will have speakers which give instructions when they are opened.

paragraphs: Current automated external defibrillator devices are designed for emergency medical technicians, home users, police and security officers and other people with minimal medical knowledge. These devices are commonly found in large gathering places, such as airports, casinos, sports stadiums, and college campuses.

paragraphs: The electrode is the part of the defibrillator that gives off the shock.

paragraphs: The most well-known type of electrode is the traditional metal paddle with an insulated handle. This type must be held in place on the patient's skin while shocks are delivered. Before the paddles are used, gel must be applied to the patient's skin so that there is a good connection and to minimise electrical resistance.

paragraphs: Another type of resuscitation electrode is designed as an adhesive pad which can be stuck onto the skin of a patient. These electrodes are left connected to a defibrillator. If defibrillation is required, the machine is charged, and the shock is delivered, without any need to apply any gel or to retrieve and place any paddles.

paragraphs: Both solid- and wet-gel adhesive electrodes are available. Solid-gel electrodes are more convenient, because there is no need to clean the patient's skin after removing the electrodes. However, the use of solid-gel electrodes presents a higher risk of burns during defibrillation, since wet-gel electrodes more evenly conduct electricity into the body.

paragraphs: Defibrillators are often depicted in movies, television, video games and other fictional media. This is because it can quickly produce dramatic improvements in patient health. Their function, however, is often exaggerated.

paragraphs: Medical providers are often shown defibrillating patients with a "flat-line" ECG rhythm (also known as asystole); this is not done in real life as the heart is not restarted by the defibrillator itself.


title: Curse

paragraphs: A curse is a word which threatens the other person to have bad luck. Nobody knows if it really works or become true. Some people believe in them even so, that they become true by magic. For example, for fairy tales, the princes are cursed to become a beast or a frog (i.e. frog prince) by witches because of their bad behaviours. But in the end a princess saves them.

paragraphs: There was also something called a "curse tablet" which Romans used to curse people they did not like. They would often let them drift to the river so that the curse will be carried to where that person who has the curse. But many curses are made when people are jealous and they want that person who has the curse to not do well.


title: Ventricular fibrillation

paragraphs: Ventricular fibrillation (often shortened to VF or V-Fib) is a type of "arrhythmia" of the heart. "Arrhythmia" means the heart is not beating normally.

paragraphs: When a person is in ventricular fibrillation, the heart does not beat in any kind of pattern. Instead, it quivers and twitches very quickly.

paragraphs: This problem is called "ventricular" fibrillation because it affects the ventricles of the heart. The ventricles are the biggest parts of the heart. Their job is to pump blood (which carries oxygen) to the lungs and the rest of the body. When a person is in ventricular fibrillation, the ventricles cannot do this job. This means that the lungs, brain, and other organs will not get enough blood or oxygen.

paragraphs: Ventricular fibrillation is a medical emergency. Without enough blood and oxygen, no part of the body can survive. If ventricular fibrillation continues for long enough, the blood will stop circulating around the body. The person's breathing and heart will stop. The person will die unless they get treatment quickly.

paragraphs: Ventricular fibrillation can be stopped by shocking the person with electricity from a defibrillator. If a defibrillator is not available, CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) should be done to keep the blood flowing until an ambulance comes or a defibrillator is available.

paragraphs: Doctors or paramedics can also give special medicines called anti-arrhythmic medicines, which can make the heart start beating normally again. Some common anti-arrhythmic medicines are amiodarone and lidocaine.

paragraphs: If a person with ventricular fibrillation is treated right away, treatment is 90% successful (it works in 9 out of 10 people). But treatment gets 10% less successful after every minute (so if treatment starts after one minute, it will work in only 8 out of 10 people. After 5 minutes, it will work in only 4 out of 10 people.) So getting treatment as soon as possible is very important. If a person cannot be treated with medicine or a defibrillator right away, CPR will help keep blood and oxygen flowing through the person's body until treatment arrives.

paragraphs: In patients who are very likely to keep having ventricular fibrillation, a special defibrillator can be put into their chest by a surgeon. (This special defibrillator is called an "implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.") Any time the person goes into ventricular fibrillation, the defibrillator will give the person's heart an electric shock, to bring the heart back into a normal rhythm.


title: Seal

paragraphs: Seal or SEAL may refer to articles connected to a variety of meanings:

paragraphs: Some of these names referred originally to the marine mammal.


title: Tachycardia

paragraphs: Tachycardia is the fast beating of the heart. In adults, it refers to heart rates higher than 100 beats per minute. Tachycardia may be a normal physiological response to stress, but depending on the cause and how healthy the patient is, tachycardia could be harmful and need medical treatment. In some cases, tachycardia can cause death.

paragraphs: Tachycardia can be harmful in two ways. First, when the heart beats too rapidly, it may perform inefficiently. Second, the faster the heart beats, the more oxygen and nutrients the heart requires. This can be especially problematic for patients suffering from ischaemic heart disease.


title: Material fracture

paragraphs: A fracture is the separation of a body into more than one piece under the action of stress.

paragraphs: The word "fracture" is often applied to bones of living creatures or to crystals or crystalline materials, such as gemstones or metal. Sometimes, fractures can happen without the object actually separating into two or more pieces.


title: Shear stress

paragraphs: Shear stress is a stress state where the stress is parallel to the surface of the material, as opposed to normal stress when the stress is to the surface.

paragraphs: Shear stress is relevant to themotion of fluids upon surfaces, which result in the generation of shear stress.

paragraphs: Also constructions in soil can fail due to shear; e.g., the weight of an earth-filled dam may cause the subsoil to collapse, like a small landslide.


title: Tension (mechanics)

paragraphs: Tension is a reaction force applied by a stretched string (rope or a similar object) on the objects which stretch it. The direction of the force of tension is parallel to the string, towards the string.

paragraphs: Tension exists also inside the string itself: if the string is made up of two parts, tension is the force which the two parts of the string apply on each other. The amount of tension in the string determines whether it will break, as well as its vibrational properties, which are used in musical instruments.


title: Shear

paragraphs:
Shear as a noun could mean:
Shear as a verb or shearing could mean:


title: I.O.U.

paragraphs: I.O.U. means "I Owe You" or "I Owe Unto". It is a note between two people that is used to say that one person owes something to the other. It is usually used for money. I.O.U.'s are most often only used between people that know each other very well, for example, friends.


title: Deformation

paragraphs: In engineering mechanics, deformation is a change in shape that is result of a force that influences the object.

paragraphs: It can be a result of tensile (pulling) forces, compressive (pushing) forces, shear, bending or torsion (twisting).

paragraphs: Depending on the type of material, size and shape of the object, and the forces used, various types of deformation may result.

paragraphs: This type of deformation is reversible. Once the forces are no longer applied, the object returns to its original shape. As the name implies, elastic (rubber) has a rather large elastic deformation range. The thermoplastics and metals have moderate elastic deformation ranges while ceramics, crystals, and hard thermosetting polymers undergo almost no elastic deformation. Malleable materials do not undergo elastic deformation.

paragraphs: A phenomenon only discovered in modern times is metal fatigue, which occurs primarily in ductile metals. It was originally thought that a material deformed only within the elastic range returned completely to its original state once the forces were removed. However, faults are introduced at the molecular level with each deformation. After many deformations, cracks will begin to appear, followed soon after by a fracture, with no apparent plastic deformation in between. Depending on the material, shape, and how close to the elastic limit it is deformed, failure may require thousands, millions, billions, or trillions of deformations.

paragraphs: Metal fatigue has been a major cause of aircraft failure, especially before the process was well understood.

paragraphs: This type of deformation is not reversible. But an object in the plastic deformation range will first have undergone elastic deformation, which is reversible, so the object will return part way to its original shape. Soft thermoplastics have a rather large plastic deformation range as do ductile metals such as copper, silver, and gold. Steel does, too, but not iron. Hard thermosetting plastics, rubber, crystals, and ceramics have minimal plastic deformation ranges. Perhaps the material with the largest plastic deformation range is wet chewing gum, which can be stretched dozens of times its original length.

paragraphs: This type of deformation is also not reversible. A break occurs after the material has reached the end of the elastic, and then plastic, deformation ranges. At this point forces accumulate until they are sufficient to cause a fracture. All materials will eventually fracture, if sufficient forces are applied.

paragraphs: A popular misconception is that all materials that bend are "weak" and all those which do not are "strong". In reality, many materials which undergo large elastic and plastic deformations, such as steel, are able to absorb stresses which would cause brittle materials, such as glass, with minimal elastic and plastic deformation ranges, to break. There is even a story to describe this observation (paraphrased below):


title: Ceramic

paragraphs: Ceramic is the name for some materials that are formed by the use of heat. The word "ceramic" comes from the Greek word (""). Chemically, it is an inorganic compound of metal, non-metal or metalloid atoms held together by chemical bonds.

paragraphs: Up to the 1950s or so, the most important were the traditional clays, made into pottery, bricks, tiles and the like, also cements and glass. Clay-based ceramics are described in the article on pottery. A composite material of ceramic and metal is known as cermet.

paragraphs: The word "ceramic" can be an adjective, and can also be used as a noun to refer to a ceramic material, or a product of ceramic manufacture. "Ceramics" may also be used as a singular noun referring to the art of making things out of ceramic materials. The technology of manufacturing and usage of ceramic materials is part of the field of ceramic engineering.

paragraphs: Many clay-based ceramic materials are hard, porous, and brittle. The study and development of ceramics includes methods to deal with these characteristics, to accentuate the strengths of the materials and investigate novel applications.

paragraphs: For convenience ceramic products are usually divided into four sectors, and these are shown below with some examples:

paragraphs: Technical ceramics can also be classified into three distinct material categories:

paragraphs: Each one of these classes can develop unique material properties.

paragraphs: Ceramic materials are usually ionic or covalent bonded materials, and can be crystalline or amorphous. A material held together by either type of bond will tend to fracture (break) before any plastic deformation takes place, which results in poor toughness in these materials. Additionally, because these materials tend to have a lot of pores, the pores and other microscopic imperfections act as stress concentrators, decreasing the toughness further, and reducing the tensile strength. These combine to give catastrophic failures, as opposed to the normally much more gentle failure modes of metals.

paragraphs: These materials do show plastic deformation. However, due to the stiff structure of the crystalline materials, there are very few available slip systems for dislocations to move, and so they deform very slowly. With the non-crystalline (glassy) materials, viscous flow is the main source of plastic deformation, and is also very slow. Because of that, it is ignored in many applications of ceramic materials.

paragraphs: There are a number of ceramics that are semiconductors. Most of these are transition metal oxides that are II-VI semiconductors, such as zinc oxide.

paragraphs: While there is talk of making blue LEDs from zinc oxide, ceramicists are most interested in the electrical properties that show grain boundary effects.

paragraphs: One of the most widely used of these is the varistor.

paragraphs: Semiconducting ceramics are also employed as gas sensors. When various gases are passed over a polycrystalline ceramic, its electrical resistance changes. With tuning to the possible gas mixtures, very cheap devices can be produced.

paragraphs: Under some conditions, such as extremely low temperature, some ceramics show superconductivity. The exact reason for this is not known, but there are two major families of superconducting ceramics .

paragraphs: Piezoelectricity, a link between electrical and mechanical response, is exhibited by a large number of ceramic materials, including the quartz used to measure time in watches and other electronics. Such devices turn electricity to mechanical motions and back, making a stable oscillator.

paragraphs: The piezoelectric effect is generally stronger in materials that also show pyroelectricity, and all pyroelectric materials are also piezoelectric. These materials can be used to inter convert between thermal, mechanical, and/or electrical energy; for instance, after synthesis in a furnace, a pyroelectric crystal allowed to cool under no applied stress generally builds up a static charge of thousands of volts. Such materials are used in motion sensors, where the tiny rise in temperature from a warm body entering the room is enough to produce a measurable voltage in the crystal.

paragraphs: In turn, pyroelectricity is seen most strongly in materials which also display the ferroelectric effect, in which a stable electric dipole can be oriented or reversed by applying an electrostatic field. Pyroelectricity is also a necessary consequence of ferroelectricity. This can be used to store information in ferroelectric capacitors, elements of ferroelectric RAM.

paragraphs: The most common such materials are lead zirconate titanate and barium titanate. Aside from the uses mentioned above, their strong piezoelectric response is exploited in the design of high-frequency loudspeakers, transducers for sonar, and actuators for atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopes.

paragraphs: Increases in temperature can cause grain boundaries to suddenly become insulating in some semiconducting ceramic materials, mostly mixtures of heavy metal titanates. The critical transition temperature can be adjusted over a wide range by variations in chemistry. In such materials, current will pass through the material until joule heating brings it to the transition temperature, at which point the circuit will be broken and current flow will cease. Such ceramics are used as self-controlled heating elements in, for example, the rear-window defrost circuits of automobiles.

paragraphs: At the transition temperature, the material's dielectric response becomes theoretically infinite. While a lack of temperature control would rule out any practical use of the material near its critical temperature, the dielectric effect remains exceptionally strong even at much higher temperatures. Titanates with critical temperatures far below room temperature have become synonymous with "ceramic" in the context of ceramic capacitors for just this reason.

paragraphs: Non-crystalline ceramics, being glasses, tend to be formed from melts. The glass is shaped when either fully molten, by casting, or when in a state of toffee-like viscosity, by methods such as blowing to a mold. If later heat-treatments cause this class to become partly crystalline, the resulting material is known as a glass-ceramic.

paragraphs: Crystalline ceramic materials are not amenable to a great range of processing. Methods for dealing with them tend to fall into one of two categories – either make the ceramic in the desired shape, by reaction in situ, or by "forming" powders into the desired shape, and then sintering to form a solid body. Ceramic forming techniques include shaping by hand (sometimes including a rotation process called "throwing"), slip casting, tape casting (used for making very thin ceramic capacitors, etc.), injection molding, dry pressing, and other variations. (See also Ceramic forming techniques. Details of these processes are described in the two books listed below.) A few methods use a hybrid between the two approaches.

paragraphs: The most common use of this method is in the production of cement and concrete. Here, the dehydrated powders are mixed with water. This starts hydration reactions, which result in long, interlocking crystals forming around the aggregates. Over time, these result in a solid ceramic.

paragraphs: The biggest problem with this method is that most reactions are so fast that good mixing is not possible, which tends to prevent large-scale construction. However, small-scale systems can be made by deposition techniques, where the various materials are introduced above a substrate, and react and form the ceramic on the substrate. This borrows techniques from the semiconductor industry, such as chemical vapour deposition, and is very useful for coatings.

paragraphs: These tend to produce very dense ceramics, but do so slowly.

paragraphs: The principles of sintering-based methods is simple. Once a roughly held together object (called a "green body") is made, it is baked in a kiln, where diffusion processes cause the green body to shrink. The pores in the object close up, resulting in a denser, stronger product. The firing is done at a temperature below the melting point of the ceramic. There is virtually always some porosity left, but the real advantage of this method is that the green body can be produced in any way imaginable, and still be sintered. This makes it a very versatile route.

paragraphs: There are thousands of possible refinements of this process. Some of the most common involve pressing the green body to give the densification a head start and reduce the sintering time needed. Sometimes organic binders such as polyvinyl alcohol are added to hold the green body together; these burn out during the firing (at 200–350 °C). Sometimes organic lubricants are added during pressing to increase densification. It is not uncommon to combine these, and add binders and lubricants to a powder, then press. (The formulation of these organic chemical additives is an art in itself. This is particularly important in the manufacture of high performance ceramics such as those used by the billions for electronics, in capacitors, inductors, sensors, etc. The specialized formulations most commonly used in electronics are detailed in the book "Tape Casting," by R.E. Mistler, et al., Amer. Ceramic Soc. [Westerville, Ohio], 2000.) A comprehensive book on the subject, for mechanical as well as electronics applications, is "Organic Additives and Ceramic Processing," by D. J. Shanefield, Kluwer Publishers [Boston], 1996.

paragraphs: A slurry can be used in place of a powder, and then cast into a desired shape, dried and then sintered. Indeed, traditional pottery is done with this type of method, using a plastic mixture worked with the hands.

paragraphs: If a mixture of different materials is used together in a ceramic, the sintering temperature is sometimes above the melting point of one minor component – a "liquid phase" sintering. This results in shorter sintering times compared to solid state sintering.


title: Inorganic compound

paragraphs: An inorganic compound is a chemical compound that does not have carbon–hydrogen bonds that is, it is "not" an organic compound. That means it is not a carbon-based compound.

paragraphs: The division between the two types of compound is not absolute. Some carbon-containing compounds are traditionally considered inorganic. Many chemicals in nature are not compounds, but are ions. Sodium, chloride, and phosphate ions are essential for life, as are some inorganic molecules such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, water and oxygen. Aside from these simple ions and molecules, virtually all compounds covered by biochemistry contain carbon and can be considered organic or organometallic.

paragraphs: Major types of inorganic compounds may include:


title: Applied mechanics

paragraphs: Applied mechanics, also known as theoretical and applied mechanics, is a branch of the physical sciences and the practical application of mechanics. Applied mechanics examines the "response of bodies (solids and fluids) to external forces". Some examples of "mechanical systems" include the flow of a liquid under pressure, the fracture of a solid from an applied force, or the vibration of an ear in response to sound. A practitioner of the discipline is known as a mechanician.

paragraphs: Applied mechanics, as its name suggests, bridges the gap between physical theory and its application to technology.


title: Mechanics

paragraphs: Mechanics is a branch of physics which looks at objects that are moved by forces (including other bodies, or forces of nature).

paragraphs: The discipline has its roots in ancient Greece where Aristotle studied the way bodies behaved when they were thrown through the air (e.g. a stone). However it was Galileo, Kepler and especially Newton who laid the foundations for much of the so-called "Newtonian mechanics" we know today.

paragraphs: A person working in the discipline is known as a mechanician.

paragraphs: Mechanics is the original discipline of physics, dealing with the macroscopic world that humans perceive. It is therefore a huge body of knowledge about the natural world. Mechanics encompasses the movement of all matter in the universe under the four forces: gravity, the strong and weak interactions, and the electromagnetic interaction.

paragraphs: Mechanics also constitutes a central part of technology.

paragraphs: The following are categorized as being part of Quantum mechanics:


title: Newton

paragraphs: Newton was the name of some famous people:

paragraphs: Newton is also the name of several places:


title: Paleobiology

paragraphs: Paleobiology is a branch of science which studies animals, plants and microbes buried in rock. These stoney items are called fossils. Paleobiology combines biology with the study of these fossils. There are several branches of paleobiology:

paragraphs: Baron Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás started paleobiology in the late 19th century while working at the University of Vienna. He tried to learn how the animals lived, rather than merely put together their bones, as many geologists were doing at the time.


title: Central venous catheter

paragraphs: A central venous catheter (CVC) or "central line" is a catheter put in a large vein in the neck, chest, or groin when a patient needs close cardiovascular monitoring, for assessment of fluid status, and so that intravenous drugs and fluids can be given to the patient more effectively. The veins most commonly used are the internal jugular vein, the subclavian vein, and the femoral vein.


title: Macroscopic

paragraphs: Macroscopic means physical objects that are measurable and can be seen by the naked eye.

paragraphs: When one uses macroscopic for abstract objects, one thinks of the world as we see it without any help. Lengths scales are called macroscopic if they fall in the range of more or less than 1 mm or up to 1 km.

paragraphs: One may use the term "macroscopic" also for a "larger view", namely a view only available from a large perspective. A macroscopic position could be considered the "big picture".

paragraphs: In physics macroscopy is a relative term. If one looks at a galaxy, a star is microscopic in comparison with the whole galaxy, even if it is many, many orders of magnitude larger than us. macroscopy can also be described as a relation between any two objects in terms of its magnification on a scale of some sort. A macroscopic object is something that we are able to see in plain sight through our own field of vision no matter where we are located. In spacetime light must also come into contact with our eyes and the object we are observing in order for it to be visible.


title: Naked eye

paragraphs: Seeing with naked eye means to look at something without the help of telescope, binoculars or microscope. In astronomy a naked-eye object is something (such as a star) that the general public can see without these optical aids.


title: Order of magnitude

paragraphs: If two numbers have the same order of magnitude, they are about the same size.

paragraphs: But if one would compare the surface of an orange with that of the earth, one would say the surface of the earth is many "orders of magnitude" larger than that of the orange.

paragraphs: Orders of magnitude are generally used to make very approximate comparisons. It is mainly used while doing scientific notation. If two numbers differ by one order of magnitude, one is about ten times larger than the other. If they differ by two orders of magnitude, they differ by a factor of about 100. Two numbers of the same order of magnitude have roughly the same scale: the larger value is less than ten times the smaller value.


title: N-Gage

paragraphs: The Nokia N-Gage is a mobile phone and handheld game console. It was first sold on October 7, 2003.


Woodside


title: Handheld game console

paragraphs: A handheld game console is a light, portable electronic machine for playing video games.


title: Pinhead Gunpowder

paragraphs: Pinhead Gunpowder is a punk rock band from California, United States. Its members are Billie Joe Armstrong (singer and guitarist of Green Day), Aaron Cometbus, Bill Schneider and Jason White. White and Schneider also participate in Green Day.

paragraphs: The name of the band means the brand of a "high octane" green tea which Cometbus found in the dump.

paragraphs: Its members do not want to make money with this band, they only want to have fun.

paragraphs: Its music is different in each song, but always following the punk and hardcore style.


title: Harry Connick Jr.

paragraphs: Harry Connick, Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, piano player and actor. He plays jazz music mostly, but also pop music. In 2014, he became a judge on "American Idol".

paragraphs: His father is former New Orleans district attorney Harry Connick, Sr..


title: Pantheism

paragraphs: Pantheism is the belief that God and the universe are equivalent (the same thing). A pantheist believes that everything that exists is a part of God or that God is a part of everything that exists. The name pantheism comes from the Greek words theism (belief in God) and pan (all).

paragraphs: Any doctrine or philosophy that believes that the universe and everything in it is God is said to be pantheistic. Most pantheists believe the universe is sacred and the earth and nature are divine.

paragraphs: Most of the early Greek philosophers from Thales on to the Stoics believed in some sort of pantheism.

paragraphs: Pantheism is an important part of many eastern religions such as Hinduism, Druidism and Taoism.

paragraphs: Some western philosophers such as Baruch Spinoza and some scientists are pantheists.

paragraphs: Some Christians, Jews and Sufis are Pantheists. However, their majority believes that while God is in everything, there is more to God than just the universe.


title: Panentheism

paragraphs: Panentheism is the belief that the universe is part of God. Followers believe that one or more gods are both part of the universe and greater than it. To some people, this is a very confusing concept (idea) and was first created by philosophers in the early centuries AD.

paragraphs: A famous philosopher who used the term was Baruch Spinoza.


title: Deuterium

paragraphs: Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen, the first element. Deuterium has one proton and one neutron. Hydrogen does not have a neutron, only a proton. Another isotope of hydrogen, tritium, has two neutrons. The chemical symbol for Deuterium is H but D is also used often.

paragraphs: Two deuterium atoms combined with an oxygen atom is sometimes called "heavy water." This is because it is like water (HO), but heavier because deuterium has one more neutron in its nucleus. Heavy water is sometimes used in nuclear reactors. It is also used as a solvent for NMR spectroscopy. This is because it will dissolve the sample, like normal water, but it will not be detected by the magnet in an H NMR.


title: Boer

paragraphs: Boer (IPA: /bur/) is the Dutch word for farmer which is used to call the descendants of the Dutch farmers of Southern Africa during the 1700s, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 1800s to live in the Orange Free State, Transvaal. They did this to escape the British rule, and the wars between the British imperial government and the native tribes on the eastern frontier.

paragraphs: In 1657, “vrybriewe” was granted to 9 burgers, the first farmers or Boers (Boere) at the Cape. Although they were not known as Afrikaners, they did not regard themselves as living in a European country. As more immigrants from Europe arrived at the Cape, more international marriages took place. Soon their language and culture were lost and transformed. They regarded themselves as a new nation, the Afrikaner people. Paul Heyns, born in 1696 christened his son Michiel Afrikanus (the Afrikaner). One Hendrik Bieslow in 1707 proclaimed in public “Ik ben een Afrikaander”. The Boer later created the Boer Republics, which were defeated in the 1880-1881 and 1899–1902 Anglo-Boer wars (Anglo-Boere-oorlog). After that, many Boers emigrated to other countries, but many still live in modern South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.


title: Muhammad Ali

paragraphs: "Not to be mistaken for the Muhammad Ali who became Muhammad Ali Pasha, Wali of Egypt and Sudan"

paragraphs: Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American boxer. He became one of the most famous boxers in the world with his "rope-a-dope" technique. He was also well known for his clever rhymes. In 1999, Ali was named "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated magazine. He won the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship three times. Ali also won an Olympic gold medal for boxing during the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. Ali was also known as “The Greatest”.

paragraphs: Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He was named after his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. Ali changed his name after converting to Nation of Islam in 1965. Because of his Islamic beliefs, Ali would not fight in the Vietnam War when the army tried drafting him. This made him an international figure around the world. Ali retired from boxing in 1981. In the early 1980s, it was found out that Ali had Parkinson's syndrome. He became well known for his social work and charity.

paragraphs: Muhammad Ali converted to Islam and became Muslim during the 1960s.

paragraphs: Muhammad Ali was married four times. He had seven daughters and two sons. One of his sons was adopted by him.

paragraphs: On December 20, 2014, Ali was hospitalized for a mild case of pneumonia. Ali was once again hospitalized on January 15, 2015 for a urinary tract infection after being found unresponsive at a guest house in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was released the next day.

paragraphs: Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. On June 3, 2016, Ali died from septic shock due to respiratory problems at a Scottsdale, Arizona hospital, aged 74.


title: Mechanician

paragraphs: A mechanician is an engineer or a scientist working in the field of mechanics, or in engineering, applied mechanics and similar fields. Sometimes mechanicians are also called mechaniker and mechanicist.


title: Compressive stress

paragraphs: Compressive stress is the stress on materials that leads to a smaller volume.

paragraphs: By compressive stress the material is under compression. Compressive stress to bars, columns, etc. leads to shortening.

paragraphs: One can increase the compressive stress until compressive strength is reached. Then materials will react with ductile behaviour (most metals, some soils and plastics) or with fracture in case of brittle materials (geomaterials, cast iron, glass, etc.). For example, if a cylinder is compressed under the action of the applied force, the restoring force per unit area is known as the compressive stress. It is one of the best stresses for chassis, so if you have a chassis report explain it well as it helps a lot.


title: Cambuslang railway station

paragraphs: Cambuslang railway station is a train station for the Scottish town of Cambuslang, in South Lanarkshire (near Glasgow.) The station is owned and managed by First ScotRail. There is a train every ten minutes. Trains come more often at busy times of the day. The station has a ticket office at the top, with a bridge across the track and two ramps down to each platform.


title: Rotation

paragraphs: Rotation is the movement of an object in a circular motion.

paragraphs: A two-dimensional object rotates around a "center" (or "point") "of rotation". A three-dimensional object rotates around a line called an "axis". If the axis of rotation is within the body, the body is said to rotate upon itself, or "spin"– which implies relative speed and perhaps free-movement with angular momentum. A circular motion about an external point (for example the Earth around the Sun) is called an "orbit" or more properly "orbital revolution."

paragraphs: Rotation around a point in one plane can be in a clockwise direction or an anticlockwise direction.

paragraphs: In flight dynamics, the principal rotations are known as "pitch", "roll" and "yaw". The term rotation is also used in aviation to refer to the upward pitch of an aircraft, particularly when starting the major climb for takeoff. The same terms are used for fish moving through water.

paragraphs: Many amusement rides provide rotation. A Ferris wheel and observation wheel have a horizontal central axis, and parallel axes for each gondola, where the rotation is opposite, by gravity or mechanically.

paragraphs: Rotation, usually called "spin", plays a role in many sports. "Topspin" and "backspin" in tennis. "English", "follow" and "draw" in billiards and pool. Curve balls in baseball and spin bowling in cricket. Table tennis paddles are specialized to allow players to spin the ball as they hit it.


title: Moment (physics)

paragraphs: In physics, moment of force (often just moment) is a measure of its tendency to cause a body to rotate about a specific point or axis.

paragraphs: In this concept the moment arm, the distance from the axis of rotation, plays an important role. The lever, pulley, gear, and most other simple machines create mechanical advantage by changing the moment arm. The SI unit for moment is the newton meter (kgm²/s²).

paragraphs: The Principle of Moment states that when a system is in equilibrium the sum of its CLOCKWISE MOMENTS equals the sum of its ANTICLOCKWISE MOMENTS.

paragraphs: Some examples where moments (turning effect) are applied involve levers, like seesaws, opening and closing doors, nutcrackers, can openers, and crowbars.

paragraphs: A lever is a simple machine in which one force called the effort is used to overcome another force called the load.

paragraphs: In physics, a moment is a combination of a physical quantity and a distance.

paragraphs: The principle of moments is derived from Archimedes' discovery of the operating principle of the lever. In the lever one applies a force, in his day most often human muscle, to an "arm", a beam of some sort. Archimedes noted that the amount of force applied to the object, the "moment of force", is defined as "M = rF", where "F" is the applied force, and "r" is the distance from the applied force to object.


title: Tensile strength

paragraphs: Tensile strength is a measurement of the force required to pull something such as rope, wire, or a structural beam to the point where it breaks.

paragraphs: The tensile strength of a material is the maximum amount of tensile stress that it can take before failure, for example breaking.

paragraphs: There are three typical definitions of tensile strength:

paragraphs: Some typical tensile strengths of some materials:

paragraphs: (Source: A.M. Howatson, P.G. Lund and J.D. Todd, "Engineering Tables and Data" p41)


title: Bosconian

paragraphs: Bosconian is a video arcade game made by Namco in 1981. The player moves a spaceship and tries to destroy "space stations". There are also other things in space that the player has to destroy to get to the space stations. The game was later used on many of the early personal computers.

paragraphs: "Bosconian" won the 1982 Arcade Award for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Coin-Op Game. The award was given out in January 1983. It beats both Atari's "Gravitar" and Sega's "Zaxxon".


title: The Sunday Night Project

paragraphs: The Sunday Night Project is a British comedy television programme. It was broadcast on Channel 4 from 2005-2009. The show was presented by Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr with a different guest host each week.