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Northern_North_Sea_basin | The North Sea is part of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Europe . It is located between Norway and Denmark in the east , Scotland and England in the west , Germany , the Netherlands , Belgium and France in the south . The geology of the North Sea describes the geological features such as channels , trenches , and ridges today and the geological history , plate tectonics , geological events that created them . A geological basin is a large low-lying area or depression . It is often below sea level . Depressions are typically formed by tectonic processes acting on the lithosphere , providing `` accommodation space '' for sediment to be preserved . Basins are formed in a variety of tectonic settings : extensional , compressional , strike-slip and intraplate . Geological basins are one of the most common places which collect sediment . The type of rocks which form there tell about the palaeoclimate of the continent . The geology is of interest to oil prospectors , hydrologists and palaeontologists . Exploration in the North Sea was initiated in May 1964 when the first well was spudded and the area has now become one of the most prolific hydrocarbon provinces in the world . Total recoverable reserves found to date , including adjacent land areas , amount to over 100 billion barrels of oil and natural gas . Geologically speaking , the North Sea is divided into four main basins : Northern , Moray Firth , Central , and Southern . Each has a long and complex geologic history with unique structural and stratigraphic developments driven by tectonic events over the last 400 Million years . The northern North Sea Paleorift system , including the Viking and Sogn graben , is an approximately 150-200 km wide zone of extended upper crust with preserved strata from pre-Triassic to Tertiary . It is bounded by the Shetland Platform to the west and the Norwegian mainland to the east . |
Nor'easter | A nor'easter ( also northeaster ; see below ) is a macro-scale cyclone . The name derives from the direction of the strongest winds -- as an offshore air mass rotates counterclockwise , winds tend to blow northeast-to-southwest over the region covered by the northwest quadrant of the cyclone . Use of the term in North America is associated with several different types of storms , some of which can form in the North Atlantic Ocean and some of which form as far south as the Gulf of Mexico . The term is most often used in the coastal areas of New England and the Mid-Atlantic states . Typically , such storms originate as a low-pressure area that forms within 100 mi of the shore between North Carolina and Massachusetts . The precipitation pattern is similar to that of other extratropical storms . Nor ' easters are usually accompanied by very heavy rain or snow , and can cause severe coastal flooding , coastal erosion , hurricane-force winds , or blizzard conditions . Nor'easter s are usually most intense during winter in New England and Atlantic Canada . They thrive on converging air masses -- the cold polar air mass and the warmer air over the water -- and are more severe in winter when the difference in temperature between these air masses is greater . Nor'easter s tend to develop most often and most powerfully between the months of November and March , although they can ( much less commonly ) develop during other parts of the year as well . The susceptible regions are generally impacted by Nor'easter s a few times each winter . |
North_Greenland_Ice_Core_Project | The drilling site of the North Greenland Ice Core Project ( NGRIP or NorthGRIP ) is near the center of Greenland ( 75.1 N , 42.32 W , 2917 m , ice thickness 3085 ) . Drilling began in 1999 and was completed at bedrock in 2003 . The cores are cylinders of ice 11 centimeters in diameter that were brought to the surface in 3.5-meter lengths . The NGRIP site was chosen to extract a long and undisturbed record stretching into the last glacial , and it succeeded . The site was chosen for a flat basal topography to avoid the flow distortions that render the bottom of the GRIP and GISP cores unreliable . Unusually , there is melting at the bottom of the NGRIP core - believed to be due to a high geothermal heat flux locally . This has the advantage that the bottom layers are less compressed by thinning than they would otherwise be : NGRIP annual layers at 105 kyr age are 1.1 cm thick , twice the GRIP thicknesses at equal age . The NGRIP record helps to resolve a problem with the GRIP and GISP2 records - the unreliability of the Eemian Stage portion of the record . NGRIP covers 5 kyr of the Eemian , and shows that temperatures then were roughly as stable as the pre-industrial Holocene temperatures were . This is confirmed by sediment cores , in particular MD95-2042 . In 2003 , NGRIP recovered what seem to be plant remnants nearly two miles below the surface , and they may be several million years old . `` Several of the pieces look very much like blades of grass or pine needles , '' said University of Colorado at Boulder geological sciences Professor James White , an NGRIP principal investigator . `` If confirmed , this will be the first organic material ever recovered from a deep ice-core drilling project , '' he said . |
Nuclear_reprocessing | Nuclear reprocessing technology was developed to chemically separate and recover fissionable plutonium from spent nuclear fuel . Originally , reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing nuclear weapons . With commercialization of nuclear power , the reprocessed plutonium was recycled back into MOX nuclear fuel for thermal reactors . The reprocessed uranium , also known as the spent fuel material , can in principle also be re-used as fuel , but that is only economical when uranium supply is low and prices are high . A breeder reactor is not restricted to using recycled plutonium and uranium . It can employ all the actinides , closing the nuclear fuel cycle and potentially multiplying the energy extracted from natural uranium by about 60 times . Nuclear reprocessing by itself reduce radioactivity or heat generation and therefore does not eliminate the need for a geological waste repository . Reprocessing has been politically controversial because of the potential to contribute to nuclear proliferation , the potential vulnerability to nuclear terrorism , the political challenges of repository siting ( a problem that applies equally to direct disposal of spent fuel ) , the environmental risks of the aqueous and organic waste streams , and because of its high cost compared to the once-through fuel cycle . In the United States , the Obama administration stepped back from President Bush 's plans for commercial-scale reprocessing and reverted to a program focused on reprocessing-related scientific research . Nuclear fuel reprocessing is performed routinely in Europe , Russia and Japan . |
Open-field_system | The open-field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in parts of western Europe , Russia , Iran and Turkey . Under the open-field system , each manor or village had two or three large fields , usually several hundred acres each , which were divided into many narrow strips of land . The strips or selions were cultivated by individuals or peasant families , often called tenants or serfs . The holdings of a manor also included woodland and pasture areas for common usage and fields belonging to the lord of the manor and the church . The farmers customarily lived in individual houses in a nucleated village with a much larger manor house and church nearby . The open-field system necessitated co-operation among the inhabitants of the manor . The Lord of the Manor , his officials , and a Manorial court administered the manor and exercised jurisdiction over the peasantry . The Lord levied rents and required the peasantry to work on his personal lands , called a demesne . In medieval times , little land was owned outright . Instead the lord had rights given to him by the king and the tenant rented land from the lord . Lords demanded rents , often ruinous , and labour from the tenants , but the tenants had firm user rights to cropland and common land and those rights were passed down from generation to generation . A medieval lord could not evict a tenant nor hire labour to replace him without legal cause . Most tenants likewise were not free without penalty to depart the manor for other locations or occupations . The rise of capitalism and the concept of land as a commodity to be bought and sold led to the demise of the open-field system . The open-field system was gradually replaced over several centuries by private ownership of land , especially after the 15th century in the process known as enclosure in England . France , Germany , and other northern European countries had systems similar to England , although open fields generally endured longer on the continent . Some elements of the open-field system were practised by early settlers in the New England region of the United States . |
Ophiolite | An ophiolite ( -LSB- pronˈɒfiəlaɪt -RSB- ) is a section of the Earth 's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed above sea level and often emplaced onto continental crustal rocks . Ophio is Greek for snake , and lite means stone from the Greek lithos , after the often-green-color rocks ( spilites and serpentinites ) that make up many ophiolites . The term ophiolite was originally used by Alexandre Brongniart for an assemblage of green rocks ( serpentine subgroup , diabase ) in the Alps ; Gustav Steinmann later modified its use to include serpentine , pillow lava , and chert ( `` Steinmann 's trinity '' ) , again based on occurrences in the Alps . The term was little-used in other areas until the late 1950s to early 1960s , with the recognition that this assemblage provided an analog for oceanic crust and the process of seafloor spreading . This recognition was tied to two events : ( 1 ) the observation of magnetic anomaly stripes on the seafloor , parallel to oceanic ridge systems , interpreted by Frederick Vine and Drummond Matthews to represent the formation of new crust at the oceanic ridge and its subsequent symmetric spreading away from that ridge , and ( 2 ) the observation of a sheeted dyke complex within the Troodos Ophiolite ( Cyprus ) by Ian Graham Gass and co-workers , which must have formed by repetitive extension of crust and intrusion of magma , resulting in a formation consisting of 100 % dikes with no older wall rocks preserved within the complex . Moores and Vine concluded that the sheeted dike complex at Troodos could form only by a process similar to the seafloor spreading proposed by Vine and Matthews . Thus , it became widely accepted that ophiolites represent oceanic crust that had been emplaced on land . Their great significance relates to their occurrence within mountain belts such as the Alps or the Himalayas , where they document the existence of former ocean basins that have now been consumed by subduction . This insight was one of the founding pillars of plate tectonics , and ophiolites have always played a central role in plate tectonic theory and the interpretation of ancient mountain belts . |
Nuclear_explosion | A nuclear explosion is an explosion that occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from a high-speed nuclear reaction . The driving reaction may be nuclear fission , nuclear fusion or a multistage cascading combination of the two , though to date all fusion-based weapons have used a fission device to initiate fusion , and a pure fusion weapon remains a hypothetical device . Atmospheric nuclear explosions are associated with mushroom clouds , although mushroom clouds can occur with large chemical explosions . It is possible to have an air-burst nuclear explosion without these clouds . Nuclear explosions produce radiation and radioactive debris . Any nuclear explosion ( or nuclear war ) would have wide-ranging , long-term , catastrophic effects , that could threaten the survival of humankind . Radioactive contamination would cause genetic mutations and cancer across many generations . |
November_2014_North_American_cold_wave | The November 2014 North American cold wave was an extreme weather event that occurred across most of Canada and the contiguous United States , including parts of the Western United States up to western California . One of the first events of the winter , the cold wave was caused by the northward movement of an extremely powerful bomb cyclone associated with Typhoon Nuri 's remnant , which shifted the jet stream far northward , creating an omega block pattern . This allowed a piece of the polar vortex to advance southward into the Central and Eastern United States , bringing record-cold temperatures to much of the region . In contrast , Alaska experienced above-average temperatures . This was the worst cold wave that the North American region had experienced since an earlier cold wave in early 2014 . The cold wave was expected to last for a few weeks , extending at least until American Thanksgiving . Although the Omega Block broke down on November 20 , due to a powerful storm moving into the Gulf of Alaska , frigid conditions continued to persist across much of the United States . There was also concern among some meteorologists that another cold wave or abnormally cold trend might persist throughout the winter of 2014 -- 15 , the chances of which were `` above average . '' On November 23 , a warming trend primarily in the Eastern United States brought an end to the cold wave ; however , below-average temperatures were forecast to return to the Midwest by November 24 . Despite the development of a second cold wave , it ended on December 6 , when a ridge of high pressure brought above-average temperatures to the region , especially in the Central United States . |
Nuclear_power_phase-out | A nuclear power phase-out is the discontinuation of usage of nuclear power for energy production . Often initiated because of concerns about nuclear power , phase-outs usually include shutting down nuclear power plants and looking towards fossil fuels and renewable energy . Three nuclear accidents have influenced the discontinuation of nuclear power : the 1979 Three Mile Island partial nuclear meltdown in the United States , the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the USSR , and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan . Following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster , Germany has permanently shut down eight of its 17 reactors and pledged to close the rest by the end of 2022 . Italy voted overwhelmingly to keep their country non-nuclear . Switzerland and Spain have banned the construction of new reactors . Japan 's prime minister has called for a dramatic reduction in Japan 's reliance on nuclear power . Taiwan 's president did the same . Shinzō Abe , the new prime minister of Japan since December 2012 , announced a plan to re-start some of the 54 Japanese nuclear power plants ( NPPs ) and to continue some NPP sites under construction . As of 2016 , countries including Australia , Austria , Denmark , Greece , Ireland , Italy , Latvia , Liechtenstein , Luxembourg , Malaysia , Malta , New Zealand , Norway , Philippines , and Portugal have no nuclear power stations and remain opposed to nuclear power . Belgium , Germany , Spain and Switzerland are phasing-out nuclear power . Globally , more nuclear power reactors have closed than opened in recent years but overall capacity has increased . Italy is the only country that has closed all of functioning nuclear plants . Lithuania , Kazakhstan have shut down their only nuclear plants , but plan to built new ones to replace them . Armenia shut down its only nuclear plant but subsequently restarted it . Austria never used its first nuclear plant that was completely built . Due to financial , politic and technical reasons Cuba , Libya , North Korea and Poland never completed the construction of their first nuclear plants ( although North Korea and Poland plan to ) . Azerbaijan , Georgia , Ghana , Ireland , Kuwait , Oman , Peru , Singapore , Venezuela have planned , but not constructed their first nuclear plants . |
Norway | Norway ( -LSB- Norgehelp = no -RSB- ( Bokmål ) or ( Nynorsk ) ) , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a sovereign state and unitary monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula plus the island Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard . The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom . Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land . Until 1814 , the kingdom included the Faroe Islands , Greenland and Iceland . It also included Bohuslän until 1658 , Jämtland and Härjedalen until 1645 , Shetland and Orkney until 1468 , and the Hebrides and Isle of Man until 1266 . Norway has a total area of 385252 km2 and a population of 5,258,317 ( as of January 2017 ) . The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden ( 1,619 km or 1,006 mi long ) . Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east , and the Skagerrak Strait to the south , with Denmark on the other side . Norway has an extensive coastline , facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea . King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway . Erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013 , replacing Jens Stoltenberg . A constitutional monarchy , Norway divides state power between the Parliament , the Cabinet and the Supreme Court , as determined by the 1814 Constitution . The kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms . By the traditional count from the year 872 , the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years and the list of Norwegian monarchs includes over sixty kings and earls . Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels : counties and municipalities . The Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act . Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States . Norway is a founding member of the United Nations , NATO , the Council of Europe , the Antarctic Treaty and the Nordic Council ; a member of the European Economic Area , the WTO and the OECD ; and is also a part of the Schengen Area . The country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system . Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum , natural gas , minerals , lumber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country 's gross domestic product ( GDP ) . On a per-capita basis , Norway is the world 's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside the Middle East . The country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists . On the CIA 's GDP ( PPP ) per capita list ( 2015 estimate ) which includes territories and some regions , Norway ranks as number eleven . From 2001 to 2006 , and then again from 2009 to 2017 , Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world . It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking . Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report , the OECD Better Life Index , the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index . |
Orkney | Orkney -LSB- ˈɔrkni -RSB- ( Arcaibh ) , also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland , situated off the north coast of Great Britain . Orkney is 16 kilometres ( 10 mi ) north of the coast of Caithness and comprises approximately 70 islands , of which 20 are inhabited . The largest island Mainland is often referred to as `` the Mainland '' . It has an area of 523 km2 , making it the sixth-largest Scottish island and the tenth-largest island in the British Isles . The largest settlement and administrative centre is Kirkwall . A form of the name dates to the pre-Roman era and the islands have been inhabited for at least 8500 years , originally occupied by Mesolithic and Neolithic tribes and then by the Picts . Orkney was invaded and forcibly annexed by Norway in 875 and settled by the Norse . The Scottish Parliament then re-annexed the earldom to the Scottish Crown in 1472 , following the failed payment of a dowry for James III 's bride Margaret of Denmark . Orkney contains some of the oldest and best-preserved Neolithic sites in Europe , and the `` Heart of Neolithic Orkney '' is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site . Orkney is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland , a constituency of the Scottish Parliament , a lieutenancy area , and a historic county . The local council is Orkney Islands Council , one of only three Councils in Scotland with a majority of elected members who are independents . In addition to the Mainland , most of the islands are in two groups , the North and South Isles , all of which have an underlying geological base of Old Red Sandstone . The climate is mild and the soils are extremely fertile , most of the land being farmed . Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy . The significant wind and marine energy resources are of growing importance , and the island generates more than its total yearly electricity demand using renewables . The local people are known as Orcadians and have a distinctive Orcadian dialect of Scots and a rich inheritance of folklore . There is an abundance of marine and avian wildlife . |
Office_of_Oceanic_and_Atmospheric_Research | Oceanic and Atmospheric Research ( OAR ) is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) . OAR is also referred to as NOAA Research . NOAA Research is the research and development arm of NOAA and is the driving force behind NOAA environmental products and services aimed at protecting life and property and promoting sustainable economic growth . Research , conducted by programs within NOAA and through collaborations outside NOAA , focuses on enhancing the understanding of environmental phenomena such as tornadoes , hurricanes , climate variability , changes in the ozone layer , El Niño / La Niña events , fisheries productivity , ocean currents , deep sea thermal vents , and coastal ecosystem health . The origins of NOAA Research date back more than 200 years with the creation of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson . The Coast Survey , which became the U.S. Lake Survey office in 1841 , was developed to undertake `` a hydrographic survey of northwestern -LSB- Great -RSB- lakes . '' Research executed by the scientists of this group was innovative and holistic : the first current meters were developed to understand water flow rates , and forecasting techniques were greatly enhanced to predict water levels and the relationship to lakefront property . The same traits of world class , long-term research continue to define NOAA Research today . The science and technology that NOAA Research produces is not only relevant to society , it anticipates and responds to partners ' needs to demonstrates the value of technologies so that partners can deploy them into their applications . OAR works with end-users to integrate mature technologies ( and associated expertise ) into larger systems , either in NOAA operations or partner applications , via testbeds , patents , etc. . |
Oil_reserves | Oil reserves denote the amount of crude oil that can be technically recovered at a cost that is financially feasible at the present price of oil . Hence reserves will change with the price , unlike oil resources , which include all oil that can be technically recovered at any price . Reserves may be for a well , for a reservoir , for a field , for a nation , or for the world . Different classifications of reserves are related to their degree of certainty . The total estimated amount of oil in an oil reservoir , including both producible and non-producible oil , is called oil in place . However , because of reservoir characteristics and limitations in petroleum extraction technologies , only a fraction of this oil can be brought to the surface , and it is only this producible fraction that is considered to be reserves . The ratio of reserves to the total amount of oil in a particular reservoir is called the recovery factor . Determining a recovery factor for a given field depends on several features of the operation , including method of oil recovery used and technological developments . Based on data from OPEC at the beginning of 2013 the highest proved oil reserves including non-conventional oil deposits are in Venezuela ( 20 % of global reserves ) , Saudi Arabia ( 18 % of global reserves ) , Canada ( 13 % of global reserves ) , and Iran ( 9 % ) . Because the geology of the subsurface can not be examined directly , indirect techniques must be used to estimate the size and recoverability of the resource . While new technologies have increased the accuracy of these techniques , significant uncertainties still remain . In general , most early estimates of the reserves of an oil field are conservative and tend to grow with time . This phenomenon is called reserves growth . Many oil-producing nations do not reveal their reservoir engineering field data and instead provide unaudited claims for their oil reserves . The numbers disclosed by some national governments are suspected of being manipulated for political reasons . |
Oak | An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus ( -LSB- ˈkwɜrkəs -RSB- Latin `` oak tree '' ) of the beech family , Fagaceae . There are approximately 600 extant species of oaks . The common name `` oak '' also appears in the names of species in related genera , notably Lithocarpus ( stone oaks ) , as well as in those of unrelated species such as Grevillea robusta ( silky oaks ) and the Casuarinaceae ( she-oaks ) . The genus Quercus is native to the Northern Hemisphere , and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cool temperate to tropical latitudes in the Americas , Asia , Europe , and North Africa . North America contains the largest number of oak species , with approximately 90 occurring in the United States , while Mexico has 160 species of which 109 are endemic . The second greatest center of oak diversity is China , which contains approximately 100 species . Oaks have spirally arranged leaves , with lobate margins in many species ; some have serrated leaves or entire leaf with smooth margins . Also , the acorns contain tannic acid , as do the leaves , which helps to guard from fungi and insects . Many deciduous species are marcescent , not dropping dead leaves until spring . In spring , a single oak tree produces both male flowers ( in the form of catkins ) and small female flowers . The fruit is a nut called an acorn , borne in a cup-like structure known as a cupule ; each acorn contains one seed ( rarely two or three ) and takes 6 -- 18 months to mature , depending on their species . The live oaks are distinguished for being evergreen , but are not actually a distinct group and instead are dispersed across the genus . |
Northwoods_(forest) | The Northwoods are the boreal forest of North America , covering about half of Canada and parts of Minnesota , Maine , Montana , Wisconsin , Michigan , New Hampshire , and Vermont . For the American part , see North Woods . The Boreal forest and its alpine cousins are host to a wide variety of deer , ranging from the large moose ( inset , right ) to the whitetail deer . All of these large herbivores prefer the cool forest lest they overheat in the sun , but all need open land on which to graze . Of the deer , moose are perhaps best adapted to wetlands and thrive in the boggy boreal forest . The temperate conifer forests of the United States contain more than forty important cone-bearing forest tree species . These forests all have members of the taxonomic family called Pinaceae and most are commercially sought . However , some have uses outside the traditional forest product market . This massive softwood forest is spread over the entire North American continent and makes up the major portion of both trees and volume . There are five principle forest regions in North America that comprise the coniferous forest . The forests are equally spread geographically between east and west . Because of the forest 's great size , and because of differing climate and soils , North America is favored by a rich variety of these `` evergreens '' . This forest supports four times as many tree species as Europe does . The Pacific Coniferous Forest Region in United States : This forest region runs along a thin strip of land for three thousand miles , from Kodiak Island in Alaska to the Santa Cruz Mountains near San Francisco is the Pacific Forest . This forest has the most prodigious growth of conifers unequalled anywhere on earth . A combination of temperature , rainfall , and topography creates conditions favorable for growing the largest living organisms - the inland sequoias and the coast redwoods . The Olympic rainforest of Washington supports dense stands of western hemlock , western red cedar , Sitka spruce , and Pacific silver and grand firs . Douglas fir is concentrated in Washington and Oregon . Alaska 's predominate species is the western hemlock and Sitka spruce . The Rocky Mountain Coniferous Forest Region : This Rocky Mountain forest region is more sparsely covered with trees . The most important trees here are ponderosa pine , western white pine , Douglas fir , lodgepole pine , and Engelmann 's spruce . The use of fire in this region made it possible for big stands of lodgepole pine to take hold . In the sub-alpine zone of the mountains spruce and fir predominate , and they are succeeded near the timber line by larch , whitebark pine , limber pine and bristlecone pine . The bristlecone pine has been discovered to be the oldest living thing . The Northern Coniferous Forest Region : This Northern forest region spreads across four thousand miles , from Alaska to Newfoundland and down the higher peaks of the Appalachian mountains . In the north woods , white and black spruce grow . The soil throughout the Northern Forest is generally poor . The most visible tree type in the region are conifers . The most prevalent conifers are balsam fir , eastern hemlock , northern white cedar , and eastern white pine . This northern region supplied much of the lumber used in the first 250 years of settlement in the United States . The Central Coniferous Forest Region : The Central forest region touches 30 states from Cape Cod to the Rio Grande and back up to Canada . This forest is mostly deciduous which means that is green in the summer and bare in the winter . Although the main component is hardwood , there are several important softwoods . Eastern white pine and Virginia pine are common throughout the forest . The Southern Coniferous Forest Region : The Southern forest occupies the coastal plains of the Atlantic from Virginia through the Gulf States and into Texas and Missouri . It is generally a forest created from abandoned old fields - many of which grew cotton . |
Numeracy | Numeracy is the ability to reason and to apply simple numerical concepts . Basic numeracy skills consist of comprehending fundamental arithmetics like addition , subtraction , multiplication , and division . For example , if one can understand simple mathematical equations such as , 2 + 2 = 4 , then one would be considered possessing at least basic numeric knowledge . Substantial aspects of numeracy also include number sense , operation sense , computation , measurement , geometry , probability and statistics . A numerically literate person can manage and respond to the mathematical demands of life . By contrast , innumeracy ( the lack of numeracy ) can have a negative impact . Numeracy has an influence on career decisions , and risk perception towards health decisions . For example , innumeracy distorts risk perception towards health decisions and may negatively affect economic choices . `` Greater numeracy has been associated with reduced susceptibility to framing effects , less influence of nonnumerical information such as mood states , and greater sensitivity to different levels of numerical risk '' . |
Objectivity_(philosophy) | Objectivity is a central philosophical concept , related to reality and truth , which has been variously defined by sources . Generally , objectivity means the state or quality of being true even outside of a subject 's individual biases , interpretations , feelings , and imaginings . A proposition is generally considered objectively true ( to have objective truth ) when its truth conditions are met without biases caused by feelings , ideas , opinions , etc. , of a sentient subject . A second , broader meaning of the term refers to the ability in any context to judge fairly , without partiality or external influence . This second meaning of objectivity is sometimes used synonymously with neutrality . |
Norman_Borlaug | Norman Ernest Borlaug ( March 25 , 1914September 12 , 2009 ) was an American agronomist and humanitarian who led initiatives worldwide that contributed to the extensive increases in agricultural production termed the Green Revolution . Borlaug was awarded multiple honors for his work , including the Nobel Peace Prize , the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal . Borlaug received his B.Sc . in Forestry in 1937 and Ph.D. in plant pathology and genetics from the University of Minnesota in 1942 . He took up an agricultural research position in Mexico , where he developed semi-dwarf , high-yield , disease-resistant wheat varieties . During the mid-20th century , Borlaug led the introduction of these high-yielding varieties combined with modern agricultural production techniques to Mexico , Pakistan , and India . As a result , Mexico became a net exporter of wheat by 1963 . Between 1965 and 1970 , wheat yields nearly doubled in Pakistan and India , greatly improving the food security in those nations . Borlaug was often called `` the father of the Green Revolution '' , and is credited with saving over a billion people worldwide from starvation . According to Jan Douglas , executive assistant to the president of the World Food Prize Foundation , the source of this number is Gregg Easterbrook 's 1997 article `` Forgotten Benefactor of Humanity '' , the article states that the `` form of agriculture that Borlaug preaches may have prevented a billion deaths . '' He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply . Later in his life , he helped apply these methods of increasing food production in Asia and Africa . |
Nuclear_power_plant | A nuclear power plant or nuclear power station is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor . As is typical in all conventional thermal power stations the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to an electric generator which produces electricity . , the IAEA report there are 449 nuclear power reactors in operation operating in 31 countries . Nuclear power stations are usually considered to be base load stations , since fuel is a small part of the cost of production . Their operations and maintenance ( O&M ) and fuel costs are , along with hydropower stations , at the low end of the spectrum and make them suitable as base-load power suppliers . The cost of spent fuel management , however , is somewhat uncertain . |
Non-standard_cosmology | A non-standard cosmology is any physical cosmological model of the universe that was , or still is , proposed as an alternative to the then-current standard model of cosmology . The term non-standard is applied to any theory that does not conform to the scientific consensus . Because the term depends on the prevailing consensus , the meaning of the term changes over time . For example , hot dark matter would not have been considered non-standard in 1990 , but would be in 2010 . Conversely , a non-zero cosmological constant resulting in an accelerating universe would have been considered non-standard in 1990 , but is part of the standard cosmology in 2010 . Several major cosmological disputes have occurred throughout the history of cosmology . One of the earliest was the Copernican Revolution , which established the heliocentric model of the Solar System . More recent was the Great Debate of 1920 , in the aftermath of which the Milky Way 's status as but one of the Universe 's many galaxies was established . From the 1940s to the 1960s , the astrophysical community was equally divided between supporters of the Big Bang theory and supporters of a rival steady state universe ; this was eventually decided in favour of the Big Bang theory by advances in observational cosmology in the late 1960s . The current standard model of cosmology is the Lambda-CDM model , wherein the Universe is governed by General Relativity , began with a Big Bang and today is a nearly-flat universe that consists of approximately 5 % baryons , 27 % cold dark matter , and 68 % dark energy . Lambda-CDM has been an extremely successful model , but retains some weaknesses ( such as the dwarf galaxy problem ) . Research on extensions or modifications to Lambda-CDM is ongoing , including topics such as quintessence , Modified Newtonian Dynamics ( MOND ) and its relativistic generalization TeVeS , and warm dark matter . |
Office_of_Public_Affairs | The NASA Office of Public Affairs is tasked with media and public relations . Its mission is to `` provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information to the media and general public concerning NASA activities and results '' . The function was created in the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 . Services include : advising the NASA Administrator on issues concerning communications as well as public and media relations , policy guidance , advice , and consultation to Headquarters as well as Field Installations on public affairs issues , coordination of resources to news media and the public , maintaining communication channels to the news media and the general public . The most recognizable face and function of the office is NASA TV and the website . The Public Affairs Officer at the Kennedy Space Center is also familiar to many as they serve as the voice of NASA during launches providing commentary during countdowns . |
Ocean_reanalysis | Ocean reanalysis is a method of combining historical ocean observations with a general ocean model ( typically a computational model ) driven by historical estimates of surface winds , heat , and freshwater , by way of a data assimilation algorithm to reconstruct historical changes in the state of the ocean . Historical observations are sparse and insufficient for understanding the history of the ocean and its circulation . By utilizing data assimilation techniques in combination with advanced computational models of the global ocean , researchers are able to interpolate the historical observations to all points in the ocean . This process has an analog in the construction of atmospheric reanalysis and is closely related to ocean state estimation . |
Northeast_Ohio | Northeast Ohio refers to the northeastern region of the U.S. state of Ohio . The region contains six Metropolitan Statistical Areas : Cleveland -- Elyria ; Akron ; Canton -- Massillon ; Youngstown -- Warren -- Boardman ; Mansfield , and Sandusky , along with six Micropolitan Statistical Areas : Ashland , Ashtabula , New Philadelphia -- Dover , Norwalk , Salem , and Wooster . Most of the region , with the exception of the Youngstown -- Warren -- Boardman and Mansfield metropolitan areas , is also part of the Cleveland -- Akron -- Canton Combined Statistical Area and media market , while Mahoning , Trumbull , and Columbiana counties form part of the Youngstown -- Warren CSA and media market with Mercer County , Pennsylvania . Northeast Ohio also includes most of the area known historically as the Connecticut Western Reserve . In 2011 , the Intelligent Community Forum ranked Northeast Ohio as a global Smart 21 Communities list . It has the highest concentration of Hungarian Americans in the United States . |
Norwegian_cyclone_model | The older of the models of extratropical cyclone development is known as the Norwegian Cyclone Model , developed during and shortly after World War I within the Bergen School of Meteorology . In this theory , cyclones develop as they move up and along a frontal boundary , eventually occluding and reaching a barotropically cold environment . It was developed completely from surface-based weather observations , including descriptions of clouds found near frontal boundaries . Developed from this model was the concept of the warm conveyor belt , which transports warm and moist air just ahead of the cold front above the surface warm front . |
Ore | An ore is a type of rock that contains sufficient minerals with important elements including metals that can be economically extracted from the rock . The ores are extracted from the earth through mining ; they are then refined ( often via smelting ) to extract the valuable element , or elements . The grade or concentration of an ore mineral , or metal , as well as its form of occurrence , will directly affect the costs associated with mining the ore . The cost of extraction must thus be weighed against the metal value contained in the rock to determine what ore can be processed and what ore is of too low a grade to be worth mining . Metal ores are generally oxides , sulfides , silicates , or `` native '' metals ( such as native copper ) that are not commonly concentrated in the Earth 's crust , or `` noble '' metals ( not usually forming compounds ) such as gold . The ores must be processed to extract the metals of interest from the waste rock and from the ore minerals . Ore bodies are formed by a variety of geological processes . The process of ore formation is called ore genesis . |
Northern_Ireland | Northern Ireland ( Tuaisceart Éireann -LSB- ˈt̪ˠuəʃcəɾˠt̪ˠ ˈeːɾʲən̪ˠ -RSB- ; Ulster-Scots : Norlin Airlann ) is a country of the United Kingdom located in the north-east of the island of Ireland . It has been variously described as a country , province , region , or `` part '' of the United Kingdom , amongst other terms . Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland . In 2011 , its population was 1,810,863 , constituting about 30 % of the island 's total population and about 3 % of the UK 's population . Established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement , the Northern Ireland Assembly holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters , while other areas are reserved for the British government . Northern Ireland co-operates with the Republic of Ireland in some areas , and the Agreement granted the Republic the ability to `` put forward views and proposals '' with `` determined efforts to resolve disagreements between the two governments '' . Northern Ireland was created in 1921 , when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament . Unlike Southern Ireland , which would become the Irish Free State in 1922 , the majority of Northern Ireland 's population were unionists , who wanted to remain within the United Kingdom , most of whom were the Protestant descendants of colonists from Great Britain ; however , a significant minority , mostly Catholics , were nationalists who wanted a united Ireland independent of British rule . Today , the former generally see themselves as British and the latter generally see themselves as Irish , while a distinct Northern Irish or Ulster identity is claimed both by a large minority of Catholics and Protestants and by many of those who are non-aligned . For most of the 20th century , when it came into existence , Northern Ireland was marked by discrimination and hostility between these two sides in what First Minister of Northern Ireland David Trimble called a `` cold house '' for Catholics . In the late 1960s , conflict between state forces and chiefly Protestant unionists on the one hand , and chiefly Catholic nationalists on the other , erupted into three decades of violence known as the Troubles , which claimed over 3,500 lives and caused over 50,000 casualties . The 1998 Good Friday Agreement was a major step in the peace process , including the decommissioning of weapons , although sectarianism and religious segregation still remain major social problems , and sporadic violence has continued . Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland . After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles , its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s . The initial growth came from the `` peace dividend '' and the links and increased trade with the Republic of Ireland , continuing with a significant increase in tourism , investment and business from around the world . Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17.2 % in 1986 , dropping to 6.1 % and down by 1.2 percentage points over the year , similar to the UK figure of 6.2 % . 58.2 % of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year . Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison , Rory McIlroy , Joey Dunlop , Wayne McCullough and George Best . Some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish ( e.g. , poet Seamus Heaney and actor Liam Neeson ) while others prefer to identify as British ( e.g. actor Kenneth Branagh ) . Cultural links between Northern Ireland , the rest of Ireland , and the rest of the UK are complex , with Northern Ireland sharing both the culture of Ireland and the culture of the United Kingdom . In many sports , the island of Ireland fields a single team , a notable exception being association football . Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games , and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games . |
Ocean_color | The `` color '' of the ocean is determined by the interactions of incident light with substances or particles present in the water . White light from the sun is made up of a combination of colors , which are broken apart by water droplets in a ` rainbow ' spectrum . Large quantities of water , even in a swimming pool , would appear blue as well . When light hits the water surface , the different colors are absorbed , transmitted , scattered , or reflected in differing intensities by water molecules and other so-called optically-active constituents in suspension in the upper layer of the ocean . The reason open ocean waters often appear blue is due to the absorption and scattering of light . The blue wavelengths of light are scattered , similar to the scattering of blue light in the sky but absorption is a much larger factor than scattering for the clear ocean water . In water , absorption is strong in the red and weak in the blue , thus red light is absorbed quickly in the ocean leaving blue . Almost all sunlight that enters the ocean is absorbed , except very close to the coast . The red , yellow , and green wavelengths of sunlight are absorbed by water molecules in the ocean . When sunlight hits the ocean , some of the light is reflected back directly but most of it penetrates the ocean surface and interacts with the water molecules that it encounters . The red , orange , yellow , and green wavelengths of light are absorbed so that the remaining light we see is composed of the shorter wavelength blues and violets . If there are any particles suspended in the water , they will increase the scattering of light . In coastal areas , runoff from rivers , resuspension of sand and silt from the bottom by tides , waves and storms and a number of other substances can change the color of the near-shore waters . Some types of particles can also contain substances that absorb certain wavelengths of light , which alters its characteristics . For example , microscopic marine algae , called phytoplankton , have the capacity to absorb light in the blue and red region of the spectrum owing to specific pigments like chlorophyll . Accordingly , as the concentration of phytoplankton increases in the water , the color of the water shifts toward the green part of the spectrum . Fine mineral particles like sediment absorb light in the blue part of the spectrum , causing the water to turn brownish in case of massive sediment load . The most important light-absorbing substance in the oceans is chlorophyll , which phytoplankton use to produce carbon by photosynthesis . Due to this green pigment -- chlorophyll -- phytoplankton preferentially absorb the red and blue portions of the light spectrum and reflect green light . Ocean regions with high concentrations of phytoplankton will have shades of blue-green depending upon the type and density of the phytoplankton population there . The basic principle behind the remote sensing of ocean color from space is that the more phytoplankton is in the water , the greener it is . There are other substances that may be found dissolved in the water that can also absorb light . Since these substances are usually composed of organic carbon , researchers generally refer to these substances as colored dissolved organic matter . |
Oroville_Dam | Oroville Dam is an earthfill embankment dam on the Feather River east of the city of Oroville , California , in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of the Sacramento Valley . At 770 feet ( 235 m ) high , it is the tallest dam in the U.S. and serves mainly for water supply , hydroelectricity generation and flood control . The dam impounds Lake Oroville , the second largest man-made lake in the state of California , capable of storing more than 3.5 million acre-feet ( 4.4 km3 ) . Built by the California Department of Water Resources ( DWR ) , Oroville Dam is one of the key features of the California State Water Project ( SWP ) , one of two major projects passed that set up California 's statewide water system . Construction was initiated in 1961 , and despite numerous difficulties encountered during its construction , including multiple floods and a major train wreck on the rail line used to transport materials to the dam site , the embankment was topped out in 1967 and the entire project was ready for use in 1968 . The dam began to generate electricity shortly afterwards with completion of the Edward Hyatt Pump-Generating Plant , then the country 's largest underground power station . Since its completion in 1968 , the Oroville Dam has allocated the flow of the Feather River from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta into the State Water Project 's California Aqueduct , which provides a major supply of water for irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley as well as municipal and industrial water supplies to coastal Southern California , and has prevented large amounts of flood damage to the area -- more than $ 1.3 billion between the years of 1987 and 1999 . The dam has confined fish migration up the Feather River and the controlled flow of the river as a result of the Oroville Dam has affected riparian habitat . Multiple attempts at trying to counter the dam 's impacts on fish migration have included the construction of a salmon/steelhead fish incubator on the river , which began shortly after the dam was completed . In February 2017 , the main and emergency spillways failed , leading to the evacuation of 188,000 people living near the dam . After deterioration of the main spillway largely stabilized and the water level of the dam 's reservoir dropped below the top of the emergency spillway , the evacuation order was lifted . |
Norwegian_Sea | The Norwegian Sea ( Norskehavet ) is a marginal sea in the North Atlantic Ocean , northwest of Norway . It is located between the North Sea ( i.e. north of the United Kingdom ) and the Greenland Sea and adjoins the North Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast . In the southwest , it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a submarine ridge running between Iceland and the Faroe Islands . To the North , the Jan Mayen Ridge separates it from the Greenland Sea . Unlike many other seas , most of the bottom of the Norwegian Sea is not part of a continental shelf and therefore lies at a great depth of about two kilometres on average . Rich deposits of oil and natural gas are found under the sea bottom and are being explored commercially , in the areas with sea depths of up to about one kilometre . The coastal zones are rich in fish that visit the Norwegian Sea from the North Atlantic or from the Barents Sea ( cod ) for spawning . The warm North Atlantic Current ensures relatively stable and high water temperatures , so that unlike the Arctic seas , the Norwegian Sea is ice-free throughout the year . Recent research has concluded that the large volume of water in the Norwegian Sea with its large heat absorption capacity is more important as a source of Norway 's mild winters than the Gulf Stream and its extensions . |
North_Country_(New_York) | The North Country is a region of the U.S. state of New York that encompasses the state 's extreme northern frontier , bordering Lake Ontario on the west , the Saint Lawrence River and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec on the north and northwest , and Lake Champlain and Vermont on the east . Generally speaking , the North Country is understood to be that portion of northern New York which lies outside the Adirondack Park and consists of mostly level lands or the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains , but is not within the Adirondack range itself . New York 's North Country shares with Ontario the Thousand Islands , an archipelago within the Saint Lawrence River . The region is the most sparsely populated but is also the geographically largest , in New York . At the 2010 United States Census , the population of all six counties was 428,357 . The New York State Department of Transportation defines the northern lobe of the state as part of the Adirondack Region , which includes the counties of Clinton , Essex , Franklin , Hamilton , Jefferson , Lewis , St. Lawrence , and Warren . The North Country incorporates cultural similarities with Canada , and many of this region 's residents speak French , given its proximity to Quebec . The North Country Trail , more formally known as the `` North Country National Scenic Trail , '' is a 4600 mi long-distance trail being developed and is proposed to begin at Crown Point , New York on Lake Champlain and traverses New York , Pennsylvania , Ohio , Michigan , Wisconsin , Minnesota , and North Dakota . |
Nuclear_power_in_China | As of May 2017 , the People 's Republic of China has 37 nuclear reactors operating with a capacity of 32.4 GW and 20 under construction with a capacity of 20.5 GW . Additional reactors are planned , providing 58 GW of capacity by 2020 . China 's National Development and Reform Commission has indicated the intention to raise the percentage of China 's electricity produced by nuclear power from the current 2 % to 6 % by 2020 ( compared to 20 % in the United States and 74 % in France ) . Nuclear power contributed 3 % of the total production in 2015 -- 170 billion kWh . Nuclear was the fastest-growing electricity source in 2015 ( 29 % growth ) Due to increasing concerns about air quality , climate change and fossil fuel shortages , nuclear power has been looked into as an alternative to coal power in China . China has two major nuclear power companies , the China National Nuclear Corporation operating mainly in north-east China , and the China General Nuclear Power Group , - formerly known as China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group , - operating mainly in south-east China . The People 's Republic of China is also involved in the development of nuclear fusion reactors through its participation in the ITER project , having constructed an experimental nuclear fusion reactor known as EAST located in Hefei , as well as research and development into the thorium fuel cycle as a potential alternative means of nuclear fission . China wants to maximize self-reliance on nuclear reactor technology manufacturing and design although international cooperation and technology transfer are also encouraged . Advanced pressurized water reactors such as the Hualong One and the AP1000 are the mainstream technology in the near future . By mid-century fast neutron reactors are seen as the main technology . More long-term plans for future capacity are 120-150 GW by 2030 . Fast neutron reactors are planned to contribute 1400 GW by 2100 . China is positioned to become a reactor exporter , through development of the Hualong One . |
Ocean_acidification | Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth 's oceans , caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Seawater is slightly basic ( meaning pH > 7 ) , and the process in question is a shift towards pH-neutral conditions rather than a transition to acidic conditions ( pH < 7 ) . Ocean alkalinity is not changed by the process , or may increase over long time periods due to carbonate dissolution . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the carbon dioxide from human activity released into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes . To achieve chemical equilibrium , some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid . Some of these extra carbonic acid molecules react with a water molecule to give a bicarbonate ion and a hydronium ion , thus increasing ocean acidity ( H + ion concentration ) . Between 1751 and 1996 surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14 , representing an increase of almost 35 % in H + ion concentration in the world 's oceans . Earth System Models project that within the last decade ocean acidity exceeded historical analogues and in combination with other ocean biogeochemical changes could undermine the functioning of marine ecosystems and disrupt the provision of many goods and services associated with the ocean . Increasing acidity is thought to have a range of potentially harmful consequences for marine organisms , such as depressing metabolic rates and immune responses in some organisms , and causing coral bleaching . By increasing the presence of free hydrogen ions , each molecule of carbonic acid that forms in the oceans ultimately results in the conversion of two carbonate ions into bicarbonate ions . This net decrease in the amount of carbonate ions available makes it more difficult for marine calcifying organisms , such as coral and some plankton , to form biogenic calcium carbonate , and such structures become vulnerable to dissolution . Ongoing acidification of the oceans threatens food chains connected with the oceans . As members of the InterAcademy Panel , 105 science academies have issued a statement on ocean acidification recommending that by 2050 , global emissions be reduced by at least 50 % compared to the 1990 level . While ongoing ocean acidification is anthropogenic in origin , it has occurred previously in Earth 's history . The most notable example is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM ) , which occurred approximately 56 million years ago . For reasons that are currently uncertain , massive amounts of carbon entered the ocean and atmosphere , and led to the dissolution of carbonate sediments in all ocean basins . Ocean acidification has been called the `` evil twin of global warming '' and `` the other problem '' . |
Organism | In biology , an organism ( from Greek : οργανισμός , organismos ) is any contiguous living system , such as an animal , plant , fungus , protist , archaeon , or bacterium . All known types of organisms are capable of some degree of response to stimuli , reproduction , growth and development and homeostasis . An organism consists of one or more cells ; when it has one cell it is known as a unicellular organism ; and when it has more than one it is known as a multicellular organism . Most unicellular organisms are of microscopic scale and are thus loosely described as microorganisms . Humans are multicellular organisms composed of many trillions of cells grouped into specialized tissues and organs . An organism may be either a prokaryote or a eukaryote . Prokaryotes are represented by two separate domains -- bacteria and archaea . Eukaryotic organisms are characterized by the presence of a membrane-bound cell nucleus and contain additional membrane-bound compartments called organelles ( such as mitochondria in animals and plants and plastids in plants and algae , all generally considered to be derived from endosymbiotic bacteria ) . Fungi , animals and plants are examples of kingdoms of organisms within the eukaryotes . Estimates on the number of Earth 's current species range from 10 million to 14 million , of which only about 1.2 million have been documented . More than 99 % of all species , amounting to over five billion species , that ever lived are estimated to be extinct . In 2016 , a set of 355 genes from the last universal common ancestor ( LUCA ) of all living organisms living was identified . |
Obama_Doctrine | The Obama Doctrine is a catch-all term frequently used to describe one or several principles of the foreign policy of U.S. President Barack Obama . It is still not agreed whether there was an actual Obama Doctrine . Nevertheless , during an interview with the New York Times , Obama briefly commented about the doctrine saying : `` You asked about an Obama doctrine , the doctrine is we will engage , but we preserve all our capabilities '' . Unlike precisely-defined policies such as the Monroe Doctrine , Carter Doctrine or Bush Doctrine , the Obama Doctrine is not a specific foreign policy introduced by the executive . This has led journalists and political commentators to analyze what the exact tenets of an Obama Doctrine might look like . Generally speaking , it is widely accepted that a central part of such a doctrine would emphasize negotiation and collaboration rather than confrontation and unilateralism in international affairs . This policy has been praised by some as a welcome change from the interventionist Bush Doctrine . Critics of Obama 's unilateral policies ( such as targeted killings of suspected enemies of the US ) including former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton , have described it as overly idealistic and naïve , promoting appeasement of adversaries . Others have drawn attention to its radical departure in tone from not only the policies of the Bush administration but many former presidents as well . Some trace the origin of Obama 's doctrine to a speech he delivered at West Point in May 2014 , where he asserted that the `` United States will use military force , unilaterally if necessary , when our core interests demand it , '' but for indirect threats or humanitarian crises , `` we must mobilize partners to take collective action . '' This doctrine of `` moral multilateralism , '' some argue , reflects Obama 's interest in philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr , who supported an interventionist U.S. foreign policy but warned against hubris and moral misjudgment . |
Ontonagon_County,_Michigan | Ontonagon County ( -LSB- ˌɒntəˈnɑːɡən -RSB- ) is a county in the Upper peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan . As of the 2010 census , the population was 6,780 , making it Michigan 's third-least populous county . The county seat is Ontonagon . The county was set off in 1843 , and organized in 1848 . Its territory had been organized as part of Chippewa and Mackinac counties . With increasing population in the area , more counties were organized . After Ontonagon was organized , it was split to create Gogebic County . The county is named after the Ontonagon River . The name is said to be derived from an Ojibwe language word Nondon-organ , meaning `` hunting river . '' A French transliteration , Nantounagon , identified the river on a 1670 French map . Alternatively , it is said to be derived from the Ojibwa onagon , which means `` dish '' or `` bowl . '' See List of Michigan county name etymologies . |
Offshore_outsourcing | Offshore outsourcing is the practice of hiring an external organization to perform some business functions ( `` Outsourcing '' ) in a country other than the one where the products or services are actually developed or manufactured ( `` Offshore '' ) . It can be contrasted with offshoring , in which a company moves itself entirely to another country , or where functions are performed in a foreign country by a foreign subsidiary . Opponents point out that the practice of sending work overseas by countries with higher wages reduces their own domestic employment and domestic investment . Many customer service jobs as well as jobs in the information technology sectors ( data processing , computer programming , and technical support ) in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom - have been or are potentially affected . |
Oceanic_plateau | An oceanic or submarine plateau is a large , relatively flat elevation that is higher than the surrounding relief with one or more relatively steep sides . There are 184 oceanic plateaus covering an area of 18,486,600 km2 , or about 5.11 % of the oceans . The South Pacific region around Australia and New Zealand contains the greatest number of oceanic plateaus ( see map ) . Oceanic plateaus produced by large igneous provinces are often associated with hotspots , mantle plumes , and volcanic islands -- such as Iceland , Hawaii , Cape Verde , and Kerguelen . The three largest plateaus , the Caribbean , Ontong Java , and Mid-Pacific Mountains , are located on thermal swells . Other oceanic plateaus , however , are made of rifted continental crust , for example Falkland Plateau , Lord Howe Rise , and parts of Kerguelen , Seychelles , and Arctic ridges . Plateaus formed by large igneous provinces were formed by the equivalent of continental flood basalts such as the Deccan Traps in India and the Snake River Plain in the United States . In contrast to continental flood basalts , most igneous oceanic plateaus erupt through young and thin ( 6 - ) mafic or ultra-mafic crust and are therefore uncontaminated by felsic crust and representative for their mantle sources . These plateaus often rise 2 - above the surrounding ocean floor and are more buoyant than oceanic crust . They therefore tend to withstand subduction , more-so when thick and when reaching subduction zones shortly after their formations . As a consequence , they tend to `` dock '' to continental margins and be preserved as accreted terranes . Such terranes are often better preserved than the exposed parts of continental flood basalts and are therefore a better record of large-scale volcanic eruptions throughout Earth 's history . This `` docking '' also means that oceanic plateaus are important contributors to the growth of continental crust . Their formations often had a dramatic impact on global climate , such as the most recent plateaus formed , the three , large , Cretaceous oceanic plateaus in the Pacific and Indian Ocean : Ontong Java , Kerguelen , and Caribbean . |
Oceanic_carbon_cycle | The oceans contain around 36,000 gigatons of carbon , mostly in the form of bicarbonate ion ( over 90 % , with most of the remainder being carbonate ) . At the surface of the oceans towards the poles , seawater becomes cooler and more carbonic acid is formed as CO2 becomes more soluble . This is coupled to the ocean 's thermohaline circulation which transports dense surface water into the ocean 's interior ( see the entry on the solubility pump ) . Although the deep ocean contains much more dissolved inorganic carbon than the surface ocean , the concentration is only 15 % higher in the deep ocean as compared to the surface ocean due to the higher volume of the deep ocean . In upper ocean areas of high biological productivity , organisms convert reduced carbon to tissues , or carbonates to hard body parts such as shells and tests . These are , respectively , oxidized ( soft-tissue pump ) and redissolved ( carbonate pump ) at lower average levels of the ocean than those at which they formed , resulting in a downward flow of carbon ( see entry on the biological pump ) . The flux or absorption of carbon dioxide into the world 's oceans is influenced by the presence of widespread viruses within ocean water , that infect many species of bacteria . The resulting bacterial deaths spawn a sequence of events that lead to greatly enlarged respiration of carbon dioxide , enhancing the role of the oceans as a carbon sink . The balance of dissolved inorganic carbon ( DIC ) : dissolved organic carbon ( DOC ) : particle organic carbon is about 2000:38:1 . The CaCO3 counter pump increases the partial pressure of CO2 in the ocean , thus leading to higher outgasing of carbon dioxide . Higher ocean temperatures lead to stronger layering , thus less mixing and less capacity for thermohaline circulation to bring carbon into lower ocean layers . The weathering of silicate rock ( see carbonate-silicate cycle ) . Carbonic acid reacts with weathered rock to produce bicarbonate ions . The bicarbonate ions produced are carried to the ocean , where they are used to make marine carbonates . Unlike dissolved CO2 in equilibrium or tissues , which decay , weathering does not move the carbon into a reservoir from which it can readily return to the atmosphere . Much remains to be learned about the cycling of carbon in the deep ocean . For example , a recent discovery is that larvacean mucus houses ( commonly known as `` sinkers '' ) are created in such large numbers that they can deliver as much carbon to the deep ocean as has been previously detected by sediment traps . Because of their size and composition , these houses are rarely collected in such traps , so most biogeochemical analyses have erroneously ignored them . The amount of dissolved inorganic carbon in the ocean is significantly higher in the deep layer ( below 300 m depth ) . This is caused by the solubility pump and the biological pump . |
Open_research | Open research is research conducted in the spirit of free and open source software . Much like open source schemes that are built around a source code that is made public , the central theme of open research is to make clear accounts of the methodology freely available via the internet , along with any data or results extracted or derived from them . This permits a massively distributed collaboration , and one in which anyone may participate at any level of the project . Especially if the research is scientific in nature , it is frequently referred to as open science . Open research can also include social sciences , the humanities , mathematics , engineering and medicine . |
Oppenheimer_security_hearing | The Oppenheimer security hearing was a 1954 proceeding by the United States Atomic Energy Commission ( AEC ) that explored the background , actions , and associations of J. Robert Oppenheimer , the American scientist who had headed the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II , where he played a key part in the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb . The hearing resulted in Oppenheimer 's Q clearance being revoked . This marked the end of his formal relationship with the government of the United States , and generated considerable controversy regarding whether the treatment of Oppenheimer was fair , or whether it was an expression of anti-Communist McCarthyism . Doubts about Oppenheimer 's loyalty dated back to the 1930s , when he was a member of numerous Communist front organizations , and was associated with Communist Party USA members , including his wife and his brother . These associations were known to Army Counter-intelligence at the time he was made director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in 1942 , and chairman of the influential General Advisory Committee of the AEC in 1947 . In this capacity Oppenheimer became involved in bureaucratic conflict between the Army and Air Force over the types of nuclear weapons the country required , technical conflict between the scientists over the feasibility of the hydrogen bomb , and personal conflict with AEC commissioner Lewis Strauss . The proceedings were initiated after Oppenheimer refused to voluntarily give up his security clearance while working as an atomic weapons consultant for the government , under a contract due to expire at the end of June 1954 . Several of his colleagues testified at the hearings . As a result of the two to one decision of the hearing 's three judges , he was stripped of his security clearance one day before his consultant contract was due to expire . The panel found that he was loyal and discreet with atomic secrets , but did not recommend that his security clearance be reinstated . The loss of his security clearance ended Oppenheimer 's role in government and policy . He became an academic exile , cut off from his former career and the world he had helped to create . The reputations of those who had testified against Oppenheimer were tarnished as well , and Oppenheimer 's reputation was later partly rehabilitated by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson . The brief period when scientists were hailed as heroes uniquely qualified to comment on public policy was ended , and scientists working within the government were on notice that dissent was no longer tolerated . |
Oregon | Oregon ( -LSB- ˈɒrᵻɡən -RSB- ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region on the West coast of the United States . The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon 's northern boundary along Washington state , while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary along Idaho . The parallel 42 ° north delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada . It is one of only three states of the contiguous United States to have a coastline on the Pacific Ocean . Oregon was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before Western traders , explorers , and settlers arrived . An autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country in 1843 before the Oregon Territory was created in 1848 . Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14 , 1859 . Today , at 98,000 square miles ( 255,000 km ² ) , Oregon is the ninth largest and , with a population of 4 million , 27th most populous U.S. state . The state capital , Salem , is the second most populous of its cities , with 164,549 residents , while Portland , with 632,309 residents , is the most populous , ranking as the 26th most populous city in the United States . Portland 's metro population of 2,389,228 ranks the 23rd largest metro in the nation . Oregon is one of the most geographically diverse states in the United States , marked by volcanoes , abundant bodies of water , dense evergreen and mixed forests , as well as high deserts and semi-arid shrublands . At 11249 ft , Mount Hood is the state 's highest point . Oregon 's only national park , Crater Lake National Park , comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake , the deepest lake in the United States . The state is also home to the single largest organism in the world , Armillaria ostoyae , a fungus that runs beneath 8.9 km2 of the Malheur National Forest . Because of its diverse landscapes and waterways , Oregon 's economy is largely powered by various forms of agriculture , fishing , and hydroelectric power . It is also the top timber-producer of the lower 48 states . Technology is another one of the state 's major economic forces , which began in the 1970s with the establishment of the Silicon Forest and the expansion of Tektronix and Intel . Sportswear company Nike , Inc. , headquartered in Beaverton , is the state 's largest public corporation with an annual revenue of $ 30.6 billion . |
Open_peer_review | Open peer review ( also called `` public peer review '' , `` transparent peer review '' ) denotes several , closely related forms of scholarly peer review . Out of over a hundred definitions/forms , a few can be mentioned : Open-identity or attributed peer review ( as opposed to anonymous peer review ) Open-disclosure or public peer review , where the peer review contents are publicly available Open-invitation or post-publication peer review , where anyone interested can contribute to the peer review process . Can also be a continuous process after publication . |
North_Magnetic_Pole | The North Magnetic Pole is the point on the surface of Earth 's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet 's magnetic field points vertically downwards ( in other words , if a magnetic compass needle is allowed to rotate about a horizontal axis , it will point straight down ) . There is only one location where this occurs , near ( but distinct from ) the Geographic North Pole and the Geomagnetic North Pole . The North Magnetic Pole moves over time due to magnetic changes in the Earth 's core . In 2001 , it was determined by the Geological Survey of Canada to lie near Ellesmere Island in northern Canada at . It was situated at in 2005 . In 2009 , while still situated within the Canadian Arctic territorial claim at , it was moving toward Russia at between 34 and per year . As of 2016 , the pole is projected to have moved beyond the Canadian Arctic territorial claim to . Its southern hemisphere counterpart is the South Magnetic Pole . Since the Earth 's magnetic field is not exactly symmetrical , the North and South Magnetic Poles are not antipodal , meaning that a straight line drawn from one to the other does not pass through the geometric centre of the Earth . The Earth 's North and South Magnetic Poles are also known as Magnetic Dip Poles , with reference to the vertical `` dip '' of the magnetic field lines at those points . |
Orbital_forcing | Orbital forcing is the effect on climate of slow changes in the tilt of the Earth 's axis and shape of the orbit ( see Milankovitch cycles ) . These orbital changes change the total amount of sunlight reaching the Earth by up to 25 % at mid-latitudes ( from 400 to 500 Wm − 2 at latitudes of 60 degrees ) . In this context , the term `` forcing '' signifies a physical process that affects the Earth 's climate . This mechanism is believed to be responsible for the timing of the ice age cycles . A strict application of the Milankovitch theory does not allow the prediction of a `` sudden '' ice age ( rapid being anything under a century or two ) , since the fastest orbital period is about 20,000 years . The timing of past glacial periods coincides very well with the predictions of the Milankovitch theory , and these effects can be calculated into the future . |
Nuclear_safety_and_security | Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) as `` The achievement of proper operating conditions , prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences , resulting in protection of workers , the public and the environment from undue radiation hazards '' . The IAEA defines nuclear security as `` The prevention and detection of and response to , theft , sabotage , unauthorized access , illegal transfer or other malicious acts involving nuclear material , other radioactive substances or their associated facilities '' . This covers nuclear power plants and all other nuclear facilities , the transportation of nuclear materials , and the use and storage of nuclear materials for medical , power , industry , and military uses . The nuclear power industry has improved the safety and performance of reactors , and has proposed new and safer reactor designs . However , a perfect safety can not be guaranteed . Potential sources of problems include human errors and external events that have a greater impact than anticipated : The designers of reactors at Fukushima in Japan did not anticipate that a tsunami generated by an earthquake would disable the backup systems that were supposed to stabilize the reactor after the earthquake . According to UBS AG , the Fukushima I nuclear accidents have cast doubt on whether even an advanced economy like Japan can master nuclear safety . Catastrophic scenarios involving terrorist attacks , insider sabotage , and cyberattacks are also conceivable . In his book , Normal accidents , Charles Perrow says that multiple and unexpected failures are built into society 's complex and tightly-coupled nuclear reactor systems . Such accidents are unavoidable and can not be designed around . To date , there have been three serious accidents ( core damage ) in the world since 1970 , involving five reactors ( one at Three Mile Island in 1979 ; one at Chernobyl in 1986 ; and three at Fukushima-Daiichi in 2011 ) , corresponding to the beginning of the operation of generation II reactors . Nuclear weapon safety , as well as the safety of military research involving nuclear materials , is generally handled by agencies different from those that oversee civilian safety , for various reasons , including secrecy . There are ongoing concerns about terrorist groups acquiring nuclear bomb-making material . |
Northern_Hemisphere | The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator . For other planets in the Solar System , north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth 's North pole . Due to the Earth 's axial tilt , winter in the Northern Hemisphere lasts from the December solstice ( typically December 21 UTC ) to the March Equinox ( typically March 20 UTC ) , while summer lasts from the June solstice ( typically June 21 UTC ) through to the September equinox ( typically September 23 UTC ) . The dates vary each year due to the difference between the calendar year and the astronomical year . Its surface is 60.7 % water , compared with 80.9 % water in the case of the Southern Hemisphere , and it contains 67.3 % of Earth 's land . |
Ojai,_California | Ojai ( -LSB- ˈoʊhaɪ -RSB- ) is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California . Located in the Ojai Valley , it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara . The valley is about 10 mi long by 3 mi wide , surrounded by hills and mountains . The population was 7,461 at the 2010 census , down from 7,862 at the 2000 census . Ojai is a tourism destination with boutique hotels and recreation opportunities including hiking , and spiritual retreats , as well as for a farmers ' market on Sundays with local organic agriculture . It also has small businesses specializing in local and ecologically friendly art , design , and home improvement -- such as galleries and a solar power company . Chain stores ( other than a few gas stations ) are prohibited by Ojai city law to encourage local small business development and keep the town unique . The origin of the name Ojai has historically been known as derived from a Native American word meaning nest . The city 's self-styled nickname is `` Shangri-La '' referencing the natural beauty of this health-and-spirituality-focused region . While there are no known references , it is commonly claimed that the mountains visible from the city were used , but then cut , from the 1937 movie as the mystical sanctuary of James Hilton 's novel Lost Horizon . |
North_Carolina | North Carolina ( -LSB- nɔrθ_kærəˈlaɪnə -RSB- ) is a state in the southeastern region of the United States . The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south , Tennessee to the west , Virginia to the north , and the Atlantic Ocean to the east . North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the U.S. states . The state is divided into 100 counties . The capital is Raleigh . The most populous municipality is Charlotte , which is the second largest banking center in the United States after New York City . The state has a wide range of elevations , from sea level on the coast to 6684 ft at Mount Mitchell , the highest point in North America east of the Mississippi River . The climate of the coastal plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean . Most of the state falls in the humid subtropical climate zone . More than 300 mi from the coast , the western , mountainous part of the state has a subtropical highland climate . |
Nuclear_power_debate | The nuclear power debate is a controversy about the deployment and use of nuclear fission reactors to generate electricity from nuclear fuel for civilian purposes . The debate about nuclear power peaked during the 1970s and 1980s , when it `` reached an intensity unprecedented in the history of technology controversies '' , in some countries . Observers attribute the nuclear controversy to the impossibility of generating a shared perception between social actors over the use of this technology as well as systemic mismatches between expectations and experience . Proponents of nuclear energy argue that nuclear power is a sustainable energy source which reduces carbon emissions and can increase energy security if its use supplants a dependence on imported fuels . Proponents advance the notion that nuclear power produces virtually no air pollution , in contrast to the chief viable alternative of fossil fuel . Proponents also believe that nuclear power is the only viable course to achieve energy independence for most Western countries . They emphasize that the risks of storing waste are small and can be further reduced by using the latest technology in newer reactors , and the operational safety record in the Western world is excellent when compared to the other major kinds of power plants . Opponents say that nuclear power poses numerous threats to people and the environment and point to studies in the literature that question if it will ever be a sustainable energy source . These threats include health risks and environmental damage from uranium mining , processing and transport , the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation or sabotage , and the unsolved problem of radioactive nuclear waste . They also contend that reactors themselves are enormously complex machines where many things can and do go wrong , and there have been many serious nuclear accidents . Critics do not believe that these risks can be reduced through new technology . They argue that when all the energy-intensive stages of the nuclear fuel chain are considered , from uranium mining to nuclear decommissioning , nuclear power is not a low-carbon electricity source . Three of the world 's four largest economies now generate more electricity from non-hydro renewable energy than from nuclear sources . New power generation using solar power was 33 % of the global total added in 2015 , wind power over 17 % , and 1.3 % for nuclear power , mostly due to development in China . |
Orthometric_height | The orthometric height of a point is the distance H along a plumb line from the point to the geoid . Orthometric height is for practical purposes `` height above sea level '' but the current NAVD88 datum is tied to a defined elevation at one point rather than to any location 's exact mean sea level . Orthometric heights are usually used in the US for engineering work , although dynamic height may be chosen for large-scale hydrological purposes . Heights for measured points are shown on National Geodetic Survey data sheets , data that was gathered over many decades by precise spirit leveling over thousands of miles . Since gravity is not constant over large areas the orthometric height of a level surface is not constant , and NGS orthometric heights are corrected for that effect . For example , gravity is 0.1 % stronger in the northern United States than in the southern , so a level surface that has an orthometric height of 1000 meters in Montana will be 1001 meters high in Texas . Practical applications must use a model rather than measurements to calculate the change in gravitational potential versus depth in the earth , since the geoid is below most of the land surface ( e.g. , the Helmert Orthometric heights of NAVD88 ) . GPS measurements give earth-centered coordinates , usually displayed as height above the reference ellipsoid , which can not be related accurately to orthometric height above the geoid without accurate gravity data for that location . NGS is undertaking the GRAV-D ten-year program to obtain such data . Alternatives to orthometric height include dynamic height and normal height . |
Orange_Coast | The Orange Coast is the string of cities and neighborhoods fronting the Pacific Coast in Orange County , California . The most significant cities from north to south are Seal Beach , Huntington Beach , Newport Beach , Laguna Beach , San Juan Capistrano , Dana Point and San Clemente . The Orange Coast is also known for its beach communities , which are Surfside ( Seal Beach ) , Sunset Beach ( Huntington Beach ) , Balboa Island ( Newport Beach ) , Balboa Peninsula ( Newport Beach ) , Corona del Mar ( Newport Beach ) , Newport Coast ( Newport Beach ) , South Laguna ( Laguna Beach ) , Monarch Beach ( Dana Point ) and Capistrano Beach ( Dana Point ) . The term South Coast is often used synonymously for the coastal communities south of Long Beach , and especially for those areas south of the Santa Ana River ( although there exist many other definitions and common uses of South Coast ) . Many local businesses and institutions have adopted these names , such as Orange Coast College , the Orange Coast Daily Pilot , South Coast Repertory and South Coast Plaza ( all based in Costa Mesa ) . In household use , however , they may be simply referred to as `` the beach cities . '' |
Nuclear_Waste_Policy_Act | The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 is a United States federal law which established a comprehensive national program for the safe , permanent disposal of highly radioactive wastes . During the first 40 years that nuclear waste was being created in the United States , no legislation was enacted to manage its disposal . Nuclear waste , some of which remains radioactive with a half-life of more than one million years , was kept in various types of temporary storage . Of particular concern during nuclear waste disposal are two long-lived fission products , Tc-99 ( half-life 220,000 years ) and I-129 ( half-life 17 million years ) , which dominate spent fuel radioactivity after a few thousand years . The most troublesome transuranic elements in spent fuel are Np-237 ( half-life two million years ) and Pu-239 ( half-life 24,000 years ) . Most existing nuclear waste came from production of nuclear weapons . About 77 million gallons of military nuclear waste in liquid form was stored in steel tanks , mostly in South Carolina , Washington , and Idaho . In the private sector , 82 nuclear plants operating in 1982 used uranium fuel to produce electricity . Highly radioactive spent fuel rods were stored in pools of water at reactor sites , but many utilities were running out of storage space . The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 created a timetable and procedure for establishing a permanent , underground repository for high-level radioactive waste by the mid-1990s , and provided for some temporary federal storage of waste , including spent fuel from civilian nuclear reactors . State governments were authorized to veto a national government decision to place a waste repository within their borders , and the veto would stand unless both houses of Congress voted to override it . The Act also called for developing plans by 1985 to build monitored retrievable storage ( MRS ) facilities , where wastes could be kept for 50 to 100 years or more and then be removed for permanent disposal or for reprocessing . Congress assigned responsibility to the U.S. Department of Energy ( DOE ) to site , construct , operate , and close a repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste . The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) was directed to set public health and safety standards for releases of radioactive materials from a repository , and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ( NRC ) was required to promulgate regulations governing construction , operation , and closure of a repository . Generators and owners of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste were required to pay the costs of disposal of such radioactive materials . The waste program , which was expected to cost billions of dollars , would be funded through a fee paid by electric utilities on nuclear-generated electricity . An Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management was established in the U.S. Department of Energy ( DOE ) to implement the Act . |
North_Sea_Wind_Power_Hub | North Sea Wind Power Hub is a proposed energy island complex to be built in the middle of the North Sea as part of a European system for sustainable electricity . One or more `` Power Link '' artificial islands will be created at the northeast end of the Dogger Bank , a relatively shallow area in the North Sea , just outside the continental shelf of the United Kingdom and near the point where the borders between the territorial waters of Netherlands , Germany , and Denmark come together . Dutch , German , and Danish electrical grid operators are cooperating in this project to help develop a cluster of offshore wind parks with a capacity of several gigawatts , with interconnections to the North Sea countries . Undersea cables will make international trade in electricity possible . According to this plan , the first artificial island will have an area of 6 square kilometers . Thousands of wind turbines will be placed around the island , with short alternating-current links to the island . On the island itself , power converters will change the alternating current to direct current that will be carried to the mainland via undersea cables . The Hub -- one island at first , and later one or two more -- is intended to make a substantial contribution to the energy transition and to achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 . The project is to be completed around 2050 . In June 2016 , nine countries -- the Netherlands , Germany , Belgium , Luxemburg , France , Denmark , Ireland , Norway , and Sweden -- signed an agreement to cooperate in planning and building offshore wind parks . The goal is to reduce costs as quickly as possible and thus make the wind parks more economically viable . At the North Seas Energy Forum in Brussels on 23 March 2017 , TenneT Netherlands , TenneT Germany , and the Danish Energinet.dk signed a trilateral agreement to cooperate in further development of the project . These network managers hope that Norway , the United Kingdom , and Belgium will also join them . |
Northern_Canada | Northern Canada , colloquially the North , is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics . Politically , the term refers to three territories of Canada : Yukon , Northwest Territories , and Nunavut . Similarly , the Far North ( when contrasted to the North ) may refer to the Canadian Arctic : the portion of Canada north of the Arctic Circle and lies east of Alaska and west of Greenland . This area covers about 39 percent of Canada 's total land area , but has less than 1 percent of Canada 's population . For some purposes , Northern Canada may also include Northern Quebec and Northern Labrador . These reckonings somewhat depend on the arbitrary concept of nordicity , a measure of so-called `` northernness '' that other Arctic territories share . Canada is the northernmost country in the Americas ( excluding the neighbouring Danish Arctic territory of Greenland which extends slightly further north ) and roughly 80 % of its 35 million inhabitants are concentrated along its southern border with the United States . Combined with the fact that nearly all of the country experiences severely cold winters ( except the maritime-influenced climate found in areas like coastal British Columbia and Vancouver Island ) along with short and relatively cool summers , Canada is popularly said to not have a South . Due to the southerly concentration of its population along the border and the heavily intertwined economies and cultures between Canada and the United States , many view the U.S. to be Canada 's `` South '' . Southern Canada is therefore considered to be a region only when it is contrasted against or viewed from the North . |
North_Sea | The North Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between Great Britain , Scandinavia , Germany , the Netherlands , Belgium , and France . An epeiric ( or `` shelf '' ) sea on the European continental shelf , it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north . It is more than 970 km long and 580 km wide , with an area of around 570000 km2 . The North Sea has long been the site of important European shipping lanes as well as a major fishery . The sea is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries and more recently has developed into a rich source of energy resources including fossil fuels , wind , and early efforts in wave power . Historically , the North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs , particularly in Northern Europe . It was also important globally through the power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middle Ages and into the modern era . The North Sea was the centre of the Vikings ' rise . Subsequently , the Hanseatic League , the Netherlands , and the British each sought to dominate the North Sea and thus the access to the markets and resources of the world . As Germany 's only outlet to the ocean , the North Sea continued to be strategically important through both World Wars . The coast of the North Sea presents a diversity of geological and geographical features . In the north , deep fjords and sheer cliffs mark the Norwegian and Scottish coastlines , whereas in the south the coast consists primarily of sandy beaches and wide mudflats . Due to the dense population , heavy industrialization , and intense use of the sea and area surrounding it , there have been a number of environmental issues affecting the sea 's ecosystems . Adverse environmental issues -- commonly including overfishing , industrial and agricultural runoff , dredging , and dumping among others -- have led to a number of efforts to prevent degradation of the sea while still making use of its economic potential . |
Objections_to_evolution | Objections to evolution have been raised since evolutionary ideas came to prominence in the 19th century . When Charles Darwin published his 1859 book On the Origin of Species , his theory of evolution ( the idea that species arose through descent with modification from a single common ancestor in a process driven by natural selection ) initially met opposition from scientists with different theories , but eventually came to receive overwhelming acceptance in the scientific community . The observation of evolutionary processes occurring ( as well as the modern evolutionary synthesis explaining that evidence ) has been uncontroversial among mainstream biologists since the 1940s . Since then , most criticisms and denials of evolution have come from religious groups , rather than from the scientific community . Although many religious groups have found reconciliation of their beliefs with evolution , such as through theistic evolution , other religious groups continue to reject evolutionary explanations in favor of creationism , the belief that the universe and life were created by supernatural forces . The U.S.-centered creation -- evolution controversy has become a focal point of perceived conflict between religion and science . Several branches of creationism , including creation science , neo-creationism , and intelligent design , argue that the idea of life being directly designed by a god or intelligence is at least as scientific as evolutionary theory , and should therefore be taught in public education . Such arguments against evolution have become widespread and include objections to evolution 's evidence , methodology , plausibility , morality , and scientific acceptance . The scientific community does not recognize such objections as valid , pointing to detractors ' misinterpretations of such things as the scientific method , evidence , and basic physical laws . |
Ordovician–Silurian_extinction_events | The Ordovician -- Silurian extinction events , when combined , are the second-largest of the five major extinction events in Earth 's history in terms of percentage of genera that became extinct . This event greatly affected marine communities , which caused the disappearance of one third of all brachiopod and bryozoan families , as well as numerous groups of conodonts , trilobites , and graptolites . The Ordovician-Silurian extinction occurred during the Hirnantian stage of the Ordovician Period and the subsequent Rhuddanian stage of the Silurian Period . The last event is dated in the interval of 455 -- 430 Ma ago , i.e. , lasting from the Middle Ordovician to Early Silurian , thus including the extinction period . This event was the first of the big five Phanerozoic events and was the first to significantly affect animal-based communities . Almost all major taxonomic groups were affected during this extinction event . Extinction was global during this period , eliminating 49-60 % of marine genera and nearly 85 % of marine species . Brachiopods , bivalves , echinoderms , bryozoans and corals were particularly affected . Prior to the late Ordovician cooling , temperatures were relatively warm and it is the suddenness of the climate changes and the elimination of habitats due to sea-level fall that are believed to have precipitated the extinctions . The falling sea level disrupted or eliminated habitats along the continental shelves . Evidence for the glaciation was found through deposits in the Sahara Desert . A combination of lowering of sea level and glacially driven cooling were likely driving agents for the Ordovician mass extinction . |
Outfall | An outfall is the discharge point of a waste stream into a body of water ; alternatively it may be the outlet of a river , drain or a sewer where it discharges into the sea , a lake or the like . In the United States , industrial facilities that discharge storm water which was exposed to industrial activities at the site are required to have a multi-sector general permit . Issuing permits for storm water is delegated to the individual states that are authorized by the EPA . Facilities that apply for a permit must specify the number of outfalls at the site . According to the EPA 's 2008 MSGP ( final version ) , outfalls are locations where the stormwater exits the facility , including pipes , ditches , swales , and other structures that transport stormwater . If there is more than one outfall present , measure at the primary outfall ( i.e. , the outfall with the largest volume of stormwater discharge associated with industrial activity ) . Outfalls from sewage plants can be up to 20 feet in diameter and release 4000 gallons of treated human waste every second , only miles from the shore . A wastewater treatment system discharges treated effluent to a water body from an outfall . An ocean outfall may be conveyed several miles offshore , to discharge by nozzles at the end of a spreader or T-shaped structure . Outfalls may also be constructed as an outfall tunnel or subsea tunnel and discharge effluent to the ocean via one or more marine risers with nozzles . |
Padar_(island) | Padar is a small island located between Komodo and Rinca islands within Komodo archipelago , administrated under the West Manggarai Regency , East Nusa Tenggara , Indonesia . It is the third largest island part of Komodo National Park . The Komodo archipelago is famous for Komodo dragons , giant lizards that can measure up to 3 m long . However , unlike neighboring islands of Komodo and Rinca teeming with ferocious Komodo dragons , Padar island is one of the few island where Komodo dragon has extinct . The topography of the island is rugged with steep volcanic mountains and hills set against deep bays . Padar has dry climate thus only bushes and grassland vegetation covering the island creating savanna hills . Padar island has four deep bays with beaches in different colors , most of them are white sands , while some beaches has grey and pink sands . The seas surrounding the island has several diving sites popular for scuba diving and snorkelling . |
Peak_water | Peak water is a concept that underlines the growing constraints on the availability , quality , and use of freshwater resources . Peak water is defined in a 2010 peer-reviewed article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Peter Gleick and Meena Palaniappan . They distinguish between peak renewable , peak non-renewable , and peak ecological water in order to demonstrate the fact that although there is a vast amount of water on the planet , sustainably managed water is becoming scarce . Lester R. Brown , president of the Earth Policy Institute , wrote in 2013 that although there was extensive literature on peak oil , it was peak water that is `` the real threat to our future '' . An assessment was published in August 2011 in the Stockholm International Water Institute 's journal . Much of the world 's water in underground aquifers and in lakes can be depleted and thus resembles a finite resource . The phrase peak water sparks debates similar to those about peak oil . In 2010 , New York Times chose `` peak water '' as one of its 33 `` Words of the Year '' . There are concerns about impending peak water in several areas around the world : Peak renewable water , where entire renewable flows are being consumed for human use Peak non-renewable water , where groundwater aquifers are being overpumped ( or contaminated ) faster than nature recharges them ( this example is most like the peak oil debate ) Peak ecological water , where ecological and environmental constraints are overwhelming the economic benefits provided by water use If present trends continue , 1.8 billion people will be living with absolute water scarcity by 2025 , and two-thirds of the world could be subject to water stress . Ultimately , peak water is not about running out of freshwater , but about reaching physical , economic , and environmental limits on meeting human demands for water and the subsequent decline of water availability and use . |
Outer_Space_Treaty | The Outer Space Treaty , formally the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space , including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies , is a treaty that forms the basis of international space law . The treaty was opened for signature in the United States , the United Kingdom , and the Soviet Union on 27 January 1967 , and entered into force on 10 October 1967 . As of May 2017 , 106 countries are parties to the treaty , while another 24 have signed the treaty but have not completed ratification . In addition , the Republic of China ( Taiwan ) , which is currently only recognized by , ratified the treaty prior to the United Nations General Assembly 's vote to transfer China 's seat to the People 's Republic of China ( PRC ) in 1971 . |
Ozone | Ozone -LSB- ˈoʊzoʊn -RSB- ( systematically named 1λ1 ,3 λ1-trioxidane and catena-trioxygen ) , or trioxygen , is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell . It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , breaking down in the lower atmosphere to or dioxygen . Ozone is formed from dioxygen by the action of ultraviolet light and also atmospheric electrical discharges , and is present in low concentrations throughout the Earth 's atmosphere ( stratosphere ) . In total , ozone makes up only of the atmosphere . Ozone 's odour is sharp , reminiscent of chlorine , and detectable by many people at concentrations of as little as in air . Ozone 's O3 structure was determined in 1865 . The molecule was later proven to have a bent structure and to be diamagnetic . In standard conditions , ozone is a pale blue gas that condenses at progressively cryogenic temperatures to a dark blue liquid and finally a violet-black solid . Ozone 's instability with regard to more common dioxygen is such that both concentrated gas and liquid ozone may decompose explosively at elevated temperatures or fast warming to the boiling point . It is therefore used commercially only in low concentrations . Ozone is a powerful oxidant ( far more so than dioxygen ) and has many industrial and consumer applications related to oxidation . This same high oxidising potential , however , causes ozone to damage mucous and respiratory tissues in animals , and also tissues in plants , above concentrations of about . This makes ozone a potent respiratory hazard and pollutant near ground level . However , the ozone layer ( a portion of the stratosphere with a higher concentration of ozone , from two to eight ppm ) is beneficial , preventing damaging ultraviolet light from reaching the Earth 's surface , to the benefit of both plants and animals . |
Palaeogeography | Palaeogeography ( or paleogeography ) is the study of historical geography , generally physical landscapes . Palaeogeography can also include the study of human or cultural environments . When the focus is specifically on the study of landforms , the term paleogeomorphology is sometimes used instead . Paleogeography yields information that is crucial to scientific understanding in a variety of contexts . For example , paleogeographic analysis of sedimentary basins plays a key role in the field of petroleum geology , because the ancient geomorphological environments of the Earth 's surface are preserved in the stratigraphic record . Paleogeographers also study the sedimentary environment associated with fossils for clues to the evolutionary development of extinct species . And paleogeographic evidence contributed to the development of continental drift theory , and continues to inform current plate tectonic theories , yielding information about the shape and latitudinal location of supercontinents such as Pangaea and ancient oceans such as Panthalassa , thus enabling the reconstruction of prehistoric continents and oceans . |
Paleolithic | The Paleolithic -LSB- ˌpæliːəˈlɪθᵻk -RSB- age is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools and covers roughly 95 % of human technological prehistory . It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools , probably by Homo habilis initially , 2.6 million years ago , to the end of the Pleistocene around 10,000 BP . The Paleolithic era is followed by the Mesolithic . The date of the Paleolithic -- Mesolithic boundary may vary by locality as much as several thousand years . During the Paleolithic period , humans grouped together in small societies such as bands , and subsisted by gathering plants and fishing , hunting or scavenging wild animals . The Paleolithic is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools , although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools . Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools , including leather and vegetable fibers ; however , due to their nature , these have not been preserved to any great degree . Surviving artifacts of the Paleolithic era are known as paleoliths . About 50,000 years ago , there was a marked increase in the diversity of artifacts . For the first time in Africa , bone artifacts and the first art appear in the archaeological record . The first evidence of human fishing is also noted , from artifacts in places such as Blombos cave in South Africa . Firstly among the artifacts of Africa , archaeologists found they could differentiate and classify those of less than 50,000 years into many different categories , such as projectile points , engraving tools , knife blades , and drilling and piercing tools . The new technology generated a population explosion of modern humans which is believed to have led to the extinction of the Neanderthals . Humankind gradually evolved from early members of the genus Homo -- such as Homo habilis , who used simple stone tools -- into fully behaviorally and anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens sapiens ) during the Paleolithic era . During the end of the Paleolithic , specifically the Middle and or Upper Paleolithic , humans began to produce the earliest works of art and engage in religious and spiritual behavior such as burial and ritual . The climate during the Paleolithic consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures . Archaeological and genetic data suggest that the source populations of Paleolithic humans survived in sparsely wooded areas and dispersed through areas of high primary productivity while avoiding dense forest cover . By BP , the first humans set foot in Australia . By BP , humans lived at 61 ° N latitude in Europe . By BP , Japan was reached , and by BP humans were present in Siberia , above the Arctic Circle . At the end of the Upper Paleolithic , a group of humans crossed Beringia and quickly expanded throughout the Americas . The term `` Paleolithic '' was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865 . It derives from Greek : παλαιός , palaios , `` old '' ; and λίθος , lithos , `` stone '' , meaning `` old age of the stone '' or `` Old Stone Age '' . |
Particle_accelerator | A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to nearly light speed and to contain them in well-defined beams . Large accelerators are used in particle physics as colliders ( e.g. the LHC at CERN , KEKB at KEK in Japan , RHIC at Brookhaven National Laboratory , and Tevatron at Fermilab ) , or as synchrotron light sources for the study of condensed matter physics . Smaller particle accelerators are used in a wide variety of applications , including particle therapy for oncological purposes , radioisotope production for medical diagnostics , ion implanters for manufacture of semiconductors , and accelerator mass spectrometers for measurements of rare isotopes such as radiocarbon . There are currently more than 30,000 accelerators in operation around the world . There are two basic classes of accelerators : electrostatic and electrodynamic ( or electromagnetic ) accelerators . Electrostatic accelerators use static electric fields to accelerate particles . The most common types are the Cockcroft -- Walton generator and the Van de Graaff generator . A small-scale example of this class is the cathode ray tube in an ordinary old television set . The achievable kinetic energy for particles in these devices is determined by the accelerating voltage , which is limited by electrical breakdown . Electrodynamic or electromagnetic accelerators , on the other hand , use changing electromagnetic fields ( either magnetic induction or oscillating radio frequency fields ) to accelerate particles . Since in these types the particles can pass through the same accelerating field multiple times , the output energy is not limited by the strength of the accelerating field . This class , which was first developed in the 1920s , is the basis for most modern large-scale accelerators . Rolf Widerøe , Gustav Ising , Leó Szilárd , Max Steenbeck , and Ernest Lawrence are considered pioneers of this field , conceiving and building the first operational linear particle accelerator , the betatron , and the cyclotron . Because colliders can give evidence of the structure of the subatomic world , accelerators were commonly referred to as atom smashers in the 20th century . Despite the fact that most accelerators ( but not ion facilities ) actually propel subatomic particles , the term persists in popular usage when referring to particle accelerators in general . |
Pacific_Ocean | The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earth 's oceanic divisions . It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean ( or , depending on definition , to Antarctica ) in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east . At 63,800,000 sqmi in area , this largest division of the World Ocean -- and , in turn , the hydrosphere -- covers about 46 % of the Earth 's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area , making it larger than all of the Earth 's land area combined . The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean , with two exceptions : the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands , while straddling the equator , are deemed wholly within the South Pacific . The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world , reaching a depth of 35797 ft. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean . Though the peoples of Asia and Oceania have traveled the Pacific Ocean since prehistoric times , the eastern Pacific was first sighted by Europeans in the early 16th century when Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and discovered the great `` southern sea '' which he named Mar del Sur ( in Spanish ) . The ocean 's current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521 , as he encountered favorable winds on reaching the ocean . He called it Mar Pacífico , which in both Portuguese and Spanish means `` peaceful sea '' . |
Ozone_depletion_and_climate_change | Ozone depletion and climate change , or Ozone hole and global warming in more popular terms , are environmental challenges whose connections have been explored and which have been compared and contrasted , for example in terms of global regulation , in various studies and books . There is widespread scientific interest in better regulation of climate change , ozone depletion and air pollution , as in general the human relationship with the biosphere is deemed of major historiographical and political significance . Already by 1994 the legal debates about respective regulation regimes on climate change , ozone depletion and air pollution were being dubbed `` monumental '' and a combined synopsis provided . There are some parallels between atmospheric chemistry and anthropogenic emissions in the discussions which have taken place and the regulatory attempts which have been made . Most important is that the gases causing both problems have long lifetimes after emission to the atmosphere , thus causing problems which are difficult to reverse . However , the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol that amended it are seen as success stories , while the Kyoto Protocol on anthropogenic climate change has largely failed . Currently efforts are being undertaken to assess the reasons and to use synergies , for example with regard to data reporting and policy design and further exchanging of information . While the general public tends to see global warming as a subset of ozone depletion , in fact ozone and chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons ( CFCs ) and other halocarbons , which are held responsible for ozone depletion , are important greenhouse gasses . Furthermore , natural levels of ozone in both the stratosphere and troposphere have a warming effect . |
PH | In chemistry , pH ( -LSB- piːˈeɪtʃ -RSB- ) ( potential of hydrogen ) is a numeric scale used to specify the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution . It is approximately the negative of the base 10 logarithm of the molar concentration , measured in units of moles per liter , of hydrogen ions . More precisely it is the negative of the logarithm to base 10 of the activity of the hydrogen ion . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic . Pure water is neutral , at pH 7 , being neither an acid nor a base . Contrary to popular belief , the pH value can be less than 0 or greater than 14 for very strong acids and bases respectively . pH measurements are important in agronomy , medicine , biology , chemistry , agriculture , forestry , food science , environmental science , oceanography , civil engineering , chemical engineering , nutrition , water treatment and water purification , as well as many other applications . The pH scale is traceable to a set of standard solutions whose pH is established by international agreement . Primary pH standard values are determined using a concentration cell with transference , by measuring the potential difference between a hydrogen electrode and a standard electrode such as the silver chloride electrode . The pH of aqueous solutions can be measured with a glass electrode and a pH meter , or an indicator . |
Paris_Agreement | The Paris Agreement ( Accord de Paris ) is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation , adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020 . The language of the agreement was negotiated by representatives of 195 countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015 . It was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 ( Earth Day ) at a ceremony in New York . As of May 2017 , 195 UNFCCC members have signed the treaty , 147 of which have ratified it . After several European Union states ratified the agreement in October 2016 , there were enough countries that had ratified the agreement that produce enough of the world 's greenhouse gases for the agreement to enter into force . The agreement went into effect on 4 November 2016 . The head of the Paris Conference , France 's foreign minister Laurent Fabius , said this `` ambitious and balanced '' plan is a `` historic turning point '' in the goal of reducing global warming . One year on , the ratification of the Paris Agreement was celebrated by the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo by illuminating the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe , Paris ' most iconic monuments , in green . |
Outline_of_Earth | Earth -- third planet from the Sun , the densest planet in the Solar System , the largest of the Solar System 's four terrestrial planets , and the only astronomical object known to harbor life . |
Paleoecology | Paleoecology ( also spelt palaeoecology ) is the study of interactions between organisms and/or interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales . As a discipline , paleoecology interacts with , depends on and informs a variety of fields including paleontology , ecology , climatology and biology . Classic paleoecology uses data from fossils and subfossils to reconstruct the ecosystems of the past . It involves the study of fossil organisms and their associated remains ( such as shells , teeth , pollen , and seeds ) , which can help in the interpretation of their life cycle , living interactions , natural environment , communities , and manner of death and burial . Such interpretations aid the reconstruction of past environments ( paleoenvironments ) . Paleoecologists have studied the fossil record to try to clarify the relationship animals have to their environment , in part to help understand the current state of biodiversity . They have identified close links between vertebrate taxonomic and ecological diversity , that is , between the diversity of animals and the niches they occupy . |
Paleontology_in_the_United_States | Paleontology in the United States refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the United States . Paleontologists have found that at the start of the Paleozoic era , what is now `` North '' America was actually in the southern hemisphere . Marine life flourished in the country 's many seas . Later the seas were largely replaced by swamps , home to amphibians and early reptiles . When the continents had assembled into Pangaea drier conditions prevailed . The evolutionary precursors to mammals dominated the country until a mass extinction event ended their reign . The Mesozoic era followed and the dinosaurs began their rise to dominance , spreading into the country before Pangaea split up . During the latter Jurassic Morrison Formation dinosaurs lived in the western states . During the Cretaceous , the Gulf of Mexico expanded until it split North America in half . Plesiosaurs and mosasaurs swam in its waters . Later it began to withdraw and the western states were home to the Hell Creek dinosaurs . Another mass extinction ended the reign of the dinosaurs . The Cenozoic era began afterward . The inland sea of the Cretaceous vanished and mammals came to dominate the land . The western states were home to primitive camels and horses as well as the carnivorous creodonts . Soon mammals had entered the oceans and the early whale Basilosaurus swam the coastal waters of the southeast . Rhino-like titanotheres dominated Oligocene South Dakota . From this point on the climate in the United States cooled until the Pleistocene , when glaciers spread . Saber-toothed cats , woolly mammoths , mastodons , and dire wolves roamed the land . Humans arrived across a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska and may have played a role in hunting these animals into extinction . Native Americans have been familiar with fossils for thousands of year , but the first major fossil discovery to attract the attention of formally trained scientists were the Ice Age fossils of Kentucky 's Big Bone Lick . These fossils were studied by eminent intellectuals like France 's George Cuvier and local statesmen like Benjamin Franklin , Thomas Jefferson , and George Washington . By the beginning of the 19th century , Dinosaur footprints were discovered near the country 's east coast . Later in the century , as more dinosaur fossils were uncovered , eminent paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh were embroiled in a bitter rivalry to collect the most fossils and name the most new species . Early in the 20th century major finds continued , such as the Ice Age mammals of the La Brea Tar Pits . Mid-to-late twentieth-century discoveries in the United States triggered the Dinosaur Renaissance as the discovery of the bird-like Deinonychus overturned misguided notions of dinosaurs as plodding lizard-like animals , highlighting their sophisticated physiology and apparent relationship with birds . Other notable finds in the United States include Maiasaura , which provided early evidence for parental care in dinosaurs and `` Seismosaurus '' , the largest known dinosaur . |
Outer_space | Outer space or just space , is the void that exists between celestial bodies , including Earth . It is not completely empty , but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles , predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium as well as electromagnetic radiation , magnetic fields , neutrinos , dust , and cosmic rays . The baseline temperature , as set by the background radiation from the Big Bang , is 2.7 kelvins ( K ) ( − 270.45 ° C ; − 454.81 ° F ) . Plasma with a number density of less than one hydrogen atom per cubic metre and a temperature of millions of kelvins in the space between galaxies accounts for most of the baryonic ( ordinary ) matter in outer space ; local concentrations have condensed into stars and galaxies . In most galaxies , observations provide evidence that 90 % of the mass is in an unknown form , called dark matter , which interacts with other matter through gravitational but not electromagnetic forces . Data indicates that the majority of the mass-energy in the observable universe is a poorly understood vacuum energy of space which astronomers label dark energy . Intergalactic space takes up most of the volume of the Universe , but even galaxies and star systems consist almost entirely of empty space . There is no firm boundary where outer space starts . However the Kármán line , at an altitude of 100 km above sea level , is conventionally used as the start of outer space in space treaties and for aerospace records keeping . The framework for international space law was established by the Outer Space Treaty , which was passed by the United Nations in 1967 . This treaty precludes any claims of national sovereignty and permits all states to freely explore outer space . Despite the drafting of UN resolutions for the peaceful uses of outer space , anti-satellite weapons have been tested in Earth orbit . Humans began the physical exploration of space during the 20th century with the advent of high-altitude balloon flights , followed by manned rocket launches . Earth orbit was first achieved by Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union in 1961 and unmanned spacecraft have since reached all of the known planets in the Solar System . Due to the high cost of getting into space , manned spaceflight has been limited to low Earth orbit and the Moon . Outer space represents a challenging environment for human exploration because of the dual hazards of vacuum and radiation . Microgravity also has a negative effect on human physiology that causes both muscle atrophy and bone loss . In addition to these health and environmental issues , the economic cost of putting objects , including humans , into space is high . |
Paradigm_shift | A paradigm shift , a concept identified by the American physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn ( 1922 -- 1996 ) , is a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline . Kuhn contrasted these shifts , which characterize a scientific revolution , to the activity of normal science , which he described as scientific work done within a prevailing framework ( or paradigm ) . In this context , the word `` paradigm '' is used in its original meaning , as `` example '' ( Greek : παράδειγμα ) . The nature of scientific revolutions has been studied by modern philosophy since Immanuel Kant used the phrase in the preface to his Critique of Pure Reason ( 1781 ) . He referred to Greek mathematics and Newtonian physics . In the 20th century , new crises in the basic concepts of mathematics , physics , and biology revitalized interest in the question among scholars . It was against this active background that Kuhn published his work . Kuhn presented his notion of a paradigm shift in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions ( 1962 ) . As one commentator summarizes : Since the 1960s , the concept of a paradigm shift has also been used in numerous non-scientific contexts to describe a profound change in a fundamental model or perception of events , even though Kuhn himself restricted the use of the term to the physical sciences . In a 2015 retrospective on Kuhn , the philosopher Martin Cohen describes the notion of the ` Paradigm Shift ' as a kind of intellectual virus -- spreading from hard science to social science and on to the arts and even everyday political rhetoric today . Cohen claims that Thomas Kuhn himself had only a very hazy idea of what it might mean and , in line with the American philosopher of science , Paul Feyerabend , accuses Kuhn of retreating from the more radical implications of his theory , which are that scientific facts are never really more than opinions , whose popularity is transitory and far from conclusive . |
Pacific_States | The `` Pacific States '' form one of the nine geographic divisions within the United States that are officially recognized by that country 's census bureau . There are five states in this division -- Alaska , California , Hawaii , Oregon , Washington -- and , as its name suggests , they all have coastlines on the Pacific Ocean ( and are the only American states that border that ocean ) . The Pacific States division is one of two divisions that are located within the United States Census Bureau 's Western region ; the other Western division is the Mountain States . Despite being slotted into the same region by the Census Bureau , the Pacific and Mountain divisions are vastly different from one another in many vital respects , most notably in the arena of politics ; while nearly all of the Mountain states are regarded as being conservative `` red states '' , four out of five of the Pacific states ( all except Alaska ) are clearly counted among the liberal `` blue states . '' Bold denotes election winner |
Panentheism | Panentheism ( from the Ancient Greek expression πᾶν ἐν θεῷ , pān en theṓ , literally `` all in God '' ) is the belief that the divine pervades and interpenetration every part of the universe and also extends beyond time and space . The term was coined by the German philosopher Karl Krause in 1828 to distinguish the ideas of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ( 1770 -- 1831 ) and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling ( 1775 -- 1854 ) about the relation of God and the universe from the supposed pantheism of Baruch Spinoza . Unlike pantheism , which holds that the divine and the universe are identical , panentheism maintains an ontological distinction between the divine and the non-divine and the significance of both . In panentheism , God is viewed as the soul of the universe , the universal spirit present everywhere , which at the same time `` transcends '' all things created . While pantheism asserts that `` all is God '' , panentheism claims that God is greater than the universe . Some versions of panentheism suggest that the universe is nothing more than the manifestation of God . In addition , some forms indicate that the universe is contained within God , like in the Kabbalah concept of tzimtzum . Also much Hindu thought -- and consequently Buddhist philosophy -- is highly characterized by panentheism and pantheism . The basic tradition however , on which Krause 's concept was built , seems to have been Neoplatonic philosophy and its successors in Western philosophy and Orthodox theology . |
Ottawa | Ottawa ( -LSB- ˈɒtəwə -RSB- or -LSB- ˈɒtəwɑː -RSB- -LSB- ɔtawa -RSB- ) is the capital city of Canada . It stands on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of southern Ontario . Ottawa borders Gatineau , Quebec ; the two form the core of the Ottawa -- Gatineau census metropolitan area ( CMA ) and the National Capital Region ( NCR ) . The 2016 census reported a population of 934,243 , making it the fourth-largest city in Canada ; and 1,323,783 within the CMA , making it the fifth-largest CMA in Canada . The City of Ottawa reported that the city had an estimated population of 960,754 as of December 2015 . Founded in 1826 as Bytown , and incorporated as `` Ottawa '' in 1855 , the city has evolved into a political and technological centre of Canada . Its original boundaries were expanded through numerous minor annexations and were ultimately replaced by a new city incorporation and major amalgamation in 2001 which significantly increased its land area . The city name `` Ottawa '' was chosen in reference to the Ottawa River nearby , the name of which is derived from the Algonquin Odawa , meaning `` to trade '' . The city is the most educated in Canada , and is home to a number of post-secondary , research , and cultural institutions , including the National Arts Centre and the National Gallery . Ottawa also has the highest standard of living in the nation and low unemployment . It ranked 24th out of 150 worldwide in the Numbeo quality of life index 2014 -- 2015 , and it contains a UNESCO World Heritage Site . In 2016 , MoneySense rated Ottawa as the best place to live in Canada . |
Pedosphere | The pedosphere ( from Greek πέδον pedon `` soil '' or `` earth '' and σφαῖρα sphaira `` sphere '' ) is the outermost layer of the Earth that is composed of soil and subject to soil formation processes . It exists at the interface of the lithosphere , atmosphere , hydrosphere and biosphere . The sum total of all the organisms , soils , water and air is termed as the `` pedosphere '' . The pedosphere is the skin of the Earth and only develops when there is a dynamic interaction between the atmosphere ( air in and above the soil ) , biosphere ( living organisms ) , lithosphere ( unconsolidated regolith and consolidated bedrock ) and the hydrosphere ( water in , on and below the soil ) . The pedosphere is the foundation of terrestrial life on this planet . There is a realization that the pedosphere needs to be distinctly recognized as a dynamic interface of all terrestrial ecosystems and be integrated into the Earth system science knowledge base . The pedosphere acts as the mediator of chemical and biogeochemical flux into and out of these respective systems and is made up of gaseous , mineralic , fluid and biologic components . The pedosphere lies within the Critical Zone , a broader interface that includes vegetation , pedosphere , groundwater aquifer systems , regolith and finally ends at some depth in the bedrock where the biosphere and hydrosphere cease to make significant changes to the chemistry at depth . As part of the larger global system , any particular environment in which soil forms is influenced solely by its geographic position on the globe as climatic , geologic , biologic and anthropogenic changes occur with changes in longitude and latitude . The pedosphere lies below the vegetative cover of the biosphere and above the hydrosphere and lithosphere . The soil forming process ( pedogenesis ) can begin without the aid of biology but is significantly quickened in the presence of biologic reactions . Soil formation begins with the chemical and/or physical breakdown of minerals to form the initial material that overlies the bedrock substrate . Biology quickens this by secreting acidic compounds ( dominantly fulvic acids ) that help break rock apart . Particular biologic pioneers are lichen , mosses and seed bearing plants but many other inorganic reactions take place that diversify the chemical makeup of the early soil layer . Once weathering and decomposition products accumulate , a coherent soil body allows the migration of fluids both vertically and laterally through the soil profile causing ion exchange between solid , fluid and gaseous phases . As time progresses , the bulk geochemistry of the soil layer will deviate away from the initial composition of the bedrock and will evolve to a chemistry that reflects the type of reactions that take place in the soil . |
Patmos | Patmos ( Πάτμος , -LSB- ˈpatmos -RSB- ) is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea , most famous for being the location of both the vision of and the writing of the Christian Bible 's Book of Revelation . One of the northernmost islands of the Dodecanese complex , it has a population of 2,998 and an area of 34.05 km2 . The highest point is Profitis Ilias , 269 m above sea level . The Municipality of Patmos , which includes the offshore islands of Arkoi ( pop . 44 ) , Marathos ( pop . 5 ) , and several uninhabited islets , has a total population of 3,047 ( 2011 census ) and a combined land area of 45.039 km ² . It is part of the Kalymnos regional unit . Patmos ' main communities are Chora ( the capital city ) , and Skala , the only commercial port . Other settlements are Grikou and Kampos . The churches and communities on Patmos are of the Eastern Orthodox tradition . The mayor of Patmos is Gregory Stoikos . Patmos is mentioned in the Book of Revelation . The book 's introduction states that its author , John , was on Patmos when he was given ( and recorded ) a vision from Jesus . Early Christian tradition identified this writer as John the Apostle , though some modern scholars are uncertain , and thus call him the less specific `` John of Patmos . '' Because of the Book of Revelation , Patmos has a long history as a destination for Christian pilgrimage . Visitors can see the cave where John is said to have received his Revelation ( the Cave of the Apocalypse ) , and several monasteries on the island are dedicated to Saint John . In 1999 , the island 's historic center Chora , along with the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian and the Cave of the Apocalypse , were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO . The monastery was founded by Saint Christodulos . Patmos is also home to the Patmian School , a notable Greek seminary . |
Paleocene | The Paleocene ( -LSB- pronˈpæliəˌsiːn , _ ˈpæ - , _ - lioʊ - -RSB- ) or Palaeocene , the `` old recent '' , is a geologic epoch that lasted from about . It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era . As with many geologic periods , the strata that define the epoch 's beginning and end are well identified , but the exact ages remain uncertain . The Paleocene Epoch brackets two major events in Earth 's history . It started with the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous , known as the Cretaceous -- Paleogene ( K -- Pg ) boundary . This was a time marked by the demise of non-avian dinosaurs , giant marine reptiles and much other fauna and flora . The die-off of the dinosaurs left unfilled ecological niches worldwide . The Paleocene ended with the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum , a geologically brief ( ~ 0.2 million year ) interval characterized by extreme changes in climate and carbon cycling . The name `` Paleocene '' comes from Ancient Greek and refers to the `` old ( er ) '' ( παλαιός , palaios ) `` new '' ( καινός , kainos ) fauna that arose during the epoch . |
Peat | Peat ( -LSB- piːt -RSB- ) , also called turf ( -LSB- tɜːrf -RSB- ) , is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter that is unique to natural areas called peatlands , bogs , mires , moors , or muskegs . The peatland ecosystem is the most efficient carbon sink on the planet because peatland plants capture the CO2 which is naturally released from the peat ; this maintains an equilibrium . In natural peatlands , the `` annual rate of biomass production is greater than the rate of decomposition '' , but it takes `` thousands of years for peatlands to develop the deposits of , which is the average depth of the boreal -LSB- northern -RSB- peatlands '' . Sphagnum moss ( peat moss ) is one of the most common components in peat , although many other plants can contribute . Soils that contain mostly peat are known as histosols . Peat forms in wetland conditions , where flooding obstructs flows of oxygen from the atmosphere . This slows rates of decomposition . Peatlands , particularly bogs , are the most important source of peat . That said , other less common wetland types , including fens , pocosins , and peat swamp forests , also deposit peat . Landscapes covered in peat are home to specific kinds of plants including Sphagnum moss , ericaceous shrubs , and sedges ( see bog for more information on this aspect of peat ) . Because organic matter accumulates over thousands of years , peat deposits also provide records of past vegetation and climates stored in plant remains like pollen . This allows humans to reconstruct past environments and study changes in human land use . Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world . By volume , there are about 4 e12m3 of peat in the world , covering a total of around 2 % of the global land area ( about 3 e6km2 ) , containing about 8 billion terajoules of energy . Over time , the formation of peat is often the first step in the geological formation of other fossil fuels such as coal , particularly low-grade coal such as lignite . |
Overconsumption | Overconsumption is a situation where resource use has outpaced the sustainable capacity of the ecosystem . A prolonged pattern of overconsumption leads to environmental degradation and the eventual loss of resource bases . Generally the discussion of overconsumption parallels that of overpopulation ; that is the more people , the more consumption of raw materials to sustain their lives . Currently , the inhabitants of the developed nations of the world consume resources at a rate almost 32 times greater than those of the developing world , who make up the majority of the human population ( 7.4 billion people ) . The theory of overpopulation reflects issues of carrying capacity without taking into account per capita consumption , by which developing nations are evaluated to consume more than their land can support . Green parties and the ecology movement often argue that consumption per person , or ecological footprint , is typically lower in poor than in rich nations . |
Oxygen | Oxygen is a chemical element with symbol O and atomic number 8 . It is a member of the chalcogen group on the periodic table and is a highly reactive nonmetal and oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as well as other compounds . By mass , oxygen is the third-most abundant element in the universe , after hydrogen and helium . At standard temperature and pressure , two atoms of the element bind to form dioxygen , a colorless and odorless diatomic gas with the formula . This is an important part of the atmosphere and diatomic oxygen gas constitutes 20.8 % of the Earth 's atmosphere . Additionally , as oxides the element makes up almost half of the Earth 's crust . Dioxygen is used in cellular respiration and many major classes of organic molecules in living organisms contain oxygen , such as proteins , nucleic acids , carbohydrates , and fats , as do the major constituent inorganic compounds of animal shells , teeth , and bone . Most of the mass of living organisms is oxygen as a component of water , the major constituent of lifeforms . Conversely , oxygen is continuously replenished by photosynthesis , which uses the energy of sunlight to produce oxygen from water and carbon dioxide . Oxygen is too chemically reactive to remain a free element in air without being continuously replenished by the photosynthetic action of living organisms . Another form ( allotrope ) of oxygen , ozone , strongly absorbs ultraviolet UVB radiation and the high-altitude ozone layer helps protect the biosphere from ultraviolet radiation . But ozone is a pollutant near the surface where it is a by-product of smog . At low earth orbit altitudes , sufficient atomic oxygen is present to cause corrosion of spacecraft . Oxygen was discovered independently by Carl Wilhelm Scheele , in Uppsala , in 1773 or earlier , and Joseph Priestley in Wiltshire , in 1774 , but Priestley is often given priority because his work was published first . The name oxygen was coined in 1777 by Antoine Lavoisier , whose experiments with oxygen helped to discredit the then-popular phlogiston theory of combustion and corrosion . Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς oxys , `` acid '' , literally `` sharp '' , referring to the sour taste of acids and - γενής - genes , `` producer '' , literally `` begetter '' , because at the time of naming , it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition . Common use of oxygen includes residential heating , internal combustion engines , production of steel , plastics and textiles , brazing , welding and cutting of steels and other metals , rocket propellant , oxygen therapy , and life support systems in aircraft , submarines , spaceflight and diving . |
PDO | PDO can refer to : In chemistry : 1,3-Propanediol , an industrial chemical Palladium ( II ) oxide PdO In climate and weather : The Pacific decadal oscillation , a pattern of climate variation In compact discs : Philips and Dupont Optical , a former joint venture between Philips and DuPont for CD manufacturing ; also associated with the Compact Disc bronzing issue In computing : Panzer Dragoon Orta , a 3D shooter created by Smilebit on the Xbox PHP Data Objects , a PHP extension that can be used as a database abstraction layer Portable Distributed Objects , a version of Cocoa 's Distributed Objects for remote use Process Data Object , a type of protocol frame in some fieldbuses , for instance , CANopen In food and wine : Protected Designation of Origin , one of three categories stipulated in the Geographical indications and traditional specialities classifications used in the European Union for protected regional foods , and since 2009 for quality wines In industry , finance and employment : Paid Day Off , an eight-hour-long Paid Time Off Petroleum Development Oman , an Omani oil company , and the part of the Omani capital region where the company is located In mathematics : Pseudo-differential operator , a concept in mathematical analysis In sports : PDO , an advanced statistic in ice hockey In administration : Panchayat Development Officer , the official in charge of an administrative division in a village or gram panchayat ( Panchayat Samiti ) of India and some other countries of the Indian subcontinent |
Panga | Panga is the common South African name for Pterogymnus laniarius , a small , ocean-dwelling fish , native to the southeast Atlantic Ocean and southwest Indian Ocean . Alternatively called `` torpedo scads '' , they are cold-blooded with white flesh . Their scales are generally pink in color with whitish underbelly and blue-green stripes running laterally along their sides . Over the course of its life , a panga will undergo periodic sex-changes with as much as 30 % of the population being hermaphroditic at a time . Despite the presence of both sex organs , it is thought unlikely that both are simultaneously active . Panga are slow to reach sexual maturity , with a minimum population doubling time of 4.5 -- 14 years . In other countries , the name panga may refer to a different species . In Indonesia , it refers to Megalaspis cordyla , in Spain , France , the Netherlands and Poland it refers to Pangasius hypophthalmus , and in Kenya it refers to Trichiurus lepturus . |
Pacific_decadal_oscillation | The Pacific Decadal Oscillation ( PDO ) is a robust , recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability centered over the mid-latitude Pacific basin . The PDO is detected as warm or cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean , north of 20 ° N. Over the past century , the amplitude of this climate pattern has varied irregularly at interannual-to-interdecadal time scales ( meaning time periods of a few years to as much as time periods of multiple decades ) . There is evidence of reversals in the prevailing polarity ( meaning changes in cool surface waters versus warm surface waters within the region ) of the oscillation occurring around 1925 , 1947 , and 1977 ; the last two reversals corresponded with dramatic shifts in salmon production regimes in the North Pacific Ocean . This climate pattern also affects coastal sea and continental surface air temperatures from Alaska to California . During a `` warm '' , or `` positive '' , phase , the west Pacific becomes cooler and part of the eastern ocean warms ; during a `` cool '' or `` negative '' phase , the opposite pattern occurs . The Pacific Decadal Oscillation was named by Steven R. Hare , who noticed it while studying salmon production pattern results in 1997 . The Pacific Decadal Oscillation index is the leading empirical orthogonal function ( EOF ) of monthly sea surface temperature anomalies ( SST-A ) over the North Pacific ( poleward of 20 ° N ) after the global average sea surface temperature has been removed . This PDO index is the standardized principal component time series . A PDO ` signal ' has been reconstructed to 1661 through tree-ring chronologies in the Baja California area . |
Paleogene | The Paleogene ( -LSB- pronˈpæliːədʒiːn -RSB- or -LSB- ˈpeɪliːədʒiːn -RSB- also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene ; informally Lower Tertiary ) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago ( Mya ) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Mya . It is the beginning of the Cenozoic Era of the present Phanerozoic Eon . The Paleogene is most notable for being the time during which mammals diversified from relatively small , simple forms into a large group of diverse animals in the wake of the Cretaceous -- Paleogene extinction event that ended the preceding Cretaceous Period . This period consists of the Paleocene , Eocene and Oligocene epochs . The end of the Paleocene ( 55.5 / 54.8 Mya ) was marked by the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum , one of the most significant periods of global change during the Cenozoic , which upset oceanic and atmospheric circulation and led to the extinction of numerous deep-sea benthic foraminifera and on land , a major turnover in mammals . The terms ` Paleogene System ' ( formal ) and ` lower Tertiary System ' ( informal ) are applied to the rocks deposited during the ` Paleogene Period ' . The somewhat confusing terminology seems to be due to attempts to deal with the comparatively fine subdivisions of time possible in the relatively recent geologic past , for which more details are preserved . By dividing the Tertiary Period into two periods instead of directly into five epochs , the periods are more closely comparable to the duration of ` periods ' of the preceding Mesozoic and Paleozoic Eras . |
Patras | Patras ( Πάτρα , -LSB- ˈpatra -RSB- , Classical Greek and Katharevousa : Πάτραι ( pl . ) , -LSB- pátrai̯ -RSB- , Patrae ( pl . ) ) is Greece 's third-largest city and the regional capital of Western Greece , in the northern Peloponnese , 215 km west of Athens . The city is built at the foothills of Mount Panachaikon , overlooking the Gulf of Patras . Patras has a population of 213,984 ( in 2011 ) . The core settlement has a history spanning four millennia ; in the Roman period it had become a cosmopolitan center of the eastern Mediterranean whilst , according to Christian tradition , it was also the place of Saint Andrew 's martyrdom.According to the results of 2011 census , the metropolitan area has a population of 260,308 and extends over an area of 738.87 km2 . Dubbed as Greece 's Gate to the West , Patras is a commercial hub , while its busy port is a nodal point for trade and communication with Italy and the rest of Western Europe . The city has two public universities and one Technological Institute , hosting a large student population and rendering Patras a major scientific centre with a field of excellence in technological education . The Rio-Antirio bridge connects Patras ' easternmost suburb of Rio to the town of Antirrio , connecting the Peloponnese peninsula with mainland Greece . Every year , in February , the city hosts one of Europe 's largest carnivals : notable features of the Patras Carnival include its mammoth satirical floats and balls and parades , enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of visitors in a Mediterranean climate . Patras is also famous for supporting an indigenous cultural scene active mainly in the performing arts and modern urban literature . It was European Capital of Culture in 2006 . |
Palladium_(protective_image) | A palladium or palladion is an image or other object of great antiquity on which the safety of a city or nation is said to depend . The word is a generalization from the name of the original Trojan Palladium , a wooden statue ( xoanon ) of Pallas Athena that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadel of Troy and which was supposedly later taken to the future site of Rome by Aeneas , where it remained until perhaps transferred to Constantinople and lost sight of after the conversion of the Empire to Christianity . In English , since around 1600 , the word `` palladium '' has been used figuratively to mean anything believed to provide protection or safety , and in particular in Christian contexts a sacred relic or icon believed to have a protective role in military contexts for a whole city , people or nation . Such beliefs first become prominent in the Eastern church in the period after the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I , and later spread to the Western church . Palladia were processed around the walls of besieged cities and sometimes carried into battle . In this more offensive role they may also be referred to as `` vexilla '' ( singular vexillum , Latin for `` battle standard '' ) . |
Ozone_depletion | Ozone depletion describes two distinct but related phenomena observed since the late 1970s : a steady decline of about four percent in the total amount of ozone in Earth 's stratosphere ( the ozone layer ) , and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone around Earth 's polar regions . The latter phenomenon is referred to as the ozone hole . In addition to these well-known stratospheric phenomena , there are also springtime polar tropospheric ozone depletion events . The details of polar ozone hole formation differ from that of mid-latitude thinning but the most important process in both is catalytic destruction of ozone by atomic halogens . The main source of these halogen atoms in the stratosphere is photodissociation of man-made halocarbon refrigerants , solvents , propellants , and foam-blowing agents ( chlorofluorocarbon ( CFCs ) , HCFCs , freons , halons ) . These compounds are transported into the stratosphere by winds after being emitted at the surface . Both types of ozone depletion were observed to increase as emissions of halocarbons increased . CFCs and other contributory substances are referred to as ozone-depleting substances ( ODS ) . Since the ozone layer prevents most harmful UVB wavelengths ( 280 -- 315 nm ) of ultraviolet light ( UV light ) from passing through the Earth 's atmosphere , observed and projected decreases in ozone generated worldwide concern , leading to adoption of the Montreal Protocol that bans the production of CFCs , halons , and other ozone-depleting chemicals such as carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethane . It is suspected that a variety of biological consequences such as increases in sunburn , skin cancer , cataracts , damage to plants , and reduction of plankton populations in the ocean 's photic zone may result from the increased UV exposure due to ozone depletion . |
Parametrization_(atmospheric_modeling) | Parameterization in a weather or climate model within numerical weather prediction is a method of replacing processes that are too small-scale or complex to be physically represented in the model by a simplified process . This can be contrasted with other processes -- e.g. , large-scale flow of the atmosphere -- that are explicitly resolved within the models . Associated with these parameterizations are various parameters used in the simplified processes . Examples include the descent rate of raindrops , convective clouds , simplifications of the atmospheric radiative transfer on the basis of atmospheric radiative transfer codes , and cloud microphysics . Radiative parameterizations are important to both atmospheric and oceanic modeling alike . Atmospheric emissions from different sources within individual grid boxes also need to be parameterized to determine their impact on air quality . |
Palo_Alto,_California | Palo Alto ( -LSB- ˌpæloʊ_ˈæltoʊ -RSB- ; -LSB- ˈpalo ˈalto -RSB- ; from palo , literally `` stick '' , colloquially `` tree '' , and alto `` tall '' ; meaning : `` tall tree '' ) is a charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County , California , in the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States . The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto , Mountain View , Los Altos , Los Altos Hills , Stanford , Portola Valley , and Menlo Park . It is named after a coast redwood tree called El Palo Alto . Palo Alto was established by Leland Stanford Sr. when he founded Stanford University , following the death of his son , Leland Stanford Jr. . The city includes portions of Stanford and is headquarters to a number of high-technology companies , including Hewlett-Packard ( HP ) , Space Systems/Loral , VMware , Tesla Motors , Ford Research and Innovation Center , PARC , IDEO , Skype , Palantir Technologies , and Houzz . It has also served as an incubator to several other high-technology companies such as Google , Facebook , Logitech , Intuit , Pinterest , and PayPal . As of the 2010 census , the city 's total resident population is 64,403 . Palo Alto is one of the most expensive cities in the United States and its residents are amongst the highest educated in the country . |
Palau | Palau ( -LSB- pəˈlaʊ -RSB- , historically Belau or Pelew ) , officially the Republic of Palau ( Beluu er a Belau ) , is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean . The country contains approximately 340 islands , forming the western chain of the Caroline Islands in Micronesia , and has an area of 466 km2 . The most populous island is Koror . The capital Ngerulmud is located on the nearby island of Babeldaob , in Melekeok State . Palau shares maritime boundaries with Indonesia , the Philippines , and the Federated States of Micronesia . The country was originally settled approximately 3,000 years ago by migrants from the Philippines and sustained a Negrito population until around 900 years ago . The islands were first explored by Europeans in the 16th century , and were made part of the Spanish East Indies in 1574 . Following Spain 's defeat in the Spanish -- American War in 1898 , the islands were sold to Imperial Germany in 1899 under the terms of the German -- Spanish Treaty , where they were administered as part of German New Guinea . The Imperial Japanese Navy conquered Palau during World War I , and the islands were later made a part of the Japanese-ruled South Pacific Mandate by the League of Nations . During World War II , skirmishes , including the major Battle of Peleliu , were fought between American and Japanese troops as part of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign . Along with other Pacific Islands , Palau was made a part of the United States-governed Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in 1947 . Having voted against joining the Federated States of Micronesia in 1979 , the islands gained full sovereignty in 1994 under a Compact of Free Association with the United States . Politically , Palau is a presidential republic in free association with the United States , which provides defense , funding , and access to social services . Legislative power is concentrated in the bicameral Palau National Congress . Palau 's economy is based mainly on tourism , subsistence agriculture and fishing , with a significant portion of gross national product ( GNP ) derived from foreign aid . The country uses the United States dollar as its currency . The islands ' culture mixes Micronesian , Melanesian , Asian , and Western elements . Ethnic Palauans , the majority of the population , are of mixed Micronesian , Melanesian , and Austronesian descent . A smaller proportion of the population is descended from Japanese and Filipino settlers . The country 's two official languages are Palauan ( a member of the wider Sunda -- Sulawesi language group ) and English , with Japanese , Sonsorolese , and Tobian recognized as regional languages . |
PDOS | PDOS was a multiuser multitaking operating system , written in assembly language developed in the early 1980s by the Eyring Research Institute for the Texas Instruments TMS9900 processor , and later ported to the Motorola 68000 processor . At the time its speed , accuracy and power made it ideal for process control . It was used in system development for education and industrial uses . Eyring also sold application programs ( e.g. a statistics package ) for the operating system . |
Paleontology | Paleontology or palaeontology ( -LSB- pronˌpeɪliɒnˈtɒlədʒi -RSB- , -LSB- ˌpeɪliənˈtɒlədʒi -RSB- or -LSB- ˌpæliɒnˈtɒlədʒi -RSB- , -LSB- ˌpæliənˈtɒlədʒi -RSB- ) is the scientific study of life that existed prior to , and sometimes including , the start of the Holocene Epoch ( roughly 11,700 years before present ) . It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms ' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments ( their paleoecology ) . Paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC . The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuvier 's work on comparative anatomy , and developed rapidly in the 19th century . The term itself originates from Greek παλαιός , palaios , i.e. `` old , ancient '' , ὄν , on ( gen. ontos ) , i.e. `` being , creature '' and λόγος , logos , i.e. `` speech , thought , study '' . Paleontology lies on the border between biology and geology , but differs from archaeology in that it excludes the study of anatomically modern humans . It now uses techniques drawn from a wide range of sciences , including biochemistry , mathematics , and engineering . Use of all these techniques has enabled paleontologists to discover much of the evolutionary history of life , almost all the way back to when Earth became capable of supporting life , about . As knowledge has increased , paleontology has developed specialised sub-divisions , some of which focus on different types of fossil organisms while others study ecology and environmental history , such as ancient climates . Body fossils and trace fossils are the principal types of evidence about ancient life , and geochemical evidence has helped to decipher the evolution of life before there were organisms large enough to leave body fossils . Estimating the dates of these remains is essential but difficult : sometimes adjacent rock layers allow radiometric dating , which provides absolute dates that are accurate to within 0.5 % , but more often paleontologists have to rely on relative dating by solving the `` jigsaw puzzles '' of biostratigraphy . Classifying ancient organisms is also difficult , as many do not fit well into the Linnaean taxonomy that is commonly used for classifying living organisms , and paleontologists more often use cladistics to draw up evolutionary `` family trees '' . The final quarter of the 20th century saw the development of molecular phylogenetics , which investigates how closely organisms are related by measuring how similar the DNA is in their genomes . Molecular phylogenetics has also been used to estimate the dates when species diverged , but there is controversy about the reliability of the molecular clock on which such estimates depend . |
Peak_coal | The term Peak coal is used to refer to the point in time at which coal production and consumption reaches its maximum , after which , it is assumed , production and consumption will decline steadily . The term was originally used in connection with M. King Hubbert 's Hubbert peak theory , in which the finite nature of the resource determines a constraint on production . However , since the expansion of renewable energy particularly in electricity generation , the term is now commonly used with reference to a peak in coal demand , which may already have occurred . |
Peak_oil | Peak oil , an event based on M. King Hubbert 's theory , is the point in time when the maximum rate of extraction of petroleum is reached , after which it is expected to enter terminal decline . Peak oil theory is based on the observed rise , peak , fall , and depletion of aggregate production rate in oil fields over time . It is often confused with oil depletion ; however , peak oil is the point of maximum production , while depletion refers to a period of falling reserves and supply . Some observers , such as petroleum industry experts Kenneth S. Deffeyes and Matthew Simmons , predict negative global economy implications following a post-peak production decline and subsequent oil price increase because of the high dependence of most modern industrial transport , agricultural , and industrial systems on the low cost and high availability of oil . Predictions vary greatly as to what exactly these negative effects would be . Oil production forecasts on which predictions of peak oil are based are often made within a range which includes optimistic ( higher production ) and pessimistic ( lower production ) scenarios . Optimistic estimations of peak production forecast the global decline will begin after 2020 , and assume major investments in alternatives will occur before a crisis , without requiring major changes in the lifestyle of heavily oil-consuming nations . Pessimistic predictions of future oil production made after 2007 stated either that the peak had already occurred , that oil production was on the cusp of the peak , or that it would occur shortly . Hubbert 's original prediction that US peak oil would be in about 1970 seemed accurate for a time , as US average annual production peaked in 1970 at 9.6 million barrels per day . However , the successful application of massive hydraulic fracturing to additional tight reservoirs caused US production to rebound , challenging the inevitability of post-peak decline for the US oil production . In addition , Hubbert 's original predictions for world peak oil production proved premature . |
Outline_of_Portugal | The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Portugal : The Portuguese Republic , commonly known as Portugal , is a sovereign country principally located on the Iberian Peninsula in Southern Europe . Portugal is the westernmost country of continental Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east . The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira ( including the Savage Islands ) are also part of Portugal . The land within the borders of today 's Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times . Some of the earliest civilizations include Lusitanians and Celtic societies . Incorporation into the Roman Republic dominions took place in the 2nd century BC . The region was ruled and colonized by Germanic peoples , such as the Suebi and the Visigoths , from the 5th to the 8th century . From this era , some vestiges of the Alans were also found . The Muslim Moors arrived in the early 8th century and conquered the Christian Germanic kingdoms , eventually occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula . In the early 12th century , during the Christian Reconquista , Portugal appeared as a kingdom independent of its neighbour , the Kingdom of León and Galicia . In a little over a century , in 1249 , Portugal would establish almost its entire modern-day borders . During the 15th and 16th centuries , with a global empire that included possessions in Africa , Asia and South America , Portugal was one of the world 's major economic , political , and cultural powers . In the 17th century , the Portuguese Restoration War between Portugal and Spain ended the sixty-year period of the Iberian Union ( 1580 -- 1640 ) . In the 19th century , armed conflict with French and Spanish invading forces and the loss of its largest territorial possession abroad , Brazil , disrupted political stability and potential economic growth . In 1910 , the last Portuguese king was overthrown and a republic was proclaimed . In 1926 , a coup d'état established a military dictatorship that would be replaced by a fascist regime called Estado Novo in 1933 . After the Portuguese Colonial War ( 1961-1974 ) and the Carnation Revolution coup d'état in 1974 , the ruling regime was deposed in Lisbon , a democracy was established and the country handed over its last overseas provinces in Africa . Portugal was accepted as a member of the European Economic Community in 1986 . Portugal 's last overseas territory , Macau , was handed over to China in 1999 . |
Ozarks | The Ozarks , also referred to as the Ozark Mountains , Ozarks Mountain Country , and the Ozark Plateau , is a physiographic and geologic highland region of the central United States , primarily in Arkansas , Missouri , and Oklahoma . The Ozarks cover a significant portion of southern Missouri , extending as far northeast as the southwestern suburbs of St. Louis . In Arkansas , a large portion is contained within the northwestern and northcentral region . Much smaller pieces of the Ozarks extend westward into northeastern Oklahoma and extreme southeastern Kansas . The Shawnee Hills of southwest Illinois , which lie near the eastern edge of this region , are commonly called the `` Illinois Ozarks , '' but are generally not considered part of the true Ozarks . Although sometimes referred to as the Ozark Mountains , the region is actually a high and deeply dissected plateau . Geologically , the area is a broad dome around the Saint Francois Mountains . The Ozark Highlands area , covering nearly 47000 sqmi , is by far the most extensive mountainous region between the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains . Together , the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains form an area known as the U.S. Interior Highlands , and are sometimes referred to collectively . For example , the ecoregion called Ozark Mountain Forests includes the Ouachita Mountains , although the Arkansas River Valley and the Ouachitas , both south of the Boston Mountains , are not usually considered part of the Ozarks . |
Ozone_layer | The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth 's stratosphere that absorbs most of the Sun 's ultraviolet ( UV ) radiation . It contains high concentrations of ozone ( O3 ) in relation to other parts of the atmosphere , although still small in relation to other gases in the stratosphere . The ozone layer contains less than 10 parts per million of ozone , while the average ozone concentration in Earth 's atmosphere as a whole is about 0.3 parts per million . The ozone layer is mainly found in the lower portion of the stratosphere , from approximately 20 to above Earth , although its thickness varies seasonally and geographically . The ozone layer was discovered in 1913 by the French physicists Charles Fabry and Henri Buisson . Measurements of the sun showed that the radiation sent out from its surface and reaching the ground on Earth is usually consistent with the spectrum of a black body with a temperature in the range of 5,500 -- 6,000 K ( 5,227 to 5,727 ° C ) , except that there was no radiation below a wavelength of about 310 nm at the ultraviolet end of the spectrum . It was deduced that the missing radiation was being absorbed by something in the atmosphere . Eventually the spectrum of the missing radiation was matched to only one known chemical , ozone . Its properties were explored in detail by the British meteorologist G. M. B. Dobson , who developed a simple spectrophotometer ( the Dobsonmeter ) that could be used to measure stratospheric ozone from the ground . Between 1928 and 1958 , Dobson established a worldwide network of ozone monitoring stations , which continue to operate to this day . The `` Dobson unit '' , a convenient measure of the amount of ozone overhead , is named in his honor . The ozone layer absorbs 97 to 99 percent of the Sun 's medium-frequency ultraviolet light ( from about 200 nm to 315 nm wavelength ) , which otherwise would potentially damage exposed life forms near the surface . The United Nations General Assembly has designated September 16 as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer . Venus also has a thin ozone layer at an altitude of 100 kilometers from the planet 's surface . |