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Relative_dating | Relative dating is the science of determining the relative order of past events ( i.e. , the age of an object in comparison to another ) , without necessarily determining their absolute age , ( i.e. estimated age ) . In geology , rock or superficial deposits , fossils and lithologies can be used to correlate one stratigraphic column with another . Prior to the discovery of radiometric dating which provided a means of absolute dating in the early 20th century , archaeologists and geologists used this technique to determine ages of materials . Though relative dating can only determine the sequential order in which a series of events occurred , not when they occur , it remains a useful technique especially in radiometric dating . Relative dating by biostratigraphy is the preferred method in paleontology , and is in some respects more accurate ( Stanley , 167 -- 69 ) . The Law of Superposition , which states that older layers will be deeper in a site than more recent layers , was the summary outcome of ` relative dating ' as observed in geology from the 17th century to the early 20th century . The regular order of occurrence of fossils in rock layers was discovered around 1800 by William Smith . While digging the Somerset Coal Canal in southwest England , he found that fossils were always in the same order in the rock layers . As he continued his job as a surveyor , he found the same patterns across England . He also found that certain animals were in only certain layers and that they were in the same layers all across England . Due to that discovery , Smith was able to recognize the order that the rocks were formed . Sixteen years after his discovery , he published a geological map of England showing the rocks of different geologic time eras . |
Religion_in_the_United_States | Religion in the United States is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices . Various religious faiths have flourished within the United States . A majority of Americans report that religion plays a very important role in their lives , a proportion unique among developed countries . Historically , the United States has always been marked by religious pluralism and diversity , beginning with various native beliefs of the pre-colonial time . In colonial times , Anglicans , Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants , as well as Jews , arrived from Europe . Eastern Orthodoxy has been present since the Russian colonization of Alaska . Various dissenting Protestants , who left the Church of England , greatly diversified the religious landscape . The Great Awakenings gave birth to multiple Evangelical Protestant denominations ; membership in Methodist and Baptist churches increased drastically in the Second Great Awakening . In the 18th century , deism found support among American upper classes and thinkers . The Episcopal Church , splitting from the Church of England , came into being in the American Revolution . New Protestant branches like Adventism emerged ; Restorationists and other Christians like the Jehovah 's Witnesses , the Latter Day Saint movement , Churches of Christ and Church of Christ , Scientist , as well as Unitarian and Universalist communities all spread in the 19th century . Pentecostalism emerged in the early 20th century as a result of the Azusa Street Revival . Scientology emerged in the 1950s . Unitarian Universalism resulted from the merge of Unitarian and Universalist churches in the 20th century . Beginning in 1990s , the religious share of Christians is decreasing due to secularization , while Buddhism , Hinduism , Islam , and other religions are spreading . Protestantism , historically dominant , ceased to be the religious category of the majority in the early 2010s . The majority of U.S. adults self-identify as Christians , while close to a quarter claim no religious affiliation . According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center , 70.6 % of the adult population identified themselves as Christians , with 46.5 % professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant , and 20.8 % professing Roman Catholic beliefs . The same study says that other religions ( including Judaism , Buddhism , Hinduism , and Islam ) collectively make up about 6 % of the population . According to a 2012 survey by the Pew forum , 36 % of U.S. adults state that they attend services nearly every week or more . According to a 2016 Gallup poll , Mississippi with 63 % of its adult population described as very religious ( say that religion is important to them and attend religious services almost every week ) is the most religious state in the country , while New Hampshire with only 20 % as very religious is the least religious state . |
Real_wages | Real wages are wages adjusted for inflation , or , equivalently , wages in terms of the amount of goods and services that can be bought . This term is used in contrast to nominal wages or unadjusted wages . Because it has been adjusted to account for changes in the prices of goods and services , real wages provide a clearer representation of an individual 's wages in terms of what they can afford to buy with those wages -- specifically , in terms of the amount of goods and services that can be bought . However , real wages suffer the disadvantage of not being well defined , since the amount of inflation ( which can be calculated based on different combinations of goods and services ) is itself not well defined . Hence real wage defined as the total amount of goods and services that can be bought with a wage , is also not defined . This is because changes in the relative prices of goods and services will change the financial comparability of various bundles of goods and services . Despite difficulty in defining one value for the real wage , in some cases a real wage can be said to have unequivocally increased . This is true if : After the change , the worker can now afford any bundle of goods and services that he could just barely afford before the change , and still have money left over . In such a situation , real wage increases no matter how inflation is calculated . Specifically , inflation could be calculated based on any good or service or combination thereof , and real wage has still increased . This of course leaves many scenarios where real wage increasing , decreasing or staying the same depends upon how inflation is calculated . These are the scenarios where the worker can buy some of the bundles that he could just barely afford before and still have money left , but at the same time he simply can not afford some of the bundles that he could before . This happens because some prices change more than others , which means relative prices have changed . The use of adjusted figures is used in undertaking some forms of economic analysis . For example , to report on the relative economic successes of two nations , real wage figures are more useful than nominal figures . The importance of considering real wages also appears when looking at the history of a single country . If only nominal wages are considered , the conclusion has to be that people used to be significantly poorer than today . However , the cost of living was also much lower . To have an accurate view of a nation 's wealth in any given year , inflation has to be taken into account and real wages must be used as one measuring stick . An alternative is to look at how much time it took to earn enough money to buy various items in the past , which is one version of the definition of real wages as the amount of goods or services that can be bought . Such an analysis shows that for most items , it takes much less work time to earn them now than it did decades ago , at least in the United States . Real wages are a useful economic measure , as opposed to nominal wages , which simply show the monetary value of wages in that year . |
Remote_sensing | Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object and thus in contrast to on-site observation . Remote sensing is used in numerous fields , including geography , land surveying and most Earth Science disciplines ( for example , hydrology , ecology , oceanography , glaciology , geology ) ; it also has military , intelligence , commercial , economic , planning , and humanitarian applications . In current usage , the term `` remote sensing '' generally refers to the use of satellite - or aircraft-based sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth , including on the surface and in the atmosphere and oceans , based on propagated signals ( e.g. electromagnetic radiation ) . It may be split into `` active '' remote sensing ( i.e. , when a signal is emitted by a satellite or aircraft and its reflection by the object is detected by the sensor ) and `` passive '' remote sensing ( i.e. , when the reflection of sunlight is detected by the sensor ) . |
Renewable_energy_credit | A Renewable energy credit ( REC ) is any tax credit offered by a local or federal taxation authority as an incentive for the installation and operation of renewable energy systems such as solar or wind power . In the United States , as part of the new economic stimulus package , new renewable Energy Rebate Programs are in place . Residential and commercial customers may receive a lump sum cash rebate or , for larger systems , a five-year payback program from their local utility company . In addition , there is new 30 % uncapped federal tax credit and state tax credits around 10 % . Renewable Energy Credit is one of two main outputs or benefits from generation of new power from renewable sources . Renewable power generation creates actual power in the form of electricity , and environmental benefits to society from `` green '' power production -- such as minimizing pollution and slowing the rate finite fuel resources are used . The actual power is sold into the local grid , and the societal benefits are sold in the form of Renewable Energy Credits or `` RECs '' , sold separately as a commodity into the marketplace . While RECs are not actually a measure of power , each REC represents one megawatt hour ( MWh ) of renewable-generated energy . For each REC purchased the customer is able to claim the equivalent MWh of energy reduction as on offset to their conventional energy use . Opponents declare that by using RECs a customer can claim energy `` reduction '' even if they do not actually reduce their end-use at all - or even increase it . Proponents counter that more REC purchases drive increased production of renewable power which can replace conventional production . |
Rainbow-1 | Echostar 12 ( E * 12 ) , also known as Cablevision-1 and Rainbow-1 , is a commercial communications satellite in geosynchronous Earth orbit . It was launched on 17 July 2003 , as Rainbow-1 , by an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral , Florida . Its original purpose was to transmit digital television streams for the ill-fated Voom high definition direct broadcast satellite network . Part of the A2100 series of commercial satellites , Rainbow-1 was constructed by the Lockheed Martin corporation at an approximate cost of $ 100 million USD , although this amount has not been verified . It is solar powered , has an approximate mass of 2760 kg ( launch vehicle mass 4328 kg ) , and is capable of transmitting on the C - and Ku bands . EchoStar ( Dish Network spin off ) now owns the satellite ( as it carried Voom HD Networks ) . The satellite was renamed Echostar 12 ( or E * 12 ) in March 2006 . EchoStar 12 is still in orbit and located at 61.5 degrees West longitude , over the Earth 's Equator . It is currently being used for Dish Network HDTV television signals , transmitted using DVB , on the Ku band transponders . The satellite has lost some capability due to degradation of its solar power system . |
Reform_Party_of_California | The Reform Party of California is the state of California 's affiliate of the Reform Party of the United States of America . It held its first statewide conference at the Los Angeles Convention center on June 1 -- 2 , 1996 , where about 1,000 members gathered to hear 1992 presidential candidate Ross Perot and potential Reform Party candidate Richard Lamm , among others . In California gubernatorial recall election of 2003 , the Reform Party of California put party chairman and former congressional candidate Jeff Rainforth on the ballot , making him one of 135 candidates . At the time , he stated : `` Our message , which has been the same for the last 10 years , is fiscal responsibility and political accountability . We 're primarily interested in the financial well-being of the United States and keeping American jobs in the U.S. '' Rainforth received 435 votes . In 2009 , the chairman of the Reform Party of California , John Blare , challenged the nomination of national chairman David Collison . The dispute was later resolved in federal court . The California party is the Reform Party affiliate , with 17,937 registered members as of October 22 , 2012 . |
Regulations.gov | Regulations.gov is a U.S. Federal government web site that acts as an `` Internet portal and document repository '' that allows members of the public to participate in the rulemaking processes of some Federal government agencies . Rulemaking is a process by which government agencies issue regulations implementing statutes passed by a legislative body such as the United States Congress . The site allows users to make public comments in response to notices of proposed rulemaking issued by participating agencies ; such comments become part of the public record and may be displayed on the site . |
Renewable_resource | A renewable resource is a natural resource which replenishes to overcome resource depletion caused by usage and consumption , either through biological reproduction or other naturally recurring processes in a finite amount of time in a human time scale . Renewable resources are a part of Earth 's natural environment and the largest components of its ecosphere . A positive life cycle assessment is a key indicator of a resource 's sustainability . Definitions of renewable resources may also include agricultural production , as in sustainable agriculture and to an extent water resources . In 1962 Paul Alfred Weiss defined Renewable Resources as : `` The total range of living organisms providing man with food , fibres , drugs , etc. . . '' . Another type of renewable resources is renewable energy resources . Common sources of renewable energy include solar , geothermal and wind power , which are all categorised as renewable resources . |
Relationship_between_religion_and_science | The relationship between religion and science has been a subject of study since classical antiquity , addressed by philosophers , theologians , scientists , and others . Perspectives from different geographical regions , cultures and historical epochs are diverse , with some characterizing the relationship as one of conflict , others describing it as one of harmony , and others proposing little interaction . Science acknowledges reason , empiricism , and evidence , while religions include revelation , faith and sacredness whilst also acknowledging philosophical and metaphysical explanations with regard to the study of the universe . Both science and religion are complex social and cultural endeavors that vary across cultures and have changed over time . Most scientific and technical innovations prior to the scientific revolution were achieved by societies organized by religious traditions . Elements of the scientific method were pioneered by ancient pagan , Islamic , and Christian scholars . During the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the scientific method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham . Roger Bacon , who is often credited with formalizing the scientific method , was a Franciscan friar . Hinduism has historically embraced reason and empiricism , holding that science brings legitimate , but incomplete knowledge of the world . Confucian thought has held different views of science over time . Most Buddhists today view science as complementary to their beliefs . While the classification of the material world by the ancient Indians and Greeks into air , earth , fire and water was more philosophical , medieval Middle Easterns used practical and experimental observation to classify materials . Events in Europe such as the Galileo affair , associated with the scientific revolution and the Age of Enlightenment , led scholars such as John William Draper to postulate a conflict thesis , holding that religion and science have been in conflict methodologically , factually and politically throughout history . This thesis is held by some contemporary scientists such as Richard Dawkins , Steven Weinberg and Carl Sagan , and some creationists . While the conflict thesis remains popular for the public , it has lost favor among most contemporary historians of science . Many scientists , philosophers , and theologians throughout history , such as Francisco Ayala , Kenneth R. Miller and Francis Collins , have seen compatibility or independence between religion and science . Biologist Stephen Jay Gould , other scientists , and some contemporary theologians hold that religion and science are non-overlapping magisteria , addressing fundamentally separate forms of knowledge and aspects of life . Some theologians or historians of science , including John Lennox , Thomas Berry , Brian Swimme and Ken Wilber propose an interconnection between science and religion , while others such as Ian Barbour believe there are even parallels . Public acceptance of scientific facts may be influenced by religion ; many in the United States reject the idea of evolution by natural selection , especially regarding human beings . Nevertheless , the American National Academy of Sciences has written that `` the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith '' , a view officially endorsed by many religious denominations globally . |
Race_Against_the_Machine | Race Against the Machine is a non-fiction book from 2011 by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee about the interaction of digital technology , employment and organization . The full title of the book is : Race Against the Machine : How the Digital Revolution Is Accelerating Innovation , Driving Productivity , and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy . The main thesis of this book is that we are in the midst of a technological revolution that is radically redefining what work is , how value is created , and how the economy distributes that value . The authors stumbled upon these ideas after analyzing the unique economic recovery that followed the Great Recession of 2008 . When the recession ended , many measures of economic health ( such as GDP , corporate profits , and investment in equipment and software ) rebounded quickly ; however , one measure , unemployment , lagged behind . This observation led the authors to conclude that a drastic shift in the means of production was taking place . The authors believe that technology is causing this shift , simultaneously boosting the productivity of firms while also eliminating the need for many forms of human labor . As the authors came to this conclusion , they looked around to see if anyone else had begun to analyze this trend . When they found that technology was largely being left out of the mainstream discussion of unemployment , they decided that they would write this book to help get the ball rolling . One supporting point in the book is that the pace of automation has picked up in recent years due to a combination of increasingly clever technologies such as robotics , numerically controlled machines , computerized inventory management software , speech recognition , speaker recognition , language translation , self-driving vehicles , pattern recognition and online commerce . The authors write that businesses are increasingly substituting machines for people , and that rate at which digital technologies are advancing is exponentially higher than that of the organizations , institutions , and individuals within our economy . Additionally , the corporate use of equipment and software is increasing faster than the rate than employment . Brynjolfsson and McAfee write that advanced digital technologies are making people more innovative , productive and richer , both in the short - and long-term , but potentially at the cost of increasing wealth inequality in society . In the authors ' view , one of the main in-egalitarian consequences of digital technological developments is its potentially negative impact on some types of employment , such as routine information processing work . The authors appear to advocate for a collaborative partnership between computers and humans as the road to future job creation . `` In medicine , law , finance , retailing , manufacturing and even scientific discovery , '' they write , `` the key to winning the race is not to compete against machines but to compete with machines . '' |
Reverse_osmosis | Reverse osmosis ( RO ) is a water purification technology that uses a semipermeable membrane to remove ions , molecules , and larger particles from drinking water . In reverse osmosis , an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pressure , a colligative property , that is driven by chemical potential differences of the solvent , a thermodynamic parameter . Reverse osmosis can remove many types of dissolved and suspended species from water , including bacteria , and is used in both industrial processes and the production of potable water . The result is that the solute is retained on the pressurized side of the membrane and the pure solvent is allowed to pass to the other side . To be `` selective '' , this membrane should not allow large molecules or ions through the pores ( holes ) , but should allow smaller components of the solution ( such as solvent molecules ) to pass freely . In the normal osmosis process , the solvent naturally moves from an area of low solute concentration ( high water potential ) , through a membrane , to an area of high solute concentration ( low water potential ) . The driving force for the movement of the solvent is the reduction in the free energy of the system when the difference in solvent concentration on either side of a membrane is reduced , generating osmotic pressure due to the solvent moving into the more concentrated solution . Applying an external pressure to reverse the natural flow of pure solvent , thus , is reverse osmosis . The process is similar to other membrane technology applications . However , key differences are found between reverse osmosis and filtration . The predominant removal mechanism in membrane filtration is straining , or size exclusion , so the process can theoretically achieve perfect efficiency regardless of parameters such as the solution 's pressure and concentration . Reverse osmosis also involves diffusion , making the process dependent on pressure , flow rate , and other conditions . Reverse osmosis is most commonly known for its use in drinking water purification from seawater , removing the salt and other effluent materials from the water molecules . |
Resource | A resource is a source or supply from which benefit is produced . Resources are two types based upon their availability they are renewable and non renewable resources . Typically resources are materials , energy , services , staff , knowledge , or other assets that are transformed to produce benefit and in the process may be consumed or made unavailable . Benefits of resource utilization may include increased wealth or wants , proper functioning of a system , or enhanced well being . From a human perspective a natural resource is anything obtained from the environment to satisfy human needs and wants . From a broader biological or ecological perspective a resource satisfies the needs of a living organism ( see biological resource ) . The concept of resources has been applied in diverse realms , with respect to economics , biology and ecology , computer science , management , and human resources , and is linked to the concepts of competition , sustainability , conservation , and stewardship . In application within human society , commercial or non-commercial factors require resource allocation through resource management . Resources have three main characteristics : utility , limited availability , and potential for depletion or consumption . Resources have been variously categorized as biotic versus abiotic , renewable versus non-renewable , and potential versus actual , along with more elaborate classification . |
Reaganomics | Reaganomics ( -LSB- reɪgəˈnɒmɪks -RSB- a portmanteau of -LSB- Ronald -RSB- Reagan and economics attributed to Paul Harvey ) refers to the economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s . These policies are commonly associated with supply-side economics , referred to as trickle-down economics or voodoo economics by political opponents , and free-market economics by political advocates . The four pillars of Reagan 's economic policy were to reduce the growth of government spending , reduce the federal income tax and capital gains tax , reduce government regulation , and tighten the money supply in order to reduce inflation . |
Retreat_of_glaciers_since_1850 | The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use , mountain recreation , animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt , and , in the longer term , the level of the oceans . Studied by glaciologists , the temporal coincidence of glacier retreat with the measured increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases is often cited as an evidentiary underpinning of global warming . Mid-latitude mountain ranges such as the Himalayas , Alps , Rocky Mountains , Cascade Range , and the southern Andes , as well as isolated tropical summits such as Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa , are showing some of the largest proportionate glacial losses . Glacier mass balance is the key determinant of the health of a glacier . If the amount of frozen precipitation in the accumulation zone exceeds the quantity of glacial ice lost due to melting or in the ablation zone a glacier will advance ; if the accumulation is less than the ablation , the glacier will retreat . Glaciers in retreat will have negative mass balances , and if they do not find an equilibrium between accumulation and ablation , will eventually disappear . The Little Ice Age was a period from about 1550 to 1850 when the world experienced relatively cooler temperatures compared to the present . Subsequently , until about 1940 , glaciers around the world retreated as the climate warmed substantially . Glacial retreat slowed and even reversed temporarily , in many cases , between 1950 and 1980 as global temperatures cooled slightly . Since 1980 , a significant global warming has led to glacier retreat becoming increasingly rapid and ubiquitous , so much so that some glaciers have disappeared altogether , and the existences of many of the remaining glaciers are threatened . In locations such as the Andes of South America and Himalayas in Asia , the demise of glaciers in these regions has the potential to affect water supplies in those areas . The retreat of mountain glaciers , notably in western North America , Asia , the Alps and tropical and subtropical regions of South America , Africa and Indonesia , provide evidence for the rise in global temperatures since the late 19th century . The acceleration of the rate of retreat since 1995 of key outlet glaciers of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets may foreshadow a rise in sea level , which would affect coastal regions . |
Research_ethics | Research ethics involves the application of fundamental ethical principles to a variety of topics involving research , including scientific research . These include the design and implementation of research involving human experimentation , animal experimentation , various aspects of academic scandal , including scientific misconduct ( such as fraud , fabrication of data and plagiarism ) , whistleblowing ; regulation of research , etc. . Research ethics is most developed as a concept in medical research . The key agreement here is the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki . The Nuremberg Code is a former agreement , but with many still important notes . Research in the social sciences presents a different set of issues than those in medical research . The academic research enterprise is built on a foundation of trust . Researchers trust that the results reported by others are sound . Society trusts that the results of research reflect an honest attempt by scientists and other researchers to describe the world accurately and without bias . But this trust will endure only if the scientific community devotes itself to exemplifying and transmitting the values associated with ethical research conduct . There are many ethical issues to be taken into serious consideration for research . Sociologists need to be aware of having the responsibility to secure the actual permission and interests of all those involved in the study . They should not misuse any of the information discovered , and there should be a certain moral responsibility maintained towards the participants . There is a duty to protect the rights of people in the study as well as their privacy and sensitivity . The confidentiality of those involved in the observation must be carried out , keeping their anonymity and privacy secure . All of these ethics must be honoured unless there are other overriding reasons to do so - for example , any illegal or terrorist activity . Research ethics in a medical context is dominated by principlism . Medical research involving human experimentation is overseen by an ethics committee , in most countries working under legislation based on the Declaration of Helsinki and its later revisions . Research ethics is different throughout different types of educational communities . Every community has its own set of morals . In Anthropology research ethics were formed to protect those who are being researched and to protect the researcher from topics or events that may be unsafe or may make either party feel uncomfortable . It is a widely observed guideline that anthropologists use especially when doing ethnographic fieldwork . Research informants participating in individual or group interviews as well as ethnographic fieldwork are often required to sign an informed consent form which outlines the nature of the project . Informants are typically assured anonymity and will be referred to using pseudonyms . There is however growing recognition that these formal measures are insufficient and do not necessarily warrant a research project ` ethical ' . Research with people should therefore not be based solely on dominant and de-contextualised understandings of ethics , but should be negotiated reflexively and through dialogue with participants as a way to bridge global and local understandings of research ethics . In Canada , there are many different types of research ethic boards that approve applications for research projects . The most common document that Canadian Universities follow is the Tri-Council Policy Statement . However , there are other types of documents geared towards different educational aspects such as : biology , clinical practices , bio-technics and even stem cell research . The Tri-Council is actually the top three government grant agencies in Canada . If one was to do research in Canada and apply for funds , their project would have to be approved by the Tri-Council . Furthermore , it is the researchers ethical responsibility to not harm the humans they are studying , they also have a responsibility to science , and the public , as well as to future students . |
Regression_toward_the_mean | In statistics , regression toward ( or to ) the mean is the phenomenon that if a variable is extreme on its first measurement , it will tend to be closer to the average on its second measurement -- and if it is extreme on its second measurement , it will tend to have been closer to the average on its first . To avoid making incorrect inferences , regression toward the mean must be considered when designing scientific experiments and interpreting data . The conditions under which regression toward the mean occurs depend on the way the term is mathematically defined . Sir Francis Galton first observed the phenomenon in the context of simple linear regression of data points . Galton developed the following model : pellets fall through a quincunx forming a normal distribution centered directly under their entrance point . These pellets could then be released down into a second gallery corresponding to a second measurement occasion . Galton then asked the reverse question , `` From where did these pellets come ? '' `` The answer was not on average directly above . Rather it was on average , more towards the middle , for the simple reason that there were more pellets above it towards the middle that could wander left than there were in the left extreme that could wander to the right , inwards '' ( p 477 ) A less restrictive approach is possible . Regression towards the mean can be defined for any bivariate distribution with identical marginal distributions . Two such definitions exist . One definition accords closely with the common usage of the term `` regression towards the mean '' . Not all such bivariate distributions show regression towards the mean under this definition . However , all such bivariate distributions show regression towards the mean under the other definition . Historically , what is now called regression toward the mean has also been called reversion to the mean and reversion to mediocrity . In finance , the term mean reversion has a different meaning . Jeremy Siegel uses it to describe a financial time series in which `` returns can be very unstable in the short run but very stable in the long run . '' More quantitatively , it is one in which the standard deviation of average annual returns declines faster than the inverse of the holding period , implying that the process is not a random walk , but that periods of lower returns are systematically followed by compensating periods of higher returns , in seasonal businesses for example . |
Republican_Party_(United_States) | The Republican Party , commonly referred to as the GOP ( abbreviation for Grand Old Party ) , is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States , the other being its historic rival , the Democratic Party . The party is named after republicanism , the dominant value during the American Revolution . Founded by anti-slavery activists , modernists , ex-Whigs , and ex-Free Soilers in 1854 , the Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932 . There have been 19 Republican presidents , the most from any one party . The first was 16th president Abraham Lincoln , who served from 1861 to 1865 , when he was assassinated , and the most recent being 45th and current president Donald Trump , who took office on January 20 , 2017 . The Republican Party 's current ideology is American conservatism , which contrasts with the Democrats ' more progressive platform ( also called modern liberalism ) . Further , its platform involves support for free market capitalism , free enterprise , fiscal conservatism , a strong national defense , deregulation , and restrictions on labor unions . In addition to advocating for conservative economic policies , the Republican Party is socially conservative , and seeks to uphold traditional values based largely on Judeo-Christian ethics . The GOP was strongly committed to protectionism and tariffs from its founding until the 1930s , when it was based in the industrial Northeast and Midwest . Since 1952 there has been a reversal against protectionism and the party 's core support since the 1990s comes chiefly from the South , the Great Plains , the Mountain States and rural districts in the North . as well as from conservative Catholics , Mormons , and Evangelicals nationwide . As of 2017 , the Republican Party is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928 . In addition to holding the Presidency ( via Trump and Vice President Mike Pence ) , the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress , having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate . The party also holds a majority of governorships ( 33/50 ) and state legislatures ( full control of 32/50 , split control of six others ) . |
Renewable_thermal_energy | Renewable thermal energy is the technology of gathering thermal energy from a renewable energy source for immediate use or for storage in a thermal battery for later use . An example of Renewable Thermal is a Geothermal Heat Pump ( GHP ) system , where excess thermal energy due to solar heating from the sun is removed from the structure via the heating and cooling system and stored in the ground , and that same energy is then extracted from the ground to later heat the same building in another season . This example system is `` renewable '' because the source of excess heat energy is a reliably recurring process that occurs each summer season ; in this case it is even a natural renewable energy source . |
Raised_shoreline | A raised shoreline is an ancient shoreline exposed above current water level . These landforms are formed by a relative change in sea level due to global sea level rise , isostatic rebound , and/or tectonic uplift . These surfaces are usually exposed above modern sea level when a heavily glaciated area experiences a glacial retreat , causing water levels to rise . This area will then experience post-glacial rebound , effectively raising the shoreline surface . Examples of raised shorelines can be found along the coasts of formerly glaciated areas in Ireland and Scotland , as well as in North America . Raised shorelines are exposed at various locations around the Puget Sound of Washington State . |
Reinsurance | Reinsurance is insurance that is purchased by an insurance company ( the `` ceding company '' or `` cedent '' or `` cedant '' under the arrangement ) from one or more insurance companies ( the `` reinsurer '' ) directly or through a broker as a means of risk management , sometimes in practice including tax mitigation and other reasons described below . The ceding company and the reinsurer enter into a reinsurance agreement which details the conditions upon which the reinsurer would pay a share of the claims incurred by the ceding company . The reinsurer is paid a `` reinsurance premium '' by the ceding company , which issues insurance policies to its own policyholders . The reinsurer may be either a specialist reinsurance company , which only undertakes reinsurance business , or another insurance company . Insurance companies that sell reinsurance refer to the business as ` assumed reinsurance ' . A healthy reinsurance marketplace helps ensure that insurance companies can remain solvent ( financially viable ) , particularly after a major disaster such as a major hurricane , because the risks and costs are spread . There are two basic methods of reinsurance : Facultative Reinsurance , which is negotiated separately for each insurance policy that is reinsured . Facultative reinsurance is normally purchased by ceding companies for individual risks not covered , or insufficiently covered , by their reinsurance treaties , for amounts in excess of the monetary limits of their reinsurance treaties and for unusual risks . Underwriting expenses , and in particular personnel costs , are higher for such business because each risk is individually underwritten and administered . However , as they can separately evaluate each risk reinsured , the reinsurer 's underwriter can price the contract to more accurately reflect the risks involved . Ultimately , a facultative certificate is issued by the reinsurance company to the ceding company reinsuring that one policy . Treaty Reinsurance means that the ceding company and the reinsurer negotiate and execute a reinsurance contract under which the reinsurer covers the specified share of all the insurance policies issued by the ceding company which come within the scope of that contract . The reinsurance contract may oblige the reinsurer to accept reinsurance of all contracts within the scope ( known as `` obligatory '' reinsurance ) , or it may allow the insurer to choose which risks it wants to cede , with the reinsurer obliged to accept such risks ( known as `` facultative-obligatory '' or `` fac oblig '' reinsurance ) . There are two main types of treaty reinsurance , proportional and non-proportional , which are detailed below . Under proportional reinsurance , the reinsurer 's share of the risk is defined for each separate policy , while under non-proportional reinsurance the reinsurer 's liability is based on the aggregate claims incurred by the ceding office . In the past 30 years there has been a major shift from proportional to non-proportional reinsurance in the property and casualty fields . |
Remineralisation | In biogeochemistry , remineralization ( US , UK Spelling : remineralisation ) refers to the breakdown or transformation of organic matter ( those molecules derived from a biological source ) into its simplest inorganic forms . These transformations form a crucial link within ecosystems as they are responsible for liberating the energy stored in organic molecules and recycling matter within the system to be reused as nutrients by other organisms . Remineralization is normally viewed as it relates to the cycling of the major biologically-important elements such as carbon , nitrogen and phosphorus . While crucial to all ecosystems , the process receives special consideration in aquatic settings , where it forms a significant link in the biogeochemical dynamics and cycling of aquatic ecosystems . |
Research_Natural_Area | Research Natural Area is a designation for certain protected areas in the United States . Research Natural Areas ( RNAs ) are part of a nationwide network of ecological areas set aside for both research and education . The network includes areas managed by many Federal agencies . The United States Forest Service and other agencies establish these areas to typify certain types of important forest , shrubland , grassland , aquatic , geological , alpine or similar environments that have unique characteristics of scientific interest . The areas `` contain important ecological and scientific values and are managed for minimum human disturbance . '' The Bureau of Land Management is another agency that designates and manages Research Natural Areas . According to the Bureau of Land Management , the objectives of the RNA program are '' ( 1 ) To preserve examples of all significant natural ecosystems for comparison with those influenced by man ; ( 2 ) to provide educational and research areas for ecological and environmental studies ; and ( 3 ) to preserve gene pools of typical and endangered plants and animals . Research natural areas are intended to represent the full array of North American ecosystems with their biological communities , habitats , natural phenomena , and geological and hydrological formations . '' The Bureau of Land Management manages 192 RNAs with a total area of 502748 acre . As of 1993 , the US Forest Service managed 289 established RNAs and more than 300 candidate RNAs . These areas are established under the Organic Act of 1897 . Areas designated as Research Natural Areas are primarily located inside National Forests . |
Renaissance | The Renaissance ( -LSB- rᵻˈneɪsəns -RSB- , -LSB- rɛnəˈsɑːns -RSB- ) was a period in European history , from the 14th to the 17th century , regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history . It started as a cultural movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe , marking the beginning of the Early Modern Age . The intellectual basis of the Renaissance was its own invented version of humanism , derived from the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy , such as that of Protagoras , who said that `` Man is the measure of all things . '' This new thinking became manifest in art , architecture , politics , science and literature . Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete . Although the invention of metal movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century , the changes of the Renaissance were not uniformly experienced across Europe . As a cultural movement , the Renaissance encompassed innovative flowering of Latin and vernacular literatures , beginning with the 14th-century resurgence of learning based on classical sources , which contemporaries credited to Petrarch ; the development of linear perspective and other techniques of rendering a more natural reality in painting ; and gradual but widespread educational reform . In politics , the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy , and in science to an increased reliance on observation and inductive reasoning . Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits , as well as social and political upheaval , it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo , who inspired the term `` Renaissance man '' . The Renaissance began in Florence , in the 14th century . Various theories have been proposed to account for its origins and characteristics , focusing on a variety of factors including the social and civic peculiarities of Florence at the time : its political structure ; the patronage of its dominant family , the Medici ; and the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy following the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks . Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice , Genoa , Milan , Bologna , and finally Rome during the Renaissance Papacy . The Renaissance has a long and complex historiography , and , in line with general scepticism of discrete periodizations , there has been much debate among historians reacting to the 19th-century glorification of the `` Renaissance '' and individual culture heroes as `` Renaissance men '' , questioning the usefulness of Renaissance as a term and as a historical delineation . The art historian Erwin Panofsky observed of this resistance to the concept of `` Renaissance '' : It is perhaps no accident that the factuality of the Italian Renaissance has been most vigorously questioned by those who are not obliged to take a professional interest in the aesthetic aspects of civilization -- historians of economic and social developments , political and religious situations , and , most particularly , natural science -- but only exceptionally by students of literature and hardly ever by historians of Art . Some observers have called into question whether the Renaissance was a cultural `` advance '' from the Middle Ages , instead seeing it as a period of pessimism and nostalgia for classical antiquity , while social and economic historians , especially of the longue durée , have instead focused on the continuity between the two eras , which are linked , as Panofsky observed , `` by a thousand ties '' . The word Renaissance , literally meaning `` Rebirth '' in French , first appeared in English in the 1830s . The word also occurs in Jules Michelet 's 1855 work , Histoire de France . The word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements , such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century . |
Richard_Lindzen | Richard Siegmund Lindzen ( born February 8 , 1940 ) is an American atmospheric physicist known for his work in the dynamics of the middle atmosphere , atmospheric tides , and ozone photochemistry . He has published more than 200 scientific papers and books . From 1983 until his retirement in 2013 , he was Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . He was a lead author of Chapter 7 , `` Physical Climate Processes and Feedbacks , '' of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 's Third Assessment Report on climate change . He has criticized the scientific consensus about climate change and what he has called `` climate alarmism . '' |
Reasons_for_concern | The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) has organized many of the risks of climate change into five `` reasons for concern . '' The reasons for concern show that these risks increase with increases in the Earth 's global mean temperature ( i.e. , global warming ) . The IPCC 's five reasons for concern are : threats to endangered species and unique systems , damages from extreme climate events , effects that fall most heavily on developing countries and the poor within countries , global aggregate impacts ( i.e. , various measurements of total social , economic and ecological impacts ) , and large-scale high-impact events . The five reasons for concern are described in more detail below . The following descriptions are based on information from the IPCC 's Third ( TAR ) and Fourth Assessment Reports ( AR4 ) , published in 2001 and 2007 , respectively . |
Renewable_fuels | Renewable fuels are fuels produced from renewable resources . Examples include : biofuels ( e.g. Vegetable oil used as fuel , ethanol , methanol from clean energy and carbon dioxide or biomass , and biodiesel ) and Hydrogen fuel ( when produced with renewable processes ) . This is in contrast to non-renewable fuels such as natural gas , LPG ( propane ) , petroleum and other fossil fuels and nuclear energy . Renewable fuels can include fuels that are synthesized from renewable energy sources , such as wind and solar . Renewable fuels have gained in popularity due to their sustainability , low contributions to the carbon cycle , and in some cases lower amounts of greenhouse gases . The geo-political ramifications of these fuels are also of interest , particularly to industrialized economies which desire independence from Middle Eastern oil . |
Reasons_To_Believe | Reasons to Believe is a progressive creationist group that promotes day-age forms of old Earth creationism . It was founded in 1986 by Hugh Ross , a Canadian-born astrophysicist and creationist Christian apologist . Based in Los Angeles , the mission of Reasons to Believe is to demonstrate that `` sound reason and scientific research -- including the very latest discoveries -- consistently support , rather than erode , confidence in the truth of the Bible and faith in the personal , transcendent God revealed in both Scripture and nature . '' Reasons to Believe has 26 books published and over 1564 articles written . Reasons to Believe has held events all over the world . Reasons to Believe has also produced many DVDs , TV shows , audio CDs , MP3s , podcasts , streaming events and teleconferences . `` Science News Flash '' reviews news headline of scientific discoveries . Reasons to Believe educational programs includes both credit classes and non credit classes . |
Ria | A ria is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley . It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea . Typically , rias have a dendritic , treelike outline although they can be straight and without significant branches . This pattern is inherited from the dendritic drainage pattern of the flooded river valley . The drowning of river valleys along a stretch of coast and formation of rias results in an extremely irregular and indented coastline . Often , there are islands , which are summits of partly submerged , pre-existing hill peaks . A ria coast is a coastline having several parallel rias separated by prominent ridges , extending a distance inland . The sea level change that caused the submergence of a river valley may be either eustatic ( where global sea levels rise ) , or isostatic ( where the local land sinks ) . The result is often a very large estuary at the mouth of a relatively insignificant river ( or else sediments would quickly fill the ria ) . The Kingsbridge Estuary in Devon , England , is an extreme example of a ria forming an estuary disproportionate to the size of its river ; no significant river flows into it at all , only a number of small streams . |
Radiation_properties | Conduction and convection are heat transfer processes that require the presence of a medium . Radiation heat transfer is characteristically different from the other two in that it does not require a medium and , in fact it reaches maximum efficiency in a vacuum . Electromagnetic radiation has some proper characteristics depending on the frequency and wavelengths of the radiation . The phenomenon of radiation is not yet fully understood . Two theories have been used to explain radiation ; however neither of them is perfectly satisfactory . First , the earlier theory which originated from the concept of a hypothetical medium referred as ether . Ether supposedly fills all evacuated or non evacuated spaces . The transmission of light or of radiant heat are allowed by the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the ether . Electromagnetic waves have similar characteristics to television and radio broadcasting waves they only differ in wavelength . All electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed ; therefore , shorter wavelengths are associated with high frequencies . Since every body or fluid is submerged in the ether , due to the vibration of the molecules , any body or fluid can potentially initiate an electromagnetic wave . All bodies generate and receive electromagnetic waves at the expense of its stored energy The second theory of radiation is best known as the quantum theory and was first offered by Max Planck in 1900 . According to this theory , energy emitted by a radiator is not continuous but is in the form of quanta . Planck claimed that quantities had different sizes and frequencies of vibration similarly to the wave theory . The energy E is found by the expression E = hν , where h is the Planck 's constant and ν is the frequency . Higher frequencies are originated by high temperatures and create an increase of energy in the quantum . While the propagation of electromagnetic waves of all wavelengths is often referred as `` radiation , '' thermal radiation is often constrained to the visible and infrared regions . For engineering purposes , it may be stated that thermal radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation which varies on the nature of a surface and its temperature . Radiation waves may travel in unusual patterns compared to conduction heat flow . Radiation allows waves to travel from a heated body through a cold nonabsorbing or partially absorbing medium and reach a warmer body again . This is the case of the radiation waves that travel from the sun to the earth . |
Raccoon | The raccoon ( -LSB- rəˈkuːn -RSB- or -LSB- USræˈkuːn -RSB- , Procyon lotor ) , sometimes spelled racoon , also known as the common raccoon , North American raccoon , northern raccoon and colloquially as coon , is a medium-sized mammal native to North America . The raccoon is the largest of the procyonid family , having a body length of 40 to and a body weight of 3.5 to . Its grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur which insulates it against cold weather . Two of the raccoon 's most distinctive features are its extremely dexterous front paws and its facial mask , which are themes in the mythology of several Native American ethnic groups . Raccoons are noted for their intelligence , with studies showing that they are able to remember the solution to tasks for up to three years . The diet of the omnivorous raccoon , which is usually nocturnal , consists of about 40 % invertebrates , 33 % plant foods , and 27 % vertebrates . The original habitats of the raccoon are deciduous and mixed forests , but due to their adaptability they have extended their range to mountainous areas , coastal marshes , and urban areas , where some homeowners consider them to be pests . As a result of escapes and deliberate introductions in the mid-20th century , raccoons are now also distributed across mainland Europe , Caucasia , and Japan . Though previously thought to be solitary , there is now evidence that raccoons engage in gender-specific social behavior . Related females often share a common area , while unrelated males live together in groups of up to four animals to maintain their positions against foreign males during the mating season , and other potential invaders . Home range sizes vary anywhere from 3 ha for females in cities to 5000 ha for males in prairies . After a gestation period of about 65 days , two to five young , known as `` kits '' , are born in spring . The kits are subsequently raised by their mother until dispersal in late fall . Although captive raccoons have been known to live over 20 years , their life expectancy in the wild is only 1.8 to 3.1 years . In many areas , hunting and vehicular injury are the two most common causes of death . |
Richie_Farmer | Richard Dwight `` Richie '' Farmer ( born August 25 , 1969 ) is an American former collegiate basketball player and Republican Party politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky . He served as the Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner from 2004 to 2012 and was the running mate of David L. Williams in the 2011 gubernatorial election . After leaving office , Farmer was investigated for violating state campaign finance laws and misappropriating state resources and was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison along with a concurrent 12 months in state prison . A point guard , Farmer led Clay County High School to the 1987 Kentucky High School Athletic Association ( KHSAA ) State Basketball Championship and , in 1988 , was named Kentucky Mr. Basketball and Kentucky Associated Press Male High School Athlete of the Year after setting a championship game record with 51 points in a losing effort . Although he was popular state-wide and publicly stated his desire to play collegiate basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats , Coach Eddie Sutton was reluctant to offer Farmer a scholarship . After Farmer announced that he would visit other colleges and issued a deadline past which he would no longer consider Kentucky without a scholarship offer , Sutton relented and Farmer joined the University of Kentucky . Kentucky struggled during Farmer 's freshman year , finishing with a 13 -- 19 record , and by mid-season , fans were accusing Sutton of unfairly favoring his son , Sean , over Farmer at the point guard position . Sutton resigned in the offseason due to a pay-for-play scandal for which the NCAA banned Kentucky from postseason play for two years . Sutton 's replacement , Rick Pitino , instituted a rigorous conditioning program and fast-paced style of play that improved Farmer 's performance . After spending his junior season as a backup to Sean Woods , Farmer transitioned to shooting guard and became a starter in the middle of his senior year . Again eligible for postseason competition , the Wildcats won the Southeastern Conference tournament and reached the Regional Finals of the 1992 NCAA Tournament , losing in overtime on a last-second shot by Duke 's Christian Laettner in a game regarded by many as the greatest college basketball game ever played . The team 's seniors -- Farmer , Woods , John Pelphrey , and Deron Feldhaus -- were dubbed `` The Unforgettables '' , and their jerseys were hung from the rafters of Rupp Arena following the 1991 -- 92 season . Farmer parlayed his status as a basketball icon into two terms as Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner from 2004 to 2012 , winning both elections by large margins . In 2011 , Kentucky Senate President David L. Williams tapped Farmer -- considered a rising star in the state Republican Party -- as his running mate in the gubernatorial election . They were defeated by Democratic Governor Steve Beshear and his running mate Jerry Abramson . During the campaign , media reports alleged that Farmer had misused state funds and property as agriculture commissioner and Farmer 's successor collaborated with the state auditor to investigate the allegations . As a result , the Executive Branch Ethics Commission charged Farmer with 42 ethics violations -- the most against an individual in state history . Attorney General Jack Conway also charged Farmer with violating state campaign finance laws , and a federal grand jury followed with five indictments for abuses of power . Farmer initially contested the charges , but later agreed to a plea bargain . On January 14 , 2014 , Farmer was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $ 120,500 in restitution and $ 65,000 in fines . He served almost 20 months in a satellite camp of the United States Penitentiary , Hazelton near Bruceton Mills , West Virginia , before transitioning to a halfway house in Lexington , Kentucky , on December 18 , 2015 . He was released from the halfway house on January 21 , 2016 and is currently residing in Clay County . |
Regularization_(linguistics) | Regularization is a linguistic phenomenon observed in language acquisition , language development and language change typified by the replacement of irregular forms in morphology or syntax by regular ones . Examples are `` gooses '' instead of `` geese '' in child speech and replacement of the Middle English plural form for `` cow '' , `` kine '' , with `` cows '' . Regularization is a common process in natural languages ; regularized forms can replace loanword forms ( such as with `` cows '' and `` kine '' ) or coexist with them ( such as with `` formulae #Noun '' and `` formulas #Noun '' or `` hepatitides #Noun '' and `` hepatitises #Noun '' ) . Erroneous regularization is also called overregularization . In overregularization the regular ways of modifying or connecting words are mistakenly applied to words that require irregular modifications or connections . It is a normal effect observed in the language of beginner and intermediate language-learners , whether native-speaker children or foreign-speaker adults . Because most natural languages have some irregular forms , moving beyond overregularization is a part of mastering them . Usually learners ' brains move beyond overregularization naturally , as a consequence of being immersed in the language . The same person may sometimes overregularize and sometimes say the correct form . Native-speaker adults can overregularize , but this does not happen often . |
Renewable_energy_in_Germany | Germany 's renewable energy sector is among the most innovative and successful worldwide . Net-generation from renewable energy sources in the German electricity sector has increased from 6.3 % in 2000 to about 34 % in 2016 . On Sunday 15 May 2016 at 14:00 hours , renewables supplied nearly all of domestic electricity demand . While peak-generation from combined wind and solar reached a previous all-time high of 74 % in April 2014 , wind power saw its best day ever on December 12 , 2014 , generating 562 GWh . Germany has been called `` the world 's first major renewable energy economy '' . More than 23,000 wind turbines and 1.4 million solar PV systems are distributed all over the country 's area of 357,000 square kilometers . As of 2011 , Germany 's federal government is working on a new plan for increasing renewable energy commercialization , with a particular focus on offshore wind farms . A major challenge is the development of sufficient network capacities for transmitting the power generated in the North Sea to the large industrial consumers in southern parts of the country . According to official figures , some 370,000 people were employed in the renewable energy sector in 2010 , especially in small and medium-sized companies . This is an increase of around 8 % compared to 2009 ( around 339,500 jobs ) , and well over twice the number of jobs in 2004 ( 160,500 ) . About two-thirds of these jobs are attributed to the Renewable Energy Sources Act . Germany 's energy transition , the Energiewende , designates a significant change in energy policy from 2011 . The term encompasses a reorientation of policy from demand to supply and a shift from centralized to distributed generation ( for example , producing heat and power in very small cogeneration units ) , which should replace overproduction and avoidable energy consumption with energy-saving measures and increased efficiency . |
Renewable_natural_gas | Renewable natural gas , also known as sustainable natural gas , is a biogas which has been upgraded to a quality similar to fossil natural gas . A biogas is a gas methane obtained from biomass . By upgrading the quality to that of natural gas , it becomes possible to distribute the gas to customers via the existing gas grid , within existing appliances . Renewable natural gas is a subset of synthetic natural gas or substitute natural gas ( SNG ) . Renewable natural gas can be produced economically , and distributed via the existing gas grid , making it an attractive means of supplying existing premises with renewable heat and renewable gas energy , while requiring no extra capital outlay of the customer . Renewable natural gas can be converted into liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) for direct use as fuel in transport sector . LNG would fetch good price equivalent to gasoline or diesel as it can replace these fuels in transport sector . The existing gas network allows distribution of gas energy over vast distances at a minimal cost in energy . Existing networks would allow biogas to be sourced from remote markets that are rich in low-cost biomass ( Russia or Scandinavia for example ) . The UK National Grid believes that at least 15 % of all gas consumed could be made from matter such as sewage , food waste such as food thrown away by supermarkets and restaurants , and organic waste created by businesses such as breweries . |
Relative_term | A relative term is a term that makes two or more distinct references to objects ( which may be the same object , for example in `` The Morning Star is the Evening Star '' ) . A relative term is typically expressed in ordinary language by means of a phrase with explicit or implicit blanks . Examples : __ loves __ __ is the same object as __ __ is giver of __ to __ . The word is is a relative term when it expresses identity . The colloquial meaning for a relative term is that it is different for different people or situations . An example : someone who is 5 feet tall might think someone who is 5 feet six inches tall is tall , but someone who is 6 feet would think that that person is short . An atom is big compared to a quark , but it is very small when compared to a body cell . Fast food may be healthier than preserved food , but unhealthy compared to organic produce . |
Refined_coal | Refined coal is the product of the application of a coal upgrading technology that removes moisture and certain pollutants from lower-rank coals such as sub-bituminous and lignite ( brown ) coals and raising their calorific values . Coal refining or upgrading technologies are typically pre-combustion treatments and/or processes that alter the characteristics of a coal before it is burned . The goals of pre-combustion coal upgrading technologies are to increase efficiency and reduce emissions when coal is burned . Depending on the situation , pre-combustion technology can be used in place of or as a supplement to post-combustion technologies to control emissions from coal-fueled boilers . A primary benefit of refined coal is the capacity to reduce the net volume of carbon emissions that is currently emitted from power generators and would reduce the amount of emissions that is proposed to be managed via emerging carbon sequestration methodologies . Refined coal technologies have primarily been developed in the United States , several similar technologies have been researched , developed and tested in Victoria , Australia , including the Densified coal technology ( Coldry Process ) developed to alter the chemical bonds of brown coal to create a product that is cleaner , stable ( not prone to spontaneous combustion ) , exportable and of sufficiently high calorific value to be a black coal equivalent . |
Reserves-to-production_ratio | The Reserves-to-production ratio ( RPR or R/P ) is the remaining amount of a non-renewable resource , expressed in time . While applicable to all natural resources , the RPR is most commonly applied to fossil fuels , particularly petroleum and natural gas . The reserve portion ( numerator ) of the ratio is the amount of a resource known to exist in an area and to be economically recoverable ( proven reserves ) . The production portion ( denominator ) of the ratio is the amount of resource produced in one year at the current rate . RPR = ( amount of known resource ) / ( amount used per year ) This ratio is used by companies and government agencies in forecasting the future availability of a resource to determine project life , future income , employment , etc. , and to determine whether more exploration must be undertaken to ensure continued supply of the resource . Annual production of a resource can usually be calculated to quite an accurate number . However , reserve quantities can only be estimated to varying degrees of accuracy , depending on the availability of information and on the methods used to evaluate them . A simplistic interpretation of the ratio has led to many false predictions of imminent `` running out of oil '' since the early years of the oil industry in the 1800s . This has been especially true in the United States , where the ratio of proved reserves-to-production has been between 8 years and 17 years since 1920 . Many have mistakenly interpreted the result as the number of years before the oil supply is exhausted . Such analyses do not take into account future reserve growth . |
Rain | Rain is liquid water in the form of droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then precipitated -- that is , become heavy enough to fall under gravity . Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth . It provides suitable conditions for many types of ecosystems , as well as water for hydroelectric power plants and crop irrigation . The major cause of rain production is moisture moving along three-dimensional zones of temperature and moisture contrasts known as weather fronts . If enough moisture and upward motion is present , precipitation falls from convective clouds ( those with strong upward vertical motion ) such as cumulonimbus ( thunder clouds ) which can organize into narrow rainbands . In mountainous areas , heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation which forces moist air to condense and fall out as rainfall along the sides of mountains . On the leeward side of mountains , desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by downslope flow which causes heating and drying of the air mass . The movement of the monsoon trough , or intertropical convergence zone , brings rainy seasons to savannah climes . The urban heat island effect leads to increased rainfall , both in amounts and intensity , downwind of cities . Global warming is also causing changes in the precipitation pattern globally , including wetter conditions across eastern North America and drier conditions in the tropics . Antarctica is the driest continent . The globally averaged annual precipitation over land is 715 mm , but over the whole Earth it is much higher at 990 mm . Climate classification systems such as the Köppen classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes . Rainfall is measured using rain gauges . Rainfall amounts can be estimated by weather radar . Rain is also known or suspected on other planets , where it may be composed of methane , neon , sulfuric acid , or even iron rather than water . |
Renewable_energy_in_the_United_Kingdom | Renewable energy in the United Kingdom '' ' can be divided into the generation of renewable electricity , the generation of renewable heat and renewable energy use in the transport sector . From the mid-1990s renewable energy began to contribute to the electricity generated in the United Kingdom , adding to a small hydroelectricity generating capacity . The total of all renewable electricity sources provided for 14.9 % of the electricity generated in the United Kingdom in 2013 , reaching 53.7 TWh of electricity generated . In the second quarter of 2015 , renewable electricity penetration exceeded 25 % and coal generation for the first time . Renewable energy contributions to meeting the UK 's 15 % target reduction in total energy consumption by 2020 , in accordance with the 2009 EU Renewable Directive , totalled 5.2 % in 2013 as measured in accordance with the methodology set out in the Directive . By 2016 provisional calculations show that the figure had risen again to 8.3 per cent of energy consumption ( all sources ) coming from renewable sources in 2015 . Interest in renewable energy in the UK has increased in recent years due to new UK and EU targets for reductions in carbon emissions and the promotion of renewable electricity power generation through commercial incentives such as the Renewable Obligation Certificate scheme ( ROCs ) and Feed in tariffs ( FITs ) and the promotion of renewable heat through the Renewable Heat Incentive . Historically hydroelectric schemes were the largest producers of renewable electricity in the UK , but these have now been surpassed by wind power schemes , for which the UK has large potential resources . |
Radiative_forcing | Radiative forcing or climate forcing is the difference between insolation ( sunlight ) absorbed by the Earth and energy radiated back to space . Typically , radiative forcing is quantified at the tropopause in units of watts per square meter of the Earth 's surface . Positive forcing ( incoming energy exceeding outgoing energy ) warms the system , while negative forcing ( outgoing energy exceeding incoming energy ) cools it . Causes of radiative forcing include changes in insolation and the concentrations of radiatively active gases , commonly known as greenhouse gases and aerosols . |
Resource_consumption | Resource consumption is about the consumption of non-renewable , or less often , renewable resources . Specifically , it may refer to : water consumption energy consumption electric energy consumption world energy consumption natural gas consumption/gas depletion oil consumption/oil depletion logging/deforestation fishing/overfishing land use/land loss or resource depletion and general exploitation and associated environmental degradation Measures of resource consumption are resource intensity and resource efficiency . Industrialization and globalized markets have increased the tendency for overconsumption of resources . The resource consumption rate of a nation does not usually correspond with the primary resource availability , this is called resource curse . Unsustainable consumption by the steadily growing human population may lead to resource depletion and a shrinking of the earth 's carrying capacity . |
Richard_C._Cook | Richard C. Cook ( born October 20 , 1946 ) is a former U.S. federal government analyst , who was instrumental in exposing White House cover-ups regarding the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster of 1986 . As a witness to the incident and a participant in the subsequent investigations , Cook provided key documents to The New York Times and testified before the Rogers Commission . In 1990 , he received the Cavallo Foundation Award for Moral Courage in Business and Government for his testimony . In 2007 , his memoirs of the tragedy were published in a book entitled , Challenger Revealed : An Insider 's Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age . As a Policy Analyst for the U.S. Government from 1970 until 1986 , Richard Cook 's career included service with the U.S. Civil Service Commission , the Food and Drug Administration , the White House Consumer Office , and NASA . From 1986 until 2007 , Cook served as a Project Manager for the U.S. Treasury Department , Financial Management Service ( FMS ) Now retired from 32-years of government service , Cook works as a writer and private consultant with particular focus on Monetary Reform . His articles on economics , politics , and space policy have been published in numerous magazines , newspapers and websites , and have been translated into several languages . A leading spokesman for Economic Democracy , Cook 's most recent book , We Hold These Truths : The Hope of Monetary Reform was published in 2009 . He is also author of In the Footsteps of the Yogi : The 1999 U.S. Tour of Sri Sri Sri Shivabalayogi Maharaj , and was recently named the U.S. director for White Light Books , a company based in Australia that focuses on the merging of public affairs with world spiritual currents . |
Range_(biology) | In biology , the range or distribution of a species is the geographical area within which that species can be found . Within that range , dispersion is variation in local density . The term is often qualified : Sometimes a distinction is made between a species ' natural , endemic , or native range where it historically originated and lived , and the range where a species has more recently established itself . Many terms are used to describe the new range , such as non-native , naturalized , introduced , transplanted , invasive , or colonized range . Introduced typically means that a species has been transported by humans ( intentionally or accidentally ) across a major geographical barrier . For species found in different regions at different times of year , terms such as summer range and winter range are often employed . For species for which only part of their range is used for breeding activity , the terms breeding range and non-breeding range are used . For mobile animals , the term natural range is often used , as opposed to areas where it occurs as a vagrant . Geographic or temporal qualifiers are often added : for example , British range or pre-1950 range . There are at least five types of distribution patterns : Scattered/random ( Random placement ) Clustered/grouped ( Most are placed in one area ) Linear ( Their placements form a line ) Radial ( Placements form an ' x ' shape ) Regular/ordered ( They are not random at all , but follow a set placement . Much like a grid ) |
Residential_zoned_parking | Residential zoned parking is a local government practice of designating certain on-street automobile parking spaces for the exclusive use of nearby residents . It is a tool for addressing overspill parking from neighboring population centers ( such as a shopping center , office building , apartment building , transit station , stadium , or central business district ) . Typically , residents in the zone pay a small fee to the government in exchange for a placard or sticker placed on their automobile ( s ) that indicates the zone designation ( signified by a number or letter ) . In the United States , residential zoned parking was challenged in 1977 as violating the constitutional right of equal protection of the laws , because it favored one group of people ( nearby residents ) over another group of people ( commuters ) . However , the United States Supreme Court ruled that the practice did not violate Equal Protection . Since then , it has been put into common practice throughout the United States , and has even been used in non-residential areas when a local street 's parking is reserved for a business , museum or other facility . |
Ranking | A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that , for any two items , the first is either ` ranked higher than ' , ` ranked lower than ' or ` ranked equal to ' the second . In mathematics , this is known as a weak order or total preorder of objects . It is not necessarily a total order of objects because two different objects can have the same ranking . The rankings themselves are totally ordered . For example , materials are totally preordered by hardness , while degrees of hardness are totally ordered . By reducing detailed measures to a sequence of ordinal numbers , rankings make it possible to evaluate complex information according to certain criteria . Thus , for example , an Internet search engine may rank the pages it finds according to an estimation of their relevance , making it possible for the user quickly to select the pages they are likely to want to see . Analysis of data obtained by ranking commonly requires non-parametric statistics . |
RWE | RWE AG , until 1990 : Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG ( Rhenish-Westphalian Power Plant ) , is a German electric utilities company based in Essen , North Rhine-Westphalia . Through its various subsidiaries , the energy company supplies electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers , principally in Europe . RWE is the second largest electricity producer in Germany , and has increased renewable energy production in recent years . RWE previously owned American Water , the United States ' largest investor-owned water utility , but this was divested in 2008 . It also owned RWE Dea ( now DEA AG ) , which produced some of the oil and gas RWE sold ( annual production is around 2 million m3 of crude oil ( about 365,000 BOE ) and 3 billion m3 of natural gas ( about 18 million BOE , 49,300 BOE ) a day . RWE confirmed in December 2015 that it would separate its renewable energy generation , power grid and retail operations into a separate company , Innogy SE , during 2016 , and sell a 10 % holding in the business through an initial public offering . The restructuring was caused by an effort to reduce the group 's exposure to nuclear decommissioning costs , required due to a German government policy of closing all nuclear power stations by 2022 . |
Renewable_energy | Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources , which are naturally replenished on a human timescale , such as sunlight , wind , rain , tides , waves , and geothermal heat . Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas : electricity generation , air and water heating/cooling , transportation , and rural ( off-grid ) energy services . Based on REN21 's 2016 report , renewables contributed 19.2 % to humans ' global energy consumption and 23.7 % to their generation of electricity in 2014 and 2015 , respectively . This energy consumption is divided as 8.9 % coming from traditional biomass , 4.2 % as heat energy ( modern biomass , geothermal and solar heat ) , 3.9 % hydro electricity and 2.2 % is electricity from wind , solar , geothermal , and biomass . Worldwide investments in renewable technologies amounted to more than US$ 286 billion in 2015 , with countries like China and the United States heavily investing in wind , hydro , solar and biofuels . Globally , there are an estimated 7.7 million jobs associated with the renewable energy industries , with solar photovoltaics being the largest renewable employer . As of 2015 worldwide , more than half of all new electricity capacity installed was renewable . Renewable energy resources exist over wide geographical areas , in contrast to other energy sources , which are concentrated in a limited number of countries . Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency is resulting in significant energy security , climate change mitigation , and economic benefits . The results of a recent review of the literature concluded that as greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emitters begin to be held liable for damages resulting from GHG emissions resulting in climate change , a high value for liability mitigation would provide powerful incentives for deployment of renewable energy technologies . In international public opinion surveys there is strong support for promoting renewable sources such as solar power and wind power . At the national level , at least 30 nations around the world already have renewable energy contributing more than 20 percent of energy supply . National renewable energy markets are projected to continue to grow strongly in the coming decade and beyond . Some places and at least two countries , Iceland and Norway generate all their electricity using renewable energy already , and many other countries have the set a goal to reach 100 % renewable energy in the future . For example , in Denmark the government decided to switch the total energy supply ( electricity , mobility and heating/cooling ) to 100 % renewable energy by 2050 . While many renewable energy projects are large-scale , renewable technologies are also suited to rural and remote areas and developing countries , where energy is often crucial in human development . United Nations ' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that renewable energy has the ability to lift the poorest nations to new levels of prosperity . As most of renewables provide electricity , renewable energy deployment is often applied in conjunction with further electrification , which has several benefits : Electricity can be converted to heat ( where necessary generating higher temperatures than fossil fuels ) , can be converted into mechanical energy with high efficiency and is clean at the point of consumption . In addition to that electrification with renewable energy is much more efficient and therefore leads to a significant reduction in primary energy requirements , because most renewables do n't have a steam cycle with high losses ( fossil power plants usually have losses of 40 to 65 % ) . Renewable energy systems are rapidly becoming more efficient and cheaper . Their share of total energy consumption is increasing . Growth in consumption of coal and oil could end by 2020 due to increased uptake of renewables and natural gas . |
Reno,_Nevada | Reno is a city in the U.S. state of Nevada . It is in Northern Nevada , approximately 22 mi from Lake Tahoe . Known as `` The Biggest Little City in the World '' , Reno is famous for its hotel and casinos and as the birthplace of Harrah 's Entertainment ( now known as Caesars Entertainment Corporation ) . It is the county seat of Washoe County , in the northwestern part of the state . The city sits in a high desert at the foot of the Sierra Nevada and its downtown area ( along with Sparks ) occupies a valley informally known as the Truckee Meadows . It is named after Jesse L. Reno . Reno is the most populous Nevada city outside of Clark County and the Las Vegas -- Paradise , NV MSA valley region , with an estimated population of 241,445 in 2015 , and is the third most populous city in the state after Las Vegas and Henderson . Reno is part of the Reno -- Sparks metropolitan area , which consists of all of both Washoe and Storey counties and has a 2016 estimated population of 457,667 , making it the second largest metropolitan area in Nevada . |
Red_Sea | The Red Sea ( also the Erythraean Sea ) is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean , lying between Africa and Asia . The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden . To the north lie the Sinai Peninsula , the Gulf of Aqaba , and the Gulf of Suez ( leading to the Suez Canal ) . The Red Sea is a Global 200 ecoregion . The sea is underlain by the Red Sea Rift which is part of the Great Rift Valley . The Red Sea has a surface area of roughly 438,000 km2 ( 169,100 mi2 ) , is about 2250 km ( 1398 mi ) long and , at its widest point , 355 km ( 220.6 mi ) wide . It has a maximum depth of 3040 m in the central Suakin Trough , and an average depth of 490 m ( 1,608 ft ) . However , there are also extensive shallow shelves , noted for their marine life and corals . The sea is the habitat of over 1,000 invertebrate species , and 200 soft and hard corals . It is the world 's northernmost tropical sea . |
Representative_of_the_Government_in_the_Senate | The Representative of the Government in the Senate ( Représentant du gouvernement au Sénat ) is the independent member of the Senate of Canada who chiefly is responsible for introducing , promoting , and defending the government 's bills in the Senate after they are passed by the House of Commons of Canada . The representative is appointed by the Prime Minister of Canada . The position replaces the Leader of the Government in the Senate ( Leader du gouvernement au Sénat ) , which from 1867 -- 2015 was a senator who was a member of the governing party and led the government side in the Canadian Senate ( whether or not that party held a majority in the Senate ) . The old position had almost always been held by a cabinet minister , except briefly in 1926 , from 1958 -- 63 and since 2013 . Due to current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 's 2014 decision to remove senators from the Liberal Party of Canada caucus , leaving them all effectively sitting as independent senators , Trudeau named a Representative of the Government in the Senate in the 42nd Canadian Parliament rather than a government leader . The situation has created some uncertainty about how the Senate will function , and how government legislation will be brought to the Senate . Retired civil servant Peter Harder was named to the position on March 18 , 2016 . The government leader 's counterpart on the Opposition benches is the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate , who continues to be a member of the opposition political party . |
Rachel_Notley | Rachel Anne Notley ( born April 17 , 1964 ) is a Canadian politician and the 17th and current Premier of Alberta , since 2015 . She is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Edmonton-Strathcona , and leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party . The daughter of former Alberta NDP leader Grant Notley , Notley 's career before politics focused on labour law , with a specialty in workers ' compensation advocacy and workplace health and safety issues . Notley was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the 2008 provincial election , succeeding former NDP leader Raj Pannu . Six years later on October 18 , 2014 , Notley won the Alberta New Democrat leadership election on the first ballot with 70 % of the vote and went on to lead the party to a majority victory in the 2015 provincial election . Notley leads the first NDP government in the history of the province and is the first non-Progressive Conservative Premier of Alberta since Harry Strom of the Social Credit Party , who served until 1971 . |
Rattlesnake | Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae ( the pit vipers ) . The 36 known species of rattlesnakes have between 65 and 70 subspecies , all native to the Americas , ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to central Argentina . Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats , hunting small animals such as birds and rodents . The threat of envenomation , advertised by the loud shaking of the titular noisemaker ( `` the rattle '' ) at the end of their tails , deters many predators . However , rattlesnakes fall prey to hawks , weasels , king snakes and a variety of other species . Rattlesnakes are heavily preyed upon as neonates , while they are still weak and mentally immature . Large numbers of rattlesnakes are killed by humans . Rattlesnake populations in many areas are severely threatened by habitat destruction , poaching , and extermination campaigns . Rattlesnakes are the leading contributor to snakebite injuries in North America . However , rattlesnakes rarely bite unless provoked or threatened ; if treated promptly the bites are seldom fatal . Rattlesnakes receive their name from the rattle located at the end of their tails , which makes a loud rattling noise when vibrated that deters predators or serves as a warning to passers-by . The scientific name Crotalus is derived from the Greek κρόταλον , meaning `` castanet '' . The name Sistrurus is the Latinized form of the Greek word for `` tail rattler '' ( Σείστρουρος , seistrouros ) and shares its root with the ancient Egyptian musical instrument the sistrum , a type of rattle . |
Rear-inflow_jet | The rear-inflow jet is a component of bow echoes in a mesoscale convective system that aids in creating a stronger cold pool and downdraft . The jet forms as a response to a convective circulation having upshear tilt and horizontal pressure gradients . The cold pool that comes from the outflow of a storm forms an area of high pressure at the surface . In response to the surface high and warmer temperatures aloft due to convection , a mid-level mesolow forms behind the leading edge of the storm . With a mid-level area of low pressure , air is drawn in under the trailing stratiform region of precipitation . As air is drawn in on the rear side of the storm , it begins to descend as it approaches the front line of the cells . Before the reaching the leading edge , the jet dives heads to the ground as a strong downdraft , creating straight-line winds . Any mature mesoscale convective system is capable of developing its own rear-inflow jet , but questions remain as to what influences the strength of the jet . While the diabatic effects of sublimation , melting and evaporation play a role in influencing jet strength , these effects do not account for cases with strong rear-inflow jets . However , the diabatic effects are responsible for the jet subsiding behind the leading edge of the MCS . The sinking of the jet first starts when the mid level inflow goes under the trailing stratiform cloud before descending to the melting layer . There are other factors that contribute to the strength of any rear inflow jet . The strength of a rear inflow jet can be greatly increased with induced vortices at the end of the line , called `` line-end vortices '' or `` book-end vortices . '' These vortices at either end of the line will help reinforce the rear inflow towards the center of the line . The other factor that can help strengthen the jet is an environment in which the large scale flow is feeding/forcing mid-level air into the rear end of the storm . |
Residency_(medicine) | Residency is a stage of graduate medical training . A resident or house officer is a physician ( one who holds the degree of M.D. , D.O. , or MBBS , MBChB , or BMed ) who practices medicine usually in a hospital or clinic under the direct or indirect supervision of an attending physician . Successful completion of a residency program is a requirement to obtaining an unrestricted license to practice medicine in many jurisdictions . Residency training may be followed by fellowship or `` sub-specialty '' training . Whereas medical school teaches physicians a broad range of medical knowledge , basic clinical skills , and supervised experience practicing medicine in a variety of fields , medical residency gives in-depth training within a specific branch of medicine . A physician may choose a residency in anesthesiology , ophthalmology , cardiothoracic surgery , dermatology , emergency medicine , family medicine , internal medicine , neurology , neurosurgery , obstetrics and gynecology , otolaryngology , pathology , pediatrics , plastic and reconstructive surgery , psychiatry , physical medicine and rehabilitation , radiology , radiation oncology , oral and maxillofacial surgery , general surgery , urology or other medical specialties . |
Redundancy_(engineering) | In engineering , redundancy is the duplication of critical Components or functions of a system with the intention of increasing reliability of the system , usually in the form of a backup or fail-safe , or to improve actual system performance , such as in the case of GNSS receivers , or multi-threaded computer processing . In many safety-critical systems , such as fly-by-wire and hydraulic systems in aircraft , some parts of the control system may be triplicated , which is formally termed triple modular redundancy ( TMR ) . An error in one component may then be out-voted by the other two . In a triply redundant system , the system has three sub components , all three of which must fail before the system fails . Since each one rarely fails , and the sub components are expected to fail independently , the probability of all three failing is calculated to be extraordinarily small ; often outweighed by other risk factors , such as human error . Redundancy may also be known by the terms `` majority voting systems '' or `` voting logic '' . Redundancy sometimes produces less , instead of greater reliability it creates a more complex system which is prone to various issues , it may lead to human neglect of duty , and may lead to higher production demands which by overstressing the system may make it less safe . |
Reforestation | Reforestation is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands that have been depleted , usually through deforestation . Reforestation can be used to rectify or improve the quality of human life by soaking up pollution and dust from the air , rebuild natural habitats and ecosystems , mitigate global warming since forests facilitate biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide , and harvest for resources , particularly timber , but also non-timber forest products . The term reforestation is similar to afforestation , the process of restoring and recreating areas of woodlands or forests that may have existed long ago but were deforested or otherwise removed at some point in the past . Sometimes the term re-afforestation is used to distinguish between the original forest cover and the later re-growth of forest to an area . Forestation is the establishment of forest growth on areas that either had forest or lacked it . Special tools , e.g. tree planting bars , are used to make planting of trees easier and faster . |
Rhodope_Mountains | The Rhodopes ( -LSB- ˈrɒdəpiːz -RSB- Родопи , Rodopi Ροδόπη , Rodopi ; Rodoplar ) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe , with over 83 % of its area in southern Bulgaria and the remainder in Greece . Its highest peak , Golyam Perelik ( 2191 m ) , is the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain . The mountain range gives its name to the terrestrial ecoregion Rodope montane mixed forests that belongs in the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Biome and the Palearctic ecozone . The region is particularly notable for its karst areas with their deep river gorges , large caves and specific sculptured forms , such as the Trigrad Gorge . A significant part of Bulgaria 's hydropower resources is located in the western areas of the range . There are a number of hydro-cascades and dams used for electricity production , irrigation and as tourist destinations . In Greece there are also the HPPs of Thisavros and Platanovrysi . The Rhodopes have a rich cultural heritage including ancient Thracian sites such as Perperikon , Tatul and Belintash , and medieval castles , churches , monasteries and picturesque villages with traditional Bulgarian architecture from the 18th and 19th centuries . |
Reflation | Reflation is the act of stimulating the economy by increasing the money supply or by reducing taxes , seeking to bring the economy ( specifically price level ) back up to the long-term trend , following a dip in the business cycle . It is the opposite of disinflation , which seeks to return the economy back down to the long-term trend . Reflation , which can be considered a form of inflation ( increase in the price level ) , is contrasted with inflation ( narrowly speaking ) in that `` bad '' inflation is inflation above the long-term trend line , while reflation is a recovery of the price level when it has fallen below the trend line . For example , if inflation had been running at a 3 % rate , but for one year it falls to 0 % , the following year would need 6 % inflation ( actually 6.09 % due to compounding ) to catch back up to the long-term trend . This higher than normal inflation is considered reflation , since it is a return to trend , not exceeding the long-term trend . This distinction is predicated on a theory of economic growth where there is long-term growth in the economy and price level , which is widely accepted in economics . Just as disinflation is considered an acceptable antidote to high inflation , reflation is considered to be an antidote to deflation ( which , unlike inflation , is considered bad regardless of its magnitude ) . |
Redbank_Power_Station | Redbank Power Station is located near Singleton , in the Hunter Region , New South Wales , Australia . It was coal powered with one steam driven turbo generator with a capacity of 151 MW of electricity . Originally Redbank Power Station was promoted as being at the cutting edge of environmental technology , but has been criticised by environmentalists for producing more than other types of coal-fired power station . The first stage of the Redbank project was taken to the Land and Environment Court in 1994 over claims by environmentalists that it did not meet its own standards . The claim was dismissed by the court . Redbank pumped its cooling water from the Hunter River . Redbank was fuelled by beneficiated , dewatered tailings from the Mount Thorley Warkworth mine at Warkworth , delivered by conveyor . In lay terms this is the part of the coal waste which would otherwise not be utilised , and simply buried as the mines progress . According to Carbon Monitoring for Action ( CARMA ) , in 2007 Redbank emitted more climate change and global warming causing greenhouse gases per unit of electricity generated than any other power station in Australia . However no data from the actual plant , operator or Australian Government is actually used to base these approximate assumptions on . CARMA uses a statistical model that predicts emissions given the size , age , fuel type , estimated capacity utilization , and engineering specifications of individual plants . Carbon Monitoring for Action estimates this power station emits 1.06 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year as a result of burning coal . The Australian Government has announced the introduction of a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme commencing in 2010 to help combat climate change . It is expected to impact on emissions from power stations . The National Pollutant Inventory provides details of other pollutant emissions , but , as at 23 November 2008 , not . On 5 October 2013 , Redbank Energy 's wholly owned subsidiary Redbank Project Pty Ltd ( Redbank Project ) was notified by its secured lenders of the appointment of receivers to Redbank Project , Redbank Construction Pty Ltd and the shares in Redbank Project held by Redbank Project Holdco Pty Ltd , with debts of $ 192 million . In Oct 2014 , receivers KordaMentha announced immediate closure of the Plant with its remaining assets including the turbine , generator and plant and equipment to be sold . On 17 September 2015 Redbank Energy ( REL ) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary , Biogreen Energy Pty Limited ( Biogreen ) , had purchased the land , plant and equipment and water rights owned by Redbank Project for $ 5 million , but that it intended `` to commence the work to raise the funds necessary to recommence the operation of the Redbank Power Station '' . On 25 August 2016 Redbank Energy issued the following statement to shareholders via the ASX . `` In response to shareholder enquiries , Redbank Energy Limited ( ASX : AEJ ) ( REL ) wishes to provide the following market update . Unfortunately , REL will be removed from the ASX official list on 29 August 2016 . The immediate catalyst for delisting will be the non-payment of the 2016/17 ASX annual listing fee , which falls due on 27 August 2016 . The reason for REL not paying the 2016/17 ASX listing fee is because REL will automatically be suspended on 9 October 2016 due to continual suspension . '' Redbank was subsequently delisted from the close of trading on Monday , 29 August 2016 pursuant to Listing rule 17.15 . |
Renewable_heat | Renewable heat is an application of renewable energy and it refers to the renewable generation of heat , rather than electrical power ( e.g. replacing a fossil fuel boiler using concentrating solar thermal to feed radiators ) . Renewable heat technologies include renewable biofuels , solar heating , geothermal heating , heat pumps and heat exchangers to recover lost heat . Significant attention is also applied to insulation . Many colder countries consume more energy for heating than electrical power . For example , in 2005 the United Kingdom consumed 354 TWh of electric power , but had a heat requirement of 907 TWh , the majority of which ( 81 % ) was met using gas . The residential sector alone consumed a massive 550 TWh of energy for heating , mainly in the form of gas . Almost half of the final energy consumed in the UK ( 49 % ) was in the form of heat , of which 70 % was used by households and in commercial and public buildings . Households used heat mainly for space heating ( 69 % ) and heating water . The relative competitiveness of renewable electricity and renewable heat depends on a nation 's approach to energy and environment policy . Few renewable technologies ( whether for heat , electricity or transport ) are competitive with fossil fuels without some form of carbon valuation or subsidy . In those countries , such as Sweden , Denmark and Finland , where government intervention has been closest to a technology-neutral form of carbon valuation ( i.e. carbon and energy taxes ) , renewable heat has played the leading role in a very substantial renewable contribution to final energy consumption . In those countries , such as Germany , Spain , the USA , and the UK , where government intervention has been set at different levels for different technologies , uses and scales , the contributions of renewable heat and renewable electricity technologies have depended on the relative levels of support , and have resulted generally in a lower renewable contribution to final energy consumption . |
Renewable_Energy_Sources_and_Climate_Change_Mitigation | The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) published a special report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation ( SRREN ) on May 9 , 2011 . The report developed under the leadership of Ottmar Edenhofer evaluates the global potential for using renewable energy to mitigate climate change . This IPCC special report provides broader coverage of renewable energy than was included in the IPCC 's 2007 climate change assessment report , as well as stronger renewable energy policy coverage . Renewable energy can contribute to `` social and economic development , energy access , secure energy supply , climate change mitigation , and the reduction of negative environmental and health impacts '' . Under favourable circumstances , cost savings in comparison to non-renewable energy use exist . |
Raised_beach | A raised beach , marine terrace , coastal terrace , or perched coastline is a relatively flat , horizontal or gently inclined surface of marine origin , mostly an old abrasion platform which has been lifted out of the sphere of wave activity ( sometimes called `` tread '' ) . Thus , it lies above or under the current sea level , depending on the time of its formation . It is bounded by a steeper ascending slope on the landward side and a steeper descending slope on the seaward side ( sometimes called `` riser '' ) . Due to its generally flat shape it is often used for anthropogenic structures such as settlements and infrastructure . A raised beach is an emergent coastal landform . Raised beaches and marine terraces are beaches or wave-cut platforms raised above the shoreline by a relative fall in the sea level . Around the world , a combination of tectonic coastal uplift and Quaternary sea-level fluctuations has resulted in the formation of marine terrace sequences , most of which were formed during separate interglacial highstands that can be correlated to marine isotope stages ( MIS ) . A marine terrace commonly retains a shoreline angle or inner edge , the slope inflection between the marine abrasion platform and the associated paleo sea-cliff . The shoreline angle represents the maximum shoreline of a transgression and therefore a paleo-sea level . |
Responsible_disclosure | Responsible disclosure is a computer security term describing a vulnerability disclosure model . It is like full disclosure , with the addition that all stakeholders agree to allow a period of time for the vulnerability to be patched before publishing the details . Developers of hardware and software often require time and resources to repair their mistakes . Hackers and computer security scientists have the opinion that it is their social responsibility to make the public aware of vulnerabilities with a high impact . Hiding these problems could cause a feeling of false security . To avoid this , the involved parties join forces and agree on a period of time for repairing the vulnerability and preventing any future damage . Depending on the potential impact of the vulnerability , the expected time needed for an emergency fix or workaround to be developed and applied and other factors , this period may vary between a few days and several months . It is easier to patch software by using the Internet as a distribution channel . Responsible disclosure fails to satisfy security researchers who expect to be financially compensated , while reporting vulnerabilities to the vendor with the expectation of compensation might be viewed as extortion . While a market for vulnerabilities has developed , vulnerability commercialization remains a hotly debated topic tied to the concept of vulnerability disclosure . Today , the two primary players in the commercial vulnerability market are iDefense , which started their vulnerability contributor program ( VCP ) in 2003 , and TippingPoint , with their zero-day initiative ( ZDI ) started in 2005 . These organisations follow the responsible disclosure process with the material bought . Between March 2003 and December 2007 an average 7.5 % of the vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft and Apple were processed by either VCP or ZDI . Independent firms financially supporting responsible disclosure by paying bug bounties include Facebook , Google , Mozilla , and Barracuda Networks . Vendor-sec was a responsible disclosure mailing list . Many , if not all , of the CERT groups coordinate responsible disclosures . Selected security vulnerabilities resolved by applying responsible disclosure : Dan Kaminsky discovery of DNS cache poisoning , 5 months Radboud University Nijmegen breaks the security of the MIFARE Classic cards , 6 months MBTA vs. Anderson , MIT students find vulnerability in the Massachusetts subway security , 5 months MD5 collision attack that shows how to create false CA certificates , 1 week Starbucks gift card double-spending/race condition to create free extra credits , 10 days ( Egor Homakov ) |
Regulation_of_greenhouse_gases_under_the_Clean_Air_Act | The United States Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) began regulating greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) under the Clean Air Act ( `` CAA '' or `` Act '' ) from mobile and stationary sources of air pollution for the first time on January 2 , 2011 . Standards for mobile sources have been established pursuant to Section 202 of the CAA , and GHGs from stationary sources are currently controlled under the authority of Part C of Title I of the Act . The basis for regulations was upheld in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in June 2012 . |
Raw_data | Raw data , also known as primary data , is data ( e.g. , numbers , instrument readings , figures , etc. ) collected from a source . If a scientist sets up a computerized thermometer which records the temperature of a chemical mixture in a test tube every minute , the list of temperature readings for every minute , as printed out on a spreadsheet or viewed on a computer screen is `` raw data '' . Raw data has not been subjected to processing , `` cleaning '' by researchers to remove outliers , obvious instrument reading errors or data entry errors , or any analysis ( e.g. , determining central tendency aspects such as the average or median result ) . As well , raw data has not been subject to any other manipulation by a software program or a human researcher , analyst or technician . It is also referred to as primary data . Raw data is a relative term ( see data ) , because even once raw data has been `` cleaned '' and processed by one team of researchers , another team may consider this processed data to be `` raw data '' for another stage of research . Raw data can be inputted to a computer program or used in manual procedures such as analyzing statistics from a survey . The term `` raw data '' can refer to the binary data on electronic storage devices , such as hard disk drives ( also referred to as `` low-level data '' ) . |
Regional_effects_of_global_warming | Regional effects of global warming are long-term significant changes in the expected patterns of average weather of a specific region due to global warming . The world average temperature is rising due to the greenhouse effect caused by increasing levels of greenhouse gases , especially carbon dioxide . When the global temperature changes , the changes in climate are not expected to be uniform across the Earth . In particular , land areas change more quickly than oceans , and northern high latitudes change more quickly than the tropics , and the margins of biome regions change faster than do their cores . Regional effects of global warming vary in nature . Some are the result of a generalised global change , such as rising temperature , resulting in local effects , such as melting ice . In other cases , a change may be related to a change in a particular ocean current or weather system . In such cases , the regional effect may be disproportionate and will not necessarily follow the global trend . The increasing temperatures from greenhouse gases have been causing sea levels to rise for many years . There are three major ways in which global warming will make changes to regional climate : melting or forming ice , changing the hydrological cycle ( of evaporation and precipitation ) and changing currents in the oceans and air flows in the atmosphere . The coast can also be considered a region , and will suffer severe impacts from sea level rise . |
Rickettsiales | The Rickettsiales , also called rickettsias , are an order of small proteobacteria . Most of those described survive only as endosymbionts of other cells . Some are notable pathogens , including Rickettsia , which causes a variety of diseases in humans . On the other end of the scale , genetic studies support the endosymbiotic theory according to which mitochondria and related organelles developed from members of this group . Some have also speculated that viruses might have developed from them , or from organisms like them . The Rickettsiales are among the most mysterious groups of Proteobacteria , owing largely to difficulties in cultivating them . The group includes all obligate endosymbiont bacteria . However , a number of species have been removed , such as Coxiella burnetii , the cause of Q fever . The Rickettsiales has a sister order the Pelagibacterales , which is composed of free living bacteria with extremely streamlined genomes . Prior to the cultivation of the Pelagibacterales type-species , Pelagibacter ubique , this order was known solely via metagenomic data and was known as SAR11 clade and was a member of the Rickettsiales . The relation between the two order is retained in the subclass , the Rickettsidae , which include the Rickettsiales , the Pelagibacteriales and the extinct protomitochondrion ( mitochondria themselves are not bacteria , but organelles ) . The Holosporaceae was once a family in the Rickettsiales , but has since been placed in its own order , the Holosporales , which most likely is not as close to the Rickettsiales as initially believed , instead it is a basal order to the sister subclass of the Rickettsidae , the Caulobacteridae . |
Renewable_energy_commercialization | Renewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years . First-generation technologies , which are already mature and economically competitive , include biomass , hydroelectricity , geothermal power and heat . Second-generation technologies are market-ready and are being deployed at the present time ; they include solar heating , photovoltaics , wind power , solar thermal power stations , and modern forms of bioenergy . Third-generation technologies require continued R&D efforts in order to make large contributions on a global scale and include advanced biomass gasification , hot-dry-rock geothermal power , and ocean energy . As of 2012 , renewable energy accounts for about half of new nameplate electrical capacity installed and costs are continuing to fall . Public policy and political leadership helps to `` level the playing field '' and drive the wider acceptance of renewable energy technologies . Countries such as Germany , Denmark , and Spain have led the way in implementing innovative policies which has driven most of the growth over the past decade . As of 2014 , Germany has a commitment to the `` Energiewende '' transition to a sustainable energy economy , and Denmark has a commitment to 100 % renewable energy by 2050 . There are now 144 countries with renewable energy policy targets . Renewable energy continued its rapid growth in 2015 , providing multiple benefits . There was a new record set for installed wind and photovoltaic capacity ( 64GW and 57GW ) and a new high of US$ 329 Billion for global renewables investment . A key benefit that this investment growth brings is a growth in jobs . The top countries for investment in recent years were China , Germany , Spain , the United States , Italy , and Brazil . Renewable energy companies include BrightSource Energy , First Solar , Gamesa , GE Energy , Goldwind , Sinovel , Trina Solar , Vestas , and Yingli . Climate change concerns are also driving increasing growth in the renewable energy industries . According to a 2011 projection by the ( IEA ) International Energy Agency , solar power generators may produce most of the world 's electricity within 50 years , reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions . Renewable power has been more effective in creating jobs than coal or oil in the United States . |
Review_of_Policy_Research | Review of Policy Research is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Policy Studies Organization . The journal was established in 1981 . The current editor-in-chief is Christopher Gore ( Ryerson University ) . The journal focuses on the politics and policy of science , technology and environmental issues , including science policy , environment , resource management , information networks , cultural industries , biotechnology , security and surveillance , privacy , globalization , education , research and innovation , development , intellectual property , health and demographics . The journal is the official journal of the Science , Technology and Environmental Politics section of the American Political Science Association . According to the Journal Citation Reports , the journal has a 2015 impact factor of 1.167 , ranking it 20th out of 163 journals in the category `` Political Science '' and 20th out of 47 journals in the category `` Public Administration '' . |
Regime_shift | In ecology , regime shifts are large , abrupt , persistent changes in the structure and function of a system . A regime is a characteristic behaviour of a system which is maintained by mutually reinforced processes or feedbacks . Regimes are considered persistent relative to the time period over which the shift occurs . The change of regimes , or the shift , usually occurs when a smooth change in an internal process ( feedback ) or a single disturbance ( external shocks ) triggers a completely different system behavior . Although such non-linear changes have been widely studied in different disciplines ranging from atoms to climate dynamics , regime shifts have gained importance in ecology because they can substantially affect the flow of ecosystem services that societies rely upon , such as provision of food , clean water or climate regulation . Moreover , regime shift occurrence is expected to increase as human influence on the planet increases -- the Anthropocene -- including current trends on human induced climate change and biodiversity loss . |
Realis_mood | A realis mood ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact ; in other words , to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs , as in declarative sentences . Most languages have a single realis mood called the indicative mood , although some languages have additional realis moods , for example to express different levels of certainty . By contrast , an irrealis mood is used to express something that is not known to be the case in reality . An example of the contrast between realis and irrealis moods is seen in the English sentences `` He works '' and `` It is necessary that he work '' . In the first sentence works is a present indicative ( realis ) form of the verb , and is used to make a direct assertion about the real world . In the second sentence work is in the subjunctive mood , which is an irrealis mood -- here that he work does not express ( necessarily ) a fact about the real world , but refers to what would be a desirable state of affairs . However , since mood is a grammatical category , referring to the form a verb takes rather than its meaning in a given instance , a given language may use realis forms for a number of purposes other than their principal one of making direct factual statements . For example , many languages use indicative verb forms to ask questions ( this is sometimes called interrogative mood ) and in various other situations where the meaning is in fact of the irrealis type ( as in the English `` I hope it works '' , where the indicative works is used even though it refers to a desired rather than real state of affairs ) . The indicative might therefore be defined as the mood used in all instances where a given language does not specifically require the use of some other mood . Realis mood and indicative mood can be indicated by the respective glossing abbreviations and . __ TOC __ |
Radon | Radon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86 . It is a radioactive , colorless , odorless , tasteless noble gas . It occurs naturally as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through which thorium and uranium slowly decay into lead ; radon , itself , is a decay product of radium . Its most stable isotope , 222Rn , has a half-life of 3.8 days . Since thorium and uranium are two of the most common radioactive elements on Earth , and since their isotopes have very long half-lives , on the order of billions of years , radon will be present in nature long into the future in spite of its short half-life as it is continually being regenerated . Unlike all the other intermediate elements in the aforementioned decay chains , radon is , under normal conditions , gaseous and easily inhaled . Radon gas is a health hazard . It is often the single largest contributor to an individual 's background radiation dose , but due to local differences in geology , the level of the radon-gas hazard differs from location to location . Despite its short lifetime , radon gas from natural sources can accumulate in buildings , especially , due to its high density , in low areas such as basements and crawl spaces . Radon can also occur in ground water -- for example , in some spring waters and hot springs . Epidemiological studies have shown a clear link between breathing high concentrations of radon and incidence of lung cancer . Radon is a contaminant that affects indoor air quality worldwide . According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency , radon is the second most frequent cause of lung cancer , after cigarette smoking , causing 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year in the United States . About 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked . While radon is the second most frequent cause of lung cancer , it is the number one cause among non-smokers , according to EPA estimates . As radon itself decays , it produces other radioactive elements called radon daughters ( also known as radon progeny ) or decay products . Unlike the gaseous radon itself , radon daughters are solids and stick to surfaces , such as dust particles in the air . If such contaminated dust is inhaled , these particles can also cause lung cancer . |
Rainforest | Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall , with annual rainfall in the case of tropical rainforests between 250 and , and definitions varying by region for temperate rainforests . The monsoon trough , alternatively known as the intertropical convergence zone , plays a significant role in creating the climatic conditions necessary for the Earth 's tropical rainforests . Around 40 % to 75 % of all biotic species are indigenous to the rainforests . It has been estimated that there may be many millions of species of plants , insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests . Tropical rainforests have been called the `` jewels of the Earth '' and the `` world 's largest pharmacy '' , because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there . Rainforests are also responsible for 28 % of the world 's oxygen turnover , sometimes misnamed oxygen production , processing it through photosynthesis from carbon dioxide and consuming it through respiration . The undergrowth in some areas of a rainforest can be restricted by poor penetration of sunlight to ground level . If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned , the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense , tangled growth of vines , shrubs and small trees , called a jungle . The term jungle is also sometimes applied to tropical rainforests generally . |
Rewilding_(anarchism) | Rewilding means to return to a more wild or natural state ; it is the process of undoing domestication . The term emerged from the green anarchism and anarcho-primitivism political theories , in which humans are believed to be `` civilized '' or `` domesticated '' by industrial and agricultural progress . Supporters of rewilding argue that through the process of domestication , human wildness has been altered by force . Rewilding is about dismantling the culture of human domestication and returning to the lifeways of pre-agrarian human cultures . Though often associated with primitive skills and learning knowledge of wild plants and animals , it emphasizes regenerative land management techniques employed by hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists , as well as development of the senses and fostering deepening personal relationships with members of other species and the natural world . Rewilding intends to create permanently wild human cultures beyond domestication . Rewilding is considered a holistic approach to living , as opposed to skills , practices or a specific set of knowledge . |
Richard_Dawkins | Clinton Richard Dawkins ( born 26 March 1941 ) is an English ethologist , evolutionary biologist and author . He is an emeritus fellow of New College , Oxford , and was the University of Oxford 's Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008 . Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene , which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme . With his book The Extended Phenotype ( 1982 ) , he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism 's body , but can stretch far into the environment . In 2006 , he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science . Dawkins is an atheist , and is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design . In The Blind Watchmaker ( 1986 ) , he argues against the watchmaker analogy , an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms . Instead , he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker in that reproduction , mutation , and selection are unguided by any designer . In The God Delusion ( 2006 ) , Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion . He opposes the teaching of creationism in schools . Dawkins has been awarded many prestigious academic and writing awards and he makes regular television , radio and Internet appearances , predominantly discussing his books , his atheism , and his ideas and opinions as a public intellectual . |
Radiocarbon_dating | Radiocarbon dating ( also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating ) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon , a radioactive isotope of carbon . The method was developed by Willard Libby in the late 1940s and soon became a standard tool for archaeologists . Libby received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in 1960 . The radiocarbon dating method is based on the fact that radiocarbon is constantly being created in the atmosphere by the interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric nitrogen . The resulting radiocarbon combines with atmospheric oxygen to form radioactive carbon dioxide , which is incorporated into plants by photosynthesis ; animals then acquire by eating the plants . When the animal or plant dies , it stops exchanging carbon with its environment , and from that point onwards the amount of it contains begins to decrease as the undergoes radioactive decay . Measuring the amount of in a sample from a dead plant or animal such as a piece of wood or a fragment of bone provides information that can be used to calculate when the animal or plant died . The older a sample is , the less there is to be detected , and because the half-life of ( the period of time after which half of a given sample will have decayed ) is about 5,730 years , the oldest dates that can be reliably measured by this process date to around 50,000 years ago , although special preparation methods occasionally permit accurate analysis of older samples . The idea behind radiocarbon dating is straightforward , but years of work were required to develop the technique to the point where accurate dates could be obtained . Research has been ongoing since the 1960s to determine what the proportion of in the atmosphere has been over the past fifty thousand years . The resulting data , in the form of a calibration curve , is now used to convert a given measurement of radiocarbon in a sample into an estimate of the sample 's calendar age . Other corrections must be made to account for the proportion of in different types of organisms ( fractionation ) , and the varying levels of throughout the biosphere ( reservoir effects ) . Additional complications come from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil , and from the above-ground nuclear tests done in the 1950s and 1960s . Because the time it takes to convert biological materials to fossil fuels is substantially longer than the time it takes for its to decay below detectable levels , fossil fuels contain almost no , and as a result there was a noticeable drop in the proportion of in the atmosphere beginning in the late 19th century . Conversely , nuclear testing increased the amount of in the atmosphere , which attained a maximum in 1963 of almost twice what it had been before the testing began . Measurement of radiocarbon was originally done by beta-counting devices , which counted the amount of beta radiation emitted by decaying atoms in a sample . More recently , accelerator mass spectrometry has become the method of choice ; it counts all the atoms in the sample and not just the few that happen to decay during the measurements ; it can therefore be used with much smaller samples ( as small as individual plant seeds ) , and gives results much more quickly . The development of radiocarbon dating has had a profound impact on archaeology . In addition to permitting more accurate dating within archaeological sites than previous methods , it allows comparison of dates of events across great distances . Histories of archaeology often refer to its impact as the `` radiocarbon revolution '' . Radiocarbon dating has allowed key transitions in prehistory to be dated , such as the end of the last ice age , and the beginning of the Neolithic and Bronze Age in different regions . |
Rare_events | Rare events are events that occur with low frequency , and the term is often used in particular reference to infrequent or hypothetical events that have potentially widespread impact and which might destabilize society . Rare events encompass natural phenomena ( major earthquakes , tsunamis , hurricanes , floods , asteroid impacts , solar flares , etc. ) , anthropogenic hazards ( warfare and related forms of violent conflict , acts of terrorism , industrial accidents , financial and commodity market crashes , etc. ) , as well as phenomena for which natural and anthropogenic factors interact in complex ways ( epidemic disease spread , global warming-related changes in climate and weather , etc. ) . |
Reason | Reason is the capacity for consciously making sense of things , applying logic , establishing and verifying facts , and changing or justifying practices , institutions , and beliefs based on new or existing information . It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy , science , language , mathematics , and art and is normally considered to be a definitive characteristic of human nature . Reason , or an aspect of it , is sometimes referred to as rationality . Reasoning is associated with thinking , cognition , and intellect . Reasoning may be subdivided into forms of logical reasoning ( forms associated with the strict sense ) : deductive reasoning , inductive reasoning , abductive reasoning ; and other modes of reasoning considered more informal , such as intuitive reasoning and verbal reasoning . Along these lines , a distinction is often drawn between discursive reason , reason proper , and intuitive reason , in which the reasoning process -- however valid -- tends toward the personal and the opaque . Although in many social and political settings logical and intuitive modes of reason may clash , in other contexts intuition and formal reason are seen as complementary , rather than adversarial as , for example , in mathematics , where intuition is often a necessary building block in the creative process of achieving the hardest form of reason , a formal proof . Reason , like habit or intuition , is one of the ways by which thinking comes from one idea to a related idea . For example , it is the means by which rational beings understand themselves to think about cause and effect , truth and falsehood , and what is good or bad . It is also closely identified with the ability to self-consciously change beliefs , attitudes , traditions , and institutions , and therefore with the capacity for freedom and self-determination . In contrast to reason as an abstract noun , a reason is a consideration which explains or justifies some event , phenomenon , or behavior . The field of logic studies ways in which human beings reason formally through argument . Psychologists and cognitive scientists have attempted to study and explain how people reason , e.g. which cognitive and neural processes are engaged , and how cultural factors affect the inferences that people draw . The field of automated reasoning studies how reasoning may or may not be modeled computationally . Animal psychology considers the question of whether animals other than humans can reason . |
Renewable_energy_in_the_United_States | Renewable energy in the United States accounted for 13.44 percent of the domestically produced electricity in 2015 , and 11.1 percent of total energy generation . As of 2016 , more than 260,000 people work in the solar industry and 43 states deploy net metering , where energy utilities buy back excess power generated by solar arrays . Renewable energy reached a major milestone in the first quarter of 2011 , when it contributed 11.7 percent of total U.S. energy production ( 2.245 quadrillion BTU of energy ) , surpassing energy production from nuclear power ( 2.125 quadrillion BTU ) . 2011 was the first year since 1997 that renewables exceeded nuclear in US total energy production . Hydroelectric power is currently the largest producer of renewable power in the U.S. . It produced around 6.14 % of the nation 's total electricity in 2015 which was 45.71 % of the total renewable power in the U.S. . The United States is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world after China , Canada and Brazil . The Grand Coulee Dam is the 5th largest hydroelectric power station in the world . U.S. wind power installed capacity now exceeds 72,000 MW and supplies 4.1 % of the nation 's electricity . Texas is firmly established as the leader in wind power development , followed by Iowa and California . Since the U.S. pioneered the technology in 1981 with Solar One , several solar thermal power stations have also been built . The largest of these solar thermal power stations are the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility ( 392 MW ) , southwest of Las Vegas , and the SEGS group of plants in the Mojave Desert , with a total generating capacity of 354 MW . Large photovoltaic power plants in the USA include Solar Star ( 579 MW ) , near Rosamond , California , the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm , a 550 MW solar power plant in Riverside County , California and the Topaz Solar Farm , a 550 MW photovoltaic power plant , in San Luis Obispo County , California . The Geysers in Northern California is the largest complex of geothermal energy production in the world . The development of renewable energy and energy efficiency marks `` a new era of energy exploration '' in the United States , according to President Barack Obama . In a joint address to the Congress on February 24 , 2009 , President Obama called for doubling renewable energy within the next three years . In his 2012 State of the Union address , President Barack Obama restated his commitment to renewable energy and mentioned the long-standing Interior Department commitment to permit 10,000 MW of renewable energy projects on public land in 2012 . |
Rescue_and_recovery_effort_after_the_September_11_attacks_on_the_World_Trade_Center | The local , state , federal and global reaction to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center was unprecedented . The equally unsurpassed events of that day elicited the largest response of local emergency and rescue personnel to assist in the evacuation of the two towers and also contributed to the largest loss of the same personnel when the towers collapsed . After the attacks , the media termed the World Trade Center site `` Ground Zero '' , while rescue personnel referred to it as `` the Pile '' . In the ensuing recovery and cleanup efforts , personnel related to metalwork and construction professions would descend on the site to offer their services and remained until the site was cleared in May 2002 . In the years since , investigations and studies have examined effects upon those who participated , noting a variety of afflictions attributed to the debris and stress . |
Renewable_energy_debate | There is a renewable energy debate about the constraints and opportunities associated with the use of renewable energy . Renewable electricity production , from sources such as wind power and solar power , is sometimes criticized for being variable or intermittent . However , the International Energy Agency has stated that this only applies to certain renewables , mainly wind and solar photovoltaics , and its significance depends on a range of factors , such as the penetration of the renewables concerned . There have been `` not in my back yard '' ( NIMBY ) concerns relating to the visual and other impacts of some wind farms , with local residents sometimes fighting or blocking construction . In the USA , the Massachusetts Cape Wind project was delayed for years partly because of aesthetic concerns . However , residents in other areas have been more positive and there are many examples of community wind farm developments . According to a town councillor , the overwhelming majority of locals believe that the Ardrossan Wind Farm in Scotland has enhanced the area . The market for renewable energy technologies has continued to grow . Climate change concerns , coupled with high oil prices , peak oil , and increasing government support , are driving increasing renewable energy legislation , incentives and commercialization . New government spending , regulation and policies helped the industry weather the 2009 economic crisis better than many other sectors . |
Rachel_Carson | Rachel Louise Carson ( May 27 , 1907 -- April 14 , 1964 ) was an American marine biologist , author , and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement . Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries , and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s . Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award , recognition as a gifted writer , and financial security . Her next book , The Edge of the Sea , and the reissued version of her first book , Under the Sea Wind , were also bestsellers . This sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths . Late in the 1950s , Carson turned her attention to conservation , especially some problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides . The result was the book Silent Spring ( 1962 ) , which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented share of the American people . Although Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies , it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy , which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides . It also inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency . Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter . |
Radioactive_contamination_from_the_Rocky_Flats_Plant | The Rocky Flats Plant was a former U.S. nuclear weapons production facility about 15 miles northwest of Denver , Colorado , which caused radioactive contamination , primarily plutonium , americium , and uranium , within and outside its boundaries . The facility was dismantled and removed , and the central industrial area of the property became a Superfund site , surrounded by the newly created Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge . The contamination primarily resulted from two major plutonium fires in 1957 and 1969 ( plutonium is pyrophoric and shavings can spontaneously combust ) and from wind-blown plutonium that leaked from barrels of radioactive waste . Much lower concentrations of radioactive isotopes were released throughout the operational life of the plant from 1952 to 1992 , from smaller accidents and from normal operational releases of plutonium particles too small to be filtered . Prevailing winds from the plant swept airborne contamination south and east , into populated areas northwest of Denver . The contamination of the Denver area by plutonium from the fires and other sources was not publicly reported until the 1970s . According to a 1972 study coauthored by Edward Martell , `` In the more densely populated areas of Denver , the Pu contamination level in surface soils is several times fallout '' , and the plutonium contamination `` just east of the Rocky Flats plant ranges up to hundreds of times that from nuclear tests . '' As noted by Carl Johnson in Ambio , `` Exposures of a large population in the Denver area to plutonium and other radionuclides in the exhaust plumes from the plant date back to 1953 . '' In the 1990s , a series of Historical Public Exposure Studies were conducted to assess past releases and public exposures . For example , the figure at right illustrates the calculated lifetime cancer risk to a laborer from the 1957 Rocky Flats fire . The key shows the cancer risk due to exposure during the 1957 event per million persons . This figure means that an outdoor laborer in the reddest part of Arvada would have roughly a two-in-a-million risk of contracting cancer ( 0.000002 ) from being outside during the 1957 fire . The original , complete figure - as well as many others showing the risks of past exposures - can be viewed in the Summary of Findings from the Historical Public Exposure Studies . Weapons production at the plant was halted after a combined FBI and EPA raid in 1989 . Due to the end of the Cold War , changes in nuclear weapons policy , and years of protests , the Rocky Flats Plant was shut down , with its buildings demolished and completely removed from the site . The site 's mission then changed to cleanup . The Rocky Flats Plant was declared a CERCLASuperfund site in 1989 and began its transformation to a cleanup site in February 1992 . Removal of the plant and surface contamination was largely completed in the late 1990s and early 2000s , with federal and state agency support and stakeholder input . The cleanup effort decommissioned and demolished over 800 structures ; removed over 21 tons of weapons-grade material ; removed over 1.3 million cubic meters of waste ; and , treated more than 16 million gallons of water . Four groundwater treatment systems were also constructed . The site achieved regulatory closure in 2006 . Today , the site consists of two areas . The `` Central Operable Unit '' encompasses the former industrial/plant area of the site . This area is still a CERCLA `` Superfund '' site , retained and managed by the U.S. Department of Energy . Environmental monitoring and sampling are conducted by the Department of Energy here on a regular basis . Remediation efforts are also ongoing in the Central Operable Unit . Four groundwater treatment systems are currently installed and operating in the Central Operable Unit . Every five years , the DOE , EPA , and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment review environmental data to assess whether the remedy is functioning as intended . The last five-year review concluded the site remedy is effective . However , this area remains off-limits to the public due to residual contamination , and to protect site treatment systems and the integrity of remedial efforts . The outer `` Peripheral Operable Unit '' is now the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge . This area was the site 's former security buffer zone and did not require remediation . In 2001 , the U.S. Congress passed the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Act , dedicating this buffer zone to conservation . Accordingly , the DOE transferred land ownership of this area to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service , which currently exercises jurisdiction over the Refuge . It is anticipated the Refuge will open to the public in 2018 . While the U.S. Department of Energy continues to monitor and collect samples from the Central Operable Unit , a some groups and citizens remain concerned about the extent and long-term public health consequences of the contamination . Estimates of the public health risk caused by the contamination vary . Activist groups are concerned about the potential risks posed by residual contamination , which exists on-Site . However , the Comprehensive Risk Assessment for the site found the post-cleanup risks posed by the site to be very low and within EPA guidelines . A 1998 independent study by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on cancer rates in communities surrounding Rocky Flats also found no pattern of increased cancers tied to Rocky Flats . |
Risk | Risk is the potential of gaining or losing something of value . Values ( such as physical health , social status , emotional well-being , or financial wealth ) can be gained or lost when taking risk resulting from a given action or inaction , foreseen or unforeseen . Risk can also be defined as the intentional interaction with uncertainty . Uncertainty is a potential , unpredictable , and uncontrollable outcome ; risk is a consequence of action taken in spite of uncertainty . Risk perception is the subjective judgment people make about the severity and probability of a risk , and may vary person to person . Any human endeavor carries some risk , but some are much riskier than others . |
Rossby_radius_of_deformation | In atmospheric dynamics and physical oceanography , the Rossby radius of deformation is the length scale at which rotational effects become as important as buoyancy or gravity wave effects in the evolution of the flow about some disturbance . For a barotropic ocean : , where is the gravitational acceleration , is the water depth , and is the Coriolis parameter . For f = 1 × 10 − 4 s − 1 appropriate to 45 ° latitude , and D = 4 km , LR ≈ 2000 km ; and for D = 40 m , LR ≈ 200 km . The nth baroclinic Rossby radius is : , where is the Brunt -- Väisälä frequency , is the scale height , and n = 1 , 2 , ... In Earth 's atmosphere , the ratio N/f0 is typically of order 100 , so the Rossby radius is about 100 times the vertical scale height , H. For a vertical scale associated with the height of the tropopause , LR , 1 ≈ 1000 km , which is the predominant scale seen on weather charts for cyclones and anticyclones . This is commonly called the synoptic scale . In the ocean , the Rossby radius varies dramatically with latitude . Near the equator it is larger than 200 km , while in the high latitude regions it is less than 10 km . The size of ocean eddies varies similarly ; in low latitude regions , near the equator , eddies are much larger than in high latitude regions . The associated dimensionless parameter is the Rossby number . Both are named in honor of Carl-Gustav Rossby . |
Rubus_defectionis | Rubus defectionis , the Eclipse blackberry , is a rare North American species of flowering plant in the rose family . It grows in only a few locations in the east-central United States ( Maryland and Virginia ) . The epithet defectionis is from the Latin `` defectio , '' meaning `` eclipse . '' This is in reference to the community of Eclipse , Virginia , where the plant was first discovered . The genetics of Rubus is extremely complex , so that it is difficult to decide on which groups should be recognized as species . There are many rare species with limited ranges such as this . Further study is suggested to clarify the taxonomy . |
Ridiculously_Resilient_Ridge | The `` Ridiculously Resilient Ridge , '' sometimes shortened to `` Triple R '' or `` RRR , '' is the nickname given to a persistent region of atmospheric high pressure that occurred over the far northeastern Pacific Ocean . The `` Ridiculously Resilient Ridge '' nickname was coined in December 2013 by Daniel Swain on the California Weather Blog . |
Risk_(statistics) | Statistical risk is a quantification of a situation 's risk using statistical methods . These methods can be used to estimate a probability distribution for the outcome of a specific variable , or at least one or more key parameters of that distribution , and from that estimated distribution a risk function can be used to obtain a single non-negative number representing a particular conception of the risk of the situation . Statistical risk is taken account of in a variety of contexts including finance and economics , and there are many risk functions that can be used depending on the context . One measure of the statistical risk of a continuous variable , such as the return on an investment , is simply the estimated variance of the variable , or equivalently the square root of the variance , called the standard deviation . Another measure in finance , one which views upside risk as unimportant compared to downside risk , is the downside beta . In the context of a binary variable , a simple statistical measure of risk is simply the probability that a variable will take on the lower of two values . There is a sense in which one risk A can be said to be unambiguously greater than another risk B ( that is , greater for any reasonable risk function ) : namely , if A is a mean-preserving spread of B . This means that the probability density function of A can be formed , roughly speaking , by `` spreading out '' that of B. However , this is only a partial ordering : most pairs of risks can not be unambiguously ranked in this way , and different risk functions applied to the estimated distributions of two such unordered risky variables will give different answers as to which is riskier . In the context of statistical estimation itself , the risk involved in estimating a particular parameter is a measure of the degree to which the estimate is likely to be inaccurate . |
Rift_valley | A rift valley is a linear-shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault . A rift valley is formed on a divergent plate boundary , a crustal extension , a spreading apart of the surface , which is subsequently further deepened by the forces of erosion . When the tensional forces were strong enough to cause the plate to split apart , a center block dropped between the two blocks at its flanks , forming a graben . The drop of the center creates the nearly parallel steeply dipping walls of a rift valley when it is new . That feature is the beginning of the rift valley , but as the process continues , the valley widens , until it becomes a large basin that fills with sediment from the rift walls and the surrounding area . One of the best known examples of this process is the East African Rift . On Earth , rifts can occur at all elevations , from the sea floor to plateaus and mountain ranges in continental crust or in oceanic crust . They are often associated with a number of adjoining subsidiary or co-extensive valleys , which are typically considered part of the principal rift valley geologically . |
Rolling_blackout | A rolling blackout , also referred to as rotational load shedding or feeder rotation , is an intentionally engineered electrical power shutdown where electricity delivery is stopped for non-overlapping periods of time over different parts of the distribution region . Rolling blackouts are a last-resort measure used by an electric utility company to avoid a total blackout of the power system . They are a type of demand response for a situation where the demand for electricity exceeds the power supply capability of the network . Rolling blackouts may be localised to a specific part of the electricity network or may be more widespread and affect entire countries and continents . Rolling blackouts generally result from two causes : insufficient generation capacity or inadequate transmission infrastructure to deliver sufficient power to the area where it is needed . Rolling blackouts are a common or even a normal daily event in many developing countries where electricity generation capacity is underfunded or infrastructure is poorly managed . Rolling blackouts in developed countries are rare because demand is accurately forecasted , adequate infrastructure investment is scheduled and networks are well managed ; such events are considered an unacceptable failure of planning and can cause significant political damage to responsible governments . In well managed under-capacity systems , blackouts are scheduled in advance and advertised to allow people to work around them , but in most cases they happen without warning , typically whenever the transmission frequency falls below the ` safe ' limit . Rolling blackouts are also used as a response strategy to cope with reduced output beyond reserve capacity from power stations taken offline unexpectedly such as through an extreme weather event . |
Rubus_arcticus | Rubus arcticus , the Arctic bramble or Arctic raspberry , ( includes Rubus arcticus ssp . acaulis - ( Michx . ) is a species of slow-growing bramble belonging to the rose family , found in arctic and alpine regions in the Northern Hemisphere . Its dark red fruit is considered a delicacy . In the Pacific Northwest of western Canada and the northwestern United States , it is sometimes called the nagoon or nagoonberry , a name which derives from the Tlingit neigóon . A measure of the quality of its fruit is expressed in its Russian name княженика knyazhenika , signifying the `` berry of princes '' . It grows in Alaska , northern Scandinavia , Russia , Poland , Belarus , Mongolia , northeastern China , North Korea , Estonia , Lithuania , Canada , and the northern United States as far south as Oregon , Colorado , Michigan , and Maine . |
Ross_Ice_Shelf | The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica ( an area of roughly 487000 sqkm and about 800 km across : about the size of France ) . It is several hundred metres thick . The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long , and between 15 and high above the water surface . Ninety percent of the floating ice , however , is below the water surface . Most of Ross Ice Shelf is in the Ross Dependency claimed by New Zealand . It floats in , and covers , a large southern portion of the Ross Sea and the entire Roosevelt Island located in the west of the Ross Sea . The ice shelf is named after Captain Sir James Clark Ross , who discovered it on 28 January 1841 . It was originally called The Barrier , with various adjectives including Great Ice Barrier , as it prevented sailing further south . Ross mapped the ice front eastward to 160 ° W . In 1947 , the US Board on Geographic Names applied the name Ross Shelf Ice to this feature and published it in the original US Antarctic Gazetteer . In January 1953 the name was changed to Ross Ice Shelf ; that name was published in 1956 . |
Risk_neutral | In economics and finance , risk neutral preferences are neither risk averse nor risk seeking . A risk neutral party 's decisions are not affected by the degree of uncertainty in a set of outcomes , so a risk neutral party is indifferent between choices with equal expected payoffs even if one choice is riskier . For example , if offered either $ 50 or a 50 % chance each of $ 100 and $ 0 , a risk neutral person would have no preference . In contrast , a risk averse person would prefer the first offer , while a risk seeking person would prefer the second . |
Ross_Gyre | The Ross Gyre is one of the two gyres that exist within the Southern Ocean . The gyre is located in the Ross Sea , and rotates clockwise . The gyre is formed by interactions between the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the Antarctic Continental Shelf . Sea ice has been noted to persist in the central area of the gyre . There is some evidence that global warming has resulted in some decrease of the salinity of the waters of the Ross Gyre since the 1950s . |
Runaway_greenhouse_effect | A runaway greenhouse effect is a process in which a net positive feedback between surface temperature and atmospheric opacity increases the strength of the greenhouse effect on a planet until its oceans boil away . An example of this is believed to have happened in the early history of Venus . On the Earth , the IPCC states that `` a ` runaway greenhouse effect ' -- analogous to -LSB- that of -RSB- Venus -- appears to have virtually no chance of being induced by anthropogenic activities . '' Other large-scale climate changes are sometimes loosely called a `` runaway greenhouse effect '' although it is not an appropriate description . For example , it has been hypothesized that large releases of greenhouse gases may have occurred concurrently with the Permian -- Triassic extinction event or Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum . Other terms , such as `` abrupt climate change '' , or tipping points could be used when describing such scenarios . |
Risk_(comics) | Risk is a comic book character appearing in publications from DC Comics . |
Ryukyu_independence_movement | The or Republic of the Ryukyus ( Japanese : , Kyūjitai : , Hepburn : Ryūkyū Kyōwakoku ) is a movement for the independence of Ryukyu Islands , commonly referred to as Okinawa after the largest island , from Japan . The movement emerged in 1945 , after the end of the Pacific War . Some Ryukyuan people felt , as the Allied Occupation ( USMGRI 1945 -- 1950 ) began , that the Ryukyus ( Okinawa ) should eventually become an independent state , instead of being returned to Japan . Since the 1950s , due to ideological and social reasons , the majority pushed for unification with the mainland , hoping that this would hasten the end of the U.S. occupation ( USCAR 1950 -- 1972 ) there . The islands were returned to Japan on May 15 , 1972 as the Okinawa Prefecture according to the 1971 Okinawa Reversion Agreement . The US-Japan Security Treaty ( ANPO ) signed in 1952 provides for the continuation of the American military presence in Japan , and the United States continues to maintain a heavy military presence on Okinawa Island even after the reunification with Japan . This set the stage for renewed political movement for Ryukyuan independence . The movement places equal weight to the 1609 invasion by Satsuma Domain , and the Meiji government forced , by them considered colonial , annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom as Okinawa Prefecture . It is highly critical of the islands ' sacrifice during the Battle of Okinawa ( 1945 ) , and the parallel use of their history and land for Japanese national and political interests ( like preserving at all costs the security treaty of ANPO ) and control over them . Okinawa comprises only 0.6 % of all Japanese territory , yet 75 % of all United States military forces are stationed in U.S. facilities that take up 10.4 % of Okinawa Prefecture i.e. 18.8-20 % of Okinawa Island . The U.S. personnel statistically made thousands of crimes against the civilians , with the most well known being the 1995 rape incident , and as the U.S. military presence did not diminish two decades after the U.S. official plans to do so in 1996 , it remains a source of outrage and protest , especially against the Futenma Air Station , and devastating environmental impact . |
Right-to-work_law | Right-to-work laws are statutes in 28 U.S. states that prohibit union security agreements between companies and workers ' unions . Under these laws , employees in unionized workplaces may not be compelled to join a union , nor compelled to pay for any part of the cost of union representation , while generally receiving the same benefits as union members who do contribute . According to the Legal Defense Foundation , right-to-work laws prohibit union security agreements , or agreements between employers and labor unions , that govern the extent to which an established union can require employees ' membership , payment of union dues , or fees as a condition of employment , either before or after hiring . Right-to-work laws do not aim to provide general guarantee of employment to people seeking work , but rather are a government regulation of the contractual agreements between employers and labor unions that prevents them from excluding non-union workers , or requiring employees to pay a fee to unions that have negotiated the labor contract all the employees work under . Unions are already governed by regulations and laws , including public policy on labor-management relations ( e.g. , a university central office professional position on labor relations ) . Typically , unions are organized by industry ( e.g. , healthcare , restaurant , steel workers , teachers , state government - professional , non-professional ) , and they are required to be first voted in by employees and `` management '' with provisions on dues payments required as of 2011 . For example , while municipal employees have their unions , as do police and firefighters , other non-profit agencies in localities may not be offered these same protections . Right-to-work provisions ( either by law or by constitutional provision ) exist in 28 U.S. states , mostly in the southern and western United States , but also including the Midwestern states of Michigan , Indiana , Iowa , Missouri , and Wisconsin . Business interests represented by the United States Chamber of Commerce have lobbied extensively to pass right-to-work legislation . Such laws are allowed under the 1947 federal Taft -- Hartley Act . A further distinction is often made within the law between those persons employed by state and municipal governments and those employed by the private sector with states that are otherwise union shop ( i.e. , workers must pay for union representation in order to obtain or retain a job ) having right to work laws in effect for government employees ; provided , however , that the law also permits an `` agency shop '' where employees pay their share for representation ( less than union dues ) , while not joining the union as members . |
Rocky_Mountain_Front | The Rocky Mountain Front is a somewhat unified geologic and ecosystem area in North America where the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains meet the plains . In 1983 , the Bureau of Land Management called the Rocky Mountain Front `` a nationally significant area because of its high wildlife , recreation , and scenic values '' . Conservationists Gregory Neudecker , Alison Duvall , and James Stutzman have described the Rocky Mountain Front as an area that warrants `` the highest of conservation priorities '' because it is largely unaltered by development and contains `` unparalleled '' numbers of wildlife . |