Friday, June 15, 2007

Krill fishery

Krill fishery is the commercial fishery of krill, small shrimp-like marine animals that live in the oceans world-wide. Estimates for how much krill there is vary wildly, depending on the methodology used. They range from 125–725 million tonnes of biomass globally. The total global harvest of krill from all fisheries amounts to 150 – 200,000 tonnes annually, mainly Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and North Pacific krill

Krill are rich in protein (40% or more of dry weight) and lipids . Their exoskeleton amounts to some 2% of dry weight of chitin. They also contain traces of a wide array of hydrolytic enzymes such as proteases, carbohydrases, nucleases and phospholipases, which are intense in the digestive gland in the cephalothorax of the krill.

Most krill is used as aquaculture feed and fish bait; other uses comprise livestock or pet foods. Only a small percentage is prepared for human consumption. Their enzymes are interesting for medical applications, an expanding sector since the early 1990s.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Deadheading

Deadheading is the act of removing spent flowers or flowerheads for aesthetics, to prolong bloom for up to several weeks or endorse rebloom, or to put off seeding.
Deadheading is beneficial to most herbaceous ornamental plants. It can get better overall look of a plant, give a fresh new look to an otherwise finished or even distracting item, and can promote vegetative and root increase rather than seed production and help retain the plant's healthy appearance.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Bean

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of Fabaceae used for food or feed. They are also known as legumes.
The term Bean at first referred to the seed of the broad bean, but was later broadened to include members of the genus Phaseolus such as the common bean or haricot and the runner bean and the related genus Vigna. The term is now applied in a general way to many other related plants such as soybeans, peas, lentils, kidney beans, vetches and lupins.

Bean can be used as a near synonym of pulse, an edible legume, though the term "pulses" is usually reserved for leguminous crops harvested for their dry grain. Pulses frequently exclude crops mainly used for oil extraction (like soybean and peanut) or those used exclusively for sowing purposes (clover and alfalfa). Leguminous crops harvested green for food, such as snap beans, green peas etc, are classified as vegetable crops.

In English usage 'beans' sometimes also refer to seeds or other organs of non leguminosae which bear a resemblance to the vegetable, for example coffee beans, castor beans and cocoa beans ,and vanilla beans .

Thursday, May 31, 2007

JAR

In computing, a JAR file (or Java ARchive) file used to distribute a set of Java classes. It is used to store compiled Java classes and linked metadata that can constitute a program.

* WAR (file format) (Web Application aRchive) files are also Java archives which store XML files, java classes, Java Server Pages and other objects for Web Applications.
* EAR (file format) (Enterprise ARchive) files are also Java archives which store XML files, java classes and other objects for Enterprise Applications.
* RAR (file format) (Resource Adapter aRchive) files are also Java archives which store XML files, java classes and other objects for J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA) applications.

JAR files can be created and extracted using the "jar" command that comes with the JDK. It can be done using zip tools, but as WinZip has a habit of renaming all-uppercase directories and files in lower case, this can raise support calls with whoever shaped the JAR or the tool authors themselves. WinRAR, on the other hand, retains the original case of filenames.

A JAR file has a manifest file located in the path META-INF/MANIFEST.MF. The entries in the manifest file determine how the JAR file will be used. JAR files which are intended to be executed as standalone programs will have one of their classes specified as the "main" class. The manifest file would have an entry such as
Main-Class: myPrograms.MyClass

Such JAR files are typically started with a command similar to

java -jar foo.jar

These files can also include a Classpath entry, which identifies other JAR files to be loaded with the JAR. This entry consists of a list of absolute or relative paths to other JAR files. Although intended to simplify JAR use, in practice, it turns out to be notoriously brittle as it depends on all the relevant JARs being in the exact locations specified when the entry-point JAR was built. To change versions or locations of libraries, a new manifest is needed.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Nutrition

Nutrition is a science which studies the relationship between diet and states of health and disease. Dietitians are Health professionals who are particular in this area of expertise. They are also the only extremely trained health professionals able to provide safe, evidence-based and accurate dietary advice and interventions.

Between extremes of optimal health and death from starvation or malnutrition, there is an array of disease states that can be caused or alleviated by changes in diet. Deficiencies, excesses and imbalances in diet can produce negative impacts on health, which may lead to diseases such as scurvy, obesity or osteoporosis, as well as mental and behavioral problems. Moreover, excessive ingestion of elements that have no apparent role in health, (e.g. lead, mercury, PCBs, dioxins), may incur toxic and potentially lethal belongings, depending on the dose. The science of nutrition attempts to understand how and why exact dietary aspects influence health.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Columbia River

The Columbia River is a river located in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It is the biggest river in volume flowing into the Pacific Ocean from North America, and the second largest in the United States. It is the largest hydroelectric power producing river in North America. From its headwaters to the Pacific Ocean it flows 1,270 miles, and drains 258,000 square miles.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Organization in sociology

In sociology "organization" is tacit as planned, synchronized and decided action of human beings to construct or compile a common tangible or intangible product. This action is usually framed by official membership and form. Sociology distinguishes the term organization into planned formal and unplanned informal organizations. Sociology analyses organizations in the first line from an institutional viewpoint. In this sense, organization is a permanent agreement of elements. These elements and their actions are resolute by rules so that a certain task can be fulfilled through a system of coordinated the division of labour.

An organization is defined by the rudiments that are part of it, its communication, its independence and its rules of action compared to outside events. By coordinated and planned cooperation of the elements, the organization is able to solve tasks that lie beyond the abilities of the single elements. The price paid by the elements is the restriction of the degrees of freedom of the elements. Advantages of organizations are enhancement, addition, and extension. Disadvantages are inertness and loss of interaction.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Belt

A belt is a flexible band, characteristically made of leather or heavy cloth, and worn around the waist.belt supports trousers or other articles of clothing, and it serves for style and decoration.Historically, a belt was also used by educators for spanking children, and by masters for spanking servants. This use has frequently declined in the Western world, as it is viewed as too barbaric and uncontrollable a form of corporal punishment.At one end of the belt is a belt buckle that is shaped onto the other end of the belt. The other end of the belt contains several holes, into which a prong (which is part of the buckle) is inserted into it for the purpose of securing the belt. Sometimes, there is a clamp system so that no holes are wanted. In Western civilizations, men usually insert the belt through the pant loops in a counter-clockwise manner, while women tend to insert the belt through the pant loops in a clockwise direction.Since belts must be drawn firmly around the waist in order to hold up the pants, they may be less comfortable than suspenders, which allow trousers to hang loosely about the body.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Paint

Paint is any liquid, liquifiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is transformed to an opaque solid film.
Paint is used to protect, decorate (such as adding color), or add functionality to an object or outside by covering it with a pigmented coating. An example of protection is to retard corrosion of metal. An example of decoration is to add festive trim to a room interior. An example of added functionality is to alter light reflection or heat radiation of a surface.
As a verb, painting is the application of paint. Someone who paints creatively is usually called a painter, while someone who paints commercially is often referred to as a painter and decorator, or house painter.
Paint can be applied to almost any kind of object. It is used, among many other uses, in the production of art, in industrial coating, as a driving aid, or as a barrier to prevent corrosion or water damage. Paint is a semifinished product, as the final product is the painted article itself.

Friday, May 04, 2007

Lighting rod

A lightning rod is a metal narrow piece or rod, typically of copper or similar conductive material, used as part of lightning security to guard tall or isolated structures from lightning damage. Its formal name is lightning finial. Sometimes, the system is informally referred to as:

A lightning conductor,
A lightning arrester, or
A lightning discharger.
However, these terms really refer to lightning guard systems in general or specific mechanism within them.

Lightning rod dissipaters make a structure less nice-looking by which charges can flow to the air around it. This then reduces the voltage between the point and the storm cloud, making a strike less likely. The most common charge dissipaters appear as slightly-blunted metal spikes sticking out in all information from a metal ball. These are mounted on short metal arms at the very top of a radio antenna or tower, the area by far most likely to be struck. These devices diminish, but do not eradicate, the risk of lightning strikes.

Monday, April 30, 2007

Traffic calming

Traffic reassuring is a set of strategies used by urban planners and traffic engineers which aims to slow down traffic and improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, although some of these features can also be dangerous to cyclists. It is now relatively common in Europe, especially Northern Europe; less so in North America.
Traffic calming has traditionally been justified on the grounds of pedestrian security and reduction of noise and local air pollution which are side effects of the traffic. However, it has become increasingly apparent that streets have many social and recreational functions which are severely impaired by fast car traffic. For example, residents of streets with light traffic had, on average, three more friends and twice as many acquaintances as the people on streets with heavy traffic which were otherwise similar in dimensions, income, etc. For much of the twentieth century, streets were designed by engineers who were charged only with ensuring traffic flow and not with fostering the other functions of streets. The rationale for traffic calming is now broadening to include designing for these functions.
Displaced traffic is not fully pushed onto other routes, as some travelers may begin to walk or use other modes such as public transit and bicycles to get where they are going. Still, in most cases the affected motorists have few alternatives aside from either navigating the newly erected obstacles or finding a more palatable route. This happens because high traffic tends to be generated by motorists passing through the area and not by the local residents.

It should be noted the some of these measures have a tendency to irritate and annoy drivers rather than calm them and others can actually increase traffic throughput. Some drivers who slow down at calming points, however, accelerate and speed after passing them in order to "catch up for lost time". For this reason, more advanced methods integrated into the design of the street, which make slower speeds seem more natural to drivers and less of an artificial imposition, are now preferred - the goal is to slow down the driver through psychological, at least partly subconscious means instead of simply forcing him to do so.

One major side effect of traffic reassuring is the impedance to emergency services. A police car can easily navigate most traffic reassuring measures. The same cannot be said for fire trucks and ambulances, however. They often have to slow down to safely cross speed bumps or chicanes. In some locales, the law prohibits traffic calming measures along the routes used by the urgent situation services.
There are 3 "E"'s that traffic engineers refer to when discussing traffic reassuring: engineering, education, and enforcement. Because neighborhood traffic management studies have shown that often it is the residents themselves that are largely contributing to the perceived speeding problem within the neighborhood, it is strained that the most effective traffic calming plans will entail all three components, and that engineering measures alone will not produce satisfactory results.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Chair

A chair is a piece of furniture for sitting, consisting of a seat, a back, and sometimes arm rests, usually for use by one person. Chairs also often have legs to support the seat raised above the floor. Without back and arm rests it is called a stool. A chair for more than one person is a couch, sofa, settee, loveseat (two-seater without arm rest in between) or bench. A separate footrest for a chair is known as an ottoman, hassock or poof. A chair mounted in a vehicle or in a theatre is simply called a seat. Chairs as furniture are characteristically not attached to the floor and so can be moved.
The back often does not make bigger all the way to the seat to allow for ventilation. Likewise, the back and sometimes the seat are made of porous materials or have holes drilled in them for decoration and ventilation.
The back may expand above the height of the head. There may be separate headrests. Headrests for seats in vehicles are important for preventing whiplash injuries to the neck when the vehicle is concerned in a rear-end collision.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Wood

Wood is the xylem tissue of woody plants, especially trees but also shrubs. Wood from the latter is only formed in small sizes, reducing the diversity of uses. Wood is a hygroscopic, cellular and anisotropic material. Dry wood is composed of fibers of cellulose (40%–50%) and hemicellulose (20%–30%) held together by lignin (25%–30%).
Artists can use wood to make delicate sculptures.Wood has been used by man for millenia for lots of purposes, being many things to many people. One of its main uses is as fuel. It might also be used as a material, for making artworks, boats, buildings, furniture, ships, tools, weapons, etc. Wood has been an important construction material since humans began building shelters, and remains in plentiful use today. Construction wood is normally known as timber in International English, and lumber in American English. Wood can be broken down and be made into chipboard, engineered wood, hardboard, medium-density fibreboard, oriented strand board, paper or used to make other synthetic substances.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Camera phone

A camera phone is a cellphone which has a camera built in. The world's first camera phone was the J-SH04 made by Sharp Corporation and put on market from J-Phone (Vodafone) in Japan in November 2000. The cameras characteristically use CMOS image sensors. This is due mainly to reduced power consumption compared to CCD type cameras, which are also used. The lower power consumption prevents the camera from quickly depleting the phone's battery. Major manufacturers include Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, and LG Electronics. As of 2004, the resolution in Japan is classically in the megapixel range such as 2 megapixels, while in North America and Europe 0.3 megapixels (VGA) is most common. In 2004, 60% percent of mobile phones in Japan have built-in cameras, and this is predictable to rise in 2005. Previously, the highest resolution available was 7 megapixels on the Samsung SCH-V770. This has since been replaced as Samsung Electronics unveiled the world's first 8.0 megapixel camera phone, the WCDMA SPH-V8200.
As a network-connected device, megapixel camera phones are initial to play significant roles such as crime prevention, journalism and business applications as well as individual uses. On the other hand, they are prone to abuse such as voyeurism and invasion of privacy.

Friday, April 06, 2007

Multitrack recording

Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the recording of multiple sound sources, whether at the same time or at different times. This is probably the most common technique of recording popular music: Musicians or singers can be recorded independently, then these performances can be edited together to create a cohesive result. It is also called 'multitracking' or just 'tracking' for short.Multitrack recording devices are available with varying capacities. When recording a segment of audio, which is also known as a track, audio engineers and musicians may select which track or tracks on the device will be used.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Irish pound coin

The Irish pound coin was introduced on June 20, 1990 using the design of a red deer, by the Irish artist Tom Ryan. The 2000 Millennium was used to subject a commemorative coin, the design was based on the "Broighter Boat" in the National Museum of Ireland; the coins design was by Alan Ardiff and Garrett Stokes and were issued on November 29, 1999. The coin featured a milled edge - unique in Irish coinage.
The "Broighter Boat" issue for 2000.The Irish pound coin, which was introduced in 1990, remains the largest Irish coin introduced since decimalisation at 3.11 centimetres diameter and was 10 grams weight. The coin was almost the same in dimensions to the old penny coin that circulated before 1971, and was quite similar in diameter to, but thinner, than the half-crown coin.
During the early circulation of the coin, many payphone and vending machines which had been changed to accept the pound coin also accepted the old penny because of the similar size, the latter coin which was no longer legal tender and had little value to collectors. As a result losses accrued to vending machine operators due to the substitution of the penny coin and further costs were associated with updating the machines so they would no longer accept the penny.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

White Sands

The White Sands National Monument is a U.S. National Monument situated about 25km (15 miles) southwest of Alamogordo in the state of New Mexico. The area is in the mountain-ringed Tularosa Basin valley area and comprises the southern part of a 710km² (275-square mile) field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals.
Gypsum is rarely found in the shape of sand because it is water soluble. generally, rain would dissolve the gypsum and carry it to the sea. Since the Tularosa Basin has no outlet to the sea, rain that dissolves gypsum from the surrounding San Andres and Sacramento Mountains is trapped within the basin and either sinks into the ground or forms shallow pools that next dry out and leave gypsum in a crystalline form called selenite on the surface. During the last ice age a lake called Lake Otero enclosed much of the basin. When it dried out it left a large flat area of selenite crystals which is now the Alkali Flat. Lake Lucero, at the south-west corner of the park, is a dry lake bed at one of the lowest points of the basin that infrequently fills with water.
The ground in the Alkali Flat and along Lake Lucero's shore is covered with selenite crystals which reach lengths of up to three feet. Weather erosion ultimately breaks the crystals into sand-size grains that are carried away by the prevailing winds from the south-west, forming white dunes.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Personal computer

A personal computer or PC is usually a microcomputer intended to be used by one person at a time, and suitable for general purpose tasks such as word processing, programming, sending messages or digital documents (comprising text, images, audio or video) to other computers on the network (E-mail), multimedia editing or game play, usually used to run software not written by the user. Unlike minicomputers, a personal computer is often owned by the person using it, representing a low cost of purchase and simplicity of operation. The user of a modern personal computer may have significant knowledge of the operating environment and application programs, but is not necessarily interested in programming nor even able to write programs for the computer.
In modern usage PC nearly always refers to an IBM PC compatible and the term may even be used for machines that are in no way personal computers but still use the basic architecture of the IBM PC.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Light Pollution

In urban areas light pollution can hide the stars and get in the way with astronomy. In settings near astronomical telescopes and observatories, low pressure sodium lamps may be used. These lamps are beneficial over other lamps such as mercury and halogen lamps because low pressure sodium lamps emit lower intensity, monochromatic light. Observatories can filter the sodium wavelength out of their observations and almost eliminate the interference from nearby urban lighting.The light pollution also disrupts the natural increasing cycle of plants.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Bournemouth

Bournemouth is a seaside resort in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. It is situated about 107 miles southwest of London, at latitude 50.43N and longitude 1.54W. The town overlooks Poole Bay.
It was initially part of Hampshire but was ceded to Dorset in a 1974 local government reform. proof of this can be found at a roundabout at the end of the Wessex Way called "County gates" where the gate marking the divide between Hampshire and Dorset once stood, and which now marks the border between Poole and Bournemouth. On April 1, 1997 Bournemouth became an independent unitary authority.
Bournemouth is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the English south coast, as of its fine long beach, the wide range of accommodation and entertainment, the mild climate, and easy access to the New Forest, Jurassic Coast, Devon, and the Dorset and Hampshire countryside. This section of the English coast enjoys some of the warmest, driest, and sunniest weather in Britain.