Aarushhh/wikipedia-simple-splitted huggingface dataset:
Rain 
Rain is another force that works slowly. The force of raindrops on some rocks make them wear down. Rain also can make a chemical change in some rocks, because it is usually slightly acidic. The water mixes with the minerals in the rock to break it down.

Temperature 

Changing temperature can make a rock crack. Every day when the sun shines on the rock, its surface is heated. Heat causes the surface to expand (get bigger) a little. The inside of the rock, though, does not heat up as fast as the outside of the rock. The inside of the rock stays cooler. At night, the surface cools down and contracts. The expanding and contracting makes some places on the surface weak, and a crack is made.

Also, if water gets into a crack in a rock and the temperature goes below the freezing point, the water will freeze and expand. After some time, the rock may be weak enough to break into pieces.
Ice 
Ice, which can be miles thick, grinds the surface of the rock below it. The particles are carried with the ice, and if a glacier ends up in the sea, so does all the material carried with it.

Lava or magma 
Lava or magma can cause weathering when molten rock touches older rock. It causes the older rock to change form to a different crystal structure.

Chemical weathering 
Chemical weathering is the breaking down of rock which changes the chemical composition.

Carbon dioxide cycle 
The carbon dioxide cycle is the most important for weathering. CO2 is put into the atmosphere mostly by volcanoes, and it is taken out of the atmosphere by photosynthesis, and by one other process. 

While it is in the air, CO2 can dissolve in water droplets to form weak carbonic acid.
When rain hits rock it does so with mechanical energy and dilute acid. The acid dissolves many types of minerals and rocks though, of course, very slowly. When a mineral like feldspar is dissolved, it lets sodium ions into the sea; chlorine ions come from other minerals. The sea tastes salty because of the elements which have been dissolved out of rocks.

Related pages
Erosion
Pedogenesis

References 

 
Weather
Recrystallization (see also crystallization) is an essentially physical process that has meanings in chemistry, metallurgy and geology.

In chemistry, recrystallization is a procedure for purifying compounds. A crystal compound often has other compounds on it that make it less useful. To get rid of these extra items, the crystal is placed in a boiling liquid. Soon the crystal dissolves. The boiling solution, or the mix of the liquid and the dissolved crystal, gets colder. The crystal will form again. The unwanted compounds stay in the solvent, or the liquid. Now the crystal is pure and made of only the compound. Each type of compound works best in a certain type of liquid. Sometimes two or more liquids mixed together are needed to dissolve a crystal.
In geology, solid-state recrystallization is a metamorphic process that occurs under situations of intense temperature and pressure where grains, atoms or molecules of a rock or mineral are packed closer together, creating a new crystal structure. 
Limestone is a sedimentary rock that undergoes metamorphic  recrystallization to form marble, and clays can recrystallize to muscovite mica.

In metallurgy, recrystallization is the nucleation and growth of new undeformed grains in a deformed metal.

For ice, recrystallization means the growth of larger crystals at the expense of smaller ones. Some biological antifreeze proteins have been shown to inhibit this process, and the effect may be relevant in freezing-tolerant organisms.

Related pages

 Crystal
 Crystallization

Gallery

Chemistry
Laboratory techniques
Geology
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is an law for environmental conservation made by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It protects native species and restricts the release of non-native species into the wild. The Act is split into four parts. Killing most mammals and almost all birds is illegal in the United Kingdom, except for certain types and for certain reasons.

Licenses
General licences under the act to hunt birds are issued each year by the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in England. The Department can give a licence to kill or disturb birds. It also gives out a general licence. This allows any "authorised person", that is someone who has the landowner's permission, to kill certain birds, or to destroy their eggs or nests, if there is no other way to get rid of the birds.

This table shows the name of the bird, and the reasons () that type of bird can be destroyed.
1or to prevent serious damage to livestock or damage to foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or inland waters.

Other websites
Official text of the Act

1981 in the United Kingdom
1980s Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom-related lists
Soil classification means that one finds categories of soils that are based on general characteristics as well as criteria that decide about the use that is possible.

Soil classification can be approached from both the perspective of pedogenesis and from soil morphology. But in both cases interpretations do not vary widely.

Further reading
 Eswaran, H., Rice, T., Ahrens, R., & Stewart, B. A. (Eds.). (2002). Soil classification : a global desk reference. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press.
 McBratney, A. B., & de Gruijter, J. J. (1992). A continuum approach to soil classification by modified fuzzy k-means with extragrades. Journal of Soil Science, 43(1), 159-175.

Other websites
 A Compendium of On-Line Soil Survey Information - Soil Classification for Soil Survey by D. G. Rossiter
Engineering soil description and classification 

Engineering
Soil
A manor house or fortified manor-house is a country house, which has historically formed the centre of a manor (see Manorialism).  The term is sometimes used for relatively small country houses which belonged to gentry families, as well as to grand stately homes, particularly as a technical term for minor late medieval castles more intended for show than for defence.

In general terms, the manor house was the house of a feudal lord of a manor, which he occupied only on occasional visits if he held many manors. Although not built with strong fortifications as castles were, many manor houses were partly fortified: they were enclosed within walls or ditches. Often the farm buildings were within these walls as well. Many manor houses had small gatehouses and watchtowers.
The main feature of the manor house was its great hall. By the beginning of the 16th century, manor houses as well as small castles began to acquire the character and amenities of the residences of country gentlemen. This late 16th century transformation produced many of the smaller Renaissance châteaux of France and the many country mansions of the Elizabethan and Jacobean styles in England.  

In France, the terms château or manoir are often used to describe a French manor house. Maison-forte is another French word to describe a strongly fortified manor house.  In the western France provinces of Brittany and Normandy, certain large manors enjoyed real means of protection. 

In modern usage, the term manor or manor house is often used, especially outside Europe, to mean simply either a country house or indeed any other house considered to resemble one, without any reference to age or to the historical sense of the term.

Related pages
 Mansion
 Reality TV show recreating life in an Edwardian manor house.
Other websites
  Estonian Manors Portal - the English version gives the brief overview of 438 best preserved manor houses in Estonia.

Houses
The English country house is generally accepted as a large house that was once in the ownership of an individual who in most of the cases owned another great house in the West End of London. The country house was not only a weekend retreat for aristocrats, but also often a full time residence for the minor gentry.

Evolution of the English country house 
The country houses of England have developed over the last 500 years. Before this time most larger houses were fortified, because their owners were feudal lords or overlords of their manor. The Tudor period of stability in the country saw the first of the large unfortified country houses.

With the rise of modern industry and urbanization, when people left the country to go to the big cities the popularity of country houses declined as there were less people in the country. After 1945 it became very difficult to pay for the huge staff that was required to maintain these houses.
References 
Girouard, Mark. Life in the English Country House : a social and architectural history details the impact of social change on design

Other websites 
The National Trust - England, Wales, & Northern Ireland
The National Trust for Scotland
English Heritage
An English Manor House Head Gardener's Online Diary
Lost Heritage - A Memorial to the Lost Country Houses of England

Houses
The larynx (plural larynges), also known as the voice box, is an organ in the neck of humans and animals. It  helps to protect the wind pipe by stopping it from inhaling food. It also helps with breathing and making sounds. The larynx houses the vocal cords.

Function 
The larynx makes the voice. Both pitch and loudness are controlled here. It has a small slit through which air passes and makes the vocal cords vibrate. The vibrating vocal cords make the air vibrate. This sound changes as it travels through the vocal tract. It becomes a different sound based on the position of the tongue, lips, mouth, and pharynx.
When swallowing, the backward motion of the tongue forces part of the larynx called the epiglottis to cover up the opening to the larynx, also called the laryngeal opening. This is to stop the food swallowed from entering the lungs. The larynx is also pulled upwards to help with this process. If the larynx is irritated by something that is swallowed, a strong cough reflex is used to protect the lungs.

Disorders of the larynx

There are several things that can cause a larynx to not function properly. Some symptoms are hoarseness, loss of voice, pain in the throat or ears, and breathing difficulties. Larynx transplant is not done very often. The world's first successful operation took place in 1998 at the Cleveland Clinic, and the second took place in October 2010 at the University of California Medical Center in Sacramento.
Acute laryngitis is the sudden inflammation and swelling of the larynx. It is caused by the common cold or by excessive shouting. It is not serious. Chronic laryngitis is caused by smoking, dust, frequent yelling, or prolonged exposure to polluted air. It is much more serious than acute laryngitis.
 Presbylarynx is age-related hardening of the soft tissues of the larynx. It results in weak voice and restricted vocal range. Bowing of the front portion of the vocal cords is found on laryngoscopy (an examination of the larynx).
 Polyps and nodules are small bumps on the vocal cords. They can be caused by prolonged exposure to cigarette smoke and vocal misuse.
 Two related types of cancer of the larynx, namely squamous cell carcinoma and verrucous carcinoma, are strongly associated with repeated exposure to cigarette smoke and alcohol.
 Laryngeal spasm.
Laryngeal spasm.
 Laryngopharyngeal reflux is a condition in which acid from the stomach irritates and burns the larynx. Similar damage can occur with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
 Laryngomalacia is a very common condition of infancy. The soft, immature cartilage of the upper larynx collapses inward during inhalation, causing the airway to be (partly) blocked.
 Laryngeal perichondritis, the inflammation of the perichondrium (a connective tissue around the cartilage) of laryngeal cartilages, causing the airway to be (partly) blocked.
References 

Speech and Hearing Science: Anatomy and Physiology 3rd edition. Willard R. Zemlin. 1988. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 

Anatomy of the respiratory system
An endangered species is a species (a population) of animals, plants or other organisms that is in danger of becoming extinct. This could happen because there are few of that animal left, its predators have grown in number, or the climate that it lives in is changing, or the places it lives in have been destroyed. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has worked out that endangered species are 40% of all organisms. 

Many countries have laws to protect these plants and animals. These laws, if obeyed, can save species by stopping hunting, land development or making parks and reserves. Poaching and other illegal activities, however, can still destroy them. 

Only a few plants and animals at risk of extinction, mostly vertebrates, are put on the lists and get legal protection. Many more species become extinct, or will become extinct, without people knowing about it.
Mammal
This is a list of some mammals that are endangered. They include:
 Asiatic linsang
 Asiatic lion
 Black-footed ferret
 Black rhinoceros
 Blue whale
 Dhole
 Ethopian wolf
 Hairy-eared dwarf lemur
 Indonesian mountain weasel
 Snow leopard
 Tiger
 White rhinoceros  (currently considered as near endangered)

Birds
Endangered birds include:
 Albatross
 Crowned solitary eagle
 Grey parrot

Related pages
 CITES
 IUCN Red List

Further reading
Endangered or Not, but at Least No Longer Waiting March 6, 2013 New York Times

References
Archosaurs are a large group of reptiles, including all crocodiles, birds, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs (flying reptiles). There are also a number of smaller extinct groups, mostly from the Triassic period.

The Archosaurs are definitely a monophyletic clade, and do not include reptiles such as the Squamata (lizards and snakes) and the Sphenodontia (Sphenodon).
They have these diagnostic features, called synapomorphies in cladistics talk:
 Teeth set in sockets, which makes them less likely to be torn loose during feeding. Some archosaurs, such as birds, are secondarily toothless.
 Openings in the skull in front of the eyes, but behind the nostrils. The openings reduce the weight of the skull.
 Small openings in the jaw bones reduce the weight of the jaw slightly.
 Legs held under the body rather than sprawled, or may be held under the body. This improves both breathing and movement.
 A special ridge for attaching muscles to the femur. This detail may have made it possible for dinosaurs to stand on two legs. All early dinosaurs and many later ones were bipedal. Obviously birds are bipedal; only the large herbivore dinosaurs went back to walking on four legs.
The archosaurs or their immediate ancestors survived the catastrophic Permian–Triassic extinction event. Benton comments: "The key tetrapods to benefit from the Permo-Triassic mass extinction was the Archosauromorpha". Then, in the early and middle Triassic, there was rapid evolution into the types of aquatic and land tetrapods which dominated the rest of the Mesozoic era.

Archosaur classification
Clades:
 Avemetatarsalia
 †Pterosauria
 Dinosauria
 Crurotarsi or Pseudosuchia: The crocodile line of crown-group Archosauria
 †Phytosauria: semi-aquatic long-snouted types
 †Aetosauria: quadrupedal armoured herbivores
 †Ornithosuchidae: look rather like dinosaurs
 Crocodylomorpha (Crocodilia and their ancestors)
 †Rauisuchia ? uncertain group, includes some large-bodied quadrupedal predators

Archosauromorpha
This is an even wider group, which includes diapsid Sauropsida which appeared in the middle Permian and Triassic periods. Their relationships are not well established at present.
Further reading
 Benton M.J. 2015. Vertebrate paleontology. 4th ed, Blackwell, Oxford: Evolution of the Archosauromorphs, p154.
 Carroll R.L. 1988. Vertebrate paleontology and evolution. Freeman N.Y.

References
The MS Explorer was a cruise ship (MS stands for motor ship). It had been known as  MS Lindblad Explorer (–1985) and MS Society Explorer (–1992). It was registered in  Liberia. It was designed for sailing in cold areas, such as around Antarctica. The MS Explorer was originally ordered by the Swedish explorer Lars-Eric Lindblad. The ship was sold several times.  Its last owner was the Toronto-based travel company G.A.P Adventures. It had bought the Explorer in 2004.
Besides being the first cruise ship ever built specifically to ply the frigid waters of the Antarctic Ocean, the Explorer became the first ever to sink there when it struck an unidentified submerged object, possibly ice, on November 23, 2007, which caused a 10-by-4 inch (25 × 10 cm) gash in the hull. Everyone escaped from Explorer in the early hours of November 23, 2007, after taking on water near the South Shetland Islands in the Southern Ocean, which is usually stormy, but was calm at the time. The Explorer was confirmed by the Chilean Navy to have sunk at approximately position: 62 degrees 24 minute South and 57 degrees 16 minutes west, between South Shetlands and Grahams Land, in the Bransfield Strait, where the depth is roughly 2,000 feet (600 m).
History 
Commissioned by Lars-Eric Lindblad, the Swedish-American pioneer of exotic expedition tours, the Explorer was built in 1969 at Nystads Varv shipyard in Uusikaupunki, Finland. The ship was built to stay afloat with two of its compartments filled with water, and its ice class on the HELCOM scale was IC.

The vessel was originally named the Lindblad Explorer in honor of Lars-Eric Lindblad. On February 11, 1972 the Explorer ran aground (into the ground) near La Plaza Point, Antarctica; its passengers, Lars-Eric Lindblad among them, were rescued by the Chilean Navy. It was towed to Buenos Aires, Argentina and then to Kristiansand, Norway for repairs.

In 1998 Explorer was the first ship to sail around the James Ross Island;.

The Explorer was depicted on at least two postage stamps issued by South Georgia.

Sinking
Sinking 

The ship left Ushuaia, Argentina on November 11, 2007, on a 19-day cruise intended to trace the route of 20th century explorer Ernest Shackleton through the Drake Passage (an area typically stormy with rough seas). After visiting the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island the Explorer hit an unidentified submerged object in the Bransfield Strait close to King George Island in the Antarctic Ocean, near the South Shetland Islands, on November 23, 2007.  The object struck by the Explorer caused a 10-by-4 inch (25 × 10 cm) hole to the ship's port side (left side) which allowed sea water to enter the ship.
A passenger reported sea water in the cabin at about 03:00 UTC. Although some reports indicate there had been no noticeable impact, or at least nothing more than the normal crunching of ice experienced when sailing through icy waters, other reports say that there was a loud bang. Some reports also indicate that the ship drifted into an iceberg on the Explorer's starboard side while the crew was assessing damage caused by the original impact to the port side of the ship.
A mayday call was put out by the ship at 04:24 UTC, and rescue operations were quickly coordinated by the Prefectura Naval (Coast Guard Corps) of the Argentine Republic, and the Chilean Navy Center for Search and Rescue. Chile dispatched the icebreaker Almirante Viel, and nearby commercial ships including the MN Ushuaia, the National Geographic Endeavor, and the Norwegian Coastal Express ship MS Nordnorge which was operating as a passenger cruise ship at the time. By 07:30 UTC, all 91 passengers, 9 guides and 54 crew, from over 14 countries
, left the ship and took to the life rafts, where they drifted for three to four hours, until they were picked up by the Norwegian ship MS Nordnorge which arrived on scene by 10:00 UTC.
It is believed that the Explorer sank at about 19:00 UTC. Coincidentally, earlier in 2007, the MS Nordnorge was involved in another Antarctic rescue when it evacuated 294 passengers from a sister ship, the MS Nordkapp, when the Nordkapp ran aground on Deception Island, a part of these same remote South Shetland Islands archipelago.
Some of those rescued by the Nordnorge were taken to the Chilean Eduardo Frei Montalva Station on King George Island.  Later they were flown by C-130 Hercules transport aircraft of the Chilean Air Force to Punta Arenas, Chile, in two separate flights on Saturday, November 24, and Sunday, November 25, 2007.  Approximately 70 of the survivors were taken to Uruguay’s Artigas Base. The Explorer sank within 20 hours after striking an unknown submerged object reported to be ice.

References

Other websites
Other websites 

 MS Explorer  – G.A.P Adventures
 Explorer  – Det Norske Veritas Exchange Vessel Information.
 Passenger account from cabin 314, where the breach occurred  - by Eli Charne
 Photos taken on the last voyage of the M/S Explorer - by Eli Charne
 M/S Explorer  – Eagle Eye Tours
  BT.no webcam of bad list, title reads Here Explorer sinks  – earlier still photos from Nordnorge
 MS Explorer anchored off Elephant Island, Antarctica picture at Flickr.com
 M.S Explorer Slideshow At Yahoo News – Yahoo News Slideshow
 Eye witness account of the rescue – Audrey’s Blog
 Picture of the ship sinking published on "Clarin" newspaper website  – "Clarin" online edition 25-Nov-2007, Argentina. 
Erik Langeland
Lindbeck 

Cruise ships
Calcite is one of the most common minerals on the Earth's surface. It is a often part of sedimentary rocks, especially limestone. It is also the primary mineral in metamorphic marble.

It is a chemical or biochemical calcium carbonate with the formula CaCO3. It is a carbonate mineral. It can be a vein mineral in deposits from hot springs, and in caverns as stalactites and stalagmites.

Other websites 

 

Minerals
Geochemistry
Stalagmites may also refer to a type of fungus.

A stalagmite is a  form that can be found on the floor of a cave. It rises from the floor of a limestone cave when mineralized solutions drip from the ceiling and deposits of calcium carbonate form columns on the ground. The corresponding formation on the ceiling of a cave is known as a stalactite. 

There are several methods to help remember which formation hangs from the ceiling (stalactite) and which rises from the floor (stalagmite):

 StalaCtite has a "c" for "ceiling".
 StalaGmite has a "g" for "ground".
 The T in StalacTite resembles one hanging from the ceiling, while the M in StalagMite resembles a formation rising from the floor.
When touring caves with stalactites and stalagmites you might be asked to not touch the rock formations. This is generally because the formation is considered to still be growing and forming. Since the rock buildup is formed by minerals solidifying out of the water solution, skin oils can disturb where the mineral water will cling. So the development of the rock formation will be affected and not will not be natural anymore.

Stalactites and stalagmites can also form on concrete ceilings and floors, but they form much more quickly on concrete than in the natural cave environment.

Related pages
 Stalactite

References

Other websites 
 The Virtual Cave: Stalagmites

Caves
Deposit could mean:

Deposit account, owed by the bank to its depositor
Deposit (geology), material added to a landform
Damage deposit taken in relation to rental or an item or property
Deposit (town), New York
Deposit (village), New York
Deposit model, a method of identifying the character and degree of survival of buried archaeological remains
 Token amounts intended to promote recycling via container deposit legislation
Deposition is the geological process where material is added to a land (or a landform). This can happen in many places, such as a beach or river. Some parts of a shoreline build up and grow out, whereas other parts of the shoreline erode and fall into the sea.

In deposition, wind and water lay down grains of material that have been eroded and transported from another place. Deposition happens when the forces which transport sediments  are weaker than the forces of particle weight and friction. This causes a resistance to movement, and the particles drop down. 

Deposition can also refer to the buildup of sediment from organically derived matter or chemical process.

Related pages
Sediment
Sedimentary rock

Geology
Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound, with the chemical formula CaCO3. The elements involved are calcium (Ca), carbon (C) and oxygen (O). It is a common substance found as rock in all parts of the world, and is the main component of seashells, snails, and eggshell. 

Calcium carbonate is usually the main cause of hard water. It is used as a calcium supplement or as a treatment for antacid, but too much can be bad for your health.

Calcium carbonate is found naturally as the following minerals and rocks:
 Aragonite
 Calcite
 Vaterite or (μ-CaCO3)
 Chalk
 Limestone
 Marble
 Travertine

To test whether a mineral or rock contains calcium carbonate, strong acids, such as hydrochloric acid, can be added to it. If the sample does contain calcium carbonate, it will fizz and produce carbon dioxide. Weak acids such as acetic acid will react, but less quickly. All of the rocks/minerals mentioned above will react with acid.

Related pages
Related pages

 Aragonite
 Calcite
 Limestone
 Ocean acidification
 Gesso
 Cuttlefish
 Cuttlebone

Minerals
Geochemistry
Calcium compounds
Carbonates
Hard water is water that has a high mineral content (contrast with soft water).

The main components of these minerals usually are calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) ions. But there are also dissolved metals, bicarbonates, and sulfates. Calcium usually enters the water as either calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the form of limestone and chalk, or calcium sulfate (CaSO4) in the form of several other mineral deposits. The main source of magnesium is dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2). Hard water is generally not harmful and some hardness in water is a useful source of calcium for healthy bone development .

Other websites 
Alcoa Chemical, Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) Calculator 

Water
Soft water is water which has relatively low concentration of calcium carbonate and other ions . It contains less than 85.5 parts per million of calcium carbonate. 

The water that lathers with soap easily is called or known as soft water. It describes 
 of water that contain few or no minerals like calcium (Ca) or magnesium (Mg) ions. The term is usually relative to hard water, which does contain significant amounts of such ions.

Soft water mostly comes from peat or igneous rock sources, such as granite but may also come from sandstone sources, since those sedimentary rocks are usually low in calcium and magnesium. 

Hard water may be better for the heart than soft water. Its calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg)ions may be a dietary supplement for some.
The main disadvantage of hard water is it deposits calcium carbonate on pipes, especially hot water pipes. This is called "scale formation". It may cause blockage of pipes and reduce boiler efficiency. Also, soap and detergents work less well in hard water. These effects increase as hardness increases.

References 

Water
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat that one can find in upland areas, that are characterised by acidic soils. 

Moorland habitats are rather common in the neotropics and tropical Africa but one can find them also in small scattered places in northern and western Europe, northern Australia, North America, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. In the tiny areas of European moorlands tend to be  environments with only very few species. They are often dominated by heather. In the far more extensive moorlands of the tropics species diversity can be extremely high. 

Moorlands differ from typical heathland in being colder and much wetter, often with extensive bogs.

Famous moorlands in the UK
Notable areas of upland moorland in Britain include the Dark Peak, the Forest of Bowland, the Lake District, the Pennines, Mid Wales, the Southern Uplands of Scotland, the Scottish Highlands and a few very small pockets in western Herefordshire.
Bleaklow, Dark Peak, England
 Bodmin Moor, Cornwall
 Curry and Hay Moors, Somerset, England
 Dartmoor, and Dartmoor wildlife, Devon, England
 Emley Moor, West Yorkshire, England
 Exmoor, Devon and Somerset, England
 Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire, England
 Marston Moor and North York Moors, North Yorkshire, England
 Rannoch Moor, Highland, Scotland
 Rombalds Moor, West Yorkshire, England
 Saddleworth Moor, Pennine hills, England
 Shropshire Hills, small pockets of moorland, England 
 Staffordshire Moorlands, England
 Ythan Estuary complex, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, largest coastal moorland in the United Kingdom, known for high biodiversity.

Conservation
In Europe if the heather and other vegetation is left for too long, a large volume of dry and combustible material builds up. This may cause a fire which may burn out a large area. But generally moorland wildlife copes with even major fires and are easily able to recover if such intense burnings are not too frequent.

Other websites
Moorland

Habitats
Moorland could mean:

In geography:

 Carlton-le-Moorland
 Moorland, type of habitat found in upland areas
 Moorland, Iowa
 Moorland, Kentucky
 Moorland Township, Michigan

In other fields:

 Daydream — Moorland, soundtrack album by the German band Tangerine Dream for the TV series Tatort
 Jesse E. Moorland, Black minister, community executive, and civic leader
 Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, repository for the documentation of the history and culture of people of African descent in Africa
In context of biogeography, Neotropic or Neotropical means one of the world's eight terrestrial ecozones.

This ecozone includes South and Central America, the Mexican lowlands, the Caribbean islands, and southern Florida, because these regions share a large number of plant and animal groups.

It is sometimes used as a synonym for the tropical area of South America, although the ecozone also includes temperate southern South America. 
Its fauna and flora are distinct from the Nearctic (which includes most of North America) because of the long separation of the two continents. The formation of the Isthmus of Panama joined the two continents 2 to 3 million years ago.
The Neotropic includes more tropical rainforest than any other ecozone. They extend from southern Mexico through Central America and northern South America to southern Brazil and include the Amazon Rainforest. These rainforest ecoregions are one of the most important reserves of biodiversity on Earth. Extensive deforestation in the late 20th century has reduced this diversity to a degree.

Other websites 
 Map of the ecozones
 Eco-Index, a bilingual searchable reference of conservation and research projects in the Neotropics; a service of the Rainforest Alliance
References 
 Cox, C. Barry; Peter D. Moore 1985. Biogeography: an ecological and evolutionary approach. 4th ed, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.
 Dinerstein, Eric; David Olson; Douglas J. Graham; et al. 1995. A conservation assessment of the terrestrial ecoregions of Latin America and the Caribbean. World Bank, Washington DC.
 Schultz J.: 2005. The Ecozones of the World. 2nd ed, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York.  
 Udvardy M.D.F. 1975. A classification of the biogeographical provinces of the world. IUCN Occasional Paper #18. Morges, Switzerland: IUCN.

Ecozones
For the thoroughbred racehorse see Nearctic (horse).

The Nearctic is one of the eight terrestrial ecozones dividing the Earth's land surface.

In ecology, an ecozone is a large land mass that contains many terrestrial ecoregions, each of which has unique plants and animals.

The Nearctic ecozone covers most of North America, including Greenland and the highlands of Mexico. 

Southern Mexico, southern Florida, Central America, and the Caribbean islands are part of the Neotropic ecozone, together with South America.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) divides the Nearctic into four Bioregions, defined as "geographic clusters of ecoregions that may span several habitat types, but have strong biogeographic affinities, particularly at taxonomic levels higher than the species level (genus, family)."

Other websites 
 Map of the ecozones
 Nearctica, the natural world of North America
References 
 Flannery, Tim 2001. The eternal frontier: an ecological history of North America and its peoples. Grove Press, New York.
 Ricketts, Taylor H., Eric Dinerstein, David M. Olson, Colby J. Loucks et al. 1999. Terrestrial ecoregions of North America: a conservation assessment. Island Press, Washington DC.

Ecozones
Nearctic (February 11, 1954 – July 27, 1973) was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. He had his most successful season in racing at 4 years old, when he won nine races. Nearctic was retired to stand at stud at Windfields Farm in Canada where he became father of a Kentucky Derby winner and the Northern Dancer.
He died at age 19 on July 27, 1973.

Other websites 
 Nearctic's pedigree and stats

1954 births
1973 deaths
Thoroughbred racehorses
Stud could mean:
 Stud (animal) - a male animal employed for breeding 
 By analogy, a virile human male (see gender role)
 A small ornamental button mounted on a short post for insertion through an eyelet
 Screw - a threaded fastener
 The interlocking circular piece of a LEGO brick
 Snowmobile Stud - a metal threaded piece installed in a snowmobile rubber track
 Stud earring for pierced ears
 Cleat - a protrusion on the bottom of a shoe to provide extra grip
 Shoe studs - a traction device used on the bottom of horse shoes
 Traction devices inserted in the tread of automobile winter tires
 Wall stud - a vertical member within a light-frame construction wall
 Stud poker - a kind of card game:
 Five-card stud
 Seven-card stud
 Caribbean Stud Poker
 Studs (game show) - a dating show from the early 1990s
 Stud contact system, an obsolete Ground-level power supply system for tramways
Lockerbie is a small town in Scotland that was devastated on 21 December 1988 when a Pan American 747-400 aeroplane crashed after a bomb exploded on board. The bomb was hidden in a hand held radio in the rear cargo hold. It had been transferred onto the flight from a connecting flight from Amsterdam. All passengers and crew aboard the aeroplane, and 11 people in the town of Lockerbie were killed. The total number of people killed was 270. The Libyan government was found to have organized the bombing. The United Nations placed sanctions on Libya, which stopped people buying and selling items with Libya. In 2003 Libya agreed to pay compensation to the families of the people killed.

References

Towns in Dumfries and Galloway
A circadian rhythm is a rhythm that repeats about every 24 hours.  Plants and animals have these built-in cycles which allow them to flower at the right time, sleep at the right time, etc.

These cycles are also called circadian clocks. The word "circadian" comes from the Latin circa, "around", and diem or dies, "day", meaning "about a day".  Biological time-keeping rhythms include daily, tidal, weekly, seasonal, and annual rhythms. However, most of these rhythms repeat once a day, so they are called circadian  from the Latin circa (about) dies (a day).

Circadian clocks are the internal clocks which make sure that the organism is doing the right thing at the right time. With more complex animals there is the matter of sleep, which seems to be universal amongst animals which have a brain.
Circadian rhythms do some amazing things, especially in the oceanic animals whose eggs are fertilised externally. This means the eggs and sperm have to be released at the same time by both sexes of the same species. Little is known about the physiology of how this coordination is achieved.

Animal clocks have three main parts:
 a central biochemical oscillator with a period of about 24 hours that keeps time;
 a series of input pathways to this central oscillator to allow  the clock to adjust itself;
 a series of output pathways that regulate rhythms in biochemistry, physiology, and behaviour throughout an organism.

In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young "for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm" in fruit flies (Drosophila).
The circadian rhythms, also called the "biological clock" or the "body clock", of humans and other animals, regulate many bodily functions including feeding, sleeping, body temperature and hormone production.

Plants 
The actual machinery in plants, fungi and bacteria are different from those in the animal clock. However, they do the same kind of thing in practice.

References 

Physiology
A stud in animal breeding is a male animal, such as a horse or dog, that is employed for breeding. The terms for the male of a given animal species (stallion, bull, rooster, etc.) usually mean that the animal is entire, that is, not castrated, and therefore capable of standing at stud. A specialized vocabulary exists for de-sexed animals.

A stud farm, in animal husbandry, is an establishment for selective breeding using stud animals.

Animal husbandry
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testes or a female loses the functions of the ovaries. It is also a type of anaphrodisiac.

Castration in veterinary practice 
Castration is commonly performed on domestic animals not intended for breeding. 
Domestic animals are usually castrated in order to avoid unwanted or uncontrolled reproduction; to reduce or prevent other ways of sexual behaviour such as territorial behaviour or aggression (like fighting between groups of uncastrated males of a species); or to reduce other consequences of sexual behaviour that may make animal husbandry more difficult, such as fence destruction when animals try to get to nearby females of the species.

Male horses are usually castrated, because stallions are rather aggressive. The same applies to male mules, although they are sterile. Male cattle are castrated to improve docility for use as oxen.
A specialized vocabulary has arisen for neutered animals of given species:

 Barrow (pig)
 Capon (chicken)
 Dinmont (sheep, goat)
 Gelding (horse)
 Gib (cat, ferret)
 Havier (deer)
 Lapin (rabbit)
 Steer (cattle)
 Wether (sheep, goat)

Castration in humans
The practice of castration has its roots before recorded human history.  Castration was frequently used in certain cultures of Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa and China, for political, religious or social reasons. After battles in some cases, victors castrated their captives or the corpses of the defeated to symbolise their victory and 'seize' their power. Castrated men — eunuchs — were often admitted to special social classes and were used particularly to staff bureaucracies and palace households: in particular, the harem. Castration also figured in a number of religious castration cults. Other religions, for example Judaism and Islam, were strongly opposed to the practice. The Leviticus Holiness code, for example, specifically excludes eunuchs or any males with defective genitals from the priesthood, just as castrated animals are excluded from sacrifice.
In China, to become a servant of the emperor, men had to be castrated. This would prevent them from having sons or having affairs with royal concubines. Eunuchs in China have been known to usurp power in many eras of Chinese history, most notably in the Later Han, late Tang and late Ming Dynasties. There are similar recorded Middle Eastern events.

Reasons

Medical 
Testicular cancer is generally treated by surgical removal of the cancerous testicle(s) (orchidectomy), often followed by radiation or chemotherapy. Unless both testicles are cancerous, only one is removed.

As punishment 
Edward Gibbon's famous work Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire reports castration of defeated foes at the hands of the Normans. Castration has also been used in modern conflicts, as the Janjaweed militiamen currently (as of 2005) attacking citizens of the Darfur region in Sudan, often castrating villagers and leaving them to bleed to death. In some countries, the law suggests castrating sex criminals such as hebephilles.
For religious reasons 
In Europe, when females were not permitted to sing in church or cathedral choirs in the Roman Catholic Church, boys were sometimes castrated to prevent their voices breaking at puberty and to develop a special high voice. The first documents mentioning castrati are Italian church records from the 1550s.

Miscellaneous 
 Orthodox Judaism forbids the castration of either humans or animals. Castrated animals are deemed unfit for sacrifice in the Temple; Castrated men are deemed unfit for the priesthood.
 Castration is used as a treatment for prostate cancer.
 Some parasitic nematodes chemically castrate their hosts, see microphallus.

Related pages
 Castrato, a castrated male singer
 Birth control

Notes

Other websites
Other websites 

 Castration Through the Ages 
 Questions often asked about castration  by Sherry
 The Journal of Clinical Endrocrinology and Metabolism 
 Neutering NOT Org Website arguing against the castration of domestic animals
 Eunuch.org Website for eunuchs and people with castration fetishes/fantasies. Includes a database of erotic stories, discussion forums, and more.
 Elastrator
 Boar taint in pigs selected for components of efficient lean growth rate

On religious castration 

 Susan Elliott, Cutting Too Close for Comfort: Paul's Letter to the Galatians in Its Anatolian Cultic Context  Reviews in Review of Biblical Literature 

Reproductive system
Anaphrodisiacs
Bullock may refer to:
 Bullock (in British English), a castrated bull of any age
 Bullock (in North America), a young uncastrated bull
 Bullock (in Australia and New Zealand), an ox, an adult male bovine used for draught (usually but not always castrated)
 Bullock County, Alabama

Related pages
 Bollocks
Bureaucracy is a concept. It is the structure and rules which control the activities of people that work for large organizations and government. 

It has standardized procedure (rule-following), formal division of responsibility, hierarchy, and impersonal relationships. However, in practice, the interpretation and execution of policy can lead to informal influence.

Bureaucracy is a concept in sociology and political science. Four things are central to any definition of bureaucracy: a well-defined division of work between persons and offices, consistent patterns of recruitment, and stable careers. There is a hierarchy among offices, such that the authority and status are distributed between actors. Formal and informal networks connect people to one another, through flows of information and patterns of cooperation. 

Examples of everyday bureaucracies include governments, armed forces, corporations, hospitals, courts, ministries and schools.
Other websites
 Abstracts of academic books and articles about bureaucracy 
 Kevin R. Kosar, "What ought a bureaucrat do?"  Claremont.org, (A review piece that ponders the values that should guide bureaucrats in their work.)
 Scientific Management and the Bureaucratic Organization  Summary of key concepts from on-line course.

Sociology
Political science
Anzère is a small village in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is north of Sion. It is a popular ski resort, with several ski schools.

Skiing
The ski slopes in Anzère cover about 40 kilometers, with 1 cablecar, 2 chair lifts, and 8 T-bars.
There are several cafes in the area, and the entire area is known as Télé-Anzère.

Town Centre
Facilities in and around Anzère's 'Place du Village' include both indoor and outdoor swimming pools, two supermarkets, many hotels, bars and nightclubs, as well as many restaurants and clothing shops. The 'Place du Village' is a person area right in the heart of the village, housing most of Anzère's cafes and restaurants. There is also an internet cafe, a crèperie and a children's play area.

Other websites
Anzère

Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland
Villages in Valais
Sion is the capital of the Swiss canton of Valais. In 2002, it had a population of 27,700.

Landmarks include the Basilique de Valère and Château de Tourbillon.

Geography 
As of 31 December 2005, 28,013 people lived in Sion. It is in the center of the Rhône valley. Sion is the economic and commercial hub of the region and canton.

The older area of the city still stays and is well preserved. As well as the two Château's, a number of other important buildings are there, such as the Château de la Majorie, the Hôtel de Ville and the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Sion.

History 
Sion started to develop during the time of the Celts.

It takes its name from the Latin word Sedunum. It housed the Romans with the rest of the surrounding area in the first century BCE.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sion is the oldest bishopric in Switzerland. It is one of the oldest north of the Alps.

On 1 January 2013, the former municipality of Salins merged into the municipality of Sion.
In 2017, Les Agettes became part of the municipality.

Economy 

The tertiary sector is the main economic sector in Sion. Tourism is also an important sector due to its historic château's and museums.

Sion is the third largest wine making region in Switzerland, however, the valuable agricultural land and vineyards are undergoing constant regression due to the process of urbanisation.

Sion has also become an important medical site. The Sion-Region hospital is here next to the central institute of Valaisan hospitals and the Romande clinic for physical rehabilitation (SUVA).

Finally, the commune has a waste incinerator which disposes of the waste from 44 surrounding communes. This incinerator has a catalytic converter, something that reduces harmful gases to acceptable levels. The heat created from the burning is converted into electrical energy that is then provided to local communes.
Airshows 
Public airshows have been held at the airfield of Sion. Participating aerobatic teams have included the Frecce Tricolori from Italy was well as the Patrouille de France.

Transport 
Sion is on the main railway line and the motorway. It also has an airport (Sion Airport).

References

Other websites 
 Official website 
 Tourism guide
The Brig District is a part of the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It includes the following municipalities:

Brig District
Monthey is the capital of the district of Monthey in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

As of 2004, Monthey had a population is of 15,118 people (Montheysans).  Monthey is located on the west side of the Rhône valley, south to Lake Geneva. Monthey is important to Swiss industry, with many important companies including chemical companies. The city is close to the famous winter sports region, the Portes du Soleil.

References

Other websites

 Monthey Homepage

Municipalities in Monthey
Cities in Switzerland
Sierre is the capital of the Sierre district in the Valais canton in Switzerland.

It has a population of 14,355. It is at the language border of the German-speaking upper part of the "Wallis" and the French-speaking "Valais". This city counts as one of the three official bilingual towns in Switzerland. Sierre is starting point for the tourist sites of the Val d'Anniviers including the villages of Vercorin, Chandolin, St-Luc Vissoie, St-Jean Chandolin, Grimentz, Zinal and Ayer. Sierre is connected with Crans-Montana by a cable car.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Sierre became economically important as very early aluminium smelting was possible because of its access to hydroelectricity.

References

Other websites

 Official website 

Cities in Switzerland
Municipalities in Sierre
Brig is the capital of the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

History 
The historic town of 5,000 people is part of the Brig-Glis municipality. The name 'Brig' comes from Briva, or "bridge."  Its medieval name was Briga dives. It is a small town in the Swiss canton of the Valais, at the foot of the northern slope of the Simplon Pass, on the right bank of the Saltine stream, and a little above its junction with the Rhone. Its older houses look very Italian. Its buildings were built during the 17th century, because of a single member of the local Stockalper family.

Location 
Brig is close to the Swiss-Italian borders. The language used when talking between one another is a unique German dialect, used only in this canton. Brig is popular among winter sport athletes, since it is surrounded by many Alp summits. The town itself is close to Rhone river. Due to the height, the temperatures in winter often remain below zero, resulting in frost. During the summer season, heat can be intense.