cahya/wikipedia-simple-en huggingface dataset:
Judiciary

In the law, the judiciary or judicial system is the system of courts that administers justice in the name of the sovereign or state. A judicial system is used to resolve disputes.

Meaning 
The term is also used to refer collectively to the judges and magistrates who form the basis of the judiciary, as well as the other people who help keep the system running properly.

Separation of powers 
Separation of powers causes separate branches of government that each have a different purpose. The judiciary is the branch of government that interprets the law. Such systems may have three branches: Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. Often the judiciary branch has courts of first resort, appellate courts, and a supreme court or constitutional court. Decisions of the lower courts may be appealed to the higher courts.

Judiciary in the USA 

In the United States the Judicial Branch is an integrated system of courts headed by the Supreme Court of the United States. 

Law
Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi (15 August 1948 – 24 December 2018) was an Iranian politician. He was the Chief Justice of Iran from 1999 to 2009. He was born in Najaf, Iraq.

Ayatollah Shahroudi was best known for ordering a moratorium on stoning as a form of the death penalty. However, later it was shown that executions by stoning are still being carried out, in spite of his claims that they have stopped. Stoning is still happening inside prisons, where the public cannot see it.

From August 2017 to December 2018, Shahroudi was Chairman of Expediency Discernment Council.

He died on 24 December 2018 from cancer in Tehran at the age of 70.

References

Other websites
 Text: Human Rights Watch Protests Media Crackdown, Detentions in Iran  (April 2000)
 Iran veil crackdown criticised APRIL 24, 2007

Chief Justices of Iran
Deaths from cancer
1948 births
2018 deaths
Expediency Discernment Council

The Expediency Discernment Council is a governmental body for resolving disputes between the Guardian Council and the legislature in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Other websites 
 Official Website 
 GlobalSecurity.org on the Expediency Discernment Council

Iran
Mata Hari

Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida (Grietje) Zelle (7 August 1876, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands – 15 October 1917, Vincennes, France). 

She was  a Dutch-Frisian exotic dancer and spy. She was executed by a firing squad of the French Army. French authorities thought she was a spy during World War I. Because she had relationships with both German and French officers, they thought she was a double agent (working for both sides). Her dossier (file) was released in 2017, a hundred years after her death.

Guilty 
German documents unsealed in the 1970s proved that Mata Hari was truly a German agent. In the autumn of 1915, she entered German service. 

On the orders of section III B-Chief Walter Nicolai, she was instructed about her duties by Major Roepell during a stay in Cologne. Her direct handler was Captain Hoffmann, who gave her the code name H-21.

References 

1876 births
1917 deaths
Dutch artists
Erotic dancers
People executed by firearm
People from Leeuwarden
Spies
Father Damien

Father Damien, also Saint Damien of Molokai, born as Joseph de Veuster in Belgium on January 3, 1840 and died on April 15, 1889, was a Roman Catholic Priest and missionary. He was known for helping people with leprosy in the colony of Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai in Hawaii. Father Damien came to Hawaii in 1864. During this time, many Native Hawaiians were dying from many of the diseases they caught from the white settlers. The King of Hawaii, made the people who had leprosy live in a colony away from other people. Father Damien went to help the sick people and gave them hope. Father Damien also died from leprosy, but what he did helped many people. 

In 1995, he was beatified (made an important person) by the Pope, and he is recognized by both the Catholic and Anglican churches. Father Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday October 11, 2009.  

His is Patron Saint of the Diocese of Honolulu, as well as all of Hawaii, of  people with leprosy, and of outcasts, as well as people suffering from HIV and AIDS as well.

References

1840 births
1889 deaths
Belgian priests
Belgian Roman Catholics
Christian saints
Hawaii
Missionaries
People from Flemish Brabant
Jack Dempsey

William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey (June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983) was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title between 1919 and 1926  Known as "The Manassa Mauler", Dempsey was a tremendous puncher famous for his exciting fights, many of which set financial and attendance records.

He won the title by beating Jess Willard on July 4, 1919. He defended the title six times before losing it to Gene Tunney in 1926. They had a rematch in 1927 and Tunney again beat Dempsey. It was during this fight where the "Long Count" took place. Dempsey knocked Tunney down in the seventh round. The referee would not start counting until Dempsey went to a neutral corner, so it is estimated that Tunney had as many as fourteen seconds to rise (instead of the usual ten).

Dempsey retired in 1928. He fought exhibitions after his retirement, served as a commander in the Coast Guard during World War II, and opened a restaurant in New York City.

Dempsey died in 1983.

Other websites
 Boxing record

American boxers
Sportspeople from Colorado
1895 births
1983 deaths
Jess Willard

Jess Willard (December 29, 1881–December 15, 1968) was an American boxer. He was the heavyweight best puncher in the world from 1915 to 1919. When Jack Johnson was the Black world champion, Willard was one of the many "White Hopes" who wanted to take the title. He succeeded when he beat Johnson by a 26th round out-cold punch in Cuba in 1915. He fought to keep the title and won once before losing it to Jack Dempsey in 1919.

References

Other websites
 Boxing record
 Biography of Jess Willard

1881 births
1968 deaths
American boxers
Sportspeople from Kansas
Nicholas II of Russia

Nicholas II redirects here, for other people named Nicholas II, see Nicholas.

Nicholas II of Russia, (May 18, 1868 – July 17, 1918) was the last Tsar (Emperor) of the Russian Empire. He became Tsar in 1894 after his father, Tsar Alexander III died. His reign lasted until the 1917 Russian Revolution.

He married Princess Alix of Hesse, who was the daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and the  granddaughter of Queen Victoria , and they had five children, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexi. Alexi suffered from a disease called haemophilia, which caused his parents great sadness. After 1905, the royal family became friends with Grigori Rasputin, whom they believed could treat Alexi.

In the first 20 years of his reign, Nicholas tried to make Russia more modern, but these plans were held back by the nobles and the Tsar's weak leadership.  He and his chief ministers Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin encouraged railways, land reform, education, the borrowing of money and friendship with France and the United Kingdom.  In 1905, after Russia lost a war with Japan and the killing of protestors on Bloody Sunday, there were large protests against his government by people who wanted a parliament.  He created one (the Duma), but he would not allow it to have many powers. His reign also saw the Khodynka Tragedy, attacks on the Russian Jews, anger over the power of Rasputin, and the imprisonments and executions of people who opposed the government.

In 1914, he led Russia into World War I, but the war went badly for Russia and caused great hardship. It led to the fall of the monarchy in the 1917 Russian Revolution. He abdicated (quit being Tsar) in March of that year. He and his family were held as prisoners under house arrest. On July 17, 1918, Nicholas, his wife and their children were killed by a firing squad, on the orders of the new Bolshevik government. In 1981, the Tsar and his family were made Saints by the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1990, the bones of the Tsar and his family were found in the woods and given a proper burial in St Petersburg in 1998.

The historians of the Soviet Union often described Nicholas as a tyrant. Modern historians see him as a man who tried to do what was right for his country but did not have the skills and was easily led by people who gave him bad advice.

References

Other websites 
 alexanderpalace.org
 FrozenTears.org A media library of the last Imperial Family.

1868 births
1918 deaths
House of Romanov
People executed by firearm
Russian Revolution
Russian tsars
Russian Orthodox saints
William Tell

William Tell was a folk hero from Switzerland. In the story, William Tell is a man who refused to bow down to pole that was set up by an army who had taken over the place where he lived. He was arrested and forced to shoot an apple off his son's head with a crossbow. If he did not, both he and his son would be killed. So he shot the apple off the son's head and did not harm his son. He is considered a legend and his actions helped form Switzerland as a nation.

Adaptions 
 Wilhelm Tell (William Tell), a play by Friedrich Schiller
 Guillaume Tell (William Tell), an opera by Gioachino Rossini, based on Schiller's play

Swiss people
Board

Board could mean: 
Board (wood), a piece of lumber, or other rigid material made of wood, milled or sawn flat
Surfboard
Skateboard
Snowboard (often made of fibreglass)
Board of directors or a similar governing or advisory committee
Sound Board, an audio mixing console
Bulletin board system or Internet forum
Board (bridge), a device used in playing duplicate bridge
Board or level, a distinct area in or stage of a video game 
Chalkboard, Blackboard or whiteboard, a reusable writing surface
Board, use accommodation in a house or hotel; to stay at school during term time, and sleep in a dormitory

Basic English 850 words
Pitman arm

The Pitman arm is a part used in automobiles, trucks, SUVs and other vehicles to steer the wheels. When the steering wheel is turned right or left the pitman transmits the motion it receives from the steering gearbox to the tie rod. A "drop pitman arm" is used to correct the steering when a vehicle has a suspension lift.

References 

Auto parts
F1

F1 is a function key on the keyboard. It is mainly used to open help pages about an application or a part of it.

Computing
Solvent

A solvent is a substance that becomes a solution by dissolving a solid, liquid, or gaseous solute. A solvent is usually a liquid, but can also be a solid or gas.  The most common solvent in everyday life is water.  

Most other commonly-used solvents are organic (carbon-containing) chemicals. These are called organic solvents. Solvents usually have a low boiling point and evaporate easily or can be removed by distillation, thereby leaving the dissolved substance behind.  Solvents should therefore not react chemically with the dissolved compounds - they have to be inert.  Solvents can also be used to extract soluble compounds from a mixture, the most common example is the brewing of coffee or tea with hot water.  Solvents are usually clear and colorless liquids and many have a characteristic smell. The concentration of a solution is the amount of compound that is dissolved in a certain volume of solvent.  The solubility is the maximal amount of compound that is soluble in a certain volume of solvent at a specified temperature.

Common uses for organic solvents are in dry cleaning (e.g. tetrachloroethylene), as paint thinners (e.g. toluene, turpentine), as nail polish removers and glue solvents (acetone, methyl acetate, ethyl acetate), in spot removers (e.g. hexane, petrol ether), in detergents (citrus terpenes), in perfumes (ethanol), and in chemical syntheses. Inorganic solvents are used in research chemistry and in a few technological processes.

Health and safety 

Some solvents including chloroform and benzene (an ingredient of gasoline) are carcinogenic. Many others can damage internal organs like the liver, the kidneys, or the brain. Many also can catch fire easily. Ways to work safely include:

 Avoiding the generation of solvent vapors by working in a fume hood, local exhaust ventilation (LEV), or a well ventilated area
 Keeping the storage containers tightly closed
 Never using open flames near flammable solvents, use of electrical heating instead
 Never flush flammable solvents down the drain to avoid explosions and fires
 Avoiding the inhalation of solvent vapors
 Avoiding contact of the solvent with the skin – many solvents are easily absorbed through the skin. They also tend to dry the skin and may cause sores and wounds.

Properties table of common solvents 
The solvents are grouped into non-polar, polar aprotic, and polar protic solvents and ordered by increasing polarity. The polarity is given as the Dielectric constant. The density of nonpolar solvents that are heavier than water is bolded.

Other websites 
 Table and text  O-Chem Lecture
 Tables  Properties and toxicities of organic solvents
 Miscibility Table Phenomex Solvent Miscibility Table (includes Polarity Index)
 Miscibility Table  GLS Solvent Miscibility Table (includes Dielectric Constant)
 Solvent definition

Chemistry

he:תמיסה#הממס
Chemically inert

In chemistry, the term inert is used to describe something that is not chemically active.  The noble gases were described as being inert because they did not react with the other elements or themselves. 

Inert gases are completely inert to basic chemical reactions (such as combustion, for example) because their outer valence shell is completely filled with electrons. With a filled outer valence shell, an inert atom is not able to acquire or lose an electron, and is therefore not able to participate in any chemical reactions. For inert atoms or molecules, a lot of energy is involved before it can combine with other elements to form compounds. A high temperature and pressure is necessary, and sometimes requires the presence of a catalyst.

For example, elemental nitrogen is inert under standard room conditions and exists as a diatomic molecule, N2. The inertness of nitrogen is due to the presence of the very strong triple covalent bond in the N2 molecule.

Inert atmospheres of gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon are routinely used in working with processes that will go wrong if air or water is present. For example, some welding must be done in argon so the material will not burn.

Chemical nomenclature
Noble gases
Electron shell

An electron shell, or main energy level, is the part of an atom where electrons are found orbiting the atom's nucleus.

In chemistry and atomic physics, an electron shell may be thought of as an orbit followed by electrons around an atom's nucleus. All atoms have one or more electron shell(s), all of which have varying numbers of electrons.  

Each electron shell has one or more electron sub-shells, or sub-levels. Electron shells make up the electron configuration of an atom. The number of electrons that can be in a certain shell is equal to .

The name for electron shells came from the Bohr model, which states that electrons orbit the nucleus at certain distances so that their orbits form "shells". This term was presented by Niels Henrik David Bohr.

Valence shell
The valence shell is the outermost shell of an atom in its neutral state. The valence shell contains the electrons most likely to be involved in reactions. 

In a noble gas, an atom tends to have eight electrons in its outer shell (except helium, which is only able to fill its shell with two electrons). Noble gases serve as the model for the octet rule, which states that atoms tend to form bonds or create ions so that they can have eight electrons in their outermost shell. This is mostly applicable to the main-group elements of the second and third periods.

For coordination complexes containing transition metals, the valence shell consists of 18 electrons. This is referred to as the eighteen electron rule.

Sub-shells 

Electron sub-shells are identified by the letters s, p, d, f, g, h, i, etc., corresponding to the azimuth quantum numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. Each shell is able to hold 2, 6, 10, 14, and 18 electrons respectively.

References 

 Tipler, Paul & Ralph Llewellyn (2003).  Modern Physics (4th ed.).  New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.  

Physics
Quantum mechanics
Chemical bonding
Wheelchair

A wheelchair is a type of chair usually used by disabled people.

A wheelchair is moved either manually (by pushing the wheels with the hands, or pushed from behind with handles by somebody who is not sitting in the wheelchair) or by automated systems such as electric motors which can be controlled by the wheelchair user (the person sitting in the chair) or by somebody walking behind or beside the wheelchair if the wheelchair user needs help to move their wheelchair. 

Wheelchairs are used by people for whom walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, or disability. Wheelchairs can have extra cushions and other parts added to improve support if the wheelchair user cannot keep their body in a good sitting position, or to make the wheelchair more comfortable to sit in. The earliest record of the wheelchair in England dates from the 1670s [Oxford English Dictionary, (2nd Ed.), 1989, Vol. XX., p. 203.], and in continental Europe this technology dates back to the German Renaissance.

In 1655, Stephan Farffler, a 22-year-old paraplegic watchmaker, built the world's first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels. However, the device resembled a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design included hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.

References

Other websites

 Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Wheeled Mobility 
 Dept of Transportation   Information for air travelers with disabilities and their rights in the US
 Etiquette: Wheelchair users  Suggestions for better communication with people who use wheelchairs

Disability
Human-powered vehicles
Fuel oil

Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue at the oil refinery.

Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash point of approximately +40 °C and oils burned in cotton or wool-wick burners. In this sense, diesel is a type of fuel oil. Fuel oil is made of long hydrocarbon chains, particularly alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatics. The term fuel oil is also used in a stricter sense to refer only to the heaviest commercial fuel that can be obtained from crude oil, heavier than gasoline and naphtha.

Six classes
Fuel oil in the United States is classified into six classes, according to its boiling temperature, composition and purpose. The boiling point, ranging from 175 to 600 °C, and carbon chain length, 20 to 70  atoms, of the fuel increases with number. Viscosity also increases with fuel oil number and the heaviest oil has to be heated to get it to flow. Price usually decreases as the fuel number increases. 

No. 1 fuel oil, No. 2 fuel oil (heating oil), and No. 3 fuel oil are referred to as distillate fuel oils, diesel fuel oils, light fuel oils, gasoil or just distillate. For example, No. 2 fuel oil, No. 2 distillate and No. 2 diesel fuel oil are almost the same thing. Diesel is different in that it also has a cetane number limit which describes the ignition quality of the fuel. Distillate fuel oils are distilled from crude oil.

Related pages
Diesel
Gasoline
Kerosene
Naphtha

Sources
Bunkerworld - media site for the marine fuels industry
National Park Service - Fuel Oil 
How Stuff Works - Oil Refining
The True Cost of #6 Oil
Burning #6 Fuel Oil 
Identity and Analysis of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons
Poten & Partners: Advisors to the Fuel Oil Industry
Classification of Fuel Oils
Marine Fuel Oil (ISO 8217) 

Fossil fuels
Chemical compounds
Oils
List of large wind farms

This is a list of large wind farms, with a generating capacity of 100 megawatts (MW) or more, which are currently operating, under construction, or proposed. Wind power capacity has expanded quickly to 336 GW in June 2014, and wind energy production was about 4% of total worldwide electricity usage, and growing fast. 

Wind power is widely used in Europe, and more recently in the United States and Asia. Wind power accounts for approximately 19% of electricity generation in Denmark, 11% in Spain and Portugal, and 9% in the Republic of Ireland.

Operational wind farms
Many of the largest onshore wind farms are in the USA. As of January 2014, the Alta Wind Energy Center is the largest onshore wind farm in the world at 1,020 MW.

Many of the largest offshore wind farms are in Europe. As of January 2014, the London Array is the largest offshore wind farm in the world at 630 MW.

Related pages
 List of renewable energy topics
 Wind power in Denmark
 Wind power in Germany
 Wind power in South Australia
 Wind power in Texas
 Wind power in the United States
 Clyde Wind Farm
 Markbygden Wind Farm
 Gwynt y Môr Wind Farm

Notes

Science-related lists
Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center

Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center is a large wind farm with 735.5 megawatt (MW) capacity.  It consists of 291 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines and 130 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines spread over nearly 47,000 acres (190 km²) of land in Taylor and Nolan County, Texas. 

The first phase of the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center consisted of 213 MW and was completed in late 2005; phase two consisted of 223.5 MW and was completed in the second quarter of 2006; phase three which consisted of 299 MW, was completed by the end of 2006.

Related pages
Wind power
List of large wind farms

References

Other websites
Jury Sides With Horse Hollow Wind Farm  

Wind farms in Texas
List of solar thermal power stations

This is a list of solar thermal power stations. These include the 354 megawatt (MW) Solar Energy Generating Systems power plant in the USA, Solnova solar power station (Spain, 150 MW), Andasol solar power station (Spain, 100 MW), Nevada Solar One (USA, 64 MW), PS20 solar power tower (Spain, 20 MW), and the PS10 solar power tower (Spain, 11 MW). Many other plants are under construction or planned, mainly in Spain and the USA. In developing countries, three World Bank projects for integrated solar thermal/combined-cycle gas-turbine power plants in Egypt, Mexico, and Morocco have been approved.

Operational

Related pages
List of renewable energy topics
List of large wind farms
Solar power in Spain

References

Science-related lists
Environment
Andasol Solar Power Station

Andasol Solar Power Station is a large solar thermal power plant, near Guadix in Andalusia, in the province of Granada, one of the sunniest regions in Spain. The plant will cost 310 million euros and is currently under construction.

Andasol will have a generating capacity of 50 megawatts and liquid salt heat storage will allow for electricity to be generated for seven hours after the sun has gone down. Annual electricity production will be 179 gigawatt hours which will cover the electricity demands of 50,000 households or 200,000 people.

Andasol should be completed in mid-2008 and a second plant, Andasol 2, is planned.

Related pages
 List of Solar thermal power stations
 Renewable energy
 Solar power in Spain

References

Other websites 
 Pictures

Solar power plants
Buildings and structures in Spain
Andalusia
2009 establishments in Europe
2000s establishments in Spain
African slave trade

The African slave trade was a trade in slaves and, like most of the world, has carried on for thousands of years in Africa. The first main route passed through the Sahara. After the Age of Exploration, African slaves became part of the Atlantic slave trade, from which comes the modern, Western type of slavery. Despite being against the law, slavery continues in all parts of the world, including Africa. In Mauritania, slavery was not made illegal until August 2007.

References 

History of Africa
Historic slave trade
Pocking Solar Park in Germany

The Pocking Solar Park is a 10-megawatt (MWp) solar photovoltaic plant which is among the largest in the world. Construction of the power plant started in August 2005 and was completed in March 2006. On the former military training area in the Lower-Bavarian town of Pocking, sheep are now grazing under and around the 57,912 photovoltaic modules.

Related pages
 Photovoltaics
 Renewable energy
 Solar cell
 Solar power station in Victoria
 Waldpolenz Solar Park in Germany

References

Buildings and structures in Bavaria
Power stations in Germany
Solar power plants
Fractional distillation

Fractional distillation is a process of separating a mixture of chemical compounds. This means that each part (called a "fraction") of the mixture can be kept apart from the other chemicals. Different chemicals have different boiling points. Fractional distillation is done by heating the mixture so that it evaporates and then each fraction condenses in its own separate compartment. The reason we don't use simple distillation is because for liquids that boil at less than 25°C from each other, some of the other liquid(s) may evaporate and so part of the separated liquid may have part of the other liquid(s).

It is a special type of distillation. Generally, the component parts boil at less than 25°C from each other under a pressure of one atmosphere (atm). If the difference in boiling points is greater than 25°C, a simple distillation is used. 

Fractionation is done by boiling a mixture in a fractionating column. The mixture evaporates at different times and is caught in a container as a pure compound. 

Fractional distillation is the main activity of oil refineries, and is done in a large fractionating column known as a "fractionation tower".

Industrially, crude oil is heated and sent up along the fractionating column that has decreasing temperatures with height and several platforms at different levels to collect the condensate. Different components of crude oil have different boiling points. High molecular weight components have higher boiling points and condense at lower portions of the column while fractions with lower boiling points rise to the top of the column to condense.
    
The main fractions include refinery gases, gasoline (petrol), naphtha, kerosene, diesel oil, fuel oil, and a residue that contains bitumen. These fractions are mainly used as fuels, although they do have other uses too. Hydrocarbons with small molecules make better fuels than those with large molecules because they are volatile, flow easily and are easily ignited

References 

https://www.quora.com/Why-does-simple-distillation-not-give-pure-compounds

Other websites 
 Continuous distillation -Citizendium

Chemistry

de:Destillation#Fraktionierte Destillation
ja:蒸留#精留
Monte Alto solar power plant

The Monte Alto photovoltaic power plant in Spain has a generating capacity of 9.55 megawatts peak (MWp) and will generate 14 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.  It cost 65 million Euros [US$87 million]. 

The plant covers an area of 51 hectares on agricultural land near the locality of Milagro (Navarre) and contains 889 solar structures, of which 864 have automated solar tracking. The rest are fixed structures adapted to the terrain.

Related pages
Photovoltaics
Renewable energy
Solar power in Spain
Solar cell

References

Spain
Solar power plants
Odor

An odor or odour is a volatilized chemical compound, usually at a very low concentration, which humans and other animals perceive by the sense of olfaction.   

Odors are also called smells, which can be used to describe both pleasant and unpleasant odors. The words fragrance, scent, or aroma are used mostly by the food and cosmetic industry to describe a pleasant odor, and is sometimes used to refer to perfumes.  On the other hand, the words stench, reek, and stink are used specifically to describe unpleasant odors.

Basics 

Odor is a sensation caused by molecules dissolved in air. 
The widest range of odors are made up of organic compounds although some inorganic substances, such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, are also odorants. 
The perception of an odor effect is a two step process. 
First, there is the physiological part; the sense of the stimulus by receptors in the nose. 
After that the psychological part follows. The stimuli are processed by the region of the human brain which is responsible for smelling. 

Because of this, an objective and analytical measure of odor is impossible. 
While odor feelings are very personal perceptions, individual reactions are related to gender, age, state of health and private affectations. Common odors that people are used to, such as their own body odor, are less noticeable to individuals than external or uncommon odors.  

For most people, the process of smelling gives little information concerning the ingredients of a substance. It only offers information related to the emotional impact. However, experienced people, such as flavorists and perfumers can pick out individual chemicals in complex mixes through smell alone.

Odor analysis 

The concentrations of odorant in Germany are defined by the “Olfaktometrie” since the 1870s. In this connection it’s about the standard method to define the sense barrier of odors on basis the thinner of concentrated odor loaded assays. Following parameters are defined: odor substance concentration, intensity of odor and hedonism assessment.

Pheromones 

Pheromones are odors that are deliberately used for communication. A female moth may release a pheromone that can entice a male moth that is several kilometers away. Honeybee queens constantly release pheromones that regulate the activity of the hive. Workers can release such smells to call other bees into an appropriate cavity when a swarm moves in or to "sound" an alarm when the hive is threatened.

In mammals, some pathway of pheromones identification are in the vomeronasal organ and some in olfactory receptors.

Related pages
Incense
Olfaction

Other websites 
 Odors categorized by main chemical constituent and organized by odor class, percept, etc.

Chemistry
European ash

The European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) is a kind of ash tree. It is found throughout Europe and not just Scandinavia. It is a deciduous tree that grows to a height of 20–35 metres.

Uses
Ash wood is very easy to bend. It is therefore the material of choice to make bows. Tennis rackets, and the long poles used for snooker are sometimes made from it.

Religion
In Norse mythology, the tree Yggdrasil was a European ash. The tree linked all the nine world, Niflheim and Asgard, amongst others. Below the tree resides Hel as well as the Well of Urd.

Gallery

Trees
Oleaceae
Instant soup

Instant soups are a kind of soup. They are produced on an industrial scale. Later they are treated in different ways to preserve them. Usually they are dried, canned, or treated by freezing. 

Packaged instant soups come in two varieties:
A packet of dry soup (like the ramen image below). These do not contain water. They are prepared by adding water and heating, or by adding hot water.
A tin (or can) containing cold soup. To prepare those need to only be heated (for 3–5 minutes usually).

Soups
Carmen Basilio

Carmen Basilio (born April 2, 1927 – November 7, 2012) was an American boxer who held the welterweight and middleweight world championship. He won the welterweight title from Tony DeMarco in 1955. He then fought Sugar Ray Robinson for the middleweight title. He won the belt from Robinson in 1957, but lost it when they fought again.

He is the uncle of former welterweight boxing champion Billy Backus.

Other websites
 Boxing record

American boxers
Sportspeople from New York
1927 births
2012 deaths
Deaths from pneumonia
Johnny Saxton

Johnny Saxton (b. July 4, 1930 in Newark, NJ, d. October 4 2008) was an American boxer who won the welterweight championship.

Saxton beat Kid Gavilan in 1954 to become the welterweight champion.  The lost the title the following year to Tony DeMarco.  In 1956 he won the title again by beating Carmen Basilio, but lost the title in a rematch with Basilio later in the year.  He retired in 1958.

Other websites
 Boxing record

2008 deaths
American boxers
Sportspeople from Newark, New Jersey
1930 births
Weber-Fechner law

The Weber–Fechner law is a proposed relationship between the magnitude of a physical stimulus and the intensity or strength that people feel.

The case of weight 
In one of his classic experiments, Weber gradually increased the weight that a blindfolded man was holding and asked him to respond when he first felt the increase. Weber found that the response was proportional to a relative increase in the weight. That is to say, if the weight is 1 kg, an increase of a few grams will not be noticed. Rather, when the mass is increased by a certain factor, an increase in weight is perceived. If the mass is doubled, the threshold is also doubled. 

The relationship between stimulus and perception is logarithmic. This logarithmic relationship means that if a stimulus varies as a geometric progression (i.e. multiplied by a fixed factor), the corresponding perception is altered in an arithmetic progression (i.e. in additive constant amounts). For example, if a stimulus is tripled in strength (i.e., 3 x 1), the corresponding perception may be two times as strong as its original value (i.e., 1 + 1). If the stimulus is again tripled in strength (i.e., 3 x 3 x 1), the corresponding perception will be three times as strong as its original value (i.e., 1 + 1 + 1). Hence, for multiplications in stimulus strength, the strength of perception only adds.

This logarithmic relationship is valid, not just for the sensation of weight, but for other stimuli and our sensory perceptions as well.

Related pages
 Stevens' power law
 Nervous system

References 

Psychology
Perception
Logarithmic scale

A logarithmic scale is a scale used when there is a large range of quantities. Common uses include earthquake strength, sound loudness, light intensity, spreading rates of epidemics, and pH of solutions.

It is based on orders of magnitude, rather than a standard linear scale. The value of each mark on the scale is the value at the previous mark multiplied by a constant.

Logarithmic scales are also used in slide rules for multiplying or dividing numbers by adding or subtracting lengths on the scales.

The logarithmic scale can be helpful when the data cover a large range of values – the logarithm reduces this to a more manageable range. 

Some of our senses operate in a logarithmic fashion (multiplying the actual input strength adds a constant to the perceived signal strength, see: Stevens' power law). That makes logarithmic scales for these input quantities especially appropriate. In particular, our sense of hearing perceives equal multiples of frequencies as equal differences in pitch.

On most logarithmic scales, small multiples (or ratios) of the underlying quantity correspond to small (possibly negative) values of the logarithmic measure.

Examples 

Well-known examples of such scales are:

 Richter magnitude scale and moment magnitude scale (MMS) for strength of earthquakes and movement in the earth.
 bel and decibel and neper for acoustic power (loudness) and electric power;
 counting f-stops for ratios of photographic exposure;
 rating low probabilities by the number of 'nines' in the decimal expansion of the probability of their not happening: for example, a system which will fail with a probability of 10−5 is 99.999% reliable: "five nines".
 Entropy in thermodynamics.
 Information in information theory.
 Particle size distribution curves of soil

Some logarithmic scales were designed such that large values (or ratios) of the underlying quantity correspond to small  values of the logarithmic measure. Examples of such scales are:

 pH for acidity;
 stellar magnitude scale for brightness of stars;

A logarithmic scale is also a graphical scale on one or both sides of a graph where a number x is printed at a distance c·log(x)  from the point marked with the number 1. A slide rule has logarithmic scales, and nomograms often employ logarithmic scales. On a logarithmic scale an equal difference in order of magnitude is represented by an equal distance. The geometric mean of two numbers is midway between the numbers. 

Logarithmic graph paper, before the advent of computer graphics, was a basic scientific tool. Plots on paper with one log scale can show up exponential laws, and on log-log paper power laws, as straight lines (see semilog graph, log-log graph).

Logorithms
Noodle soup

Noodle soup is a kind of soup. It contains the normal soup stock, together with noodles, and sometimes other ingredients. This kind of soup is very popular in Asia, where it originally came from.  There are also many instant soups of this kind.

Some of the varieties are:

Beef noodle soup - popular in China; noodles in a beef soup
Ban mian - popular in China, Malaysia and Singapore; a noodle soup with flat noodles, egg, and usually vegetables.
Soba - popular in Japan; noodles are made of buckwheat
Udon - popular in Japan; noodles are made of wheat, toppings can be added, broth is usually dashi
Ramen 

Soups
Noodles
Scale (ratio)

The scale of a map shows the ratio between the distances on the map and the corresponding distances in reality. For example, a map of scale 1:50,000 shows a distance of 50,000 cm (or 500 m) as 1 cm on a map. A 1:25 scale model of a building with a height of 30 m has a model height of 1.20 m.

When a drawing or model or photograph of an object is larger or smaller than the original, the scale represents how much the object has been "grown" or "shrunk".

Scale bars 
Scale bars for microscopic or unusual objects are necessary. They help readers  to understand the diagram.

Related pages
 Proportionality
 Scale (map)

Measurement
Scale (map)

A map scale is the size of an object compared to the size of the object's smaller representative on a map. This can be shown by a scale bar and a ratio 1:n. The reader can measure a distance on the map to know what is the distance on the ground. 

People sometimes speak of a map as one with a "large scale" or "small scale".  A "large scale" map makes things look large, and a "small scale" map makes things look small.  For example, an island displayed on a 1:10,000 map will appear larger than if it were displayed on a 1:25,000 map.  Thus, the former is "large scale". What can be confusing is that for a map of a given physical size, say 11 by 17 inches, a "large scale" map will have a smaller geographic extent than a "small scale" map centred on the same point. 

Maps with a ratio of 1:50 000 or larger (for example, 1:40 000 would be larger) are considered large scale. Maps with a ratio of 1:50 000 to 1:250 000 are considered intermediate scale. Any maps with a smaller scale (for example 1:300 000) are considered small scale.

Related pages
 Scale (ratio)

References 

Cartography
Measurement
Midnight sun

Midnight sun is a phenomenon that exists north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle. It means that the sun, on parts of the year, is visible the whole night long. The sun above the horizon at midnight in the arctic or Antarctic summer.

There are no people living permanently south of the Antarctic Circle, but in Alaska, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and some other countries it is possible to watch the Midnight sun in the summer.

The opposite of the Midnight sun is the Polar night.

Astronomical phenomena
Eight Below

Eight Below is a 2006 Walt Disney Pictures movie. It was directed by Frank Marshall and written by David DiGilio. The movie was released on February 17, 2006 in the United States.

Other websites

Disney movies
American adventure movies
2006 movies
Movies about animals
2000s adventure movies
American drama movies
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (born 9 September 1949), is an Indonesian retired military general and politician. He was the sixth President of Indonesia from 2004 to 2014. Yudhoyono is the first president to be elected directly by voters.  Yudhoyono won the presidency on 20 September 2004. He defeated President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Other websites
 Official website 

1949 births
Living people
Muslims
Presidents of Indonesia
Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an English order of chivalry. It was started in 1348, by King Edward III of England. The Order is the highest level of knighthood that can be given by the English monarch. It is the world's oldest national order of knighthood. Membership in the Order is limited to those people who have done many great things for the United Kingdom.

The Order of the Garter is made up of a very small number of people. This group includes the Sovereign (the King or Queen of Britain) and no more than 25 full members. These members are called "Companions". Male companions are called "Knight Companions". Female members are called "Lady Companions". There are also a number of extra members known as "Supernumerary" Knights and Ladies. These members are usually members of the British royal family, and monarchs of other countries. 

The monarch alone can grant membership to the order. He or she is known as the Sovereign of the Garter, and the Prince of Wales is known as a Knight Companion of the Garter.

Knights of the Order use the post-nominal letters (KG) and Ladies of the Order (LG). Knights Companion can use the title "Sir" before their first name, and their wives can use the title "Lady" before their surnames. Ladies Companion can use the title "Lady" before their first name, but their husbands cannot use any title.

Current Members 

 Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II
 Royal Knight: The Prince of Wales KG KT GCB OM AK CC QSO PC

Knights and Ladies Companion:

 The Lord Bramall KG GCB OBE
 The Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover KG
 The Lord Ashburton KG KCVO
 Sir Timothy Colman KG
 The Duke of Abercorn KG
 The Lord Inge KG GCB
 Sir Antony Acland KG GCMG GCVO
 The Lord Butler of Brockwell KG GCB CVO PC
 The Lord Morris of Aberavon KG PC QC
 Sir John Major KG CH PC
 The Lord Luce KG GCVO PC
 Sir Thomas Dunne KG KCVO
 The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers KG PC
 The Lord Boyce KG GCB OBE
 The Lord Stirrup KG GCB
 The Baroness Manningham-Buller LG DCB
 The Lord King of Lothbury KG GBE
 The Lord Shuttleworth KG KCVO
 Sir David Brewer KG CMG CVO
 Lady Mary Fagan LG DCVO
 The Viscount Brookeborough KG
 Lady Mary Peters LG CH DBE
 The Marquess of Salisbury KG KCVO
 Sir Tony Blair

Royal Knights and Ladies Companion:

 The Duke of Kent KG GCMG GCVO
 The Princess Royal KG KT GCVO QSO
 The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO
 Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy KG GCVO
 The Duke of York KG GCVO
 The Earl of Wessex KG GCVO
 The Duke of Cambridge KG KT PC

References

 
1348 establishments
1340s establishments in England
HD DVD

HD DVD, also known as High-Definition DVD, is an optical disc that is able to store large amounts of data, such as high-definition videos. It was considered to be the successor of the DVD. It used to compete against the Blu-ray Disc, a similar version of an optical disc that is designed to hold large amounts of media, but all of the companies that backed it decided to only use Blu-ray discs, so the HD DVD format is now considered dead.

Related pages
 DVD
 Blu-ray Disc

Other websites 
 Official HD DVD site (for the US)
 CDfreaks Article On HD DVD vs Blu-ray 
 Projector Central article comparing HD DVD to Blu-ray
 Volume Unique Keys for Released HD DVD titles

News
 HD-DVD Winning the European Race at Next Generation - Interactive Entertainment Today (Tuesday, 10 April 2007)
 HD DVD goes beyond 50GB with new disc  at DVD Town
 Next-generation DVD battle begins at BBC
 ProjectorCentral first impressions on HD DVD at Projector Central
 Microsoft and Intel Supporting HD DVD at Beta News
 HD DVD Ships 1.5 Million Movie Titles as of November 16, 2006 at Beta News

Optical discs
Bruges

Bruges (Dutch: Brugge) is a city in the northwest of Belgium. 

It is the capital and largest city of West Flanders. In 2007, 116,982 people lived there.

Bruges is at 51° 12 North, 03° 13 East.

It is a centre of tourism because of its historic medieval city centre. The centre was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is a center of commerce because of its port, Zeebrugge. The movie In Bruges with Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes was made there in 2008.

References 

 
World Heritage Sites in Europe
Immortality

Immortality or eternal life is the idea of something which is alive that will stay alive forever. The opposite of immortality is mortality, which means a living thing can die. Right now, only a small number of living things are known to be immortal. These are mainly simple, lower forms of life like bacteria.  Stories about immortal people or animals are popular in fiction and mythology, but not yet actually possible. Many religions say people have an immortal soul with an afterlife.

Some people have long used magic and science to look for a way to live forever.  Others feel that death is what defines all living things, and as a natural part of life, should not be taken away.

Insurance actuaries have calculated that even if everyone were physically immortal, the average life span would still be only be 400 years because of the accident rate; eventually, everyone would die of a fatal accident and it would be very unusual to encounter anyone more than 800 years old.  Therefore, it would seem that the only practical way to achieve actual immortality is to upload one's mind into a supercomputer to live in virtual reality.  Futurists such as Ray Kurzweil believe this will become possible about the year 2045 in the technological singularity.

The color amaranth represents immortality in Western civilization, while the color peach represents immortality in Chinese civilization.

References

Related pages
Philosopher's Stone

Others websites

 Immortality: A Taoist perspective
 Dictionary of the history of Ideas:  Death and Immortality
 Immortality Institute - Advocacy and Research on Indefinite Lifespan Scientific and sociological discussions, activism, research
 "Inventor Kurzweil Aiming to Live Forever"; RedNova 
 The Quest For Immortality
 Immortality International - Life is a basic human right 
 Mormon Transhumanist Association
 The Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the Body by Heinrich J. Vogel 

Life
Death
European Union budget

The European Union (EU) has an independent parliament and civil service which is distinct from those of the 27 member states. It has to pay for expenditure on common policies throughout the EU. Therefore, the EU has an agreed budget of €862 billion for the period 2007-2013. By comparison, the UK expenditure for 2004 alone was estimated at about €759 billion.

Setting a budget
The EU has three elements to its government: the Council of Ministers, the European Commission and the European Parliament. All three take a part in setting the annual budget.

Revenue

The EU obtains most of its revenue indirectly by payments from treasuries of member states. Revenue is divided into three categories.

Traditional own resources are taxes raised on behalf of the EU as a whole, principally import duties on goods brought into the EU. These are collected by the state where import occurs and passed on to the EU. States are allowed to keep a proportion of the revenue to cover administration.

VAT based own resources are taxes on EU citizens as a proportion of Value added tax in each member country. VAT rates and exemptions vary in different countries, so a formula is used to create the 'harmonised tax base'. The starting point for calculations is the total VAT raised in a country.

GNI based own resources currently forms the largest contribution to EU funding. A simple multiplier is applied to the calculated GNI for the country concerned. Revenue is currently capped at 1.24% of GNI for the EU as a whole.

Expenditure

The largest single expenditure item is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) at around 45% of the total budget. The second largest element is the regional policy, at 30%. Foreign policy consumes 8%, administration 6%, research 5%.

Criticisms 

"As it stands today [in 2003], the EU budget is a historical relic. Expenditures, revenues and procedures are all inconsistent with the present and future state of EU integration." - The Sapir Report, 2003, p 162.

References
EU discussion of revenue
EU Breakdown of revenue
EU financial report 2004

European Union