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Duchy
A duchy is a medieval country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a high-ranking nobleman hierarchically second to the king or queen in European tradition. The term is used almost exclusively in Europe, where in the present day there is no sovereign duchy (i.e. with the status of a nation state) left. The term "duke" (like the corresponding "duchy") should not be confused with the title Grand Duke (or Grand Duchy, such as the present-day Grand Duchy of Luxembourg), as there exists a significant difference of rank between the two. In common European cultural heritage, a grand duke is the third highest monarchic rank, after emperor and king. Its synonym in many Slavic and Baltic European languages (Russian, Lithuanian, etc.) is translated as Grand Prince, whereas most Germanic and Romance European languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian etc.) use expressions corresponding to Grand Duke. Unlike a duke, the sovereign grand duke is considered royalty (or in German, 'royal nobility', Königsadel). The proper form of address for a grand duke is His Royal Highness (HRH), whereas for a non-royal duke in the United Kingdom it is His Grace. In contrast to this, the rank of a duke differs from one country to the next. In Germany, for example, a duke is listed in the aristocratic hierarchy below an emperor (Kaiser), king (König), grand duke (Großherzog), and elector (Kurfürst) – in that order – whereas in Britain the duke comes third after king/queen and prince (there are no British grand dukes or electors). In all countries, there existed an important difference between "sovereign dukes" and dukes subordinate to a king or emperor. Some historic duchies were sovereign in areas that would become part of nation-states only during the modern era, such as Germany (a federal empire) and Italy (a unified kingdom). In contrast, others were subordinate districts of those kingdoms that had unified either partially or completely during the medieval era, such as France, Spain, Sicily, Naples, and the Papal States. In England, the term is used in respect of non-territorial entities.
  • 11.9K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Pontifical Academy of Sciences
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Italian: Pontificia accademia delle scienze, Latin: Pontificia Academia Scientiarum) is a scientific academy of the Vatican City, established in 1936 by Pope Pius XI, and thriving with the blessing of the Papacy ever since. Its aim is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical, and natural sciences and the study of related epistemological problems. The Academy has its origins in the Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei ("Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes"), founded in 1847 as a more closely supervised successor to the Accademia dei Lincei ("Academy of Lynxes") established in Rome in 1603 by the learned Roman Prince, Federico Cesi (1585–1630), who was a young botanist and naturalist, and which claimed Galileo Galilei as its president. The Accademia dei Lincei survives as a wholly separate institution. The Academy of Sciences, one of the Pontifical academies at the Vatican in Rome, is headquartered in the Casina Pio IV in the heart of the Vatican Gardens. The academy holds a membership roster of the most respected names in 20th century science, including such Nobel laureates as Ernest Rutherford, Max Planck, Otto Hahn, Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, and Charles Hard Townes.
  • 1.1K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Waste Tires
Waste or Scrap tires, also known as End-of-Life Tires (ELT), are used rubber tires that because of their abrasion state ("tire wear") are not safe for public traffic. Waste tires can go into tire recycling or will be dumped, either in legal landfills or illegally; another portion may be pyrolysed to produce tire-derived fuel or heat energy.
  • 2.8K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
North–South Divide (England)
In England, the term North–South divide refers to the cultural, economic, and social differences between: The status of the Midlands is often disputed, however counties in the higher midlands, such as West Midlands County (Walsall Metropolitan Borough and Wolverhampton are seen as north too due to their proximity to Staffordshire and Shropshire), Shropshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, and Staffordshire, are culturally very Northern. A grouping of Central England based on UK EU parliamentary constituency boundaries combines the Midlands and East Anglia. In political terms, the South, and particularly the South-East (outside Greater London) and East Anglia, is largely centre-right, and supportive of the Conservative Party, while Northern England (particularly the towns and cities) is generally more supportive of the Labour Party. An article in The Economist (15–21 September 2012) argued that the gap between the north and south in life expectancy, political inclinations and economics trends was growing to the extent that they were almost separate countries.
  • 11.9K
  • 11 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Chlorophyll a
Chlorophyll a is a specific form of chlorophyll used in oxygenic photosynthesis. It absorbs most energy from wavelengths of violet-blue and orange-red light, and it is a poor absorber of green and near-green portions of the spectrum. Chlorophyll does not reflect light but chlorophyll-containing tissues appear green because green light, diffusively reflected by structures like cell walls, becomes enriched in the reflected light. This photosynthetic pigment is essential for photosynthesis in eukaryotes, cyanobacteria and prochlorophytes because of its role as primary electron donor in the electron transport chain. Chlorophyll a also transfers resonance energy in the antenna complex, ending in the reaction center where specific chlorophylls P680 and P700 are located.
  • 9.3K
  • 10 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Cyber Security Standards
Cybersecurity standards (also styled cyber security standards) are techniques generally set forth in published materials that attempt to protect the cyber environment of a user or organization. This environment includes users themselves, networks, devices, all software, processes, information in storage or transit, applications, services, and systems that can be connected directly or indirectly to networks. The principal objective is to reduce the risks, including prevention or mitigation of cyber-attacks. These published materials consist of collections of tools, policies, security concepts, security safeguards, guidelines, risk management approaches, actions, training, best practices, assurance and technologies.
  • 1.7K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University in the City of New York in Manhattan, New York City . Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of the oldest business schools in the world. It is one of six Ivy League business schools, and is among the most selective of top business schools.
  • 6.0K
  • 11 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Business Process Reengineering
Business process re-engineering (BPR) is a business management strategy, originally pioneered in the early 1990s, focusing on the analysis and design of workflows and business processes within an organization. BPR aimed to help organizations fundamentally rethink how they do their work in order to dramatically improve customer service, cut operational costs, and become world-class competitors. BPR seeks to help companies radically restructure their organizations by focusing on the ground-up design of their business processes. According to early BPR proponent Thomas Davenport (1990), a business process is a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome. Re-engineering emphasized a holistic focus on business objectives and how processes related to them, encouraging full-scale recreation of processes rather than iterative optimization of sub-processes. Business process reengineering is also known as business process redesign, business transformation, or business process change management.
  • 2.1K
  • 12 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Meaning
In semantics, semiotics, philosophy of language, metaphysics, and metasemantics, meaning "is a relationship between two sorts of things: signs and the kinds of things they intend, express, or signify". The types of meanings vary according to the types of the thing that is being represented. Namely: The major contemporary positions of meaning come under the following partial definitions of meaning:
  • 3.7K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Iris (Anatomy)
In humans and most mammals and birds, the iris (plural: irides or irises) is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupil and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. Eye color is defined by that of the iris. In optical terms, the pupil is the eye's aperture, while the iris is the diaphragm.
  • 3.8K
  • 11 Oct 2022
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