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Weichselian Glaciation
Weichselian glaciation[upper-alpha 1] refers to the last glacial period and its associated glaciation in northern parts of Europe. In the Alpine region it corresponds to the Würm glaciation. It was characterized by a large ice sheet (the Fenno-Scandian ice sheet) that spread out from the Scandinavian Mountains and extended as far as the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein, the March of Brandenburg and Northwest Russia. In Northern Europe it was the youngest of the glacials of the Pleistocene ice age. The preceding warm period in this region was the Eemian interglacial. The last cold period began about 115,000 years ago and ended 11,700 years ago. Its end corresponds with the end of the Pleistocene epoch and the start of the Holocene. The German geologist Konrad Keilhack (de) (1858-1944) named Weichselian glaciation using the German-language name (Weichsel) of the River Vistula (Polish: Wisła) in present-day Poland.
  • 3.0K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Catholic Theology of the Body
The theology of the body is a broad term for Catholic teachings on the human body. The dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, defined in Pope Pius XII's 1950 apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus, is one of the most recent developments in the Catholic theology of the body.
  • 1.5K
  • 30 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Paan
Paan (from Sanskrit: पर्ण, romanized: parṇá, lit. leaf, cognate with English fern) is a preparation combining betel leaf with areca nut widely consumed throughout South Asia and East Asia (mainly Taiwan). It is chewed for its stimulant effects. After chewing, it is either spat out or swallowed. Paan has many variations. Slaked lime (chuna) paste is commonly added to bind the leaves. Some preparations in the Indian subcontinent include katha paste or mukhwas to freshen the breath. Magahi paan is an expensive variety of betel which is grown in Aurangabad, Gaya and Nalanda districts of central Bihar. It is non-fibrous, sweeter, tastier and the softest of the lot. The origin and diffusion of betel chewing originates from and is closely tied to the Neolithic expansion of the Austronesian peoples. It was spread to the Indo-Pacific during prehistoric times, reaching Near Oceania at 3,400 to 3,000 BP; South India and Sri Lanka by 3,500 BP; Mainland Southeast Asia by 3,000 to 2,500 BP; Northern India by 1500 BP; and Madagascar by 600 BP. From India, it was also spread westwards to Persia and the Mediterranean. Paan (under a variety of names) is also consumed in many other Asian countries and elsewhere in the world by some Asian emigrants, with or without tobacco. It can be an addictive and stimulating formulation with adverse health effects, both with and without tobacco. The spit from chewing betel nuts, known as "buai pekpek" in Papua New Guinea, is often considered an eyesore. Because of this, many places have banned selling and chewing "buai".
  • 5.2K
  • 30 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Compression of Genomic Re-Sequencing Data
High-throughput sequencing technologies have led to a dramatic decline of genome sequencing costs and to an astonishingly rapid accumulation of genomic data. These technologies are enabling ambitious genome sequencing endeavours, such as the 1000 Genomes Project and 1001 (Arabidopsis thaliana) Genomes Project. The storage and transfer of the tremendous amount of genomic data have become a mainstream problem, motivating the development of high-performance compression tools designed specifically for genomic data. A recent surge of interest in the development of novel algorithms and tools for storing and managing genomic re-sequencing data emphasizes the growing demand for efficient methods for genomic data compression.
  • 1.0K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Q'eqchi' Language
The Q'eqchi' language, also spelled Kekchi, K'ekchi', or kekchí, is one of the Mayan languages, spoken within Q'eqchi' communities in Guatemala and Belize.
  • 3.0K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Acquisition Initiation (ISPL)
Acquisition Initiation is the initial process within the Information Services Procurement Library (ISPL) and is executed by a customer organization intending to procure Information Services. The process is composed of two main activities: the making of the acquisition goal definition and the making of the acquisition planning. During the acquisition initiation, an iterative process arises in which questions about the goal of the acquisition are usually asked. In response to these questions the Library provides details of the requirements, covering areas such as cost, feasibility and timelines. An example of such requirements is the "planning of the acquisition", a component that may also lead to more questions about the acquisition goal (thus, it is reasonable to state that a relationship exists between the acquisition goal and the acquisition planning). The process-data model shown in the following section displays the acquisition initiation stages. It shows both the process and the data ensuing from the process, and parts of the image will also be used as references in the body of this article. The concepts and data found in the model are explained in separate tables which can be found in the section immediately following the model. A textual, and more thorough, explanation of the activities and concepts that make up the Acquisition Initiation process can be found in the remainder of this article.
  • 1.3K
  • 30 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Fear Appeal
Fear appeal is a term used in psychology, sociology and marketing. It generally describes a strategy for motivating people to take a particular action, endorse a particular policy, or buy a particular product, by arousing fear. A well-known example in television advertising was a commercial employing the musical jingle: "Never pick up a stranger, pick up Prestone anti-freeze." This was accompanied by images of shadowy strangers (hitchhikers) who would presumably do one harm if picked up. The commercial's main appeal was not to the positive features of Prestone anti-freeze, but to the fear of what a "strange" brand might do. A fear appeal is a persuasive message that attempts to arouse fear in order to divert behavior through the threat of impending danger or harm. It presents a risk, presents the vulnerability to the risk, and then may, or may not suggest a form of protective action. It is assumed that through a fear appeal the perception of threatening stimuli creates fear arousal. The state of fear is believed to be an unpleasant emotional state that involves physiological arousal that motivates cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses directed towards alleviating the threat or reducing fear. There are many different theoretical models of fear appeal messages. They include: the extended parallel process model, the drive theory, the subjective expected utility theory, the protection motivation theory, the health belief model, the theory of reasoned action, and the transtheoretical model. These models are widely used in substance abuse campaigns, sexual health programs, and many other general health contexts. The persuasive effect of fear appeals is thought to be influenced by several factors such as individual characteristics, self-efficacy, perception of norms, fear strength, perceived threat, perception of treatment efficacy, and defense mechanisms. Mixed results have been produced from studies that attempt to demonstrate the effectiveness of fear appeals for behavior modification, and a recent meta-analysis recommended extreme caution in the use of fear appeals.
  • 1.2K
  • 30 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Agenda 21 for Culture
Agenda 21 for culture (now also known as Culture 21) is a program for cultural governance developed in 2002–2004 and organized by United Cities and Local Governments. Part of the program's premise is to add culture as a fourth conceptual pillar of sustainable development in governance, the historical three pillars of which are environment, social inclusion, and economics.
  • 1.7K
  • 30 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Zuytdorp
The VOC Zuytdorp also Zuiddorp (meaning "South Village", after Zuiddorpe, a still existing village in the South of Zeeland, near the Belgian border) was an 18th-century trading ship of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, commonly abbreviated VOC). On 1 August 1711 it was dispatched from the Netherlands to the trading port of Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia) bearing a load of freshly minted silver coins. Many trading ships of the time travelled a "fast route" using the strong Roaring Forties winds to carry them across the Indian Ocean to within sight of the west coast of Australia, (then called New Holland) whence they would make a turn north towards Batavia. The Zuytdorp never arrived at its destination. No search was undertaken, presumably because the VOC had no idea whether and where the ship had been wrecked or taken by pirates and possibly due to prior expensive but fruitless attempts to search for other missing ships, even when an approximate wreck location was known. As a result Zuytdorp and its entire complement were never heard from again. Their fate was unknown until the mid-20th century when the wreck site was identified on a remote part of the Western Australian coast between Kalbarri and Shark Bay, approximately 40 km north of the Murchison River. This rugged section of coastline was subsequently named the Zuytdorp Cliffs, was the preserve of the Indigenous inhabitants and one of the last great wildernesses until the advent of the sheep stations established there in the late 19th century. Something, perhaps a violent storm, occurred and the Zuytdorp was wrecked on a desolate section of the West Australian coast. Survivors scrambled ashore and camped near the wreck site. With no European settlements anywhere on the coast they built bonfires from the wreckage to signal fellow trading ships that would pass within sight of the coast. But fires seen in the vicinity tended to be dismissed as "native fires" as appears to have happened in the case of Vergulde Draeck in 1656. It has been speculated that survivors may have traded with or may have intermarried with the local Aboriginal communities between present-day Kalbarri and Shark Bay. It is also possible that intermarriage occurred in the case of a predecessor to the Zuytdorp, the infamous VOC Batavia, wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos islands offshore. After a mutiny, atrocities, massacres and trials, two of the mutineers were marooned on the Australian mainland, near the Murchison River (for details about these two mutineers see castaway). News of an unidentified shipwreck on the shore surfaced in 1834 when Aborigines told a farmer near the recently colonised Perth about a wreck the colonists presumed it was a recent wreck and sent rescue parties who failed to find the wreck or any survivors. The details provided (90 days walk, and coins on the beach), tend to point to the Zuytdorp; however. In 1927, wreckage was seen by an Indigenous-European family group (comprising Ada and Ernest Drage, Tom and Lurleen Pepper and the women's father Charlie Mallard) on a clifftop near the border of Murchison house and Tamala Stations where they all worked. Tamala Station head stockman, Tom Pepper later reported the find to the authorities, their first expedition to the site occurring in 1941. In 1954 Pepper gave Phillip Playford directions and it was he who subsequently identified the relics as from Zuytdorp.
  • 1.1K
  • 30 Sep 2022
Topic Review
M-Bahn
The M-Bahn or Magnetbahn was an elevated Maglev train line operating in Berlin, Germany , experimentally from 1984 and in passenger operation from 1989 to 1991. The line was 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) in length, and featured three stations, two of which were newly constructed. Presumed to be the future of rail transit in Berlin, the line was built to fill a gap in the West Berlin public transport network created by the construction of the Berlin Wall. It was rendered redundant by the reunification of Berlin and was closed to enable reconstruction of the U2 line. The M-Bahn was the second Maglev line to open to public traffic, after the Birmingham Maglev but before the Shanghai maglev train. Construction and running were undertaken by Magnetbahn GmbH.
  • 1.0K
  • 30 Sep 2022
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