Monday, January 31, 2011

slapcheek

Erythema infectiosum or fifth disease is one of several possible manifestations of infection by erythrovirus previously called parvovirus B19. The disease is also referred to as slapped cheek syndrome, slapcheek, slap face or slapped face. In Japan the disease is called 'apple sickness' or 'ringo-byou' (りんご病)in reference to the symptom of facial redness.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Homosociality

Homosociality implies neither heterosexuality nor homosexuality. Some have suggested using the term iso-social as a more neutral alternative: since iso-social does not contain the prefix homo, it does not bring to mind the words homosexual and homophobic.

For example, a heterosexual male who prefers to socialize with men may be considered a homosocial heterosexual. The term homosociality is most often used with reference to male relationships.

"Bromance" is also used to refer to a close but non-sexual relationship between two men.

Friday, January 28, 2011

paternoster

A paternoster or paternoster lift is a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments (each usually designed for two persons) that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers can step on or off at any floor they like.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Turcilingi

The Turcilingi were an obscure barbarian people who first appeared on the historical scene in Gaul in the mid-fifth century and last appeared in Italy during the reign of Romulus Augustulus (475–476). Their only known leader was Odovacar.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Caganer


A Caganer is a small statue found in Catalonia, in neighbouring areas with Catalan culture such as Andorra, and in other parts of Spain, Portugal and Italy. The figure is depicted in the act of defecation. Caganer is Catalan for "pooper".

Monday, January 24, 2011

valorisation


The valorisation or valorization of capital is a concept created by Karl Marx in his critique of political economy. The German original term is "Verwertung" (specifically Kapitalverwertung) but this is difficult to translate, and often wrongly rendered as "realisation of capital", "creation of surplus-value" or "self-expansion of capital" or "increase in value". In modern translations of Marx's economic writings, the term valorisation (as in French) is preferred because it is recognized that it denotes a highly specific economic concept. It refers both to the process whereby a capital value is conferred or bestowed on something, and to the increase in the value of a capital asset.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Set-jetting

Set-jetting is the trend of traveling to destinations that are first seen in movies. For instance, touring London in a high-speed boat like James Bond, or visiting the stately homes that are seen in the Jane Austen films. The term was first coined in the US press in the New York Post by journalist Gretchen Kelly.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Empennage


Empennage is an aviation term used to describe the tail portion of an aircraft. The empennage is also known as the tail or tail assembly; all three terms may be interchangeably used. The empennage gives stability to the aircraft and controls the flight dynamics of pitch and yaw. In simple terms the empennage may be compared to the fletching of an arrow, colloquially, "tail feathers".

Friday, January 21, 2011

Croydon facelift


In English slang, a Croydon facelift (sometimes council house facelift, Essex facelift, or in Northern Ireland a Millie Facelift) is a particular hairstyle worn by young women. The hair is pulled back tight and tied in a bun or ponytail at the back. The supposed result is that the skin of the forehead and face are pulled up and back, producing the effects of a facelift. Traction alopecia, a type of gradual hair loss, can result from using this hairstyle.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, founded by Plotinus and based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists. The term - neuplatonisch - was coined by a German historian[1]. Neoplatonists would have considered themselves simply "Platonists", and the modern distinction is due to the perception that their philosophy contained enough unique interpretations of Plato to make it substantially different from what Plato wrote and believed. The Neoplatonism of Plotinus and Porphyry has been referred to as really being orthodox Platonic philosophy by scholars like John D. Turner. This distinction provides a contrast with later movements of Neoplatonism, such as those of Iamblichus and Proclus, which embraced magical practices or theurgy as part of the soul's development in the process of the soul's return to the Source. This could also be due to one possible motive of Plotinus, being to clarify some of the traditions in the teachings of Plato that had been misrepresented before Iamblichus (see Neoplatonism and Gnosticism).

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Gamanraige

The Gamanraige were the main branch of the Fir Ol nEchmacht, a people who ruled much of Ireland west of the Shannon in the pre-historic era.

The Gamanraige ruled the territory between the Gallimhe or Galway river, to the Drowes and Duff rivers in the north-east. Their capital was Rath Eochaidh, later called Cruchain. This territory seems to have been Ol nEchmacht proper. It was only with the rise of The Connachta dynasty that the term Fir Ol nEchmacht was dropped and the province was renamed Connacht.

Monday, January 17, 2011

roton

A roton is an elementary excitation, or quasiparticle, in superfluid Helium-4. The dispersion relation of elementary excitations in this superfluid shows a linear increase from the origin, but exhibits first a maximum and then a minimum in energy as the momentum increases. Excitations with momenta in the linear region are called phonons; those with momenta close to the minimum are called rotons. Excitations with momenta near the maximum are sometimes called maxons.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Analysis

Analysis is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle, though analysis as a formal concept is a relatively recent development.

The word is a transcription of the ancient Greek ἀνάλυσις (analusis), "a breaking up" (from ana- "up, throughout" and lysis "a loosening").

Friday, January 14, 2011

synthesis

In general, the noun synthesis (from the ancient Greek σύνθεσις σύν "with" and θέσις "placing") refers to the combining of two or more entities to form something new. The corresponding verb, to synthesise (or synthesize), means to make or form a synthesis.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Crocoduck


The term "Crocoduck" was presented in a children's story describing a crocodile raised in a duck family. It was later used by creationists to claim that the absence of any half crocodile, half duck chimera disproves evolution, an argument which quickly became a popular theme used to ridicule creationist misunderstandings.

The author and illustrator Chih-Yuan Chen from Taiwan produced the bestselling children's story Guji Guji in 2004, a modern day twist on The Ugly Duckling story in which a crocodile egg rolls into a duck's nest and is raised in a brood of ducklings, growing up as a "crocoduck" who thinks he is "not a bad crocodile," but "Of course, I'm not exactly a duck either."

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Sacrosanctity

Sacrosanctity was a right of tribunes in Ancient Rome to not be harmed physically. Plebeians took an oath to regard anyone who laid hands on a tribune as an outlaw liable to be killed without penalty. The term comes from the phrase sacer esto ("let him be accursed") and reflects that violation of a tribune's sacrosanctity was not only a secular offense, but a religious offense as well.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

amober

Formerly in Welsh law, an amober, or amobyr, was a maiden-fee paid to a lord on the marriage of a maiden in his manor. The term is similar to the English feudal merchet.

Monday, January 10, 2011

dissimilation

In phonology, particularly within historical linguistics, dissimilation is a phenomenon whereby similar consonant or vowel sounds in a word become less similar. For example, when one /r/ sound occurs before another in the middle of a word in rhotic dialects of English, the first tends to drop out, as in "beserk" for berserk, "supprise" for surprise, "paticular" for particular, and "govenor" for governor (note this doesn't affect the pronunciation of government, which has only one /r/).

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Doldrums

The Doldrums, also called the "equatorial calms", is a nautical term for the equatorial trough, with special reference to the light and variable nature of the winds. It affects areas of the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean that are within the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a low-pressure area around the equator, where the prevailing winds are calm. The low pressure is caused by the heat at the equator, which makes the air rise and travel north and south high in the atmosphere, until it subsides again in the horse latitudes. Some of that air returns to the Doldrums through the trade winds. This process can lead to light or variable winds and more severe weather, in the form of heavy squalls, thunderstorms and hurricanes.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Subsidence

Subsidence in the Earth's atmosphere is most commonly caused by cold temperatures: as air cools, it becomes denser and moves towards the ground, just as warm air becomes less dense and moves upwards. Subsidence generally causes high barometric pressure as more air moves into the same space: the polar highs are areas of almost constant subsidence, as are the horse latitudes, and these areas of subsidence are the sources of much of the world's prevailing wind. Subsidence also causes many smaller-scale weather phenomena, such as morning fog. An extreme form of subsidence is a downburst, which can result in damage similar to that produced by a tornado. A milder form of subsidence is referred to as downdraft.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Subsidence

Subsidence is the motion of a surface (usually, the Earth's surface) as it shifts downward relative to a datum such as sea-level. The opposite of subsidence is uplift, which results in an increase in elevation. Ground subsidence is of concern to geologists, structural engineers and surveyors.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

underpinning

In construction, underpinning is the process of strengthening and stabilizing the foundation of an existing building or other structure. Underpinning may be necessary for a variety of reasons:

  • The original foundation is simply not strong or stable enough.
  • The usage of the structure has changed.
  • The properties of the soil supporting the foundation may have changed (possibly through subsidence) or were mischaracterized during planning.
  • The construction of nearby structures necessitates the excavation of soil supporting existing foundations.
  • It is more economical, due to land price or otherwise, to work on the present structure's foundation than to build a new one.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

mrdanga

A mrdanga is a double ended North Indian drum similar to the South Indian mrdangam. It is used predominently in Gaudiya, or Bengali Vaishnava devotional music, and especially in kirtan.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

turbopause

The turbopause marks the altitude in the Earth's atmosphere below which turbulent mixing dominates. The region below the turbopause is known as the homosphere, where the chemical constituents are well mixed and display identical height distributions; in other words, the chemical composition of the atmosphere remains constant in this region for chemical species which have long mean residence times. Highly reactive chemicals tend to exhibit great concentration variability throughout the atmosphere, whereas unreactive species will exhibit more homogeneous concentrations. The region above the turbopause is the heterosphere, where molecular diffusion dominates and the chemical composition of the atmosphere varies according to chemical species.

The turbopause lies near the mesopause, at the intersection of the mesosphere and the thermosphere, at an altitude of roughly 100 km.

Glassware

Glassware usually refers to glass items used as tableware, such as dishes, cutlery, flatware, and drinkware used to set a table for eating a meal. The term usually refers to the drinking vessels, unless the dinnerware is also made of glass. "Glassware" can also more generally refer to any object made of glass.

Glassware is also a term used in the catering industry to refer to all glasses whether made of glass or plastics such as, polystyrene and polycarbonate.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Pabilsaĝ

Pabilsaĝ /pabilsaŋ/, in Mesopotamian tradition was a tutelary god of the city of Isin. The consort of the goddess Nininsinna, he was identified with the lost city of Larak.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Beryllium

Beryllium is the chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4.

Persuasion

Persuasion is a form of social influence. It is the process of guiding people and oneself toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and symbolic (though not always logical) means.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Thrombogenicity

Thrombogenicity refers to the tendency of a material in contact with the blood to produce a thrombus, or clot. It not only refers to fixed thrombi but also to emboli, thrombi which have become detached and travel through the bloodstream.

Thrombogenicity can also encompass events such as the activation of immune pathways and the complement system. All materials are considered to be thrombogenic with the exception of the endothelial cells which line the vasculature. Certain medical implants appear non-thrombogenic due to high flow rates of blood past the implant, but in reality all are thrombogenic to a degree.

lordosis

  Lordosis is historically defined as an abnormal inward curvature of the lumbar spine.