Ovoviviparity

Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, or ovivipary, is a mode of reproduction in animals in which embryos develop inside eggs that are retained within the mother's body until they are ready to hatch. Ovoviviparous animals are similar to viviparous species in that there is internal fertilization and the young are born live, but differ in that there is no placental connection and the unborn young are nourished by egg yolk; the mother's body does provide gas exchange (respiration), but that is largely necessary for oviparous animals as well.

protrusible

protrusible (comparative more protrusible, superlative most protrusible)

1. Capable of being protruded

orotund

orotund (comparative more orotund, superlative most orotund)

1. Characterized by fullness, clarity, strength, and smoothness of sound.
2. Pompous; bombastic

Synonyms

• pompous
• sonorous

peplum

Peplum originates in the Greek word for 'tunic' and may refer to one of the following:

• A genre of Italian films also known as 'Sword and Sandal'
• Peplos, a kind of women's garment in ancient Greece
• Veil
• Short overskirt that is usually attached to a fitted jacket, blouse or dress

metastable

metastable (not comparable)

1. (physics, chemistry) Of or pertaining to a physical or chemical state that is relatively long-lived, but may decay to a lower energy state when slightly perturbed or through a quantum transition.

Metastability describes the behaviour of certain physical systems that can exist in long lived states that are less stable than the system's most stable state.

The parameters of excited systems may reach and hold stationary values (a metastable state). But metastable states have finite lifetimes. After a (potentially very long) period of time, spontaneously or under an external action, the characteristic parameters of the state change again to relax to a more stable state.

Non compos mentis

Non compos mentis is a term meaning "not of sound mind". Non compos mentis derives from the Latin non meaning "not", compos meaning "having (command of)", and mentis (genitive singular of mens), meaning "mind". It is the direct opposite of Compos mentis (of a composed mind).

thilk

thilk

1. (now archaic, regional) That same; this; that. [from 13th c.]

   I love thilk lass. — Spenser.

   Thou spake right now of thilke traitor death. — Chaucer.

Sleep hygiene

Sleep hygiene is the controlling of "all behavioural and environmental factors that precede sleep and may interfere with sleep."



It is the practice of following guidelines in an attempt to ensure more restful, effective sleep which can promote daytime alertness and help treat or avoid certain kinds of sleep disorders. Trouble sleeping and daytime sleepiness can be indications of poor sleep hygiene or sleep habits. The International Classification of Sleep Disorders-Revised (ICSD-R) states on page 74: "The importance of assessing the contribution of inadequate sleep hygiene in maintaining a preexisting sleep disturbance cannot be overemphasized." In the ICSD-R, the diagnosis inadequate sleep hygiene is classified as an extrinsic sleep disorder, code 307.41-1.

craven

craven (comparative more craven, superlative most craven)

1. Unwilling to fight; lacking even the rudiments of courage; extremely cowardly.

forfend

forfend
(transitive, dated) To prohibit; to forbid; to avert.

littoral zone

The littoral zone is the part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged. It always includes this intertidal zone and is often used to mean the same as the intertidal zone. However, the meaning of "littoral zone" can extend well beyond the intertidal zone.


There is no single definition. What is regarded as the full extent of the littoral zone, and the way the littoral zone is divided into subregions, varies in different contexts (lakes and rivers have their own definitions). The use of the term also varies from one part of the world to another, and between different disciplines. For example, military commanders speak of the littoral in ways that are quite different from marine biologists.

remiss

remiss (not comparable)

1. At fault; failing to fulfill responsibility, duty, or obligations.

   I would certainly be remiss if I did not give credit where credit was due.

Eemian

The Eemian was an interglacial period which began about 130,000 years ago and ended about 114,000 years ago. It was the second-to-latest interglacial period of the current Ice Age, the most recent being the Holocene which extends to the present day. The prevailing Eemian climate is believed to have been similar to that of the Holocene. The Eemian is also known as the Sangamonian Stage in North America, the Ipswichian Stage in the UK, the Mikulin interglacial in the East European Plain, the Valdivia interglacial in Chile and the Riss-Würm interglacial in the Alps.

Showscan

Showscan is a cinematic process developed by Douglas Trumbull. Similar to 70 mm wide-screen processes, it uses 65 mm film, but photographs and projects it at 60 frames per second – 2.5 times the standard speed of movie film. It renders a picture that is not only extremely high in definition, but is dramatically smoother and more realistic in its rendering of motion, similar to that seen in video.

Trumbull had first come to the public's attention for his work on the ground-breaking special effects in movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Andromeda Strain, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He also directed 1972's Silent Running, widely considered a classic of 1970s film science fiction.

The Showscan Film process was developed in the late '70s and early '80s by Trumbull, when he became interested in increasing the fidelity or definition of movies. Similar to the quality issues addressed later by high-definition television, the then-state of the art of movies suffered from the limitations of the medium. When projected onto a large screen, the film grain of 35 mm film stock is often quite visible, which reduces the quality of the displayed image, a problem further exacerbated by the larger grain used in the fast film stock often used to capture high-speed action. Trumbull chose a 65 mm film stock for his new process to address this, providing a higher resolution image.

Pre-Code

Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code (usually labeled, albeit inaccurately after 1934, as the "Hays Code") censorship guidelines. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become rigorously enforced until July 1, 1934. Before that date, movie content was restricted more by local laws, negotiations between the Studio Relations Committee (SRC) and the major studios, and popular opinion than strict adherence to the Hays Code, which was often ignored by Hollywood filmmakers.

 

As a result, films in the late 1920s and early 1930s included sexual innuendo, miscegenation, profanity, illegal drug use, promiscuity, prostitution, infidelity, abortion, intense violence and homosexuality. Strong women dominated films such as Female, Baby Face, and Red-Headed Woman. Gangsters in films like The Public Enemy, Little Caesar, and Scarface were more heroic than evil. Along with featuring stronger female characters, films examined female subject matters that were not revisited until much later in Hollywood history. Nefarious characters were seen to profit from their deeds, in some cases without significant repercussions, and drug use was a topic of several films. The Pre-Code era featured shorter films, usually running little more than an hour. Many of Hollywood's biggest stars such as Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson got their start in the era. But it also contained stars like Ruth Chatterton, Lyle Talbot, and Warren William (the so-called "king of Pre-Code") who excelled during this period but are mostly forgotten today.

Beginning in late 1933, and escalating throughout the first half of 1934, American Roman Catholics launched a campaign against what they deemed the immorality of American cinema. This, plus a potential government takeover of film censorship and social research seeming to indicate that so-called "bad" movies could promote bad behavior, was enough pressure to force the studios to capitulate to greater oversight.

Galactorrhea

Galactorrhea or galactorrhoea is the spontaneous flow of milk from the breast, unassociated with childbirth or nursing.
Galactorrhea is reported to occur in 5%-32% percent of women, much of the difference in reported incidence can be attributed to different definitions of galactorrhea. Galactorrhea also occurs in males, newborn infants and adolescents of both sexes.
Although frequently benign, it may be caused by serious underlying conditions and should be properly investigated.

undecimal

The undecimal (base-11) positional notation system is based on the number eleven, rather than ten as in decimal or eight in octal and so on. It is not a commonly used system. Undecimal requires eleven symbols representing the decimal numbers 0 through 10. For example, if the symbol for 10 were 'A', the decimal numbers 0 to 24 in undecimal would be: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 1A, 20, 21, 22. The undecimal number 1A3 would be 234 in decimal.

Aposematism

Aposematism (from apo- away, and sematic sign/meaning), perhaps most commonly known in the context of warning colouration, describes a family of antipredator adaptations where a warning signal is associated with the unprofitability of a prey item to potential predators. It is one form of "advertising" signal, with many others existing, such as the bright colours of flowers which lure pollinators. The warning signal may take the form of conspicuous colours, sounds, odours or other perceivable characteristics. Aposematic signals are beneficial for both the predator and prey, both of which avoid potential harm.



This tendency to become highly noticeable and distinct from harmless organisms is the antithesis of crypsis, or avoidance of detection. Aposematism has been such a successful adaptation that harmless organisms have repeatedly evolved to mimic aposematic species, a pattern known as Batesian mimicry. Another related pattern is Müllerian mimicry, where aposematic species come to resemble one another.

golygon

A golygon (technically referred to as a "serial isogon of 90 degrees") is any polygon with all right angles, whose sides are consecutive integer lengths. Golygons were invented and named by Lee Sallows, and popularized by A.K. Dewdney in a 1990 Scientific American column (Smith). Variations on the definition of golygons involve allowing edges to cross, using sequences of edge lengths other than the consecutive integers, and considering turn angles other than 90°.
In any golygon, all horizontal edges have the same parity as each other, as do all vertical edges. Therefore, the number n of sides must allow the solution of the system of equations

It follows from this that n must be a multiple of 8.
The number of solutions to this system of equations may be computed efficiently using generating functions (sequence A007219 in OEIS) but finding the number of solutions that correspond to non-crossing golygons seems to be significantly more difficult.

Apatheism

Apatheism (/ˌæpəˈθiːɪzəm/ a portmanteau of apathy and theism/atheism), also known as pragmatic atheism or (critically) as practical atheism, is acting with apathy, disregard, or lack of interest towards belief or disbelief in a deity. Apatheism describes the manner of acting towards a belief or lack of a belief in a deity; so applies to both theism and atheism. An apatheist is also someone who is not interested in accepting or denying any claims that gods exist or do not exist. In other words, an apatheist is someone who considers the question of the existence of gods as neither meaningful nor relevant to his or her life.

Akimbo

Akimbo is a human body position in which the hands are on the hips and the elbows are bowed outward, or bent or bowed in a more general sense.

Wellerisms

Wellerisms, named after Sam Weller in Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers, make fun of established clichés and proverbs by showing that they are wrong in certain situations, often when taken literally. In this sense, wellerisms that include proverbs are a type of anti-proverb. Typically a Wellerism consists of three parts: a proverb or saying, a speaker, and an often humorously literal explanation.

Some researchers concentrate on wellerisms found in English and European languages, but Alan Dundes documented them in the Yoruba language of Nigeria (Dundes 1964), with African scholars confirming and adding to his findings (Ojoade 1980, Opata 1988, 1990). They are also found in ancient Sumerian: "The fox, having urinated into the sea, said: 'The depths of the sea are my urine!'"
A special format for Wellerisms called a Tom Swifty incorporates a punning adverb that modifies the manner in which the statement was related.

Macrosomia

Large for gestational age (LGA) is an indication of high prenatal growth rate, often defined as a weight (or length, or head circumference) that lies above the 90th percentile for that gestational age. Macrosomia, also known as big baby syndrome, is sometimes used synonymously with LGA, or is otherwise defined as a fetus or infant that weighs above 4000 grams (8 lb 13 oz) or 4500 grams (9 lb 15 oz) regardless of gestational age.

Conspecificity

Conspecificity is a concept in biology. Two or more individual organisms, populations, or taxa are conspecific if they belong to the same species.

Where different species can interbreed and their gametes compete, the conspecific gametes take precedence over heterospecific gametes. This is known as conspecific sperm precedence or conspecific pollen precedence in plants.

Theurgy

Theurgy (from Greek θεουργία) describes the practice of rituals, sometimes seen as magical in nature, performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or more gods, especially with the goal of uniting with the divine, achieving henosis, and perfecting oneself.

Coonass

Coonass, or Coon-ass is used in reference to a person of Cajun ethnicity. Many consider it an insult but others consider it a compliment or badge of honor. Although many Cajuns use the word in regard to themselves, other Cajuns view the term as an ethnic slur against the Cajun people, especially when used by non-Cajuns. Socioeconomic factors appear to influence how Cajuns are likely to view the term: working-class Cajuns tend to regard the word "coonass" as a badge of ethnic pride, whereas middle- and upper-class Cajuns are more likely to regard the term as insulting or degrading, even when used by fellow Cajuns in reference to themselves. (In Sociolinguistics, this type of behavior is termed covert prestige.) Despite an effort by Cajun activists to stamp out the term, it can be found on T-shirts, hats, and bumper stickers throughout Acadiana, the 22-parish Cajun homeland in south Louisiana. The term is also used by some of Cajun descent in nearby East Texas and Mississippi.

austral

austral , adjective:
1. Southern.

Aten

The Aten asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids, named after the first of the group to be discovered (2062 Aten, discovered January 7, 1976, by Eleanor F. Helin). They are defined by having semi-major axes of less than one astronomical unit (the distance from the Earth to the Sun). Because asteroids' orbits can be highly eccentric, an Aten orbit need not be entirely contained within Earth's orbit; in fact, nearly all known Aten asteroids have their aphelion greater than one AU even though their semi-major axis is less than one AU. Observation of objects inferior to the Earth's orbit is difficult and may be the cause of some bias in the apparent preponderance of eccentric Atens.
Asteroids that have their aphelion entirely within the Earth's orbit are known as Apohele asteroids, or alternatively as Inner Earth Objects (IEOs) or Atira asteroids. Apoheles are traditionally treated as a subclass of Atens, but sometimes are separated. As of August 2012, there are only eleven known Apoheles, and 716 more known Aten asteroids. The smallest aphelion is that of 2008 EB₂₆), at 0.804 AU. The shortest semi-major axis for any known Aten asteroid is that of another Apohele, 2007 EA₃₂), at 0.550 AU.

Qualia

Qualia is a term used in philosophy to refer to individual instances of subjective, conscious experience. The term derives from a Latin word meaning for "what sort" or "what kind." Examples of qualia are the pain of a headache, the taste of wine, the experience of taking a recreational drug, or the perceived redness of an evening sky. Daniel Dennett writes that qualia is "an unfamiliar term for something that could not be more familiar to each of us: the ways things seem to us." Erwin Schrödinger, the famous physicist, had this counter-materialist take: "The sensation of colour cannot be accounted for by the physicist's objective picture of light-waves. Could the physiologist account for it, if he had fuller knowledge than he has of the processes in the retina and the nervous processes set up by them in the optical nerve bundles and in the brain? I do not think so."