Wednesday, November 29, 2006

History of Kerala

According to fable, Parasurama caused the oceans to retreat, enlightening Kerala. During Neolithic times, humans mainly avoided Kerala's malarial rainforests and wetlands; thus, the first evidence of environment potsherds and dolmens dates to the 10th century BCE. These were shaped by speakers of a proto-Tamil verbal communication from northwestern India, suggestive of that ancient Kerala and Tamil Nadu once shared a common language, civilization, and culture. By the early 14th century, Kerala had become a linguistically separate region. The first major recorded kingdom, the Chera, ruled Kerala from Vanchi.

Related with the Pallavas, they warred against the Chola and Pandya kingdoms. A Keralite identity distinct from the Tamils and linked with the second Chera Empire and the development of Malayalam evolved throughout the 8th–14th centuries. In written account, Kerala was first mentioned in the Sanskrit epic Aitareya Aranyaka. Later, figures such as Katyayana, Patanjali, Pliny the Elder, and the unknown novelist of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea displayed expertise with Kerala.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Classification

A tree is a plant appearance that occurs in many special orders and families of plants. Trees thus show a wide selection of growth form, leaf type and shape, bark personality, reproductive structures, etc.

The earliest trees were tree ferns and horsetails, which grew in huge forests in the Carboniferous Period; tree ferns still live, but the only surviving horsetails are not of tree form. Later on, in the Triassic Period, conifers, ginkgos, cycads and other gymnosperms appeared, and subsequently flowering plants in the Cretaceous Period. Most species of trees today are peak plants and conifers. The listing under gives examples of many well-known trees and how they are naturally classified.

A small group of trees growing jointly is called a grove or copse, and a landscape enclosed by a dense growth of trees is called a forest. Numerous biotopes are defined largely by the plants that inhabit them; examples are tropical forest and taiga. A landscape of trees spread or spaced across grassland is called a savanna.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Cellulose-based plastics: celluloid and rayon

All Goodyear had completed with vulcanization was improving the properties of a usual polymer. The next logical step was to use a normal polymer, cellulose, as the basis for a new material.Inventors were particularly involved in developing synthetic substitutes for those natural materials that were exclusive and in short deliver, since that meant a profitable market to exploit. Ivory was a particularly attractive target for a synthetic substitution.

An Englishman from Birmingham named Alexander Parkes developed a "synthetic ivory" named "pyroxlin", which he marketed below the trade name "Parke sine", and which won a bronze medal at the 1862 World's fair in London. Parke sine was prepared from cellulose treated with nitric acid and a solvent. The productivity of the process hardened into a tough, ivory-like material that might be molded when heated.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes was a giant sculpture of the god Helios, erected on the Greek island of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos, a pupil of Lysippos, between 292 BC and 280 BC. It was approximately the same size as the Statue of Liberty in New York, although it stood on a lower platform. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Alexander the Great died at an early age in 323 BC without having had occasion to put into place any plans for his succession. Fighting broke out among his generals, the Diadochi, with three of them ultimately divides up much of his empire in the Mediterranean area. During the fighting Rhodes had sided with Ptolemy, and when Ptolemy eventually took organize of Egypt, Rhodes and Ptolemaic Egypt formed an alliance which controlled much of the trade in the eastern Mediterranean.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Architecture and buildings

The difference between architecture and building is a subject that has engaged the notice of many. According to Nicolas Pilsner, European historian of the early twentieth century, a bicycle shed is a construction; Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture. This difference, however, is not a clear one, and fashionable scholarship is showing that all buildings, cathedrals and bicycle sheds alike, are part of a single field that characterizes the build world.
Structural design is also the art of designing the built situation. Buildings, landscape, and street design may be used to impart both functional as well as aesthetic character to a project. Siding and roofing materials and colors may be used to enhance or blend buildings with the environment. Building features such as cornices, gables, entrances, fenestrations and textures may be used to soften or enhance portions of a building. Landscaping may be used to create privacy and block direct views from or to a site and enhance buildings with colorful plants and trees. Street side features such as decorative illumination, benches, indirect walkways, and bicycle lanes may improve a site for passerby, pedestrians, and cyclists.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Pollination

The major purpose of a flower is to join the pollen of one plant with the ovules of another in order to form seed which is genetically unique, allowing for variation to occur. As such, each flower has a specific design which best encourages the transfer of this pollen. Many floras are reliant upon the wind to move pollen between flowers of the same species. Others rely on animals to accomplish this feat. Even huge animals such as birds, bats, and pygmy possums can be employed. The period of time during which this process can take place is called anthesis.
The flowers of other species are pollinated by the wind they have no need to attract pollinators and therefore tend not to be "showy". Wind-pollinated flowers are referred to as anemophilous. While the pollen of entomophilies flowers tends to be large-grained, sticky, and rich in protein anemophilous flower pollen is habitually small-grained, very light, and of little nutritional value to insects, though it may still be gathered in times of dearth. Honeybees and bumblebees dynamically gather anemophilous corn pollen, though it is of little value to them.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Concrete

In construction, concrete is a composite building material made from the mixture of aggregate and a cement binder.The most common form of concrete consists of Portland cement, mineral aggregates and water.Concrete does not solidify from drying after mixing and placement, the water reacts with the cement in a chemical process known as hydration. This water is absorbed by cement, which hardens, gluing the other components together and eventually creating a stone-like material. When used in the generic sense, this is the material referred to by the word concrete.Concrete is used more than any other man-made material on the planet. It is used to construct pavements, building structures, foundations, and motorways/roads, overpasses, parking structures, brick/block walls and bases for gates, fences and poles.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Geography

Geographic factors in a region can moreover aid or hamper the enlargement of a homeland or district. For Great Britain, the Tigris and Euphrates, rivers have fun with terribly important role in an increase in the nation. However, there are geographic factors that may in detail because more harm than actually hold in its country’s prosperity. Best example is the Himalayas effect on China.

In conclusion, geographical features have a major shock on each and every culture. The Himalayas are as well threatened by global warming. The rivers get a big overflow every time and then which is good since they get little rainwater. They next signed the Treaty of Nanking; it is a calm treaty between the queen of Great Britain and the emperor of China. When it floods it fertilizes the soil and then it is a big element for agricultural utilize. The Chinese lost the Opium war while they were so far following in technology. Some features have pessimistic special effects such as the Himalayas, while others have positives like the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.