In geography, a fault is a break in the earth's crust along which movement has taken place - usually, but not always, vertically - so that the layers (strata) of the two rock faces no longer match. It is often along a fault that earthquakes occur. Research Fault
In town planning, the theory behind the concept of the neighbourhood is that, so as to foster the life of a community, it is necessary to break down the totality of a town's population into groups which are small enough to acquire a sense of identification with a locality. What is important is that a town should be broken down for many purposes into a series of, as it were, inward-looking villages within the area of the town. Only for special purposes, - such as work or entertainment, should the inhabitants of a neighbourhood unit need to go outside their locality. It should have its own group of shops catering for the essential requirements of life, its social centre (the Neighbourhood Centre), its own secondary school and a number of tributary primary schools, its own clinic, banks and post office, and recreational space of its own.
The Neighbourhood Unit is the area of a community of people, small enough to acquire a sense of local identification, but large enough to support a secondary school. This requires at least 5000 people. The pattern of the neighbourhood is determined by convenience of access from home to school and community centre, and by the policy of making major traffic routes go round it and not through it. Many of the British post-war New Towns around London, such as Crawley New Town and Stevenage, were planned as a series of neighbourhood units. The major road system and belts of open space divided the neighbourhoods from one another. Certain areas were set aside for industry and open space. All the neighbourhoods converged upon the town centre, which contained more elaborate facilities than the neighbourhood centres. The only objections to the neighbourhood principle, as it was applied in the New Towns of the 1950's, were that they took up so much space that they were costly to live in, and that people were so wedded to separate family living that any sense of community was difficult to build up. It was possible to speak of 'new town blues', the sense of isolation which arises when the bright lights of the town centre are so distant that the effort involved in travelling centrewards is too great, and people therefore prefer to sit at home in front of their television sets.
A later stage in the evolution of the neighbourhood principle has been the attempt to provide an environment for social groups rather than for single families. This was a reaction against the individualism which had tended to run riot. The appropriate type of building for the social group was though to be the tall slab-block of family flats. This was economical of space and building costs, since the slab-block is the shape that gives the greatest floor space in relation to space for circulation or movement. There was thought to be every likelihood of building up the spirit of group-living when the flats were let to families who hitherto had lived in the congested streets of obsolete houses which this new housing was designed to replace. There was, it was felt, a sense of security engendered by being surrounded by already familiar faces, and a degree of kinship from having shared the same experiences before coming to live in the slab-block, however encasing people in concrete boxes is unnatural and causes all sorts of mental disturbances which has led to these tower blocks becoming very unpopular, indeed they are now considered one of the great architectural blunders of all time, fostering crime, deprivation and isolation rather than kinship.
The Awassi (also known as the Ivesti, Arab Sheep, Baladi, Deiri, Shami, Gezirieh, Syrian Sheep) is a nomadic sheep breed created through centuries of natural and selective breeding to become the highest milk producing breed in the Middle East. The breed is of the Near Eastern Fat-tailed type. The average ewe has single lactations over 300 litres per 210 day lactation and it is not uncommon for outstanding females to have 210 day lactations above 750 litres. The breed is calm around people, easy to work with and easily milked. When machine milked, they can be milked in 4-6 minutes. The breed also has the advantage of natural hardiness and grazing ability. The breed is well suited to a grazing production system as well as a confinement operation. The Awassi has a brown face and legs with the fleece varying in colour from brown to white. Individuals can also be found with black, white, grey or spotted faces. The males are horned and the females are usually polled. The fleece is mostly carpet type with a varying degree of hair. Research Awassi
Carnivorous plants are those which derive nourishment directly from the bodies of insects or other small creatures entrapped by them in various ways. Such plants, of which there are several hundred kinds, mostly belong to the natural orders Sarraceniaceae or Pitcher-plants (genera Sarracenia, Darlingtonia, etc.), Droseraceae (genera Drosera, Dioncea, Aldrovanda, etc.), Lentibulariaceae (genera Pinguicula, Utricularia, etc.), and Nepenthaceae (genusNepenthes).
In all these the apparatus for catching insects consists of a modified leaf or portion of a leaf, and in some the modifications are so curious and the adaptations so perfect that the plant seems almost endowed with intelligence. In the pitcher-plant order the leaf consists of a longer or shorter tube, ventrally winged, and sometimes crowned by a sort of hood. Insects are enticed to the leaves by means of a sugary secretion near the mouth, and sometimes also continued down the edge of the wing, so as to form what has been described as a 'saccharine trail' from near the ground up to the orifice. The tube when not hooded may contain rain, in addition to the secreted juice, but in the hooded forms rain is excluded.
In Nepenthes the sessile leaf-blade is continued as a twining tendril, which bears on its summit a pitcher closed in the younger plants by a hinged lid. The species of Drosera, or Sun-dew, of which some are common in British bogs, have their leaves provided with stalked glands, which exude a clear juice. When an insect alights on any of these glands, those in the neighbourhood bend towards it in order to secure it more effectively. In the allied Dioncea muscipula or Venus's Fly-trap of Carolina, however, the leaf-blade bears on its apex a sort of trap, consisting of two pieces hinged together. These have bristles on their outer ends and a few sensitive hairs on their inner faces, and if any of the hairs or the hinge is touched by an insect the trap closes and secures it. The common Butterwort of Britain (Pinguicula vulgaris) also has leaves which catch insects (and vegetable matters) by means of sensitive glandular hairs; and the Bladderworts (Utricularia) are provided with small submerged ascidia or pitchers. Research Carnivorous Plants
Cow-Parsnip or hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) is a tall-growing umbelliferous plant with a hairy stem and large, roughly-serrated leaves. the umbels are compound, and the flat fruit is composed of two carpels, which, being neither beaked nor prickly, are united at their faces. The plant bears white flowers in late summer. Research Cow-Parsnip
Phalanger is a common name applied to marsupial mammals of the genus Trichosurus, family
Phalangeridae, found in Australia, Tasmania, the Solomon Islands, the Moluccas, and Celebes. Members of the family have been introduced into New Zealand. The head and body length ranges from 16 to 65 cm, the tail length from 17 to 61 centimetres. All the members of the family have five toes on each foot; each digit, except for the opposable innermost toe of the hind foot, has a large claw.
Phalangers are nocturnal, arboreal animals that feed chiefly on fruit and leaves. Some species also feed on nectar, insects, and, occasionally, small birds. The typical phalangers, or cuscuses, belong to the genus Phalanger. These animals have dense, woolly fur and long, prehensile tails. Most of them are large animals, about 60 centimetres long, not counting the tail.
They nest in hollow trees. The best-known species is the spotted cuscus, Phalanger maculatus, which is chiefly creamy white in colour, with spots of chestnut and black on the back, and with grey or reddish-brown legs.
The vulpine phalangers, also called brush-tailed possums, of the genus Trichosurus are characterized by fox like faces. Trichosurus vulpecula is grey above and yellowish below.
The ring-tailed phalangers, or ring-tailed possums, of the genus Pseudocheirus have curled tails that taper to a point. Unlike other phalangers, these animals, which are sometimes placed in a different family, do not nest in hollow trees but build shelters of twigs in the branches of trees or shrubs. Research Phalanger
The sloth is two genera and three six species of South American and Central American, tree-dwelling, herbivorous mammals of the family Bradypodidae. They have rounded heads, inconspicuous ears and flattened faces, and the limbs are furnished with long, sharp, curved claws. The body is bulky and heavy, covered with brown or greyish coloured, long, shaggy hair which oftens developes a green tint from the presence of algae living in the hair. Sloths spend most of their time in the trees, moving very slowly - though capable of considerable speed in the trees - and eating leaves.
Sloth is the collective noun for a group of bears. Research Sloth
The Suffolk is a breed of sheep. The original Suffolks were the result of crossing Southdownrams on Norfolk Horned ewes. Apparently the product of this cross was a great improvement over either one of the parents. Although the Suffolk was a recognized breed as early as 1810, the flock book was not closed until much later. In 1930, Southdowns were described as large sheep without horns, dark faces and legs, fine bones and long small necks. They were low set in front with high shoulders and light forequarters; however, their sides were good, rather broad in the loin, and were full in the thigh and twist. Today's Suffolk derives its meatiness and quality of wool from the old original British Southdown. The Norfolk Horned sheep, now rare, were a wild and hardy breed. They were blackfaced, light, fleeced sheep. Both sexes were horned. The upland regions of Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridge on the south-eastern coast of England are very rugged and forage is sparse. It was this dry, cold and windy area in which the Norfolk breed adapted itself to travelling great distances for food, thereby developing a superbly muscular body. It was said at that time of the Norfolk Horned, 'their limbs are long and muscular, their bodies are long and their general form betokens activity and strength.' This breed and its crosses were valued highly both by farmers and butchers. However, sheepmen of that day did not like the long legs, flat sides, nor wild nature of the Norfolk Horned. They noted that Southdowns crossed with Norfolk produced a progeny that reduced most of the criticisms of both breeds. In 1886, the English Suffolk Society was organized to provide registry service and to further develop the use of the breed. Research Suffolk Sheep
Tayassuidae is a pig-like family of animals of the order Artiodactyla, that are found in the south-western USA, south to central Argentina. The head and body length ranges between 7.5 centimetres and 11 centimetres and the tail, which only has from six to nine vertebrae, ranges from 15 to 102 mm. Peccaries are covered with coarse greyish or brownish fur, and all species have contrasting areas of white or yellowish fur on their chests, backs, or faces. Each of the three species is currently placed in its own genus: Catagonus wagneri, Pecari tajacu and Tayassu pecari. Research Tayassuidae
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Fault
