1.
Genoa
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Genoa is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015,594,733 people lived within the administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba due to its glorious past, part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. The citys rich history in notably its art, music. It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, Niccolò Paganini, Giuseppe Mazzini, Genoa, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of north-west Italy, is one of the countrys major economic centres. The city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks since the 19th century, the Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407, is among the oldest in the world and has played an important role in the citys prosperity since the middle of the 15th century. Today a number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Selex ES, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo STS, Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Piaggio Aerospace, the Genoa area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC. In ancient times this area was frequented and inhabited by Ligures, Phoenicians, Phocaeans, Greeks, and Etruscans. The city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbour probably saw use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans. In the 5th century BC was founded the first oppidum at the foot of the today called the Castle Hill which now is inside the medieval old town. The ancient Ligurian city was known as Stalia, so referred to by Artemidorus Ephesius and Pomponius Mela, Ligurian Stalia was overshadowed by the powerful Marseille and Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona. Stalia had an alliance with Rome through a foedus aequum in the course of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians accordingly destroyed it in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the Carthaginian Wars ended in 146 BC. it received municipal rights, the original castrum thenceforth expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory. Trades included skins, wood, and honey, goods were shipped to the mainland, up to major cities like Tortona and Piacenza. Among the archeological remains from the Roman period, an amphitheatre was also found, another theory traces the name to the Etruscan word Kainua which means New City and still another from the Latin word ianua, related to the name of the God Janus, meaning door or passage. The latter is in reference to its position at the centre of the Ligurian coastal arch. The Latin name, oppidum Genua, is recorded by Pliny the Elder as part of the Augustean Regio IX Liguria, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths occupied Genoa
2.
Liguria
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Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, its capital is Genoa. The region is popular with tourists for its beaches, towns, Liguria is bordered by France to the west, Piedmont to the north, and Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany to the east. It lies on the Ligurian Sea, the narrow strip of land is bordered by the sea, the Alps and the Apennines mountains. Some mountains rise above 2,000 m, the line runs at an average altitude of about 1,000 m. The highest point of the region is the summit of Monte Saccarello, the winding arched extension goes from Ventimiglia to La Spezia. Of this,3,524.08 km2 are mountainous and 891.95 km2 are hills, Ligurias natural reserves cover 12% of the entire region, or 600 km2 of land. They are made up of one national reserve, six large parks, the continental shelf is very narrow, and so steep it descends almost immediately to considerable marine depths along its 350-kilometre coastline. Except for the Portovenere and Portofino promontories, it is not very jagged. At the mouths of the biggest watercourses there are small beaches, the ring of hills lying immediately beyond the coast together with the sea account for a mild climate year-round. Average winter temperatures are 7 to 10 °C and summer temperatures are 23 to 24 °C, rainfall can be abundant at times, as mountains very close to the coast create an orographic effect. Genoa and La Spezia can see up to 2,000 mm of rain in a year, evidence of Neanderthals living in the area was discovered in the region of Loano, whereas in Ventimiglia, in the grotto of Balzi Rossi, numerous remains were found of Cro-Magnon. According to Classical sources, the Ligurians, once lived in a far broader territory than present-day Liguria, for example, the Greek colony of Massalia, modern Marseille was recorded to lie in Ligurian territory. During the first Punic War, the ancient Ligurians were divided, some of them siding with Carthage, under Augustus, Liguria was designated a region of Italy stretching from the coast to the banks of the Po River. The great Roman roads helped strengthen territorial unity and increase communication, important towns developed on the coast, of which evidence is left in the ruins of Albenga, Ventimiglia and Luni. Between the 4th and the 10th centuries Liguria was dominated by the Byzantines, the Lombards of King Rothari and it was also invaded by Saracen and Norman raiders. In the 10th century, once the danger of pirates decreased, in the 11th and 12th centuries the marches were split into fees, and then with the strengthening of the bishops’ power, the feudal structure began to partially weaken. The main Ligurian towns, especially on the coast, became city-states, inland, however, fiefs belonging to noble families survived for a very long time. Between the 11th century and the 15th century, the Republic of Genoa experienced a political and commercial success
3.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
4.
Fresnel lens
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A Fresnel lens is a type of compact lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses. The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass, a Fresnel lens can be made much thinner than a comparable conventional lens, in some cases taking the form of a flat sheet. A Fresnel lens can capture more light from a light source. The idea of creating a thinner, lighter lens by making it with separate sections mounted in a frame is attributed to Georges-Louis Leclerc. The Marquis de Condorcet proposed grinding such a lens from a thin piece of glass. French physicist and engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel is most often given credit for the development of the lens for use in lighthouses. According to Smithsonian magazine, the first Fresnel lens was used in 1823 in the Cordouan lighthouse at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, scottish physicist Sir David Brewster is credited with convincing the United Kingdom to adopt these lenses in their lighthouses. The Fresnel lens reduces the amount of material required compared to a lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. An ideal Fresnel lens would have many such sections. In each section, the thickness is decreased compared to an equivalent simple lens. This effectively divides the surface of a standard lens into a set of surfaces of the same curvature. In some lenses, the surfaces are replaced with flat surfaces. Such a lens can be regarded as an array of prisms arranged in a fashion, with steeper prisms on the edges. In the first Fresnel lenses, each section was actually a separate prism, single-piece Fresnel lenses were later produced, being used for automobile headlamps, brake, parking, and turn signal lenses, and so on. In modern times, computer-controlled milling equipment might be used to more complex lenses. Fresnel lenses are made of glass or plastic, their size varies from large to medium to small. In many cases they are thin and flat, almost flexible. Modern Fresnel lenses usually consist of all refractive elements, however many of the lighthouses have both refracting and reflecting elements, as shown in the photographs and diagram
5.
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office
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The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is located in Taunton, Somerset on Admiralty Way and has a workforce of approximately 1,000 staff. The UKHO is the UKs agency providing hydrographic and geospatial data to mariners and they are a trading arm of the Ministry of Defence. They are responsible for support to the Royal Navy and other defence customers. Supplying defence and the shipping industry, they help ensure Safety of Lives at Sea, protect the marine environment. Together with other national hydrographic offices and the International Hydrographic Organisation, they work to set and raise standards of hydrography, cartography. Their market-leading portfolio of ADMIRALTY Maritime Products & Services is found on over 90% of the ships trading internationally. Relied upon by mariners for over 200 years, their portfolio provides the most comprehensive range of SOLAS-compliant charts, publications and digital services to crews, cargo. The Admiraltys first Hydrographer was Alexander Dalrymple, appointed in 1795 on the order of King George III, the first chart Dalrymple published as Hydrographer to the ADMIRALTY brand did not appear until 1800. He also issued sailing directions and Notices to Mariners, Dalrymple was succeeded on his death in 1808 by Captain Thomas Hurd, under whose stewardship the department was given permission to sell charts to the public in 1821. In 1819 Captain Hurd entered into an agreement with Denmark to exchange charts. This is thought to be the earliest formal arrangement for the supply of information between the British and any foreign Hydrographic Office. Hurd developed the specialism of Royal Navy hydrographic surveyors, Rear-Admiral Sir W. Edward Parry was appointed Hydrographer in 1823 after his second expedition to discover a Northwest Passage. In 1825 some 736 charts and coastal views were being offered for sale by the Hydrographic Office, in 1828 Captain Parry and the Royal Society organised a scientific voyage to the South Atlantic, in collaboration with the Hydrographers of France and Spain, using HMS Chanticleer. In 1829, at the age of 55, Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort became Hydrographer, during his time as Hydrographer, he developed the eponymous Scale, saw the introduction of official tide tables in 1833 and instigated various surveys and expeditions. Several of these were by the HMS Beagle, including one to Tierra del Fuego, in 1831 Captain Beaufort informed Captain FitzRoy that he had found a savant for the latters surveying voyage to South America, Charles Darwin. After completing extensive surveys in South America she returned to Falmouth, Cornwall via New Zealand, by the time of Beauforts retirement in 1855, the Chart Catalogue listed 1,981 charts and 64,000 copies of them had been issued to the Royal Navy. In the 1870s the Hydrographic Service supported the Challenger expedition, an exercise that made many discoveries. The cruise was named after the vessel, HMS Challenger
6.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
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NGA was known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency until 2003. NGA headquarters is located at Fort Belvoir in Springfield, Virginia, the NGA campus, at 2.3 million square feet, is the third-largest government building in the Washington metropolitan area after The Pentagon and the Ronald Reagan Building. U. S. mapping and charting efforts remained relatively unchanged until World War I, using stereo viewers, photo-interpreters reviewed thousands of images. Many of these were of the target at different angles and times, giving rise to what became modern imagery analysis. The Engineer Reproduction Plant was the Army Corps of Engineerss first attempt to centralize mapping production, printing and it was located on the grounds of the Army War College in Washington, D. C. Previously, topographic mapping had largely been a function of individual field engineer units using field surveying techniques or copying existing or captured products, in addition, ERP assumed the supervision and maintenance of the War Department Map Collection, effective April 1,1939. With the advent of the Second World War aviation, field surveys began giving way to photogrammetry, photo interpretation, during wartime, it became increasingly possible to compile maps with minimal field work. Out of this emerged AMS, which absorbed the existing ERP in May 1942 and it was located at the Dalecarlia Site on MacArthur Blvd. just outside Washington, D. C. in Montgomery County, Maryland, and adjacent to the Dalecarlia Reservoir. AMS was designated as an Engineer field activity, effective July 1,1942, by General Order 22, OCE, the Army Map Service also combined many of the Armys remaining geographic intelligence organizations and the Engineer Technical Intelligence Division. The agencys credit union, Constellation Federal Credit Union, was chartered during the Army Map Service era and it has continued to serve all successive legacy agencies employees and their families. After the war, as capacity and range improved, the need for charts grew. The Army Air Corps established its map unit, which was renamed ACP in 1943 and was located in St. Louis, ACP was known as the U. S. Air Force Aeronautical Chart and Information Center from 1952 to 1972. A credit union was chartered for the ACP in 1948, called Aero Chart Credit Union and it was renamed Arsenal Credit Union in 1952, a nod to the St. Louis sites Civil War-era use as an arsenal. Shortly before leaving office in January 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the creation of the National Photographic Interpretation Center, lundahl, combining Central Intelligence Agency, Army, Navy, and Air Force assets to solve national intelligence problems. NPIC was a component of the CIAs Directorate of Science and Technology, NPIC first identified the Soviet Unions basing of missiles in Cuba in 1962. The Defense Mapping Agency was created on January 1,1972, dMAs birth certificate, DoD Directive 5105.40, resulted from a formerly classified Presidential directive, Organization and Management of the U. S. Foreign Intelligence Community, which directed the consolidation of mapping functions previously dispersed among the military services, DMA became operational on July 1,1972, pursuant to General Order 3, DMA. On Oct.1,1996, DMA was folded into the National Imagery, DMA was first headquartered at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D. C, then at Falls Church, Virginia
7.
Italian Navy
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The Italian Navy is the maritime defence force of the Italian Republic. It is one of the four branches of Italian Armed Forces and was formed in 1946 from what remained of the Regia Marina after World War II. As of August 2014, the Italian Navy had a strength of 30,923 active personnel with approximately 184 vessels in service, the Regia Marina was formed on March 17,1861, after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. The Italian Navy assumed its present name after the Italian monarchy was abolished following a referendum held on June 2,1946. At the end of its five years involvement in World War II, however, a large number of its naval units had survived the war, albeit in a low efficiency state, which was due to the conflict and the age of many vessels. A ban on owning Battleships, Aircraft carriers, Submarines and Amphibious Assault units, a ban on operating military installations on the islands of Pantelleria, Pianosa and on the archipelago of Pelagie Islands. The total displacement, battleships excluded, of the navy was not allowed to be greater than 67,500 tons. Some had already been dismantled in La Spezia between 1948 and 1955, including the aircraft carrier Aquila. However, the Soviet Union demanded the surrender of the battleship Giulio Cesare, the cruisers Attilio Regolo and Scipione Africano became the French Chateaurenault and Guichen, while Eugenio di Savoia became the Greek Helli. After break up and/or transfers, only a part of the fleet remained to be recommissioned into the Marina. With the new elections in 1946, the Kingdom of Italy became a Republic, the US government in Washington wished to keep its own installations on the Italian Peninsula and relaxed the Treaty restrictions by including Italy in the Mutual Defense Assistance Programme. Within NATO, the Marina Militare was assigned control of the Adriatic Sea and Strait of Otranto. This solution required a great effort to rebuild and transform the fleet. Progress was slow due to pressures on Italy and due to opposition from other European governments. These nations were concerned at seeing an Italian Navy capable of rivaling the Western naval forces, the ensign of the Italian Navy is the Italian tricolour defaced with the coat of arms of the Marina Militare. A further difference is that St, in 2012 the Navy began a restructuring process that will see a 21% decrease in personnel by 2025. A new structure was implemented in January 2014, the command structure is depicted below, Reporting to the Logistics Command is Maritime Command – divided into four areas who provide logistic support for their areas. The Corps of the Port Captaincies – Coast Guard is the coast guard of Italy and is part of the Italian Navy under the control of the Ministry of Infrastructures, in Italy, it is commonly known as simply the Guardia costiera
8.
Lighthouse
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Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, and safe entries to harbors, and can assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance, before the development of clearly defined ports, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since raising the fire would improve the visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as a marker to ports than as a warning signal for reefs and promontories. The most famous lighthouse structure from antiquity was the Pharos of Alexandria, coins from Alexandria, Ostia, and Laodicea in Syria also exist. The modern era of lighthouses began at the turn of the 18th century, advances in structural engineering and new and efficient lighting equipment allowed for the creation of larger and more powerful lighthouses, including ones exposed to the sea. The function of lighthouses shifted toward the provision of a warning against shipping hazards. The Eddystone Rocks were a major hazard for mariners sailing through the English Channel. The first lighthouse built there was a wooden structure, anchored by 12 iron stanchions secured in the rock. His lighthouse was the first tower in the world to have been exposed to the open sea. The civil engineer, John Smeaton, rebuilt the lighthouse from 1756–59, his tower marked a step forward in the design of lighthouses. He modelled the shape of his lighthouse on that of an oak tree and he pioneered the use of hydraulic lime, a form of concrete that will set under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks together using dovetail joints and marble dowels. This profile had the advantage of allowing some of the energy of the waves to dissipate on impact with the walls. His lighthouse was the prototype for the lighthouse and influenced all subsequent engineers. One such influence was Robert Stevenson, himself a figure in the development of lighthouse design. His greatest achievement was the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse in 1810 and this structure was based upon Smeatons design, but with several improved features, such as the incorporation of rotating lights, alternating between red and white. Stevenson worked for the Northern Lighthouse Board for nearly fifty years during which time he designed and oversaw the construction and he also invented the movable jib and the balance crane as a necessary part for lighthouse construction. Alexander Mitchell designed the first screw-pile lighthouse – his lighthouse was built on piles that were screwed into the sandy or muddy seabed, construction of his design began in 1838 at the mouth of the Thames and was known as the Maplin Sands lighthouse, and first lit in 1841
9.
Port of Genoa
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The Port of Genoa is the major Italian seaport on the Mediterranean Sea. With a trade volume of 51.6 million tonnes, it is the busiest port of Italy by cargo tonnage. The port is used as a dismantling station and has been named as the port where the Costa Concordia is to be dismantled.5 million cars and 250,000 trucks. A third cruise terminal is currently under construction in the area of Ponte Parodi. There are two lighthouses, the historical Lanterna,76 metres tall, and the small lighthouse of Punta Vagno. The marina of the Exhibition centre
10.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
