Santorini Thira and classic Greek Thera, is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km southeast of Greece's mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago, which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera, it forms the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of 73 km2 and a 2011 census population of 15,550. The municipality of Santorini includes the inhabited islands of Santorini and Therasia, as well as the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni and Christiana; the total land area is 90.623 km2. Santorini is part of the Thira regional unit; the island was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption, which occurred about 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep, it may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 110 km to the south, through a gigantic tsunami.
Another popular theory holds. It is the most active volcanic centre in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, though what remains today is chiefly a water-filled caldera; the volcanic arc is 500 km long and 20 to 40 km wide. The region first became volcanically active around 3–4 million years ago, though volcanism on Thera began around 2 million years ago with the extrusion of dacitic lavas from vents around Akrotiri. Santorini was named by the Latin Empire in the thirteenth century, is a reference to Saint Irene, from the name of the old cathedral in the village of Perissa – the name Santorini is a contraction of the name Santa Irini. Before it was known as Kallístē, Strongýlē, or Thēra; the name Thera was revived in the nineteenth century as the official name of the island and its main city, but the colloquial name Santorini is still in popular use. The present municipality of Thera, which covers all settlements on the islands of Santorini and Therasia, was formed at the 2011 local government reform, by the merger of the former Oia and Thera municipalities.
Oia is now called a Κοινότητα, within the municipality of Thera, it consists of the local subdivisions of Therasia and Oia. The municipality of Thera includes an additional 12 local subdivisions on Santorini island: Akrotiri, Episkopis Gonia, Exo Gonia, Karterados, Mesaria, Pyrgos Kallistis, Thera and Vourvoulos. Santorini's primary industry is tourism. Agriculture forms part of its economy, the island sustains a wine industry, based on the indigenous Assyrtiko grape variety. White varieties include Athiri and Aidani, whereas red varieties include mavrotragano and mandilaria; the Cyclades are part of a metamorphic complex, known as the Cycladic Massif. The complex formed during the Miocene and was folded and metamorphosed during the Alpine orogeny around 60 million years ago. Thera is built upon a small, non-volcanic basement that represents the former non-volcanic island, 9 by 6 km; the basement rock is composed of metamorphosed limestone and schist, which date from the Alpine Orogeny. These non-volcanic rocks are exposed at Mikro Profititis Ilias, Mesa Vouno, the Gavrillos ridge, Pyrgos and the inner side of the caldera wall between Cape Plaka and Athinios.
The metamorphic grade is a blueschist facies, which results from tectonic deformation by the subduction of the African Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate. Subduction occurred between the Oligocene and the Miocene, the metamorphic grade represents the southernmost extent of the Cycladic blueschist belt. Volcanism on Santorini is due to the Hellenic Trench subduction zone southwest of Crete; the oceanic crust of the northern margin of the African Plate is being subducted under Greece and the Aegean Sea, thinned continental crust. The subduction compels the formation of the Hellenic arc, which includes Santorini and other volcanic centres, such as Methana and Kos; the island is the result of repeated sequences of shield volcano construction followed by caldera collapse. The inner coast around the caldera is a sheer precipice of more than 300 metres drop at its highest, exhibits the various layers of solidified lava on top of each other, the main towns perched on the crest; the ground slopes outwards and downwards towards the outer perimeter, the outer beaches are smooth and shallow.
Beach sand colour depends on. The water at the darker coloured beaches is warmer because the lava acts as a heat absorber; the area of Santorini incorporates a group of islands created by volcanoes, spanning across Thera, Aspronisi and Nea Kameni. Santorini has erupted many times, with varying degrees of explosivity. There have been at least twelve large explosive eruptions, of which at least four were caldera-forming; the most famous eruption is the Minoan eruption, detailed below. Eruptive products range from basalt all the way to rhyolite, the rhyolitic products are associated with the most explosive eruptions; the earliest eruptions, many of which were submarine, were on the Akrotir
HKR International Limited is a conglomerate headquartered in Hong Kong. HKR was founded by founded by Cha Chi-ming, a textile industrialist from Shanghai and one of the pioneers of Hong Kong's industrial boom in the 1950-70s; the establishment of HKRI can be traced back to Hong Kong Resort Company Limited founded in 1973. In 1977, the Cha Family The company acquired the rights to Discovery Bay development on Lantau Island in an opaque and much criticized deal. HKRI now manages Discovery Bay as a owned and operated town of 20,000 people. HKRI became notorious in 2018 for the planned eviction of 200 families living aboard houseboats in the Discovery bay Marina. HKRI managing director Victor Cha is married to Laura Cha, a US-trained financial services lawyer, HSBC board member and member of the Executive Council of the HK government. Born in Shanghai, Laura Cha became a US citizen, but "re-Sinicised" herself in 2001 and is now a delegate to China's National People's Congress. HKRI is listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, with a stock code 00480.
The company has interests in real estate development and investment, property management and serviced apartments, healthcare services and other investments in Hong Kong, Mainland China and other parts of Asia. Real estate development and investment is the core business of HKRI across Asia, including Hong Kong, Mainland China and Japan. Discovery Bay on Lantau Island is its major project. At present, there are over 8,000 households with a total population of about 20,000. Covering a site area of 650 hectares, Discovery Bay has undergone continuous development. Facilities in the community include a golf course, a marina, a manmade beach, two clubhouses, two shopping centres, education options ranging from kindergarten to secondary schools, a developed transportation system. HKRI's other projects in Hong Kong include La Cresta in Shatin. Over the years, a total GFA of more than 1.4 million square metres has been developed. For commercial properties, HKRI holds CDW Building in Tsuen Wan which includes a commercial building and a shopping centre named 8½.
Other commercial properties are: DB Plaza and DBN Plaza in Discovery Bay, as well as West Gate Tower in Cheung Sha Wan. The development projects of HKRI located in Shanghai and Tianjin. In Shanghai, HKRI has partnered with Swire Properties to develop a project called HKRI Taikoo Hui. With a GFA of 320,000 square metres, HKRI Taikoo Hui is a mixed-use complex comprising a retail centre, two Grade-A office towers, two hotels, one serviced apartment building, a number of event venues and the “Cha House”, a revitalized historic building. HKRI Taikoo Hui locates in Jing’an district in Shanghai. Key anchor tenants include the first international Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in Asia and the largest CitySuper supermarket in mainland China. There are over 40 dining outlets, offering various types of cuisine, including Shanghai Club, the premium brand under Jardin de Jade, Paris Blanc, a grill house managed by Paris Group. HKRI has other residential projects in Zhejiang Shanghai. City One in Jiaxing provides about 600 units, while the adjacent Riviera One, is composed of low- and high-rise apartment units.
Other projects include Oasis One in Hangzhou and Elite House, located in Changning District, Shanghai. The Exchange is HKRI's investment property in Tianjin, it has a total GFA of over 152,000 square metres, comprises two Grade-A office towers, a service apartment tower, a retail mall named Heping Joy City – Tianjin. The Sukhothai Residences provides 196 units. On top of The Sukhothai Residences, HKRI acquired a piece of freehold land on Wireless Road in 2010. In December 2015, it further acquired 10 plots of land at Rama 3 Road by the Chaophraya River. HKRI has a mix of residential and commercial properties in Tokyo: Proud Roppongi, Horizon Place Akasaka, Souei Park Harajuku, Veneo Minami-Azabu and Haluwa Shibakoen, Graphio Nishi-Shinjuku. Apart from Tokyo, HKRI holds a plot as land bank with a site area of 60,700 square metres in Niseko, Hokkaido, in the vicinity of Niseko Annupuri ski village. In Hong Kong, Auberge Discovery Bay Hong Kong opened in 2013; the hotel provides 325 guest rooms and a number of event space and function venues, including a Pavilion by seaside.
In Thailand, The Sukhothai Bangkok is located in the heart of city and is a member of the Design Hotels. It has 7 restaurants and 11 function rooms. In Shanghai, The Sukhothai Shanghai is HKRI's third hotel and was open in April 2018. HKRI's subsidiary GenRx Holdings Limited operates healthcare services in Hong Kong and Manila; the services include chronic disease management, Chinese medicine, dental services and treatment of cancer and multi-specialty outpatient services. Official website
The mid central vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ə⟩, a rotated lowercase letter e. While the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association does not define the roundedness of, it is more unrounded than rounded; the phonetician Jane Setter describes the pronunciation of the unrounded variant as follows: " is a sound which can be produced by relaxing the articulators in the oral cavity and vocalising." To produce the rounded variant, all that needs to be done in addition to, to round the lips. Afrikaans contrasts rounded mid central vowels; the contrast is not stable, many speakers use an unrounded vowel in both cases. Some languages, such as Danish and Luxembourgish, have a mid central vowel, variably rounded. In some other languages, things are more complicated, as the change in rounding is accompanied with the change in height and/or backness. For instance, in Dutch, the unrounded allophone of /ə/ is mid central unrounded, but its word-final rounded allophone is close-mid front rounded, close to the main allophone of /ʏ/.
The symbol ⟨ə⟩ is used for any unstressed obscure vowel, regardless of its precise quality. For instance, the English vowel transcribed ⟨ə⟩ is a central unrounded vowel that can be close-mid, mid or open-mid, depending on the environment; the mid central unrounded vowel is written with the symbol. If greater precision is desired, the symbol for the close-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic. Another possibility is using the symbol for the open-mid central unrounded vowel with a raising diacritic, its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel. Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel, it is unrounded. Languages may have a mid central rounded vowel, distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there is no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, the symbol for the close-mid central rounded vowel is used instead.
If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic can be used:. This vowel can be represented by adding the more rounded diacritic to the schwa symbol, or by combining the raising diacritic with the open-mid central rounded vowel symbol, although it is rare to use such symbols, its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel. Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel, it relaxed. Schwa List of languages with on PHOIBLE