1.
Traffic sign
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Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones, later, signs with directional arms were introduced, for example, the fingerposts in the United Kingdom and their wooden counterparts in Saxony. Such pictorial signs use symbols in place of words and are based on international protocols. Such signs were first developed in Europe, and have adopted by most countries to varying degrees. Traffic signs can be grouped into several types, for example, Annexe 1 of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, which on 30 June 2004 had 52 signatory countries, defines eight categories of signs, A. Special regulation signs F. Information, facilities, or service signs G. Direction, position, a rather informal distinction among the directional signs is the one between advance directional signs, interchange directional signs, and reassurance signs. Advance directional signs appear at a distance from the interchange. A number of countries do not give information for the road ahead, advance directional signs enable drivers to take precautions for the exit. They often do not appear on lesser roads, but are normally posted on expressways and motorways, while each nation has its own system, the first approach sign for a motorway exit is mostly placed at least 1000 m from the actual interchange. After that sign, one or two additional advance directional signs typically follow before the interchange itself. The earliest road signs were milestones, giving distance or direction, for example, in the Middle Ages, multidirectional signs at intersections became common, giving directions to cities and towns. In 1686, the first known Traffic Regulation Act in Europe is established by King Peter II of Portugal and this act foresees the placement of priority signs in the narrowest streets of Lisbon, stating which traffic should back up to give way. One of these still exists at Salvador street, in the neighborhood of Alfama. The first modern road signs erected on a wide scale were designed for riders of high or ordinary bicycles in the late 1870s and early 1880s. These machines were fast, silent and their nature made them difficult to control, moreover their riders travelled considerable distances, the development of automobiles encouraged more complex signage systems using more than just text-based notices. One of the first modern-day road sign systems was devised by the Italian Touring Club in 1895, by 1900, a Congress of the International League of Touring Organizations in Paris was considering proposals for standardization of road signage. In 1903 the British government introduced four national signs based on shape, in 1909, nine European governments agreed on the use of four pictorial symbols, indicating bump, curve, intersection, and grade-level railroad crossing. The intensive work on road signs that took place between 1926 and 1949 eventually led to the development of the European road sign system
2.
Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals
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This conference also produced the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which complements this legislation by standardising international traffic laws. Amendments, including new provisions regarding the legibility of signs, priority at roundabouts, both the Vienna Convention and the Geneva Protocol reflected a common consensus on road traffic signs that evolved primarily in Europe in the mid-20th century. Most jurisdictions outside Europe have not adopted either treaty, and maintain their own systems of traffic signals. An alternative convention called the SADC-RTSM, provided by the Southern African Development Community, is used by 11 countries in southern Africa and it follows many of the similar rules and principles as in the Vienna Convention. When more than one is available, the one must be used nationally. All signs, except for those that do not apply at night, the convention also specifies road markings. All such markings must be less than 6 mm high, with cats eye reflectors no more than 15 mm above the road surface, the road markings shall be white or yellow. All words painted on the surface should be either of place names, or of words recognisable in most languages. Red lights must be placed on top when lights are stacked vertically, or on the side closest to oncoming traffic if stacked horizontally
3.
United Nations Economic and Social Council
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The ECOSOC serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to member states and the United Nations system. A number of organisations have been granted consultative status to the Council to participate in the work of the United Nations. The president is elected for a term and chosen from the small or mid-sized powers represented on the ECOSOC. His Excellency Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava was elected seventy-second President of the Economic, Ambassador Shava is currently the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Zimbabwe to the United Nations in New York. The Council has 54 member states out of the 193 UN member states, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon added, Rather than viewing growth and sustainability as competing goals on a collision course, we must see them as complementary and mutually supportive imperatives. The report concluded that Business as usual is not an option, governance of the multilateral system has historically been complex and fragmented. This has limited the capacity of the ECOSOC to influence policies in trade, finance. Reform proposals aim to enhance the relevance and contribution of the council, a major reform was approved by the 2005 World Summit on the basis of proposals submitted by secretary-general Kofi Annan. At the Summit it was decided to hold annual ministerial-level substantive reviews to assess progress in achieving internationally agreed development goals. These Annual Ministeral Reviews will be replaced by the High Level Political Forum from 2016 onwards after the new post-MDG/Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals are agreed. Subsequent proposals by the High-Level Panel Report on System-Wide Coherence in November 2006 aimed to establish a forum within the ECOSOC as a counter-model to the clubs of the G8. The Forum was to comprise 27 heads of state to meet annually and this proposal, however, was not approved by the General Assembly. The Economic and Social Council Chamber in the United Nations Conference Building was a gift from Sweden and it was conceived by Swedish architect Sven Markelius, one of the 11 architects in the international team that designed the UN headquarters. Wood from Swedish pine trees was used in the area for the railings
4.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
5.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
6.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
7.
Octagon
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In geometry, an octagon is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A regular octagon has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a truncated square, t. A truncated octagon, t is a hexadecagon, t, the sum of all the internal angles of any octagon is 1080°. As with all polygons, the external angles total 360°, the midpoint octagon of a reference octagon has its eight vertices at the midpoints of the sides of the reference octagon. A regular octagon is a figure with sides of the same length. It has eight lines of symmetry and rotational symmetry of order 8. A regular octagon is represented by the Schläfli symbol, the internal angle at each vertex of a regular octagon is 135°. The area of an octagon of side length a is given by A =2 cot π8 a 2 =2 a 2 ≃4.828 a 2. In terms of the circumradius R, the area is A =4 sin π4 R2 =22 R2 ≃2.828 R2. In terms of the r, the area is A =8 tan π8 r 2 =8 r 2 ≃3.314 r 2. These last two coefficients bracket the value of pi, the area of the unit circle. The area can also be expressed as A = S2 − a 2, where S is the span of the octagon, or the second-shortest diagonal, and a is the length of one of the sides, or bases. This is easily proven if one takes an octagon, draws a square around the outside and then takes the corner triangles and places them with right angles pointed inward, the edges of this square are each the length of the base. Given the length of a side a, the span S is S = a 2 + a + a 2 = a ≈2.414 a. The area is then as above, A =2 − a 2 =2 a 2 ≈4.828 a 2, expressed in terms of the span, the area is A =2 S2 ≈0.828 S2. Another simple formula for the area is A =2 a S, more often the span S is known, and the length of the sides, a, is to be determined, as when cutting a square piece of material into a regular octagon. From the above, a ≈ S /2.414, the two end lengths e on each side, as well as being e = a /2, may be calculated as e = /2. The circumradius of the octagon in terms of the side length a is R = a
8.
Small caps
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In typography, small capitals are uppercase characters set at the same height and weight as surrounding lowercase letters or text figures. For example, the all-caps TEXT IN CAPS appears as text in caps in small caps, well-designed small capitals are not simply scaled-down versions of normal capitals, they normally retain the same stroke weight as other letters and have a wider aspect ratio for readability. Typically, the height of a small capital will be one ex, in Anglo-Saxon typography, small caps are somewhat larger than the x-height. For example, in some Tiro Typeworks fonts, small caps are 30% larger than x-height, to differentiate between these two alternatives, the x-height form is sometimes called petite caps, preserving the name small caps for the larger variant. OpenType fonts can define both forms via the small caps and the petite caps features, because the support for the petite caps feature is absent from most desktop-publishing programs, many fonts use x-height small caps in the small-caps feature. Many word processors and text-formatting systems include an option to format text in caps and small caps, which leaves uppercase letters as they are, a often used command for using small caps on a computer is to press Ctrl+Shift+K after select the text or before type it. Small caps are used for sections of text that is all uppercase. The initialisms ad, bc, am, and pm are often smallcapped, in printed plays and stage directions, small caps are usually used for the names of characters before their lines. French and some British publications use small caps to indicate the surname by which someone with a formal name is to be designated in the rest of a written work. An elementary example is Don Quixote de La Mancha, similarly, they are used for those languages in which the surname comes first, such as the Romanization Mao Zedong. In many versions of the Old Testament of the Bible, the word Lord is set in small caps, in zoological and botanical nomenclature, it is common use to print names of the family group in small caps. Linguists use small caps to analyze the morphology and tag the parts of speech in a sentence, the Bluebook prescribes small caps for some titles in United States legal citations. In many books, when one part of the book mentions another part of the book, or mentions the work as a whole. George Eliots 1856 essay Silly Novels by Lady Novelists is critical of Victorian novelists for using small caps. Professional desktop publishing applications supporting genuine small caps include Quark XPress and these applications must therefore work with fonts that have true small caps as a completely separate style, similar to bold or italic. Few free and open-source fonts have this feature, an exception is Georg Duffners EB Garamond and these characters, with official names such as latin letter small capital a, are meant for use in phonetic representations. For example, U+0280 ʀ represents a uvular trill. As of Unicode 5.1, the characters missing from the ISO basic Latin alphabet are small-capital versions of Q and X
9.
International System of Units
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The International System of Units is the modern form of the metric system, and is the most widely used system of measurement. It comprises a coherent system of units of measurement built on seven base units, the system also establishes a set of twenty prefixes to the unit names and unit symbols that may be used when specifying multiples and fractions of the units. The system was published in 1960 as the result of an initiative began in 1948. It is based on the system of units rather than any variant of the centimetre-gram-second system. The motivation for the development of the SI was the diversity of units that had sprung up within the CGS systems, the International System of Units has been adopted by most developed countries, however, the adoption has not been universal in all English-speaking countries. The metric system was first implemented during the French Revolution with just the metre and kilogram as standards of length, in the 1830s Carl Friedrich Gauss laid the foundations for a coherent system based on length, mass, and time. In the 1860s a group working under the auspices of the British Association for the Advancement of Science formulated the requirement for a coherent system of units with base units and derived units. Meanwhile, in 1875, the Treaty of the Metre passed responsibility for verification of the kilogram, in 1921, the Treaty was extended to include all physical quantities including electrical units originally defined in 1893. The units associated with these quantities were the metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, in 1971, a seventh base quantity, amount of substance represented by the mole, was added to the definition of SI. On 11 July 1792, the proposed the names metre, are, litre and grave for the units of length, area, capacity. The committee also proposed that multiples and submultiples of these units were to be denoted by decimal-based prefixes such as centi for a hundredth, on 10 December 1799, the law by which the metric system was to be definitively adopted in France was passed. Prior to this, the strength of the magnetic field had only been described in relative terms. The technique used by Gauss was to equate the torque induced on a magnet of known mass by the earth’s magnetic field with the torque induced on an equivalent system under gravity. The resultant calculations enabled him to assign dimensions based on mass, length, a French-inspired initiative for international cooperation in metrology led to the signing in 1875 of the Metre Convention. Initially the convention only covered standards for the metre and the kilogram, one of each was selected at random to become the International prototype metre and International prototype kilogram that replaced the mètre des Archives and kilogramme des Archives respectively. Each member state was entitled to one of each of the prototypes to serve as the national prototype for that country. Initially its prime purpose was a periodic recalibration of national prototype metres. The official language of the Metre Convention is French and the version of all official documents published by or on behalf of the CGPM is the French-language version
10.
United States customary units
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United States customary units are a system of measurements commonly used in the United States. The United States customary system developed from English units which were in use in the British Empire before the US declared its independence, however, the British system of measures was overhauled in 1824 to create the imperial system, changing the definitions of some units. Therefore, while many U. S. units are similar to their Imperial counterparts. The majority of U. S. customary units were redefined in terms of the meter and these definitions were refined by the international yard and pound agreement of 1959. Americans primarily use customary units in commercial activities, as well as for personal and social use, in science, medicine, many sectors of industry and some of government, metric units are used. The International System of Units, the form of the metric system, is preferred for many uses by the U. S. National Institute of Standards. The United States system of units is similar to the British imperial system, both systems are derived from English units, a system which had evolved over the millennia before American independence, and which had its roots in Roman and Anglo-Saxon units. The customary system was championed by the U. S. -based International Institute for Preserving and Perfecting Weights, advocates of the customary system saw the French Revolutionary, or metric, system as atheistic. An auxiliary of the Institute in Ohio published a poem with wording such as down with every metric scheme and A perfect inch, one adherent of the customary system called it a just weight and a just measure, which alone are acceptable to the Lord. The U. S. government passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, the legislation states that the federal government has a responsibility to assist industry as it voluntarily converts to the metric system, i. e. metrification. This is most evident in U. S. labeling requirements on food products, according to the CIA Factbook, the United States is one of three nations that have not adopted the metric system as their official system of weights and measures. U. S. customary units are used on consumer products. Metric units are standard in science, medicine, as well as many sectors of industry and government, the metric system also lacks a parallel to the foot. Frequently, however, these units designate quite different sizes, for example, the mile ranged by country from one-half to five U. S. miles, foot and pound also had varying definitions. Historically, a range of non-SI units were used in the U. S. and in Britain. This article deals only with the commonly used or officially defined in the U. S. For measuring length, the U. S. customary system uses the inch, foot, yard, and mile, since July 1,1959, these have been defined on the basis of 1 yard =0.9144 meters except for some applications in surveying. The U. S. the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries agreed on this definition, the NAD27 was replaced in the 1980s by the North American Datum of 1983, which is defined in meters
11.
Retroreflector
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A retroreflector is a device or surface that reflects light back to its source with a minimum of scattering. In a retroreflector an electromagnetic wavefront is reflected back along a vector that is parallel to, there are several ways to obtain retroreflection, A set of three mutually perpendicular reflective surfaces, placed to form the corner of a cube, work as a retroreflector. The three corresponding normal vectors of the sides form a basis in which to represent the direction of an arbitrary incoming ray. When the ray reflects from the first side, say x, the x component. Corner reflectors occur in two varieties, in the more common form, the corner is literally the truncated corner of a cube of transparent material such as conventional optical glass. In this structure, the reflection is achieved either by total internal reflection or silvering of the outer cube surfaces, the second form uses mutually perpendicular flat mirrors bracketing an air space. These two types have similar optical properties, a large relatively thin retroreflector can be formed by combining many small corner reflectors, using the standard triangular tiling. In that case, the surface behaves as a concave spherical mirror with the required curvature for retroreflection. In practice, the index of refraction may be lower than ni+1≅2 due to several factors. For one, it is preferable to have an imperfect, slightly divergent retroreflection, as in the case of road signs. Due to spherical aberration, there exists a radius from the centerline at which incident rays are focused at the center of the rear surface of the sphere. Finally, high index materials have higher Fresnel reflection coefficients, so the efficiency of coupling of the light from the ambient into the sphere decreases as the index becomes higher, commercial retroreflective beads thus vary in index from around 1.5 up to around 1.9. The spherical aberration problem with the cats eye can be solved in various ways, one being a spherically symmetrical index gradient within the sphere. Practically, this can be approximated by a concentric sphere system, the term cats eye derives from the resemblance of the cats eye retroreflector to the optical system that produces the well-known phenomenon of glowing eyes or eyeshine in cats and other vertebrates. The combination of the lens and the cornea form the refractive converging system. This type of retroreflector can consist of small versions of these structures incorporated in a thin sheet or in paint. A third, much less common way of producing a retroreflector is to use the optical phenomenon of phase conjugation. This technique is used in advanced optical systems such as high-power lasers, phase-conjugate mirrors require a comparatively expensive and complex apparatus, as well as large quantities of power
12.
United Nations
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The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
13.
Signature
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A signature is a handwritten depiction of someones name, nickname, or even a simple X or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a signature is a signatory or signer, similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying its creator. A signature may be confused with an autograph, which is chiefly an artistic signature and this can lead to confusion when people have both an autograph and signature and as such some people in the public eye keep their signatures private whilst fully publishing their autograph. The traditional function of a signature is to give evidence of the provenance of a document, in many countries, signatures may be witnessed and recorded in the presence of a notary public to carry additional legal force. On legal documents, an illiterate signatory can make a mark, in some countries, illiterate people place a thumbprint on legal documents in lieu of a written signature. In the United States, signatures encompass marks and actions of all sorts that are indicative of identity, the legal rule is that unless a statute specifically prescribes a particular method of making a signature it may be made in any number of ways. These include by a mechanical or rubber stamp facsimile, many individuals have much more fanciful signatures than their normal cursive writing, including elaborate ascenders, descenders and exotic flourishes, much as one would find in calligraphic writing. As an example, the k in John Hancocks famous signature on the US Declaration of Independence loops back to underline his name. This kind of flourish is also known as a paraph, paraphe is a term meaning flourish, initial or signature in French. The paraph is used in graphology analyses, for these languages, to write or to sign involves the same written characters. Special signature machines, called autopens, are capable of reproducing an individuals signature. These are typically used by people required to sign a lot of printed matter, such as celebrities, more recently, Members of Congress in the United States have begun having their signature made into a TrueType font file. Some government agencies require that persons or official reviewers sign originals. In the United States this is prevalent with architectural and construction plans and its intent is to prevent mistakes or fraud but the practice is not known to be effective. In e-mail and newsgroup usage, another type of signature exists which is independent of ones language, users can set one or more lines of custom text known as a signature block to be automatically appended to their messages. This text usually includes a name, contact information, and sometimes quotations, a shortened form of a signature block, only including ones name, often with some distinguishing prefix, can be used to simply indicate the end of a post or response. Some web sites also allow graphics to be used, note, however, that this type of signature is not related to electronic signatures or digital signatures, which are more technical in nature and not directly understandable by humans. On Wikipedia, an online wiki-based encyclopedia edited by volunteers, the contributors sign their comments on talk pages with their username, the signature on a painting or other work of art has always been an important item in the assessment of art
14.
Northern Hemisphere
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The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earths North pole. Due to the Earths axial tilt, winter in the Northern Hemisphere lasts from the December solstice to the March Equinox, the dates vary each year due to the difference between the calendar year and the astronomical year. Its surface is 60. 7% water, compared with 80. 9% water in the case of the Southern Hemisphere, the Arctic is the region north of the Arctic Circle. Its climate is characterized by cold winters and cool summers, precipitation mostly comes in the form of snow. The Arctic experiences some days in summer when the Sun never sets, the duration of these phases varies from one day for locations right on the Arctic Circle to several months near the North Pole, which is the middle of the Northern Hemisphere. Between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer lies the Northern Temperate Zone, the changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold. However, a temperate climate can have very unpredictable weather, tropical regions are generally hot all year round and tend to experience a rainy season during the summer months, and a dry season during the winter months. In the Northern Hemisphere, objects moving across or above the surface of the Earth tend to turn to the right because of the coriolis effect, as a result, large-scale horizontal flows of air or water tend to form clockwise-turning gyres. These are best seen in circulation patterns in the North Atlantic. For the same reason, flows of air down toward the surface of the Earth tend to spread across the surface in a clockwise pattern. Thus, clockwise air circulation is characteristic of high pressure weather cells in the Northern Hemisphere, conversely, air rising from the northern surface of the Earth tends to draw air toward it in a counterclockwise pattern. Hurricanes and tropical storms spin counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, the shadow of a sundial moves clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. When viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, the Moon appears inverted compared to a view from the Southern Hemisphere, the North Pole faces away from the galactic center of the Milky Way. The Northern Hemisphere is home to approximately 6.57 billion people which is around 90% of the total human population of 7.3 billion people
15.
All-way stop
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An all-way stop may have multiple approaches and may be marked with a supplemental plate stating the number of approaches. A motorist approaching an all-way stop is always required to come to a stop before the crosswalk or stop line. In most jurisdictions that use stops, pedestrians always have priority at a crosswalk. Within some U. S. jurisdictions, such as the state of Idaho, bicyclists are exempt from the need to make a complete stop, but must give way to other vehicles as otherwise required by law. After a full-stop has been made, vehicles usually have the right-of-way to proceed through the intersection in the order that they arrived at the intersection, some areas have additional formal and informal rules which may or may not include special procedures for when all stop signs are approached simultaneously. In the United States the Federal Highway Administrations Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices defines the standards used for the application of all-way stops. Where a stop has been determined to qualify, it is signed at all approaches to the intersections with a standard octagonal Stop sign, earlier editions of the MUTCD allowed supplemental plaques specifying the number of approaches in an all-way stop, as in 3 WAY or 4 WAY. According to the MUTCD, installation of an all-way stop should be based on an engineering study to determine if minimum traffic volume or safety criteria are met. An all-way stop may also be justified if the intersection has a history of crashes in a given period of a type susceptible to correction by installing an all-way stop. Despite published guidelines, all-way stops are placed by jurisdictions due to political pressure from adjacent residents. When a traffic signal flashes in all-red mode, it operates as an all-way stop. When all approaches to an intersection are controlled in this way the rules for an all-way stop apply, during electrical outages when a traffic signal does not display any indications including flashing red, some jurisdictions require that the intersection be treated as an all-way stop. Other jurisdictions treat a dark signal as an intersection, where standard rules of right-of-way apply without the requirement of a complete stop. The main reason for the use of signs at road junctions is safety. According to a study of locations where the system is in use. Some of the associated with all-way stops are, Increased emissions of hydrocarbons. That once installed, stop signs in general are unsafe to remove, once an all-way stop is installed, removal is difficult and risky, as habitual drivers may continue to expect an all-way stop condition. In Sweden all-way stops have been tested since the 1980s but are used even though they are now permitted
16.
Priority to the right
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Priority to the right is a right-of-way system, in which the driver of a vehicle is required to give way to vehicles approaching from the right at intersections. The system is stipulated in Article 18.4, the system is widely used in countries with right-hand traffic, including most European countries. What varies, however, is the prevalence of uncontrolled intersections, in some countries, the right of way at virtually all but the most minor road junctions is controlled by the display of priority vs. Most states in the United States enforce priority-to-the-right at uncontrolled intersections, at T-Intersections, traffic on the terminating road must yield to all traffic at the termination point. Some countries use the rule, despite driving on the left. Australia uses the rule at four-way intersections where the roads all have equal priority. Singapore also uses priority-to-the-right, as well as priority to vehicles going straight, intersections to which priority to the right applies are usually not equipped with signage or road markings. Priority signs override the priority to the rule and are often used on roads with heavier traffic. However, if an intersection is not easily visible, a sign may be erected. This sign does not regulate priority but just warns of an intersection, white, yellow and black diamond signs on the main road show that users have priority over entering traffic. Under the priority-to-the-right system, priority is given to traffic entering an intersection from the right. In Switzerland, road markings may also be used to indicate that the junction is a priority-to-the-right junction
17.
Yield sign
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In road transport, a yield or give way sign indicates that each driver must prepare to stop if necessary to let a driver on another approach proceed. A driver who stops or slows down to let another vehicle through has yielded the right of way to that vehicle, in contrast, a stop sign requires each driver to stop completely before proceeding, even if no other traffic is present. Particular regulations regarding appearance, installation, and compliance with the signs vary by jurisdiction, while give way and yield essentially have the same meaning in this context, many countries have a clear preference of one term over the other. The following chart compiles which countries and territories use which term and this chart is based on official government usage in the English language and excludes translations from other languages. A black triangle was a symbol of stop for all vehicles since about 1925 in Germany, in the United States, the first yield sign was installed in 1950 at First Street and Columbia Avenue Tulsa, Oklahoma, having been devised and designed by Tulsa police officer Clinton Riggs. Riggs invented only the sign, not the rule, which was already in place, the sign as originally conceived by Officer Riggs was shaped like a keystone, later versions bore the shape of an inverted equilateral triangle in common use today. In Australia, the Give Way sign experienced a similar evolution as its counterpart in the United States, during the 1940s and 1950s, the sign was circular and yellow. In 1964, the changed to the triangular shape and red. In the 1980s the sign adopted its design and gained a counterpart for use at roundabouts. In road signs in Ireland, the sign reads yield in most areas, though in Gaeltacht areas. Signs erected before 1997 and still in service read yield right of way, Signs 1956–62 had blank white interior or were hollow. In New Zealand, the design also used the keystone shape as in the United States. In the 1980s, the design was adopted. The United Kingdoms Road Traffic Act calls for give way signs, the road marking accompanying the sign consists of a large inverted triangle painted just before the place to give way. In Wales, the signs bear bilingual legends, the Welsh ildiwch appears above give way, in the United Kingdom, a stop or give-way sign may be preceded by an inverted, blank, triangular sign with an advisory placard such as give way 100 yards. If controlling a merge-type movement on the roadway where acceleration geometry and/or sight distance is not adequate for merging traffic operation. The second crossroad of a highway, where the median width at the intersection is 9 m or greater. In this case, a STOP sign may be installed at the entrance to the first roadway of a highway
18.
Roundabout
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A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic flows almost continuously in one direction around a central island. So-called modern roundabouts require entering traffic to give way to traffic already in the circle, variations on the basic concept include integration with tram and/or train lines, two-way flow, higher speeds and many others. Traffic exiting the roundabout comes from one direction, rather than three, simplifying the pedestrians visual environment, Traffic moves slowly enough to allow visual engagement with pedestrians, encouraging deference towards them. Other benefits include reduced driver confusion associated with perpendicular junctions and reduced queuing associated with traffic lights and they allow U-turns within the normal flow of traffic, which often are not possible at other forms of junction. Moreover, since vehicles on average spend less time idling at roundabouts than at signalled intersections, also, when entering vehicles only need to give way, they do not always perform a full stop. As a result, by keeping a part of their momentum, additionally, slow moving traffic in roundabouts makes less noise than traffic that must stop and start, speed up and brake. Modern roundabouts are commonplace throughout the world, half of the worlds roundabouts are in France, although the United Kingdom has more as a proportion of the road than any other country. C. The operating and entry characteristics of these circles differ considerably from modern roundabouts, in 1907 architect John McLaren designed one of the first American roundabouts for both autos and street cars in the Hanchett Residence Park in what is now San Jose, California. The first British circular junction was built in Letchworth Garden City in 1909 and its centre originally was intended partly as a traffic island for pedestrians. It was featured in the film The Worlds End, in the early 20th century, numerous traffic circles were constructed in the United States, particularly in the northeast. Examples include a circle in Atherton, California, widespread use of the modern roundabout began when the UKs Transport Research Laboratory engineers re-engineered circular intersections during the 1960s. Frank Blackmore led the development of the offside priority rule and subsequently invented the mini-roundabout to overcome capacity and safety limitations, the design became mandatory in the United Kingdom for all new roundabouts in November 1966. This give-way requirement has been the law in New York state since the 1920s, in the United States modern roundabouts emerged in the 1990s. Municipalities introducing new roundabouts often are met with some degree of public resistance, surveys show that negative public opinion reverses as drivers gain experience with roundabouts. American confusion at how to enter and especially how to exit a roundabout was the subject of such as featured in the film European Vacation. By 2011, however, some 3,000 roundabouts had been established, a 1998 survey of municipalities found public opinion 68% opposed prior to construction, changing thereafter to 73% in favour. A2007 survey found public support ranging from 22% to 44% prior to construction, the first modern roundabout in the United States was constructed in Summerlin, Nevada in 1990. This roundabout occasioned dismay from residents, and a news program said about it, Even police agree
19.
Traffic light
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The worlds first, manually operated gas-lit traffic signal was short lived. Installed in London in December 1868, it exploded less than a month later, Traffic control started to seem necessary in the late 1890s and Earnest Sirrine from Chicago patented the first automated traffic control system in 1910. It used the words STOP and PROCEED, although neither word lit up, Traffic lights alternate the right of way accorded to users by displaying lights of a standard colour following a universal colour code. In the typical sequence of phases, The green light allows traffic to proceed in the direction denoted, if it is safe to do so. The amber light warns that the signal is about to change to red, in a number of countries – among them the United Kingdom – a phase during which red and yellow are displayed together indicates that the signal is about to change to green. A flashing amber indication is a warning signal, in the United Kingdom, a flashing amber light is used only at pelican crossings, in place of the combined red–amber signal, and indicates that drivers may pass if no pedestrians are on the crossing. The red signal prohibits any traffic from proceeding, a flashing red indication is treated as a stop sign. In some countries traffic signals will go into a flashing mode if the Conflict Monitor detects a problem, the signal may display flashing yellow to the main road and flashing red to the side road, or flashing red in all directions. Flashing operation can also be used during times of day when traffic is light, before traffic lights traffic police controlled the flow of traffic, a well-documented example being that on London Bridge in 1722. Three men were given the task of directing traffic coming in, each officer would help direct traffic coming out of Southwark into London and he made sure all traffic stayed on the west end of the bridge. A second officer would direct traffic on the east end of the bridge to control the flow of people leaving London and going into Southwark. The main reason for the light was that there was an overflow of horse-drawn traffic over Westminster Bridge which forced thousands of pedestrians to walk next to the Houses of Parliament. The design combined three semaphore arms with red and green gas lamps for use, on a pillar. The gas lantern was manually turned by a police officer. The signal was 22 feet high, at night a red light would command Stop and a green light would mean use Caution. Although it was said to be successful at controlling traffic, its life was brief. It exploded on 2 January 1869, as a result of a leak in one of the gas lines underneath the pavement, injuring or killing the policeman who was operating it. In the first two decades of the 20th century semaphore traffic signals, like the one in London, were in use all over the United States with each state having its own design of the device, One good example was from Toledo, Ohio in 1908
20.
Traffic calming
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Traffic calming uses physical design and other measures to improve safety for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. It aims to encourage safer, more driving and potentially reduce traffic flow. Urban planners and traffic engineers have many strategies for calming, including narrowed roads. Such measures are common in Australia and Europe, but less so in North America, Traffic calming is a calque of the German word Verkehrsberuhigung – the terms first published use in English was in 1985 by Carmen Hass-Klau. In its early development in the UK in the 1930s, traffic calming was based on the idea that residential areas should be protected from through-traffic, subsequently, it became valued for its ability to improve pedestrian safety and reduce noise and air pollution from traffic. For much of the century, streets were designed by engineers who were charged only with ensuring smooth motor vehicular traffic flow. Traffic calming initiatives have grown to other design functions as well. For example, it has shown that car traffic severely impairs the social and recreational functions of public streets. Traffic engineers refer to three Es when discussing traffic calming, engineering, education, and enforcement, engineering measures involve physically altering the road layout or appearance to actively or passively retard traffic by increasing the cognitive load of driving. Measures include speed humps, chicanes, curb extensions, and living street, the town of Hilden in Germany has achieved a rate of 24% of trips being on two wheels, mainly via traffic calming and the use of 30 km/h or 20 mph zones. In 1999, the Netherlands had over 6000 woonerven where cyclists and pedestrians have priority over cars. A number of changes to roads are being made to encourage more attentive driving, reduced speed, reduced crashes. Visual traffic calming includes lane narrowings, road diets, use of next to streets, on-street parking. Physical devices include speed humps, speed cushions, and speed tables, such measures normally slow cars to between 10 and 25 miles per hour. Most devices are made of asphalt or concrete but rubber traffic calming products are emerging as an alternative with several advantages. Narrowing measures include, Lane narrowings can be created by extending sidewalks, adding bollards or planters, curb extensions narrow the width of the roadway at pedestrian crossings Chokers are curb extensions that narrow roadways to a single lane at certain points Road diets remove a lane from the street. For example, allowing parking on one or both sides of a street to reduce the number of driving lanes, pedestrian refuges or small islands in the middle of the street can help reduce lane widths. Converting one-way streets into two-way streets forces opposing traffic into close proximity, using polymer cement overlay applies a brick texture and appearance to asphalt surfaces to indicate a high traffic crosswalk
21.
Mexico
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Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is also its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes. The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas. Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
22.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
23.
Tire
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A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped vehicle component that covers the wheels rim to protect it and enable better vehicle performance. Most tires, such as those for automobiles and bicycles, provide traction between the vehicle and the road providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock. The materials of modern tires are synthetic rubber, natural rubber, fabric and wire, along with carbon black. They consist of a tread and a body, the tread provides traction while the body provides containment for a quantity of compressed air. Before rubber was developed, the first versions of tires were bands of metal fitted around wooden wheels to prevent wear and tear. Pneumatic tires are used on many types of vehicles, including cars, bicycles, motorcycles, buses, trucks, heavy equipment, and aircraft. Metal tires are used on locomotives and railcars, and solid rubber tires are still used in various non-automotive applications, such as some casters, carts, lawnmowers. The etymology of tire is that the word is a form of attire. The spelling tyre does not appear until the 1840s when the English began shrink fitting railway car wheels with malleable iron, nevertheless, traditional publishers continued using tire. The Times newspaper in Britain was still using tire as late as 1905, the spelling tyre began to be commonly used in the 19th century for pneumatic tires in the UK. However, over the course of the 20th century, tyre became established as the standard British spelling, the earliest tires were bands of leather, then iron, placed on wooden wheels, used on carts and wagons. The tire would be heated in a fire, placed over the wheel and quenched, causing the metal to contract. A skilled worker, known as a wheelwright, carried out this work, the outer ring served to tie the wheel segments together for use, providing also a wear-resistant surface to the perimeter of the wheel. The word tire thus emerged as a variant spelling to refer to the bands used to tie wheels. The first patent for what appears to be a standard pneumatic tire appeared in 1847 lodged by the Scottish inventor Robert William Thomson, however, this never went into production. The first practical pneumatic tire was made in 1888 on May Street, Belfast, by Scots-born John Boyd Dunlop and it was an effort to prevent the headaches of his 10-year-old son Johnnie, while riding his tricycle on rough pavements. His doctor, John, later Sir John Fagan, had prescribed cycling as an exercise for the boy, Fagan participated in designing the first pneumatic tires. In Dunlops tire patent specification dated 31 October 1888, his interest is only in its use in cycles, in September 1890, he was made aware of an earlier development but the company kept the information to itself
24.
Assured clear distance ahead
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As a spatial standard of care, it also serves as required explicit and fair notice of prohibited conduct so unsafe speed laws are not void for vagueness. The rule is the spatial case of the common law basic speed rule. As the original common law driving rule preceding statutized traffic law, legislation often subsequently followed which either superfluously codified and endorsed or revised these principles, of which courts would in turn continue to flesh out the details. By the late 1920s, the assured clear distance ahead came into widespread use as the identity of a standard of care element in choosing safe speed. Horses may still be expected to use the roadways, as bicycles and automobiles. The former are a regular appearance in both areas and in the country, and are commonly exercised by commuters and Amish. Many roads are unchanged since the 1800s while controlled-access highways have been invented specifically for the automobile, ships now have marine radar that allows one to view tens of miles beyond the eye. At common law a motorist is required to regulate his speed so that he can stop within the range of his vision, decisional law usually settles the circumstances by which a portion of the roadway is assuredly clear without it being mentioned in statute. States where the judiciary has explicitly established the states ACDA law include Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Vermont, california maintains this duty, notwithstanding whatever the care of an ordinary person. Many states have passed statutes which require their courts to more inflexibly weigh the ACDA in their determination of reasonable speed or behavior. Such statutes do so in part by designating ACDA violations as a driving offense. States with such explicit ACDA standard of care provisions include, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, most state issued driver handbooks either instruct or mention the ACDA rule as required care or safe practice. Unsafe speed statutes are immune from being void for vagueness when they contain explicit ACDA clauses, explicit and implicit ACDA rules govern millions of North American drivers. Not all jurisdictions have applied the rule uniformly, most often differing over exceptions for specific sudden emergencies, electronic access to precise EDR data and rulings with new ideological modeling tools, can now expose judges as consistent political advocates for differing special road user interests. It is foreseeable that two self-driving car makes can collide because their algorithm of the law letter is different, a issue that has been troubling human drivers for decades. Common law precedent was eroded through the creation of distinctions where none really exists and these successes in-part contributed to mass congestion, smog, high fuel prices, and obesity, which waned the power of this lobby, and now green multi-modal transportation is Federally encouraged. The ACDA common law rule is more critical than ever to public safety in such multi-modal environment, a continued lack of such standard, or its effective enforcement by both police and judges may substantially diminish the legality of humans ever driving in the future. The range of visibility of which is the de facto ACDA, is usually that distance before which a person can see small hazards—such as a traffic cone or buoy—with 20/20 vision
25.
Visual acuity
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Visual acuity commonly refers to the clarity of vision. A common cause of low visual acuity is refractive error, or errors in how the light is refracted in the eyeball, causes of refractive errors include aberrations in the shape of the eyeball, the shape of the cornea, and reduced flexibility of the lens. Too high or too low refractive error is the cause of nearsightedness or farsightedness, other optical causes are astigmatism or more complex corneal irregularities. These anomalies can mostly be corrected by optical means, neural factors that limit acuity are located in the retina or the brain. Examples for the first are a detached retina and macular degeneration, another common impairment, amblyopia, is caused by the visual brain not having developed properly in early childhood. In some cases, low visual acuity is caused by brain damage, when optical factors are corrected for, acuity can be considered a measure of neural well-functioning. Visual acuity is measured while fixating, i. e. as a measure of central vision. However, acuity in vision can be of equal importance in everyday life. Acuity declines towards the periphery in an inverse-linear fashion, visual acuity is a measure of the spatial resolution of the visual processing system. Optotypes are represented as black symbols against a white background, the distance between the persons eyes and the testing chart is set so as to approximate optical infinity in the way the lens attempts to focus, or at a defined reading distance.75 mm apart. Vision of 6/12 corresponds to lower, vision of 6/3 to better performance, normal individuals have an acuity of 6/4 or better. Thus, 6/12 means that a person with 6/6 vision would discern the same optotype from 12 meters away and this is equivalent to saying that with 6/12 vision, the person possesses half the spatial resolution and needs twice the size to discern the optotype. A simple and efficient way to state acuity is by solving the fraction to a decimal number, 6/6 then corresponds to an acuity of 1.0. 6/3 corresponds to 2.0, which is attained by well-corrected healthy young subjects with binocular vision. Stating acuity as a number is the standard in European countries. The precise distance at which acuity is measured is not important as long as it is far away. That size is specified as an angle, which is the angle, at the eye. For 6/6 =1.0 acuity, the size of a letter on the Snellen chart or Landolt C chart is an angle of 5 arc minutes
26.
Traffic signals
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The worlds first, manually operated gas-lit traffic signal was short lived. Installed in London in December 1868, it exploded less than a month later, Traffic control started to seem necessary in the late 1890s and Earnest Sirrine from Chicago patented the first automated traffic control system in 1910. It used the words STOP and PROCEED, although neither word lit up, Traffic lights alternate the right of way accorded to users by displaying lights of a standard colour following a universal colour code. In the typical sequence of phases, The green light allows traffic to proceed in the direction denoted, if it is safe to do so. The amber light warns that the signal is about to change to red, in a number of countries – among them the United Kingdom – a phase during which red and yellow are displayed together indicates that the signal is about to change to green. A flashing amber indication is a warning signal, in the United Kingdom, a flashing amber light is used only at pelican crossings, in place of the combined red–amber signal, and indicates that drivers may pass if no pedestrians are on the crossing. The red signal prohibits any traffic from proceeding, a flashing red indication is treated as a stop sign. In some countries traffic signals will go into a flashing mode if the Conflict Monitor detects a problem, the signal may display flashing yellow to the main road and flashing red to the side road, or flashing red in all directions. Flashing operation can also be used during times of day when traffic is light, before traffic lights traffic police controlled the flow of traffic, a well-documented example being that on London Bridge in 1722. Three men were given the task of directing traffic coming in, each officer would help direct traffic coming out of Southwark into London and he made sure all traffic stayed on the west end of the bridge. A second officer would direct traffic on the east end of the bridge to control the flow of people leaving London and going into Southwark. The main reason for the light was that there was an overflow of horse-drawn traffic over Westminster Bridge which forced thousands of pedestrians to walk next to the Houses of Parliament. The design combined three semaphore arms with red and green gas lamps for use, on a pillar. The gas lantern was manually turned by a police officer. The signal was 22 feet high, at night a red light would command Stop and a green light would mean use Caution. Although it was said to be successful at controlling traffic, its life was brief. It exploded on 2 January 1869, as a result of a leak in one of the gas lines underneath the pavement, injuring or killing the policeman who was operating it. In the first two decades of the 20th century semaphore traffic signals, like the one in London, were in use all over the United States with each state having its own design of the device, One good example was from Toledo, Ohio in 1908
27.
Traffic circle
–
A traffic circle is a type of intersection that directs both turning and through traffic onto a one-way circular roadway, usually built for the purposes of traffic calming or aesthetics. Colloquially, however, roundabouts are sometimes referred to as circles, in the United States, traffic engineers typically use the term rotary for large scale circular junctions between expressways or controlled-access highways. Rotaries typically feature high speeds inside the circle and on the approaches, in New England, traffic circles are generally called rotaries and the traffic that is already driving in the rotary always has the right of way. For examples of where this is specified, in Massachusetts Any operator of a vehicle entering a rotary intersection shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle already in the intersection, in Rhode Island entering vehicles Yield to vehicles in the roundabout. Distinct from roundabouts, traffic circles and rotaries may also have a lane that requires traffic on it to change lanes in order to exit the circle. Design criteria include, Right-of-way, Whether entering or circling vehicles have the right of way, the New Jersey Drivers Manual recommends that, in the absence of flow control signs, traffic yields based on historically established traffic flow patterns, and there are no set rules. In New England, Washington, D. C. and New York State, entering traffic yields, angle of entry, Angles range from glancing that allow full-speed entry to 90 degree angles. Traffic speed, High entry speeds require circulating vehicles to yield, often stopping, lane changes, Allowed or not Diameter, The greater the traffic, the larger the circle. Island function, Parking, parks, fountains, etc, french architect Eugène Hénard was designing one-way circular intersections as early as 1877. American architect William Phelps Eno favored small traffic circles and he designed New York Citys famous Columbus Circle, which was built in 1905. Other circular intersections were built in the United States, though many were large diameter rotaries that enabled high speed merge. These designs were doomed to failure for two reasons, It takes a large diameter circle to provide enough room for merging at speed. Although some of these circles were huge, they were not large enough for high-speed merging, giving priority to entering traffic means that more vehicles can enter the circulatory roadway than it can handle. The result is congestion within the circle which could not clear without police intervention, the experience with traffic circles and rotaries in the USA was almost entirely negative, characterized by high accident rates and congestion problems. By the mid 1950s, construction of circles and rotaries had ceased entirely. The experience with traffic circles in other countries was not much better until the development of the roundabout in the United Kingdom during the 1960s. Starting in the 1990s the USA saw a revival of mostly smaller traffic circles, the modern roundabout finally arrived in the United States in 1990 in Summerlin, a major Las Vegas residential subdivision. As of December,2015 there are about 4800 of these modern roundabouts in the United States, as an example, Washington State contains about 120 roundabouts as of October 2016, all having been built since 1997 with more planned
28.
Law enforcement
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Most law enforcement is conducted by some type of law enforcement agency, with the most typical agency fulfilling this role being the police. Law enforcement agencies tend to be limited to operating within a specified jurisdiction, various specialized segments of society may have their own internal law enforcement arrangements. For example, military organizations may have military police, outline of law enforcement – structured list of topics related to law enforcement, organized by subject area Criminal law Biosecurity Commons
29.
School bus traffic stop laws
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School bus stop laws are laws dictating what a motorist must do in the vicinity of a bus stop being used by a school bus or other bus, coach or minibus providing school transport. Police officers, school crossing guards, and even school bus drivers themselves may have the power to wave traffic on, on divided highways, most American and Canadian jurisdictions do not require vehicular drivers to stop when on the opposite side of the road from a stopped school bus. Those that do require vehicles to stop are, West Virginia upon a non-controlled-access highway Arkansas in case a divider has less than 20 feet in width. Missouri has Jessicas Law, which grants the right of a bus driver to report the offense. Cobb County, a county in Metro Atlanta, has added bus cameras, as a deterrent. Drivers in Washington state are not required to stop for a bus on any highway with three or more lanes when traveling in the opposite direction. This has been interpreted to mean that when approaching a bus from the direction on a normal road with a turn lane. A driver is not required to stop their vehicle.61.370, ohio has a similar exception for roads with four or more lanes. Drivers in Idaho state are not required to stop for a bus on any highway with four or more lanes when traveling in the opposite direction. Drivers in California do not have to stop on any highway that is divided or is multi-lane when traveling in the opposite direction, the effectiveness of current school bus stop laws has been questioned. School bus stop laws in other countries allow a driver to pass a stopped school bus at low speed. In New York State, an estimate is that 50,000 vehicles pass stopped school buses illegally every day. Supporters of this law may argue that children may dart out into an intersection, so traffic from the left, on a national basis, school bus drivers in the United States have reported a decrease in passing violators in recent years with improved warning devices. Despite an increase in traffic and school bus ridership, annual fatalities and injuries to children struck by other vehicles has decreased as well, however, it is unclear whether having reported a decrease in passing violators is due to difficulty to report or better compliance by motorists. Bus drivers are prohibited to turn around at an intersection with students on the bus and this is in order to protect student from injury if the driver fails to obey laws. If laws are broken, the bus driver may be charged with including but not limited to, child endangerment and this section may not include all laws or bylaws
30.
School bus
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A school bus is a type of bus used for student transport, carrying students to and from school, home, and school events. In addition to their paint color, school buses are required to be fitted with warning lights. Every year in the United States and Canada, school buses provide an estimated 10 billion student trips from home, outside North America, purpose-built vehicles for student transport are not as common. In the second half of the 19th century, many areas of the United States. While some kid hacks were essentially repurposed farm wagons, others were purpose-built for transporting people instead of cargo, as these were horse-drawn vehicles, the entrance door was rear-mounted. Later, one of the school bus manufacturers, Wayne Works. Following the transition to horseless carriages, kid hacks switched from horse-drawn wagons to motorized vehicles based on automotive chassis, in terms of design, little changed, as many early school bus bodies essentially remained wagons mounted to truck frames, the rear entry door and perimeter seating remained. Weather protection was nearly non-existent, if provided, it consisted of a tarpaulin stretched above the passenger area, in 1927, Ford dealership owner A. L. Luce produced a bus body for a 1927 Ford Model T. Unlike previous wood-bodied motorized buses, Luce used primarily steel panels with a wood frame, while the bus was constructed with a roof, its only weather protection was afforded by roll-up canvas side curtains. The 1930s marked a transition in school bus design, with the vehicle gaining a distinct, dedicated form in place of the adaptation of wagons. For the ease of loading passengers and to improve forward visibility, the rear door gained a new function, repurposed as an emergency exit. Along with the changes in configuration, the design of school buses underwent major revisions as well. As school bus design paralleled design of light to medium-duty commercial trucks of the time, in an effort to gain extra seating capacity and visibility, Crown Coach built its own cabover school bus design from the ground up. The highest-capacity school bus of the time, the 76-passenger Crown Supercoach was aptly named, as the 1930s progressed, flat-front school buses began to follow motorcoach design in styling as well as engineering, partially the reason the industry adopted transit-style in naming them. In 1940, the first mid-engined transit school bus was produced by Gillig in California, the custom-built nature of school buses created an inherent obstacle to their profitable mass production on a large scale. Although school bus design had moved away from the wagon-style kid hacks of the generation before, there was not yet an agreed on set of standards for school buses. Organized by rural education expert Dr. Frank W. Cyr, funded by a $5000 grant, Dr. Cyr had invited transportation officials, representatives from body and chassis manufacturers, and paint companies. To reduce the complexity of school bus production and increase safety, to allow for large-scale production of school buses among body manufacturers, adoption of theses standards allowed for greater consistency among body manufacturers
31.
Light-emitting diode
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A light-emitting diode is a two-lead semiconductor light source. It is a p–n junction diode, which emits light when activated, when a suitable voltage is applied to the leads, electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence, and the color of the light is determined by the band gap of the semiconductor. LEDs are typically small and integrated optical components may be used to shape the radiation pattern, appearing as practical electronic components in 1962, the earliest LEDs emitted low-intensity infrared light. Infrared LEDs are still used as transmitting elements in remote-control circuits. The first visible-light LEDs were also of low intensity and limited to red, modern LEDs are available across the visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness. Early LEDs were often used as indicator lamps for electronic devices and they were soon packaged into numeric readouts in the form of seven-segment displays and were commonly seen in digital clocks. Recent developments in LEDs permit them to be used in environmental, LEDs have allowed new displays and sensors to be developed, while their high switching rates are also used in advanced communications technology. LEDs have many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved physical robustness, smaller size, and faster switching. Light-emitting diodes are now used in applications as diverse as aviation lighting, automotive headlamps, advertising, general lighting, traffic signals, camera flashes, as of 2017, LED lights home room lighting are as cheap or cheaper than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparable output. They are also more energy efficient and, arguably, have fewer environmental concerns linked to their disposal. Electroluminescence as a phenomenon was discovered in 1907 by the British experimenter H. J. Round of Marconi Labs, using a crystal of silicon carbide, russian inventor Oleg Losev reported creation of the first LED in 1927. His research was distributed in Soviet, German and British scientific journals, rubin Braunstein of the Radio Corporation of America reported on infrared emission from gallium arsenide and other semiconductor alloys in 1955. Braunstein observed infrared emission generated by simple diode structures using gallium antimonide, GaAs, indium phosphide, in 1957, Braunstein further demonstrated that the rudimentary devices could be used for non-radio communication across a short distance. As noted by Kroemer Braunstein …had set up a simple optical communications link, the emitted light was detected by a PbS diode some distance away. This signal was fed into an amplifier and played back by a loudspeaker. Intercepting the beam stopped the music and we had a great deal of fun playing with this setup. This setup presaged the use of LEDs for optical communication applications, by October 1961, they had demonstrated efficient light emission and signal coupling between a GaAs p-n junction light emitter and an electrically-isolated semiconductor photodetector
32.
Worboys Committee
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The Worboys Committee was formed by the British government in July 1963 to review signage on all British roads. This was in response to two published in 1961 by graphic designer Herbert Spencer, illustrating the shortcomings of non-motorway British road signs. The committee was chaired by Sir Walter Worboys of ICI, T. G. Usborne of the Ministry of Transport had charge of proceedings, and Jock Kinneir and his assistant Margaret Calvert were commissioned as designers. The result was a document that defined traffic signing in Britain, Traffic Signs Regulations and it was introduced on 1 January 1965 and has been updated many times since. The signage recommended by the committee made heavy use of pictograms, as was the tradition in mainland Europe, together with a new typeface developed by Kinneir and Calvert
33.
Stop and yield lines
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Stop and yield lines are transverse road surface marking that inform drivers where they should stop or yield when approaching an intersection. In some cases stop or yield lines are used in advance of mid-block crosswalks, a stop line is a type of marking used to inform drivers of the point where they are required to stop at an intersection or roundabout controlled by a stop sign or traffic signal. On multi-lane roads, advance yield lines are used before mid-block crosswalks to prevent multiple-threat crashes and these occur when a driver yields to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, but the drivers in the adjacent lane cannot see the pedestrian because of the stopped vehicle. Another driver may pass the vehicle and collide with pedestrians as they step out from in front of it. An advance yield line instructs the driver to stop far enough away from the crosswalk that other drivers can see around their vehicle, in jurisdictions where drivers are legally required to stop for pedestrians, an advance stop line may be used instead. Layout of yield lines in the US MUTCD, UK Road Markings Manual
34.
Idaho
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Idaho is a state in the northwestern region of the United States. It borders the state of Montana to the east and northeast, Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, to the north, it shares a small portion of the Canadian border with the province of British Columbia. With a population of around 1.7 million people and an area of 83,569 square miles, Idaho is the 14th largest, the states capital and largest city is Boise. Idaho prior to European settlement was inhabited solely by Native American peoples, in the early 19th century, Idaho was considered part of the Oregon Country, an area disputed between the U. S. and the United Kingdom. Idaho was eventually admitted to the Union on July 3,1890, forming part of the Pacific Northwest, Idaho is divided into several distinct geographic and climatic regions. In the states north, the relatively isolated Idaho Panhandle is closely linked with Eastern Washington, the states south includes the Snake River Plain, while the south-east incorporates part of the Great Basin. Idaho is quite mountainous, and contains several stretches of the Rocky Mountains, additionally, around 38 percent of Idahos land is held by the United States Forest Service, the most of any state. Industries significant for the economy include manufacturing, agriculture, mining, forestry. Idahos agricultural sector supplies a number of different products, but the state is best known for its potato crop, the official state nickname is the Gem State, which references Idahos reputation for gemstones and, more broadly, its many wilderness areas. The exact origin of the remains a mystery. Willing later claimed that he had invented the name. Congress ultimately decided to name the area Colorado Territory when it was created in February 1861, thinking they would get a jump on the name, locals named a community in Colorado Idaho Springs. However, the name Idaho did not fall into obscurity, the same year Congress created Colorado Territory, a county called Idaho County was created in eastern Washington Territory. The county was named after a steamship named Idaho, which was launched on the Columbia River in 1860 and it is unclear whether the steamship was named before or after Willings claim was revealed. Regardless, a portion of Washington Territory, including Idaho County, was used to create Idaho Territory in 1863. Despite this lack of evidence for the origin of the name, the name Idaho may be derived from the Plains Apache word ídaahę́, which means enemy. The Comanches used this word to refer to the Idaho Territory, a 1956 Idaho history textbook says, Idaho is a Shoshoni Indian exclamation. The word consists of three parts, the first is Ee, which in English conveys the idea of coming down
35.
Idaho stop
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The Idaho stop is the common name for a law that allows cyclists to treat a stop sign as a yield sign, and a red light as a stop sign. It first became law in Idaho in 1982, but has not been adopted elsewhere, a limited form of the law called Stop as Yield, that deals only with stop signs, has expanded to parts of Colorado and been considered in several other states. Advocates argue that current law criminalizes normal cycling behavior, and that the Idaho stop makes cycling easier and safer and places the focus where it should be, the original Idaho yield law was introduced as Idaho HB541 during a comprehensive revision of Idaho Traffic laws in 1982. At that time, minor traffic offenses were criminal offenses and there was a desire to downgrade many of these to civil public offenses to free up docket time. Carl Bianchi, then the Administrative Director of the Courts in Idaho, saw an opportunity to attach a modernization of the bicycle law onto the larger revision of the traffic code. He drafted a new code that would more closely conform with the Uniform Vehicle Code, and included new provisions allowing cyclists to take the lane, or to merge left. In 2006, the law was modified to specify that cyclists must stop on red lights and yield before proceeding straight through the intersection and this had been the original intent, but Idaho law enforcement officials wanted it specified. The first effort to enact the law outside of Idaho was started in Oregon in 2003, while it overwhelmingly passed in the House, it never made it out of the Senate Rules Committee. The Oregon effort in turn inspired an investigation of the law by the San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission in 2008 and that investigation failed to spawn legislation, but it did garner national attention, which led to similar efforts nationwide. The term Idaho Stop came into use as a result of the California effort in 2008, prior to that, it was called Idaho Style or Roll-and-go. Idaho Stop was first used by the bicycle blogger Richard Masoner in June 2008 coverage of the San Francisco proposal, but in reference to the Idaho Stop Law. In August of the year, the term - now in quotes - first showed up in print in a Christian Science Monitor article by Ben Arnoldy who referred to the so-called Idaho stop rule. Soon after, the term Idaho stop was commonly being used as a noun, advocates for Idaho stop laws argue that they improve safety. Two studies of the Idaho stop show that it is measurably safer, one study showed that it resulted in 14% fewer crashes and another indicated that Idaho has less severe crashes. Some supporters maintain that changing the legal duties of cyclists provides direction to law enforcement to focus attention where it belongs—on unsafe cyclists. Additionally, some claim that, because bicycle laws should be designed to allow cyclists to travel swiftly and easily, jack Gillette, former president of the Boise Bicycle Commuters Association, argued that bicyclists should not have greater freedoms than drivers. “Bicyclists want the same rights as drivers, and maybe they should have the same duties, San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee argued that the law directly endangers pedestrians and cyclists in his veto of a similar law in his city. Idaho is both the largest and longest practitioner of the safe stop, during the summer of 2015, Paris law was modified to allow cyclists to treat certain stop lights as yield signs as allowed by signage
36.
Michigan
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Michigan /ˈmɪʃᵻɡən/ is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit, Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, the two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The state has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, as a result, it is one of the leading U. S. states for recreational boating. Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds, a person in the state is never more than six miles from a natural water source or more than 85 miles from a Great Lakes shoreline. What is now the state of Michigan was first settled by Native American tribes before being colonized by French explorers in the 17th century, the area was organized as part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800, when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory. Eventually, in 1805, the Michigan Territory was formed, which lasted until it was admitted into the Union on January 26,1837, the state of Michigan soon became an important center of industry and trade in the Great Lakes region and a popular immigrant destination. Though Michigan has come to develop an economy, it is widely known as the center of the U. S. automotive industry. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous tribes were Algonquian peoples, which include the Anishinaabe groups of Ojibwe, Odaawaa/Odawa, the three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. The Ojibwe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the largest, French voyageurs and coureurs des bois explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlés expedition in 1622, the first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Père Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a base for Catholic missions, missionaries in 1671–75 founded outlying stations at Saint Ignace and Marquette. Jesuit missionaries were received by the areas Indian populations, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities. In 1679, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph, in 1691, the French established a trading post and Fort St. Joseph along the St. Joseph River at the present day city of Niles. The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent, cadillacs wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post, the Église de Saint-Anne was founded the same year
37.
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
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These specifications include the shapes, colors, and fonts used in road markings and signs. In the United States, all control devices must legally conform to these standards. The manual is used by state and local agencies as well as construction firms to ensure that the traffic control devices they use conform to the national standard. While some state agencies have developed their own sets of standards, including their own MUTCDs, the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices advises the FHWA on additions, revisions, and changes to the MUTCD. However, each highway had its own set of signage, usually designed to promote the highway rather than to assist in the direction, in fact, conflicts between these automobile clubs frequently led to multiple sets of signs—sometimes as many as eleven—being erected on the same highway. They reported their findings to the Mississippi Valley Association of Highway Departments and these suggestions included the familiar circular railroad crossing sign and octagonal stop sign. In 1927, the American Association of State Highway Officials, or AASHO, published the Manual and Specifications for the Manufacture, Display, standard Road Markers and Signs to set standards for traffic control devices used on rural roads. This was followed by the Manual on Street Traffic Signs, Signals, and Markings, the MUTCD was first released in 1935, and set standards for both road signs and pavement markings. In 1966, Congress passed the Highway Safety Act, P. L. 89-564,72 Stat,885, which is now codified at 23 U. S. C. §401 et seq. The penalty for noncompliance was a 10% reduction in funding, in turn, taking advantage of broad rulemaking powers granted in 23 U. S. C. §402, the Department simply adopted the entire MUTCD by reference at 23 C. F. R, thus, what was formerly a quasi-official project became an official one. States are allowed to supplement the MUTCD but must remain in substantial conformance with the national MUTCD, most of the repainting to the 1971 standard was done between 1971 and 1974, with a deadline of 1978 for the changeover of both the markings and signage. Comments were accepted until July 31,2008, the new edition was published in 2009. Proposed additions and revisions to the MUTCD are recommended to FHWA by the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, the NCUTCD also recommends interpretations of the MUTCD to other agencies that use the MUTCD, such as state departments of transportation. NCUTCD develops public and professional awareness of the principles of safe traffic control devices and practices, the NCUTCD is supported by twenty-one sponsoring organizations, including transportation and engineering industry groups, safety organizations, and the American Automobile Association. Each sponsoring organization promotes members to serve as voting delegates within the NCUTCD, compared to the Vienna Convention, the MUTCD stresses a consistent color scheme and relatively large, verbose warning signs. MUTCD guide signs tend to be less verbose than their equivalents in Vienna Convention countries, the MUTCD has become widely influential outside the United States, for example, the use of yellow stripes to divide opposing traffic has been widely adopted throughout the Western Hemisphere. Many U. S. states produce their own standards, which take the form of either a manual or supplement to the federal MUTCD
38.
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
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The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe was established in 1947 to encourage economic cooperation among its member States. It is one of five regional commissions under the direction of United Nations headquarters. It has 56 member States, and reports to the United Nations Economic, besides countries in Europe, it also includes Canada, the Central Asian republics, Israel and the United States of America. The UNECE secretariat headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland, and has a budget of US$50 million. The 56 member countries are listed below,18 of the UNECEs member countries are recipients of official development assistance. CEP is the governing body of UNECE environmental activities. Participating and/or facilitating the exchange of experience in a number of activities undertaken under the leadership of UNECE. In 1947, UNECE set up a Panel on Housing Problems, the Committee is an intergovernmental body of all UNECE member States. The UNECE Transport Division has been providing services to the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations. The UNECE Statistical Division provides the secretariat for the Conference and its expert groups, the Statistical Division develops guidelines and training materials on statistical methodology and practices, in response to demands from member countries. The UNECE Statistical Division also provides assistance to South-East European, East European, Caucasus. 2) A biennial overview of key statistics for member countries, UNECE Countries in Figures, 3) A set of wikis to support collaboration activities and disseminate information about good practices. UNECE conducted the Fertility and Family Survey in the 1990s in 23 member States, with over 150,000 participants and this activity has hence continued in the form of the Generations and Gender Programme. From 1982 to 2007 the IOS Press published the Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on behalf of the UNECE
39.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
40.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
41.
Caribbean
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The Caribbean is a region that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands and the surrounding coasts. The region is southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America, situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 700 islands, islets, reefs and cays. These islands generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea, in a wider sense, the mainland countries of Belize, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana are often included due to their political and cultural ties with the region. Geopolitically, the Caribbean islands are usually regarded as a subregion of North America and are organized into 30 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies. From December 15,1954, to October 10,2010, there was a known as the Netherlands Antilles composed of five states. The West Indies cricket team continues to represent many of those nations, the region takes its name from that of the Caribs, an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles and parts of adjacent South America at the time of the Spanish conquest. The two most prevalent pronunciations of Caribbean are KARR-ə-BEE-ən, with the accent on the third syllable. The former pronunciation is the older of the two, although the variant has been established for over 75 years. It has been suggested that speakers of British English prefer KARR-ə-BEE-ən while North American speakers more typically use kə-RIB-ee-ən, usage is split within Caribbean English itself. The word Caribbean has multiple uses and its principal ones are geographical and political. The Caribbean can also be expanded to include territories with strong cultural and historical connections to slavery, European colonisation, the United Nations geoscheme for the Americas accords the Caribbean as a distinct region within the Americas. Physiographically, the Caribbean region is mainly a chain of islands surrounding the Caribbean Sea, to the north, the region is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida and the Northern Atlantic Ocean, which lies to the east and northeast. To the south lies the coastline of the continent of South America, politically, the Caribbean may be centred on socio-economic groupings found in the region. For example, the known as the Caribbean Community contains the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are in the Atlantic Ocean, are members of the Caribbean Community. The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is also in the Atlantic and is a member of the Caribbean Community. According to the ACS, the population of its member states is 227 million people. The geography and climate in the Caribbean region varies, Some islands in the region have relatively flat terrain of non-volcanic origin and these islands include Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, Saint Croix, the Bahamas, and Antigua
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