All keywords

The influence upon the environment of organisms owing to the presence and activities of other organisms, as distinct from a physical, abiotic, environmental factor. (Source: ALL2)

Scale for showing the quality of an environment by indicating the types of organisms present in it (e.g. how clean a river is). (Source: PHC)

A region of relatively uniform environmental conditions, occupied by a given plant community and its associated animal community. (Source: PAENS)

Intersection of corridors connecting patchy ecological communities. Species survival tends to be higher in patches that have higher connectivity. (Source: PARCORa)

An ordinance or decree regarding an area of ecological habitat that is characterized by a high degree of uniformity in its environmental conditions and in its distribution of plants and animals. (Source: DOE / OED)

Measures taken to ensure that the biological and physical components of a biotope are in equilibrium by maintaining constant their relative numbers and features. (Source: GILP96a)

Any of the warm-blooded vertebrates which make up the class Aves. (Source: MGH)

Any of various carnivorous bird of the orders Falconiformes and Strigiformes which feed on meat taken by hunting. (Source: MGH)

Special area where birds are protected. (Source: PHC)

Any species of the warm-blooded vertebrates which make up the class Aves. (Source: MGH)

Mortality of birds on power lines through collisions and electrocutions, in particular to large birds of prey, bustards, cranes, storks and flamingos is a threat of unknown extent. These wildlife-power line interactions may also cause blackouts, resulting in high maintenance and repair costs. Smaller birds including Sociable Weavers, Red-billed Buffalo-weavers and crows use power line structures for roosting and nesting and are a further source of wildlife-related faulting. Bird interactions with power lines include: Collisions with power lines; Electrocutions on electricity infrastructure; Breeding activity on power lines causing short circuits; Bird droppings causing flashovers; Destruction of sensitive bird habitat caused by the construction of new power lines. (Source: NamPower NNF Project)

Limitation of the number of children born by preventing or reducing the frequency of impregnation. (Source: MGH)

A generic term applied to natural inflammable substances of variable colour, hardness, and volatility, composed principally of a mixture of hydrocarbons substantially free from oxygenated bodies. Bitumens are sometimes associated with mineral matter, the nonmineral constituents being fusible and largely soluble in carbon disulfide, yielding water-insoluble sulfonation products. Petroleum, asphalts, natural mineral waxes, and asphaltites are all considered bitumens. (Source: BJGEO)

A natural black graphitelike material used as a fuel, formed from fossilized plants and consisting of amorphous carbon with various organic and some inorganic compounds. (Source: AMHER)

No definition needed.

A tall, cylindrical smelting furnace for reducing iron ore to pig iron; the blast of air blown through solid fuel increases the combustion rate. (Source: MGH)

1) A chemical, such as an aromatic acyl peroxide or monoperoxiphthalic acid, used to bleach flour, fats, oils and other edibles. 2) An oxidizing or reducing chemical such as sodium hypochlorite, sulfur dioxide, sodium acid sulfite, or hydrogen peroxide. (Source: MGH)

Clay capable of chemically adsorbing oils, insecticides, alkaloids, vitamins, carbohydrates and other materials; it is used for refining and decolorizing mineral and vegetable oils. (Source: WRES)

1) Removing colored components from a textile. Common bleaches are hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochloride, and sodium chlorite. 2) The brightening and delignification of pulp by the addition of oxidizing chemicals such as chlorine or reducing chemicals such as sodium hypochloride. (Source: LEE)

A fluid connective tissue consisting of the plasma and cells that circulate in the blood vessels. (Source: MGH)

Microorganisms, formerly classified as algae but now regarded as bacteria, including nostoc, which contain a blue pigment in addition to chlorophyll. (Source: CED)

To travel or go in a boat as a form of recreation. (Source: CED)

The wooded countryside characteristic of northern France, with small irregular-shaped fields and many hedges and copses. In the French language the word bocage refers both to the hedge itself and to a landscape consisting of hedges. Bocage landscapes usually have a slightly rolling landform, and are found mainly in maritime climates. Being a small-scale, enclosed landscape, the bocage offers much variations in biotopes, with habitats for birds, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and butterflies. (Source: CED / DOBRIS)

A commonly used term in Scotland and Ireland for a stretch waterlogged, spongy ground, chiefly composed of decaying vegetable matter, especially of rushes, cotton grass, and sphagnum moss. (Source: WHIT)

An enclosed vessel in which water is heated and circulated, either as hot water or as steam, for heating or power. (Source: AMHER)

The temperature at which the transition from the liquid to the gaseous phase occurs in a pure substance at fixed pressure. (Source: MGH)

A collection of leaves of paper, parchment or other material, usually bound or fastened together within covers, containing writing of any type or blank pages for future inscription. (Source: CCL / RHW)

The art or science of recording business accounts and transactions. (Source: WESTS)

The dividing line or frontier between political or geographic regions. (Source: CED)

A very hard almost colourless crystalline metalloid element that in impure form exists as a brown amorphous powder. It occurs principally in borax and is used in hardening steel. (Source: CED)

Gardens for the conservation of rare species of plants. (Source: RAMADE)

A place in which plants are grown, studied and exhibited. (Source: CED)

A branch of the biological sciences which embraces the study of plants and plant life. (Source: MGH)

No definition needed.

Crossing of a state border. (Source: RRDA)

The layer of fluid adjacent to a physical boundary in which the fluid motion is significantly affected by the boundary and has a mean velocity less than the free stream value. (Source: LBC)

Any animal belonging to the Bovidae family. (Source: CED)

Water, salty between the concentrations of fresh water and sea water; usually 5-10 parts x thousand. (Source: LANDY)

A long-continued, extremely slow vertical instability of the crust, as in the volcanic district west of Naples, Italy, where the Phlegraean bradyseism has involved up-and-down movements between 6 m below sea level and 6 m above over a period of more than 2.000 years. (Source: BJGEO)

A specialized division of a business or other organization. (Source: RRDA)

Milk from the breast for feeding babies. (Source: CED)

The application of genetic principles to the improvement of farm animals and cultivated plants. (Source: MGH)

The individuals in a bird population that are involved in reproduction during a particular period in a given place. (Source: ALL2a)

Term referring to the systems employed in animal rearing (extensive and intensive). (Source: RRDA)

A sector of the economy in which an aggregate of commercial enterprises is engaged in the manufacture and marketing of beverages made from malt and hops by steeping, boiling and fermentation, such as beer, ale and other related beverages. (Source: RHW)

A building material usually made from clay, molded as a rectangular block, and baked or burned in a kiln. (Source: MGH)

A structure that spans and provides a passage over a road, railway, river, or some other obstacle. (Source: CED)

Deciduous tree which has wide leaves, as opposed to the needles on conifers. (Source: PHC)

A pungent dark red volatile liquid element of the halogen series that occurs in brine and is used in the production of chemicals. (Source: CED)

To incubate eggs or cover the young for warmth. (Source: MGH)

A small stream or rivulet, commonly swiftly flowing in rugged terrain, of lesser length and volume than a creek; especially a stream that issues directly from the ground, as from a spring or seep, or that is produced by heavy rainfall or melting snow. (Source: BJGEO)

Woody vegetation including shrubs and scrub trees of non-commercial height and form, often seen in the initial stages of succession following a disturbance. Brush often grows in very dense thickets that are impenetrable to wild animals and serve to suppress the growth of more desirable crop trees. However, brush can also serve an important function as desirable habitat for a range or bird, animal, and invertebrate species, and often provides a good source of browse and cover for larger wildlife. It adds structural diversity within the forest and is important in riparian zones. It is also termed scrub. (Source: DUNSTE)

Any plant of the division Bryophyta, having stems and leaves but lacking true vascular tissue and roots and reproducing by spores: includes the mosses and liverworts. (Source: CED)

EPA policy that allows a plant complex with several facilities to decrease pollution from some facilities while increasing it from others, so long as total results are equal to or better than previous limits. Facilities where this is done are treated as if they exist in a bubble in which total emissions are averaged out. (Source: EPAGLO)

A balance sheet or statement of estimated receipts and expenditures. A plan for the coordination of resource and expenditures. The amount of money that is available for, required for, or assigned to a particular purpose. (Source: WESTS)

The programmatic use of a government's spending and revenue-generating activities to influence the economy and achieve specific objectives. (Source: MGHME)

Any of the suborder Heteroctera, having piercing and sucking mouthparts, specialized as a beak. (Source: CED)

Something built with a roof and walls, such as a house or factory. (Source: CED)

Land and other places on, under, in or through which the temporary and permanent works are to be executed and any other lands or places needed for the purposes of construction. (Source: ECHO1)

A building element which uses industrial products that are manufactured as independent until capable of being joined with other elements. (Source: HARRIS)

The tearing down of buildings by mechanical means. (Source: MGHa)

The art and technique of building houses. (Source: ZINZAN)

Area of land suitable for building on. (Source: PHC)

Any material used in construction, such as steel, concrete, brick, masonry, glass, wood, etc. (Source: HARRIS)

Authorization required by local governmental bodies for the erection of an enclosed structure or for the major alteration or expansion of an existing edifice. (Source: BLD)

The activity of designing, organizing or preparing for future construction or reconstruction of edifices and facilities. (Source: RHW)

The accurate reestablishment of the form and details of a building, its artifacts, and the site on which it is located, usually as it appeared at a particular time. (Source: HARRIS)

The aggregation of services, including construction, development, maintenance and leasing, performed for human-occupied properties, such as office buildings and apartment houses. (Source: PBS)

A piece of land on which a house or other building is being built. (Source: CAMB)

No definition needed.

No definition needed.

Masonry and rubble wastes arising from the demolition or reconstruction of buildings or other civil engineering structures.

Collection of open and/or closed drains, together with structures and pumps used to collect and dispose of excess surface or subsurface water. (Source: LANDY)

That part of the physical surroundings which are people-made or people-organized, such as buildings and other major structures, roads, bridges and the like, down to lesser objects such as traffic lights, telephone and pillar boxes. (Source: GOOD)

Any structure made of stone, bricks, wood, concrete, or steel, built with a roof and walls, such as a house or factory. (Source: CEDa / ZINZAN)

Area which is full of houses, shops, offices and other buildings, with very little open space. (Source: PHC)

The cultivation of flower bulb is divided into two sectors: for forcing (flower bulbs used by professional growers for the production of cut flowers and potted plants) and for dry sales (flower bulbs for garden planting, flower pots, landscaping and parks). (Source: BULB)

Large items of waste material, such as appliances, furniture, large auto parts, trees, branches, stumps, etc. (Source: LANDY)

An assemblage of computer hardware and software that can be linked by computer modem dialing for the purpose of sharing or exchanging messages or other files. (Source: WIC)

The multiplication of or concentration of power in administrators and administrative offices in an organization, usually resulting in an extension into and regimentation of certain areas of social life. (Source: DAM / RHW)

A large, long-bodied motor vehicle equipped with seating for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service.

A place along a route or line at which a bus stops for fuel or to pick up or let off passengers or goods, especially with ancillary buildings and services. (Source: CED)

The removal of brush using mechanical means, either by cutting manually or by using machinery for crushing, rolling, flailing, or chipping it, or by chemical means or a combination of these. (Source: DUNSTE)

The activity, position or site associated with commerce or the earning of a livelihood. (Source: West's / RHW)

Any profit-seeking undertaking or venture that involves the production, sale and purchase of goods or services. (Source: RHW)

The categorization of enterprises or organizations involved in an economy. (Source: ISEP)

The art of purchasing and selling goods from an economics perspective or a perspective involving the scientific study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. (Source: RHW)

A particular legal arrangement for owning a firm, the principal forms are sale trades, partnerships and companies/corporations; collective term for the system, function, process of planning, providing, coordinating, directing all efforts and resources in a business in order to achieve its goals.

The guiding procedure, philosophy or course of action for an enterprise or company organized for commercial purposes. (Source: RHW)

Any diurnal insect of the order Lepidoptera that has a slender body with clubbed antennae and typically rests with the wings (which are often brightly coloured) closed over the back. (Source: CED)

A tiny, circular battery made for a watch or for other microelectric applications. (Source: LEE)

Incidental taking of non-commercial species in drift nets, trawling operations and long line fishing; it is responsible for the death of large marine animals and one factor in the threatened extinction of some species. (Source: WPR)

A product from a manufacturing process that is not considered the principal material. (Source: MGH)

Strands of insulated electrical conductors laid together, usually around a central core, and wrapped in a heavy insulation. (Source: MGH)

One of the toxic heavy metal which has caused deaths and permanent illnesses in a series of major pollution incidents around the world. Cadmium has no useful biological purpose. However, it has wide industrial applications. It has been used for decades in metal plating to prevent corrosion, in rechargeable batteries and as a pigment in certain plastics and paints. Special care is taken in the industrial smelting of ores and subsequent handling of cadmium, because occupational exposure is known to have caused heart, chest and kidney disorders. Environmental health problems have come from exposure to various sources of pollution. (Source: WRIGHT)

The release and presence in the air, water and soil of cadmium, a toxic, metallic element, from sources such as the burning of coal and tobacco and improper disposal of cadmium-containing waste. (Source: FFD / EEN)

A soft silvery-white and highly reactive metal belonging to the alkali group of metals. It is a radiation hazard, because it can occur in two radioactive forms. Caesium-134 is produced in nuclear reactors, not directly by fission, but by the reaction. It emits beta- and gamma-radiation and has a half-life of 2.06 years. Caesium-137 is a fission product of uranium and occurs in the fallout from nuclear weapons. It emits beta- and gamma-rays and has a half-life of 30 years. Caesium-137 was the principal product released into the atmosphere, and hence the food chain, from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and from the Windscale fire and Chernobyl nuclear accidents. After the Chernobyl accident, which spread a radiation cloud across Europe, the European Commission proposed new and more restrictive limits on levels of caesium in food and drinking water. (Source: WRIGHT)

A malleable silvery-white metallic element of the alkaline hearth group; the fifth most abundant element in the earth crust, occurring especially as forms of calcium carbonate. It is an essential constituent of bones and teeth and is used as a deoxidizer in steel. (Source: CED)

Amount of calcium contained in a solution. (Source: MGHa)

The act, process or result of calculating. (Source: CED)

No definition needed.

To mark the scale of a measuring instrument so that readings can be made in appropriate units. (Source: CED)

The determination or rectification of, according to an accepted standard, the graduation of any instrument giving quantitative measurements. (Source: APD / RHW)

1) A place where tents, cabins, or other temporary structures are erected for the use of military troops, for training soldiers, etc. 2) Tents, cabins, etc., used as temporary lodgings by a group of travellers, holiday-makers, Scouts, Gypsies, etc. (Source: CED)

Guarded area equipped with sanitary facilities where holiday-makers may pitch a tent and camp by paying a daily rate. (Source: ZINZAN)

A piece of land where people on holiday can stay in tents, usually with toilets and places for washing. (Source: CAMB)

An artificial open waterway used for transportation, waterpower, or irrigation. (Source: MGH)

A chamber with gates on both ends connecting two sections of a canal or other waterway, to raise or lower the water level in each section. (Source: MGH)

Any malignant cellular tumour including carcinoma and sarcoma. It encompasses a group of neoplastic diseases in which there is a transformation of normal body cells into malignant ones, probably involving some change in the genetic material of the cells, possibly as a result of faulty repair of damage to the cell caused by carcinogenic agents or ionizing radiation. (Source: KOREN)

The probability that exposure to some agent or substance will adversely transform cells to replicate and form a malignant tumor. (Source: APD / HMD)

Carnivorous mammal in the superfamily Canoidea, including dogs and their allies. (Source: MGH)

A long deep, relatively narrow steep-sided valley confined between lofty and precipitous walls in a plateau or mountainous area, often with a stream at the bottom; similar to, but largest than, a gorge. It is characteristic of an arid or semiarid area (such as western U.S.) where stream downcutting greatly exceeds weathering. (Source: BJGEO)

A four-wheeled motor vehicle used for land transport, usually propelled by a gasoline or diesel internal combustion engine. (Source: RHW)

Area of ground or a building where there is space for vehicles to be parked. (Source: CAMB)

A rubber ring placed over the rim of a wheel of a road vehicle to provide traction and reduce road shocks, especially a hollow inflated ring consisting of a reinforced outer casing enclosing an inner tube. (Source: CED)

Any of the group of organic compounds composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, including sugars, starches and celluloses. (Source: MGH)

A nonmetallic element existing in the three crystalline forms: graphite, diamond and buckminsterfullerene: occurring in carbon dioxide, coal, oil and all organic compounds. (Source: CED)

The cycle of carbon in the biosphere, in which plants convert carbon dioxide to organic compounds that are consumed by plants and animals, and the carbon is returned to the biosphere in inorganic form by processes of respiration and decay. (Source: MGH)

A colourless gas with a faint tingling smell and taste. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is the source of carbon for plants. As carbon dioxide is heavier than air and does not support combustion, it is used in fire extinguishers. It is a normal constituent of the atmosphere, relatively innocuous in itself but playing an important role in the greenhouse effect. It is produced during the combustion of fossil fuels when the carbon content of the fuels reacts with the oxygen during combustion. It is also produced when living organisms respire. It is essential for plant nutrition and in the ocean phytoplankton is capable of absorbing and releasing large quantities of the gas. (Source: UVAROV / GILP96)

Compulsory charges levied on fuels to reduce the output of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a colourless and odourless gas substance that is incombustible. (Source: ODE / RHW)

Colorless, odourless, tasteless, non-corrosive, highly poisonous gas of about the same density as that of air. Very flammable, burning in air with bright blue flame. Although each molecule of CO has one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, it has a shape similar to that of an oxygen molecule (two atoms of oxygen), which is important with regard to it's lethality. (Source: PHYMAC)

A salt or ester of carbonic acid. (Source: CED)

The disposal of slaughtered animals, other dead animal bodies and animal body parts after removal of the offal products. (Source: ISEP)

A substance that causes cancer in humans and animals. (Source: WRIGHT)

The ability or tendency of a substance or physical agent to cause or produce cancer. (Source: CONFER)

Test for assessing if a chemical or physical agent increases the risk of cancer. The three major ways of testing for carcinogens are animals tests, epidemiological studies and bacterial tests. (Source: EPAGLO)

The study of the heart. (Source: MGH)

Those structures, including the heart and blood vessels, which provide channels for the flow of blood. (Source: MGH)

A geographical region bordered on the south by South America and Panama, and on the west by Central America, and consisting of the West Indian, and nearby, islands and the Caribbean Sea, a part of the western Atlantic Ocean. (Source: RHW)

An animal that eats meat. (Source: CAMB)

Effect caused by the successive passages of polluting substances through the different organisms of a food chain. (Source: RRDA)

The making of maps and charts for the purpose of visualizing spatial distributions over various areas of the earth. (Source: MGH)

Crops that are grown for sale in the town markets or for export. They include coffee, cocoa, sugar, vegetables, peanuts and non-foods, like tobacco and cotton. Huge areas of countries in the developing world have been turned over to cash crops. Those countries with no mineral or oil resources depend on cash crops for foreign money, so that they can import materials do develop roads, for construction, or to buy Western consumer goods and, indeed, food. However, critics argue that cash crops are planted on land that would otherwise be used to grow food for the local community and say this is a cause of world famine. Cash crops, such as peanuts, can ruin the land if it is not left fallow after six years of harvests. Moreover, if the best agricultural land is used for cash crops, local farmers are forced to use marginal land to grow food for local consumption, and this has a further dramatic effect on the environment. (Source: WRIGHT)

No definition needed.

A phenomenon in which a relatively small amount of substance augments the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being consumed. (Source: MGH)

A substance whose presence alters the rate at which a chemical reaction proceeds, but whose own composition remains unchanged by the reaction. Catalysts are usually employed to accelerate reactions(positive catalyst), but retarding (negative) catalysts are also used. (Source: ALL)

Catalytic converters are designed to clean up the exhaust fumes from petrol-driven vehicles, which are otherwise the major threat to air quality standards in congested urban streets and on motorways. Converters remove carbon monoxide, the unburned hydrocarbons and the oxides of nitrogen. These compounds are damaging to human health and the environment in a variety of ways. The converter is attached to the vehicle' s exhaust near the engine. Exhaust gases pass through the cellular ceramic substrate, a honeycomb-like filter. While compact, the intricate honeycomb structure provides a surface area of 23.000 square metres. This is coated with a thin layer of platinum, palladium and rhodium metals, which act as catalysts that simulate a reaction to changes in the chemical composition of the gases. Platinum and palladium convert hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide and water vapour. Rhodium changes nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons into nitrogen and water, which are harmless. (Source: WRIGHT)

A sudden, widespread disaster or calamity that greatly exceeds the resources of an area or region. (Source: HMD)

The yield obtained from a given fishery; fishery catches should be strictly controlled so that the fish population can have a sufficient breeding mass and thus give a sustained yield for future generations. (Source: PORTa)

A structure in which water is collected. (Source: CED)

1) An area from which surface runoff is carried away by a single drainage system. 2) The area of land bounded by watersheds draining into a river, basin or reservoir. (Source: LANDY / CED)

Those of the planet's flora and fauna which are threatened with extinction. Hunting and poaching to fuel the trade in ivory, horn, skins, fur and feathers have long been a threat to already endangered species. Pollution, agricultural expansion, loss of wetlands, deforestation and other erosion of habitats have been added to the hazards. Human activity was responsible for most of the animals and plants known to have been lost in the past two centuries. (Source: WRIGHT)

A positively charged atom or group of atoms, or a radical which moves to the negative pole (cathode) during electrolysis. (Source: MGH)

Domesticated bovine animals, including cows, steers and bulls, raised and bred on a ranch or farm. (Source: MGH)

Principle connected with the precautionary principle: it means that, if there are strong reasons for expecting serious or irreversible damage to the environment following a given project, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation. Critics of this approach are concerned about large commitments of resources to deal with vaguely defined problems. (Source: GILP96a)

The relating of causes to the effects that they produce. (Source: UVAROV)

1) An underground hollow with access from the ground surface or from the sea, often found in limestone areas and on rocky coastlines. 2) A natural cavity, chamber or recess which leads beneath the surface of the earth, generally in a horizontal or obliquely inclined direction. It may be in the form of a passage or a gallery, its shape depending in part on the joint pattern or structure of the rock and partly on the type of process involved in its excavation. Thus, caves worn by subterranean rivers may be different in character from, and of considerably greater extent than, a sea-cave eroded by marine waves. 3) A natural underground open space, generally with a connection to the surface and large enough for a person to enter. The most common type of cave is formed in a limestone by dissolution. (Source: CED / WHIT / BJGEO)

Community-Based Natural Resource Management

A compact disc on which a large amount of digitalised read-only data can be stored. compact disc read-only-memory

The provision of special aid by library staff trained to query bibliographic or other information contained on an electronic storage medium, usually to meet the research needs of the library's clients. (Source: RHW / LFS)

The microscopic functional and structural unit of all living organisms, consisting of a nucleus, cytoplasm, and a limiting membrane. (Source: MGH)

The basic building block of a battery. It is an electrochemical device consisting of an anode and a cathode in a common electrolyte kept apart with a separator. This assembly may be used in its own container as a single cell battery or be combined and interconnected with other cells in a container to form a multicelled battery. (Source: LEE)

The main polysaccharide in living plants, forming the skeletal structure of the plant cell wall; a polymer of beta-D-glucose linked together with the elimination of water to form chains of 2000-4000 units. (Source: MGH)

No definition needed.

A dry powder made from silica, alumina, lime, iron oxide, and magnesia which hardens when mixed with water; used as an ingredient in concrete. (Source: MGH)

Industry for the production of cement. The emissions of most relevance from this sector are atmospheric: dust, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides are the most important. Cement is essential for the construction sector, either directly or mixed with sand or gravel to form concrete. (Source: DOBRIS)

Cement is produced by heating a mixture of clay or shale plus chalk or lime in a rotary kiln up to 250 m long per 8 m diameter rotating at 1 rpm. The process can be wet, semi-dry or dry and the fuel can be pulverized coal, oil or gas. As the coal ash is similar in composition to the clay or shale, it can stay in the cement clinker. As one of the kiln operator's major costs is fuel and even a modest sized kiln can consume 8-10 tons of coal per hour, the cement kiln could, therefore, solve a disposal problem and also benefit the cement manufacturer by reducing fuel costs. (Source: PORT)

An official periodic count of a population including such information as sex, age, occupation, etc. (Source: CED)

A geographic region of the African continent close to the equator that includes Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Source: OMD / CIA)

A narrow continental region of the Western hemisphere, existing as a bridge between North and South America, often considered to be the southern portion of North America, and including countries such as Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. (Source: RHW)

A geographic region of the Asian continent between the Caspian Sea on the west and China on the east, extending northward into the central region of Russia and southward to the northern borders of Iran and Afghanistan, and comprised of independent former republics of the Soviet Union, including Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. (Source: INP / CIA)

A system in which a governing or administrative body has a certain degree of power or authority to prevail in the management of local, national and international matters. (Source: WAP / BLD)

The core area of a park or of a reserve where there can be no interference with the natural ecosystem. (Source: WRIGHT)

Separation of particles from a suspension in a centrifuge: balanced tubes containing the suspension are attached to the opposite ends of arms rotating rapidly about a central point; the suspended particles are forced outwards, and collect at the bottoms of the tubes. (Source: UVAROV)

Exclusively marine animals constituting the most advanced class of the Mollusca, including squid, octopuses, and Nautilus. (Source: MGH)

The art and techniques of producing articles of clay, porcelain, etc. (Source: CED) objects, products <baf>

Manufacturing plant producing ceramic items. (Source: LEE)

The formal assertion in writing of some fact. (Source: BLACK)

Aquatic mammals, including the whales, dolphins, and porpoises. (Source: MGH)

An interdiction on the manufacture or use of products that discharge chlorofluorocarbons and bromine-containing compounds into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer. (Source: TOE)

A form of trypanosomiasis found in South America, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, characterized by fever and often inflammation of the hearth muscle. (Source: CED)

The administration, organization and planning for the flow of materials or merchandise through various stages of production and distribution, involving a network of vendors, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and other trading partners. (Source: MSE)

A soft, pure, earthy, fine-textured, usually white to light gray or buff limestone of marine origin, consisting almost wholly (90-99%) of calcite, formed mainly by shallow-water accumulation of calcareous tests of floating microorganisms (chiefly foraminifers) and of comminuted remains of calcareous algae (such as cocoliths and rhabdoliths), set in a structureless matrix of very finely crystalline calcite. The rock is porous, somewhat friable, and only slightly coherent. It may include the remains of bottom-dwelling forms (e.g. ammonites, echinoderms, and pelecypods), and nodules of chert and pyrite. The best known and most widespread chalks are of Cretaceous age, such as those exposed in cliffs on both sides of the English Channel. (Source: BJGEO)

Any system of distribution canals or conduits for water, gas, electricity, or steam. (Source: MGH)

A porous solid product containing 85-98% carbon and produced by heating carbonaceous materials such as cellulose, wood or peat at 500-600 C+é-¦ in the absence of air. (Source: MGH)

A formal written record of transactions, proceedings, etc., as of a society, committee, or legislative body. (Source: CED)

A map for navigation that delineates a portion of the sea, indicating the outline of the coasts and the position of rocks, sandbanks and other parts of a sea. (Source: OED)

A subphylum of the phylum Artrophoda; chelicerae are characteristically modified as pincers. (Source: MGH)

Any substance used in or resulting from a reaction involving changes to atoms or molecules. (Source: CED)

Chemical reaction in which one or more of the double bonds or triple bonds in an unsaturated compound is converted to a single bond by the addition of other atoms or groups. (Source: UVAROV)

The complex of operations aiming to determine the kinds of constituents of a given substance. (Source: ZINZAN)

The nature and proportions of the elements comprising a chemical compound. (Source: CED)

The addition or presence of chemicals to, or in, another substance to such a degree as to render it unfit for its intended purpose. Also refers to the result(s) of such an addition or presence. (Source: ISEP)

The tendency of a metal to wear away another by chemical attack. (Source: MGH)

Removal of chemical substances from a building, a watercourse, a person's clothes, etc. (Source: PHC)

The act or process of simplifying or breaking down a molecule into smaller parts, either naturally or artificially. (Source: OED)

A substance made up of atoms with the same atomic number; common examples are hydrogen, gold, and iron. (Source: MGH) elements and their compounds <N>

The branch of engineering concerned with industrial manufacture of chemical products. It is a discipline in which the principles of mathematical, physical and natural sciences are used to solve problems in applied chemistry. Chemical engineers design, develop, and optimise processes and plants, operate them, manage personnel and capital, and conduct research necessary for new developments. Through their efforts, new petroleum products, plastics, agricultural chemicals, house-hold products, pharmaceuticals, electronic and advanced materials, photographic materials, chemical and biological compounds, various food and other products evolve. (Source: USTa)

The sedimentation of chemical substances accumulated in the atmosphere as a result of industrial emissions. (Source: ZINZANa)

Fertilizer manufactured from chemicals; excessive use of them can cause pollution, when all the chemicals are not taken up by the plants and the excess is leached out of the soil into rivers and may cause algal bloom. (Source: PHC)

The presence in the environment of any solid, liquid or gaseous material discharged from a process and that may pose substantial hazard to human health and the environment.

Industry related with the production of chemical compounds. The chemical processing industry has a variety of special pollution problems due to the vast number of products manufactured. The treatment processes combine processing, concentration, separation, extraction, by-product recovery, destruction, and reduction in concentration. The wastes may originate from solvent extraction, acid and caustic wastes, overflows, spills, mechanical loss, etc. (Source: PZ)

Building where chemicals are manufactured. (Source: PHC)

The quantitative determination of the presence, extent or type of pollutant substances in the environment by studying the actions or reactions of known chemicals to those pollutants. (Source: APD / RHW)

The quantity of oxygen used in biological and non-biological oxidation of materials in water; a measure of water quality. (Source: LANDY)

Control of plants and animals classified as pests by means of chemical compounds. (Source: WPR)

Plants where basic raw materials are chemically converted into a variety of products. (Source: MGH)

Pollution caused by substances of chemical nature, including chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, metals as mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, etc. (Source: GILP96)

The particular method of manufacturing or making a chemical usually involving a number of steps or operations. (Source: KOREN)

A substance characterized by definite molecular composition. (Source: MGH)

Properties of a substance depending on the arrangement of the atoms in the molecule, e.g. bio-availability, degradability, persistence, etc. (Source: RRDA)

A change in which a substance is transformed into one or more new substances. (Source: MGH)

Chemical reaction in which an element gains an electron. (Source: MGH)

Probability of harm to human health, property or the environment posed by contact with any substance of a defined molecular composition. (Source: APD)

The arrangement of atoms in a molecule of a chemical compound. (Source: CED)

Processes that alter the chemical structure of the constituents of the waste to produce either an innocuous or a less hazardous material. Chemical processes are attractive because they produce minimal air emissions, they can often be carried out on the site of the waste generator, and some processes can be designed and constructed as mobile units. (Source: PARCOR)

Any by-product of a chemical process, including manufacturing processes. Often this by-product is considered a toxic or polluting substance. (Source: APD / ERG)

Chemical agents of warfare include all gaseous, liquid or solid chemical substances which might be employed because of their direct toxic effects on man and animals. Chemical weapons also include the chemical's precursors, the munitions and devices designed to deliver them, and any equipment specifically designed for their use in warfare. Nerve agents (chemicals of the same family as organophosphorous insecticides) are the most lethal of the classical chemical warfare agents, killing by poisoning the nervous system and disrupting bodily functions. Other chemical weapons include blister agents, vesicants, choking agents, etc. (Source: WPR)

The process of chemical adsorption. (Source: MGH)

The scientific study of the properties, composition, and structure of matter, the changes in structure and composition of matter, and accompanying energy changes. (Source: MGH)

Any north temperate fagaceous tree of the genus Castanea, such as Castanea sativa, which produce flowers in long catkins and nuts in a prickly bur. (Source: CED)

A person below the age of puberty. (Source: ISEP)

A vertical structure of brick, masonry, or steel that carries smoke or steam away from a fire, engine, etc. (Source: CED)

The appropriate height for chimneys serving industrial combustion plants in order to avoid unacceptable pollution. (Source: PORT)

Order of placental mammals comprising the bats having the front limbs modified as wings. (Source: CED)

A compound which is derived from hydrochloric acid and contains the chlorine atom in the -1 oxidation state. (Source: MGH)

A class of persistent, broad-spectrum insecticides that linger in the environment and accumulate in the food chain. Among them are DDT, aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor, chlordane, lindane, endrin, mirex, hexachloride, and toxaphene. In insects and other animals these compounds act primarily on the central nervous system. They also become concentrated in the fats of organisms and thus tend to produce fatty infiltration of the heart and fatty degeneration of the liver in vertebrates. In fishes they have the effect of preventing oxygen uptake, causing suffocation. They are also known to slow the rate of photosynthesis in plants. Their danger to the ecosystem resides in their rate stability and the fact that they are broad-spectrum poisons which are very mobile because of their propensity to stick to dust particles and evaporate with water into the atmosphere. (Source: EPAGLO / PORT)

The application of chlorine to water, sewage or industrial wastes for disinfection or other biological or chemical purposes. (Source: ALL)

A very reactive and highly toxic green, gaseous element, belonging to the halogen family of substances. It is one of the most widespread elements, as it occurs naturally in sea-water, salt lakes and underground deposits, but usually occurs in a safe form as common salt (NaCl). Commercially it is used in large quantities by the chemical industry both as an element to produce chlorinated organic solvents, like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and for the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride plastics, thermoplastic and hypochlorite bleaches. Chlorine was the basis for the organochlorine pesticides, like DDT and other agricultural chemicals that have killed wildlife. The reactivity of chlorine has proved disastrous for the ozone layer and has been the cause of the creation of the ozone hole, which was first detected in the Southern Hemisphere over Antarctica and then over the Northern Hemisphere. (Source: WRIGHT)

A flammable, explosive gas with an ethereal aroma; soluble in alcohol and ether, slightly soluble in water; boils at -14+é-¦ C; an important monomer for polyvinyl chloride and its copolymers; used in organic synthesis and in adhesives. (Source: MGH)

Gases formed of chlorine, fluorine, and carbon whose molecules normally do not react with other substances; they are therefore used as spray can propellants because they do not alter the material being sprayed. (Source: LANDY)

Major group of chlorinated hydrocarbons, pesticides and biocides which account for a very high percentage of the non-agricultural pesticide use, such as anti-rotting agents in non-woollen textiles and wood preservatives. The chlorophenols act as biocides by inhibiting the respiration and energy-conversion processes of the microorganisms. They are toxic to man above 40 parts per million, to fish above 1 ppm, whilst concentrations as low as one part per thousand million can taint water. (Source: PORT)

A green pigment, present in algae and higher plants, that absorbs light energy and thus plays a vital role in photosynthesis. Except in Cyanophyta (blue-green algae), chlorophyll is confined to chloroplasts. There are several types of chlorophyll, but all contain magnesium and iron. Some plants (e.g., brown algae, red algae, copper beech trees) contain additional pigments that masks the green of their chlorophyll. (Source: ALL)

A disease condition of green plants seen as yellowing of green parts of the plants. (Source: MGH)

The highest phylum in the animal kingdom, characterized by a notochord, nerve cord, and gill slits; includes the urochordate, lancelets and vertebrates. (Source: MGH)

The study of the causal relations between geographical phenomena occurring within a particular region. (Source: CED)

The analysis of chemical substances that are poured into a vertical glass tube containing an adsorbent where the various components of the substance move through the adsorbent at different rates of speed according to their degree of attraction to it, thereby producing bands of color at different levels of the adsorption column. (Source: KOREN)

A method of separating and analyzing mixtures of chemical substances by selective adsorption in a column of powder or on a strip of paper. (Source: MGH)

A hard grey metallic element that takes a high polish, occurring principally in chromite: used in steel alloys and electroplating to increase hardness and corrosion-resistance. (Source: CED)

The golden-brown and orange-yellow algae; a diverse group of microscopically small algae which inhabit fresh and salt water, many being planktonic. They contain carotenoid pigments and may be unicellular, colonial, filamentous or amoeboid. (Source: ALL)

A building for religious activities. (Source: CAMB)

Any motion picture of a story, drama, episode or event, often considered as an art form or used as a medium for entertainment. (Source: OED)

A memorandum, letter or notice in either paper or electronic format distributed widely throughout an organization or to a general list of interested parties. (Source: RHW)

A native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance, bears responsibilities and obtains rights, including protection, from the government. (Source: RHW)

State of citizens of being aware of their civic obligations. (Source: ZINZAN)

Rights recognized and protected by law, pertaining to the members of a state. (Source: ZINZANa)

Term used generically today to denote any urban form but applied particularly to large urban settlements. There are, however, no agreed definitions to separate a city from the large metropolis or the smaller town. (Source: GOOD)

The central part of a city. (Source: CAMB)

Air traffic pertaining to or serving the general public, as distinguished from military air traffic.

The planning, design, construction, and maintenance of fixed structures and ground facilities for industry, transportation, use and control of water or occupancy. (Source: MGH)

Law inspired by old Roman Law, the primary feature of which was that laws were written into a collection; codified, and not determined, as is common law, by judges. The principle of civil law is to provide all citizens with an accessible and written collection of the laws which apply to them and which judges must follow. (Source: DUHA)

Actions and measures undertaken, often at a local level, to ensure that citizens of a community are secure from harm, injury, danger or risk. (Source: RHW / OEC)

The organization and measures, usually under governmental or other authority depending on the country, aimed at preventing, abating or fighting major emergencies for the protection of the civilian population and property, particularly in wartime. (Source: ECHO1)

A legal remedy in which a person or party may demand or assert the right to be restored to a former or original position prior to loss, damage or injury. (Source: BLD)

Legal action initiated by a single person or a few people on behalf of a group with similar claim or claims. (Source: GILP96)

An arrangement or organization of persons, items or data elements into groups by reason of common attributes, characteristics, qualities or traits. (Source: RHW)

Facility that is forbidden to be disclosed outside a specified ring of secrecy for reasons of national security. (Source: WEBSTE)

Site which is declared protected because of its natural, landscape, artistic or archeological features in order to guarantee its conservation, maintenance and restoration. (Source: SKENEa)

A loose, earthy, extremely fine-grained, natural sediment or soft rock composed primarily of clay-size or colloidal particles and characterized by high plasticity and by a considerable content of clay mineral and subordinate amounts of finely divided quartz, decomposed feldspar, carbonates, ferruginous matter, and other impurities; it forms a plastic, moldable mass when finely ground and mixed with water, retains its shape on drying, and becomes firm, rocklike and permanently hard on heating or firing. (Source: BJGEO)

Areas where significant reductions in ozone forming pollutants have been achieved through industrial initiatives to control and/or prevent pollution, through implementation of transportation improvement plans, national efforts to reduce automobile tailpipe emissions and lower the volatility (evaporation rate) of gasoline. (Source: CIHUNT)

Vehicles that function without emitting pollutants in the atmosphere. (Source: RRDA)

Industrial process which causes little or no pollution. (Source: PHC)

The process of bringing desert, marsh, sea coast or other waste or unproductive land into use or cultivation. (Source: GOOD)

The state of being clean and keeping healthy conditions. (Source: PHCa) clothes, kitchenware, etc. <F>

The act or process of washing, laundering or removing dirt and other unwanted substances from the surface of an object, thing or place. (Source: RHW)

A division, usually within municipal government, responsible for providing services that remove dirt, litter or other unsightly materials from city or town property. (Source: ISEP)

A steep coastal declivity which may or may not be precipitous, the slope angle being dependent partly on the jointing, bedding and hardness of the materials from which the cliff has been formed, and partly on the erosional processes at work. Where wave attack is dominant the cliff-foot will be rapidly eroded and cliff retreat will take place, especially in unconsolidated materials such as clays, sands, etc., frequently leaving behind an abrasion platform at the foot of the cliff. (Source: WHIT)

The average weather condition in a region of the world. Many aspects of the Earth's geography affect the climate. Equatorial, or low, latitudes are hotter than the polar latitudes because of the angle at which the rays of sunlight arrive at the Earth's surface. The difference in temperature at the equator and at the poles has an influence on the global circulation of huge masses of air. Cool air at the poles sinks and spreads along the surface of the Earth towards the equator. Cool air forces its way under the lower density warmer air in the lower regions, pushing the lighter air up and toward the poles, where it will cool and descend. (Source: WRIGHT)

Precautionary actions, procedures or installations undertaken to prevent or reduce harm from pollution to natural weather conditions or patterns, including the prevailing temperature, atmospheric composition and precipitation. (Source: DOE / RHW)

No definition needed.

Weather conditions typical of areas roughly corresponding to lines of latitude. (Source: CEDa)

The slow variation of climatic characteristics over time at a given place. This may be indicated by the geological record in the long term, by changes in the landforms in the intermediate term, and by vegetation changes in the short term. (Source: WHIT)

The long-term fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, wind, and all other aspects of the Earth's climate. External processes, such as solar-irradiance variations, variations of the Earth's orbital parameters (eccentricity, precession, and inclination), lithosphere motions, and volcanic activity, are factors in climatic variation. Internal variations of the climate system, e.g., changes in the abundance of greenhouse gases, also may produce fluctuations of sufficient magnitude and variability to explain observed climate change through the feedback processes interrelating the components of the climate system. (Source: GSFC)

Climate has a central influence on many human needs and activities, such as agriculture, housing, human health, water resources, and energy use. The influence of climate on vegetation and soil type is so strong that the earliest climate classification schemes where often based more on these factors than on the meteorological variables. While technology can be used to mitigate the effects of unfavorable climatic conditions, climate fluctuations that result in significant departures from normal cause serious problems for modern industrialized societies as much as for primitive ones. The goals of climatology are to provide a comprehensive description of the Earth's climate, to understand its features in terms of fundamental physical principles, and to develop models of the Earth's climate that will allow the prediction of future changes that may result from natural and human causes. (Source: PARCOR)

Experiments conducted to estimate future climatic conditions employing modelling of the physical processes underlying climatic change and variability; also, assessments are required of uncertain future man-made inputs such as increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and other green-house gases. (Source: YOUNG)

Physical conditions that determine the climate in a given area, e.g. latitude, altitude, ocean streams, etc. (Source: UNUN)

A belt of the earth's surface within which the climate is generally homogeneous in some respect; an elemental region of a simple climatic classification. (Source: MGH)

That branch of meteorology concerned with the mean physical state of the atmosphere together with its statistical variations in both space and time as reflected in the weather behaviour over a period of many years. (Source: MGH)

A botanical term referring to the terminal community said to be achieved when a sere (a sequential development of a plant community or group of plant communities on the same site over a period of time) achieves dynamic equilibrium with its environment and in particular with its prevailing climate. Each of the world's major vegetation climaxes is equivalent to a biome. Many botanists believe that climate is the master factor in a plant environment and that even if several types of plant succession occur in an area they will all tend to converge towards a climax form of vegetation. (Source: WHIT)

A plant that lacks rigidity and grows upwards by twining, scrambling, or clinging with tendrils and suckers. (Source: CED)

Any objective evidence of disease or of a patient's condition founded on clinical observation. (Source: RRDA)

The production of genetically identical individuals from a single parent. Cloning plants usually involves plant cell culture. Cloning animals is more difficult and relays on some manipulation of their normal reproductive cycle. A clone is a group of organisms of identical genetic constitution, unless mutation occurs, produced from a single individual by asexual reproduction, parthenogenesis or apomixis. (Source: BIOTAZ)

The cessation, discontinuation or breaking-off of a business transaction, lease, contract or employment arrangement, usually before its anticipated or stipulated end. (Source: BLD)

The termination or shutdown, temporary or permanent, of a corporation, factory or some other business organization. (Source: RHW)

Clothes considered as a group. (Source: AMHER)

Suspensions of minute water droplets or ice crystals produced by the condensation of water vapour. (Source: ZINZAN)

Joint incineration of hazardous waste, in any form, with refuse and/or sludge. (Source: LEE)

Political course of action aiming at establishing trade agreements among the states. (Source: NDGIUR)

A reference system used to measure horizontal and vertical distances on a planimetric map. A coordinate system is usually defined by a map projection, a spheroid of reference, a datum, one or more standard parallels, a central meridian, and possible shifts in the x- and y-directions to locate x, y positions of point, line, and area features. A common coordinate system is used to spatially register geographic data for the same area. (Source: ESRI)

A separation or precipitation from a dispersed state of suspensoid particles resulting from their growth; may result from prolonged heating, addition of an electrolyte, or from a condensation reaction between solute and solvent. (Source: MGH)

The natural, rocklike, brown to black derivative of forest-type plant material, usually accumulated in peat beds and progressively compressed and indurated until it is finally altered in to graphite-like material. (Source: MGH)

Process of conversion of coal to a gaseous product which is used as fuel in electric power stations. (Source: ECSK)

Industry related with the technical and mechanical activity of removing coal from the earth and preparing it for market. (Source: MGH)

The process of preparing a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons by destructive distillation of coal. (Source: MGH)

The technical and mechanical job of removing coal from the earth and preparing it for market. (Source: MGH)

The processing of coal to remove impurities. (Source: PHCa)

The processing of coal to make gaseous and liquid fuels. (Source: ENVAR)

Power generated by the steam raised by burning coal in fire-tube or water-tube boilers. (Source: PARCOR)

Power plant which is fuelled by coal. (Source: CAMB)

A line or zone where the land meets the sea or some other large expanse of water. (Source: CED)

A form of environmental management designed to allay the progressive degradation of the land by coastal erosion processes. Sea defence works can be undertaken to protect the land from erosion and encroachment by the sea and against flooding. These involve engineering solutions such as groynes, sea walls, bulkheads, revetments and breakwaters. (Source: GOOD)

The areas of land and sea bordering the shoreline and extending seaward through the breaker zone. (Source: BJGEO)

Concentration of human settlements, infrastructures and economical activities along the coasts, being these areas very favourable for trade, communication and marine resources exploitation; the impact of the accelerated population growth and of the industrial and touristic development in these areas has caused the disruption of the ecological integrity of the coastal zones. (Source: DIFIDa / RRDA)

Marine environments bounded by the coastal land margin (seashore) and the continental shelf 100-200 m below sea level. Ecologically, the coastal and nearshore zones grade from shallow water depths, influenced by the adjacent landmass and input from coastal rivers and estuaries, to the continental shelf break, where oceanic processes predominate. Among the unique marine ecosystems associated with coastal and nearshore waterbodies are seaweed-dominated communities, coral reefs and upwellings. (Source: PARCOR)

The areas where the land masses meet the seas. Coastal environments include tidal wetlands, estuaries, bays, shallow near-shore waters, mangrove swamps, and in-shore reef systems. The critical habitats of these zones are: feeding, breeding, nursery, and resting areas. Coastal areas throughout the world are under enormous environmental stress, which is caused by a wide range of factors, including pollution and the destruction and deterioration of marine habitats. (Source: GILP96 / WRIGHT)

The gradual wearing away of material from a coast by the action of sea water. (Source: GREMESa)

Fishing in an area of the sea next to the shoreline. (Source: PHC)

Measures by way of planning, prior approval of works, prohibition of some activities, physical structures, and restoration efforts to protect the coastline against the ravages of nature and haphazard and unplanned developments. (Source: GILP96)

The presence, release or introduction of polluting substances in or onto the seashore or the land near it. (Source: TOE / DOE / RHW)

Coastal waters are typically characterized by a shallow continental shelf, gently sloping seaward to a continental slope, which drops relatively abruptly to the deep ocean. The proximity of coastal water to land also influences the water circulation. In the vicinity of freshwater inflows, the nearshore circulation is altered by the presence of density-driven motions. Coastal waters are under enormous environmental stress, caused by a wide range of factors including pollution and the destruction and deterioration of marine habitats. (Source: WRIGHT)

The objective of coastal management and planning is the preservation of coastal resources whilst simultaneously satisfying the sometimes conflicting interests and requirements of protection, development, usage and conservation. (Source: TELFO)

A maritime force which aids shipping, saves lives at sea, prevents smuggling, etc. It also responds to emergencies involving oil spills and other discharges at sea and takes the lead in enforcing the law, including assessing penalties for environmental violations. (Source: CED / PATHUL)

A material applied onto or impregnated into a substrate for protective, decorative, or functional purposes. Such materials include, but are not limited to, paints, varnishes, sealers, adhesives, thinners, diluents, and inks. (Source: LEE)

A metallic element used chiefly in alloys. (Source: MGH)

The most primitive of the living winged insects. It is thought they have been unchanged for more than 300 million years, and are among the oldest fossil insects. Cockroaches are usually found in tropical climates, but a few species, out of the total 3.500 known species, have become pests. They are common household pests in many countries, imported by ship and carried home in grocery bags. Cockroaches eat plant and animal products, including food, paper, clothing and soiled hospital waste, fouling everything they touch with their droppings and unpleasant odour, to which many people are allergic. They are a major health hazard and carry harmful bacteria, protozoan parasites and faunal pathogens, including those that cause typhoid, leprosy and salmonella. Conventional insecticides make little or no impact on the cockroaches population. (Source: WRIGHT / WPR)

A systematic collection, compendium or revision of laws, rules, or regulations. A private or official compilation of all permanent laws in force consolidated and classified according to subject matter. Many states have published official codes of all laws in force, including the common law and statutes as judicially interpreted, which have been compiled by code commissions and enacted by the legislatures. (Source: WESTS)

A systematic collection of procedures outlining the established method of application of all relevant laws, rules or regulations to a specific endeavor. (Source: BLD)

The process of collecting and arranging systematically, usually by subject, the laws of a state or country, or the rules and regulations covering a particular area or subject of law or practice. (Source: WESTS)

Animals that have a single body cavity (the coelenteron). The name was formerly given to a phylum comprising the Cnidaria and Ctenophora, but these are now regarded as phyla in their own right, and the name Coelenterata has fallen from use, although it is sometimes used as a synonym for Cnidaria. (Source: ALL)

Usually the generation of heat in the form of steam, and the generation of power in the form of electricity. Combined heat and power plants are able to convert a much higher proportion of the energy in fuel into final output. The steam produced may be used through heat exchangers in a district heating scheme, while the electricity provides lighting and power. (Source: GILP96)

A coherent, cellular, solid residue remaining from the dry distillation of a coking coal or of pitch, petroleum, petroleum residue, or other carbonaceous materials; contains carbon as its principal constituent. (Source: MGH)

No definition needed.

The interacting system of a biological community and its non-living environmental surroundings located in climatic regions where the air temperature is below 10+é-¦ Celsius for eight to eleven months of the year. (Source: TOE / EOC)

A group of bacteria that are normally abundant in the intestinal tracts of human and other warm-blooded animals and are used as indicators (being measured as the number of individuals found per millilitre of water) when testing the sanitary quality of water. (Source: ALL)

An intimate mixture of two substances, one of which, called the dispersed phase, is uniformly distributed in a finely divided state through the second substance, called the dispersion medium. (Source: MGH)

A system of particles in a dispersion medium, with properties distinct from those of a true solution because of the larger size of the particles. The presence of these particles can often be detected by means of the ultramicroscope. (Source: UVAROV)

The successful invasion of a new habitat by a species. (Source: LBC)

An attribute of things that results from the light they reflect, transmit, or emit in so far as this light causes a visual sensation that depends on its wavelengths. (Source: CED)

A remote-sensing term referring to the process of assigning different colours to different spectral bands. The colour picture formed by this process is called a colour composite (a colour image produced through optical combination of multiband images by projection through filters) and is produced by assigning a colour to an image of the Earth's surface recorded in a particular waveband. For a Landsat colour composite the green waveband is coloured blue the red waveband is coloured green and the infrared waveband is coloured red. This produces an image closely approximating a false colour photograph. Colour composite images are easier to interpret than separate images recording different wavebands. US national experimental crop inventories are based upon visual interpretation of Landsat colour composites. (Source: RRDA / WHIT)

Any technique by which an unknown colour is evaluated in terms of standard colours; the technique may be visual, photoelectric or indirect by means of spectrophotometry. (Source: MGH)

Any snakes of the family of Colubridae, including many harmless snakes, such as the grass snake and whip belonging to the Colubridae. (Source: CED)

A combined effect of two or more substances or organisms which is greater than the sum of the individual effect of each. (Source: KOREN)

This type of plant is flexible in response and can be built in the 100-600 MW capacity range. It produces electrical power from both a gas turbine (ca. 1300+é-¦C gas inlet temperature), fuelled by natural gas or oil plus a steam turbine supplied with the steam generated by the 500+é-¦C exhaust gases from the gas turbine. The thermal efficiency of these stations is ca. 50 per cent compared with a maximum of 40 per cent from steam turbine coal fired power stations. This type of plant can be built in two years compared with six years for a coal-fired station and 10-15 years for nuclear. (Source: PORT)

A sewer intended to serve as a sanitary sewer and a storm sewer, or as an industrial sewer and a storm sewer. (Source: JJK)

Transport in which more than one carrier is used, e.g. road, rail and sea. (Source: ECHO1)

A mixture of domestic or industrial wastewater and surface runoff. (Source: ISEP / WWC)

The property of a substance of being capable of igniting and burning. (Source: CEDa)

An engine that operates by the energy of combustion of a fuel. (Source: MGH)

The exhaust gas from a combustion process. It may contain nitrogen oxides, carbon oxides, water vapour, sulfur oxides, particles and many chemical pollutants. (Source: LEE)

A residual layer of ash on the heat-exchange surfaces of a combustion chamber, resulting from the burning of fuel. (Source: APD)

Such fisheries belong to one of two groups: one catching demersal (bottom-living) fish, e.g. cod, haddock, plaice, sole; the other catching pelagic (surface-living) fish, e.g. anchovy, tuna, herring. (Source: GOOD)

The whole body of substantive jurisprudence applicable to the rights, intercourse and relations of persons engaged in commerce, trade or mercantile pursuits. (Source: BLACK)

Noise emitted from commercial activities.

The operations and movements related to the transportation and exchange of goods. (Source: RRDA)

The conduct or carrying on of trade, business or a financial matter to a conclusion or settlement. (Source: RHW)

Vehicle designed and equipped for the transportation of goods. (Source: RRDA)

Holding or displaying for sale, offering for sale, selling, delivering or placing on the market in any other form. (Source: ECHO1)

A system of law established by following earlier judicial decisions and customs, rather than statutory or legislatively enacted law. (Source: BLD / WOR)

The set of regulations and practices adopted by member countries of the European Community that consolidates efforts in promoting or ensuring reasonable pricing, fair standards of living, stable markets, increased farm productivity and methods for dealing with food supply or surplus. (Source: CNI)

The set of uniform trade principles or practices established by an European Community customs union, which implements common tariff rates, tariff and trade agreements with non-member countries, import and export policies, and export promotion. (Source: EUR)

A course of action adopted and pursued by member countries, in which it is agreed to impose a system of duties or tax charges on imports from non-member countries. (Source: ODE)

communal land

The concept, science, technique and process of transmitting, receiving or otherwise exchanging information and data.

Measures and practices adopted by governments relating to the management of communication media. (Source: RRDA)

A coordinated assemblage of people, devices or other resources designed to exchange information and data by means of mutually understood symbols. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

A schedule of revenues and expenditures for a specific time period that is devised by the European Community, a body of people organized into a political unity. (Source: MGHME / OED)

Buildings, equipment and services provided for a community. (Source: CAMB)

The financial resources or income of the European Community, a body of people organized into a political unity. (Source: ISEP / OED)

community forest

The law of European Community (as opposed to the national laws of the member states.) It consists of the treaties establishing the EC (together with subsequent amending treaties) community legislation, and decisions of the court of justice of the European Communities. Any provision of the treaties or of community legislation that is directly applicable or directly effective in a member state forms part of the law of that state and prevails over its national law in the event of any inconsistency between the two. (Source: DICLAW)

The directly applicable legislation of the European Community regulating the relations of member states. (Source: CURZONa)

Involvement in public or private actions, as members or as a member of a particular ethnic, political or social group, with the purpose of exerting influence. (Source: RHW)

A tenet of environmental policy, according to which the costs of ecological challenges, environmental quality improvements and the removal of environmental hazards are allotted to community groups or local corporations and, thereby, to the general public. (Source: GAB)

Traffic caused by people travelling regularly over some distance, as between a suburb and a city and back, between their place of residence and their place of work.

Reduction of the bulk of solid waste by rolling and tamping. (Source: LEE)

Official guidelines or set of guidelines adopted by a company for the management of its activity. (Source: RRDA)

The type of organization of a company. Three kinds of structure are usually recognized: centralized, formal or hierarchical. (Source: ECONSK)

The study of the principles of legal science by the comparison of various systems of law. (Source: BLACK)

Tests conducted to determine whether one procedure is better than another. (Source: MGH)

The placing together or juxtaposing of two or more items to ascertain, bring into relief, or establish their similarities and dissimilarities. (Source: WEBSTE)

Equivalent in money for a loss sustained; equivalent given for property taken or for an injury done to another; recompense or reward for some loss, injury or service. (Source: WESTS)

Equivalent in money or other form for a loss sustained for an injury, for property taken, etc. (Source: BLACK)

Any administrative or legislative action, procedure or enactment designed to redress disruptions of ecological integrity or damage to the supply of natural resources. (Source: BLD / RHW)

Compulsory charge levied by a government for the purpose of redressing or countervailing economic disparity. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

The simultaneous demand by two or more organisms or species for an essential common resource that is actually or potentially in limited supply. (Source: LBC)

That part of the law dealing with matters such as those arising from monopolies and mergers, restrictive trading agreements, resale price maintenance and agreements involving distortion of competition affected by EU rules. (Source: CURZON)

A test given to a candidate for a certificate or a position and concerned typically with problems to be solved, skills to be demonstrated, or tasks to be performed. (Source: WEBSTE)

The ability of a firm to strive in the market with rivals in the production and sale of commodities or services and, analogously, the ability of a country to maintain a relatively high standard of living for its citizens through trade in international markets. (Source: http://www.indiana.edu/~ipe/glossry.html / OED)

Formation of a complex compound. Also known as complexing or complexation. (Source: MGH)

A substance capable of forming a complex compound with another material in solution. (Source: MGH)

Emissions of ozone-degrading gases (CFCs, halons); emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, CFCs, nitrous oxides, halons); emissions of acidifying gases (sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides); emissions of substances that contribute to eutrophication (phosphate and nitrogen-containing materials); emissions of toxic materials (pesticides, radioactive substances, priority toxic substances); solid wastes returned to the environment. (Source: UNEP)

The constituent groupings and proportions of the total inhabitants of a given nation, area, region or city, as seen from various perspectives. (Source: RHW)

A mixture of decaying organic matter used to fertilize and condition the soil. (Source: MGH)

Waste consisting largely of biodegradable organic matter.

The natural biological decomposition of organic material in the presence of air to form a humus-like material. Controlled methods of composting include mechanical mixing and aerating, ventilating the materials by dropping them through a vertical series of aerated chambers, or placing the compost in piles out in the open air and mixing it or turning it periodically. (Source: LEE)

No definition needed.

Reduction in the volume of a substance due to pressure. (Source: MGH)

A mechanical device a) to provide the desired pressure for chemical and physical reactions, b) to control boiling points of fluids, as in gas separation, refrigeration, and evaporation, c) to evacuate enclosed volumes, d) to transport gases or vapors, e) to store compressible fluids as gases or liquids under pressure and assist in recovering them from storage or tank cars, and f) to convert mechanical energy to fluid energy for operating instruments, air agitation, fluidization, solid transport, blowcases, air tools, and motors. (Source: LEE)

The process of increasing the quantity of a component in a solution. The opposite of dilution. (Source: CED)

In solutions, the mass, volume, or number of moles of solute present in proportion to the amount of solvent or total solution. (Source: MGH)

The development at any level of a general notion of the surrounding ecosystem, its foundational relationship to human life and the need to preserve its integrity. (Source: TOE / RHW)

Any rebate, abatement, voluntary grant of or a yielding to a demand or claim, typically made by a government or controlling authority to an individual or organization. (Source: BLD)

A mixture of aggregate, water, and a binder, usually Portland cement; it hardens to stonelike condition when dry. (Source: MGH)

No definition needed.

Transformation from a gas to a liquid. (Source: MGH)

The ratio of the electric current density to the electric field in a material. Also known as electrical conductivity. (Source: MGH)

A state of opposition or disagreement between ideas, interests, etc. (Source: CED)

Clash between public interest and the private pecuniary interest of the individual concerned. A situation in which regard for one duty tends to lead to disregard of another. (Source: BLACK)

A formal meeting, often consisting of representatives of various organizations, that is assembled to promote, discuss or make arrangements regarding a particular subject or some matter of common interest. (Source: RHW)

An order of conebearing plants which includes nearly all the present day Gymnospermae. Most are tall evergreen trees with needle-like (e.g., pines), linear (e.g. firs) or scale-like (e.g., cedars) leaves. They are characteristic of temperate zones and the main forest trees of colder regions. They provide timber, resins, tars, turpentine and pulp for paper. (Source: ALL)

A forest type characterized by cone-bearing, needle-leaved trees. They are generally, but not necessarily, evergreen and relatively shallow-rooted. Since they grow more rapidly than most broad-leaved trees, conifers are extensively planted as a source of softwood timber and pulp. They are tolerant of wide-ranging climatic conditions, of many different types of soil and of considerable differences in terrain. Thus, they are found from the polar latitudes to the tropics, on most types of soils (especially, thin acid soils) and from mountain summits to coastal environments. (Source: WHIT)

conservancy

No definition needed.

Controlled utilization, protection and development of the gene pool of natural and cultivated organisms to ensure variety and variability and for current and potential value to human welfare. (Source: TOE / ISEP)

Measures adopted for the protection and the maintenance of hystorical and art monuments. (Source: ZINZANa)

Controlled utilization, protection and development of exploited and potentially exploitable sources of crude oil to meet current demand and ensure future requirements. (Source: MHE)

Controlled utilization, protection or development of selected classes of plants or animals for their richness, biodiversity and benefits to humanity. (Source: TOE / EEN)

The guiding procedure, philosophy or course of action for preserving and renewing human and natural resources. (Source: RHW / TOE)

That branch of the public law of a nation or state which treats of the organization, powers and frame of government, the distribution of political and governmental authorities and functions, the fundamental principles which are to regulate the relations of government and citizen and which prescribes generally the plan and method according to which the public affairs of the nation or state are to be administered. (Source: BLACK)

Heavy power machines which perform specific construction or demolition functions. (Source: MGH)

Noise resulting from construction activities such as site preparation, site clearance, demolition of existing buildings, piling, concreting, erection of structures, etc.

No definition needed.

A course of action adopted and pursued by government, business or some other organization, which plans or organizes for the maintenance, development and erection of houses, offices, bridges or other building structures. (Source: OED)

No definition needed.

Construction with waste product used as raw material. (Source: LANDYa)

The construction, rehabilitation, alteration, conversion, extension, demolition or repair of buildings, highways, or other changes or improvement to real property, including facilities providing utility services. The term also includes the supervision, inspection, and other on-site functions incidental to the actual construction. (Source: LEE)

The position or practice of a qualified person paid for advice or services. (Source: OED)

Any meeting or inquiry of concerned persons or advisors for the purpose of deliberation, discussion or decision on some matter or action. (Source: BLD)

An observable pattern of activity concerned with the purchase of goods and services and susceptible to the influence of marketing and advertising strategies. (Source: CON)

Manufactured products intended primarily for personal use by individuals or families and classified as either durables or non-durables, depending on length of use. (Source: ODE / Greenwald)

A collection of persons united to address concerns regarding the purchase and use of specific commodities or services. (Source: RHW)

Factual, circumstantial and, often, comparative knowledge concerning various goods, services or events, their quality and the entities producing them. (Source: RHW)

Economic good that directly satisfies human wants or desires. (Source: WEBSTE)

Information disseminated or measures and programs established to prevent and reduce damage, injury or loss to users of specific commodities and services. (Source: RHW)

Materials purchased, used and discarded by the buyer, or consumer, as opposed to those discarded in a manufacturing process. (Source: EED)

Spending for survival or enjoyment in contrast to providing for future use or production. (Source: ODE)

The combination of qualities, quantities, acts and tendencies characterizing a community or human group's use of resources for survival, comfort and enjoyment. (Source: ODE / RHW)

A large case that can be transported by truck and than easily loaded on a ship. (Source: PHC)

The reinforced steel or concrete vessel that encloses a nuclear reactor. It is designed to withstand minor explosions in the core, to keep radionuclides from escaping into the environment, and to be safe against terrorist attack. (Source: WRIGHT)

Any site or region that is damaged, harmed or made unfit for use by the introduction of unwanted substances, particularly microorganisms, chemicals, toxic and radioactive materials and wastes. (Source: TOE / HMD)

Soil which because of its previous or current use has substances under, on or in it which, depending upon their concentration and/or quantity, may represent a direct potential or indirect hazard to man or to the environment. (Source: GRAHAW)

Introduction into or onto water, air, soil or other media of microorganisms, chemicals, toxic substances, wastes, wastewater or other pollutants in a concentration that makes the medium unfit for its next intended use. (Source: TOE)

A protuberance of the earth's crustal shell, with an area of several million square miles and sufficient elevation so that much of it above sea level. (Source: MGH)

A climate characterized by hot summers, cold winters, and little rainfall, typical of the interior of a continent. (Source: CED)

The gently sloping seabed of the shallow water nearest to a continent, covering about 45 miles from the shore and deepening over the sloping sea floor to an average depth of 400 ft. It continues until it reaches the continental slope. The continental shelf contains most of the important fishing grounds and a range of resources, including gas and oil, sand and gravel. However, the shelf is, in general, a structural extension of the continent, and so may also be a source of minerals found in that region, such as tin, gold and platinum. (Source: WRIGHT)

Various forms, methods, and processes of formal and informal education for the continued learning of all ages and categories of the general public. Oriented toward the continued learning/developmental processes of the individual throughout life. (Source: UNUN)

The amount or quantity of polluting material found in a transporting agent that flows at a steady rate, in contrast to a sudden or dramatic influx. (Source: APD)

The performing of cultivations along lines connecting points of equal elevation so reducing the loss of top soil by erosion, increasing the capacity of the soil to retain water and reducing the pollution of water by soil. (Source: ALLa)

An agreement between two or more persons which creates an obligation to do or not to do a particular thing. Its essential are competent parties, subject matter, a legal consideration, mutuality of agreement, and mutuality of obligation. (Source: WESTS)

A commercial service provider, usually bound by a written agreement, responsible for the removal of dirt, litter or other unsightly materials from any property. (Source: RHW)

The planned use of carefully controlled fire to accomplish predetermined management goals. The burn is set under a combination of weather, fuel moisture, soil moisture, and fuel arrangement conditions that allow the management objectives to be attained, and yet confine the fire to the planned area. (Source: DUNSTE)

An administered geographic area in which the pursuit, capture and killing of wild animals for food or sport, is allowed, often with certain restrictions or regulations. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

The power of a person or an organized assemblage of persons to manage, direct, superintend, restrict, regulate, govern, administer or oversee. (Source: BLD)

1) A large densely populated urban sprawl formed by the growth and coalescence of individual towns or cities. 2) Large area covered with buildings (houses or factories or public building, etc.) 3) A large area occupied by urban development, which may contain isolated rural areas, and formed by the merging together of expanding towns that formerly were separate. (Source: CED / PHC / ALL)

Food so prepared and presented as to be easily and quickly ready for consumption. (Source: ECHO2)

International agreement on a specific topic. (Source: RRDA)

Power provided by traditional means such as coal, wood, gas, etc., as opposed to alternative energy sources such as solar power, tidal power, wind power, etc. (Source: PHC)

Setting aside a highly radioactive material until the radioactivity has diminished to a desired level. (Source: MGH)

Oil used as a cooling agent, either with forced circulation or with natural circulation. (Source: ECHO2a)

A device that aids in heat removal from water used as a coolant in electric power generating plants. (Source: LANDY)

Water used to make something less hot, such as the irradiated elements from a nuclear reactor or the engine of a machine. (Source: PHC)

A chemical element; one of the most important nonferrous metals; a ductile and malleable metal found in various ores and used in industry, engineering, and the arts in both pure and alloyed form. (Source: MGH)

A growth of small trees that are repeatedly cut down at short intervals; the new shoots are produced by the old stumps. (Source: MGH)

A traditional system of woodland management whereby timber trees are grown above a coppiced woodland. It is used in particular as a method of exploiting oakwoods, in which all the trees except a rather open network of tall, well-formed oaks - the standards at about fifty per hectare - are felled, leaving plenty of space for hazels and other underwood to grow and be coppiced at intervals of ten to fifteen years. (Source: GOOD)

The skeleton of certain solitary and colonial anthozoan coelenterates; composed chiefly of calcium carbonate. (Source: MGH)

Coral reefs have been built up from the skeletons of reef-building coral a small primitive marine animal, and other marine animals and algae over thousands of years. They occur in clear, shallow and sunlit seas. Coral reefs are one of the most productive and diverse ecosystems and are estimated to yield about 12% of the world's fish catch. They are very vulnerable to any change in their environment, especially pollution, because it makes the water opaque. They must have light in order that photosyntesis by the algae can take place. Like trees, corals reflect the environmental conditions in which they grow, indicating marine pollution, sea-surface temperature and other aquatic conditions. (Source: WRIGHT)

A coastal stretch of shallow saltwater virtually cut off from the open sea by a coral reef. (Source: WHIT)

An accidental overheating of the part of the nuclear reactor where fission takes place, causing fuel elements and other parts of the reactor to melt, potentially leading to catastrophic consequences in which dangerous levels of radioactive materials would be released into the environment. (Source: FFD)

The thick light porous outer bark of the cork oak, used widely as an insulator and for stoppers for bottles, casks, etc. (Source: CED)

A physical linkage, connecting two areas of habitat and differing from the habitat on either side. Corridors are used by organisms to move around without having to leave the preferred habitat. (Source: DUNSTE)

A process in which a solid, especially a metal, is eaten away and changed by a chemical action. (Source: CED)

A chemical agent which slows down or prohibits a corrosion reaction. (Source: LEE)

Industry for the production of substances for improving the appearance of the body. (Source: CEDa)

Radiations consisting of atomic nuclei, especially protons, of very high energy that reach the earth from outer space. Some cosmic radiations are very energetic and are able to penetrate a mile or more into the Earth. (Source: CED / WRIGHT)

In economics, the value of the factors of production used by a firm in producing or distributing goods and services or engaging in both activities. (Source: GREENW)

The augmentation or rise in the amount of money incurred or asked for in the exchange of goods and services. (Source: ISEP / EFP)

A standard used to provide reimbursement to individuals or organizations for any incurred expense or provided service. (Source: RHW)

The lessening or lowering in the amount of money incurred or asked for in the exchange of goods and services. (Source: ISEP / EFP)

Relation between costs of a certain activity and its benefits to a certain community.

The attempt to assess, compare and frequently justify the total price or loss represented by a certain activity or expenditure with the advantage or service it provides. (Source: ODE)

The most economical natural fiber, obtained from plants of the genus Gossypium, used in making fabrics, cordage, and padding and for producing artificial fibers and cellulose. (Source: MGH)

A small house or a hut located in the countryside. (Source: HARRIS)

An area comprising more than one city and whose boundaries have been designed according to some biological, political, administrative, economic, demographic criteria. (Source: LANDYa)

An organ of the government, belonging to the judicial department, whose function is the application of the laws to controversies brought before it and the public administration of justice. The presence of a sufficient number of the members of such a body regularly convened in an authorized place at an appointed time, engaged in the full and regular performance of its functions. A body in the government to which the administration of justice is delegated. A body organized to administer justice, and including both judge and jury. An incorporeal, political being, composed of one or more judges, who sit at fixed times and places, attended by proper officers, pursuant to lawful authority, for the administration of justice. An organized body with defined powers, meeting at certain times and places for the hearing and decision of causes and other matters brought before it, and aided in this, its proper business, by its proper officers, attorneys and counsel to present and manage the business, clerks to record and attest its acts and decisions, and ministerial officers to execute its commands, and secure due order in its proceedings. (Source: WESTS)

A tribunal having jurisdiction of appeal and review, including the ability to overturn decisions of lower courts or courts of first instance. (Source: BLD)

Institution set up under Treaty of Rome to ensure that in interpretation and application of the Treaty the law is observed. It consists of judges from each member state, appointed for 6-year periods, assisted by three Advocates General. It sits in Luxembourg, expressing itself in judgements when called upon to do so in proceedings initiated by member states, institutions of the EC and natural or legal persons. Procedures are generally inquisitorial. (Source: CURZON)

1) A deep recess hollow, or nook in a cliff or steep mountainside, or a small, straight valley extending into a mountain or down a mountainside. 2) A valley or portion of lowland that penetrates into a plateau or mountain front. (Source: BJGEO / WHIT)

No definition needed.