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The Lighthouse of Alexandria

2007-04-02T04:10:00.000-07:00

Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only one had a practical use in addition to its architectural elegance: The Lighthouse of Alexandria. For sailors, it ensured a safe return to the Great Harbor. For architects, it meant even more: it was the tallest building on Earth. And for scientists, it was the mysterious mirror that fascinated those most. The mirror which reflection could be seen more than 50 km (35 miles) off-shore. On the ancient island of Pharos, now a promontory within the city of Alexandria in Egypt. Shortly after the death of Alexander the Great, his commander Ptolemy Soter assumed power in Egypt. He had witnessed the founding of Alexandria, and established his capital there.

Taj Mahal

2007-03-26T02:05:00.000-07:00

Located at the city of Agra in the State of Uttar Pradesh, the Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful masterpieces of architecture in the world. Agra, situated about 200 km south of New Delhi, was the Capital of the Mughals (Moguls), the Muslim Emperors who ruled Northern India between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Mughals were the descendents of two of the most skilled warriors in history: the Turks and the Mongols. The Mughal dynasty reached its highest strength and fame during the reign of their early Emperors, Akbar, Jehangir, and Shah Jehan. It was Shah Jehan who ordered the building of the Taj, in honor of his wife, Arjumand Banu who later became known as Mumtaz Mahal, the Distinguished of the Palace. Mumtaz and Shah Jehan were married in 1612 and, over the next 18 years, had 14 children together.

Webrings

2007-03-20T23:22:00.000-07:00

Web sites that are linked by a common theme or interest sometimes will join together to form Web rings. A Web ring is a community of Web sites linked one to another, so that visitors go from one site to the next until they return to the site where they started. A Web ring is an ideal way for Web users to find a wide variety of sites on a particular topic.

Most Web ring systems provide a listing or a directory of all the sites within a ring, which is known as the hub or list page. Such directories frequently include a description of each site and a link to let the visitors quickly go to a particular site within the ring.

Each member site within the Web ring also provides a navigation panel with links for "Next site," "Previous site," etc. that help the user move from site to site, skipping ones that are offline or going back to a site they visited previously. View a demonstration of a Web ring on The World of Webrings site.

Rice vinegar

2007-03-11T21:41:00.001-07:00

Rice vinegar is vinegar prepared from fermented rice or rice wine in China and Japan. Japanese rice vinegar is very soft and mellow and ranges in colour from colourless to pale yellow. There are two different types of Japanese vinegar: one is made from fermented rice and the other is made by adding rice vinegar to sake. Chinese rice vinegars are stronger than Japanese ones, and range in colour from clear to different shades of red and brown. Chinese and especially Japanese vinegars are very mild and sweet compared to purify and more acidic Western vinegars which, for that reason, are not proper substitutes for rice vinegars. White rice vinegar is colorless to pale yellow liquid, superior in vinegar content and more similar to Western vinegars, but still less acidic and milder in flavor.

Black rice vinegar is popular in southern China. Chinkiang vinegar, which originated in the city of Zhenjiang in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, China, is measured the best of the black rice vinegars. Usually black rice vinegar is made with glutinous rice, although millet or sorghum may be used instead. It is dark in colour, and has a deep, almost smoky flavor. In addition to Zhenjiang, it is too produced in Hong Kong.

Red rice vinegar is darker than white rice vinegar, and paler than black rice vinegar, with a typical red colour from Red yeast rice, which is cultivated with the mold Monascus purpureus. This vinegar has a distinctive flavour of its own due to the red mold. In Chinese cookbooks, ½ tablespoon of Western white vinegar is equivalent in strength to 1 tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar. Many Chinese people who grow up with rice vinegars take time to raise accustomed to the strength of Western vinegars when they begin to encounter them. Rice vinegar is also used to make sushi.

Public transport

2007-03-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

Public transport, public transportation, public travel or mass transit comprises all transport systems in which the passengers do not tour in their own vehicles. While it is generally taken to include rail and bus services, wider definitions would comprise scheduled airline services, ship, taxicab services etc. – any system that transports members of the universal public. A further restriction that is sometimes practical is that it must take place in shared vehicles that would bar taxis that are not shared-ride taxis.

MBA-overview!

2007-02-25T23:22:00.000-08:00

Every student entering business school to get their MBA degree will require various skills and have basic expertise in particular areas. The level of the mathematical skills will vary depending upon the choice of your program. Many MBA programs need algebra, statistics, and most likely calculus. You may want to revive your skills if they are in query before entering an MBA program, because joining an MBA program without basic skills will be a bit tougher to get through. Most business schools needs the use of private computers throughout your MBA program, in some cases many school will require that you possess your own laptop. Though the degree to which you use a computer will differ, you should be contented with the complete knowledge of word processing, spreadsheets and databases. Every school will provide you their minimum basic necessities for computer skills.

Business schools today try to impersonate the business setting in their academic programs by using student teams. As businesses more and more twisted to teams to work on projects and to solve troubles, MBA programs have converted a huge portion of course work from individual work to teamwork. Many masters of business administration programs now contain teambuilding training as team building workshops, or as a theme in managerial performance courses. Teams are formed mainly for the reason of one project in one course or by remaining together, working on multiple courses for months. In this competitive situation of Business administration programs, the collaboration of students in team building movements is often complicated. Students that take part in team activities find that working with someone else takes up a lot of educational time.

The business fundamentals are taught in every MBA program. Economics, finance, accounting, organizational behavior, marketing, and statistics are in the basic range for master of business administration programs. In business school these subjects are considered a foundation group of courses required for each and every candidate.

These core courses make up the first year of study in a two-year full-time program. In some programs, students who have a prior background in business can by pass some or all of the core courses on the basis of either a special examination or an evaluation of the undergraduate transcript. In some programs, students who have a previous backdrop in business can go around some or all of the foundation courses on the basis of either a special examination or an assessment of the undergraduate record.

ETA

2007-02-15T20:54:00.000-08:00

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or ETA is a Basque nationalist terrorist group founded in 1959. It evolved rapidly from a group advocating usual cultural ways to an armed group fighting for Basque self-government. Every formulation of ETA's goals have centered on sovereignty and self-determination for the Basque Country. ETA's motto is Bietan jarrai. This refers to the two figures in the ETA sign, a snake wrapped around an axe.

ETA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, European Union and the United States in their related watch lists. ETA has committed about 900 killings and dozens of kidnappings. More than 500 ETA militants are held in jail in Spain and France. On March 22, 2006 the association declared a "permanent ceasefire." After government rejection to agree any peace settlements, ETA broke the ceasefire with a car blast attack on December 30, 2006 at Barajas International Airport, Madrid killing two Ecuadorian immigrants.

Early Stages of a pregnant woman and her health

2007-02-08T06:44:00.000-08:00

Pregnancy is not an easy job for a woman. Starting from conception to birth, a woman's body carries out the most miraculous process of fertilization, implantation and the maturity and growth of her baby (or babies). Her body is her baby's dwelling place for the next nine months (or around 40 weeks) and the occurrences of pregnancy turn into a journey of many new physical feelings. Whether it is first, second, third (or more) pregnancy, her body will respond in a different way to each individual pregnancy. So health of a pregnant woman is very important to be taken care of.

Throughout the first 12 weeks of pregnancy called the '1st trimester’, a woman's body adjust to present a fostering and protective environment for her baby to grow and develop. Seldom, the early signs of pregnancy can make a woman feel puzzled. This may be for the reason that many of the physical signs of in the early hours of pregnancy such as enlarged tender breasts, sensitivity of tiredness, overstuffed and perhaps experiencing spasms and/or pelvic uneasiness can be considered as normal pre-menstrual signs. In all these stages the health of the woman declines because she is not only feeding herself, also her little developing fetus.

They may also sense disgusted or sick, due to morning sickness. It is not unusual to feel unsure about what is 'normal' during the early stages of pregnancy development, and unfamiliar signs or sensations may trigger concerns about the health, of her and baby. It’s been proved by the Gynecologists that every woman's body will react in a different way to being pregnant. Many women find their early pregnancy symptoms very difficult to cope with, both at work and generally.

Due to continuous vomiting and nourishing the fetus the pregnant woman may be exhausted very easily. She has to constantly keep her energetic by maintaining a healthy diet schedule as prescribed by the physicians. She can have more fresh green vegetables and fruit juices to make her feel fresh and energetic. It’s always significant to make sure that she avoids drinking and smoking because whatever she has will be directly absorbed by the baby. Once the fetus starts developing she has to get primed for all the obstacles she has to experience throughout pregnancy. Many psychologists predict that a healthy pregnancy is not only from taking care of the nutrition for the pregnant women, more than that she has to be taken care from all the hassles in her family. It’s the duty of a loving husband to caress her comfortably and keep her happy always throughout the gestation period. This will not only make the woman feel happy and hopeful it will directly lead to the good development of the fetus.

Infrared

2007-02-03T07:33:00.000-08:00

Infrared (IR) emission is electromagnetic emission of a wavelength longer than that of noticeable light, but shorter than that of radio waves. The name means "below red", red being the color of detectable light of longest wavelength. Infrared radiation spans three instructions of magnitude and has wavelengths between about 750 nm and 1 mm.
These divisions are suitable by the different human response to this radiation: near infrared is the area closest in wavelength to the radiation detectable by the human eye, mid and far infrared are gradually further from the visible regime. Other definitions follow different physical mechanisms and the newest follow technical reasons .Unfortunately the international standards for these specifications are not currently obtainable.
The boundary between visible and infrared light is not precisely defined. The human eye is markedly less responsive to light above 700 nm wavelength, so longer frequencies make irrelevant contributions to scenes illuminated by common light sources. But particularly strong light (e.g., from lasers, or from bright daylight with the visible light removed by colored gels can be detected up to approximately 780 nm, and will be apparent as red light. The onset of infrared is defined at different values typically between 700 nm and 780 nm.

The computer

2007-01-29T07:10:00.000-08:00

A computer is a machine for manipulate data according to a list of commands known as a program. Computers are tremendously adaptable. In fact, they are universal information-processing machines. According to the Church–Turing theory, a computer with a positive minimum entrance capability is in principle capable of performing the responsibilities of any other computer. Therefore, computers with capability ranging from those of a personal digital supporter to a supercomputer may all achieve the same tasks, as long as time and memory capacity are not consideration. Therefore, the same computer design may be modified for tasks ranging from doling out company payrolls to controlling unmanned spaceflights. Due to technical progression, modern electronic computers are exponentially more capable than those of preceding generations. Computers take plentiful physical forms. Early electronic computers were the size of a large room, while whole modern embedded computers may be lesser than a deck of playing cards. Even today, huge computing conveniences still exist for focused scientific computation and for the transaction processing necessities of large organizations. Smaller computers designed for personage use are called personal computers. Along with its convenient equivalent, the laptop computer, the personal computer is the ubiquitous in order processing and communication tool, and is typically what is meant by "a computer". However, the most general form of computer in use today is the embedded computer. Embedded computers are usually comparatively simple and physically small computers used to control one more device. They may control equipment from fighter aircraft to industrial robots to digital cameras. in the beginning, the term "computer" referred to a person who performed numerical calculations, frequently with the aid of a mechanical calculating device or analog computer. In 1801, Joseph Marie Jacquard made an improvement to the presented loom designs that used a series of punched paper cards as a program to weave involved patterns. The resulting Jacquard loom is not considered a true computer but it was an essential step in the growth of modern digital computers.
Charles Babbage was the first to conceptualize and design a completely programmable computer as early as 1820, In 1801, Joseph Marie Jacquard made an improvement to the presented loom designs that used a series of punched paper cards as a program to weave involved patterns. The resulting Jacquard loom is not considered a true computer but it was an essential step in the growth of modern digital computers.
but due to a combination of the restrictions of the technology of the time, limited finance, and an incapability to resist tinkering with his design, the device was never really constructed in his lifetime. By the end of the 19th century a number of technologies that would later prove helpful in computing had appeared, out such as the punch card and the vacuum tube, and large-scale automated data giving using punch cards was performed by tabulating equipment designed by Hermann Hollerith.During the first half of the 20th century, many technical computing wants were met by increasingly difficult special-purpose analog computers, which used a direct mechanical or electrical model of the problem as a base for subtraction (they became ever more rare after the development of the programmable digital computer). Sequence of gradually more powerful and stretchy computing devices were construct in the 1930s and 1940s.

The credit score

2007-01-24T05:48:00.000-08:00

The credit score is calculated using a formula provided by the Fair Isaac Corporation under the act of FCRA. The three national bureaucrats dealing with credit reports are Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. The credit report can vary between these three credit bureaus since the credit reporters do not submit the reports in all three bureaus. Basically it is the procedure that one‘s credit report is the average taken from the values of these three bureaus. There may be a small difference existing between these bureaucracies credit reports which doesn’t seem to harm any of the customers credit score hence no issue has arisen till now in regards to the above.

White tigers

2007-01-18T05:56:00.000-08:00

White tigers are Bengal tigers or tigers of mixed Bengal/Amur ancestry with pink noses, white-to-creme coloured fur and black, grey or chocolate-coloured stripes. Their eyes are usually blue, but may be green or amber. There are several hundred captive white tigers worldwide, all of whom can trace their ancestry back to a white Bengal tiger caught in Rewa, India.
Due to the opinion that their colouration is widely considered striking, white tigers have become popular attractions in zoos and entertainment that showcases exotic animals; the magicians Siegfried and Roy are famous for using several trained white tigers in their shows. Contrary to popular belief, white tigers are not a separate species in their own right, but are a mutant form of the orange Bengal tigers.

People mover

2007-01-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

A people mover or automated people mover is a fully automated, grade-separated transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks, but is sometimes applied to considerably more complex automated systems.The term does not imply any particular technology, and a people mover may use technologies such as monorail, duorail, automated guide way transit or maglev. Propulsion may involve conventional on-board electric motors, linear motors or cable traction.

Some complex APMs deploy fleets of small vehicles over a track network with off-line stations, and supply near non-stop service to passengers. These taxi-like systems are more usually referred to as personal rapid transit. Other complex APMs have similar characteristics to mass transit systems, and there is no clear cut distinction between a complex APM of this type and an automated mass transit system.

In Physics

2007-01-01T20:48:00.000-08:00

Space is one of the few fundamental quantities in physics, meaning that it cannot be defined via other quantities because there is nothing more fundamental known at present. Thus, similar to the definition of other fundamental quantities, space is defined via measurement. Currently, the standard space interval, called a standard meter or simply meter, is defined as the distance traveled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299792458 of a second. This definition coupled with present definition of time makes our space-time to be Minkowski space and makes special relativity theory to be absolutely correct by definition.
In classical physics, space is a three-dimensional Euclidean space where any position can be described using three coordinates. Special and general relativity uses space-time rather than space; space-time is modeled as a four-dimensional space with the time axis being imaginary in special relativity and real in general relativity, and currently there are many theories which use more than four-dimensional spaces.
Before Einstein's work on relativistic physics, time and space were viewed as independent dimensions. Einstein's discoveries have shown that due to relativity of motion our space and time can be mathematically combined into one symmetric object — space-time.

Problems with the Richter scale

2006-12-25T21:29:00.000-08:00

The major problem with Richter magnitude is that it is not easily related to physical characteristics of the earthquake source. Furthermore,there is a saturation effect near 8.3-8.5, owing to the scaling law of earthquake spectra, that causes traditional magnitude methods to yield the same magnitude estimate for events that are clearly of different size. By the beginning of the 21st century, most seismologists considered the traditional magnitude scales to be largely obsolete, being replaced by a more physically meaningful measurement called the seismic moment which is more directly relatable to the physical parameters, such as the dimension of the earthquake rupture, and the energy released from the earthquake. In 1979 seismologists Tom Hanks and Hiroo Kanamori, also of the California Institute of Technology, proposed the moment magnitude scale , which provides a way of expressing seismic moments in a form that can be approximately related to traditional seismic magnitude measurements.

Population control

2006-12-17T20:31:00.000-08:00

Population control is the practice of curtailing population increase, usually by reducing the birth rate. Surviving records from Ancient Greece document the first known examples of population control. These include the colonization movement, which saw Greek outposts being built across the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins to accommodate the excess population of individual states. An important example of mandated population control is China's one-child policy, in which having more than one child is made extremely unattractive. This has led to allegations that practices like infanticide, forced abortions, and forced sterilization are used as a result of the policy.
In ecology, population control is on occasions considered to be done solely by predators, diseases, parasites, and environmental factors. At many times human effects on animal and plant populations are also considered. Migrations of animals may be seen as a natural way of population control, for the food on land is more abundant on some seasons. The area of the migrations' start is left to reproduce the food supply for large mass of animals next time around. See also immigration.

NASA spaceflight missions

2006-12-11T04:10:00.000-08:00

NASA has had many successful space missions and programs, including over 100 manned missions. The many notable manned missions have been from the Apollo program, which were a sequence of missions to the moon, and included the achievement of the first man to walk on the moon, during Apollo 11. The Space Shuttle Program has also been a huge success with, despite the loss of two of the Space Shuttles, Challenger and Columbia which resulted in the deaths of their entire crews. The Space Shuttles were able to dock with the space station Mir while it was operational, and are now able to dock with the International Space Station - a joint project of many space agencies. NASA's future plans for space exploration are with the Project Constellation.

There have been many unmanned NASA space missions as well, including at least one that visited each of the other 7 planets in our solar system, and four missions that have left our solar system. There has been much recent success with the missions to Mars, including the Mars Exploration Rovers, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Meteorite

2006-11-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

A meteorite is an extraterrestrial body that survives its impact with the Earth's surface without being destroyed. While in space it is called a meteoroid. When it enters the atmosphere, air resistance causes the body to heat up and emit light, thus forming a fireball, also known as a meteor or shooting star. The term bolide refers to either an extraterrestrial body that collides with the Earth, or to an exceptionally bright, fireball-like meteor regardless of whether it ultimately impacts the surface.
More generally, a meteorite on the surface of any celestial body is an object that has come from elsewhere in space. Meteorites have been found on the Moon and Mars.Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transitted the atmosphere or impacted the Earth are called falls. All other meteorites are known as finds. As of mid-2006, there are approximately 1050 witnessed falls having specimens in the world's collections. In contrast, there are over 31,000 well-documented meteorite finds.
Meteorites are always named for the place where they were found , usually a nearby town or geographic feature. In cases where many meteorites were found in one place, the name may be followed by a number or letter.Meteorites have traditionally been divided into three broad categories: stony meteorites are rocks, mainly composed of silicate minerals; iron meteorites are largely composed of metallic iron-nickel; and, stony-iron meteorites contain large amounts of both metallic and rocky material. Modern classification schemes divide meteorites into groups according to their structure, chemical and isotopic composition and mineralogy.

Oat

2006-11-16T08:46:00.000-08:00

The Oat is a species of cereal grain, and the seeds of this plant. They are used for food for people and as fodder for animals, especially poultry and horses. Oat straw is used as animal bedding and sometimes as animal feed.
Oats are often served as a porridge made from crushed or rolled oats, oatmeal, and are also baked into cookies together with wheat flour. As oat flour or oatmeal, they are also used in a variety of other baked goods and cold cereals, and as an ingredient in muesli and granola. Oats may also be consumed raw, and cookies with raw oats are quickly becoming popular. Oats are also occasionally used in Britain for brewing beer. Oatmeal stout is one variety brewed using a percentage of oats for the wort.
Oats also have non-food uses. Oat straw is also used in corn dolly making, and it is the favourite filling for home made lace pillows. Oat extract can be used to soothe the skin conditions, e.g. in baths, skin products, etc.
A now obsolete Middle English name for the plant was haver , surviving in the name of the livestock feeding bag haversack. In contrast with the names of the other grains, "oat" is usually used in the plural.

Bahrain

2006-11-09T19:33:00.000-08:00

Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a borderless island nation in the Persian Gulf . Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway , and Qatar is to the south across thePersian Gulf. The Qatar–Bahrain Friendship Bridge, currently being planned, will link Bahrain to Qatar as the longest fixed link in the worldBahrain is the smallest, in terms of population, Arab nation in the world, and the smallest Arab member of the United Nations. It is also the least populous country in mainland Asia .

Mountain

2006-11-02T07:01:00.000-08:00

A mountain is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. A mountain is generally higher and steeper than a hill, but there is considerable overlap, and usage often depends on local custom.
Mountains cover 52% of Asia, 36% of North America, 25% of Europe, 22% of South America, 17% of Australia, and 3% of Africa. As a whole, 24% of the Earth's land mass is mountainous. Also, 1 in 10 people live in mountainous regions. All the world's major rivers are fed from mountain sources, and more than half of humanity depends on mountains for water.
The adjective montane is used to describe mountainous areas and the things associated with them.

Porridge

2006-10-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

Porridge is a simple dish made by boiling oats , occasionally oatmeal or another meal in water, milk or both. Oat and semolina porridge are in various countries the most popular varieties. Some other meals used for porridge include rice, wheat, peasemeal, barley, and cornmeal.
In many cultures, it is eaten as a breakfast, often with the addition of sugar or cream. As the traditional breakfast of Scotland ,it is made with salt. Some manufacturers of breakfast cereal sell "ready-made" versions; aficionados question whether these can truly be called porridge. Gruel is a thin porridge made with water.

Family planning

2006-10-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

Family planning is often used as a euphemism for birth control, though its connotations are somewhat different. It is most usually applied to the circumstance of a monogamous heterosexual couple who wish to limit their number of children, to control the timing of pregnancy , or both. Inherent in the idea is that the couple does have at least one child, that is, they use birth control to plan, not to prevent, a family.
Family planning may include more or less permanent abstinence, or the marginally effective withdrawal method, or methods of sexual satisfaction other than genital intercourse, More commonly, however, it is considered to be a system that allows a couple to have sexual intercourse on a long-term, regular basis, during which the man normally reaches orgasm and ejaculation in the woman's vagina, while nevertheless sharply and reliably reducing the chance that she will become pregnant until such time as the couple wish. Family planning thus often incorporates methods of birth control that either prevent fertilization or work after fertilization to prevent the implantation of an embryo. The essence of family planning, then, is to make intercourse purely a means of expressing love, building stability in the relationship, and sharing physical pleasure, and not a means of reproducing.

The Mouflon

2006-10-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

The Mouflon is a species of wild sheep and as such is one of the Caprinae or "goat antelopes". It is thought to be one of the two ancestors for all modern domestic sheep breeds. It is red-brown with a dark back-stripe, light colored saddle patch and underparts. The males are horned and the females are horned or polled.
They originated in Southwest Asia, where the species known as Asiatic mouflon lives. They were introduced to the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Cyprus during the neolithic period, perhaps as feral domesticated animals, where they naturalized to the mountainous interiors of these islands over the past few thousand years, giving rise to the species known as European mouflon . They are now rare on the islands, but have been successfully introduced into central Europe, including Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania, even in some northern European countries, such as Finland.
The scientific classification of the Mouflon is disputed but the European Mouflon may be considered as either Ovis musimon or Ovis ammon musimon.

Spear

2006-09-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

A spear is an ancient weapon used for hunting and war, consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft. The most common design is of a metal spearhead, shaped somewhat like a dagger.
Spears were arguably one of the most common personal weapons from the late Bronze Age until the advent of firearms. They may be seen as the ancestor of such weapons as the lance, the halberd, the naginata and the pike. One of the earliest weapons fashioned by human beings and their ancestors, it is still used for hunting and fishing, and its influences can still be seen in contemporary military arsenals as the rifle mounted bayonet.
Spears can be used as both melee and ballistic weapons. Spears used primarily for thrusting tend to have heavier and sturdier designs than those intended exclusively for throwing. Two of the most noted throwing spears are the javelin thrown by the ancient Greeks and the pilum used by the Romans.