Political apathy refers to a lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern regarding political activities, processes, or issues. Individuals who are politically apathetic may refrain from participating in political activities such as voting, campaigning, or engaging in discussions about political matters. This phenomenon can be attributed to various factors, including disillusionment with political institutions, a belief that individual actions do not make a difference, a lack of understanding of political issues, or general indifference toward political affairs.
Quadratic voting (QV) is a voting mechanism designed to aggregate preferences more effectively in situations where individuals have varying levels of interest in an issue. Unlike traditional voting methods, where each voter typically gets one vote per issue, quadratic voting allows individuals to express the intensity of their preferences by allocating votes in a way that reflects how strongly they feel about an issue. In quadratic voting, individuals can buy multiple votes for a particular option, but the cost of the votes increases quadratically.
Social utility efficiency is an economic concept that refers to the optimal allocation of resources in such a way that maximizes the overall benefit to society. It aims to ensure that resources are distributed in a manner that provides the greatest possible utility or satisfaction to the members of a society. Key aspects of social utility efficiency include: 1. **Resource Allocation**: It involves distributing resources (goods, services, labor) in a way that meets the needs and preferences of the population effectively.
A breaking wave refers to the point at which a wave, usually in an ocean or large body of water, becomes unstable and collapses or "breaks." This phenomenon occurs when the wave's height exceeds a certain limit typically influenced by factors such as water depth, wave energy, and wind conditions. Breaking waves are characterized by several distinct phases: 1. **Formation**: Waves are generated by wind blowing over the surface of the water. As they travel across the ocean, their energy increases.
Vote splitting refers to a situation in an election where two or more candidates or parties with similar platforms or ideologies divide the votes among themselves, which can result in a less favored candidate winning. This often occurs in systems with multiple candidates running for the same office, particularly in single-winner electoral systems like first-past-the-post.
North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) is a key component of the global ocean circulation system, particularly within the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). It refers to a body of cold, dense water that forms in the North Atlantic Ocean, primarily in areas such as the Labrador Sea, the Greenland Sea, and the Norwegian Sea. NADW is characterized by its relatively high salinity and low temperature, which contributes to its density.
North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) is a water mass found in the North Pacific Ocean, characterized by its specific temperature and salinity properties. It is generally located at depths ranging from about 200 to 1000 meters, lying beneath the surface waters and above the deep ocean waters. NPIW is formed primarily in the North Pacific due to the cooling of surface waters, particularly in areas such as the Sea of Okhotsk.
The Craik–Leibovich vortex force is a concept in fluid dynamics that describes the interaction between vortices and the underlying shear flow, particularly in the context of water waves and oceanic flows. Specifically, it addresses how the presence of vortices influences the propagation of surface waves on a fluid, such as the interaction between a wind-generated wavefield and swirling or rotational flow structures.
The term "cross sea" refers to a specific oceanographic phenomenon that occurs when two sets of waves from different directions overlap and interact with each other, creating a chaotic sea state. This can happen in coastal areas or open oceans where wind and currents generate waves from varying directions. Cross seas can be particularly dangerous for navigation and smaller vessels because the waves can create steep, unpredictable swells that pose risks for capsizing and loss of control.
Equatorial waves are oceanic or atmospheric waves that occur in the equatorial regions of the Earth. These waves are characterized by their unique dynamics and properties influenced by the Earth's rotation, the Coriolis force, and the stratification of the atmosphere or ocean. The most notable types of equatorial waves include: 1. **Equatorial Kelvin Waves**: These are eastward-propagating waves influenced by the Coriolis effect and are characterized by their dispersion relation.
The Kelvin wake pattern, also known as the Kelvin wake or Kelvin wave pattern, refers to the specific formation of waves that occurs behind an object moving through a fluid, such as air or water. This phenomenon is named after the British physicist Lord Kelvin, who conducted extensive studies on fluid dynamics. When a body moves at a certain speed through a fluid, it generates a series of wave patterns that extend outward from the object.
A megatsunami is a large and extremely destructive tidal wave that is generated by a massive displacement of water, often as a result of geological events such as volcanic eruptions, landslides, or underwater earthquakes. Unlike typical tsunamis, which are usually caused by seismic activity and can travel across entire ocean basins, megatsunamis involve much larger volumes of water being displaced in a very short time frame, leading to waves that can reach extraordinary heights—sometimes hundreds of meters.
Ski wax is a specialized substance applied to the base of skis and snowboards to enhance their performance on snow. It reduces friction between the snow and the ski or snowboard, allowing for smoother gliding and improved speed. Ski wax can also provide better control and stability during turns. There are different types of ski wax, categorized primarily into two groups: 1. **Glide Wax**: Used to optimize the glide of skis and snowboards on snow.
Wave-making resistance refers to a type of hydrodynamic resistance that occurs when a vessel moves through water, creating waves as it displaces water. This phenomenon is especially significant for ships and boats, as the energy required to generate these waves contributes to the overall resistance that the vessel experiences as it moves.
Waves and shallow water refer to specific concepts in oceanography and hydrodynamics. ### Waves Waves are disturbances that transfer energy through a medium, usually water in the context of oceans and seas. They can be classified based on various factors, including their generation, characteristics, and the medium in which they travel. Key points about waves include: - **Types of Waves**: There are several types of waves, including wind-generated waves, seismic waves, and tidal waves.
Microcrystalline wax is a type of synthetic wax produced from the refining of crude oil. It is different from other forms of wax, such as paraffin wax, due to its finer crystalline structure and its characteristics of being more flexible, adhesive, and moisture-resistant. **Key properties of microcrystalline wax include:** 1. **Composition**: It consists of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons and is typically more refined than paraffin wax.
Bayberry wax is a natural wax derived from the berries of the bayberry shrub (Myrica pensylvanica and Myrica cerifera), which are native to North America. The wax is extracted from the fruit through a process of boiling and then filtering. Bayberry wax has a distinctive greenish hue and is known for its pleasant, earthy scent.
Cetyl palmitate is a waxy substance derived from the esterification of cetyl alcohol and palmitic acid. It is commonly used in cosmetics and personal care products as an emollient, thickening agent, and skin-conditioning agent. Its properties help to create a smooth texture in formulations, improve the spreadability of products, and enhance the moisturizing effects on the skin.

Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project

Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
We have two killer features:
  1. topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculus
    Articles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
    • a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
    • a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
    This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
    Figure 1.
    Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page
    . View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivative
  2. local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:
    This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
    Figure 2.
    You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either https://OurBigBook.com or as a static website
    .
    Figure 3.
    Visual Studio Code extension installation
    .
    Figure 4.
    Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation
    .
    Figure 5.
    Web editor
    . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.
    Video 3.
    Edit locally and publish demo
    . Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.
    Video 4.
    OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo
    . Source.
  3. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook-media/master/feature/x/hilbert-space-arrow.png
  4. Infinitely deep tables of contents:
    Figure 6.
    Dynamic article tree with infinitely deep table of contents
    .
    Descendant pages can also show up as toplevel e.g.: ourbigbook.com/cirosantilli/chordate-subclade
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact