Nara, Na-ra or NARA may refer to:
Acanthosicyos horridus is an unusual melon that occurs only in Namibia; it is locally called naras or nara.
The nara plant is leafless, the modified stems and spines serve as the photosynthetic "organs" of the plant.
The edible seeds are known locally as butterpips.
The fruit serves as an essential food source for Topnaar people from February to April and August to September. The katydid Acanthoproctus diadematus feeds on the plant, moving between different bushes at night.
Nara Prefecture (奈良県, Nara-ken) is a prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The capital is the city of Nara. Nara Prefecture has the distinction of having more UNESCO World Heritage Listings than any other prefecture.
Nara Prefecture region is considered one of the oldest regions in Japan spanning thousands of years. The present-day Nara Prefecture as it exists now officially was created in 1887, making it independent of Osaka Prefecture.
Historically, Nara Prefecture was also known as Yamato-no-kuni or Yamato Province.
It is certain that there was a political force established at the foot of Mount Miwa in the east of Nara Basin, seeking unification of most parts in Japan from the third century until the fourth century, though the process was not well documented. At the dawn of history, Yamato was clearly the political center of Japan.
Ancient capitals of Japan were built on the land of Nara, namely Asuka-kyō, Fujiwara-kyō (694–710) and Heijō-kyō (most of 710–784). The capital cities of Fujiwara and Heijō are believed to have been modeled after Chinese capitals at the time, incorporating grid layout patterns. The royal court also established relations with Sui and then Tang Dynasty China and sent students to the Middle Kingdom to learn high civilization. By 7th century, Nara accepted the many immigrants including refugees of Baekje who had escaped from war disturbances of the southern part of the Korean peninsula. The first high civilization with royal patronage of Buddhism flourished in today's Nara city (710–784 AD).
Embrace is a non profit organization providing low-cost incubators to prevent neonatal deaths in rural areas in developing countries. The organization was developed in 2008 during the multidisciplinary Entrepreneurial Design For Extreme Affordability course at Stanford University by group members Jane Chen, Linus Liang, Rahul Panicker, Razmig Hovaghimian, and Naganand Murty.
The Embrace infant warmer is a low-cost solution that maintains premature and low-birth-weight babies’ body temperature. The infant warmer is portable, safe, reusable, and requires only intermittent access to electricity. Each baby warmer is priced at approximately $25. The Embrace development team won the fellowship at the Echoing Green competition in 2008 for this concept. Embrace also won the 2007-2008 Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students Social E-Challenge competition grand prize. At a ceremony at BAFTA in London on December 3rd 2013 Jane Chen, Linus Liang, Naganand Murty and Rahul Panicker won an innovation award from the Economist. Embrace also partners with UniversalGiving to raise fund for its project, which is to provide the Embrace infant warmers in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Embrace is the eighth studio album by Japanese electronic/rock duo Boom Boom Satellites. Released on January 9, 2013, Embrace serves as the band's 15th anniversary release. Songs on the album include their single "Broken Mirror" and the song "Drifter", which was used in Sony's Xperia commercials. The album will also be sold in a deluxe edition that contains a DVD and a USB flash drive. JPU Records released the album in the UK, Europe and Russia on 2 September 2013. The CD version from JPU Records contained an exclusive remix of Snow.
To support the album, BBS are going on both a short pre-release party tour at Club Quattro locations in Shibuya, Tokyo; Umeda, Osaka; and Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture; and on a national tour following the album's release. The band will also livestream the final mastering of the album at New York City's Sterling Sound studio on Nico Nico Douga. The first promotional single from Embrace was a cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter", the duo's first ever cover song. This was followed by the release of another digital single of the track "Nine". In addition, album versions of previous promotional singles "Another Perfect Day" (released as a "Movie Edit") and "Drifter" (released as a "test run") are included on Embrace.
Embrace was a short-lived post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C., which lasted from the summer of 1985 to the spring of 1986 and was one of the first bands to be dubbed in the press as emotional hardcore, though the members had rejected the term since its creation. The band included lead vocalist Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat with three former members of his brother Alec's band The Faith: guitarist Michael Hampton, drummer Ivor Hanson, and bassist Chris Bald. Hampton and Hanson had also previously played together in S.O.A. The only recording released by the quartet was their self-titled album Embrace being influenced by The Faith EP Subject to Change.
Following the breakup of Embrace, MacKaye rejoined former Minor Threat drummer Jeff Nelson to form Egg Hunt. Bald moved on to the band Ignition, and drummer Ivor Hanson paired up with Hampton again in 1992 for Manifesto.
During the band's formative years, some fans started referring to them and fellow innovators Rites of Spring as emocore (emotive hardcore), a term MacKaye publicly disagreed with.