A top is a toy designed to be spun rapidly on the ground, the motion of which causes it to remain precisely balanced on its tip because of inertia. Such toys have existed since antiquity. Traditionally tops were constructed of wood, sometimes with an iron tip, and would be set in motion by aid of a string or rope coiled around its axis which, when pulled quickly, caused a rapid unwinding that would set the top in motion. Today they are often built of plastic, and modern materials and manufacturing processes allow tops to be constructed with such precise balance that they can be set in motion by a simple twist of the fingers and twirl of the wrist without need for string or rope.
The motion of a top is produced in the most simple forms by twirling the stem using the fingers. More sophisticated tops are spun by holding the axis firmly while pulling a string or twisting a stick or pushing an auger. In the kinds with an auger, an internal weight rotates, producing an overall circular motion. Some tops can be thrown, while firmly grasping a string that had been tightly wound around the stem, and the centrifugal force generated by the unwinding motion of the string will set them spinning upon touching ground.
In the context of a module M over a ring R, the top of M is the largest semisimple quotient module of M if it exists.
For finite-dimensional k-algebras (k a field), if rad(M) denotes the intersection of all proper maximal submodules of M (the radical of the module), then the top of M is M/rad(M). In the case of local rings with maximal ideal P, the top of M is M/PM. In general if R is a semilocal ring (=semi-artinian ring), that is, if R/Rad(R) is an Artinian ring, where Rad(R) is the Jacobson radical of R, then M/rad(M) is a semisimple module and is the top of M. This includes the cases of local rings and finite dimensional algebras over fields.
A top is clothing that covers at least the chest, but which usually covers most of the upper human body between the neck and the waistline. The bottom of tops can be as short as mid-torso, or as long as mid-thigh. Men's tops are generally paired with pants, and women's with pants or skirts. Common types of tops are t-shirts, blouses and shirts.
The neckline is the highest line of the top, and may be as high as a head-covering hood, or as low as the waistline or bottom hem of the top. A top may be worn loose or tight around the bust or waist, and may have sleeves or shoulder straps, spaghetti straps (noodle straps), or may be strapless. The back may be covered or bare. Tops may have straps around the waist or neck, or over the shoulders.
Rama is one of the indigenous languages of the Chibchan family spoken by the Rama people on the island of Rama Cay and south of lake Bluefields on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. Other indigenous languages of this region include: Miskito and Sumu (Craig 1992). Rama is one of the northernmost languages of the Chibchan family (Craig 1990:293).
The Rama language is severely endangered. Their language was described as "dying quickly for lack of use" as early as the 1860s (Pim & Seemann 1869:280). By 1980, the Rama were noted as having "all but lost their original ethnic language", and had become speakers of a form of English creole instead (Craig 1990:293). Language revival efforts began in 1980–1981 under the Sandinistas; though literacy campaigns were launched for neighbouring languages such as Miskito and Sumu, the same was not practical for Rama due to the small number of speakers. (Craig 1990:293). The fieldwork for the first dictionary of Rama was done during this time by Robin Schneider, a graduate student from the University of Berlin (Rigby & Schneider 1989). In 1992, only approximately 36 fluent speakers could be found among an ethnic population of 649 individuals in 1992 (Craig 1992). The number of speakers on Rama Cay island was only 4 in 1992, due to language shift to English that engendered Rama Cay Creole (Craig 1992).
Ramatha (Rama, Ramata) is the name of a former Roman Catholic titular bishopric in Palestine.
It was never an episcopal see properly so called, but, in the Middle Ages, the crusaders established in their kingdom of Jerusalem the Diocese of Lydda and Rama, the titular of which was generally called Bishop of Rama, i.e. of Ramla, a town near Lydda, but more populous than the latter.
Later this was forgotten and there was a titular bishopric of Lydda, as well as the titular see of Rama or Ramatha; the mistake has been discovered and rectified by its suppression in 1884 by the Roman Curia.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Ramatha". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.
FLO or Flo may refer to: