History.

Before Mondelez International.

Mondelez International is rooted in the National Dairy Products Corporation (National Dairy), which was founded on December 10, 1923, by Thomas H. McInnerney and Edward E. Rieck. The firm was initially set up to execute on a rollup strategy in the fragmented United States ice cream industry.  In 1924, Kraft Cheese Company was founded and was listed on the Chicago Stock Exchange. Two years later, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1928, it acquired Phenix Cheese Company, the maker of a cream cheese branded as Philadelphia cream cheese, founded by Jason F. Whitney, Sr. and the company changed its name to Kraft-Phenix Cheese Company.  In 1930, National Dairy acquired Kraft Phenix. After the acquisition, the combined company retained the National Dairy name and management, though the Kraft Phenix side of the company continued to operate largely independently.  On September 7, 2009, Kraft made a hostile £10.2 billion takeover bid for the British confectionery group Cadbury, makers of Dairy Milk and Bournville chocolate. On November 9 the company's bid (then £9.8 billion) was rejected by Cadbury, which called it a "derisory" offer. Kraft renewed the offer on December 4. It had significant political and public opposition in the United Kingdom and abroad, leading to a call for the government to implement economic protectionism in large-company takeovers. On January 19, 2010, Cadbury approved a revised offer from Kraft which valued the company at £11.5 billion ($19.5 billion). Some funds for the takeover were provided by the Royal Bank of Scotland, the British partially state-owned bank.  Cadbury sales were flat after Kraft's acquisition. Despite the Cadbury takeover's helping to boost sales by 30 percent, Kraft's net profit for the fourth quarter fell 24 percent (to $540 million) due to costs associated with integrating the UK business after the acquisition. Kraft spent $1.3 billion on integration to achieve an estimated $675 million in annual savings by the end of 2012. Kraft increased prices to offset rising commodity costs (for corn, sugar, and cocoa) in North America and Europe. According to Rosenfeld, "We expect it will remain weak for the foreseeable future." Taking into account integration costs, the acquisition reduced Kraft's earnings per share by about 33% immediately after the Cadbury purchase.  In August 2011 Kraft Foods announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies, an international snack-food company and a North American grocery company.  The snack-food company, Mondelez International, would be the legal successor of the old Kraft Foods, while the grocery company would be a new company, Kraft Foods Group. The split was completed in October 2012. It was structured so that Kraft Foods changed its name to Mondelez International and spun off Kraft Foods Group as a new publicly traded company. Kraft Foods Group later merged with Heinz to become Kraft Heinz.

Mondelez International.

In 2014, the company announced a merger of its coffee business with the Dutch firm Douwe Egberts; the company would be named Jacobs Douwe Egberts. The merger was confirmed on May 6, 2014, and completed on July 2, 2015.  On June 30, 2016, Mondelez made a $23 billion offer to buy its smaller rival, Hershey. The half-cash, half-stock deal valued Hershey stock at $107 a share. Hershey's board, however, unanimously rejected the offer.  In August 2017, it was announced that Dirk Van de Put, Belgian CEO of McCain Foods, would succeed Irene Rosenfeld as CEO in November 2017.  On May 6, 2018, Mondelez agreed to buy cookie maker Tate's Bake Shop for approximately $500 million. The acquisition was completed on June 7, 2018.  On June 19, 2019, Mondelez agreed to acquire a majority interest in Perfect Snacks, owner of refrigerated protein bar Perfect Bar. The acquisition was completed on July 16.  On February 25, 2020, Mondelez announced that it was acquiring a majority stake in Toronto-based Give & Go, a maker of two-bite brownies. The acquisition was completed on April 3, 2020.

Finances.

For the fiscal year 2017, Mondelēz International reported earnings of US$2.922 billion, with an annual revenue of US$25.896 billion, a decline of 0.1% over the previous fiscal cycle. Mondelēz International's shares traded at over $42 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$58.8 billion in October 2018. In the first quarter of 2020, due to Covid-19 lockdowns and people stocking up with sweets, the company's sales grew by 15% in North America, increasing its overall revenue by almost 3%.

Controversies.

Deforestation.

In September 2017, an investigation conducted by NGO Mighty Earth found that a large amount of the cocoa used in chocolate produced by Mondelez and other major chocolate companies was grown illegally in national parks and other protected areas in Ivory Coast and Ghana. The countries are the world's two largest cocoa producers.  The report documents how in several national parks and other protected areas, 90% or more of the land mass has been converted to cocoa. Less than four percent of Ivory Coast remains densely forested, and the chocolate companies' laissez-faire approach to sourcing has driven extensive deforestation in Ghana as well. In Ivory Coast, deforestation has pushed chimpanzees into just a few small pockets, and reduced the country's elephant population from several hundred thousand to about 200–400.  In November 2018, an investigation by Greenpeace International found that 22 palm oil suppliers to Mondelez International cleared over 70,000 hectares of rainforest from 2015 to 2017.

Wheat futures price-fixing allegation.

In April 2015, the US Commodity and Futures Commission (CTFC) alleged that Mondelez International and its former subsidiary, Mondelez Global, bought $90 million (£61 million) of wheat futures with no intention of taking delivery. According to the CTFC, the purchase raised the price of the commodity and earned the company $5.4 million.

Mondelez International, Inc. (), often stylized as Mondelēz, is an American multinational confectionery, food, holding and beverage company based in Chicago, Illinois, which employs approximately 80,000 individuals around the world. It consists of the global snack and food brands of Kraft Foods Inc. after the October 2012 spin-off of its North American grocery-foods products. The Mondelez name is a coined word adopted in 2012 that was suggested by Kraft Foods employees, and is derived from the Latin word "mundus" ("world") and "delez", a fanciful modification of the word "delicious."


Demographics.

Isiolo county has a total population of 268,002 persons as 2019 census and of this 139,510 are males,128,483 are females, and 9 intersex persons. There is an average size of 4.6 persons per household and a population density of 11 persons per square Km.  Source

Infrastructure and Transport.

Isiolo covered by 1,185.49km of earth, 263.7km of murram and 35km of bitumen as at 2014. There are 1,149 installed letter boxes, 851 rented letter boxes and vacant letter boxes.  Isiolo airport is one of the key airport in the county.

Administrative and Political Units.

As of 2018, the County has two constituencies (Isiolo North Constituency and Isiolo South Constituency), three sub-counties and ten wards.  There are a total of 10 county assembly wards, 71 locations and 144 sub-locations

Political Leadership.

Mohamed Kuti is the second governor for Isiolo and took office in 2017 and he deputised by Ibrahim Abdi Issa. Adan Dullo Fatuma is the senator and also the first woman to be elected as a senator in Kenya. Rehema Dida Jaldesa is the seating women representative for isiolo and second to hold the office.

Education.

There are 213 ECD centres with enrolment of 5148 pupils, 124 primary schools of which 107 are public and 17 are private schools. 23 secondary schools are spread across the county of which 16 are public and 7 are private schools.  Furthermore there are two youth polytechnics, three tertiary institutions and two vocational training centres in the county.

Health.

There are three hospitals of which two is government owned an other one faith based organisation, five health centres, thirty three dispensaries, and three clinics.  Isiolo county has a total of 214 medical personnel of different cadre ranging from doctors to biochemists.

Economy.

In agriculture the four main crops planted in Isiolo are maize, beans, sorghum and green grams. Livestock also is an economy earner and the four animals kept are cattle (Indigenous), cattle (dairy), camels, sheep, and goats.  A total of 178 ponds were in various places in the county in 2014.

and Urbanisation.

Source: USAid Kenya

Isiolo County is a county in the former Eastern Province of Kenya. Its population is 268,002 (2019 census) and its capital is Isiolo. Isiolo County is to be the first county to be developed as part of the Kenya Vision 2030 program. Its capital and largest town is Isiolo. Other upcoming urban centres are: Garbatulla, Modogashe, Kinna, Merti and Oldonyiro.


Origin of the term.

The first known use of was by the Polish journalist Julian Klaczko in 1849, yet it is debatable whether he invented the term as he used it in form of a citation. Because the term is used almost exclusively in its German form in English, Polish, Russian, Czech and other languages, it has been concluded that the term is of German origin.

Background.

is connected with the medieval German. This "east colonization" referred to the expansion of German culture, language, states, and settlement into eastern and Northern European regions inhabited by Slavs and Balts.  Population growth during the High Middle Ages stimulated movement of peoples from the Rhenish, Flemish, and Saxon territories of the Holy Roman Empire eastwards into the less-populated Baltic region and Poland. These movements were supported by the German nobility, the Slavic kings and dukes, and the medieval Church. The majority of this settlement took place at the expense of Polabian Slavs and pagan Balts (see Northern Crusades).  The future state of Prussia, named for the conquered Old Prussians, had its roots largely in these movements. As the Middle Ages came to a close, the Teutonic Knights, who had been invited to northern Poland by Konrad of Masovia, had assimilated and forcibly converted much of the southern Baltic coastlands.  After the Partitions of Poland by the Kingdom of Prussia, Austria, and the Russian Empire in the late 18th century, Prussia gained much of western Poland. The Prussians, and later the Germans, engaged in a policy of Germanization in Polish territories. Russia and Sweden eventually conquered the lands taken by the Teutonic Knights in Estonia and Livonia.

in German discourse.

The term became a centerpiece of the program of the German nationalist movement in 1891, with the founding of the, in the words: ("The old must be revived"). Nazi Germany employed the slogan in calling the Czechs a "Slav bulwark against the " in the 1938.  Despite policies, population movement took place in the opposite direction also, as people from rural low-developed areas in the East were attracted by the prospering industrial areas of Western Germany. This phenomenon became known by the German term, literally the "flight from the East". A new was called for by German nationalists to oppose a Polish ("thrust toward the West"). World War I had ended with the Treaty of Versailles, by which most or parts of the Imperial German provinces of Posen, West Prussia, and Upper Silesia were given to reconstituted Poland; the West Prussian city of Danzig became the Free City of Danzig. The Polish paper used both and in August 2002 to title stories about German RWE company taking over Polish STOEN and Polish migration into eastern Germany, respectively.  With the development of romantic nationalism in the 19th century, Polish and Russian intellectuals began referring to the German as. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary attempted to expand their power eastward; Germany by gaining influence in the declining Ottoman Empire (the Eastern Question) and Austria-Hungary through the acquisition of territory in the Balkans (such as Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Lebensraum concept of Nazi Germany.

Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933–1945, called for a to acquire territory for German colonists at the expense of central and eastern European nations (). The term by then had gained enough currency to appear in foreign newspapers without explanation. His eastern campaigns during World War II were initially successful with the conquests of Poland, the Baltic countries, Belarus, Ukraine and much of European Russia by the ; was designed to eliminate the native Slavic peoples from these lands and replace them with Germans. The, or soldier-peasants, would settle in a fortified line to prevent civilization arising beyond and threatening Germany.  This was greatly hindered by the lack of German people who actually desired to settle in the east, let alone act as Teutonic Knights there. Settlements actually established during the war did not receive colonists from the, but in the main part East European Germans resettled from Soviet "spheres of interest" according to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and such Poles as deemed Germanizable by Nazis. However, the Soviet Union began to reverse the German conquests by 1943, and Nazi Germany was defeated by the Allies in 1945.

Expulsion of Germans from the East after World War II.

Most of the demographic and cultural outcome of the was terminated after World War II. The expulsion of Germans after World War II east of the line in 1945–48 on the basis of decisions of the Potsdam Conference were later justified by their beneficiaries as a rollback of the. "Historical Eastern Germany"— historically the land of the Baltic people called Old Prussians who had been colonised and assimilated by German —was split between Poland, Russia, and Lithuania (a Baltic country) and repopulated with settlers of the respective ethnicities. The line has been accepted to be the eastern German boundary by all post-war German states (East and West Germany, as well as reunited Germany), reneging on all plans to (re-)expand into or (re-)settle territories beyond this line. The Old Prussians were conquered by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century, and gradually assimilated over the following centuries; the Old Prussian language was extinct by the 17th or early 18th century. Henry Cord Meyer, in his book ": Fortunes of a Slogan-Concept in German–Slavic Relations, 1849–1990" claims that the slogan originated in the Slavic world, and it also was more widely used than in Germany.

In Poland the term was used in describing programs of Germanizing Poland, while in Germany the slogan was part of a wider nationalist approbation of medieval German settlement in the east and of the idea of the "superiority of German culture". The slogan ("Drive to the West"), derived from, was used to depict an alleged Polish drive westward.


History.

The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers was a group of 28 that was formed in 1844. Around half were weavers in Rochdale, Lancashire, England. As the mechanisation of the Industrial Revolution was forcing more and more skilled workers into poverty, these tradesmen decided to band together to open their own store selling food items they could not otherwise afford. With lessons from prior failed attempts at co-operation in mind, they designed the now famous Rochdale Principles, and over a period of four months they struggled to pool £1 per person for a total of 28 pounds of capital. On 21 December 1844, they opened their store with a very meagre selection of butter, sugar, flour, oatmeal and a few candles. Within three months, they expanded their selection to include tea and tobacco, and they were soon known for providing high quality, unadulterated goods. By 1900, the British co-operative movement had grown to 1,439 co-operatives covering virtually every area of the UK.  The archive for the co-operative movement in Rochdale is held by Local Studies, Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust. Rochdale Pioneers traded independently until 1991, with name changes inspired by mergers with neighbouring co-operatives, as Pioneers from 1976, and Norwest Pioneers from 1982, based in Wythenshawe, Manchester by 1991. In 1991, then Norwest Co-operative Society transferred its engagements to United Co-operatives, that was run from Rochdale when it in turn transferred to the Manchester-based national hybrid society, The Co-operative Group, in 2007.

Objectives.

At the outset, the Pioneers had a clear set of what we now would call objectives – in 1844 they called them 'Objects'.  The objects of the Society were stated in "Law the First" of their rules and were:  Many aspects of these objects can be seen directly in the modern-day co-operative movement.

Museum.

The Pioneers rented their first store at 31 Toad Lane and moved out in 1867 but the co-operative movement later purchased it, and opened it as a museum in 1931. The museum resurrected the legal name Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society in 1989, the name having been abandoned by the original co-operative in 1976 on merger with the Oldham Co-operative.

The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, founded in 1844, was an early consumer co-operative, and one of the first to pay a patronage dividend, forming the basis for the modern co-operative movement. Although other co-operatives preceded them, the Rochdale Pioneers' co-operative became the prototype for societies in Great Britain. The Rochdale Pioneers are most famous for designing the Rochdale Principles, a set of principles of co-operation that provide the foundation for the principles on which co-ops around the world operate to this day. The model the Rochdale Pioneers used is a focus of study within co-operative economics.


Plot.

A father and his young son journey across post-apocalyptic America some years after an extinction event. The land is covered with ash and devoid of life. The boy's mother, pregnant with him at the time of the disaster, committed suicide some time before.  Realizing they cannot survive the winter, the father takes the boy south along empty roads towards the sea, carrying their meager possessions in their knapsacks and a supermarket cart. The father is suffering from a cough and knows he is dying. He assures his son that they are "good guys" who are "carrying the fire". The pair have a revolver, but only two rounds. The father has taught the boy to use the gun on himself if necessary, to avoid falling into the hands of cannibals.  The father and son evade a traveling group of marauders. The father uses one of the rounds to kill a marauder who discovers them, disturbing the boy. They flee the marauder's companions, abandoning most of their possessions. When they search a house for supplies, they discover a locked cellar containing captives whom cannibal gangs have been eating limb by limb, and flee into the woods.  As they near starvation, the pair discovers a concealed bunker filled with food, clothes, and other supplies. They stay there for several days, regaining their strength, and then move on, taking supplies with them in a cart. They encounter an elderly man with whom the boy insists they share food. Further along the road, they evade a group whose members include a pregnant woman, and soon after they discover an abandoned campsite with a newborn infant roasted on a spit. They soon run out of supplies and begin to starve before finding a house containing more food to carry in their cart, but the man's condition worsens.  The pair reaches the sea, where they discover a boat that has drifted ashore. The man swims to it and recovers supplies, including a flare gun, which he demonstrates to the boy. The boy becomes ill, and after spending some time on the beach recovering, their cart is stolen. Eventually they find a man traveling down the road with the cart. The father threatens him with the revolver and forces him to strip naked. This distresses the boy, causing the father to return and leave the man's clothes and shoes on the road, but the man has disappeared.  While walking through a town inland, the father is shot in the leg with an arrow by a man in a window, whom he shoots with the flare gun. The pair move further south along the beach. The father's condition worsens, and after several days he realizes he will soon die. He tells the boy he can talk to him in prayer after he is gone, and that he must continue without him. After he dies, the boy stays with his body for three days. He is finally approached by a man carrying a shotgun, who has a wife and two children, a boy and a girl. He convinces the boy he is one of the "good guys" and takes him under his protection.

Development history.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, McCarthy said that the inspiration for the book came during a 2003 visit to El Paso, Texas, with his young son. Imagining what the city might look like fifty to a hundred years into the future, he pictured "fires on the hill" and thought about his son. He took some initial notes but did not return to the idea until a few years later, while in Ireland. Then, the novel came to him quickly, and he dedicated it to his son, John Francis McCarthy.  In an interview with John Jurgensen of "The Wall Street Journal", McCarthy described conversations he and his brother had about different scenarios for an apocalypse. One of the scenarios involved survivors turning to cannibalism: "when everything's gone, the only thing left to eat is each other."

Literary significance and reception.

"The Road" has received numerous positive reviews and honors since its publication. The review aggregator Metacritic reported the book had an average score of 90 out of 100, based on thirty-one reviews. Critics have deemed it "heartbreaking", "haunting", and "emotionally shattering". "The Village Voice" referred to it as "McCarthy's purest fable yet." In a "New York Review of Books" article, author Michael Chabon heralded the novel. Discussing the novel's relation to established genres, Chabon insists "The Road" is not science fiction; although "the adventure story in both its modern and epic forms... structures the narrative", Chabon says, "ultimately it is as a lyrical epic of horror that "The Road" is best understood." "Entertainment Weekly" in June 2008 named "The Road" the best book, fiction or non-fiction, of the past 25 years and put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "With its spare prose, McCarthy's post-apocalyptic odyssey from 2006 managed to be both harrowing and heartbreaking." In 2019, the novel was ranked 17th on "The Guardian"'s list of the 100 best books of the 21st century.  On March 28, 2007, the selection of "The Road" as the next novel in Oprah Winfrey's Book Club was announced. A televised interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was conducted on June 5, 2007, and it was McCarthy's first, though he had been interviewed for the print media before. The announcement of McCarthy's television appearance surprised his followers. "Wait a minute until I can pick my jaw up off the floor," said John Wegner, an English professor at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, and editor of the "Cormac McCarthy Journal", when told of the interview. During Winfrey's interview, McCarthy insisted his son, John Francis, was a co-author to the novel, revealing that some of the conversations between the father and son in the novel were based upon actual conversations between McCarthy and his son. The novel was also dedicated to his son; in a way, it is a love story for his son, but McCarthy felt embarrassed to admit it on television.  On November 5, 2019, the "BBC News" listed "The Road" on its list of the 100 most influential novels.

Awards and nominations.

In 2006, McCarthy was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in fiction and the Believer Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. On April 16, 2007, the novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In 2012, it was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black.

Adaptations.

A film adaptation of the novel, directed by John Hillcoat and written by Joe Penhall, opened in theatres on November 25, 2009. The film stars Viggo Mortensen as the man and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the boy. Production took place in Louisiana, Oregon, and several locations in Pennsylvania. The film, like the novel, received generally positive reviews from critics.

The Road is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months, across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed most of civilization and, in the intervening years, almost all life on Earth. The novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006. The book was adapted to a film of the same name in 2009, directed by John Hillcoat.


History.

The collection began as part of the Dresden Painting Gallery. The purchase of contemporary works, creating the "Modern Department", was stepped up in 1843 under Bernhard von Lindenau, director of the Royal Museums, who personally donated 700 talers each year for this purpose. The Academic Council, responsible for the gallery and the Academy of Fine Arts, also contributed 50 percent of the proceeds from its exhibitions towards new purchases. However, these funds were only enough for limited acquisitions, mostly restricted to German works.  Until 1882 the collection contained only four major German Romanticism works; two paintings by Caspar David Friedrich and two works by Ludwig Richter. It was subsequently expanded under director Karl Woermann. The gallery first started to buy foreign contemporary works following an international art exhibition in Dresden in 1897.  Under Hans Posse, director from 1910, the gallery enlarged its collections of German Romanticism, Impressionism, and late 19th century "Civic Realism" ("Bürgerlicher Realismus"), which are still important today. The gallery was financially strengthened by the founding of the Dresden Museums Association in 1911 and the Patrons Association in 1917.  In 1931, the Modern Department of the gallery with paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries moved into a separate building on Brühl's Terrace, laying the foundations for what is now known as the New Masters Gallery. The Nazi campaign against "degenerate art" resulted in the confiscation and sale of 56 paintings, including works by Edvard Munch, Max Beckmann and Emil Nolde. In the 1945 bombing of Dresden, 196 paintings were destroyed by fire while on a truck.  The present-day New Masters Gallery was founded in 1959, and has been housed in the upper rooms of the Albertinum since 1965. Subsequently, the gallery was able to retrieve a number of works that had been lost during and after World War II.  The floods of 2002 made it necessary to renovate the Albertinum and build a new flood-proof depot. The Albertinum reopened in June 2010 with an enlargement to the "Salzgasse Wing". Its rooms were once occupied by the Green Vault that was moved to the renovated Dresden Castle at that time. Special exhibitions of contemporary art are now held there.

Collection.

Some 300 paintings out of a collection of about 3,000 works are exhibited in the gallery. They date from the 19th century until today. Also shown are works from the Sculpture Collection belonging to the same period.  On display are paintings by numerous major artists, including those of the German Romantics Friedrich, and Richter; the Impressionists Corinth and Slevogt; and the Expressionist Nolde, including his "Brücke" works, and Dix from the New Objectivity movement. There are also works by Beckmann, Gauguin, Kirchner, Klee, Modersohn-Becker, Monet, Munch, and one painting by Van Gogh. Rooms are devoted to Georg Baselitz, A.R. Penck and Gerhard Richter. Contemporary artists include Neo Rauch and Luc Tuymans.

Other.

The Society of Modern Art in Dresden ("Gesellschaft für moderne Kunst in Dresden"), founded in 1994, raises funds for the purchase of new works and organises permanent loans to the museum. Through its support, more than 30 works have been acquired and several exhibitions funded.

The Galerie Neue Meister (, "New Masters Gallery") in Dresden, Germany, displays around 300 paintings from the 19th century until today, including works from Otto Dix, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. The gallery also exhibits a number of sculptures from the Dresden Sculpture Collection from the same period. The museum's collection grew out of the Old Masters Gallery, for which contemporary works were increasingly purchased after 1843.


History.

Wikiversity's data phase officially began on August 15, 2006, with the.  The idea of Wikiversity began with the initial development of the Wikiversity community within the Wikibooks project, however when it was nominated for deletion from Wikibooks, soon there was a proposal to make Wikiversity an independent Wikimedia project, with the fundamental goal to broaden the scope of activities within the Wikimedia community to include additional types of learning resources in addition to textbooks.  Two proposals were made. The first project proposal was not approved (2005) and the second, modified proposal, was approved (2006).  The launch of Wikiversity was announced at Wikimania 2006 as an idea to:

Project details.

Wikiversity is a center for the creation of and use of free learning materials, and the provision of. Wikiversity is one of many wikis used in educational contexts, as well as many initiatives that are creating free and open educational resources.  The primary priorities and goals for Wikiversity are to:  The Wikiversity e-Learning model places emphasis on "learning groups" and "learning by doing". Wikiversity's motto and slogan is "set learning free", indicating that groups/communities of Wikiversity participants will engage in learning projects. Learning is facilitated through collaboration on projects that are detailed, outlined, summarized or results reported by editing Wikiversity pages. Wikiversity learning projects include collections of wiki webpages concerned with the exploration of a particular topic. Wikiversity participants are encouraged to express their learning goals, and the Wikiversity community collaborates to develop learning activities and projects to accommodate those goals. The Wikiversity e-Learning activities give learners the opportunity to build knowledge. Students have to be language-aware in order to be able to correct their classmates. By doing this, students develop their reflection skills. Secondly, they enable students to be autonomous deciding what to write or edit, also when and how to do it. Students are able to free resort to any mean of support. At the same time, it fosters cognitive development, engaging students to collaborate.  Learning resources are developed by an individual or groups, either on their own initiative, or as part of a learning project. Wikiversity resources include teaching aids, lesson plans, curricula, links to off-site resources, course notes, example and problem sets, computer simulations, reading lists, and other as devised by participants – but do not include final polished textbooks. Texts useful to others are hosted at Wikibooks for update and maintenance. Learning groups with interests in each subject area create a web of resources that form the basis of discussions and activities at Wikiversity. Learning resources can be used by educators outside of Wikiversity for their own purposes, under the terms of the GFDL and a Creative Commons license (like Wikipedia).  Wikiversity also allows original research (in contrast to Wikipedia which does not). Such research content may lack any peer review.

WikiJournals.

Several ""s operate with an academic journal format on the Wikiversity website (under the WikiJournal User Group). Submitted articles are subjected to peer review by external experts before publication of an indexed, citable, stable version in the journal, and an editable version in Wikipedia. They are wholly free, offering open access to readers and charging no publication fee to authors (diamond open access). Some articles are written from scratch, and others are adapted from Wikipedia articles. They therefore aim to encourage experts to contribute content creation and improvement (as authors and peer reviewers), and provide an additional quality control mechanism for existing Wikipedia content. This activity started with "WikiJournal of Medicine" in 2014. The sister journals "WikiJournal of Science" and "WikiJournal of Humanities" both began publishing in 2018. The WikiJournal User Group received an open publishing award in November 2019.

Languages.

There are currently seventeen different Wikiversities: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Slovene, Spanish, and Swedish; Wikiversity projects in other languages are being developed at the "beta" multilingual hub.  For newly established specific language Wikiversities to move out of the initial exploratory "beta" phase, the new Wikiversity community must establish policies governing research activities. Wikiversity may act as a repository of research carried out by the, or others who are involved in wiki-based, or other research. Wikiversity hosts original research in addition to secondary research, unless a specific language group decides upon no research. It is expected that researchers will respect and update guidelines for appropriate research through a community consensus process. Currently the English Wikiversity hosts more than 376 research pages.

Reception.

PCWorld reported the Wikiversity project in 2007, when the most popular course was on film-making. It compared the project to Massachusetts Institute of Technology's "MIT OpenCourseWare", noting however that while free, MIT's offering was "not free enough for Wikiversity".  In their 2008 book on "Empowering Online Learning", Curtis Bonk and Ke Zhang noted that if "the Wikimedia Foundation can nurture credible resources and communities within Wikiversity, it will send serious shock waves throughout higher education." Steven Hoffman, in his 2010 book on teaching humanities, wrote that Wikiversity could do for higher education what Wikipedia had done "for the traditional encyclopedia". Hoffman noted that Wikiversity courses could look much like traditional online university courses, except that they were open in every sense. He did not expect Wikiversity to replace traditional universities, but could supplement them for "retiring baby boomers" spending time and energy on "education as leisure".  The Association for Psychological Science noted in 2018 that Wikipedia, often "Internet users' first source of information", is constantly changing in search of accuracy, accompanied in this by Wikiversity, its "lesser-known sister site".  J. Rapp et al., writing in 2019, commented that Wikiversity allowed readers to become active contributors; writing materials "can be regarded as a learning task for advanced Wikiversity authors in general." They noted that the Wikijournals differed from conventional journals in being transparent about reviewers' backgrounds, possibly facilitating interdisciplinary discussion, and in revealing the stages in the development of an article (by versioning).

Wikiversity is a Wikimedia Foundation project that supports learning communities, their learning materials, and resulting activities. It differs from Wikipedia in that it offers tutorials and other materials for the fostering of learning, rather than an encyclopedia; like Wikipedia it is available in many languages.


Life.

Gabriele Veneziano was born in Florence. In 1965, he earned his Laurea in Theoretical Physics from the University of Florence under the direction of. He pursued his doctoral studies at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel and obtained his PhD in 1967 under the supervision of Hector Rubinstein. During his stay in Israel and his early years at MIT, he collaborated with Marco Ademollo (a professor in Florence), Miguel Virasoro. and Sergio Fubini.  Between 1968 and 1972 he worked at MIT and CERN. In 1972 he became Amos de Shalit Professor of Physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science and in 1976 he accepted a position in the Theory Division at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland where he worked for more than 30 years and directed the Theory Division (between 1994 and 1997). He currently holds the chair of Elementary Particles, Gravitation and Cosmology at the College of France in Paris, France. In fall 2012, he spent a semester at New York University as Global Distinguished Professor.

Research.

Gabriele Veneziano first formulated the foundations of string theory in 1968 when he discovered a string picture could describe the interaction of strongly interacting particles. Veneziano discovered that the Euler Beta function, interpreted as a scattering amplitude, has many of the features needed to explain the physical properties of strongly interacting particles. This amplitude, known as the Veneziano amplitude, is interpreted as the scattering amplitude for four open string tachyons. In retrospect this work is now considered the founding of string theory although at the time it was not apparent the string picture would lead to a new theory of quantum gravity.  Veneziano's work led to intense research to try to explain the strong force by a field theory of strings about one fermi in length. The rise of quantum chromodynamics, a rival explanation of the strong force, led to a temporary loss of interest in string theories until the 1980s when interest was revived.  In 1991, he published a paper that shows how an inflationary cosmological model can be obtained from string theory, thus opening the door to a description of string cosmological pre-big bang scenarios.

Gabriele Veneziano (; ; born 7 September 1942) is an Italian theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of string theory. He has conducted most of his scientific activities at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, and held the Chair of Elementary Particles, Gravitation and Cosmology at the Collège de France in Paris from 2004 to 2013.


Origin.

The idea for the play came to Ionesco while he was trying to learn English with the Assimil method. Impressed by the contents of the dialogues, often very sober and strange, he decided to write an absurd play named "L'anglais sans peine" ("English without toil"). Other possible titles which were considered included "Il pleut des chiens et des chats," ("It's raining cats and dogs", translated in French literally); "L'heure anglaise" and "Big Ben Follies".  Its actual title was the result of an error in rehearsal by actor : the fire chief's monologue initially included a mention of "l'institutrice blonde" ("the blonde schoolteacher"), but Huet said "la cantatrice chauve", and Ionesco, who was present, decided to re-use the phrase.

Overview.

The Smiths are a traditional couple from London who have invited another couple, the Martins, over for a visit. They are joined later by the Smiths' maid, Mary, and the local fire chief, who is also Mary's lover. The two families engage in meaningless banter, telling stories and relating nonsensical poems. At one point, Mrs. Martin converses with her husband as if he were a stranger she just met. As the fire chief turns to leave, he mentions "the bald soprano" in passing, which has a very unsettling effect on the others. Mrs. Smith replies that "she always styles her hair the same way." After the Fire Chief's exit, the play devolves into a series of complete non-sequiturs with no resemblance to normal conversation. It ends with the two couples shouting in unison "It's not that way. It's over here!" (""C’est pas par là, c’est par ici!"" ) right before a blackout occurs. When the lights come back on, the scene starts from the beginning with the Martins reciting the Smiths' lines from the beginning of the play for a while before the curtain closes.

Story.

The play opens on Mrs. Smith reciting the events of the night with Mr. Smith. They discuss the death of someone they knew, Bobby Watson. The play then shifts back to reality and they realize that Bobby has been dead for four years. Suddenly they flash back to when he was alive and engaged to a woman who was also called Bobby Watson. Then they shift back to reality where they realize that he has left behind two children and they are gossiping about who his wife will remarry. Allegedly she is going to name another relative by the same name, but being that they all have the same name and work in the same industry the Smiths have a difficult time figuring out who is who.  Their maid, Mary enters, announcing that the Martins have arrived. The Smiths leave.  The Martins enter, and Mary chides them for being late; then she exits.  After entering the room, the Martins realize that they have met each other before. They are surprised to find that they are both from the city of Manchester, that they both took the same train to London, that they both traveled third class, that they both reside at No. 19 Bromfield Street, that they sleep in the same bed, and that they both have a two-year-old daughter named Alice with one red eye and one white eye. They come to the conclusion that they are husband and wife. They recognize each other and embrace.  Mary is on stage with the Martins, who are asleep. She tells the audience that the two are mistaken, that they are not husband and wife, but that, never mind, things should be left just as they are.  The Martins, alone, agree that now that they've found each other, they should just live as they had before.  When the Smiths return they talk about and with their guests. The doorbell rings and Mr. Smith goes to open the door.  The Fire Chief enters. He's disappointed to find no fire at the Smiths', but they promise that they'll call him if one occurs. While they wait for something to happen they tell telling stories, none of which make sense.  Mary enters and tells her own story, in which she reveals that she is the lover of the Fire Chief. The Smiths then push her out of the room  The Fire Chief leaves.  The Martins and the Smiths recite nonsensical truisms. Then all sense of language dissipates as the two couples quarrel, but no one is able to communicate and none of their issues are resolved. As they argue the lights fade; when they rise again, the Martins are in the Smiths' living room, repeating the same lines with which the Smiths opened the play.

Meaning.

Like many plays in the theatre of the absurd genre, the underlying theme of "The Bald Soprano" is not immediately apparent. Many suggest that it expresses the futility of meaningful communication in modern society. The script is charged with non sequiturs that give the impression that the characters are not even listening to each other in their frantic efforts to make their own voices heard. There was speculation that it was parody around the time of its first performance, but Ionesco states in an essay written to his critics that he had no intention of parody, but if he were parodying anything, it would be everything.  "The Bald Soprano" appears to have been written as a continuous loop. The final scene contains stage instructions to start the performance over from the very beginning, with the Martin couple substituted for the Smith couple and vice versa. However, this decision was only added in after the show's hundredth performance, and it was originally the Smiths who restarted the show, in exactly the same manner as before.  According to Ionesco, he had several possible endings in mind, including a climax in which the "author" or "manager" antagonizes the audience, and even a version in which the audience is shot with machine guns. However, he ultimately settled for a cheaper solution, the cycle. Ionesco told Claude Bonnefoy in an interview, "I wanted to give a meaning to the play by having it begin all over again with two characters. In this way the end becomes a new beginning but, since there are two couples in the play, it begins the first time with the Smiths and the second time with the Martins, to suggest the interchangeable nature of the characters: the Smiths are the Martins and the Martins are the Smiths".

La Cantatrice chauve – translated from French as The Bald Soprano or The Bald Prima Donna – is the first play written by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco.


Design and development.

Development of the Safir began in 1944 as part of a plan to compensate for reductions in orders for military aircraft when the Second World War finally ended. Three major civil programmes were planned, the Type 90 Scandia airliner, the Type 91 Safir light aircraft and the Saab 92 motor car. The Safir was designed by Anders J. Andersson, who had previously worked for Bücker, where he had designed the all-wood Bücker Bü 181 "Bestmann". The Safir thus shared many conceptual design features with the Bestmann. It was primarily of metal construction, although it did have fabric-covered control surfaces. Development was slowed by the need to concentrate on more urgent military work, and by industrial action in suppliers. The Safir's first flight took place on 20 November 1945.  While the prototype was first powered by a four cylinder de Havilland Gipsy Major IC piston engine, the Saab 91A initial production model used a Gipsy Major 10. The Gipsy-engine Safir was considered underpowered by military customers, and as a result, the Gipsy was replaced by a six-cylinder Lycoming O-435A rated at, with the re-engined type becoming the Saab 91B, flying on 18 January 1949. The Saab 91C, first flying in September 1953, retained the O-435 engine, but has a revised four-seat cabin. The 91D replaced the O-435 with a lighter four-cylinder Lycoming O-360-A1A engine rated at.  As well as its primary role as a trainer/touring aircraft, the Safir was also used as an aerodynamic testbed. The first prototype was used as a platform for low speed testing of the swept wing for Saab 29 jet fighter, and was later further modified to test the wing for the Saab 32 Lansen fighter. In addition, one ex-Swedish aircraft was sold to Japan, going through a variety of modifications to test high-lift devices for the Shin Meiwa PS-1 flying boat.

Operational history.

Production of the Saab 91A began in 1946, but sales were slow owing to the large numbers of cheap ex-military trainers for sale after the end of the Second World War. Major users of the 91A were the Swedish and Ethiopian Air Forces. In 1951, Sweden ordered 74 91B trainers to replace its remaining Bestmanns, but Saab was busy building J29 Tunnan fighters, so production of the Saab 91B was moved to the Dutch company De Schelde at their Dordrecht factory. De Schedle continued building the Safir until 1955, completing a total of 120 Saab 91B and 91Cs.  Saab restarted production of the Safir at its Linköping in 1954, building 25 Saab 91B-2s for Norway, 30 Saab 91Cs, all for military customers, and 99 Saab 91Ds. Production continued until 1966, when the last Safir, a Saab 91C for Ethiopia, was completed. Total production was 323 aircraft including the prototype. The Safir was used by the Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Austrian, Tunisian and Ethiopean air forces as a trainer aircraft, and a single aircraft was used by the Japan Defense Agency as an STOL test platform. The type remained in Norwegian and Finnish service until the late 1980s, and in Austria until 1992. While it was replaced as a trainer by the Scottish Aviation Bulldog in Sweden in 1971, it remained in use as a liaison aircraft, still being in service in 1994.  Major civilian users were Air France, Lufthansa and the Dutch "Rijksluchtvaartschool" (RLS) on the Groningen Airport Eelde, near Groningen.  During development of the Saab 29, the initial Saab 91 prototype was modified with a scaled-down version of the Saab 29's swept wings; this aircraft was designated Saab 201 Experimental Aircraft. This same airframe was later fitted with wings designed for the Saab 32 Lansen; this was designated Saab 202.  A single Saab 91 Safir was modified as the Saab X1G for research in Japan.

The Saab 91 Safir (Swedish: "sapphire") is a three (91A, B, B-2) or four (91C, D) seater, single engine trainer aircraft. The Safir was built by Saab AB in Linköping, Sweden, (203 aircraft) and by "De Schelde" in Dordrecht, Netherlands (120 aircraft).


Appearance.

"Vespa velutina" is slightly smaller than the European hornet. Typically, queens are 30 mm (1.2 in) in length, and males about 24 mm (0.95 in). Workers measure about 20 mm (0.80 in) in length. The species has distinctive yellow tarsi (legs). The thorax is a velvety brown or black with a brown abdomen. Each abdominal segment has a narrow posterior yellow border, except for the fourth segment, which is orange. The head is black and the face yellow. Regional forms vary sufficiently in colour to cause difficulties in classification, and several subspecies have been variously identified and ultimately rejected; while a history of recognizing subspecies within many of the hornets exists, including "V. velutina", the most recent taxonomic revision of the genus treats all subspecific names in the genus "Vespa" as synonyms, effectively relegating them to no more than informal names for regional color forms. The color form causing concern about its invasiveness in Europe has been referred to as "V. v. nigrithorax", though this name no longer has any taxonomic standing.

Biology.

Like other hornets, "V. velutina" builds nests that may house colonies of several thousand individuals. Females in the colony are armed with formidable stingers with which they defend their nests and kill their prey. The nest is of paper, roughly in the shape of a huge egg, usually at least half a metre long. Unlike the nest of the European hornet, "V. crabro", its exit is usually lateral rather than at the bottom. The nesting season is long, and a colony commonly begins by building a nest in a low shrub, then abandoning it after some months and rapidly building a new one high in a tree, possibly as an antiparasitic measure. The next generation of young queens disperses in the late autumn to hibernate over winter. "V. velutina" opportunistically hunts a very wide range of insects, including flies, dragonflies, and Orthoptera, typically capturing them by pursuit. The major concern about their invasiveness, however, is that when they find a bee colony or an apiary, they tend to settle down and specialise in honeybees as their prey, as do the larger Japanese giant hornets. A hornet occupies a position above a beehive as its hunting territory. It flies about within an area of about half a square metre, scanning the direction from which foraging bees return to the hive. Each hornet vigorously defends its hunting territory, chasing off any rivals. However, as soon as it catches a bee, it flies off and another hornet replaces it, usually within a few seconds. The circadian activities of the two species of honeybees are similar, and the hunting hornets match them; their most intense activity is in the morning and afternoon, not near dusk or noon.  In its native range "V. velutina" mainly hunts "Apis cerana", the eastern honey bee, which has evolved a strategy of avoiding hovering hornets by rapid entry and exit from the hive when hornets are about. The guard bees also ball hornets to death. However, where the western honey bee has been imported, "V. velutina" finds them easier prey than "A. cerana", because "A. mellifera" has not been subjected to selection for countering concentrated hawking by hornets. For example, "A. mellifera" approach their hives more indirectly and slowly when they detect hawking hornets, instead of darting in as fast as possible in the way that "A. cerana" does. They also ball hornets, but less effectively, and they do not achieve as high a temperature in the ball. Furthermore, when they detect that hornets are hawking, "A. cerana" tend to withdraw into the nest, but "A. mellifera" do not.  "A. cerana" guard bees also use wing shimmering in response to the presence of "V. velutina". This is a very generalised response to disturbance and has variously been suggested to be an aposematic signal or a strategy for disruption of visual patterns, similar to the behaviour of "Apis cerana nuluensis" and "Apis dorsata". "Apis mellifera" exhibit no such behaviour. In any event, when "A. mellifera" occurs together with "A. cerana", "V. velutina" preferentially hawks "A. mellifera" foragers.

Distribution.

"V. velutina" originates from Southeast Asia, particularly the tropical regions, from northern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Taiwan, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Indo-Chinese peninsula, and surrounding archipelagoes.  As an invader, the hornet has appeared in France, Spain, Portugal, South Korea, and Japan. Further invasions are expected in various countries, including much of Europe. A nest was reported on the Channel Island of Alderney in 2016. The first sighting on the UK mainland was announced on 20 September 2016 and occurred near Tetbury in Gloucestershire; the nest was found and destroyed and no breeding adults were found within.

Pest status and invasiveness.

"V. velutina" has become an invasive species in France, where it is believed to have arrived in boxes of pottery from China in 2004. Humans have been attacked after disturbing hornets; although the species is not aggressive, it "charges in a group as soon as it feels its nest is threatened". People have been hospitalised in France after suffering anaphylactic shock as a result of multiple stings. Because of hornets' larger size, their stings are more serious than those of bees. By 2009, several thousand nests were in the area of Bordeaux and surrounding departments, and by the end of 2015, they were reported over most of France.  The hornet spread to northern Spain, as confirmed in 2010 by the Beekeepers' Association of the Basque Country ("Gipuzkoako Erlezainen Elkartea") and the Neiker entomology institute in Irún, after breeding colonies were found. It reached Portugal in 2011.  "El País" newspaper carried an article in its October 6, 2013, edition that the hornet had been spotted in Vall d'en Bas, Garrotxa, Catalonia, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Efforts were made to locate the nests before the insects hibernated in November. After foot patrols failed to track the hornets down, a helicopter equipped with a thermal camera was making sweeps over the area. The flights during the morning chill attempted to find the nest's 'heat signature' against the colder background. In September 2013, a beekeeper from Rasines, Cantabria, documented the hornets' presence in two specimens. In June 2015, firemen pulled a nest of the hornet above a building entrance in Santander. In November 2017, a man was killed in Galicia after being stung over 20 times while pruning an apple tree.  It was reported in Liguria, Italy, since 2012. According to Italian Beekepers' Association in 2017, the hornet was well established in northwestern regions of Italy, and colonization is steadily advancing.  As of October 2017, the species was reported in Belgium.  The hornet has been reported as naturalised on the Japanese island of Tsushima since about 2010.

The Asian hornet, also known as the yellow-legged hornet ("Vespa velutina"), is a species of hornet indigenous to Southeast Asia. It is of concern as an invasive species in some other countries.


Development.

At the beginning of the 1990s the German Navy was seeking a replacement for the Type 206 submarines. Initial study started on a Type 209 improved design, with AIP capability, called Type 212.  The final programme started in 1994 as the two navies of Germany and Italy began working together to design a new conventional submarine, respectively to operate in the shallow and confined waters of the Baltic Sea and in the deeper waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The two different requirements were mixed into a common one and, because of significant updates to the design, the designation has been changed to Type 212A since then.  On 22 April 1996 a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) gave the start to the cooperation for building four vessels for German Navy and four vessels for Italian Navy. Its main aim was the construction of identical boats and the start of a collaboration in logistic and life-cycle support for the two navies.  The German government placed an initial order of four "Type 212A" submarines in 1998. The German Submarine Consortium built them at the shipyards of HDW and Thyssen Nordseewerke GmbH (TNSW) of Emden. Different sections of the submarines were constructed at both sites at the same time and then half of them were shipped to the respective other yard so that both HDW and Thyssen Nordseewerke assembled two complete submarines each.  In the same year the Italian government placed an order of two "U212A" submarines built by Fincantieri for the Italian Navy ("Marina Militare") at Muggiano shipyard, designated as the Todaro class.  The German Navy ordered two additional, improved submarines in 2006, to be delivered from 2012 on. They will be 1.2 meters longer to give additional space for a new reconnaissance mast.  On 21 April 2008 the Italian Navy ordered the optional second batch of submarine, in the same configuration of the original ones. Some upgrading should involve materials and components of commercial derivation, as well as the software package of the CMS. The intention is to keep the same configuration of the first series and reduce maintenance costs.  The export-oriented Type 214 submarine succeeds the Type 209 submarine and shares certain features with the Type 212A, such as the AIP fuel cell propulsion.  Poland announced in December 2013 they will not buy, but only lease, two U212-A's, on account of not meeting "requirements of tactical and technical equipment developed by the military, including in particular the propulsion system, missile weapons and rescue system".  On 22 December 2015 Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi, Commander in Chief of the Italian Navy, announced plans to build another two U212A submarines.  In October 2016, during the celebration of the commissioning of "U36", the German Navy announced the intent to procure another batch of two U212A within the next decade.  In February 2017, it was announced that the Royal Norwegian Navy will procure four submarines based on Type 212 to enter service between 2025 and 2028. The batch will consist of six submarines, with the German Navy ordering two new boats of the Type 212.

Design.

Partly owing to the "X" arrangement of the stern planes, the "Type 212" is capable of operating in as little as 17 metres of water, allowing it to come much closer to shore than most contemporary submarines. This gives it an advantage in covert operations, as SCUBA-equipped commandos operating from the boat can surface close to the beach and execute their mission more quickly and with less effort.  A notable design feature is the prismatic hull cross-section and smoothly faired transitions from the hull to the sail, improving the boat's stealth characteristics. The ship and internal fixtures are constructed of nonmagnetic materials, significantly reducing the chances of it being detected by magnetometers or setting off magnetic naval mines.

Air-independent propulsion.

Although hydrogen–oxygen propulsion had been considered for submarines as early as World War I, the concept was not very successful until recently due to fire and explosion concerns. In the "Type 212" this has been countered by storing the fuel and oxidizer in tanks outside the crew space, between the pressure hull and outer light hull. The gases are piped through the pressure hull to the fuel cells as needed to generate electricity, but at any given time there is only a very small amount of gas present in the crew space.

Weapons.

Currently, the "Type 212A" is capable of launching the fiber optic-guided DM2A4 Seehecht ("Seahake") heavyweight torpedoes, the WASS BlackShark torpedoes and short-range missiles from its six torpedo tubes, which use a water ram expulsion system. Future capability may include tube-launched cruise missiles.  The short-range IDAS missile (based on the IRIS-T missile), primarily intended for use against air threats as well as small or medium-sized sea- or near land targets, is currently being developed by Diehl BGT Defence to be fired from Type 212's torpedo tubes. IDAS is fiber-optic guided and has a range of approx. 20 km. Four missiles fit in one torpedo tube, stored in a magazine. First deliveries of IDAS for the German Navy were scheduled from 2014 on.  A 30 mm auto-cannon called Muräne (moray) to support diver operations or to give warning shots is being considered, too. The cannon, probably a version of the RMK30 built by Rheinmetall, will be stored in a retractable mast and can be fired without the boat emerging. The mast will also be designed to contain three Aladin UAVs for reconnaissance missions. This mast is likely to be mounted on the second batch of Type 212 submarines for the German Navy.

Operations.

In April 2006, the German Navy's "U-32" sailed from the Baltic Sea to Rota, Spain in a journey lasting two weeks, covering without surfacing or snorkelling.  The Italian Navy's S 526 "Todaro" was deployed, for over six months in 2008, to the United States for CONUS 2008 exercise with United States Navy.  The Italian Navy's S 527 "Scirè" was deployed, for over five months in 2009, to the U.S. for CONUS 2009 exercise with United States Navy.  The Italian Navy's S 526 "Todaro", between 1 September 2012 and 13 February 2013, for the first time was deployed to the Aden Gulf, Arabic Sea, Oman Gulf and Indian Ocean.  In 2013, while on the way to participate in naval exercises in U.S. waters, the German Navy's "U-32" established a new record for non-nuclear submarines with 18 days in submerged transit without snorkelling.  On 15 October 2017, the German Navy's "U-35" suffered damage to its rudder fins while conducting dives off the Norwegian coast.

The German Type 212 class, also Italian Todaro class, is a non-nuclear submarine developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG (HDW) for the German and Italian navies. It features diesel propulsion and an additional air-independent propulsion (AIP) system using Siemens proton exchange membrane (PEM) compressed hydrogen fuel cells. The submarines can operate at high speed on diesel power or switch to the AIP system for silent slow cruising, staying submerged for up to three weeks with little exhaust heat. The system is also said to be vibration-free, extremely quiet and virtually undetectable.


Career.

Allison attended Daystrom Elementary Public School,Humber Summit Middle School and Emery Collegiate Secondary School in the Weston Road and Finch Avenue Area of Toronto.Westview Centennial Secondary School in Toronto, Ontario. His brother Todd attended the same schools. As a youth, he played in the 1989 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Toronto Red Wings minor ice hockey team. Allison also won an OFSAA (Ontario Secondary School) Championship playing for the Emery Eagles and finished 2nd in scoring to his linemate Khalid Abdul-Haqq.  Allison was drafted 17th overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft by the Washington Capitals, amidst a stellar junior career for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).  Allison played parts of two seasons with the Los Angeles Kings where, for a brief time, he teamed with former stars Žigmund Pálffy and Adam Deadmarsh. He has also played for the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals. His best season was 2000–01 when he had 95 points. Allison has played 552 games in his career, racking up 154 goals and 331 assists for 485 points. He also has 25 points in 25 career playoff games. Allison missed most of the 2002–03 season and all of the following season because of a neck injury and concussion.  Prior to the 2005–06 season, Allison signed a one-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs worth $1.5 million, with bonus incentives for good performance. Allison suffered a hand injury in a game against the Montreal Canadiens, and had to have surgery on his hand, which sidelined him for the remainder of the season. In the 66 games he played in before the injury, he scored 17 goals and had 60 points for the Maple Leafs.  After the 2005–06 season, Allison became an unrestricted free agent. Toronto chose not to re-sign Allison because new head coach Paul Maurice and GM John Ferguson, Jr. did not feel he would be a proper fit for their new, young, fast-paced team.  Allison subsequently did not sign with a team for the 2006–07 NHL season, despite rumours of multiple contract offers. In retirement Allison operated a horse farm north of Toronto.

2009 Attempted comeback.

On August 28, 2009, Allison received an invitation to the Toronto Maple Leafs September 2009 Training Camp and trained with them through the beginning of the preseason. Allison had not played professionally since 2005–06; in explaining the invitation, Brian Burke, the general manager of the Maple Leafs, said: "He had some personal issues and some major physical issues at that time. He has solved all of those. In my mind, he is a guy who might give us a lift and he deserves that opportunity,"  In an interview after his first exhibition game back, Allison was as confident as ever. "I didn't contribute much, but that's to be expected, I'm just shaking the cobwebs off. I fully anticipate regaining my previous form as a point per game player."  Allison's bid to make the team on a tryout ended up falling short. The training invite yielded a memorable moment, when Allison fought with the Philadelphia Flyers' Darroll Powe during an exhibition game and ripped his helmet in half with his bare hands. It was not enough, however, and by September 28, Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson confessed that Allison was "out of the plans."

Post-hockey career.

"Variety" and "Deadline" in 2018 reported that Allison and his company Don Kee Productions were one of fourteen executive producers on the film Arkansas.

Jason Paul Allison (born May 29, 1975) is a former professional ice hockey centre who played 552 games in the National Hockey League. His most productive seasons were with the Boston Bruins, where he briefly served as team captain.


Transport.

In addition to the conventional modes of transport, Otrokovice is also equipped with private domestic airport and a wharf at Baťa navigable canal.

Rail.

Otrokovice is the primary stop on the main train line from Prague, with fast trains taking around 3 hours. It is also a hub station with trains going East through Zlin and South, through Staré Město.

Road.

Highway 55 now links the town into the main Czech highway network. Driving time to Prague is around 2:40 and to Brno is 50 minutes.

Bus.

The town has a regular bus service, linking main areas of the town. Trolleybus line connects Otrokovice with Zlín.

Paths.

A new path (suitable for Inline Skating) was built in 2014, following the course of Dřevnice river to Zlín.

Shopping.

The town lacks a clear center, instead having a scattering of shops and other businesses across several areas. In 2014, a large Kaufland store opened towards the South of the town. This area has turned into a commercial center including a pet shop, toy shop and a large electrical retailer. A larger commercial, half way to Zlín, contains a much greater range of stores including a Tesco Superstore.

Industry.

Barum (Continental AG) has a manufacturing facility in Otrokovice which is a major employer for the town. Another important manufacturing site is Toma where various companies of various industries are located, and Zlin Aviation that operates from the airfield next to the Barum factory.

Twin towns — sister cities.

Otrokovice is twinned with:

Otrokovice (; ) is the second largest town in the Zlín District of the Czech Republic. It is located in a hilly part of the historical region of Moravia, 10 km west of the city of Zlín, at the confluence of the rivers Morava, Dřevnice and the Mojena Brook.


Play.

The setup involves an auctioneer who volunteers to auction off a dollar bill with the following rule: the bill goes to the winner; however, the second-highest bidder also loses the amount that they bid, making them the biggest loser in the auction. The winner can get a dollar for a mere 5 cents (the minimum bid), but only if no one else enters into the bidding war.  The game begins with one of the players bidding 5 cents, hoping to make a 95-cent profit. They can be outbid by another player bidding 10 cents, as a 90-cent profit is still desirable. Similarly, another bidder may bid 15 cents, making an 85-cent profit. Meanwhile, the second bidder may attempt to convert their loss of 10 cents into a gain of 80 cents by bidding 20 cents, and so on. Every player has a choice of either paying for nothing or bidding 5 cents more on the dollar. Any bid beyond the value of a dollar is a loss for all bidders alike.  A series of rational bids will reach and ultimately surpass one dollar as the bidders seek to minimize their losses. If the first bidder bids 95 cents, and the second bidder bids one dollar (for no net gain or loss), the first bidder stands to lose 95 cents unless they bid $1.05, in which case they rationally bid more than the value of the item for sale (the dollar) in order to reduce their losses to only 5 cents.  Bidding continues with the second highest bidder always losing more than the highest bidder and therefore always trying to become the high bidder. Only the auctioneer gets to profit in the end.

Analysis.

The game is analogous to the war of attrition and penny auction and has a symmetric mixed strategy equilibrium (there are also asymmetric pure equilibria). Suppose we start with two players; player 1 moves in odd periods, while player 2 moves in even periods. When a player is behind, they are indifferent between raising and dropping out. If the opponent drops out with probability formula_1, raising gives the player an expected payoff of formula_2 On the other hand, dropping out yields zero, so indifference requires that the opponent drops out with 5% probability each period. Notice that this probability is independent of how high the bids currently are; this follows from the fact that past bids are a sunk cost. The maximum bid follows a binomial distribution with mean 0.5 (recall the bidders make zero profits each, on average).

The dollar auction is a non-zero sum sequential game designed by economist Martin Shubik to illustrate a paradox brought about by traditional rational choice theory in which players are compelled to make an ultimately irrational decision based completely on a sequence of apparently rational choices made throughout the game.


Club career.

Gwarek Zabrze.

Piszczek began his career as a striker. In 2001, he joined Gwarek Zabrze, coached by Vincent Soshinski, where he broke many goalscoring records at junior level and in 2003 won the Polish youth championship. In 2004, he became the top scorer at the 2004 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, along with the Turk Ali Öztürk.

Zagłębie Lubin.

Hertha BSC was attracted by his performances and promptly signed Piszczek in 2004, but then immediately loaned him out to Zagłębie Lubin. He made his debut on 16 October 2004, in a 7–0 win against GKS Katowice, scoring and assisting a goal for Wojciech Łobodziński in the process. With Zagłębie, he won the 2006–07 Ekstraklasa playing mainly as a left winger in 4–3–3 formation, with Łobodziński on the right wing and Michał Chałbiński in the centre, although he was also utilized as a centre forward. He scored 11 goals in 2006–07 season, becoming the league's third best scorer after Chałbiński, who scored 12, and Piotr Reiss, who scored 15.

Hertha.

In the fall of 2007, after three years with Zagłębie Lubin, Hertha recalled Piszczek back to the club. He scored his first goal in the Bundesliga on 26 April 2008, to earn one point against Hannover 96.  Piszczek missed most of the first half of the 2008–09 season as the result of a hip problem that eventually required surgery. He began training again in February 2009 but in March suffered a setback due to a minor knee injury. He returned to Bundesliga action in April. At Hertha, Piszczek initially played as an offensive midfielder or on left wing, but in his second season, he started to appear at right-back after an injury to Arne Friedrich. After Friedrich recovered, Piszczek lost his place in the starting line-up, but reclaimed it in 2009–10, when Friedrich moved to centre-back.

Borussia Dortmund.

On 19 May 2010, Piszczek moved to Borussia Dortmund on a free transfer, signing a contract until June 2013. On 26 July 2011, he signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until June 2016. On 24 September 2011, he scored his first goal for his new German club, a last-minute volley to win the match away to Mainz 05 2–1. In the 2012–13 season for Dortmund, Piszczek appeared in 11 out of 12 matches of Dortmund's road to the UEFA Champions League Final in 2013. He also started the final at right-back against Bayern Munich, but Dortmund lost by one goal after Arjen Robben scored an 89th-minute winner for Bayern. On 27 January 2016, Piszczek signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until 2018. On 6 April 2017, he extended his contract with Dortmund until 30 June 2019.  On 13 March 2018, Borussia Dortmund announced that the club had reached an agreement with Piszczek for a contract extension which will keep him at the club until 30 June 2020. Piszczek also announced that he would retire from professional football at the end of his contract, a claim he later clarified saying he's still "not certain".

International career.

Piszczek made his debut for the Poland national team in a friendly match against Estonia on 3 February 2007.  On 6 June 2008, he was selected for the final 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2008, replacing Jakub Błaszczykowski, who was left out through injury. He made one appearance at the tournament, coming on a substitute against Germany, but after receiving a training injury, did not play in the next match and had no further role in the tournament.  On 29 July 2011, the Polish Football Association gave a six-month suspension on Piszczek for participation in the fixing of a 2006 match against KS Cracovia match, in which he did not play. In September 2011, the suspension was cancelled.  Piszczek was selected for the final 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2012. He played in all three group games for Poland. On 22 March 2013, Piszczek scored his first goal for the national team in a 1–3 defeat to Ukraine. Four days later, he scored in a 5–0 win over San Marino.  He was also selected for the final 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016. Piszczek made his 50th appearance for the national team in the quarter-final match against Portugal, which Poland lost. Piszczek was selected for the final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. However, following a disappointing tournament performance with Poland, Piszczek confirmed his retirement from international football.  On November 2019, he was named to the national team for Euro 2020 qualifying matches with Israel and Slovenia. He started the Slovenia match in what was dubbed his farewell game, and received a standing ovation from supporters and a guard of honour from his fellow players when he was subbed off just before half time. Poland went on to win the match 3-2.

Personal life.

Piszczek was born in Czechowice-Dziedzice, Bielsko, and raised in Goczałkowice-Zdrój. His father, the coach of the local football club, decided to bring him to one of the training sessions at the age of about 7–8. His brothers, Marek and Adam were also involved in football.  Piszczek married his fiancée Ewa Kryjom in June 2009. The couple's daughters, Sara and Nel, were born on 3 March 2011 and 15 February 2016 respectively.

Łukasz Piotr Piszczek (; born 3 June 1985) is a Polish professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. He is primarily positioned as a right back, but is capable of playing as a central defender.


History.

Many legends exist around nougat’s origins. Early recipes of white nougat, probably borrowed from Central Asia, were found in a Middle Eastern book in Baghdad the 10th century. That nougat was called '. One of these recipes indicates that the'comes from Harran, a city located between Urfa (now in southeast Turkey) and Aleppo, Syria. Mention of'was found in a triangle between Urfa, Aleppo, and Baghdad. At the end of the 10th century, the traveler and geographer Ibn Hawqal wrote that he ate some'in Manbij (in modern Syria) and Bukhara (in modern Uzbekistan).

Distribution and popularity.

In southern Europe, nougat is a prominent component of Christmas meals. 'is produced in Spain, "Nougat" in southern France, ','or even'and "cubbaita" – from Latin'in Cremona, Taurianova and Sicily in Italy, in Greece where it is known as'or ', Malta (where it is known as'and sold in village festivals), Romania (where it is known as "" sold in local festivals and fairgrounds, mainly on the Sunday of Forgiveness preceding the Easter Lent), and in local variant form in Tabriz, Iran where it is known as "Luka".  The nougat that appears in many candy bars in the United States and United Kingdom differs from traditional recipes, consisting of sucrose and corn syrup aerated with a whipping agent such as egg white, hydrolyzed soya protein or gelatine and may include vegetable fats and milk powder. Typically it is combined with nuts, caramel, or chocolate. Some American confections feature this type of nougat as the primary component, rather than combined with other elements. Varieties of nougat are found in Milky Way, Reese's Fast Break, Snickers, Double Decker, ZERO bars, and Baby Ruth bars. Whipped nougat is the featured ingredient in the 3 Musketeers bar.  In Britain, nougat is traditionally made in the style of the southern European varieties, and is commonly found at fairgrounds and seaside resorts. The most common industrially produced type is coloured pink and white, the pink often fruit flavoured, and sometimes wrapped in edible rice paper with almonds and cherries.

Variations.

Spanish "" follows the traditional recipes with toasted nuts (commonly almonds), sugar, honey, and egg whites. 'from Italy includes these same basic ingredients as well as vanilla or citrus flavoring, and is often sandwiched between two very thin sheets of rice paper. The Venetian town of Cologna Veneta is well known for its nougat production, especially the type called ', always based on honey, sugar, egg whites, and almonds (also known as'in Italian) but with a different taste and harder to bite than '.  "Wiener (Viennese) Nougat" is a variant which contains only sugar, cocoa butter, nuts, and cocoa mass, and has a mellow consistency. The nuts used for Viennese nougat are usually hazelnuts. In Germany and the Nordic countries, Viennese nougat is what has traditionally been associated with and labelled as nougat, while in Sweden and Denmark the original nougat is referred to as "French nougat". In Germany, gianduja is traditionally called nougat.

Nougat (, ; ; ; ) is a family of confections made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts are common), whipped egg whites, and sometimes chopped candied fruit. The consistency of nougat is chewy, and it is used in a variety of candy bars and chocolates. The word "nougat" comes from Occitan (), seemingly from Latin 'nut bread' (the late colloquial Latin adjective means 'nutted' or 'nutty').


Life.

Youth.

Fontane was born in Neuruppin, a town 30 miles northwest of Berlin, into a Huguenot family. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an apothecary, his father's profession. He became an apothecary himself and in 1839, at the age of 20, wrote his first work ("Heinrichs IV. erste Liebe", now lost). His further education was in Leipzig, where he became acquainted with the progressives of the Vormärz.  Fontane's first published work, the novella "Geschwisterliebe" (Sibling Love), was published in the "Berlin Figaro" in December 1839. His biographer Gordon A. Craig claims that this gave few indications of being a gifted writer: "Although the theme of incest, which was to occupy Fontane on later occasions, is touched upon here, the mawkishness of the tale... is equalled by the lameness of its plot and the inertness of the style in which it is told, and [the characters] Clärchen and her brother are both so colourless that no one could have guessed that their creator had a future as a writer."  Fontane's first job as apothecary was in Dresden, after which he worked in his father's shop in the town of Letschin in the Oderbruch region. Fleeing its provincialism, Fontane published articles in the Leipzig newspaper "Die Eisenbahn" and translated Shakespeare. In 1843 he joined a literary club in Berlin named Tunnel über der Spree (Tunnel over the River Spree) where he became acquainted with many of the most renowned German writers, including Theodor Storm, Joseph von Eichendorff and Gottfried Keller.

Newspaper writer and critic.

In 1844 Fontane enlisted in the Prussian army and began the first of numerous journeys to England, which fostered his interest in Old English ballads, which he – a lifelong anglophile – began to imitate. In 1845 became engaged to his future wife, Emilie Rouanet-Kummer, whom he had met when still at school.  Fontane played a brief part in the revolutionary events of 1848. In 1849 he left his job as an apothecary and became a full-time journalist and writer. In order to provide for his family he accepted a job as a writer with the Prussian intelligence agency "Zentralstelle für Presseangelegenheiten", which was intended to influence the press towards the German nationalist cause. There he specialized in British affairs, and the agency made him for several years its correspondent in London, where he was later joined by Emilie, whom he had married in 1850, and their first two sons. While still in London he left his government job and on his return to Berlin became editor of the conservative newspaper "Neue Preussische Zeitung". As a man of liberal sympathies for free press and a united Germany Fontane ruefully wrote to a friend about his job with the "Zeitung": "I sold myself to the reaction for thirty pieces of silver a month... These days one cannot survive as an honest man."

London.

Fontane's travel books about Britain include "Ein Sommer in London" (A Summer in London, 1854), "Aus England, Studien und Briefe" (From England: Studies and Letters, 1860) and "Jenseit des Tweed, Bilder und Briefe aus Schottland" (Beyond the Tweed, Pictures and Letters from Scotland, 1860). In the books Fontane reflects both nature and the mood in Britain at that time. The success of the historical novels of Walter Scott had helped to make British themes much in vogue on the Continent. Fontane's "Gedichte" (Poems, 1851) and ballads "Männer und Helden" (Men and Heroes, 1860) tell of Britain's former glories. Back in Germany Fontane became particularly interested in his home province, the March of Brandenburg. He enjoyed rambling through its rural landscapes and small towns and delighted in the growth of its capital city, Berlin. His fascination with the countryside surrounding Berlin may be seen in his picturesque "Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg" (Walks through the Province of Brandenburg, 1862–82, 5 vols), in which he extended his earlier fascination with British history to his native land.

Wars of German Unification.

In 1870 Fontane quit his job at the "Kreuzzeitung" and became drama critic for the liberal "Vossische Zeitung", a job he held until his retirement. He had already written about Prussia's war against Denmark in "Der schleswig-holsteinische Krieg im Jahre 1864" (1866) and the Austro-Prussian War in "Der deutsche Krieg von 1866" (1869). He went to the front to observe the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and after being taken prisoner at Vaucouleurs remained in French captivity for three months. He memorialized his experiences in "Kriegsgefangen Erlebtes 1870" (Experiences as a Prisoner of War, 1871) and published his observations concerning the campaign in the book "Der Krieg gegen Frankreich 1870–71" (The War against France, 1870–71, published 1874–76). In his observations he strongly criticized Prussian militarism: "A mere glorification of the military without moral content or elevated aim is nauseating."

Later years.

At the age of 57 Fontane finally began work on his novels, for which he is remembered best today. Fontane's lifelong wish to be able to live from his literary works was finally fulfilled. A fine historical romance, "Vor dem Sturm" ("Before the Storm", 1878), was followed by a series exploring modern life, notably "L'Adultera" ("Woman Taken In Adultery", 1882), which was the first of his society novels and deemed risky for its theme of adultery.  His novels "Irrungen, Wirrungen" ("Trials and Tribulations", 1888), "Frau Jenny Treibel" (1892) and "Effi Briest" (1894–95) yielded insights into the lives of the nobility and the commoners. His achievement in this regard was later described as poetic realism. In "Der Stechlin" (written 1895–97), his last completed novel, Fontane adapted the realistic methods and social criticism of contemporary French fiction to the conditions of Prussian life.

Death.

Fontane was plagued by health problems during his last years but continued to work until a few hours before his death. He died in the evening of 20 September 1898 in Berlin. As a member of the French Protestant Church of Berlin he was buried in the congregation's cemetery on the Liesenstraße. His wife, Emilie, was buried beside him four years later. Their graves were damaged during World War II but later restored.

Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known today, only at age 58 after a career as a journalist.


Spain.

Most Spanish noble titles are granted as ("Peer of the realm"), many of which predate the modern Spanish monarchy. The Kings of Spain re-established in 1520 the ancient dignity of to confer as an additional rank of honour. The Post-nominals of Grandees of Spain is.  The dignity of Grandee () began to be assumed by Spain's leading noblemen in the Middle Ages to distinguish them as a ('Lord of the realm'), from lesser (), whose rank evolved into that of. It was, as John Selden the 17th-century English jurist pointed out, not a general term denoting a class, but "an additional individual dignity not only to all Dukes but to some Marquesses and Counts also". Noble titles, including and above the rank of Count, were seldom created in heredity by the Kings of Castile and Aragon until the late Middle Ages—in contrast to France and elsewhere in Europe (where feudalism evolved more quickly)—being largely associated with royal officers until the 14th century. The conferral of grandeeships initially conveyed only ceremonial privileges, such as remaining covered or seated in the presence of royalty. Over time grandees received more substantial rights: for example freedom from taxation and immunity from arrest, save at the King's command; they were usually the senior judicial officers of their region. These rights later became open to abuse with some Grandees renouncing their allegiance to the monarchy to wage war on the King.  In the late 1470s, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I were the first to clamp down on grandee powers assumed by the medieval territorial nobles. In the 16th century, limitations on the number of grandees were introduced by King Charles I (who later became Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V), who decreed that the Spanish Crown had the sole right to confer the dignity of a grandee.  Subsequently, the (Grandees of Spain) were subdivided into three grades:  All grandees traditionally have been addressed by the king as " mi Primo" (my cousin), whereas ordinary nobles are formally styled as " mi Pariente" (my kinsman). "Grandezas" could also be bestowed upon foreigners, such as the memorialist Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon who took great pride in becoming a grandee after his successful posting as French Ambassador to Madrid, representing King Louis XIV.  The dignity of grandee was abolished by the Napoleonic King Joseph Bonaparte, before being revived in 1834 by when grandees were given precedence in the Chamber of Peers of Spain.  Nowadays, all grandees are deemed to be "of the first class", and is an honorific dignity conferring neither power or legal privilege. A (grandeeship) is separate legal entity from a title of nobility, although are normally but not exclusively granted in conjunction with a title. Since the 20th century invariably the King of Spain has conferred a upon any newly created duke.  A grandee of any noble rank is higher in precedence than a non-grandee (apart from members of the Spanish Royal Family), even if that non-grandee holds a hereditary title () of a higher grade than that of the said grandee. Thus, a baron-grandee would outrank a non-grandee marquess, thus rendering the dignity of an hereditary rank of precedence rather than a title of nobility. Since 1987, children of an of Spain are recognised as members of the Spanish royal family and are accorded the rank and style of a grandee by courtesy: they do not formally hold this dignity until such time as a title with is granted to them by the sovereign.  Some of the best known Spanish grandees are the Dukes of Arcos, Dukes of Alba, of Medinaceli, of Villahermosa, of Osuna,, of Alburquerque, of Moctezuma, of Nájera, of Frías and of Medina-Sidonia; well-known Marquesses include those of Aguilar de Campoo, of Astorga, of Santillana, and of ; the Counts of Benavente, Lerín, Olivares, Oñate, and Lemos also hold grandeeships.  Grandees and their consorts are entitled to the honorific prefix of 'the Most Excellent Lord/Lady' or 'His/Her Most Excellency', and they are addressed as (cousin) by the King.

Portugal and Brazil.

Both Portuguese and Brazilian nobility formerly used the term ("grandee"), to designate a higher rank of noblemen. The Brazilian system, for instance, automatically deemed dukes, marquises and counts (as well as archbishops and bishops) ("Grandees of the Empire", or literally translated as "Great Ones of the Empire"). Viscounts and barons could also be ennobled with or without ("grandeeship", alternatively "greatness").  Viscounts ennobled with grandeeship displayed a Count's coronet on their coat of arms, and Barons ennobled with grandeeship bore a coat of arms surmounted by a Viscount's coronet.  The order of precedence in Brazilian nobility was as follows: after the members of the Imperial Family, dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts with grandeeship, viscounts without grandeeship, barons with grandeeship, barons without grandeeship. Brazilian grandeeships, like its nobility, were not hereditary titles.  Grandees were allowed to keep their heads covered in the presence of the king or emperor until such time as the monarch may command otherwise; as elsewhere throughout Europe, these noble families displayed their coats of arms on their properties, carriages (or vehicles), and over their graves (see hatchment). The abolition of the monarchies in Portugal and Brazil extinguished the formal use of such titles, although their use continues among some of the Portuguese aristocracies.

Grandee (New Model Army).

During the English Civil War, senior military officers from the landed gentry serving in the New Model Army, opposing the Levellers, came to be informally termed "Grandees".  After the defeat of King Charles I in the civil war, there was a series of debates and confrontations between the radical elected representatives of the New Model Army soldiers, known as "Agitators", and the Army "Grandees" such as Sir Thomas Fairfax, Oliver Cromwell, and Henry Ireton, who opposed the Agitators' more radical proposals. The disagreements were aired publicly at the Putney Debates, which started in late October 1647 and lasted for several weeks.

Grandee (;, ;, ) is an official aristocratic title conferred on some Spanish nobility and to a lesser extent, Portuguese nobility. Holders of this dignity enjoyed similar privileges to those of the peerage of France during the, though in neither country did they have the significant constitutional political role the House of Lords gave to the Peerage of England and later Peerage of the United Kingdom. In Spanish eyes, "Grandee of Spain" is the highest dignity of nobility in all of Europe, due to its privileges having been greater than those of other similar European dignities, such as the peers of France or the peers of Great Britain.


Life and career.

While serving as an army pharmacist for France in the Seven Years' War, he was captured by the Prussians, and in prison in Prussia was faced with eating potatoes, known to the French only as hog feed. The potato had been introduced from South America to Europe by the Spaniards at the beginning of the 16th century. It was introduced to the rest of Europe by 1640, but (outside Spain and Ireland) was usually used only for animal feed. King Frederick II of Prussia had required peasants to cultivate the plants under severe penalties and had provided them cuttings. In 1748 the French Parliament had actually forbidden the cultivation of the potato (on the grounds that it was thought to cause leprosy among other things), and this law remained on the books in Parmentier's time, until 1772.  From his return to Paris in 1763 he pursued his pioneering studies in nutritional chemistry. His prison experience came to mind in 1772 when he proposed (in a contest sponsored by the Academy of Besançon) use of the potato as a source of nourishment for dysenteric patients. He won the prize on behalf of the potato in 1773.  Due largely to Parmentier's efforts, the Paris Faculty of Medicine declared potatoes edible in 1772. Still, resistance continued, and Parmentier was prevented from using his test garden at the Invalides hospital, where he was pharmacist, by the religious community that owned the land, whose complaints resulted in the suppression of Parmentier's post at the Invalides.  In 1779, Parmentier was appointed to teach at the Free School of Bakery to help stabilize Paris' food supply by making bread in a more cost-efficient fashion. In that same year, he published "Manière de faire le pain de pommes de terre, sans mélange de farine", in which he described how one can make potato bread that still has all the characteristics of wheat bread.

Potato publicity stunts.

Parmentier then began a series of publicity stunts for which he remains notable today, hosting dinners at which potato dishes featured prominently and guests included luminaries such as Benjamin Franklin and Antoine Lavoisier, giving bouquets of potato blossoms to the king and queen, and surrounding his potato patch at Sablons with armed guards during the day to suggest valuable goods and withdrawing them at night so people could steal the potatoes. These 54 "arpents" of impoverished ground near Neuilly, west of Paris, had been allotted him by order of Louis XVI in 1787.

Acceptance of the potato.

In 1771, Parmentier won an essay contest in which all the judges voted the potato as the best substitute for regular flour. This was before a time France needed a replacement for wheat, so Parmentier continued to face criticism and lack of acknowledgment for his work. The first step in the acceptance of the potato in French society was a year of bad harvests, 1785, when the scorned potatoes staved off famine in the north of France. In 1789, Parmentier published "Treatise on the Culture and Use of the Potato, Sweet Potato, and Jerusalem Artichoke" ("Traité sur la culture et les usages des Pommes de terre, de la Patate, et du Topinambour"), "printed by order of the king", giving royal backing to potato eating, albeit on the eve of the French Revolution, leaving it up to the Republicans to accept it. In 1794, Madame Mérigot published "La Cuisinière Républicaine" ("The [Female] Republican Cook"), the first potato cookbook, promoting potatoes as food for the common people. Parmentier's agronomic interests covered a wide range of opportunities to ameliorate the human lot through technical improvements; he published his observations touching on bread-baking, cheese-making, grain storage, the use of cornmeal (maize) and chestnut flour, mushroom culture, mineral waters, wine-making, improved sea biscuits, and a host of other topics of interest to the Physiocrats.

Dishes named after Parmentier.

Starting in the 1870s, many dishes including potatoes were named in honor of Parmentier: "potage, velouté," or "crème Parmentier", a potato and leek soup; "hachis Parmentier", a cottage or shepherd's pie; "brandade de morue parmentier", salt cod mashed with olive oil and potatoes; "pommes" or "garniture Parmentier", cubed potatoes fried in butter; "purée Parmentier", mashed potatoes; "salade Parmentier", potato salad.

Death and legacy.

Parmentier died on 13 December 1813, aged 76. He is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, in a plot ringed by potato plants, and his name is given to a long avenue in the 10th and 11th arrondissements (and a station on line 3 of the Paris Métro). At Montdidier, his bronze statue surveys "Place Parmentier" from its high socle, while below in full marble relief, seed potatoes are distributed to a grateful peasant. Another monumental statue of Parmentier, by French sculptor Adrien Étienne Gaudez, is erected in the square of the town hall of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (,, ; Montdidier 12 August 1737 – 13 December 1813) was a French pharmacist and agronomist, best remembered as a vocal promoter of the potato as a food source for humans in France and throughout Europe. His many other contributions to nutrition and health included establishing the first mandatory smallpox vaccination campaign (under Napoleon beginning in 1805, when he was Inspector-General of the Health Service) and pioneering the extraction of sugar from sugar beets. Parmentier also founded a school of breadmaking, and studied methods of conserving food, including refrigeration.