Early life and family.

Tyner was born in Philadelphia, as the oldest of three children of Jarvis and Beatrice (Stevenson) Tyner. He was encouraged to study piano by his mother. He began studying the piano at age 13 and within two years music had become the focal point in his life. He studied at West Philadelphia Music School and later at the Granoff School of Music. During his teens he led his own group, the Houserockers.  When he was 17, he converted to Islam through the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and changed his name to Sulieman Saud. Tyner played professionally in Philadelphia becoming part of its modern jazz scene. His neighbors in the city included musicians Richie Powell and Bud Powell.

Career.

In 1960, Tyner joined The Jazztet led by Benny Golson and Art Farmer. Six months later, he joined the quartet of John Coltrane that included Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones. He worked with the band during its extended run at the Jazz Gallery, replacing Steve Kuhn. Coltrane had known Tyner for a while growing up in Philadelphia. He recorded the pianist's composition "The Believer" on January 10, 1958; it became the title track of Prestige's 1964 album "The Believer" issued as a John Coltrane record. He played on Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" (1961) for Atlantic. The band toured almost non-stop between 1961 and 1965, recording the albums "Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard" (1962), "Ballads" (1963), "Live at Birdland" (1964), "Crescent" (1964), "A Love Supreme" (1964), and "The John Coltrane Quartet Plays" (1965), all for Impulse!.  While in Coltrane's group, he recorded albums in a piano trio. In late 1962 and the first half of 1963, Tyner was asked by producer Bob Thiele to record more straightforward jazz albums as a leader. These albums included "Reaching Fourth" (1963), "Today and Tomorrow" (1964), and "McCoy Tyner Plays Ellington" (1965). Reviewing the album in 2017, Marc Myers of JazzWax said, "...the finest of these straightforward piano recordings was "Nights of Ballads & Blues". Tyner's playing is exciting and exceptional on all of the tracks... On the album, he exhibits a reserved elegance and tenderness that reveals the other side of his personality—a lover of melody and standards. In this regard, there are traces of Oscar Peterson in his playing. Perhaps Thiele was using Tyner to take a bite out of Peterson's vast and successful early-'60s share of the jazz market." He also appeared as a sideman on many Blue Note albums of the 1960s, although he was often credited as "etc." on the cover of these albums to respect his contract with Impulse!.  Tyner's playing style developed in close contact with Coltrane. His style of piano is comparable to Coltrane's maximalist style on saxophone. Writing in 2019, Sami Linna at the University of the Arts Helsinki, noted that Coltrane described the two different directions in his playing as: "playing chordally (vertically) or melodically (horizontally)". Linna suggests: "Tyner would eventually find a way of dealing with the two directions simultaneously, in a manner that was supportive and complementary yet original and slightly different from Coltrane's approach." After 1960 Coltrane did not hire anyone at the piano if Tyner was not available; between Tyner joining the group (around the end of May 1960) and leaving (in December 1965), there was nobody else at the piano accompanying Coltrane.

Post-Coltrane.

Tyner's involvement with Coltrane came to an end in 1965. Coltrane's music was becoming much more atonal and free; he had also augmented his quartet with percussion players who threatened to drown out both Tyner and Jones: "I didn't see myself making any contribution to that music... All I could hear was a lot of noise. I didn't have any feeling for the music, and when I don't have feelings, I don't play". In 1966, Tyner rehearsed with a new trio and embarked on a career as a bandleader.  After leaving Coltrane's group, Tyner produced a series of post-bop albums released by Blue Note from 1967 to 1970. These included "The Real McCoy" (1967), "Tender Moments" (1967), "Time for Tyner" (1968), "Expansions" (1968) and "Extensions" (1970). He signed with Milestone and recorded such albums as "Sahara" and "Echoes of a Friend" (1972), "Enlightenment" (1973), and "Fly with the Wind" (1976), which included flautist Hubert Laws, drummer Billy Cobham, and a string orchestra.  His music for Blue Note and Milestone often took the music of the Coltrane quartet as a starting point. Tyner also incorporated African and East Asian elements in his music. On "Sahara" he played koto in addition to piano, flute, and percussion. These albums have been cited as examples of innovative jazz from the 1970s that was neither fusion nor free jazz. On "Trident" (1975) Tyner played the harpsichord and celeste, instruments heard rarely in jazz. During the 1980s and 1990s, Tyner worked in a trio that included Avery Sharpe on bass and Louis Hayes, then Aaron Scott, on drums. He made solo albums for Blue Note, starting with "Revelations" (1988) and culminating in "Soliloquy" (1991). After signing with Telarc, he recorded with several trios that included Charnett Moffett on bass and Al Foster on drums. In 2008, he toured with a quartet of Gary Bartz, Gerald L. Cannon, and Eric Gravatt.  On June 25, 2019, "The New York Times Magazine" listed McCoy Tyner among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.  Tyner is considered to be one of the most influential jazz pianists of the late 20th century, an honor he earned during and after his time with Coltrane. Tyner, who was left-handed, played with a low bass left hand in which he raised his arm high above the keyboard for an emphatic attack. His right-hand soloing was detached and staccato. His melodic vocabulary was rich, ranging from raw blues to complexly superimposed pentatonic scales; his approach to chord voicing (most characteristically by fourths) influenced contemporary jazz pianists, such as Chick Corea.

Awards and honors.

Tyner was named a 2002 NEA Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. He won five Grammy Awards, for "The Turning Point" and "Journey" and best instrumental jazz album for "Illuminations", "Infinity", and "".  Tyner was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music at the Sala dei Notari during the Umbria Jazz Festival. Tyner was a judge for the 6th, 10th and 11th annual Independent Music Awards (IMAs).

Death.

On March 6, 2020, Tyner died at his home in northern New Jersey, at the age of 81. His family released a statement on Twitter.  He is survived by his ex-wife, Aisha Tyner, their son Nurudeen, known as Deen, his brother and sister, Jarvis Tyner and Gwendolyn-Yvette Tyner, and three grandchildren. His younger brother Jarvis is the former executive vice-chairman of the Communist Party USA.

Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938 – March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career. He was an NEA Jazz Master and a five-time Grammy winner. Not a player of electric keyboards and synthesizers, he was committed to acoustic instrumentation. Tyner, who was widely imitated, was one of the most recognizable and most influential pianists in jazz history.


Description.

"T. saginata" is the largest of species in the genus "Taenia". An adult worm is normally 4 to 10 m in length, but can become very large; specimens over 22 m long are reported. Typical of cestodes, its body is flattened dorsoventrally and heavily segmented. It is entirely covered by a tegument. The body is white in colour and consists of three portions: scolex, neck, and strobila. The scolex has four suckers, but they have no hooks. Lack of hooks and a rostellum is an identifying feature from other "Taenia" species. The rest of the body proper, the strobila, is basically a chain of numerous body segments called proglottids. The neck is the shortest part of the body, and consists of immature proglottids. The midstrobila is made of mature proglottids that eventually lead to the gravid proglottids, which are at the posterior end. An individual can have as many as 1000 to 2000 proglottids.  "T. saginata" does not have a digestive system, mouth, anus, or digestive tract. It derives nutrients from the host through its tegument, as the tegument is completely covered with absorptive hair-like microtriches. It is also an acoelomate, having no body cavity. The inside of each mature proglottid is filled with muscular layers and complete male and female reproductive systems, including the tubular unbranched uterus, ovary, genital pore, testes, and vitelline gland. In the gravid proglottid, the uterus contains up to 15 side branches filled with eggs.

Intermediate host.

Cattle acquire the embryonated eggs, the oncospheres, when they eat contaminated food. Oncospheres enter the duodenum, the anterior portion of the small intestine, and hatch there under the influence of gastric juices. The embryonic membranes are removed, liberating free hexacanth ("six-hooked") larvae. With their hooks, they attach to the intestinal wall and penetrate the intestinal mucosa into the blood vessels. The larvae can move to all parts of the body by the general circulatory system, and finally settle in skeletal muscles within 70 days. Inside the tissue, they cast off their hooks and instead develop a protective cuticular shell, called the cyst. Thus, they become fluid-filled cysticerci. Cysterci can also form in lungs and liver. The inner membrane of the cysticercus soon develops numerous protoscolices (small scolices) that are invertedly attached to the inner surface. The cysticercus of "T. saginata" is specifically named "cysticercus bovis" to differentiate from that of "T. solium", "cysticercus cellulosae".

Definitive host.

Humans contract infective cysticerci by eating raw or undercooked meat. Once reaching the jejunum, the inverted scolex becomes evaginated to the exterior under stimuli from the digestive enzymes of the host. Using the scolex, it attaches to the intestinal wall. The larva mature into adults about 5 to 12 weeks later. Adult worms can live about 25 years in the host. Usually, only a single worm is present at time, but multiple worms are also reported. In each mature proglottid, self-fertilisation produces zygotes, which divide and differentiate into embryonated eggs called oncospheres. With thousands of oncospheres, the oldest gravid proglottids detach. Unlike in other "Taenia", gravid proglottids are shed individually. In some cases, the proglottid ruptures inside the intestine, and the eggs are released. The free proglottids and liberated eggs are removed by peristalsis into the environment. On the ground, the proglottids are motile and shed eggs as they move. These oncospheres in an external environment can remain viable for several days to weeks in sewage, rivers, and pastures.

Epidemiology.

The disease is relatively common in Africa, some parts of Eastern Europe, the Philippines, and Latin America. This parasite is found anywhere where beef is eaten, including countries such as the United States, with strict federal sanitation policies. In the US, the incidence of infection is low, but 25% of cattle sold are still infected. The total global infection is estimated to be between 40 and 60 million. It is most prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

Symptoms.

"T. saginata" infection is usually asymptomatic, but heavy infection often results in weight loss, dizziness, abdominal pain, diarrhea, headaches, nausea, constipation, chronic indigestion, and loss of appetite. Intestinal obstruction in humans can be alleviated by surgery. The tapeworm can also expel antigens that can cause an allergic reaction in the individual. It is also a rare cause of ileus, pancreatitis, cholecystitis, and cholangitis.. "Taenia saginata" has been reported as a cause of gallbladder perforation if left untreated in some cases.."Taenia saginata" adult worms can live in the host for up to 25 years and most infections will last 2 to 3 years without treatment.

Diagnosis.

The basic diagnosis is done from a stool sample. Feces are examined to find parasite eggs. The eggs look like other eggs from the family Taeniidae, so it is only possible to identify the eggs to the family, not to the species level. Since it is difficult to diagnose using eggs alone, looking at the scolex or the gravid proglottids can help identify it as "Taenia saginata". Proglottids sometimes trickle down the thighs of infected humans and are visible with unaided eye, so can aid with identification. Observation of scolex help distinguish between "T. saginata", "T. solium" and "T. asiatica". When the uterus is injected with India ink, its branches become visible. Counting the uterine branches enables some identification ("T. saginata" uteri have 12 or more branches on each side, while other species such as "T. solium" only have five to 10).  Differentiation of the species of "Taenia", such as "T. solium" and "T. asiatica", is notoriously difficult because of their close morphological resemblance, and their eggs are more or less identical. Identification often requires histological observation of the uterine branches and PCR detection of ribosomal 5.8S gene. The uteri of "T. saginata" stem out from the center to form 12 to 20 branches, but in contrast to its closely related "Taenia" species, the branches are much less in number and comparatively thicker; in addition, the ovaries are bilobed and testes are twice as many.  Eosinophilia and elevated IgE levels are chief hematological findings. Also Ziehl–Neelsen stain can be used to differentiate between mature "T. saginata" and "T. solium", in most cases "T. saginata" will stain while "T. solium" will not, but the method is not strictly reliable.

Treatment.

Taenaisis is easily treated with praziquantel (5–10 mg/kg, single-administration) or niclosamide (adults and children over 6 years: 2 g, single-administration after a light breakfast, followed after 2 hours by a laxative; children aged 2–6 years: 1 g; children under 2 years: 500 mg). Albendazole is also highly effective for treatment of cattle infection.

Prevention.

Adequate cooking at for 5 minutes of beef viscera destroys cysticerci. Refrigeration, freezing at for 9 days or long periods of salting is lethal to cysticerci. Inspection of beef and proper disposal of human excreta are also important measures.

Taenia saginata (synonym Taeniarhynchus saginatus), commonly known as the beef tapeworm, is a zoonotic tapeworm belonging to the order Cyclophyllidea and genus "Taenia". It is an intestinal parasite in humans causing taeniasis (a type of helminthiasis) and cysticercosis in cattle. Cattle are the intermediate hosts, where larval development occurs, while humans are definitive hosts harbouring the adult worms. It is found globally and most prevalently where cattle are raised and beef is consumed. It is relatively common in Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Latin America. Humans are generally infected as a result of eating raw or undercooked beef which contains the infective larvae, called cysticerci. As hermaphrodites, each body segment called proglottid has complete sets of both male and female reproductive systems. Thus, reproduction is by self-fertilisation. From humans, embryonated eggs, called oncospheres, are released with faeces and are transmitted to cattle through contaminated fodder. Oncospheres develop inside muscle, liver, and lungs of cattle into infective cysticerci.


Biography.

Antonio Allegri was born in Correggio, a small town near Reggio Emilia. His date of birth is uncertain (around 1489). His father was a merchant. Otherwise little is known about Correggio's early life or training. It is, however, often assumed that he had his first artistic education from his father's brother, the painter Lorenzo Allegri.  In 1503–1505 he was apprenticed to Francesco Bianchi Ferrara in Modena, where he probably became familiar with the classicism of artists like Lorenzo Costa and Francesco Francia, evidence of which can be found in his first works. After a trip to Mantua in 1506, he returned to Correggio, where he stayed until 1510. To this period is assigned the "Adoration of the Child with St. Elizabeth and John", which shows clear influences from Costa and Mantegna. In 1514 he probably finished three tondos for the entrance of the church of Sant'Andrea in Mantua, and then returned to Correggio, where, as an independent and increasingly renowned artist, he signed a contract for the Madonna altarpiece in the local monastery of St. Francis (now in the Dresden Gemäldegalerie).  One of his sons, Pomponio Allegri, became an undistinguished painter. Both father and son occasionally referred to themselves using the Latinized form of the family name, Laeti.

Works in Parma.

By 1516, Correggio was in Parma, where he spent most of the remainder of his career. Here, he befriended Michelangelo Anselmi, a prominent Mannerist painter. In 1519 he married Girolama Francesca di Braghetis, also of Correggio, who died in 1529. From this period are the "Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John", "Christ Leaving His Mother" and the lost "Madonna of Albinea".  Correggio's first major commission (February–September 1519) was the ceiling decoration of a private chamber of the mother-superior (abbess Giovanna Piacenza) of the convent of St. Paul in Parma, now known as Camera di San Paolo. Here he painted an arbor pierced by oculi opening to glimpses of playful cherubs. Below the oculi are lunettes with images of statues in feigned monochromic marble. The fireplace is frescoed with an image of Diana. The iconography of the scheme is complex, combining images of classical marbles with whimsical colorful "bambini".  He then painted the illusionistic "Vision of St. John on Patmos" (1520–21) for the dome of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista. Three years later he decorated the dome of the Cathedral of Parma with a startling "Assumption of the Virgin", crowded with layers of receding figures in Melozzo's perspective ("sotto in su", from down to up). These two works represented a highly novel illusionistic "sotto in su" treatment of dome decoration that would exert a profound influence upon future fresco artists, from Carlo Cignani in his fresco "Assumption of the Virgin", in the cathedral church of Forlì, to Gaudenzio Ferrari in his frescoes for the cupola of "Santa Maria dei Miracoli" in Saronno, to Pordenone in his now-lost fresco from Treviso, and to the baroque elaborations of Lanfranco and Baciccio in Roman churches. The massing of spectators in a vortex, creating both narrative and decoration, the illusionistic obliteration of the architectural roof-plane, and the thrusting perspective towards divine infinity, were devices without precedent, and which depended on the extrapolation of the mechanics of perspective. The recession and movement implied by the figures presage the dynamism that would characterize Baroque painting.  Other masterpieces include "The Lamentation" and "The Martyrdom of Four Saints", both at the Galleria Nazionale of Parma. The "Lamentation" is haunted by a lambency rarely seen in Italian painting prior to this time. The "Martyrdom" is also remarkable for resembling later Baroque compositions such as Bernini's "Truth" and Ercole Ferrata's "Death of Saint Agnes", showing a gleeful saint entering martyrdom.

Mythological series based on Ovid's "Metamorphoses".

Aside from his religious output, Correggio conceived a now-famous set of paintings depicting the "Loves of Jupiter" as described in Ovid's "Metamorphoses". The voluptuous series was commissioned by Federico II Gonzaga of Mantua, probably to decorate his private Ovid Room in the Palazzo Te. However, they were given to the visiting Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and thus left Italy within years of their completion.  "Leda and the Swan" – acquired by Frederick the Great in 1753; now in Staatliche Museen of Berlin – is a tumult of incidents: in the centre Leda straddles a swan, and on the right, a shy but satisfied maiden. "Danaë", now in Rome's Borghese Gallery, depicts the maiden as she is impregnated by a curtain of gilded divine rain. Her lower torso semi-obscured by sheets, Danae appears more demure and gleeful than Titian's 1545 version of the same topic, where the rain is more accurately numismatic. The picture once called "Antiope and the Satyr" is now correctly identified as "Venus and Cupid with a Satyr".  "Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle" depicts the young man aloft in literal amorous flight. Some have interpreted the conjunction of man and eagle as a metaphor for the evangelist John; however, given the erotic context of this and other paintings, this seems unlikely. This painting and its partner, the masterpiece of "Jupiter and Io", are in Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna. "Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle", one of the four mythological paintings commissioned by Federico II Gonzaga, is a proto-Baroque work due to its depiction of movement, drama, and diagonal compositional arrangement.

Death.

Returning to his home town in later years, Correggio died there suddenly on 5 March, 1534. The following day he was buried in San Francesco in Correggio near his youthful masterpiece, the 'Madonna di San Francesco', housed today in Dresden. The precise location of his tomb is now unknown.

Evaluation.

Correggio was remembered by his contemporaries as a shadowy, melancholic and introverted character. An enigmatic and eclectic artist, he appears to have emerged from no major apprenticeship. In addition to the influence of Costa, there are echoes of Mantegna's style in his work, and a response to Leonardo da Vinci, as well. Correggio had little immediate influence in terms of apprenticed successors, but his works are now considered to have been revolutionary and influential on subsequent artists. A half-century after his death Correggio's work was well known to Vasari, who felt that he had not had enough "Roman" exposure to make him a better painter. In the 18th and 19th centuries, his works were often noted in the diaries of foreign visitors to Italy, which led to a reevaluation of his art during the period of Romanticism. The flight of the Madonna in the vault of the cupola of the Cathedral of Parma inspired many scenographical decorations in lay and religious palaces during those centuries.  Correggio's illusionistic experiments, in which imaginary spaces replace the natural reality, seem to prefigure many elements of Mannerist, Baroque and Rococo stylistic approaches. He appears to have fostered artistic grandchildren, for example, Giovannino di Pomponio Allegri (1521–1593). Correggio had no direct disciples outside of Parma, where he was influential on the work of Giovanni Maria Francesco Rondani, Parmigianino, Bernardo Gatti, Francesco Madonnina, and Giorgio Gandini del Grano.

Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – March 5, 1534), usually known as just Correggio (,,, ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sensuous works of the 16th century. In his use of dynamic composition, illusionistic perspective and dramatic foreshortening, Correggio prefigured the Baroque art of the 17th century and the Rococo art of the 18th century. He is considered a master of chiaroscuro.


Early career.

Rota was born Giovanni Rota Rinaldi on 3 December 1911, into a musical family in Milan. Rota was a renowned child prodigy—his first "oratorio", "L'infanzia di San Giovanni Battista", was written at age 11 and performed in Milan and Paris as early as 1923; his three-act lyrical comedy after Hans Christian Andersen, "Il Principe Porcaro", was composed when he was just 13 and published in 1926. He studied at the Milan conservatory there under Giacomo Orefice and then undertook serious study of composition under Ildebrando Pizzetti and Alfredo Casella at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, graduating in 1930.  Encouraged by Arturo Toscanini, Rota moved to the United States where he lived from 1930 to 1932. He won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia, where he was taught conducting by Fritz Reiner and had Rosario Scalero as an instructor in composition. Returning to Milan, he wrote a thesis on the Renaissance composer Gioseffo Zarlino. Rota earned a degree in literature from the University of Milan, graduating in 1937, and began a teaching career that led to the directorship of the Liceo Musicale in Bari, a title he held from 1950 until 1978.

Film scores.

Nino Rota wrote the score for the film "The Glass Mountain" in 1949. Notable was the singing of Tito Gobbi, one of the world's greatest baritones. The film won a number of awards.  In his entry on Rota in the 1988 edition of "The Concise Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Composers and Musicians", music scholar Nicolas Slonimsky described him as "brilliant" and stated that his musical style:  Furthermore, one of his compositional habits in particular came up for disapproving remarks: his penchant for pastiche of various past styles, which quite often turned into outright quotation of his own earlier music or even others' music. One of the most noticed examples of such incorporation is his use of the "Larghetto" from Dvorák's "Serenade for Strings in E major" as a theme for a character in Fellini's "La Strada".  During the 1940s, Rota composed scores for more than 32 films, including Renato Castellani's "" (1944). His association with Fellini began with "Lo sceicco bianco (The White Sheik)" (1952), followed by "I vitelloni" (1953) and "La strada (The Road)" (1954). They continued to work together for decades, and Fellini recalled:  The relationship between Fellini and Rota was so strong that even at Fellini's funeral Giulietta Masina, Fellini's wife, asked trumpeter Mauro Maur to play Rota's "Improvviso dell'Angelo" in the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome.  Rota's score for Fellini's "81⁄2" (1963) is often cited as one of the factors which makes the film cohesive. His score for Fellini's "Juliet of the Spirits" (1965) included a collaboration with Eugene Walter on the song, "Go Milk the Moon" (cut from the final version of the film), and they teamed again for the song "What Is a Youth?", part of Rota's score for Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet".  The American Film Institute ranked Rota's score for "The Godfather" #5 on their list of the greatest film scores. After being nominated for an Academy Award for this score, the nomination was later revoked when it was discovered that Rota recycled a theme from a previous score, one he wrote two decades prior for the film "Fortunella" and thus no longer considered original despite being played differently. The nomination was then given to Charlie Chaplin and two co-authors for their score featured in "Limelight", a 21-year-old film that had just become eligible because it had not been screened in Los Angeles until 1972, which went on to win the award. His score for "War and Peace" was also nominated for the list. In all, Rota wrote scores to more than 150 films.

Orchestral, chamber and choral music.

Rota wrote numerous concerti and other orchestral works as well as piano, chamber and choral music, much of which has been recorded and released on CD. After his death from heart failure in 1979, Rota's music was the subject of Hal Willner's 1981 tribute album "Amarcord Nino Rota", which featured several at the time relatively unknown but now famous jazz musicians. Gus Van Sant used some of Rota's music in his 2007 film "Paranoid Park" and director Michael Winterbottom used several Rota selections in the 2005 film "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story". Danny Elfman frequently cites Nino Rota as a major influence (particularly on his scores for the Pee-Wee films). Director Mario Monicelli filmed a documentary "Un amico magico: il maestro Nino Rota" which featured interviews with Franco Zeffirelli and Riccardo Muti (a student under Rota at Bari Conservatory), and was followed by a German documentary "Nino Rota - Un maestro della musica". Both explored film and concert sides of the composer.

Operas.

His 1955 opera "Il cappello di paglia di Firenze" ("The Florentine Straw Hat") is an adaptation of the play by Eugène Labiche and was presented by the Santa Fe Opera in 1977. In 2005 his opera "Aladino e la lampada magica" ("Aladdin and the Magical Lamp"), with Cosmin Ifrim in the title role, was performed in German translation at the Vienna State Opera and released on DVD. "Il cappello di paglia di Firenze" and "Aladino e la lampada magica" are regularly staged in Europe as are many symphonic and chamber titles  Written for a radio production by RAI in 1950, his short opera, "I due timidi" ("The Two Timid Ones"), was presented by the Santa Fe Opera as part of their pre-season "One-Hour Opera" program in May/June 2008.

Personal life and death.

Rota had one daughter, Nina Rota, from a relationship with pianist Magda Longari. He died, age 67, from a coronary thrombosis in Rome.

Quotations.

Federico Fellini recalls his first chance meeting with Rota:  A critic conversing with Nino Rota at the age of eleven just prior to a performance of his oratorio, "The Childhood of St. John the Baptist", in 1923:  On his friendship with Igor Stravinsky:  Nino Rota reflecting on the unhappiness of others:  Federico Fellini on Nino Rota:

Giovanni Rota Rinaldi (; 3 December 1911 – 10 April 1979), better known as Nino Rota (), was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. He also composed the music for two of Franco Zeffirelli's Shakespeare films, and for the first two films of Francis Ford Coppola's "Godfather" trilogy, receiving the Academy Award for Best Original Score for "The Godfather Part II" (1974).


Examples.

Each Marian apparition is often associated with one or more titles given to Mary, often based on the location of the apparition, such as Our Lady of Pontmain in Pontmain, France. Others are named using a title which Mary applies to herself during the alleged apparition, as in the case of The Lady of All Nations.  Some Marian apparitions have only one purported seer, such as Our Lady of Lourdes. Other apparitions have multiple seers; in the case of Our Lady of Fatima, there were only three seers of the apparition itself, but miraculous phenomena was reported by a crowd of approximately 70,000 people, and even by others located miles away. In other cases, the entirety of a large group of people claims to see Mary, as in the case of Our Lady of La Vang. Some modern mass apparitions, witnessed by hundreds of thousands, have also been photographed, such as Our Lady of Zeitoun.  Most alleged apparitions involve the verbal communication of messages, but others are silent, such as the apparition of Our Lady of Knock.  Some apparitions are one-time events, such as Our Lady of La Salette. Others recur over an extended period of time, such as Our Lady of Laus, whose seer claimed 54 years of appearances. Public, serial apparitions (in which a seer not only says that they have experienced a vision, but that they expect it will reoccur, causing people to gather to observe) appear to be a relatively recent phenomenon; up until about the seventeenth century, most reported apparitions happened when the individual was alone, or at least no one else was aware of its occurrence.  Physical contact is hardly ever reported as part of Marian apparitions. In rare cases, a physical artifact is reportedly left behind, such as the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is said to have been miraculously imprinted on the cloak of St. Juan Diego.

Assessment by the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church believes that it is possible for actually-supernatural Marian apparitions to occur, but also believes that many claimed apparitions are fabricated by the seer or the result of something other than divine intervention. For this reason, the Catholic Church has a formal evaluation process established for assessing claimed apparitions.  In 1978, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith promulgated the currently-used investigation guidelines in a document entitled "Norms of the Congregation for Proceeding in Judging Alleged Apparitions and Revelations," better known as, a shortening of its Latin title. Investigations into alleged apparitions can be carried out by the local ordinary (i.e. diocesan bishop), the national episcopal conference, or the Holy See. Apparitions are evaluated on multiple criteria, including the sincerity and moral uprightness of the seers, the theological accuracy of the messages, and positive spiritual fruits resulting from the apparition event.  Occasionally, an ecclesial authority will decide not to investigate the veracity of an apparition in itself, but will approve the religious practices that have grown around the alleged apparition, such as by authorizing public veneration connected with the apparition, or by granting a request contained in the apparition messages. Pope Leo XIII, for example, authorized the use of a scapular described in the messages of Our Lady of Pellevoisin, but did not pass judgment on the supernatural character of the apparition itself.  Even if a Catholic bishop approves an apparition, belief in the apparition is never required of the Catholic faithful. The Catholic faith is rooted in so-called Public Revelation, which ended with the death of the last living Apostle. A Marian apparition, on the other hand, is considered private revelation, which may emphasize some facet of the received public revelation for a specific purpose, but can never add anything new to the deposit of faith.  In the Catholic Church, approval of a Marian apparition is relatively rare. The majority of investigated apparitions are rejected as fraudulent or otherwise false. Recently rejected apparition claims include those of "Our Lady of Surbiton," denounced as fraudulent in 2007, and those associated with Holy Love Ministries in Elyria, Ohio, condemned in 2009. Some whose apparition claims are rejected proceed to break away from the Catholic Church and found splinter groups, as in the case of the Mariavite Church, the Palmarian Catholic Church, and the Fraternité Notre-Dame.

Cultural impact.

Marian apparitions, particularly those that are officially approved, often have a widespread impact on Christian piety and on the broader culture. Apparitions can become an engrained part of national identity, as Our Lady of Guadalupe is for the majority-Catholic population of Mexico.  In many cases, apparition seers report a request from Mary for the construction of a shrine on the spot of the apparition. Such Marian shrines often become popular sites of pilgrimage. The most-visited Marian shrine in the world is the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, which draws 10 million pilgrims each year. Other popular apparition-related Marian pilgrimage sites include the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal (6-8 million per year) and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France (5 million annually).  Apparitions often lead to the establishment of Marian confraternities, movements, and societies that seek to heed and spread the messages of a particular apparition, such as the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fátima.  Occasionally, apparitions will introduce prayers that become incorporated into widespread Catholic practice, as in the case of the Fátima prayers.

A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance by Mary, the mother of Jesus, or a series of related such appearances over a period of time.


Taxonomy.

This species was originally noted and named in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus as "Agaricus campestris". It was placed in the genus "Psalliota" by Lucien Quelet in 1872. Some variants have been isolated over the years, a few of which now have species status, for example, "Agaricus bernardii" Quel. (1878), "Agaricus bisporus" (J.E. Lange) Imbach (1946), "Agaricus bitorquis" (Quel.) Sacc. (1887), "Agaricus cappellianus" Hlavacek (1987), and "Agaricus silvicola" (Vittad.) Peck (1872). Some were so similar they did not warrant even varietal status, while others have retained it. "Agaricus campestris" var. "equestris" (F.H.Moller) Pilat (1951) is still valid. "A. campestris" var. "isabellinus" (F.H.Moller) Pilat (1951), and "A. campestris" var. "radicatus", are possibly still valid too.  The Latin specific epithet "campestris" means "of the fields". Common names given to the fungus include "meadow mushroom", "pink bottom", and "field mushroom".  An analysis of ribosomal DNA of a limited number of members of the genus showed "A. campestris" to be an early offshoot in the genus and sister taxon to "A. cupreobrunneus".

Description.

The cap is white, may have fine scales, and is in diameter; it is first hemispherical in shape before flattening out with maturity. The gills are initially pink, then red-brown and finally a dark brown, as is the spore print. The tall stipe is predominantly white and bears a single thin ring. The taste is mild. The white flesh bruises a dingy reddish brown, as opposed to yellow in the inedible (and somewhat toxic) "Agaricus xanthodermus" and similar species. The thick-walled, elliptical spores measure 5.5–8.0 μm by 4–5 μm. Cheilocystidia are absent.

Similar species.

Several species may be confused with "Agaricus campestris". "Lepiota naucina", "Amanita virosa" and similar, closely related species, are morbidly toxic. "Agaricus hondensis" is toxic and "Agaricus xanthodermus" ("the yellow stainer") causes gastrointestinal problems. "Agaricus arvensis", the horse mushroom, is an excellent edible. White "Clitocybe" species that also grow on lawns, and in grassy places may be dangerous to eat.

Distribution and habitat.

"Agaricus campestris" is found in fields and grassy areas after rain from late summer onwards worldwide. It is often found on lawns in suburban areas. Appearing in small groups, in fairy rings, or solitary. Owing to the demise of horse-drawn vehicles, and the subsequent decrease in the number of horses on pasture, the old "white outs" of years gone by are becoming rare events. This species is rarely found in woodland.  The mushroom has been reported from Asia, Europe, northern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and North America (including Mexico).

Edibility.

Although tasty and edible, this mushroom is not commercially cultivated on account of its fast maturing and short shelf-life. Culinary uses of the meadow mushroom include eating it sauteed or fried, in sauces, or even sliced raw and included in salads. In flavor and texture, this mushroom is similar to the white button mushroom available in grocery stores in the United States. Among the similar species mentioned above, there have been cases (in fact the most common cause of fatal fungus poisoning in France) where the deadly toxic destroying angel ("Amanita bisporigera") has been consumed by individuals who mistook it for this species. The edibility of specimens collected from lawns is uncertain because of possible contamination with pesticides or other chemicals.  It is nearly identical (except microscopically) to the edible species "Agaricus andrewii" and "A. solidipes".

Other uses.

Research into fungal dressings for the treatment of ulcers, and bed sores, using fungal mycelial filaments, is ongoing. In the past, slices of "A. campestris" were applied to scalds and burns in parts of Scotland.

Bioactive properties.

Water extracts of "A. campestris" have been shown to enhance the secretion of insulin, and to have insulin-like effects on glucose metabolism "in vitro", although the mechanism is not understood.

References.

British Checklist

Agaricus campestris is a widely eaten gilled mushroom closely related to the cultivated button mushroom "Agaricus bisporus". It is commonly known as the field mushroom or, in North America, meadow mushroom.


Early life.

Louis Botha was born in Greytown, Natal, South Africa one of 13 children born to Louis Botha Senior (26 March 1827 – 5 July 1883) and Salomina Adriana van Rooyen (31 March 1829 – 9 January 1886). He briefly attended the school at Hermannsburg before his family relocated to the Orange Free State. The name Louis runs throughout the family, with every generation since General Louis Botha having the eldest son named Louis.

First Boer War.

Louis Botha led "Dinuzulu's Volunteers", a group of Boers that had supported Dinuzulu against Zibhebhu in 1884.

Politician.

Botha later became a member of the parliament of Transvaal in 1897, representing the district of Vryheid.

Second Boer War.

Early battles.

In 1899, Louis Botha fought in the Second Boer War, initially joining the Krugersdorp Commando, continuing to fight under Lucas Meyer in Northern Natal, and later as a general commanding and leading Boer forces impressively at Colenso and Spion Kop. On the death of P. J. Joubert, he was made commander-in-chief of the Transvaal Boers, where he demonstrated his abilities again at Belfast-Dalmanutha. After the battle at the Tugela, Botha granted a twenty-four-hour armistice to General Buller to enable him to bury his dead.

Capture of Winston Churchill.

Winston Churchill revealed that General Botha was the man who captured him at the ambush of a British armoured train on 15 November 1899. also claims that Botha captured Churchill at train ambush 15 November 1899. Churchill was not aware of the man's identity until 1902, when Botha travelled to London seeking loans to assist his country's reconstruction, and the two met at a private luncheon. The incident is also mentioned in Arthur Conan Doyle's book, "The Great Boer War", published in 1902. But more recent sources claim that Field-Cornet Sarel Oosthuizen was in fact the Boer-soldier who, at gunpoint, captured Churchill. Another version claims that the unit to capture Churchill was the Italian Volunteer Legion and its commander, Camillo Ricchiardi.

Later campaigns.

After the fall of Pretoria in June 1900, Louis Botha led a concentrated guerrilla campaign against the British together with Koos de la Rey and Christiaan de Wet. The success of his measures was seen in the steady resistance offered by the Boers to the very close of the three-year war.

Role after the Boer War.

Botha was prominent in efforts to achieve a peace with the British, representing the Boers at the peace negotiations in 1902, and was signatory to the Treaty of Vereeniging. In the period of reconstruction under British rule, Botha went to Europe with de Wet and de la Rey to raise funds to enable the Boers to resume their former avocations. Botha, who was still looked upon as the leader of the Boer people, took a prominent part in politics, advocating always measures which he considered as tending to the maintenance of peace and good order and the re-establishment of prosperity in the Transvaal. His war record made him prominent in the politics of Transvaal and he was a major player in the postwar reconstruction of that country, founding with Jan Smuts the Het Volk Party in the Transvaal Colony in 1904, which served as a springboard to campaign for responsible self-government for the colony.  After the grant of self-government to the Transvaal on 6 December 1906 and the success of his Het Volk Party at the first elections in February 1907, Botha was called upon by Lord Selborne to form a government as Prime Minister on 4 March 1907, and in the spring of the same year he took part in the conference of colonial premiers held in London. During his visit to England on this occasion General Botha declared the wholehearted adhesion of the Transvaal to the British Empire, and his intention to work for the welfare of the country regardless of (intra-white) racial differences.  In 1911, together with another Boer war hero, Jan Smuts, he formed the South African Party, or SAP. Widely viewed as too conciliatory with Britain, Botha faced revolts from within his own party and opposition from James Barry Munnik Hertzog's National Party. He was a South African Freemason. When South Africa obtained dominion status in 1910, Botha became the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa.

Later career.

After the First World War started, he sent troops to take German South-West Africa, a move unpopular among Boers, which provoked the Boer Revolt.  At the end of the War he briefly led a British Empire military mission to Poland during the Polish-Soviet War. He argued that the terms of the Versailles Treaty were too harsh on the Central Powers, but signed the treaty. Botha was unwell for most of 1919. He was plagued by fatigue and ill-health that arose from his robust waist-line. That he was fat is certain as related in the marvellous account of Lady Mildred Buxton asking General Van Deventer if he was bigger than Botha, to which Van Deventer replied: “I am longer, he is thicker.” (In Afrikaans thicker literally means fatter, and does not differentiate between long and tall)

Death.

General Louis Botha died of heart failure at his home following an attack of Spanish influenza on 27 August 1919 in the early hours of the morning. He was 56. His wife Annie was at home and was joined by Engelenburg who had acted as a private secretary to Botha. Botha was laid to rest in Heroes' Acre, Pretoria.  Of Botha, Winston Churchill wrote in "Great Contemporaries", "The three most famous generals I have known in my life won no great battles over a foreign foe. Yet their names, which all begin with a 'B', are household words. They are General Booth, General Botha and General Baden-Powell..."

Honors.

Sculptor Raffaello Romanelli created the equestrian statue of Botha that stands in front of the South African Parliament building.

Louis Botha (; 27 September 1862 – 27 August 1919) was a South African politician who was the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa—the forerunner of the modern South African state. A Boer war hero during the Second Boer War, he would eventually fight to have South Africa become a British Dominion.


Description.

It grows in water that is deep and likes large ponds and lakes.  The leaves can be up to in diameter and take up a spread of per plant. The flowers are white and they have many small stamens inside.

Taxonomy.

It was first published and described by Carl Linnaeus in his book 'Species Plantarum', on page 510 in 1753.  The red variety ("Nymphaea alba" f. "rosea") is cultivated from lake Fagertärn ("Fair tarn") in the forest of Tiveden, Sweden, where they were discovered in the early 19th century. The discovery led to a large-scale exploitation which nearly made it extinct in the wild before it was protected.  "Nymphaea candida" J. Presl is sometimes considered a subspecies of "N. alba" ("N. alba" L. subsp. "candida" (J. Presl) Korsh.).

Distribution and habitat.

They are found all over Europe and in parts of North Africa and the Middle East in fresh water. In Africa, it is found in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. In temperate Asia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Siberia, Iran, Iraq, Israel and Turkey. It is found in tropical Asia, within the Indian provinces of Jammu and Kashmir. Lastly, within Europe, it is found in Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russian Federation, Ukraine Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, France, Portugal and Spain.

Phytochemistry.

It contains the active alkaloids nupharine and nymphaeine, and is a sedative and an aphrodisiac/anaphrodisiac depending on sources. Although roots and stalks are used in traditional herbal medicine along with the flower, the petals and other flower parts are the most potent. Alcohol can be used to extract the active alkaloids, and it also boosts the sedative effects. The root of the plant was used by monks and nuns for hundreds of years as an anaphrodisiac, being crushed and mixed with wine. In the earliest printed medical textbooks, authors maintained this use, though warning against consuming large and frequent doses.

Nymphaea alba, also known as the European white water lily, white water rose or white nenuphar, is an aquatic flowering plant of the family Nymphaeaceae. It is native to North Africa, temperate Asia, Europe and Tropical Asia (India).


Biography.

Born in Stignano (in the county of Stilo) in the province of Reggio di Calabria in Calabria, southern Italy, Campanella was a child prodigy. Son of a poor and illiterate cobbler, he entered the Dominican Order before the age of fourteen, taking the name of fra' Tommaso in honour of Thomas Aquinas. He studied theology and philosophy with several masters.  Early on, he became disenchanted with the Aristotelian orthodoxy and attracted by the empiricism of Bernardino Telesio (1509–1588), who taught that knowledge is sensation and that all things in nature possess sensation. Campanella wrote his first work, "Philosophia sensibus demonstrata" ("Philosophy demonstrated by the senses"), published in 1592, in defence of Telesio.  In 1590 he was in Naples where he was initiated in astrology; astrological speculations would become a constant feature in his writings. Campanella's heterodox views, especially his opposition to the authority of Aristotle, brought him into conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities. Denounced to the Inquisition, he was arrested in Padua in 1594 and cited before the Holy Office in Rome, he was confined in a convent until 1597.  After his liberation, Campanella returned to Calabria, where he was accused of leading a conspiracy against the Spanish rule in his hometown of Stilo. Campanella's aim was to establish a society based on the community of goods and wives, for on the basis of the prophecies of Joachim of Fiore and his own astrological observations, he foresaw the advent of the Age of the Spirit in the year 1600. Betrayed by two of his fellow conspirators, he was captured and incarcerated in Naples, where he was tortured on the rack. Even from the confinement of the jail, Campanella managed to influence the intellectual history of the early seventeenth century, by maintaining epistolary contacts with European philosophers and scientists, Neapolitan cultural circles, and Caravaggio's commissioners. Finally, Campanella made a full confession and would have been put to death if he had not feigned madness and set his cell on fire. He was tortured further (a total of seven times) and then, crippled and ill, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Campanella spent twenty-seven years imprisoned in Naples, in various fortresses. During his detention, he wrote his most important works: "The Monarchy of Spain" (1600), "Political Aphorisms" (1601), "Atheismus triumphatus" ("Atheism Conquered", 1605–1607), "Quod reminiscetur" (1606?), "Metaphysica" (1609–1623), "Theologia" (1613–1624), and his most famous work, "The City of the Sun" (originally written in Italian in 1602; published in Latin in Frankfurt (1623) and later in Paris (1638).  He defended Galileo Galilei in his first trial with his work "The Defense of Galileo" (written in 1616, published in 1622). During the time before his second trial, 25 September, 1632, Campanella wrote to Galileo that: To my great disgust I have heard that wrathful theologians of the Congregation aim to prohibit the Dialogues of Your Excellency, and [that] no one will be present who understands mathematics or recondite things. Be aware that while Your Excellency does state that it was appropriate to prohibit the theory of the earth's motion, you are not obliged to believe that the reasons of those who contradicted you are good. This is a theological rule, and is proved by the second Council of Nicaea which decreed that "Angelorum imagines depingi debent, quam‘am vere corporei sunt" (Images of angels must be depicted as they are in the flesh): while the decree is valid, the reasoning behind it is not, since all scholars today say angels are incorporeal. There are many other fundamental reasons. I fear violence from people who do not understand this. Our Pope makes a lot of noise against this and speaks as the Pope, but you haven't heard about that, nor can think about it. In my opinion Your Excellency should write to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, that since they are putting Dominicans, Jesuits, Theatines, and secular priests who are against your books in this council, they should also admit Father Castelli and me.  Campanella was finally released from prison in 1626, through Pope Urban VIII, who personally interceded on his behalf with Philip IV of Spain. Taken to Rome and held for a time by the Holy Office, Campanella was restored to full liberty in 1629. He lived for five years in Rome, where he was Urban's advisor in astrological matters.  In 1634, however, a new conspiracy in Calabria, led by one of his followers, threatened fresh troubles. With the aid of Cardinal Barberini and the French Ambassador de Noailles, he fled to France, where he was received at the court of Louis XIII with marked favour. Protected by Cardinal Richelieu and granted a liberal pension by the king, he spent the rest of his days in the convent of Saint-Honoré in Paris. His last work was a poem celebrating the birth of the future Louis XIV ("Ecloga in portentosam Delphini nativitatem").  Campanella's "De sensu rerum et magia" (1620) partly inspired the first fully-fledged it-narrative in English, Charles Gildon's "The Golden Spy" (1709).

Tommaso Campanella (; 5 September 1568 – 21 May 1639), baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was a Dominican friar, Italian philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet.


Overview.

In 1990, the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, an autonomous province of Serbia within Yugoslavia, had undergone the Anti-bureaucratic revolution by Slobodan Milošević's government which resulted in the reduction of its powers, effectively returning it to its constitutional status of 1971–74. The same year, its Albanian majority—as well as the Republic of Albania—supported the proclamation of an independent Republic of Kosova. Following the end of the Kosovo War 1999, and as a result of NATO intervention, Serbia and the federal government no longer exercised "de facto" control over the territory.  In February 2008, the Republic of Kosovo declared independence. While Serbia has not recognised Kosovo's independence, in the Brussels agreement of 2013, it abolished all its institutions in the Autonomous Province. Kosovo's independence is currently recognized by 97 UN member states. In 2013, the Serbian government announced it was dissolving the Serb minority assemblies it had created in northern Kosovo, in order to allow the integration of the Kosovo Serb minority into the general population of Kosovo.

History.

Constitutional changes were made in Yugoslavia in 1990. The parliaments of all Yugoslavian republics and provinces, which until then had MPs only from the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, were dissolved and multi-party elections were held within them. Kosovar Albanians refused to participate in the elections so they held their own unsanctioned elections instead. As election laws required (and still require) turnout higher than 50%, a parliament in Kosovo could not be established.  The new constitution abolished the individual provinces' official media, integrating them within the official media of Serbia while still retaining some programs in the Albanian language. The Albanian-language media in Kosovo were suppressed. Funding was withdrawn from state-owned media, including those in the Albanian language in Kosovo. The constitution made the creation of privately owned media possible, however their operation was very difficult because of high rents and restrictive laws. State-owned Albanian language television or radio was also banned from broadcasting from Kosovo. However, privately owned Albanian media outlets appeared; of these, probably the most famous is "Koha Ditore", which was allowed to operate until late 1998 when it was closed after publishing a calendar glorifying ethnic Albanian separatists.  The constitution also transferred control over state-owned companies to the Yugoslav central government. In September 1990, up to 123,000 Albanian workers were dismissed from their positions in government and media, as were teachers, doctors, and civil servants, provoking a general strike and mass unrest. Some of those who were not sacked quit in sympathy, refusing to work for the Serbian government. Although the sackings were widely seen as a purge of ethnic Albanians, the government maintained that it was removing former communist directors.  Albanian educational curriculum textbooks were withdrawn and replaced by new ones. The curriculum was (and still is, as this is the curriculum used for Albanians in Serbia outside Kosovo) identical to its Serbian counterpart and that of all other nationalities in Serbia except that it had education on and in the Albanian language. Education in Albanian was withdrawn in 1992 and re-established in 1994. At the Priština University, which was seen as a centre of Kosovo Albanian cultural identity, education in the Albanian language was abolished and Albanian teachers were also dismissed in large numbers. Albanians responded by boycotting state schools and setting up an unofficial parallel system of Albanian-language education.  Kosovo Albanians were outraged by what they saw as an attack on their rights. Following mass rioting and unrest from Albanians as well as outbreaks of inter-communal violence, in February 1990, a state of emergency was declared and the presence of the Yugoslav Army and police was significantly increased to quell the unrest.  Unsanctioned elections were held in 1992, which overwhelmingly elected Ibrahim Rugova as "president" of a self-declared Republic of Kosova; Serb authorities rejected the election results, and tried to capture and prosecute those who had voted. In 1995, thousands of Serb refugees from Croatia were settled in Kosovo, which further worsened relations between the two communities.  Albanian opposition to the sovereignty of Yugoslavia and especially Serbia had previously surfaced in rioting (1968 and March 1981) in the capital Pristina. Rugova initially advocated non-violent resistance, but later opposition took the form of separatist agitation by opposition political groups and armed action from 1996 by the "Kosovo Liberation Army" ("Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës", or UÇK) whose activities led to the Kosovo War ending with the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the eventual creation of the UN Kosovo protectorate (UNMIK).  In 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was renamed the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (Montenegro left the federation in 2006 and recognised Kosovo's independence in 2008).  Violent 2004 unrest in Kosovo broke out on 17 March 2004. Kosovo Albanians, numbering over 50,000, took part in wide-ranging attacks on the Kosovo Serb minority. It was the largest violent incident in Kosovo since the Kosovo War of 1998–1999. According to reports by news sources in Serbia, during the unrest, civilians were killed, thousands of Serbs were forced to leave their homes. In Serbia the events were also called the March Pogrom.

Politics and government.

Since 1999, the Serb-inhabited areas of Kosovo have been governed as a "de facto" independent region from the Albanian-dominated government in Pristina. They continue to use Serbian national symbols and participate in Serbian national elections, which are boycotted in the rest of Kosovo; in turn, they boycott Kosovo's elections. The municipalities of Leposavić, Zvečan and Zubin Potok are run by local Serbs, while the Kosovska Mitrovica municipality had rival Serbian and Albanian governments until a compromise was agreed in November 2002.  The Serb areas have united into a community, the "Union of Serbian Districts and District Units of Kosovo and Metohija" established in February 2003 by Serbian delegates meeting in North Mitrovica, which has since served as the "de facto" "capital." The Union's president is Dragan Velić. There is also a central governing body, the Serbian National Council for Kosovo and Metohija (SNV). The President of SNV in North Kosovo is Dr Milan Ivanović, while the head of its Executive Council is Rada Trajković.  Local politics are dominated by the Serbian List for Kosovo and Metohija. The Serbian List was led by Oliver Ivanović, an engineer from Kosovska Mitrovica.  In February 2007 the Union of Serbian Districts and District Units of Kosovo and Metohija has transformed into the Serbian Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija presided by Marko Jakšić. The Assembly strongly criticised the secessionist movements of the Albanian-dominated PISG Assembly of Kosovo and demanded unity of the Serb people in Kosovo, boycott of EULEX and announced massive protests in support of Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo. On 18 February 2008, day after Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, the Assembly declared it "null and void".  Also, there was a Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija within the Serbian government, with Goran Bogdanović as Minister for Kosovo and Metohija. In 2012, that ministry was downgraded to the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, with Aleksandar Vulin as the head of the new office. However, in 2013, Aleksandar Vulin post was raised into being a Minister without portfolio in charge of Kosovo and Metohija.

Administrative divisions.

Five Serbian Districts are in the territory of Kosovo, comprising 28 municipalities and 1 city. In 2000, UNMIK created 7 new districts and 30 municipalities. Serbia does not exercise sovereignty over this polity. For the UNMIK districts and the districts of Kosovo, see Districts of Kosovo.

The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, commonly known as Kosovo and Metohija or Kosovo for short and abbreviated as KiM or Kosmet, refers to the region of Kosovo as defined in the Constitution of Serbia. The territory of the province is disputed between Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, the latter of which has "de facto" control. The region had functioned as part of Serbia (mainly while Serbia had been part of a Yugoslav state) for most of the period between 1912 and 1999.


Etymology.

The genus name is derived from the Greek γέρανος ("géranos"), meaning crane, with reference to the appearance of the fruit capsule. The specific Latin name "sanguineum" refers to the red color assumed by the leaves in Autumn.

Description.

The biological form of "Geranium sanguineum" is hemicryptophyte, as its overwintering buds are situated just below the soil surface and the floral axis is more or less erect with a few leaves. It has a thick rhizome. The stems are prostrate to ascending, well developed, very branched and hairy. This plant reaches on average in height. The petiolate leaves have five lobes (or segments), each segment is tripartite in large teeth. The flowers have a diameter of 2.5 to 4 cm. and are purple The flowering period extends from May through October. The flowers are hermaphrodite and pollinated by insects (entomophily). The most common flower visitors are Syrphidae and Hymenoptera, but also butterflies and Coleoptera. The fruit is a schizocarp that breaks up into five mericarps when ripe.

Distribution.

"Geranium sanguineum" is native to Europe and temperate Asia. It is widespread in most of Europe up to Caucasus. In the north-east of Ireland it is a rare garden escape.

Habitat.

The typical habitat of this species is grassland, sand dunes and open woodland on calcareous soils, including rocky slopes. It prefers calcareous soils with neutral pH, with low nutritional value, at an altitude of above sea level.

Cultivation.

It is cultivated as a garden subject, and a number of different cultivars exist. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:

Geranium sanguineum, common names bloody crane's-bill or bloody geranium, is a species of hardy flowering herbaceous perennial plant in the cranesbill family Geraniaceae. It is also the county flower of Northumberland.


Overview.

Charles-Michel de l'Épée was born to a wealthy family in Versailles, the seat of political power in what was then the most powerful kingdom of Europe. He studied to be a Catholic priest.  L'Épée then turned his attention toward charitable services for the poor, and, on one foray into the slums of Paris, he had a chance encounter with two young deaf sisters who communicated using a sign language. L'Épée decided to dedicate himself to the education and salvation of the deaf, and, in 1760, he founded a school. In line with emerging philosophical thought of the time, the Abbé de l'Épée came to believe that deaf people were capable of language and concluded that they should be able to receive the sacraments and thus avoid going to hell. He began to develop a system of instruction of the French language and religion. In the early 1760s, his shelter became the world's first free school for the deaf, open to the public.  Though L'Épée's original interest was in religious education, his public advocacy and development of a kind of "Signed French" enabled deaf people to legally defend themselves in court for the first time.  L'Épée died at the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, and his tomb is in the Church of Saint Roch in Paris. Two years after his death, the National Assembly recognised him as a "Benefactor of Humanity" and declared that deaf people had rights according to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. In 1791, the Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets à Paris, which L'Épée had founded, began to receive government funding. It was later renamed the Institut St. Jacques and then renamed again to its present name: Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris. His methods of education have spread around the world, and the Abbé de l'Épée is seen today as one of the founding fathers of deaf education.  After L'Épée's death, he was succeeded by the Abbé Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard, who became the new head of the school.

The Instructional Method of Signs ("signes méthodiques").

The Instructional Method of Signs is an educational method that emphasised using gestures or hand signs, based on the principle that "the education of deaf mutes must teach them through the eye of what other people acquire through the ear." He recognised that there was already a signing deaf community in Paris but saw their language (now known as Old French Sign Language) as primitive. Although he advised his (hearing) teachers to learn the signs (lexicon) for use in instructing their deaf students, he did not use their language in the classroom. Instead, he developed an idiosyncratic gestural system using some of this lexicon, combined with other invented signs to represent all the verb endings, articles, prepositions, and auxiliary verbs of the French language.  In English, the Abbé de L'Épée's system has been known as "Methodical Signs" and "Old Signed French" but is perhaps better translated by the phrase "systematised signs". While L'Épée's system laid the philosophical groundwork for the later developments of Manually Coded Languages such as Signed English, it differed somewhat in execution. For example, the word "croire" ("believe") was signed using five separate signs—four with the meanings "know", "feel", "say", and "not see" and one that marked the word as a verb (Lane, 1980:122). The word "indéchiffrable" ("unintelligible") was also produced with a chain of five signs: interior-understand-possible-adjective-not. However, like Manually Coded Languages, L'Épée's system was cumbersome and unnatural to deaf signers. A deaf pupil of the school (and later teacher), Laurent Clerc, wrote that the deaf never used the "signes méthodiques" for communication outside the classroom, preferring their own community language (French Sign Language).  Although L'Épée reportedly had great success with this educational method, his successes were questioned by critics who thought his students were aping his gestures rather than understanding the meaning.

Educational legacy.

What distinguished the Abbé de L'Épée from educators of the deaf before him, and ensured his place in history, is that he allowed his methods and classrooms to be available to the public and other educators. As a result of his openness as much as his successes, his methods would become so influential that their mark is still apparent in deaf education today. L'Épée also established teacher-training programmes for foreigners who would take his methods back to their countries and who established numerous deaf schools around the world. Laurent Clerc, a deaf pupil of the Paris school, went on to co-found the first school for the deaf in North America and brought with him the sign language that formed the basis of modern American Sign Language, including the signs of the ASL alphabet.  Some deaf schools in Germany and the UK that were contemporaries of the Abbé de l'Épée's Paris School used an oralist approach emphasising speech and lip reading, in contrast to his belief in manualism. Their methods were closely guarded secrets, and they saw Épée as a rival. The oralism vs. manualism debate still rages to this day. Oralism is sometimes called the German method, and manualism the French method in reference to those times.  The Paris school still exists, though it now uses French Sign Language in class rather than Épée's methodical signs. Located in rue Saint-Jacques in Paris, it is one of four national deaf schools—the others being in Metz, Chambéry, and Bordeaux.

Myths.

Even now, L'Épée is commonly described as the inventor of sign language or as having "taught the deaf to sign". In fact, he was taught to sign by the deaf. L'Épée categorised and recorded French signs so they could be taught to others in order to be used in education, especially about the Christian faith.

Tribute.

On 24 November 2018, Google Doodle commemorated his 306th birthday.

The Abbé Charles-Michel de l'Épée (; 24 November 1712 – 23 December 1789) was a philanthropic educator of 18th-century France who has become known as the "Father of the Deaf".


Background and characteristics.

Turbo-folk music emerged as a subculture in the countryside during the 1970s before migrating to the city in the 80s and eventually reaching further expansion in the 90s during the regime of Slobodan Milošević, Yugoslav wars, inflation and political isolation.  The term, coined by musician Rambo Amadeus, refers to every folk music based song featuring elements of electronic, dance, pop, hip-hop or other genres not related to true Serbian traditional music. Turkish and Greek folk music have also had great influences, with often cases of plagiarism without consequences due to the political situation in Yugoslavia. Songs were primarily composed by acclaimed rock and pop musicians such as Milić Vukašinović, Goran Bregović and Kornelije Kovač with lyrics mainly written by Marina Tucaković. Most of the tracks involve themes of love, mainly adultery and sex, then materialism, alcohol and vice.  The visual image also went through changes and was heading towards MTV aesthetics. Music videos and editorials were mostly directed by former art photographer Dejan Milićević, who himself stated Baroque as his main inspiration. Turbo-folk was predominantly broadcast on RTV Palma and RTV Pink.

Performers and popularity.

The record in sales is held by Lepa Brena, who has sold over 40 million records and held some of the biggest concerts on the Balkans, making her the most successful Bosnian singer to date. Brena was also considered to be the symbol of former Yugoslavia, the country's unity and power, and after the breakup of the federation, of so-called "yugo-nostalgia". At the time the only "rival" Lepa Brena had was Vesna Zmijanac. Zmijanac and Brena were considered the biggest stars in Yugoslavia. Recognised as one of the most popular Yugoslavian singers, Zmijanac was dubbed the sex-symbol, fashionista and gay icon of the eighties  Among various turbo-folk singers in the nineties, arguably the biggest star of the decade was Dragana Mirković, who has sold more than 10 million records. She was at the time signed to Južni Vetar, alongside other popular singers like Mile Kitić, Sinan Sakić and Šemsa Suljaković. Arguably one of the most famous Ex-Yugoslavian artists, Zorica Brunclik is known for her singing voice, fashion style and bright pink hair. Sometimes she and folk singer Snežana Đurišić are labeled as the queens of new folk music.  However, Svetlana Ceca Ražnatović and Aca Lukas dominated in the late nineties and early two thousands acquiring enormous popularity despite their controversies. Ceca was married to Željko Ražnatović Arkan, war criminal and commander of the Serb Volunteer Guard, while Lukas is known for his troublesome lifestyle involving drug addictions and gambling problems. Both singers were arrested during the operation "Sablja" in 2003. Nevertheless, today they are both considered as the biggest stars on the Balkans. Because of her popularity, Ceca is considered as the "Serbian mother". She also holds the record for the biggest concert made by a Serbian singer. Her concert "Ušće 2013" was attended by more than 150 000 people. Jelena Karleuša also rose to prominence in the mid nineties, recognized for her highly sexual image and provocative work. During this period, Croatia also had their own pop-folk stars like Severina and Magazin with its lead singer Jelena Rozga.  In the 2000s, the single-person dominated scene was replaced by diverse performers who remained popular for at least a year. New music and its performers were labeled as pop-folk performers. Serbian record label Grand Production signed almost every singer in the country, taking monopoly over the music industry with significant media space for its TV shows, music festivals and magazines. Grand was held responsible for the success of the most of, at the time, popular acts like Seka Aleksić, Indira Radić, Saša Matić, Goga Sekulić, Stoja, Dara Bubamara, Aco Pejović, Viki Miljković, Sanja Đorđević, Jana, Dejan Matić and many more. At the beginning of the 2000s popular singers Viki Miljković and Indira Radić became one of the biggest stars in the country. In 2006 Indira Radić received the award for the largest number of concerts held. In 2005 with her album "Mahi, mahi" Viki Miljković became one of the most successful and popular singers at the time. Every single song on her album became an enormous hit throughout the Balkans. Popular reality singing competition "Zvezde Granda" also created many raising stars of pop-folk, such as Milica Todorović, Tanja Savić, Milan Stanković, Rada Manojlović and Milica Pavlović, whose careers were managed by Grand. The stars that emerged in later seasons were Aleksandra Prijović, Katarina Grujić and Andreana Čekić.  Pop-folk is a music genre dominated by Ana Bekuta and Neda Ukraden. Both of them are hugely popular with their careers lasting for decades. Ana Bekuta is a big star in Serbia, while Neda Ukraden is more successful on the Balkan music scene.  In the 2010s, pop-folk embraced even more pop influence and would often infuse electronic or hip-hop, leaning toward club music. Previously an underground hip-hop duo, Elitni Odredi gained enormous popularity after they had commercialized their sound by adding folk music. They were the pioneers of digital age in Serbian music, avoiding mainstream media, while using YouTube as their main platform. Bosnian singer Maya Berović, who saw moderate success in the 2000s, reached the zenith of her career when she collaborated with rappers Jala Brat and Buba Corelli on her 2017 album "Viktorijina tajna", which was a mixture of contemporary R&B and pop-folk.

Criticism.

Although very popular, turbo-folk is described as pseudo-folklore, while often linking it to Serbian involvement in Bosnian and Croatian conflicts during the nineties. This left-wing section of Serbian and Croatian society explicitly viewed this music as vulgar, almost pornographic kitsch, glorifying crime, moral corruption and nationalist xenophobia. In addition to making a connection between turbofolk and "war profiteering, crime & weapons cult, rule of force and violence", in her book "Smrtonosni sjaj" (Deadly Splendor) Belgrade media theorist Ivana Kronja refers to its look as "aggressive, sadistic and pornographically eroticised iconography". Along the same lines, British culture theorist Alexei Monroe calls the phenomenon "porno-nationalism". However, turbo-folk was equally popular amongst the South Slavic nations during the brutal wars of the 1990s, reflecting perhaps the common cultural sentiments of the warring sides.  The resilience of a turbo-folk culture and musical genre, often referred to as the ""soundtrack to Serbia’s wars"", was and to a certain extent still is, actively promoted and exploited by pro-government commercial TV stations, most notably on Pink and Palma TV-channels, which devote significant amount of their broadcasting schedule to turbo-folk shows and music videos.  Others, however, feel that this neglects the specific social and political context that brought about turbo-folk, which was, they say, entirely different from the context of contemporary western popular culture. In their opinion, turbo-folk served as a dominant paradigm of the "militant nationalist" regime of Slobodan Milošević, "fully controlled by regime media managers". John Fiske feels that during that period, turbo-folk and its close counterpart Serbian eurodance had the monopoly over the officially permitted popular culture, while, according to him, in contrast, Western mass media culture of the time provided a variety of music genre, youth styles, and consequently ideological positions.

Turbo-folk (in recent years referred to as pop-folk or popular folk) is an umbrella term for contemporary pop music made in the West Balkans, that initially developed during the 1980s and 1990s, with similar music styles in Greece (Skyladiko), Bulgaria (Chalga), Romania (Manele) and Albania (Tallava). It's a fusion genre of popular music blending Serbian folk music with other genres such as pop, rock, electronic or even hip-hop.


Design and development.

In 1933, the "Kriegsmarine" looked for a standardized shipboard observation seaplane. After a brief selection period, the "Reichsluftfahrtministerium" (German Air Ministry, RLM) decided on the Heinkel He 60 biplane. This was one of a line of developments of a basic biplane airframe that appeared as a number of floatplanes, trainers, and fighters. Deliveries started in a matter of months.  By 1935, it was found that the He 60's performance was lacking and the RLM asked Heinkel to design its replacement. The result was the He 114. The first prototype was powered by the Daimler-Benz DB 600 inline engine, but it was clear that supplies of this engine would be limited and the production versions turned to the BMW 132 radial engine instead.  The plane proved to have only slightly better performance than the He 60, and its sea-handling was poor. Rushed modifications resulted in a series of nine prototypes in an attempt to solve some of the problems, but they did not help much. The Navy gave up, and the planes were eventually sold off to Romania, Spain and Sweden.  In October 1936, the RLM asked for a He 114 replacement. The only stipulations were that it would use the BMW 132, and they wanted prototypes in both twin-float and single-float configurations. Designs were received from Dornier, Gotha, Arado and Focke-Wulf. Heinkel declined to tender, contending that the He 114 could still be made to work.  With the exception of the Arado low-wing monoplane design, all were conventional biplanes. This gave the Arado better performance than any of the others, and the RLM ordered four prototypes. The RLM was conservative by nature, so they also ordered two of the Focke-Wulf Fw 62 designs as a backup. It quickly became clear that the Arado would work effectively, and only four prototypes of the Fw 62 were built.  The Ar 196 prototypes were all delivered in summer 1937, V1 (which flew in May) and V2 with twin floats as A models, and V3 and V4 on a single float as B models. Both versions demonstrated excellent water handling and there seemed to be little to decide, one over the other. Since there was a possibility of the smaller outrigger floats on the B models "digging in", the twin-float A model was ordered into production. A single additional prototype, V5, was produced in November 1938 to test final changes.  Ten A-0s were delivered in November and December 1938, with a single 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 15 machine gun at the rear seat for defence. Five similarly equipped B-0s were also delivered to land-based squadrons. This was followed by 20 A-1 production models starting in June 1939, enough to equip the surface fleet.  Starting in November, production switched to the heavier land-based A-2 model. It added shackles for two 50 kg (110 lb) bombs, two 20 mm MG FF cannon in the wings, and a 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine gun in the cowling. The A-4 replaced it in December 1940, strengthening the airframe, adding another radio, and switching props to a VDM model. The apparently misnumbered A-3, which had additional strengthening of the airframe, replaced the A-4. The final production version was the A-5 from 1943, which changed radios and cockpit instruments, and switched the rear gun to the much-improved MG 81Z. Overall, 541 Ar 196s (15 prototypes and 526 production models) were built before production ended in August 1944, about 100 of these from SNCA and Fokker plants.  The Ar 196C was a proposed aerodynamically-refined version. The Ar 196C project was cancelled in 1941.

Operational history.

The plane was loved by its pilots, who found that it handled well both in the air and on the water. With the loss of the German surface fleet, the A-1s were added to coastal squadrons and continued to fly reconnaissance missions and submarine hunts into late 1944. Two notable operations were the capture of, and the repeated interception of RAF Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley bombers. Although it was no match for a fighter, it was considerably better than its Allied counterparts, and generally considered the best of its class. Owing to its good handling on water, the Finnish Air Force utilized Ar 196s just for transporting and supplying special forces patrols behind enemy lines, landing on small lakes in remote areas. Several fully equipped soldiers were carried in the fuselage.  Two Arado Ar 196s were brought to Penang in Japanese-occupied Malaya aboard the auxiliary cruisers "Thor" and "Michel" in the early 1940s. In March of 1944, along with a Japanese Aichi E13A, these seaplanes formed the newly-created East Asia Naval Special Service to assist both the German Monsun Gruppe and Japanese naval forces in the area. The aircraft were painted in Japanese livery and were operated by Luftwaffe pilots under the command of Oberleutnant Ulrich Horn.

Arado in Allied hands.

The first Arado Ar 196 to fall into allied hands was an example belonging to the German cruiser, which was captured in Lyngstad, Eide, by a Norwegian Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.11 seaplane of the Trøndelag naval district on 8 April 1940, at the dawn of the Norwegian Campaign. After being towed to Kristiansund by the torpedo boat, it was used against its former owners, flying with Norwegian markings. At 03:30 on 18 April, the Arado was evacuated to the UK by a Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service pilot. The plane was shortly thereafter crashed by a British pilot while on transit to the Helensburgh naval air base for testing. At the end of the war, at least one Arado Ar 196 was left at a Norwegian airfield and kept in use as a liaison aircraft by the Royal Norwegian Air Force for a year on the West coast.  During 1944-45, Soviet forces captured numerous Arados along the Baltic coast of Poland and Germany. At Dassow a spare parts depot was recovered also. After repairs, thirty-seven Arado Ar 96 aircraft fitted with Soviet radio equipment were integrated into the aviation element of the Soviet Border Guard. They were sent to Baltic, Black Sea and Pacific coastal areas, serving until 1955.

Aircraft on display.

The Aircraft Historical Museum, Sola, Norway, has on display an Ar 196 A-2 fuselage frame raised from the wreck of the German cruiser Blücher in Oslofjord.  Another aircraft is known to lie in the Jonsvatnet, a lake near Trondheim in Norway. A number of wartime German aircraft have been recovered from the lake, but the Ar 196 remains undisturbed as its crew were killed when it crashed there in 1940 and it has the status of a War Grave.  A wrecked Arado Ar 196 A-3, believed to be D1 + EH, was snagged by a fishing trawler off the island of Irakleia in 1982 at a depth of 91 meters. It was towed out of the fishing lanes to shallower waters (about 11 meters). The upside-down plane, with fuselage and wings mostly intact, has become a popular spot for Scuba diving.

The Arado Ar 196 was a shipboard reconnaissance low-wing monoplane aircraft built by the German firm of Arado starting in 1936. The next year it was selected as the winner of a design contest and became the standard aircraft of the "Kriegsmarine" (German navy) throughout World War II.


Biography.

Early years.

Antonín Novotný was born in Letňany, Austria-Hungary, now part of Prague, Czech Republic. The Novotný family was working class in social origin and he worked from an early age as a blacksmith.  Novotný was a charter member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC) at its founding in 1921. He became a professional Communist Party functionary in 1929.  In 1935, Novotný was selected as a delegate to the 7th World Congress of Comintern. He was made a regional party secretary in Prague in 1937 and made secretary and editor of the CPC's newspaper in the South Moravian Region in 1938.

World War II years.

With the coming of World War II and occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany in 1939, the CPC was outlawed and forced into an underground existence. Novotný served as one of the leaders of the CPC in the underground movement in Prague. Novotný was finally arrested by the German secret police, the Gestapo, in September 1941 and was immediately deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp.  Novotný managed to survive his concentration camp experience and was liberated by American troops on 5 May 1945.

Post-war political rise.

After the war, Novotný returned to Czechoslovakia and resumed his activity in the Czech Communist Party. He was elected a member of the governing Central Committee of the CPC in 1946. He was promoted to the Secretariat of the Central Committee in September 1951 and became one of the party's top leaders on the CPC's Politburo following the arrest of Rudolf Slánský for alleged "Titoism" in November of that same year.  Novotný was formally appointed as Deputy Prime Minister in February 1953. After the death of party leader Klement Gottwald in March 1953, Novotný became a leading candidate in the succession struggle, ultimately winning out in September 1953 when he was named First Secretary of the party—effectively making him the leader of Czechoslovakia.  While President Antonín Zápotocký and Prime Minister Viliam Široký wanted a less repressive way of governing, the hardliner Novotný was able to outflank them because he had the backing of the Soviet Union. In late 1953, at a meeting in Moscow, Zápotocký and Široký were told to adhere to the principles of "collective leadership" — in other words, abandon power to Novotný.  In the Czechoslovakia of Novotný, people continued to face strict government regulations in the arts and media, although they had loosened dramatically since Stalin's death in 1953 and the subsequent De-Stalinisation programmes of 1956. His quasi-authoritarian practices led to mounting calls for a new form of socialism over the unsatisfactory pace of change that would include the accountability, proper elections, and responsibility of leaders to society. Novotný's administration, however, still remained centralised for 10 years. During these years society evolved, seen through events such as the Czechoslovak film miracle. Following the death of Zápotocký in 1957, Novotný was named as President of the republic, further consolidating his grip on power. Three years later, he replaced the superficially democratic Ninth-of-May Constitution with a new constitution that was a fully Communist document.

Events of 1968.

While Novotný was forced to adopt some reforms due to popular pressure in the 1960s, these efforts were half-hearted at best. Growing public dissatisfaction caused Novotný to lose his grip on power. The reason for this was the excessive imprisoning and killing of innocents who protested against the communist regime. He was forced to resign as party leader in January 1968 and was replaced by a reformer, Alexander Dubček. In March 1968, he was ousted as president and in May he resigned from the Central Committee of CPC.

Later years.

In 1971, during the period of normalization (Czechoslovakia), he was reelected to the Central Committee. However, his political influence was minimal and he was too ill to be a strong force in the Gustáv Husák administration.

Antonín Josef Novotný (10 December 1904 – 28 January 1975) was First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1968, and also held the post of President of Czechoslovakia from 1957 to 1968. An ardent hardliner, Novotný was forced to yield the reins of power to Alexander Dubček during the short-lived reform movement of 1968.


History.

An Art Nouveau or Jugend style castle, currently known as Imatran Valtionhotelli, was built near the rapids in 1903 as a hotel for tourists from the Russian Imperial capital Saint Petersburg.  During the Continuation War, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim met with Adolf Hitler in secrecy near the town for the former's 75th birthday.  Imatra was founded in 1948 on the territory of three municipalities – Jääski, Ruokolahti and Joutseno. Finland ceded 11% of its territory to the Soviet Union after the Winter War. Jääski lost 85% of its territory and it was decided that a new municipality, Imatra, should be established on the remaining 15% of Jääski and some areas of Ruokolahti and Joutseno. This is why the Imatra coat of arms has three flashes – in honour of those previous municipalities that granted areas to it. It gained its municipal charter in 1971.

Sport.

PaSa Bandy is a bandy club in Imatra.  Imatra is the birthplace of National Hockey League players Jussi Markkanen and Petteri Nokelainen.  In motorsport history, Imatra is best known for its road races (former TT-race) from 1963 to 1986. From 1962 to 1982 it was the home of the Finnish motorcycle Grand Prix. Racing on the Imatra road circuit ended after fatal accident during the 1986 European Championship event. Racing resumed in 2016 as an event.  There is an annual indoor rowing race at Imatra, which attracts competitors from across Finland.

International relations.

Twin towns — Sister cities.

Imatra is twinned with:

Imatra is a town and municipality in eastern Finland. Imatra is dominated by Lake Saimaa, the Vuoksi River and the border with Russia. On the other side of the border, away from the centre of Imatra, lies the Russian town of Svetogorsk. St Petersburg is situated to the southeast, Finland's capital Helsinki is away and Lappeenranta, the nearest Finnish town, is away. Imatra belongs to the administrative province of Southern Finland and the region of South Karelia.


Relation to other problems.

Classification and clustering are examples of the more general problem of pattern recognition, which is the assignment of some sort of output value to a given input value. Other examples are regression, which assigns a real-valued output to each input; sequence labeling, which assigns a class to each member of a sequence of values (for example, part of speech tagging, which assigns a part of speech to each word in an input sentence); parsing, which assigns a parse tree to an input sentence, describing the syntactic structure of the sentence; etc.  A common subclass of classification is probabilistic classification. Algorithms of this nature use statistical inference to find the best class for a given instance. Unlike other algorithms, which simply output a "best" class, probabilistic algorithms output a probability of the instance being a member of each of the possible classes. The best class is normally then selected as the one with the highest probability. However, such an algorithm has numerous advantages over non-probabilistic classifiers:

Frequentist procedures.

Early work on statistical classification was undertaken by Fisher, in the context of two-group problems, leading to Fisher's linear discriminant function as the rule for assigning a group to a new observation. This early work assumed that data-values within each of the two groups had a multivariate normal distribution. The extension of this same context to more than two-groups has also been considered with a restriction imposed that the classification rule should be linear. Later work for the multivariate normal distribution allowed the classifier to be nonlinear: several classification rules can be derived based on different adjustments of the Mahalanobis distance, with a new observation being assigned to the group whose centre has the lowest adjusted distance from the observation.

Bayesian procedures.

Unlike frequentist procedures, Bayesian classification procedures provide a natural way of taking into account any available information about the relative sizes of the different groups within the overall population. Bayesian procedures tend to be computationally expensive and, in the days before Markov chain Monte Carlo computations were developed, approximations for Bayesian clustering rules were devised.  Some Bayesian procedures involve the calculation of group membership probabilities: these can be viewed as providing a more informative outcome of a data analysis than a simple attribution of a single group-label to each new observation.

Binary and multiclass classification.

Classification can be thought of as two separate problems – binary classification and multiclass classification. In binary classification, a better understood task, only two classes are involved, whereas multiclass classification involves assigning an object to one of several classes. Since many classification methods have been developed specifically for binary classification, multiclass classification often requires the combined use of multiple binary classifiers.

Feature vectors.

Most algorithms describe an individual instance whose category is to be predicted using a feature vector of individual, measurable properties of the instance. Each property is termed a feature, also known in statistics as an explanatory variable (or independent variable, although features may or may not be statistically independent). Features may variously be binary (e.g. "on" or "off"); categorical (e.g. "A", "B", "AB" or "O", for blood type); ordinal (e.g. "large", "medium" or "small"); integer-valued (e.g. the number of occurrences of a particular word in an email); or real-valued (e.g. a measurement of blood pressure). If the instance is an image, the feature values might correspond to the pixels of an image; if the instance is a piece of text, the feature values might be occurrence frequencies of different words. Some algorithms work only in terms of discrete data and require that real-valued or integer-valued data be "discretized" into groups (e.g. less than 5, between 5 and 10, or greater than 10).

Linear classifiers.

A large number of algorithms for classification can be phrased in terms of a linear function that assigns a score to each possible category "k" by combining the feature vector of an instance with a vector of weights, using a dot product. The predicted category is the one with the highest score. This type of score function is known as a linear predictor function and has the following general form:  where X is the feature vector for instance "i", β is the vector of weights corresponding to category "k", and score(X, "k") is the score associated with assigning instance "i" to category "k". In discrete choice theory, where instances represent people and categories represent choices, the score is considered the utility associated with person "i" choosing category "k".  Algorithms with this basic setup are known as linear classifiers. What distinguishes them is the procedure for determining (training) the optimal weights/coefficients and the way that the score is interpreted.  Examples of such algorithms are

Algorithms.

In unsupervised learning, classifiers form the backbone of cluster analysis and in supervised or semi-supervised learning, classifiers are how the system characterizes and evaluates unlabeled data. In all cases though, classifiers have a specific set of dynamic rules, which includes an interpretation procedure to handle vague or unknown values, all tailored to the type of inputs being examined.  Since no single form of classification is appropriate for all data sets, a large toolkit of classification algorithms have been developed. The most commonly used include:

Evaluation.

Classifier performance depends greatly on the characteristics of the data to be classified. There is no single classifier that works best on all given problems (a phenomenon that may be explained by the no-free-lunch theorem). Various empirical tests have been performed to compare classifier performance and to find the characteristics of data that determine classifier performance. Determining a suitable classifier for a given problem is however still more an art than a science.  The measures precision and recall are popular metrics used to evaluate the quality of a classification system. More recently, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves have been used to evaluate the tradeoff between true- and false-positive rates of classification algorithms.  As a performance metric, the uncertainty coefficient has the advantage over simple accuracy in that it is not affected by the relative sizes of the different classes.  Further, it will not penalize an algorithm for simply "rearranging" the classes.

Application domains.

Classification has many applications. In some of these it is employed as a data mining procedure, while in others more detailed statistical modeling is undertaken.

In machine learning and statistics, classification is the problem of identifying to which of a set of categories (sub-populations) a new observation belongs, on the basis of a training set of data containing observations (or instances) whose category membership is known. Examples are assigning a given email to the "spam" or "non-spam" class, and assigning a diagnosis to a given patient based on observed characteristics of the patient (sex, blood pressure, presence or absence of certain symptoms, etc.). Classification is an example of pattern recognition.