Biography.

Early life.

Johann was born in Basel, the son of Nicolaus Bernoulli, an apothecary, and his wife, Margaretha Schonauer, and began studying medicine at Basel University. His father desired that he study business so that he might take over the family spice trade, but Johann Bernoulli did not like business and convinced his father to allow him to study medicine instead. However, Johann Bernoulli did not enjoy medicine either and began studying mathematics on the side with his older brother Jacob. Throughout Johann Bernoulli's education at Basel University the Bernoulli brothers worked together spending much of their time studying the newly discovered infinitesimal calculus. They were among the first mathematicians to not only study and understand calculus but to apply it to various problems.

Adult life.

After graduating from Basel University, Johann Bernoulli moved to teach differential equations. Later, in 1694, he married Dorothea Falkner, the daughter of an alderman of Basel, and soon after accepted a position as the professor of mathematics at the University of Groningen. At the request of his father-in-law, Bernoulli began the voyage back to his home town of Basel in 1705. Just after setting out on the journey he learned of his brother's death to tuberculosis. Bernoulli had planned on becoming the professor of Greek at Basel University upon returning but instead was able to take over as professor of mathematics, his older brother's former position. As a student of Leibniz's calculus, Bernoulli sided with him in 1713 in the Leibniz–Newton debate over who deserved credit for the discovery of calculus. Bernoulli defended Leibniz by showing that he had solved certain problems with his methods that Newton had failed to solve. Bernoulli also promoted Descartes' vortex theory over Newton's theory of gravitation. This ultimately delayed acceptance of Newton's theory in continental Europe. In 1724, Johann Bernoulli entered a competition sponsored by the French Académie Royale des Sciences, which posed the question:  In defending a view previously espoused by Leibniz, he found himself postulating an infinite external force required to make the body elastic by overcoming the infinite internal force making the body hard. In consequence, he was disqualified for the prize, which was won by Maclaurin. However, Bernoulli's paper was subsequently accepted in 1726 when the Académie considered papers regarding elastic bodies, for which the prize was awarded to Pierre Mazière. Bernoulli received an honourable mention in both competitions.

Disputes and controversy.

Although Johann and his brother Jacob Bernoulli worked together before Johann graduated from Basel University, shortly after this, the two developed a jealous and competitive relationship. Johann was jealous of Jacob's position and the two often attempted to outdo each other. After Jacob's death Johann's jealousy shifted toward his own talented son, Daniel. In 1738 the father–son duo nearly simultaneously published separate works on hydrodynamics. Johann attempted to take precedence over his son by purposely and falsely predating his work two years prior to his son's.  The Bernoulli brothers often worked on the same problems, but not without friction. Their most bitter dispute concerned the brachistochrone curve problem, or the equation for the path followed by a particle from one point to another in the shortest amount of time, if the particle is acted upon by gravity alone. Johann presented the problem in 1696, offering a reward for its solution. Entering the challenge, Johann proposed the cycloid, the path of a point on a moving wheel, also pointing out the relation this curve bears to the path taken by a ray of light passing through layers of varied density. Jacob proposed the same solution, but Johann's derivation of the solution was incorrect, and he presented his brother Jacob's derivation as his own.  Bernoulli was hired by Guillaume de l'Hôpital for tutoring in mathematics. Bernoulli and l'Hôpital signed a contract which gave l'Hôpital the right to use Bernoulli's discoveries as he pleased. L'Hôpital authored the first textbook on infinitesimal calculus, "Analyse des Infiniment Petits pour l'Intelligence des Lignes Courbes" in 1696, which mainly consisted of the work of Bernoulli, including what is now known as l'Hôpital's rule. Subsequently, in letters to Leibniz, Varignon and others, Bernoulli complained that he had not received enough credit for his contributions, in spite of the preface of his book:

Johann Bernoulli (also known as Jean or John; – 1 January 1748) was a Swiss mathematician and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. He is known for his contributions to infinitesimal calculus and educating Leonhard Euler in the pupil's youth.


Biography.

Jacob Bernoulli was born in Basel, Switzerland. Following his father's wish, he studied theology and entered the ministry. But contrary to the desires of his parents, he also studied mathematics and astronomy. He traveled throughout Europe from 1676 to 1682, learning about the latest discoveries in mathematics and the sciences under leading figures of the time. This included the work of Johannes Hudde, Robert Boyle, and Robert Hooke. During this time he also produced an incorrect theory of comets. Bernoulli returned to Switzerland, and began teaching mechanics at the University of Basel from 1683. His doctoral dissertation "Solutionem tergemini problematis" was submitted in 1684. It appeared in print in 1687.  In 1684 Bernoulli married Judith Stupanus; they had two children. During this decade, he also began a fertile research career. His travels allowed him to establish correspondence with many leading mathematicians and scientists of his era, which he maintained throughout his life. During this time, he studied the new discoveries in mathematics, including Christiaan Huygens's "De ratiociniis in aleae ludo", Descartes' "La Géométrie" and Frans van Schooten's supplements of it. He also studied Isaac Barrow and John Wallis, leading to his interest in infinitesimal geometry. Apart from these, it was between 1684 and 1689 that many of the results that were to make up "Ars Conjectandi" were discovered.  He was appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Basel in 1687, remaining in this position for the rest of his life. By that time, he had begun tutoring his brother Johann Bernoulli on mathematical topics. The two brothers began to study the calculus as presented by Leibniz in his 1684 paper on the differential calculus in "Nova Methodus pro Maximis et Minimis" published in "Acta Eruditorum". They also studied the publications of von Tschirnhaus. It must be understood that Leibniz's publications on the calculus were very obscure to mathematicians of that time and the Bernoullis were among the first to try to understand and apply Leibniz's theories.  Jacob collaborated with his brother on various applications of calculus. However the atmosphere of collaboration between the two brothers turned into rivalry as Johann's own mathematical genius began to mature, with both of them attacking each other in print, and posing difficult mathematical challenges to test each other's skills. By 1697, the relationship had completely broken down.  The lunar crater Bernoulli is also named after him jointly with his brother Johann.

Important works.

Jacob Bernoulli's first important contributions were a pamphlet on the parallels of logic and algebra published in 1685, work on probability in 1685 and geometry in 1687. His geometry result gave a construction to divide any triangle into four equal parts with two perpendicular lines.  By 1689 he had published important work on infinite series and published his law of large numbers in probability theory. Jacob Bernoulli published five treatises on infinite series between 1682 and 1704 The first two of these contained many results, such as the fundamental result that formula_1 diverges, which Bernoulli believed were new but they had actually been proved by Mengoli 40 years earlier. Bernoulli could not find a closed form for formula_2, but he did show that it converged to a finite limit less than 2. Euler was the first to find the sum of this series in 1737. Bernoulli also studied the exponential series which came out of examining compound interest.  In May 1690 in a paper published in "Acta Eruditorum", Jacob Bernoulli showed that the problem of determining the isochrone is equivalent to solving a first-order nonlinear differential equation. The isochrone, or curve of constant descent, is the curve along which a particle will descend under gravity from any point to the bottom in exactly the same time, no matter what the starting point. It had been studied by Huygens in 1687 and Leibniz in 1689. After finding the differential equation, Bernoulli then solved it by what we now call separation of variables. Jacob Bernoulli's paper of 1690 is important for the history of calculus, since the term integral appears for the first time with its integration meaning. In 1696 Bernoulli solved the equation, now called the Bernoulli differential equation,  Jacob Bernoulli also discovered a general method to determine evolutes of a curve as the envelope of its circles of curvature. He also investigated caustic curves and in particular he studied these associated curves of the parabola, the logarithmic spiral and epicycloids around 1692. The lemniscate of Bernoulli was first conceived by Jacob Bernoulli in 1694. In 1695 he investigated the drawbridge problem which seeks the curve required so that a weight sliding along the cable always keeps the drawbridge balanced. Jacob Bernoulli's most original work was "Ars Conjectandi" published in Basel in 1713, eight years after his death. The work was incomplete at the time of his death but it is still a work of the greatest significance in the theory of probability. In the book Bernoulli reviewed work of others on probability, in particular work by van Schooten, Leibniz, and Prestet. The Bernoulli numbers appear in the book in a discussion of the exponential series. Many examples are given on how much one would expect to win playing various games of chance. The term Bernoulli trial resulted from this work. There are interesting thoughts on what probability really is: ... probability as a measurable degree of certainty; necessity and chance; moral versus mathematical expectation; a priori an a posteriori probability; expectation of winning when players are divided according to dexterity; regard of all available arguments, their valuation, and their calculable evaluation; law of large numbers...  Bernoulli was one of the most significant promoters of the formal methods of higher analysis. Astuteness and elegance are seldom found in his method of presentation and expression, but there is a maximum of integrity.

Discovery of the mathematical constant e.

In 1683 Bernoulli discovered the constant e by studying a question about compound interest which required him to find the value of the following expression (which is in fact ):  One example is an account that starts with $1.00 and pays 100 percent interest per year. If the interest is credited once, at the end of the year, the value is $2.00; but if the interest is computed and added twice in the year, the $1 is multiplied by 1.5 twice, yielding $1.00×1.52 = $2.25. Compounding quarterly yields $1.00×1.25 = $2.4414..., and compounding monthly yields $1.00×(1.0833...) = $2.613035...  Bernoulli noticed that this sequence approaches a limit (the force of interest) for more and smaller compounding intervals. Compounding weekly yields $2.692597..., while compounding daily yields $2.714567..., just two cents more. Using as the number of compounding intervals, with interest of 100%/ in each interval, the limit for large is the number that Euler later named ; with "continuous" compounding, the account value will reach $2.7182818... More generally, an account that starts at $1, and yields (1+) dollars at Compound interest, will yield dollars with continuous compounding.

Tombstone.

Bernoulli wanted a logarithmic spiral and the motto "Eadem mutata resurgo" ('Although changed, I rise again the same') engraved on his tombstone. He wrote that the self-similar spiral "may be used as a symbol, either of fortitude and constancy in adversity, or of the human body, which after all its changes, even after death, will be restored to its exact and perfect self." Bernoulli died in 1705, but an Archimedean spiral was engraved rather than a logarithmic one.  Translation of Latin inscription:

Jacob Bernoulli (also known as James or Jacques; – 16 August 1705) was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. He was an early proponent of Leibnizian calculus and sided with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz during the Leibniz–Newton calculus controversy. He is known for his numerous contributions to calculus, and along with his brother Johann, was one of the founders of the calculus of variations. He also discovered the fundamental mathematical constant e. However, his most important contribution was in the field of probability, where he derived the first version of the law of large numbers in his work "Ars Conjectandi".


History.

The Bandonion, so named by the German instrument dealer Heinrich Band (1821–1860), was originally intended as an instrument for religious and popular music of the day, in contrast to its predecessor, German concertina (), which had predominantly been used in folk music. Around 1870, German and Italian emigrants and sailors brought the instrument to Argentina, where it was adopted into the nascent genre of tango music, a descendant of the earlier milonga.  By 1910 bandoneons were being produced expressly for the Argentine and Uruguayan markets, with 25,000 shipping to Argentina in 1930 alone. However, declining popularity and the disruption of German manufacturing in World War II led to an end of bandoneon mass-production.  Original instruments can be seen in a number of German museums, such as the Preuss family's Bandoneon Museum in Lichtenberg and the Steinhart family's collection in Kirchzarten, Freiburg.  Historically, bandoneons were produced primarily in Germany and never in Argentina itself, despite their popularity in that country. As a result, vintage bandoneons had by the 2000s become rare and expensive (costing around 4000 USD), limiting the opportunities for prospective bandeonists. In 2014, the National University of Lanús announced its plan to develop an affordable Argentine-made bandoneon, which it hoped to market for one-third to one-half of the cost of vintage instruments.

Technique.

As with other members of the concertina family, the bandoneon is held between both hands, and pulling and pushing actions force air through bellows and then through particular reeds as selected by pressing the instrument's buttons. As with other concertinas, the button action is in parallel to the motion of the bellows, and not perpendicular to it as with an accordion.  Unlike what happens with a piano accordion, but in similar fashion to a melodeon or Anglo concertina, a given bandoneon button produces different notes on the push and the pull (bisonoric). This means that each keyboard actually has two layouts: one for opening notes, and one for closing notes. Since the right and left hand layouts are also different, a musician must learn four different keyboard layouts to play the instrument.  These keyboard layouts are not structured to make it easy to play scale passages of single notes: they were originally laid out to facilitate playing chords, for supporting singers of religious music in small churches with no organ or harmonium, or for clergy requiring a portable instrument (missionaries, traveling evangelists, army and navy chaplains, and so forth).

Unisonoric.

While the standard bandoneon is bisonoric (different note on push and pull), some bandoneon variants are monosonoric, or unisonoric (same note on push and pull). These include the Ernst Kusserow and Charles Peguri systems, both introduced around 1925.

Players.

The Argentinian bandleader, composer, arranger, and tango performer Aníbal Troilo was a leading 20th-century proponent of the bandoneon. The bandoneon player and composer Ástor Piazzolla played and arranged in Troilo's orquesta from 1939 to 1944. Piazzolla's ""Fugata"" from 1969 showcases the instrument, which plays the initial fugue subject on the 1st statement, then moves on to the outright tango after the introduction. With his solos and accompaniment on the bandoneon, Piazzolla combined a musical composition much derived from classical music (which he had studied intensively in his formative years) with traditional instrumental tango, to form "nuevo tango", his new interpretation of the genre.

List of luthiers and manufacturers.

A list of some current bandoneon manufacturers:

Construction.

Exterior: A look inside a bandoneon:

The bandoneon (or bandonion, ) is a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina and Uruguay. It is an essential instrument in most tango ensembles from the traditional orquesta típica of the 1910s onwards. As with other members of the concertina family, the bandoneon is held between both hands, and by pulling and pushing actions force air through bellows and then routing air through particular reeds as by pressing the instrument's buttons. Bandoneons have a different sound from accordions, because bandoneons do not usually have the register switches that are common on accordions. Nevertheless, the tone of the bandoneon can be changed a great deal using varied bellows pressure and overblowing, thus creating potential for expressive playing and diverse timbres.


Biography.

Giovanni was named Cardinal Bishop of Velletri by Pope Leo IX in 1050. He was highly esteemed, however, by those who wanted to reform the Church, and was one of five men proposed by Cardinal Frederick of Lorraine when consulted during the summer of 1057 concerning a possible successor to Pope Victor II, whom Frederick himself succeeded as Pope Stephen IX.  Upon Pope Stephen's death the following year, Giovanni was elected pope on 4 April 1058, his election having been arranged by his family. This was in violation, however, of a decree by the late pope that no election was to be held until the return of Cardinal Hildebrand from a mission to Germany. Hildebrand (later Pope Gregory VII) had been sent by the late Pope Stephen to the court of Empress Agnes, who had questioned the validity of Stephen's own election. As a result, a number of cardinals alleged that the election was irregular. These cardinals were soon forced to flee Rome.  When Hildebrand heard of Benedict's election during his return journey to Rome, he decided to oppose it. He went to Florence where he obtained the support of the Duke of Lorraine and Tuscany for the election of Gerhard of Burgundy, Archbishop of Florence, as pope instead. Support for this was given by Empress Agnes. Those cardinals who had opposed Benedict's election met at Siena in December 1058, and elected Gerhard, who then took the name of Nicholas II.  Nicholas then proceeded towards Rome, along the way holding a synod at Sutri, where he pronounced Benedict deposed and excommunicated. The supporters of Nicholas then gained control of Rome, and forced Benedict to flee to the castle of Count Gerard of Galeria. Having arrived in Rome, Nicholas was crowned as pope on 24 January 1059. He then proceeded to wage war against Benedict and his supporters, with the assistance of Norman forces based in southern Italy, after he agreed to recognize Count Richard of Aversa as ruler of Capua. An initial battle was fought in Campagna in early 1059, which was not wholly successful for Nicholas; but later that same year, his forces conquered Praeneste, Tusculum and Numentanum, and then attacked Galéria, forcing Benedict to surrender and to renounce the papacy in the Fall of that year.  Benedict was allowed to go free, and he retired to one of his family's estates in the city. Pope Nicholas, however, deemed his submission inadequate and had him publicly tried in 1060, with Hildebrand serving as his prosecutor. Despite pleading that he had been forced to assume the papal crown, he was convicted that April and stripped of all his titles. He was further sentenced to confinement in the hospital attached to the Basilica of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura, where he died, still a prisoner, sometime between 1073 and 1080. He was likely buried in the adjoining church.  The most important consequence of these events was the adoption of new regulations for papal elections, laid out at a synod called by Pope Nicholas in the Lateran Palace on Easter 1059. These took away the role of the Roman citizenry in the election of future popes, limiting the vote to the College of Cardinals. Additionally, the ancient title which Benedict had held of Bishop of Velletri was combined with the see of the Bishop of Ostia. (Ostia and Velletri would be separated in 1914.)

Benedict X (died 1073/1080) was born Giovanni, a son of Guido (the youngest son of Alberic III, Count of Tusculum), a brother of the notorious Pope Benedict IX (deposed in 1048), a member of the dominant political dynasty in the region at that time. He reportedly later was given the nickname of "Mincius" (thin) due to his ignorance.


Background.

Before the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802), the Low Countries was a patchwork of different polities created by the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648). The Dutch Republic in the north was independent; the Southern Netherlands was split between the Austrian Netherlands and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège - the former being part of Habsburg Monarchy, while both were part of the Holy Roman Empire. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, the War of the First Coalition broke out in 1792 and France was invaded by Prussia and the Holy Roman Empire. After two years of fighting, the Austrian Netherlands and Liège were captured by the French in 1794 and annexed into France. The Dutch Republic collapsed in 1795 and became a French client state.

Creation of the United Netherlands.

In 1813, the Netherlands was liberated from French rule by Prussian and Russian troops during the Napoleonic Wars. It was taken for granted that any new regime would have to be headed by the son of the last Dutch "stadhouder", William Frederik of Orange-Nassau. A provisional government was formed, most of whose members had helped drive out the House of Orange 18 years earlier. However, they realised that it would be better in the long term to offer leadership of the new government to William Frederik themselves rather than have him imposed by the allies. Accordingly, William Frederick was installed as the "sovereign prince" of a new Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands. The future of the Southern Netherlands, however, was less clear. In June 1814, the Great Powers secretly agreed to the Eight Articles of London which allocated the region to the Dutch as William had advocated. That August, William Frederik was made Governor-General of the Southern Netherlands and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège–almost all of what is now Belgium. For all intents and purposes, William Frederik had completed his family's three-century dream of uniting the Low Countries under a single rule.  Discussions on the future of the region were still ongoing at the Congress of Vienna when Napoleon attempted to return to power in the "Hundred Days". William used the occasion to declare himself king on 16 March 1815 as William I. After the Battle of Waterloo, discussions continued.  In exchange for the Southern Netherlands, William agreed to cede the Principality of Orange-Nassau and parts of the Liège to Prussia on 31 May 1815. In exchange, William also gained control over the Duchy of Luxembourg, which was elevated to a grand duchy and placed in personal and political union with the Netherlands, though it remained part of the German Confederation.

Government.

Constitution and government.

Though the United Netherlands was a constitutional monarchy, the king retained significant control as head of state and head of government. Beneath the king was a bicameral legislature known as the States General with a Senate and House of Representatives. From the start, the administrative system proved controversial. Representation in the 110-seat House of Representatives, for example, was divided equally between south and north, although the former had a larger population. This was resented in the south, which believed that the government was dominated by northerners.

Provinces.

The United Netherlands was divided into 17 provinces and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg which was constitutionally distinct. Many were based on the pre-existing "départements", established by the French. They included:  The United Netherlands was also a colonial power with overseas colonies in the East Indies and elsewhere.

Economic policy.

Economically, the United Netherlands prospered. Supported by the state, the Industrial Revolution began to affect the Southern Netherlands where a number of modern industries emerged, encouraged by figures such as John Cockerill who created the steel industry in Wallonia. Antwerp emerged as major trading port.  William I actively supported economic modernisation. Modern universities were established at Leuven, Liège, and Ghent in 1817. Lower education was also extended. The General Netherlands Society for Advancing National Industry ("Algemeene Nederlandsche Maatschappij ter Begunstiging van de Volksvlijt") was created in 1822 to encourage industrialisation in the south, while the Netherlands Trading Society ("Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij") was created in 1825 to encourage trade with the colonies. William I also embarked on a programme of canal building that saw the creation of the North Holland, Ghent–Terneuzen and Brussels–Charleroi canals.

Regional tensions.

Differences between Southern and Northern Netherlands were never totally effaced. The two were divided by the issue of religion because the south was strongly Roman Catholic and the north largely Dutch Reformed. The Catholic Church in Belgium resented the state's encroachment on its traditional privileges, especially in education. In French-speaking parts of the south, attempts to enforce the use of Dutch language were particularly resented among the elite. Many Belgians believed that the United Netherlands' constitution discriminated against them. Though they represented 62 percent of the population, they were only allocated 50 percent of the seats in the House and less in the Senate while the state extracted money from the richer south to subsidise the north. By the mid-1820s, a union of opposition had formed in Belgium, uniting liberals and Catholic conservatives against Dutch rule.

Belgian Revolution and secession.

The Belgian Revolution broke out on 25 August 1830, inspired by the recent July Revolution in France. A military intervention in September failed to defeat the rebels in Brussels, radicalising the movement. Belgium was declared an independent state on 4 October 1830. A constitutional monarchy was established under King Leopold I.  William I refused to accept the secession of Belgium. In August 1831, he launched the Ten Days' Campaign, a major military offensive into Belgium. Though initially successful, the French intervened to support the Belgians and the invasion had to be abandoned. After a period of tension, a settlement was agreed at the Treaty of London in 1839. The Dutch recognised Belgian independence, in exchange for territorial concessions. The frontier between the two countries was finally fixed by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1843. Luxembourg became an autonomous state in personal union with the Dutch, though ceding some territory to Belgium.

The United Kingdom of the Netherlands (; ) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories that had belonged to the former Dutch Republic, Austrian Netherlands, and Prince-Bishopric of Liège in order to form a buffer state between the major European powers. The polity was a constitutional monarchy, ruled by William I of the House of Orange-Nassau.


Early life.

William II, Prince of Orange, was the son of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. Frederick Henry was the youngest son of William the Silent (stadtholder 1559–1584); his older half brother Maurits of Nassau was stadtholder (1585–1625); he was stadtholder from 1625 to 1647. The stadtholders governed in conjunction with the States-General, an assembly of representatives from each of the seven provinces, but usually dominated by the largest and wealthiest province, Holland.  On 2 May 1641, William married Mary, Princess Royal, who was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, in the Chapel Royal of Whitehall Palace in London. William was fifteen, while Mary was just nine at that time.

Reign.

In 1647, his father Frederick Henry died, and William II succeeded to both his hereditary titles and his elective offices as stadtholder of five of the seven provinces: Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders and Overijssel.  The Netherlands at this time was engaged in the Eighty Years' War against Spain for its independence. Under Frederick Henry, the Netherlands had largely won the war, and since 1646 had been negotiating with Spain on the terms for ending it.  The negotiators agreed to the Peace of Münster in 1648, but William opposed acceptance of the treaty, even though it recognized the independence of the (northern) Netherlands, because it left the southern Netherlands in the hands of the Spanish monarchy. A separate peace furthermore violated the alliance with France formed in 1635. However, the States of six provinces voted to accept it.  Secretly, William opened his own negotiations with France with the goal of extending his own territory under a more centralized government. In addition, he worked for the restoration of his exiled brother-in-law, Charles II, to the throne of England.  In 1650 William II became involved in a bitter quarrel with the province of Holland and the powerful Regents of Amsterdam, Andries Bicker and his cousin Cornelis de Graeff. With the Peace of Münster, the Regents wanted to reduce the army, saving money. That would also diminish William's authority. William imprisoned eight members of the States of Holland (including Jacob de Witt) in the castle of Loevestein. In addition, he sent his cousin, Willem Frederik of Nassau-Dietz with an army of 10,000 men to seize Amsterdam by force. Bad weather foiled this campaign, but Amsterdam did give in.  William served as stadtholder for only three years, until he died of smallpox in 1650. His only son William was born one week after his death. This was the beginning of the First Stadtholderless Period. His son succeeded him in 1672 as stadtholder and later, in 1689, also became King of England.

Arms.

William II used the following arms during his time as prince of Orange, Stadholder or Holland, etc., and Captain-General:

William II (27 May 1626 – 6 November 1650) was sovereign Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel and Groningen in the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 until his death three years later. His only child, William III, reigned as King of England, Ireland, and Scotland.


Characteristics.

The margay is very similar to the larger ocelot in appearance, although the head is a little shorter, the eyes larger, and the tail and legs longer. It weighs from, with a body length of, and a tail length of. Unlike most other cats, the female possesses only two teats.  Its fur is brown and marked with numerous rows of dark brown or black rosettes and longitudinal streaks. The undersides are paler, ranging from buff to white, and the tail has numerous dark bands and a black tip. The backs of the ears are black with circular white markings in the centre.  Most notably the margay is a much more skillful climber than its relative, and it is sometimes called the tree ocelot because of this ability. Whereas the ocelot mostly pursues prey on the ground, the margay may spend its entire life in the trees, leaping after and chasing birds and monkeys through the treetops. Indeed, it is one of only two cat species with the ankle flexibility necessary to climb head-first down trees (the other being the clouded leopard, although the poorly studied marbled cat may also have this ability). It is remarkably agile; its ankles can turn up to 180 degrees, it can grasp branches equally well with its fore and hind paws, and it is able to jump up to horizontally. The margay has been observed to hang from branches with only one foot.

Distribution and habitat.

The margay is found from southern Mexico, through Central America and in northern South America east of the Andes. The southern edge of its range reaches Uruguay and northern Argentina. They are found almost exclusively in areas of dense forest, ranging from tropical evergreen forest to tropical dry forest and high cloud forest. Margays have sometimes also been observed in coffee and cocoa plantations.  Fossil evidence of margays or margay-like cats has been found in Florida and Georgia dating to the Pleistocene, suggesting that they had a wider distribution in the past. The last record from Texas was from 1852.

Behavior and ecology.

The margay is nocturnal, but has also been observed hunting during the day in some areas. It prefers to spend most of its life in trees, but also travels on the ground, especially when moving between hunting areas. During the day, it rests in relatively inaccessible branches or clumps of lianas.  It is usually solitary and lives in home ranges of. It uses scent marking to indicate its territory, including urine spraying and leaving scratch marks on the ground or on branches. Its vocalisations all appear to be short range; it does not call over long distances.  A margay has been observed to mimic the vocalisation of a pied tamarin ("Saguinus bicolor") infant while hunting. This represents the first observation of a Neotropical predator employing this type of mimicry.

Diet.

Because the margay is mostly nocturnal and is naturally rare in its environment, most dietary studies have been based on stomach contents and faecal analysis. This cat hunts small mammals, including monkeys, and birds, eggs, lizards and tree frogs. It also eats grass, fruit and other vegetation, most likely to help digestion. A 2006 report about a margay chasing squirrels in its natural environment confirmed that the margay is able to hunt its prey entirely in trees. However, margays do sometimes hunt on the ground, and have been reported to eat terrestrial prey, such as cane rats and guinea pigs.

Reproduction and lifecycle.

Female margays are in estrus for four to ten days over a cycle of 32 to 36 days, during which they attract males with a long, moaning call. The male responds by yelping or making trilling sounds, and also by rapidly shaking his head from side to side, a behavior not seen in any other cat species. Copulation lasts up to sixty seconds, and is similar to that in domestic cats; it takes place primarily in the trees, and occurs several times while the female is in heat. Unlike other felid species, margays are not induced ovulators.  Gestation lasts about 80 days, and generally results in the birth of a single kitten (very rarely, there are two) usually between March and June. Kittens weigh at birth. This is relatively large for a small cat, and is probably related to the long gestation period. The kittens open their eyes at around two weeks of age, and begin to take solid food at seven to eight weeks. Margays reach sexual maturity at twelve to eighteen months of age, and have been reported to live more than 20 years in captivity.  Cubs suffer from a 50% mortality rate. Coupled with the problems they have breeding in captivity, this makes the prospect of increasing the population very difficult.

Taxonomy.

"Felis wiedii" was the scientific name proposed by Heinrich Rudolf Schinz in 1821 for a zoological specimen from Brazil. "Felis macroura" was proposed by Maximilian von Wied in 1825 who described margays that he obtained in the jungles along the Mucuri River in Brazil. In the 20th century, several type specimens were described and proposed as new species or subspecies:  Results of a genetic study of margay mitochondrial DNA samples indicate that three phylogeographic groups exist. Therefore, three subspecies are currently considered valid taxa:

Local names.

In the Spanish language it is known as,,, or. In Portuguese it is called or simply. In the Guaraní language, the term originally referred only to the margay, but is now also used for domestic cats.

The margay ("Leopardus wiedii") is a small wild cat native to Central and South America. A solitary and nocturnal cat, it lives mainly in primary evergreen and deciduous forest.


Early years.

The son of a bookseller, France, a bibliophile, spent most of his life around books. His father's bookstore specialized in books and papers on the French Revolution and was frequented by many writers and scholars. France studied at the Collège Stanislas, a private Catholic school, and after graduation he helped his father by working in his bookstore. After several years, he secured the position of cataloguer at Bacheline-Deflorenne and at Lemerre. In 1876 he was appointed librarian for the French Senate.

Literary career.

France began his literary career as a poet and a journalist. In 1869, "Le Parnasse Contemporain" published one of his poems, "". In 1875, he sat on the committee in charge of the third "Parnasse Contemporain" compilation. As a journalist, from 1867, he wrote many articles and notices. He became known with the novel " (1881). Its protagonist, skeptical old scholar Sylvester Bonnard, embodied France's own personality. The novel was praised for its elegant prose and won him a prize from the Académie française.  In'(1893) France ridiculed belief in the occult; and in'(1893), France captured the atmosphere of the ". He was elected to the Académie française in 1896.  France took a part in the Dreyfus affair. He signed Émile Zola's manifesto supporting Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish army officer who had been falsely convicted of espionage. France wrote about the affair in his 1901 novel "Monsieur Bergeret".  France's later works include "L'Île des Pingouins" ("Penguin Island", 1908) which satirizes human nature by depicting the transformation of penguins into humans – after the birds have been baptized by mistake by the almost-blind Abbot Mael. It is a satirical history of France, starting in Medieval times, going on to the author's own time with special attention to the Dreyfus affair and concluding with a dystopian future. "" ("The Gods Are Athirst", 1912) is a novel, set in Paris during the French Revolution, about a true-believing follower of Maximilien Robespierre and his contribution to the bloody events of the Reign of Terror of 1793–94. It is a wake-up call against political and ideological fanaticism and explores various other philosophical approaches to the events of the time. "La Revolte des Anges" ("Revolt of the Angels", 1914) is often considered Anatole France's most profound and ironic novel. Loosely based on the Christian understanding of the War in Heaven, it tells the story of Arcade, the guardian angel of Maurice d'Esparvieu. Bored because Bishop d'Esparvieu is sinless, Arcade begins reading the bishop's books on theology and becomes an atheist. He moves to Paris, meets a woman, falls in love, and loses his virginity causing his wings to fall off, joins the revolutionary movement of fallen angels, and meets the Devil, who realizes that if he overthrew God, he would become just like God. Arcade realizes that replacing God with another is meaningless unless "in ourselves and in ourselves alone we attack and destroy Ialdabaoth." "Ialdabaoth", according to France, is God's secret name and means "the child who wanders".  He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921. He died in 1924 and is buried in the Neuilly-sur-Seine community cemetery near Paris.  On 31 May 1922, France's entire works were put on the "Index Librorum Prohibitorum" (Prohibited Books Index) of the Catholic Church. He regarded this as a "distinction". This Index was abolished in 1966.

Personal life.

In 1877, France married Valérie Guérin de Sauville, a granddaughter of Jean-Urbain Guérin a miniaturist who painted Louis XVI, and with whom he had a daughter, Suzanne, in 1881 (dec. 1918). France's relations with women were always turbulent, and in 1888 he began a relationship with Madame Arman de Caillavet, who conducted a celebrated literary salon of the Third Republic; the affair lasted until shortly before her death in 1910. After his divorce in 1893, he had many liaisons, notably with Mme Gagey, who committed suicide in 1911. France married again in 1920, to Emma Laprévotte.  Politically, France was a socialist and an outspoken supporter of the 1917 Russian Revolution. In 1920, he gave his support to the newly founded French Communist Party.  France was documented to have a brain size just two-thirds the normal size.

Reputation.

After his death in 1924, France was the object of written attacks, including particularly venomous assaults both the left and the right of politics. The attack from the right came from the Nazi collaborator Pierre Drieu La Rochelle. From the left, the Surrealists who published "Un Cadavre" largely as a response to the popular appeal of France, who they deemed vulgar and derivative. An admirer, the English writer George Orwell, defended him however and declared that he remained very readable, and that "it is unquestionable that he was attacked partly from political motive."

' (; born ', ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie française, and won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament".


Biography.

Bloy was born on 11 July 1846 in Notre-Dame-de-Sanilhac, in the arondissement of Périgueux, Dordogne. He was the second of six sons of Jean-Baptiste Bloy, a Voltairean freethinker, and Anne-Marie Carreau, a stern disciplinarian and pious Spanish-Catholic daughter of a Napoleonic soldier. After an agnostic and unhappy youth in which he cultivated an intense hatred for the Roman Catholic Church and its teaching, his father found him a job in Paris, where he went in 1864. In December 1868, he met the aging Catholic author Barbey d'Aurevilly, who lived opposite him in rue Rousselet and who became his mentor. Shortly afterwards, he underwent a dramatic religious conversion.  Bloy was a friend of the author Joris-Karl Huysmans, the painter Georges Rouault, the philosophers Jacques and Raïssa Maritain and was instrumental in reconciling these intellectuals with Roman Catholicism. However, he acquired a reputation for bigotry because of his frequent outbursts of temper. For example, in 1885, after the death of Victor Hugo, whom Bloy believed to be an atheist, Bloy decried Hugo's "senility", "avarice", and "hypocrisy", identifying Hugo among "contemplatives of biological scum." Bloy's first novel, "Le Désespéré", a fierce attack on rationalism and those he believed to be in league with it, made him fall out with the literary community of his time and even many of his old friends. Soon, Bloy could count such prestigious authors as Émile Zola, Guy de Maupassant, Ernest Renan, and Anatole France as his enemies.  In addition to his published works, he left a large body of correspondence with public and literary figures. He died on 3 November 1917 in Bourg-la-Reine.

Criticisms.

Bloy was noted for personal attacks, but he saw them as the mercy or indignation of God. According to Jacques Maritain, he used to say: "My anger is the effervescence of my pity."  Among the many targets of Bloy's attacks were people of business. In an essay in "Pilgrim of the Absolute", he compared the businessmen of Chicago unfavourably to the cultured people of Paris:

Our Lady of La Salette.

Inspired by both the millennialist visionary and the reports of an apparition at La Salette—Our Lady of La Salette—Bloy was convinced that the Virgin's message was that if people did not reform, the end time was imminent. He was particularly critical of the attention paid to the shrine at Lourdes and resented the fact that it distracted people from what he saw as the less sentimental message of La Salette.

Influence.

Bloy is quoted in the epigraph at the beginning of Graham Greene's novel "The End of the Affair," though Greene claimed that "this irate man lacked creative instinct". He is further quoted in the essay "The Mirror of Enigmas" by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, who acknowledged his debt to him by naming him in the foreword to his short story collection "Artifices" as one of seven authors who were in "the heterogeneous list of the writers I am continually re-reading". In his novel "The Harp and the Shadow", Alejo Carpentier excoriates Bloy as a raving, Columbus-defending lunatic during Vatican deliberations over the explorer's canonization. Bloy is also quoted at the beginning of John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany", and there are several quotations from his "Letters to my Fiancée" in Charles Williams's anthology "The New Christian Year". "Le Désespéré" was republished in 2005 by Éditions Underbahn with a preface by Maurice G. Dantec. In Chile historian Jaime Eyzaguirre came to be influenced by Bloy's writings.  According to the historian John Connelly, Bloy's "Le Salut par les Juifs", with its apocalyptically radical interpretation of chapters 9 to 11 of Paul's Letter to the Romans, had a major influence on the Catholic theologians of the Second Vatican Council responsible for section 4 of the council's declaration "Nostra aetate", the doctrinal basis for a revolutionary change in the Catholic Church's attitude to Judaism.  In 2013, Pope Francis surprised many by quoting Bloy during his first homily as pope.  Bloy and his effect on 21st-century French scholars make a significant appearance in Michel Houellebecq's 2015 novel "Submission".

Works.

Diaries.

A study in English is "Léon Bloy" by Rayner Heppenstall (Cambridge: Bowes & Bowes, 1953).

Léon Bloy (11 July 1846 – 3 November 1917) was a French novelist, essayist, pamphleteer, and poet, known additionally for his eventual, passionate defense of Roman Catholicism and influence within French Catholic circles.


Participating nations.

Information in SIS is shared among the institutions of countries participating in the Schengen Agreement Application Convention (SAAC). The five original participating countries were France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Twenty-one additional countries have joined the system since its creation: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Greece, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Liechtenstein. Among the current participants, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland are not members of the European Union.  Although Ireland and the United Kingdom have not signed the Schengen Agreement Application Convention, they take part in Schengen co-operation under the terms of the Treaty of Amsterdam, which introduced the provisions of Schengen "acquis" into European Union law. Schengen "acquis" allows the United Kingdom and Ireland to take part in all or part of the Schengen convention arrangements. Ireland and the United Kingdom use the Schengen Information System for law enforcement purposes.  Ireland and the United Kingdom do not have access to Article 26D (former 96) data because these countries do not intend to remove the border controls between themselves and the rest of Europe. European citizens still have the right of free movement to the UK and Ireland but must pass through a border control point, unlike the other Schengen signatory countries, among whom internal border controls have been largely abolished. Since 1 August 2018, Bulgaria and Romania have full access to SIS; before that they had access to SIS only for law enforcement purposes. Croatia has access to SIS for law enforcement purposes, while Cyprus does not have any access.  The UK did 571 millions searches in the database in 2019.

Introduction.

SIS information is stored according to the legislation of each participating country. There are more than 46 million entries (called "alerts") in SIS, most about lost identity documents. Person alerts make up around 1.9 percent of the database (about 885,000 records). Each alert contains information such as: name, date of birth, gender, nationality, aliases, arms or history of violence, the reason for the alert and the action to be taken if the person is encountered. SIS does not record travellers' entries and exits from the Schengen Area.

History.

On 25 March 1957, the Treaty of Rome was completed. On 3 February 1958, the economic union of the Benelux countries was formed. Both agreements aimed to enable the free movement of people and goods across national borders. The Benelux countries, as a smaller group, were able to quickly implement the agreement. The European Communities' focus was on economic integration. It was not until the agreement of Saarbrücken was completed on 13 July 1984, that border controls between France and Germany were eased.  On 14 June 1985, France, Germany and three of the Benelux nations completed the Schengen Agreement. Border controls on people and goods between these nations were gradually relaxed. On 19 June 1990, the initial five nations were joined by Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Austria and five Nordic Passport Union countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.  On 21 December 2007, the Schengen border-free zone was enlarged to include Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Legal aspects and technical characteristics.

SIS was created to maintain European security after 25 March 2001 when border security between fifteen nations was relaxed. The SIS requires Schengen nations to respect the legal force of the information it contains. It also requires the nations to respect the privacy and personal freedom of the people whose data is held according to national data laws. SIS's information processing system must be permanently connected to member nations' databases and must be updated in real-time.  These commitments are supplemented by consultation procedures between the member nations. Discussions may take place about issues such as confirmation of information, variation of actions directed by SIS, questions of residency, and international warrants for arrest.  SIS is controlled by an authority composed of representatives of the member nations. Personal data protection is a key responsibility. At a technical level, the participating countries adopted a data-processing star architecture made up of a central site containing the reference database, known as C-SIS, for which the responsibility is entrusted to the French Republic by the CAAS, and a site by country, known as N-SIS, containing a copy of the database.

Data.

The type of data about people kept in SIS includes: requests for extradition; undesirability of presence in particular territory; minor age; mental illnesses; missing person status; a need for protection; requests by a judicial authority; and suspected of crime. The SIS also keeps data referring to lost, stolen and misappropriated firearms, identity documents, motor vehicles and banknotes.  France is responsible for management of SIS and uses an automated system of data updates which occur every five minutes. The SIS automatically directs data to queries arriving via large national databases. Each member nation has an office responsible for SIS communications. SIS also has a function called "Supplementary Information Request at the National Entry" (SIRENE). The SIRENE office records an "hit" on a SIS data record and forwards further information to assist investigations.

Police co-operation and legal mutual assistance.

In addition to SIS and SIRENE, the Schengen convention ensured police co-operation and legal mutual assistance. Police of member nations can cooperate to prevent and identify crime (article 39); to continue surveillance across borders (article 40); to pursue across borders in certain circumstances (article 41); and to share information that is significant for the repression or the prevention of in flagrante delicto or threats to order and public safety (article 46). This allows execution of criminal judgements and extraditions where a national attempts to take refuge in another territory.

System evolution.

In November 2011, SIS1 was renewed for a second time. The main reason for renewal was to connect more nations.  In 2007, while developments were in progress, Portugal had offered the use of a version called "SISone4ALL" developed by SEF (Portugal's Border and Foreigners Service) and Critical Software.  On 15 October 2010, Bulgaria and Romania joined SIS II for law enforcement cooperation.  On 9 April 2013, SIS II went live.  On 27 June 2017, Croatia joined SIS II for law enforcement cooperation.  On 1 August 2018, Bulgaria and Romania gained full access to SIS. , Ireland had achieved "technical readiness" to participate and anctipated that it would begin "phased implementation" during the first quarter of 2020.

Brexit.

With Brexit, the use of the Schengen Information System by the UK is under negotiation, while the EU expects the UK to comply with the EU law to use it. In June 2020, the Security and Intelligence subcommittee of the House of Lords, on hearing evidence by Home Office Minister James Brokenshire, expressed concerns that failure of the (post-Brexit) trade negotiation between the UK and the EU could lead to worrying delays in access to counter-terrorism intelligence.

The Schengen Information System (SIS) is a governmental database maintained by the European Commission. The SIS is used by 31 European countries to find information about individuals and entities for the purposes of national security, border control and law enforcement since 2001. A second technical version of this system, SIS II, went live on 9 April 2013.


Minority rule.

The exclusive consolidation of power by a dominant religious or ethnic minority has also been described as a form of oligarchy. Examples of this system include South Africa under "apartheid", Liberia under Americo-Liberians, the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and Rhodesia, where the installation of oligarchic rule by the descendants of foreign settlers was primarily regarded as a legacy of various forms of colonialism.  The modern United States has also been described as an oligarchy because economic elites and organized groups representing special interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.

Putative oligarchies.

A business group might be defined as an oligarch if it satisfies the following conditions:  (1) owners are the largest private owners in the country (2) it possesses sufficient political power to promote its own interests (3) owners control multiple businesses, which intensively coordinate their activities.

Russian Federation.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and privatization of the economy in December 1991, privately owned Russia-based multinational corporations, including producers of petroleum, natural gas, and metal have, in the view of many analysts, led to the rise of Russian oligarchs.

Ukraine.

The Ukrainian oligarchs are a group of business oligarchs that quickly appeared on the economic and political scene of Ukraine after its independence in 1991. Overall there are 35 oligarchic groups

Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwean oligarchs are a group of liberation war veterans who form the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front, a colonial liberation party. The philosophy of the Zimbabwean government is that Zimbabwe can only be governed by a leader who took part in the pre-independence war. The motto of ZANU-PF in Shona is ""Zimbabwe yakauya neropa"", meaning Zimbabwe was born from the blood of the sons and daughters who died fighting for its independence. The born free generation (born since independence in 1980) has no birthright to rule Zimbabwe.

United States.

Some contemporary authors have characterized current conditions in the United States as oligarchic in nature. Simon Johnson wrote that "the reemergence of an American financial oligarchy is quite recent", a structure which he delineated as being the "most advanced" in the world. Jeffrey A. Winters wrote that "oligarchy and democracy operate within a single system, and American politics is a daily display of their interplay."<ref name='TAI 11-12/2011'> </ref> The top 1% of the U.S. population by wealth in 2007 had a larger share of total income than at any time since 1928. In 2011, according to PolitiFact and others, the top 400 wealthiest Americans "have more wealth than half of all Americans combined."  In 1998, Bob Herbert of "The New York Times" referred to modern American plutocrats as "The Donor Class" (list of top donors) and defined the class, for the first time, as "a tiny group—just one-quarter of 1 percent of the population—and it is not representative of the rest of the nation. But its money buys plenty of access."  French economist Thomas Piketty states in his 2013 book, "Capital in the Twenty-First Century," that "the risk of a drift towards oligarchy is real and gives little reason for optimism about where the United States is headed."  A study conducted by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton University and Benjamin Page of Northwestern University was released in April 2014, which stated that their "analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts." The study analyzed nearly 1,800 policies enacted by the US government between 1981 and 2002 and compared them to the expressed preferences of the American public as opposed to wealthy Americans and large special interest groups. It found that wealthy individuals and organizations representing business interests have substantial political influence, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little to none. The study did concede that "Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise." Gilens and Page do not characterize the US as an "oligarchy" per se; however, they do apply the concept of "civil oligarchy" as used by Jeffrey Winters with respect to the US. Winters has posited a comparative theory of "oligarchy" in which the wealthiest citizens – even in a "civil oligarchy" like the United States – dominate policy concerning crucial issues of wealth- and income-protection.  Gilens says that average citizens only get what they want if wealthy Americans and business-oriented interest groups also want it; and that when a policy favored by the majority of the American public is implemented, it is usually because the economic elites did not oppose it. Other studies have questioned the Page and Gilens study.  In a 2015 interview, former President Jimmy Carter stated that the United States is now "an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery" due to the "Citizens United v. FEC" ruling which effectively removed limits on donations to political candidates. Wall Street spent a record $2 billion trying to influence the 2016 United States presidential election.

Oligarchy (; ) is a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may be distinguished by nobility, wealth, education, corporate, religious, political, or military control. Such states are often controlled by families who pass their influence from one generation to the next, but inheritance is not a necessary condition of oligarchy.


Geology and occurrence.

Corundum occurs as a mineral in mica schist, gneiss, and some marbles in metamorphic terranes. It also occurs in low-silica igneous syenite and nepheline syenite intrusives. Other occurrences are as masses adjacent to ultramafic intrusives, associated with lamprophyre dikes and as large crystals in pegmatites. It commonly occurs as a detrital mineral in stream and beach sands because of its hardness and resistance to weathering. The largest documented single crystal of corundum measured about, and weighed. The record has since been surpassed by certain synthetic boules.  Corundum for abrasives is mined in Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, and India. Historically it was mined from deposits associated with dunites in North Carolina, US and from a nepheline syenite in Craigmont, Ontario. Emery-grade corundum is found on the Greek island of Naxos and near Peekskill, New York, US. Abrasive corundum is synthetically manufactured from bauxite.  Four corundum axes dating back to 2500 BCE from the Liangzhou culture have been discovered in China.

Synthetic corundum.

The Verneuil process allows the production of flawless single-crystal sapphire and ruby gems of much larger size than normally found in nature. It is also possible to grow gem-quality synthetic corundum by flux-growth and hydrothermal synthesis. Because of the simplicity of the methods involved in corundum synthesis, large quantities of these crystals have become available on the market causing a significant reduction of price in recent years.  Apart from ornamental uses, synthetic corundum is also used to produce mechanical parts (tubes, rods, bearings, and other machined parts), scratch-resistant optics, scratch-resistant watch crystals, instrument windows for satellites and spacecraft (because of its transparency in the ultraviolet to infrared range), and laser components. For example, the KAGRA gravitational wave detector's main mirrors are sapphires, and Advanced LIGO considered sapphire mirrors.

Structure and physical properties.

Corundum crystallizes with trigonal symmetry in the space group and has the lattice parameters and at standard conditions. The unit cell contains six formula units.  The toughness of corundum is sensitive to surface roughness and crystallographic orientation. It may be 6–7 MPa·m for synthetic crystals, and around 4 MPa·m for natural.  In the lattice of corundum, the oxygen atoms form a slightly distorted hexagonal close packing, in which two-thirds of the gaps between the octahedra are occupied by aluminium ions.

Corundum is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide () typically containing traces of iron, titanium, vanadium and chromium. It is a rock-forming mineral. It is also a naturally transparent material, but can have different colors depending on the presence of transition metal impurities in its crystalline structure. Corundum has two primary gem varieties: ruby and sapphire. Rubies are red due to the presence of chromium, and sapphires exhibit a range of colors depending on what transition metal is present. A rare type of sapphire, padparadscha sapphire, is pink-orange.


Geography.

Innere Stadt is the central district of Vienna. It borders on Leopoldstadt in the northeast, on Landstraße in the east, on Wieden and Mariahilf in the south, on Neubau and Josefstadt in the west, and on Alsergrund in the north. The district border, starting at Urania, follows Wienfluss, Lothringerstraße, Karlsplatz, Gedreidemarkt, Museumsplatz, Museumstraße, Auerspergstraße, Landesgerichtsstraße, Universitätsstraße, Maria-Theresien-Straße and the Donaukanal.

History.

Before 1850, Innere Stadt was physically equivalent with the city of Vienna. See History of Vienna for details about the history of Vindobona and Vienna, as well as historical significance after 1850.

Population.

Over time.

Population has been declining ever since its peak of 73,000 in 1880, until it hit the lowest recorded value of 17,000 in 2001. Although population has been increasing slightly since then, Innere Stadt continues to remain the least populated district in Vienna.

Structural.

In 2001, 28.1% of the district's population was over 60 years of age, above the city average of 22.2%. The percentage of people under 15 years of age was 9.8%. The female population of 53.3% was also above city average.

Origin and language.

At 15.5%, the percentage of foreign residents in Innere Stadt was 2% under city average for the year 2001. 2.8% of the population had EU Citizenship (Germany excluded), 2.7% were citizens of Serbia and Montenegro, and 2.2% were German citizens. In total, 25.6% of the population were born in a foreign country. 79% of residents listed German as their language of choice. 4.0% spoke primarily Serbian, 1.8% Hungarian, and 1.4% Croatian. 14.3% spoke other languages.

Religion.

Roman catholics made up 51.3% of the Innere Stadt population in 2001, followed by 6.6% Protestants, 5.1% Orthodox Christians, 3.3% Jews. 22.7% were listed as non-confessional.

Politics.

The "Bezirksvorsteher" (District Director) has been a member of the conservative ÖVP party since 1946. Former Bezirksvorsteher Ursula Stenzel has spoken out against holding events in the inner city, citing concerns regarding noise pollution. Her comments have drawn criticism from other parties, especially the social democratic SPÖ.

Coat of arms.

The first district's coat of arms is a white cross on a red background. It is also the coat of arms for the City of Vienna and the State of Vienna. The current coat of arms dates back to around 1270, when it first appeared on the minted "Wiener Pfennige" coins. It may have been based on the flag of the King of the Romans' forces during the Middle Ages, as the combat flag of Rudolph I of Germany featured a similar design.

The Innere Stadt (; Central Bavarian: "Innare Stod") is the 1st municipal District of Vienna (German: "1. Bezirk") located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Innere Stadt was congruent with the city of Vienna. Traditionally it was divided into four quarters, which were designated after important town gates: "Stubenviertel" (northeast), "Kärntner Viertel" (southeast), "Widmerviertel" (southwest), "Schottenviertel" (northwest).


Etymology.

The word "disaster" is derived from Middle French "désastre" and that from Old Italian "disastro", which in turn comes from the Ancient Greek pejorative prefix δυσ-, ("dus-") "bad" and ἀστήρ ("aster"), "star". The root of the word "disaster" ("bad star" in Greek) comes from an astrological sense of a calamity blamed on the position of planets.

Classification.

Disasters are routinely divided into natural or human-made, although complex disasters, where there is no single root cause, are more common in developing countries. A specific disaster may spawn a secondary disaster that increases the impact. A classic example is an earthquake that causes a tsunami, resulting in coastal flooding. Some manufactured disasters have been ascribed to nature.  Some researchers also differentiate between recurring events such as seasonal flooding, and those considered unpredictable.

Natural disasters.

A natural disaster is a natural process or phenomenon that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.  Various phenomena like earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, tsunamis, cyclones and pandemics are all natural hazards that kill thousands of people and destroy billions of dollars of habitat and property each year. However, the rapid growth of the world's population and its increased concentration often in hazardous environments has escalated both the frequency and severity of disasters. With the tropical climate and unstable landforms, coupled with deforestation, unplanned growth proliferation, non-engineered constructions make the disaster-prone areas more vulnerable. Developing countries suffer more or less chronically from natural disasters due to ineffective communication combined with insufficient budgetary allocation for disaster prevention and management.

Human-made disasters.

Human-instigated disasters are the consequence of technological or human hazards. Examples include stampedes, fires, transport accidents, industrial accidents, oil spills, terrorist attacks, nuclear explosions/nuclear radiation. War and deliberate attacks may also be put in this category.  Other types of induced disasters include the more cosmic scenarios of catastrophic global warming, nuclear war, and bioterrorism.  One opinion argues that all disasters can be seen as human-made, due to human failure to introduce appropriate emergency management measures.

Responses.

The following table categorizes some disasters and notes first response initiatives.

A disaster is a serious disruption occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits – more than 95 percent of all deaths caused by hazards occur in developing countries, and losses due to natural hazards are 20 times greater (as a percentage of GDP) in developing countries than in industrialized countries. No matter what society disasters occur in, they tend to induce change in government and social life. They may even alter the course of history by broadly affecting entire populations and exposing mismanagement or corruption regardless of how tightly information is controlled in a society.


Origin.

Olympias was the daughter of Neoptolemus I, king of the Molossians, an ancient Greek tribe in Epirus, and sister of Alexander I. Her family belonged to the Aeacidae, a well-respected family of Epirus, which claimed descent from Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. Apparently, she was originally named Polyxena, as Plutarch mentions in his work "Moralia", and changed her name to Myrtale prior to her marriage to Philip II of Macedon as part of her initiation into an unknown mystery cult.  The name "Olympias" was the third of four names by which she was known. She probably took it as a recognition of Philip's victory in the Olympic Games of 356 BC, the news of which coincided with Alexander's birth (Plut. Alexander 3.8). She was finally named Stratonice, which was probably an epithet attached to Olympias following her victory over Eurydice in 317 BC.

Queen of Macedonia.

When Neoptolemus I died in 360 BC, his brother Arymbas succeeded him on the Molossian throne. In 358 BC, Arymbas made a treaty with the new king of Macedonia, Philip II, and the Molossians became allies of the Macedonians. The alliance was cemented with a diplomatic marriage between Arymbas' niece, Olympias, and Philip in 357 BC. It made Olympias the queen consort of Macedonia, and Philip the king. Philip had allegedly fallen in love with Olympias when both were initiated into the mysteries of Cabeiri at the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, on the island of Samothrace, though their marriage was largely political in nature.  One year later, in 356 BC, Philip's race horse won in the Olympic Games; for this victory, his wife, who was known then as Myrtale, received the name "Olympias". In the summer of the same year, Olympias gave birth to her first child, Alexander. In ancient Greece people believed that the birth of a great man was accompanied by portents. As Plutarch describes, the night before the consummation of their marriage, Olympias dreamed that a thunderbolt fell upon her womb and a great fire was kindled, its flames dispersed all about and then were extinguished. After the marriage Philip dreamed that he put a seal upon his wife's womb, the device of which was the figure of a lion. Aristander's interpretation was that Olympias was pregnant of a son whose nature would be bold and lion-like. Philip and Olympias also had a daughter, Cleopatra, who later married her uncle, Alexander I of Epirus, to further diplomatic ties between Macedonia and Epirus.  According to primary sources, their marriage was very stormy due to Philip's volatility and Olympias' ambition and alleged jealousy, which led to their growing estrangement. Things got more tumultuous in 337 BC when Philip married a noble Macedonian woman, Cleopatra, the niece of Attalus, who was given the name Eurydice by Philip. At a gathering after the marriage, Philip failed to defend Alexander's claim to the Macedonian throne when Attalus threatened his legitimacy, causing great tensions between Philip, Olympias, and Alexander. Olympias went into voluntary exile in Epirus along with Alexander, staying at the Molossian court of her brother Alexander I, who was the king at the time.  In 336 BC, Philip cemented his ties to Alexander I of Epirus by offering him the hand of his and Olympias' daughter Cleopatra in marriage, a fact that led Olympias to further isolation as she could no longer count on her brother's support. However, Philip was murdered by Pausanias, a member of Philip's "somatophylakes", his personal bodyguard, while attending the wedding, and Olympias, who returned to Macedonia, was suspected of having countenanced his assassination.

Alexander's reign and the Wars of the Diadochi.

After the death of Philip II, Olympias allegedly ordered the execution of Eurydice and her child in order to secure Alexander's position as king of Macedonia. During Alexander's campaigns, she regularly corresponded with him and may have confirmed her son's claim in Egypt that his father was not Philip but Zeus. The relationship between Olympias and Alexander was cordial, but her son tried to keep her away from politics. However, she wielded great influence in Macedonia and caused troubles to Antipater, the regent of the kingdom. In 330 BC, she returned to Epirus and served as a regent to her cousin Aeacides in the Epirote state, as her brother Alexander I had died during a campaign in southern Italy.  After Alexander the Great's death in Babylon in 323 BC, his wife Roxana gave birth to their son named Alexander IV. Alexander IV and with his uncle Philip III Arrhidaeus, the half brother of Alexander the Great who may have been disabled, were subject to the regency of Perdiccas, who tried to strengthen his position through a marriage with Antipater's daughter Nicaea. At the same time, Olympias offered Perdiccas the hand of her and Philip's daughter, Cleopatra. Perdiccas chose Cleopatra, which angered Antipater, who allied himself with several other Diadochi, deposed Perdiccas, and was declared regent, only to die within the year.  Polyperchon succeeded Antipater in 319 BC as regent, but Antipater's son Cassander established Philip II's son Philip III (Arrhidaeus) as king and forced Polyperchon out of Macedonia. He fled to Epirus, taking Roxana and her son Alexander IV with him, who had previously been left in the care of Olympias. At the beginning, Olympias had not been involved in this conflict, but she soon realized that in the case of Cassander's rule, her grandson would lose the crown, so she allied with Polyperchon in 317 BC. The Macedonian soldiers supported her return and the united armies of Polyperchon and Olympias, with the house of Aeacides, invaded Macedonia to drive Cassander out from power.  After winning in battle by convincing the army of Adea Eurydice, the wife of Philip III, to side with her own, Olympias captured and executed the two in October 317 BC. She also captured Cassander's brother and a hundred of his partisans. Cassander soon blockaded and besieged Olympias in Pydna and one of the terms of the capitulation had been that Olympias's life would be saved, but Cassander had decided to execute her, sparing only temporarily the lives of Roxana and Alexander IV (they were executed a few years later in 309 BC). When the fortress of Pydna fell, Cassander ordered Olympias killed, but the soldiers refused to harm the mother of Alexander the Great. In the end, the families of her many victims stoned her to death with the approval of Cassander, who is also said to have denied to her body the rites of burial.

Iconography.

A medal bearing the name "Olympias" was found in 1902 at Abu Qir, Egypt that dates back to AD 225-250, and belongs to the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. The reverse shows a Nereid mounted on a fantastic sea creature. It had been suggested that the Olympias depicted on the medal was Queen Olympias, but this theory has been challenged. The name ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΔΟΣ is thought to refer to the Olympiads instead.

Bibliography.

Primary sources  Secondary sources

Olympias (,, c. 375–316 BC) was the daughter of king Neoptolemus I of Epirus, the sister of Alexander I of Epirus, the fourth wife of Philip II, the king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia and the mother of Alexander the Great. She was extremely influential in Alexander's life and was recognized as de facto leader of Macedon during Alexander's conquests. After her son's death, she fought on behalf of Alexander's son Alexander IV, successfully defeating Adea Eurydice. After she was finally defeated by Cassander, his armies refused to execute her, and he finally had to summon family members of those Olympias had previously killed to end her life. According to the 1st century AD biographer, Plutarch, she was a devout member of the orgiastic snake-worshiping cult of Dionysus, and he suggests that she slept with snakes in her bed.


History.

In the early Middle Ages, Irish monks were actively involved in missionary work. Ireland was known in Latin as "Scotia Major"; therefore, in German, Irish monks were called ""Schotten"" (Scots) or ""Iroschotten"". The monasteries that they founded were called ""Schottenklöster"". In the foundation documents of the Schottenstift, Henry II specified that it was to be occupied exclusively by these "Iroschotten" ("Solos elegimus Scottos").  Henry II was elevated from the rank of Margrave ("Markgraf") to that of Duke ("Herzog") in 1156. He moved his residence from Klosterneuburg to Vienna and required a monastery for his new city. In the Middle Ages, monasteries were not only places for prayer, but also and above all, repositories of knowledge. The foundation of a monastery gave the ruler support for his administration (for example, schools to educate competent scribes). It also provided a library, a hospice and old age home, architects, educated men, and priests to conduct services in the new ducal city. The ""Schotten"" would also be involved with the University of Vienna, which was founded in 1365.  Henry granted the new monastery extensive privileges. Construction of the first monastery started in 1160, and the structure was consecrated in 1200. The monastery was outside the city walls of Vienna. The monks also built a hospice for pilgrims and crusaders, who often passed through Vienna on their way to Jerusalem.  The first church was a three-aisled, Romanesque, pillar church with a single apse. Henry II was buried there upon his death in 1177.  A fire in the year 1276 destroyed the cloister, along with many other buildings in Vienna.  In 1418, Duke Albert V seized the cloister during the Melker Reform, an attempt to revive the original ideals of Benedictine monasticism, and settled a community of Benedictines in their place. These new residents, however, continued to be known as the ""Schotten"".  In the middle of the 15th century, the monastery was distinguished through the literary activities of its schoolmaster, Wolfgang Schmeltzl, and his successor, Johannes Rasch. The collapse of the tower, struck by a lightning bolt in 1638, was seized as an opportunity to completely rebuild the church, a project undertaken by the architects Andrea d'Allio the Younger and Silvestro Carlone. The church was somewhat shortened, and the tower no longer stood directly beside the basilica. Joachim von Sandrart provided the church with a new altar piece, which today is kept in the prelates' hall. After the Turkish siege, the church was restored. As the Baroque west tower was barely higher than the façade itself, its extension has often been proposed, but this has never come to fruition.  Around 1700 the great Baroque musician Johann Fux was the organist at the Schottenstift.  In 1773 and 1774, a new priory, with school, was built by Andreas Zach in the grounds of an open air cemetery. As it resembled a piece of furniture, it became popularly known as the "Schubladkastenhaus" ("the chest-of-drawers house"). Directly next door stood the "Hotel Römischer Kaiser", where the first public performance of a song by Franz Schubert was held.  In 1807 the "Schottengymnasium", an institute for secondary education, was founded by imperial decree.  Around 1830, the auxiliary buildings of the Abbey, in particular those that bordered on the Freyung, were renovated and partially rebuilt by Joseph Kornhäusel.  In the 1880s the church was restored and partially renovated. From this period date the ceiling paintings by Julius Schmid, and a new high altar, built from sketches by Heinrich von Ferstel, with a mosaic by Michael Rieser.  In the court, there is a "Schwarze Muttergottes" (a "Black Madonna"), designed in 1825 by Peter Nobile. The fountain, with a statue of Henry II, is the work of Sebastian Wagner.

Museum.

The museum has been reinstalled twice in recent history, in 1994/95 and in 2004/5. It contains, among other notable items, the "Schottenmeisteraltar" from ca. 1470, which is not only a significant work of late Gothic art, but also an important historical source, on account of its views of the city.  Open on Thursday until Friday, 11 am to 5 pm, and Saturday, 11 am to 4.30 pm. Guided Tour on Saturday, 2.30 pm (church, crypt, library and museum).

Location.

The Schottenstift is located on the Freyung (Freyung 6, A-1010 Wien) in Vienna, Austria.

The Schottenstift (), formally called "Benediktinerabtei unserer Lieben Frau zu den Schotten" (), is a Roman Catholic monastery founded in Vienna in 1155 when Henry II of Austria brought Irish monks to Vienna. The monks did not come directly from Ireland, but came instead from Scots Monastery in Regensburg, Germany. Since 1625, the abbey has been a member of the Austrian Congregation, now within the Benedictine Confederation.


Uses.

Wasabi is generally sold either as a rhizome or stem, which must be very finely grated before use, as dried powder, or as a ready-to-use paste in tubes similar to toothpaste tubes.  The part used for wasabi paste is variously characterized as a rhizome, a stem, or the "rhizome plus the base part of the stem".  In some high-end restaurants, the paste is prepared when the customer orders, and is made using a grater to grate the stem; once the paste is prepared, it loses flavor in 15 minutes if left uncovered. In "sushi" preparation, chefs usually put the wasabi between the fish and the rice because covering wasabi until served preserves its flavor.  Fresh wasabi leaves can be eaten raw, having the spicy flavor of wasabi stems, but a common side effect is diarrhea.  Legumes (peanuts, soybeans, or peas) may be roasted or fried, and then coated with wasabi powder mixed with sugar, salt, or oil and eaten as a crunchy snack. In Japan, it is called "wasabi-mame" (lit. wasabi bean).

Surrogates.

Wasabi favours growing conditions that restrict its wide cultivation (among other things, it is quite intolerant of direct sunlight, requires an air temperature between 8°C (46°F) and 20 °C (70°F), and prefers high humidity in summer). This makes it impossible for growers to fully satisfy commercial demand, which makes wasabi quite expensive. Therefore, outside Japan, it is rare to find real wasabi plants. Due to its high cost, a common substitute is a mixture of horseradish, mustard, starch, and green food coloring or spinach powder. Often packages are labeled as wasabi while the ingredients do not actually include any part of the wasabi plant. The primary difference between the two is color, with Wasabi being naturally green. In Japan, horseradish is referred to as. In the United States, true wasabi is generally found only at specialty grocers and high-end restaurants.

Chemistry.

The chemical in wasabi that provides for its initial pungency is the volatile compound allyl isothiocyanate, which is produced by hydrolysis of natural thioglucosides (conjugates of the sugar glucose, and sulfur-containing organic compounds); the hydrolysis reaction is catalyzed by myrosinase and occurs when the enzyme is released on cell rupture caused by maceration – e.g., grating – of the plant. The same compound is responsible for the pungency of horseradish and mustard. Allyl isothiocyanate can also be released when the wasabi plants have been damaged, because it is being used as a defense mechanism.  The unique flavor of wasabi is a result of complex chemical mixtures from the broken cells of the plant, including those resulting from the hydrolysis of thioglucosides from sinigrin into glucose and methylthioalkyl isothiocyanates:  Research has shown that such isothiocyanates inhibit microbe growth, perhaps with implications for preserving food against spoilage and suppressing oral bacterial growth.  Because the burning sensations of wasabi are not oil-based, they are short-lived compared to the effects of capsaicin in chili peppers, and are washed away with more food or liquid. The sensation is felt primarily in the nasal passage and can be quite painful depending on the amount consumed. Inhaling or sniffing wasabi vapor has an effect like smelling salts, a property exploited by researchers attempting to create a smoke alarm for the deaf. One deaf subject participating in a test of the prototype awoke within 10 seconds of wasabi vapor sprayed into his sleeping chamber. The 2011 Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the researchers for determining the ideal density of airborne wasabi to wake people in the event of an emergency.

Nutritional information.

Wasabi is normally consumed in such small quantities that its nutritional value is negligible. The major constituents of raw wasabi root are carbohydrates (23.5%), water (69.1%), fat (0.63%), and protein (4.8%).

Cultivation.

Few places are suitable for large-scale wasabi cultivation, and cultivation is difficult even in ideal conditions. In Japan, wasabi is cultivated mainly in these regions:  There are also numerous artificial cultivation facilities as far north as Hokkaido and as far south as Kyushu. As the demand for real wasabi is higher than that which is able to be produced within Japan, Japan imports copious amounts of wasabi from the United States, Taiwan, Korea, Israel, Thailand and New Zealand. In North America, "Wasabia japonica" is cultivated by a handful of small farmers and companies"," the most prominent of which is King Wasabi, located in Forest Grove, Oregon. In Europe, wasabi is grown commercially in Iceland, the Netherlands, Hungary, and the UK.

Preparation.

Wasabi is often grated with a metal "oroshigane", but some prefer to use a more traditional tool made of dried sharkskin (fine skin on one side; coarse skin on the other). A hand-made grater with irregular shark teeth can also be used. If a shark-skin grater is unavailable, a ceramic cheese grater can be an acceptable substitute.

Wasabi (Japanese: 山葵, ; "Eutrema japonicum" or "Wasabia japonica") or Japanese horseradish is a plant of the family Brassicaceae, which also includes horseradish and mustard in other genera. A paste made from its ground rhizomes is used as a pungent condiment for "sushi" and other foods. It is similar in taste to hot mustard or horseradish rather than chili peppers in that it stimulates the nose more than the tongue.


Early life.

Jan Neruda was born in Prague, Bohemia; son of a small grocer who lived in the Malá Strana district. Initially, they lived on Újezd Street and later, when he was four, moved to Ostruhová Street (now called, in his honor), where they owned a house known as “U Dvou Slunců” (At the Two Suns).  His studies began in 1845 at the local Grammar school then, in 1850, continued at the Academic Grammar School in Clementinum. His favourite writers at the time were Heine, Byron, Shakespeare, Karel Hynek Mácha and Václav Bolemír Nebeský.  After graduation he tried to study law, but he failed. He worked as a clerk for a short time, but was unhappy, so he decided to study philosophy and philology at Charles University. He then worked as a teacher until 1860, when he became a freelance journalist and writer.  He started his career at "Národní listy" (National Sheets). Later, he worked for "Obrazy života" (Pictures of Life) and'(Time). He also contributed to'(Blossoms) and "Lumír".  He became the de facto leader of a generation of writers that included Karolina Světlá, Vítězslav Hálek, Adolf Heyduk and Karel Sabina; devoted to continuing the legacy of Karel Hynek Mácha. They published their works in the literary almanac "Máj".  By 1871, various groups had labeled Neruda as a "Traitor to the Nation", so he decided to spend some time away; visiting Italy, Greece, France, Germany, Hungary and Egypt. He kept detailed records of these journeys, which provide an interesting testimony to his life and times, with various insights that prove him to be a good observer.  From 1883 to his death he lived on Vladislavova Street, 1382/14 in Nové Město, Prague.

Personal life.

Neruda was a loner and an introvert, although he was a friend of composer Bedřich Smetana.  Neruda never married, but he had close relationships with Anna Holinová and Karolína Světlá.  Holinová was his first love. Many of his poems were meant for her. Through her father, Neruda was able to meet Božena Němcová and Karel Jaromír Erben, famous Czech nationalist writers.  His second love was Světlá, a married woman who was also a writer. They supported each other emotionally with their works. She also supported him financially. When he found himself deeply in debt, she sold a precious brooch and lent him the money. Unfortunately her husband,, found out about it and forced him to give up the relationship. He also had to give him all the letters they had written to each other. These letters became the source for the movie called "Příběh lásky a cti" (The Story of Love and Honor). Throughout his life, the poet had been in material need, although he was an extremely prolific and respected journalist. Once a week, for example, he wrote a column for the National Papers, worked as a theater officer and literary critic, and edited several popular science journals.  He had a close relationship with his mother. Her death in 1869 greatly affected him and brought a sadder tone to his works.

Career.

In his work, Neruda supported the Czech National Revival and promoted Czech nationalism. He participated in all the central cultural and political struggles of his generation, and gained a reputation as a sensitive critic. Neruda became, along with Vítězslav Hálek, one of the most prominent representatives of the new literary trends.

Death.

Beginning in 1880, he suffered from a swelling of his veins, which contributed to a number of diseases that afflicted him for the rest of his life. In the winter of 1888, he shattered his kneecap when he slipped on some ice. From that time on, he relied on messengers to deliver his articles to "Národní listy".  He died on August 22, 1891, from an inflammation of his digestive tract caused by intestinal cancer.  He was buried at Vyšehrad Cemetery in Prague. His funeral became the occasion for an expression of Czech nationalist sentiment.

Jan Nepomuk Neruda (Czech: ]; 9 July 1834 – 22 August 1891) was a Czech journalist, writer, poet and art critic; one of the most prominent representatives of Czech Realism and a member of the "May School".


Classification.

Polymers of amino acids are known as polypeptides or proteins.  According to the composition of their main chain, synthetic polyamides are classified as follows:  All polyamides are made by the formation of an amide function to link two molecules of monomer together. The monomers can be amides themselves (usually in the form of a cyclic lactam such as caprolactam), α,ω-amino acids or a stoichiometric mixture of a diamine and a diacid. Both these kinds of precursors give a homopolymer. Polyamides are easily copolymerized, and thus many mixtures of monomers are possible which can in turn lead to many copolymers. Additionally many nylon polymers are miscible with one another allowing the creation of blends.

Polymerization chemistry.

Production of polymers requires the repeated joining of two groups to form an amide linkage. In this case this specifically involves amide bonds, and the two groups involved are an amine group, and a terminal carbonyl component of a functional group. These react to produce a carbon-nitrogen bond, creating a singular amide linkage. This process involves the elimination of other atoms previously part of the functional groups. The carbonyl-component may be part of either a carboxylic acid group or the more reactive acyl halide derivative. The amine group and the carboxylic acid group can be on the same monomer, or the polymer can be constituted of two different bifunctional monomers, one with two amine groups, the other with two carboxylic acid or acid chloride groups.  The condensation reaction is used to synthetically produce nylon polymers in industry. Nylons must specifically include a straight chain (aliphatic) monomer. The amide link is produced from an amine group (alternatively known as an amino group), and a carboxylic acid group. The hydroxyl from the carboxylic acid combines with a hydrogen from the amine, and gives rise to water, the elimination byproduct that is the namesake of the reaction.  As an example of condensation reactions, consider that in living organisms, Amino acids are condensed with one another by an enzyme to form amide linkages (known as peptides). The resulting polyamides are known as proteins or polypeptides. In the diagram below, consider the amino-acids as single aliphatic monomers reacting with identical molecules to form a polyamide, focusing on solely the amine and acid groups. Ignore the substituent R groups – under the assumption the difference between the R groups are negligible:  For fully aromatic polyamides or 'aramids' e.g. Kevlar, the more reactive acyl chloride is used as a monomer. The polymerization reaction with the amine group eliminates hydrogen chloride. The acid chloride route can be used as a laboratory synthesis to avoid heating and obtain an almost instantaneous reaction. The aromatic moiety itself does not participate in elimination reaction, but it does increase the rigidity and strength of the resulting material which leads to Kevlar's renowned strength.  In the diagram below, Aramid is made from two different monomers which continuously alternate to form the polymer. Aramid is an aromatic polyamide:  Polyamides can also be synthesized from dinitriles using acid catalysis via an application of the Ritter reaction. This method is applicable for preparation of nylon 1,6 from adiponitrile, formaldehyde and water. Additionally, polyamides can be synthesized from glycols and dinitriles using this method as well.

A polyamide is a polymer with repeating units linked by amide bonds. Polyamides occur both naturally and artificially. Examples of naturally occurring polyamides are proteins, such as wool and silk. Artificially made polyamides can be made through step-growth polymerization or solid-phase synthesis yielding materials such as nylons, aramids, and sodium poly(aspartate). Synthetic polyamides are commonly used in textiles, automotive industry, carpets, kitchen utensils and sportswear due to their high durability and strength. The transportation manufacturing industry is the major consumer, accounting for 35% of polyamide (PA) consumption.