History.

The ordering of a new Norwegian submersible design stemmed from a 1972 decision to modernise the Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) submarine flotilla, which then consisted of the aging submarines. The contract was signed on 30 September 1982 for six boats with Thyssen Nordseewerke, Emden. An option for two more submarines was included in the original deal, however, it was never picked up.  The construction of the vessels was an international project. The combat systems were made in Norway by Kongsberg, the attack sonar is German and the flank sonars French. The hull sections were produced in Norway and assembled in Germany by Thyssen Nordseewerke. In Germany, the design is known as the "U-Boot-Klasse 210".  When commissioned, the "Ula"s were the first Norwegian submarines to have enough bunks for the entire crew and a shower.  The "Ula"-class submarines are among the most silent and maneuverable submarines in the world. This, in combination with their relatively small size, makes them difficult to detect from surface vessels and ideal for operations in coastal areas. The "Ula" class is regarded as both the most effective and cost-effective weapons in the RNoN.

Ship history.

In 1989, while undergoing trials, "Ula" was damaged by a practice torpedo. In March 1991, "Uredd" was involved in an accident while docking. In February 1992, "Uredd" suffered a control room fire.  In recent years, several submarines of the "Ula" class have been deployed in the Mediterranean Sea in support of the NATO Operation Active Endeavour, where their intelligence-gathering ability surpassed expectations. Their operational availability proved to be highest of all ships taking part in the operation. This mission highlighted a need for better temperature regulation for crew comfort in warm waters. As a result, HNoMS "Ula" was "tropicalized" by the installation of new cooling systems, and two more of the class designated for "tropicalization".

Future submarine capability.

During 2006-2008 the "Ula" class was slated for modernisation. Most notably, new communication equipment (Link 11), new electronic warfare support measures and a periscope upgrade. In May 2008, a contract for new sonars was signed, with the first submarine to have new sonar 21 months after that, and the last 52 months later. Furthermore, Kongsberg was contracted in 2012 to upgrade the submarines' combat systems. The "Ula" class will probably be kept in service until 2020.  In 2012 the Norwegian MoD set 2014 as a deadline for deciding whether to further extend the operative life of the Ula class after their slated end-of-life in 2020, or to replace them with a new fleet. In December 2014, the Norwegian Ministry of Defence made the decision to begin the process of replacing the "Ula"s. As part of that decision, the "Ula"-class submarines would be kept in service for a further five years, but would not exceed 35 years total service as that would be too costly.  In 2016, two suppliers (DCNS and Thyssen Krupp) were shortlisted to provide competing options to replace the Ula-class boats. In February 2017, Thyssen Krupp was selected to provide four replacement submarines based on the Type 212-class for service entry starting in the mid-2020s. A firm build contract is anticipated in the first half of 2020.

Vessels.

Six submarines were delivered (1989–1992) to the RNoN. All are based at Haakonsvern in Bergen. The boats are all named after places in Norway, with the exception of "Uredd" ("Fearless" in English), in honour of the World War II submarine. The ship prefix for RNoN vessels is KNM ("Kongelig Norsk Marine", Royal Norwegian Navy), in English HNoMS (His Norwegian Majesty's Ship).

References.

Citations Books

The "Ula" class is a Norwegian submarine type which was assembled in Germany in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The class, consisting of six vessels, is currently the only submarine type in service with the Royal Norwegian Navy.


Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1822–1869)

Life.

Youth and marriage.

Maria Carolina was born in Vienna on 26 April 1822, the only surviving child of Prince Leopold of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Prince of Salerno and his wife (and niece) Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria, daughter of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor.  Nicknamed "Lina" since her birth, the princess spent the first years of her life under the supervision of her mother in the Austrian imperial court at Vienna and was also officially introduced there in society. As a teenager, she returned with her family to Naples.  In the 1830s and 1840s there were not many princesses from European nobility who were in a marriageable age, so Maria Carolina had several suitors for her hand. The choice finally fell on Prince Henry, Duke of Aumale, fifth and second-youngest son of King Louis-Philippe I of France and his wife Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, who became impressed with her during a stay at her father's palace in Naples. The marriage negotiations began in late August 1844, and already on 17 September of the same year at the "Revue de Paris", their engagement was officially announced. The union was anything but a love match. Henri d'Orléans described his wife in a letter to his teacher Alfred-Auguste de Cuvillier-Fleury as "not nice, but nothing unpleasant about herself". Cuvillier-Fleury agreed with him, adding that she also had an "exquisite appearance" ("[...] "n'est pas jolie, mais c'est une miniature exquise.""). Henry agreed with the marriage only after intense pressure from his parents after they rejected other candidates and finally opted for the small and graceful Maria Carolina to forestall any other marriage proposals to her from other European princes.  The marriage took place on 25 November 1844 (the date corresponded to the wedding anniversary of the French royal couple) in Naples at the request of the groom, although Maria Carolina's future in-laws would have preferred it that the marriage would be celebrated in Paris. The civil wedding was performed in the royal palace of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, and on the same day the religious ceremony was celebrated with great pomp. The bride received the large amount of 517,000 gold francs as a dowry. The festivities on the occasion of the wedding, such as balls, receptions, hunting events or theater galas, lasted more than two weeks. However, Maria Carolina traveled already on 2 December 1844 together with her husband by ship to Toulon. From there the newlyweds had a grand reception by the city to Paris, where they settled in a serie of rooms at the Tuileries Palace.

First years of marriage and issue.

During the first months of 1845, which for Maria Carolina where filled by ceremonial duties at official occasions such as balls, theatrical performances or meetings with nobles, she and her husband had finally the opportunity to know each other better. They developed a mutual respect, and during all her life the princess was a faithful and devoted wife who never made claims. Her charming ways, gentleness and kindness gained the love of her husband's family. Contemporaries described her as amiable and witty ( "[...] "on la dit gentille, spirituelle"; [...]"). In May 1845 she moved with her husband to the Château de Chantilly, which Henry specially made rebuild and modernize.  Maria Karolina remained at her husband's side after he was appointed in September 1847 Governor General of Algeria and therefore his presence in that country was necessary.

Exile in England. Death.

After the February Revolution of 1848 The Orléans family went into exile in England and were, by decree from 16 May 1848, permanently banned from France. Maria Carolina followed her husband, and they temporarily moved to Claremont House. Their strained finances forced the princess to sell parts of their precious jewels to pay for their maintenance.  Maria Carolina soon become a close friend of Queen Victoria, who gave her and her family the "Orléans House" in Twickenham, London as their residence. They moved from Claremont to their new home on 16 April 1852. After a long journey in August 1864 across Europe (including Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Switzerland and the Orient), Maria Carolina preferably spent her time in the "Wood Norton Hall" estate at Worcestershire.  The unexpected death of her eldest son Louis Philippe, Prince of Condé, in 1866 plunged Maria Carolina into a deep depression from which she never fully recovered. After a six-week bout of illness, she died on 6 December 1869 aged 47 at Orleans House from infectious tuberculosis.  Four days after her death, on 10 December 1869, Maria Carolina was buried in the Catholic Chapel of Weybridge until 1876, when her remains were returned to France by her husband to be buried in the Chapelle royale de Dreux. After the death of his wife, Henry preferred to remain a widower until his own death in 1897.

Issue.

Maria Carolina and Henry had seven children, from only two survived childbirth but both died young:

Princess Maria Carolina Augusta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (26 April 1822 – 6 December 1869) was a Princess of Bourbon-Two Sicilies by birth and a princess of the House of Orléans through her marriage to Prince Henry of Orléans, Duke of Aumale.


History.

Career and breakup.

The Swiss thrash trio Coroner were originally road crew for Celtic Frost. They eventually cut their own songs, recording their demo "Death Cult" in 1986 with Tom G. Warrior of Celtic Frost on vocals. Their first full-length album "R.I.P.", released in 1987, featured bass player Ron Broder on vocals and he assumed the role for the rest of the group's existence.  The group released four more albums through to 1993, ending with a greatest hits collection, "Coroner", in 1995. Lack of media exposure brought this band to disbanding in 1995 — and to their farewell tour consequent to their self-titled album in January and February 1996.

Reunion.

In March 2005, talks of a reunion were in the works, but later retracted. The main reason was that neither Marky, Ron, nor Tommy had the time it would require to do this properly, and also that none of them liked to "reheat things, except spaghetti sauce." In June 2010, however, Coroner announced that they would reunite for next year's installments of Maryland Deathfest, Hellfest Summer Open Air and Bloodstock Open Air. The band was asked if they were planning to write a new album. Guitarist Tommy Vetterli replied, "you know, making a new album is kind of difficult... (Pause) Well, you never know. Maybe after four or five shows we'll get into it and say, 'Hey! Let's do an album!' Nobody knows what's going to happen. We don't have a master plan".  In April 2011, drummer Marky Edelmann was asked why Coroner decided to reunite after their 15-year break up. He replied, "It was a total trip; it was really like a time warp. It was totally strange. Sometimes you could play the songs automatically; it was still somehow programmed. It was really funny; your arms go left and right, and you don't know why. 'Oh, wow, that's why. I have to hit this cymbal right now.' [Laughs] So that was really quite a trip. It makes me feel like being [brought] back [in time] 15 years or more. And I missed playing drums, totally. That was also something I'm very happy about now — to just play drums." Marky also stated that a new Coroner album was not in the cards, but he also stated that the band could reissue their back catalog.  In June 2011, Vetterli told RadioMetal.com that Coroner has been recording shows for a future live album and also plan to release a career spanning DVD in the future. Asked about new material, he mentioned that they might record one song or two. Tommy also stated that if Coroner makes a new album he would have to "try to convince" Marky and Ron and would not do it without them.  On February 12, 2014, drummer Marky Edelmann announced that he would be leaving Coroner at the end of the month, citing a disinterest in new material, as opposed to Broder and Vetterli. On May 24, 2014, Diego Rapacchietti was announced as the new drummer for Coroner.  Despite their earlier decision not to release new material, guitarist Tommy Vetterli stated that Coroner plans to work on a potential follow-up to "Grin". In June 2015, Ron revealed in an interview (released on Italian webzine "Artists and Bands") that: "We are still individually in the process of collecting songwriting ideas. We have not started recording yet, but once we come together, it will probably proceed quickly. We are planning on hitting the studio towards the end of this year, hopefully." On July 26, 2016, it was announced that Coroner had entered the studio to begin recording their new album, which was initially set for release in 2017; however, it did not surface in 2017 and there had been no news about the album until April 2020, when Coroner announced via Twitter that they were "going to record a NEW album this year."

Evolution and style.

Musically, Coroner evolved from a speed metal band with gothic and classical overtones like Celtic Frost and Bathory into a technical-based band. Coroner's first album, "R.I.P.", was based on neoclassical lines and was technical and classically influenced.  The second album, "Punishment for Decadence", saw a progression into a more complex sound with a unison of bass and guitar. Tempo changes interspersed mid-paced sections and the odd slow passage between the faster passages started to emerge. Lyrically, Coroner began to write about themes such as politics and personal introspection.  "No More Color" was produced by Pete Hinton and the band. Coroner's music became more technical on "No More Color" as the guitar work was characterized by intricate modes and arpeggios, solo work that was chromatically colorful, as well as the "de rigueur" crunchy chords and speed runs; the drumming went beyond the 4/4 time of Coroner's two previous albums to incorporate unusual time signatures which became their trademark. Ron Royce's bass playing is also worth a mention as having an advanced three-finger technique which enables him to double the rhythm line as well as perform more intricate riffs. Prime examples of this are the opener "Die By My Hand" with its vicious riffing and the harmonic minor inspired riff in the middle of "Mistress of Deception". The closer "Last Entertainment" is a prescient take on TV. The opening track "Die By My Hand" is a classic piece of prog come thrash metal. It is technical but also brutal.  "Mental Vortex" continued the evolution over "No More Color". Continuing with the previous album's technical formula, the speed metal formula was re-integrated into Coroner's sound on this album but with a tone that made it sound not at all like "R.I.P." or "Punishment for Decadence". There were slower songs but none of the songs on "Mental Vortex" stayed the same speed for very long. The songs on "Mental Vortex" ranged from four to eight minutes. The last track "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is a cover of The Beatles song, and a video was shot of it. Overall, the tone was a shift from the thrash/technical of "No More Color" which showed them gravitating towards their opus "Grin".  "Grin" saw a much more industrial sound and was a natural progression from "Mental Vortex" but was different from most of their previous material. It involved a much more reflective guitar riff and underlying bass line. It was slower and more refined in its metal sensibility. Brooding guitar over Royce's bass produced an almost hypnotic trance-like sound on some tracks. The lead guitar still shone on all tracks.  Their eponymous album, "Coroner", was a compilation which contained unreleased material and a selection of hits from previous albums.  The band appears on Brütal Legend with the song "Skeleton On Your Shoulder".  Includes 2 demos, 2 remixes, the soundtrack for an unreleased documentary and a record of one of their last concerts before the reunion.

Band members.

As of 2014, no founding member has remained in Coroner, since founding drummer Marquis Marky abandoned the band that year after a 31 year-duty. Bassist/vocalist Ron Royce and guitarist Tommy T. Baron have been the only continual members of Coroner since 1985.

Coroner is a Swiss thrash metal band from Zürich. They garnered relatively little attention outside of Europe. Formed in 1983, the band broke up in 1996, but reformed 14 years later. The band has performed at multiple live venues and festivals around the world since 2011, and plans to release a new album in 2020 or 2021. Coroner's music combines elements of thrash, classical music, avant-garde music, progressive rock, jazz, and industrial metal with suitably gruff vocals. With their increasingly complex style of progressive rock-infused thrash, they have been called "the Rush of thrash metal". Coroner's sound then progressed and the production became more refined, resulting in the more progressive albums "No More Color" (1989), "Mental Vortex" (1991) and "Grin" (1993).


Life.

Weigl was born in Prerau (now "Přerov"), Moravia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Austrian-German parents. When he was a child, his father died in a bicycle accident. His mother, Elisabeth Kroesel, married a Polish secondary-school teacher, Józef Trojnar, and they raised Weigl in Jasło, Poland.  Later the family moved to Lviv ("Lwów" in Polish, "Lemberg" in German and Yiddish), where in 1907 Weigl graduated from the biology department at the Lwów University, where he had been a pupil of Professors Benedykt Dybowski (1833–1930) and J. Nusbaum–Hilarowicz (1859–1917). After graduation, Weigl became Nusbaum's assistant and in 1913 completed his "habilitacja" in the department of comparative zoology and anatomy, which effectively gave him tenure.  After the outbreak of World War I in 1914 Weigl was drafted into the medical service of the Austro-Hungarian army and began research on typhus and its causes. Weigl worked at a military hospital in Przemyśl, where he supervised the Laboratory for the Study of Spotted Typhus.  During the Nazi German occupation of Poland in World War II, Weigl's research attracted the attention of the Nazis. When they occupied Lviv, they ordered him to set up a vaccine production plant at his Institute. About a thousand people worked there. Weigl employed and protected Polish intellectuals, Jews and members of the Polish underground. His vaccines were smuggled into ghettos in Lviv and Warsaw, saving countless lives, until the Institute was shut down by the Soviet Union following their 1944 anti-German offensive.  In 1945 Weigl moved to Kraków, Poland. He was appointed Chair of the General Microbiology Institute of Jagiellonian University, and later Chair of Biology of the Poznań Medical Faculty. Production of the vaccine remained at Kraków for some years until discontinued.  Weigl died on 11 August 1957 in the Polish mountain resort of Zakopane.  The Weigl Institute features prominently in Andrzej Żuławski's 1971 film, "The Third Part of the Night".  In 2003, a half-century after his death, Professor Weigl was recognized by Israel as a Righteous among the Nations of the World.

Vaccine development.

In 1930, following Charles Nicolle's 1909 discovery that lice were the vector of epidemic typhus, and following the work done on a vaccine for the closely related Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Weigl took the next step and developed a technique to produce a typhus vaccine by growing infected lice and crushing them into a vaccine paste. He refined this technique over the years until 1933, when he performed large-scale testing.  The method comprised four major steps: Growing lice meant feeding them blood, the more human the better. At first he tested his method on Guinea pigs, but around 1933 he began large-scale testing on humans, feeding the lice human blood by letting them suck human legs through a screen. This could cause typhus during the latter phase, when the lice were infected. He alleviated this problem by vaccinating the human "injectees", which successfully protected them from death (though some did develop the disease). Weigl himself developed the disease, but recovered.  The first major application of his vaccine was conducted between 1936 and 1943 by Belgian missionaries in China. The vaccine was dangerous to produce and hard to make on a large scale. Over time, other vaccines were developed that were less dangerous and more economical to produce, including the Cox vaccine developed on egg yolk.

Rudolf Stefan Jan Weigl (2 September 1883 – 11 August 1957) was a Polish biologist and inventor of the first effective vaccine against epidemic typhus. He founded the Weigl Institute in Lwów (now Lviv), where he conducted vaccine research.


The revolutionary Schienenzeppelin.

After the first World War he opened an engineering consultancy in Heidelberg. Initially he worked on a hanging monorail concept, but could not get the financing for a prototype. Later together with Hermann Föttinger he founded the Flugbahn-Gesellschaft mbH to build a high-speed propeller driven train, the "Schienenzeppelin". The first test runs were carried out on 25 September 1930 between Kreiensen and Altenbeken on the Braunschweig-Paderborn line. On 21 June 1931 his Schienenzeppelin made the first run on the Hamburg-Berlin line. Between Ludwigslust and Wittenberge the Schienenzeppelin achieved a world speed record for trains of. It was the fastest railcar in the world for more than 20 years. A major problem was the propeller, causing noise and wind. Kruckenberg rebuilt the Schienenzeppelin to a hydraulically driven car, which still had a top speed of with only 441 kW.  The Schienenzeppelin was revolutionary for its time, since the aerodynamic streamline profile and the light weight design were proven as feasible features for high speed railways. While Kruckenberg's ideas continue to influence high speed train design today (ICE, Acela, TGV, AVE) the Schienenzeppelin was scrapped in 1939.

SVT 137 - prototype for following high speed trains.

After the Schienenzeppelin Kruckenberg designed the DRG Class SVT 137 155 in 1934. This prototype of a three car DMU had a diesel-hydraulic transmission and was ready for service in 1938. On a test run, on 23 June 1939, this train achieved a world speed record for diesel trains of 215 km/h between Hamburg and Berlin. Parts of that train set are still preserved in Dresden.  After World War II Kruckenberg designed the DB Class VT 10.5 express daytime ("Senator", 7 car set) and night sleeper ("Komet", 8 car set) following the SVT 137 155 ideas. Many of the "Senator" design features were additionally based around the Talgo concept. Both trains were of unprecedented light weight construction of 0.92 t/seat, but had disadvantages in maintenance due to their six engine concept (four Diesel engines for propulsion, two for electricity generation). Thus they were taken out of service in 1959 and 1960 respectively.  Later the DB Class VT 11.5 ("TEE") und DR Class VT 18.16 ("Vindobona") DMUs were derived from Kruckenberg's SVT 137 155 concept.

Franz Friedrich Kruckenberg (* 21 August 1882 in Uetersen, Germany; † 19 June 1965 in Heidelberg) was an engineer and pioneer of high speed railway systems. He designed several high speed trains. His most famous design was the Schienenzeppelin.


Family.

Princess Adelaide Sofia Amelia of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg was born in Kleinheubach, near Miltenberg, Bavaria on 3 April 1831, Easter Sunday. She was a daughter of Constantine, Hereditary Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1802–1838), and Princess Agnes of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Adelaide was four and half years old when her mother died and seven when she also lost her father. Adelaide and her brother, Charles, were brought up by their paternal grandparents, Charles Thomas, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1783–1849) and his wife Princess Sophie of Windisch-Graetz. Her maternal grandparents were Karl Ludwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Countess Amalie Henriette of Solms-Baruth.  Princess Adelaide belonged to the Löwenstein-Wertheim family, an originally morganatic branch of the House of Wittelsbach which was eventually elevated to princely status and then mediatised in 1819.

Marriage.

On 24 September 1851, Adelaide married Miguel de Bragança, the former occupant of the Portuguese throne. The bride was 20 years old while the groom was almost 49.  Miguel had at first served as Regent in Portugal for his niece and betrothed Queen Maria II of Portugal but had seized the throne for himself on 23 June 1828. He was an avid conservative and admirer of Klemens Wenzel von Metternich. He overturned the Constitutional Charter written by his brother, Pedro I of Brazil, and tried to rule as an absolute monarch. This resulted in the so-called Liberal Wars (1828–1834), actually a prolonged civil war between progressive constitutionalists and authoritarian absolutists.  The war had ended in 1834 with the deposition of Miguel, who renounced all claims to the throne of Portugal in exchange for an annual pension. (Since he reneged on the terms of his deposition, he never collected the pension.) He was forced into a lifelong exile. He remained the senior male member of the Portuguese line of the House of Braganza, but he was never restored to the throne and it is disputed whether his descendants' dynastic rights were restored. On 15 January 1837, his support of Infante Carlos, Count of Molina, the first Carlist pretender to the Spanish throne, resulted in the removal of his own rights to said throne.

Matchmaker and later life.

Her husband, Miguel, died on 14 November 1866 before any of their children had reached adulthood. Adelaide, who was a very ambitious woman, would spend the next several decades attempting to secure prominent marriages for her children.  As a result of her largely successful attempts, her grandchildren would include (among others) Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, Elisabeth Amalia, Princess of Liechtenstein, Elisabeth, Queen of the Belgians, Marie Gabrielle, Crown Princess of Bavaria, Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Antoinette, Crown Princess of Bavaria, Xavier, Duke of Parma, Zita, Empress of Austria, Felix of Bourbon-Parma and Infanta Maria Adelaide of Portugal. Many of her descendants have inherited her longevity.  In 1895, two years after the marriage of her last daughter, Adelaide, a devout Catholic, retired to the abbey of Sainte-Cécile de Solesmes in north-western France. She professed as a nun there on 12 June 1897. The community later moved to Cowes and then to Ryde on the Isle of Wight, where Adelhaid died on 16 December 1909 at the age of 78. In 1967 both her body and that of her husband were moved to the Braganza mausoleum in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon. During her life, she lived during the reign of 6 Portuguese kings: her future husband Miguel I until 1834; his niece Maria II until 1853 (from 1837 along with his consort Fernando II); his grandnephews Pedro V until 1861 and Luís I until 1889; his great-grandnephew Carlos I until 1908 and his great-great-grandnephew Manuel II from 1908.

Princess Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (3 April 1831 – 16 December 1909) was the wife of Miguel de Bragança, former occupant of the Portuguese throne but only following his deposition. As a widow, she secured advantageous marriages for their six daughters.


History.

The club was founded in 1953 as an army ice hockey club with the name Rudá hvězda Brno ("Red Star"). The majority of players were transferred from two hockey clubs in Brno (TJ Spartak Brno Zbrojovka and TJ Spartak GZ Královo Pole). In 1962, the club changed its name to ZKL Brno (ZKL is an abbreviation of "Ball Bearing Factory") and stopped being an army team. In 1976, the name was changed to Zetor Brno. Shortly after the revolution (1994), the club changed its name to HC Kometa Brno. "Kometa" was the team's nickname since the 1950s (as opposed to the official "Red Star") and the team was commonly referred to by this name since its beginning.  In 1996, the team was relegated from Czech Extraliga to the second highest ice hockey league, the 1st Czech Republic Hockey League. For many years, the team struggled due to poor financing and multiple changes of owners, facing relegation again in 2001–2002. The club almost ceased to exist, playing in the East division of the third-highest Czech ice hockey league. By the 2003–2004 season, it returned to the first league. In 2004, Kometa played its first playoff series since 1997, reached the semifinals in 2008, and reached the finals in 2009.  On 1 April 2009, Kometa principal investor Rene Burger bought the licence for another South Moravian club, HC Znojemští Orli. This club began to serve as a farm team for Brno.  In March 2012, the team managed to defeat HC Sparta Praha, the winner of the 2011–12 Czech Extraliga regular season, in six games, qualifying for the playoff semifinals. In the semifinals, they defeated HC Plzeň 1929, the runner-up of the regular season, in five games. In the final, Kometa lost the Czech Extraliga championship final to HC Pardubice in six games.

Honours.

Domestic.

Czech Extraliga  Czech 1. Liga  Czechoslovak Extraliga  1st. Czech National Hockey League

International.

IIHF European Cup

Pre-season.

Spengler Cup  Rona Cup  Tipsport Hockey Cup

Players.

Current roster.

As for the 2018/19 season.

HC Kometa Brno ("Comet" in English) is a professional ice hockey team based in Brno, Czech Republic. They play in the Czech Extraliga. Kometa is the most successful ice hockey club in the Czech Republic with 13 Czechoslovak (and Czech) league championship titles. Holding three European Cup titles, Kometa ranks as the most successful Czech club in international ice hockey. The team HC Kometa Brno has won two Czech championships seasons, capturing the title in both 2016–2017 and in 2017–2018.


Overview.

Core functionality.

Users can enter mathematics in traditional mathematical notation. Custom user interfaces can also be created. There is support for numeric computations, to arbitrary precision, as well as symbolic computation and visualization. Examples of symbolic computations are given below.  Maple incorporates a dynamically typed imperative-style programming language (resembling Pascal), which permits variables of lexical scope. There are also interfaces to other languages (C, C#, Fortran, Java, MATLAB, and Visual Basic), as well as to Microsoft Excel.  Maple supports MathML 2.0, which is a W3C format for representing and interpreting mathematical expressions, including their display in web pages. There is also functionality for converting expressions from traditional mathematical notation to markup suitable for the typesetting system LaTeX.

Architecture.

Maple is based on a small kernel, written in C, which provides the Maple language. Most functionality is provided by libraries, which come from a variety of sources. Most of the libraries are written in the Maple language; these have viewable source code. Many numerical computations are performed by the NAG Numerical Libraries, ATLAS libraries, or GMP libraries.  Different functionality in Maple requires numerical data in different formats. Symbolic expressions are stored in memory as directed acyclic graphs. The standard interface and calculator interface are written in Java.

History.

The first concept of Maple arose from a meeting in late 1980 at the University of Waterloo. Researchers at the university wished to purchase a computer powerful enough to run the Lisp-based computer algebra system Macsyma. Instead, they opted to develop their own computer algebra system, named Maple, that would run on lower cost computers. Aiming for portability, they began writing Maple in programming languages from the BCPL family (initially using a subset of B and C, and later on only C). A first limited version appeared after three weeks, and fuller versions entered mainstream use beginning in 1982. By the end of 1983, over 50 universities had copies of Maple installed on their machines.  In 1984, the research group arranged with Watcom Products Inc to license and distribute the first commercially available version, Maple 3.3. In 1988 Waterloo Maple Inc. (Maplesoft) was founded. The company’s original goal was to manage the distribution of the software, but eventually it grew to have its own R&D department, where most of Maple's development takes place today (the remainder being done at various university laboratories). In 1989, the first graphical user interface for Maple was developed and included with version 4.3 for the Macintosh. X11 and Windows versions of the new interface followed in 1990 with Maple V. In 1992, Maple V Release 2 introduced the Maple "worksheet" that combined text, graphics, and input and typeset output. In 1994 a special issue of a newsletter created by Maple developers called "MapleTech" was published.  In 1999, with the release of Maple 6, Maple included some of the NAG Numerical Libraries. In 2003, the current "standard" interface was introduced with Maple 9. This interface is primarily written in Java (although portions, such as the rules for typesetting mathematical formulae, are written in the Maple language). The Java interface was criticized for being slow; improvements have been made in later versions, although the Maple 11 documentation recommends the previous ("classic") interface for users with less than 500 MB of physical memory.  Between 1995 and 2005 Maple lost significant market share to competitors due to a weaker user interface. With Maple 10 in 2005, Maple introduced a new "document mode" interface, which has since been further developed across several releases.  In September 2009 Maple and Maplesoft were acquired by the Japanese software retailer Cybernet Systems.

Features.

Features of Maple include:

Examples of Maple code.

The following code, which computes the factorial of a nonnegative integer, is an example of an imperative programming construct within Maple: <!-- not implemented, yet... --> <syntaxhighlight lang="mupad"> myfac := proc(n::nonnegint) end proc;  Simple functions can also be defined using the "maps to" arrow notation:

Integration.

Find  Output:

Determinant.

Compute the determinant of a matrix.

Series expansion.

series(tanh(x), x = 0, 15)

Solve equations numerically.

The following code numerically calculates the roots of a high-order polynomial:  The same command can also solve systems of equations:

Plotting of function of single variable.

Plot formula_7 with formula_8 ranging from -10 to 10:

Plotting of function of two variables.

Plot formula_9 with formula_8 and formula_11 ranging from -1 to 1:  plot3d(x^2+y^2, x = -1..1, y = -1..1);

Animation of functions.

plots:-animate(subs(k = 0.5, f), x=-30..30, t=-10..10, numpoints=200, frames=50, color=red, thickness=3);  plots:-animate3d(cos(t*x)*sin(3*t*y), x=-Pi..Pi, y=-Pi..Pi, t=1..2);

Laplace transform.

f := (1+A*t+B*t^2)*exp(c*t);  inttrans:-invlaplace(1/(s-a), s, x);

Fourier transform.

inttrans:-fourier(sin(x), x, w)

Integral equations.

Find functions formula_17 that satisfy the integral equation  eqn:= f(x)-3*Int((x*y+x^2*y^2)*f(y), y=-1..1) = h(x): intsolve(eqn,f(x));

Use of the Maple engine.

The Maple engine is used within several other products from Maplesoft:  Listed below are third-party commercial products that no longer use the Maple engine:

Maple is a symbolic and numeric computing environment as well as a multi-paradigm programming language. It covers several areas of technical computing, such as symbolic mathematics, numerical analysis, data processing, visualization, and others. A toolbox, MapleSim, adds functionality for multidomain physical modeling and code generation.


Life.

Birth and early life.

Born at Poissy, Alphonse was a son of Louis VIII, King of France and Blanche of Castile. He was a younger brother of Louis IX of France and an older brother of Charles I of Sicily. In 1229, his mother, who was regent of France, forced the Treaty of Paris on Raymond VII of Toulouse after his rebellion. It stipulated that a brother of King Louis was to marry Joan of Toulouse, daughter of Raymond VII of Toulouse, and so in 1237 Alphonse married her. Since she was Raymond's only child, they became rulers of Toulouse at Raymond's death in 1249.  By the terms of his father's will he received an "appanage" of Poitou and Auvergne. To enforce this Louis IX won the battle of Taillebourg in the Saintonge War together with Alphonse against a revolt allied with king Henry III of England, who also participated in the battle.

Crusades.

Alphonse took part in two crusades with his brother, St Louis, in 1248 (the Seventh Crusade) and in 1270 (the Eighth Crusade). For the first of these, he raised a large sum and a substantial force, arriving in Damietta on 24 October 1249, after the town had already been captured. He sailed for home on 10 August 1250. His father-in-law had died while he was away, and he went directly to Toulouse to take possession. There was some resistance to his accession as count, which was suppressed with the help of his mother Blanche of Castile who was acting as regent in the absence of Louis IX. The county of Toulouse, since then, was joined to Alphonse's "appanage".

Later life.

In 1252, on the death of his mother, Blanche of Castile, Alphonse was joint regent with Charles of Anjou until the return of Louis IX. During that time he took a great part in the campaigns and negotiations which led to the Treaty of Paris in 1259, under which King Henry III of England recognized his loss of continental territory to France (including Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and Poitou) in exchange for France withdrawing support from English rebels.  Aside from the crusades, Alphonse stayed primarily in Paris, governing his estates by officials, inspectors who reviewed the officials' work, and a constant stream of messages. His main work was on his own estates. There he repaired the evils of the Albigensian war and made a first attempt at administrative centralization, thus preparing the way for union with the crown. He is remembered for founding the bastide town of Villeneuve-sur-Lot which straddles the River Lot and still contains many of its original structures, including one of the first bridges across the river. The charter known as "Alphonsine," granted to the town of Riom, became the code of public law for Auvergne. Honest and moderate, protecting the middle classes against exactions of the nobles, he exercised a happy influence upon the south, in spite of his naturally despotic character and his continual and pressing need of money. He is noted for ordering the first recorded local expulsion of Jews, when he did so in Poitou in 1249.  When Louis IX again engaged in a crusade (the Eighth Crusade), Alphonse again raised a large sum of money and accompanied his brother. This time, however, he did not return to France, dying while on his way back, probably at Savona in Italy, on 21 August 1271.

Death and legacy.

Alphonse's death without heirs raised some questions as to the succession to his lands. One possibility was that they should revert to the crown, another that they should be redistributed to his family. The latter was claimed by Charles of Anjou, but in 1283 Parlement decided that the County of Toulouse should revert to the crown, if there were no male heirs. Alphonse's wife Joan (who died four days after Alphonse) had attempted to dispose of some of her inherited lands in her will. Joan was the only surviving child and heiress of Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne, and Marquis of Provence, so under Provençal and French law, the lands should have gone to her nearest male relative. But, her will was invalidated by Parlement in 1274. One specific bequest in Alphonse's will, giving his wife's lands in the Comtat Venaissin to the Holy See, was allowed, and it became a Papal territory, a status that it retained until 1791.

Alphonse or Alfonso (11 November 122021 August 1271) was the Count of Poitou from 1225 and Count of Toulouse (as Alphonse II) from 1249. As count of Toulouse, he also governed the Marquisate of Provence.


Biography.

Giuseppe Terragni was born to a prominent family in Meda, Lombardy. He attended the Technical College in Como then studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano university. In 1927 he and his brother Attilio opened an office in Como. They remained in practice until Giuseppe's death during the war years.  A pioneer of the modern movement in Italy, Terragni produced some of its most significant buildings. A founding member of the fascist Gruppo 7 and a leading Italian Rationalist, Terragni fought to move architecture away from neo-classical and neo-baroque revivalism. In 1926 he and other progressive members of Gruppo 7 issued the manifesto that made them the leaders in the fight against revivalism.  In a career that lasted only 13 years, Terragni created a small but remarkable group of designs; most of them were built in Como, which was one of the centers of the Modern Movement in Italy. These works form the nucleus of the language of Italian rationalist or modernistic architecture. Terragni was also one of the leaders of the artistic group called "astrattisti comaschi" with Mario Radice and Manlio Rho, one of the most important events in Italian Modern Art. He also contributed to the 1932 Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution.  In his last designs, Terragni achieved a more distinctive Mediterranean character through the fusion of modern theory and tradition.  His brother, Attilio, was the Fascist Podestà (mayor) of Como when the Casa del Fascio was commissioned, and his chief architectural patron was one of Mussolini's mistresses. His career was sidetracked by Italy's entry into World War II, where he was part of the Italian army sent to the Eastern Front. After the Italians collapsed near Stalingrad, Terragni produced drawings of the suffering around him and suffered a nervous breakdown. Terragni returned to Como where he died of thrombosis in 1943.

Giuseppe Terragni (; 18 April 1904 – 19 July 1943) was an Italian architect who worked primarily under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and pioneered the Italian modern movement under the rubric of Rationalism. His most famous work is the Casa del Fascio built in Como, northern Italy, which was begun in 1932 and completed in 1936; it was built in accordance with the International Style of architecture and frescoed by abstract artist Mario Radice. In 1938, at the behest of Mussolini's fascist government, Terragni designed the Danteum, an unbuilt monument to the Italian poet Dante Alighieri structured around the formal divisions of his greatest work, the Divine Comedy.


Background.

Post-1714, Spain recovered remarkably quickly from the War of the Spanish Succession, thanks to reforms initiated by chief minister Giulio Alberoni, supported by his fellow Italian Elisabeth Farnese, who became Philip V's second wife in 1714. In the 1713 Peace of Utrecht, Spain ceded its possessions in Italy and Flanders to Habsburg Austria and Savoy and recovering them was a priority for the new administration of Philip V of Spain.  The 1701 to 1714 war was fought to ensure neither France or the Habsburg Monarchy could ever be united with Spain but Philip now cast doubts on his renunciation of the French throne agreed at Utrecht. Charles VI of Austria also refused to formally accept this principle, as well as delaying implementation of the Dutch Barrier in the newly acquired Austrian Netherlands, an objective for which the Dutch Republic effectively bankrupted themselves. In late 1716, former opponents Britain and France agreed an Anglo-French alliance to ensure enforcement of Utrecht; in January 1717, these two and the Dutch formed the Triple Alliance.  Its key principles were confirmation by Charles and Philip that they renounced their respective claims to the thrones of France and Spain, while Savoy and Austria would exchange Sicily and Sardinia. Spain saw little benefit in this and decided to seize the opportunity to recover territorial losses agreed at Utrecht. As neither Savoy nor Austria possessed significant navies, the most obvious targets were the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, an ambition that aligned with the Italian dynastic claims of Elizabeth Farnese.  In August 1717, Spanish forces landed on Sardinia and by November had re-established control of the island. They met little opposition; Austria was engaged in the 1716–1718 Austro-Turkish War, while France and the Netherlands needed peace to rebuild their shattered economies. Attempts to resolve the situation through diplomacy failed and in June 1718, a British naval force arrived in the Western Mediterranean as a preventive measure.  Emboldened by their success in Sardinia, in July 1718 the Spanish landed 30,000 men on Sicily but the strategic position had now changed. Austria signed the July 1718 Treaty of Passarowitz with the Ottoman Empire, and on 2 August, joined Britain, France and the Dutch in the Quadruple Alliance, which gave its name to the war that followed.

The war.

The Spanish took Palermo on 7 July, then divided their army; on 18 July, Marquess of Lede opened the siege of Messina, while the duke of Montemar occupied the rest of the island. On 11 August, a British squadron commanded by Sir George Byng eliminated the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape Passaro. This was followed in the autumn by the landing of a small Austrian army, assembled in Naples by the Austrian Viceroy Count Wirich Philipp von Daun, near Messina to lift the siege by the Spanish forces. The Austrians were defeated in the First Battle of Milazzo on 15 October, and only held a small bridgehead around Milazzo.  In 1718, Cardinal Alberoni began plotting to replace the Duc d'Orléans, regent to the 5-year old King Louis XV of France, with Philip V. This plot became known as the Cellamare Conspiracy. After the plot was discovered, Alberoni was expelled from France, which declared war on Spain. By 17 December 1718, the French, British, and Austrians had all officially entered the war against Spain. The Dutch would join them later, in August 1719.  The Duc d'Orléans ordered a French army under the Duke of Berwick to invade the western Basque districts of Spain in April 1719, still under the shock of Philip V's military intervention against them. The Duke of Berwick's army met very little resistance, but was forced back by heavy losses due to disease. A second attack in Catalonia suffered the same fate. In Sicily, the Austrians started a new offensive under Count Claude Florimond de Mercy. They first suffered a defeat in the Battle of Francavilla (20 June 1719). But the Spanish were cut off from their homeland by the British fleet and it was just a matter of time before their resistance would crumble. Mercy was then victorious in the second Battle of Milazzo, took Messina in October and besieged Palermo.  It was also in 1719 that the Irish exile, the Duke of Ormonde, organized an expedition with extensive Spanish support to invade Britain and replace King George I with James Stuart, the Jacobite "Old Pretender". However, his fleet was dispersed by a storm near Galicia in 1719, and never reached Britain. A small force of 300 Spanish marines under George Keith, tenth Earl Marischal did land near Eilean Donan, but they and the highlanders who supported them were defeated at the Battle of Eilean Donan in May 1719 and the Battle of Glen Shiel a month later, and the hopes of an uprising soon fizzled out.  In retaliation for this attack, a British fleet captured Vigo and marched inland to Pontevedra in October 1719. This caused some shock to the Spanish authorities as they realized how vulnerable they were to Allied amphibious attacks, with the potential to open up a new front away from the French frontier.  The French captured the Spanish settlement of Pensacola in Florida in May 1719, pre-empting a Spanish attack on South Carolina. While Spanish forces retook the town in August 1719, it fell to the French again towards the end of the year and they destroyed the town before withdrawing.  A 1,200 strong Spanish force set out from Cuba to take the British settlement of Nassau in the Bahamas. After taking a large amount of plunder they were eventually driven off by the local militia.

Peace.

Displeased with his kingdom's military performance, Philip dismissed Alberoni in December 1719, and made peace with the allies with the Treaty of The Hague on 17 February 1720.  In the treaty, Philip was forced to relinquish all territory captured in the war. However, his third surviving son's right to the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza after the death of Isabella's childless half-cousin, Antonio Farnese, was recognized.  France returned Pensacola and the remaining conquests in the north of Spain in exchange for commercial benefits. Included in the terms of this treaty, Victor Amadeus was forced to exchange Sicily for that of the less important Kingdom of Sardinia.

Legacy.

The war provided a unique example during the eighteenth century when Britain and France were on the same side. It came during a period between 1716 and 1731 when the two countries were allies. Spain would later join with France in the Bourbon Compact, and the two would become enemies of the British once more.

The War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720) was caused by Spanish attempts to recover territorial losses agreed by the 1713 Peace of Utrecht. Primarily conducted in Italy, it included minor engagements in the Americas and Northern Europe, as well as the Spanish-backed 1719 Jacobite Rising. Spain recaptured Sardinia in 1717 without opposition, followed by a landing on Sicily in July 1718. This led to the Quadruple Alliance on 2 August 1718, comprising Britain, France, Emperor Charles VI and the Dutch Republic.


Signs and symptoms.

Encephalitis lethargica is characterized by high fever, sore throat, headache, lethargy, double vision, delayed physical and mental response, sleep inversion and catatonia. In severe cases, patients may enter a coma-like state (akinetic mutism). Patients may also experience abnormal eye movements ("oculogyric crises"), Parkinsonism, upper body weakness, muscular pains, tremors, neck rigidity, and behavioral changes including psychosis. Klazomania (a vocal tic) is sometimes present.

Cause.

The causes of encephalitis lethargica are uncertain.  Some studies have explored its origins in an autoimmune response, and, separately or in relation to an immune response, links to pathologies of infectious disease — viral and bacterial, e.g., in the case of influenza, where a link with encephalitis is clear. Postencephalitic parkinsonism was clearly documented to have followed an outbreak of encephalitis lethargica following the 1918 influenza pandemic; evidence for viral causation of the Parkinson's symptoms is circumstantial (epidemiologic, and finding influenza antigens in encephalitis lethargica patients), while evidence arguing against this cause is of the negative sort (e.g., lack of viral RNA in postencephalitic parkinsonian brain material). In reviewing the relationship between influenza and encephalitis lethargica (EL), McCall and coworkers conclude, as of 2008, that while "the case against influenza [is] less decisive than currently perceived... there is little direct evidence supporting influenza in the etiology of EL," and that "[a]lmost 100 years after the EL epidemic, its etiology remains enigmatic." Hence, while opinions on the relationship of encephalitis lethargica to influenza remain divided, the preponderance of literature appears skeptical.  German neurologist Felix Stern, who examined hundreds of encephalitis lethargica patients during the 1920s, pointed out that the encephalitis lethargica typically evolved over time. The early symptom would be dominated by sleepiness or wakefulness. A second symptom would lead to an oculogyric crisis. The third symptom would be recovery, followed by a Parkinson-like symptom. If patients of Stern followed this course of disease, he diagnosed them with encephalitis lethargica. Stern suspected encephalitis lethargica to be close to polio without evidence. Nevertheless, he experimented with the convalescent serum of survivors of the first acute symptom. He vaccinated patients with early stage symptoms and told them that it might be successful. Stern is author of the 1920s definitive book "Die Epidemische Encephalitis" (1920 and 2nd ed. 1928). Stern was driven to suicide during the Holocaust by the German state, his research forgotten.  In 2010, in a substantial Oxford University Press compendium reviewing the historic and contemporary views on EL, its editor, Joel Vilensky of the Indiana University School of Medicine, quotes Pool, writing in 1930, who states, "we must confess that etiology is still obscure, the causative agent still unknown, the pathological riddle still unsolved...", and goes on to offer the following conclusion, as of that publication date:Subsequent to publication of this compendium, an enterovirus was discovered in encephalitis lethargica cases from the epidemic. In 2012, Oliver Sacks acknowledged this virus as the probable cause of the disease. Other sources have suggested "Diplococcus" as a cause.

History.

Occurrences.

Retrospective diagnosis tentatively suggests numerous accounts of encephalitis lethargica throughout history:

The encephalitis lethargica pandemic of 1915–1926.

In the winter of 1916–1917, a "new" illness suddenly appeared in Vienna and other cities, and rapidly spread world-wide over the next three years. Earlier reports appeared throughout Europe as early as the winter of 1915–1916, but communication about the disease was slow and chaotic, given the varied manifestation of symptoms and difficulties disseminating information in wartime. Until Constantin von Economo identified a unique pattern of damage among the brains of deceased patients and introduced the unifying name "encephalitis lethargica," reports of the protean disease came in under a range of names: botulism, toxic ophthalmoplegia, epidemic stupor, epidemic lethargic encephalitis, acute polioencephalitis, Heine-Medin disease, bulbar paralysis, hystero-epilepsy, acute dementia, and sometimes just "an obscure disease with cerebral symptoms." Just ten days before von Economo's breakthrough in Vienna, Jean-René Cruchet described forty cases of "subacute encephalomyelitis" in France.  In the ten years that the pandemic raged, nearly five million people's lives were taken or ravaged. Encephalitis lethargica assumed its most virulent form between October 1918 and January 1919. The pandemic disappeared in 1927 as abruptly and mysteriously as it first appeared. The great encephalitis pandemic coincided with the 1918 influenza pandemic, and it is likely that the influenza virus potentiated the effects of the encephalitis virus or lowered resistance to it in a catastrophic way.

Aftermath of the pandemic (postencephalitic syndromes).

Many surviving patients of the 1915–1926 encephalitis lethargica pandemic seemed to make a complete recovery and return to their normal lives. However, the majority of survivors subsequently developed neurological or psychiatric disorders, often after years or decades of seemingly perfect health. Post-encephalitic syndromes varied widely: sometimes they proceeded rapidly, leading to profound disability or death; sometimes very slowly; sometimes they progressed to a certain point and then stayed at this point for years or decades; and sometimes, following their initial onslaught, they remitted and disappeared. Postencephaltic Parkinsonism is perhaps the most widely recognized of such syndromes.

Diagnosis.

There have been several proposed diagnostic criteria for encephalitis lethargica. One, which has been widely accepted, includes an acute or subacute encephalitic illness where all other known causes of encephalitis have been excluded. Another diagnostic criterion, suggested more recently, says that the diagnosis of encephalitis lethargica "may be considered if the patient’s condition cannot be attributed to any other known neurological condition and that they show the following signs: Influenza-like signs; hypersomnolence (hypersomnia), wakeability, ophthalmoplegia (paralysis of the muscles that control the movement of the eye), and psychiatric changes."

Treatment.

Modern treatment approaches to encephalitis lethargica include immunomodulating therapies, and treatments to remediate specific symptoms.  There is little evidence so far of a consistent effective treatment for the initial stages, though some patients given steroids have seen improvement. The disease becomes progressive, with evidence of brain damage similar to Parkinson's disease.  Treatment is then symptomatic. Levodopa (-DOPA) and other anti-Parkinson drugs often produce dramatic responses; however, most people given -DOPA experience improvements that are short lived.

Notable cases.

Notable cases include:

Encephalitis lethargica is an atypical form of encephalitis. Also known as "sleeping sickness" or "sleepy sickness" (distinct from tsetse fly-transmitted sleeping sickness), it was first described in 1917 by the neurologist Constantin von Economo and the pathologist Jean-René Cruchet.


Taxonomy.

In 1758 Linnaeus included the species in the 10th edition of his "Systema Naturae" under its current binomial name, "Fringilla montifringilla". "Montifringilla" is from Latin "mons, montis" mountain and "fringilla" finch. The English name is probably derived from Common West Germanic *"brâma", meaning bramble or a thorny bush (compare Standard German "Brämling" with the same meaning).

Description.

The brambling is similar in size and shape to a common chaffinch. Breeding-plumaged male bramblings are very distinctive, with a black head, dark upperparts, orange breast and white belly. Females and younger birds are less distinct, and more similar in appearance to some chaffinches. In all plumages, however, bramblings differs from chaffinches in a number of features:  An additional difference for all plumages except breeding-plumaged males is the bill colour - yellow in the brambling, dull pinkish in the common chaffinch (breeding-plumaged male bramblings have black bills, common chaffinches in the corresponding plumage have grey bills).

Distribution and habitat.

This bird is widespread, in the breeding season, throughout the forests of northern Europe and east across the Palearctic. It is migratory, wintering in southern Europe, North Africa, northern India, northern Pakistan, China, and Japan. It regularly strays into Alaska during migration and may continue as far south as the western United States. The global population of bramblings is about 100 to 200 million, with a decreasing trend.  Open coniferous or birch woodland is favoured for breeding.

Behaviour and ecology.

This species is almost entirely migratory. In Europe, it forms large flocks in the winter, sometimes with thousands or even millions of birds in a single flock. Such large gatherings occur especially if beech mast is abundant. Bramblings do not require beech mast in the winter, but winter flocks of bramblings will move until they find it. This may be an adaptation to avoid competition with the common chaffinch. Bramblings mostly eat seedsin winter, but insects in summer. It builds its nest in a tree fork, and decorates the exterior with moss or lichen to make it less conspicuous. It lays 4–9 eggs.

The brambling ("Fringilla montifringilla") is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It has also been called the cock o' the north and the mountain finch. It is widespread and migratory, often seen in very large flocks.


History.

The castle was probably built in the mid-13th century under Gilbert de Moravia. It has been posited that siting of Kildrummy Castle was influenced by the location of the Grampian Mounth trackway crossings, particularly the Elsick Mounth and Cryne Corse Mounth. Kildrummy Castle underwent siege numerous times in its history, first in defence of the family of Robert the Bruce in August–September 1306 (leading to the executions of Nigel Bruce and many other Scots), and again in 1335 by David of Strathbogie. On this occasion Christina Bruce held off the attackers until her husband Sir Andrew Murray came to her rescue. In the reign of David II, Walter Maule of Panmure was warden of Kildrummy Castle.  In 1374 the castle's heiress Isobel was seized and married by Alexander Stewart, who then laid claim to Kildrummy and the title of "Earl of Mar". In 1435 it was taken over by James I, becoming a royal castle until being granted to Lord Elphinstone in 1507.  The castle passed from the Clan Elphinstone to the Clan Erskine before being abandoned in 1716 following the failure of the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.  In May 1585 Margaret Haldane, the wife of David Erskine, Commendator of Dryburgh, was held at Kildrummy in the custody of the Master of Elphinstone.

Architecture.

Kildrummy Castle is "shield-shaped" in plan with a number of independent towers. The flat side of the castle overlooks a steep ravine; moreover, on the opposite side of the castle the walls come to a point, which was once defended by a massive twin-towered gatehouse. The castle also had a keep, called the "Snow Tower", taller than the other towers, built in the French style, as at Bothwell Castle. Extensive earthworks protected the castle, including a dry moat and the ravine. Most of the castle foundations are now visible, along with most of its lower-storey walls. Archaeological excavations in 1925 uncovered decorative stone flooring and evidence of battles.

Today.

The castle was given into the care of the Ministry of Works in 1951, and is now owned by its successor organisation, Historic Environment Scotland. Kildrummy Castle gardens, in the quarry used to excavate stone for the castle, are both open to the public.  A hotel (the "Kildrummy Castle Hotel") has been built on the old estate, overlooking the ruins.  Kildrummy Castle was the venue for the Scottish Sculpture Open, sometimes known as the Kildrummy Open, organised by the Scottish Sculpture Workshop from 1981 to 1997.

Kildrummy Castle is a ruined castle near Kildrummy, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Though ruined, it is one of the most extensive castles dating from the 13th century to survive in eastern Scotland, and was the seat of the Earls of Mar. It is owned today by Historic Environment Scotland and is open to the public as a scheduled ancient monument with gardens that are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.


Early life.

Perlman was born in 1945 in Tel Aviv, (now Israel). His parents, Chaim and Shoshana Perlman, were Jewish natives of Poland and had independently immigrated to Palestine in the mid-1930s before they met and later married. Perlman contracted polio at age four and has walked using leg braces and crutches since then and plays the violin while seated., he uses crutches or an electric Amigo scooter for mobility.  Perlman first became interested in the violin after hearing a classical music performance on the radio. At the age of three, he was denied admission to the Shulamit Conservatory for being too small to hold a violin. He instead taught himself how to play the instrument using a toy fiddle until he was old enough to study with Rivka Goldgart at the Shulamit Conservatory and at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, where he gave his first recital at age 10. He moved to the United States at age 13 to study at the Juilliard School with the violin pedagogue Ivan Galamian and his assistant Dorothy DeLay.

Career.

Performing.

Perlman appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" twice in 1958, and again in 1964, on the same show with the Rolling Stones. He made his debut at Carnegie Hall in 1963 and won the Leventritt Competition in 1964. Soon afterward, he began to tour widely. In addition to an extensive recording and performance career, he has continued to make guest appearances on American television shows such as "The Tonight Show" and "Sesame Street" as well as playing at a number of functions at the White House.  Although he has never been billed or marketed as a singer, he sang the role of "Un carceriere" ("a jailer") on a 1981 EMI recording of Puccini's "Tosca" that featured Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo, and Renato Bruson, with James Levine conducting. He had earlier sung the role in an excerpt from the opera on a 1980 Pension Fund Benefit Concert telecast as part of the Live from Lincoln Center series with Luciano Pavarotti as Cavaradossi and Zubin Mehta conducting the New York Philharmonic.  On 5 July 1986, he performed on the New York Philharmonic's tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, which was televised live on ABC Television in the United States. The orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta, performed in Central Park.  In 1987, he joined the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) for their concerts in Warsaw and Budapest as well as other cities in Eastern bloc countries. He toured with the IPO in the spring of 1990 for its first-ever performance in the Soviet Union, with concerts in Moscow and Leningrad, and toured with the IPO again in 1994, performing in China and India.  In 2015 on a classical music program entitled "The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center" produced by WQXR in New York City, it was revealed that Perlman performed the uncredited violin solo on the 1989 Billy Joel song "The Downeaster Alexa".  While primarily a solo artist, Perlman has performed with a number of other musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Jessye Norman, Isaac Stern, and Yuri Temirkanov at the 150th anniversary celebration of Tchaikovsky in Leningrad in December 1990. He has also performed and recorded with his friend and fellow Israeli violinist Pinchas Zukerman on numerous occasions over the years.  As well as playing and recording the classical music for which he is best known, Perlman has also played jazz, including an album made with jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, and in addition, klezmer. Perlman has been a soloist for a number of film scores such as the theme of the 1993 film "Schindler's List" by John Williams, which subsequently won an Academy Award for Best Original Score. More recently, he was the violin soloist for the 2005 film "Memoirs of a Geisha" along with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Perlman played selections from the musical scores of the movies nominated for "Best Original Score" at the 73rd Academy Awards with Yo-Yo Ma and at the 78th Academy Awards.

Selected performances.

Perlman played at the state dinner attended by Queen Elizabeth II on 7 May 2007, in the East Room at the White House.  He performed John Williams's "Air and Simple Gifts" at the 2009 inauguration ceremony for Barack Obama along with Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Gabriela Montero (piano), and Anthony McGill (clarinet). While the quartet did play live, the music played simultaneously over speakers and on television was a recording made two days prior due to concerns over the cold weather damaging the instruments. Perlman was quoted as saying: "It would have been a disaster if we had done it any other way."  He made an appearance in Disney's "Fantasia 2000" to introduce the segment "Pines of Rome", along with Steve Martin.  On 2 November 2018, Perlman reprised the 60th anniversary of his first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" as a guest on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert".

Teaching.

In 1975, Perlman accepted a faculty post at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. In 2003, Mr. Perlman was named the holder of the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Chair in Violin Studies at the Juilliard School, succeeding his teacher, Dorothy DeLay. He also currently teaches students one-on-one at the Perlman Music Program on Long Island, NY, rarely holding master classes.

The Perlman Music Program.

The Perlman Music Program, founded in 1994 by Perlman's wife, Toby Perlman, and Suki Sandler, started as a summer camp for exceptional string musicians between the ages of 12 and 18. Over time, it expanded to a year-long program. Students have the chance to have Itzhak Perlman himself coach them before they play at venues such as the Sutton Place Synagogue and public schools. By introducing students to each other and requiring them to practice together, the program strives to have musicians who would otherwise practice alone and develop a network of friends and colleagues. Rather than remain isolated, participants in the program find an area where they belong.

Conducting.

At the beginning of the new millennium, Perlman began to conduct. He took the post of principal guest conductor at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He served as music advisor to the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2002 to 2004. In November 2007, the Westchester Philharmonic announced the appointment of Perlman as artistic director and principal conductor. His first concert in these roles was on 11 October 2008, in an all-Beethoven program featuring pianist Leon Fleisher performing the Emperor Concerto.

Instruments.

Perlman plays the "Soil Stradivarius" violin of 1714, formerly owned by Yehudi Menuhin and considered one of the finest violins made during Stradivari's "golden period." Perlman also plays the Guarneri del Gesù 1743 'Sauret' and the Carlo Bergonzi 1740 'ex-Kreisler'.

Personal life.

Perlman lives in New York City with his wife, Toby, also a classically trained violinist. They have five children, including Navah Perlman, a concert pianist and chamber musician. Perlman is a distant cousin of the Canadian comic and television personality Howie Mandel. Perlman has synesthesia and was interviewed for "Tasting the Universe" by Maureen Seaberg, which is about the condition.

Discography.

With Andre Previn  With Oscar Peterson

Itzhak Perlman (; born 31 August 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist, conductor, and music teacher. Over the course of his career Perlman has performed worldwide, and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a State Dinner at the White House honoring Queen Elizabeth II, and at the Presidential Inauguration of President Obama. He has conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Westchester Philharmonic. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has been awarded 16 Grammy Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and four Emmy Awards.


Plot.

Princess Elisabeth, nicknamed "Sissi", is the second oldest daughter of Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. She is a carefree, impulsive and nature-loving child. She is raised with her seven siblings at the family seat Possenhofen Castle on the shores of Lake Starnberg in Bavaria. She has a happy childhood free of constraints associated with her royal status.  With her mother and her demure older sister Helene (called "Néné"), 16-year-old Sissi travels from Possenhofen to the spa town of Bad Ischl in Upper Austria. Ludovika's sister, Archduchess Sophie, is the mother of the young emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Helene is called by Archduchess Sophie to meet the young emperor Franz Joseph in the imperial villa so that the two might be immediately engaged. Sissi is unaware of the real reason for the journey and is forbidden by her aunt to participate in any social events due to her girlishly impetuous ways. Sissi spends her time fishing in the forest where by chance she meets Franz Josef. The emperor is unaware that the girl is his cousin Sissi. He takes a liking to her and invites her for an afternoon hunting trip in the Alps. They meet as arranged in the mountains where they talk and become acquainted. Sissi falls in love with him but does not reveal her true identity. During their trip, Sissi learns of the planned marriage between Franz Joseph with her sister. The Emperor confesses that he envies the man who will marry Sissi and confesses that he feels no connection to Néné. Upon hearing his indirect declaration of love, Sissi becomes distraught due to her loyalty to Néné. She runs away from Franz Joseph without any explanation.  When Sissi returns to their residence, Néné reveals the reason for the trip to Bad Ischl: to become engaged with Franz Joseph. Unexpectedly, a new guest, the Prince of Lippe, arrives and Sissi is invited by the Archduchess to act as his partner at the Emperor's birthday celebration. At his birthday party, Franz Joseph is suddenly confronted by Sissi's appearance there with her mother and sister. He realises who Sissi is and tries to talk to her, openly confessing his love and asking her to marry him. Sissi rejects Franz Joseph in order not to betray her sister. He defies his mother's reservations and Sissi's resistance and announces, to the surprise of his guests, his betrothal to Sissi. Néné is heartbroken and leaves the party crying. Sissi, in a state of shock, is forced to obey the Emperor's wishes.  In Possenhofen, preparations for the wedding have started. Sissi is not excited about her impending marriage, as the hurt Néné has left for an indefinite period. For her sister's sake, Sissi attempts to break her engagement, however, Néné returns with a new suitor, Maximilian Anton, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis. The sisters reunite and Néné gives her blessing to Sissi for her marriage.  For the wedding ceremony, Sissi travels with her family on the steamboat "Franz Joseph" down the Danube to Vienna. People line the banks, waving flags and cheering their future Empress. As part of a grand procession, Sissi enters the city in a gilded carriage. The wedding takes place in the Augustinian Church on April 24, 1854.

Filming locations.

"Sissi" was filmed in some original places the Empress visited, including Schönbrunn Palace and the Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl. The scenes of her youth on Lake Starnberg, however, were actually filmed at Schloss Fuschl at Lake Fuschl in the Salzkammergut region because Possenhofen Castle was in a poor condition at the time. The wedding celebration was filmed at St. Michael's Church, Vienna.

Reception.

An early movie about the life of the empress was "The King Steps Out", a 1936 American light comedy film directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Grace Moore. Since the rights to the original play "Sissys Brautfahrt" by Ernst Décsey and Robert Weil aka Gustav Holm were bought from Marischka by Columbia Pictures, he bought instead the novel "Sissi" from Marie Blank-Eisman, published in 1952. Marischka then adapted the script based on the novel.  "Sissi" was viewed by 20 to 25 million people in cinemas. It is one of the most successful German-language movies. The movie was followed by "The Young Empress" in 1956 and "Fateful Years of an Empress" in 1957. In 1962, a condensed version of the trilogy was released in English under the title "Forever My Love". The trilogy is a popular Christmas television special, and is shown on channels in German-speaking countries and Hungary. The Empress' date of birth on Christmas Eve 1837 adds to the appeal of the film as a Christmas special.  The success of the movie marked Empress Elisabeth's entrance to popular culture which made the historical figure even more legendary. The popularity of the films attracted tourists to places which were associated with the Empress, specifically those in Austria. The popularity also led to the creation of the 1992 musical "Elisabeth", which became the most successful German-language musical of all time. The trilogy was parodied in the 2007 animated film "Lissi".  Romy Schneider's role as Elisabeth is considered her acting breakthrough. She became synonymous with her role in the film, even as she progressed in her acting career. Schneider reprised the role of Elisabeth in Luchino Visconti's 1972 film "Ludwig", this time portraying the Empress as a mature yet cynical woman.  The films have been dubbed in languages including French, English, Spanish, Japanese and Hungarian. "Sissi" was very popular when it aired on Mainland Chinese television in the 1980s.

Sissi is a 1955 Austrian film directed by Ernst Marischka and starring Romy Schneider, Karlheinz Böhm, Magda Schneider, Uta Franz, Gustav Knuth, Vilma Degischer and Josef Meinrad. "Sissi" is the first installment in the trilogy of films about Empress Elisabeth of Austria, who was known to her family as "Sisi" (with one s and therefore a long /i:/). It was followed by "The Young Empress" and "Fateful Years of an Empress".


Description.

Most are shrubs or perennial herbaceous plants, but a few are annual or biennial. The largest, "Kalanchoe beharensis" from Madagascar, can reach tall, but most species are less than tall.  Kalanchoes are characterized by opening their flowers by growing new cells on the inner surface of the petals to force them outwards, and on the outside of the petals to close them. Kalanchoe flowers are divided into 4 sections with 8 stamens. The petals are fused into a tube, in a similar way to some related genera such as "Cotyledon".

Taxonomy.

The genus was first described by the botanist Michel Adanson in 1763.  Kamel's species was most likely "Kalanchoe ceratophylla" as he describes the plant as having deeply divided leaves. "Kalanchoe ceratophylla" and "Kalanchoe laciniata" are both called (apparently "Buddhist monastery "[samghārāma]" herb") in China. In Mandarin Chinese, it does not seem very close in pronunciation ("qiélán cài", but possibly "jiālán cài" or "gālán cài" as the character has multiple pronunciations), but the Cantonese "gālàahm choi" is closer. The genus Bryophyllum was described by Salisbury in 1806 and the genus Kitchingia was created by Baker in 1881. "Kitchingia" is now regarded as a synonym for "Kalanchoe", while "Bryophyllum" has also been treated as a separate genus, since species of "Bryophyllum" appear to be nested within Kalanchoe on molecular phylogenetic analysis, "Bryophyllum" is considered as a section of the former, dividing the genus into three sections, "Kitchingia", "Bryophyllum", and "Eukalanchoe". these were formalised as subgenera by Smith and Figueiredo (2018).

Etymology.

Adanson cited Georg Joseph Kamel (Camellus) as his source for the name. The name came from the Cantonese name "Kalanchauhuy", 伽藍菜.

Distribution and ecology.

The genus is predominantly native to the Old World. Only one species of this genus originates from the Americas, 56 from southern and eastern Africa and 60 species in Madagascar. It is also found in south-eastern Asia and China.  These plants are the food plant of the caterpillars of Red Pierrot butterfly. The butterfly lays its eggs on phylloclades, and after hatching, caterpillars burrow into phylloclades and eat their inside cells.

Cultivation and uses.

These plants are cultivated as ornamental houseplants and rock or succulent garden plants. They are popular because of their ease of propagation, low water requirements, and wide variety of flower colors typically borne in clusters well above the phylloclades. The section "Bryophyllum"—formerly an independent genus—contains species such as the "air-plant" "Kalanchoe pinnata". In these plants, new individuals develop vegetatively as plantlets, also known as bulbils or gemmae, at indentations in phylloclade margins. These young plants eventually drop off and take root. No males have been found of one species of this genus which does flower and produce seeds, and it is commonly called the mother of thousands: "Kalanchoe daigremontiana" is thus an example of asexual reproduction.  The cultivars ‘Tessa’ and ‘Wendy’ have gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

Toxicity and traditional medicine.

In common with other Crassulaceae (such as the genera "Tylecodon", "Cotyledon" and "Adromischus"), some "Kalanchoe" species contain bufadienolide cardiac glycosides which can cause cardiac poisoning, particularly in grazing animals. This is a particular problem in the native range of many "Kalanchoe" species in the Karoo region of South Africa, where the resulting animal disease is known as krimpsiekte (shrinking disease) or as cotyledonosis. Similar poisonings have also occurred in Australia.  In traditional medicine, "Kalanchoe" species have been used to treat ailments such as infections, rheumatism and inflammation. "Kalanchoe" extracts also have immunosuppressive effects. "Kalanchoe pinnata" has been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago as being used as a traditional treatment for hypertension.  A variety of bufadienolide compounds have been isolated from various "Kalanchoe" species. Five different bufadienolides have been isolated from "Kalanchoe daigremontiana". Two of these, daigremontianin and bersaldegenin 1,3,5-orthoacetate, have been shown to have a pronounced sedative effect. They also have the strong positive inotropic effect associated with cardiac glycosides, and with greater doses an increasing effect on the central nervous system.  Bufadienolide compounds isolated from "Kalanchoe pinnata" include bryophillin A which showed strong anti-tumor promoting activity, and bersaldegenin-3-acetate and bryophillin C which were less active. Bryophillin C also showed insecticidal properties.

Kalanchoe, or kal-un-KOH-ee, or kal-un-kee, also written "Kalanchöe" or "Kalanchoë", is a genus of about 125 species of tropical, succulent flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, mainly native to Madagascar and tropical Africa. Kalanchoe was one of the first plants to be sent into space, sent on a resupply to the Soviet Salyut 1 space station in 1971.


History.

Background.

There were numerous prerequisites for civil war in Tajikistan, such as economic hardship, communal way of life of Tajiki people and their high religiousness. Under Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's 'Perestroika' policies, a Muslim-Democratic movement began to emerge in Tajiki SSR. The backbone of opposition were Party of Tajikistan Muslim Resurrection, Democratic party of Tajikistan and some other movements. Fight between former communist elite and opposition shifted from political sphere to ethnic and clan one.  Tensions began in the spring of 1992 after opposition members took to the streets in demonstrations against the results of the 1991 presidential election. President Rahmon Nabiyev and Speaker of the Supreme Soviet Safarali Kenjayev orchestrated the dispersal of weapons to pro-government militias, while the opposition turned to rebels in Afghanistan for military aid.

Conflict (1992–93).

Fighting broke out in May 1992 between old-guard supporters of the government and a loosely organized opposition composed of ethnic and regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan areas (the latter were also known as Pamiris). Ideologically, the opposition included democratic liberal reformists and Islamists. The government, on the other hand, was dominated by people from the Leninabadi region, which had also made up most of the ruling elite during the entire Soviet period. It was also supported by people from the Kulob region, who had held high posts in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Soviet times. After many clashes, the Leninabadis were forced to accept a compromise and a new coalition government was formed, incorporating members of the opposition and eventually dominated by them. On 7 September 1992, Nabiyev was captured by opposition protesters and forced at gunpoint to resign his presidency. Chaos and fighting between the opposing factions reigned outside of the capital Dushanbe.  With the aid of the Russian military and Uzbekistan, the Leninabadi-Kulobi Popular Front forces routed the opposition in early and late 1992. The coalition government in the capital was forced to resign. In December 1992 the Supreme Soviet (parliament), where the Leninabadi-Kulobi faction had held the majority of seats all along, convened and elected a new government under the leadership of Emomali Rahmonov, representing a shift in power from the old power based in Leninabad to the militias from Kulob, from which Rahmonov came.  The height of hostilities occurred from 1992–93 and pitted Kulobi militias against an array of groups, including militants from the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRP) and ethnic minority Pamiris from Gorno-Badakhshan. In large part due to the foreign support they received, the Kulobi militias were able to soundly defeat opposition forces and went on what has been described by Human Rights Watch as an ethnic cleansing campaign against Pamiris and Garmis. The campaign was concentrated in areas south of the capital and included the murder of prominent individuals, mass killings, the burning of villages and the expulsion of the Pamiri and Garmi population into Afghanistan. The violence was particularly concentrated in Qurghonteppa, the power base of the IRP and home to many Garmis. Tens of thousands were killed or fled to Afghanistan.

Continued conflict (1993–97).

In Afghanistan, the opposition reorganized and rearmed with the aid of the Jamiat-i-Islami. The group's leader Ahmad Shah Masoud became a benefactor of the Tajik opposition. Later in the war the opposition organized under an umbrella group called the United Tajik Opposition, or UTO. Elements of the UTO, especially in the Tavildara region, became the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, while the leadership of the UTO was opposed to the formation of the organization.  Other combatants and armed bands that flourished in this civil chaos simply reflected the breakdown of central authority rather than loyalty to a political faction. In response to the violence the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan was deployed. Most fighting in the early part of the war occurred in the southern part of the country, but by 1996 the rebels were battling Russian troops in the capital city of Dushanbe. Islamic radicals from northern Afghanistan also began to fight Russian troops in the region.

Armistice and aftermath (1997–present).

A United Nations-sponsored armistice finally ended the war in 1997. This was in part fostered by the Inter-Tajik Dialogue, a Track II diplomacy initiative in which the main players were brought together by international actors, namely the United States and Russia. The peace agreement completely eliminated the Leninabad region (Khujand) from power. Presidential elections were held on November 6, 1999.  The UTO warned in letters to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on 23 June 1997 that it would not sign the proposed peace agreement on June 27 if prisoner exchanges and the allocation of jobs in the coalition government were not outlined in the agreement. Akbar Turajonzoda, second-in-command of the UTO, repeated this warning on 26 June, but said both sides were negotiating. President Rahmonov, UTO leader Sayid Abdulloh Nuri and Russian President Boris Yeltsin met in the Kremlin in Moscow on 26 June to finish negotiating the peace agreement. The Tajik government had previously pushed for settling these issues after the two sides signed the agreement, with the posts in the coalition government decided by a joint commission for national reconciliation and prisoner exchanges by a future set of negotiations. Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov met with the Foreign Ministers of Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to discuss the proposed peace accord.  By the end of the war, Tajikistan was in a state of complete devastation. The number of those killed was estimated at anywhere from 30,000 to as many as 60,000. Around 1.2 million people were refugees inside and outside the country. Tajikistan's physical infrastructure, government services and economy were in disarray and much of the population was surviving on subsistence handouts from international aid organizations. The United Nations established a Mission of Observers in December 1994, maintaining peace negotiations until the warring sides signed a comprehensive peace agreement in 1997.

Targeting of journalists.

Journalists were particularly targeted for assassination and dozens of Tajik journalists were killed. Many more fled the country, leading to a brain drain. Notable individuals murdered include journalist and politician Otakhon Latifi, journalist and Jewish leader Meirkhaim Gavrielov, politician Safarali Kenjayev and four members of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan: Yutaka Akino, a noted Japanese scholar of Central Asian history; Maj. Ryszard Szewczyk from Poland; Maj. Adolfo Scharpegge from Uruguay; and Jourajon Mahramov from Tajikistan; and documentary filmmaker Arcady Ruderman.

The Tajikistani Civil War (), also known as the Tajik Civil War, began in May 1992 when regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan regions of Tajikistan rose up against the newly-formed government of President Rahmon Nabiyev, which was dominated by people from the Khujand and Kulob regions. The rebel groups were led by a combination of liberal democratic reformers and Islamists, who would later organize under the banner of the United Tajik Opposition. The government was supported by Russian border guards.


Course.

The headwaters of the Magdalena River are in the south of Colombia, where the Andean subranges Cordillera Central and Cordillera Oriental separate, in Huila Department. The river then runs east of north in a great valley between the two cordilleras. It reaches the coastal plain at about nine degrees north, then runs west for about, then north again, reaching the Caribbean Sea at the city of Barranquilla in the zone known as Bocas de Ceniza.

Flora and fauna.

Fish.

The Magdalena River basin, which includes the Cauca River and other tributaries, is very rich in fish., 213 fish species were known from the basin. Since then several new species have been described from the basin such as five "Hemibrycon" in 2013, two "Ancistrus" in 2013 and a "Farlowella" in 2014. Among the more famous species in the basin are "Kronoheros umbriferus", "Ctenolucius hujeta", "Geophagus steindachneri", "Ichthyoelephas longirostris", "Panaque cochliodon", "Pimelodus blochii", "Potamotrygon magdalenae", "Prochilodus magdalenae", "Pseudoplatystoma magdaleniatum" and "Salminus affinis". About 55% of the fish species in the basin are endemic, including four endemic genera: The catfish "Centrochir" and "Eremophilus", and the characids "Carlastyanax" (often included in "Astyanax") and "Genycharax". In general, the fish fauna shows connections with surrounding basins, notably Atrato and Maracaibo, but to a lesser extent also Amazon–Orinoco.  The most productive fishing areas in Colombia are in the basin, but there has been a drastic decrease in the annual harvest with a fall of about 90% between 1975 and 2008. The primary threats are pollution (such as human waste, mining, farming and deforestation causing siltation) and habitat loss (such a dams). Additional dams are being constructed, including El Quimbo (opened in 2015) and Ituango (expected operational in 2018), which has caused some controversy. As a result of the pollution, heavy metals have also been detected in some commercially important fish in the river., 19 fish species in the river basin were recognized as threatened.

Other animals.

The Magdalena River and its valley crosses a wide variety of ecosystems, like páramo in its headwaters, dry forest in the upper part of its valley, rainforest in its middle course, and swamps and wetlands in its lower course. The spectacled caiman, green iguana and brown pelican are abundant in these ecosystems but other animal species like the West Indian manatee, Magdalena tinamou, Todd's parakeet, American crocodile, Colombian slider, Magdalena River turtle, Dahl's toad-headed turtle and red-footed tortoise are in danger of extinction.  In addition, there is a possible risk posed by invasive hippopotamus. Originally imported by Pablo Escobar, these hippopotami became feral following his demise, and have since expanded beyond their original home on Hacienda Napoles into nearby regions of the Magdalena River.

History.

Due to its geographical position in the north of South America, the Magdalena River was since precolumbian times a route towards the interior of today Colombia and Ecuador. Several Carib speaking peoples such as the Panche and the Yariguí ascended through the western bank of the river, while its eastern portion was inhabited by the Muisca civilization, which called the river "Yuma".  Likewise, the Spanish conquistadores who arrived to today's Colombia early in the 16th century used the river to push to the wild and mountainous inland after Rodrigo de Bastidas discovered and named the river on April 1, 1501. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the river was the only transport link communicating Bogotá with the Caribbean Sea port Cartagena de Indias and thus with Europe.  In 1825, the Congress of Colombia awarded a concession to establish steam navigation in the Magdalena River to Juan Bernardo Elbers, but his company closed shortly after. By 1845, steamboats regularly travelled on the river until 1961, when the last steamers ceased operation.

In mass media.

Much of the film "Love in the Time of Cholera" takes place in the historic, walled city of Cartagena in Colombia. Some screen shots showed the Magdalena River and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range.  "The General in His Labyrinth", by Gabriel García Márquez, is a fictionalized account of the final voyage of Simón Bolívar down the Magdalena River, where he revisits many cities and villages along the river.

The Magdalena River (, ; Less commonly "Rio Grande de la Magdalena") is the principal river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, in spite of the shifting sand bars at the mouth of its delta, as far as Honda, at the downstream base of its rapids. It flows through the Magdalena River Valley.


Biography.

Joseph Klausner was born in Olkeniki, Vilna Governorate in 1874. At the turn of the 20th century, the Klausners left Lithuania and settled in Odessa. Klausner was active in the city's scientific, literary and Zionist circles. He was a committed Zionist who knew Theodore Herzl personally and attended the First Zionist Congress.  In 1912, Klausner visited Palestine for the first time, and settled there in 1919. In 1925, he became a professor of Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He specialized in the history of the Second Temple period. Although not an Orthodox Jew, he observed Sabbath and the dietary laws. He had a wide grasp of the Talmud and Midrashic literature.  Joseph Klausner was a member of the circle of Russian Zionist political activists from Odessa, which included Ze'ev Jabotinsky and Menachem Ussishkin. Although not a 'party man,' he supported Revisionist Zionism. In July 1929, Klausner established the Pro-Wailing Wall Committee to defend Jewish rights, and resolve problems over access and arrangements for worship at the Western Wall. His house in Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem was destroyed in the 1929 Palestine riots.  Despite his Zionist ideology, Klausner had numerous disagreements with Chaim Weizmann. The two were candidates in the presidential election of 1949; Weizmann was declared the first President of Israel.

Academic career.

Klausner earned his Ph.D. in Germany. One of his most influential books was about Jesus. The book "Jesus of Nazareth", and its sequel, "From Jesus to Paul", gained him fame. In it, Klausner described how Jesus was best understood as a Jew and Israelite who was trying to reform the religion, and died as a devout Jew. Herbert Danby, an Anglican priest, translated the work from Hebrew into English so that English scholars might avail themselves of the information. A number of clergymen, incensed at Danby for translating the book, demanded his recall from Jerusalem. Later in his career, he was given a chair in Jewish history.  Amos Oz wrote about Klausner in his semi-autobiographical work "A Tale of Love and Darkness".

Awards and recognition.

In both 1941 and 1949, Klausner was awarded the Bialik Prize for Jewish thought. In 1958, he was awarded the Israel Prize in Jewish studies. In 1982, in recognition of his scholarly achievements, the State of Israel issued a stamp with his picture on it.

Joseph Gedaliah Klausner (; 20 August 1874 – 27 October 1958), was a Jewish historian and professor of Hebrew Literature. He was the chief redactor of the "Encyclopedia Hebraica". He was a candidate for president in the first Israeli presidential election in 1949, losing to Chaim Weizmann. Klausner was the great uncle of Israeli author Amos Oz.