A circuit is a closed path that consists of circuit components in which electrons from a voltage or current source can flow.  If the circuit consists of electric components like a resistor, a capacitor, an inductor etc. then it will be called an Electrical circuit and if the circuit consists of any of the electronic circuit components like a diode, a Transistor etc. then it will be called an Electronic circuit. So, the electronic circuits may consist both of the electrical and electronic circuit components, but an electrical circuit will have only the electrical components.

The point where electrons enter an electrical circuit is called the "source" of electrons. The point where the electrons leave an electrical circuit is called the "return" or "earth ground". The exit point is called the "return" because electrons always end up at the source when they complete the path of an electrical circuit.

The part of an electrical circuit that is between the electrons' starting point and the point where they return to the source is called an electrical circuit's "load". The load of an electrical circuit may be as simple as those that power home appliances like refrigerators, televisions, or lamps or more complicated, such as the load on the output of a hydroelectric power generating station.

Circuits use two forms of electrical power: alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC). AC often powers large appliances and motors and is generated by power stations. DC powers battery-operated vehicles and other machines and electronics. Converters can change AC to DC and vice versa. High-voltage direct current transmission uses big converters.

Electronic circuit

Electronic circuits usually use direct current sources. The load of an electronic circuit may be as simple as a few resistors, capacitors, and a lamp, all connected together to create the flash in a camera. Or an electronic circuit can be complicated, connecting thousands of resistors, capacitors, and transistors. It may be an integrated circuit such as the microprocessor in a computer.

Resistors and other circuit elements can be connected in series or in parallel. Resistance in series circuits is the sum of the resistance.

Circuit and wiring diagram
A circuit or wiring diagram is a visual display of an electrical circuit. Electrical and electronic circuits can be complicated. Making a drawing of the connections to all the component parts in the circuit's load makes it easier to understand how circuit components are connected. Drawings for electronic circuits are called "circuit diagrams". Drawings for electrical circuits are called "wiring diagrams". Like other diagrams, these diagrams are usually drawn by draftsmen, and then printed. Diagrams may also be created digitally using specialised software.

A schematic is a diagram of an electrical circuit. Schematics are graphical representations of the essential connections in a circuit, but they are not lifelike depictions of a circuit. Schematics use symbols to represent components in the circuit. Conventions are used in a schematic to represent the way electricity flows. The common convention we use is from the positive to the negative terminal. The realistic way electricity flows is from the negative to the positive terminal.

Circuit diagrams use special symbols. The symbols on the drawings show how components like resistors, capacitors, insulators, motors, outlet boxes, lights, switches, and other electrical and electronic components are connected together. The diagrams are a big help when workers try to find out why a circuit does not work correctly.

Circuit breakers
The current flowing in an electrical or electronic circuit can suddenly increase when a component part fails. This can cause serious damage to other components in the circuit, or create a fire hazard. To protect against this, a fuse or a device called a "circuit breaker" can be wired into a circuit. The circuit breaker will open, or "break", the circuit when the current in that circuit becomes too high, or the fuse will "blow". This gives protection.

Ground-fault-interrupt (G.F.I.) devices

The standard return for electrical and electronic circuits is the earth ground. When an electrical or electronic device fails, it may open the return circuit to the earth ground. The user of the device could become a part of the device's electrical circuit by providing a return path for the electrons through the user's body instead of the circuit's earth ground. When our body becomes part of an electrical circuit, the user can be seriously shocked, or even killed by electrocution.

To prevent the danger of electrical shock and the possibility of electrocution, ground fault interrupts devices detect open circuits to earth ground in attached electrical or electronic devices. When an open circuit to earth ground is detected, the G.F.I. device immediately opens the voltage source to the device. G.F.I. devices are similar to circuit breakers but are designed to protect humans rather than circuit components.

Short circuits
Short circuits are circuits that get back to the power source unused or with the same power as put out. Using these usually blow a fuse but sometimes they don't. Doing this with a battery can cause electrical fires.

Other websites

 Circuit components and their uses - Resistor, Capacitor, Inductor, Diode ,Transistor. Transformer.
Electric Circuit

Electricity

Electrical circuit


Theme restaurants are.restaurants in which the idea for the restaurant takes priority. It influences the architecture, food, music, and overall "feel" of the restaurant. The food usually takes a backseat to the presentation of the theme. These restaurants generally attract customers only because of the theme itself.

One example is the Rainforest Cafe restaurants which have the obvious theme of a "Tropical Rainforest". Medieval Times has its theme of "Medieval Europe". The Jekyll & Hyde Club has an atmosphere of Jack the Ripper and Victorian horror novels.  One strange but famous theme restaurant in Berlin, Germany is called "das Klo" (German for "The toilet"). It shows the insides of a toilet.

Many people consider the Rainforest Cafe to be biggest example of a theme restaurant.  They also consider it the restaurant which kicked off the theme restaurant trend. Theme restaurants may be experiencing a decline in popularity, given the closings of several Planet Hollywood, Jekyll & Hyde Club, and Wilderness Cafe locations in recent years. Theme restaurants often depend on tourist business, since the theme soon becomes stale to locals. The focus is not necessarily placed on good food and service. Certain tourist destinations such as the Mall of America or Orlando, Florida have better chances of supporting theme restaurants. Theme restaurants are generally common at theme parks, such as Universal Studios.

Some well-known theme restaurants

 Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede:American Patriotic
 Ed Debevic's: 50s Diner
 Johnny Rockets: 50s Diner
 Hard Rock Cafe: Rock music
 Jekyll & Hyde Club: Victorian English Horror
 Medieval Times: Medieval
 Planet Hollywood: Movie stars
 Rainforest Cafe: Jungle Rainforest
 ESPN Zone: Sports Bar
 Bubba Gump Shrimp Company: The film Forrest Gump

References

Restaurants

Theme restaurant


Empress Dowager Bo (薄太后) was an imperial concubine of Emperor Gaozu of Han (Liu Bang). She was also known as Consort Bo (薄姬) during the life of the Emperor, and more formally as either Empress Dowager Xiaowen (孝文太后) or (rarer) Empress Gao (高皇后). Despite being a concubine of lower standing, her son, Liu Heng, became Emperor Wen of Han, cementing her place in history. The year of her birth is not known. She died on 9 June 155 BC.

Empress Dowager Bo is formally the first grand empress dowager in Chinese history, as Empress Dowager Lü, the only other empress dowager till then who lived to see her grandson become emperor, never claimed the title.

Early years
The future Empress Dowager Bo's father, Gentleman Bo (薄翁), came from Wu County (吳縣, in modern Suzhou, Jiangsu). He had an adulterous affair with a Lady Wei (魏媼), the daughter of a member of the Wei royal family. Empress Dowager Bo was born of this union.

According to Chinese historical works (with the exception the Book of Han, which tells a different version of her life), Lady Bo was, when she was young, the prettiest concubine of Wei Bao, the Prince of Wei.  Wei Bao allied himself with Liu Bang to defeat Xiang Yu's force, but later betrayed Liu Bang by defecting to Xiang Yu's camp. Unlike other defectors who switched sides again after Liu Bang's final victory, Wei Bao remained loyal to Xiang Yu to the end. After Han Xin conquered Wei, Wei Bao and his entire family were brought in front of Liu Bang to await execution. Wei Bao begged for mercy, but the emperor was unreceptive until he offered Lady Bo as a gift to Liu Bang. Her beauty had captured the attention of the emperor, and she was taken as an imperial concubine. Her former husband was thus spared execution. Historical records did not provide the information on whether other members of Wei Bao's family were spared as well, but it was likely the case.

Lady Bo was not favored among the concubines, but she gave birth to a son, Liu Heng, who was made the Prince of Dai. The birth of her son elevated Lady Bo's status to Consort Bo. Unlike many other concubines, she was not confined to the palace and was allowed to accompany her son to the remote Principality of Dai (modern northern Shanxi and northwestern Hebei) to be the princess dowager. Dai was not a rich domain, and the region was under constant threats and attacks from the Xiongnu. Although Consort Bo could not live a luxurious lifestyle so far from the imperial palaces, she still managed to have a relatively comfortable life.  Nonetheless, she had to work as a seamstress. Such rather difficult living conditions in comparison to other consorts had an unexpected benefit: unlike other consorts who became Empress Lü Zhi's victims due to her jealousy, Lü was very sympathetic to Consort Bo. The empress never saw Bo and her son as a threat to her quest of power, and thus, the two were spared from the politics that killed many other concubines and princes.

The Book of Han tells a different story of how Lady Bo came to become the emperor's concubine. It states that Liu Bang discovered Lady Bo working as a seamstress in Dai and took her as his concubine there. Despite this difference in Lady Bo's origin, the Book of Han and other historical texts converge with Lady Bo and her son, Liu Heng, in the Principality of Dai.

Rise to the top
In August 180 BC, after the death of her mistress, Emperor Gao's wife Empress Lü, and after the officials then slaughtered the Lü clan, they offered the throne to Prince Heng over his nephew Emperor Houshao -- whom they accused of not being imperial blood.  Prince Heng consulted Princess Dowager Bo, who could not decide either.  It was later, after they dispatched Princess Dowager Bo's brother Bo Zhao (薄昭) to the capital Chang'an to observe the situation and to ascertain the officials' good faith that Prince Heng chose to accept the throne.

Later years

After Prince Heng took the throne as Emperor Wen, Princess Dowager Bo was honored as empress dowager, even though she had not previously been an empress.  She was largely unassuming as empress dowager, and did not exert anywhere close to the influence that Empress Dowager Lü asserted over Emperor Hui or even her daughter-in-law, Empress Dou, would later assert over her grandson Emperor Jing.  The one major instance in which she asserted her influence was in 176 BC.  At that time, Zhou Bo, who had been instrumental in Emperor Wen's becoming emperor, had retired to his march when he was falsely accused of treason and arrested.  Empress Dowager Bo, believing in Zhou's innocence, famously threw her scarf at Emperor Wen, stating:

Before you became emperor, Zhou was in control of the imperial seal, and commanded the powerful northern guards.  How ridiculous is it that he did not commit treason then, but now plans to use his small march as the base for a rebellion?

It was at least partly due to her influence that Emperor Wen eventually released Zhou.

She either did not try to intercede similarly (as appears most likely) or was ineffective in her intercession, when her brother Bo Zhao killed an imperial messenger—a crime far more serious than ordinary murder—in 170 BC.  Even though Bo Zhao was the Empress Dowager's only sibling, Emperor Wen eventually pressed him into committing suicide.

One of the final influences Empress Dowager Bo had was when she arranged for the daughter of one of her relatives to marry her grandson, then-Crown Prince Qi, during her son's reign. After Emperor Wen died in 157 BC and Crown Prince Qi succeeded him as Emperor Jing, Empress Dowager Bo became grand empress dowager.  There was no recorded instance of her trying to assert political influence after that.  She died just two years later in June 155 BC.  (This would prove disastrous for Emperor Jing's wife, Empress Bo, as she would be soon deposed after losing her main support.)

After she died, she was enshrined in a temple of her own rather than in her husband's temple, because only one empress could be enshrined in an emperor's temple, and Empress Lü was already enshrined in Emperor Gao's temple.  Later, during Emperor Guangwu's reign, however, he effectively reversed the position of Empress Dowager Bo and Empress Lü by enshrining Empress Dowager Bo as "Empress Gao" and demoting Empress Dowager Lü to a separate temple.

References

 Records of the Grand Historian, vol. 49.
 Book of Han, vol. 97, part 1.
 Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 13, 14, 15.

155 BC deaths
Han dynasty empresses dowager
Han dynasty imperial consorts
3rd-century BC Chinese women
3rd-century BC Chinese people
2nd-century BC Chinese women
2nd-century BC Chinese people
Year of birth unknown
Chinese grand empresses dowager
Emperor Gaozu of Han
Chinese concubines
Remarried royal consorts

Empress Dowager Bo


A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an urban area instead of around it.  A green belt is basically an invisible line that goes around a certain area, stopping people from building there so that some of the wild and agricultural land can be saved.

Urban geography
Urban planning
Local government

Green belt


Sportswear is clothing, including footwear, worn for playing sports or to exercise.

Sportswear includes shorts, tracksuits, T-shirts, polo shirts and trainers. It also includes some underwear, such as the jockstrap. Sportswear is also often worn as casual fashion clothing.

Sports athletes wear a combination of different items of clothing such as sport shoes, pants and shirts. Some athletes wear personal armour such as helmets or American football body armour.

sports clothing

Sportswear


The Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachbereich erschienenen Drucke des 16. Jahrhunderts (VD 16) (in English: Bibliography of Books Printed in the German Speaking Countries of the Sixteenth Century), abbreviated VD 16, is a project to make a retrospective German national bibliography for the sixteenth century. The project was compiled during the period 1969–1999. It is financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation).

There is a corresponding German national bibliography for the seventeenth century, known as VD 17. Together the VD 16 and VD 17 alongside the planned VD 18 (Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 18. Jahrhunderts) fulfill a function for the bibliographic history of the German cultural zone similar to the English Short Title Catalogue for Britain and North America.

See also
 Books in Germany

External links

 Search page for VD 16 and VD 17
 Digitized VD 16 Imprints at the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle (Saale)
  VD18-Datenbank: Das Verzeichnis Deutscher Drucke des 18. Jahrhunderts

Published bibliographies
16th century in Europe
Catalogues
Early modern printing databases

VD 16


The Arizona Geological Society (AGS) is a non-profit scientific organization founded in 1948 whose purpose is to promote and encourage interest in the science of geology and in the geology of the State of Arizona. The Society holds monthly meetings, and sponsors field trips and symposia. Membership is open to professional geoscientists and those who are interested in Arizona geology. Membership categories include Voting Members, Student Members, Honorary Life Members, and 50-Year Members.

Honorary Life Members include: Spencer R. Titley (1996), John M. Guilbert (1998), Walter E. Heinrichs, Jr. (2008), Donald Hammer (April 2009), and Corolla Hoag (2010). Institutional members includes the current Director of the Arizona Geological Survey in Tucson.

AGS Maps, Digests, and Guidebooks are published at irregular intervals.

Governance
The society is managed by a 15-member Executive Committee consisting of Officers and Advisory Councilors who serve calendar-year terms.  The Officers include President, Vice President-Field Trips, Vice President-Programs, Vice President-Marketing, Secretary, Vice-Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice-Treasurer; their duties are specified in the Bylaws of the society. The Advisory Council consists of six members who serve staggered three-year terms; their duties are to promote interest in AGS activities and supervise special projects undertaken by the society.  The seventh member of the Advisory Council is the immediate Past-President who serves as Chair of the Advisory Committee. The Executive Committee serves without remuneration.
There are three other committees nominated by the Executive Committee to perform specific duties.  These include the Investment Committee, the J. Harold Courtright Scholarship Committee, and the Nominating Committee.
 The Investment Committee is the financial advisor to the Executive Committee and operates under guidance specified in the AGS "Mission, Financial Management and Investment Policy."
 The J. Harold Courtright Committee solicits applications from qualified graduate students who are researching field geology projects in the Northern and Southern Cordillera with emphasis on the study of ore deposits; this committee awards a scholarship annually in honor of former AGS member and ASARCO exploration geologist J. Harold Courtright (1908–1986).
 The Nominating Committee is chaired by the immediate Past-President who, along with 2–4 other voting members of AGS, prepares the proposed slate of incoming Officers and Councilors to be approved by the Executive Committee and presented to the membership in the election held in September.  The J. Harold Courtright and Nominating Committees are disbanded after their duties are performed.

AGS Maps, Digests, and Guidebooks
Arizona Geological Society has prepared two Arizona geologic highway maps, one of which is still in print.  The 1998 highway map was prepared in collaboration with the Arizona Geological Survey.

AGS Digests are a serial geologic publication produced on an irregular basis usually as a compilation of papers presented at a scientific symposium. The first Digest was produced in 1952; the most recent was Digest 22 published in 2008. The Digests have International Standard Serial Number

Over the decades, AGS field trips have visited every part of Arizona's varied landscape and geology. The trips are intended for professional geologists, and led by geologists with the U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona Geological Survey and other governmental agencies, the three major Arizona universities, mine geology departments at the producing mines, and by graduate students presenting their research topics and thesis or dissertation progress. For the Spring or Fall field trips, a formal guidebook is prepared.

AGS Symposia
Historically AGS symposia have focused on the connections between the geology of ore deposits and structural geology with associated pre- and post-meeting field trips and a compendium of papers prepared after the meetings.  They have traditionally been co-sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey branch in Tucson, the University of Arizona, and/or other professional geological societies and organizations.  A list of the past symposia include the:
 1952 Field Trip Excursions held in connection with the Geological Society of America, Cordilleran Section 48th Annual Meeting, Tucson, (Guidebook I),
 1959 Southern Arizona Field Conference held in connection with the Geological Society of America, Cordilleran Section 55th Annual Meeting, Tucson (Digest II combined with Guidebook II),
 1978 Porphyry Copper Symposium held at the University of Arizona, Tucson (Digest XI),
 1981 Symposium on Relations of Tectonics to Ore Deposits in the Southern Cordillera, University of Arizona, Tucson (Digest 14)
 1986 Frontiers in Geology and Ore Deposits of Arizona and the Southwest, Tucson (Digest XVI),
 1994 Bootprints Along the Cordillera: Porphyry Copper Deposits from Alaska to Chile co-sponsored by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration and the U.S. Geological Survey in Tucson (Digest 20), and the
 2007 Ores and Orogenesis: Circum-Pacific Tectonics, Geologic Evolution, and Ore Deposits, co-sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, the Geological Society of Nevada, and the Society of Economic Geologists, Tucson (Digest 22). This symposium honored the career of William R. Dickinson.

Notes

External links

Organizations based in Arizona
Geology societies
Economic geology

Arizona Geological Society


In Computer programming a logic error is a bug in a program, which causes it to work incorrectly. A logic error produces unintended behaviour or output. In many cases, the syntax of the program is correct. This means that the environment used to make the program will not show an error. This makes logic errors difficult to find.

Examples

This example function in C to calculate the average of two numbers contains a logic error. It is missing brackets in the calculation, so it compiles and runs but does not give the right answer.
int average(int a, int b)
{
    return a + b / 2;     /* should be (a + b) / 2 */
}

Computer programming

Logic error


Yehuda ben Moshe ha-Kohen lived during the 13th century and became the personal physician of King Alfonso X of Castile.

He also excelled as an astronomer and was a prominent translator and writer at the Toledo School of Translators where he translated important scientific works from Arabic and Hebrew into Castilian.

He was the Rabbi of the Synagogue of Toledo, and one of the most influential personalities of the Jewish community in the city at that time.

Works

As a member of the School of Translators he helped Alvaro de Oviedo translate the version of Ibn Aben Ragel's Liber de Judiciis Astrologiae (Libro conplido en los iudizios de las estrellas), a treatise on judicial astrology that was used by Edigio de Tebladis de Parma and Pietro de Reggio.

He also translated the Lapidario, helped by the Christian Garci Pérez, and the famous Alfonsine tables, compiled by Isaac ibn Sid, that provided data for computing the position of the Sun, Moon and planets relative to the fixed stars.

Other works attributed to him are the Tratado de la açafeha into Latin, Tetrabiblon or Quatriparito (Ptolemy), 15 treatises on astrology (effects of stars on man and properties of 360 stones with which to ward off negative astral influences), the IIII libros de las estrellas de la ochaua espera, the Libro de las cruces and the Libros del saber de Astronomía.

Mission to Portugal
The Crown Prince of Portugal, Denis of Portugal, had fallen ill with no physician being able to diagnose his malady. The king's priest had convinced the King that he was being punished by God for employing Jewish officials in his government. As a result, it was feared that both Christian kingdoms of Portugal and Spain, which were on the verge of forming an alliance, would change their attitude towards the Jews and would decree their expulsion.

Legend has it that Yehuda ben Moshe decided to take the initiative and traveled to Portugal, where he gained access to the patient and came to the conclusion that the ailing prince was suffering from a blood-clot. Yehuda performed a very difficult operation that turned out successfully, saving the life of the Prince. In this way, he succeeded in counteracting the threatened deportation of Jews from Spain and Portugal.

See also
Toledo School of Translators

References

External links
 Rabbi Yehuda Ben Moshe HaKohen

13th-century Castilian Jews
Medieval Jewish physicians of Spain
Medieval Jewish astronomers
Medieval Spanish astronomers
Spanish translators
Arabic–Latin translators
Arabic–Spanish translators
Hebrew–Spanish translators
13th-century translators
13th-century physicians
13th-century astronomers
Court physicians
Astronomers of the medieval Islamic world

Yehuda ben Moshe


Petroleum Revenue Tax (PRT) is a direct tax collected in the United Kingdom.  It was introduced under the Oil Taxation Act 1975, soon after Harold Wilson's Labour government returned to power and in the immediate aftermath of the 1973 energy crisis, and was intended to ensure "fairer share of profits for the nation" from the exploitation of the UK's continental shelf, while ensuring a "suitable return" on the capital investment by oil companies.

Petroleum Revenue Tax
PRT is charged on "super-profits" arising from the exploitation of oil and gas in the UK and the UK's continental shelf.  After certain allowances, PRT is charged at a rate of 50% (falling to 35% from 1 Jan 2016 and was effectively abolished in the March 2016 budget) on profits from oil extraction.  PRT is charged by reference to individual oil and gas fields, so the costs related to developing and running one field cannot be set off against the profits generated by another field.  PRT was abolished on 16 March 1993 for all fields given development consent on or after that date, but continues in existence for fields established before that date.  At the same time, the rate of PRT was reduced from 75% to 50%, but various reliefs from PRT for expenditure on exploration and appraisal were withdrawn.

PRT is charged in addition to corporation tax, which is also payable by companies involved in oil exploration and production, although PRT is deductible in calculating profits for corporation tax purposes.  Profits from oil extraction activities are subject to a corporation tax "ring fence", which means that profits from these activities cannot be reduced by any losses or other tax reliefs from other business activities (the corporation tax ring fence fences off the whole oil exploration trade, not individual fields like PRT).  Profits within the corporation tax "ring fence" have been subject to a supplementary corporation tax charge of 10% in addition to the usual 30% rate since 17 April 2002.  This supplementary charge was increased to 20% in the Pre-Budget Report of December 2005, with effect from 1 January 2006, and was further increased in the 2011 budget to 32%, with effect from 23 March 2011. This means that the marginal tax rate on PRT paying fields is now 81% (fields not paying PRT pay a rate of 62%).

PRT is administered by the Energy Group of the Large Business Service of HM Revenue and Customs (formerly the Oil Taxation Office of  Inland Revenue).  This group also administers the "ring fence" corporation tax and supplementary charge paid by companies on profits from oil and gas production, and previously administered the royalty charged on the gross value of oil and gas won.

United Kingdom legislation
United Kingdom primary legislation that has introduced and amended Petroleum Revenue Tax includes:

 Oil Taxation Act 1975 (1975 c. 22)
 Petroleum Revenue Tax Act 1980 (1980 c. 1)
 Oil Taxation Act 1983 (1983 c. 56)
 Petroleum Royalties (Relief) Act 1983 (1983 c. 59)
 Advance Petroleum Revenue Tax Act 1986 (1986  c. 68)
 Petroleum Royalties (Relief) and Continental Shelf Act 1989 (1989 c. 1)

See also
 Minerals Resource Rent Tax (2012), a tax on profits generated from the mining of non-renewable resources in Australia

References

Oil Taxation Manual
Taxation of UK oil production (as at April 2003)
The North Sea Fiscal Regime (as at April 2003)

External links
Energy Group (formerly Oil Taxation Office)

Taxation in the United Kingdom
Petroleum in the United Kingdom
1975 establishments in the United Kingdom

Petroleum Revenue Tax


Ludwig van Beethoven wis a German componer and pianae player. He wis born in 1770 an dee'd on 26 Mairch 1827. He componed clessical muisic for the pianae an hale orchestras. His weel-kent warks is his fift an nint seemphonies an the pianae piece 'Für Elise' forby. He is conseidered ti be ane o the verra finest clessical componers. Whan he wis a younker he wis a talentit pianist, weel likit bi the rich an important fowk in Vienna whaur he bade.

Houaniver, in 1801 he stairtit tae growe deif. His deifness became waur an bi 1817 he wis stane deif. Awtho he coudna play in concerts ony mair he held on componin, an at thon time componed some o his finest warks.

He flittit ti Vienna in 1792 an bade thare for the lave o his life. He niver mairiet. He dee'd on Mairch 26, 1827 (aged 56) during a thunnerstorm in Vienna, Austrick. His warks bides weel forrit in classical muisic.

1770 births
1827 daiths
18t-century German fowk
Buirials at the Zentralfriedhof
Classical-period componers
Deaf classical muisickers
German classical pianists
German componers
German Roman Catholics
Fowk frae Bonn
Fowk frae the Electorate o Cologne
Romantic componers
Opera componers
Smaapox survivors
Age o Enlichtenment
Viennese componers
Componers for piano

Ludwig van Beethoven


A gailey is a teep o ship propelled bi rowers that oreeginatit in the eastren Mediterranean Sea an wis uised for warfare, trade an piracy frae the first millennium BC. Gaileys dominatit naval warfare in the Mediterranean frae the 8t century BC till development o advanced sailin warships in the 17t century. Gaileys foucht in the wars o Assirie, auncient Phoenicie, Greece, Carthage an Roum till the 4t century AD. Efter the faw o the Wastren Roman Empire gaileys furmed the mainstay o the Byzantine navy an ither navies o successors o the Roman Empire, as well as new Muslim navies. Medieval Mediterranean states, notably the Italian maritime republics, includin Venice, Pisa, Genoa an the Ottoman Empire relied on them as the primary warships o thair fleets till the 17t century, whan thay wis gradually replaced bi sailin warships. gaileys continued tae be applee'd in minor roles in the Mediterranean an the Baltic Sea even efter the introduction o steam propelled ships in the early 19t century.

The gailey engagements at Actium an Lepanto is amang the greatest naval battles in history.

Navy o auncient Roum
Ship teeps
Human-pouered vehicles
Auncient ships

Gailey


Scarlet fever is an infectious disease that is caused by bacteria. It is caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. It was once a major cause of death. It is now treated with antibiotics. The term scarlatina can be used to mean scarlet fever.  Scarlatina is a lesser form of scarlet fever. At the early times, this disease could not be cured and this was a common reason for death in that time which applies to many famous people of the world.

Diseases caused by bacteria

Scarlet fever


The Academia pro Interlingua was an organization dedicated to the promotion of international auxiliary languages, and is associated in particular with Giuseppe Peano's language Latino sine flexione (Latin without inflections).

The Academia was a descendant of the Kadem bevünetik volapüka (International Academy of Volapük) created at a Volapük congress in Munich in August 1887. Under Waldemar Rosenberger, who became the director in 1892, this group had transformed Volapük into Idiom Neutral and changed its name to Akademi Internasional de Lingu Universal in 1898.

When the Akademi effectively chose to abandon Idiom Neutral in favor of Latino sine flexione in 1908, it elected Peano as its director, and the name of the group was changed to Academia pro Interlingua since Interlingua was an alternative name for Peano's language. The original Academia pro Interlingua survived until about 1939.

The official journals of the "Academia" were "Discussiones" (1909–13), "Circulares" (1915–24), and "Academia pro Interlingua" (1925–27). They have been recently published in a CD-Rom by the mathematics department of the university of Turin.
 They show a collective attempt to propagate, in a democratic way, an international language to facilitate the scientific reports among nations, favouring the progress of civilization and culture.

Concerning Interlingua de IALA (IA)

Today the name Interlingua often refers to a different language presented in 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). Advocates for IA currently use, among others, the name Academia pro Interlingua.

References

External links
 Discussiones, the first journal of Academia pro Interlingua (1909–13) in the Wayback Machine.

International auxiliary languages
Constructed language organizations
1908 establishments
1939 disestablishments

Academia pro Interlingua


A fixed-gear bicycle (also called a "fixie") is a bicycle that has no freewheel mechanism (allowing pedals to stay still while moving).

It is a dangerous bike to use in towns.  This type of bicycle is becoming more and more popular around the world.

Fixed-gear bicycles are very light. They are built without any unnecessary gadgets, such as chain rings or freewheel hub. When a person rides a fixed-gear bicycle, he/she/they need not put a lot of energy into it as with a geared bike.

Most bicycles have a freewheel so the pedals will stay stationary while the bicycle is moving and so that the rider can ride without pedaling going forward or down a hill. Fixed-gear bicycles have even simpler mechanisms with pedals fixed to the back wheel. That means that the rider cannot stop pedaling. When the rear wheel turns, the pedals turn in the same direction. This allows a cyclist to use a brake by putting a pressure in opposite directions to pedals, so that the mechanism will not rotate.

It also makes it possible to ride backwards, although learning to do so is much more difficult than riding forwards.

References

Human-powered vehicles
Cycling

Fixed-gear bicycle


Backhousia citriodora (common names lemon myrtle, lemon scented myrtle, lemon scented ironwood) is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, genus Backhousia. It is endemic to subtropical rainforests of central and south-eastern Queensland, Australia, with a natural distribution from Mackay to Brisbane.

Description and ecology
The species can reach  in height, but is often smaller. The leaves are evergreen, opposite, lanceolate,  long and  broad, glossy green, with an entire margin. The flowers are creamy-white,  in diameter, produced in clusters at the ends of the branches from summer through to autumn. After petal fall, the calyx is persistent.

A significant fungal pathogen, myrtle rust (Uredo rangelii) was detected in lemon myrtle plantations in January 2011. Myrtle rust severely damages new growth and threatens lemon myrtle production.

Etymology
Lemon myrtle was given the botanical name Backhousia citriodora in 1853 after the English botanist, James Backhouse.

The common name reflects the strong lemon smell of the crushed leaves. "Lemon scented myrtle" was the primary common name until the shortened trade name, "lemon myrtle", was created by the native foods industry to market the leaf for culinary use. Lemon myrtle is now the more common name for the plant and its products.

Lemon myrtle is sometimes confused with "lemon ironbark", which is Eucalyptus staigeriana. Other common names are  sweet verbena tree, lemon scented verbena (not to be confused with lemon verbena), and sweet verbena myrtle.

Uses

History

Indigenous Australians have long used lemon myrtle, both in cuisine and as a healing plant. The oil has the highest citral purity; typically higher than lemongrass. It is also considered to have a "cleaner and sweeter" aroma than comparable sources of citral–lemongrass and Litsea cubeba. In 1888, Bertram first isolated from B. citriodora oil. In 1925, it was found to be significantly germicidal, and it was later shown to be antimicrobial.

In the 1940s, Tarax was the first company to use B. citriodora oil as a lemon flavouring during World War II. In 1989, B. citriodora was investigated as a potential leaf spice and commercial crop by Peter Hardwick, who commisionned the Wollongbar Agricultural Institute to analyse B. citriodora selections using gas chromatography. In 2001, a Standards for Oil of B. citriodora was established by The Essential Oils Unit, Wollongbar, and Standards Australia.

Culinary

Lemon myrtle is one of the well known bushfood flavours and is sometimes referred to as the "Queen of the lemon herbs". The leaf is often used as dried flakes, or in the form of an encapsulated flavour essence for enhanced shelf-life. It has a range of uses, such as lemon myrtle flakes in shortbread; flavouring in pasta; whole leaf with baked fish; infused in macadamia or vegetable oils; and made into tea, including tea blends. It can also be used as a lemon flavour replacement in milk-based foods, such as cheesecake, lemon flavoured ice-cream and sorbet without the curdling problem associated with lemon fruit acidity.

Backhousia citriodora has two essential oil chemotypes. The citral chemotype is more prevalent and is cultivated in Australia for flavouring and essential oil. Citral as an isolate in steam distilled lemon myrtle oil is typically 90–98%, and oil yield 1–3% from fresh leaf. The citronellal chemotype is uncommon, and can be used as an insect repellent. The dried leaf has free radical scavenging ability.

Antimicrobial
Lemon myrtle essential oil possesses antimicrobial properties; however the undiluted essential oil is toxic to human cells in vitro. When diluted to approximately 1%, absorption through the skin and subsequent damage is thought to be minimal. Lemon myrtle oil has a high Rideal–Walker coefficient, a measure of antimicrobial potency. Use of lemon myrtle oil as a treatment for skin lesions caused by molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV), a disease typically affecting children and immuno-compromised patients, has been investigated. Nine of sixteen patients who were treated with 10% strength lemon myrtle oil showed a significant improvement, compared to none in the control group. A study in 2003 which investigated the effectiveness of different preparations of lemon myrtle against bacteria and fungi concluded that the plant had potential as an antiseptic or as a surface disinfectant, or as an anti-microbial food additive. The oil is a popular ingredient in health care and cleaning products, especially soaps, lotions, skin-whitening preparations and shampoos.

Cultivation
Lemon myrtle is a cultivated ornamental plant. It can be grown from tropical to warm temperate climates, and may handle cooler districts provided it can be protected from frost when young. In cultivation it rarely exceeds about  and usually has a dense canopy. The principal attraction to gardeners is the lemon smell which perfumes both the leaves and flowers of the tree. Lemon myrtle is a hardy plant which tolerates all but the poorest drained soils. It can be slow growing but responds well to slow release fertilisers.

Seedling lemon myrtle go through a shrubby, slow juvenile growth stage, before developing a dominant trunk. Lemon myrtle can also be propagated from cutting, but is slow to strike. A study into the plant growing adventitious roots found that "actively growing axillary buds, wide stems and mature leaves" are good indicators that a cutting will take root successfully and survive.  A further study on temperature recommended glasshouses for growing cuttings throughout the year.  Growing cuttings from mature trees bypasses the shrubby juvenile stage. Cutting propagation is also used to provide a consistent product in commercial production.

In plantation cultivation the tree is typically maintained as a shrub by regular harvesting from the top and sides. Mechanical harvesting is used in commercial plantations. It is important to retain some lower branches when pruning for plant health. The harvested leaves are dried for leaf spice, or distilled for the essential oil.

The majority of commercial lemon myrtle is grown in Queensland and the north coast of New South Wales, Australia.

A 2009 study has suggested that drying lemon myrtle leaves at higher temperatures improves the citral content of the dried leaves, but discolours the leaves more.

See also
Citral
Lemon verbena

References

Further reading

APNI Australian Plant Name Index

External links

 Australian Bushfood and Native Medicine Forum
 Broad range of lemon myrtle products and recipes
 Lemon Myrtle from Vic Cherikoff

citriodora
Flora of Queensland
Myrtales of Australia
Trees of Australia
Bushfood
Crops originating from Australia
Medicinal plants of Australia
Essential oils
Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller

Backhousia citriodora


Dungeons & Dragons is a paper-and-pencil roleplaying game. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson created Dungeons and Dragons in the year 1974.

Many people today think that role-playing games (RPGs) are only played on a computer, but that is not true. From the early 1970s, role-playing games have been played by people sitting together at the same table, using their imaginations and the written rules of the game to play (as well as dice to generate random numbers when needed).

Players of this type of role-playing game play as imaginary characters that go on heroic adventures. The characters can be many types: a strong warrior, a wise wizard, a skilled thief. One person in the group acts as a moderator, or referee (called the "dungeon master," or DM, in Dungeons and Dragons and "game master", or GM, in other games), of the game. This person is responsible for making sure there is a fair use of the rules and is often also in charge of designing fun, interesting adventures for the other players.

There are now many types of fantasy role-playing games, both traditional paper-and-pencil games and computer games. Many genres of games are played (fantasy, science fiction, horror, war, and so on), and there are hundreds of companies that produce their own written rules systems and software products.

Versions of Dungeons and Dragons
Several versions of Dungeons and Dragons have been released. The first version was just called "Dungeons & Dragons." Several rule books were available, depending on the levels of the characters. The first books dealt with characters from levels 1-3. As characters got stronger, players had to move to the more advanced rule books to manage their characters.

After Dungeons and Dragons came Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. This was a new ruleset that was unrelated to the original rules. A second edition of AD&D was released, which is still popular today.

After Wizards of the Coast bought the rights to Dungeons and Dragons, a more streamlined version of the game was released, called Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition. This version had simpler rules. Most die-rolls were done with a 20 sided die, instead of different types of multi-sided dice.

The 3rd edition rules were eventually revised, and version 3.5 was released.

The 4th edition rules were published in June 2008.

The 5th edition rules were published, after a two year testing period, in late 2014.

Playing Dungeons and Dragons

Before playing the game, each player makes their character and writes the details on a "character sheet." First, players make their character's six statistics called "ability scores": Strength (How strong you are), Dexterity (How skilled and fast you are), Constitution (How tough you are), Intelligence (How smart you are), Wisdom (How well you use your smarts), and Charisma (How well you control and influence people). Each version has different methods to make the stats.

Each player then selects a race (species) such as human or elf, as well as a class (job or occupation) such as Fighter or Wizard, and their alignment (Their moral and ethical views). Players also invest in a number of skills, feats and powers to make their characters stronger and better. Adding details not covered by the rules like history and personality are used often to develop the character.

While playing Dungeons and Dragons, the players detail the actions of their characters to the referree, such as hitting an enemy or hiding from the guards, or talking to another character. The referee describes the results of the characters' actions or answers the players. Actions that are really easy will always work, like when opening an unlocked door or picking up an apple. The results of hard actions are decided by rolling dice.

As the game is played, the characters grow and increase in power. Characters may gain experience, skills, wealth. The main way that characters gain experience is through defeating powerful enemies or doing an important or hard work. Getting enough experience allows a character to get a level, getting more job abilities, skills, and powers.

Hit points (HP) measure a character's health. When a character is harmed, they lose hit points. When a character loses all of their hit points, they die. To avoid being harmed, most characters can wear armor of different types. You might also use "Saving Throws" against indirect harm, such as poison, or magical effects.

The story is a combined effort of everyone who plays. It can either be a story someone has made up. So can the setting (Where the adventure takes place). There are also books that give all that information as well.

References

Role-playing games

Dungeons & Dragons


Oops!... I Did It Again is the second album released by American pop music singer Britney Spears on Jive Records.
Four singles were released from the album, the title track, "Lucky", "Stronger", and "Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know".
It also features the first song Britney had a hand in writing, titled "Dear Diary".

2000 albums
Britney Spears albums

Oops!... I Did It Again


The World Security Institute (WSI) was a Washington D.C.-based think tank committed to independent research and journalism on global affairs and security. Projects of WSI included the Center for Defense Information (CDI), Azimuth Media, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and Global Zero, among others. In the last several years of WSI's existence, Global Zero constituted more than 90% of WSI's operations.

In 2012, many of WSI's projects became independent or merged with other organizations. Global Zero received its 501(c)(3) status effective in June 2012, and began operating independently in November 2012, although WSI remained its principal sponsor for a period afterward.  WSI's CDI project merged with the Project On Government Oversight, (POGO) in 2012.

The last WSI president was Bruce G. Blair, a nuclear weapons analyst and scholar formerly with the Brookings Institution, and co-founder of Global Zero.

Divisions

The Center for Defense Information (CDI) developed and published expert analysis of security issues and defense policy. Its Straus Military Reform Project, directed by Winslow Wheeler, analyzed "both the fiscal and strategic implications of defense programs and promotes informed oversight of Pentagon activities."

The International Media division presented independent information and opinions about the United States to the rest of the world. WSI's foreign language information services were: Washington Observer (Chinese), Washington Prism (Persian), Washington ProFile (Russian) and Taqrir Washington (Arabic; note: taqrir means report). Johnson's Russia List synthesized and distributed English-language news about the countries of the former Soviet Union. The Institute also had satellite offices in Europe (Brussels and Moscow) and Asia (Beijing).

Azimuth Media produced television programs and documentaries on timely issues in international affairs for the general public. One project was the nationally distributed television show Foreign Exchange with Daljit Dhaliwal.

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting sponsored international travel for journalists to cover important, underreported stories.

Global Zero was – and still is, as an independent organizational successor of WSI – the international movement for the elimination of all nuclear weapons. Since its launch in Paris in December 2008, it has grown to include 300 world leaders and half a million citizens worldwide; hosted four Global Zero Summits and numerous regional conferences; built an international student movement with more than 175 campus chapters in 29 countries; produced an acclaimed documentary, Countdown to Zero, with the team behind An Inconvenient Truth; launched cutting-edge international campaigns in key countries; and produced compelling, high-production videos to reach millions of people worldwide with an empowering call to action.

Board of Advisors

 Doris Z. Bato, Santa Fe, NM
 Barbara Berger, Denver, Colo.
 Bruce Berger, Denver, Colo.
 Edward H.R. Blitzer, New York, N.Y .
 Ronald Cantwell, Old Greenwich, Conn.
 Pauline Cantwell, Old Greenwich, Conn.
 Ben Cohen, Burlington, Vt.
 Joseph N. Deblinger, Manhasset, N.Y.
 Gay Dillingham, Santa Fe, N.M.
 Alan H. Fleischmann, Washington, D.C.
 Raymond Frankel, Los Angeles, Calif.
 John Fullerton, Aspen, Colo.
 Jessica Fullerton, Aspen, Colo.
 Seth M. Glickenhaus, New York, N.Y.
 Yoel Haller, M.D., Santa Barbara, Calif.
 Eva Haller, Santa Barbara, Calif.
 James D. Head, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board, Freeland, Mich.,
 Robert G. James, Rear Admiral (USNR Ret.), New York, N.Y.
 Alan F. Kay, Ph.D., Saint Augustine, Fla.
 Eugene M. Lang, New York, N.Y.
 Gene M. La Rocque, Rear Admiral (USN Ret.), Washington, D.C.
 Robert M. Meyers, MD, Deerfield, Ill.
 Ellie Meyers, Deerfield, Ill.
 David E. Moore, Rye, N.Y.
 Paul Newman, Westport, Conn.
 Julie Schecter, Ph.D., Bolton, Mass.
 Gloria Scher, New York, N.Y.
 John J. Shanahan, Vice Admiral (USN Ret.), Ormond Beach, Fla.
 Adele Starr, Mamaroneck, N.Y.
 Philip A. Straus Jr., Philadelphia, Pa.
 Andrew Ungerleider, Santa Fe, N.M.
 Steven Ungerleider, Ph.D., Eugene, Ore.
 Barbara Winslow, Ph.D., Brooklyn, N.Y.
 Joanne Woodward, Westport, Conn.

Emeritus Members

 Arthur D. Berliss Jr.
 James R. Compton
 James Donovan, Colonel, USMC (Ret.)
 David Horowitz
 Rudolph Rasin
 John M. Rockwood

See also
 Government Accountability Project
 Government Accountability Office

References

External links

Official Sites
World Security Institute as of 17 July 2012, on Archive.org
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
Washington Observer as of 9 July 2012, on Archive.org
Washington Prism as of 2 February 2012, on Archive.org
Taqrir Washington
WSI China Program as of 1 September 2012, on Archive.org
Azimuth Media as of 17 July 2012, on Archive.org
Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information

Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States
Organizations based in Washington, D.C.
1972 establishments in Washington, D.C.
2012 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.

World Security Institute


Marshall Chess (born March 13, 1942) is an American record producer, the son of Leonard Chess who co-founded Chess Records.

Chess Records
Marshall worked for sixteen years with Chess Records; founded by his father Leonard and his uncle Phil. He did everything from pressing records and loading trucks to producing over 100 Chess Records projects and eventually heading up the label as President after their acquisition by GRT in 1969. In the late 1960s, Marshall also ran his own Cadet Concept imprint as a division of Chess Records.  He created and produced the Rotary Connection, which became the springboard for Minnie Riperton's career. He signed John Klemmer and created a new format which was heralded as the first jazz-fusion album, Blowin' Gold. He signed the underground black rock legends Black Merda. His Cadet Concept also imported and released the only American hit, "Pictures of Matchstick Men", by the British rock group Status Quo. He also created and produced the controversial psychedelicized blues albums Electric Mud by Muddy Waters and The Howlin' Wolf Album by Howlin' Wolf. He restored his reputation by producing the jam album Fathers & Sons with Waters, Mike Bloomfield, Otis Spann, Paul Butterfield, Duck Dunn, Sam Lay and Buddy Miles in 1969.

Rolling Stones Records
Departing from Chess Records in 1970 after the death of his father, Marshall was hired as the founding president of Rolling Stones Records, a  record label controlled by the English rock group. Marshall Chess had known the band since 1964, when they had used Chess studios in Chicago to record songs while touring the United States. He was an active executive manager, touring with the band, and being involved with record production as well as outside business interests.  In 1977, Chess resigned from Rolling Stones Records because he felt that too much drugs, sex, and rock n roll was undermining his health and his ability to work in the company. He was replaced by Earl McGrath on the advice of Atlantic Records head Ahmet Ertegün, the Stones' record distribution partner. Chess wound up with a heroin addiction and spent years trying various therapies from primal scream to LSD while living in New York's Catskills.

As well as music, Chess produced three films in the 1960s and 1970s: The Legend of Bo Diddley,  Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones, and the unreleased concert tour documentary Cocksucker Blues by Robert Frank.

1980s onward
During the 1980s and 1990s Marshall produced projects for both Sire Records and Island Records. From 1979 to 1981 he also managed as well as co-produced (with Ed Stasium) the Sire band , Alda-Reserve.  He worked with rap star KRS-One, developing an audio comic book project, Break The Chain, for Marvel Comics.

In 1984, Marshall Chess became a partner in publishing company ARC Music, which he began actively heading in 1992. In 2003, Chess was featured in the film Godfathers and Sons directed by Marc Levin, for the PBS series The Blues, produced by Martin Scorsese. In the film, Marshall produces a hip hop version of the classic Chess track "Mannish Boy" featuring rappers Chuck D and Common recording with original members of the Electric Mud band.

In 1999 Chess founded the Czyz Records record label, with his cousin Kevin. The first record released on Czyz Records was the Murali Coryell album 2120, named after Chess' old Chicago address at 2120 South Michigan. Czyz (pronounced "Chez" or "Chaz") was the original Polish surname of Leonard and Phil Chess when they arrived in America from Poland.

In the year 2000, Marshall, his son Jamar Chess and Juan Carlos Barguil founded Sunflower Entertainment, a specialty music publishing and licensing house that focuses on independent Latin music and iconic American songs.

Marshall has been on Sirius Satellite Radio's Blues Channel since 2007 hosting the Chess Records Hour, a three times a week show featuring the music and history of Chess Records. Chess was executive music producer on two movies which dramatise the history of Chess Records: Cadillac Records (2008), and Who Do You Love?, (2008) directed by Jerry Zaks.

In 2012, Marshall co-founded Revolution Songs, a music publishing and sync licensing company.

Personal life
He is married to Robin Chess, a cooking teacher; they have a son, Jamar Chess.

Chess's relationship with his father was a tough one. He described Leonard as "a rough character. He never played catch with me. Instead, he taught me how to shake hands." And when Marshall, age 21, first started working at Chess records, he asked his father what he was supposed to do, and Leonard told him: "You stupid motherfucker, your job is watching me."

References

Further reading
 Marshall Chess in-depth interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' August 2010

External links
Sunflower Entertainment
Vakero
 Marshall Chess @ Pbs.org

1942 births
Businesspeople from Chicago
Record producers from Illinois
People from Glencoe, Illinois
New Trier High School alumni
The Rolling Stones
Living people
American music industry executives
20th-century American Jews
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
Chess family
21st-century American Jews

Marshall Chess


M-PESA (M for mobile, PESA is Swahili for money) is a mobile phone-based money transfer service, payments and micro-financing service, launched in 2007 by Vodafone and Safaricom, the largest mobile network operator in Kenya. It has since expanded to Tanzania, Mozambique, DRC, Lesotho, Ghana, Egypt, Afghanistan, and South Africa. The rollouts in India, Romania, and Albania were terminated amid low market uptake. M-PESA allows users to deposit, withdraw, transfer money, pay for goods and services (Lipa na M-PESA, Swahili for "Pay with M-PESA"), access credit and savings, all with a mobile device.

The service allows users to deposit money into an account stored on their cell phones, to send balances using PIN-secured SMS text messages to other users, including sellers of goods and services, and to redeem deposits for regular money. Users are charged a fee for sending and withdrawing money using the service.

M-PESA is a branchless banking service; M-PESA customers can deposit and withdraw money from a network of agents that includes airtime resellers and retail outlets acting as banking agents.

M-PESA spread quickly, and by 2010 had become the most successful mobile-phone-based financial service in the developing world. By 2012, a stock of about 17 million M-PESA accounts had been registered in Kenya. By June 2016, a total of 7 million M-PESA accounts had been opened in Tanzania by Vodacom. The service has been lauded for giving millions of people access to the formal financial system and for reducing crime in otherwise largely cash-based societies.  However, the near-monopolistic providers of the M-PESA service are sometimes criticized for the high cost that the service imposes on its often poor users.

History

Safaricom and Vodafone launched M-PESA, a mobile-based payment service targeting the un-banked, pre-pay mobile subscribers in Kenya on a pilot basis in October 2005. It was started as a public/private sector initiative after Vodafone was successful in winning funds from the Financial Deepening Challenge Fund competition established by the UK government's Department for International Development to encourage private sector companies to engage in innovative projects so as to deepen the provision of financial services in emerging economies.

The initial obstacle in the pilot was gaining the agent's trust and encouraging them to process cash withdrawals and agent training. However, once Vodafone introduced the ability to buy airtime using M-PESA, the transaction volume increased rapidly. A 5% discount was offered on any airtime purchased through M-PESA and this served as an effective incentive. By 1 March 2006, KSh50.7 million had been transferred through the system. The successful operation of the pilot was a key component in Vodafone and Safaricom's decision to take the product full scale. The learning from the pilot helped to confirm the market need for the service and although it mainly revolved around facilitating loan repayments and disbursements for Faulu customers, it also tested features such as airtime purchase and national remittance. The full commercial launch was initiated in March 2007.

A snapshot of the market then depicted that only a small percentage of people in Kenya used traditional banking services. There were low levels of bank income, high bank fees incurred and charged; most of the services were out of geographical reach to the rural Kenyan. Notably, a high level of mobile penetration was evident throughout the country making the adoption of mobile payments a viable alternative to the traditional banking channels. According to a survey done by CBS in 2005, Kenya then had over 5,970,600 people employed in the informal sector. This informal sector constituted 98%.

In 2002, researchers at Gamos and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, funded by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), documented that in Uganda, Botswana and Ghana, people were using airtime as a proxy for money transfer. Kenyans were transferring airtime to their relatives or friends who were then using it or reselling it. Gamos researchers approached MCel in Mozambique, and in 2004 MCel introduced the first authorised airtime credit swapping – a precursor step towards M-PESA. The idea was discussed by the Commission for Africa and DFID introduced the researchers to Vodafone who had been discussing supporting microfinance and back office banking with mobile phones. S. Batchelor (Gamos) and N. Hughes (Vodafone CSR) discussed how a system of money transfer could be created in Kenya. DFID amended the terms of reference for its grant to Vodafone, and piloting began in 2005. Safaricom launched a new mobile phone-based payment and money transfer service, known as M-PESA.

The initial work of developing the product was given to a product and technology development company known as Sagentia. Development and second line support responsibilities were transferred to IBM in September 2009, where most of the original Sagentia team transferred to. Following a three-year migration project to a new technology stack, as of 26 February 2017, IBM's responsibilities have been transferred to Huawei in all markets.

Concept

The initial concept of M-PESA was to create a service which would allow microfinance borrowers to conveniently receive and repay loans using the network of Safaricom airtime resellers. This would enable microfinance institutions (MFIs) to offer more competitive loan rates to their users, as costs are lower than when dealing in cash. The users of the service would gain through being able to track their finances more easily. When the service was piloted, customers adopted the service for a variety of alternative uses and complications arose with Faulu, the partnering MFI. In discussion with other parties, M-PESA was re-focused and launched with a different value proposition: sending remittances home across the country and making payments.

Services

M-PESA is operated by Safaricom and Vodacom, mobile network operators (MNO) not classed as deposit-taking institutions, such as a bank. M-PESA customers can deposit and withdraw currency from a network of agents that includes airtime resellers and retail outlets acting as banking agents. The service enables its users to:
 deposit and withdraw local currency
 transfer currencies to other users
 pay bills
 purchase airtime
 save currency in a virtual account (Mshwari, Swahili for  "calm")
 transfer currencies between the service and, in some markets like Kenya, a bank account
 borrow money to complete a transaction when short on cash (Fuliza, Swahili for "flush (with money)")

Partnerships with Kenyan banks offer expanded banking services like interest-bearing accounts, loans, and insurance.

The user interface technology of M-PESA differs between Safaricom of Kenya and Vodacom of Tanzania, although the underlying platform is the same. While Safaricom uses SIM toolkit (STK) to provide handset menus for accessing the service, Vodacom relies mostly on USSD to provide users with menus, but also supports STK.

Cost, transaction charges, statistics
Transaction charges depend on the amount of money being transferred and whether the payee is a registered user of the service. The actual cost is a fixed amount for a given range of transaction sizes; for example Safaricom charges up to KSh66 (US$) for a transaction to an unregistered user for transactions between KSh10 and KSh500 (US$–US$). For registered users the charge is KSh27 (US$) or 5.4% to 27% for the same amount. At the highest transfer bracket of KSh50,001–70,000, the fee for a transfer to a registered user is KSh110 (US$) or 0.16–0.22 %. The maximum amount that can be transferred to a non-registered user of the system is KSh35,000 (US$), with a fee of KSh275 (US$) or 0.8%. Cash withdrawal fees are also charged. With a charge of KSh10 (US$) for a withdrawal of KSh50–100 or 10% to 20%, and up to KSh330 (US$) for a withdrawal of KSh50,001–70,000 or 0.47% to 0.66% .

In an article published in 2015, Anja Bengelstorff cites the Central Bank of Kenya when she states that CHF 1 billion is moved in fiscal year 2014, with a profit of CHF 268 million, that is close to 27% of the moved money. In 2016, M-PESA moved KSh15 billion (US$) per day, with a revenue of KSh41 billion. In 2017 KSh6,869 billion were moved according to a figure in Safaricoms own annual report, with a revenue of KSh55 billion. This would put Safaricom's profit ratio at around <1 % of total money transferred.

Effect on poverty in Kenya
With the support of Financial Sector Deepening Kenya and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Tavneet Suri from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and William Jack from Georgetown University have produced a series of papers extolling the benefits of M-PESA. In particular, their 2016 article published in Science has been influential in the international development community. The much cited result of the paper was that "access to M-PESA increased per capita consumption levels and lifted 194,000 households, or 2 % of Kenyan households, out of poverty." Global development institutions focusing on the development potential of financial technology frequently cite M-PESA as a major success story in this respect, citing the poverty-reduction claim and including a reference to Suri and Jack's 2016 signature article. In a report on "Financing for Development", the United Nations write: "The digitalization of finance offers new possibilities for greater financial inclusion and alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and implementation of the Social Development Goals. In Kenya, the expansion of mobile money lifted two per cent of households in the country above the poverty line."

However, these findings on the role of M-PESA in reducing poverty have been contested in a 2019 paper, arguing that "Suri and Jack's work contains so many serious errors, omissions, logical inconsistencies and flawed methodologies that it is actually correct to say that they have helped to catalyse into existence a largely false narrative surrounding the power of the fin-tech industry to advance the cause of poverty reduction and sustainable development in Africa (and elsewhere)".

Markets

Kenya

M-PESA was first launched by the Kenyan mobile network operator Safaricom, where Vodafone is technically a minority shareholder (40%), in March 2007. M-PESA quickly captured a significant market share for cash transfers, and grew to 17 million subscribers by December 2011 in Kenya alone.

The growth of the service forced formal banking institutions to take note of the new venture. In December 2008, a group of banks reportedly lobbied the Kenyan finance minister to audit M-PESA, in an effort to at least slow the growth of the service. This ploy failed, as the audit found that the service was robust. At this time the Banking Act did not provide a basis to regulate products offered by non-banks, of which M-PESA was one such very successful product. As at November 2014, M-PESA transactions for the 11 months of 2014 were valued at KSh2.1 trillion, a 28% increase from 2013, and almost half the value of the country's GDP.

On 19 November 2014, Safaricom launched a companion Android app, Safaricom M-Ledger for its M-Pesa users. The application, currently available only on Android,but as of now it's supported by iOS devices .The app gives M-PESA users a historical view of all their transactions. Many other companies business models rely on the M-PESA system in Kenya, such as M-kopa and Sportpesa.

On 23 February 2018, it was reported that the Google Play store started taking payments for apps via Kenya's M-PESA service. On 8 January 2019, Safaricom launched Fuliza, an M-PESA overdraft facility.

Tanzania
M-PESA was launched in Tanzania by Vodacom in 2008 but its initial ability to attract customers fell short of expectations. In 2010, the International Finance Corporation released a report which explored many of these issues in greater depth and analyzed the strategic changes that Vodacom has implemented to improve their market position. As of May 2013, M-PESA in Tanzania had five million subscribers.

Afghanistan

In 2008, Vodafone partnered with Roshan, Afghanistan's primary mobile operator, to provide M-PESA, the local brand of the service. When the service was launched, it was initially used to pay policemen's salaries set to be competitive with what the Taliban were earning. Soon after the product was launched, the Afghan National Police found that under the previous cash model, 10% of their workforce were ghost police officers who did not exist; their salaries had been pocketed by others. When corrected in the new system, many police officers believed that they had received a raise or that there had been a mistake, as their salaries rose significantly. The National Police discovered that there was so much corruption when payments had been made using the previous model that the policemen did not know their true salary. The service was so successful that it was expanded to include limited merchant payments, peer-to-peer transfers, loan disbursements and payments.

South Africa
In September 2010, Vodacom and Nedbank announced the launch of the service in South Africa, where there were estimated to be more than 13 million "economically active" people without a bank account. M-PESA has been slow to gain a toehold in the South African market compared to Vodacom's projections that it would sign up 10 million users in the following three years. By May 2011, it had registered approximately 100,000 customers. The gap between expectations for M-PESA's performance and its actual performance can be partly attributed to differences between the Kenyan and South African markets, including the banking regulations at the time of M-PESA's launch in each country. According to MoneyWeb, a South African investment website, "A tough regulatory environment with regards to customer registration and the acquisition of outlets also compounded the company's troubles, as the local regulations are more stringent in comparison to our African counterparts. Lack of education and product understanding also hindered efforts in the initial roll out of the product." In June 2011, Vodacom and Nedbank launched a campaign to re-position M-PESA, targeting the product to potential customers who have a higher Living Standard Measures (LSM) than were first targeted.

Despite efforts, as at March 2015, M-PESA still struggled to grow its customer base. South Africa lags behind Tanzania and Kenya with only ca. 1 million subscribers. This comes as no surprise as South Africa is well known for being ahead of financial institutions globally in terms of maturity and technological innovation. According to Genesis Analytics, 70% of South Africans are "banked", meaning that they have at least one bank account with an established financial institution which have their own banking products which directly compete with the M-PESA offering.

India
M-PESA was launched in India as a close partnership with ICICI bank in November 2011. Development for the bank began as early as 2008. Vodafone India had partnered with both ICICI and ICICI bank, ICICI launched M-Pesa on 18 April 2013. Vodafone had planned to roll out this service throughout India. The user needed to register for this service, registration was free and there were charges levied per M-PESA transaction for money transfer services and DTH and Prepaid recharges could be done through M-PESA for free.

M-PESA was shut down from 15 July 2019 due to regulatory curbs and stress in the sector, with Vodafone surrendering their PPI licence on 1 October 2019.

Eastern Europe
In March 2014, M-PESA expanded into Romania, while mentioning that it may continue to expand elsewhere into Eastern Europe, as a number of individuals there possess mobile phones but do not possess traditional bank accounts. As of May 2014, however, it was considered unlikely that the service would expand into Western Europe anytime soon. In December 2017, Vodafone closed its M-PESA product in Romania.

In May 2015, M-PESA was also launched in Albania. It was shut down on 14 July 2017.

Other markets
M-PESA expanded into Mozambique, Lesotho, and Egypt in May, June, and July 2013, respectively. A full listing of countries in which M-PESA currently operates can be found on M-Pesa's website.

Regulation and KYC rules
M-PESA sought to engage Kenyan regulators and keep them updated on the development process. M-PESA also reached out to international regulators, such as the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the payment card industry to understand how best to protect client information and adhere to internationally recognized best practices.

Know your customer (KYC) requirements impose obligations on prospective clients and on banks to collect identification documents of clients and then to have those documents verified by banks. The Kenyan government issues national identity cards that M-PESA leveraged in their business processes to satisfy their KYC requirements.

M-PESA obtained a "special" license from regulators, despite concerns by regulators about non-branch banking adding to the current state of financial instability.

Third-party integration
Safaricom released the new M-PESA platform dubbed M-PESA G2 to offer versatile integration capabilities for development partners.

Client-to-business and business-to-client disbursements are some of features available through the API.

Criticism
The near-monopolistic providers of the M-PESA service are sometimes criticized for the high cost that the service imposes on its often poor users. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation warned in 2013 that lack of competition could drive up prices for customers of mobile money services and used M-PESA in Kenya as a negative example. According to the Foundation, a transfer of $1.50 cost $0.30 at the time, while the same provider charged only a tenth of this in neighboring Tanzania, where it was exposed to more competition. A study sponsored by USAID found that poor uneducated customers, who often had bad vision, were a target of unfair practices within M-PESA. They had expensive subscriptions for ring-tones and similar unnecessary services pushed on them, with opaque pricing, and thus did not understand why their M-PESA deposits depleted so quickly. If they did, they were often unable to unsubscribe from those services without help. The authors concluded that it is not the marginalized people in Kenya who benefit from M-PESA, but mostly Safaricom. A similar conclusion was reached by development economist Alan Gibson in a study commissioned by Financial Sector Deepening Trust Kenya (FSD Kenya) on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of FSD Kenya in 2016. He wrote that credit to business did not improve due to M-PESA and that credit to the agricultural sector even declined. He concluded in his otherwise very friendly survey that the financial sector benefitted handsomely from the expansion of M-PESA, while the living conditions of the people were not noticeably improved.

Milford Bateman et al. even conclude that M-PESA's expansion resulted in holding back economic development in Kenya. They diagnose serious weaknesses in the much cited paper by Suri and Jack, which had found positive effects on poverty, as M-PESA enabled female clients to move out of subsistence agriculture into micro-enterprise or small-scale trading activities. Alleged weaknesses include a failure to incorporate business failures and crowding out of competitors in the analysis. Bateman et al. call M-Pesa an extractive activity, by which large profits are created from taxing small-scale payments, which would be free if cash was used instead. As a large part of these profits are sent abroad to foreign shareholders of Safaricom, local spending power and demand are reduced, and with it the development potential for local enterprise.

Kenya does not have a data protection law, which enables Safaricom to use sensitive data of its subscribers rather freely. A data scandal surfaced in 2019 when Safaricom was sued in court for the alleged breach of data privacy of an estimated 11.5 million subscribers who had used their Safaricom numbers for sports betting. The data was allegedly offered on the black market.

See also
Digital currency

References

Bibliography

 Morawczynski, O. (2008). "Surviving in the 'Dual System': How M-PESA is Fostering Urban-to-Rural Remittances in a Kenyan Slum" HCC8 Conference. Pretoria, South Africa.
 Omwansa, T. (2009). "M-Pesa: Progress and Prospects" innovations / Mobile World Congress 2009. Pg 107-123. (PDF)

External links

 M-Pesa in Kenya

Vodafone
Payment systems
Economy of Kenya
Telecommunications companies of Kenya
Economy of Tanzania
Communications in Tanzania
Economy of Afghanistan
Mobile payments

M-Pesa


FreeBSD is an operating system for many different kinds of computers. This means that if the user has a computer around the house and want to run FreeBSD on it, the user probably can. Computers that run Microsoft Windows will also run FreeBSD. It is based on BSD, the version of UNIX developed at the University of California, Berkeley.

Open source
FreeBSD is open source. This means that anyone can download the source code and change, or learn from it. The people who work on FreeBSD do not usually get paid. They keep working on it because they enjoy it or want to become more experienced programmers.
Most open source software that runs on Linux will run natively on FreeBSD without the need for any compatibility layer.

Operating systems based on FreeBSD
There are a lot of operating systems, which are based on FreeBSD.

Operating systems with a GUI
Several projects created an operating system, based on FreeBSD, which has a GUI by default.

Examples for that kind of operating systems are:
 DesktopBSD
 GhostBSD
 PC-BSD

Related pages
 DragonFly BSD
 OpenBSD
 NetBSD

Further reading

Other websites

 FreeBSD
 FreeBSD software
 Other interesting information about FreeBSD including One Floppy FreeBSD MP3 and CD Player
 mdoc.su — short manual page URLs, a URL shortener written in nginx
 BXR.SU — FreeBSD source code search
 FreeBSD 9.1 - Announcement of FreeBSD 9.1

BSD
Free software
Operating systems

FreeBSD


Pseudoephedrine (commonly abbreviated as PSE) is a decongestant. The salts pseudoephedrine hydrochloride and pseudoephedrine sulfate are found in many over-the-counter drugs either as single-ingredient preparations, or more commonly in combination with antihistamines, paracetamol (acetaminophen) and/or ibuprofen. Sudafed is a trademark for a common brand which contains pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, though Sudafed PE does not. Drugs containing pseudoephedrine are commonly used as a treatment for Rhinitis (an inflammation of the mucous mebranes in the nose)

Unlike antihistamines, which modify the systemic histamine-mediated allergic response, pseudoephedrine only relieves nasal congestion commonly associated with colds or allergies.

The advantage of oral pseudoephedrine over topical nasal preparations, such as oxymetazoline, is that it does not cause rebound congestion (rhinitis medicamentosa); however, it is more likely to cause adverse effects, including high blood pressure.

Some countries started to replace pseudoephedrine by other drugs, such as phenylephrine. The reason for this is that pseudoephedrine can be used to make methamphetamine, which is an illegal drug.

Related pages
List of chemicals in doping cases in sport

Organonitrogen compounds
Drugs

Pseudoephedrine


Distributed computing is a word from computer science, about using many computers to solve a big problem. One way to solve a big problem is to use a very fast computer called a supercomputer. Supercomputers are very expensive, and many scientists can not buy them. A cheaper way to solve a big problem is to split it into smaller problems, when possible. These smaller problems can then be solved by different computers (or processors), which talk to each other over a computer network. Because many computers work together, this makes them as powerful as a supercomputer. One example where distributed computing is used is the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search.

Other page
Grid computing

Computer science

Distributed computing


Windows 98 is an operating system for computers. Released on June 25, 1998 by Microsoft, it is the successor of Windows 95. It came before Windows Me. Support for Windows 98 ended on July 11, 2006.

Windows 98 was seen by many as a small upgrade to Windows 95, rather than a rebuilt version of Windows. The biggest changes were:
 Internet Explorer (a web browser) was made part of the GUI (what the user sees) and the file manager. This had already happened in the last versions of Windows 95 that were released. This is called 'web integration'.
Larger disk partitions (separations) were allowed.
New tools were added to help make the computer run the way a user wants it to. System Configuration Utility is a tool that lets users turn off programs they do not need to use the computer. Disk Cleanup let users delete old files the computer made.
Some add-ons that were made for Windows 95 were included with Windows 98, such as the changes to the shell from Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95.

Because Microsoft made Internet Explorer such an important part of Windows 98, the company was taken to court by the United States government. This was because they felt it was unfair to other companies who made web browsers.

It is not supported anymore, but many people still use it on older computers that will not run Windows XP or later versions of Windows.

Press demonstration
Before the release of Windows 98, there was a press demonstration at Comdex in April 1998. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates was highlighting the operating system's ease of use and enhanced support for Plug and Play (PnP). When presentation assistant Chris Capossela plugged a scanner in and attempted to install it, Windows 98 displayed a Blue Screen of Death. Gates remarked after applause and cheering from the audience, "That must be why we're not shipping Windows 98 yet." Video footage of this event became a popular Internet phenomenon.

Second Edition
Windows 98 Second Edition (SE)  was released in 1999. This was an official upgrade to Windows 98 which allowed people to use more types of computer hardware, like monitors and printers, and also let more than one machine on a network use the same Internet connection.

References

Other websites
Windows 98 Homepage. Microsoft. Retrieved on April 22, 2006.
HPC:Factor Windows 98 / 98SE Patches & Updates Guide
A discussion board at MSFN  containing links to unofficial upgrades and patches for this system.
Windows 98 System Requirements
GUIdebook: Windows 98 Gallery  - A website dedicated to preserving and showcasing Graphical User Interfaces
Windows 98/98SE UpgradePack - Accumulative patch for recent Windows 98 updates
BBC News: BBC News: Microsoft shuts down Windows 98
PC World: The shut down of Windows 98 is a cause for concern
Daylight Saving Time (DST) Fix
Windows 98 Generic USB Mass Storage Device Drivers - enables Windows98 to support most modern USB flash drives.

Microsoft operating systems

Windows 98


Josef Krips (born Vienna, 8 April 1902; died Geneva, 13 October 1974) was an Austrian conductor and violinist.

Krips was born into a Jewish family. He became a pupil of Eusebius Mandyczewski and Felix Weingartner. From 1921 to 1924, he was Weingartner's assistant at the Vienna Volksoper where he worked as repetiteur and chorus master.  Afterwards he became conductor of several orchestras, including the orchestra in Karlsruhe from 1926 to 1933.  In 1933 he returned to Vienna as conductor of the Volksoper. He also became a professor at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1935. He often conducted at the Salzburg Festival between 1935 and 1938.

In 1938, when the Nazi's took power in Austria, (the Anschluss), Krips had to leave the country because he was Jewish and Roman Catholic.  He worked in Belgrade until Yugoslavia also became involved in World War II.  For the rest of the war he worked in a food factory.

In 1945 he went back to Austria, where he was one of the few conductors who were allowed to work, because he had not worked under the Nazi regime.  He was the first person after the war to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic and the Salzburg Festival where he conducted Mozart's opera Don Giovanni.

From 1950 to 1954 Krips was principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Afterwards he conducted the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony (from 1963 to 1970). He gave his first performance at Covent Garden in 1963 and appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in 1966.  From then on he often conducted there.  In 1970, he became conductor of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.  Between 1970 and 1973, he was the principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

Krips died in Geneva, Switzerland in 1974.

His brother Henry was also a musician.  He emigrated to Australia where he conducted the orchestra in Adelaide.  Then he returned to London where he often conducted Viennese light music.

References
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, 1980;

1902 births
1974 deaths
Austrian conductors
Musicians from Vienna

Josef Krips