Neutrino oscillation is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which a neutrino created with a specific lepton family number ("lepton flavor": electron, muon, or tau) can later be measured to have a different lepton family number. The probability of measuring a particular flavor for a neutrino varies between three known states, as it propagates through space.

First predicted by Bruno Pontecorvo in 1957, neutrino oscillation has since been observed by a multitude of experiments in several different contexts. Most notably, the existence of neutrino oscillation resolved the long-standing solar neutrino problem.

Neutrino oscillation is of great theoretical and experimental interest, as the precise properties of the process can shed light on several properties of the neutrino. In particular, it implies that the neutrino has a non-zero mass, which requires a modification to the Standard Model of particle physics. The experimental discovery of neutrino oscillation, and thus neutrino mass, by the Super-Kamiokande Observatory and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatories was recognized with the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physics.

Observations
A great deal of evidence for neutrino oscillation has been collected from many sources, over a wide range of neutrino energies and with many different detector technologies. The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics was shared by Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald for their early pioneering observations of these oscillations.

Neutrino oscillation is a function of the ratio , where L is the distance traveled and E is the neutrino's energy. (Details in  below.) All available neutrino sources produce a range of energies, and oscillation is measured at a fixed distance for neutrinos of varying energy. The limiting factor in measurements is the accuracy with which the energy of each observed neutrino can be measured. Because current detectors have energy uncertainties of a few percent, it is satisfactory to know the distance to within 1%.

Solar neutrino oscillation
The first experiment that detected the effects of neutrino oscillation was Ray Davis' Homestake experiment in the late 1960s, in which he observed a deficit in the flux of solar neutrinos with respect to the prediction of the Standard Solar Model, using a chlorine-based detector. This gave rise to the solar neutrino problem. Many subsequent radiochemical and water Cherenkov detectors confirmed the deficit, but neutrino oscillation was not conclusively identified as the source of the deficit until the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory provided clear evidence of neutrino flavor change in 2001.

Solar neutrinos have energies below 20 MeV. At energies above 5 MeV, solar neutrino oscillation actually takes place in the Sun through a resonance known as the MSW effect, a different process from the vacuum oscillation described later in this article.

Atmospheric neutrino oscillation
Following the theories that were proposed in the 1970s suggesting unification of electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces, a few experiments on proton decay followed in the 1980s. Large detectors such as IMB, MACRO, and Kamiokande II have observed a deficit in the ratio of the flux of muon to electron flavor atmospheric neutrinos (see muon decay). The Super-Kamiokande experiment provided a very precise measurement of neutrino oscillation in an energy range of hundreds of MeV to a few TeV, and with a baseline of the diameter of the Earth; the first experimental evidence for atmospheric neutrino oscillations was announced in 1998.

Reactor neutrino oscillation

Many experiments have searched for oscillation of electron anti-neutrinos produced in nuclear reactors. No oscillations were found until a detector was installed at a distance 1–2 km. Such oscillations give the value of the parameter θ13. Neutrinos produced in nuclear reactors have energies similar to solar neutrinos, of around a few MeV. The baselines of these experiments have ranged from tens of meters to over 100 km (parameter θ12). Mikaelyan and Sinev proposed to use two identical detectors to cancel systematic uncertainties in reactor experiment to measure the parameter θ13.

In December 2011, the Double Chooz experiment found that θ13 ≠ 0.  Then, in 2012, the Daya Bay experiment found that θ13 ≠ 0 with a significance of 5.2 σ;  These results have since been confirmed by RENO.

Beam neutrino oscillation
Neutrino beams produced at a particle accelerator offer the greatest control over the neutrinos being studied. Many experiments have taken place that study the same oscillations as in atmospheric neutrino oscillation using neutrinos with a few GeV of energy and several-hundred-km baselines. The MINOS, K2K, and Super-K experiments have all independently observed muon neutrino disappearance over such long baselines.

Data from the LSND experiment appear to be in conflict with the oscillation parameters measured in other experiments. Results from the MiniBooNE appeared in Spring 2007 and contradicted the results from LSND, although they could support the existence of a fourth neutrino type, the sterile neutrino.

In 2010, the INFN and CERN announced the observation of a tau particle in a muon neutrino beam in the OPERA detector located at Gran Sasso, 730 km away from the source in Geneva.

T2K, using a neutrino beam directed through 295 km of earth and the Super-Kamiokande detector, measured a non-zero value for the parameter θ13 in a neutrino beam. NOνA, using the same beam as MINOS with a baseline of 810 km, is sensitive to the same.

Theory
Neutrino oscillation arises from mixing between the flavor and mass eigenstates of neutrinos. That is, the three neutrino states that interact with the charged leptons in weak interactions are each a different superposition of the three (propagating) neutrino states of definite mass. Neutrinos are emitted and absorbed in weak processes in flavor eigenstates but travel as mass eigenstates.

As a neutrino superposition propagates through space, the quantum mechanical phases of the three neutrino mass states advance at slightly different rates, due to the slight differences in their respective masses. This results in a changing superposition mixture of mass eigenstates as the neutrino travels; but a different mixture of mass eigenstates corresponds to a different mixture of flavor states. So a neutrino born as, say, an electron neutrino will be some mixture of electron, mu, and tau neutrino after traveling some distance. Since the quantum mechanical phase advances in a periodic fashion, after some distance the state will nearly return to the original mixture, and the neutrino will be again mostly electron neutrino. The electron flavor content of the neutrino will then continue to oscillate – as long as the quantum mechanical state maintains coherence. Since mass differences between neutrino flavors are small in comparison with long coherence lengths for neutrino oscillations, this microscopic quantum effect becomes observable over macroscopic distances.

In contrast, due to their larger masses, the charged leptons (electrons, muons, and tau leptons) have never been observed to oscillate. In nuclear beta decay, muon decay, pion decay, and kaon decay, when a neutrino and a charged lepton are emitted, the charged lepton is emitted in incoherent mass eigenstates such as |〉, because of its large mass. Weak-force couplings compel the simultaneously emitted neutrino to be in a "charged-lepton-centric" superposition such as |〉, which is an eigenstate for a "flavor" that is fixed by the electron's mass eigenstate, and not in one of the neutrino's own mass eigenstates. Because the neutrino is in a coherent superposition that is not a mass eigenstate, the mixture that makes up that superposition oscillates significantly as it travels. No analogous mechanism exists in the Standard Model that would make charged leptons detectably oscillate. In the four decays mentioned above, where the charged lepton is emitted in a unique mass eigenstate, the charged lepton will not oscillate, as single mass eigenstates propagate without oscillation.

The case of (real) W boson decay is more complicated: W boson decay is sufficiently energetic to generate a charged lepton that is not in a mass eigenstate; however, the charged lepton would lose coherence, if it had any, over interatomic distances (0.1 nm) and would thus quickly cease any meaningful oscillation. More importantly, no mechanism in the Standard Model is capable of pinning down a charged lepton into a coherent state that is not a mass eigenstate, in the first place; instead, while the charged lepton from the W boson decay is not initially in a mass eigenstate, neither is it in any "neutrino-centric" eigenstate, nor in any other coherent state. It cannot meaningfully be said that such a featureless charged lepton oscillates or that it does not oscillate, as any "oscillation" transformation would just leave it the same generic state that it was before the oscillation. Therefore, detection of a charged lepton oscillation from W boson decay is infeasible on multiple levels.

Pontecorvo–Maki–Nakagawa–Sakata matrix

The idea of neutrino oscillation was first put forward in 1957 by Bruno Pontecorvo, who proposed that neutrino–antineutrino transitions may occur in analogy with neutral kaon mixing. Although such matter–antimatter oscillation had not been observed, this idea formed the conceptual foundation for the quantitative theory of neutrino flavor oscillation, which was first developed by Maki, Nakagawa, and Sakata in 1962 and further elaborated by Pontecorvo in 1967. One year later the solar neutrino deficit was first observed, and that was followed by the famous article by Gribov and Pontecorvo published in 1969 titled "Neutrino astronomy and lepton charge".

The concept of neutrino mixing is a natural outcome of gauge theories with massive neutrinos, and its structure can be characterized in general.
In its simplest form it is expressed as a unitary transformation relating the flavor and mass eigenbasis and can be written as

where

  is a neutrino with definite flavor  =  (electron),  (muon) or  (tauon),
  is a neutrino with definite mass
 the asterisk () represents a complex conjugate; for antineutrinos, the complex conjugate should be removed from the first equation and inserted into the second.

 represents the Pontecorvo–Maki–Nakagawa–Sakata matrix (also called the PMNS matrix, lepton mixing matrix, or sometimes simply the MNS matrix). It is the analogue of the CKM matrix describing the analogous mixing of quarks. If this matrix were the identity matrix, then the flavor eigenstates would be the same as the mass eigenstates. However, experiment shows that it is not.

When the standard three-neutrino theory is considered, the matrix is 3×3. If only two neutrinos are considered, a 2×2 matrix is used. If one or more sterile neutrinos are added (see later), it is 4×4 or larger. In the 3×3 form, it is given by

where  and  The phase factors    and    are physically meaningful only if neutrinos are Majorana particles — i.e. if the neutrino is identical to its antineutrino (whether or not they are is unknown) — and do not enter into oscillation phenomena regardless. If neutrinoless double beta decay occurs, these factors influence its rate. The phase factor    is non-zero only if neutrino oscillation violates CP symmetry; this has not yet been observed experimentally. If experiment shows this 3×3 matrix to be not unitary, a sterile neutrino or some other new physics is required.

Propagation and interference
Since  are mass eigenstates, their propagation can be described by plane wave solutions of the form

where
 quantities are expressed in natural units  and
  is the energy of the mass-eigenstate ,
  is the time from the start of the propagation,
  is the three-dimensional momentum,
  is the current position of the particle relative to its starting position

In the ultrarelativistic limit,  we can approximate the energy as

where  is the  energy of the wavepacket (particle) to be detected.

This limit applies to all practical (currently observed) neutrinos, since their masses are less than 1 eV and their energies are at least 1 MeV, so the Lorentz factor, , is greater than  in all cases. Using also  where  is the distance traveled and also dropping the phase factors, the wavefunction becomes

Eigenstates with different masses propagate with different frequencies. The heavier ones oscillate faster compared to the lighter ones. Since the mass eigenstates are combinations of flavor eigenstates, this difference in frequencies causes interference between the corresponding flavor components of each mass eigenstate. Constructive interference causes it to be possible to observe a neutrino created with a given flavor to change its flavor during its propagation. The probability that a neutrino originally of flavor  will later be observed as having flavor  is

This is more conveniently written as

where

The phase that is responsible for oscillation is often written as (with  and  restored)

where 1.27 is unitless. In this form, it is convenient to plug in the oscillation parameters since:

 The mass differences, , are known to be on the order of  eV = ( eV)
 Oscillation distances, , in modern experiments are on the order of kilometers
 Neutrino energies, , in modern experiments are typically on order of MeV or GeV.

If there is no CP-violation ( is zero), then the second sum is zero. Otherwise, the CP asymmetry can be given as

In terms of Jarlskog invariant

the CP asymmetry is expressed as

Two-neutrino case
The above formula is correct for any number of neutrino generations. Writing it explicitly in terms of mixing angles is extremely cumbersome if there are more than two neutrinos that participate in mixing. Fortunately, there are several meaningful cases in which only two neutrinos participate significantly. In this case, it is sufficient to consider the mixing matrix

Then the probability of a neutrino changing its flavor is

Or, using SI units and the convention introduced above

This formula is often appropriate for discussing the transition  in atmospheric mixing, since the electron neutrino plays almost no role in this case. It is also appropriate for the solar case of  where  is a mix (superposition) of  and  These approximations are possible because the mixing angle  is very small and because two of the mass states are very close in mass compared to the third.

Classical analogue of neutrino oscillation

The basic physics behind neutrino oscillation can be found in any system of coupled harmonic oscillators. A simple example is a system of two pendulums connected by a weak spring (a spring with a small spring constant). The first pendulum is set in motion by the experimenter while the second begins at rest. Over time, the second pendulum begins to swing under the influence of the spring, while the first pendulum's amplitude decreases as it loses energy to the second. Eventually all of the system's energy is transferred to the second pendulum and the first is at rest. The process then reverses. The energy oscillates between the two pendulums repeatedly until it is lost to friction.

The behavior of this system can be understood by looking at its normal modes of oscillation. If the two pendulums are identical then one normal mode consists of both pendulums swinging in the same direction with a constant distance between them, while the other consists of the pendulums swinging in opposite (mirror image) directions. These normal modes have (slightly) different frequencies because the second involves the (weak) spring while the first does not. The initial state of the two-pendulum system is a combination of both normal modes. Over time, these normal modes drift out of phase, and this is seen as a transfer of motion from the first pendulum to the second.

The description of the system in terms of the two pendulums is analogous to the flavor basis of neutrinos. These are the parameters that are most easily produced and detected (in the case of neutrinos, by weak interactions involving the W boson). The description in terms of normal modes is analogous to the mass basis of neutrinos. These modes do not interact with each other when the system is free of outside influence.

When the pendulums are not identical the analysis is slightly more complicated. In the small-angle approximation, the potential energy of a single pendulum system is , where g is the standard gravity, L is the length of the pendulum, m is the mass of the pendulum, and x is the horizontal displacement of the pendulum. As an isolated system the pendulum is a harmonic oscillator with a frequency of . The potential energy of a spring is  where k is the spring constant and x is the displacement. With a mass attached it oscillates with a period of . With two pendulums (labeled a and b) of equal mass but possibly unequal lengths and connected by a spring, the total potential energy is

This is a quadratic form in xa and xb, which can also be written as a matrix product:

The 2×2 matrix is real symmetric and so (by the spectral theorem) it is orthogonally diagonalizable. That is, there is an angle θ such that if we define

then

where λ1 and λ2 are the eigenvalues of the matrix. The variables x1 and x2 describe normal modes which oscillate with frequencies of  and . When the two pendulums are identical (La = Lb), θ is 45°.

The angle θ is analogous to the Cabibbo angle (though that angle applies to quarks rather than neutrinos).

When the number of oscillators (particles) is increased to three, the orthogonal matrix can no longer be described by a single angle; instead, three are required (Euler angles). Furthermore, in the quantum case, the matrices may be complex. This requires the introduction of complex phases in addition to the rotation angles, which are associated with CP violation but do not influence the observable effects of neutrino oscillation.

Theory, graphically

Two neutrino probabilities in vacuum

In the approximation where only two neutrinos participate in the oscillation, the probability of oscillation follows a simple pattern:

The blue curve shows the probability of the original neutrino retaining its identity.  The red curve shows the probability of conversion to the other neutrino.  The maximum probability of conversion is equal to sin22θ.  The frequency of the oscillation is controlled by Δm2.

Three neutrino probabilities
If three neutrinos are considered, the probability for each neutrino to appear is somewhat complex. The graphs below show the probabilities for each flavor, with the plots in the left column showing a long range to display the slow "solar" oscillation, and the plots in the right column zoomed in, to display the fast "atmospheric" oscillation. The parameters used to create these graphs (see below) are consistent with current measurements, but since some parameters are still quite uncertain, some aspects of these plots are only qualitatively correct.

The illustrations were created using the following parameter values:
 sin2(2θ13) = 0.10 (Determines the size of the small wiggles.)
 sin2(2θ23) = 0.97
 sin2(2θ12) = 0.861
 δ = 0 (If the actual value of this phase is large, the probabilities will be somewhat distorted, and will be different for neutrinos and antineutrinos.)
 Normal mass hierarchy: m1 ≤ m2 ≤ m3
 Δm =
 Δm ≈ Δm =

Observed values of oscillation parameters
   . PDG combination of Daya Bay, RENO, and Double Chooz results.
   . This corresponds to θsol (solar), obtained from KamLand, solar, reactor and accelerator data.
   at 90% confidence level, corresponding to   (atmospheric)

   (normal mass hierarchy)
  and the sign of  are currently unknown.

Solar neutrino experiments combined with KamLAND have measured the so-called solar parameters  and  Atmospheric neutrino experiments such as Super-Kamiokande together with the K2K and MINOS long baseline accelerator neutrino experiment have determined the so-called atmospheric parameters  and  The last mixing angle, 13, has been measured by the experiments Daya Bay, Double Chooz and RENO as

For atmospheric neutrinos the relevant difference of masses is about  and the typical energies are ; for these values the oscillations become visible for neutrinos traveling several hundred kilometres, which would be those neutrinos that reach the detector traveling through the earth, from below the horizon.

The mixing parameter 13 is measured using electron anti-neutrinos from nuclear reactors. The rate of anti-neutrino interactions is measured in detectors sited near the reactors to determine the flux prior to any significant oscillations and then it is measured in far detectors (placed kilometres from the reactors). The oscillation is observed as an apparent disappearance of electron anti-neutrinos in the far detectors (i.e. the interaction rate at the far site is lower than predicted from the observed rate at the near site).

From atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillation experiments, it is known that two mixing angles of the MNS matrix are large and the third is smaller. This is in sharp contrast to the CKM matrix in which all three angles are small and hierarchically decreasing. The CP-violating phase of the MNS matrix is as of April 2020 to lie somewhere between −2 and −178 degrees, from the T2K experiment.

If the neutrino mass proves to be of Majorana type (making the neutrino its own antiparticle), it is then possible that the MNS matrix has more than one phase.

Since experiments observing neutrino oscillation measure the squared mass difference and not absolute mass, one might claim that the lightest neutrino mass is exactly zero, without contradicting observations. This is however regarded as unlikely by theorists.

Origins of neutrino mass
The question of how neutrino masses arise has not been answered conclusively. In the Standard Model of particle physics, fermions only have intrinsic mass because of interactions with the Higgs field (see Higgs boson).  These interactions require both left- and right-handed versions of the fermion (see chirality). However, only left-handed neutrinos have been observed so far.

Neutrinos may have another source of mass through the Majorana mass term. This type of mass applies for electrically neutral particles since otherwise it would allow particles to turn into anti-particles, which would violate conservation of electric charge.

The smallest modification to the Standard Model, which only has left-handed neutrinos, is to allow these left-handed neutrinos to have Majorana masses. The problem with this is that the neutrino masses are surprisingly smaller than the rest of the known particles (at least 600,000 times smaller than the mass of an electron), which, while it does not invalidate the theory, is widely regarded as unsatisfactory as this construction offers no insight into the origin of the neutrino mass scale.

The next simplest addition would be to add into the Standard Model right-handed neutrinos that interact with the left-handed neutrinos and the Higgs field in an analogous way to the rest of the fermions. These new neutrinos would interact with the other fermions solely in this way and hence would not be directly observable, so are not phenomenologically excluded. The problem of the disparity of the mass scales remains.

Seesaw mechanism

The most popular conjectured solution currently is the seesaw mechanism, where right-handed neutrinos with very large Majorana masses are added. If the right-handed neutrinos are very heavy, they induce a very small mass for the left-handed neutrinos, which is proportional to the reciprocal of the heavy mass.

If it is assumed that the neutrinos interact with the Higgs field with approximately the same strengths as the charged fermions do, the heavy mass should be close to the GUT scale. Because the Standard Model has only one fundamental mass scale, all particle masses must arise in relation to this scale.

There are other varieties of seesaw and there is currently great interest in the so-called low-scale seesaw schemes, such as the inverse seesaw mechanism.

The addition of right-handed neutrinos has the effect of adding new mass scales, unrelated to the mass scale of the Standard Model, hence the observation of heavy right-handed neutrinos would reveal physics beyond the Standard Model. Right-handed neutrinos would help to explain the origin of matter through a mechanism known as leptogenesis.

Other sources
There are alternative ways to modify the standard model that are similar to the addition of heavy right-handed neutrinos (e.g., the addition of new scalars or fermions in triplet states) and other modifications that are less similar (e.g., neutrino masses from loop effects and/or from suppressed couplings). One example of the last type of models is provided by certain versions supersymmetric extensions of the standard model of fundamental interactions, where R parity is not a symmetry. There, the exchange of supersymmetric particles such as squarks and sleptons can break the lepton number and lead to neutrino masses. These interactions are normally excluded from theories as they come from a class of interactions that lead to unacceptably rapid proton decay if they are all included. These models have little predictive power and are not able to provide a cold dark matter candidate.

Oscillations in the early universe
During the early universe when particle concentrations and temperatures were high, neutrino oscillations could have behaved differently. Depending on neutrino mixing-angle parameters and masses, a broad spectrum of behavior may arise including vacuum-like neutrino oscillations, smooth evolution, or self-maintained coherence. The physics for this system is non-trivial and involves neutrino oscillations in a dense neutrino gas.

See also
 MSW effect
 Majoron
 Neutral kaon mixing
 Lorentz-violating neutrino oscillations
 Neutral particle oscillation
 Neutrino astronomy

Notes

References

Further reading

External links
 Review Articles on arxiv.org
 Ganesan Srinivasan was elected in 1984 a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Neutrinos
Standard Model
Electroweak theory
Physics beyond the Standard Model

Neutrino oscillation


Aburi Girls Senior High School nyɛla shikuru shɛli bɛ ni daa kpa yuuni 1946 ka di daa pili go ni shikuru bihi paɣaba bandaa nyɛ ayopoin.
Ayi lihi, Di daa kpala yuuni 1852 din daa niŋ ka Basel Missionaries daa kpa primary Shikuru zaŋ ti paɣaba bi yiŋ dundɔŋ ni.
Shikuru maa daa na kul ben-mi hali ka Scottish Mission daa ti deeli world War I. Yuuni 1920 ka teacher bihi wuhibu daa piligi mpahi mayan ka lehi gba wuhibu. Yunni 1946 ka Secondary shikuru daa kpa ni teacher bihi bɔhimbu.

Shikuru bihi du gbera maa shɛŋa n-nyɛ
Aberdeen House
Irene Anderson House
Sylvia Asempa House
Barradale House
Chapel House
Edinburgh House
Kilsyth House
Royal Park House

Baŋsim Yaɣ'shɛŋa bini wuhiriba n-nyɛ

Business
Visual Arts
Home Economics
General Science
General Arts

Karimbi Kura

Senior High School
Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Ghanaian academic, sociologist and professor of Gender studies and African studies at the University of Ghana[5]
Senyuiedzorm Awusi Adadevoh, photojournalist
Vida Akoto-Bamfo, justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana (2009 – 2019)
Gloria Akuffo, current Attorney-general of Ghana and Minister of Justice
Sylvia Anie, chemist, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry,[6] received an award from the Old Students Association of Aburi Girls' Senior High School recognizing her contributions to scientific knowledge.[7]
Francisca Ashietey-Odunton, journalist, broadcaster and diplomat
Abena Brigidi, investment analyst author and speaker
Esi Awuah, Ghanaian academic;foundation vice chancellor of the University of Energy and Natural Resources, Ghana
Matilda Baffour Awuah, Security expert, former Director General of the Ghana Prisons Service
Christine Alexandra Clerk, physician and epidemiologist[8]
Elsie Effah Kaufmann, current Host of the National Science and Math Quiz and biomedical engineering scholar
Lovelace Johnson, active Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana (2019–)
Ofie Kodjoe, American-Ghanaian singer, actress, radio presenter and motivational speaker
Deloris Frimpong Manso, entrepreneur, television and radio show host, producer, public speaker and Women's Advocate
Ernestina Naadu Mills, educator and former First Lady of Ghana
Ellen Serwaa Nee-Whang, retired Ghanaian diplomat
Abena Oduro, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Ghana
Rose Constance Owusu, justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana (2008 – 2014)
Akosua Adoma Perbi, Ghanaian author and history professor
Cina Soul, singer-songwriter and recording artist
Johanna Odonkor Svanikier, diplomat
Theresa Amerley Tagoe, Ghanaian politician

Paɣaba shikuru

Aburi Girls' Secondary School(ABUGISS)


European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) is the Council of Europe's independent human rights monitoring body specialised in combating antisemitism, discrimination, racism, religious intolerance, and xenophobia. It publishes periodic reports on CoE member states and general policy recommendations. The decision to found ECRI was adopted in 1993. The organization became officially active as of March 1994.

Members
ECRI consists of 47 experts, one from every CoE member state. The chair of the commission is Maria Daniella Marouda from Greece, since 2020.

Each ECRI member is allowed a renewable term of five years through appointing by their respective governments. To maintain membership, they must also abide by these terms of the ECRI Statute: The members of ECRI shall have high moral authority and recognised expertise in dealing with racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism, and intolerance; The members of ECRI shall serve in their individual capacity, shall be independent and impartial in fulfilling their mandate. They shall not receive any instructions from their government.The first ECRI chair was the Swedish Discrimination Ombudsman Frank Orton, who held the position until 1998. It was his idea that the commission should undertake its now well-known country-by-country studies, aimed at providing the member states with country-specific advice how to combat racism and related intolerance.

Former ECRI chairs include Nikos Frangakis, Michael Head, Eva Smith Asmussen and Nils Muižnieks.

Actions
The main purpose of the ECRI is to provide a constructive critique, called a General Policy Report (GPR), to countries on their actions and legislature to improve the welfare of the minority groups residing within the nation. The ECRI also pens its reports itself, and not the country being examined, which differentiates it from CERD at the United Nations.

Merja Pentikäinen relays the ECRI's desire for immigrants and resident non-EU citizens' full integration and participation in EU societies. In particular, the ECRI is a strong advocate of the integration of the Romani people in European society and Romani children in EU school systems. In fact, the Romani are the main objects of attention in most of the organization's calls for integration. However, while racism and discrimination have always been a large part of the ECRI agenda, integration has only started to make prominent appearances in recent GPRs.

See also
Commissioner for Human Rights
Fundamental Rights Agency
Environmental racism in Europe

References

External links
ECRI website

Council of Europe
Anti-racist organizations in Europe


Santa Buddies, also known as Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws, is a 2009 American Christmas comedy film. It is the fourth installment of the Air Buddies spin-off series as well as the ninth film in the Air Bud franchise. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray November 24, 2009. Tom Bosley's appearance in the film was his final role before his death in 2010.

Plot
At the North Pole, Santa Claus (George Wendt) and his dog Santa Paws (Tom Bosley), a gentle and loyal all-white Great Pyrenees, go outside to examine the magical Christmas Icicle, which is melting because nobody believes in Christmas anymore; if it continues to melt, Christmas will be gone forever.

After causing mayhem in Santa's workshop and getting exiled for it, Puppy Paws (Zachary Gordon), the fun-loving son of Santa Paws, stares at the Icicle and states "I wish Christmas would just disappear", which causes it to crack. He finds Budderball (Josh Flitter) on Santa's naughty list for eating the Thanksgiving turkey and figures he's just the dog to show him how to be an ordinary puppy. Meanwhile, the Christmas Icicle makes a big crack, shuts off the power at the North Pole, and makes the reindeer weak and powerless.

Budderball and the other Buddies (Field Cate, Liliana Mumy, Skyler Gisondo, Ty Panitz), also lacking in Christmas spirit, believe that their father is Santa Paws in disguise, and that the naughty list is a way to scare them to behave. However, Sniffer (Tim Conway) replies that Christmas is about giving and a holiday they must learn to respect.

Puppy Paws makes it to Fernfield, Washington to find Budderball in his home. Budderball introduces Puppy Paws to his brothers and sister. The North Pole puppy ends up being a nuisance to each of the Buddies: Budderball is framed for eating the shortbread cookies as he tries to get back on the nice list; B-Dawg gets beaten at break dancing by Puppy Paws, who even accidentally breaks a vase; Puppy Paws, unaware not to do so, shakes dirt out of his fur in the living room after Mudbud gives him lessons on how to roll in the dirt, creating holiday shapes of the dirt spots which results in Mudbud being put in a cover-up coat for the rest of the day; Rosebud gets an extreme Christmas makeover, and Buddha's meditation statue is turned into a snowman as Puppy Paws explains that the snowman is "what citizens of the North Pole meditate in front of".

Fed up with Puppy Paws' antics, the Buddies lose their patience and eject him from their house. They soon learn that Puppy Paws isn't hurting them as they are hurting themselves and decide to treat him with compassion. Puppy Paws gets taken away by dog catcher Stan Cruge (Christopher Lloyd), who takes him to the pound. There, Puppy Paws meets a puppy named Tiny (Kaitlyn Maher) who is wishing for a Christmas miracle and sings a song about miracles, which teaches Puppy Paws about the true meaning of Christmas.

The Buddies, along with an elf dog named Eddy (Richard Kind), come to the rescue. Eddy tells Cruge that he knows the dog catcher always wanted a puppy for Christmas, but his mother was allergic to dogs and never got one, which made Cruge hate Christmas and become a dog catcher.

With help from an elf named Eli (Danny Woodburn), Christmas spirit returns, the Christmas Icicle stops melting, and the North Pole is back in business. Puppy Paws and the Buddies make it to the North Pole. The reindeer are unable to fly, and Puppy Paws and the Buddies volunteer to save Christmas with their uncanny abilities (the Buddies remembered what Shasta taught them). A changed Mr. Cruge brings Tiny over to the child who has been asking for a puppy as a Christmas present. Tiny says her goodbyes to the Buddies and Puppy Paws. After their last delivery, Santa Claus and Santa Paws arrive in Fernfield. Santa puts the Buddies (including Budderball) on top of the nice list, Puppy Paws becomes part of Santa's family, and the Buddies bid him farewell.

Mr. Cruge is invited to dinner with Tiny's new family. The film ends with the entire town (including the Buddies and Deputy Sniffer), led by Cruge, singing "Silent Night" in front of Fernfield's Christmas tree.

Cast
 George Wendt as Santa Claus
 Christopher Lloyd as Stan Cruge
 Danny Woodburn as Eli
 Quinn Lord as Pete
 Ryan Grantham as Sam
 Andrew Astor as Mikey
 Sophia Ludwig as Alice
 Gig Morton as Billy
 Craig Anton as Bob
 Michael Teigen as Sheriff Dan

Voice cast
 Zachary Gordon as Puppy Paws, Santa Paws' son
 Tom Bosley as Santa Paws, a Great Pyrenees
 Tim Conway as Sniffer
 Josh Flitter as Budderball
 Liliana Mumy as Rosebud
 Ty Panitz as Mudbud (Jonathan Morgan Heit when singing)
 Field Cate as Buddha
 Skyler Gisondo as B-Dawg
 Richard Kind as Eddy, a Jack Russell Terrier
 Kaitlyn Maher as Tiny, a Yorkshire Terrier
 Chris Coppola as Comet, a Reindeer

Sequels
A prequel called The Search for Santa Paws was released on November 23, 2010.

Spooky Buddies was released on September 20, 2011, as a Halloween film, featuring the Buddies in a new adventure filled with curses, ghosts, and mayhem, and an attempt to stop Warwick the Warlock and the Halloween Hound. Treasure Buddies was released on January 31, 2012, as an Indiana Jones-like film, featuring the Buddies in another new adventure trying to stop Cleocatra in Egypt.

See also
 List of Christmas films
 Santa Claus in film

References

External links

Canadian direct-to-video films
2009 direct-to-video films
American direct-to-video films
Canadian sequel films
2000s English-language films
Disney direct-to-video films
Films about dogs
Films about animals playing sports
Direct-to-video sequel films
American Christmas films
Films directed by Robert Vince
Air Bud (series)
2000s American animated films
2000s Christmas films
American sequel films
Canadian Christmas films
2009 films
Santa Claus in film

Santa Buddies


A D bit cutter is a specialty bit in the shape of a "D" when looking from above. Often used to make precision holes using a lathe.

This type of drill was first used in the early manufacture of muskets and other artifacts requiring a long straight holes in the days before modern accurate machines were available."

References

Cutting tools

D bit cutter


Dagoberto Valdés Hernández (born August 4, 1955 in Pinar del Río province, Cuba) is a Catholic intellectual and the editor and founder of Vitral and "Convivencia" magazines.

Biography

Early life
In 1974, when he graduated from Senior High School, he intended to study Sociology but he was denied access to this career. At that time believers in God were allowed to study only scientific or technical careers in Cuba.
He graduated from Agronomic Engineering at the University of Pinar del Río in 1980. He taught as guest professor in that university and he was part of a Group of Research on Agricultural Mechanization.

For 16 years he worked in the Tobacco Enterprise in Pinar del Río and he was the president of its Advising Technical Board during five years.
On May 2, 1996 he was expelled from his job because he was the editor-in-chief of the  Catholic Magazine VITRAL. He was sent to work in the field as a member of a squad that used to pick "yaguas" (the scabbard of the palm tree leaves which is used to pack tobacco). He was punished to work there for 10 years and a month.

On June 2, 2006 he was transferred back to the same Tobacco Enterprise in Pinar del Río as engineer, to control the quality of tobacco. In October of that year he was appointed again to be the president of the Advising Technical Board in the Enterprise. But it was a new trick.
In February 2007 he resigned from his job because he was receiving a different and discriminatory treatment compared to the rest of engineers and workers. This was a fact along the 26 years working as a professional.

Church activities
He was a member of the Presidency of the Cuban Ecclesial National Gathering (ENEC) (Catholic National Congress) in 1986. He drew up the Chapter Faith and Culture of the  Congress Final Document. He was appointed to say, on behalf of the Church in Cuba, the "Words of Praise to Father Félix Varela", at the "Aula Magna" of the University of Havana.

He was founder and first diocesan Responsible for ten years (1977–1987) at the Movement of Laic Ministers of the Word in Pinar del Río.  He was also the founder and President of the Catholic Commission for Culture in Pinar del Río Diocese since 1987 until 2006.

He participated in the 25th World Congress of the International Movement of Catholic Intellectuals (MIIC-Pax Romana) held in Rome in September 1987. He was granted an audience by the Pope John Paul II with whom he met four times.
He is the founder and Director of the Civic and Religious Education Center (CFCR) since 1993 and the editor of its magazine Vitral since 1994 until 2007 when the center and the magazine were seized.

He has been organizer of the Catholic Social Weeks in Cuba since 1991 until the last one in 2005. He has been invited to be a lecturer in these events. He was the sponsor of the restoration of those academic events on the Church Social Doctrine after the socialist Revolution in 1959 in his country.
For this reason he was appointed to participate in the 1st. World Gathering of Catholic Social Week Representatives convened by the Justice and Peace Pontifical Council, held in Rome in 1995.

In 1998 he participated in the preparations for the visit paid by the Pope John Paul II to Cuba. He received a Bible from the Pope's hands, in recognition of his work, during the Mass held in the José Martí Square, as well as other 19 prominent laics from all over Cuba did. He was also invited to the Gathering of the Pope with Cuban Culture personalities held at the "Aula Magna" of the University of Havana by virtue of his responsibility as Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Culture of the Cuban Catholic Bishop Conference.

Accomplishments
He received from the hands of the queen and king Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands the Prince Claus Award for Culture and Development" which was bestowed upon Vitral Magazine during a ceremony on December 8, 1999 in the Amsterdam Royal Palace. He was one of the founders and a member of the Executive Secretariat of the Press Catholic Union of Cuba (UCLAP) since 1995 until 2001.

In 1999 he was appointed by the Pope John Paul II full member of the Justice and Peace Pontifical Council of the Holy See, until November 2005; and member of the Executive Secretariat of the Justice and Peace National Commission  of Cuba since 2001 until 2006.
He was received by  the ex-President Jimmy Carter and his Staff from the "Carter"  Center on May 16, 2002 for a work breakfast in "La Moka" Motel in Pinar del Río.

During the autumn of 2004 he visited the Czech Republic and Slovakia as a guest of Cardinal Vlk of Prague. On November 1, 2004 he was received by the ex-president Vaclav Havel in Prague. On November 3, 2004 he had a meeting with the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia and other personalities.
He received the Jan Karski Award, to Courage and Compassion on November 10, 2004 in Washington D.C. (email@example.com)

When no one knew how to guide the Cuban society through a change in history, towards the democracy, he was teaching how to proceed with what Cuba got, he was preparing the civic society as the basis for a new country to overcome the damages that have been inflicted in the Cuban society by years of indoctrination by the internal authoritarianism, and how to embrace our reality and make the best out of it with the Strength Of The Small, putting efforts in maintaining alive day by day and editorial after editorial, a Civic Center and a Magazine that for many years gave the government something to worried about across the entire country, -such was the reach of that important magazine-, something to be afraid of, because people were learning, people were starting to understand that their opinion were important too and they also could be heard. Proof to this page of his selfless passion for Cuba, when his projects were interrupted by the intervention of the government through the Catholic Church hierarchies, he just started over. Like it was the first time but with more experience and more, much more in danger.  He has given and still give all his efforts to change the reality of Cuba and the Cuban People no matter which cost this has brought and will bring to him personally. He's also a very humble man that believe in god, that wouldn't ask for this words to be written.

Teaching accomplishments
He has been a guest lecturer in Georgetown University and the Catholic University of America. He was appointed first vice president of the Institute of Cuban Studies (IEC) in 2005. In April 2007 he became president of the IEC which is made up of outstanding intellectuals from the island and the Diaspora. He is the first Cuban living in the island who holds this post.

He worked as a professor of Ethics, Civics and Introduction to Ecclesiology, at the diocesan Pre-Seminary "Fr. Félix Varela" from 1996 to 2007.
From 1993 to 2007 he taught as a professor of Ethics and Civics. His writings deal with the topic he developed and investigated most: the Civil society in Cuba.

Writing accomplishments
He was a permanent correspondent for the Italian Magazine La Societá and a permanent columnist in La Voz Católica, a publication of the Miami Archdiocese in Florida, U.S.

On December 20, 2007 he received the Award "Tolerancia Plus" (Tolerance Plus) granted by some groups of the Cuban Civil society. This is the first award he receives inside Cuba.

In January 2008 he founded the Socio Cultural digital Magazine Convivencia. Its first issue appeared on February 15, 2008.

Published work

Félix Varela: Biografía del Padre de la Cultura Cubana published by the Pinar del Río Bishopric in two editions, one of them in 2006 with eight thousand copies.
Somos Trabajadores. University of Latin American Workers . UTAL. Venezuela 1995
Reconstruir la sociedad civil, un proyecto para Cuba. "Conrad Adenauer" Foundation. Published in its Venezuelan affiliate company in 1997. Translated into English in 2008
Cuba: Libertad y Responsabilidad". Desafíos y Proyectos. "Universal" Publishing House in the United States, 2005
La libertad de la luz, a compilation of editorials from "VITRAL" Magazine (1994–2007). Lech Walesa Institute, May 2007. This Institute has published the second edition in Spanish in 2009
Cuba: Time to improve. Hispanic Cuban Publishing House. Madrid Spain. May 2009

References

External links
Vitral Magazine
 Coexistence Cuba Socio Cultural Magazine

1955 births
Living people

Cuban male writers
People from Pinar del Río

Dagoberto Valdés Hernández


Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (1946–1981) and Arrow Huss (1981–1986), which were responsible for several influential advancements in the amusement and theme park industries. Among the most significant was tubular steel track, which provided a smoother ride than the railroad style rails commonly used prior to the 1960s on wooden roller coasters. The Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, built in 1959, was Arrow's first roller coaster project.

In 1975, Arrow Development introduced the first corkscrew style track Corkscrew, at Knott's Berry Farm that sent riders through a series of corkscrews. Arrow created several other "firsts" over the years, introducing the first suspended roller coaster in almost a century, The Bat, in 1981, and the first "hypercoaster", Magnum XL-200, which opened in 1989. They built the first 4th Dimension roller coaster, X2, which was designed by Alan Schilke in 2002.

Arrow Development's ownership changed three times between the 1950s and 1980s. Arrow Dynamics would eventually survive two bankruptcies and spin off a sister company, Fabriweld, primarily to build track, by 1988. Arrow Dynamics eventually closed on December 3, 2001. S&S Worldwide purchased part of Arrow's remaining assets on October 28, 2002, and the remainder of the company was dissolved. In 2012, Sansei Yusoki Co. of Osaka, Japan, acquired a 77.3% interest in S&S - Arrow.

History

Beginnings
Arrow Dynamics' forerunner, Arrow Development, was founded in 1946 when Ed Morgan, Karl Bacon, Bill Hardiman, and Angus "Andy" Anderson, started a machine shop in Mountain View, California. They started out selling used machine tools, building truck parts and repairing cars until about 1950 when they built their first merry-go-rounds for San Jose's Alum Rock Park.

In 1953, they contacted Walt Disney, who was just beginning to plan a new type of amusement park in California. Disney hired the company to help design and build the vehicles for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. They would eventually design and build the ride systems for many of Disneyland's original and early rides, including Mad Tea Party, King Arthur Carrousel, Casey Jr. Circus Train, and Snow White's Scary Adventures. Disney continued to use Arrow as Disneyland expanded. Arrow designed and built Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Autopia, and Alice in Wonderland in coming years as well as upgrading and renovating the King Arthur Carrousel.

Roller coaster manufacturing

In 1959, Arrow Development designed what was to be their first of many roller coasters, the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Built in conjunction with WED Imagineering, the ride was the first modern tubular steel tracked roller coaster.

After construction of the Matterhorn, Disney bought a third of Arrow Development in an effort to keep them viable and at least partially in-house. Arrow had already developed rides for other customers, and had orders for more, so they moved into a larger plant in Mountain View. At the new location, Arrow developed vehicles, flumes and tracks for It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Adventure Thru Inner Space, and the Haunted Mansion.

Arrow developed the modern log flume ride, eventually installing over 50 around the world, beginning with El Aserradero at Six Flags Over Texas in 1963. In the 1970s, the company perfected and brought back the looping roller coaster.

In 1975, Arrow installed one of the most important rides of its time, Corkscrew, which made its debut at Knott's Berry Farm as the first modern inverting coaster. Arrow made hundreds of coasters throughout the decades, including 17 Corkscrew-style coasters, 16 "runaway mine train" coasters like Cedar Creek Mine Ride and Adventure Express, custom-designed coasters like Loch Ness Monster, and Carolina Cyclone.

Some of Arrow Development's later projects included what were at the time the world's tallest roller coasters, such as Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point in 1989, and The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1994.

Reorganizations and bankruptcy

In 1971, Karl Bacon, Ed Morgan and Walter Schulze sold Arrow Development to Rio Grande Industries. At the time, Penn Central owned Six Flags and Rio Grande had plans to build theme parks of their own, purchasing Frontier Village in 1973. In the late 1970s, Arrow began teaching Vekoma how to build tubular track in their native Holland, and in return Vekoma became Arrow's European distributor. Rio Grande sold Arrow to the German manufacturing firm Huss Maschinenfabrik in 1981. The merger formed Arrow Huss. Dana Morgan, the son of Ed Morgan, was appointed the company's president, and Ron Toomer was made vice president and manager of engineering. Dana would leave the company and form Morgan Manufacturing in 1983. Although Arrow's coasters continued to sell well, Arrow Huss struggled financially, partially due to heavily investing in the Darien Lake theme park in New York, and the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition in New Orleans. Arrow Huss filed for bankruptcy in 1985, and 13 of the company's American officers negotiated a buyout. In 1986, the takeover was approved by the courts and the company re-emerged as Arrow Dynamics. Toomer served as president until 1993, Chairman of the Board until 1995, and as a consulting director until his retirement in 1998.

In the late 1990s, Arrow Dynamic's bookings steadily decreased, with few installations toward the end of the decade. Despite attempts to keep up by implementing more updated design techniques, Arrow still found itself struggling to compete. Other manufacturers such as Bolliger & Mabillard and Intamin began to dominate the industry.

Design and manufacturing costs for new, larger ride systems were increasing and competition grew. Bankruptcy loomed once again just as Arrow introduced X (subsequently known as X2) at Six Flags Magic Mountain, a 4th dimension roller coaster designed by Alan Schilke. X opened to massive media attention and received an initially positive reception; however, several mechanical problems caused the ride to be closed for repairs during much of its first year of operation.

The company filed for bankruptcy again on December 3, 2001. At the end of October 2002, the remaining assets were sold to  S&S Worldwide, a limited liability company related to amusement ride manufacturer, forming S&S Arrow. In November 2012, Sansei Yusoki Co., Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, acquired a 77.3% interest in S&S.

Milestones

1959: The first tubular steel track coaster, Matterhorn Bobsleds, at Disneyland
1963: The first Log Flume, El Aserradero at Six Flags Over Texas
1966: The first mine train roller coaster, featuring the first underwater tunnel, the Runaway Mine Train at Six Flags Over Texas
1975: The first modern inverting coaster, Corkscrew, at Knott's Berry Farm
1976: The first coaster with 3 inversions, Corkscrew at Cedar Point
1977: The first coaster with consecutive vertical loops, Double Loop, at Geauga Lake
1978: The first interlocking loops, Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
1980: The first coaster with 4 inversions, Carolina Cyclone at Carowinds
1981: The first modern suspended coaster, The Bat, at Kings Island
1982: The first coaster with 5 inversions, Viper at Darien Lake
1983: The first and only bowtie element. Record-breaking lift hill requiring two lift chains, Dragon Mountain, at Marineland of Canada
1984: The first successful suspended coaster, XLR-8 at Six Flags Astroworld and Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
1987: The first coaster with six inversions, Vortex at Kings Island
1988: The first coaster with seven inversions, Shockwave at Six Flags Great America
1989: The first "hypercoaster," Magnum XL-200, at Cedar Point
1990: The first suspended coaster to go underground, Vampire at Chessington World of Adventures
1991: The first looping coaster to feature an underwater tunnel, Anaconda at Kings Dominion
1991: The world's fastest roller coaster, Steel Phantom, opened at Kennywood
1993: The first roller coaster to feature three consecutive corkscrews, Fantasia Special at Fantasia
1994: World's tallest and steepest coaster, The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Great Britain
2002: Designed the steel supporting structure for the Olympic Cauldron used at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City
2002: The first 4th dimension coaster, X, at Six Flags Magic Mountain

See also
List of Arrow Dynamics rides
HUSS Park Attractions

References

External links

Arrow: Building a Dream from themagiceye at Joyland Books

1946 establishments in California
Companies based in Clearfield, Utah
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2002
Manufacturing companies established in 1946
Roller coaster manufacturers
2002 disestablishments in Utah
Companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1985
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001

Arrow Dynamics


Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint containing pigment in an acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but are water-resistant when dry. Depending on how much the paint is diluted (with water) or modified with acrylic gels, media, or pastes, the finished acrylic painting can resemble a watercolor or an oil painting, or have its own unique appearance.

Acrylic paint can give a much brighter, more vivid colour than oil paints. It has been much used in modern art, and is cheaper than oil paint, which is rather an expensive material. When dry, acrylic paint usually cannot be removed from a solid surface.

The Drying time of Acrylic Paints. Galeria Acrylic: Thin color films dry in 10 to 20 minutes, whereas more significant films might take an hour or more to dry. Professional Acrylic: Thin coats dry in 20 to 30 minutes, but more significant layers might take an hour or two.

History
In 1934, a German chemical company created acrylic resin. It was first used in the 1940s. Acrylics were commercially available as paint for artists in the 1950s. Later, many advances were made to acrylic paint as more and more people began using it.

References

Art materials
Paints

Acrylic paint


Toropetsky District  () is an administrative and municipal district (raion), one of the thirty-six in Tver Oblast, Russia. It is located in the west of the oblast and borders with Kholmsky District of Novgorod Oblast in the north, Andreapolsky District in the east, Zapadnodvinsky District in the south, Kunyinsky District of Pskov Oblast in the southwest, Velikoluksky District of Pskov Oblast in the west, and with Loknyansky District of Pskov Oblast in the northwest. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the town of Toropets. Population: 20,526 (2010 Census);  The population of Toropets accounts for 63.4% of the district's total population.

Geography

The area of the district is divided between the drainage basins of the Kunya River (a tributary of the Lovat River) and the Daugava River, known in Russia as the Western Dvina. It thus fully belongs to the drainage basin of the Baltic Sea. The rivers in the northern part of the district flow to the Kunya, which itself crosses the district. The principal tributaries of the Kunya within the district are the Oka and the Serezha (both right). The Western Dvina makes a stretch of the border with Zapadnodvinsky District; the biggest tributary within the district is the Toropa (right). Toropetsky District also contains the western part of the lake district south of the Valdai Hills. The biggest lakes within the district are Lake Kudinskoye and Lake Solomennoye.

History

Presumably in 1167, Toropets became the center of the Principality of Toropets, which was subordinate to the Principality of Smolensk. The first prince of Toropets was Mstislav the Brave. In the 14th century, the area joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and in the 16th century (most notably, after the Battle of Vedrosha, 1503) it moved to the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by Peter the Great, the area was included into Ingermanland Governorate (known since 1710 as Saint Petersburg Governorate). In 1727, separate Novgorod Governorate was split off. Toropets was included into Velikiye Luki Province. In 1772, as a result of the First Partition of Poland, Inflanty Voivodeship and eastern Belarus were transferred to Russia. In order to accommodate these areas, Pskov Governorate was created, and Velikiye Luki was transferred to Pskov Governorate. The town of Opochka was made the administrative center of the governorate. Pskov Governorate has proven to be too big to be administered properly, and in 1776, the decree of the empress, Catherine the Great, was issued. It divided the governorate into Pskov and Polotsk Governorates. Pskov was made the administrative center of Pskov Governorate, and the area remained in Pskov Governorate.
In 1777, Pskov Governorate was transformed into Pskov Viceroyalty, which was administered from Novgorod by Jacob Sievers. In 1796, the viceroyalty was abolished, and on 31 December 1796 the emperor Paul I issued a decree restoring Pskov Governorate. The area belonged to Toropetsky Uyezd of Pskov Governorate.

On August 1, 1927 Pskov Governorate was abolished, and Leningrad Oblast was established. Toropetsky Uyezd was abolished as well, and Toropetsky District, with the administrative center in Toropets, was established. It belonged to Velikiye Luki Okrug of Leningrad Oblast. On June 17, 1929, the district was transferred to Western Oblast. On August 1, 1930 the okrugs were abolished, and the districts were subordinated directly to the oblast. On January 29, 1935 Kalinin Oblast was established, and Toropetsky District was transferred to Kalinin Oblast. Between Autumn 1941 and Winter 1942, during World War II, the district was occupied by German troops. On August 22, 1944, the district was transferred to newly established Velikiye Luki Oblast. On October 2, 1957, Velikiye Luki Oblast was abolished, and Toropetssky District was transferred back to Kalinin Oblast. In 1990, Kalinin Oblast was renamed Tver Oblast.

On August 1, 1927 Bologovsky District with the administrative center located in the selo of Bologovo was established as well. The district was a part of Velikiye Luki Okrug of Leningrad Oblast, and on June 17, 1929 with the rest of the okrug it was transferred to Western Oblast. On September 20, 1930 the district was abolished and split between Kholmsky and Leninsky Districts.

On June 1, 1936 Seryozhinsky District with the administrative center located in the selo of Bologovo was established. The district was a part of Kalinin Oblast. On August 23, 1944 it was transferred to Velikiye Luki Oblast, and on October 2, 1957 it was transferred back to Kalinin Oblast. On January 12, 1960 Seryozhinsky District was abolished and split between Leninsky and Toropetsky Districts.

Another district established on June 1, 1936 was Ploskoshsky District with the administrative center located in the selo of Ploskosh was established. The district was a part of Kalinin Oblast. On August 23, 1944 it was transferred to Velikiye Luki Oblast, and on October 2, 1957 it was transferred back to Pskov Oblast. On July 29, 1958 the district was transferred from Pskov to Kalinin oblast. On January 12, 1960 Ploskoshsky District was abolished and merged Toropetsky District.

In February 1963, during the abortive administrative reform by Nikita Khrushchev, Leninsky District was merged into Toropetsky District. On January 12, 1965 Andreapolsky District was established in the areas which previously belonged to Toropetsky and Ostashkovsky Districts.

Economy

Industry
There are enterprises of chemical, metallurgical, textile, and food industries, most of which are located in Toropets.

Agriculture
The main agricultural specialization of the district is cattle breeding with meat and milk production. There are also farms producing pork, as well as one farm raising weasels and sables for fur.

Transportation

The railway connecting Bologoye with Velikiye Luki crosses the district from east to west. Toropets is the main railway station within the district. There is infrequent passenger traffic.

The M9 highway connecting Moscow with Riga also crosses the southern part of the district. A paved road branches off from M9, running via Toropets to Kholm and further to Staraya Russa.

Culture and recreation

The district contains 98 cultural heritage monuments of federal significance (66 of them in Toropets) and additionally 68 objects classified as cultural and historical heritage of local significance (30 of them in Toropets). The federal monuments include plenty of buildings in the historical center of Toropets, as well as the Ascencion Church in the village of Baranets (19th century), the Dormition Church in the selo of Dopsho (1771), the Saint Nicholas Church in the selo of Metlino (18th century), the Saint Demetrius Church in the village of Nishevitsy (1765), the wooden Intercession Church in the selo of Pokrovskoye (19th century) as well as the ensembles of former estates in the selos of Mikhaylovskoye, Podgorodneye, Khvorostyevo, Chistoye, and Znamenskoye, and a number of archaeological monuments.

There are a number of museums in the district, which include the Toropets District Museum, the Museum of the History of Photography, the house-museum of Patriarch Tikhon (Tikhon, in the future the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, lived here as a child for ten years), all of them are located in Toropets. In the selo of  Volok, there is a museum of Elizaveta Dmitriyeva-Tomanovskaya, a feminist and a secretary of Karl Marx.

References

Notes

Sources

Districts of Tver Oblast
States and territories established in 1927

Toropetsky District


Timothy Mathern (born April 19, 1950) is a state senator in North Dakota. He also unsuccessfully ran for Governor of North Dakota in 2008.

Early life and education
Mathern grew up on a dairy and grain farm near Edgeley, North Dakota with 12 brothers and sisters.  He attended public school in Edgeley before attending Cardinal Muench Seminary in Fargo. For three summers he served in the Latin American Mission Program in Mexico. Mathern graduated from North Dakota State University and received his master's degree from the University of Nebraska.  He was a VISTA volunteer for one year. At age 50, Mathern earned a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University in Cambridge MA.

Political career
In 1986 Mathern was elected to the North Dakota Senate. He has served on the Senate Appropriations, Education, Long Term Care, and Tribal and State Relations, Transportation, Political Subdivisions, Human Services, Health Care and Budget Section committees. He is a member of the Council of State Governments and serves on the Health and Human Services Committee of the Midwestern Legislative Conference of the CSG. Mathern has served as Senate Assistant Majority leader and as Senate Minority Leader. He was the Democratic-NPL candidate for governor in 2008 and state treasurer in 2016. In 2018 he was elected to another 4-year term of the Senate.

Other activities
Mathern has been an active member of many organizations including Fargo-Cass County Economic Development Corporation, Catholic Charities of North Dakota, Bush Foundation of ND, SD, and MN, Prairie Roots Food Cooperative, PrairieRoots Community Fund, and Indigenous Association Fargo, ND. He is the legislative appointee to the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Grand Forks ND. He is a governors appointee of the state board for the National Corporation for Community Service.

For 30 years, Mathern directed family life and child services programs including marriage preparation, family life education, adoption and foster care. For 6 years he was the administrator of the Church of Nativity. While serving the residents of North Dakota, Mathern has been involved in the ND Health Care Task Force, the Japan-US Health Care Project, International Flood Control Netherlands Project, and Wellspring for the World. He received the 2000 Prairie Peacemaker Award from the North Dakota Peace Coalition and the 2014 Hero Housing Award from HUD.

In addition to his legislative duties, Senator Mathern is public policy director for Prairie St. John's, a behavioral healthcare organization.

Personal life
Mathern lives with his family in Fargo, ND.  He has three married children and one single adult son. He has seven living grandchildren. With his family and friends, he has created "Dakota Sanctuary" near Rollag, MN, a country retreat. He is a user of Facebook and Twitter. As a hobby, he enjoys working with wood and community building activities.

See also
2008 North Dakota gubernatorial election

External links
 http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/63-2013/members/senate/senator-tim-mathern
North Dakota Legislative Assembly - Senator Tim Mathern official Senate website
Tim Mathern for Governor official campaign website
Profile from DakotaPolitics.com
Profile from Project Vote Smart
Follow the Money - Tim Mathern
2008 Governor campaign contributions
2006 2004 2002 1998 State Senator campaign contributions

1950 births
Harvard University alumni
Living people
People from LaMoure County, North Dakota
Democratic Party North Dakota state senators
North Dakota State University alumni
University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni
21st-century American politicians
Catholics from North Dakota

Tim Mathern


Marcus Wayne Garland (born October 26, 1950) is a retired American professional baseball player. A right-hander, he pitched in the major leagues for nine seasons from 1973 to 1981 for the Baltimore Orioles (1973–1976) and Cleveland Indians (1977–1981). He was one of 24 ballplayers who profited from the advent of MLB free agency following the 1976 season.

Amateur career
Garland was born on October 26, 1950, in Nashville, Tennessee. He played both basketball and baseball at Cohn High School in Nashville.

He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fifth round of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign and attended Gulf Coast Junior College.  He was then selected in the 1969 Major League Baseball draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, but again, did not sign a contract.  The Orioles drafted him in the 1969 secondary draft and inked him to a contract.

Professional career

Baltimore Orioles
Garland pitched for several years in the minor leagues posting generally lackluster numbers with a 7–9 record in 1972 and 10–11 in 1973.  However, in 1973, he led the Rochester Red Wings with 141 strikeouts.  He was called up to the major leagues in September 1973 and made his debut on September 13, 1973.  In his first start on September 27, Garland was the losing pitcher.  After spring training in 1974, he was sent back to Rochester, but was called up in May as a relief pitcher.  Over the season, he made six starts, including a game where he pitched eight innings of no-hit baseball.  He continued pitching mostly in relief in 1975 and the first half of 1976.  After the Orioles traded Ken Holtzman and Doyle Alexander to the New York Yankees in June, a spot in the starting rotation opened for Garland.  He made the most of his opportunity with a 10–2 by July and finished with 20 wins against seven losses.  He played 1976 without a contract and rejected a mid-season contract offer from the Orioles of $40,000, which would allow him to become a free agent. Garland did not get along with manager Earl Weaver and was prepared to leave the team.

Cleveland Indians

The Seitz decision allowed players to become free agents for the first time and 25 players entered the 1976 free-agent re-entry draft, which would allow teams to draft negotiating rights with players. Garland was selected in the draft by 12 teams, the maximum allowed. He signed a 10-year contract with the Cleveland Indians worth a reported $2.3 million, one of the richest of that initial free-agent class.

Garland had a 13–19 record and a 3.59 ERA but began to feel pain in his pitching arm.  In his first spring training game of 1978, he injured his arm, but continued pitching after receiving cortisone.  After six regular season starts, he was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff and underwent surgery. He would sit the rest of the season out while he recovered.

He returned in 1979 but had two more stints on the disabled list and finished the year with a record of 4–10.  Garland's 1980 campaign was a bit better as he threw 150 innings for Cleveland and had a record of 6–9, but threw a two-hit shutout on July 3.  The 1981 season was interrupted by a players strike that lasted two months.  He was working as a knuckleballer to overcome the shoulder injuries that damaged his arm.  After the season, Garland was released by the Indians. After being released, he was unable to get a tryout with any major league teams or any AAA minor league clubs. He attempted a comeback as a knuckleballer with the Yankees AA minor league affiliate, but was released before getting another chance in the major leagues.

Coaching career
In the late 1980s he was a pitching coach for the Nashville Sounds and worked in the Pirates organization as a coach in the 1990s but a sore back (one that required six surgeries) derailed him from continuing to serve as a coach.

References

External links

1950 births
Living people
Baltimore Orioles players
Baseball players from Tennessee
Cleveland Indians players
Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs players
Florida Instructional League Orioles players
Fort Myers Sun Sox players
Gulf Coast State Commodores baseball players
Nashville Sounds players
Navegantes del Magallanes players
American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela
Major League Baseball pitchers
Miami Marlins (FSL) players
Nashville Sounds managers
Sportspeople from Nashville, Tennessee
Rochester Red Wings players

Wayne Garland


Boyd Blaine "Fox" Chambers (November 10, 1884 – April 26, 1964) was an American football, basketball, and baseball coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Marshall University from 1909 to 1916, at Bethany College in West Virginia in 1917, and at the University of Cincinnati from 1918 to 1921, compiling a career college football record of 50–44–7. Chambers was also the head basketball coach at Marshall during the 1908–09 season and at Cincinnati from 1918 to 1928, tallying a career college basketball mark of 122–97. In addition, he was the head baseball coach at Marshall (1910–1917), Cincinnati (1919–1928), and Miami University (1932), amassing a career college baseball record of 163–104–4.

Tower Play controversy
In 1915 Chambers was involved in a controversy with what would become known as a "Tower Play" during a game between West Virginia Mountaineers and the Marshall Thundering Herd. The Mountaineers were heavily favored and their head coach, Sol Metzger, told the media he would "eat his hat if Marshall scores." Chambers developed a special play to prevent the shutout. On the Thundering Herd fourth possession Marshall moved the ball down to the 15-yard line. Marshall back Dayton Carter came into the game. Marshall quarterback Brad Workman, took the snap and set up to pass. Marshall's tackle, Okey Taylor, and Carter ran toward the end zone. Carter was hoisted onto Taylor shoulders as Workman rifled a high pass in their direction. Carter caught the ball and fell into the end zone for a score. Metzger argued with the officials, but the referee and umpire could find no rule to discount the score. The Mountaineers won the game by a final score of 92–6.

Head coaching record

Football

Basketball

References

External links

1884 births
1964 deaths
Basketball coaches from Ohio
Bethany Bison athletic directors
Bethany Bison football coaches
Cincinnati Bearcats athletic directors
Cincinnati Bearcats baseball coaches
Cincinnati Bearcats football coaches
Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball coaches
Denison University alumni
Marshall Thundering Herd athletic directors
Marshall Thundering Herd baseball coaches
Marshall Thundering Herd football coaches
Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball coaches
Miami RedHawks baseball coaches
People from Columbiana County, Ohio

Boyd Chambers


Max Abraham (; 26 March 1875 – 16 November 1922) was a German physicist known for his work on electromagnetism and his opposition to the theory of relativity.

Biography

Abraham was born in Danzig, Imperial Germany (now Gdańsk in Poland) to a family of Jewish merchants. His father was Moritz Abraham and his mother was Selma Moritzsohn.  Attending the University of Berlin, he studied under Max Planck. He graduated in 1897. For the next three years, Abraham worked as Planck's assistant.

From 1900 to 1909, Abraham worked at Göttingen as a privatdozent, an unpaid lecturing position. Abraham developed his theory of the electron in 1902, in which he hypothesized that the electron was a perfect sphere with a charge divided evenly around its surface. Abraham's model was competing with that developed by Hendrik Lorentz (1899, 1904) and Albert Einstein (1905) which seem to have become more widely accepted; nevertheless, Abraham never gave up his model, since he considered it was based on "common sense". Abraham was a staunch opponent of the theory of relativity.

In 1909 Abraham travelled to the United States to accept a position at the University of Illinois, but ended up returning to Göttingen after a few months. He was later invited to Italy by Tullio Levi-Civita, and found work as the professor of rational mechanics at the Politecnico di Milano university until 1914.

When World War I started, Abraham was forced to return to Germany. During this time he worked on the theory of radio transmission. After the war, he still was not allowed back into Milan, so until 1921 he worked at Stuttgart as the professor of physics at Technische Hochschule.

After his work at Stuttgart, Abraham accepted the position of chair in Aachen; however, before he started his work there he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He died on 16 November 1922 in Munich, Germany.

After his death, Max Born and Max von Laue wrote about him in an obituary: He loved his absolute aether, his field equations, his rigid electron just as a youth loves his first flame, whose memory no later experience can extinguish.

Publications

References

Further reading

External links

1875 births
1922 deaths
20th-century German physicists
Deaths from brain cancer in Germany
20th-century German Jews
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Jewish physicists
Scientists from the Province of Prussia
Academic staff of the Polytechnic University of Milan
Relativity critics
Scientists from Gdańsk
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty

Max Abraham


Scott Boothby is a male hammer thrower from the United States. Boothby is ranked among the top 20 Throwers (All-Time) in USA Track and Field History (Throwing Event-Hammer Throw) by Track and Field News Magazine. He was a two time member of the USA Track and Field Team and participated in 3 Olympic Team Trials for Team USA (1996, 2000, 2004). His best distance achieved was 243 feet 5 inches (2005). Ranked among the top 50 throwers in the United States each year between 1995 and 2010 (He was one of the Worlds top throwers in 2005 IAAF RANKED).

Boothby was an alternate on the 2005 World Championship Team (Helsinki) with a 4th-place finish at the 2005 USA National Championships. He competed actively from 1995 to 2011 and was a Division 1 NCAA All-American (2 times) for Idaho State University (1996/1997), where he set School and Big Sky Conference Records.

In 2006 after initially retiring from competition for a full year, he was given an out of competition test, which revealed Finasteride and 6-oxo an over the counter supplement. Boothby initially got eight years of ineligibility (August 1, 2006 until July 31, 2014) and disqualification of all results from June 25, 2006.[1] The ban was later lifted and he was fully reinstated after it was found that he had not attempted to enhance his performance and that finasteride was no longer an IAAF banned substance. Finasteride is also known under the name Propecia and was/is a prescription hair loss drug. The substance 6-oxo was found to be from an over the counter food supplement that Boothby proved he had purchased from General Nutrition Corporation with good intent.  (see USADA case 2006 findings ) (GNC).[2]

References
 www.trackandfieldnews.com
www.iaaf.org

External links

 Statement of Scott Boothby on the doping case

1973 births
Living people
American male hammer throwers
American sportspeople in doping cases
Doping cases in athletics

Scott Boothby


Stiletto is a 2008 American direct-to-video action film directed by Nick Vallelonga and produced by Nick Vallelonga and Warren Ostergard.  It stars Tom Berenger, Michael Biehn, Stana Katic, William Forsythe, and Tom Sizemore. It premiered at Newport Beach International Film Festival on April 28, 2008, and was released on DVD March 3, 2009 by First Look Studios.

Plot
Two crime lords, Virgil Vadalos (Berenger), a wealthy Greek mafia boss and an MS-13 leader meet in a bathhouse to discuss business. A woman appears in the room with a stiletto switchblade knife, and kills the MS-13 leader, before stabbing Virgil, leaving him for dead. Virgil survives, however, and orders his men and a corrupt LAPD detective to find the woman, whom he identifies as his lover, Raina (Katic). Virgil is puzzled by Raina's seemingly random attacks and seeks an explanation for her actions. Making things worse for Virgil is the disappearance of $2 million in cash. Virgil's two top henchmen—the intense Lee (Biehn) and scheming Alex (Forsythe)—dislike each other and suspect the other of being involved with the disappearance.

Raina, meanwhile, is seeking out men who wronged her in the past. She hunts down, seduces and kills several men from several different gangs, throwing the underworld further into mayhem. As she kills one after another, she is headed straight for her original target: Virgil.

Cast
 Stana Katic as Raina
 Tom Berenger as Virgil Vadalos
 Michael Biehn as Lee
 Paul Sloan as Beck
 William Forsythe as Alex
 Diane Venora as Sylvia Vadalos
 Kelly Hu as Detective Hanover
 Amanda Brooks as Penny
 James Russo as Engelhart
 Tom Sizemore as "Large" Bills
 Dominique Swain as Nancy
 Tony Lip as Gus
 D. B. Sweeney as Danny
 David Proval as Mohammad
 Robert R. Shafer as Krieger
 R. A. Mihailoff as "Big Arms", Nazi Biker
 Andrew Bryniarski as Nazi Biker

Music
 Cliff Martinez
 "Broken" – Performed by Jacqueline Lord
 Written by Jacqueline Lord
 Produced by Michael Lord
 Mixed by Tom Lord Alge

 "Bang Bang" – Performed by ER Inc
 Written by Edgard Jaude, Rafael Torres, Kevin Davis and Garrett Wesley

 "Fallen Angel" – Written and performed by Chris Vaughn
 The song "Lipimena Ta Tragoudia" was featured by Viktor Mastoridis

References

External links

2008 films
2008 action thriller films
2008 crime thriller films
2008 crime drama films
American action thriller films
American crime drama films
American crime thriller films
Films shot in Los Angeles
Girls with guns films
Films scored by Cliff Martinez
Films directed by Nick Vallelonga
2000s English-language films
2000s American films

Stiletto (2008 film)


The University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development is a public school of education in the United States in Charlottesville, Virginia. The School of Education and Human Development offers professional programs designed to prepare individuals for a variety of careers related to the practice of education.  The current Dean of the School of Education and Human Development is Stephanie J. Rowley.

History
The School of Education and Human Development, founded with two professorships in 1905, was endowed by gifts of $100,000 from John D. Rockefeller and $50,000 from the State General Education Fund. The School was originally named for Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry. Curry, a proponent of segregated public schools, was a White supremacist who supported enslavement of Black people and secession of the south from the United States. The University of Virginia Board of Visitors voted to drop Curry's name in 2020 because he was a "slaveholder, Confederate leader and opposed integrated schools."

In 1919, the School was placed upon a professional basis similar to that of the Schools of Law, Medicine, and Engineering. In 1950, a graduate division was established, offering the degrees of Master of Education and Doctor of Education. An Education Specialist degree was approved and initiated in 1974. The School continues to function as a department of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, offering the Master of Arts in Teaching and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

In 1968, the School of Education and Human Development entered a period of rapid growth. By the mid 1970s, the faculty had increased to approximately 120 members, and there are now more than 20 specialized programs.

Curriculum
The school offers several programs to students. A five-year Teacher Education program includes both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Teaching. Graduate programs include degrees in Master of Education, Education Specialist, Doctor of Education and Doctor of Philosophy. The undergraduate programs include Communication Disorders and Sports Medicine.

The School of Education and Human Development is organized into three areas of academic study.

• Human Services: Prepares individuals for professional careers in human development and clinical services (i.e., clinical and school psychology, counselor education, communication disorders, kinesiology, and risk and prevention in education sciences).

• Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education: Prepares students for teaching positions, pre-kindergarten through grade twelve, or for work as researchers and teacher educators working in higher education.

• Leadership, Foundations and Policy: Prepares students for leadership roles in administration, foundations of education, and educational policies.

The five-year teacher education program is sponsored jointly with the University of Virginia College of Arts and Sciences. The program leads to the simultaneous receipt of both a bachelor of arts degree from the College and master of teaching degree of the School of Education and Human Development. Students meeting all requirements are then certified to teach on the elementary or secondary level. Students wishing to pursue careers as teachers major in an academic discipline in the College and simultaneously begin professional courses leading to teacher certification.

Students apply to the School of Education and Human Development in their first or second year in the College. Throughout the teacher preparation program, they participate in clinical experiences, including observation, tutoring, and small- and large-group instruction.

Programs leading to teacher certification include specializations in early childhood, developmental risk, elementary education, secondary education, physical education, and special education. For secondary teachers, specializations are available in English, foreign languages, mathematics, sciences, and social studies.

Two additional programs areas are designed for students interested in pursuing human service careers related to communication disorders and physical education/sports medicine. These programs require that students transfer into the School of Education and Human Development and are designed to conclude after four years so that students may pursue additional graduate study. In communication disorders, the program provides pre-professional training in audiology and speech-language pathology. The program in sports medicine is a pre-physical therapy and pre-athletic training program. These programs provide the necessary academic and practical work for the four-year B.S.Ed. degree and for application to graduate programs in the related specialties.

Facilities and Centers
The majority of facilities, offices, and classes through the UVA School of Education and Human Development are held in Ridley Hall, which includes its own education library. Centers at the School of Education and Human Development include the following:

Center for the Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning
Center for Academic Diversity and Excellence
Center for the Study of Higher Education
Center for Technology and Teacher Education
Central VA Writing Project
Darden-School of Education Partnership for Leaders in Education
McGuffey Reading Center (Reading First and Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening)
Saturday and Summer Enrichment Program
Teachers for a New Era
Virginia Youth Violence Project
Young Women Leaders Program
Young Writers Workshop
Youth-Nex, The University of Virginia Center to Promote Effective Youth Development

Rankings
In 2005, the U.S. News & World Report ranked a number of the School of Education and Human Development's graduate programs in education as some of the highest in the country, with Special Education ranked #5, Secondary Education ranked #7, and Educational Policy ranked #18. In their 2007 edition, the School of Education and Human Development was ranked #19 when compared with other national schools of education.

In 2002 the School was selected by the Carnegie Corporation as having one of the top teacher education programs in the country. The University of Virginia received a five-year, $5 million, Teachers for a New Era  grant to develop new models in teacher education.

A 2006 report by Arthur Levine named the School among four "distinctive university-based teacher education programs that are exemplars in the field."

References

External links
School of Education and Human Development

University of Virginia schools
Schools of education in Virginia
Universities and colleges established in 1905
1905 establishments in Virginia


Moor House-Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve covers 7,400 ha of the Pennine moors in the north of England. It straddles Cumbria and County Durham. It was designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1976.

The Moor House area was in the first group of national nature reserves (NNRs) created in England when it was designated in 1952.  Upper Teesdale was a separate nature reserve until the end of the twentieth century.
The combined reserve is England's highest and largest NNR. Great Dun Fell is the highest point. The Pennine Way passes through both "halves" of the reserve.

See also
 Moorhouse and Cross Fell

References

External links
Natural England website

Nature reserves in County Durham
Nature reserves in Cumbria
Biosphere reserves of England

Moor House-Upper Teesdale


The Queen's is a pub and former hotel in Regent's Park Road, Primrose Hill, London.

It was built as a pub and hotel in 1855, and was still operating as a hotel at least as late as 1970. The pub sign had Queen Victoria on one side and a young Queen Alexandra on the other.

In 1996, it became a theme pub, with an African zoo motif, and some of its notable regular customers, Kingsley Amis, Robert Stephens and Peter Quennell, were said to be "horrified".

It is part of the Young's pub chain.

References

External links

Pubs in the London Borough of Camden

Queen's Hotel, Primrose Hill


A traction control system (TCS), is typically (but not necessarily) a secondary function of the electronic stability control (ESC) on production motor vehicles, designed to prevent loss of traction (i.e., wheelspin) of the driven road wheels. TCS is activated when throttle input and engine power and torque transfer are mismatched to the road surface conditions.

The intervention consists of one or more of the following:
Brake force applied to one or more wheels
Reduction or suppression of spark sequence to one or more cylinders
Reduction of fuel supply to one or more cylinders
Closing the throttle, if the vehicle is fitted with drive by wire throttle
In turbocharged vehicles, a boost control solenoid is actuated to reduce boost and therefore engine power.

Typically, traction control systems share the electrohydraulic brake actuator (which does not use the conventional master cylinder and servo) and wheel-speed sensors with ABS.

The basic idea behind the need for a traction control system is the loss of road grip can compromise steering control and stability of vehicles.  This is the result of the difference in traction of the drive wheels. The difference in slip may occur due to the turning of a vehicle or varying road conditions for different wheels. When a car turns, its outer and inner wheels rotate at different speeds; this is conventionally controlled by using a differential. A further enhancement of the differential is to employ an active differential that can vary the amount of power being delivered to outer and inner wheels as needed.  For example, if outward slip is sensed while turning, the active differential may deliver more power to the outer wheel in order to minimize the yaw (essentially the degree to which the front and rear wheels of a car are out of line.)
Active differential, in turn, is controlled by an assembly of electromechanical sensors collaborating with a traction control unit.

History

The predecessor of modern electronic traction control systems can be found in high-torque, high-power rear-wheel-drive cars as a limited slip differential. A limited-slip differential is a purely mechanical system that transfers a relatively small amount of power to the non-slipping wheel, while still allowing some wheel spin to occur.

In 1971, Buick introduced MaxTrac, which used an early computer system to detect rear wheel spin and modulate engine power to those wheels to provide the most traction.  A Buick exclusive item at the time, it was an option on all full-size models, including the Riviera, Estate Wagon, Electra 225, Centurion, and LeSabre.

Cadillac introduced the Traction Monitoring System (TMS) in 1979 on the redesigned Eldorado.

Operation
When the traction control computer (often incorporated into another control unit, such as the ABS module) detects one or more driven wheels spinning significantly faster than another, it invokes the ABS electronic control unit to apply brake friction to wheels spinning with lessened traction.  Braking action on slipping wheel(s) will cause power transfer to wheel axle(s) with traction due to the mechanical action within the differential.  All-wheel-drive (AWD) vehicles often have an electronically controlled coupling system in the transfer case or transaxle engaged (active part-time AWD), or locked-up tighter (in a true full-time set up driving all wheels with some power all the time) to supply non-slipping wheels with torque.

This often occurs in conjunction with the powertrain computer reducing available engine torque by electronically limiting throttle application and/or fuel delivery, retarding ignition spark, completely shutting down engine cylinders, and a number of other methods, depending on the vehicle and how much technology is used to control the engine and transmission.  There are instances when traction control is undesirable, such as trying to get a vehicle unstuck in snow or mud.  Allowing one wheel to spin can propel a vehicle forward enough to get it unstuck, whereas both wheels applying a limited amount of power will not produce the same effect.  Many vehicles have a traction control shut-off switch for such circumstances.

Components of traction control
Generally, the main hardware for traction control and ABS are mostly the same. In many vehicles, traction control is provided as an additional option for ABS.

 Each wheel is equipped with a sensor that senses changes in its speed due to loss of traction.
 The sensed speed from the individual wheels is passed on to an electronic control unit (ECU).
 The ECU processes the information from the wheels and initiates braking to the affected wheels via a cable connected to an automatic traction control (ATC) valve.

In all vehicles, traction control is automatically started when the sensors detect loss of traction at any of the wheels.

Use of traction control
In road cars: Traction control has traditionally been a safety feature in premium high-performance cars, which otherwise need sensitive throttle input to prevent spinning driven wheels when accelerating, especially in wet, icy, or snowy conditions.  In recent years, traction control systems have become widely available in non-performance cars, minivans, and light trucks and in some small hatchbacks.
In race cars: Traction control is used as a performance enhancement, allowing maximum traction under acceleration without wheel spin.  When accelerating out of a turn, it keeps the tires at optimal slip ratio.
In heavy trucks: Traction control is available as well. Here the pneumatic brake system needs some additional valves and control logic to realize a TCS (or sometimes called ASR) system.
In motorcycles:  Traction control for production motorcycles was first available with the BMW K1 in 1988. Honda offered Traction Control as an option, along with ABS, on their ST1100 beginning about 1992.  By 2009, traction control was an option for several models offered by BMW and Ducati, the model year 2010 Kawasaki Concours 14 (1400GTR) and Honda CBR 650R in the year 2019, and Triumph "Modern Classic" line of motorcycles.
In off-road vehicles:  Traction control is used instead of or in addition to, the mechanical limited-slip or locking differential.  It is often implemented with an electronic limited-slip differential, as well as other computerized controls of the engine and transmission.  The spinning wheel is slowed with short applications of brakes, diverting more torque to the non-spinning wheel; this is the system adopted by Range Rover in 1993, for example.  ABS brake-traction control has several advantages over limited-slip and locking differentials, such as steering control of a vehicle is easier, so the system can be continuously enabled. It also creates less stress on powertrain and driveline components, and increases durability as there are fewer moving parts to fail.

When programmed or calibrated for off-road use, traction control systems like Ford's four-wheel electronic traction control (ETC) which is included with AdvanceTrac, and Porsche's four-wheel automatic brake differential (ABD), can send 100 percent of torque to any one wheel or wheels, via an aggressive brake strategy or "brake locking", allowing vehicles like the Expedition and Cayenne to keep moving, even with two wheels (one front, one rear) completely off the ground.

Controversy in motorsports
Very effective yet small units are available that allow the driver to remove the traction control system after an event if desired. In Formula One, an effort to ban traction control led to a change of rules for 2008: every car must have a standard (but custom mappable) ECU, issued by the FIA, which is relatively basic and does not have traction control capabilities. In 2003, Paul Tracy admitted that CART teams used traction control in the nineties, a device that was not formally legal until 2002 (although the switch to single engine supplier for 2003 reverted the legalization). In 2008, NASCAR suspended a Whelen Modified Tour driver, crew chief, and car owner for one race and disqualified the team after finding questionable wiring in the ignition system, which could have been used to implement traction control.

Traction control in cornering
Traction control is not just used for improving acceleration under slippery conditions.  It can also help a driver to corner more safely.  If too much throttle is applied during cornering, the driven wheels will lose traction and slide sideways.  This occurs as understeer in front-wheel-drive vehicles and oversteer in rear-wheel-drive vehicles.  Traction control can mitigate and possibly even correct understeer or oversteer from happening by limiting power to the overdriven wheel or wheels.  However, it cannot increase the limits of frictional grip available and is used only to decrease the effect of driver error or compensate for a driver's inability to react quickly enough to wheel slip.

Automobile manufacturers state in vehicle manuals that traction control systems should not encourage dangerous driving or encourage driving in conditions beyond the driver's control.

See also
Car safety

References

External links
Traction control in Formula One

Advanced driver assistance systems
Mechanical power control
Motorcycle transmissions
Vehicle dynamics
Vehicle technology
Auto racing controversies

Traction control system