The Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia (ARSBC) is a registered non-profit society based in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), and is a registered tax-deductible charity in Canada.

Its aim is to create environmentally and economically sustainable 'artificial reefs' in British Columbia and around the world for the protection and enhancement of sensitive marine habitats, while also providing interesting destinations for the enjoyment of scuba divers.

Since 1991, the Society has sunk seven ships and one Boeing 737 in the waters off BC's west coast.

The Society has no paid employees, and consists of a volunteer Board of Directors and hundreds of volunteers from BC, Alberta, and the northwest United States who have worked on its projects. Its mission is to create and maintain artificial reefs for use by scuba divers as a means to promote the local economy, the technology and safety procedures involved in creating artificial reefs, promote the use of artificial reefs to minimize the impact caused by scuba divers on other historically significant or ecologically sensitive sites, and to monitor all developments regarding their artificial reefs for environmental impact and diver safety.

Artificial reefs
Sunk August 11, 1991: MV G.B. Church off Portland Island, near Sidney, BC at 48°43.323′ N, 123°21.339′ W
Sunk December 5, 1992:  (II)  off Kunechin Point, in Porpoise Bay, near Sechelt, BC at 49° 37.694' N, 123° 48.699' W
Sunk September 16, 1995:  off Gooch Island, near Sidney, BC at 48°40.094′ N, 123°17.170′ W
Sunk June 22, 1996:  (II) off Maud Island, near Campbell River, BC at 50°8.031′ N, 125°20.152′ W
Sunk June 14, 1997:  (II) off Snake Island, near Nanaimo, BC at 49°12.96′ N, 123°53.070′ W
Sunk July 14, 2000:  off Mission Beach, near San Diego, California at 32°46.80′ N 117°17.12′ W
Sunk October 20, 2001:  (II) off Snake Island, near Nanaimo, BC at 49°12.88′ N, 123°53.067′ W
Sunk January 14, 2006: Xihwu Boeing 737-200 off Chemainus, BC at 48°56.142′ N, 123°43.130′ W
Sunk April 4, 2015:  off Gambier Island in Halkett Bay Marine Provincial Park, Howe Sound BC at 49°26.95′ N, 123°19.85′ W .

References

External links

Artificial reefs
Environmental organizations based in British Columbia
Non-profit organizations based in Vancouver
Diver organizations


Ronan Magill (born 1954, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England) is a British concert pianist and composer.

Born to Irish parents in Sheffield, Ronan Magill was a pupil at Ampleforth College, the prominent Catholic boarding school in North Yorkshire. Having begun to study with Fanny Waterman, he met Benjamin Britten, who, impressed by his abilities, became the young Magill's mentor ("I was amazed at his general musicality and intelligence and his is a remarkable gift"). This relationship lasted until Britten's death in 1976.

Magill was among the first intake of students at the Yehudi Menuhin School, where he was taught by Marcel Gazelle.

As a student at the Royal College of Music, Magill studied with David Parkhouse and John Barstow (piano) and Philip Cannon (composition). While at the College, he was awarded all the major prizes for both disciplines, finally graduating with the Hopkinson Gold Medal for piano and the Cobbett prize for composition.

After his Wigmore Hall and South Bank debuts in 1974, Magill moved to Paris to study with Yvonne Lefebure at the Conservatoire; while there, he won the Premier Prix for piano, and in the years that followed made a number of appearances on French radio and television. His later teachers include Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Pierre Sancan and Nikita Magaloff.

In 1985 Magill was the winner of the First Milosz Magin International Piano Competition for Polish Music (this led to a well-received tour of Poland); in 1990 he was chosen to assist Mstislav Rostropovich in the preparations for his Jubilee concert.

Magill's second international competition victory was in 1994, when he won the Third British Contemporary Piano Competition. This led to appearances throughout the UK, including one at the 1995 Huddersfield International Contemporary Music Festival, where he performed with the English Northern Philharmonia conducted by Paul Daniel.

Since then he has given recitals at the South Bank, and concerto performances with the Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras, recitals at the South Bank, concertos with the Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras, and recitals at the Lichfield and Abbotsbury Festivals and the AL Bustan Festival in Beirut. In 1999 Magill performed Mozart's Piano Concerto K595 with the Belmont Ensemble at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

In recent years, Ronan Magill has visited the Canterbury and Deal Festivals (2004), and made his first appearance in Japan (2005). He returned to Japan in 2006 and 2007, and was due to play there again in May 2009.

Compositions

Magill remains active as composer, and has performed many of his own compositions at prominent venues, including the Wigmore Hall and the South Bank. In 1988 he performed the premiere of his work "Titanic 10th-15th April 1912" at the Salle Gaveau in Paris. This work (described as 'An atmospheric Poem in Five Pictures for Solo Piano'), has been recorded and is available on CD.

Having performed 'Titanic' at the Abbotsbury Music Festival, Magill was commissioned by the Festival to write a work for actors and singers and small orchestra to be called 'The Legend of St Catherine of Alexandria' (taken from the play 'Tyrannick Love' by John Dryden). This commission was supported by Millennium funding, the D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, and a grant from South West Arts. The piece was premiered in Abbotsbury in May 2000.

References

External links

webpage containing clips of 'Titanic'

Living people
1954 births
British classical pianists
Male classical pianists
British classical composers
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
20th-century British composers
21st-century classical pianists
20th-century British male musicians
21st-century British male musicians
People educated at Yehudi Menuhin School
People educated at Ampleforth College

Ronan Magill


The Garraf plot was an attempted regicide of Spain's King Alfonso XIII by Catalan separatists in Barcelona in June 1925.

Background
Catalan nationalist groups blamed King Alfonso XIII for enabling the dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera and repressing Catalan national identity. On May 6, 1925, King Alfonso XIII's trip to Catalonia was announced. A group of radical militants within Acció Catalana, the Grup dels Set ("Group of Seven") initially came up with the plan to assassinate the king during this trip. However, the plot was mostly carried out by La Bandera Negra, a clandestine military organization within Estat Català, a separate Catalan nationalist party. The conspirators believed that in the confusion following the assassination of the monarch, the military would carry out acts of violence against the population of Barcelona, which would in return increase popular support for the escamots of Estat Català, who could then seize the most significant buildings and proclaim the Catalan Republic.

Assassination attempts
The visit was scheduled for May 26. La Bandera Negra initially planned to detonate a bomb in the tunnel between Garraf and Sitges as the king's train passed through. On May 23, six members of Bandera Negra made their first attempt to place the bomb took. However, they found that they lacked the appropriate tools to lift the ballast from the track and plant the explosive. They hid the bomb in vegetation next to the road, intending to return the next day. On the 24th, the conspirators missed the train in Barcelona and could not reach Garraf. This setback led the conspirators to modify the plan to instead place the bomb in one of the tunnel vents. When on the 25th the conspirators again went to Garraf to plant the explosive device, the presence of the Civil Guard prevented them from carrying out their plans.

The next day, they decided to instead attack the monarch in Barcelona while he passed through the Ramblas on his way to a gala performance at the Liceu, on May 29. Jaume Julià, the member of Bandera Negra appointed to carry the bomb, did not appear at the scheduled time. Later it was learned that Julià's father discovered the plot and prevented the twenty-year-old Julià from participating. Given this, a substitute was appointed, who may have been Miquel Ferrer, from the Grup dels Set, or Jaume Miravitlles, an escamot from Estat Català. Either way, the designated conspirator, who was armed with pistols and carried the bomb inside a bouquet of flowers, could not carry out the operation due to heavy police surveillance.

The conspirators considered returning to their initial plan and detonating the bomb in the Garraf tunnel when the king left Barcelona. Four members of La Bandera Negra and two members of the Grup dels Set went to Garraf on June 6 to scout the area. However, an infiltrator in the conspiracy, Joan Terrés, also known as Josep Talavera, informed the police, who were waiting for them at the station. 28 conspirators were arrested.

Aftermath
The dictatorship used the plot to justify widespread crackdowns on Catalan separatist groups, arresting numerous members not only of Estat Català, but also of Acció Catalana and Unió Catalanista.

In July 1925, Jaume Compte, Marcelino Perelló, Jaume Julià, Miquel Badia, Deogràcies Civit, Francisco Ferrer, Josep Garriga, Emili Granier, Ramon Fabregat, and Antoni Arguelaguet were brought to trial. Granier, Fabregat, and Arguelaguet were released on bail and fled. The trial of the remaining seven was conducted by the military, who were accused of torturing the detainees and not following the proper legal procedure. Eventually, Compte was accused of being the leader of the group and sentenced to death by garrote, as were Perelló, Julià, and Garriga. Their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. Badia, Civit, and Ferrer were sentenced to 12 years in prison. All those imprisoned were granted amnesty at the end of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship in 1930.

References

Alfonso XIII of Spain
1925 in Spain
Catalan independence movement
Failed assassination attempts

Garraf plot


Catherine Meusburger (born 7 January 1978) is an Austrian mathematician and physicist. She works at the interface between mathematical physics, algebra and geometry. Since 2011 she has served as professor of mathematics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Her research interests include 3D geometry, quantization of moduli spaces of flat connections,
higher categories, topological quantum field theories, the mapping class group, and topological models in condensed matter physics.
Earlier work was on the quantization of Chern-Simons theory and 3D gravity.

Meusburger grew up in Heidelberg, where she graduated from Kurfürst-Friedrich-Gymnasium. She then went on to study physics at the University of Freiburg from 1996 to 2001, where she wrote the thesis The Quantisation of the algebra of invariants of the closed bosonic Nambu–Goto String using a concrete realization, for which she won the Gustav-Mies Prize 2002 for best thesis, and graduated with distinction. Two months later she was at the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh to work on her PhD in the department of mathematics under supervision of Bernd Schroers; her thesis was titled Phase space and quantisation of (2+1)-dimensional gravity in the Chern–Simons formulation.
Between 2004 and 2008, she worked as a postdoc at the Perimeter Institute in Canada. After a half-year stay at the University of Nottingham as a Marie Curie Intra European Research Fellow, she led a Emmy-Noether Junior Research Group at the University of Hamburg until 2011.

References

Living people
Women mathematicians
Austrian women physicists
Austrian physicists
German women
Scientists from Baden-Württemberg
University of Freiburg alumni
Alumni of Heriot-Watt University
Academic staff of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
1978 births

Catherine Meusburger


The Order of Sidonia was the German Kingdom of Saxony's chivalric order for women. Created 14 March 1871 by King John, the order was granted to female members of the Saxon nobility until the fall of the monarchy in 1918. It was named for the duchess consort of Saxony and margravine consort of Meissen, née princess Sidonia of Bohemia.

Insignia
Members of the Sidonian Order wore a Maltese cross of gold and enamel, suspended from a purple bow with white and green stripes. Members of the royal family wore a sash instead of the bow. At the apex of the Maltese cross, a medallion featured an image of a helmeted female figure, surrounded with the name "Sidonia".

Sources
 Tagore, Rajah Sir Sourindro Mohun. The Orders of Knighthood, British and Foreign. Calcutta: The Catholic Orphan Press, 1884.

Sidonia, Order of
Sidonia Order of
Sidonia, Order of
Orders, decorations, and medals of Saxony

Order of Sidonia


is an adventure game developed by Creatures and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. First announced during a press release in 2019 alongside apps such as Pokémon Home, it is a sequel to 2016's Detective Pikachu for the Nintendo 3DS. It was showcased for the first time during a Nintendo Direct in June 2023, and was released on October 6, 2023.

Gameplay

Premise
The game will take place in Ryme City, reuniting Pikachu with his partner Tim Goodman while solving mysteries and "discovering the origins of the great detective Pikachu". The game will also have Harry Goodman, the father of Tim Goodman, go missing. The game will feature Pokémon from games released after the original bringing new possibilities for this sequel to achieve.

Plot
Two years following the R incident, Tim Goodman and his partner Detective Pikachu continue to serve Ryme City as detectives. A ceremony where Mayor Howard Myers is honoring them with medals as a reward for their efforts is interrupted by a rampaging Corviknight. Tim and Pikachu investigate the chaos caused by Corviknight and recover Pikachu's signature hat, which the Corviknight had stolen, before returning to the ceremony.

The next day, Tim and Pikachu's services are enlisted by Inspector Frank Holiday to assist the police with an investigation at Sanjeev Denis's mansion, where the legendary Aurora Drop, a precious jewel, has gone missing. Mr. Denis's butler, Brandon Barnes, has been accused of the crime and is the police's top suspect, but Mr. Denis is convinced of his butler's innocence and requests Tim's help in finding the real culprit. By questioning Mr. Denis, Mr. Barnes, Mr. Denis's wife Claudia Denis, and new staff member Larry Turner, Tim and Pikachu are able to find enough evidence to prove Mr. Barnes is innocent and enlist the assistance of Mr. Denis's partner Growlithe, who possesses a powerful sense of smell, to track the real culprit. During the investigation, they run into Tim's classmate Rachel Myers, the daughter of Mayor Myers, and her friend Jessica Miller. Rachel requests Tim's help with something that she does not want to disclose in public, so Tim invites her to visit his apartment later that evening. They also briefly encounter an oddly behaving scientist named Charles Merloch, who performs a brief health exam on Pikachu. Tim and Pikachu are able to deduce and prove to the police that the real culprit was Larry Turner, who's working with an unknown accomplice, and that the Aurora Drop had been swallowed by Turner's partner, Cramorant. Although Cramorant initially spits up the jewel and Turner is taken into custody, a mysterious cube on Cramorant's back suddenly activates and the Gulp Pokémon swallows the Aurora Drop and escapes, though Turner insists he had no role in Cramorant's escape.

Tim and Pikachu return home, where Tim's mother, Irene Goodman, and sister, Sophia Goodman, are visiting for Tim's medal ceremony. Rachel arrives and is invited by Irene to join them for dinner, during which Pikachu falls mysteriously unconscious and sees memories of Tim's father, Harry Goodman, informing Irene that he wants a divorce. When Pikachu awakens, Tim and Rachel are relieved to see he is alright, and Rachel expresses that spending time with Tim and his family has relieved the concerns she had and she no longer feels the need to talk about what was bothering her. Instead, Tim asks if she knows anyone who may know more about the Aurora Drop, and Rachel suggests that they meet with her professor Trevor Gordon, who's an expert on minerals, the next day.

Tim, Pikachu, and Rachel head to the Southern Ruins, which Professor Gordon is investigating, but only find from his assistant, Chris Honor, that the professor had disappeared into the ruins days ago and never returned. Additionally, the ruins and their surrounding area have been mysteriously covered in ice and snow. Tim and Pikachu apply their detective skills to solve the ruins' puzzles and get inside to find Professor Gordon, with the assistance of the professor's Slowpoke and other local Pokémon. They encounter a Galarian Darmanitan on a rampage and sneak past it, eventually placating it with Slowpoke's tail as a snack. Darmanitan reveals that it, alongside several of its Ice-type friends, were kidnapped by a mysterious group and escaped, covering the ruins in ice to make it feel more like home. Pikachu and Darmanitan team up to navigate the ruins, using Darmanitan's strength to break rocks and find Darmanitan's missing friends and Professor Gordon, but the main entrance to the ruins closes behind them, trapping them all inside. Using Professor Gordon's knowledge and the Ice-type powers of Darmanitan's friend Eiscue, Tim and Pikachu are able to deduce the solution to the final puzzle and open a second entrance, allowing the group to escape the ruins. However, as they leave, they hear a mysterious man approaching, who attempts to steal Pikachu before fleeing. Darmanitan, Pikachu, and Eiscue pursue him and are attacked by a Mamoswine with the same kind of cube that Cramorant had; Darmanitan defeats the Mamoswine, but the man escapes. Tim asks Professor Gordon about the Aurora Drop, and the professor reveals that it is believed to be the dormant form of an extraterrestrial Pokémon.

On their way home, Tim, Pikachu, and Rachel see Mewtwo escaping from a swarm of Beedrill and carrying Harry's unconscious body. The Beedrill's attacks knock Mewtwo into the city, causing the residents to flee in a panic, and Harry's body is taken by mysterious men who fly away on the Beedrill. Pikachu attempts to ask Mewtwo what is going on, but the residents of Ryme City express fear of Genetic Pokémon and Mewtwo leaves to avoid further issues.

Before Tim and Pikachu can further investigate the Aurora Drop and the mysterious group that attacked them and took Harry, Pikachu is arrested by Brad McMaster for allegedly destroying a Slowpoke fountain. To prove Pikachu's innocence, Tim and Pikachu are forced to work separately, as Tim works with Rachel to investigate the destruction of the fountain and Pikachu questions the many other Pokémon who have been detained, sharing their findings during the detention center's brief visitation hours. While in custody, Pikachu and the other detained Pokémon are given the same mysterious cube devices used by the men that attacked them, and Pikachu learns it is used to control Pokémon's actions. Tim and Rachel are able to find evidence suggesting all of the detained Pokémon were framed, while Pikachu allies with a Luxray to sneak around the detention center and gets into the office of Will Butler, the chief of the Pokémon Protection Bureau, where he discovers a detained Ditto and papers suggesting Chief Butler is being paid to wrongfully detain Pokémon by an organization known as Unitas. Tim allies with Brad, who has become equally suspicious of the increase in arrests, and confronts Chief Butler as Pikachu and Luxray break out of the detention center with the other Pokémon. Tim is able to prove that the crimes were committed by Ditto, transformed into the other Pokémon and controlled through the cube on its back by Chief Butler. Brad arrests Butler and frees the Pokémon, but the device Butler used to control the Pokémon is remotely destroyed before they can take a closer look at it. Pikachu shows Tim another file he found in Butler's office, suggesting that Unitas is planning to target Jessica next. Worried for their friend, Tim, Rachel, and Pikachu decide to seek Jessica out the next morning, after wrapping up the loose ends on the current case.

As Tim prepares dinner, Irene drops a wedding ring, which is picked up by Pikachu, triggering another flashback that reveals Harry only requested a divorce from Irene to protect her. When Pikachu recovers, he sees Irene telling Tim and Sophia that Harry had not taken his wedding ring with him when he disappeared, but that she is confident he did not truly want a divorce and there must have been something else going on.

The next morning, Tim, Rachel, and Pikachu head to Bamboo Borough to check in on Jessica, but arrive before Unitas and join Jessica on a trip into the Bamboo Forest to acquire charcoal for the pizzeria she works for. During their trek into the forest, Pikachu is plagued by repeated flashbacks of Harry investigating the R incident in the same place, which is where he originally met and became partners with Pikachu. As Pikachu recounts these memories to Tim, he becomes repeatedly mixed up between actions taken by Harry and actions taken by Pikachu, piquing Tim's suspicions that something deeper is going on. In the present, Tim and Pikachu are joined by the Pangoro that was Pikachu's cellmate in the detention center, who Pikachu now remembers was his old friend Pancham while he still lived in the Bamboo Forest. When Rachel and Jessica disappear, Tim and Pikachu enlist Pangoro's strength to help them navigate the forest, eventually coming upon their friends held captive by another mysterious man controlling a Golem. Pangoro and Pikachu defeat the Golem and free it from the cube controlling it, allowing it to chase its former controller out of the forest, but Jessica reveals the man, a member of Unitas, has already taken what he came for: a thumbdrive containing research from Rachel's mother, Emma, which she had given to Jessica for safe-keeping out of fear it could be used to harm people and Pokémon. The research suggests a way that it would be possible for a person and Pokémon's consciousness to be combined.

After confirming that Rachel and Jessica are safe, Tim confronts Pikachu about the inconsistencies in his memories about Harry. Together, they conclude that Pikachu's body contains both Pikachu and Harry's consciousnesses. Pikachu is able to recall that, after Harry's car accident, Harry was slowly fading, but Pikachu was able to convince Mewtwo to do something to save him. Mewtwo was able to preserve Harry's consciousness in Pikachu's body, but to prevent Pikachu's own consciousness from being erased, it was forced to keep Harry's memories hidden away. Tim and Pikachu agree to investigate Unitas and try to return Harry to his own body.

Tim, Pikachu, and Rachel arrive at Unitas's facility at the Pokémon Unity Lab, which had been supposedly closed down following a berserk Pokémon rampage caused by R that resulted in Emma's death, and begin an infiltration, assisted by their friends Growlithe, Darmanitan, Luxray, and Pangoro. As they navigate the floors into the deepest basement, they steadily uncover Unitas's motivations behind the taking of the Aurora Drop, the attack on the ruins, the detainment of the innocent Pokémon, and the attack on Jessica, as well as the fact that Unitas is being led by Mayor Myers and Charles Merloch. Learning that Mayor Myers was motivated by his desire to protect Rachel after her mother's death, Tim and Rachel realize that Merloch has been manipulating him to achieve his own goals, which involve using Rachel's mother's research, as well as Harry and Pikachu, to combine his own consciousness with that of a Pokémon. Tim, Pikachu, and Rachel confront Mayor Myers and Merloch on the bottom floor, where they lay out the evidence of Merloch's wrongdoings to Mayor Myers, convincing him that he has been used. However, it is too late, as Merloch is able to awaken the Aurora Drop, revealing its true form of Deoxys, and take over Deoxys's body. Mewtwo arrives to fight off Merloch in Deoxys's body and prevent him from escaping while Tim and Pikachu attempt to deactivate the machine and undo the fusion. While the machine is stopped, the fusion persists. As such, Pikachu takes energy capsules containing energy extracted from his and Harry's bodies and smashes into Deoxys with them, returning Merloch to his own body and Deoxys back to its Aurora Drop form. However, Pikachu is worn out by this effort and is forced to stay behind as the facility collapses, leaving Tim, Rachel, and Mayor Myers to escape without him. Tim is distraught over losing his father once again, only to see Harry and Pikachu emerge from the wreckage, back in their own bodies and with Merloch ready to be taken into custody. Rachel and her father reconcile and Harry is reunited with his family as Merloch's machinations are put to an end.

Development and release
The game was first announced during a press release in 2019 as an unnamed sequel to Detective Pikachu for the Nintendo 3DS. It was officially announced in during a Nintendo Direct in June 2023, with a release date of October 6, 2023. A trailer was released detailing gameplay and some plot details on August 8, 2023.

A tie-in anime short, titled Detective Pikachu & the Mystery of the Missing Flan, from Polygon Pictures was released on YouTube on October 25, 2023.

Reception

Detective Pikachu Returns received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Detective Pikachu Returns was the bestselling retail game throughout its first week of release in Japan, with 85,639 physical copies being sold across the country.

Possible Sequels

References

External links

2023 video games
Pokémon spin-off games
Nintendo Switch games
Nintendo Switch-only games
Single-player video games
Detective video games
Adventure games
Nintendo games
Video game sequels
Video games developed in Japan

Detective Pikachu Returns


Neptun Werft is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Rostock. Since 1997 it has been part of the Meyer Neptun Group together with Meyer Werft in Papenburg.

History
The company was founded as the "Schiffswerft und Maschinenfabrik von Wilhelm Zeltz und Albrecht Tischbein" in 1850 and their first iron steamship was launched in 1851. The shipyard developed quickly, and as early as in 1857 it had some 400 employees. In 1890, after several mergers and buyouts, it became the "Actien-Gesellschaft Neptun". After 1945 and the division of Germany, the shipyard focused on markets in Eastern Europe. At that time the "Schiffswerft Neptun Rostock" counted among the most renowned state-owned shipyards of the German Democratic Republic.

The changing conditions of international competition following the German reunification brought about a time of change for the company. Productivity was not up to international standards, and due to EU restrictions it was no longer allowed to build new sea-going vessels. The yard became "Neptun Industrie Rostock" (NIR), and the following years were heavily influenced by staff cuts, re-organisation and diversification. Focus was put on the repair and upgrading of ships, construction and delivery of ship components, steel constructions for hydraulic engineering and complex Ro-Ro facilities.

In 1997 Neptun Werft became part of the Meyer Neptun Group, which includes Meyer Werft in Papenburg. Neptun Werft has geared its activities to its core maritime sector, while many companies formerly belonging to NIR and dealing in different sectors were sold, or set up independent operations. Since the year 2000 the shipyard's activities have been centred on the premises in Warnemünde (a district of Rostock), and the construction of river cruise vessels has been included in the product range. New production halls were erected in 2003 which allow ship construction independent of weather conditions.

Ships built by Neptun Werft (selection)

Civilian ships

Recent
 A'Rosa Bella (2002)
 A'Rosa Donna (2002)
 A'Rosa Mia (2003)
 A'Rosa Riva (2004)
 A'Rosa Luna (2005)
 A'Rosa Stella (2005)
 A'Rosa Aqua (2009)
 A'Rosa Viva (2010)
 A-Rosa Brava (2011)
 A-Rosa Silva (2012)
 A-Rosa Flora (2014)

Historic
 SS Denebola (1899)

Naval ships
 10 x Type VII submarines (1941 - 1944)
 2 x Replenishment oilers Type 707 tankers

References

External links
 Homepage of Neptun Werft
  View inside the shipbuilding hall]

Shipbuilding companies of Germany
Companies established in 1850
Economy of Rostock
Companies based in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

Neptun Werft


Fred St-Gelais (born Frédéric St-Gelais, on September 2, 1974 in Chibougamau, Quebec) is a Canadian songwriter, television music composer, record producer and multi-instrumentalist, currently living in Montreal, Quebec.

Biography

Early work
Fred St-Gelais has been immersed in the music industry since he was a teenager. After studying music for several years, both privately where he grew up in the Saguenay/Lac-St-Jean region of the Quebec province, and at the Lionel-Groulx College in the Montreal region,
he began his career playing guitar, bass and keyboards, as well as singing in clubs around Quebec in the late 1980s and early 1990s with various local Top 40, rock and blues acts. He decided to build his own studio, where he could work on and fine-tune his production, arranging, and songwriting skills. During this time, he also produced independent albums with local artists, such as Damien Tremblay. During the same time frame, St-Gelais began to receive more and more calls from various jingle and production music producers requesting his services as a studio musician, vocalist and programmer.

Move to Montreal and later work
St-Gelais moved to Montreal in February 1999. Since then, he has worked with Marie-Mai, Celine Dion, David Usher, Roch Voisine, Randy Bachman, Melissa O'Neil, Rex Goudie, the Canadian Idol television series, Gabrielle Destroismaisons, Andrée Watters, Alain Dumas, Les Mecs Comiques, Annie Villeneuve, Lindsay Robins, Crampe en masse, Réal Béland, and the band Hépatite B, in which he is also the lead singer and guitarist.

Music composed for television shows
In addition to his work with Canadian Idol, St-Gelais has composed music for the following TV shows:

Ramdam, Kif-Kif, the interstitial program R-Force, Fan Club, Star Academie, Stan et ses Stars, Instant Star, Le club des doigts croisés, Sam Chicotte, and Degrassi: The Next Generation (Season 7, Episode 7 "We Got the Beat").

Notable accomplishments, nominations and awards
He performed with Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan and Jarah Jane, in addition to serving as Jarah Jane's musical director during the Detroit leg of the 1999 Lilith Fair.

He has twice been featured in Recording magazine.

The band, Hépatite B, in which St-Gelais is the lead singer and guitarist, had their self-titled album nominated for 2002 best rock album of the year at ADISQ. Three of the album's songs became top 20 hits: "Ton Amour est trop lourd", "Mélanie est partie" and "Je sais, je sais".

St-Gelais, Lindsay Robins and Christopher Ward's song "Time Bomb," was named a finalist in the 2005 International Songwriting Competition (ISC). The ISC received nearly 15,000 entries for the competition, and fewer than 2% of the entries were selected as finalists. Their song was submitted in the "Rock" category.

Along with Marie-Mai, St-Gelais was showcased at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame 3rd Annual Gala, which was held February 5, 2006.

At the ADISQ 30th Annual Gala in 2008, Marie-Mai won a best rock album of the year Felix Award for her album Dangereuse Attraction (Dangerous Attraction in English), which launched in August 2007. St-Gelais cowrote and produced the album, which also became certified gold in August 2008, one year after it debuted.

St-Gelais and Marie-Mai were featured on the cover and in a feature article in the spring 2009 issue of SOCAN's Paroles et Musique magazine. In addition to their music ties, the pair was engaged in 2006 and married in Hawaii in September 2011.

He was nominated for a Juno in 2010 for "Record Producer Of The Year."

In September 2023, he got married to professional dancer Kim Gingras.

See also
Marie-Mai's discography

References

1974 births
Canadian record producers
Canadian male songwriters
Canadian television composers
Canadian pop musicians
Canadian rock musicians
Canadian blues musicians
French Quebecers
Living people
Musicians from Quebec
People from Chibougamau

Fred St-Gelais


Stanley Lucas (15 January 1900 - 21 June 2010) was a British supercentenarian. He was the oldest living man in Europe at the time of his death. He was also the third-oldest man in the world. Lucas was born at Morwenstow UK and had two brothers and two sisters. In 1908 his family moved to Marhamchurch where Lucas lived until 1948. Lucas married Ivy Nancekivell in 1926 and took over the family farm. Lucas was a breeder of Devon cattle and Devon longwool sheep and started a dairy farm in the early 1940s. In 1948 he moved to live with his family at Poughill, where he continued to live after Ivy's death in 1963. Lucas was a member of Bude Town Council from 1959 to 1970, as well as vice chairman. His daughter said, "He has worked hard in his working life and was a teetotaller and non-smoker and since he has been elderly has been well cared for". He died on 21 June 2010 in Bude, England at the age of 110.

References

1900 births
2010 deaths

Stanley Lucas


Paweł Finder (; born as Pinkus Finder; pseudonyms: Paul Finder, Paul Reynot; 19 September 1904 – 26 July 1944) was a Polish Communist leader and First Secretary of the Polish Workers' Party (PPR) from 1943 to 1944.

Early life
Finder came from an affluent Jewish shopkeeping family in Bielitz, where he was educated. He briefly flirted with Zionism while still at school and visited Palestine. He studied Chemistry in Vienna, Mulhouse and Paris. As a chemical engineer, he was a researcher at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers and was an assistant to Frédéric Joliot-Curie.

Communist Party activist
From 1922 to 1924 he was a member of the Austrian Communist Party, and from 1924 to 1928 of the French Communist Party, serving in the Central Committee apparatus and writing articles for l'Humanité. He was expelled from France for Communist activity in 1928 and returned to Poland. He completed military service in an officer school. He was active in the underground Communist Party of Poland (KPP) until his arrest in 1934, serving as a secretary in Silesia, Łódź, Warsaw and Kraków, and as a member of the National Secretariat in 1933.

He was arrested in 1934 and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment.  During the German and Soviet invasions of Poland in September 1939 he was able to flee Rawicz prison and went to the Soviet Union. He worked in the planning commission of the local authority established in Soviet-occupied Białystok, becoming its chairman early in 1941. Finder fled to Moscow when the Germans invaded and directed to the Comintern training school as a leader of the 'initiative group' formed to re-establish the Communist movement in Poland. On 27 December 1941 he parachuted into Poland. In the troika that formed and led the PPR (with Marceli Nowotko and Bolesław Mołojec), he provided intellectual and ideological support for Nowotko. He succeeded him as secretary in January 1943, following the murder of Nowotko and the subsequent execution of Mołojec.

Arrest and death
Finder was arrested by the Gestapo on 14 December 1943 and imprisoned in Pawiak. He was identified, tortured and shot by the Nazis in the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto as they evacuated and demolished Pawiak in July 1944.

His first wife, by whom he had a daughter, died in France in the 1920s.
His second wife, Gertruda Finder, was a KPP activist and worked in the Polish security apparatus after the war.

Notes

1904 births
1944 deaths
People from Bielsko
Politicians from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Jewish Polish politicians
Communist Party of Poland politicians
Polish Workers' Party politicians
People who died in the Warsaw Ghetto
Deaths by firearm in Poland
Polish civilians killed in World War II

Paweł Finder


The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA or Air Force) is an American military college. It was created in 1954. The Acadey is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of people who want to be officers for the United States Air Force. The college is north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County. The Academy's goal is "to educate, train, and inspire men and women to become officers of character, motivated to lead the United States Air Force in service to our nation." It is the youngest of the five United States service academies. The Academy had its first graduation in 1959. Graduates of the Academy's four-year program get a Bachelor of Science degree. Most become second lieutenants in the United States Air Force.

The Academy is one of the largest tourist attractions in Colorado. More than a million people visit it each year. Students are called "cadets".

The Air Force Academy is one of the most selective colleges in the United States. U.S. News and World Report recently ranked it tied for 5th place in the category Undergraduate Engineering Programs. Forbes magazine, in 2009, ranked the Academy the #2 public college in the United States and the #7 college overall in its "America's Best Colleges 2009" publication. People wanting to study at the Academy are judged on their academic achievement, leadership, athletics and character. They must pass a fitness test, pass a medical examination, and be nominated by the member of Congress where they live. Recent classes have had about 1,400 cadets. Normally, under 1,000 of the cadets will graduate. The cost of going to the Academy, Housing and food are paid for by the U.S. government.  Cadets are paid monthly while at the Academy but they must be a part of the military for a number of years after they graduate.

The program at the Academy is based on the Air Force's core values. These are  "Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do". They are also  based on four "pillars of excellence": military training, academics, athletics and character development. Cadets study military training and large curriculum in engineering, humanities, social sciences, basic sciences, military studies and physical education. All cadets take part in athletics. The academy has a character development and leadership curriculum.

History
The National Security Act of 1947 started the Air Force within the United States military. Secretary of the Air Force W. Stuart Symington made an agreement where up to 25% of West Point and Annapolis graduates could ask to become officers in the new Air Force. This was only meant to happen for a short time. Disagreements between the parts of the military led to the creation of the Service Academy Board. It was created by Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. In January 1950, the Service Academy Board was controlled by Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was the president of Columbia University at the time. The board said that the two U.S. service academies were not able to train enough officers for the Air Force. They decided that an air force academy was needed.  President Eisenhower signed a law on 1 April 1954 to begin building the Air Force Academy.

On 7 October 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a law that let women study at the United States service academies. On 26 June 1976, 157 women went to the Air Force Academy. . On 28 May 1980, 97 of them finished the program and graduated from the Academy. They made up about 10% of the graduating class. Women now make up about 20% of the classes.

The first Honor scandal happened in 1965. A cadet who was leaving the Academy said that more than 100 cadets had been part of a cheating ring. One hundred and nine cadets had to leave the Academy. Cheating scandals were at the Academy again in 1967, 1972, 1984, 2004. and 2007.  After each scandal, the Academy tried to learn why the cheating took place. They also looked at complaints that the academic system put too much pressure on the cadets. Changes were made to try to reduce the events from happening again.

In 2005, there were complaints that some Evangelical Christian cadets and staff were trying to convert others to their religion at the Academy.  Because of this and how the Air Force deals other religious issues, Academy graduate Michael L. Weinstein filed a lawsuit against the Air Force.

Notes

References

Further reading
 Bruegmann, Robert. Modernism at Mid-Century: The Architecture of the United States Air Force Academy. University of Chicago Press: 1995. .
 Celebrating the U.S. Air Force Academy's Golden Anniversary, (Colorado Springs) Gazette, Special Edition, Spring 2004.
 Contrails (various years)
 Fagan, George V. Air Force Academy: An Illustrated History. Johnson Books: 1988. .
 Fifty Years of Excellence: Building Leaders of Character for the Nation, 2004.
 Lui, Elizabeth Gill. Spirit and Flight: A Photographic Salute to the United States Air Force Academy. 1996. .
 Nauman, Robert Allen. (2004).  On the Wings of Modernism: the United States Air Force Academy. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ;  OCLC 52542599
 Schemo, Diana Jean.  Skies to Conquer: A Year Inside the Air Force Academy.  John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: 2010.

Other websites

 Official website
 Official military website
 Official Athletics website
 USAFA Association of Graduates (Alumni organization)

Military schools
United States Air Force
1954 establishments in the United States
Colleges and universities in Colorado
Mountain West Conference
Atlantic Hockey
ECAC Lacrosse
Colorado Springs, Colorado
20th-century establishments in Colorado

United States Air Force Academy


The pharmaceutical industry in India was valued at an estimated US$42 billion in 2021 and is estimated to reach $130 billion by 2030. India is the world's largest provider of generic medicines by volume, with a 20% share of total global pharmaceutical exports. It is also the largest vaccine supplier in the world by volume, accounting for more than 60% of all vaccines manufactured in the world. Indian pharmaceutical products are exported to various regulated markets including the US, UK, European Union and Canada.

According to Economic Survey 2023, the turnover in the domestic pharmaceutical market was estimated to be $41 billion. India's pharmaceutical exports revenue was $25.3 billion in fiscal year 2022–23, according to the data released by Pharmexcil. India ranked third globally in terms of dollar value of drugs and medicines exports.

Major pharmaceutical hubs in India are (anticlockwise from northwest): Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Ankleshwar, Vapi, Baddi, Sikkim, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Margao, Navi Mumbai, Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Pithampur, and Paonta Sahib.

Overview

Summary

As of 2023, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is the world's 13th largest by value and third largest in the world by volume. The industry produces over 60,000 generic drugs in different 60 therapeutic categories. India's revenue from pharmaceutical exports was $25.3 billion in the 2022-2023 financial year. In terms of the global market, India currently holds an accountable share and is known as the pharmacy of the world. The country is the largest global supplier of generic medicine. India produces more than 50% the world's vaccines. It supplies 40% of the US's demand for generic drugs. India gained its foothold on the global scene with its innovatively-engineered generic drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), The country accounts for around 30% (by volume) and about 10% (value) in the US$70–80 billion US generics market.  Growth in other fields notwithstanding, generics are still a large part of the picture. The Indian pharmaceutical industry supplies over 50 per cent of global demand for various vaccines, 40 per cent of generic demand in the US and 25 per cent of all medicine in the UK. India is the largest contributor in UNESC with over 50-60% share.

Industry sector development

Government intervention

The Indian government established the Department of Biotechnology in 1986 under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Since then, there have been a number of dispensations offered by both the central government and various states to encourage the growth of the industry. India's science minister launched a program that provides tax incentives and grants for biotech start-ups and firms seeking to expand and establishes the Biotechnology Parks Society of India to support ten biotech parks by 2010. Previously limited to rodents, animal testing was expanded to include large animals as part of the minister's initiative. States have started to vie with one another for biotech business, and they are offering such goodies as exemption from VAT and other fees, financial assistance with patents and subsidies on everything ranging from investment to land to utilities.

The Government started to encourage the growth of drug manufacturing by Indian companies in the early 1960s, and with the Patents Act in 1970. The government has addressed the problem of educated but unqualified candidates in its Draft National Biotech Development Strategy. This plan included a proposal to create a National Task Force that will work with the biotech industry to revise the curriculum for undergraduate and graduate study in life sciences and biotechnology. The government's strategy also stated intentions to increase the number of PhD Fellowships awarded by the Department of Biotechnology to 200 per year. These human resources will be further leveraged with a "Bio-Edu-Grid" that will knit together the resources of the academic and scientific industrial communities, much as they are in the US.

The biotechnology sector faces some major challenges in its quest for growth. Chief among them is a lack of funding, particularly for firms that are just starting out. The most likely sources of funds are government grants and venture capital, which is a relatively young industry in India. Government grants are difficult to secure, and due to the expensive and uncertain nature of biotech research, venture capitalists are reluctant to invest in firms that have not yet developed a commercially viable product.

Incentives for R&D, product development and high-value production

Government of India has launched a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Pharmaceuticals with provision for disbursal of US$2 billion or 15,000 crore government incentives, which will run from 2020–21 to 2028–29, to reduce import dependence, benefit domestic manufacturers, boost product diversification and innovation for development of complex and high-tech products especially in in vitro diagnostic devices and emerging technologies especially in cell based or gene therapy, employment generation and production of wide range of lower cost affordable medicines for consumers with the aim to achieve incremental sales of US$4 billion or INR 29,400 crore and incremental exports of US$2.7 billion or INR 19,600 crore between 2022–23 to 2027–28.

Manufacture of API supplies in India

To eliminate the dependence on China after the 2017 China–India border standoff to foster an Atmanirbhar Bharat, in July 2021 India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) initiated a Make in India program in collaboration with the coal and petroleum industries of India to end-to-end manufacture 56 prioritised active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for the essential medicines. In 2016–17, China was the largest supplier of API to India with 66% share by volume of API raw material supplies to India worth US$2.4 billion or INR 18,000 crore, followed by US$1.6 billion API imported from Germany, the US, Italy and Singapore are other major suppliers to India.

Foreign investment

Per India's Consolidated FDI Policy, 2020 (the "FDI Policy"), foreign direct investment ("FDI") in the pharmaceutical sector in greenfield (new) projects is permitted up to 100% without the approval of the Department of Pharmaceuticals (the "DoP"). In brownfield (existing) projects, FDI exceeding 74% requires the investor to seek prior approval from the DoP in compliance with the prescribed conditions under the FDI Policy.

Separately, FDI up to 100% is permitted for the manufacturing of medical devices for both greenfield and brownfield projects without the approval of the DoP.

An FDI approval from the DoP can be obtained within a period of ten to twelve weeks from the date of the application, depending on the completeness of the documentation submitted by the investor in support of the application, failing which, this timeline could vary.

Relation between pharma and biotech

India's biopharmaceutical industry clocked a 17% growth with revenues of Rs. 137 billion ($1.8 billion) in the 2009-10 financial year over the previous fiscal. Bio-pharma was the biggest contributor generating 60 percent of the industry's growth at Rs. 8,829 crore, followed by bio-services at Rs. 2,639 crore and bio-agri at Rs. 1,936 crore. Indian companies carved a niche in both the Indian and world markets with their expertise in reverse-engineering new processes for manufacturing drugs at low costs which became the advantage for industry.

Unlike in other countries, the difference between biotechnology and pharmaceuticals remains fairly defined in India, with biotech a much smaller part of the economy. India accounted for 2% of the $41 billion global biotech market and in 2003 was ranked 3rd in the Asia-Pacific region and 13th in the world in number of biotech. In 2004–5, the Indian biotech industry saw its revenues grow 37% to $1.1 billion. The Indian biotech market is dominated by biopharmaceuticals; 76% of 2004–5 revenues came from biopharmaceuticals, which saw 30% growth last year. Of the revenues from biopharmaceuticals, vaccines led the way, comprising 47% of sales. Biologics and large-molecule drugs tend to be more expensive than small-molecule drugs, and India hopes to sweep the market in bio-generics and contract manufacturing as drugs go off patent and Indian companies upgrade their manufacturing capabilities.

Most companies in the biotech sector are extremely small, with only two firms breaking 100 million dollars in revenues. At last count there were 265 firms registered in India, over 92% of which were incorporated in the last five years. The newness of the companies explains the industry's high consolidation in both physical and financial terms. Almost 30% of all biotech are in or around Bangalore, and the top ten companies capture 47% of the market. The top five companies were homegrown; Indian firms account for 72% of the bio-pharma sector and 52% of the industry as a whole.[4,46] The Association of Biotechnology-Led Enterprises (ABLE) is aiming to grow the industry to $5 billion in revenues generated by 1 million employees by 2009, and data from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) seem to suggest that it is possible.

Comparison with the United States

The Indian biotech sector parallels that of the US in many ways. Both are filled with small start-ups while the majority of the market is controlled by a few powerful companies. Both are dependent upon government grants and venture capitalists for funding because neither will be commercially viable for years. Pharmaceutical companies in both countries see growth potential in biotechnology and have either invested in existing start-ups or ventured into the field themselves.

Research and product development

Product development

Indian companies are also starting to adapt their product development processes to the new environment. For years, firms have made their ways into the global market by researching generic competitors to patented drugs and following up with litigation to challenge the patent. This approach remains untouched by the new patent regime and looks to increase in the future. However, those that can afford it have set their sights on an even higher goal: new molecule discovery. Although the initial investment is huge, companies are lured by the promise of hefty profit margins and thus a legitimate competitor in the global industry. Local firms have slowly been investing more money into their R&D programs or have formed alliances to tap into these opportunities. To push for further R&D the government is planning to introduce a Research Linked Incentive (RLI) Scheme on the lines of Production Linked Incentive Scheme to encourage development of new medical products.

Patents

In 1970, Indira Gandhi enacted legislation which barred medical products from being patented in the country. In 1994, 162 countries including India signed the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, which stipulated that patents had to be given to all inventions including medicines. India and other developing countries were provided an extra ten years to comply fully with the conditions mandated by TRIPS. India succeeded in including a crucial clause to the agreement in the form of the right to grant compulsory licenses (CLs) to others to manufacture drugs in cases where the government felt that the patent holder was not serving the public health interest. This right was used in 2012, when Natco was granted a CL to produce Nexavar, a cancer drug. In 2005, a provision was added to the new legislation as section 3(d) which stipulated that a medicine could not be patented if it did not result in "the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance".

A significant change in intellectual property protection in India was 1 January 2005 enactment of an amendment to India's patent law that reinstated product patents for the first time since 1972. The legislation took effect on the deadline set by the WTO's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, which mandated patent protection on both products and processes for a period of 20 years. Under this new law, India will be forced to recognise not only new patents but also any patents filed after 1 January 1995.

In December 2005, the TRIPS pact was amended to incorporate specific safeguards to ensure that the public health concerns of affordability and accessibility for a large section of people in developing countries was not compromised. These amendments came into force only in January 2017, however, after two-thirds of the member countries ratified them.
In the domestic market, this new patent legislation has resulted in fairly clear segmentation. The multinationals narrowed their focus onto high-end patents who make up only 12% of the market, taking advantage of their newly bestowed patent protection. Meanwhile, Indian firms have chosen to take their existing product portfolios and target semi-urban and rural populations.

Types of companies

The Indian pharmaceutical industry has 5 important segments; contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS), active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), formulations, biologics and biosimilars, and vaccines. Various types of companies are within these segments.

Formulations
India is considered globally as a high-quality generic medicines manufacturer. Most of India's largest pharmaceutical companies manufacture and export generic medicines, and are among the largest generic medicine companies globally. These companies include Sun Pharma, which is India's largest and the world's fourth largest specialty generics pharmaceutical company. Cipla, another large Indian pharmaceutical company, is noted for its pioneering role in manufacturing and exporting low-cost generic HIV/AIDS drugs to developing countries. As of 2021, Lupin is the third largest pharmaceutical company in India by prescriptions.

Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)
As of 2021, India's APIs market is worth $11.8 billion and is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12.24% until 2027. Several Indian companies manufacture APIs. One of India's largest pharmaceutical companies, Divi's Laboratories, is the world's largest manufacturer of more than 10 generic APIs. Laurus Labs supplies APIs to 9 out of the 10 largest generic pharmaceutical companies, and is a leading producer of APIs for antiretroviral, cardiovascular and oncology drugs. Piramal Pharma, a company that is part of the Piramal Group, develops and manufactures peptide APIs.

Contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS)
India has a rapidly growing CRAMS sector. Several Indian companies offer CRAMS services, which also includes contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services. Most of India's CRAMS companies and contract manufacturing organizations (CMO) operate in the small molecules segment. Laurus labs offers biologics and fermentation CDMO services. Divi's Laboratories's CDMO client's include 6 of the top 10 largest multinational pharmaceutical companies. Syngene, a subsidiary of Biocon, offers CRAMS small molecules APIs and biologics. Piramal Pharma, through its investment in Yapan Bio offers CDMO services for biologics which include vaccines, gene therapies, and monoclonal antibodies. Suven Pharmaceuticals offers services across the entire CDMO value chain with both intermediates & API related CDMO services. The company is also among the top five CDMO companies in India who supply high quality intermediaries to innovator companies.

Biologics and biosimilars
As of 2021, India controls only 8% of the world's biopharmaceutical market. India's domestic biosimilars market is projected to be valued at US$35 billion by 2030. Biocon is India's largest and fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company. In 2021, Biocon Biologics, a subsidiary of Biocon, received USFDA approval for Semglee, which is the first interchangeable biosimilar insulin glargine. Another subsidiary of Biocon, Biocon Sdn Bhd, built Asia's largest integrated insulin manufacturing and R&D facility in Malaysia, with a $300 million investment. Sun Pharma has stated that it intends to look at opportunities in the third wave of bio-pharmaceuticals that are going off patent in 2026–27. Intas Pharmaceuticals is a large company in the global biosimilar monoclonal antibodies market.

Vaccines
As of 2021, India is the world's largest manufacturing region for vaccines. In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that India has more than a 40% of the global market share in vaccines. Serum Institute of India (SII) is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume. SII manufactured Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which is the most administered COVID-19 vaccine in India. SII and MassBiologics, part of the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, developed Rabishield, a first of its kind rabies human monoclonal antibody. Bharat Biotech, in collobartion with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV), developed Covaxin, India's first COVID-19 vaccine. Bharat Biotech is also one of the first companies to develop vaccines for the Zika and Chikungunya viruses. Zydus Lifesciences developed the world's first human DNA COVID-19 vaccine and India's second indigenous COVID-19 Vaccine.

Largest companies

By market capitalization

Top 12 public pharmaceutical companies in India by market capitalization as of August 2023.

Top 5 private pharmaceutical companies in India by reported valuation in 2022.

By sales and marketing operations within India

Multinational Pharmaceutical Companies ranked as per active presence of sales, marketing and business in India are as follows:

Pfizer
GSK
Sanofi
Merck
Johnson & Johnson
Amgen
Novartis
Roche

Bristol-Myers Squibb
Eli Lilly & Company
Abbott
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company
Boehringer Ingelheim
Astellas

Exports

Exports of pharmaceuticals products from India increased from US$6.23 billion in 2006–07 to US$8.7 billion in 2008-09 a combined annual growth rate of 21.25%.

India exported $11.7 billion worth of pharmaceuticals in 2014. Pharmaceutical export from India stood at US$17.27 billion in 2017–18, and is expected to grow by 30 per cent to reach US$20 billion by 2020.And India Share in This 40% The 10 countries below imported 56.5% of that total:

Criticism

Scandals

In 2022, toxic cough syrups made by two companies in India were linked to the deaths of 70 children in The Gambia and 19 in Uzbekistan. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the products had excess levels of diethylene glycol.

On 5 October 2022, the World Health Organization issued a medical product alert that was linked to acute kidney injuries, and the deaths of 69 children in the Republic of the Gambia. The four substances that were issued the medical product alert were: Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup. These medications were produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited, in India. The medical alert was issued as the World Health Organization claimed that after sampling batches and conducting laboratory analysis its investigators had found that these products had "unacceptable levels of diethylene glycol." The WHO also claimed that while these products were only found in the Gambia, they may have been exported to other countries through informal markets.

Patents
It has been pointed out that the pharma industry is not scrutinized enough when it comes to withdrawing patent challenges. An example of this lies in the case of the patent application filed by Gilead Sciences for the Hepatitis C medicine sofosbuvir.

For context, Sofosbuvir (brand name: Sovaldi) was listed at $1,000 per pill in the united States. Patients group desired that this medication be off a patent, to ensure more affordable distribution of the drug. Because India's patent laws allow a third party to dispute a pending patent, in 2014, it was claimed that Natco initially filed a "pre-grant opposition" with the patent authority.  However, a month after signing a voluntary licensing agreement with Gilead, Natco withdrew the patent challenge.

In 2015, Gilead Sciences's patent was rejected by the Indian Patent Authority on the basis that there were little changes to the formulation of the drug. This decision was then appealed by Gilead Sciences, and subsequently the Indian Patent Office in New Delhi approved the drug.  After receiving exclusivity with the patent, Gilead Sciences stated that the patent would not stop the availability of the drug, mentioning that they had a voluntary licensing program with generic manufacturers in India to distribute the drug.

It has been argued that Mylan (an influential pharmaceutical company which was Natco's client) exerted pressure on Natco and 'brokered' a deal, though the term 'brokered' has been refuted by Mylan.

Quality

 Between 2015 and 2017, there were 31 FDA warning letters to Indian pharmaceutical companies citing serious Data Integrity issues, including data deletion, manipulation or fabrication of test results.
 According to Outsourcing Pharma in 2012, 75% of counterfeit drugs supplied world over had some origins in India, followed by 7% from Egypt and 6% from China. The Central Drug Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO), the drug regulatory authority of India conducted a nationwide survey in 2009 and announced that of "24,000 samples [that] were collected from all over India and tested. It was found that only 11 samples or 0.046% were spurious." In 2017 a similar survey found 3.16% of the medicines sampled were substandard and 0.0245% were fake.

See also
 Ayurveda
 Healthcare in India
 Medical tourism in India
 Opium and Alkaloid Works
 Contract Research Organization
 Genome Valley
 Pharmaceutical industry in Gujarat

References

Healthcare in India
Pharmacy in India
Industries in India

Pharmaceutical industry in India


Edward Kennard Rand FBA (December 20, 1871 – October 28, 1945), known widely as E.K. Rand or to his peers as EKR, was an American classical scholar and medievalist. He served as the Pope Professor of Latin at Harvard University from 1901 until 1942, during which period he was also the Sather Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, for two terms. Rand is best known for his 1928 work, Founders of the Middle Ages.

Rand founded the Mediaeval Academy of America, its journal Speculum, and, in addition, served as the president of the American Philological Association (now the Society for Classical Studies) and the Classical Association of New England. At the end of his career, he was a senior fellow at Dumbarton Oaks.

Early life and education
Born in South Boston on December 20, 1871, Rand was the only son of an established New England family that otherwise consisted of four daughters. He was educated in Watertown, Massachusetts, and, being an overachiever, graduated first in his class among students who had no intention to attend college. Having been in a tight financial situation, he was encouraged by his friends to apply to Harvard and did so by ringing the doorbell of Charles William Eliot, then the president of the university, seeking financial aid. To the "bemused" president, Rand asked, "I would like to go to Harvard; do you have any money?" Upon hearing his request, Eliot personally saw to Rand's admission into Harvard College, where Rand would go on to graduate as class secretary with an A.B., summa cum laude, and with further honors in the classics, philosophy, Greek, and Latin.

After graduating from Harvard in 1894 and earning his master's degree from the university a year later, Rand sought to follow his father's footsteps in becoming a theologian, enrolling at Harvard Divinity School where he was taught by the philosopher George Santayana. Aimless, he spent three years tutoring fellow students and teaching at a summer school in Maine before finally being invited to join the Classics faculty as a resident scholar at the University of Chicago, where he was allowed to lecture on topics concerning the Middle Ages. During his second year at the university, Rand was given a leave of absence to study at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Upon returning to the University of Chicago, he enrolled in a palaeography course taught by Caspar René Gregory, during which time he resolved to attain a Ph.D. at the University of Munich and enter academia.

After traveling through Europe and arriving to study at Munich in 1898, it was there that Rand came under the influence of a number of prominent professors—most notably Ludwig Traube, the granduncle of Eduard Fraenkel—that shaped his postgraduate education. In November 1900, he completed his dissertation, Der dem Boethius zugeschriebene Traktat de fide catholica (The treatise ascribed to Boethius, De Fide Catholica), under Traube's supervision. In the spring of next year, he married Belle Brent Palmer—a native of Kentucky—and later returned to Harvard to assume a position as a Latin instructor.

Academic career
Beginning with his position as a Latin instructor, Rand would become an active professor and academic until the end of his life. He often traveled abroad to assume momentary teaching positions, lecturing at various institutions such as the University of Toronto and the University of Paris.

From 1919 until 1920, Rand served two terms as the Sather Professor of Classical Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, delivering lectures on "The History of Classical Culture during the Middle Ages" and "The History of Pastoral Literature". He would, however, spend most of his years teaching at Harvard, where, from 1931 until 1942, he was its Pope Professor of Latin.

When Rand finally retired from teaching in 1942, he spent his last years as a senior fellow at Dumbarton Oaks. By his death, he had been an accomplished scholar who founded the Medieval Academy of America, the journal Speculum, Harvard's Servius, and was the president of both the American Philological Association and Classical Association of New England; he had been the author of numerous books and approximately 200 publications, of which more than 100 were articles.

Harvard

Following his arrival to Harvard in 1901 to teach Latin, Rand gradually rose to the position of assistant professor and, eventually, received a full professorship in 1909. Some of his early work consisted of examining the manuscripts of the philosopher Boethius, who had been the subject of his dissertation, and his Opuscula sacra. However, it was to the early Roman poets that Rand dedicated the majority of his early career. Committed to inflating the status of the poet Virgil, he used "a somewhat audacious mixture of travel and philology" to enhance the appeal of his article, In quest of Virgil's birthplace. Following this, a series of other articles Rand wrote on Virgil were later compiled into a lecture series he gave at Northwestern University, which in turn was used in his work, The Magical Art of Virgil, published in 1931. He also wrote booklets on Horace and Ovid, delivering addresses on them and other Roman writers to the Rice Institute (now Rice University) and the Sorbonne.

At Harvard, Rand spent much of his time writing reviews and articles in academic journals, later succeeding his colleague Clifford Herschel Moore as the Pope Professor in 1931. From his lectures at the Lowell Institute came his most significant work, The Founders of the Middle Ages, which had been first published in 1928.

Having delivered presidential and Phi Beta Kappa addresses at the university, he developed a reputation as a skilled orator and rhetorician.

Awards
Rand had been a member of the American Philosophical Society, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the American Academy in Rome, and the Dante Society; as well as a fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Inscriptions, and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, among others. The Medieval Academy of America established the "Edward Kennard Rand Prize in Medieval Studies" in his honor, awarding a sum of 200 dollars as part of an essay competition in 1928, 1929, and 1930.

During his life, Rand received honorary degrees from multiple universities—including his alma mater, Harvard. The universities of Manchester, Case Western Reserve, and Trinity College Dublin all granted him a Doctor of Letters (Litt. D.), and the University of Glasgow and the University of Pennsylvania awarded him the degree of Legum Doctor (LL.D.). Following his death, the University of Paris awarded him its first post-war honorary doctorate (rentrée solennelle) for his work as a scholar.

In 1939, Rand and his wife were made Chevaliers of the French Legion of Honour. Prior to this, he had also been awarded the Order of the Crown of Italy.

Selected publications

Books
 Johannes Scottus (Munich, 1906);
 Dantis Aligherii operum Latinorum concordantiae, ed. with E. H. Wilkins & A. C. White (Oxford, 1912);
 Boethius: The Theological Tractates, trans, with H. F. Stewart, LCL (New York & London, 1918);
 Founders of the Middle Ages, Lowell Inst. Lectures (Cambridge, 1928; repr. New York, 1957);
 Studies in the Script of Tours, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1929–34);
 In Quest of Virgil's Birthplace (Cambridge, 1930)
 A Walk to Horace's Farm (Boston & New York, 1930);
 The Magical Art of Virgil (Boston, 1931; repr. Hamden, CT, 1966);
 The Earliest Book of Tours with L. W. Jones (Cambridge, 1934);
 The Ancient Classics and the New Humanism (New York, 1938)
 The Building of Eternal Rome (Boston, 1943);

Journal articles

 "A Romantic Biography of Virgil," CP 18 (1923) 303–9; Ovid and his Influence (Boston, 1925);
 Les ésprits souverains: dans la littérature romaine (Paris, 1936);
 "Horace and the Spirit of Comedy" Rice Inst. Pamphlet 24 (Apr. 1937) 39-117;

Posthumous
 Cicero in the Courtroom of St. Thomas Aquinas (Milwaukee, 1946);
 Servianorum in Vergilii carmina commentariorum editionis Harvardianae Volumen II, ed. with J. J. H. Savage et al. (Lancaster, PA, 1946).
 Festschrift: Classical and Mediaeval Studies in Honor of Edward Kennard Rand, ed. Leslie Webber Jones (Cambridge, 1938; repr. Freeport, NY, 1968).

References

Bibliography

External links

 List of books by Edward Kennard Rand
 Image at Dumbarton Oaks
 Portrait at Harvard Art Museums (See also the National Portrait Gallery)
 Collection of papers at Harvard Library

1871 births
1945 deaths
American medievalists
Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy
Harvard College alumni
University of Chicago alumni
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
University of California, Berkeley faculty
Harvard University faculty
American Latinists
Recipients of the Order of the Crown (Italy)
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Latin–English translators
Writers from Boston
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

Edward Kennard Rand


Kurya (Ukrainian: Куря, Pecheneg: *Kürä) was the name of a Pecheneg prince and khan who allied with Svyatoslav I of Kiev in his campaigns in the Balkans. Later, after Svyatoslav's defeat by the Byzantine Empire, Kurya ambushed and killed the Kievan grand prince at Khortytsia.  According to the Chronicle of Bygone Years, Kurya had Svyatoslav's skull made into a goblet (a known practice in Eurasian nomadic cultures for brave foes), and gilded. Dates of his rule are unknown, but he was no longer khan somewhere around 988 CE, being succeeded by Metiga. It is also possible that he was the leader of the Pechenegs in the 968 siege of Kyiv, but since a starting date is unknown, it is almost impossible to tell (and it could have been any of several other Pecheneg princes). Kurya appears as a villain in the 2006 animated film Prince Vladimir.

Life
Very little is known of Kurya's life; most of what can be reasonably inferred about him is taken from educated guessing and very vague. Apparently, Kurya and his wife drank from the gilded chalice made from Svyatoslav's skull and prayed for a son as brave as him (it is unknown if he had any children). Only mentioned in the Primary Chronicle, Kurya was the most powerful of the Pecheneg princes - Rus' historians included only his name in the Chronicle (a history of the Rus') when it was being compiled. In the late 1520s, however, the Nikonian Chronicle was created. A compilation of Rus' chronicles, it mentioned Pecheneg prince Ildeya as coming into the service of Yaropolk I. Around 988, Pecheneg leader Metiga did the same for Vladimir the Great - therefore Kurya was no longer khan by 988. However, what occurred after the death of Svyatoslav is not recorded, and Kurya's reign can be pinpointed to the 970s; this is not to say that he was not in power earlier, as there is no timeline for his rule until 988, when Metiga had definitely replaced him.

Death of Svyatoslav

The Pechenegs were allied with Byzantium during Kurya's life (having a complicated relationship with the Rus'). Svyatoslav's Rus' had invaded the Balkan Bulgars in 967 or 968, assisting the Byzantines. However, the Slavic grand prince's campaign had greatly exceeded the expectations of the Byzantines, under Emperor Nikephoros Phokas. Svyatoslav refused to turn over his territorial victories to the Empire (he had been paid 15,000 pounds of gold), thus the two parties dropped their alliance. After some fighting and disturbances, Svyatoslav's retreat point was besieged by the Byzantines. He surrendered and left the Balkans, relinquishing his territory while doing so.

Having ceded his territories in the Danube region, Svyatoslav began to return to Kiev. Although he had been defeated, new Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes (who had assassinated and overthrown Phokas) worried that the peace treaty he had forced Svyatoslav to sign between the Empire and Rus' would not last. Therefore, at the behest of Byzantium, the Pechenegs (led by Kurya) ambushed Svyatoslav and his army when he attempted to cross the cataracts near Khortytsia, at the Dnieper River, in March 972. His army took heavy losses, and the grand prince himself was slain.

References

10th century in Kievan Rus'
Pechenegs

Kurya (khan)


WDAE (620 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida and serving the Tampa Bay area.  It is owned by iHeartMedia and airs a sports radio format.  WDAE is one of the oldest radio stations in Florida still broadcasting today, going on the air in 1922.  The studios and offices are on West Gandy Boulevard in South Tampa.  The transmitter site is located near the Gandy Bridge in St. Petersburg.

WDAE is licensed to broadcast with 5,600 watts by day and 5,500 watts at night.  AM 620 is a regional broadcast frequency; because AM 620 is subject to interference from high-powered Cuban stations, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given WDAE special temporary authority (STA) for higher power: 11,280 watts daytime and 11,000 watts nighttime.  It uses a directional antenna at night.  WDAE broadcasts using the iBiquity HD radio system during daytime hours.  Programming is also heard on FM translator W237CW at 95.3 MHz and on the HD3 digital subchannel of co-owned WBTP (95.7 FM).

Programming
Three local shows are heard on weekdays on WDAE: Ronnie Lane and Tom Krasniqi – "The Ronnie and Tkras Show" in late mornings, Pat Donovan and Aaron Jacobson with "The Pat and Aaron Show" in early afternoons, and Ron Diaz and Ian Beckles with "The Ron and Ian Show" during late afternoons.  In mornings, nights and weekends, WDAE airs syndicated programming from ESPN Radio.  Some programming from Fox Sports Radio is also heard on the station.

FM Translator
Programming is simulcast on FM translator W237CW.

History

WDAE AM 1250 history
On December 1, 1921, the U.S. Department of Commerce, which regulated radio at this time, adopted the first regulations formally establishing a broadcasting station category, which set aside the wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) for entertainment broadcasts, and 485 meters (619 kHz) for market and weather reports.

On May 15, 1922, the Tampa Times, an afternoon daily newspaper, was issued a license for operation on both the 365 and 485 meter wavelengths. The call sign, WDAE, was randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call letters. WDAE was the second Florida broadcasting station licensed under the new regulations, following WCAN in Jacksonville, which was authorized seven days earlier, and, after a series of test transmissions, made its formal debut on May 17. WCAN was deleted on October 26, 1922. (Some sources have listed WQAM in Miami as Florida's oldest station, with varying claims of a history dating back to as early as 1920, however FCC records report WQAM's "Date First Licensed" as January 23, 1923.)

WDAE, as most early radio stations, broadcast on several frequencies during its beginning years, settling on AM 1250 by 1941.  In 1947, still owned by the newspaper, it added an FM station, 105.7 WDAE-FM (now WMTX 100.7 FM).

Through the 1940s and 50s, WDAE-AM-FM were CBS Radio Network affiliates, carrying its dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band remotes during the Golden Age of Radio.  In the late 1960s, WDAE-FM switched to beautiful music, while the AM station was a popular Top 40 station.

WDAE aired the popular talk show "Desperate & Dateless" on Friday nights with host Rosemary Haddad and producer Sam Cardinale.  In the 1980s, as Top 40 listening switched to FM, WDAE changed to an oldies format.  By the 1990s, it had moved to adult standards and later began simulcasting the adult contemporary music format of co-owned WUSA (100.7 FM, now WMTX) in November 1990.

In March 1994, WDAE switched to classic country as "Country Gold Froggy 1250" with former WUSA personalities whose on-air names became I.B. Green, Jimmy Hoppa and Davey Croakett.

In 1999, the station was acquired by Clear Channel Communications, the previous name of current owner iHeartMedia.  Clear Channel switched WDAE to its current all-sports format as "The Sports Animal."

WSUN AM 620 history

On November 1, 1927, WSUN first signed on the air.  For most of its early history, it was owned by the City of St. Petersburg.  WSUN used the first directional AM antenna system in the U.S., implemented in order to protect WTMJ in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, also on 620 kHz.  In its early years, WSUN was an ABC Radio affiliate, carrying the network's schedule until the 1960s, when it moved to a full service middle of the road music format.

Through the 1970s and 80s, WSUN aired country music.  It was owned by Plough Broadcasting, a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical firm Schering-Plough.  In 1988, Cox Broadcasting acquired WSUN and switched it to talk and later to 1950s-based adult standards.  In 1998, pending a sale, WSUN began simulcasting the audio from Time Warner (then Bright House Networks, now Spectrum) local cable TV news station "Bay News 9," changing the call letters of AM 620 to WSAA.  Cox Broadcasting moved the WSUN call letters and its standards format over to its co-owned station on AM 910 in nearby Plant City, Florida (now WTWD).

WDAE moves to 620
On January 1, 2000, three Tampa Bay radio stations, including WDAE, were involved in a frequency swap.  WSUN had previously vacated AM 620, moving to AM 910.  WDAE and its sports format moved from 1250 to 620.  Business-formatted WHNZ, which Clear Channel had bought from Paxson Communications in 1998, switched from AM 570 to WDAE's previous home at 1250. In addition, Clear Channel put a news/talk format on AM 570, changing the call letters to WTBN, which stood for Tampa Bay News.  Salem Communications bought WTBN the following year, installing a Christian radio format.

In late 2012, WDAE became the Tampa Bay home of ESPN Radio, as rival sports station WHBO (1040 AM) switched affiliation to the new NBC Sports Radio Network.

On November 28, 2018, WDAE rebranded as "95.3 WDAE", utilizing the FM translator in its branding.

Sports team associations
WDAE is the flagship station for the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. It is also the Tampa Bay home of South Florida Bulls football and Florida Gators men's basketball games. Each year, WDAE carries the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg auto race.

The station had been the flagship station for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football.  Beginning with the 2017 season, the team's broadcasts move to co-owned active rock station 97.9 FM WXTB.  WDAE continues to air interviews with players and coaches during game weeks.

WDAE had also been the flagship radio station for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (which is now on WHPT).  WDAE had also broadcast the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League (later heard on sister station WHNZ).

Previous logo
 (WDAE's logo using the primary 620 AM frequency branding)

References

External links
FCC History Cards for WDAE (covering 1937-1979 as WSUN on 620 kHz, beginning with split of WFLA-WSUN into two separate stations)
WDAE Website

Article about Chris Thomas - St. Pete Times, February 20, 2004

DAE
Sports radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1922
1922 establishments in Florida
IHeartMedia radio stations

WDAE


In geometry, a net of a polyhedron is an arrangement of non-overlapping edge-joined polygons in the plane which can be folded (along edges) to become the faces of the polyhedron. Polyhedral nets are a useful aid to the study of polyhedra and solid geometry in general, as they allow for physical models of polyhedra to be constructed from material such as thin cardboard.

An early instance of polyhedral nets appears in the works of Albrecht Dürer, whose 1525 book A Course in the Art of Measurement with Compass and Ruler (Unterweysung der Messung mit dem Zyrkel und Rychtscheyd ) included nets for the Platonic solids and several of the Archimedean solids. These constructions were first called nets in 1543 by Augustin Hirschvogel.

Existence and uniqueness

Many different nets can exist for a given polyhedron, depending on the choices of which edges are joined and which are separated. The edges that are cut from a convex polyhedron to form a net must form a spanning tree of the polyhedron, but cutting some spanning trees may cause the polyhedron to self-overlap when unfolded, rather than forming a net. Conversely, a given net may fold into more than one different convex polyhedron, depending on the angles at which its edges are folded and the choice of which edges to glue together. If a net is given together with a pattern for gluing its edges together, such that each vertex of the resulting shape has positive angular defect and such that the sum of these defects is exactly 4, then there necessarily exists exactly one polyhedron that can be folded from it; this is Alexandrov's uniqueness theorem. However, the polyhedron formed in this way may have different faces than the ones specified as part of the net: some of the net polygons may have folds across them, and some of the edges between net polygons may remain unfolded. Additionally, the same net may have multiple valid gluing patterns, leading to different folded polyhedra.

In 1975, G. C. Shephard asked whether every convex polyhedron has at least one net, or simple edge-unfolding. This question, which is also known as Dürer's conjecture, or Dürer's unfolding problem, remains unanswered. There exist non-convex polyhedra that do not have nets, and it is possible to subdivide the faces of every convex polyhedron (for instance along a cut locus) so that the set of subdivided faces has a net. In 2014 Mohammad Ghomi  showed that every convex polyhedron admits a net after an affine transformation. Furthermore, in 2019 Barvinok and Ghomi showed that a generalization of Dürer's conjecture fails for pseudo edges, i.e., a network of geodesics which connect vertices of the polyhedron and form a graph with convex faces.

A related open question asks whether every net of a convex polyhedron has a blooming, a continuous non-self-intersecting motion from its flat to its folded state that keeps each face flat throughout the motion.

Shortest path
The shortest path over the surface between two points on the surface of a polyhedron corresponds to a straight line on a suitable net for the subset of faces touched by the path. The net has to be such that the straight line is fully within it, and one may have to consider several nets to see which gives the shortest path. For example, in the case of a cube, if the points are on adjacent faces one candidate for the shortest path is the path crossing the common edge; the shortest path of this kind is found using a net where the two faces are also adjacent. Other candidates for the shortest path are through the surface of a third face adjacent to both (of which there are two), and corresponding nets can be used to find the shortest path in each category.

The spider and the fly problem is a recreational mathematics puzzle which involves finding the shortest path between two points on a cuboid.

Higher-dimensional polytope nets

A net of a 4-polytope, a four-dimensional polytope, is composed of polyhedral cells that are connected by their faces and all occupy the same three-dimensional space, just as the polygon faces of a net of a polyhedron are connected by their edges and all occupy the same plane. The net of the tesseract, the four-dimensional hypercube, is used prominently in a painting by Salvador Dalí, Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) (1954). The same tesseract net is central to the plot of the short story "—And He Built a Crooked House—" by Robert A. Heinlein.

The number of combinatorially distinct nets of -dimensional hypercubes can be found by representing these nets as a tree on  nodes describing the pattern by which pairs of faces of the hypercube are glued together to form a net, together with a perfect matching on the complement graph of the tree describing the pairs of faces that are opposite each other on the folded hypercube. Using this representation, the number of different unfoldings for hypercubes of dimensions 2, 3, 4, ... have been counted as
1, 11, 261, 9694, 502110, 33064966, 2642657228, ...

See also
Paper model
Cardboard modeling
UV mapping

References

External links

Regular 4d Polytope Foldouts
Editable Printable Polyhedral Nets with an Interactive 3D View
Paper Models of Polyhedra
Unfolder for Blender
Unfolding package for Mathematica

Types of polygons
Polyhedra
4-polytopes
Spanning tree

Net (polyhedron)


The Petit Trianon (; French for "small Trianon") is a Neoclassical style château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was built between 1762 and 1768 during the reign of King Louis XV of France. The Petit Trianon was constructed within the park of a larger royal retreat known as the Grand Trianon.

Design and construction
The Petit Trianon was built on the site of a botanical garden developed about a decade earlier by Louis XV, within the grounds of the Grand Trianon, Louis XIV's retreat from the Palace of Versailles to the southeast. It was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel by order of Louis XV for his long-term mistress, Madame de Pompadour, and was constructed between 1762 and 1768. Madame de Pompadour died four years before its completion, and the Petit Trianon was subsequently occupied by her successor, Madame du Barry. Upon his accession to the throne in 1774, the 20-year-old Louis XVI gave the château and its surrounding park to his 19-year-old Queen Marie Antoinette for her exclusive use and enjoyment.

The Petit Trianon is an example of the transition from the Rococo style of the earlier part of the 18th century to the Neoclassical style of the 1760s and onward. It attracts interest in its four facades, each designed according to that part of the estate it would face. The Corinthian order predominates, with two freestanding and two engaged columns on the side of the formal French garden, and pilasters facing both the courtyard and the area once occupied by Louis XV's greenhouses. Overlooking the former botanical garden of the king, the remaining façade was left bare.

Marie Antoinette would visit the Petit Trianon to escape the formality of court life and to rest from her royal responsibilities. Since all were de par la Reine (by order of the Queen), none were permitted to enter the property without the Queen's permission. Only the Queen's "inner circle" (including the princesse de Lamballe and Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac) were invited, which alienated the court nobility. In the spring of 1779, Marie Antoinette retired to the Petit Trianon to recover from illness after the birth of her daughter Marie-Thérèse. Her entire household came with her, as well as four male friends to attend to her: the Duke of Coigny, the Duke of Guines, Count Valentin Esterhazy, and the Baron of Besenval. This was in violation of court etiquette, causing gossip to circulate at Versailles and "the malicious insinuations against her which became so common later on."

The building was designed to require as little interaction between guests and servants as possible. To that end, the table in the salles à manger was conceived to be mobile, mechanically lowered and raised through the floorboards so that the servants below could set places while remaining unseen. The tables were never built, but the delineation for the mechanical apparatus can still be seen from the foundation.

In the attic, a suite was constructed for Louis XV by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, consisting of antechamber, bedroom, and a private chamber. A staircase led from his private chamber down to the mezzanine where Mme Du Barry resided. In Marie Antoinette's time, the attic apartment remained reserved for Louis XVI, though he never slept at the Petit Trianon. The private staircase of Louis XV was removed, allowing a library to be constructed by Richard Mique. The mezzanine, which is above the Queen's apartment, was reserved for Marie Antoinette's lady-in-waiting and first lady-in-waiting.

Within the Queen's apartment, the décor of her boudoir features mirrored panels that, by the turning of a crank, can be raised or lowered to obscure the windows and reflect the candlelight. Her bedroom was provided with furniture from Georges Jacob and Jean Henri Riesener. Jacob designed a set of furniture for the room known as the Mobilier aux épis, elaborately carved with flowers and garlands and upholstered in embroidered Lyon silk. The wallpaper was painted by Jean-Baptiste Pillement.

French Revolution and Republic
On 5 October 1789, Marie Antoinette was in the gardens of the Petit Trianon when a page brought news of the imminent arrival of an armed crowd from Paris. With the enforced departure of the royal family the next day, the Petit Trianon was almost abandoned, except for the gardeners and other staff who continued to live there. Renovations that had been underway were interrupted, leaving large sums owed to builders. The former queen's gardener, Antoine Richard, was appointed as curator of the gardens and plant nursery in 1792 by the Minister of the Interior. After the final overthrow of the monarchy in July 1792, all of the furniture, artworks, and other valuables of the Petit Trianon were sent to auction, under a decree of the Convention dated 10 June 1793. The auction began on Sunday, 25 August 1793, and continued until 11 August 1794. The properties sold were widely scattered. Silverware, lead, and brass fixtures were requisitioned for use in the arsenals. The sculptor Amable Boichard was appointed in April 1794 to remove "emblems of royalty and feudalism" from the property.

Under the new Republic, the Petit Trianon underwent a number of changes. Declared national property, the land was divided into ten lots. The City of Versailles proposed that a botanical garden be established, but this plan was never adopted. In 1796, the land was leased to a tavern. By 1801, the use of the grounds for dances and festivals led to neglect and vandalism. The buildings of the hamlet were reported to be dilapidated. Some improvements in the layout of the gardens were subsequently made, and a school located in part of the complex.

Napoleonic period
After some years of semi-neglect, the Petit Trianon resumed its traditional role when the new emperor, Napoleon, granted the use of the building to his sister Pauline. Extensive refurbishing of roofs, piping, floors, and chimneys was carried out. The main rooms were repainted, and mirrors were installed to replace those sold or vandalized. Finally, paintings were hung and a bridge de la Réunion constructed to link open areas across a hollow road.

Derivative buildings

United States
Nemours Estate mansion and gardens, in Wilmington, Delaware, is the largest formal French garden in America. It was built between 1909 and 1935, and was inspired and largely based on the Petit Trianon.
Belmar (1937) is an exact replica of the Petit Trianon, designed by Colorado architect Jacques Benedict for May Bonfils Stanton in Lakewood, Colorado.
City Hall (1916) in Eau Claire, Wisconsin as designed by George Awsumb is inspired by Petit Trianon, though not a complete copy.
Marble House (1888–1892), a Gilded Age mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, is directly inspired by the Petit Trianon.
Kentucky Governor's Mansion (1912) is inspired by the Petit Trianon.
Koshland House (1904) in San Francisco, California as designed by Franklin S. Van Trees was modeled after the Petit Trianon.
A concert hall in San Jose, California, which carries the name "The Petit Trianon", is a copy.
Byers Hall (1903) at Yale University, is an adaptation of Le Petit Trianon design by architects Hiss and Weekes.
Northway (1908), also known as Petit Trianon Deux, is an estate in Greenwich, Connecticut, built by an heir to the Goodyear Tires fortune.
The International Museum of Surgical Science (1917) in Chicago, Illinois is a replica of Le Petit Trianon except it has an additional floor.

Elsewhere

 Called Petit Trianon, the building housing the Academia Brasileira de Letras in Rio de Janeiro is based on the design. It was built by the French Government and donated to the Academia de Letras.
 Sabet Pasal Mansion, the home of an Iranian pre-revolution entrepreneurial family, was built in northern Tehran.
 The Cantacuzino Palace in Romania, near Florești, also known as Petit Trianon (Micul Trianon), is based on the layout of the French palace.

See also
 Hameau de la Reine
 Maison de plaisance
 Moberly–Jourdain incident
 Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles
 Subsidiary structures of the Palace of Versailles
 Fresh pavilion

References

Further reading
Arizzoli-Clémentel, Pierre. Views and Plans of the Petit Trianon. Paris: Alain de Gourcuff Éditeur, 1998. Print.

External links

Ancient Places TV: HD Video of The Queen's Hamlet at the Petit Trianon
PDF from the manuscript R. Mique, Recueil des plans du Petit Trianon, 1786

Houses completed in 1768
Palace of Versailles
1768 establishments in France
Royal residences in France
Buildings and structures in Versailles
Palaces in France

Petit Trianon


The 1920 capture of Damascus was the final stage of the Franco-Syrian War, when French forces captured Damascus with little resistance. The Kingdom of Syria was brought to an end and the French mandate of Syria was put into effect. Shortly after, in September 1920, Damascus was established as the capital of the State of Damascus under French Mandate.

History
The war of the Hashemites against the French, which erupted in January 1920, shortly became a devastating campaign for the new proclaimed Arab Kingdom of Syria. Worried about the results of a long bloody fight with the French, King Faisal himself surrendered on 14 July 1920, but his message would not reach King Faisal's defense minister Yusuf al-'Azma, who ignoring the King, led an army to Maysalun to defend Syria from French advance. The Battle of Maysalun resulted in a crushing Syrian defeat. The French troops later marched on Damascus and captured it on 24 July 1920.

French troops met little resistance from the inhabitants of Damascus, but there were shootouts between the French and residents of the Shaghour and Midan neighborhoods at the outset of the French entry. A Pro-French government under the leadership of Aladdin al-Droubi was installed the next day.

See also
French expedition in Syria
Syrian Revolution
Sultan al-Atrash
List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

References

Franco-Syrian War
1920 in Mandatory Syria
20th century in Damascus
July 1920 events
20th-century military history of France

Capture of Damascus (1920)