The continent of stability is a hypothesised large group of nuclides with masses greater than 300 daltons that is stable against radioactive decay, consisting of freely flowing up quarks and down quarks rather than up and down quarks bound into protons and neutrons. Matter containing these nuclides is termed up-down quark matter (udQM). The continent of stability is named in analogy with the island of stability. However, if it exists, the range of charge and mass will be much greater than in the island. Quark matter composed of up quarks and down quarks is predicted to be a lower energy state than that which contains strange quarks (strange quark matter), and also lower than the combination of quarks in the form of hadrons found in normal atomic nuclei if there are over 300 protons and neutrons. The lower limit of 300 was calculated based on a surface tension model, where the surface has a higher energy than the interior of the piece of quark matter. In order to be the absolutely more stable form, the energy must be lower than that of the most stable normal matter, that is 930 MeV per baryon. If these quark matter nuclides exist, they would be stable against fission, as fission would increase the surface. The quark matter nuclide could absorb neutrons resulting in an increase in its mass.

The boundary to the continent of stability is determined by the situations where the Coulomb energy due to electric charge overcomes the binding energy, or where decay into atomic nuclei results in lower energy. The lowest energy mass number is proportional to the cube of the charge (atomic number). However, a range of charges is stable for each mass, and the range increases as the mass increases. This can result in very heavy nuclides with atomic numbers the same as existing known elements, and even zero charge pieces of quark matter.

A proposed alternative form of quark matter known as strangelets contains strange quarks in addition to the up and down quarks. This would be neutral in charge, and thus not form atoms. udQM is probably lower energy than strangelets (uds-matter).

At the Large Hadron Collider, the ATLAS Collaboration is attempting to observe this kind of matter.

Other properties
Electron-positron pairs will form in the high charge field via the Schwinger mechanism when the electric charge of udQM is larger than 163, at which the baryon number is 609. The smallest stable udQM against neutron emission would be at baryon number 39.

Formation in nature
udQM could be possibly formed during a supernova core collapse from conversion of superheavy nuclei. In this environment there is a high density of electrons and electron neutrinos present. The udQM would then end up in neutron stars. udQM nuclides may be detectable in cosmic rays.

A star containing a large proportion of udQM is called a ud quark star (or udQS). Heavy neutron stars may convert into this star type. Whether they do may be verified by detecting binary compact stellar collisions.

References

Periodic table
Isotopes
Hypothetical chemical elements
Nuclear physics
Quantum chromodynamics
Quark matter

Continent of stability


The title Virgin (, ) is an honorific bestowed on female saints and blesseds, mainly the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church.

Chastity is one of the seven virtues in Christian tradition, listed by Pope Gregory I at the end of the 6th century. In 1 Corinthians, Paul the Apostle states that the virgins and the unmarried women are "concerned about the Lord's affairs", their "aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit". In 2 Corinthians 11:2, Paul alludes to the metaphor of the Church as Bride of Christ by addressing the congregation: "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ".

In the theology of the Church Fathers, the prototype of the sacred virgin is Mary, the mother of Jesus, consecrated by the Holy Spirit at the Annunciation. Although not stated in the gospels, the perpetual virginity of Mary was widely upheld as a dogma by the Church Fathers from the 4th century.

Virgin martyrs

In the hagiography of Christian martyrs of the late 1st to early 4th centuries, virgin martyrs (Latin , Greek , Russian ) were often persecuted for their refusal to enter a worldly marriage after having vowed to keep their virginity for the sake of heaven. Other virgin martyrs lost their lives  ('in defense of chastity'). A group of virgin martyrs of the early church, namely Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Margaret of Antioch, Barbara of Nicomedia and Dorothea of Caesarea, is called "the four capital virgins", three of them belong to the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

In the Roman Missal and the Book of Hours, virgins and virgin martyrs have their own common. Different martyrologies (for example the Martyrologium Romanum or the Martyrologium Hieronymianum) list early virgin martyrs, some of which are also named in the Canon of the Mass.

Thecla of Iconium (1st century)
Sandukht of Armenia (1st century)
Felicula and Petronilla of Rome (died )
Serapia of Antioch ()
Balbina of Rome ()
Quiteria of Aquitaine (died 135)
Wilgefortis of Lusitany (died 139)
Marina of Aguas Santas (died 139)
Cecilia of Rome (2nd century)
Pudentiana of Rome (2nd century)
Faith, Hope and Charity of Rome (2nd century)
Melitina of Marcianopolis (2nd century)
Venera of Rome (died 143)
Praxedes of Rome (died 165)
Glyceria of Heraclea (died 177)
Blandina of Lugdunum (died 177)
Agatha of Sicily (early 3rd century)
Gundenis of Carthage (early 3rd century)
Paraskevi of Iconium (3rd century)
Estelle of Gaul (3rd century)
Reparata of Caesarea (3rd century)
Firmina of Rome (3rd century)
Amonaria of Alexandria (3rd century)
Martina of Rome (died 228)
Tatiana of Rome (died 226 or 235)
Euthalia of Sicily (3rd century)
Albina of Caesarea (250 AD)
Fusca of Ravenna (250 AD)
Kalliopi of Rome (died 250)
Anastasia of Rome (250 AD)
Regina of Autun ()
Rufina and Secunda of Rome (257 AD)
Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda of Tuburga (257 AD)
Eugenia of Rome (258 AD)
Barbara of Nicomedia (3rd century)
Denise of Lampsacus (3rd century)
Christina of Bolsena (3rd century)
Vibiana (3rd century)
Apollonia of Alexandria (died 249)
Messalina of Foligno (died 251)
Digna and Emerita of Rome (died 259)
Agrippina of Mineo (died 262)
Columba of Sens (died 273)
Pelagia of Antioch (late 3rd century)
Daria of Rome (283 AD)
Justa and Rufina of Seville (died 287)
Margaret of Antioch (died 289)
Theodosia of Tyre (died 290)
Hripsime of Armenia (died 290)
 Demiana and the 40 Virgins
Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora
Pelagia of Tarsus
Faith of Conques
Kyriaki of Nicomedia (died 289)
Aquilina of Byblos (died 293)
Susanna of Rome (died 295)
Eulalia of Barcelona (died 303)
Engratia of Zaragoza (died 303)
Euphemia of Chalcedon (died 303)
Devota of Corsica (died 303)
Rais of Tamman (died 303)
Marciana of Mauretania (died 303)
Agnes of Rome (died 304)
Emerentiana of Rome (died 304)
Anastasia of Sirmium (died 304)
Charitina of Amisus (died 304)
Febronia of Nisibis (died 304)
Justina of Padua (died 304)
Lucia of Syracuse (died 304)
Agape, Chionia, and Irene of Thessalonica (died 304)
Philomena of Rome (died 304)
Eulalia of Mérida (died 304)
Juliana of Nicomedia (died 304)
Afra of Augsburg (died 304)
Victoria of Albitina (died 304)
Trofimena of Sicily (died 304)
Theodora of Alexandria (died 304)
Justina of Antioch (died 304)
Anysia of Salonika (died 304)
Crispina of Numidia (died 304)
Leocadia of Toledo (died 304)
Victoria of Córdoba (died 304)
Catherine of Alexandria (died 305)
Vasilissa of Nicomedia (died 309)
Berenice and Prosdoce of Syria (died 310)
Dorothea of Caesarea (died 311)
Fausta of Cyzicus (died 311)
Antonina of Constantinople (died 313)
Bibiana of Rome (died 361/3)
Ursula of Cologne and Companions, such as Leticia and Cordula (died 384; various other traditional dates)
Noyale of Brittany (5th century)
Ia of Cornwall (5th century)
Augusta of Treviso (5th century)
Julia of Corsica (died 439)
Olivia of Palermo (died 448)
Eluned of Brecon (died 468)
Juthwara (6th century)
Nympha of Palermo (6th century)
Columba of Cornwall (6th century)
Christina of Persia (6th century)
Dymphna of Geel (7th century)
Alena of Brussels (died 640)
Irene of Tomar ()
Winifred of Treffynnon (died )
Theodosia of Constantinople (died 729)
Sidwell of Devon (died 740)
Febronia of Syria (died 749)
Columba of Córdoba  (died 853)
Solange of Bourges (died 880)
Belina of Troyes (died 1153), canonized in 1203
Margaret of Louvain (died 1225)
Markella of Chios (14th century)
Joan of Arc (died 1431), canonized in 1920
Irene of Lesbos (died 1463)
Helen of Sinope (1700s)
Kyranna of Thessaloniki (died 1751)
Maria Goretti (died 1902), canonized in 1950
Karolina Kózka (died 1914), beatified in 1987
Albertina Berkenbrock (died 1931), beatified in 2007
Antonia Mesina (died 1935), beatified in 1987
Benigna Cardoso da Silva (died 1941), beatified in 2022
Edith Stein (died 1942), canonized in 1998
Maria Restituta Kafka (died 1943), beatified in 1998
Anna Kolesárová (died 1944), beatified in 2018
Pierina Morosini (died 1957), beatified in 1987
Veronica Antal (died 1958), beatified in 2018
Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta (died 1964), beatified in 1985
Isabel Cristina Mrad Campos (died 1982), beatified in 2022
Lindalva Justo de Oliveira (died 1993), beatified in 2007

Consecrated virgins

The tradition of the rite of the  (consecration of a virgin) dates back to the 4th century, the form of life to apostolic times. The first known formal consecration is that of Saint Marcellina, dated AD 353, mentioned in  by her brother, Saint Ambrose. Another early consecrated virgin is Saint Genevieve (–).

According to Raymond of Capua, Saint Catherine of Siena () at the age of 21 () experienced what she described in her letters as a mystical marriage with Jesus Christ, later a popular subject in art as the mystic marriage of Saint Catherine.

Canon 922 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "From apostolic times Christian virgins, called by the Lord to cling only to him with greater freedom of heart, body, and spirit, have decided with the Church's approval to live in a state of virginity 'for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven'."

Virgins are consecrated for the church as a bride of Christ both in the Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic church. While in the latter one the consecration has been bestowed for centuries only for nuns living in cloistered monasteries, the bestowal for women living in the world has been reintroduced under Pope Paul VI in 1970. The number of consecrated virgins ranges in the thousands. Estimates derived from the diocesan records range at around 5,000 consecrated virgins worldwide .

See also
 List of Eastern Orthodox saint titles
 Parable of the Ten Virgins

References

Karen A. Winstead, Chaste Passions: Medieval English Virgin Martyr Legends, Cornell University Press (2000).

Types of saints
Religious titles

Virgin (title)


"A Boy in a Bush" is the fifth episode of the first season of the television series, Bones. Originally aired on November 8, 2005. on FOX network, the episode is written by Steve Blackman and Greg Ball and directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño. The episode features FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth and Dr. Temperance Brennan's investigation into the death of a six-year-old boy, whose remains were found near a shopping mall.

Summary
Special Agent Seeley Booth shows up at Dr. Temperance Brennan's lecture at American University. He tells her someone has found human remains in an adjacent field of a local mall, where six-year-old Charlie Sanders was believed to have gone missing. Booth needs Brennan's help to locate the remains and then determine if they are in fact those of their missing six-year-old.

Brennan, Booth, and Zack head to the field, where they find a small, decomposed body. Back in the lab at the Jeffersonian, Brennan, Zack, Angela Montenegro and Dr. Jack Hodgins determine that the body does belong to Charlie Sanders and they are probably looking for a pedophile.

Booth visits Charlie's mother, Margaret Sanders, and learns that Margaret has two other foster sons, Shawn and David Cook, but Charlie was her only biological child. As he leaves, Booth finds out that Charlie disappeared from the local mall and not the nearby park.

Brennan confronts Angela and asks her if she is considering leaving the Jeffersonian. Angela confides to her that this job is difficult for her and she is not sure what she is going to do. Zack is also having trouble working on such "small" remains so Brennan advises him to pull back emotionally from the case. When Brennan finds a hereditary genetic defect on Charlie's bones, Booth and Brennan confront Margaret with this information and learn that she is not Charlie's biological mother as she claimed.

Margaret tells them she took Charlie to save him from the foster care system after his mother died of a drug overdose, but did not have anything to do with his abduction and death. Brennan becomes angry at Booth when she learns he arrested Margaret for kidnapping, but Booth claims he had no choice. She wants Booth to let Margaret go so she, Shawn and David can continue to be a family but Booth remains resistant.

As Angela works on isolating the image of Charlie's abductor in the surveillance footage, she learns from Zack that Hodgins is extremely wealthy; his family runs the organization that is the single biggest donor to the Jeffersonian. Hodgins pleads to Booth and Angela to keep his family background a secret. He explains that he does not want to go to the banquet the team has been invited to because he will be outed by his family's rich friends and his life at the Jeffersonian will be forever changed.

Angela's isolated reflection of Charlie's abductor turns out to be his foster brother, Shawn. However, he was not the killer. By drawing upon her own experience as a child in the foster system, Brennan convinces Shawn to tell her the name of Charlie's killer. It was Edward Nelson, their neighbor. Booth arrests him for Charlie's sexual assault and murder, and arranges for Shawn and David to be returned to Margaret.

As they prepare to leave for the banquet, Dr. Goodman notes Angela's distress over her job and comforts her by telling her that she gives the victims back their faces and identities, not "death masks".

Conception
The idea for the episode was conceived to explore the reaction of the various characters to the death of a child, in particular, Dr. Brennan's team of scientists working at the Jeffersonian, who are used to working with decomposed bodies and human bones. The writers, Steve Blackman and Greg Ball, established Brennan's background as a foster child to "ratchet up her emotional stakes and allow us to see her more vulnerable than ever before."

Music
The episode featured the song Some of Us by Starsailor.

Response
On the night of its original airdate, the episode attracted 6.85 million viewers with 5.5% household rating and 8% household share.

References

External links

 "A Boy in a Bush" at Fox.com

Bones (TV series) episodes
2005 American television episodes

A Boy in a Bush


Sarbel Michael Maronitis (; ; born 14 May 1981) known professionally as Sarbel, is a British-Cypriot pop singer. His singles include "Se Pira Sovara"  [ Greek: 'I've just taken you seriously'], and albums Parakseno sinesthima  ['Strange feeling'], Sahara and Kati san esena  ['Something reminiscent of you']. Ηe represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with "Yassou Maria".

Biography

Early life
Sarbel was born and raised in Southgate, London, England, to a Greek Cypriot father, Elias, himself a singer and bouzouki player, and a Lebanese Maronite mother, a lawyer. Sarbel's family made frequent summer trips to Greece and Cyprus. He received a Jesuit education at St Ignatius' College in Enfield. Sarbel studied music (voice), drama, art, and performing arts. From the age of 5 to 16 he performed at the English National Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and has recorded Tosca in English for Chandos Recordings as the shepherd boy.

He was named after the Maronite Saint Charbel. and his name is correctly pronounced "Sharbel", but since standard Greek lacks a "sh" sound, Greeks pronounce the name "Sarbel" in accordance with the Greek transliteration ("Σαρμπέλ").

Sarbel sang yearly at St Ignatius and other talent shows.

Music career
At the age of 18, Sarbel went to Crete, where he sang at the Heraklion Palladium. At the age of 21, still living on the Greek island of Crete, he was signed on by Sony BMG (Greece) on a six-year recording contract.

2004–2005: Parakseno sinesthima (Παράξενο Συναίσθημα)
In 2004 he recorded the Arabic hit "Se Pira Sovara"  featuring Greek singer Irini Merkouri. The song is based on an Arabic song called "Sidi Mansour" by Saber Rebaï. On the same CD (a CD single) he released a second duet with Merkouri called "Agapi Mou Esi" ['My love']. In 2005, he released his first solo album, entitled Parakseno sinesthima (in Greek Παράξενο συναίσθημα). This album went Gold and was re-released with the Wella-sponsored song "Thelo na Petaxo"  ['I wanna fly']  and a bonus track of "Boro Boro", which he made famous during his MAD Award Ceremony appearance. The songs "Se Pira Sovara", "Sokolata"  ['Chocolate'], and "Thelo Na Petakso" are some of his notable songs.

2006: Sahara
In July 2006, he released his second album, Sahara. That same year he recorded a duet with Greek singer Natassa Theodoridou called Na' Soun Thalassa ['Wish you were sea] which was also included as a bonus song on the album.  The album includes "Taxe Mou" ['Promise me'], "Sahara" and "Enas Apo Mas" ['One of us'].

2007: Eurovision and Sahara: Euro Edition

Seeing his growing popularity, Greek television ERT asked Sarbel to compete for a ticket to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki, Finland. Sarbel had to compete against established singer Christos Dantis and fellow newcomer singer Tamta. Sarbel enlisted the help of Greek-Swedish composers Alex Papacostantinou, Marcus Englof, and Mack to write his song, who are responsible for many of Greek singer Elena Paparizou's hits. They wrote the song "Yassou Maria", which is performed in English with only the word 'yassou' (and the name 'Maria') being Greek. There is also a version released in a mix of Greek and English.

On 28 February 2007, Sarbel performed the song live against the two singers for the ticket. Although the performance had some sound problems, he went on to receive 39.69% of the combined televotes and jury votes, winning the contest.

In an interview in March 2007, Sarbel made it clear that he doesn't want an international career by saying "I don't care either being famous abroad or starting an international career. I only care for Greece. I grew up abroad but choose to live in Greece. I can't tell you whether Eurovision helps my career or not, because I don't know. It's very dangerous. However, it is an experience I want to live. I want to have fun in the Contest and do my best.".
Following the win, Sarbel toured Europe to promote his song. He also filmed the video clip for the song and changed the scene performance around a bit. The song eventually placed 7th at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.

On 12 March 2007, Sahara was re-released as Sahara: Euro Edition and feature the "Yassou Maria" CD single as a bonus. The CD single for "Yassou Maria" was released on 7 March 2007. The CD single includes "Yassou Maria", "Yassou Maria (Greeklish version)", "Enas Apo Mas (Special Holiday Mix)" and a duet with Persian singer Cameron Cartio called "Mi Chica" which was recorded in a mixture of Greek, English, Spanish and Persian and is Latin in style with Greek pop elements.

2008–2012: Kati san esena
Sarbel started singing at Votanikos club in Athens, at 2008, along with Natassa Theodoridou and Nikos Kourkoulis.

The new single "Eho Trelathei" [Greek for 'I have been driven crazy'] was introduced at the Greek National Final 2008 on ERT. It is a blend of oriental elements with the main chorus being rock. This was followed by the release of the album Kati san esena.

To promote his new album amongst his fellow Londoners, he performed at the two-day Cyprus Wine Festival of London in 2008. Sarbel felt that "My performance at the Cyprus Wine Festival (in London) is my chance to give something back to my community." And both performances brought tears to his friend's and family's eyes that still live in London.

In July 2009, Sarbel released a two track CD-single titled "Mou Pai" under his new signing with E.DI.EL record label. The second track on the CD called "So Perfect" is a song written by Sarbel.

Sarbel toured internationally performing alongside Giorgos Mazonakis in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia and other various solo appearances and Egypt.

His new CD album was released in the Spring of 2011. The first single from this CD Album was the pre-release from the album and was called "Kafto Kalokairi" with the initial performance at the Pavilion on the 18 March 2011. The release was accompanied by a music video for the single filmed on the cruise ship Cristall. The following single was "Pou Na Girnas" released in November 2011 and was penned by Greek composer Alexis Serkos. The video clip was released in conjunction with single to launch Sarbel's winter tour of Dubai and the Persian Gulf region.

2012–present
After a tour of Dubai, and other Arab countries, Sarbel went back to the studio and recorded a new single "Proti Ptisi" [Greek for 'First Flight'] which was released in early 2013 and followed up with a tour in Crete, Athens, Beirut and Cyprus. He was also involved in his new record company Honeybel Music which produces lounge music predominantly bought and used in Dubai. Sarbel was a guest as well at the London Eurovision Party which took place in the Shadow Lounge in Soho. The event was organised to promote the representatives for this year's Eurovision Song Contest and Sarbel as an earlier contestant was invited to perform by public demand.

Discography

Studio albums

All the albums listed underneath were released and charted in Greece and Cyprus.

CD singles

Full singles discography
 2004: "Se Pira Sovara"
 2005: "Sokolata"
 2005: "Thelo na petaxo"
 2006: "Sahara"
 2006: "Takse mou"
 2006: "Enas apo mas"
 2007: "Yassou Maria"
 2008: "Eho trelathei"
 2009: "Mou pai" ['It suits me']
 2011: "Kafto Kalokairi" ['Hot summer']
 2011: "Pou Na Girnas" ['Why come back?']
 2013: "Proti Ptisi"

Music videos
 2004: "Se pira sovara"
 2005: "Sokolata"
 2005: "Thelo na petaxo"
 2005: "Boro Boro/Chiculata" (Mad Music Awards) [feat. Chrispa]
 2006: "Thriller"/"Pano stin trella mou" (Mad Music Awards) [feat. Vanesa Adamopoulou]
 2006: "Taxe mou"
 2006: "Enas apo mas"
 2007: "Yassou Maria" (ERT Promo Video)
 2007: "Yassou Maria" (Official Video Clip)
 2008: "Eho trelathei"
 2009: "Mou paei"
 2011: "Monaxa esy"
 2011: "Kafto Kalokairi"
 2011: "Pou Na Girnas"
 2013: "Proti Ptisi"

References

External links
Official site

1983 births
Living people
British people of Lebanese descent
British people of Greek Cypriot descent
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Greece
British pop singers
MAD Video Music Awards winners
Modern Greek-language singers
People from Southgate, London
Sony Music Greece artists
Greek people of Lebanese descent
Greek people of Cypriot descent
21st-century British singers
21st-century British male singers

Sarbel


Charneca or Charneca do Lumiar (English: Lumiar heathland), was a Portuguese parish (freguesia) in the municipality of Lisbon. It was created in 1585. Between 1852 and 1886 this parish was part of the former municipality of Olivais. With the 2012 Administrative Reform, the parish merged with the Ameixoeira parish into a new one named Santa Clara.

References

Former parishes of Lisbon

Charneca, Lisbon


Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Begovoy District, Moscow.

Mikoyan was successor to the Soviet Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau (Микоя́н и Гуре́вич, МиГ; OKB-155 design office prefix MiG) founded in 1939 by aircraft designers Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. Mikoyan were notable for their fighter and interceptor aircraft which became a staple of the Soviet Air Force and Russian Air Forces, nations within the Soviet sphere of influence, and other nations such as India and many Arab states. Mikoyan aircraft were frequently used in aerial confrontations with American and allied forces during and since the Cold War, and have become commonly featured aircraft in popular culture. Mikoyan aircraft were the most produced jet fighter family.

In 2006, Mikoyan became a division of the United Aircraft Corporation in a merger with Ilyushin, Irkut, Sukhoi, Tupolev, and Yakovlev by decree of the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

History

Mikoyan was established on 8 December 1939 as the Pilot Design Department of the Aviation Plant #1 and headed by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. It was later renamed "Experimental Design Bureau named after A.I. Mikoyan" otherwise known as the Mikoyan Design Bureau or Mikoyan OKB. In 1964 Gurevich retired, and Mikoyan died in 1970. He was succeeded by Rostislav A. Belyakov, and in 1978 the enterprise was named after Mikoyan.

In 1995, Mikoyan OKB was merged with two production facilities to form the Moscow Aviation Production Association "MiG" (MAPO-MiG). In the 1990s MiG began developing Mikoyan Project 1.44, a fifth-generation jet fighter, but the project was hampered by a lack of funding and was eventually canceled.

In December 1999, Nikolai Nikitin was appointed the corporation's General Director and General Designer. Nikitin focused most of the company's resources on the development of the Tu-334 passenger aircraft at the expense of military programs. This prompted the resignation in December 1999 of many of its leading military aircraft designers, including the chief designers and their deputies for the MiG-29 and MiG-31 programs.

Nikitin was replaced by Valery Toryanin in November 2003, who was in turn replaced by Alexey Fedorov in September 2004. In 2006, the Russian government merged 100% of Mikoyan shares with Ilyushin, Irkut, Sukhoi, Tupolev, and Yakovlev as a new company named United Aircraft Corporation. Specifically, Mikoyan and Sukhoi were placed within the same operating unit.

MiG failed to win any major aircraft tenders in the post-Soviet era, falling behind its Russian rival Sukhoi. According to press reports, the company was shedding hundreds of employees in late 2017 due to a shortage of orders.

As of 2015 the company's business offering consists mostly of modernized MiG-29 aircraft. MiG was developing a 4++ fighter, the MiG-35, with the first deliveries expected in late 2019. Mikoyan is set to fly the PAK DP aka MiG-41 their first stealth interceptor in 2025.

See also
 List of Mikoyan and MiG aircraft
 List of military aircraft of the Soviet Union and the CIS

References

External links

 Migavia.ru – official site of MiG "OKB" successor enterprise
 Russian Aviation Museum, MiG Pages

Aircraft manufacturers of Russia
Aircraft manufacturers of the Soviet Union
Unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers
Defence companies of the Soviet Union
United Aircraft Corporation

Golden Idea national award winners
Russian brands
Design bureaus

Mikoyan


Catasto is the Italian system of land registration. The register itself is maintained at a local level by the individual councils or Comuni. The data held in the Catasto is the basis for the ICI council property tax (Imposta Comunale sugli Immobili).

There are several companies which offer easy search facilities to draw data from the various Italian local councils. This information can be used to understand the property holdings of individuals or companies and the charges (e.g. mortgages) which might be held over their ownership.

The Florentine Catasto of 1427 provided an important source of raw historical data for historians of the Renaissance. The extensive surveys conducted by Florentine officials reveal changing forms of social organization over the period that records were collected. David Herlihy and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber's work on these records, Tuscans and Their Families is one of the first historical works to make use of computer-assisted statistical analysis.

See also
 David Herlihy

External links
 Brown.edu: 1427 Catasto for the Republic of Florence, Italy (~10,000 records)
 Ancestry.com: 1754 Catasto Onciario for Marano Marchesato, Cosenza, Calabria region, Italy
 Oresteparise.it: 1753  Catasto Onciario for Cavallerizzo, Italy

Law of Italy
Real estate in Italy
Land registration
1427 establishments in Europe
15th-century establishments in the Republic of Florence

it:Catasto

Catasto


Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) is a term used, typically in Europe, to denote equipment that is used to support broadcasting, news gathering, theatrical productions and special events, such as culture events, concerts, sport events, conferences and trade fairs. In North America, the use of spectrum to provide these services is usually called broadcast auxiliary service or BAS.

Typical examples include theatrical wireless-microphone use, wireless-camera newsgathering operations and fixed point-to-point microwave links. The most significant PMSE users are those who use wireless microphones, talkback systems and/or in-ear monitors.

These devices operate in various spectrum bands. Traditionally, most PMSE equipment uses spectrum that is interleaved with other existing services. This is possible due to their low radiated power, thus making efficient use of the spectrum. Most used spectrum bands are the broadcasting bands (Band III and Band IV/V) and military spectrum between roughly 1 and 5 GHz.

Within broadcasting, these applications are commonly known as SAB/SAP applications.

Special Event equipment is different from that used in broadcasting and may include more extensive use of lighting and sound equipment.

References

External links
Telecom ABC

Broadcast engineering

Programme making and special events


A video game with nonlinear gameplay presents players with challenges that can be completed in a number of different sequences. Each player may take on (or even encounter) only some of the challenges possible, and the same challenges may be played in a different order. Conversely, a video game with linear gameplay will confront a player with a fixed sequence of challenges: every player faces every challenge and has to overcome them in the same order.

A nonlinear game will allow greater player freedom than a linear game. For example, a nonlinear game may permit multiple sequences to finish the game, a choice between paths to victory, different types of victory, or optional side-quests and subplots. Some games feature both linear and nonlinear elements, and some games offer a sandbox mode that allows players to explore an open world game environment independently from the game's main objectives, if any objectives are provided at all.

A game that is significantly nonlinear is sometimes described as being open-ended or a sandbox, and is characterized by allowing players to measure progress through self-determined goals, independent of scripted game elements.

Level design

A game level or world can be linear, nonlinear or interactive. In a linear game, there is only one path that the player must take through the level, but in games with nonlinear gameplay, players might have to revisit locations or choose from multiple paths to finish the level.

As with other game elements, linear level design is not absolute. While a nonlinear level can give the freedom to explore or backtrack, there can be a sequence of challenges that a player must solve to complete the level. If a player must confront the challenges in a fixed order nonlinear games will often give multiple approaches to achieve said objectives.

A more linear game requires a player to finish levels in a fixed sequence to win. The ability to skip, repeat, or choose between levels makes this type of game less linear. Super Mario Bros. is an early example of this, where the player had access to warp zones that skipped many levels of the game.

In some games, levels can change between linear design and free roaming depending on the objective of the stage. Super Mario 64 is an example where the main stages are free roam, while the levels where Bowser is encountered follow a straight path to the end.

Open worlds and sandbox modes
When a level is sufficiently large and open-ended, it may be described as an open world, or "sandbox game", though this term is often used incorrectly. Open-world game designs have existed in some form since the 1980s, such as the space trading game Elite, and often make use of procedurally generated environments.

In a game with a sandbox mode, a player may turn off or ignore game objectives, or have unlimited access to items. This can open up possibilities that were not intended by the game designer. A sandbox mode is an option in otherwise goal-oriented games and is distinguished from open-ended games that have no objectives, such as SimCity, and Garry's Mod.

Branching storylines
Games that employ linear stories are those where the player cannot change the story line or ending of the story. Many video games use a linear structure, thus making them more similar to other fiction. However, it is common for such games to use interactive narration in which a player needs to interact with something before the plot will advance, or nonlinear narratives in which events are portrayed in a non-chronological order. Many games have offered premature endings should the player fail to meet an objective, but these are usually just interruptions in a player's progress rather than actual endings. Even in games with a linear story, players interact with the game world by performing a variety of actions along the way.

More recently, some games have begun offering multiple endings to increase the dramatic effect of moral choices within the game, although early examples also exist. Still, some games have gone beyond small choices or special endings, offering a branching storyline (also known as an interactive narrative outside of a video game context), that players may control at critical points in the game. Sometimes the player is given a choice of which branch of the plot to follow, while sometimes the path will be based on the player's success or failure at a specific challenge. For example, Black Isle Studios' Fallout series of role-playing video games features numerous quests where player actions dictate the outcome of the story behind the objectives. Players can eliminate in-game characters permanently from the virtual world should they choose to do so, and by doing so may actually alter the number and type of quests that become available to them as the game progresses. The effects of such decisions may not be immediate. Branches of the story may merge or split at different points in the game, but seldom allow backtracking. Some games even allow for different starting points, and one way this is done is through a character selection screen.

Despite experimenting with several nonlinear storytelling mechanisms in the 1990s, the game industry has largely returned to the practice of linear storytelling. Linear stories cost less time and money to develop, since there is only one fixed sequence of events and no major decisions to keep track of. For example, several games from the Wing Commander series offered a branching storyline, but eventually they were abandoned as too expensive. Nonlinear stories increase the chances for bugs or absurdities if they are not tested properly, although they do provide greater player freedom. Some players have also responded negatively to branching stories because it is hard and tedious for them to experience the "full value" of all the game's content. As a compromise between linear and branching stories, there are also games where stories split into branches and then fold back into a single storyline. In these stories, the plot will branch, but then converge upon some inevitable event, giving the impression of a Nonlinear gameplay through the use of nonlinear narrative, without the use of interactive narratives. This is typically used in many graphic adventure games.

A truly nonlinear story would be written entirely by the actions of the player, and thus remains a difficult design challenge. As such, there is often little or no story in video games with a truly nonlinear gameplay. Facade, a video game often categorized as an interactive drama, features many branching paths that are dictated by the user's text input based on the current situation, but there is still a set number of outcomes as a result of the inherent limitations of programming, and as such, is non-linear, but not entirely so.

Visual novels
Branching storylines are a common trend in visual novels, a subgenre of interactive narrative and adventure games. Visual novels frequently use multiple branching storylines to achieve multiple different endings, allowing non-linear freedom of choice along the way. Decision points within a visual novel often present players with the option of altering the course of events during the game, leading to many different possible outcomes. Visual novels are popular in East Asia, especially in Japan where they account for nearly 70% of personal computer games released there. A recent acclaimed example is 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, where nearly every action and dialogue choice can lead to entirely new branching paths and endings. Each path only reveals certain aspects of the overall storyline and it is only after uncovering all the possible different paths and outcomes through multiple playthroughs that everything comes together to form a coherent well-written story.

It is not uncommon for visual novels to have morality systems. A well-known example is the 2005 title School Days, an animated visual novel that Kotaku describes as going well beyond the usual "black and white choice systems" (referring to video games such as Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and BioShock) where the players "pick a side and stick with it" while leaving "the expansive middle area between unexplored". School Days instead encourages players to explore the grey, neutral middle-ground in order to view more interesting, "bad" endings.

It is also not uncommon for visual novels to have multiple protagonists giving different perspectives on the story. C's Ware's EVE Burst Error (1995) introduced a unique twist to the system by allowing the player to switch between both protagonists at any time during the game, instead of finishing one protagonist's scenario before playing the other. EVE Burst Error often requires the player to have both protagonists co-operate with each other at various points during the game, with choices in one scenario affecting the other. Fate/stay night is another example that features multiple perspectives. Chunsoft sound novels such as Machi (1998) and 428: Shibuya Scramble (2008) develop this concept further, by allowing the player to alternate between the perspectives of several or more different characters, making choices with one character that have consequences for other characters. 428 in particular features up to 85 different possible endings.

Another approach to non-linear storytelling can be seen in Cosmology of Kyoto. The game lacks an overall plot, but it instead presents fragmented narratives and situations in a non-linear manner, as the player character encounters various non-player characters while wandering the city. These narratives are cross-referenced to an encyclopedia, providing background information as the narratives progress and as the player comes across various characters and locations, with various stories, situations and related information appearing at distinct locations. It provides enough freedom to allow for the player to experiment with the game, such as using it as a resource for their own role-playing game campaign, for example.

Role-playing games
Branching storylines are also often used in role-playing video games (RPGs) to an extent. An early example, published in 1999, is the fantasy role-playing game Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor, where players have to choose between Light and Dark. While the dark side wants to destroy the world of Enroth, the light side tries to save it. The choice determines which grandmaster levels the player characters can obtain and the quests they have to do in that part of the game. Earlier in the game, the player already has to choose sides in a border conflict between Elves and Humans, or remain neutral. This affects the flag in their Castle Harmondale and a few quests, but not the outcome.

A second example is Obsidian Entertainment's Fallout: New Vegas, where the player's decisions influence whether one of three different factions gain control of the area surrounding post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. These factions include Caesar's Legion, a group of Roman-esque slavers; the New California Republic (NCR), an expansionist military government; and Mr. House, the enigmatic de facto ruler of New Vegas, in command of an army of robots that patrols the city. Each of the three sides aim to control Hoover Dam, which is still operational and supplying the American Southwest with power and clean, non-irradiated water; thus, control of the dam means effective control of the region. A fourth option, siding with a robot named Yes Man and prevailing upon or eliminating the other faction leaders, enables the player to go solo and take over the Hoover Dam for themselves.

Another RPG example is tri-Ace's Star Ocean series, where the storyline is not affected by moral alignments like in other role-playing games but, inspired by dating sims, by friendship and relationship points between each of the characters. Star Ocean: The Second Story in particular offers as many as 86 different endings with hundreds of permutations, setting a benchmark for the number of possible outcomes of a video game. Another unique variation of this system is the Sakura Wars series, which features a real-time branching choice system where, during an event or conversation, the player must choose an action or dialogue choice within a time limit, or not to respond at all within that time; the player's choice, or lack thereof, affects the player character's relationship with other characters and in turn the direction and outcome of the storyline. Later games in the series added several variations, including an action gauge that can be raised up or down depending on the situation, and a gauge that the player can manipulate using the analog stick depending on the situation. A similar type of conversation system later appeared in a more recent action role-playing game also published by Sega, Alpha Protocol.

Another unique take on the concept is combining non-linear branching storytelling with the concepts of time travel and parallel universes. Early attempts at such an approach included Squaresoft's Chrono role-playing game series (1995–1999) and ELF's visual novel YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world (1996). Radiant Historia takes it further by giving players the freedom to travel backwards and forwards through a timeline to alter the course of history, with each of their choices and actions significantly affect the timeline. The player can return to certain points in history and live through certain events again to make different choices and see different possible outcomes on the timeline. The player can also travel back and forth between two parallel timelines, and can obtain many possible parallel endings. The PSP version of Tactics Ogre featured a "World" system that allows players to revisit key plot points and make different choices to see how the story unfolds differently. Final Fantasy XIII-2 also features a similar non-linear time travel system to Radiant Historia.

Early examples
Early examples (pre-1983) of nonlinear gameplay include:

 Colossal Cave Adventure (1976)
 Zork (1977/1980)
 MUD1 (1978)
 Akalabeth (1979)
 Star Raiders (1979)
 Superman (1979)
 Temple of Apshai (1979)
 Computer Bismarck (1980)
 Flight Simulator (1979/1980)
 Mystery House (1980)
 The Prisoner (1980)
 Rogue (1980)
 Adventure (1980)
 005 (1981)
 Bosconian (1981)
 Castle Wolfenstein (1981)
 Crush, Crumble and Chomp! (1981)
 Ultima (1981)
 Star Warrior (1981)
 Venture (1981)
 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
 Haunted House (1982)
 The Hobbit (1982)
 Pitfall! (1982)
 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982)
 Snipes (1982)
 Time Pilot (1982)
 Ultima II (1982)

See also
 Massively multiplayer online games
 Multiple endings
 Open world
 Metroidvania

References

Video game gameplay
Video game terminology
Emergent gameplay

Nonlinear gameplay


The Tomahawk River is a river in the U.S. state of Wisconsin.

It is the largest tributary of the Wisconsin River in terms of flow.  It begins at Tomahawk Lake in southern Vilas County, flows through Oneida County, and terminates at Lake Mohawksin in Tomahawk.  It flows through the Willow Reservoir and Lake Nokomis (artificial reservoirs), and Kawaguesaga Lake and Minocqua Lake (natural lakes).

At one time the Tomahawk River was known as the Little Wisconsin River.  Historically it was part of the most important north-south travel route in Wisconsin for both Indians and non-Indians (fur traders).

References

External links

Rivers of Wisconsin
Bodies of water of Vilas County, Wisconsin
Rivers of Oneida County, Wisconsin
Rivers of Lincoln County, Wisconsin

Tomahawk River


HR Lyrae or Nova Lyrae 1919 was a nova which occurred in the constellation Lyra in 1919. Its discovery was announced by Johanna C. Mackie on 6 December 1919.  She discovered it while examining photographic plates taken at the Harvard College Observatory.   The bulletin announcing the discovery (H.C.O. bulletin 705) states "Between December 4 and 6 it rose rapidly from the sixteenth magnitude or fainter, to a maximum of about 6.5". It was the first nova ever reported in Lyra, and Mackie was awarded the AAVSO gold medal for her discovery. Its peak magnitude of 6.5 implies that it might have been visible to the naked eye, under ideal conditions.

HR Lyrae's outburst occurred in December 1919, when Lyra was only visible in the early evening for most northern observers.  Visibility was even more limited in the first months of 1920, so its light curve near maximum brightness is poorly sampled.   But it is very likely that it declined from peak brightness by 3 magnitudes in less than 100 days, making it a "fast" nova. By November 1921 the star had dimmed to 14th magnitude, which is close to its quiescent brightness.  It continues to show brightness fluctuations of 1 magnitude or less above its quiescent magnitude with no clear periodicity, as well as dimming (down to 17th magnitude) episodes.  Although only one nova event has been seen, there are suggestions based primarily on the light curve that HR Lyrae might be a recurrent nova.

All novae are binary stars, with a "donor" star orbiting a white dwarf.   The two stars are so close to each other that matter is transferred from the donor to the white dwarf.   In the case of HR Lyrae the binary's orbital period is uncertain, but a value of 2.4 hours has been reported.  The white dwarf's mass has been estimated to be 0.78±0.15

References

External links
http://www.britastro.org/vss/obj-18.html
http://astro.corlan.net/stars/LYR/HR-LYR.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20050909054008/http://www.tsm.toyama.toyama.jp/curators/aroom/var/nova/1910.htm

Novae
Lyra
1919 in science
Lyrae, HR
175268

HR Lyrae


Thomas Rennell  (8 February 1754–31 March 1840) was an English churchman, dean of Winchester Cathedral and Master of the Temple.

Life
He was born on 8 February 1754 at Barnack in Northamptonshire, where his father, Thomas Rennell (1720–1798), a prebendary of Winchester, was rector. In 1766 Thomas was sent to Eton, and thence proceeded to King's College, Cambridge, where, in due time, he became a fellow. He was a diligent student, and though, as a King's man, he could not compete for mathematical honours, he obtained in 1778 one of the member's prizes for bachelors for the best Latin essay on 'Government.' He graduated Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1777, Master of Arts (MA) per lit. reg. in 1779, and Doctor of Divinity (DD) in 1794.

At Cambridge, he made the acquaintance of Thomas James Mathias and contributed to the notes of his Pursuits of Literature (1794-7). Mathias mentions him in the poem, in conjunction with Bishops Horsley and Douglas. Rennell left Cambridge on taking holy orders and became curate to his father at Barnack. His ample leisure he devoted to theology. His father soon resigned his prebendal stall at Winchester in his favor. In 1787 he undertook the charge of the populous parish of Alton. Subsequently, perhaps through the influence of the Marquis of Buckingham, he was presented to the rectory of St. Magnus, London Bridge. When he proceeded with D.D. at Cambridge in 1794, he preached a commencement sermon on the French Revolution which impressed Pitt, who called him 'the Demosthenes of the pulpit.' In 1797 Pitt urged him to accept the mastership of the Temple. He resigned from his prebendal stall the next year and devoted himself to his new office. He made friends with the great lawyers of the day, such as Eldon, Stowell, Kenyon, and Erskine, and cultivated the society of the junior members of the bar and the law students. Again, via Pitt's influence, he was appointed in 1805 dean of Winchester, and extensive repairs took place in the cathedral's fabric under his direction.

Death and legacy
In consequence of growing infirmities, heightened probably by the premature death of his only son, he resigned the mastership of the Temple in 1827, when he wrote a touching letter of farewell to the Inns of the Inner and Middle Temple. He died at the deanery, Winchester, on 31 March 1840, in his eighty-seventh year. In 1786 he married at Winchester Sarah, eldest daughter of Sir William Blackstone, the judge, by whom he had an only son, Thomas (1787–1824)

Rennell's reputation stood high as a scholar and theologian. He was long an intimate friend of Henry Handley Norris and the rest of the high-churchmen who formed what was called the Hackney phalanx or "Clapton sect". Dr Samuel Parr described him as 'most illustrious'.

Works
He printed nothing except a volume of sermons Discourses on various Subjects (1801), most of which had been previously printed separately. They are scholarly productions, and the writer shows erudition in the notes.

References

Attribution

1754 births
1840 deaths
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
English theologians
Deans of Winchester
Masters of the Temple
People educated at Eton College
Fellows of the Royal Society
18th-century English Anglican priests
19th-century English Anglican priests

Thomas Rennell


The Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research was founded in Müncheberg, Germany in 1928 as part of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft. The founding director, Erwin Baur, initiated breeding programmes with fruits and berries, and basic research on Antirrhinum majus and the domestication of lupins. After the Second World War, the institute moved west to Voldagsen, and was relocated to new buildings on the present site in Cologne in 1955.

·The modern era of the Institute began in 1978 with the appointment of Jeff Schell and the development of plant transformation technologies and plant molecular genetics. The focus on molecular genetics was extended in 1980 with the appointment of Heinz Saedler. The appointment in 1983 of Klaus Hahlbrock broadened the expertise of the Institute in the area of plant biochemistry, and the arrival of Francesco Salamini in 1985 added a focus on crop genetics. During the period 1978-1990, the Institute was greatly expanded and new buildings were constructed for the departments led by Schell, Hahlbrock and Salamini, in addition to a new lecture hall and the Max Delbrück Laboratory building that housed independent research groups over a period of 10 years.

A new generation of directors was appointed from 2000 with the approaching retirements of Klaus Hahlbrock and Jeff Schell. Paul Schulze-Lefert and George Coupland were appointed in 2000 and 2001, respectively, and Maarten Koornneef arrived three years later upon the retirement of Francesco Salamini. The new scientific departments brought a strong focus on utilising model species to understand the regulatory principles and molecular mechanisms underlying selected traits. The longer-term aim is to translate these discoveries to breeding programmes through the development of rational breeding concepts. The arrival of a new generation of Directors also required modernisation of the infrastructure. So far, this has involved complete refurbishment of the building that houses the Plant Developmental Biology laboratory (2004), construction of a new guesthouse and library (2005), planning of new buildings for the administration and technical workshops (2009), and a new laboratory building completed in May 2012. The new laboratory building includes a section that links the three scientific departments, offices and the Bioinformatics Research Group.

Departments

 Department of Plant Developmental Biology (George Coupland)
 Department of Plant Microbe Interactions (Paul Schulze-Lefert)
 Department of Comparative Development and Genetics (Miltos Tsiantis)
 Department of Chromosome Biology (Raphael Mercier)

Independent research groups

Regulation of stamen maturation in barley and Arabidopsis (Ivan Acosta)
The evolution of annual and perennial life strategies (Maria Albani)
Root-environment communication (Tonni Grube Andersen)
Structural Biology (Jijie Chai)
Transport Processes in Crop Plants (Wolf  B. Frommer)
Molecular basis of adaptive evolution (Angela Hancock)
Genetic basis for phenotypic evolution (Angela Hay)
Basic Immune System of Plants (Hirofumi Nakagami)
Quantitative Genetics and Genomics of Plants (Benjamin Stich)
Genetic and molecular analysis of shoot branching in higher plants (Klaus Theres)
Drought adaptation and flowering time control in barley (Maria von Korff)

Graduate program
Beginning in 1999 the Max Planck Society initiated the implementation of International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS) as a new way to cooperate with partner universities in Germany. The intention of this ambitious plan is twofold. On the one hand, the Max Planck Society tries to intensify the collaboration with university affiliated research groups and faculty at home. On the other hand, due to the great demand of junior scientists, one was trying to attract qualified students from Germany and abroad to help train a new generation of scientists. It seemed reasonable to combine scientific leadership and technical expertise on a local scale by jointly offering this new way to train promising scientists from around the world. The Ph.D. program provides a true interdisciplinary approach for highly motivated students to receive a Ph.D. degree and to participate in cutting edge research. Major changes and adjustments were necessary to put this idea into reality. First, because of the international character, teaching and practical training had to be offered in English to make the program attractive for foreign students. Second, the training should target a very specific area of research for which the existing faculty is internationally known. Third, the research schools are intended to represent centres of excellence. The IMPRS at the Max Planck Institute of Plant Breeding Research together with the University of Cologne represent such a centre of excellence in the area of molecular plant science, and was formed in 2001. Currently, this IMPRS has about 40 Ph.D. students, where half come from countries outside of Germany. Admission is entirely linked to scientific merit and achievement.

References

External links
 Homepage of the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research
 Hompeage of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) : Molecular Basis of Plant Development and Environmental Interaction

Plant Breeding Research
Biological research institutes
Education in Cologne
Lindenthal, Cologne
1928 establishments in Germany
Plant breeding
Research institutes established in 1928


"All Through the Night" is a song by American singer Cyndi Lauper. It is off her first album, She's So Unusual.  It is a synthpop song written by Jules Shear and produced by Rick Chertoff. This was the only single by Lauper released worldwide which did not have a music video. It peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became her fourth top-five song in the United States.

The song received mostly positive reviews from critics. It was released in September 1984 in the United States.

References

1984 songs
Pop songs
Cyndi Lauper songs

All Through the Night


Lego Marvel Super Heroes is a 2013 Lego-themed action-adventure video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows, and published by Feral Interactive for OS X. The game features gameplay similar to other Lego titles, such as Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga and Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, alternating between various action adventure sequences and puzzle solving scenarios. The handheld version of the game by TT Fusion was released under the title Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Universe in Peril for iOS, Android, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. A Nintendo Switch version was released on October 8, 2021.

The game's storyline sees various heroes from the Marvel Universe joining forces to foil the schemes of Doctor Doom and Loki, who have also recruited a number of villains to aid them, and seek to conquer the Earth using the Doom Ray of Doom, a device built from the shards of the Silver Surfer's board called "Cosmic Bricks". Lego Marvel Super Heroes received generally positive reviews, and is currently the best-selling Lego video game of all time. A spin-off titled Lego Marvel's Avengers was released on 26 January 2016, and a sequel titled Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 was released on 14 November 2017.

Gameplay

Following the gameplay style of past Lego titles, players are able to control 180 characters from the Marvel Universe, each with their own unique abilities. For example, Spider-Man can swing on his webs and use his spider-sense while the Hulk, who is larger than the standard minifigures, can throw large objects, as well as shrink down into Bruce Banner to access computers. Galactus was chosen as the main antagonist of the game. According to game director, Arthur Parsons, and producer, Phil Ring, one of the main settings of Lego Marvel Super Heroes is a Lego version of New York City's borough, Manhattan, and can explore the islands of both Liberty and Ryker. In addition, a Lego version of Asgard was created.

The creative team has also incorporated Marvel Comics co-creator Stan Lee in the game. He is a part of missions called "Stan Lee in Peril" (similar to "Citizen in Peril" missions from previous games). He is also a playable character and has several of the other characters' abilities (such as Spider-Man's webbing, a combination of the Human Torch's heat beam and Cyclops' optic blast, Mister Fantastic's ability to grapple, Wolverine's adamantium skeleton when all health is depleted, and the ability to transform into a Hulk-like version of Lee).

Players can also explore the Marvel version of New York City, though they can only use a specific character and access buildings after the campaign is complete. Bonus missions are narrated by Deadpool and take place in buildings with their own storylines. There are a total of 15 missions in the main single-player campaign, followed by 11 side missions.

Many of the main LEGO minifigure characters are based on their appearance from their latest Marvel Cinematic Universe appearances from the latest Phase 1 movies, up to two recently released Phase 2 movies Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World. Tony Stark is modeled on Robert Downey Jr., Nick Fury is modeled on Samuel L. Jackson, whilst Agent Phil Coulson is both modeled on and voiced by Clark Gregg, Captain America is modeled on Chris Evans, Black Widow is modeled on Scarlett Johansson, Bruce Banner is modeled on Mark Ruffalo, Clint Barton is modeled on Jeremy Renner, Loki is modeled on Tom Hiddleston, Thor is modeled on Chris Hemsworth, and Maria Hill is modeled on Cobie Smulders.

Plot

While searching the universe for planets for his master Galactus to consume, Silver Surfer is captured by Doctor Doom, and his board shattered into multiple "Cosmic Bricks". Having been warned about Galactus' upcoming arrival on Earth by an imprisoned Loki, Doom aims to build his "Doom Ray of Doom" using these bricks, which will allow the pair to defeat Galactus and then take over the world. Meanwhile, Nick Fury enlists Earth's heroes to retrieve the bricks before they fall into the wrong hands.

Sandman and Abomination, hired by Doom to retrieve a brick, hold Grand Central Station hostage for it, but are defeated by Iron Man, Hulk, and Spider-Man. The brick is left in the Fantastic Four's care at the Baxter Building, but Doctor Octopus steals it, forcing Mister Fantastic and Captain America to pursue him. Aided by Spider-Man when the fight goes through the Daily Bugle, they defeat him in Times Square, but he tosses the Brick to Green Goblin. Tasked with retrieving it, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Spider-Man infiltrate Oscorp, but are forced to fight Venom while the Green Goblin escapes.

Iron Man and Hulk respond to a prison riot at the Raft, orchestrated by Magneto, Mystique, and Sabretooth to break out Loki and other villains. Aided by Wolverine, they defeat the escaped inmates and Sabretooth, but Magneto destroys Iron Man's armor and escapes with Mystique and Loki. Captain America and Tony Stark go to Stark Tower so that the latter can get his latest suit, only to encounter Loki, Mandarin, and Aldrich Killian, who have hacked J.A.R.V.I.S., turning it against the heroes. After restoring J.A.R.V.I.S. back to normal, they defeat the Mandarin and Killian, but Loki escapes with one of Stark's experimental arc reactors.

After S.H.I.E.L.D. tracks the reactor's signature to a HYDRA base beneath the Empire State Building, Black Widow and Hawkeye investigate and discover that the Red Skull and Arnim Zola are building a portal generator powered by the stolen reactor, which Loki uses to travel to Asgard. Human Torch, Captain America, and Wolverine arrive to help defeat Red Skull, but inadvertently damage the portal generator in the process. Pursuing Loki with Thor's help, the trio discover that he invaded Asgard, aided by the Frost Giants, and has stolen the Tesseract. Loki unleashes the Destroyer upon the heroes, but they defeat it and retrieve the Tesseract, despite Loki's escape.

Wolverine takes the Tesseract to the X-Mansion for Professor X to analyze it, but Doom dispatches the Brotherhood of Mutants to retrieve it. The X-Men defeat Toad, Pyro, and Juggernaut, but fail to prevent Magneto and Mystique from stealing the Tesseract. Tracking it down to Latveria, Nick Fury and the Fantastic Four storm Castle Doom, defeat Green Goblin, and rescue Silver Surfer, but Doom and Loki escape.

Iron Man, Thor, and Spider-Man later infiltrate a A.I.M. submarine where Doom is hiding out, defeating MODOK and capturing Doom with Jean Grey's help. However, Magneto magnetically controls the Statue of Liberty and uses it to rescue Doom. Despite Mister Fantastic, Wolverine, and Hulk's attempts to stop him after defeating Mastermind, Magneto brings the Statue to an island filled with dinosaurs from the Savage Land, whereupon he uses a nuclear core stolen from Roxxon Industries to power his space station, Asteroid M. Captain America, Storm, and Thing pursue Magneto and defeat Rhino and Mystique (disguised as Magneto), but fail to prevent the station's launch.

Iron Man, Thor, and Spider-Man board Asteroid M and defeat Magneto, before confronting Doom and Loki, who have finished building the Doom Ray. After Doom incapacitates Iron Man and Thor, Captain America, the Thing, and Storm arrive to help Spider-Man defeat him. However, Loki reveals that he had manipulated Doom into building a flying pod, powered by the Tesseract, that will allow him to control Galactus and destroy Earth and Asgard. After Galactus arrives to consume Earth, Loki mind-controls him into destroying Asteroid M, though everyone aboard survives.

To stop Loki and Galactus, the heroes and villains form an uneasy alliance, and manage to open a portal to an unknown region of space and send the two through it, destroying Loki's pod and freeing Galactus from his control in the process. While Nick Fury recovers the Tesseract, the heroes decide to give the villains a head start to avoid capture. With his board rebuilt, Silver Surfer recovers his powers and leaves Earth, promising to lead Galactus far away.

In a mid-credits scene, Fury oversees the repair of the Statue of Liberty, when the Guardians of the Galaxy arrive, having been called earlier to help against Galactus, but they arrived too late. Though Star-Lord warns Fury that there is something else threatening Earth. Later while having lunch with the construction crew, Fury encounters Black Panther, who was looking for his cat Mr. Tiddles and tells Fury that the people of Wakanda are grateful to him.

Reception

Lego Marvel Super Heroes received generally positive reviews upon release. Among its strengths, reviewers cited its humor, variety of missions, characters, and open-world gameplay. According to Metacritic, it received an average review score of 83/100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "generally positive reviews".

Steve Butts of IGN gave the game a 9 out of 10, praising it for being: "the best thing to happen to the Marvel games since 2006" Marvel: Ultimate Alliance". He added, "it's a warm and witty, multi-layered approach to the brand that ties in hundreds of Marvel's most iconic characters, settings, and stories". Steve Hannley of Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4/5, calling it "one of the best Marvel games this generation". Game Informer gave the game a 9 out of 10, while Polygon gave the game an 8.5 out of 10. GameZone's Matt Liebl, regarding the PS4 version, stated, "on a console filled with shooters like Killzone and Call of Duty, TT Games' Lego Marvel Super Heroes presents a nice break from the complex sports titles and intense shooters that overrun the console".

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment President David Haddad has stated that Lego Marvel Super Heroes is the best-selling LEGO video game of all time.

A sequel titled Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 14 November 2017.

Downloadable content

Two add-on packs were released for the game. The first, Super Pack, included 7 characters: Dark Phoenix, Winter Soldier, Symbiote Spider-Man, Hawkeye (classic), Beta Ray Bill, Thanos and A-Bomb as well as two vehicles: The Spider Buggy and Hawkeye's Sky Cycle, and 10 races that can only be done with the new vehicles. The second, Asgard Character Pack, was released in November to coincide with the release of Thor: The Dark World, and included 8 characters: Malekith, Kurse, Sif, Volstagg, Odin, Hogun, Fandral and Jane Foster.

See also

 Lego Super Heroes
 Lego Marvel's Avengers
 Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2

References

Bibliography
 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes : Prima's Official Game Guide. Authored by Sir Michael Knight and Nick von Esmarch. Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2013.
 Lego Marvel Super Heroes Strategy Guide & Game Walkthrough - Cheats, Tips, Tricks, and More!. Authored by 2up Guides. Published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017.

External links

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Lego Marvel Super Heroes